Lady Gaga is known for creating surprise and disbelief among her fan base, but this time she’s really done it.
Gaga’s new album, “Born This Way,” was released Monday after months of anticipation, available in both downloadable and CD form.
Unbeknown to the many fans who pre-ordered Gaga’s album, Amazon offered a one-day sale of the MP3 album for only 99 cents as compared to iTunes’ $11, where most people buy their music.
Natalie Dell'Estate listens to Lady Gaga's new album. Photo by Sarah Schaeffer
On top of the surprise sale, customers were even more surprised and disappointed when the massive sales stalled the entire Amazon server, which recently implemented a “Cloud Drive” service, allowing users to store files on the internet.
Smartly, Amazon promised the despaired users to get them their album for the same 99 cent price when the server started up again.
Regardless of the technical difficulties, Penn Manor students still managed to get their Gaga.
“I pre-ordered [the album] in March from Borders or Barnes and Noble because that’s where it was cheapest,” said junior and Gaga fan Natalie Dell’Estate, who has listened to parts of the album more than once already.
“I got [the album] on iTunes the day it came out,” said junior Mike Nitroy. “I was mad because I payed full price and then found out it was 99 cents on Amazon.”
As far as the quality of the much sought after album, the reviews are mixed.
“I really like her music. It just makes me want to dance. When you actually listen to her sing, she’s actually talented,” said Dell’Estate. “This CD is different from her first, it has a lot of electric/techno/80’s inspirations.”
“I listened to it all at once and it’s just okay. Some of it’s weird,” said Nitroy.
Senior Eric Bear downloaded “Born This Way” immediately and loves it, even playing the album aloud on a field trip.
The Penn Manor Orchestra recently performed in the high school auditorium. The jazz band, orchestra and full band all played songs, ranging from the Lord of the Rings theme song to a Lady Gaga medley. The concert took place on May 19. The concert gave the band and orchestra students an opportunity to show off all of the hard work and time they put into playing an instrument.
CBS has found a replacement for Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men. Ashton Kutcher. Oh God. Currently, no one knows much beyond the fact that Kutcher has signed on. CBS won’t reveal how Sheen will be worked out, how Ashton will be worked in or even what role he’s scripted for.
Charlie Sheen (left) and Ashton Kutcher (right). From the NY Daily News.
Kutcher comes in from a long history of playing dopey, somewhat witless characters, most famously Michael Kelso of That 70’s Show, Jesse Montgomery III from Dude, Where’s My Car?, and, more recently, What Happens in Vegas’ Jack Fuller. A stoner, a stoner and a lazy doofus. I guess he didn’t stereotype his roles too much. I do give him credit, though. He seems pretty clever off screen. Earlier, he hinted at the role, tweeting “What’s the square root of 6.25?” The answer? Two and a half.
As a fan of Sheen’s acting, I expected a majority to agree with me that this was a bad move. Apparently, I was wrong.
According to junior Sianna Emrich, “Charlie Sheen will not be missed.”
And popular Psychology teacher Maria Vita says that she pities Kutcher for ending up on the show, “I hate it [Two and a Half Men]. I’m sorry for Ashton for getting into it.”
Well, anyway, it’s official. Kutcher’s in, Sheen is out, and no one seems to mind.
While most high schoolers are playing sports or at work, this 18 year old would rather sit down with his guitar and write a song.
One of his songs is now available to everyone on the planet with a computer and an iPod.
Adam Swift, senior and music student at Penn Manor High School, has been singing since seventh grade and playing the guitar since eighth grade. Then in eleventh grade, he began writing his own music.
Senior Adam Swift releases single on iTunes. Photo by Sarah Schaeffer.
He recently wrote a song called I’ll See You. Swift penned this song when he got off the phone with his girlfriend. He realized how much he misses her, as she goes to school in Virginia and the phone is the only thing keeping the two of them together.
“I sing it like I would be talking to her. In the song I tell her, even though we are far apart, we will see each other soon and the distance between us will be eliminated,” said Swift.
I’ll See You is now available for download on the iTunes library. It will soon be available on Amazon and Zune as well.
Students may be familiar with Swift’s single which he performed at Entertainment Penn Manor in April.
“I appreciate all of the encouragement from ETPM. A lot of the people that I didn’t know were complimenting me and my song,” said Swift.
Swift is attending LBC (Lancaster Bible College) in the fall of 2011 and is majoring in worship art. He hopes that he will be able to “live the dream” as he finishes his college career and hopes to begin to record with professionals.
The artists that inspired Swift the most musically include Derek Webb, Caedmon’s Call (Webb’s original band) and the famous Johnny Cash.
