Granite Bay Gazette » massara

Retro video games prevail

Haley Massara — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:15:48 +0000

What is a video game? Slick, modern titles like Halo and Call of Duty spring to mind, with cutting-edge graphics and intense, lifelike control systems. For the casual player, such complexity is the epitome of gaming.�
   But for some Granite Bay High School purists, the beauty of a game lies in its simplicity.
   Old-school gaming (a term which can encompass anything from 1972’s Pong to the early 2000’s Dance Dance Revolution games) has become a major trend within the industry, and gamer geeks everywhere have been raiding their closets for their now-obsolete consoles.
   The most popular of these dinosaurs are the 8-bit-era Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which hosted such iconic titles like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda; the Nintendo 64, whose accessibility and range of exclusive games like Mario Party and Pokémon Snap! won favor with young gamers; and the now-defunct Sega Genesis, a 16-bit system responsible for console versions of series like Doom and Mortal Kombat.
   GBHS 2010 graduate Alex Van Noland remembered playing his first video game, Sonic the Hedgehog, on his babysitter’s Sega Genesis.
   “It was my introduction to video gaming,” he said. “It was my first impression. I was like, wow, I’m interacting with the TV, this is so cool.”
   Games of the 8 and 16-bit era were drawn stylistically, sometimes 2-D, as consoles lacked the processing capacity of today’s HD game systems. They made use of very simple controls (one button for jumping, arrows for running, a button for items, etc.) The older the game, the more basic the gameplay.
   This simplicity, said Roseville Gamestop employee Kira Thorne, was part of the appeal.
“Anyone can play them,” she said. “They’re really universal. Even 5-year-olds can play (games like) Space Invaders.”
   The generation that grew up with retro video games are now starting to have families of their own, prompting new sequels to familiar series. For instance, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, released on the Wii console this year, will be the first Kirby game since 2000. Some developers, according to gamers, are better at this than others.
   “When Nintendo (remakes a game), they base them off of the same controls, so they play virtually identically) to the original,” said Jason Mitchell, a senior game advisor also working at Gamestop.
   “On the skeptical side, it’s Nintendo liking to bank on old games,” he added.
   Other retro games are being “rebooted” by developers, or remade with updated controls and graphics, like this year’s Castlevania remake. These reboots spark mixed feelings from fans of the originals.
   “They can never obtain their (former) greatness,” Van Noland said. “They try to (add) new features, (and) it seems gimmicky. It’s just a let-down.”
   Retro gamers have formed their own subculture online, and reminiscent fans can download emulators with which to play their favorite games.
   There is even a subgenre of music, called chiptune or 8-bit, which sounds akin to the digitized soundtracks of retro games.
   The reason gamers prefer pixilated graphics to HD, and chiptune soundtracks to surround sound?
   “Nostalgia,” Mitchell said, “and accessibility for families, so mom and dad can play with the kids (and) younger kids can play. It’s stuff that everybody’s familiar with.”
   Retro games were really only great if you hadn’t been exposed to anything else beforehand, Van Noland said.
   “It’s your first impression of gaming,” he said. “It’s going to have a place (in your heart).”

A take on the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Haley Massara — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:56:45 +0000

