Helloooo Birdie! Classic lesson for band students

The Knightly News
“The voice of the students.”
Helloooo Birdie!
Bye-Bye Birdie proves
to be a great showcase
of community pride and
talent.
a singer named Conrad Birdie who
is similar to Elvis Presley. All of the
girls adore him. Conrad was supposed
to go to the army but before he left, he
was supposed to kiss one lucky girl.
The girl chosen was Kim MacAfee
from Sweet Apple, Ohio. I am not going to spoil the ending for those who
didn’t have a chance to see it but that
is basically what this show is about.
You can’t forget the people that
helped off stage. A lot of people such
as Martha Riley, who directed music,
Rachel Korn, who directed was assistant director, and Diane Carter and
Doreen Healy were the producers for
the show. They all worked really hard
to make this show as great as it was.
It was Seggio’s first time directing a
play at FMS. She has directed thirtytwo shows in her career and directed
shows at Franklin Park School, Conerly Road School and SGS.
A proud William Grippo, principal
of Sampson G. Smith, was in the audience.
“Each student on stage was one of
my former students and I am proud of
them all,” said Grippo during intermission.
Classic lesson for band students
Tori LaBirt
Knightly News Staff
It may take practice to get to Carnegie Hall, but a composer who worked
with the New York Philharmonic
helped students create an original
Nicole Frankel
piece to perform at Franklin Middle
Knightly News Staff
School.
The stage lights of Franklin Middle
In May, students of the FMS orSchool were brighter than ever as stuchestra got a chance to play a song for
dents shined in “Bye-Bye Birdie” in
Joseph Turrin, who wrote the piece.
May, the last production of the year.
What was so special about it was
I went to see the evening perforthat it was the first time Turrin got a
mance of “Bye-Bye Birdie” and it was
chance to hear it. Turrin wrote a song
an amazing show! Everybody on and
for Franklin Middle School agreeing
off stage did a wonderful job planning
to come and listen to it for the first
this show.
time a few months after he gave it to
Terri Seggio, who directed the show,
them.
said her favorite part of directing this
The students worked hard and pracshow was directing with her former
ticed a lot so that the song would
SGS students and teaching them the
sound just perfect in Turrin's ears.
choreography to the musical numOverall, Turrin enjoyed it.
bers.
“Nice job, I don’t know what else to
“I chose ‘Bye-Bye Birdie’ because it
say,” said Turrin. “The tempo is nice,
is a fun show with great music and it
the intonation could be better, but
had a lot of parts for girls and boys,”
other than that you all sound very nice
said Seggio. “I thought it would be
and I’m impressed.”
a time period the cast would be exLater Turrin said that writing music
cited about and I personally like the
doesn’t always come easily for him,
show!”
but the creative juices were definitely
“Bye-Bye Birdie” is a show that
flowing for this piece.
takes place in the 1950’s. It is about Birdie continued on page 7 Tori
“It’s usually a struggle to compose
music but I didn’t have to think about
What’s Inside the Knightly News
it,’’ he said. “The inspiration just came
Page Two: Letters to the Editor
to me to write it.’’
Page Three: Community News
Joseph Turrin was born in Clifton,
Page Four: Music Maniacs
New Jersey. Turrin has always loved
music he feels very close to it. Every
Page Five: Only Bug’n
since Turrin was a child he had a pasPage Six: The Knight Lounge
sion for music. He knew that he
Page Eight: Sports
Joseph Turrin, a composer who has worked with the New York Philharmonic, addresses students as Dan
Halpern looks on. Photo taken by Tori LaBirt
wanted to write music while in
school—it must have been inside
him. Turrin doesn’t call writing work
he enjoys doing his job. It comes naturally.
Actually Turrin has written several
100 pieces in his lifetime. Isn’t that
amazing? Turrin must be really determined to do something like that. And
to stay focused and not give up even
when he is having a “brain fart”.
Turrin he said he wouldn’t call himself famous, but “I do a lot of band
music so I am fairly known.”
David Miller, a music teacher at
Franklin Middle School, said Turrin
was a well-regarded composer who
has done work with the New York
Philharmonic.
“He’s a down to earth and he knows
his stuff,’’ Miller said. “He was able to
scale down his music for the seventh
and eighth-graders.’’
Now that you know about Turrin
maybe if you look up his music you
will find that you like it. You will never know until you try. The piece that
he wrote for Franklin was really good
it was very interesting. Many people
agree with me that it is very awesome
that Turrin could easily write a pretty
good song in a short, quick and easy
time.
From left to right, music teachers Dan Halpern, David Miller and Dan Berz posing with Turrin. Photo taken
by Tori LaBirt.
FMS Dance
showcase a hit
with students
Alexis Chyz
Knightly News Staff
Students showed off their moves
as their talent glimmered the stage
of Franklin Middle School in June
during the Spring Dance Showcase.
Aaron Ramos, a FMS dance teacher, and his students presented a dance
performance that featured several
genres of dance, including jazz, hip
hop, modern, contemporary modern
and bollywood.
The showcase included a total of 17
numbers all choreographed by Ramos
and the students. Some students decided to make their own dance with a
group of friends or even going solo.
Tanaja Hill, an eighth-grader, she
was eager and excited to show off her
abilities ever since the students began
preparing for the show.
“I’m excited,” she said. “We have
worked hard on these dances ever
since February.”
Deandre Ware, a seventh-grader,
said he was anxious about his performance.
“I’m nervous because what if I mess
up or something,” Ware said.
Benjamin Michael, a seventh-grader,
said he was both nervous and excited.
