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Page 2 THE WALRUS November 2010 QUOTES of the Videos with Vietze MONTH “Darren Shawpuh...one of da most hardest hittin’ safeties in ee leeeeeague.” -DemetryJames86 “Wait, Joe, you wanna waste your time doing well in college?” -Corey Peters ‘11 “They’re doubling the size of the library? Father Paris is going to need [heavier artillery].” -Lou Heck ‘11 “Bunnies, actually, are quite fluffy and delightful.” -Nicholas Franco’11 “Why is Tom Hoff calling me?” -Nick Chappel ‘11, while reading a passage in Spanish 5AP. “Mrs. Schwimmer, we’re in America...speak English.” -Alex Hunnewell, trying to enjoy his lunch. “Dad, there’s no way I’m going to Confirmation Class...the Pats are playing the Colts.” -Michael Hoff ‘13 “And on your way out, feel free to have a doughnut.” -Mr. Dan Williams ‘64, referring to Mr. Nunan’s doughnuts. UNITY DAY LIVES UP TO ITS NAME (continued from pg 1) Day journey occurred when students reported to their homeroom classes in order to devise pledges of unity. Through the unity pledges, students were encouraged to think of ways to promote unity within the St. Sebastian’s school environment. Each homeroom class worked with their teacher to form a pledge, and then the groups signed their respective pledges. The classes submitted their pledges to the front office so that some of the pledges could be read together at the end of the day. Finally, the school community gathered in Ward Hall for remarks from Headmaster Burke. In his closing remarks, he reminded the community that “The purpose of St. Sebastian’s School’s annual Unity Day celebration is to heighten our awareness of every person’s dignity and to strengthen the bonds that unite us – so that all may grow in our capacity and resolve to know, to love, and to serve God and neighbor”. He thanked everyone for their cooperation and their openness with one another, and then he read several of the pledges to the audience. Mr. Burke then alluded to several cases of theft reported in the school over the past weeks, and he encouraged those who committed such crimes to take responsibility for their actions. He pointed out that just as he has never met a happy, lazy person, he has never met a happy thief or a satisfied liar. He finished by stating that he hopes the themes discussed at Unity Day will remain and be cultivated throughout the school year, becoming manifest in the spirit of St. Sebastian’s. For many who have witnessed every Unity Day, this year’s event was one of the best. Both the keynote speaker and the alumni panel connected with their audience, and the audience received opportunities to participate in the discussion groups and the unity pledges. In this way, the event struck a solid balance between passive and active participation. Oftentimes, the business of the academic year cannot afford time to discuss important themes such as unity, respect for others, and conscience, but thanks to Unity Day, St. Sebastian’s has allotted a time to focus on these matters and attempt to implement them within the community. Senior Exodus to Craigsville By Nick Chappel ‘11 I remember from him that night was cidentally attempted to drive into the at 2:30 saying that he was going to Pulling out of the parking lot median of the road after dinner, Mr. go finish his pizza, and maybe eat the in Craigville, many of us realized that Nunan had to lunge across and grab box. this was the last time we would come the steering wheel while Mr. MacArthur talked some sense into his fellow In the morning we were out together as a class for a retreat. of the house by 8:15, and headed off On Sunday, the 13th, twentyeight seniors drove down to Craigville math teacher. to the dining hall for a breakfast of After mass, we all went down to the waffles, bacon, and eggs. We met in for a final retreat with their fellow beach like we had the night before, a group together after breakfast, and classmates. We arrived there around and the same kids swam again. then had some time to ourselves. 