Spider-Man’s child
Talk about some interesting anatomy.

Big trucks and large mouth bass
Southern Pride

With all the riots going on these day, why feel left out? Now you can create you’re own reason to rebel against the man!

474 Things To Do When You’re Bored

Never be bored again with this everlasting list of things to do whenever and wherever!

In my previous article about concept albums, I talked about how The Dear Hunter is a very concept-driven band. Their name is based from their Act albums, which tell the story of a “dear hunter” and his life from birth to death. So far The Dear Hunter has released three of their Act albums: Act I-The Lake South, The River North; Act II-The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading; and Act III-Like and Death. They put their Act’s on pause for the master project of what lead singer Casey Crescenzo titled “the colors project” and later labeled as The Color Spectrum.

The Color Spectrum is a series of nine EP’s consisting of four songs that each depict a different color of the visible color spectrum, from black to white to everything in between. A sample CD was released with a song from each EP (and an extra song from the White and Green AP), but the complete collection was put out (in both vinyl and through digital purchase on iTunes) with a total of 36 songs and over two and a half hours of music.

A handful of people helped with the production of The Color Spectrum. While Casey Crescenzo produced the Black, Yellow, Blue, and Indigo EPs in his home, the White, Violet, Green, Orange, and Red EPs were all co-produced with someone else in separate locations. Manchester Orchestra’s main singer Andy Hull co-produced the Red EP at Favorite Gentlemen, which is a record label and artist community started by the members of Manchester Orchestra. The White and Violet EPs were co-produced with Mike Watts at Vu Du Studios in New York. Mike Watts previously helped mix Act III and when Act III was finished, Casey asked Mike if he would help to co-produce two of the Color EPs. Mike Poorman, formerly of the band Hot Rod Circuit, helped to co-produce the Orange and Green albums in Strangeways Studios, located in Rhode Island.

As for the song content, all of Manchester Orchestra helped with the Red EP. A former band mate,  Brendan Brown, of Casey Crescenzo’s previous band The Receiving End of Sirens played the bass for all of the Orange EP. The mandolin part heard in the Green EP was played by Falling Up’s lead singer and guitarist Jessy Ribordy. The Yellow and Blue EPs feature the band The Naive Thieves. The album as a whole took almost a complete year to finish.

Each color EP has a different sound. The album starts off with the heavy guitars and drums with the Black EP. The lyrics feel dark and the music makes your heart pound. The Red EP is just as fast paced and heavy with a slightly more upbeat feel. To me, I can’t tell when Red stops and Orange begins. They blend together almost seamlessly to me. But you can definitely tell when the transition to Yellow happens because the music makes a drastic change to a happy and cheerful guitar and drum combo and songs filled with lyrics that exude an afternoon on a picnic soaking up the sun. Green mellows out a with softer guitar and happy, though not overly done like with Yellow, lyrics filled with hope and optimistic stanzas. Blue is filled with slow, waltz-like guitar and deep lyrics. It’s much more mellowed down that Green, and it’s almost so much that it’ll put you in a slight funk. Indigo takes the album in a new direction, like with Yellow, and embraces a thick bass and synthesizer sound. Violet is the EP that has the most Dear Hunter sound. It’s a full band and it’s loud and in your face with lyrics that tell a mini-story about a man and a woman that reminds me of the Act albums. The Color Spectrum closes with the White EP, which is filled with calming and feel-good sounds. The lyrics are similar to the Green EP, hopeful and optimistic, but they take a slightly religious direction and moral-driven stance that ends the album with a feeling of “Lost but Not All Gone.”

After the publication of The Color Spectrum, it was announced that The Dear Hunter would go on tour with Anthony Green, since he also would be coming out with his solo album titled Beautiful Things. They started the Beautiful Things Tourin early January. The set was to include Good Old War playing background for Anthony Green and, though individuals weren’t listed, only part of The Dear Hunter.  I had the privilege of attending one of the concerts that was held in Atlanta at The Loft on January 25th. I’ve only seen Anthony Green once, and that was a year ago and he was touring with his band Circa Survive and they played with Foxy Shazam (one of my personal favorites) and Anberlin. The Beautiful Things concert was both a treat because I’d get to see what Anthony was like on solo tours, and I’d get to see The Dear Hunter. I’ve been fangirling over seeing TDH in concert for almost two years now. They don’t tour down south much, since they’re from Rhode Island and they mostly stick to the northern states. After the Beautiful Things Tour is over, Casey Crescenzo has stated that The Dear Hunter won’t be doing any touring for a while, which hopefully means the Acts albums will no to be continued.

Casey Crescenzo and yours truly after the concert.

