One of the most popular of these campaigns came from Nike, which ran a series of ads featuring popular Olympic stars looking intimidating behind inspiring quotes. One ad in particular featured a star sprinter in runners stance, with the words “I am the bullet in the chamber” trailing behind him.  Motivating, cool, and sleek, this ad was the embodiment of an Olympic champ.

So who was the speeding “bullet” gracing this ad?  South African double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was  recently charged with –woops-  shooting and killing his long time girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.  Irony at its finest. Pistorius amazed the world last summer by being the first double amputee to compete in an  Olympics track and field event. He was the role model that the world, and Nike,  wanted him to be- talented , inspiring, and the owner of a cool, foreign accent.

However, as recent events show, being a sports star doesn’t automatically make you a good role model.  The world was shocked that a champion like Pistorius could do something so awful.  However, unfortunately, the fall of sports star has become a recent trend. The Pistroius murder scandal is just the latest of a series of crash and burns in the sports world- in 2007, football player Micheal Vick was arrested for being involved in dog fights; in 2009, golfer Tiger woods was caught in a sex scandal, while swimmer Micheal Phelps was caught rendezvousing with the illegal substance Mary Jane; in 2011, head football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of child molestation; in 2013, biker Lance Armstrong admitted to doping- the list goes on and on.

Repeatedly, sports stars have let us down.  The public sees these champions as heroes who can do no wrong; and why shouldn’t they? Ads portray these athletes as perfect human specimens who are able to perform superhuman feats, so naturally, we except them to live superhuman lives. This is where the problem comes in; these athletes are not any more superhuman than you or I. Sure, they can run fast and swim far. But just because they have strong muscles doesn’t mean they have strong moral standards. They aren’t religious leaders who are obligated to lead moral lives. They aren’t even politicians, who are elected based on a perceived set of values. They are just people who happen to have won the genetic lottery.

Society needs to stop putting athletes on a pedestal. That’s not to say that athletes are exempt from being good citizens.  But the more we rely on these “heroes” to be our role models, the more likely we are to be let down.

A Falcons football fan was stabbed in the neck by a 49ers fan after the NFC title football game last Sunday. Though the fight was originally suspected to be caused by animosity over the game, recent press reports have revealed a surprising and rather trivial motive; according to 11alivenews.com, the fight occurred because one drunk fan allegedly threw away another drunk fan’s tailgate food.

Oh, reality television. Is this what it has come to? Following a rapper that has 11 children with 10 different women in south Atlanta? And capturing every moment of a self-dubbed “dysfunctional redneck family”? Apparently it has.

Anything so that TLC (The Learning Channel…?) can make a dollar. Or, as Honey Boo Boo, the pride and joy of the network would say, “A dolla makes them holla.”

Premiering in August 2012, “Honey Boo Boo” follows a redneck Georgian family, that initially received the public’s attention because of the youngest daughter’s pageant exploits in the controversial TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. Following Honey Boo Boo’s success on the show, TLC expanded the show to follow the entire Thompson family.

The show highlights the small town of McIntyre, GA, only two hours from Atlanta, starring:

-Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, age 8

-June “Mama” Shannon, stay-at-home mom

-Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon, age 12

-Anna “Chickadee” Shannon, age 17

-Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, age 15

-Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, a chalk-miner

The A.V. Club, Forbes, the Gaurdian, and the Hollywood Reporter gave the show horrific reviews.

In case you’ve missed the train wreck of a show, here are some of my favorite quotes:

“The Redneck Games is a lot like the Olympics but with a lot of missing teeth and butt cracks showing.” — June

“I want the barbecue. And then I want the chicken. And then I want the ribs.” —Honey Boo Boo

“I wish I had an extra finger, then I could grab more cheeseballs.” – Honey Boo Boo on Kaitlyn’s extra thumb

“Redneck ain’t the word for this damn family. They dysfunctional rednecks. One got bugs, one farts all the time, one’s playin’ in the mud, and one’s diggin’ in her butt all the time.” – Uncle Poodle

As if the quotes didn’t speak for themselves…the thick accents require subtitles.

