Death of a Legendary Star: Neil Patrick Harris

  Neil Patrick Harris was born on June 15, 1973 and deceased on May 15, 2011 at the age of 37. He was found dead  in his house after a magic trick gone wrong. His body spontaneously burst into fireworks as it was taken away and the ashes were blown across the ocean. The one word to describe his death: Awesome.

  Neil Patrick Harris began his career in 1989 in the movie Clara’s Heart and is role in Doogie Howser, M.D. as a child Doctor, quickly becoming famous as a teen heartthrob. In the show’s three years, he won a Young Artist Award and a Golden Globe.Unlike many other Child stars Harris did not become ruined by constant partying and drugs. "I had a fake ID — it was all the rage back in the day — so I could go into clubs in L.A. and drink underage," Harris says to Usatoday. "I feel like 'going out' is trying to maintain fame. But it's a roundabout way to get it. If you work hard and work well, fame begets you — it will find you."

  He shook off his Child actor image by acting in multiple plays such as Rent  , guest starring on famous sows, and playing roles in made- for –television movies, such as Undercover Brother, Joan of Arc, and the Wedding Singer, most notably Starship Troopers.  In 2004, Harris played a popular role as a supped up egotistic, player version of himself in Harold and Kumar. He also played in their 2008 and will play in their 2011 sequel.

  In 2005, Harris was cast as a misogynist player in the ongoing  television series How I Met Your Mother. His role as Barney Stinson became well loved and is still popular today.One line to accurately display his character’s charm:” When I’m sad I stop being sad and start being awesome.” With the show, Harris has won the 2009 Golden Icon Award and the 2011 People’s Choice Award.

  During this time period he has played in multiple TV shows, movies, plays, and blogs, using his acting and singing abilities.  In his guest appearance on Glee he won the 1 Emmy Award along with two more for How I met Your Mother and Outstanding Special Class Program Award. He won another Award for his role in the Doctor Horrible web blog series, in which he sings. In the Spike Video Games award, he won best performance for a Human male as Spiderman- although he also voiced the Flash.

  He was also getting ready to host the next Tony Awards, make the Smurfs and Rio.

  Despite his accomplishments, Harris isn’t over- egotistical and has been described  as down to earth. For example his position on the  Board of Directors for Hollywood’s esteemed Magic Castle.

  Despite his misogynist characters, although they are like-able, Harris openly announced is homosexuality in People’s magazine. Harris said to People in 2006 “… I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love.”

  In 2009 he was awarded the Trevor award for being an inspiration to all sexual orientations. He is currently dating his boyfriend of seven years, David Burtka.In 2010 the adopted twins, setting a new example. "For over two decades, Americans have followed Neil Patrick Harris' journey from child star to popular leading man. Now, many will look on as he and his partner build a family together," Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance of Defamation (GLAAD) told PopEater in August.

  Neil Patrick Harris started out as a child, who liked to sing, act, and do magic, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to a successful celebrity over more than 30 years of work and enjoying life along the way. His accomplishments have put him on Time’s list for 100 most influential people in 2010.

Reflection:

This Obituary was focused on the great things that Neil Patrick Harris did. I tried to show he long, and continuing  career as an actor along with the multiple awards that he had won and received. I also wanted to show his good character and influence of people. One of the biggest parts of this was his sexual orientation, which I did talk about. I liked how I tried to organize all the awards, shows, movies, and musicals he had done. However, I was lacking in deeper context as well as his family background. I would want to write more on his past and his character to build up the image of him. I also could have made it more organized so it would be easier to follow. I could also use more quotes from him and more quotes from people around him. I only had a couple of quotes but I think they were good quotes. 

Earthquake in California: real threat or just hysteria?

Posted By Reporter On April 11, 2011 (9:52 am) In Features, Uncategorized

  Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 followed by aftershocks up 7.1 magnatude , global warming is worsening and 2012, the supposed end of the world, is just 8 months away.  Is the big California earthquake next?

  Although there is evidence of an impending large earthquake in California, it is not certain and is definitely not related to the end of the world or the Japan earthquake.

  Junior Lesly Gonzalez said,” Could you imagine if what happened in Japan happened here?”. This question reflects  the feeling of many Californians and much of the student body.

  Japan was well prepared for earthquakes, although not as prepared for the tsunami, similar to California. Since the Japan earthquake, there has been a lingering fear of a decimating event of the same caliber will happen in California.

