Photo: tvdoom.com

Growing up in the somewhat boring, sheltered city of Irvine, there is definitely a vacancy in our lives when it comes to drama. It is time to find your fix.

Degrassi is somewhat like a soap opera, dramatizing domestic teen problems without the explicit themes showcased in other shows of the genre, such as MTV’s Skins.

Though originating in Canada, “Degrassi” airs in the United States and the United Kingdom as well, this season being the first to have the new episodes aired on the same day in the United States and Canada. Now in its 10th season, the show has decided to promote the last 12 episodes with the new title, “Degrassi: In Too Deep.” After recently embarking on this new chapter, the first few episodes, not to mention the trailers, have started off a very promising chapter in “Degrassi” history.

Each week’s episode follows a large group of sophomores, juniors and seniors who attend Degrassi Public High School and the modern problems that they, and some young adults may face.

With quite a slew of different characters in three different grades, the plot can be difficult to understand, especially when you are newly acquainted with the show. To get you up to speed with the more current events within the greater Degrassi cast, I summarized the problems between most of the major characters.

Fiona’s dangerous addiction to champagne, had spiraled out of control, starting from a way to cope with her loneliness, to a dangerous device making her act and say things much different from her few sober moments finally leading up to a climactic intervention with her friends and family. The one who set this up was Holly J, Fiona’s best friend and senior class president.

Drew is a star on the basketball team and notices that he is not as popular as last semester , due to the fact that he is spending more and more time with Bianca, who is despised by all the other girls because of her reputation of being very promiscuous. His brother Adam is a female-to-male transgender and has had romantic instances with Fiona, not knowing if he could ever have a true relationship the way he is.

His best friends, Eli and Clare are in a serious relationship, having been through traumatic events as a couple and clearly head over heels for each other.

Zane and Riley are a homosexual couple, Riley being newly “out” to everyone except his parents.

Tune in to TeenNick (formerly The-N) on Friday nights at 9 p.m. to witness “Degrassi” and bring the wonders of a teen drama into your life.

Photo: indieshuffle.com

Bright Eyes’s latest endeavor in the musical world with “The People’s Key” (Saddle Creek) sounds roughly like what I would imagine a Kurt Vonnegut novel to sound like – a tad bit futuristic with a nod to the past.

Previously, lead singer Conor Oberst wrote acoustic ballads that sounded like a wide-eyed teenager hoping to find himself and his place in the world. Since then his music has dropped the folk influence and developed into a synth-rock sensation that keeps the dark and deep tune of past albums.

In comparing The People’s Key to previous albums such as 2007’s Cassadaga, Oberst says that he was “really burnt out on that rootsy Americana [garbage.]” His move towards rock is complete with synthesizers and electric guitars, something that older records lacked.

His stronger voice and more compelling lyrics sound like liquid poetry, dripping with honesty and a curiosity regarding the most diverse topics, including time, religion, Satan and Hitler. Oberst shouldn’t receive all the credit though; band-mates Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott dabble in the mandolin, keytar and even accordion, creating an almost-ethereal backdrop to Oberst’s vocals.

The title track, “A Machine Spiritual (In the People’s Key)” sets the mood and tone for the entire album. A cosmic creation about the possibilities of the New Age, “A Machine Spiritual” ends with a universal motto – “We’re starting over.” A motto that Bright Eyes seems to relate to quite well.

If you’re not too interested in rock, but enjoy a good throaty ballad, look no further than Adele’s newest album “21” (Columbia). The now 22-year-old singer-songwriter, has upgraded to the status of a UK Soul Diva. With songs like “He Won’t Go,” Adele proves that she is not just another sex idol or marketing tool.

Her voice is powerful and vulnerable at once, bringing music back to its core sans auto tune and flashy music videos. Drenched in rawness, “21” gives us stellar tracks that scream for features in FOX’s hit show “Glee” (sung naturally by Miss Mercedes).

Although mostly popular in the United Kingdom, Adele seems to have broken out stateside with her new soulful album. Dubbed the new Aretha Franklin, Adele only needs her voice and a piano to perform.