A popular meal at the Thompson household is sketti and roadkill. Oh yes, you read right. Sketti and roadkill. Sketti is, to my understanding, melted butter, ketchup, and noodles. And roadkill is…well, roadkill. A deer that was run over. At times, the family will combine sketti and said roadkill. Yum. And FDA-approved.

Not to degrade the this lifestyle…but it entirely misrepresents the rest of us who don’t have reality shows. So much so, that an old roommate of mine from another country emailed me to ask if me if I had ever eaten “sketti”.

“No,” I replied “I haven’t.”

With this awful representation in middle Georgia, one would think that reality tv would just give Georgia break, and go pick on another state. Maybe Alabama, Mississippi? No, but alas, Oprah Winfrey’s network, Oxygen, decided to take Georgia to a new low. With rapper-who-never-really-made-it “Shawty Lo”.

Before seeing the trailer for this upcoming reality series starring Shawty Lo, entitled “All My Babies’ Mamas,” I never even knew who this guy was. Apparently, he was in a rap group that had a hit single in 2005 called “Laffy Taffy”. In the preview for the show, Shawty Lo says most people know him from his “beef with rapper T.I.”.

The man is a little crazed. Not one, not two, or  not even three baby mamas…but 10. 10.  In the 11-minute preview for the show, the featured baby mamas introduced themselves:

“My name is E’creia. They say I’m the “first lady”. I’m the baby mama with the most power, because I control all of Shawty’s finances. Then we have Angela, aka “Chocolate”. And she the fighter baby mama. Amanda? She the jealous baby mama. Now Sujuan? She the wanna-be-bougie baby mama. Tamara. She cool. She the no-drama baby mama. Then, there Serena. Serena the shady baby mama. Then we have Liana, aka Pebbles. She’s the baby mama from hell.”

In the preview, the show only features seven of the the ten baby mamas. The show also features Shawty Lo’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Ashlin. Shawty allegedly missed his children’s graduation (he has three children age 19) for Ashlin’s graduation.

It has been unofficially dubbed on YouTube as “the hood version of Sister Wives”.

The shows are distasteful, to say the least. But I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. Honey Boo Boo certainly won’t.

According to statistics from Deadline.com, the “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” Halloween Special that premiered January 6, brought in 3.1 million viewers. This is the most viewers the show has ever had.

There is something about a train wreck that we can’t keep our eyes off.

(Sources: Reality Nation, Wikipedia, TLC, YouTube, Deadline)

With everyone’s commotion of either tweeting or making Facebook posts about their New Year’s resolutions (and how they claim to make them occur), I question if they really know the true definition of a resolution. Let’s Google it, shall we?

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_years_resolution, a New Year’s resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. A key element to a New Year’s resolution that sets it apart from other resolutions is that it is made in anticipation of the New Year and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a New Year’s resolution generally plan to commit to that resolution  for the entire year.

A resolution and a goal go hand-in-hand, but a goal is a desired plan or commitment to achieve a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Sounds similar to a resolution.  As curious as I am, I wanted to know what some of my peers had as a goals and resolutions for this semester.

Alison Gore, an eleventh-grader and a Varsity Warrior basketball player, had her goals set aside perfectly. “Yeah, I was lazy last semester,” Gore admitted. “But my ultimate goal is to not be lazy and get grades higher than a B.”

Zachary Achaab, an eleventh-grader and a Warrior football player ,proudly made goals to achieve this semester. “I want to get all [emphasis on all] A’s and B’s.” “I had bad study skills last year but this year, I will do better.” I asked him if he had any New Year’s resolutions he wanted to share and his reply was, “Oh I don’t believe in all that! I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions.” Followed by a few chuckles.