“I’d like to thank MT [music teacher Melissa Telesco] for encouraging and motivating me in my four years in the music program at Penn Manor High School,” said Swift.
To hear and download Swift’s latest creation, visit iTunes: I’ll See You by Adam Swift.
The human brain has many different emotions, and when you throw music into the mix, the brain gets enveloped with them.
According to “This is your brain on music,” written by Daniel J. Levitin, studies show listening to music stimulates the brain, the emotional connection we have to the songs on the radio or the CD’s you listen to all correspond to a memory, a loved one, your mood, your religion, your up-bringing and much more.
Humans feel a different connection when just listening to a song through speakers as apposed to being at a concert or recital. The person playing the music has the ability to make you feel a deep connection or no connection at all. They do this by playing with “feeling,” according to the new research.
When a person playing Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven (a minor song) plays the song with no accents or crescendos or staccatos, how is a person supposed to get involved with a boring song?
But when you play as if the person or memory, etc. is around you, the feeling comes alive, not just in the person playing the song, but the listeners as well.
An article titled “To Tug the Heartstrings, Music First Must Tickle the Neurons,” from the New York TImes states that researchers did an experiment where music (the same song) was played note for note “mechanically” and then freely, holding out notes for longer periods of times and playing notes louder. They were voted on which had more emotion and the freely played one won.
“Seeing an artist actually play, you can see what they put forth in their music, I really connect with them when I hear their emotion,” said sophomore Haley Smith.
A photo of a piano that sits in Penn Manor high school , photo credit Abby Talbot.
Then there’s the difference in how you feel about the music when you have major and minor keys. Major keys are more positive sounding, something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Up on the Roof Top.
Minor keys sound more negative as in gloomy or sad. A song held in a minor key would be like the theme song to Michael Myers or Moonlight Sonata.
Usually when a song is being played in a major key your mood is happy or joyful compared to a song in minor where your mood will most likely be sad.
Dr. Anjali Bhatara, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Université Paris Descartes, said in an interview with the New York Times, “I think it means that the pianist is very experienced in using these expressive cues.” She believed the more expressive you are the better you connect with your audience.
Melissa Telesco, one of Penn Manor’s music teachers said, “Music is like a fight, before you confront someone in a fight you think about what your going to say, and then when you get in front of them your true emotions and feelings come out.”
Music does resemble a fight, when you preform it you play with your heart.
Music can legitimately change waves and hormones within the brain. Experiments done measuring the cerebral blood flow and PET scans prove this. A recent experiment showed a person’s emotions when abusing drugs, eating food and having sex. Their brain waves indicated a very high level of pleasure. Then when they were to listen to music, they had the same amount of feelings containing pleasure as to when using drugs and eating food.
Music reaches people on all different levels and how we listen and play music determines the mind set we will have after the song is done. The way music can be altered into so much of a deeper universe is incredible and our brains are challenged by it.
Best friends, lovers and even family can be lost if you’re willing to kill.
It’s not just enough that Pennsylvania citizens lived through local murders, but now they can relive what horror happened just a few years ago by reading books about these sensational crimes.
For example, 16-year-old, Alec Kreider, killed his best friend’s family.
Micheal W. Cuneo wrote a spine-chilling book about this crime, “A Need To Kill: Confessions of a Teen Killer.”
There are two sections to the book. The first section is titled “The Killings,” and is about what happened narrated in an omniscient narrative point of view. Each chapter holds a story within its own.
Lancaster resident Jan Roseboro was found dead in her pool, killed by her husband, Michael Roseboro.
Alec Kreider being arrested. Photo courtesy of
M. William Phelps wrote the book on the Roseboro murder. Within this book titled “Love Her To Death” there are five different stories all linking together. (Book One: The Undertaker and The Po-Po, Book Two: The Mistress and Mortician, Book Three: Morbid Curiosity, Book Four: Where I’m Calling From, Book Five: Angie and The Rockstar) Just like the the book “A Need To Kill” it is written in a way where you get everyone’s side of the story; each chapter is written from a different view point.
“I didn’t seem like it was too long ago that this happened and it was very close, I’m surprised I didn’t hear about it,” said Penn Manor sophomore Casey Hurlburt.
A Manheim Township family was murdered in May of 2007 while sleeping soundly. With no force, Kreider entered the house of Kevin Haines, his best friend. Stabbing Kevin, his mother and father, Kreider experienced the feeling of being a cold blooded killer, according to the book about the experience. Luckily, the Haines’s daughter, Maggie, got away with no physical harm. She ran across the street to get help after being startled by screams and the smell of blood coming from her parent’s room. She saw her mother covered in blood, crying for help while her father was lying in their bed motionless.