Songs to be sure to look out for include “Rolling the Deep” and “Turning Tables,” in which she brings out her American country and soul influences. “Lovesong,” a new take on The Cure’s “I Will Always Love You,” takes listeners on an emotional rollercoaster and is so bold that it sounds like it could be staged at Paris’ Palais Garnier.

In “Rolling the Deep,” Adele belts out “Think of me in the depths of your despair.” Will do, Adele. Will do.

Jumping the pond from the U.K. to Miami, let’s take an earful of Ricky Martin’s latest album – “Musica + Alma + Sexo” (translated in English to “Music, Soul and Sex”). I don’t usually listen to Latino music, but decided to give it a chance.

I’ve found Ricky Martin’s album to be a great way to practice my Spanish and although most tracks on the album sound like the same variation of each other, “Frio (feat. Wisin y Yandel) [Remix Radio Edit]” has a unique sound with a great beat.

This album seems to be a reflection of his happiness and freer spirit as of late, but I’m not particularly convinced of his talent. The first track on the album “Mas” (More) has great potential, but tapers off in the middle, leaving listeners dissatisfied and just a little confused.

Martin has definitely grown and developed as an artist since his nineties’ hits, but “Musica + Alma + Sexo” does not show off his capabilities. This album is a good listen if you’re getting nostalgic for the good times of wide-leg jeans and Radio Disney, but if not I would recommend leaving Ricky Martin behind along with the last century.

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Angela Hanigan, drama teacher, and Tanya Abrahamian, assistant stage manager.

Photo: Tina Kim

Actors aren’t the only students at work in the musical. An unnoticed group of equally dedicated students, the stage crew, has much to do with the success of a play.

Along with the actors, stage crew has rehearsed for eight hours two days a week and all through their Saturdays and furlough days.The 18-member stage crew is separated into six separate crews: costumes, make-up, running, props, fly rail and sound and lighting.
“To some people, the stage crew is the support crew for the actors,” said Natasha Karamally, stage manager. “But in my opinion, we do more than the actors do, because if we didn’t run the show from behind the scenes, the actors would be on the stage with nothing and the show would be nothing.”

“Barnum” is a story told within the confines of a circus tent, allowing the production to cut costs on the production by using a unit set. A unit set is a set that has a single setting that can show different scenes by adding or removing set pieces, making the running crew, the people who make the scene changes happen, all the more crucial.

“It’s a lot of work and it gets really frustrating,” said Karamally. “But this is my third year doing it and I keep coming back because at the end of the show, when I see everything come together to put a great show for an audience, it’s a great feeling. It keeps making me come back to theater. ”

In between scene changes, the fly rail crew which is in charge of pulling the curtains, close the curtains for a new scene. Crews for costumes, make-up and props then go to work on the cast for their next appearance as the running crew move set pieces to change the setting.

The production cost a total of $14,000: $7,000 for the set designer and construction, $3,000 for buying the right to do the production from the royalty company and $4,000 for renting and buying costumes and lights. Additional money is spent buying concessions, flyers, make-up and props. Every purchase must be approved by ASB.

“To me it seems like a lot of money, but when I think about musicals that we’ve done in the past, it’s actually much much less than before,” said Hanigan.

Most of the budget for production comes from ticket sales. This year’s budget also

included profits from last year’s musical, parent donations, money from ASB and a private account managed by Hanigan and Halop.
“It’s a big undertaking, but the kids get so excited about what they’re doing,” said Hanigan. “Working with the kids are my favorite part, seeing them find that joy of performing through their eyes and seeing how much energy they have for the production.”

Photo: filmofilia.com

They took his life, his identity and his state of mind. “Unknown,” an action-packed movie starring Liam Neeson who plays the main character Dr. Martin Harris, January Jones who plays Elizabeth Harris and Diane Kruger who plays Gina, left many viewers breathless and gripping their seats in anticipation, waiting to see what would happen next.

Liam Neeson accurately conveys a man, Dr. Martin Harris, who attempts to prove that he is not paranoid when he wakes up from a coma and finds that no one knows who he is. The plot of the movie was not cliché but rather took a turn for the unexpected towards the end. This thriller also had booming sound and visual effects that made the audience truly feel as though they were a part of the movie.

