October 31, 2007 - Loyola News

The Loyola News
Loyola High School’s Official Student Newspaper
Happy Hallowe’en !
Volume 5, Issue 2
October 31, 2007
Special points of interest:
• The Media Sucks p. 2
• Mr. Sean Ryan p.3
• ATM machines: is there a need? p.3
• Should interclass be optional p.7
• Justice Review p.8
• What’s Happening in Montreal p.9
• Halo 3 Review p.10
• Scariest Movies of All Time p.13
• Fr. Boutilier, s.j. update, p.15
Inside this issue:
Current News
2-5
Sports and Clubs
6-7
Arts and Entertainment
8-11
The Very Scary Games
Page
12-13
Bob and Bill
2,9
Halloween Special
13
The Loyola News
Page 2
This just in: the media sucks
You know the media is going down the
tube when the most politically influential
show on television has in-show ads for
Mind of Mencia in the
lower left hand corner.
Okay, that’s a little harsh,
but for a show that proudly
touts itself as fake news,
Jon Stewart’s The Daily
Show seems to be the only
place anyone can go to
anymore when they want
to know what the heck is
going on with the world.
It used to be that
journalism was actually a legitimate practice. Investigative reporting could get a
president impeached! Nowadays, we
consider Britney Spears shaving her head
to be front page news. 450 000 people
have been killed in Darfur and no one
knows about it! But who cares? Paris Hilton’s nipple just slipped out of her dress!
Again! In all fairness, celebrity gossip is harmless
fluff, kind of like minesweeper. But when you
start caring more about
Minesweeper than HIV in
Africa, that’s when you
know that things may be just
a little bit off kilter. Okay,
time for a pop quiz: Count
how many times you’ve
read about Tibet. Now how
many times have you read about Lindsay’s Rehab stay? See what I mean?
Okay, scary thought time: it’s
our fault. We are to blame for Page Six,
The New York Post and TMZ. We are re-
sponsible for giving Perez Hilton, a man
whose claim to fame consists of scribbled on
photos, a TV show. We are responsible for
making Fox News a credible news source.
We are responsible for people censoring
stories because they’re worried people
might be offended by things that weren’t
offensive to begin with. Sorry if that’s a bit
harsh, but it has to be said.
Alright, time for rehab. Stop giving Perez Hilton your time. Stop rewarding
Paris, Britney and Lindsay’s incredibly selfdestructive behaviour by paying attention to
them. Stop buying into Bill O’Reilly, Anne
Coulter and Tucker Carlson, and start
watching The Daily Show. Yes, they’re fake
news, but here’s the thing: IT’S ALL FAKE
NEWS. THEY’RE JUST THE ONLY ONES
WHO ARE BEING HONEST ABOUT IT.
By Jeremy McQueen
Many secondary four students are dissatisfied with their option
45% of the twenty-five secondary fours surveyed said that they were
dissatisfied with the option they chose.
Some of those surveyed said that they
were satisfied with their option but wish
that they could do something else if given
the opportunity. A few students said that
when they chose their option they were
interested at the time but then gradually
lost interest.
Some students felt that during
the options presentation they had been
mislead about the difficulty and content of
the course they were taking. Many of the
dissatisfied students gave their reasons
for choosing the option as “I thought it
was going to be easy,” or “So I could be
with my friends who were taking it as
well.”
Although many of the secondary
fours are unhappy, they are the last class
to have the old “one option system”. The
ministry of education wanted students to
have one of the arts: music, theater arts or
art, as an option. Loyola has adopted a
new two option system and added media
and computer programming to the already existing options of archeology,
Classics, computer building and Spanish.
“The new system has an advantage over the old one because it gives
students a wider range of choices and lets
them choose something that they are
really interested in.” said Mr. Scardera,
the teacher of the archeology option.
“The only disadvantage that I can think of
is that because
class time is now
split between two
options instead of
one, classes meet
less frequently.
This means that
teachers might
not be able to
cover as much material as they want to.”
It’s too early to tell whether or
not this new system of options will be
better but Mr. Scardera is optimistic.
“Overall, I think that this is a better system that the students will enjoy and by
next year we will be able to tell if it
worked.”
By Christopher Foster
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 3
New Feature: Mr. Sean Ryan
Mr. Ryan began his Loyola experience in 1992 as a secondary 1 student
at Loyola High School. Many of his favourite teachers are still at the school and he
now has the privilege to share ideas and
plans about teaching with individuals he
truly admires. After graduating from
Loyola Mr. Ryan studied cinema and communications at Dawson College, and continued studies in High School education at
McGill.
Mr. Ryan has had a tremendous
first experience at Loyola as a teacher.
“Yes the days are long and hectic, especially at the beginning, but I am blessed
to have been asked to work here.” Says
Mr. Ryan. He has truly enjoyed the students and staff members at Loyola. Mr.
Ryan tells us that students are so eager to
learn, and teachers are so eager to help.
“The staff room is so positive and energetic it’s hard not to smile when you walk
in”.
Mr. Ryan will be participating in
different activities this year, including
being head of the yearbook staff, being
the swim team coach, participating in the
retreat team, and is in negotiation with the
media department to create a first ever
Loyola High School film festival.
Mr. Ryan says he likes to take a
personal method towards teaching; he
tries to get the students to make personal
connections to the book. “No matter what
class I’m in, I try to make student enjoy
the texts not only on the surface but on a
personal level too”. Mr. Ryan strives to
create engaging lessons with costumes,
guest speakers, and engaging protects,
he attempts to get students hooked on
learning and is attempting to keep it that
way.
The Students feedback on Mr.