3pm, and immediately the football When we came back, everyone, After eating pasta at lunch, had two came out and a pick-up game started. except for Charlie Callanan who was hours of free time that was spent With kids already sweaty, we had fast asleep upstairs, took part in a jam playing tackle football on the beach. to head back for a group gathering. session downstairs, playing songs like Mostly everyone played, except for Mr. Nunan, accompanied by Father “Wagon Wheel”, “Flake”, and “Come to the cool kids who sat up on the roof Arens and Mr. Lynch, later followed My Party”. The sesh ended with Mr. and would not dare be seen with us by Ms. Callini and Mr. MacArthur, led Nunan turning off the iHome when lesser folk. We came back from the the group in discussion throughout “Yellow Submarine” came on and flag football game ready to relax, and the whole time on the Cape. After everyone went upstairs. It was a lot Mr. Nunan told us that we were going our introduction to the retreat and a easier to go to bed the second night, to go out alone for one hour, where prayer, we went to dinner around five, because we were all exhausted from we would not talk to anyone, not and once we came back, had mass. the lack of sleep the night before and use our cell phones, and not listen After mass we watched the best movie everything that we had done that to music. I spent that time walking that was ever made—The Shawshank day. down to the beach and sitting in the Redemption. It was then time for the We had breakfast at the same time sand staring off into the horizon with beach. on Tuesday, and after we joined in the sun setting. It was a perfect, calm One would think that on November 15th at the Cape, there would another house in which we brought afternoon, and when we all joined our iPods. We concluded the retreat again at 4:20, many of us talked be no one swimming. About ten Seb’s by playing songs that meant something to us, and finally, the jam sesh about how we realized that the world kids proved that wrong, splashing was so calm. around in the water, until finally none was concluded by Deric playing “Like After talking about our of them could take it anymore. There a G6.” experiences of reflecting on our lives is no way that anyone else in Massachusetts was swimming in the Atlantic After cleaning our rooms alone with each other, we went out to and packing our bags, we met one the 99 Restaurant for dinner. Everyone stared in shock as they watched Ocean at that time. last time. It was nice to have a break Once back at the house, from school, even though many of us twenty-eight seventeen and eighteen everyone went to his separate rooms. had work that had piled up because year olds walking into the restaurant Mr. Nunan said lights out at 12, and of the retreat. On the ride back, the yelling and talking loudly. After everyone paid for their food, we headed that rule was surprisingly followed, but mood was dull, but I couldn’t tell if it no one slept. We all stayed up talking was because of the amount of work back for mass, and it was very lucky about whatever came to mind, and we had to do that night, or because that the remaining teachers were Deric McCottrell came into everyone’s it was the last retreat we would ever still with us, because as Ms. Callini ac- room at least five times. The last thing have as a class together. As the security camera documents, things are getting a little “gamey” in Paranormal Activity 2. Paranormal Activity 2 Review By Will Vietze ‘11 When Paranormal Activity came out last year, people hailed it as one of the scariest movies of all time. It was shot on handheld cameras with a shoestring budget…yet it managed to capture the attention of people across the nation. There were stories of people running out of the theater or passing out in fright, which helped to further the mystique that was built around it. Nobody really knew what the movie was about, but nonetheless people came to the theaters in droves to have their pants scared off. For every brave person who came out to the theater to see the movie, there were ten Alex Hunnewells who were too afraid to go. Nobody really knew how the makers of the movie could top this, until Paranormal Activity 2 came out this fall. On the Wednesday night before Veterans Day, with nothing else to do, a few friends and I ventured off to see this film. When we entered the theater, we had no idea what we were in for. We sat in our seats, eating popcorn while cracking jokes about the movie. But, when it started to get scary, we all shut up. The movie doesn’t have much of a plot, but there is a basic premise to the movie as a whole. A family made up of a dad, his daughter, his new wife, and their infant son is the main focus of the movie. Some of the footage is taken on a handheld camera, used to document the first year of the baby’s life, while other footage is recorded on security cameras which are placed The Walrus A St. Sebastian’s Publication Senior Editors: Edmund Murphy ‘11, Dillon Ecclesine ‘11, Tom Hoff ‘11, Tom Keefe ‘11, Alex Spear ‘11 Apprentice Editors: The Fresh Beat Band Head Writers: Ryan Bacic ‘11, Nick Creegan ‘11, Nick Chappel ‘11, Andrew DeMatteo ‘11, Tom Murphy ‘11 CONTRIBUTORS: Mike Petro ‘13, Matt Fechtelkotter ‘12, Chris Picher ‘13, Kevin Wolfe ‘12, Matt Donovan ‘13, Tom