The actors and actresses in this movie are very talented and portray their characters well. However, Jones seemed awkward for the role of playing someone of stealth. The film was very well executed in that it helped the audience progress through the story while making them anticipate and ponder about certain events.

Photo: onlinemovieshut.com

The title of the movie should give you a fair warning. “Little Fockers” ended up being a  very bad movie to watch with the family, and it served poorly in its purpose to entertain an audience. The story relates a tale about a man, Greg (Ben Stiller), raising a family with a psycho father-in-law constantly getting in the way. This PG-13 movie has been in the top two at the box office for a while and seemed like the easy and fun choice to make on Saturday night. I now recommend those that only look at box office rankings to think again and save ten bucks.

The story places a married couple, Greg and Pam Focker (Teri Polo), in a great struggle to keep their father-in-law Jack (Robert De Niro) satisfied with their family life. Greg’s job as a male nurse has Jack looking down on him skeptically since the beginning of Pam and Greg’s relationship. In order to prove himself, Greg goes out of his way to impress his father-in-law. Of course as luck has it, every single opportunity goes amiss. Greg’s attempt to prove that he can support his family goes crazy, as his second job includes a seductive and hyper female associate (Jessica Alba), which only infuriates Jack when he finds out.  With Pam and Greg’s twins’ birthday party coming up, Greg is left with one chance to fix the huge misunderstanding and face Jack once and for all.

Stiller’s performance was bound to be as hilarious as usual, but only for a few moments due to the predictability of the movie. Robert de Niro constantly portrayed Jack with the same “I’m watching you” attitude with a suspicious face on for most of the movie. On a positive note, Jessica Alba looked gorgeous and the two child actors who played the twins were adorable.

The soundtrack of the movie definitely helped with the flow of the movie by setting the mood and instilling in its viewers a bit of anticipation. The set design also contributed to making the movie bearable. The lacking storyline was enhanced to mediocrity by the beautiful settings, like the park where the twins’ birthday party was held and by the cheesy but acceptable song choices used to set the moods.

Perhaps my bitterness towards the movie comes from having to watch a few highly disturbing moments with my parents, but I can honestly say that it wasn’t worth watching in theatres. Nevertheless, this movie certainly taught me a few lessons: Never judge a movie by its box office ranking, always wait for a few reviews to come out and leave my parents at home when watching any non-Disney movie. All in all, “Little Fockers” was a big disappointment.

Photo: mymoviecinema.com

In director Darren Aronofsky’s latest masterpiece, the docile art of ballet is disturbingly distorted into a horror show of the dark side of every artist’s strive for perfection. Natalie Portman’s astounding performance as dancer Nina Sayers, only adds to the peculiar turn of events, most of which are psychologically thrilling. Set to eerie Tchaikovsky concertos and filled with mesmerizing costumes, “Black Swan” definitely pleases the senses, but its failure to have the audience identify with a character, holds it back from “film of the year” acclaim.

In the film, Portman portrays Nina, a dedicated ballerina who dances for a prestigious New York ballet company. When the director of the company decides that Beth (Winona Ryder), his “little princess” and go-to dancer does not have what it takes anymore to dance in his new show, he quickly turns to Nina to play the Swan Queen in his new interpretation of “Swan Lake.” As Nina suffers under the building pressure from her artistic director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) and her smothering mother (Barbara Hershey), she tries her hardest to become the character of the Swan Queen. As Thomas tells her repeatedly, she has the innocent, sweet appearance of the White Swan, but needs venomous, seduction to play the Black Swan equally as well. Then there is Lily (Mila Kunis), a new dancer at the company who is as wild and carefree as Nina is disciplined and timid. The two form a strange relationship that takes the audience on a whirlwind of competition, jealousy and drugs, as Nina believes her role as Swan Queen is threatened.

