Experiencing The Big E

Have you ever been to the Big E? This year the Big E is being held in West Springfield, MA from September 13th to the 29th. There are lots of different things to explore there.

This year, one of its greatest draws would be the food. There is so much to choose from and many of the Big E’s millions of visitors all have their favorites, whether its the turkey legs, the baked stuffed Maine potatoes, the French beignets, or the fair’s signature cream puffs. Also check out the Big E-Z Cafe, with lots of waistband expanding goodies of all sorts. This includes the Craz-E breakfast sandwich featuring two eggs on a glazed donut with a choice of a sausage patty, bacon, or both! (can you imagine how many calories are in that?) Another Big-E delicacy  is the Chocolate Baconana, created by chef Mary Ann Brick of the Veggie Patch.  It is a frozen banana on a stick, dipped in chocolate, and rolled in real bacon. To me, some of that doesn’t exactly sound very satisfying, but thats what the people like. So if you ever check out the Big-E, be sure to try all kinds of different foods, you never know what you might like there.. I surely don’t.

One other thing that attracts people to coming is the huge amount of entertainment provided at the Big-E. Seriously, you will never run out of stuff to do. Whether you check out one if the concerts featuring Today’s hottest singers, or experience the amazing Mardi Gras Parade, there is entertainment for all ages… or so I’ve heard. If you want to see top-name talent, then visit the Xfinity Arena near the site of the fair’s concerts. The Arena seats over 6000 people, so don’t worry about getting your tickets on time. So thats most of the entertainment at the Big-E, but if you visit, you’ll probably discover much more fun things to do there.

~Rachel Mola

A Night of Anticipation

Sunday, February 24th was a big day in the show biz industry. So far this year we’ve had the Grammy’s, SAG awards, Golden Globes, etc. This Sunday was yet again, another award ceremony that many people have looked forward to all month. The Academy Awards also known as the Oscars.

The Oscars is an anticipated and globally televised event. Before the first Academy Awards took place out of the public eye during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Guest tickets cost only $5 and there wasn’t as much suspense when the awards were presented. This whole process changed the following year when the Academy kept the results on who had won a secret until the ceremony, but ended up giving a list in advance to newspapers for publication at 11PM on the night of the Awards. This continued until 1940 when the LA Times broke the embargo and published the names of the winners in its evening edition. (The paper was ready for guest when they arrived at the ceremony.) Ever since that situation, the Academy in 1941 adopted a sealed envelope system. In 1952, the first televised Oscar ceremony enabled millions throughout the US and Canada to watch this event. They began broadcasting in color in 1966 and since 1969, the show has been broadcasting internationally now reaching fans in over 200 countries.

This year’s 85th annual Oscars was hosted by Seth Macfarlane. Seth is best known for his work in the Fox TV show, “Family Guy.” There, he plays the voices of Stewie Griffin, Peter Griffin, Brian the dog and Glenn Quagmire. Seth Macfarlane is also the co creator of American Dad and another show called The Cleveland Show.  He is an American actor, voice actor, animator, screenwriter, comedian, producer, director and singer.

This year’s Academy Awards were great in my opinion! Seth Macfarlane’s monologue was wonderful! Jennifer Lawrence won best actress and while going up the stairs to go claim her award, she tripped over her dress on the stairs. Argo won the award for Best Picture along with Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln for best actor. Ang Lee won the award for best director of Life of Pi and best animated short film was “Paperman,” by John Kahrs. The Huffington Post gives a list of winners from last night. Michelle Obama made a special appearance at the Oscars too! These actors, actresses, directors, producers, etc did a phenomenal job and deserved these awards.The nominees who didn’t get selected did amazing job in their category as well and deserved the award too. The men and women who put this whole show together produced an outstanding show. If missed the Oscars then you can catch it online now!

~Sophia Qiu

How To Have A Sun-Sational Summer!

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Once the spring season has started, everybody is ready to grab their flip flops and head to the beach. It’s true that summer is quickly approaching and everyone can’t wait for the sun and fun, but before you start booking vacations and making plans, you should get an idea of what’s going on this summer. So I’m here to tell you about all the exciting things you can do this summer to have the best summer ever! (Well, until next year when you get to do it all again!) So, why wait? Let’s talk summer! No parent wants to hear the lame “I’m bored” excuse! And you obviously don’t want to have to give it! So what can you do to cure the boredom blues? The real question is: What can’t you do?

Looking for something casual? Grab a friend and go see a movie! Tons of hot new movies are coming out this summer and an air-conditioned theater is sometimes what you need on those 90 degree days. If you’re into superheroes, you’ve got plenty of options! The Avengers, The Amazing Spider Man, and The Dark Knight Rises will all be coming out.

Need a kid-friendly movie to take your little bro or sis to? You could try Brave, the new Disney movie about a brash young princess who has to end a dangerous curse, or you could stick with something well-known such as  Madagascar 3 or the new Ice Age. Or maybe you’re looking for a fun movie to see with your friends? Definitely check out Step Up Revolution, a highly anticipated continuation of the Step Up movies.