I really didn’t know what to expect.
I had dreamed it would be the politically-moderate Woodstock of my generation, a last-minute en mass pilgrimage of politically unified young people simply for the purpose of proving their own existence. It would be something I’d remember for the rest of my life, something they’d write books and make documentaries about for generations to come.
   But really, I just hoped the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear would be worth missing a day and a half of school.
   It was a crisp, DC morning, just the right mix of cool and temperate. As my parents and I made our way towards the National Mall, we noticed the pedestrian crowds beginning to swell. People with ironic protest signs began to walk alongside us.
   Before long, we had entered a swarm of hipsters, middle-aged activists and 30-something-year-olds, all migrating toward the Capitol. I felt as though I were part of some sort of comedic religious pilgrimage, united with thousands of total strangers by a common belief (and sense of humor).
   We wanted sanity. Or fear.
   By the time I’d reached the Mall, I was part of a human sea. People were wedged in as far as I could see – which wasn’t very far at all. Jumbo-Trons had been set up sparsely throughout the Mall, but it was clear from their positions that no one had anticipated a crowd so massive. I struggled to fight my way to a clear view of a screen, much less the main stage of the rally itself.
   People began climbing trees to get a better view, and the mob wildly applauded the first few who succeeded. The hip-hop group the Roots played a pre-show set, and Jamie and Adam, hosts of the show Mythbusters, helped organize the wave and a few chants.
   And, suddenly, on came Jon Stewart, followed by Stephen Colbert after he confirmed people had, in fact, attended. The crowd went ballistic – in a polite, moderate, reasonable way.
   The Rally itself was a quickly-paced event. After a brief, appropriately satirical benediction, Ozzy Ozbourne and Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) had a quick battle of the bands (“Crazy Train” versus “Peace Train, respectively). Both were eventually silenced by the O’Jays, who played “Love Train.”
   Stewart and Colbert then proceeded to give out awards for exceptional rationality or cowardice, which somehow lead into a patriotic duet/sing-a-long.
   After a couple songs by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crowe, and cameos by R2D2 and Kareem Abdul-Jabar, a huge paper-mache puppet of Colbert attempted to terrorize the crowd. (The “fear” part of the rally.) A montage of some of the most horrifically partisan news clips played over the Jumbo-Trons – scary indeed.
   Such insanity “killed” Stewart, and the crowd had to revive him via chanting. It felt a little ridiculous, sure, reminiscent of the viral video The Yes Dance. But I joined in anyway.
   With the Colbert puppet safely overwhelmed, Stewart gave his keynote. In all seriousness, it was a gorgeous, powerful speech, one of the most moving I’ve ever heard.   �
   “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing,” Stewart said, the joking tone in his voice now eerily absent. The crowd had gone completely silent; you could have heard a pin drop.
   Stewart summed up the rally’s purpose – which, until then, had remained abstract – with the last lines of his speech. His words echoed my sentiment perfectly.
   “Sanity will always be, and has always been, in the eye of the beholder,” he said. “To see you here today has restored mine.”

Zombie trend

Haley Massara — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:18:57 +0000

Amber Bianchi and friends attended a recent zombie prom in Sacramento.

A gruesome pandemic sweeps the world. Many are infected, and walk the earth as hideous, disfigured cannibals, attacking loved ones and further spreading the plague.
After that, they go to dances.

Amber Bianchi, Davis resident and Zombie Queen hopeful, attended the Sacramento Horror and Sci-fi Convention’s annual Zombie Ball, in full-blown zombie makeup and a formal dress.
“I love zombies so much,” Bianchi said. “I went to my boyfriend’s high school prom when he was a senior, and this is more fun.”