Nunan ‘11, John Donovan ‘12, Will Adams ‘11, Pat McGowan ‘14, Cam Kelly ‘14, Julian Matra ‘13, Will Vietze ‘11, Peter DeMatteo ‘13, Ryan Wolfsberg ‘13, Bobby Wright ‘12, Chris Stadtler ‘12, Peter Cimini ‘12, Sam Racine ‘11, Michael Hoff ‘13, Mickey Adams ‘13, John Barrack ‘11, Jared Chase ‘11, Kenny Chen ‘13, Sean Frazzette ‘12, and Kevin Patterson ‘13. Editors Emeritus: Brendan Ecclesine, Ned Kingsley, David Ruffolo Faculty Advisor: Mr. Dan Drummond around the house after a supposed break-in. The footage essentially takes us through snippets of daily life in their household, which slowly seems to become haunted by some spirit. At the beginning, minor things occur such as: birds flying into the windows, the pool cleaner mysteriously climbing out of the pool, and sudden, inexplicable noises. The first hint of demonic activity comes when the nanny hears a noise and begins burning incense around the house. The father fires her for this, since he despises anything supernatural, but even he slowly begins to believe that the family is haunted by some clairvoyant spirit. The daughter and mom believe that there is something strange going on, and even do some research on demons, while the father stubbornly refuses to believe any of it. In her research, the daughter comes across an article saying that demons will take the soul of the first born boy in a family, if somebody in the family makes a deal with the devil, which leads her to believe that her baby brother is the cause of the haunting. The beginning of the movie is drawn out this way, with nothing really happening other than the occasional loud bang. As boring as the first half of the movie is, the second half is incredibly scary and even made Conor “Captain” Wiik ‘11 pee his pants a little bit. I don’t want to ruin the movie by divulging into these scary moments, but let’s just say the mom becomes possessed, the baby is pulled out of his crib by some mysterious force, and the dad finally believes that something strange might be going on. During these intense moments, Charlie Callanan ‘11 cried like a small girl, Will Adams ‘11 nearly passed out, and as previously mentioned, Conor Wiik peed a little bit, while I curled up in a ball in my seat. At one point, Wiik even jumped on Will’s lap in the midst of his piddling. And then, when everything seemed to be calming down in the movie, the ending came out of nowhere and shocked all of us. I won’t divulge the ending, but to put it simply, we, four high school seniors, screamed like little girls for several seconds. Exiting the movie, things became even scarier at the thought of coming home to darkly lit houses. Not wanting to leave each other’s presence, we stood around discussing the movie for several minutes until some of the fear subsided. There is no way to fully express how scared we were, so I ask all of you to go see the movie. It was definitely scarier than the first Paranormal Activity and it was scarier than any movie I have seen in recent memory. I went into the theater not expecting to be scared, and I came out crying a little bit inside. Even Conor Wiik, the toughest kid in school, squealed like a little girl while watching this movie, so I guarantee little seventh graders or Sean Sullivan ‘11 would faint while watching it. Overall, I give it 3/5 stars, because it was incredibly scary, but the plotline was too simple and predictable for it to be considered a good movie. The Walrus is the official student newspaper of St. Sebastian’s School. The Walrus seeks to provide news and entertainment for the St. Sebastian’s community, as well as to provide an open forum for students to offer opinions on issues related to world, national, and school affairs. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect opinions of the faculty advisors or senior editors of The Walrus or of St. Sebastian’s School. Correspondence to The Walrus should be addressed to The Walrus, c/o St. Sebastian’s School, 1191 Greendale Avenue, Needham, MA, 02492. Senior Editors and production staff reserve the right to reject, edit, or admit any or all submissions. To submit an article, email it to walruseditor@gmail.com.