   This fear was exacerbated by former U.S. Geological Survey analyst Jim Berkland’s prediction of an earthquake between ” 19th and 26th of this month[March]”. Berkland uses tidal patterns, the moon, and animal behavior to predict when earthquakes will happen with a 75% accuracy rate ,including the  1906 San Francisco earthquake. He said that the patterns before the San Francisco earthquake were repeating again.

  Berkland’s predicted date has passed, and the “Big One” has yet to occur. Much of this may have been hysteria exaggerated by the media. De Anza college student Andy Ly said,” I heard that there was going to be an earthquake last week, then again this week, then again 2 days ago”.

  This would not be the first time there was mass hysteria over the world- ending. Events such as Y2K and the recent super storm that was suppose to hit California had caused panic among some.

  Even though all of the earthquake hype recently may have been caused by  fear, there is still some truth in the claim that California will be hit in the near future. Scientists have predicted that big earthquakes such as those Haiti, Japan, and San Francisco occur in  cycles, and that there should be one soon.

  Though the earthquake may not happen tomorrow  the fact that the earthquake will happen soon is probable and we should all take steps to prepare by fixing home hazards, knowing procedures, and buying or making a earthquake kit.

Learn more about preparing at:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/prepare/

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com
URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/uncategorized/2011/04/11/earthquake-in-california-real-threat-or-just-hysteria/

Reflection:

This article was posted around the time when people were getting scarred that the earthquake in Japan meant the one in California was going to hit soon. Even if many took it as a joke , it was still a big issue. I could have connected it more to Japan, since it was a big issue and one of the big causes of all of the hysteria. I did not do a really good job in portraying the extent of hysteria and the problems that people were worrying over. I would definitely put more information on that aspect and more on quotes from students. This article was good people it had real facts to back up both sides of the argument, which was the point of the article. I also had put another link for how to get ready for an earthquake, which was sort of a branch or response to an article about an impending earthquake. 

Girls Soccer Team Ends

Posted By Reporter On December 16, 2010 (10:52 am) In Sports

  It is just a little over a month since practice for the KIPP San Jose Collegiate Girls Soccer season started, but the team has already disbanded and the girls of the soccer team stopped playing and practicing.

  Juniors Olgaby Martinez and Cynthia Reyes spent weeks trying to round up enough members to even start the team. They made announcements at least once a week to the entire school or going around the classrooms.

  Over the past two weeks, the girls soccer team had decided to end the sport for the season. This is the first sport that had not finished its season this year. It is also the first sport that had so few members, which  was the main reason that soccer did not continue. They needed more players and people to practice. Adalem said,” I think the soccer team would have lasted if there were more players. If someone tries to make it again next year, I would join again.”

  This is not the first time soccer failed .It also did not make it a full season in 2009. Soccer was the least active sport and depended more on students. The reasons why soccer did not continue for the past to years were clear. The girls said they would plan out the practices and push harder for members. The team this year was loosely assembled. The soccer team started out with few members and many stopped attending practice or quit.

  There were members of the team who were looking forward to the games and went to almost all the practices. Junior  An Ha said,” I do not regret putting in the practice we did so far”. Many of the players quit before the season actually ended.

  Even though there is no more girls soccer team, the girls have the option to join the boys team and practice with them. Cheerleading tryouts have also been extended for the junior varsity team to let the soccer girls to have a chance to do a sport.

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com
URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/sports/2010/12/16/girls-soccer-team-ends/

Reflection:

This article does not have much of a lead. I can’t really tell what the slant on the story is, which makes it look like an extremely bland article. I also needed to get quotes from people outside of the soccer team to get the school’s overall view on its failure. Although I did get some good quotes from the main starters of the club, it would be helpful to include some from other students and Mr. Finch. The story also could have taken an emotional stance to make it more appealing in that way. I think that it was important to link it to the past year to show the progress of sports in our school. It was also different since most of the newspaper staff do not know other events of past years. I would also want to put something more about soccer next year, which I only dipped into a little bit. 

Upcoming Movie Sequels

Posted By Reporter On October 29, 2010 (9:14 am) In Entertainment

The best movies and series, which millions of people watched, of this past year are coming back with sequels coming out over the remainder of this year and early 2011, hopefully, being as successful as their originals.

Others movies are also getting their sequels in this coming month and in 2011. These movies include “Paranormal Activities 2”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows”, and “Chronicles of Narnia: The voyage of the Dawn Treader” which will come out soon.

For coming out a bit later include “Caribbean: On stranger Tides,” “Chronicle of Narnia”,” Transformers 3”,” X – Man : First class”, “The Hangover 2”, “Cars Two” , and many others.

