The Paper Lion Commercial

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All I Want for Christmas Is You (To Buy My Album)

As the holiday season is rapidly approaching, many people have began decorating their houses, baking traditional foods, and dusting off their “ugly sweaters,” but most importantly, holiday music that has been playing in every store since Halloween becomes more enjoyable than it was two months ago. Songs such as “Deck the Halls,” “Do you Hear What I Hear,” “Sleigh Bells,” and “Silent Night” are only the beginning of the myriad of songs that are constantly played on local radio stations, in stores, and even in restaurants. Modern artists have also contributed to the endless singles and albums that have accumulated over the years. However, whether these covers are created to help fans delve into the holiday spirit or to supplement their already successful and rewarding careers remains to be seen. Do our beloved idols really have us in mind?    

The most recent rumor of Adele and Ed Sheeran collaborating for a Christmas original isn’t the only source of excitement surrounding the music industry this season. Whatever genre, whether it be country, classical, rock, pop, or heavy metal, are available on free platforms such as Pandora and Spotify. Also, Mariah Carey hasn’t been the only artist to redefine Christmas music by writing her own songs. Coldplay, Taylor Swift, and even Idina Menzel have managed to add a modern twist on the classics or release holiday originals. Also, in the recent decade, the concept of “Pop Gone Punk” has gone viral, and this year artists such as All Time Low, A Day to Remember, and Real Friends have answered long awaited calls and compiled a “Punk Goes Christmas” album. Typical pop artists continue to make a profit as many not-so-hardcore people still have Justin Bieber’s 2012 album, Ariana Grande’s 2013, and even Michael Buble’s 2011 album on repeat.

The positive image that stars so dutifully cultivate throughout their careers may not prove true to their goals. Although it seems that recording a holiday album is solely for the enjoyment of an audience, the reality just may be that these artists are simply continuing on their quest for money, popularity, and even exposure. In recent years, artists are have been partnered with outside organizations that endorse them in order to promote their own company. For example, Taylor Swift’s 2006 album, Sounds of the Season, was only available at Target retailers. Ultimately, this consumer/company relationship takes advantage of those who want to buy the album. Without competition from other retailers, the single seller is able to charge more and benefits alongside the artist. However, as technology progresses, albums become more available to download on software such as iTunes or Amazon. Even these organizations manipulate the consumer by deeming songs as “album only” editions that can only be purchased when buying the entire artists’ album. “Free” platforms such as Pandora and Spotify also manage to make a profit by charging for an upgrade to stream music without advertisements. This holiday season, this trend will undoubtedly continue.

                Even though the holidays are not the same without music, it just may be time to reevaluate what we purchase. To avoid encouraging the wealth that so many stars have amassed in past years, there are several options to choose from in order to stream both popular and obscure music for free. Whether it be putting up with advertisements, listening from websites such as Youtube, or even reviving the ancient art of caroling, it is possible to still get in the holiday spirit without having to spend more than necessary. Since many enthusiasts are unaware of the money that artists make by compiling an innocent album, it is necessary to spread awareness of the true attitudes, whether positive or negative, of our precious artists.

~ Anneliese Godas

Nassau County Announces First Hall of Fame Class

What started as an idea and a quick conversation starter on a football sideline became reality when the inaugural class of the Nassau County High School Athletics Hall of Fame was announced in Mineola Wednesday afternoon. The 28 person class, which represents 23 high schools and includes athletes, coaches, administrators, contributors and officials, will officially be inducted at a ceremony at the Crest Hollow Country club on Sept 30th.

Pat Pizzarelli, an athletic director and section VIII male vice president, was one of the first to come up with the idea. One of the people he pitched the idea to was Tom O’ Connors, a football official who fell in love with the idea. In an interview, Tom mentioned that Pat would regularly mention the hall of fame to him. “Every time I’d see him after that, Pat, the hall of fame, let's do it!”

With the help of the Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano it finally happened. In an interview with Mangano about the idea he said, “Athletics provides young people with important lessons, personal values, leadership skills, physical activity and social interaction skills that will benefit all involved for the rest of their lives.” The 28 person class that will be getting inducted into the first ever Nassau County hall of fame includes nine administrator's, six athletes, nine coaches, two contributors to the hall of fame and two officials. Two of the nine coaches actually come from Farmingdale, Buddy Krumenacker and Don Snyder.

 With an official Nassau Hall Of Fame, we can now truly honor the hard working people of Nassau County and their accomplishments within their towns. Nassau County continues to be a great place to raise kids and with this it enables them to learn a little history about where they are growing up.