November 2010 THE WALRUS Page 3 Families Flock to Open House By Chris Picher ‘13 Last month on Thursday, October 21st, St. Sebastian’s held their annual Open House for perspective families to learn more about St. Sebastian’s School. This night is composed of current St. Sebastian students giving tours to groups of families as well as families listening to three students give speeches about the major impact this school has had in shaping who they are as people. When perspective families arrived at school, students politely greeted them and directed them to Mr. Wishart, the Director of Admissions. Then Mr. Wishart organized tour groups consisting of two or three students with a group of four to six families who made their way around the campus. I was one of the many students who lead a group of families on a tour around the school, trying to give families an understanding for the unique brotherhood that the school possesses. Families appeared very interested and impressed on the foundation for the school community: “Love God, work hard, and take good care of one another”. Tours walked across the street, visiting the art classrooms and viewing the recently completed Arrows Hall, which is full of all of the athletic trophies and awards that St. Sebastian’s has won. In Arrows Hall, both Mr. Dan Burke and Mr. Curran enthusiastically informed the families on the competitive Varsity Sports teams, and the new turf complex. They also discussed the importance of having every teacher also coach a sport, further emphasizing the importance of the student-teacher relationship at St. Sebastian’s. Mr. Dan Burke and Mr. Curran did a fantastic job representing the quintessence of a St. Sebastian’s teacher and coach who is passionate for what they do and love to talk about it. We then looped back to the Birmingham academic building and visited all three floors, where teachers from each department discussed the unique aspects about a specific class. “You can’t fake enthusiasm for you school”, said Mr. Wishart when asked about the popularity of our touring system. Mr. Wishart couldn’t have said it better; the students here are truly in love with their school, and both the enthusiasm and dedication they put forth towards their school is a reality. After the tours, which were aimed to take approximately thirty minutes, families were directed to adjacent St. Bartholomew’s Church, which became standing room due to the popularity St. Sebastian’s School had generated. Looking at the church, with its beautiful images on the stain glass windows, is a spectacular and special experience for both current students and perspective families. The tremendous attendance of students at this evening is a testament to how dedicated and helpful all the students were to take several hours out of their evenings. All of the boys stood proudly around the perimeter of the church and listened as their classmates Alejandro Soto, a seventh grader, Noah Hannifin, an eighth grader, and Tom Keefe, a senior, spoke about the significance that St. Sebastian’s plays in their life. All three students spoke extremely well and reflected the epitome of a St. Sebastian’s student who can read, write, and speak at an high ability for their respective ages. “The speeches are unique because they are unscripted, unrehearsed character that the students reveal,” said Mr. Wishart when asked about student speakers. Despite the fact that Alejandro Soto has only attended St. Seb’s for two months, he connected with all of the perspective students and shared with them his experience of being a perspective student, since he had sat in their seats merely a year ago. Alejandro discussed how the St. Sebastian’s community was so accepting upon his arrival and how he immediately felt the formation of a brotherhood here. Noah Hannifin took families through the middle stages of a student’s career, discussing the significance of extracurricular activities. He stressed that going to school at St. Sebastian’s is a life-changing decision. Finally, Tom Keefe shared his great memories from St. Sebastian’s and explained how this school has shaped him into a person he had never imagined he would become. After the speeches and the concluding remarks from Headmaster Burke, families filed into Ward hall where Joe Fasciano and the kitchen staff provided delicious snacks and beverages. Around Ward Hall, teachers and students occupied tables with information for clubs, classes, and sports teams. Families and students were encouraged to ask questions or find out more about the extracurricular programs. “Sixth, seventh, and eight grade students can see the opportunities that they can get more involved in, such as debate, international club, and communications club, which many schools do not have”, said Mr. Wishart, when asked about the significance of the information tables. There were also many students who engaged in conversation to further educate these perspective families about unique aspects that make up St. Sebastian’s School. These tables work effectively because they allow perspective students to visualize what they could participate in if they attended St. Sebastian’s. “Younger kids can look up to older