For Halloween, the horror movie “Paranormal Activities” premiered on October 22.   Oren Peli is following up with his last successful movie “Paranormal Activities”. In this film, a family sets up security camera, similar to the idea in the first movie, thinking their house has had a series of break- ins only to find out something more evil behind it.

Opposed to the first Paranormal Activities, this one has a budget of $2,500,000. Many hope for it to live up to the first movie and not turn into another series of suspenseless horror movies like “Saw “series.

The 7^th Harry Potter movie will premiere on November 19. This movie will bring an end to the Harry Potter series. The movie is highly anticipated and will follow Harry as he tries to collect and destroy the Horcruxes Lord Voldemort has left behind. All the avid Harry Potter fans get excited!

One of the newest sequels being considered is one to the hit movie “Avatar”.One student said,” This was my favorite movies; it was so awesome. I want to watch the sequel too.”

Often times sequels do not live up to the awesome movies preceding it probably because they will most likely not live up to all the hype. There are lots of people hoping for these movies to be good.

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com
URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/entertainment/2010/10/29/upcoming-movie-sequals/

Reflection:

This movie overview was suppose to show an overall show of what movies were coming up since, being high school students, we watch movies frequently. I choose to do it on sequels since they are usually of popular movies and sequels are always hit or miss. This review had a range of movies, which is good and showed short overviews of all the movies. It also focused on paranormal activities since Halloween was coming up. I think that there should have been more  interesting if the lead was shorter and more concise instead of drawn out, although it did say the point of my story. The story had no form and was just a blob of writing. The language could also be more interacting and fun. I also need a lot more quotes in the story. The quotes i did have needed to be more directed towards the article.

Tapioca Express Review

Posted By Reporter On March 22, 2011 (11:29 pm) In Entertainment

2285 McKee Rd
San Jose, CA 95116

Whenever you feel like a quick snack, Tapioca Express is one of the few restaurants within walking distance from KIPP San Jose Collegiate. Tapioca Express is a chain of stores that sell tea and Asian food especially boba drinks, which are drinks with tapioca pearls.

Tapioca Express offers an extensive beverage menu, with prices for all drinks ranging around $3-$5. There are teas, juice, flavored milk, snow bubbles (smoothies), milk teas, ices, and more that have the option of coming with pearls, jelly, or fruit.

Tapioca Express also sells snacks and combo meals that include spicy popcorn chicken, calamari rings, fried squid balls, and other small snacks. The restaurant also offers specials in addition to the regular menu which are written on a chalkboard in the front of the store.

I recently went to Tapioca Express afterschool with friends. We ordered an avocado snow bubble, milk tea with pearls, and spicy popcorn chicken to-go. While waiting for the food, which did not take more than 6 minutes, we waited around on the comfy set up of chairs and tables.    The avocado snow bubble was creamy, delicious, and sweet. It only comes in a Large, but that was okay because it was so good and was more than enough to last me the walk back to school. The milk tea with pearls tasted like normal milk tea, which is a mix of the flavors of milk, condensed milk, and tea.  Juniors An Ha and Daniel Chau described milk tea as,”Really sweet milk with a hint of the tea at the end.”It was nothing special, but definitely good enough so satisfy any cravings. The chicken came in a bag and came with a special sweet and sour sauce that complimented the spicy chicken. The chicken was spicy and crunchy bite sized pieces like flavored fried chicken. There was enough chick en to split between three people, despite the serving not seeming all that big.

Tapioca express is like any other normal pearl tea place with snacks and a variety of food. It is not special but is good for easy, quick snacks when you’re at school and starving, or if you want to try some new foods. Junior Kennya Rosado said,” I hadn’t tried pearl tea until this year, but it was one of the closest places to school other than fast food. I actually really like the taste and the store looks chill.” Tapioca Express is a fun place to hang out and eat or to get a quick bite. Sophomore Lynda Ngo said,” I know that some of the food might sound weird but it actually taste good. People who haven’t had boba milk tea or Thai tea should try it”.

http://www.tapiocaexpress.com/

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com
URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/entertainment/2011/03/22/tapioca-express-review/

Reflection:

This review was very basic and supposes to help students to try out new restaurants close to school. Tapioca Express is very cultural food and is mostly Asian, so it was a good chance to spread culture. This article could be useful to students and recommended some foods. I liked that it showed the review on the store, service, and food with comments from more people than just me and a friend. I think that the article was lacking more quotes and better explanations. Describing how food taste was actually pretty hard and I did not want to inaccurately say how something tastes. It also could have had more of a solid conclusion that pushed people to try the restaurant out.  Food reviews should also have more details and not beat around the bush as much as this article had done. Overall, I think this review was informative and good but could have been improved to make it more descriptive and interesting.

