Lemonade Mouth: Just Another DCOM?

Everyone knows about the Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) that are constantly pumped out and hyped up by Disney Channel. Some sink into oblivion, some are okay, and then there's the holy grail of DCOMs-High School Musical. So how does the new DCOM Lemonade Mouth stack up?

[CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT!]

The plot, unfortunately is all too predictable and somewhat unoriginal. Its vaguely a mix of the plots of the High School Musical, Camp Rock, and Cheetah Girls movies. The movie starts out by following the stories of the five different band members. They first meet in detention and soon start singing and playing together. The music teacher hears them and encourages them to become a band and play at the Rising Star Competition-the winner of which gets a recording contract. She hopes the band can show the school that the arts and sciences matter just as much as sports. (Ms. Darbus's goal in High School Musical) Working together as a team and supporting each other (Cheetah Girls) the band soon becomes a local sensation, spreading their message of "being heard" (a lot like Stick With the Status Quo from HSM). Right before the competition, however, the band hits major road blocks in the form of injuries and fights within the band (Cheetah Girls 1,2,+3; Camp Rock 1+2). After a few hours in jail, however, they realize that friendship is stronger and get back together. When the leave the police station they are determined to perform at Rising Star, but their injuries prevent them from giving a performance at all. However, even though they loose; they know that their friendship is forever, have learned valuable life lessons, and become famous on their own. (Cheetah Girls 1+3; Camp Rock 1+2). In the end their success and determination results in their high school building a new auditorium and paying more attention to the arts and sciences. (again HMS).

The characters, however, are certainly interesting. Each as there own problem that they rely on their friends to deal with: divorce/new mom, mom dead/dad in jail, not living up to a dad's expectations/boy trouble, not living up to an older brother, and not fitting into a genius family. Although almost every DCOM involves similar problems (including HSM, Cheetah Girls, + Camp Rock), it still gives depth to the story line and allows regular kids who may be facing similar issues relate to the characters.

One thing that did surprise me was the issue of a dad in jail and a parent dating a much younger woman. These issues certainly happen in the real world, but Disney has always deemed such issues as too old for the channel. Recently, the channel has been integrating older dialogue into their shows (ex: A character on the comedy Shake It Up said he thought the word couture meant "lady parts") In most cases, I think that Disney is going a little too far; especially since Disney was always considered "safe" programming for concerned parents. In Lemonade Mouth, however, I think Disney is simply recognizing changing times and offering guidance on problems that many of its viewers face.

Finally, we come to the music. The music isn't Grammy winning, but its not that bad either. The songs are upbeat and catchy, without being HMS dance numbers. They have lyrics you can sing along and that get stuck in your head. I honestly wouldn't mind listening to them on the radio.

Overall I would give Lemonade Mouth a B+. True, it's a typical DCOM, and not incredibly original, but it's still a fun, upbeat movie to watch. Am I going to rush out and buy the DVD? No. Will I watch it when they play it on Disney Channel now and again? Sure.

Spring Fever

It is the last day of school before April vacation and every EBHS student's thoughts are on the upcoming vacation and imminent end of the year. I recently sat down with junior and sports star Jess and asked her to share her own thoughts.

Q: The last few weeks have been quite hectic. How busy have you been?

A: Pretty busy considering I have two proms coming up. They are two months apart, but I've been making all the appointments and stuff. Plus I have track and work.

Q: What do you plan to do over vacation?

A: Probably sleep, hang out with my friends, work, go to track.

Q: Have you gotten any homework to do over vacation?

A: Yeah....I don't want to talk about it. Sore Subject.

Q: What do you think the teachers do over vacation?

A: Not homework, and not going to work, and not going to track; and I'm jealous.

Q: You mentioned the upcoming proms; tell me about them.

A: EB's prom is April 29th and I'm pretty much all set. Coyle's prom is May 26th and I'm not at all set for that one. I'm wearing the same dress for both.

Q: What does your dress look like?

A: Its blue and its mermaid style and it has a sparkly beady thing right there (pointing to left side).