~ Brandon Aleman

Dalers Whip for Pediatric Cancer

As the popular song “Watch Me” by Silento was at its height, known for its soleful beats that makes you want to move your feet and just hit the whip, it became an icon for Pediatric Cancer.  It became known as the “Whip Challenge for Pediatric Cancer” as people would challenge each other to hit “the whip” on video to show awareness for Pediatric Cancer.

In October, Dalers showed their awareness for Pediatric Cancer with a community whip, hitting the whip at Pep-Rally and the mini-fair, S.M.I.L.E club, faculty, Playcrafters, Mr. Zakian along with Mrs. DePierro and Mrs. Martinez, class of 2016 group pictures, and the band and Dalerettes hitting the whip at a home band camp. We were challenged by Northside Elementary School who was challenged by Albany Avenue.  After we accomplished the challenge, we went on to challenge Herricks High School and Jericho High School.

In the video, now on Youtube, there is a fade into our beloved mascot who draws the first whip which sets tone for the rest of the video as this whip has been called “straight fire.”  Later, the stanky leg comes into play which is mastered by our own Principal Zakian. He adds the smoothness that is a necessity to “Watch Me” and is what most people are missing when trying to do the stanky leg.

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death in children, with every 285 children, one child will be diagnosed with cancer and 15,780 kids diagnosed with cancer everyday.  Cancer is the number one cause of death in children.  Many people do not realize that cancer effects that many children and is a problem in the United States. That is why it is important for the whip challenge to raise awareness to people of every age to know that Pediatric Cancer is a problem and show children with cancer that they are not alone.  

~ Brittany Genzmann 

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders, once a senator in Vermont, is now running for president under the independent political party. The seventy four year old hopes to create a better America through strong ideas and concepts that are not present in today's society. Suggesting a political revolution to cure this country, he addresses issues such as college debt, the economy, as well as racial and LGBT justice, just to name a few.

            The younger generation of America is more for Sanders due to his viewpoints on college tuition and economic distribution. Understanding that college isn’t accessible to all, he states, “We have to make sure that every qualified American in this country who has the ability and desire to go to college is able to go to college, regardless of the income of his or her family.” Demanding that large corporations and the wealthy pay their share in taxes is the basis plan for tuition free public college across America. This is beneficial to students across America because it will ease the stress of student debt; 1.2 trillion is owed to banks with an average of $29,000 a person across. In doing this, Bernie hopes to not only help college students but to also even out the wealth distribution gap between the wealthy and the poor class.

“When we stand together, we will always win. When men and women stand together for justice, we win. When black, white and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win. When straight and gay people stand together for justice, we win.” Sanders takes no time to address the major issues in America such as racial and LGBT injustices on major outlets such as NBC and FOX News and even the Jimmy Fallon Show. Investing in community policing, obtaining police forces that reflect diversity, new rules on the allowable force of police and demilitarizing our police forces so police stop looking like “an invading army” are just some ways he hopes to combat racial injustice. As for LGBT injustice, when in office he plans to sign into law the Equality Act, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, and any other bill that prohibits discrimination against LGBT. But that’s not all, things such as advancing policies to ensure students can attend school without fear of bullying, working to reduce suicides and bar discrimination against LGBT people by creditors and banks so that people will not be unfairly denied mortgages, credit cards, or student loans are proposals just brushing the surface of  Bernie’s ideas.

Bernie Sanders’ voice is being heard all across America. His goal is clear: a better, refined, equal America. Whether he wins or not is up to voters. However, one thing is absolute: Sanders is opening many people's eyes to what they haven’t seen before and motivating people to change these outdated policies.  

~ Kylie Czarnecki

Senior Privilege

Senior privilege, driving privilege, parking privilege. Senior year all comes down to one word: freedom. Nothing feels better than waking up that first morning before school and remembering that you won’t be taking the bus or suffering through the ever so embarrassing “parent drop off”. For the majority of seniors, we kiss the green bus passes goodbye and eagerly welcome our newly acquired licenses. We welcome the freedom of being able to spend off periods in a setting of our choice rather than being cooped up in a cafeteria or the lecture hall. We embrace all the senior advantages that aid us in transitioning from our teen years to adulthood.