“I have never done hip hop before
and it will be exciting to try something
new,” Michaele said. “We are dancing
to a cobra style 80’s mix, and it’s kind
of freaky.”
Dance continued on page 7.
The Knightly News
“Valentine’s Day Dance”
I agree with that the Valentine’s Day Dance
was filled with good snacks and interruptions.
It was the worst dance of the school year. I
hated the fact that teachers kept splitting up the
boys from the girls. In addition, the DJ played
some whack songs like Brittany Spears and
other stuff. The food really was not good either. It was ok but all it was were those nasty,
toasted chips that they sell at lunch.
I hated the fact that teachers kept splitting
us up. Who cares if we were too close? They
cannot control us. We only get like four dances a year we have to do it big.
The music was whack. The DJ was supposedly the “Best DJ” but he didn’t prove himself.
Everyone got annoyed when he played songs
from last year and songs that had the dances
made in like the 80’s like the electric slide. It
was fun when like they played the first few,
got annoying. Then they played some slow
songs, which no one danced to.
The food wasn’t really food: it was baked
chips. The school should have used the five
dollars that everyone paid to go to the dance
to buy some pizzas. Or at least give us soda
or something. Just because they don’t serve
it at school doesn’t mean they shouldn’t at an
after-school dance.
Morgan Brown, seventh-grade
“New Twist on Field Trips”
We should be allowed to pick or at least
agree on where we go for field trips. For example we are going on our seventh-grade trip
soon. It’s our trip! Why weren’t we allowed
to pick where we go? I think if we gave suggestions and had a vote then the trip would
be more enjoyable. For example, the seventhgrade trip we’re going to is BSA, which is
mainly ice skating. Not a lot of kids like or
even know how to ice skate. What happens
when they run out of coins and money in the
arcade? Maybe for our trip we could have
gone to the beach or any amusement park?
Any place would be more pleasurable for everyone.
Nick Hambrecht, a seventh grader
Letters to the editor
Asad, the author of the story, thinks we
should get to pick our own field trips. He
asked seventh-grader, Allim Ali and physical education teacher Nicole Monfasani about
what they thought and they both agree with
Asad and I do too. We should get to pick one
of our field trips.
I say we get to pick our own field trip because some of the trips that the school plans
are boring. Who wants to go on boring trips?
I don’t! If you are going to plan a trip why
would you make it boring? Field trips should
be fun. So I think we should pick our own
field trip.
I also say we get to pick our field because we
do all the hard work in the school and I think
we should get one fun day off from school
and go on a trip. So please let us choose one
of our field trip.
If I were to pick where to go, I would pick
Dorney Park. I think it’s a good place for students to have fun. I went there the other day
and it was so much fun! I think that would
be the best field trip that FMS students will
have.
Krunal Patel, seventh-grade
“Bang’n Bangs”
Maybe bangs should come back in style
again? The reason why I would think this is
because I see most of my friends are getting
bangs or have bangs already like Kayla, Kierra, Andrea, Madison, Kaila, Jennifer, Jennifer V., Kimberly, Nicole, Akuah and also the
three people in the article Jaime, Danielle and
Shraddha and lots more people. Now, I think
a lot more girls will start wearing them because they maybe getting in style again. Also
keeping up with the style is good, but not to
be mean too some girls because some of you
have different shaped heads, eyes, nose, lip,
forehead, and the bangs just don’t fit some
people.
If you would like to have bangs you could
ask your friends first and see their opinion
about you having bangs then you can ask
yourself about getting bangs. Sometimes
bangs aren’t the look for some girls.
Celebrities are just like us their getting
bangs too like Demi Lovato, Jeanette McCurdy, Selena Gomez, Pink, Vannessa Hudgens, Riahanna, Jessica Simpson and Britney
Spears either have or had bangs.
The article about bangs also mentioned
that not only girls can wear them but boys
can wear them too. I also would think that not
a lot of boys in the hallway have bangs so I
don’t think boys are supporting this article because they didn’t have bangs
Mireya Chaglla, seventh-grade
Mireya, consider the Knightly News a trendsetter. Thanks for reading!
I think bangs are only for girls, so guys get
rid of them! When I asked my mom if I could
get bangs she said “no” because I have beautiful long hair. I finally understood my mom
and now I don’t want bangs because if you
cut your beautiful long hair you will regret
it. When you don’t want bangs anymore you
can’t do anything about it. It usually will take
about three years to grow back to its regular
length. If you do a lot of activities that includes lot of moving I think you shouldn’t get
bangs. It will get in your way. One day you
are going have to do a certain hairstyle and
your bangs will be there so you have to pin
them back. That won’t look so good!
One of boys in the article has bangs and
says that it makes him look like a rocker but
his parents don’t like it. I wouldn’t let my son
have bangs either. I think people would make
fun of him and I also think that he would look
like a girl. So to all the guys out there bangs
look good on girls. But not all girls look good
with bangs. So leave the bangs to the girls
who look good with bangs.
My opinion on bangs is that all guys
shouldn’t have bangs at all and the girls that
look good with bangs are the only people that
should have bangs. I also think that if you cut
your own hair without telling or asking your
mom it would come out really bad. I tried that
before and it doesn’t look so great. So I suggest you shouldn’t cut your own hair. Some
people could cut their hair if they think they
know what they are doing. Again to all guys
out there please leave the bangs for the girls
who look good with bangs.
Tina Doshi, seventh-grade
“Fresh kicks Rock Hallways”
I agree that everyone should love kicks
or sneakers because everyone has their own
style and it’s unique. For example, I like Con-
verses and Nike Air Jordans because they are
cool. I mostly wear converse. The only pair of
shoes that I would like to wear are high tops
because high tops are nice. Sometimes I think
that I don’t look right in them.