Q: What part of prom are you most excited for?

A: To wear my dress. I've been staring at it for two months and I haven't gotten to wear it yet. I only wore it at the fitting and the lady still has it.

Q: Do you think you can make it through the last thirty days of school?

A: Absolutely Not!

Q: What do you want to do during the upcoming good weather?

A: Hopefully go to the beach.

Q: How do you think it will feel when the seniors leave and we become seniors?

A: Awesome, but I'm friends with a lot of them so I'll miss them. It will be cool to eat outside; well I've already eaten outside, but it will be cool to be allowed to eat outside.

London Teen Shot Outside Bank

The following is a news article based on the events of the Alex Rider novel Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz:

Late yesterday afternoon a fourteen year old South London boy was shot on Liverpool Street outside the Royal and General Bank.

The teen-who's name was not released to protect him-was apparently leaving the bank when an he was shot in the chest by an unidentified shooter.

Witnesses quickly rushed to his aid, finding him unconscious and unresponsive. Police and EMTs quickly arrived on scene.

The teen was brought to hospital-the name of which was also not released by police.

Witnesses gave this account of the violence:

It was late afternoon and the congested London streets were full of cars, taxis and people trying to get home.

One of those people was this young teen. He was seen leaving Royal and General, apparently walking towards the tube station.

Suddenly, a single shot rang out and the young lad collapsed onto the sidewalk. He had a deep chest wound and large amount of blood quickly pooled around his body.

Several witnesses rushed over to the boy. A few phoned 999 for help. Others took off their jackets and sweaters, covering the boy and attempting to stop the bleeding.

Police and EMTs arrived within two minutes. The EMTs tried to stabilize the boy and stop the bleeding. They say that he was semi-conscious when they arrived, but was in complete shock and bleeding profusely. He muttered something about seeing his parents again before completely loosing consciousness.

The boy was rushed to hospital where he underwent an emergency heart surgery. The doctors expect him to make a full recovery, but say he will have to undergo months of physical therapy.

Meanwhile, the police are still searching for the shooter. They set up road blocks around the area, but to no avail. It is believed that suspect fled before the police arrived.

Witnesses are also having a hard time identifying the shooter. No one seems to be able to tell where the shot came from or saw anyone particularly suspicious in the area. Similarly, witnesses saw neither a person fleeing the scene nor a get-away car.

Due to the lack of motive and openness of the crime, police believe that it is a random act of violence-possibly gang related.

Opening Day

Spring has arrived, and one of the world's greatest sports has once again started up for the season. No, no, I'm talking about Opening Day at Fenway (though di-hard fans around New England were dancing around their kitchens to "Sweet Caroline" Friday). I'm talking about the Dog Show season.

The Muddy Paws Dog Show kicked off at 8:30 AM at the Osterville Community Center on the Cape. Three different clubs attended the event, bringing around 40 participants. Crate space was limited and at times everyone felt like sardines, but we savored every minute. It was finally time to put all of our winter training and practice to the test.

That practice certainly showed. Every club and every member exhibited excellence in both showmanship and obedience. The competition was very stiff and the final results/scores astounding.

Satucket River Dog Club-my club-was no exception. Our novice kids looked perfectly at home in the ring. One of our novice members received a first in her showmanship class. Another received seconds in both obedience and showmanship, which when combined with her knowledge score, made her the best overall junior. The Seniors didn't do half bad either. Returning veteran Katie received a 2cd in Graduate Novice Obedience and a 2cd in Advanced Showmanship. Jack received first place in Novice A obedience with a score 0f 199 out of 200. I received a third in Novice A Obedience with a score of 193 and third in Advanced Showmanship. Both my score and Jack's score are qualifying legs towards our CD-Companion Dog-titles. (3 scores-legs-over 175 with more than half of the total points earned in each category)

March Madness

The bell rings and students file out of classrooms heading to their next class. Its just another ordinary day at EBHS, but hold on a minute something is different. Almost everyone is wearing pyjamas. Everywhere you look fleece pants, sweatpants, flanel pyjamas, footsie pyjamas. Did everyone oversleep today?