The police were puzzled with the crime scene. They first suspected Maggie since no other person was obvious and there were no leads to follow. Kreider eventually confessed the homicide to his father in early June. His father, Tim Kreider, reported him to the police two days after the confession. Kreider was charged with three counts of first degree murder, on June 17, 2008.
The first chapter of “A Need to Kill,” is about the mind confusion that Haines went through that deadly night the family was killed. The second chapter is about Manheim Township officer, Steve Newman, who went through what he arrived to at the scene of the crime and his experience talking to Haines.
Michael Roseboro's mug shot. Photo courtesy of
The second section is called “The Killer,” and is all about Kreider’s perspective on everything that went down the night of the killing to the day he was convicted.
“It’s unbelievable, it makes a good reference to go back on,” said Hurlburt. “In ten years from now if I see this book I’d be like -Oh my god, I remember this!- and totally read it again.”
In the summer of 2008 in Reinholds PA, Jan Roseboro was found dead in the bottom of her pool. Her husband, Micheal Roseboro, seemed emotionless to the loss of his wife so police thought he was in shock. Police guessed is was an accident that Jan drowned, but Roseboro’s autopsy showed she was beaten and strangled.
Not only did Micheal Roseboro inherit his family business, being a funeral director, it turns out he was having an affair. His mistress, Angela Funk, was also pregnant with his child.
There wasn’t an official motive stated by police why Roseboro did what he did. Many people think he wanted his wife out of the picture so he could have a new lover and keep all his money without divorcing, a easy way out. Roseboro was convicted for the death of Jan, sentenced for life, with no possibility of parole.
“I’m only on the ninth chapter, but the description was amazing, it makes me feel like I can see all the people and the pool,” Hurlburt said.
Sophia Forte and Jaime Reel reading, Photo by Crystal Bugner
These two books can be found on Amazon.com or at a local book store. Love Her to Death can be purchased for about $7 and A Need to Kill for $8 on Amazon. These mind blowing, descriptive books will make you seem like you’re watching a movie. It will seem like you’re actually reliving what had happened all right in front of you.
“If I actually owned the book, I’d write my name in it and pass it along to anyone who would want to read it,” said Hurlburt. “I want to spread the word about this book
Cars, fast driving, girls, guns, fighting and two giant sweaty guys.
That’s the basics of the new movie Fast Five, and the previous standards of the movies in the Fast and Furious series.
The new movie was released on Friday, April 29th and featured the stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). That weekend, Fast Five sold over $80 million in tickets according to rottentomoatoes.com.
The movie begins with Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto trying to escape the law by running across the border. It’s a classic action packed movie with the “bad” guys running from the cops. While in Brazil, they are on their last ‘job’ before they can break free and disappear forever. They assemble their team of elites to bring down a corrupt business owner in the local area. They plan on stealing over $100 million and splitting it between the group and then buying their freedom. Their plan is slightly interrupted when the federal agent Luke Hobbs(Dwayne Johnson) is sent in with his task team to bring in Brian and Dom.
The Fast Five movie poster from boomtron.com
The movie continues on with lots of gunfire and fast cars along with one big fight scene between Dom and Luke. The two giant guys plow each other through walls and glass with the fight leading to near death.
Overall I thought Fast Five was a good movie and would agree with the rating of 7.9 from imbd.com (internet movie database). There were a lot of well done action scenes in the movie, but one thing this movie lacked was the amount of cars in it.
The Fast and Furious movies have all been based around cars and racing, but this ones theme was more similar to Gone In 60 Seconds, with ‘do the last job and disappear forever’. I wished there would have been more racing in the movie and more about cars like the previous movies.
The movie was definitely worth seeing. It may be two hours long, but it’s well worth sitting in the theater that long. One thing I would recommend that I wasn’t able to do was see the movie in IMAX. I saw the movie on the regular screen and wished I would’ve seen it on the larger IMAX experience.
Fast Five was a good intense action packed movie and I would recommend you to see it in theaters if you are attached to the Fast and Furious series, you like action packed movies, or just simply like watching cars.
Graphic violence, over-the-top comedy, singers in a game show – a recipe for TV success – for some.
Three new shows premiering this spring will delight students at Penn Manor who enjoy either action, quirky comedy or undiscovered talent.
Breakout Kings, a drama on A&E, follows two U.S. Marshals tired of outdated techniques to catch escaped fugitives. They form a special task force of three convicts-an ex-gangbanger, with no respect for law enforcement, a behaviorist/psychiatric expert who excels in psychoanalysis, whose every thought is vocalized and a sexy, yet disgruntled expert tracker who learned her trade from her bounty hunter father.