I agree with this article when they said
that people wear lots of sneakers because everyone has something different about them.
I also agree that the way other people wear
their sneakers. Loving a pair of sneakers is no
problem because we all like sneakers. Teachers can also wear sneakers, but I think that
teachers shouldn’t wear them.
Teachers shouldn’t wear sneakers because
they wouldn’t look right with them. Anyway
teachers usually have to wear dressy shoes or
casual. The other sneakers in the article were
cool and awesome. I wish I had a pair of them
and I also think I would love to get myself
some.
Jada Foster, seventh-grade
“Kanye West Is the Best”
I’m in agreement with the article because I
think that Kanye West is a good artist. Most of
his songs are clean. I like all of his songs and
albums. And he makes good music videos.
I think everybody should listen to Kanye
West music because it’s hot. And it’s clean
and people say it’s easy to dance to. Kanye
West makes good music and I like listening to
it all the time. Quadir Howard, seventh-grade
Quadir, please remember the Knightly News
is “Christopher Columbus…y’all just
pilgrims.” Thanks for reading!
“Twilight looked dim in theaters”
Everyone’s saying how the book is better
than the movie but not giving any reasons.
I am criticizing this article because I prefer the
movie rather the book. I say this because the
book is very long. It would take a long time
to finish. Also in the movie you see how the
author portrays the characters. Another thing
I like about the movie is the fighting scene.
You can’t really picture the whole entire fight
in your head. Though I understand why someone would prefer a book than a movie because
you portray the characters the way you want.
My opinion on this article is that it did
not show both opinions. Meaning that, the ar-
Page Two
Thank You!
ticle should have had one person who liked
the movie better and one person who liked the
book better. Overall, the article was well put
together.
Denzell Moore, seventh-grader
Denzell, maybe you should read the book and
write an article for us next year? You’re hired!
Thanks for reading!
Time
to Chill
Jared Durgasingh
Knightly News Staff
Here at FMS we all lead stressful
lives. Math, English, Science, Spanish, and so on occupy our time during
the day. But when we go home, it’s
time to chill.
Deandre Ware, a seventh-grader,
enjoys watching Drake and Josh on
Nickelodeon and playing outside. He
also enjoys texting his friends on his
cell phone.
“I like to listen to music, mostly hiphop and rap,” said Ware. “I also like to
play video games and watch TV.”
Mireya Chaggla, a seventh-grader,
said she enjoys watching a lot of television. “I like to draw animation, and go
on Youtube, I watch anything, really,”
Chaggla said. “I love to watch ‘What
Not To Wear’ and ‘A Haunting’ on
TLC…Oh! I also love to say ‘hi’ to
random people.”
Tori Varlow is a girl of simple
means.
“I love to text and go on myspace
and IM people,” said Varlow, a sevethgrader.
Hawa Jallon, a seventh-grader, said
she enjoys doing a combination of
things.
“I like to go on the computer and going shopping” said Jallon, as well as
listening to all kinds of music.
Principal Roberta Mitchell
Vice-Principal Nikkii Tatum
Vice-Principal Michael Rich
Sunil Fernandes
DCH Academy Honda
Ms. Bendel
Mr. Bloom
Ms. Jenkins
Ms. Perez
For your assistance
and support.
The Knightly News
Volume I, Issue III, 2008-09
Reporters
Asad Dar
Anjali Patil
Jay Parekh
Belton DeLaine-Facey
Jared Durgasingh
Kayla Mosegi
Neha Hinduja
Gabrielle Kissi
Alexandra Brown
Bianca Fernandes
Joseph Bonilla
Tori LaBirt
Alexis Chyz
Cartoonist
Courtney Frimpong
Photographers
Vincent Mangione
Adviser
Rodney Point-Du-Jour
Page Three
The Knightly News
Community News
Good-bye 7th-Grade
Sprite vs. Coca-Cola
Asad Dar
Jay Parekh
Knightly News Staff
Sprite, Coke and Pepsi are arguably
the three best sodas on the planet right
now so we decided to have a battle between them. No, we did not take cans
and throw them at each other. Instead
we interviewed students to see which
one they like better.
The unique thing about this story is
that its being written by a Sprite fan
(Asad) and a Coke fan (Jay).
Unfortunately, The Knightly News didn’t
have any Pepsi fans on the team to
help out. We both didn’t like Pepsi,
but due to popular demand, we decided to include it.
Asad’s view on Sprite: Sprite is
awesome and you can’t find a better
drink anywhere. It has a great design
on the bottle/can and it tastes like,
well, excellent… It’s also healthier
than Coke, too. Coke has 27 grams of
sugar compared to Sprite 26 grams.
Coke also has 97 calories and Sprite
has 96. Drinking Sprite will keep you
away from diabetes better than Coke
will.
I know it’s not a big difference, but
whatever.
Also Sprite is a better refresher than
Coke. You always get this funny taste
in your mouth after drinking Coke and
then playing a sport or something. After drinking Coke and seeing how bad
it is, you will probably become emo or
something.
Sprite is the king of all sodas and
it is just a beast. “Obey your thirst”
and keep the lemon and lime on your
tongue. Whether you’re in the drive
thru for Wendys or strolling around
Shop and Stop, always get Sprite.
Jay’s view on Coke: Coke is awesome and you can’t find a better drink
on the planet.