Zombie proms are just one manifestation of the zombie survival craze that has been pervading the horror subculture, and popular culture as a whole.
2002’s hit, 28 Days Later, which re-imagined zombies as quickly-moving, disease-carrying creatures, and the release of horror comedies like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, a fear – and adoration – of the undead has come back to life.
Video games, such as the multi player zombie survival game franchise Left 4 Dead, have brought new levels of realism and depth to zombies, in addition to their well-documented presence in comic books, novels, and most other Internet-accessible forms of media.
Some zombie enthusiasts go so far as developing escape and survival plans. But Granite Bay High School senior, Harry Josephson who is the president of the Zombie Survival Club, thinks it’s just for fun.
“Zombies are really simple and easy to explain,” Josephson said. “They’re just people who are hungry for (human) flesh.”
The appeal of zombie-related horror films and games stems from their lack of a detailed explanation, Josephson added.
“(A zombie film is) not like (a) monster movie; you don’t have to go into an epic one-hour thing explaining what the monster is, because you know it’s a zombie,” Josephson said.
Mike Hampton, Sacramento resident, is the creator of Hot Zombie Chicks, a comic book series. He also does zombie caricatures on commission, most recently at the Sacramento Horror and Sci-fi Convention.
“Most of the time, (my clients) laugh, and they love it and (say) ‘oh, it’s awesome,’ Hapton said. “Then they’ll go show their friends and family.”
For those not satisfied by merely a portrait of themselves as a zombie, local organization Trash Film Orgy puts on a yearly Zombie Walk, in which participants storm the streets of Midtown Sacramento in zombie costume and make-up.
According to Wikipedia and Christi Savage, TFO’s zombie walks, now a national phenomenon, originated in Sacramento, with the first documented walk occurring in 2001.
“We said, ‘oh, if we do a zombie parade, then we’ll make a spectacle and everyone will know about us.’” Savage said. “So we went bowling with zombies, we did the zombie parade, and then everyone else (started) doing zombie walks.”
July’s zombie walk had around 1000 undead in attendance.
Despite recent problems with crime and police presence at Second Saturday, a monthly art walk and traditional location of the zombie walk, Savage said police have been cooperative.
“We’d walk down K street, and one of the years, the cop cars were driving around, (yelling) ‘Brains!’ over their loudspeakers, which was hilarious,” Savage said.
The pro-undead sentiment seen in pop culture recently shows no signs of dying off, Hampton said.
“It’s about the way people react to the world being no more. The conformity and the infrastructure of society is gone, and it’s all about bare necessities,” Hampton said. “That’s more interesting to me than the zombies themselves.”
Bianchi also cited the zombies’ timelessness.
“I think everybody wants to find a way to cure death, and to keep on living.” Bianchi said. “Even (if) it’s a horrible, contaminated, let’s-eat-everybody-and-destroy-the-world (existence), it’s still comforting to (know) there’s something after this.”

The deb-8-ing heats up again

Haley Massara — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:56:00 +0000

Two years ago, the divisive Proposition 8, which formally defined marriage as between a man and a woman, passed with 52 percent voter approval. Furious gay rights groups filed for a repeal, and, over time, the gay marriage debate quieted.
But on Aug. 12, Judge Vaughn Walker declared Prop. 8 unconstitutional, stirring emotions on both sides. Not long after, a stay was put on Walker’s ruling, banning same-sex marriages until further appeal.
Because Prop. 8 was voter-approved, conservative organizations have tried to legally mandate Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to defend the law in court. On Sept. 2, that mandate was denied.
As the coalition of pro-Prop. 8 groups are made up of civilians, questions have been raised as to whether or not they have the authority to enforce such laws.
As a Sacramento suburb, the emotional impact of the Prop. 8 debate on Granite Bay is profound, with students and locals on both sides.
“To me, the fact that it’s even up for debate is just ridiculous,” said Monica Hower, Granite Bay High School class of ’10 alumna, said. “Gay people don’t get married because they want to piss off people, or because they want to live together. They do it because they love each other, and that’s the same reason straight people do it. I don’t understand how (someone couldn’t) empathize with that.”
Gay marriage bans are as discriminatory as racist laws, Hower added.
But many GBHS students have expressed support for the 2008 measure, including senior Ryan Wood.
“I think that marriage has been a religious ceremony for centuries,” Wood said, “and now they’re trying to take that away from guys who want to marry girls, and girls who want to marry guys.”
Senior Jessica Northam has somewhat similar views.
“I don’t think the definition of marriage extends to (gays), because my definition of marriage is that of the Bible: between a man and a woman,” she said.
There has been local animosity regarding Prop. 8, as Wood attested, saying that his house have been egged over a dozen times for his views.
“I don’t want to be hated,” he said.
Hower said that her anti-Prop. 8 bumper stickers have been removed by vandals.
A major facet of the debate is if, and to what extent, Prop. 8 is a religious, rather than purely political, issue.
“It’s turned into a bloodbath,” GBHS senior Gary Nielsen said. “The whole thing has just gotten so jumbled. It’s mixing politics with religion, which is never a good idea … Any time you’re crossing over (between) those two different worlds, you’re just going to end up with a lot of debate (and) a lot of trouble.”