Nope, march madness has simply returned to EBHS. Its time for crazy costumes, face paint, shamrocks, and school spirit once again. Its time for fierce competition between the classes; for the freshman to get smushed and the seniors to rein triumphant. Most of all however, its time for the junior class to step up.

The current March Madness standings place the junior class in fourth just ahead of the freshman and below the faculty. As upperclassmen this standing is beyond pathetic and the old excuse, "Why try, its rigged anyway," isn't going to work anymore. If it was really rigged, why are we loosing?

Many juniors dress up in the craziest costumes and make march madness as fun as possible, but others simply don't even try. Perhaps its because they are too shy or because they don't have any school pride-true EBHS is falling down-but I say, "Shut the Shamrock Up!" March Madness is a chance to have some fun in school and beat the monotony of the long month of March-and for the upperclassmen to crush freshman. SO COME ON JUNIORS! LET THOSE SHAMROCKS SHINE!

Dairy Cows at Daybreak

The following is a fictional story:

East Bridgewater residents were astonished to find ten cows grazing on the high school's football field early Monday morning.

The cows had escaped from the nearby barn at Peaceful Meadows in Whitman. The management there believes that the cows wandered out of their barn around midnight via a side door carelessly left open by a new trainee. "After they got out, I guess they just wandered around town looking for a good grazing spot," said manager Susan LaGlace, "They've had quite the adventure!"

For the cows their grazing elysium was EBHS football field. They were discovered there, happily feasting, by student Kelly Moore when she arrived for school at 6:30. Moore had arrived early to take a make-up chemistry test and discovered the cattle after she parked her car in the back lot. "I was just thinking ok, I know its early, but I can't be hallucinating cows. Can I?" said Kelly.

After realizing that this was indeed not a dream, Kelly did the only thing she could do, she called the fire department. After arriving, the fire fighters were baffled by the unusual task they had been set. They had to contain the cows before school started, so they herded the cows into the adjacent, enclosed tennis courts. The resourceful fire fighters used boards, ladders, trucks and any thing else handy to guide the scared cows. Students arriving for school were befuddled by the sight of the heifers wandering among the tennis nets.

Soon, the fire department received a panicked call from the Peaceful Meadow staff searching for the bodacious bovines. By 10:00 all the cows had been boarded onto the barn's cattle car and were headed home. "They are back at their stable safe and sound, sleeping off their late-night escapade," said barn manager Ary Holstein, "I don't think they'll be up for another adventure for a long time."

Canine Crusader (Hourglass Story)

The following a fictional story:

A local dog did her civic duty Thursday night when she stopped a criminal from fleeing the scene of a bank robbery in Hanover.

The suspect, 35 year old George Smith, held up Petco in Hanover, demanding $100,000. He was wearing a Halloween costume and carrying a dictionary disguised as a bomb. After receiving his ransom, Smith tried to make his getaway.

Luckily, Artemis, a four year old, Samoyed was shopping with her owner. Perceiving the threat, Artemis charged and took down the suspect, without any previous training. She then proceeded to hold down Smith until the police arrived.

The police recount the incident:

Eight AM Thursday morning Smith entered the Hanover Petco dressed as a giant banana and carrying a standard Webster's dictionary. He then proceeded to the first cashier and demanded the money from all the registers and the safe. When the cashier refused, he told her that the dictionary was actually a bomb. The cashier than got the manager, who gave Smith the money.

Thinking that he had gotten away with the perfect crime, George sprinted out the door towards his 2011 Chevy Camaro. Suddenly, the brave Artemis broke away from her owner a sprinted after the suspect. After catching up to him, she clamped down onto his arm and refused to let go-a technique used by police dogs, but never taught to Artemis. The Samoyed managed to hold her quarry until the police arrived and arrested Smith.

Artemis will be presented an award Sunday by Governor Patrick for her bravery.