Ryan is extremely good, students enjoy
his classes and find them extremely intriguing and fun, many students had him
as both student teacher and teacher and
have enjoyed his presence in the class
room.
Mr. Ryan would to say to all students; “live, love and learn, keep on doing these things and you’ll have a great
time here at Loyola and once you step foot
into the world as adults.”
By Lucas M. Lawton
ATM machines: is there a need?
Do these situations seem familiar? You’re
in the cafeteria for lunch and decide to
buy the meal that
they serve. After
waiting in the lineup for what seems
to be an eternity,
and finally making
it to the cash, you
reach into your
pocket and realize
that your wallet is
too light.
Or on a free dress day, the excitement of not wearing a shirt and tie
causes you to forget money to purchase
the ticket. Or even money to take the bus.
What do you do when your usual solutions
such as begging for money or blackmailing a friend don’t produce results?
That’s where an Automated
Teller Machine (ATM) may come in
handy. For those of you who do not know
what it is, it is a machine that allows the
access of financial transactions electroni-
cally. If bought, it would provide students
of the school access to additional funds
from their bank account. Would it be a
good idea to do this? Many high schools
in North America have obtained an ATM
to service the students’ needs, should
Loyola follow in their footsteps?
Well there are many pros and
cons on the subject. First of all, on the pro
side, students will have the freedom of
spending what they want when they want
without any restrictions. Good idea? Not
too many parents and adults think so.
According to a financial planner, “Why is
there a need for an ATM? If students and
teachers are really conscientious with
their money, than they should only be
withdrawing cash from their bank account
once a week. Anything over that is likely a
result of impulse buying and overspending.” A parent said “Most students don’t
know the true value of money earned
through labour because parents give
those students allowances.”Has the student body’s financial needs come to a
point that the installation of an ATM be-
comes necessary? According to our survey only 24% of students in secondary 1
and 2 feel a need and would use an ATM.
This is not surprising though because they
are not working or making money. As
most said, their parents manage all their
transactions. Those who do have a personal account rarely manage it anyway.
On the senior side, secondary 3 students
sided with the juniors in that only 25% of
secondary 3 students want an ATM to be
installed at Loyola. However, 36% of sec.
4 students and sec. 5 students want an
ATM. Their reasons ranged from not having enough money to not wanting to manage it and use it.
Based on these answers, we can
see that the need is not present in the
majority of the students. Does this mean
that the chances of having an ATM for
unrestricted access to money at Loyola
diminished? Well, if there isn’t a need,
than an ATM does not seem to be in
Loyola’s future.
By Benjamin La Schiazza
The Loyola News
Page 4
Brave New World: the Loyola Earth Service Program
The Loyola News interviews ESP founder Mr. Michael Elie
The response has been very positive. Our
Day 1 meetings have had an increasing
attendance and we are going to be bringing in guest speakers and hands on workshops. Students like Andrew Dixon and
Lukas Rewers-Kusiak have been doing
great work behind the scenes such as surveying students, researching different recycling options and pushing for the recycling of glass and plastic.
Who is Mr. Michael Elie?
What are your most important goals for
the ESP?
What is the ESP?
The Earth Service Program is a new club at
Loyola whose goal is to help reduce the
school’s environmental impact. The idea is
to have students initiate and implement
programs to reduce waste, increase recycling and educate students about environmental awareness and stewardship. The
club is open to all Loyola community members and projects can be as small as turning off lights when they are not being used
or as big as community or rooftop gardening.
Why did you decide that the time is now
to organize such a club?
I have been thinking about this type of club
since I started here five years ago. Looking
around the school I see a lot of areas where
some simple changes could make a huge
difference and there are so many people
here that want to help, but don’t know how
to get involved. Loyola has a huge potential to be a community leader in these issues, but I feel that we are lagging
(perhaps even one of the biggest waste
producers in the neighborhood). There are
many examples of what we can do here
including Concordia’s latest initiatives
such as composting, plastic, glass, battery
recycling, and more.
How has the response been so far from
the students?
We have three short term goals as well as
many long term plans. We hope to be adding the recycling of glass and plastic (in
addition to paper) by Christmas. We would
like to see the replacement of single-use
water bottles (i.e. Naya bottles) with reusable (i.e. Nalgene) plastic bottles. Our
third short term goal is to set the school’s
printers and photocopiers to print on both
sides of the page. We feel that Loyola is
excessive in its use of paper. We would
like to see the administration and building
manager work with us towards these goals.
Name: Michael Elie
What was your most recent survey and
what are the preliminary results?
High school: Loyola
We are presently surveying the student
body to gauge support for double-sided
printing. So far we have gotten results from
only 9 classes (representing all 5 levels),
but the support for this initiative is overwhelming (88% in favor).
University: McGill University: Bachelor of
Science (Biology/Geography) and Bachelor of Education
Describe the brave new Loyola in an age
where the human race begins to finally
perpetuate a harmonious relationship
with the environment with zero negative
impact.
The will is there and the technologies exist
for Loyola to make the changes necessary
to reduce our global impact. Every student, teacher, support staff member, parent and administrator is capable of making
changes to help us help the world. Loyola
is a school that works within the community
for community and it is well overdue for us
to step up to the plate. Talk to your classmates, ask your teachers, start small, but
change can happen overnight if you want it
to.
College: John Abbott College (science)
Courses he teaches: Science in secondary
1, 2 and 3 as well as Secondary 3 Independent Studies
Extracurricular activities: Juvenile Hockey,
Earth Service Program, Advisor, Science
Fair, Homeroom Teacher, Loyola Wilderness Club, Rock Climbing Club, Loyola
Teachers Yoga Club, Ultimate
Hobbies: Hockey, running, volleyball, golf,
yoga, biking, hiking, canoeing, camping,
watching movies
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite music: Rock, Electronic, Jazz,
Blues
Favorite book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy
Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption
The meaning of life: Keeping it real!