Drowning in embarassment

Haley Massara — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:53:51 +0000

Give up.
I’m not going swimming. I never will. I don’t have a skin condition, and never mind that my disturbingly processed hair will dye the pool purple. I just plain old hate to swim.
This summer I was hounded by my friends to get in the water, but preferred instead to bake on the pool deck like the pathetic hydrophobe I had slowly become. What spoiled swimming for me?
The two weeks of hell so casually referred to as the Physical Education swim unit.
I’ll be honest here, and any of my former P.E. teachers will be happy to confirm: I am not a fan of that sporty state-mandated time waster I must endure for two terms of high school. I think P.E. eats up school budgets, does nothing to limit teenage obesity, and degrades those whose only crime was being born to uncoordinated, physically awkward nerd parents. But Arnold says we have to, so we have to, and I’ve come to terms with that.
What I’m upset about is the swimming unit, which tacks on a whole new level of humiliation to an already unpleasant class.
First and foremost, the swim attire. The vast majority of my peers are more than comfortable trotting around in public in their water-friendly undies, more confident with their own bodies than a shirtless Taylor Lautner at an all-girls boarding school.
But I’m not. Sue me; I’m a very modest person with a smattering of body image issues. It was a living nightmare for me, walking around half-naked in front of my classmates.
Imagine how difficult that would be if I was, say, anorexic. Take a second to think about how scary that would be.
Of course, there’s the pool itself. The Gulf of Mexico is cleaner. And it’s colder than the subdued expression of a kid who’s just taken an AP test. It’s not luxury aquatic fun. It’s a cesspool of bacteria, blood and Band-Aids.
The mandatory swim unit needs to end.
Now, I may be an abysmally bad swimmer, but some people aren’t, and I respect that. Some people actually, for some masochistic reason, enjoy the sport of swimming (for reasons other than watching me flail helplessly like a dying trout). They have every right to take the swim unit, if they want to.
What I propose instead is another option, like, say, running laps around the pool area (which my class did a couple of times), or using those expensive stationary bicycles (which my class never used last year), in addition to swimming. That way, I can keep my shirt on and still get a passing grade.
I understand there’s the challenge of supervision, and that my idea would require another set of eyeballs. But if the teacher’s aids or interns aren’t certified to watch the non-swimmers shoot hoops or walk in circles, they could be temporarily adopted by another P.E. class during the same period.
If nothing else, there should be the option to write a lengthy report on swimming, or get an independent swimming contract, or have the student sign away their firstborn child – there’s got to be some way around it. Not every school has a swim unit, and somehow they’ve survived without one.
It’s too late for me, but I’m writing this for the freshmen. The swim unit is unsanitary, inhumane and unnecessary. The P.E. program was established with the students’ best interests in mind, so let’s listen to them, shall we?
But, hey, on the bright side, if the swim unit persists, I’ll have a whole class of hydrophobic freshman to keep me company come next summer.

