Kings of Leon – Radioactive

The first single to the new Kings of Leon album, “Radioactive”, is a perfect example of the newfound sound of the band. The intro and verses sound like something off their sophomore album “Aha Shake Heartbreak”, but the chorus has the same catchy arena sound “Use Somebody” was successful for.

Kings of Leon go “Back Down South” with new album

“Come Around Sundown”, released on October 15^th, is the fifth studio album by the alternative rock band the Kings of Leon.  It is also the follow up to the mega hit album “Only by the Night”, which went platinum and was nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year. “Only by the Night” got the band mainstream success, which was highlighted by playing at the Lollapalooza music festival in 2009 and the Bonarroo music festival in 2010.

After releasing three albums that weren’t extremely successful, the Kings of Leon changed their style a little bit. They cleaned up their look and their sound. In previous albums the band had more of a gritty southern rock sound, but on “Only by the Night” they had a much cleaner, mainstream sound with lead singer Caleb Followill singing more clearly and writing more complex lyrics. The results didn’t appear to be better than their previous albums, but the success of the first two singles put the album and the band on the map.

The band took full advantage of the success, performing everywhere from the Grammy awards to Saturday Night Live. But the album didn’t sit well with the diehard Kings of Leon fans who were concerned that the new success would lead to the band keeping the sound that made them famous. But in the aftermath of the album’s success, the band, especially lead singer and main writer Caleb Followill, expressed disappointment in the album and its success. He didn’t like the newfound fame and fans that only knew the band because of their mega hit “Use Somebody” and decided they had to go back to their roots on the next album. That certainly excited all Kings of Leon fans, and although it took longer than usual to make, “Come Around Sundown” did not disappoint.

As evident from the title and album cover, “Come Around Sundown” is an album that really shows the relaxed personality of the band. It’s clear that the band has found their sound as they are able to mix the southern rock sound of the past with the catchy hooks and choruses that made “Only by the Night” a success. Caleb’s voice got a little more personality back in it, but it’s nothing like it was on the band’s debut album “Youth and Young Manhood”.

The first single to the album, “Radioactive”, is a perfect example of the new found sound of the band. The intro and verses sound like something off their sophomore album “Aha Shake Heartbreak”, but the chorus has the same catchy arena sound “Use Somebody” was successful for. Although it is the first single, it’s not the strongest song on the album. The two songs that follow “Radioactive”, “Pyro” and “Mary”, are stronger songs that sound like they could have been on “Youth and Young Manhood” or “Aha Shake Heartbreak”.

“Pyro” is a soft song similar to “Knocked Up” off of 2007’s “Because of the Times” or “Milk” off of “Aha Shake Heartbreak”. The verses start soft and build into the chorus which coasts at a soft effective sound. The chorus also has a similar arena sound to “Radioactive” but with a slower and softer pace. The soft sound of the song matches the lyrics as it tells the sad story of a man about to burn everything around him.

“Pyro” is followed up by “Mary”, the Kings of Leon’s version of a 1950’s doo wop song. There’s harmony during the intro and Caleb kicks in during the verses with lyrics that sound like they were written in the ‘50s. But the band also puts their own spin on it with a very modern twist on the sound musically. The guitars have more grit than they would in the 1950’s, and the solo has a southern rock twist on it. The song is one of the more interesting on the album, and immediately brings the listener in because of the doo wop harmony in the intro.

The band also plays to their roots in the laid back country track “Back Down South”. This song will immediately make fans think of previous country guided songs like “Fans” and “Talihina Sky”. But “Back Down South” might be even better than the two tracks, with simple lyrics and more focus on the country sound with the normal Kings of Leon southern rock guitar blending together in the background instead of emerging midway through the track.

There are many other solid tracks on “Come Around Sundown” so when the entire album is listened to all the songs start to blend together and represent one solid sound for 47 minutes. None of the songs stick out in the second half of the album like “Radioactive” and “Mary”, but are still enjoyable as a whole. “Come Around Sundown” is a perfect follow up to “Only by the Night” because it tells the fans that they aren’t abandoning their old sound, but developing it with the popular sound to make a perfect combination. It’s not as good as “Aha Shake Heartbreak” or as southern as “Youth and Young Manhood”, but it’s not as mainstream and unusual as “Only by the Night” either. It’s the in between that should satisfy most, if not all Kings of Leon fans.