The Loyola News
Page 5
China The New World Superpower?
China is a communist country.
They do have elections but only
one party is allowed to run-the
communist party. A
“democratically” elected President and Prime Minister make
decisions for a population of over
one-and-a half billion people.
This has allowed them to make
quick decisions without as much
bureaucratic process as another
country with a democratically
elected government like Canada
or the US. Although China is a
communist country where in theory everything is controlled by
the government, there are private
businesses run by citizens. But the
government tells those compa-
nies what they want them to
accomplish so there isn’t a lot
of competition between companies. Using these policies,
China has become one of the
world’s leading exporters.
Could China replace
the United States as the new
economic superpower of the
world? How could this be possible? China isn’t even a first
world country. But North
American and European companies have been moving
their factories to Asia and particularly China because of the
large workforce and significantly cheaper labour.
China has made significant strides in the past 20
years including bringing the
average annual salary up to
$1700 in 2006 compared to 30
years ago when 95% of the
population was making less
than $500 a year.
China has made progress as well in their education system. China sent 10, 000
of their brightest students to
study at universities in Europe
and North America. After completing their courses, the students came back and helped
run and improve the educational system.
North Americans are
afraid that China might soon
become a first world country
and replace the United States
as the new economic superpower of the world. And because the US is Canada’s biggest trading partner, it affects
Canada as well. Suggestions
have been made to increase
taxes and restrictions on imports from China but in the
long term this would hurt
more than help.
Should we be afraid?
China won’t surpass the
United States anytime in the
near future because China has
to overcome some enormous
obstacles before they do this.
When the majority of the Chi-
nese population becomes
better educated, they will
see the faults in their government and realize that the
conditions could be better.
There might be a revolution,
either peaceful or violent.
When this happens China’s
growth won’t be as rapid as it
normally would be because
many different groups with
different views and goals will
have to agree on decisions.
So the answer to
whether China could be the
next superpower is that
there’s a strong possibility it
could be. But the rate of
growth will eventually slow
down and China won’t become the new economic and
military superpower anytime
in the near future.
By Christopher Foster
The Atrium water cascade: inexplicable or interesting investment?
The new addition in the atrium
has caused quiet the stir around Loyola
High School. Some see the aquatic structure as one more way to escape the uniform and bland landscapes that most
schools have. Some are of the school of
thought that the new water cascade is more
of a water calamity, stating that it’s a financial whirlpool.
After speaking to the student
body here at Loyola, the message was very
mixed. After surveying 10 people from
each grade, it was found that, by a slim
number, the majority of the students (55%)
think that the water fountain is a great addition to the Loyola grounds while the remaining 45% believed that the water fall is
a simply an unnecessary nuisance.
In any private school, there are
always concerns as to how their money is
being spent. On a personal level, I believe
that the water fall in the atrium is a nice
facet to the atrium. My only concern is
whether Loyola has weighed they’re priorities correctly. Some of the books in the
school are in great disrepair and the Secondary 2 geography books are just as old
as those reading them (14 years of age).
Although this may seem nit-picky, if we
have the funds to build this water cascade,
then perhaps we should have put it towards the restoration of our textbooks. All
students from Secondary 3-5 must buy
their own individual books, this is something that should be prevented and can be
with the apparent excess funds we have.
However, I do wish to show my
gratitude to all responsible for the water
cascade as it is a beautiful attribute to
Loyola’s walls. I’d also like to thank all who
participated in the survey.
By Joseph Szymborski
The Loyola News
Page 6
SPORTS AND CLUBS
Bantam Soccer Braves complete perfect season!
MM: The whole season was a high, really;
we played excellently throughout. Plus we
had really great weather. Mrs. Ciampini’s
pizzas were also a notable high point. Oh
yeah, someone brought doughnuts once.
That was a good day, too.
Could you comment on the state of varsity
soccer at Loyola?
Congratulations Coaches De Verteuil and
Marshall on your perfect season and city
championship! Did you know from the beginning of the year that this was going to be
a special team?
Mr. Marc DeVerteuil (MD): First, I would
like to thank coaches Marshall and Christian Ackad for their hard work and insightful contributions. They are one of the main
reasons for the team’s success. Yes. I had
a feeling we had a special team. We had
several returning veterans, some excellent
secondary 1 players and two key additions
to the team. These were goalie Anthony
Parisi who was solid all year and Luca
Pietrantonio, an outstanding player who
had decided not to play last year because
of a busy school and outside sports schedule.
Ms. Meghan Marshall (MM): Given the
returning veterans and some very promising rookies, I knew we were going to have
an advantage. But I did not anticipate
dominating as much as we did.
How long have you been coaching the Bantam Braves and how many city championships have you won?
MD: I have been coaching soccer at Loyola
for 14 years, and coaching Bantam soccer
for the past 9 years.
MM: This is my third year as assistant
coach with Mr. DeVerteuil and my first city
championship.
What is your philosophy of coaching?
MD: Work hard and have fun.
MD: We are very lucky at Loyola. We have
so many excellent players and dedicated
coaches. This year, all four teams had an
excellent season. Even though no other
team won a championship, all four definitely were championship caliber teams.
It’s a real pleasure to watch all our teams
play. The players are great ambassadors
for the school, as they take pride in our
program and play with enthusiasm and
class. I already look forward to next year!
MM: I like to encourage team work, and
good sportsmanship. It’s also important to
push for personal bests without worrying
about how much better or worse other
players or teams are.