Tandoori Night food review

Haley Massara — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:30:24 +0000

On 1420 East Roseville Parkway, a few blocks from Sunsplash and down the street from In-N-Out, lies a departure from the humdrum of suburban chain restaurants. Its only advertisement is its unassuming neon sign, reading simply, ‘Tandoori Night’. But the ever-present crowd of locals and foodies – and the smell, my god, the mouth-wateringly vibrant smell of the place – speaks to its greatness.
Tandoori Night specializes in Indian and Pakistani halal cuisine, and if I can emphasize one point about them, it’s this: they cook some of the freshest food around, bar none. And they’re proud of it. As you order, you’re given an unobstructed view of their largely open kitchen.
Moments after I walked in, I watched a cook pull a massive skewer of chicken out of a tandoori (high-heat) oven, slide the still steaming hunks of meat from the metal, deposit them into a takeout box and hand it over to an eager customer.
This was pure torture as I am a vegetarian, but thankfully, their meat-free entrees were more than enough for me.
All in all, my family and I ordered samosas (dough stuffed with vegetables), pakoras (which are like small veggie fritters), chana masala (garbonzo beans), briyani (vegetables in spiced rice), saag dahl (lentils and spinach), paneer makhani (mild cheese cubes in sauce) and garlic naan (flatbread).
I also sprang for the mango lassi, which is like a tangy yogurt milkshake. They go great with spicier dishes, or so I’ve been told; I drank the whole thing in about a minute. Be warned – they are addictive.
The appetizers – the samosas and pakoras – came quickly, an had obviously not been pre-prepared. The pakoras were delightfully crunchy, and I recommend them with a drizzle of sweet tamarind sauce for a bit of zest. The samosas were rich, but not so much so that they dampened my appetite – rather, they enticed it.
When the rest of my order came, the portion sizes were staggering. I had to arrange the plates so that every spare square inch of space was used. But the food’s quality,
I’m pleased to report, didn’t decline with its quantity.
The chana masala was a surprise favorite of mine, as its texture was creamy and its flavor savory yet delicate. The biryani was excellent, heavy on fresh veggies and relatively light on excess oil. The saag dal was delicious, too, spicy and filling. My least favorite dish had to be the paneer makhani, as it tasted more heavily of tomatoes than I had expected, but the paneer (cheese) itself had a pleasantly chewy texture. The garlic naan served as the perfect side dish to everything, well-suited to sauce-dipping.
By the end of it all, I was so full that I dreaded standing and left with a hefty bag of leftovers.
Tandoori Night is, without a doubt in my mind, the best Indian cuisine in the Roseville-Granite Bay area. Their food is fresh, their service is quick and their prices are almost absurdly cheap for what you’ll get.
If you, like me, grow tired of the same old burger and fries, Tandoori Night offers a delightful culinary escape.