Breakout kings premiered Spring 2011. Picture courtesy of TV-Series.com
Breakout Kings is a “provocative, useful show for future criminals,” said Eric Byers, a senior at Penn Manor High school who watches the show.
Fox brings Christian Slater back in an over-the-top comedy called “Breaking In.”
This series centers on a security business that specializes in giving clients security by taking away their….well, security. Christian Slater plays a manipulative and mysterious head honcho of contra-security.
A firm full of odd-ball, genius hackers, the high-tech security firm takes extreme – and often questionable – measures to sell their protection services.
Mike Hale from the New York Times review calls it “eccentric” …(it) “isn’t memorable in any way, but it’s fast-paced and easy to watch, with some amusing secondary characters.”
A blind folded-American Idol? Host Carson Daily and a concoction of big time vocalists -Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton put contestants through three phases of competition. “The Voice” is a singer-in-a-game show hour where judges determine vocalists according to voice not appearance.
Fox’s remake of Holland’s “voice of Holland” lets the judges hear the contestants perform, but they don’t get to see them – thanks to rotating chairs and a red button.
“I like the voice better than American Idol,” says Morgan Chenault. The four celebrity judges do a great job of “not going off someone’s looks but by their voice.”
Britney Spears just reached the top of the charts with her new album, “Femme Fatale,” making her the first female artist to ever have six number one album debuts.
On top of that, according to the NY Daily News, Spears plans a 26-date North American tour in June.
“Britney Spears has the type of songs you want to roll your windows down to and sing your heart out,” said Abby Newport, a student at Penn Manor.
According to BritneySpears.com, Spears will not be touring alone!
Since Enrique Iglesias dropped out on Spears’ tour, rap diva and extraordinaire, Nikki Minaj, has snuggled into the spot.
Minaj and Spears plan to join in tour to make a superstar duo
To many fans who are going, this may seem like the best concert of their lives.
“Britney Spears has always had great songs and I think her songs got better after her breakdown, ” said Samantha Smith a student at Penn Manor.
Spears will even be performing a remix to Rihanna’s song “S&M,” which is number two on Billboard’s Hot 100.
According to BritneySpears.com, the tour’s female line-up will also be starring Jessie and the Toy Boys and Nervo on every tour stop.
In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Minaj said her and Spears would make history and she’s excited to make a spectacular show.
According to BritneySpears.com, Spears will be performing:
Till The World Ends
Hold It Against Me
Inside Out
I Wanna Go
How I Roll
(Drop Dead) Beautiful
Seal It With A Kiss
Big Fat Bass
Trouble For Me
Trip To Your Heart
Gasoline
Criminal
Up N’ Down
The iconic Spears rocks the stage
He About To Lose Me
Selfish
Don’t Keep Me Waiting
Scary (from the Femme Fatale Japanese release; only available outside of Japan on the Premium Fan Edition, exclusively here atthe Britney Music Store)
According to comments on BritneySpears.com, a fan Grace said, “Love this album…every track is awesome in its own way…just fantastic!”
“This is the Femme Fatale tour and I’m thrilled to have the hot Nicki Minaj join me and Jessie and the Toy Boys and Nervo will get everyone on the dance floor,” said Spears via her site.
“Can’t wait to take the Femme Fatales on the road,” she said.
“I’m not bipolar but bi-winning.” These are the words that were spoken on national television from one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Or at least he used to be.
Charlie Sheen was recently fired from his TV show Two and a Half Men for admitting to cocaine use, not being able to preform his duties on the show, making derogatory public comments about the show and refusing to continue acting in the series without making changes. Beginning January and February his partying reportedly began to impact his performance in the show.
“Charlie Sheen, from day one he had every one’s attention, now, about a month later he won’t go away,” said freshman Cassie Kreider.
And people seem to have gone on to bigger and better things, while Sheen continues to try and grab headlines for his bad boy behavior.
With the recent disasters happening in Japan and Libya, many people consider Charlie Sheen to be old news.
But sources close to the actor are saying that he may return to the hit comedy. CBS and Warner Brothers have a short amount of time to decide whether to continue a ninth season with or without Charlie Sheen. NBC news says that he is unlikely to return to this show, Two and a Half Men. Yet the talk of him coming back continues.
Josh Sudgen, a freshman at Penn Manor High School said, “Charlie Sheen needs God in his life.”
Ashley Jenks, another freshman said, “All I really know about Charlie Sheen is that he was fired from the show, Two and a Half Men, and there’s been a lot of drama ever since.”
Recently, Sheen has gone on a tour called Torpedo of Truth. He was booed off the stage in Detroit after he told his audience he had already got their money.
Time will tell if Sheen is just another Hollywood troubled actor or if he can return to the public spotlight for something more worthwhile than his bad reputation.