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So what happens when it’s a beautiful day out and the last thing you want to be doing is sitting inside a movie theater? Well, you do one of the other thousands of fun summer activities! If you like nature and the outdoors, there are many options for you! Grab a couple of friends and go hiking or biking on a local trail. It’s a great way of getting exercise and can be extremely relaxing when your summer has been jam-packed with on-the-go activities. Another fun outdoors adventure would be camping. Of course, I don’t want to hear the excuse that no one will take you camping! Camp out in your backyard!  Find a big tent, some snacks, movies, and a DVD player and “go camping!” Play classic sleepover games such as “Would You Rather?” and “Truth or Dare”. Other fun outdoor activities include going to the beach, having a picnic, cloud watching, and so many others! Just be creative!

If you’re more into making money this summer, there are tons of things you can do to earn some spare change to save up for that concert or Broadway show with your friends. Try to find something that you love to do and are pretty decent at doing. Chances are, if you would want to buy it, there is someone else out there who would as well. If you really can’t think of anything you can do, don’t fret because I have a couple options for you! If younger kids live in your neighborhood, talk to your neighbors and pick up a couple of babysitting jobs! Babysitting pays a lot and is so easy and fun! If you want to sell a product to make money, you could try making and selling bracelets or other types of jewelry. If you don’t enjoy making stuff like that, you could always have the classic lemonade stand! It may sound a little silly and a little boring, but trust me, everyone wants lemonade on a hot day and it’s a great way to make easy money.

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So now the people who don’t like to be outdoors and aren’t too interested in making money are left thinking, “Great! What am I supposed to do this summer?” Well, don’t think I’ve forgotten you! there are tons of fun and creative things you can do! On especially hot days, you can invite over a bunch of friends and have a huge water balloon fight or play in the sprinklers. Too childish for you? Well, let me tell you, that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun! If you’re into culinary arts, you can whip up smoothies with fun flavors for your family on a hot day or you could put together ice cream sundaes with tons of crazy toppings! You could even check out books such as Hello, Cupcake! for fun and creative ways to make different cupcakes. If you want to do fun competitive games with friends or siblings, you can play mini golf, go bowling, or play laser tag. Your options are endless!

No matter what you do this summer, make sure you spend lots of quality time with friends and family. Take time to relax and prepare for the upcoming school year. Cherish small moments and make lots of great memories. I hope you all have the best summer ever!

~Marisa Nazzaro

A”Change this World” Technology

So if you are wondering what this type of technology is after reading the title, think for a second. It is very popular for teens to have one, it provides thousands of apps, and it has its own type of video chatting.Well, if you guessed the Apple Ipod Touch fourth generation, you are correct.  This piece of technology changed the world. For a long time, Apple has been constructing these pieces of technology. But now, the new one has been put out there with two cameras, it got a lot thinner, and like every time; it gets faster. I actually have an ipod touch fourth generation and I love it and it does exactly what it says.

 Even though I have had this for quite awhile, I still have a few questions on how to do things. I share an account with my family so that seems to mean that everything is shared. Earlier when the new software came out I tried creating an imesage account. I followed the instructions and when it popped up to sign in, I couldn’t. So if there is anyone out there that could maybe help me in some way, that would be awesome. Something else that I have a question about is with gamecenter. I was creating a gamecenter account and it worked. But I noticed that it was not under my name. It was under my fathers name and e-mail because he created the itunes account. I tried to figure this problem out along with imessage and I could not find a solution. Again, if you know a solution to my problem or you know you can help my in any way, that would be great!
Ok. Now I ask you, if you don’t have an ipod touch, personally I think you should buy one. It provides many ways to connect with your friends and it also acts just like a computer. Yes it costs a lot but I saved money for one. The one I have is the 64 gigabyte ipod (gigabyte is storage space). If you don’t want to spend $400.00, you can buy the 32 gigabyte or the 8 gigabyte one. These cost less but if you are a big gamer, I would not recommend the 8 gigabyte. Overall, if you like technology that is very portable and want many free ways to connect with your friends and fun to use, this is the thing for you!

~Evan Perlroth

Video games

There are many computer games that are for Windows computers and not for Macs. Why are games like Terraria, Star Wars the Old Republic, and many Steam games for Windows and not Macs? How hard would it be to make a game for Macs? My friend Jack Pepper said that it would take a few weeks to a month to make Star Wars for Macs as well as Windows. This is not that long if you think of how much money they would make. Many of their players come from World of Warcraft and I’m guessing that the number of people that play World of Warcraft on Macs versus Windows is about 7% Macs and its a growing market. So Star Wars would largely increase there cash

Also the other thing Star Wars game makers are doing cannot get them near the amount of people that making it for Macs would. I think that for each new thing they add they get around 20,000 more people or around a 1 percent increase in their population per update since they have 2 million players. Also this means that every month from the players they make thirty million dollars a month from the fee. They made 120 million from the initial release. They have made 150 million dollars so far. If they made it for Macs that number would double and they’d be pulling in 2.1 million dollars a month and would have a total of 160.5 million dollars. How is that not highest on the priority list?

~Dan Light