MM: The fact that we can accommodate
two teams at the Bantam level is a major
plus. We have many skilled athletes at
Loyola, so it’s nice to be able to have more
players represent the school.
Who stood out as exemplary players and
leaders on your squad this year?
Photos by Phillip Gattola
MV: There were several leaders. First, captains Luca
Pietrantonio and Philip Palisaitis. There were also team
veterans Jordan Piccolino and
Luca Ciampini. Finally, goalie
Anthony Parisi.
MM: In addition to those mentioned by DeVerteuil, Robert
Neuman also established himself as a key player. He was a
very reliable defense.
What were some of the highpoints of the season besides the
city championship victory?
MD: There were several highpoints. These include; watching the younger secondary 1
players improving and taking
on a bigger role, having an
undefeated season, and winning back the James McGrath
trophy.
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 7
Should interclass be optional?
Interclass has been apart of Loyola for over
50 years and the goal has remained the
same-trying to get classes to interact with
each other and getting a class to work together as a team. Only recently has getting
kids to be more active become a second
objective of interclass.
Sixty students from secondary 1, 2
and 3 were surveyed on whether or not
interclass should be optional. 85% of them
thought that interclass should be optional.
Some of the reasons given were, “Some
kids just sit out and don’t even bother playing. They shouldn’t even be there.” A few
students said that they would rather review
for a test that afternoon or do homework.
What was amazing was that out of those
students, 75% said they would still go most
of the time even if it was optional.
Of the students that said it shouldn’t be optional, one secondary three gave
his reasoning simply as “It’s fun”. Another
sec. 3 said, “It teaches kids who don’t usually play sports teamwork and gets kids
active.” Apparently getting active isn’t as
big of a problem as it is made out to be.
Although there are other things for students to do like video games, chatting on
MSN and homework, many students have
found ways to be active. 93% of the secondary ones and twos surveyed play a sport
either for the school or their city. This isn’t
surprising considering Loyola’s rich tradition in sports. What was surprising however was that only 75% of sec. threes play
at least one organized sport. This is still a
large percentage but becomes a little
more concerning when Mr. Lafave, head of
the Physical Education Department, said
that there have been problems with sec. 3
attendance in interclass. The number of
gym classes per cycle steadily decreases
after sec. 2 as well, adding to that concern.
The most common reason given
by students who said interclass should be
optional was that they don’t have enough
time to eat lunch and often feel rushed.
Although the juniors may feel rushed and
constrained, the new system in place is an
improvement on the system three years
ago. Lunch used to start at 11:30 and interclass would start at 11:50. This would give
students 20 minutes to get their lunch, eat it
and get changed for interclass. Now students eat their lunch after interclass because it was realized that students who buy
their lunch were waiting in line for over 15
minutes and this was unfair to them.
When asked whether there were
any ideas about the future of interclass, Mr.
Lafave responded, “We’ve been considering getting the secondary fours and fives
more involved with interclass. I’ve also
been considering starting a lunch time
league.” When asked, could interclass ever
be optional? Mr.Lafave answered “I’ve always been open to suggestions from students and it’s definitely something I’ll be
looking into for the future.”
By Christopher Foster
Midget Volleyball: making a run for gold again this year
Over the past three years,
Loyola’s volleyball program has been the
best in the city. With the Bantam, Midget
and Juvenile teams winning the city championship every year for the past three
years. So, Mr. Ruscito had some big decisions to make when he selected his sixteen
-man roster which became Loyola’s Midget
volleyball team.
After a month of practice the team
played its first series of games at the James
McGrath Sports Tournament. Loyola’s
Midget warriors faced off against the Juvenile teams of Laurier MacDonald, Loyola,
LaSalle Catholic, Lindsay Place, and Westmont High School. The Loyola Midget team
beat LaSalle Catholic and Westmont High
School; they tied Lindsay Place and lost to
Laurier MacDonald and Loyola. This qualified them for the semi-finals against the
Loyola Juvenile team. After losing the first
set, the Loyola Midget teams rallied back
during the second set, forcing the game to
a 25-23 thriller. But in the end they still lost.
They played the consolation final against
Laurier MacDonald which ended as a tie.
The regular season started off on
a rough note with a tournament at John
Rennie High School. Mr. Ruscito was away
and Mr. Burke acted as a temporary coach.
Loyola defeated St Thomas in the first
game; unfortunately Loyola did not play a
very good game for the team was plagued
by a lack of communication and this caught
up to them in the second game against
Laurier MacDonald which they ended up
losing.
The second regular season tournament was held at Loyola which saw the
Loyola Midgets take on Royal West and
John Rennie. The team did not play to there
full potential but showed a lot of improvement since there first game. They beat
Royal West 25-13 and 25-15. The second
game was a must win against John Rennie
which at this point was tied for first with
Laurier MacDonald. The game ended with
Loyola taking both sets 25-17 and 25-20.
The third regular season tournament was at West Island Collage (WIC) this
tournament would see Loyola play against
St Thomas and Laurier MacDonald. This
tournament would see a completely reenergized team which was ready to take on
the challenge that Laurier MacDonald
would bring. They first beat St. Tomas 25 to
8 and 25 to 9. The second game was a
struggle on the court between Loyola and
Laurier MacDonald. But in the end Laurier
Macdonald conceded both sets to Loyola
with scores of 25 to 17 and 25 to 21.
At the next two tournaments,
Loyola would go on to win all four of its
games against WIC twice, Lauren Hill and
John Rennie. The Loyola Midget volleyball
team is currently in first place with two
games left and will be representing Montreal at the Classique tournament in TroisRiviers on November 2 and 3 and will most
likely be participating in the finals at
Loyola on November 10. The team so far
has had an excellent season and looks forward to the next games that it will play, in
the quest for the gold medal and Loyola’s
attempt to achieve a fourth consecutive
triple crown.