kids at different ages and can put themselves in our shoes,” said Hannifin when asked about perspective students interacting with upperclassmen. This night was full of enjoyment for both the St. Sebastian’s students and faculty who take pride in discussing the unique brotherhood and also for the perspective students who get to step into a new community for the night. “We are all honored to represent the school”, said Noah Hannifin. As a School all the students, facility, and staff should be tremendously proud of what a fantastic job the community did to welcome these perspective families into the community for the evening. Without the commitment and dedication from Mr. Wishart, the faculty, and all of the students, this night would never have been so successful. Thank you to all who supported, attended, and aided at this excellent event. Prospective students challenge Will Adams ‘11 in his chess prowess. Shawn Lynch ‘15 looks excited. Strachan speaks to Finance Academy By Kenny Chen ‘13 The Finance Academy seeks to encourage students to learn more about the financial world. Above all else, the mission of the Finance Academy is to give students the financial literacy that allows students to manage future, independent finances, according to Mr. Nerbonne. The Finance Academy meets on a monthly basis to discuss about various topics ranging from interest rates to philanthropy. In the past, several speakers have addressed students about various topics. Most recently Mr. Brian Strachan, who works as a key financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, addressed St. Sebastian’s students Tuesday, November 9. As a financial advisor, Mr. Strachan works with about thirty clients, generally very wealthy, and helps them manage their funds in terms of where the money should be invested, what savings accounts to use, etc. He talked about many interesting topics, leaving an open-question environment for students, which led to the development of topics such as the advantages and disadvantages between private and public businesses (most notably, GM, or General Motors, plans to go public in July this year to free itself from government ownership and to pay off its debt resulting from the company’s bankruptcy from last year). Mr. Strachan also clarified differences between stocks and bonds. A stock gives investors partial ownership in a company whereas a bond is a loan made by investors to a company. Unlike stock, bonds are paid back with a fixed rate of return—a percentage of the bond’s original offering price—over a long period of time, such as thirty years. Bonds also run the risk that the principal amount may not be paid back, as companies may lack the profit and funds to do so. A myriad of topics and answers were introduced by Mr. Strachan, and he covered a wide variety of subject matters in depth, leaving students highly impressed with the knowledge imparted from Mr. Strachan. Mr. Nerbonne moderates the Finance Academy along with President Corey Peters. He shows a desire for students to especially learn that the myth that the rich are greedy and selfish is simply not true. As Mr. Brian Strachan also pointed out, there is a death tax in every state except Florida in the U.S., meaning that a large percentage of one’s money goes over to the government when a person dies (and has no spouse alive). The tax is applied to the transfer of a person’s assets at death and is defined by the Internal Revenue Service as “a tax on your right to transfer property at your death.” The estate tax (rate of 55 percent) is imposed on any and all life-savings on all assets above a $1 million exemption amount, including transferring inheritance. This includes personal property (such as a home, cars, furniture, artwork), business assets (property, machinery and inventory), and investments (stocks, bonds and real estate). Thus, many wealthy people make huge generous donations because, quite simply, who wants to give money to the government? Why not use the resources for a greater cause? For example, take St. Sebastian’s. This school would not exist without the donations of many families and individuals according to Mr. Nerbonne. The same very well goes for Harvard, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a myriad of many other institutions. Both Mr. Nerbonne and Mr. Strachan advocate that wealth and philanthropy go hand in hand. The Finance Academy plans to have more speakers in the future to educate students and will also hold a stock game (with prizes!) this academic year. The goal of Finance Academy is one of education of economic strategy, but again, as Mr. Nerbonne and Mr. Strachan prove, the Academy also provides