Best Buddies experience the “Creatures of the Night”

With the matching party out of the way and all the buddy pairs set, it was time for the first real Best Buddies event of the year: The Halloween party.

Participants arrived in the student cafeteria at 5 o clock to show off their Halloween costumes. Costumes ranged from a banana split sundae to the band Kiss. The first two hours of the party were dedicated to eating pizza and socializing. After that every buddy pair got a chance to show off their costume in front of the cafeteria with an introduction from Senior Vice President Rachel Powell. That was followed by some down time so the officers can decide on the finalists for the costume contest.

 After talking it over Powell announced the finalists. The winner was then decided by audience applause. After two rounds of voting the final three left were the crayons, the banana split sundae, and Kiss. In the final round of voting the four girls wearing the kiss costumes, led by Jessica Volpe, ran away with the audience applause to win the contest.

Senior Treasurer Luke Soldano was extremely impressed with the costumes. “Jessica and her group’s kiss costumes were amazing. All the hard work paid off and it was a well deserved win,” he said.

Unlike most years, the Halloween Party didn’t stay in the school, but continued at the Brookfield Zoo. This year the zoo had a special Halloween event called “Creatures of the Night”. The zoo was decorated in a Halloween fashion and all the workers were dressed up as well. There were three main attractions during the event: “Trail of Terror,” “The Haunted Tram,” and a corn maze. 

The “Trail of Terror” was a path people walked through that was set up to be a quarantined area where some sort of contagious killer disease has broken out. Throughout the walk, people would encounter zoo employees dressed as people with the disease in order to scare and surprise people as they walked by. It was an attempt at something you might see at Six Flags during Fright fest, but it wasn’t too bad.

 “The Haunted Tram” was a haunted ride on a tram around the zoo. The lines were extremely long, but as a whole, a good experience for the buddies.

The Corn Maze was located in the southern end of the zoo and featured a fun maze with a lot of dead ends and flashing lights. The only downside of the maze was that it was crowded so it wasn’t too hard to find your way out because the people in front of you experienced the dead ends first. It was just a matter of following the person in front of you. It was still a fun little maze, and the B96 Radio Station was dj’ing outside of it.

Although Soldano enjoyed the zoo, he preferred the format of past Halloween parties. “From my experience, I enjoyed all the games from past years compared to this year. The costume and pizza party (this year) was a lot of fun, but the zoo was just alright,” Soldano said.

With all the festivities and Halloween fun over with, the next Best Buddies event is the more serious mandatory peer buddy training on November 5^th.

Best Buddies starts off strong

The Best Buddies 2010-2011 year has officially kicked off with the matching party Sunday October 3rd. The purpose of the event was to introduce all of the buddies with their peer buddy matches for the new year. It’s an exciting event that is one of the most anticipated events each year in the club.

Although the peer buddies know who they’re matched up with going into the event, it’s a total surprise for the buddies.

Senior Vice President Rachel Powell is excited about all the new buddies in the program. “We had a lot of new buddies in the program so we made a lot of key matches this year. We were much more welcoming to younger students as peer buddies because we needed a lot of new matches to keep up with all the new buddies coming into the program.” Powell said.  

The event started when all of the buddies arrived, as the peer buddies had been there earlier so they already knew exactly how everything was going to go. As soon as the buddies got there everyone sat down in the student cafeteria and watched two videos. The first video was the end of the year video they show at senior night every year, and the second video was the award winning video the club made last year about stopping the use of the word “retarded”. The videos did a good job of showing what the club was about and the success of the club in the last few years.

After the introduction all of the buddies’ parents went into the faculty cafeteria with the faculty sponsors to talk all about the club. While they were doing that the students all split into three groups and participated in three ice breaker games so all the new buddies and peer buddies got to know each other.