Matthew Quadrini
The Loyola News
Page 8
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
New French DJ’s set to hit it big?
Justice Review
I am not a fan of dance music. When it
comes to Techno, House, Electronica, or
whatever you want to call it, there probably isn’t a more cynical, biased critic than
me. Bet you’ve heard these before, “all
techno is, is the same beat over and over
and over and over and over again.” Well
in many cases, I’m not going to lie, this is
the case…
And then there was light…
Justice, the French (French from
France… Not Quebec), DJ’s came into
town on October the 19th, and they were
here to shine. As the lights faded, all that
was left to hear was the first note of their
song, “Genesis,” a song filled with the
prevalent qualities of a horror film being
filmed in Club 1234. The crowd roared,
and the curtains opened as there stood
Justice, raised in mid-air, standing at their
DJ booth, decorated with solely a shining
white cross. Here stood the dynamic duo
with arms raised in the air. And then came
the beats.
This was no
average rock show. It
wasn’t a rock show at all!
The sweat drenched
crowd traded in mosh
pitting for dancing, as
Justice re-mixed their
already mixed songs,
adding layers over layers. The rest of their set
followed, as they went
through all their hits,
such as D.A.N.C.E, We
Are Your Friends, Waters of Nazareth and
One Minute to Midnight.
After witnessing this show, I can
say that Justice has changed the way us
rocker kids think about electronica. Their
eclectic brand of techno beats mixed with
the use of real-life instruments sound like
nothing you’ve ever heard. Not only this,
but the multi-layered perfection of it all
brings you to a completely new world
while listening, they have created a genre
ahead of it’s time.
After their set, Justice returned
back to the roaring crowd for their encore
and re-mixed Metallica. WHAT?! METALLICA?!?! At a dance show? Yeah, that’s
what I thought too! They came back on and
re-mixed Master of Puppets! Wow, for
someone who never liked dance music to
begin with, this sole act deserves mad respect. This show was real life proof that
Justice is our friend.
Jordano Aguzzi, The Music Guy
Listen Up! A musical guide to what’s good for you
Feist - The Reminder
By now, you’ve probably seen the
Ipod commercial featuring Feist’s video, 1 2
3 4. If, like numerous others, you have become enamoured with the song, you might
want to give her new CD, The Reminder, a
try. The Broken Social Scene singer presents a entire set of flawless indie songs,
without making any of them seem over the
top or flashy. Instead of belting out her
cover of Nina Simone’s See Line Woman
(Now spelled Sealion Woman), she almost
whispers her way through it, and it works.
Her sense of calmness works its way into
songs like My Moon, My Man and I’m Sorry,
making The Reminder one of the greatest,
and most soothing, albums of the year.
At right: Feist
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Making a huge artistic leap in the
other direction, PJ Harvey’s new CD marks
her strongest work to date. Thanks to her
recently discovered talent for the piano, PJ
(Real name Polly Jean) has successfully
branched out into a calmer, more introspective sound. The songs all have a ghostly
quality about them, considering that they
are mostly piano based tracks. Songs like
Dear Darkness and When Under Ether perfectly demonstrate her control over her
voice and piano playing, although it is her
finale, The Mountain, with her banshee like
crying that proves just how incredible this
album is.
By Jeremy McQueen
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 9
What’s Happening in Montreal by Peter Limeburner
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
The exhibit on right now at the
museum is called E-art. It is an exhibit
surrounding the connection between
life and machine. The first room looks
like something out of mythology. It is
like a giant plastic spider web filling a
whole room, but with a twist: as opposed to it being just decoration, in it
there are wires that are electrically
charged, and make the web move in
certain places. If you look closely, you
can see bits of it moving just like hands,
or a living crature. In the second room,
there is an interactive A.I. head that is
projected on a screen and has a microphone that you talk into to interact with
it. In a further room, there is a line of
picture frames on the wall, with 4 pictures in each. There is also a table in
the center and against one wall, there is
an interactive game that uses four
arrows to move a computer-designed
person around the exhibit room, out
the room, and through the hotel of
which the pictures were taken. In the
next room, there is a 360° video,
taken by pointing a camera up at a
parabolic mirror, thus creating a full
view of the environment in which the
video is being filmed. In the 6th room,
there are 2 computers that are used
to control 2 faces projected up on a
screen. The faces play out movements from a selection on one
screen, with a bar to choose what
part, and a list of speeds at which to
play the emotion. There are many
more interesting items on display in
further rooms.
Above, Implant Matrix
Free Admission
September 20th to December 9th 2007
Pointe-à-Callière
The Permanent exhibits at Pointe-àCallière museum, located in the Old
Port, are the archeological digs, and
the historic foundations of a long past
Montreal, along with the techniques
used to discover its history, and to unearth its artifacts. They have some of
the artifacts discovered on display
among the foundations of old buildings
that lie beneath the streets. You can
walk among these foundations, and see
the old wall that was used to protect
Montreal from attackers.
From November 6, 2007 to
April 27, 2008, there will be an exhibit at
Pointe- à-Callière Museum about the
rebellions in upper and lower Canada,
from the Patriots wanting democracy to
their fight against the Loyalists, and the
discovered artifacts that help us understand their struggle, lifestyle, and more
information pertaining to Montreal’s
history.
