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May 27, 2011 Copley High School Drumbeat10EntertainmentBuffy The VampireSlayer, a book/television series thatdebuted roughly adecade ago, was apopular depiction ofmodern vampirism.The most recent addition to thegrowing trend is the Twilight sagaof books and movies.Scream 4 livesup to its killerreputationSuper vintage: Dracula byBram Stroker spawned themany forms of vampirepop-culture that are presenttoday.Sucking the life out of the mediaBy Jen SmaltzIt all started with that awful excuse fora novel…When it was announced that theNew York Times Bestseller, Twilight, wouldbecome a full length motion picture, allpreteen girls experienced a simultaneousstroke. When it was said that teen heart throbRobert Pattinson would be playing the leadrole of Edward Cullen, even the middle-agedsoccer moms began to swoon. When I firstread the Twilight saga, I myself must admitthat I was smitten with the fictional characterwho would have given Aaron Carter a run forhis money. But once the books skyrocketedin popularity, my infatuation wore off.The craze with the undead is as old asReally old: The Munsters wasa television show during the1960’s which depicted a modernday family of vampires andother odd creatures.the human race, but since the movie industrydiscovered it would pay for their foreignconvertibles, they jumped right on thebandwagon. The opening night of Twilightalone grossed over $7 million. While theensuing sensation has continued to rake inthe dough, several popular spin-offs haveerupted from the movie that started thetrend. Television shows such as True Blood,The Vampire Diaries, and Blood Ties have allbeen a product of the growing sensation.Throughout the past millennium,different historical figures like Vlad theImpaler, Erzsébet Bathory, and BramStroker’s Dracula have sparked legends of theblood-sucking demons. It seems that everygeneration follows the trend of having avampire fixation of sorts—unfortunately, themost recent phenomenon is the obsessionwith the unattainable but oh-so-desirable sexsymbol. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has nothingon the current movie industry and its desireto crank out films for which American teenagegirls (and soccer moms) will go gaga.In retrospect, I am not the only one whothinks that this current craze is becoming abit ridiculous. After months of shop windowsbeing full of cheesy Twilight merchandiseand 12 year old girls wearing “I love EdwardCullen” paraphernalia, the obsession hasfinally begun to settle down. It seems that fornow, the intrigue and mystique of vampirismhas subsided, but who’s to say when the nextepidemic will occur?Cleveland’s “hometown hero”By Alaina BartelRevolutionary. If one were to describeColson Baker’s music, that would be it.My perspective of music has foreverchanged since the day his lyrics streamedthrough my headphones; and apparently,I’m not the only person that his music hasimpacted.Going by his stage name Machine GunKelly, this rising star is from Cleveland; manycall him our “hometown hero” and state thatthe “king never left” (referring to Lebron).From surfing through MGK’s Facebookpage, I’ve discovered that he has the mostloyal and devoted fan base I have ever seen.I think the reason that MGK has suchamazing fans is the fact that his lyrics hithome for many of his listeners who are goingthrough the same struggles that he hasendured throughout his 21 years of life.Specifically his newest mixtape titledLace Up is by far the best piece of work thatI have had the chance to listen to, and it hasdefinitely changed my expectations of today’srap artists.Concerts to check out this summerBy Paula RamseyJune:1 The Maine: House of Blues4 Grace Potter: House of Blues4 Josh Groban: Quicken Loans Arena4 Phish: Blossom7 Panic at the Disco: House of Blues11 Brad Paisley: Progressive Field14 Glee Live: Quicken Loans Arena23 Kenny Chesney: Blossom27 Lee DeWyze: Musica27 Matisyahu: House of Blues29 R. Kelly: Wolstein CenterTake, for example, the third song on themixtape, and my personal favorite, “End OfThe Road”:MGK tells his listeners to “live for themoment, and not by the past, homie, liveeach day like it’syour last” along with“if you only have24 hours, and 1400minutes, before yourdreams gone, thenyou better go and liveit.”The way he verbalizesthese wordsmakes his lyrics evenmore powerful. Youcan hear the acheand pain in his voicethat sounds like what he is saying is his mostheartfelt advice on how to live your life.Literally every verse in this song has aconnection to me and many other listeners;that’s what I love about his music. Anotherfavorite of mine from the mixtape is the 11thsong, “Been Through It All.”July:1 Kid Cudi: Quicken Loans Arena5 Katy Perry: Quicken Loans Arena8 New Found Glory: Clay’s Park8 Rascal Flatts: Blossom9 Three Days Grace: Clay’s Park10 Wiz Khalifa: Time Warner Cable Amphitheater15 Toby Keith: Blossom20 Vans Warped Tour: Blossom21 Keith Urban: Quicken Loans Arena22 Lil Wayne: Blossom26 Britney Spears: Quicken Loans Arena30 Taylor Swift: Quicken Loans Arena“This song is for everyone out therewho’s ever made it through the hard times,for everyone who’s ever had to struggle forwhat they wanted in life, this song is foreveryone who‘s had to sit through the darkdays before they saw thelight.”That is the openingline of this song, and it’s noteven him singing, but instead,he is literally talkingand communicating withhis fans, letting them knowthat he’s “been through itall.”Unfortunately, I cannotquote his entire mixtape;but I can give a wordof advice.My advice to you is this: if you wantto hear music that is starting a revolution ofpeople throughout the world, this country,this state, this city, and all age groups, goto www.mgklaceup.com and download hismixtape, no cash involved, and get ready to“Lace Up.”August:2 Journey: Blossom4 Suicide Silence and Unearth:Peabody’s5 Alice Cooper: Akron Civic Theatre5 O.A.R.: Jacobs Pavillion9 Sara Bareilles: House of Blues12 Janet Jackson: Jacobs Pavillion12 Tim McGraw: Blossom16 Kid Rock: Blossom24 Def Leppard: BlossomBy Adam BrownMany individuals know of the Screamfranchise, and to those of you that do butyou’ve neglected to see the movies, all youknow is that “some guy” dresses up in a costumeand kills people. But I assure you thereis so much more to the movies.Scream 4, following suit of the othermovies, focuses around Sidney Prescott, thecentral victim of all of the previous films.She and her close friends must evade the evercunning ghost faced killer who uses a knifeas his weapon of choice. The viewer is put upto the daunting task of not only discoveringwho the killer is, but determining his motiveas well.Though this may seem like a rathermilked and old plot for a horror movie, thefilm does not fail to disappoint. Director WesCraven flawlessly balances the feeling thatthe killer has some supernatural ability ofdisappearing, while preserving his humanisticqualities that the viewer encounters whilewatching the killer interact with his victims.Craven also throws in a good bit of humorinto the movie, without losing the effect of afrightening scene, of which there are many.The scenes themselves don’t have an effectof “freaking you out” like the ParanormalActivity movies. Instead, the scenes focuson making you jump out of your seat whenthe killer pops out, meaning that this movieisn’t for the faint of heart.Those with a weak stomach should alsobe wary of watching this film, since it isgraphic. Sparing the truly gruesome details,one can expect Craven to portray every aspectof the murders, from the knife enteringthe body to the even more visually unpleasantportions of seeing an individual in pain.The reason that I most highly urge youto see this excellent movie is for the ending;it is phenomenal. The identity of the killerscomes completely out of left field and the climacticscene of the movie has the viewer atthe edge of his seat.Recapturing the classic genre of a “scarysuspense”movie, Scream 4 is a wonderfulpiece of cinematic work.Answer to Copley’s “IfYou Really Knew Me”(page 5):Katherine CasidaCHS Freshman