After the games and information everyone regrouped in the student cafeteria and after a few more announcements from the officers it was time to figure out the new buddy pairs for the year. The way it was set up was with all the buddies on one side of the cafeteria and all the peer buddies on the other side. Each buddy and peer buddy was given a piece of candy. The buddies then had to match the piece of candy they had with the peer buddy who had the same kind of candy. For example if the buddy had a snickers bar they would have to find the peer buddy or two that had a snickers bar and they would be a buddy pair for the year. That whole process took about 15 minutes and then the anticipation was over and everybody knew who they were paired up with this year.

After the excitement all the new buddy pairs went into the faculty cafeteria to get to know each other. They also exchanged contact information and the peer buddies got to meet their new buddy’s parents. During the social time ice cream was served and for the last 30 minutes of the event everyone socialized and ate ice cream.

Overall Powell thought the whole event went really well. “Everything went smoothly and how we wanted. It’s always really exciting for the buddies because they look forward to this day all year.” 

The next event is the Halloween party on October 24th.

Weezer’s “Hurley” a breath of fresh air

Since returning from a three year hiatus with 2008’s “Weezer (The Red Album)”, the alternative rock band Weezer has released two albums in two years. The first was “Raditude,” which was released on November 3, 2009. The second is “Hurley,” which was just released on September 10, 2010. Both “The Red Album” and “Raditude” had a different sound than what fans of the band were used to.

“The Red Album” had a more experimental sound; every band member had a lead vocal on a song. “The Red Album” also had the song “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn),” which is considered one of the most unusual and interesting Weezer songs to date. The six minute track is split into thirteen themes including imitations of other bands including Green Day, Nirvana, and Slipknot. Front man Rivers Cuomo called the song “the most ambitious” song he’s ever written, and his favorite. Overall, “Weezer (The Red Album)” got mixed to positive reviews and was a pretty average album with a few very bright spots.

2009’s “Raditude” had a much different sound than “The Red Album”. The album had more of a mainstream pop sound than their previous album, and front man Rivers Cuomo was the only lead vocalist on the album. One of the bigger songs on the album, “Can’t Stop Partying,” featured rapper Lil Wayne. Although “Raditude” was a pretty good album in terms of Weezer’s mainstream pop sound, it didn’t really make an impact in their career.

With two somewhat unsuccessful albums the last two years, Weezer left their old record company Geffen Records. Instead of signing with a huge record company, they decided to sign with the independent label Epitaph. The band considered self releasing their next album, or releasing it online before deciding to sign with the independent label.

“Hurley” is different than Weezer’s previous few albums because the sound of the songs compare to Weezer’s first three albums. Most fans consider that time as the prime of the band’s career, with a more alternative rock sound than the pop sound they displayed in “Raditude”. In “Hurley”, Weezer is able to blend power pop style choruses with rock riffs and Weezer’s famous unusual musical timing.

A perfect example of the interesting sound in “Hurley” is the fifth song on the album “Where’s My Sex?” The song is sort of a joke song because the song is supposed to be “Where’s My Socks?” but with the word sex instead of socks. This is done because front man Rivers Cuomo’s daughter once mispronounced socks with sex. This results in some interesting and comical lyrics because it makes sense with the word sex in there, but it makes more sense with the word socks.

If that wasn’t enough, the song also goes through a few sudden changes in tempo in the last minute of the song similar to “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” and “Dreamin’” off “Weezer (The Red Album) that really makes the song stick out. The tongue in cheek style of the lyrics and the complexity of the music gets “Where’s my Sex” compared to many songs off their cult classic album “Pinkerton”.

“Memories” is the first single and opening track of the album. Although it is a great song the album really sets off during the second song “Ruling Me”, which is the best song on the album. The verses are driven by a strong guitar riff and a good drum beat, but it’s the incredible chorus that really makes the song stands out. The song is a perfect baby of the guitar heaviness of “Weezer (The Green Album)” and the alternative pop sound of “Weezer (The Blue Album)”.

There are a lot of other great songs on “Hurley” including the musically and lyrically unique “Hang On”, which features a partial backing vocal from Michael Cera on the songs hook. The album closes with “Time Flies”, which is a folksy acoustic song that resembles Led Zeppelin’s numerous folk songs like “Going to California” or “Gallows Pole”, or The White Stripes classic “I’m Bound to Pack It Up”.