Crossing the too thin line

Haley Massara — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:24:48 +0000

“Morgan”, an anonymous former Granite Bay High School freshman who transferred schools, remembers when she realized she had an eating disorder. She was 12.
“I was anorexic, and then I became bulimic. I didn’t eat for almost a week. Then I started to freak out, so I went through bulimia for two months. I started getting really sick. I actually ended up in the hospital, because I wasn’t having anything in my stomach.
“It was scary. You don’t eat anything, but your mind starts to eat you, because it’s so hungry. It starts to make you insane. You’re mad at everybody. Your insecurities eat you alive, and you don’t think you’re beautiful. You just want to keep throwing up and (feeling) horrible. It’s just a really, really scary state.”
Eating disorders – dangerous fixations on weight and food – are estimated to affect 11 percent of high school students, according to the National Association of Anorexia and Associated Disorders (ANAD). They are some of the most common – and destructive – mental illnesses facing teenagers today.
Anorexia nervosa, one of the two most common eating disorders, is typically defined as severely restricting one’s own food intake – including starvation – and an obsession with weight and calories.
Bulimia nervosa, the other common type of eating disorder, is characterized by cyclical binging – eating abnormally large amounts of food – and purging, either by forcing themselves to vomit or by abusing laxatives and diuretics.
It isn’t uncommon for anorexics to delve into periods of bulimia, and many have experimented with other diet methods. But an eating disorder is more than a diet – it becomes an obsession.
“Most people assume that someone struggling with an eating disorder is just vain, seeking attention, or let a diet get out of control,” said Jennifer Lombardi, Director of Admissions at Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program.
But that simply isn’t true, Lombardi said. In reality, eating disorders are serious health problems, which can wreak havoc on both the body and the mind.
According to Lombardi, teens with eating disorders can suffer hair loss, osteoporosis, organ damage and even death by cardiac arrest.
But the physical aspects of an eating disorder are just scratching the surface of the problem.
“Typically, students with anorexia, if they look at themselves in the mirror, even if everyone else thinks they’re skinny – or too skinny – they still see themselves as fat,” GBHS psychologist Angela Sanchez said. “Their vision of themselves has become distorted, and they think they look fat, even though everyone’s telling them, ‘you’re too skinny.’”
This need to be thin is a common denominator for many eating disorders, particularly bulimia and anorexia.
“We live in a highly toxic culture that focuses on weight and appearance,” Lombardi said. “Imagine challenging yourself and your friends to not talk about weight or dieting, or to refrain from saying anything negative about your appearance for the next week. It won’t take long to see how difficult that is.”
The hypocrisy of popular culture is also to blame, Lombardi added.
“We view ads every day that tell us that we need to buy something in order to ‘fix’ something about us that’s wrong, and then we tell kids and teens to ‘just love yourself.’”
Though eating disorders are stereotyped as a purely female affliction, as many as 10 to 15 percent of documented cases are in men, according to ANAD. Men are also less likely to seek treatment, Lombardi said, due to the misconceptions about them.
Eating disorders cause emotional trauma not only for the sufferer, but for their family and friends, as well.
“Steve”, an anonymous GBHS senior, recounts his friend’s struggles with an eating disorder.
“She just always thought she wasn’t hungry – that’s what she told us,” he said. “We tried to tell her, ‘You need to eat,’ and she always said, ‘I’m never hungry, though.’ Then we made her see her doctor, and her doctor was the one who told us (her diagnosis).”
“I used to stay up at night, worrying about her, praying for her,” Steve said.
Though the vast majority of people living with eating disorders will need professional help to recover, the best thing a friend can do to help is to gently confront the bulimic/anorexic about their concerns, according to Sanchez.
Lombardi advises helping the ill person to “break the silence” surrounding the condition.
“The person struggling may get mad, deny it or even cry, but imagine how you would react if a friend was suicidal,” she said. “Would you sit quietly by, saying nothing because it made you uncomfortable? Hopefully not. Eating disorders are … life threatening. They should be viewed with the same seriousness and importance.”
The anorexic or bulimic should also seek psychotherapy, as well as medical attention, Sanchez said.
If treated within the first year after developing an eating disorder, the odds of recovery are more than 75 percent.
Steve’s friend is in that majority: she has recovered.
“People get eating disorders because they have such low self-esteem,” he said. “Other people tear them down so much. I wish I could just show people that your words actually do have such a big effect on people.”
***
Morgan now considers herself recovered.
“I started doing kickboxing, so I lost a lot of weight from that, and I just feel a lot better about myself.
“(My friends) say, ‘(Morgan), you’re always beautiful, you were never really fat. They never should have called you that.’ Of course, I didn’t believe them, but I am glad I made it through that, and I’m never going to have to go through that again.”