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 10
Video Games Report by Alex Callard
Halo 3
For months, 360 owners have been anxiously anticipating the release of the longawaited final installment in the awardwinning Halo trilogy, but does Halo 3 really
live up to the standards its predecessors set
for it? I’m not going to beat around the
bush here; it does. The game takes the best
parts of the first games and meshes them
together into one beautiful, shining piece
of software. The campaign has been
nearly perfected, with fantastic AI and
great level design to boot. Certain buttons have been remapped, and while
there is some adjustment time, the controls do feel more fluid.
The Halo 1
Assault Rifle has been re-implemented as
your default weapon, and has received
minor tweaks (along with all the other
weapons) to make the game more balanced overall, although this is more noticeable when playing competitively via
Xbox Live against other human beings. As
well, there have been several additions to
your weapons arsenal, such as the Spartan Laser and the Mauler pistol, and a few
new vehicles such as the Chopper, a sort
of futuristic motorcycle.
While most
first-person shooters aren’t know for having phenomenal story lines, the plot of
Halo 3 is quite engaging, although it’s
clear that it is not the game’s main priority. And while single-player might be a
draw for some, it’s the expansive (and
somewhat daunting) multiplayer mode
that really makes Halo 3 the masterpiece
it is. The development team essentially
took what was great about Halo 2’s multiplayer mode and ran with it, adding more
maps, game types, and even a way to
save in-game footage and edit it to your
heart’s desire. Probably the biggest
innovation is the aptly-named Forge.
Forge is a multiplayer mode
the game offers in which you can basically do anything. You choose the map
you want to play in and you begin the
match. The catch is, at any point during
the fight, you can press up on the directional pad to change into a spherical
robot, giving you the ability to whiz
around the map, spawning items and
equipment and messing with the
game’s settings. It can be something as
simple as changing where a weapon
appears to making a tower of Warthog
jeeps. You can even save your maps
and post them on Xbox Live, allowing
the rest of the world access to your custom game types.
It should go without saying
that everyone who owns a 360 should
have a copy of Halo 3 sitting next to the
box. Even if you’re terrible at firstperson shooters, this is still one of the
most fun experiences you can have with
your friends. Hail to the Master Chief.
9.5/10 - A must-buy
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Phantom Hourglass takes place directly
after the events of the 2003 GameCube hit
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The
game once again follows Link, the young
boy garbed in green, as he sets out to
scour the Great Sea in order to save his
friend Tetra.
stance, the Boomerang, a series staple, is
now guided by drawing a path for it to fly
on, and you can sketch notes on your dungeon map to remember the location of
treasure, how to complete a certain puzzle,
or anything else worthy of being jotted
down.
As usual, you travel from one dungeon to the next, sword and shield in hand,
collecting treasure and defeating hordes of
monsters. But while the formula is the
same, the execution is drastically different.
Phantom Hourglass takes full advantage of
the DS’s capabilities, and does it better
than any other DS game thus far. You control Link entirely via touch; to move, you
tap and hold a point on the screen and he
will move there diligently, following the tip
of your stylus. To slash, you must draw
quick lines in front of Link, and by tapping
an enemy within range, you can have Link
lunge and strike them down. Everything
else is also done by touch control. For in-
The cel-shaded, cartoon graphics
style introduced in The Wind Waker looks
completely at home on the Nintendo DS.
The game is 3D, but it blends well with the
classic Zelda top-down view and dungeoncrawling. My main quip with this game is
that, while the series has always had a
reputation as a very challenging adventure
with lots of extras to complete after the
main game is finished, Phantom Hourglass
is much shorter than most others, there
isn’t much to do once the end credits roll,
and it’s terribly easy.
The game is very sturdy overall,
and if you really want a reason to dust off
your DS then Phantom Hourglass is a great
time-waster.
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 11
Loyola Debating Club heads out West
Between October 18-22, two
Loyola debaters had the privilege of representing Quebec and Loyola at the North
American Debating Championships held in
Calgary Alberta. It was the first time Loyola
Debaters had attended this tournament
and they lived up to expectations despite
the questionable judging
they finished individually
tied for 43 out of over 110
debaters only 5 points
back from the first place
speaker and as a team
finished 34 out of 55
which was the third highest out the seven Quebec.
The results were more
positive that they seem
considering Quebec had
the youngest team at the
tournament, and having
to deal with foreign,
“western judges” and a new debating
style. But at the end of the day it was a
great experience and there were no regrets for going.
It all started on September 19
2007, the Loyola debating team made its
first debating appearance of the year at the
North American Debating Championship
Qualifier which was held at St. Georges
school of Montreal. Two teams from Loyola
were participating at the tournament
Loyola A made up of Matthew Quadrini and
Jordan Gentile and Loyola B made up of
Chirs Costis and Joseph Szyborski. After
three rounds debate Loyola A placed second going undefeated throughout the tournament and having its speakers place second and sixth respectively qualifying for
the tournament, while Loyola B had a record of 1-2 and placed 12 as a team. Individually they placed 24 and 18 respectively unfortunately not qualifying for the
North Americans. When the tournament
was over seven teams qualified for the
tournament. Jordan Gentile and Matthew
Quadrini from Loyola, Caroline Jo, Julia
Deutsch and Madison McLeod, Kiara
Kaminski from The Study, Howard Cohen
and Sammy Rappaport form LCC, Trevor
Hooton and Phil Ta Kim from Selwin House
and Airk Parnass , Alex Chalk and Daniel
Freder, Ethan Gorden from St Georges.
For over a month the 14 member
team practiced a new debating style for
this tournament known as British Parliamentary. The team departed Montreal for
Calgary on the 18 of October two days
before debating actually began. October
18 was days to travel to Calgary and settle
in at hotel arriving around noon the team
had time to go downtown and enjoy Calgary some went shopping while others
went up the Calgary Tower which is Calgary’s answer to the CN
tower in Toronto and
experience the City from
a different angle. That
evening the team had a
team steak dinner and it
is true that Alberta steak
is a lot better than the
steak in Quebec.