Overall “Hurley” is a breath of fresh air from Weezer that fans have been waiting for since “Pinkerton”. The songs have less of a pop feel compared to their previous few albums, but still come up with great alternative pop hooks and choruses that garner comparisons to their first two self-titled albums. This is easily their best effort at recreating the raw sound of “Pinkerton” since the 1996 album came out, and that’s a good sign for Weezer fans.

Dexter returns to his dark ways in Season 5

America’s favorite blood splatter expert Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) returns for a fifth season to restore the balance between the innocent and the guilty with the tip of a blade. Dexter’s world will never be the same after the events in season four, and the thought of his real life and hobby coming out for the world to see makes season five an intriguing one.

Season four started on a high note, with the events from season three wrapping up with Dexter killing “The Skinner” and getting married to Rita (Julie Benz). Everything seemed to be going well and the mood was happy going into season four. When season four started Rita had already given birth to their son Harrison and they moved from Rita’s old house to a house in the suburbs. Clearly things are changing in Dexter’s life, and that doesn’t settle well with his “dark passenger.” His urge to kill and his new family life don’t go together well and he starts to get anxious to kill again. Also, the new baby is a pain to deal with, and Dexter always finds himself tired and off his game around work. At his worst Dexter fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree. Nothing bad came out of this accident besides for a concussion, but it made Dexter realize he needs to do a better job of spreading his time out.

Meanwhile there’s a new serial killer on the loose in Miami. His name is the “Trinity Killer” (John Lithgow) because his killing spree is always the same three kills detail for detail. First he murders a young woman in a bathtub, then forces an older woman with two kids to jump to her death, and finally bludgeons a father of two to death. Dexter later discovers the process started with the abduction of a ten year old boy.

Season four was also eventful as it was the return of Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine). He retired from the F.B.I. but is back in Miami on personal business to hunt down the Trinity Killer. He had to go on this investigation independently because Trinity does such a good job of hiding his crimes and being sporadic about it that Lundy couldn’t convince the serial killer even existed. The original hunt of the Trinity Killer started with Lundy, but ended with Miami Metro taking the case and then once it was solved the F.B.I. took the case to clean up the edges and find the killer.

With the return of Frank Lundy came the complication with Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) and her current boyfriend Anton (David Ramsey), who she met when he was a confidential informant to her last season. Deb starts to fall for Lundy again, and begins to work with him on the case. But when they started getting close, they were shot by some unknown person, who turns out to be Trinity’s daughter, in the middle of the night in the parking lot of Lundy’s apartment. Deb survives, but Lundy doesn’t.

Dexter decides to pick up on where Lundy left off with his hunt of the Trinity Killer. When he discovers Trinity’s identity, he is surprised to find that the guy is a family man like Dexter. The shocker made Dexter curious about what this guy was like so he starts to get to know Trinity. Things get dangerous when he realizes the killer isn’t the good guy he portrays. Dexter decides he has to kill him as soon as possible, but things get complicated and eventually the killer finds out who Dexter really is, and advises him to stay out of his way. Dexter continues to pursue him and on the final episode successfully catches and kills the Trinity Killer.

Everything seems to be ending well for Dexter when he returns home that evening. He’s supposed to pack and head on vacation with Rita who left earlier that day. Dexter didn’t go with because he wanted to kill Trinity before hand, so he told Rita he had work. When Dexter arrived at his house he listened to a message on his phone from Rita from earlier that morning saying she forgot something and was heading back home before leaving for the vacation. When he called her to see if she made it he heard her phone in the house followed by Harrison crying from another room. He rushed to the room to find Rita dead in a bathtub full of her own blood with Harrison sitting there crying with blood on him. This image mirrors Dexter’s experience when his mother was killed in front of him and his brother.

It was a tough way to end an incredible season of Dexter. It sets up for an exciting fifth season, with a lot of potential. The biggest question is whether Dexter will be discovered as the man he really is, or can he clean up his mess before anything goes wrong? Also, how will Rita’s children react to their mother’s death and how will Dexter be able to care for them while trying to take care of himself? Expect all these questions and more to be answered in what could possibly be the best season of Dexter yet. The season premiere is Sunday, September 26^th at 9 o clock central time on Showtime.