Alan “Campbell” Toye, a senior and a Varsity baseball player, is strictly focused on GRADUATING, GRADUATING, oh and did I mention GRADUATING?!  Toye admitted to being a little lazy last semester but he said that was going to change because he’s graduating! One thing for sure, he was confident about graduating. Shouldn’t all seniors be doing the same?

I cannot take any other action but to agree with all of these goals and resolutions, except for Zach.

Without further adieu, I wish everyone good luck on their goals and New Year’s resolutions!

And remember, WE ARE WARRIORS!

10) “The Curious Case of Timothy Green”: Odd, much? A young couple not able to have kids decides to plant a seed and grow a child out of the garden. They even try to hide the fact that he isn’t a real kid. This movie is just confusing to me…they try to love a child who is a garden gnome. The plot isn’t great, and the actors weren’t the best.

9)” Katy Perry 3D”: A desperate effort to get money. Who wants to watch a 2-hour long compilation of music videos for $12 bucks, when you can see them for free on YouTube?

8) “Total Recall”: This was just a terrible remake of Arnold Schwarzeneggers’ 80’s flick. The new cast just couldn’t live up to its expectations, and I personally don’t think that any of Arnolds’ movies can ever be topped (because of his accent of course).

7) “Expendables 2″: This was just an attempt to try and get all the former action stars back in the game, but it just can’t work. Sure, I have a lot of respect for most of the stars in the movie, but they are all in their late fifties and sixties! They are just getting too old for them to be doing crazy action moves. In my opinion, I think we should try to introduce more of the newer young action stars.

6) “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”: A weird concept. Who thinks of these movies? My main problem was that Abe didn’t even look like the real classic, Americana Abe we know and love. I was an okay movie for its visual effects, but the plot just botched any positive aesthetic appeal.

5) “The Watch”:  Who could wish for more than a movie with some of the funniest actors from our generation: Vince Vaughn, Ben stiller, and Jonah Hill? Well, not me. It had no comedy in it (irony much?), and the story was terrible. This is one of those movies that makes me lose faith in Hollywood.

4) “Savages”: A drug-dealing movie…that failed. It was horrific. The actors all stared at the camera, and it was just weird. Just weird.  Oliver Stone has always had bad movies with strange action plots, and this was another one, with a love story in the mix. Bad, bad, bad.

3) “Battleship”: A childhood game gone disgraced movie. This film made Liam Neeson look bad, and Rihannas’ debut film might be her last for a decade or so.

2) “Snow White and the Huntsman”: As good as this movie looks, it’s incredibly boring. The effects are good, but about 30 minutes into it, I couldn’t wait till the credits. The plot was just so boring! It’s all bad action.

1)   “Red Dawn”: The remake of the great American classic…that didn’t quite work. The film hinges on teenagers saving America from an invasion from Soviet Russia. The remake includes Chris Hemsworth (Thor), as well as Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games). The movie was supposed to come out 2 years ago, but never did due to funding problems.Hemsworth and Hutcherson have each gained credibility since the 2008-2009 filming of Red Dawn, and I feel that this horrible remake will give the two a bad image.

I would like to say that I didn’t hear those words from a substitute. But I did.

Since October 9, I haven’t had an English teacher. I have been sitting in a classroom watching movies, doing minimal amounts of work, and quite frankly, wasting my time.

After Ms. Durham resigned, all of her classes have been left to run amuck. We had substitute teachers for a while, and then got a “permanent” substitute.

As it turns out, the “permanent” sub was not so permanent. She quit.

So now, two months later, we are back to square one, as in random substitutes.

Not to sound ungrateful or condemnatory, but I do not appreciate rotating subs. Or any type of sub, for that matter. While I’m sure there are many qualified substitute teachers in Atlanta Public Schools, I have yet to encounter one.

During my time at North Atlanta, subs have fallen asleep, listened to music on the Smartboard, played computer games, and argued with students, among countless other offenses.

There are many issues that take a long time to resolve, but finding higher quality substitutes should not be one of them.

