Long Beach State was losing to New Mexico, and one of my this-is-why-you-gotta-believe Sweet Sixteen picks was in danger. My projected feel-good story was not carrying out like I had foreseen. Wait, Long Beach has the ball! He has the put-back! It is in!

According to Vice Principal Jane Tompkins, Notre Dame students have expressed a desire for more electives.

“We really tried to put together more classes because of the elective situation,” she said. “We asked faculty to come up with courses they thought would be interesting for students to take.”

The new courses range from philosophy to science and are suited to all different levels. Below is a summary.

Science

Marine Biology will fulfill the science requirement for graduation and is described as a rigorous course. It can be taken as a junior- or senior-level science elective after Biology and Chemistry have been completed. Mrs. Linda Pecora will teach the year-long course.

Social Studies

Philosophy Honors is a semester-long survey of Western philosophy. The first half of the class will examine ancient philosophers, while the second half examines the early modern era through the 20^th century. To be taught by Mr. Tom Mar, it is open to juniors or seniors and will not fulfill a Social Studies requirement for graduation.

World Languages

French A is a semester course on French literature and theatre from the 16^th century through the 19^th century and will include a unit on the creation of French film by the Lumiere brothers. The course is conducted in English, and the ability to speak French is not required. It does not count toward graduation requirements and is open to juniors and seniors.

French B is a semester course on French literature and theatre from the 20^th and 21^st centuries. The course is conducted in English, and the ability to speak French is not required. It does not count towards graduation requirements and is open to juniors and seniors. Madame Kathleen Bradley will teach the classes.

Theology

“Christian Literature: C.S. Lewis” analyzes the theology of the writings of C.S. Lewis. It is a semester course that will not meet graduation requirements for Theology.

“Social Justice” will immerse students in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church over the course of a semester.  It will not count toward graduation requirements.

In addition to the new elective courses, two new courses for strictly academic credit will be offered next year. College Algebra will be a year-long reinforcement class offered between Algebra II Advanced and Pre-Calculus. Spanish VI Honors will be a conversation and composition class conducted entirely in Spanish. It will be offered for students who have already completed AP Spanish Language or have a teacher recommendation.

In order to offer new courses, teachers must write up proposals with justifications for coursework and rigor.

“I think the teachers really went above and beyond,” Mrs. Tompkins said.

No changes will be made to the current curriculum besides the addition of new courses, she said.

Guidance Department director Mr. Bill Mueller said that students should receive preliminary schedules in April.

   The show may be titled The Drowsy Chaperone, but NDP’s winter musical is sure to leave audiences anything but tired.

   This year’s musical is somewhat unconventional, being “a musical within a comedy,” as the tagline puts it. The audience will travel back in time as the show’s narrator, the Man in the Chair, is transported into his favorite Jazz Age musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. This musical portrays the wedding of show girl Janet Van de Graaf to tycoon Robert Martin, and the attempts of her boss to foil it. The Man in the Chair remains a vocal presence throughout the show, frequently commenting on the action of the show or offering bits of Broadway trivia.

   “This musical is really funny. No one would really not enjoy it,” said senior Will Wolf, who plays Underling in both casts.

   The show itself has a cheesy sense of humor, but the Man in the Chair offsets it through his dry remarks. The musical was originally a spoof performed at the real Bob Martin’s bachelor party by his friends, and the role of Man in the Chair was added when they took it to Broadway.

   “The show is about him. It is about the power of musicals to lift you up. You get caught up in the show just like he does,” said Mrs. Bonnie Wilson, director.

   Although the humor is definitely camp, it is highly enjoyable. The show takes advantage of the fact that the Man in the Chair is listening to The Drowsy Chaperone on a record, undergoing skips and power outages. The songs match the dialogue for entertainment value, never missing a beat with their own comedic and melodic merits. The dance numbers were choreographed by senior Emily Versen, who also choreographed last year’s production of Guys and Dolls and is the Drowsy Chaperone for the Porter cast.

   According to Versen, the dances this year are more advanced “because there are so many different styles.” For example, a few of the male cast members have learned tap for their roles, and Wolf has really enjoyed it.

   The only disappointment in The Drowsy Chaperone is its length. At approximately one hour and 45 minutes, it is short for a musical, and with the same nostalgia as the Man in the Chair, audience members will regret leaving the glitz and glamour of 1920s Broadway behind them.

   As Mrs. Wilson said, “It makes you feel happy, and that’s what it’s all about.”

   The Notre Dame Players’ production of The Drowsy Chaperone will have six performances: Feb. 3, 4, 10, and 11 at 7 PM and Feb. 5 and 11 at 2 PM. The Porter cast will perform Feb. 3, 5, and 11 (evening) and the Gershwin cast will perform Feb. 4, 10, and 11 (matinee). Tickets are $5 for students with ID and $10 for adults. The full casts can be found below.

Ensemble:  Freshman Hayley Acord, sophomore Nina Desautel, sophomore Jennifer Dickey, freshman Christina Hamra, sophomore Cassidy Krych, sophomore Julia Trace, sophomore Vidya Walia, sophomore Adam Ahuett, junior Zach Hutton, and freshman Eliot Parker

   We are doing the MVP of movies in 2011, and that honor undisputedly goes to Drive. I will tell you how in a moment, but let’s talk about the kinds of things we saw in theaters the past year.