The bottle has the true colors of life,
red and black. When you drink it your
eyes will widen. Your tongue will feel
the tingle, and you will never want to
stop drinking it.
The difference in health between
Sprite and Coke is nothing, nada, 0,
zilch. Your legs will be faster than
Randy Moss with one sip of Coke,
Sprite on the other hand will make
you make your team lose and you go
to sleep. Sprite will actually kill you
of bad taste. As long as you’re on this
planet, Coke is the stuff to drink. So
when you’re at any restaurant or store,
get Coke and you will leave happy.
Crystal Jenkins, a seventh-grade
language arts teacher, said she prefers
Pepsi.
“I think that Pepsi is better because
it’s smoother,’’ Jenkins said. “I usually drink it once a week. Sometimes I
like to drink Pepsi with Sprite because
it tastes like ginger ale.”
Edson Bahena, a seventh-grader in
T-set 1, was thinking a little differently.
“Coke puts me in a psychedelic
state, and I drink it everyday,” Bahena
said. I think that Pepsi has a better can
design because I like the circle.”
Congrats Ms. Bendel!
This spring, Stephanie Bendel
received the Governor’s Teacher of
the Year Award. She received this
honor along with nine other teachers
throughout the district for commendations for fine teaching and community
outreach.
Bendel, who has taught language
arts literacy at Franklin Middle School
for the past four years, is involved in
many after-achool activities and programs.
Bendel has been described by her
peers as a great instructor and tireless
volunteer who is always willing to
help a student.
In addition to being a cheerleading
coach and running the National Junior
Honors Society, Bendel has helped
Bianca Fernandes
Hannah Sawyer
Knightly News Staff
It’s almost the end of the year, yay!
It’s time to celebrate! But let’s not forget the good times of the past year.
The year went by pretty fast. It
seems like just yesterday when we
first walked into this school, and were
completely lost in the halls—I might
add. The year had its good times and
bad, but overall it was really enjoyable. We met new people and made
new friends. It was just awesome!
In our opinion, seventh-grade was
definitely better than sixth-grade. We
had more freedom, but then again,
that also means more responsibility.
“The year went by really quickly,”
said Alexis Chyz. “This year was a lot
better than last year. More freedom
and less homework!”
Tori LaBirt also agrees it was a betraise nearly $700 for charities includter year.
ing the Ronald McDonald House and
“Seventh-grade was so much bet
First Book. Individually, she also parter than sixth-grade,” LaBirt said.
ticipates annaully in a multiple sclero“We had so much more freedom this
sis walk.
year!”
Thomas Moon, a fellow language
I think we all can agree that this
arts literacy teacher, praised his colfreedom was great! Imagine all the
league.
freedom we’re going to have next
“Ms. Bendel is a great teacher who
year! It’s all going to be awesome!
does things for her students that goes
Bryan Chalecki said the year went fast
beyond the classroom,’’ he said.
like a roller coaster. .
Bendel is well respected within the
“It had a lot of ups and downs,” he
halls of Franklin Middle School and
said. “Most of the year went by fast,
deserves this honor.
but some parts were so slow. SeventhBravo Bendel, bravo!
grade was fun, but I can’t wait to go to
eigth-grade.”
The best part about the year being over is that it’s finally summer.
Lots of us can’t wait for summer! But
others are not looking forward to go
home, said LaBirt.
“I’m gonna be pretty bored during
the summer,” she said. “Not really
looking forward to it.”
Summer probably is going to be
boring if you’re not going on vacation. Eventually, you run out of things
to do. But anyway, I’m not going to
linger on the negative. Let’s go back
to the positive! Summer is going to
be so much fun! No school, no homework! What could go wrong?
All in all, this year had its ups and
downs, but overall it was pretty good.
Let’s just enjoy summer before the
school year starts again. Just have fun
and relax. Jared Durgasingh
Knightly News Staff
Dreams
are things you
reach for.
Success
is reaching your
dreams.
Page Four
The Knightly News
Music Maniacs
People
want
more
Paramore
Underoath promises to be good
Alexis Chyz
Knightly News Staff
Are you the type of person to
listen to hardcore music while head
banging? If so, Underoath is the band
for you. This Christian metal band
that used to be death-core has awesomely, awesome music. Most of the
old songs include a lot of screamo, but
the newer ones have good beat with a
combination of screamo.
Bryan Chalecki, seventh-grader,
said that Underoath is good because of
the music and sounds they produce.
“I like the way it goes together,”
Chalecki said, “with the screamo and
the regular singing mixed it’s 100%
good to listen to.”
Underoath formed on December
30, 1997 with Dallas Taylor and Luke
Morton in Ocala, Florida. Dallas was
the singer while Luke was the guitarist. Luke said he found the name from
somewhere in the bible. Soon after they
created the band, Underoath recruited
a church peer, Aaron Gillespie, to
play as their drummer. Also they got
another guitarist, Corey Steger, and
bassist, Octavio Fernandez.
When Underoath formed all of the
members were in high school.
In 1999, Underoath signed to Alabama’s Takehold Records and Luke
Morton left the band without appearing on any of their formal recordings.
Later on in Underoath’s career the
bands members began leaving and being replaced by other people. That’s
why today only one of the original
Members of Underoath thrilled to be showing off their T-shirts.
members is still in the band and that is
Aaron Gillespie.
When the band first started they
were described as melodic death metal and death-core. They used to play
really hardcore music but when members left the style changed. With a different singer the style of music was
now melodic metal-core.
Heather Smith, an eighth-grader, said
she misses the way Underoath was before.
“Before they were really awesome,”
Smith said. “But now they are no different than every other screamo band
out there. But I still like them.”