While the premise of the film sounds compelling enough, Black Swan is not as convincing as I expected it to be. Repetition throughout the movie annoys the audience rather than emphasizing the theme, and the character of Nina seems a bit drab. It’s not that Portman delivers Nina’s character in an uninteresting way – actually quite the contrary – but Nina not once seems to actually enjoy dancing. Sure, she pirouettes on point until her toenails crack and practices at the studio until the lights go out, but she doesn’t seem to muster enough passion for viewers to identify with her as an artist or for viewers to appreciate the sacrifices she makes in the name of ballet. Her transformation into the Black Swan is invisible, and it was hard for me to see the transition in which Nina goes from innocent child to dark seductress. However, I would not blame Portman in any way for this blunder; gaps in the plotline, in my opinion, should be attributed to the screenwriters.

Character flaws seem to be the only problem with the movie though. Aronofsky’s attention to detail in terms of sound editing and filming is outstanding. Sounds of fluttering feathers, giggles and high-pitched shrieks fade in and out of scenes in a bizarre way, which makes one believe he or she may have imagined the noises altogether. Handheld camerawork also takes viewers into Nina’s world as they walk with Nina into the crowded subway, breathe with Nina as she dances and pant with Nina as she rapidly spirals into a world of chaos and horror – her own mind.

Portman’s portrayal of Nina is a true masterpiece, in which she blurs the boundaries between reality and ambitious dreams. Her face which gives away all her emotions, reveals the inward struggle of child and adult. In a particularly touching scene, Nina rushes to the bathroom to call her mother to share the news of getting the lead role. As she speaks to her mom, terror, grief, and sheer joy are demonstrated through Portman’s tears, the way a lock of hair is tucked behind her ear, the way her arm crosses over her stomach.

“Black Swan” may also be a great place to look when it comes time to nominate a performer for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Hershey, who excels at playing Nina’s mom, perfects the role of suffocating mother and depressed single-parent. Cassel also depicts artistic director, Thomas, spot-on. His domineering – almost borderline abusive – attitude, is expressed through the screen in such a way that angers the audience.

In the end, “Black Swan” is a provocative tale of ambition, dreams and jealousy.  It is a beautiful mess set in a dark, ethereal world but sadly falls just short of perfection. However, I highly recommend the movie, even if just to watch for the cinematography and breathtaking acting.   

(To those students who want to the see the film, it is rated R for a reason. I have to two pieces of advice for you: 1. Make sure you are comfortable with the amount of violence, sexual content and drugs in it, and 2. You may end up feeling extremely awkward when watching this movie with your parents.)

Bryn Terfel

On furlough day Monday November 22, 44 chorus students along with chorus teacher Zach Halop and his family, took a school field trip to LA, watching Disney’s A Bug’s Life along the way.

The trip was to see Bryn Terfel, a Welsh baritone-bass operatic singer, in concert. The singer performed a one-night-only concert, an event Halop felt was appropriate, educational and benefitial for chorus students to attend.

“It was such a great opportunity for us to be exposed to great vocal music at the highest professional level,” said chamber singer junior Michelle Siu

The 44 students who attended were a mix of students from all five choruses: Treble Clef, Bass Clef, Viva Cantar, Concert Chorale, and Chamber Singers.

Students were also offered a pre-concert lecture on the common styles Terfel performed and the pieces he would be playing later that night. The goal of this seminar was to better prepare the students to appreciate the music they would hear that evening. This lecture was given by Halop’s wife, professional pianist Keiko Halop, who discussed technique, stylistic preferences, languages, and subtitling.

Chorus students left from the NHS campus and were bused to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, where they were given a tour of the Hall. They were supplied with dinner and ice cream before the concert, courtesy of the NHS Boosters club.

The concert was a two-part performance, with accompaniment provided for by Terfel’s pianist, Malcolm Martineau. The event was a mix of classical vocal pieces, such as Schumman, but also featured several Welsh songs and “Home on the Range,” during which Terfel invited the audience to sing along with him.

Terfel’s style is very interesting–a blend of concert or operatic sound, a loyalty to his Welsh culture, and a favoritism for Mozart and Wagner.

After the approximately 2-hour concert, the students waited in line for over an hour to meet Terfel. They were rewarded for their patience, as Terfel posed for a picture with the group.

“It was really exciting, and such a cool trip for us,” said sophomore Rahel Morrison.