Halloween Dress-Up Guide

By Allie Fernandes
It has been an interesting week full of costumes and face paint here at Cumberland High School but if the four days of dress up were not enough for you then you are in luck. Halloween is Friday. Now if you are anything like me and my friends, you probably still are not exactly sure what you are going to be wearing. Whether you are still going trick-or-treating (sixteen years with no sign of stopping!) or going to a Halloween party, you want to have a good idea that does not scream, “I did this last minute.”
If you do make your costume last minute, please do not be that person who gets a bed sheet, cuts our eyeholes and then says he is a ghost. If you are going to do that, at least be creative about it and have one friend wear a striped red shirt and carry a blue blanket and a sign with “Welcome Great Pumpkin” written across it so you can say you are Charlie Brown and Linus. Wrapping yourself in toilet paper to be a mummy or dressing up like a friend who is also going to be wherever you decide to go are also lame ideas.
There are good ideas our there if you look for them. You could always go with the costumes that are sure to be popular this year. According to several different Halloween costume websites, you are sure to see many kids and teens dressed as the Hulk, Ironman, Batman or the Joker on Friday. It is also likely that there will be several Indiana Jones clones running from door to door. Time period costumes are always popular such as a hippy, a gypsy or a Mod fashion girl. Zombies, fairies, angels, pirates and devils are of course always options and the variety with the costumes you can find for those is enormous.
There are always the less seen but really creative costumes. There are a lot of celebrities who do not have real costumes of them but you could easily make them. That also works for costumes for characters in movies and TV shows. Disco dancers, and prom queens are less common than many other costumes on the market as full costumes or in pieces. Disney princesses are also pretty easy to make or buy as costumes and they are well known, getting rid of the awkward explaining-the-costume moments.Whatever it is that you decide to be on Halloween, it is all about how you act in it. Do not do anything stupid and do not stop yourself from eating candy because that’s really all this holiday has come to be about anyways. Most importantly have fun playing dress up! We only get to do it a few days a year.

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Tim Burton in Wonderland
By Allie Fernandes
Tim Burton is at it again. The famed director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has begun work on his latest directing venture due out in March of 2010. If you could not guess from the title, his latest project is Alice in Wonderland, adapted from the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland (as it is often referred to despite the longer title) is one of a small girl who falls down a rabbit hole, finding a fantasy world full of interesting creatures.
Filming has already started on this film although the release date was pushed back from sometime in late 2009. It has been confirmed that Australian actress Mia Wasikowska has been chosen for Alice and that Matt Lucas shall play both Tweedledee and Tweedledum. As with most movies directed by Burton, his longtime "domestic partner" Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp will both be starring. Depp is to play the Mad Hatter while Carter portrays a merged role between the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. Anne Hathaway has recently been reported as cast as the White Queen.
Alice is not new to audiences in that it has been remade for both the silver screen and the small screen many times, beginning with the original 1903 film by Cecil M Hepworth The new film however, which will be part live action and part CGI, is sure to live up to that of most of Burton's movies: amazingly shot with a dark atmosphere to it. Burton's filming style will likely work well with the story which is known to many as a fairly strange story but one that is loved by many due to its play on logic.
Alice in Wonderland may have had to be pushed back to a later opening day but it is still highly likely that Tim Burton's latest project will be one that we are talking about for years to come.

Mock Article

Three Great Acts, One Place, So Many Reasons to Go
By Allie Fernandes

Tonight three great bands are playing at the Worcester Palladium tonight in Massachusetts. Will I be there? No. Will I sit at home thinking about how much I want to be there? More than you could possibly imagine. Wondering why? Three main reasons: Rise Against, Alkaline Trio and Thrice. To add a fourth reason, the openers, The Gaslight Anthem. Now I myself cannot admit to listening to the Gaslight Anthem but even if they were to be the worst band ever (they are not, I can almost guarantee I have heard worst) the three headliners would more than make up for it. If you are a fan of any of these bands, you need to be at this show because the lineup is just impeccable.

To give a brief synopsis of what this concert is going to be like tonight, the show will open with The Gaslight Anthem, a New Jersey punk band who have toured with fellow punk band, Against Me!, and are known for their love of Bruce Springsteen. Then Thrice will take the stage. Thrice is a band once know solely as being a hardcore band who has since transformed themselves into highly respected musicians, due to the release of their third album, The Artist in the Ambulance. Alkaline Trio will then take over, providing the audience with music of a darker theme while retaining a catchy chorus. Finally Rise Against’s politically driven lyrics delivered by the phenomenal Tim McIlrath is sure to blow you away.

This show is set up to be a memorable one from opening through to the final chord. If you plan to attend, prepare yourself for some amazing punk music with a real message. Don’t be that guy and remember that I will be envious of you beyond belief tomorrow. Tickets are available at the door.