Emily Karwowski, also an eighthgrader who was with Heather at the
time, agreed.
“I agree with Heather,” Karwowski said. “But I also think that bands
is supposed to change over time. It
shouldn’t always be the same as it
started out to be.”
The current band members of Underoath include Spencer Chamberlain
who does unclean vocals. He has been
in the band since 2003. Then there is
Timothy McTague who is lead guitarist since 2001. Grant Brandell who is
plays bass guitar has been in the band
since 2003. Also James Smith plays
rhythm guitar and has been in the
band since 2003, as well. And finally
the last member is Aaron Gillespie, an
original member, does clean vocals
and plays drums.
Underoath has been a pretty popular band for almost 11 years now.
Though the music style has changed
it’s still an awesomely, awesome band
to listen to. So, if you’re looking for
some screamo music that has a good
beat, look up Underoath and check
them out.
Amber Lewis and Alexis Chyz
Knightly News Staff
Have you ever heard of the awesomely, awesome band, Paramore?
Many people call them the best female lead singing alternative band of
all time.
Paramore is an American rock band
formed in Franklin, Tennessee in
2004. They have been nominated for
many Grammys and include members
Hayley Williams, Josh Farro, Zac Farro, Jeremy Davis and Taylor York.
Paramore's debut album, “All
We Know Is Falling,” was released
in 2005. This album first made them
known to the world. Their second album, “Riot!” was released in 2007.
“Riot!” went platinum in the US and
gold in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Students and teachers definitely
agree that this band is awesome.
“Their sound and music is absolutely amazing, down to their lyrics,” said
Jared Durgasingh. “They have such
true lyrics with real meanings.”
Paramore has been nominated for
Grammys and awards such as- Best
New Artist, Best Rock Video, and
Best Rock Group. They actually won
the award for Best Rock Group at the
Teen Choice Awards. In June of 2007,
they were declared by Rolling Stone
as ‘Ones to Watch.’
Some teachers also agree with Durgasingh’s opinion.
“They have a hard rock sound, with
having that sound with female vocals
Members of Paramore chilling out.
makes the balance really interesting,” says Kevin Bloom, who teaches
strategies for success. He also added,
“Rock isn’t for guys anymore because
girls do it just as good.”
Paramore was influenced by
Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real
Estate, Blink-182, Death Cab For
Cutie, Fall Out Boy, and Failure. Paramore means secret lover and was derived from the maiden name of one of
the group’s former bassists during the
time in which they were “still playing
in the garage”.
Ya gotta
give
respect
to get
respect
Page Five
The Knightly News
Only
Only Bug’n
Bug’n
By Vincent Mangione
The Knightly News
ESTK: Screamo band
more than what their
name reveals
Tori LaBirt
Knightly News Staff
Not many students have heard of
the band Eyes Set to kill or otherwise
known as ESTK.
The reason why it is called Eyes Set
to Kill is because it is in a line in one
of Alexia Rodriguez’s poems in high
school. Many automatically assume
that the band is some scary or crazy
devil worshipping band, but really the
term “when eyes set to kill” means to
be determined to accomplish something and not to give up your dream
for anything or anyone.
Eyes Set to Kill is a very interesting
band. With its combinations of metalcore, alternative metal, post-hardcore,
screamo, and emo the band makes a
very different sound to peoples ears.
Even though the band has scream and
metal in it doesn’t mean that the songs
are about death and violence or killing people. Actually most of the songs
connect to real life situations. For example the song “Young Blood Spills
Tonight” is about Alexia the lead singer and her mom dealing with divorce.
The band originally was formed
around 2004 in Tempe, Arizona by
Alexia Rodriguez as the lead singer
and lead guitarist, and her sister Anissa Rodriguez, who plays bass. The
rest of the band is made up of Brandon
Anderson doing vocals and keyboarding, Caleb Clifton playing the drums
and Greg Kerwim playing the second
guitar.
The band is very popular with their
release of “Reach” on February 19,
2008. Many have agreed that their
best songs on that album are “Darling”, “Young Blood Spills Tonight”,
“Give you my all”, and “Liar in the
glass”.
The newest album called “The World
Outside” is set to release on June 2,
2009. So far the band has played two
songs from the new album at concerts
and they have been very popular. It
has been said the newest album coming soon will be “a lot darker” than
“Reach.”
Hopefully this will not turn off current fans and listeners.
Like I said before Eyes Set to Kill
isn’t known by a lot of people yet so
I couldn’t find as many people who
knew them. But luckily I found two
students who enjoy this bands music.
Eighth-grader Emily Karwowski said,
“they have amazing music. ‘Give you
my all’ is my favorite song by them;
it’s a great song. Personally that’s my
type of music. They have screamo
mixed with singing and guitar. It’s
awesome.”
Seventh-grader Gabby Lazzara stated, “Eyes Set to Kill has good music.
My favorite song is “Young Blood
Spills Tonight”. This type of music
is okay, but I’m not a big fan of the
whole screamo thing. But I do, unlike
some people consider screamo singing. I actually think it’s a talent.”
Page Six
Big-Mac verse
Whooper
The Knight Lounge
Take Time
By
Nick Chow
Time is like
Lemon and lime because
If you rush and don't take
Your time with both,
Then one of them will
Taste bitter or sour.
But, if you play your
Cards right, then the lemon
And lime will taste
Right together if
You take your time.
Jared Durgasingh
Knightly News Staff
McDonald’s or Burger King? Mickey D’s or BK? The Big Mac or the
Whopper?
What is the favorite hamburger of
Franklin Middle School?