On the second day all
110 debaters were
brought to scenic city of
Banff which is nestled in
the Rocky Mountains.
There, there were excursions up to the hot springs or to gondola
which took you to the top of Sulfur Mountain. You could also stay in the city of Banff
and go shopping on the main road, it on
this day where the debaters could socialize, not without the occasional argument
but it was a great experience to meet other
debaters from other provinces and even
from Germany.
October 20 was the start of debating. It was held at the Calgary French and
International School. From the beginning
the tournament was plagued with problems mainly due to the poor quality of
judging. The judges not only made errors
judging the style but also ranked the teams
in one of the rounds in the reverse order of
which they were supposed to be forcing
one of the Quebec teams to debate all the
teams that finished in the top eight even
though they had lost their first round by the
third round the judging had degenerated
to a point where Chris George the coach of
Quebec refused to judge because the
judges that he had to judge with were too
incompetent. The entire team was demoralized but the time they left on the busses
which took them back to the hotel. But still
there were a lot of cultural and intellectual
exchanges between teams and the team
and the team from Loyola ran into Mr.,
Schnitzer’s sister who teaches at the Calgary French and International School. But
no matter how bad the day went the team
had something to look forward to.
Mr. George was able to hockey
tickets to the Flames, Oilers game at the
Saddledome. The game was fast paced
and full of emotion resulting in three fights
and a Calgary victory of 4 to 1.
The second day of debate was
held and William Aberheart High School,
in the first round of that day three Quebec
teams debated each other. The highlight of
the round was when Daniel Freder of St
Georges stood up and began his speech in
French. The judging was significantly better on this day and fewer errors were
made. During the second round the team
from Loyola had the privilege of debating
against some German debaters who
brought a European prospective to the
round. That round was also recorded by
CBC radio along with an interview of some
of the debaters including Matthew
Quadrini which was aired the following
morning. At the end of the third round all
the debaters were shipped downtown for
some last minute exploring before the banquet held in the cafeteria of William Aberheart High School.
The finals of the tournament were
held at William Aberheart High School
eight teams qualified to participate in the
semi finals and finals in the final round
were teams from British Columbia, Manitoba and two teams from Alberta but after a
thrilling round viewed by over 500 students and filmed by over 5 video cmeras
David Mikko and Justin Russell from Alberta and Sean Husband and Helenaz Hajifattahi from BC were the top two teams and
qualified to represent Canada at the Oxford tournament next spring.
At the end of the tournament team
Quebec had done very well for its self considering that Quebec had the youngest
debaters of any province and next year the
Quebec delegation will do even better.
If any Loyola student is interested
in debating students are more than welcome to attend the
clubs meetings
which are on day 5
and whenever announced on the
bulletin. Bring your
lunch.
By Matthew
Quadrini
The Loyola News
Page 12
THE VERY SCARY GAMES PAGES
SUDOKU
ANSWER KEY
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 13
The 10 Scariest Movies
of All Time!
1. “The Thing” (1982): Features a
group of men at an Antarctic Base,
where one of the crew members is
an alien. But which one?
2. “Ju-on” (2000): Takes place in Japan, where a crazy man kills his
wife, and son. What will he do
next?
3. “The Ring” (2002): Features a girl
who climbs out of a well to kill people. But how does she do so?
4. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978): Your family is acting
weird, your seeing plants move,
and you can’t stop sleeping. What
is going on?
5. “Alien” (1979): With a space background, and futuristic characters,
expect a gory horror.
6. “Dawn of the Dead” (1978): Banned
in 17 countries, you can expect a
gruesome zombie film.
7. “Evil Dead II” (1987): It’s like being
on a roller coaster; lots of
screams!!!
8. “Halloween” (1978): Be careful, the
killer is hacking through your
door, he’s coming up the stairs,
and he’s taking out his knife. What
does he do next?
9. “The Shining” (1980): In this hotel
nothing is safe, not even your own
family.
10. “The Exorcist” (1973): Being possessed by the devil leads to spinning heads, and buckets of vomit,
but not buckets of fun!!!
TEACHER TRIVIA
Which teacher studied birds in Barbados?
Which teacher lived in the Arctic for 2 years?
Which teacher bikes to school from the West Island?
3. Mr. Michael Grezcowski
3.
2. Mr. Jacques Baruthio
2.
Mr. Michael Elie
1.
Answers to Teacher Trivia
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 14
What’s Worth Watching: Pushing Daisies
comes Pushing Daisies, and my faith in TV
is risen from the dead. In my defense, the
show is impossibly likable.
Okay, I’m a little disgusted with
myself right now. Ever since the cancellations of Wonderfalls, Arrested Development, Dead Like Me and Futurama, I
swore to myself that I would never grow
attached to another TV show ever again.
Just when I think that I may be right in
doing so (Seriously? The Geico Cavemen? COME ON HERE PEOPLE), along
The show revolves around Ned
(Lee Pace), a man with the ability to bring
things back to life by touching them. The
catch: If he ever touches them again, they
die for good, and if he brings anything
back to life for more than a minute, something must die to take its place. He manages to lie low as a pie maker, while
moonlighting as a private eye with his pal,
Emerson (Chi McBride). But after discovering that his childhood sweetheart,
Chuck (Anna Friel), is dead, he brings her
back to life, and solves her murder.