            As you enter high school as a freshmen you don’t realize how greatly your first three years will differ from your fourth. Sure, your first year at Farmingdale High School is incredibly liberating compared to the prior years spent in middle school where you were required to sign out during lunch just to go to the bathroom or forced to remain on the blacktop at recess. But even throughout your sophomore and junior years students are still tied down with semi-serious regulations and protocols. Hall passes are still mandatory, bathroom trips over five minutes long are frowned upon, leaving the building is strictly prohibited. Being anything lower than a senior in high school is like dipping your toe into the pond of freedom; you can feel the water but have not yet been submerged.

            Once senior years comes around everything changes. It’s a bit unnerving at first to adjust to all the newly obtained freedoms. Students with early off periods have to learn to adjust to waking up an hour later than normal. Though it is certainly not an unpleasant alteration, it still makes an immense difference to their daily routines. On the flip side, a handful of students also have to adapt to ending their school days early. For some this means getting a jump start on a long night’s worth of homework. Others use this additional time to their advantage by stealing an afternoon snooze or simply lounging on a sofa, idly watching television. If used properly and efficiently, this extra down time helps alleviate a great amount of stress that comes along with senior year such as the common application, college letters, and maintaining good grades.

Senior year is the first step in each teenager’s life towards developing a sense of independence. As the year progresses and college becomes more and more of a reality, the seniors grow into their individuality and true characters. This essential change occurs while this group of teenagers also plans for the final and perhaps best memories high school has to offer; senior privilege is only the first taste.          

~Robyn Borstelmann

Celeste Scope: Ariana Grande

The Pearl Perspective

Vogue en Classe

Celeste Scope

Ariana Grande

In almost every culture, celebrities are regarded as fashion icons. It makes sense that their styles would be regarded so highly, as they have the power of a bank-breaking wardrobe, personal stylists, sometimes personal shoppers, et cetera, with their own tastes mixed into the fashion flavors. Because the stars are propped up so high on podiums of perfection, it isn’t a big surprise that pop culture is so highly attracted to their outfit choices, nor is it a wonder why so many fans end up copying their idol(s)’s styles.

Ariana Grande is known for her sweet and girly look, that can just as easily flip on you and go fierce, fierce, fiieerrce. Recently she’s been goin’ out and about to promote her new super-yummy-smelling fragrance Ari (which you can get at Macy’s for $20-$30...check it out:  http://www1.macys.com/shop/search?keyword=ari+ariana+grande ), and to each promotional party or performance focused on getting a following for her new fragrance she’s been dressing as grande great as one would expect her to. It may be far too expensive to recreate her looks with the actual products she wore (and perhaps even difficult due to the amount of custom clothes she’s been flaunting, as of late)—but, you can easily pull something together to create a dress doppelgänger that’s cheaper (but not lacking in aesthetic quality) than the actual thing. At the Ari fragrance launch in none other than NYC, the darling starlet wore a lilac two piece outfit composed of a crop top and matching skirt. She sported white pumps and one of her new favorite hairstyles: a high ponytail.  To get the doll’s look you can head to Amazon.com to find something similar to the lavender bustier she wore for only around $11 (http://www.amazon.com/Bustier-Essential-Sweetheart-Neckline-Cropped/dp/B00I4DKH7G)  and its soulmate (http://www.amazon.com/Smile-YKK-Womens-Versatile-Stretchy/dp/B00VUZH098/ref=sr_1_2?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1448298847&sr=1-2&nodeID=7141123011&keywords=lilac+skater+skirt) also for around $11. You can find a pair of shoes that are her pair’s fraternal twins at Kohl’s (http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1892757/candies-womens-high-heels.jsp?color=White) for $20-$50 which beats spending a couple hundred bucks just to consummate this one outfit. Another cute style you might one to try is a pearl-esque version of the pastel pink getup she wore on a Scream Queens poster. A crop top in Ivory from Boohoo (http://www.boohoo.com/evening-tops/petite-charlotte-slinky-cross-front-bralet/invt/pzz97719) and an Ivory, lacey pencil skirt from the same place (http://www.boohoo.com/evening-skirts/nadia-lace-midaxi-skirt/invt/dzz90099) will have you looking like the angel that poor Chanel #2 had become.

How Miss Ari Grande can pull off looking sultry and seductive (mostly in pastels), but with the maintenance of a girly, sugary sweet style is beyond me and many of her other Arianators.

Ariana Grande has been such a fashion icon in the past few years that hundreds of people try to imitate the young star’s sweet, chic style. Every choice she makes is a step in a new trend for fans and fashion reporters alike: The fashion industry and media are forever intertwined.