The current Georgia standards to be a substitute teacher are outstandingly lax. According to degreetree.com, the standards are as follows:

 “To become a substitute teacher in Georgia, here’s what you’ll need:

•  At least a High School Diploma or GED
• Fingerprinting/Background Check
• Substitute Teacher Training”

Georgia’s standards are much lower, compared to higher-ranking states such as Maine. Maine requires the following to be a substitute teacher:

•  A bachelor’s degree
• Fingerprint card and background check $55
• First Aid and CPR Certification (check with the district you wish to work for)
• Completed application submitted to the school district

Georgia is ranked 38th in education, as opposed to Maine, who is ranked 10th.

To follow in Maine’s footsteps, I believe Atlanta Public Schools should revisit its substitute teacher policies.

I would propose that new standards roughly adhere to these requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Fingerprint and Background Check
• First Aid and CPR Certification
• 60 hours of in-class training with all core teachers (15 in each core class)
• 10 hours in disciplinary training
• Pass the Basic Skills Assessment from the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators
• Interview and Assessment from an administrator representing the district

These requirements would help assure the effectiveness of substitute teachers at North Atlanta. I understand the complications of requiring such “rigid” standards. It would render most current substitutes inadequate, but the substitute pool could be easily rebuilt.

If only Atlanta Public Schools could simply eradicate its looming bureaucracy, and slow hiring processes, the new substitute base could be rebuilt within a four or five month period.

The status quo is clearly not working.

One student says, “The subs at North Atlanta don’t really follow any lesson plans that the teacher may have planned. I’ve walked in on a sub chilling and checking their Facebook. Professional? It’s not. Whenever we have subs, it’s basically a free period for students.”

Sophomore Collin Headley comments on the current substitutes, “My first thought when I hear we have a sub is definitely that it will be an easy day and that we won’t have to do any work.”

Junior William McClatchey takes a slightly more optimistic tone, saying, “There are three brands of substitute teachers at any school: those who do their best to ensure the teacher’s wishes are met, those who are content as long as the room is in tact, and those who seem pleasantly surprised if everyone is alive at the end of the period. Luckily, I’ve had mostly subs from the first and second category, but I can say I’ve had a few from the third.”

Just this week I had a sub who looked at Uggs on eBay for 90 minutes, while the students came and went freely from class.

We all have subs occasionally, but I have had various subs for two months. I haven’t learned anything and other teachers are stressed out trying to cover for my class.

Perhaps it’s better to have any type of permanent teacher, than to leave 80 students teacher-less, as an unintended consequence because of the way administrative changes were handled by APS. Perhaps.

The movie begins following a man named Adam Ewing, a lawyer in the 1800s. Early on, it’s made obvious that his physician is poisoning him with false medicine. After saving a slave from New Zealand, the slave saves Adam in turn, from this doctor, thus changing his thought of the slaves’ general population to something more positive.

The next storyline has two protagonists. One is named Vyvyan Ayrs, a music composer and his assistant, Robert Frobisher. While the actual year isn’t mentioned, it seems to take place during the early-mid 1900s.  Robert finds interest in the previous storyline’s protagonist’s journal. Vyvyan’s next album is in the works, as is Robert’s own.

Robert finds himself in an affair with Vyvyan’s wife. This infuriates the renowned composer. And in order not to blemish his reputation, Robert is forced to sign as his personal work’s co-auther and sign Ayrs as its primary composer. Before doing this and committing suicide, Robert names his album ‘the Cloud Atlas Sextet’ and sends a copy to one of his friends. The main character of the third story line, a journalist named Louisa Rey, meets Robert’s friend. And eventually, she authors a novel based on him, Robert Frobisher, and the Cloud Atlas Sextet. Hinted by the tagline, “Everything is connected”, the film reflects six individuals’ lives, separated by time, connecting with and influencing each other. After watching the movie, I felt as if it was inspired by reincarnation.