The shows strength lies in its
sheer adorableness: you could be having
the worst day of your entire life, and this
show would still give you the warm
Jordano’s Communist Manifesto
fuzzies. It perfectly balances its sweetness
with a little bit of drama. While Ned and
Chuck are together again, Ned has to somehow create a working relationship with
Chuck that doesn’t include touching, and
Chuck must adjust to her new life, since her
family thinks she’s supposed to be in a coffin.
The bad news is that the show’s
creator, Bryan Fuller, has a notoriously bad
track record. While his shows are usually
nothing less than spectacular, they are usually unwatched by the general public. So
please, please, please, PLEASE do TV a favor and watch this show!
By Jeremy McQueen
Riddles
That Doesn't Have Much to do with Communism
There's no such thing as understanding.
It doesn't exist.
That is unless it is in math or sciences,
which in reality don’t exist anyway,
and are only flawless, useless
and impossible ideologies.
Understanding, or referring to
"understand" something,
actually refers to interpreting.
It's not a matter of understanding,
but rather a matter of how
you understand it.
There is no such thing in losses,
but only gains.
Staying out of the loop
is what humans truly strive.
Underneath all masks.
Underneath all layers.
All we want to do is hide, have sex,
attempt love, and try to be happy.
… For the most part anyway.
It takes a true soldier
to step above the crowd,
But they aren’t exactly a dime a dozen.
Society's majority convinces us
to believe more,
but what if we were all 50-50?
And you were forced
to make a choice:
Risk it and fail.
Or play it safe and hide?
There are two fathers and two sons. How
many people are there?
Answer: Three people: One grandfather,
one father, one son.
The true definition of being a man,
to risk everything, put it on the line,
get crucified.
Understand what you hate,
embrace it, deal with it.
Hiding is losing, and everyone loses.
You want to build a stone wall around
your 12'x20' garden. If the bricks are 6"
high & 6" wide and 1' long,. How many
bricks will you need to make a wall 6"
wide & 4' tall ?
What it basically renders itself down to
is the simple question,
Are you content with losing?
Answer: A stone wall has no bricks!
Jordano Aguzzi
What is so fragile that when you say its
name you break it?
Answer: Silence
Volume 5, Issue 2
Page 15
Father Boutilier, s.j. update
Fr. Michel Boutilier S.J, otherwise known as Fr. Boots,
has brought enlightenment,
joy, and “tech” to Loyola, all
of which has been sadly and
dearly missed since his
departure from Loyola.
In response to all
those who have been suffering from the “Boots-blues”,
the following paragraphs
will be sure to satisfy all
queries and questions on all
things Boutilier.
Other than being accompanying students on
Kairos and teaching 5 new
courses to secondary 3, 4
and 5 students, Fr. Boutilier has become a
member of the Ignatian Identity team, the
Leadership Committee, the Board of Members, the WHIMIS and the Bi-millenial
Committee while away from Loyola.
At St. Paul’s Jesuit School
in Winnipeg, Fr. Boutilier has
taken the titles of Liturgical
Coordinator, Department
Head of Religious Studies,
Moderator of Liturgical Committee and, finally, Moderator
of the St. Paul’s Choir (which
happens to be preparing for an
appearance with Michael
Bublé at his next concert in
Winnipeg). Fr. Boots has also
started directing a student in
the Spiritual Exercises of St.
Ignatius. He will also be accompanying the soccer team
on their travels to Italy, Germany and Austria all during
the first week of March break.
Some things never change with Boots,
however. He still holds morning mass and
takes part in retreats.
When asked about the amounts of
tech at St.Paul’s, Fr. Boutilier remarked
“There is no need of TECH because the
discipline here is rigorously enforced”.
Father Fogarty, who happens to be teaching at the same school as Father Boutilier,
will be coming to Montreal in November to
attend the Ministry of Youth Committee. As
luck has it, this is apparently one of the few
committees Father Boots is not a member
of.
For all those who wish to send Fr.
Boutilier a shout-out, please send your message to [email protected]. If you
wish to learn more about Fr. Boutilier and
St. Paul’s High School, you can visit http://
www.stpauls.mb.ca
Joseph Szymborski
Loyola Drama’s “And Then There Were None” coming soon!
Loyola Drama Presents Agatha
Christie’s
The Cast of And Then There Were None
(Ten Little Indians)
And Then There Were None
Rogers...Michael Gerbasi
November 22-23
7:30 PM
Philip Lombard...Bernard Soubry
Anthony Marston...Anthony Gervasi
William Blore...Mark Weissfelner
General Mackezie...Joseph Szymborski
Loyola Centre for the Performing Arts
Justice Wargrave...Mathieu Mancini
Dr. Armstrong...Christos Simitsakos
Fred Narracott...Dylan McCarty
Admission: $10.00
$5.00 for students and seniors
FREE for Loyola Students
Vera Claythorne...Natasha Vincelli
Mrs. Rogers...Erica Murray
Emily Brent...Kristyna Spooner
The Loyola News Editorial Staff
Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
Assistant Editor
Assistant Editor
Michael Azakie
Marcus Oosenbrug
Brian Luong
Alex Callard
Regular Contributors
Jeremy McQueen
Lucas Lawton
Jordano Aguzzi
Ben LaSchiazza
Joseph Szymborski
Help Wanted: articles, art, interviews, poetry, photos and more!
Interested in getting published?
Would you like to write an article for The
Loyola News? Create some art work? Design a puzzle? Interview a faculty or staff
member? Perhaps you have some poetry
or song lyrics you would like to share.
Maybe you fancy yourself a photographer! Whatever it is, feel free to drop by
one of our meetings in room 211. Just listen
to the bulletin for the time of our next gathering. As well, you may contact any member of the editorial staff with your ideas in
person or e-mail us at [email protected].