Expensive clothing doesn’t make discrimination acceptable

Haley Massara — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:25:09 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present for your consideration: The Abercrombie Debate.
Is it wrong to deny a qualified person a job based purely on looks?
I was asked this question on St. Patrick’s Day, during my first period English class. And one of the most passionate debates I’ve had in years erupted onto the floor of that classroom, the remarks flying faster than Apolo Ohno in a wind tunnel.
The question in question gets its name from the infamously pricey Abercrombie and Fitch clothing company, which prides itself on an image of manufactured perfection.
Large images of mostly naked half-starved college students are plastered upon every wall of their storefronts, air cannons blast cologne into shoppers’ eyes and one pair of jeans costs about as much as James Cameron’s home computer.
It’s no secret that I am no fan of the brand, their gleefully shameless self-promotion or disgustingly beefed-up poster-boys (or girls, for that matter). Abercrombie is the Jillian Michaels of the fashion industry: self-obsessed, expensive and armed with the uncanny ability to make me feel fat.
But I digress; this is not about Abercrombie, those four syllables of pure evil.
It’s about discrimination, and what exactly that is in a corporation-dominated, culturally numb 21st century American workplace.
Much of the Abercrombie Debate centered around the recent firing of a young, stylish Muslim employee, whose religious headscarf didn’t fit with the company’s disturbingly stringent “Look Policy.”
The employee has decided to sue for this blatant injustice, and I say more power to her. Sue their $200 acid-wash jeans off. Prove a point – that discrimination is never OK.
But an honestly shocking number of my peers disagreed, saying that, since a Muslim headscarf probably wasn’t part of the Abercrombie Spring Collection, she should forgo the job and look for some place less bigoted.
I say no. All obvious religious discrimination aside, how dare a company turn a perfectly good employee away based on an article of clothing?
And racism may be one thing, but even if the case rules in the Muslim employee’s favor (which it will – legally, Abercrombie must make provisions for employees’ religious needs), where do they draw the line?
Would they turn me away, too, if I showed up for an interview wearing my Star of David necklace and with my hair dyed purple?
Would they turn away the world’s best customer service rep because she wore a size XL, or had a visible tattoo?
Would they? Almost certainly.
But should they?
No. No excuses.
And to those of you who will say that Abercrombie merely has an image to uphold, that shouldn’t matter if you’re folding shirts or working the cash register.
Prejudice is prejudice, whether it’s by the color of your skin, what’s printed on it, or what’s pierced through it.
Abercrombie, you have no right to turn applicants away if they have a working frontal lobe, just because they aren’t the prettiest cake in the bakery. You don’t just get to pick and choose by comparing human beings to your mannequin-like mold of perfection.
I wish I could tell you that Abercrombie is the only company guilty of this crime of superficiality, but they are merely the greatest example.
No matter what your style is, no matter which fashion buzzword you’ll use to describe the pair of shoes you’re wearing, you don’t need to give the vultures at Abercrombie any more of your mall-bound cash.
If you value your individuality, shop somewhere else.
***
Haley Massara, a freshman, is a Gazette staff writer.