Before you choose which hamburger you want, let’s start off with the history of them first.
McDonald’s was first created in
1940 in San Bernardino. They were
opened by the Dick and Mac McDonald brothers. The original mascot of
McDonald's was a man with a chef's
hat on top of a hamburger shaped head
whose name was "Speedee." Speedee
was eventually replaced with Ronald
McDonald in 1963.
Burger King was first created in
1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton. It was originally called
InstaBurger King. McLamore got his
idea for Burger King after visiting a
local McDonalds in San Bernardino.
Each of the restaurants serve more
than 10 million people daily, but McDonald’s is in the lead with 47 million,
and Burger King with about 11.4 million. Burger King’s revenue is 2.234B
USD while McDonald’s is a whopping 22.79B. Obviously, McDonald’s
is more popular.
But which one is healthier?
Numerous amount of health organizations have demanded that both McDonald’s and Burger King publicly
list all the nutritional information
about every single one of their food
items on the menu. Even the dipping
sauces!
The Big Mac, the signature product of McDonalds (BEWARE: It may
shock you) has 34 grams of fat, 85
mg of cholesterol, 1,070 mg of sodium. The fat alone accounts for over
50 percent of the fat intake you should
have daily!
The Whopper, the signature product of Burger King, once again, BEWARE: It might truly shock you has
670 calories, 39 grams of fat, 11
grams of saturated fat, and 1.5 grams
of trans fat (dun-dun-dun).
Naomi Clouden, an eighth-grader,
said she stays away from fast food,
and trys to eat as healthy as she can,
as often as she can.
“I don’t eat fast food often, and neither should anyone else,” said Clouden. “I enjoy eating Subway subs.
They’re healthy and they taste great.
Plus, they’re only five bucks!”
Although he’s a very healthy eater, Rodney Point-Du-Jour admits he
enjoys having a Whopper once in a
while.
“The Whopper is definitely the better choice,’’ said the seventh-grade
English teacher. “However, too much
of anything is not good for you..especially Whoppers!”
Go Lakers!!!
The Knightly News
Page Seven
Swine Flu
Tech
Review:
the
best
browser?
Plax: A
raises
concern
fallen NFL
star
Birdie cont. from pg. 1
Yvette Jackson, a seventh-grade
math teacher, said she also enjoyed
the performance.
“I thought it was a great show,”
Jackson said. “I liked the music and
the theme was very age appropriate
for middle school. Conrad Birdie was
great and so was Mamona.”
Sean Gillepsie, a seventh-grader who
was in the ensemble, said he enjoyed
working with the crew of the play.
“I thought being a part of the cast
was a great experience,” he said.
“The entire cast worked well together.”
Everybody in the cast truly shined.
Devin J. Hall as Conrad Birdie, Erin
Manifase as Kim MacAfee, Kayla L
Lewis as Rosie Alvarez, CJ Carter as
Albert Peterson, and all of the cast
put a lot of time effort into this show.
Dance continued from pg. 1.
It’s amazing how some groups were
able to remember over three dances
and not mess up. Most likely it takes
extreme talent to be able to memorize
all of your dances and than maybe
even make up you own dance.
Tanaja Hill memorized five dances
in which she had to wear different
outfits for. Some of these dances were
close together so she had to quickly
change for them before she went on
stage. Hill is a dedicated dancer who
also plays Cello in one of her dances.
Not to mention her and two of her
friends, Shelby Copeland and Douglas McCormick, choreographed their
own original dance.
Everyone in the showcase worked
hard to put on a great show for everyone who attended. Mr. Ramos should
be acknowledged more though. Without him there wouldn’t be a dance program and without him there wouldn’t
be a showcase.
Neha Hinduja
Knightly News Staff
Several months ago, when the New
York Giants were doing superb, their
player, Plaxico Burress, who made
the winning touchdown catch of Super bowl 42 accidentally shot himself
in his leg. Apparently, that wasn’t the
whole story. Burress had been going
to a club and had shot himself with a
illegal gun. His court case is in June
and that will determine if he goes to
jail or not.
Debra Reid, a T-Set 4 science teacher, believes that Burress should go to
jail.
“I think Plaxico should go to jail because if you break the law, you should
go to jail no matter how famous you
are,” said Reid. “Plus
Plaxico is
a role model. If Plaxico does not go
to jail, I think the Giants will take
him.”
Ali Makhdoom, a seventh grader in
T-Set 5, thinks Plaxico is not a good
player.
“I think Plaxico sucks and is foolish. That is why he should go to jail,”
said Makhdoom. “If he doesn’t go to
jail, I do not think he will be playing
football at all.”
Ashish Murthy, a seventh grader in
T-Set 4, believes Plaxico should not
go to jail.
“He didn’t hurt anybody else,” said
Murthy. “If he doesn’t go to jail, I
don’t think he will be playing football at all.”
Asad Dar
Knightly News Staff
There is no hiding that Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer are
the greatest web browsers on planet
Earth. Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla
have all been updating their browsers to try and get dominance against
their opponents, and many of these
updates have been successful while
these companies also forgot what they
should have been working on. Safari
continues to dominate in the design
department, while MF has been the
fastest speed wise, and IE continue to
show their users internet safety.
So one day I came up with an idea.
I thought that I would try out all of
these new browsers and figure out
which one was the best. It really was
a lot of fun, and I think I found a winner. Based on these reviews, I think
that you (the reader) might be able to
find the perfect one for you.