   This year in movies was about money, maybe more than any other year we have experienced. Sequels (Breaking Dawn and The Hangover Part II, to name some lows) unrestrained 3D, and forgettable star-plugged blockbusters (Natalie Portman in Thor? Really?) assaulted audiences with their heavy emphasis on attracting us gullible folks into thinking crazy special effects and big names are going to turn into a good movie.

   Drive took every single thing that seems to be trending in the film industry today and tossed it. Ryan Gosling starred, but his presence was minimal, as you will hear later. There was no 3D, the special effects were minimal, and the formulaic approach that many audiences were expecting was tossed in favor of an incredibly gripping, slow-build-to-the-top style of story. It was the most important movie of 2011, because it showed us what can be done when people dare to be inventive.

   Drive follows The Driver, a man who works during the night as a getaway man for anyone who is willing to follow his rules. He gives them five minutes, no more or less, and makes his clients swear to not involve him in their business. Things go awry of course, when a particularly important job goes wrong, and the Driver is thrust in a circle of awful bloodshed. If it sounds like a Fast and the Furious rip-off, it is anything but.

   As I have said, Ryan Gosling is about the only big name you are going to find with this movie. However, his role is surprisingly small, even if he is technically the lead actor. He speaks maybe 40 lines the entire movie. Taking on a role that would not garner as much attention as some front line action flicks or rom-coms is risky, but this role has ultimately come to define how I see Ryan Gosling. The phrase that can perhaps best describe him here is “quietly brilliant”. It sure makes The Notebook look like a joke. Speaking of which . . .

   Violence in movies takes many forms. Some movies see it as flowing and stylish, like 300. Others see it as humorous, like Pulp Fiction, and others see it as raw and primal, like Fight Club.

   Drive does violence unlike anything I have ever seen. There is not a whole lot of it, but when it arrives, it arrives. It is easily some of the most  gruesome and graphic displays of carnage I have ever seen, but it has a strange finesse to it. The outbursts are so shocking and so sudden when they come from such a silent figure as the Driver; I can promise you that this movie is officially one of the most unforgettable pieces of cinema I have ever seen.

   So already, Drive has a unique protagonist made from a big-time star and some of the most gracefully handled violence ever put into theaters, but the main thing that sets it apart from the formula most car movies plug into is precisely in its handling of all of its driving sequences.

   Car movies today love to use giant jumps and crazy explosions and someone usually leans out of a door and fires a gun while somehow using his go-go gadget arms to keep his hand on the wheel. Drive actually does none of this. Chase scenes are present, but they manage to create more tension than any high-budget flick would through the simple use of red-light standoffs and alleyway hiding and turn-off-the-lights-and-stay-quiet sneakiness. It is fantastic. The opening scene of the movie is quite realistically one of the best  chase scenes ever, and most of the cars keep four on the floor the entire time.

   I did not know what to expect when I ducked into the theater for Drive, but that was a good thing, because it was anything but what you would expect. It proved that a monster budget and a high-profile ad campaign were not necessary to make a great movie, and it proved that subtlety and finesse could reign supreme over raging fireballs and bulging muscles. This is the most important movie of the past year, because it reminded audiences that the best way to make a great movie is to go against the formulas thrust upon writers and pave an original path into the positive side of critics.

]]> http://www.ndpnews.org/ae/2012/02/02/why-drive-is-the-most-important-movie-of-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.ndpnews.org/features/2012/02/02/bass-twins-take-to-the-skies/ http://www.ndpnews.org/features/2012/02/02/bass-twins-take-to-the-skies/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:01:46 +0000 Maddie Stevens http://www.ndpnews.org/?p=4192 Seniors Ben and Bridget Bass have a unique hobby: the twins are pursuing their love of flying by getting their pilots’ licenses.

Ben got his license in August, and Bridget is working toward hers. A lot of hard work is involved in getting a pilot’s license. According to Bridget, a future pilot must first pass a written test with questions on navigation, knowledge of the weather, when to fly and when not to fly, airport regulations, and emergency procedures among other flying-related topics.

“In flying, information like that is called ground, since you learn all of it on the ground instead of in the air,” Bridget said.

The next part of the test is called a “check ride.” This involves a long flight where someone certified by the Federal Aviation Administration tests the prospective pilot on maneuvers, detours, engine failures and other things one could encounter while flying. The test can take up to four hours or more.

The process is involved and spendy. According to Ben, it depends on one’s schedule, and the less time it takes the less money it costs. For him, it was around $4,000.

Ben has logged more than 150 flight hours. His first flight was interesting, but more informative than action-packed, he said.

“Thats how you start out. It’s like drinking from a fire hose. Information is thrown at you constantly, and you can only absorb a little at time,” he said.

The Bass twins hail from a family of airplane pilots. Their grandparents, parents, and uncles all have their pilots’ licenses. Bridget does not remember one exact moment when she knew she wanted to fly planes.

“I just remember wanting to learn how to fly like the rest of my family. I wanted to be ‘in’ on all the airplane-related jokes,” she said.

Bridget’s favorite thing about flying learning about planes and how they work.

“It’s also great because no matter where you are, if you meet a stranger and find out they’re a pilot as well, then you both instantly have something to talk about. It’s pretty cool,” she said.

Ben’s favorite thing about flying is the sight seeing. His favorite places to fly are the Superstition Mountains and Sedona.

“They’re breathtakingly beautiful places,” he said.

Neither of the Bass twins want to be pilots as an occupation.

“There’s not enough money. I want to make money and fly for fun,” Ben said.