In terms of acting, Cloud Atlas was superb. This corresponds with the movie’s experienced cast, which includes Jim Sturgess, Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, James D’Arcy, Halle Berry, and Doona Bae.

Its visuals and acting quality definitely were some its strongest points. Many critics, regardless of their overall takeaway, agree. However, it’s gotten a bit of heat for giving Caucasian actors make-up in order to play Asian characters, as opposed to casting Asians actors. Though it didn’t make very much of a difference for me, the make-up was very obvious. And in my opinion, it didn’t accurately represent general Asian facial features. But considering that the scenes involving these actors took place in a futuristic Korea, the directors could have casted them for a reason that just wasn’t explained.

Overall, this movie’s reviews were mixed, though leaning towards positive. On IMDB, Cloud Atlas got 8.3 stars out of 10. The tomato-meter on Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie 63%, while the site’s audience gave it a 76%. Honestly, I think whether or not one would like this movie depends his or her patience and ability to comprehend information given, over the movie’s three hour-span.

Similar to the Matrix Trilogy, Cloud Atlas is directed by siblings Lana and Andy Wachowski. Released in Germany, the US, Hong Kong, and Singapore on October 26, the film brought in roughly $9.6 million dollars on its opening weekend in the United States. In terms of box office, the movie grossed $21, 937, 240. With a budget of 102 million dollars, this film seizes the title of being the most expensive indie film of all time. Its ambitions match its budget. Big.

The basis of my bookstore obsession is pretty obvious–I like to read. As a kid, I’d go through a book every couple of days; it didn’t matter what it was, as long as it had words.   I read in school, I read before bed, I read in the car.  Hooked on Phonics had nothing on me.

But as I grew up, my time for books dwindled down. In sixth grade, club meetings took up the space of  paperbacks .  In 8^th grade, cross country replaced book series. And in high school, homework all but eradicated the idea of “leisurely reading”.  Instead of reading to relax, I find myself zoning out in front of the computer or talking on the phone. Reading has taken a backseat, which is not to say that I don’t enjoy reading anymore; I’ve just forgotten about it.

Its my goal to re-discover reading.  No longer will I put Facebook in front of  F. Scott Fitzgerald, or using “no –time” as an excuse for ignoring novels.  Reading is important to me.  So are bookstores. And yes, that might be nerdy, but ,  in the words of Jerry Sienfeld, “ A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.”

1. I will not panic
2. I am okay
3. I will be okay

When you have come to the realization that you are in a food fight, then you have already won half the battle. Slowly grab your belongings and proceed to the nearest temporary shelter. When looking for shelter, the most common and reliable structures should either be behind a wall or table. Try to observe what foods or substances are being thrown to assess whether or not the situation is too brutal.
Don’t be a hero.

If your friends have been caught in the crossfire then it may be too late for them. You need to stay focused on yourself and the situation at hand. Do not feel bad for them and do not feel selfish. Any relationship you have at the current time will only increase the chance of you getting hit.

Do not ever, under any circumstances, take shelter near, or under a stairwell. Based on personal experience, I can honestly say that the stairwell is a trap. Even though the stairwell may lead to salvation, the boundaries of the stairwell can be considered dangerous zones. When you are under or near a stairwell you will be completely vulnerable to drinks and food constantly being thrown or dumped on your head. Thus leaving you in a soaked emotional state.

Never retaliate in anger.

If you happen to be tagged by a flying object, the first and most basic human instinct would be to even the score. Blind rage leads to aggressive attitude toward you, which would only cause the current situation to turn even more ugly. If you are hit, observe and mark the areas in which the food had originated, so this way you know which areas to avoid and watch out for.

A last resort action should be to run around in small circles. If this is done correctly, it should leave people confused and somewhat terrified of what you are capable of doing. Psychologically, running in circles will show those throwing food that you are not afraid and you are not someone to be trifled with. Very few people will see this technique as a weakness and this action should only be done if none of the earlier options discussed are available. These are the most helpful tips to improve evasiveness when caught in the middle of a food fight.