Reasons for vegetarianism vary

Haley Massara — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:29:15 +0000

GBHS senior Aarya Venkat has never tasted meat in his life.
“It’s hard to avoid,” Venkat said, “in the sense that I see people eating meat everywhere, but it doesn’t really bother me too much.”
Venkat, a vegetarian, isn’t allowed to eat anything that needs food to survive, which includes domestic livestock as well as fish. He still consumes eggs and milk products, though, as long as the animal they come from has been fed a vegetarian diet.
“People often ask me why I can’t take off the pieces of meat on a pizza or some other type of food,” Venkat said. “(I can’t) because the oils and ingredients must be vegetarian as well.”
Instead, Venkat requests meatless versions of common cafeteria fare, such as beef-free taco salad.
Venkat is one of over 7.3 million vegetarians living in the United States, and that number is steadily increasing. As the health benefits of vegetarianism are becoming clearer, many Americans are choosing to forgo flesh in favor of plant-based fare.
Though Venkat is what is commonly known as a “vegetarian,” there is an entire spectrum of vegetarian diets. The most common of these include lacto-vegetarians (milk but no eggs), ovo-vegetarian (egg but no milk), pescetarians (vegetarians who also eat fish) and vegans (who will not consume any product of animal origin).
Some varieties of vegetarian – vegan, in particular – can be quite restrictive, eliminating much of the typical American diet. So why go veg?
“All of us would be much better off if we eliminated all animal products from our diet,” said GBHS teacher Kathie Sinor, who researched low-meat diets before becoming a pescetarian.
In an effort to lower his cholesterol, Sinor’s husband has recently taken up veganism. Since animal products are a major source of cholesterol, removing them completely could be an alternative to taking cholesterol-lowering medication, Sinor said.
Laura Ryan, a product consultant at Sunrise Natural Foods, said that factory-farmed beef products – common in burgers, steaks and ground meat– are substantially higher in fat than organic, grass-fed beef.
“Milk and meat used to be considered diet products,” Ryan said. “Now, if you’re on a diet, you shouldn’t have those products – way too much fat.”
What’s worse, many factory-farms treat their cattle with growth hormones and antibiotics, which are then ingested by beef consumers, Ryan said.
But factory-farming itself can be a reason to go vegetarian, as sophomore Jessica Sheeketski said she believes.
“I have been for animal rights my entire life,” she said, which drove her to cut out meat from her diet.
Factory-farming has been a notorious target of animal rights groups such as PETA, who encourage vegetarianism as a boycott of the meat industry.
But Sheeketski, like many ex-meat-eaters, still occasionally faces temptation.
“It’s mostly the smell,” she said. “I can walk past a barbecue or grill and (think) ‘ That smells good’, but then I’ll see it, and (think), ‘Eww, nevermind.’”
But, aside from withstanding meat cravings, the only thing a person needs to become vegetarian is dietary know-how.
“If a teen eliminated meat and simply continued to eat the other foods in their diet, they would definitely be nutrient deficient,” Sinor said.
“(A student should) educate (themselves) about diet and nutrition. Make sure (they) know how to get the necessary protein … and what foods to combine to get the necessary amino acids.”
Vegetarians-to-be should also avoid processed food, and should wean themselves off of meat, Sinor said.
“For the (non-vegetarian), I’d recommend … just cutting down on red meat, (rather) than becoming a full vegetarian,” Venkat said. “It would probably be a healthy alternative that’s not as difficult.”
Vegetarianism is worth the sacrifice, according to those who have made it.
“I have much more energy,” Sheeketski said. “I love exercising and going to the gym. I’ve lost weight, and it feels great.”

Hot Tub Time Machine review

Haley Massara — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:21:24 +0000

For me, a child of the mid-90’s, the 80’s hold the same glamorous, long-ago mystique as the Victorian Era. I am constantly surrounded by reminders of that glorious decade and it fascinates me – so radically different yet so eerily similar to my own time.
   On that note, what Hot Tub Time Machine lacked in maturity it made up for as a period piece.
   Quintessential 80’s songs played almost constantly in the background and every actor, from the cartoonish leads to the most insignificant extra, was decked out head-to-toe in vibrant 80’s gear. Visually, it was a time trip.
   The script, however, was like a 100-minute long Saturday Night Live skit: goofy, outrageous and unabashedly stupid.
   The premise of the film is self-explanatory: three best friends and a kid, one hot tub, two decades reversed. There were a few trite subplots, but fortunately they were pretty forgettable.
     The hot tub itself, using a classic time-travel cliché, worked in such a way that any action taken by characters in the past would affect the present.
   Thus, much of the movie centered around reliving that 1986 evening exactly as it played out 20 years ago. Funny premise, right?
   But a tragic amount of the film’s comic potential is wasted on juvenile sight gags and groan-inducing vulgarity, which I just don’t find funny. Fake bodily fluids abound.
   Ultimately, the chemistry between the four lead roles – John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke – was what saved the film. The foursome’s constant bickering and playful insults were reminiscent of my own friends and were genuinely fun to watch.
   The cast was able to take an inherently mediocre script and inject enough life into it to keep me entertained, which they definitely deserve praise for.
   The only real problem I had with the casting was Duke, who looks about 14 but buys alcohol – a lot of alcohol – legally. It’s hinted at through the film that he should be looking for a job, but seriously, how old is he? It really bothered me for some reason, and was never really explained.
   But overall, Hot Tub Time Machine was exactly what the previews would lead you to expect – silly, predictable and enough fun to justify buying a ticket. It wasn’t an earth-shaking film by any means, but hey – if the 80’s proved anything, it’s that people can appreciate a little mindless fun.