Best Buddies has big hopes for 2010

Best Buddies is starting up again this year after a successful 2009-2010, with the biggest moment being winning the award for the Most Outstanding Chapter of the Year at the Leadership Conference over the summer. It’s the fourth year in a row the Best Buddies chapter from RB walked away with the award. This year especially came as a surprise, according to chapter President Senior Danielle Ryan.

“We weren’t planning on applying for the award this year, but decided to at the last second, so we’re very surprised we won. I’m very excited that we were able to win it for the fourth year in a row,” Ryan said.

Another exciting moment last year came when they participated in a PSA about the usage of the word “retarded”. After seeing a video with the same basis made by another Best Buddies chapter, the officers decided that they needed to make one of their own. So the officers of the club, along with a select few members, filmed the video urging people to “Spread the Word, to End the Word.” The video was shown to all students during their English classes, along with being put on syndication on RBTV.

The video was a success, and along with it was a banner at all lunches anyone could sign to pledge to “Spread the Word, to End the Word.” That also proved to be a success, with tons of students and RB signing the banner and making the pledge.

The video was not only a success around the RB community, but also nationally as it won an award after being nominated by someone else not related to Best Buddies.

“We didn’t even know about the award when we decided we wanted to make a video about the usage of the ‘r-word’. The video came out better than we could have hoped, and it was a shock when we found out someone nominated it for an award. It was even more exciting when we won.” Ryan said.

With all those accomplishments last year, it’s hard for the officers not to be excited about this upcoming year. However, a big need for the club this year is guys to even out the amount of special needs guys in the club.

“There are a lot of phenomenal new freshmen buddies, mostly guys, entering the program so we’re very excited to have some good matches this year. We lost a lot of good seniors from last year so we need guys to replace them. I’m really looking forward to this year,” Ryan said.

It all kicks off with an information setup in the lunchroom during all lunches on Friday September 10^th and Monday September 13^th. Anyone who’s interested in the club can go up to the table and talk to the officers about what exactly the club is all about. After that is an interest meeting on September 14^th during all lunches in room 137. That meeting is where students can go and sign up for the club if they’re interested in joining.

The faculty sponsors, Mari Mortenson and Dawn Soprych, along with all the officers, are excited about having a great year.

Boys and Girls Track have success at State

Boys and girls track is wrapping up the 2010 season. Both have been successful so far this year with qualifiers to state for both girls and boys track.

The girls finished 1^st in the Metro Suburban Conference Meet on both the Freshman/Sophomore level and the Varsity level. Nine girls also qualified for State, marking the 5^th year in a row RB Girls Track has had a state qualifier.

Junior Claire Schraidt and Senior Vija Lietuvninkas qualified for State for the High Jump, and Junior Brenna Mossman qualified for state for the Long Jump. Senior Alexis Adams qualified for the shotput and the discus. Girls relay teams for the 400, 800, and 1600 all qualified for sate. The 400 m relay race team consisted of Seniors Stephanie Sauer and Alyssa Kmet, Mossman, and Sophomore Cynina Mason. The 200 m relay race team was Mossman, Kmet, Mason, and Junior Kate Walsh. The 400 m team consisted of Mossman, Mason, and Walsh.

With nine different girls qualifying, this is the most to ever qualifiy in a single year in RB history.

On the other side Boys Track has had a successful season as well. They have qualifiers for three categories: 1600 m relay, 3200 m relay, and the 800 dash. The 1600 m relay team consists of Seniors Justin Pomey and Kirk Razon, and Juniors Jason Pomey and Alex Amaya. The 3200 m relay team is Seniors Mark McDonagh and Peter Lyson, and Juniors Keegan Buttimer and Amaya. Lyson also qualified for the 800 m dash.

Boys Track state competition is this Thursday-Saturday.

RBTV successful at CTEC

On May 1^st RBTV attended the Chicagoland Television Educators Council (CTEC) Video Festival and walked away with some hardware. Eight of their original programs won an award with the big award going to Sophomores George Suchy and Colton Arnold’s “Late Hour” taking 1^st place in the talk show category. RBTV also had many 2^nd place finishes including Sophomores Dan Pignato and Nick Anderson in the Training Category with the cooking show “Cook This” and Senior Bryan Smaller in the Movie Trailer category “Rewind”.

