Red Tails By: Kendra Melendez
An action-thriller has come to theaters and it is a great movie.
With Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Bryan Cranston, Red Tails is a true story that has been in production for 20 years. It’s fast-paced, and has a historical recap. This film illustrates racial conflict, produced by George Lucas, the director of Star Wars.
A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard. The story has been told in the 1995 HBO film, keeping close to the facts with the war and racism in 1940. The pilots protect their country and showed they were on the next level. Although the dialogue is cliché, the fights and action are the heart of the film. With battles right and left, this film will keep you on the edge of your seat. World War 2 is clearly shown throughout this stimulating film.
If you enjoy fighting, action, and suspense, you will definitely be in for a treat.
Let us know what you thought of the movie in the comments below.
Entertainment Finally Coming Around? By: Danielle Molinar
El Paso isn’t usually the place you would look to to find entertainment, being a small city, but lately high school students have been talking about all these upcoming music events. If you haven’t already heard, this Saturday, January 28, the well known DJ’s Steve Aoki and Datsik, on their deadmeat tour, are hitting El Paso’s Coliseum February 10 and February 16. So if you are looking for something to do, check out these DJ’s hitting El Paso.
SOPA and PIPA, What Do They Mean? By:Mia Carreon
The Internet has been a major outlet for news, entertainment, social life, and information since the mid 1990′s. Over 2 billion people log onto the Internet daily, with about 13% of those people in this country alone. However, due to the copyright claims of many companies like WMG (Warner Music Group), VIACOM, UMG (Universal Music Group), Japanese anime companies, and even users on YouTube, Congress promoted two bills that would essentially get rid of online piracy and block certain sites from US citizens. Both SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT-IP Act) were made for this purpose.
SOPA was built off the PRO-IP Act of 2008, which went nowhere, and PROTECT-IP was built off of COCIA (Combating Online Infringement and Copyright Infringement Act) from 2010, which also went nowhere. SOPA was introduced into the House of Representatives on October 26, 2011 by Republican representative Lamar Smith, from our own state of Texas. This bill was originally proposed to allow the US Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Actions found against copyright could include barring online advertising networks, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites, basically prohibiting Google from linking you to a site, such as YouTube or Tumblr. PIPA, the Senate version of the bill, was introduced on May 12, 2011. This bill stated that an “information location tool shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, to remove or disable access to the Internet site associated with the domain name set forth in the order,” and that it must delete all hyperlinks to the offending “Internet site.” Many arguments arose that the 1st Amendment was being abused and taken out of the Internet, especially people who share videos, music and photos of their own creation. “This strips my freedom of speech away because being a musician, I want to release my music, I want to share with the world, and I should be able to! Freely and easily! These bills have the power not only to repress me, but people like me, and all my fellow artists,” said Noah Slavin, 11.
Students like Slavin have posted notices on their Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube accounts asking their friends and families to sign. “I have flooded Facebook with links of petitions against these bills (which I also signed)… I have personally talked to a lot of my friends and family about the dangers of these bills, and showed them videos about the issue… I have written to our Representative here in El Paso multiple times, and posted links on Facebook to write to him concerning the issue,” Slavin continued.
January 16th marked the congressional voting for SOPA, and fortunately, it did not gain enough votes to be passed in the House of Representatives. PIPA was scheduled to be voted on January 24th, but was dropped on the 20th due to a drop in legislative support. January 18th marked a significant change as well, which could also suggest the cut of both bills, as sites like Wikipedia, Google, The Oatmeal and ThatGuyWithTheGlasses blacked out for 24 hours in protest. This did not, however, save the popular sharing site Megaupload.com from being shut down by the government and the owner, who lived in New Zealand, from being arrested and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Americans on the Internet call this a victory, and in retrospect it is, and their freedom of speech online has been saved, for now. Rewrites of both SOPA and PIPA, though, can come back in the near future.
Boy Bands By: Meagan Fennell
Within the past few months, a new trend has been making its way into the music business. Foreign boy bands are constantly topping the music charts and taking over teenage girls’ hearts.
Bands such as the Wanted and One Direction consist of members from all over the world, but what is it about these bands that are making them so popular in the music business?
“Their voices are what I love about them. Us American girls are not used to hearing British accents, so when we do, we get excited since we do not usually hear those types of voices very often,” said Cameron Rodriguez, 9.
Due to the image given off by movies these days, British accents give off that “Prince Charming” appearance, which attracts girls, since they all want that “happy ending” with their prince.
Another reason why women find British accents so exotic and irresistible is something called chivalry, which means to treat a lady with the respect that they deserve. A British accent symbolizes class and respect, which all women want in a man. There is also a common association with most British accents that the speaker is more intelligent, and this also catches women’s attention.
Due to this adoration of British accents, girls are finding themselves constantly checking iTunes for a new song from their latest boy band, just hoping that they can find an English man in their future.
Is Illuminati Real? By: Sage Bonilla
For all those newcomers that don’t know anything about the Illuminati, here is the simplest definition: a secret organization that sells their soul to the devil for riches.
Quite a lot of people who are into conspiracy theories like things on the Illuminati, and the new world order seems to catch their eye. It apparently has been a long-term belief of the majority of those who claim to be experts. The movement was founded May 1, 1776 as the order of the Illuminati with initial membership of five people. There is still a lot left to be uncovered about the group name.
If you are among those who would like to know more in detail about the Illuminati, you might want to look into some video streaming sites about them. Apparently, a lot of them may be creepy at first, but you’ll find out more about the Illuminati this way. Video streamed on the Illuminati online are like crash courses into the said group.
So the question is, is it real? A lot of people apparently believe that it does exist, because there are plenty of members in it. The thing is that we would never know who is a member as there are not much of them walking around us, and it’s not called “secret society” for nothing.
With all this being said and done, is it really believable?
Facebook Timeline By: Nasim Saadat
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network, Facebook, is proud to announce the new Facebook timeline. The timeline is supposed to make finding photos and links much easier. The option to switch to the new timeline was offered and optional on September 23, 2011. Starting January 24, 2012 the timeline will be required for all users.
“Honestly, Facebook is now becoming like Myspace. The other way was much more convenient and easier to find things, such as pictures. They are doing the exact opposite of what Mark Zuckerberg meant to do,” Bobby Chacon, 10.
“The new Facebook timeline is actually really interesting. It makes your profile look much more appealing, and also it’s easier to find statuses,” Stephanie Johnson, 11.
The timeline is getting many opinions from both aspects and whether or not people like it. Either way, the Facebook timeline is here to stay.
Steve Aoki By: Tessa McCune
This Saturday night, Steve Aoki is coming to the Coliseum at 8:30. Steve Aoki is a DJ born in Miami and raised in Newport Beach, California. Aoki founded his own label in 1996, and his debut album, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicals, was released in January of 2008.
What really made Steve Aoki big was the song “Warped.” Other hit songs are “Turbulence” and “I’m in the House.”
“Steve Aoki is one of my favorite DJ’s; I’m so excited to see him on Saturday,” Alexa Armes, 10.
The tickets are selling out fast, so if you want to have a fun time this weekend, head on over to the Coliseum and enjoy Steve Aoki.