Lack of Community Service Hurts Students

Posted By Reporter On January 29, 2011 (10:00 am) In Features

  Does KIPP San Jose Collegiate offer enough service hours or opportunities for students to earn them? For most contemporary high school students, community service hours are expected in order to be competitive when applying for college.

  Many private universities, including schools of the UCs, CSUs, and others, Admissions officers look for more than grades, but also proof of leadership and community involvement through extracurriculars and community service. A Sonoma State representative said,” A student who has a 4.3 and amazing SAT scores that are good but not as impressive. We want students who will be active in school community”.

  In past years at KSJC, service was mandatory every few Saturdays. Many of the juniors and sophomores have accumulated hours through this requirement. This year, doing community service is not mandatory, which may push some students into taking initiative or leave many students with no hours.

  Junior Aaron Rios said,”I think that having community service mandatory helped me get hours but it was mandatory so it kind of defeats the purpose”. This year there have been more students doing community service on their own.

  Key Club has members from all grades who plan events and fundraisers on their own. Key Club Vice President Martin Ly said,” We are more active this year than last year”. They have done multiple events ,including Walk for Aids and Christmas caroling, and gotten involved in the actual key club system.

  There are also students who do community service by themselves on their own time. Some students are in youth groups or volunteer. Students can also go on their own to volunteer at soup kitchens and shelters, like junior Kristin Pham and freshman Olivia Ly. Students have also participated in city events like the fashion show for a charity event.

  There are still a large number of students who have stopped community service without it being pushed in school. This can negatively affect their college admission as many colleges look for community service to balance out grades.

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com
URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/features/2011/01/29/lack-of-community-service-hurts-students/

Reflection:

I think that this article was pretty good since it answered a legitimate problem. This is an especially prevalent issue for sophomores and juniors who are getting closer to applying for colleges. I think that I should have directed my questions to get better quotes out of those I interviewed.  The article had quotes from people out of school and showed how students were addressing the problem to tie it back to school. However, the article could be a lot more interesting and more hard- hitting if I got more facts and changed the wording. The story doesn’t have must of a drawing factor or much of a hook. It also reveals one of the problems at school so that students can become more active in the community.

Bonfire Time

Posted By Reporter On May 25, 2011 (9:22 am) In Entertainment

  Sitting around a fire, under the stars, on a cool night, the perfect scene is created. Summer is practically here and that means it is Bonfire season once again. There is just something captivating about bonfires on a summer night. But awesome bonfires do not happen magically.

  Warm fire blazing, surrounded by friends, Bonfires are a great way to spend time with friends and just have fun. They entail being under the night sky, eating food, playing with the fire, telling stories, and having fun, relaxing time. Junior Aaron Rios said, “Bonfires are great since I usually don’t get to see them and they are just really fun.”

The first part of bonfires is to find the perfect location which can range from the back of a friend’s house,  on the beach, in the mountains, etc.  Bonfires are usually done in nature as in the forest, or the beach since it helps to create that atmosphere. Josh Apostel says,”They remind me being in nature especially since they are away from electronics and the smell of burning woods has a nature feel.”  It is also important to be sure that the place is legal and safe.

  Next is the wood, which can be bought in stores or scavenged. The wood should form a teepee surround tinder or briquettes. The amount of wood and its position changes the size. The flames can also change colors by putting in different materials. Make the fire according to your preferences.

Bonfires are not hard to plan and are different from the usual of just watching movies, going to mall, or looking at city lights. They are a great way to embellish nights with memories.

Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com

URL to article: http://www.ksjcwolfpackchronicle.com/entertainment/2011/05/25/bonfire-time/

REFLECTION:

  This article was very short and pretty informal. It was more colloquial which i wanted to match the topic, but I think this story should have had more of a point. If it did have more of a point, the story could have been longer more solid facts and better language. I could have tried harder on this one and did more to get the right formats, like the inverse pyramid. I also put some steps in but could have put more detail. If I could re-do it, I would add more detail to focus on only one topic. I would have focused  more on the interesting parts of bonfires or more on the informational and safety parts of the fire. My quotes did not add any new information and put in very little perspective. I would want to  reformat the story and focus on only one perspective of bonfires instead of having very vague information on both.