RBTV also did well in the PSA category. Senior Jette Pleasant took 2^nd with “Breathe”, Smaller and Senior Ryan Chodora took 3^rd place, and Senior Max Weiss took 5^th place. The Smaller and Senior Jackie Glosniak led RB 16 News also took 3^rd place in the news program category.

Broadcast Journalism teacher Patty Sarkady was very pleased with RBTV’s success.

“We had stiff competition this year because more schools were competing. This is the best we’ve done since we started participating with the awards. We were very pleased with the results, but more importantly proud of the students,” Sarkady said.

Sarkady, who runs RB 16 News, was particularly proud of the news show.

“We (RB 16 News) haven’t placed since 2007, but we had a solid team this year. News is always the toughest category because we only submit one show where for other categories we had multiple shows in the running. We are really honored to place this year.” Sarkady said. 

Besides for the CTEC Video Festival, RBTV, specifically Pleasant, also had success at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Chicago/Midwest Chapter awards. She received two Crystal Pillar awards. One of the awards was in the Long Form category (nonfiction) for her documentary “Whisper of the Woods”. The other award was in the Writing category for the script of a different documentary “Adventures Abroad”.

This is the ninth award for Pleasant and her third Crystal Pillar. Although she has also won several CTEC awards, the Crystal Pillars are more meaningful.

“Crystal Pillars are the biggest television awards there are at the high school level, so it was a big honor to win two in one year,” Pleasant said.

Pleasant is also proud to have won awards for both her documentary itself as well as her writing.

“It was amazing to be awarded in both categories because they represent very different areas of TV.” she said.

With eight different shows winning awards, this is the most successful year for RBTV ever at the CTEC Video Festival. With two first place awards at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Chicago/Midwest Chapter awards, this is the most successful they have ever been.

Play N’ trade: Good Games, Great Times

“Play N’ Trade” is a unique video game store that opened a few months ago but hasn’t gathered the interest and popularity it deserves. The Hodgkin located store is one of only sixteen in Illinois. The store’s focus is on everything video game related.

The store sells videogames, game systems, and accessories. But what sets it apart from other video game stores is it’s collection of used and “retro” games.

“We buy back old and used games from customers. The amount of money we give them depends on the rarity, popularity, and condition of the games,” Dan Yelen, an employee at “Play N’ Trade” said. “We don’t take old sports games anymore because there is no market for them. But we will want old games that are really good and rare.”

All the used games are marked down in price compared to brand new games, and you can get 10% off for being a member. Membership is $10 yearly and gives you opportunities like getting a certain percentage off certain items in the store.

But its Play N’ Trade’s impressive gallery of “retro” material that will really speak to old school gamers. They have old systems for sale that include the original ancient Nintendo to newly made “retro” systems like a system that plays super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games on the same system. They also have the standards of “retro” gaming including Nintendo 64s, Playstations and Playstation 2’s, original Xboxes, and all the different kinds of Segas. And with shelves full of games for all these old school systems, you’re bound to rediscover some timeless classics.

“It’s nice for people who didn’t have these games as kids or people who want to relive games they loved. Some of the best games came out for these retro systems,” Yelen said.

But “Play N’ Trade” isn’t just unique because of its vast collection of old and new video games, they also offer one of a kind disc repairs.

“It’s nice because a lot of people’s favorite games could be too scratched to play.” Yelen said.

Along with disc repair, they also repair broken systems including Xbox 360’s “Red ring of death,” a hardware or internal error that causes the Xbox 360 power button to flash red lights instead of the normal green light when powered on. When this happens the system will crash and not power on or function. This famous incident has claimed most original Xbox 360s.

Another unique feature at “Play N’ Trade” is that the customers are given the option of trying out videogames before they purchase them. They have systems set up in a part of the store called the “Player’s Club” where you can play games or compete in bi-weekly tournaments.

“Some stores don’t even have a description of the game, so (customers) could end up buying a game they don’t want. But at ‘Play N’ Trade’ that wont happen.” Yelen said.

“Play N’ Trade” is a truly unique store that I’d recommend to anyone who invests in videogames in any way. Whether you’re looking for a new or used game or even a game from twenty years ago. there’s no better place to look.

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