Here’s a playlist that contains the entire Color Spectrum album, in order by color and how they are presented on the digital download.

This includes weightlifting and physical education as well, the main area that students are complaining about. Ryan Stephens, a senior, who thinks that “it is just a waste of time to write a prompt in P.E. but then again I know that our school
has a good reasoning behind doing this.” An example of a prompt to discuss this would be writing paper about the health of running in P.E. or a paper on obesity.

After meeting with Mrs. Day on Writing across the Curriculum, she shed some light on why this addition is going to help the students at school. She says that the goal of the new curriculum is to “produce better writers and better writers are also better thinkers, and good writers also have better standardized test scores.” One of the hopes is that we’ll see the effects of the program in North Augusta’s SAT and ACT scores.

Why now though? Why this year? Starting next year all schools will be using a Federal Curriculum and all schools will have the same core standards in the United States.  North Augusta High will adopt this curriculum and so to start off early and get students in the habit, this is where the writing portion will come into place.

Adam Parlor, a junior, thinks that writing across the curriculum will be “a good start to help students improve standardized test scores, and I know I am definitely in that category of needed improvement.”

-An interesting tribute to one of our finest students here at NAHS.

Masters Sporcle

Can you name all the Holes at the Augusta Nationals?

Rain makes everything better.

Coachella

Tickets for this California music festival may be gone, but that doesn’t make the lineup any less impressive.

Camel predicts super bowl win.

Still Kickin’ at 85

Lady beats up a moose.

Stupid People

Man shoots himself In the foot during robbery.

The State Beta Club Convention is coming up February 10-12 in Myrtle Beach. And let me tell you, it is a whirlwind of fun. At the convention, Beta clubs from across the state compete in various scholastic and artistic events and elect the state officers. Winners from each competition are invited to participate in the national convention, and the state officers can choose to run for national office. North Augusta has one of the best-represented Beta Clubs in the state: last year we took 70 and this year we’ll be an all-out powerhouse with 92 attendees.

The focus of the convention is the state officer election. Campaigning plays out over a few meet-and-greet sessions, speeches, and a presentation of the skits. Each candidate develops a theme for his/her campaign, usually a clever pun or allusion using their name. This year, Zack Rogers is running for vice-president, using “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” as his theme. On his expectations for the convention, Zack said “I have pieced together a campaign that will hopefully be successful. As far as the weekend goes, I’m expecting to shake a lot of hands, forget a lot of names, and, if I want to win, do a lot of networking.” As Zack said, networking is important to victory, and schools with candidates running for different offices frequently make alliances. After campaigning is completed, ballots are cast and the state officers are inaugurated during the third and final general assembly.

Another major part of the convention experience is the talent competition. Talent is the marquee event of the competitions, and it is performed in the main conference room in front of all attendees. As the most visible competition, it is usually the most hotly contested, with almost every attending school entering an act. Talent is split into two categories: small groups, which have no more than four participants and four minutes to perform, and large groups, which have at least five participants and seven minutes to perform. Each year brings a new crop of performers. Some are excellent, but none are more enjoyable than the truly terrible. Or maybe that’s just my inner sociopath showing. Anyways, North Augusta has a solid track record in large group, with several top finishes and a state victory in 2009 with “Grease.” Last year’s small group “Free Fallin” fell in the preliminaries, which in the humble opinion of yours truly was a gross injustice. This year, North Augusta will once again take the large group stage with a performance of “Hairspray.”

The other academic and artistic competitions are frequently overshadowed by the election and talent competitions, but they should by no means be overlooked. Last year, North Augusta distinguished itself in several categories. Kristen Barbour won in the spelling competition, and Rebecca Rudisill’s banner bested the field to receive first place honors. The Quiz Bowl team landed a strong second-place finish. We’re all hoping to add a bit more hardware to the Beta Club trophy case  this year. Kristen is hoping for a repeat in spelling this year, saying, “I’m a little bit more nervous than I was last year because now I have the expectation of winning. I’ll probably read the dictionary on the way up.”

For members of the Beta Club, February is looking pretty good. The convention is always a memorable experience, and if you’re a Beta who hasn’t ever considered it, I strongly suggest checking it out for 2013. In the words of our fearless leader, Mrs. Suman Marks-Johnson, “The Beta Club Convention is an excellent opportunity for students to come together in the spirit of devotion to their schools and communities.”  Thanks Mrs. Marks-Johnson, you pretty much wrote my conclusion for me. So, to all you “I can’t wait for summer” folks out there, slow down a minute and take a look around. Maybe February has something up its sleeve for you too.

A great place to visit.

Dating Rules

Learn some dating stuff.

 Cosmic Bowling

It is fantastic!!

Hulk Out List