Mozilla Firefox 3.0.7 – I really love
using this because it is just an excellent
browser. There are tons of new features and you can tell that the Mozilla
workers have been working hard because what they’ve done is paying off
greatly. The speed is probably better
than any other web browser out there.
They’ve also added something new
which is known as “The Awesome
Bar”. Once you start typing in something a list of websites that you have
visited before will appear depending
on what you typed in. It can be really
handy at times if you’re looking for a
certain page that you saw before, and
haven’t bookmarked. Basically it’s
a lot quicker than searching through
your big history list.
One bad thing I found about Firefox
is the start-up times. With Vista it takes
MF 12.6 seconds to start up compared
to Internet Explorer’s 5. Although, this
start-up speed is better than the previous version, it still isn’t better or even
close to IE’s. Still, Mozilla Firefox is
one great browser.
Safari 4 – What I can tell you about
this version of Safari is that it is just
fun. The design is really nice. Every
time you start it up you will get this
message saying “Welcome to Safari
4” just like how it says “Sony Computer Entertainment” when you turn
on your PSP. With this version, everything is different. Instead of a homepage you will be taken to something
called “Top Sites”, which is a display
of all your most visited websites. Another thing is that looking through
your bookmarks and history, is now
just like looking through albums in
iTunes. You are showed the page and
you just keep going left or right until
you find the page you want.
Whenever you open a new tab, instead of having it come under the address bar or whatever toolbars you
have, it will come to the top of the
window, which is better because that
gives a little more viewing space. The
speed is really good because of the new
Javascript add-on, but I won’t say that
it is good enough to be considered better than Firefox’s. The whole browser
itself is very chrome like. Now let me
tell you a little bad news about Safari.
It crashes more than Firefox and IE
combined. Apple has still been trying
to fix this problem.
In conclusion, Safari 4 is a completely revamped web browser, but
still lacks in a few places. Some of the
features are really cool so you should
definitely give it a try. Once again
though, it has proved that it is the nic-
est looking out of MF and IE.
Internet Explorer 8 – Well, now
its time to talk about the very popular
Internet Explorer made by Microsoft.
I see the biggest change being the
web slices addition which I found
to be very useful and simple to use.
Basically it’s an updater. You pick a
page, and anytime something changes on that page you will see the web
slices page name flashing. Say you’re
bidding for a Nintendo Wii on eBay.
Every time a new bid comes in, you
will be alerted. The same works for
any other website.
One thing that isn’t so good is the
compatibility. Some websites might
not work too well or like too good
on IE 8. Also the speed hasn’t had a
major improvement, and that means
that it isn’t competing with Firefox
or Safari that well. Still, the privacy
and security is what IE is best known
for. Also you don’t really expect it to
crash that much. There are also new
accelerators which can help with map
directions, translating words, and emailing your friends.
Winner: Mozilla Firefox 3.0.7.
It is fast, reliable, original, and has
some nice features. It is definitely
the best browser at the moment and
the other companies will need some
more improvements to catch up. Well
done, Firefox!
Vincent Mangione
Knightly News Staff
As you all know there has been an
out break with the H1N1 flu or as most
knows of it the swine flu recently.
Other names for it are hog flu and pig
flu. It is associated with pigs. It is not
fatale to them. There have been some
of pigs dieing from it but that’s only
when under cretin conditions. There
have been out breaks before in, 1918,
1976, 1988, a US outbreak in 1998,
and an outbreak in the Philippines in
2007.
So far, in America we do not need
to worry that much. It is of conditions
and where you are. We have better
medical care. In other countries there
are other conditions and more health
problems to deal with the environment. In Mexico the conditions have
went into affect to this flu.
The symptoms are similar to regular
flu, a fever, headache, sour throat, nasal, stuffiness and a cough. The only
difference is that there might vomit or
have diarrhea.
There have been eleven deaths. In
Arizona three deaths and about 550
cases, Missouri with 24 cases and one
death, New York with about 450 cases
and two deaths, Washington one death
and 575 cases, Utah 122 cases and one
death, and Texas with 1,358 cases and
three deaths.
There are about 8,000 cases of the
swine flu in the US. This update was
put in May 27 2009. We will remember all of those that have past away
from this flu.
All we can do for now is wash our
hands and be careful.
The Knightly News
Top 10 Soccer Players
Asad Dar and Andrew Echeverria
Knightly News Staff
There have been many debates about
who is the best, but there can only be
one. Check out our picks for the best
soccer players in the world.
10. Frank Lampard – The Chelsea
midfielder can definitely be in the list
of top 50 best English players, but he
can also be considered as one of the
best players in world at the moment.
Lampard is a very technically gifted
player with his wide range of passing,
and he definitely does not have trouble finding the back of the net either,
as all Chelsea fans know. He also has
won titles over the years, including
two EPL titles, and one FA Cup title,
but any hopes of a trophy with England are on hold, as he, and many of
his teammates never show the talent
that they display with their club side
for the national team. With rumors of
him going to Inter done and Frank almost turning 31, it seems as if he will
finish out his career with his beloved
Chelsea.
9. Franck Ribery – Bayern Munich
only just missed the Bundesliga title,
but Ribery put out another good year.
He also could do nothing about Barcelona kicking his team out of the Champions League. He scored 13 goals, and
assisted 12, which is pretty decent for
a wide player of Ribery’s type. Next
year he will hope to be even more effective, and maybe win back the German league.
8. Kaka – His season can definitely
be considered good. Teams like Chelsea and Madrid wouldn’t be trying to
sign him if he was bad. He ended his
Serie A season with Milan, scoring 16
goals and assisting 9 goals. The story
of the year for him is without a doubt,
when he rejected that mega bid from
Manchester City. At the moment, no
one is sure where he will be playing
his soccer next year.
7. Samuel Eto’o – Seeing Eto’o on
the score sheet for Barcelona was no
surprise at all. He scored 34 goals in
43 matches, which is pretty outstanding. A striker like him is wanted by
all coaches in the world. Samuel also
scored the first goal in Barcelona’s
2-0 win over Manchester United in
the Champions League final. He will
probably hit 25+ goals next year too.
6. Xavi – The Euro 2008 Best Player
gets number 6 on my list. His passing
this year has been deadly. Xavi has always been there to play that through
ball which sets up a goal for Barca,
and that is probably why he assisted
27 goals this year. He sets the tempo
for Barcelona’s attack. When Xavi is
playing good, Barcelona is definitely
playing good. Along with Messi, and
Sports
Iniesta he is also part of the legendary
treble winning FC Barcelona team.
5. Steven Gerrard – One of the few
players that performed at a high level
for Liverpool this year, even if they
were heading for another year without
a trophy. His passing, running, and
shooting have been great this year,
even if most of his goals came from
the penalty spot. Having played in
the same position this year must have
definitely helped Gerrard succeed this
year. Next year he will definitely be
eyeing the EPL title, and a team like
LFC will want to take it away from
their rivals, Manchester United. All
that aside, though, he has had a great
season.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo – Ronaldo, as
usual, had many goals throughout the
year, and can easily be considered
United’s most threatening forward.
The scissors and stepovers were all
there as well (for a time, the dives
were there too). His dazzling play
helped Manchester United win the
Premier League for a third consecutive year, while also securing the Fifa
World Clubs Cup, and a League Cup.
He played well for the first five minutes in the Champions League final,
when he had a bunch of half chances,
but after that he was pretty much invisible. Whether he ends up at Madrid
next year, or stays at Man United we
can expect another solid year from
CR7.
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – The Swedish target man found himself having
another great season with Inter when
he won the Scudetto and finished his
season with 25 goals. I don’t think
I’m alone when I say that almost all of
“The voice of the students.”
BCS OR PLAYOFFS
his goals were pure genius. His tricks
found him getting past defenders with
ease and then slotting home another
goal for the Nerazzurri. Once again he
has ended another year on a high, and
he also probably has the goal of the
year when he scored that karate kick
back heel against Bologna.
2. Andres Iniesta – Another member
of the 08/09 treble winning FC Barcelona. Without Iniesta’s last minute
strike against Chelsea, Barca would
have never made it to the CL finals.
Many would argue that Iniesta isn’t
even in the top 5, but they obviously
don’t watch La Liga. Andres has probably been the most consistent player
for FCB this year. His vision, on the
field is outstanding. He has no problem beating players 1 on 1, and he
is also versatile. If Henry isn’t available at left wing then “San Andres”
can easily take that spot, and still play
very well.
1. Lionel Messi– THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD! Messi is without a doubt the best in the world, and
you must be crazy if you disagree. He
has led Barcelona this year to a La
Liga, Copa Del Rey, and Champions
League trophy, helping FCB become
the first Spanish team to do the treble.
Lionel is probably the most exciting
player and can leave some fans out of
breath, while he leaves defenders in
the dust. His dribbling skills are superb and his passing is pretty good too.
The guy is only 21-years-old, which
makes his accomplishments sound
just as good. I’m sure that the Ballon
d’Or and the Fifa World Player of the
Year for 2009 will belong to Leo. He
scored 38 goals, and assisted 16 goals
Belton DeLaine-Facey
Knightly News Staff
On January 8, 2009 the Florida
Gators football team beat the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in the BCS National Championship Game. This is
all because of the BCS system, which
stands for Bowl Championship Series. This is a process, where computers and polls are used to rank teams.
Many people, including President
Obama, think the BCS is too flawed
and a playoff system would give every team an even chance and be more
exciting.
This past season, really showed the
flaws of the BCS. The University of
Utah and Ball State University both
went undefeated this year. Anyone
would’ve probably put these two
teams in the championship game. But,
since their conferences aren’t considered that good Utah was in the Sugar
Bowl and Ball State was in the GMAC
Bowl. If there was a playoff system
one of those schools could’ve been
champions instead of Florida. I asked
students and staff what they thought
about the subject.
Playoffs would level the playing
field for lesser known team, said Asad
Dar, a seventh-grader.
“It allows teams to come back after
a bad game,’’ Dar said of the current
system. “With playoffs, if you have a
bad game that’s it.”
Jay Parekh, a seventh grader, said
having playoffs would make the sport
more interesting to college football
fans.
“It would bring excitement and it
can be done quicker,” he said.
Rodney Point Du-Jour, a seventhgrade English teacher, admitted he’s
mixed up about how teams are chosen
to play in the championship games.
“The BCS system right now is
very confusing,’’ Point-Du-Jour said.
“Changing the system would bring
more fans to the sport. They need
playoffs.”
It’s clear that the BCS is flawed in
many ways, but if they want a playoff
system they’re going to need an okay
from the schools, coaches and players. Almost seventy schools get into a
Bowl Game every year. A playoff system would narrow it down to around
32, so the schools would say no. Now,
coaches have almost a month between
the end of the regular season and the
bowl game. Playoffs would only give
them a week to prepare, so coaches
would say no. The players are also
students who will probably not make
it into the NFL. So, in order to get
time to study they’ll say no.
It’s not that I’m against a playoff
system. I would actually prefer it over
the BCS. It’s just that I don’t think
it’s going to happen now or any time
soon.