students with the ability to manage their personal lives in the future and also teaches students that wealth and philanthropy go hand in hand, breaking the general misconception. Tom Keefe ‘11 and Colie Leuders win the hearts of the crowd in “How To Succeed in Business” “H2S” Wows Full Audiences By Julian Matra ‘13 This fall the Drama Department put on a production of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The musical was chosen due the fact that it could accommodate for the large amount of boys and few girls we had at our disposal, as well as having great music and a hilarious script. “Performing this year,” co-president Tom Keefe remarked, “the 50th anniversary of its opening of Broadway is very opportune. The revival of this show will open in February staring none other than Daniel Radcliff. The production fit our needs and was very timely.” The musical followed the story of a young and ambitious window cleaner, J. Pierrepont Finch, who reads from a book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, as a “Book Voice.” Finch's first act in the corporate world is to knock J.B. Biggley, the president of the World Wide Wickets, to the ground. Unfazed, Finch presses Biggley for a job, who dismisses him to the personnel manager, Mr. Bratt. Having seen all of this, Rosemary Pilkington, a secretary, is impressed with Finch and is immediately smitten with him. Finch is given a job in the mailroom where he works with Bud Frump, Mr. Biggley’s nephew. Twimble, head of the mailroom, is being promoted so he appoints Finch to take his place, but Finch declines the promotion, saying that Bud Frump is more qualified. Bud accepts and Bratt, impressed, offers him a job as a junior executive in the Plans and Systems department, which he accepts. Finch then convinces Biggley that they both are Old Ivy alumnus, as Mr. Biggley is very fond of his old college. Finch continues to climb the corporate ladder and ends up the Vice President in charge of Advertising. Bud Frump comes into Finch’s office and tells him about his idea for a treasure hunt. Finch loves the idea, unaware that Biggley has already heard the idea and shot it down. He presents his idea to hide five thousand shares of company stock in each of the ten offices around the country, and give the audience weekly clues as to their whereabouts. Biggley is about to reject this idea yet again, when Finch explains that the clue each week will be given by the World Wide Wicket Girl: Miss Hedy LaRue. During the first television show, the Treasure Girl is asked to swear on a Bible that she doesn't know the location of the prizes. Hedy, who knows where they are, reveals this to the entire television audience. Treasure hunters then wreck World Wide Wicket Company offices across the country, and the executives, including Chairman of the Board Wally Womper, are waiting in Biggley's office for Finch's resignation. About to sign, Finch mentions that he'll probably be going back to washing windows. Womper hears this, drawn to Finch as he, too, was a former washer of windows. Finch manages to place the blame for the treasure show on Bud, also mentioning that Frump is Biggley's nephew. Womper is about to “clean house from top to bottom,” when Finch steps in on everyone's behalf. Everyone is spared, except Frump, who is fired. The show ends with the announcement to the employees that Biggley is still president, Womper is retiring to travel the world with his new wife, Hedy, and that Finch will become Chairman of the Board. We began practices in late September meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from five to seven. While these meetings were highly entertaining as we joked around with each other, we were able to get some serious work done each night. Mr. Rogers constantly stressed the vastness of the project we were undertaking and provided us with direction, encouragement, and criticism. Ms. Carroll assisted Mr. Rogers in directing while also helping us with our choreography (no easy feet considering the large group of people she had to work with). Mr. Grohmann acted as our musical director who through sarcastic, but good-natured humor, helped us learn the many songs of this musical. After a month of practicing we entered Tech Week, which began on the same week as opening night. During Tech Week we would run through as much of the show as we could without missing an entrance, forgetting lines, or other various issues. At the beginning of each practice, Mr. Rogers would give us “Notes” or critiques from the previous night. Some people were able to make it out of Tech Week with only a few Notes. Others were not so lucky. A strange combination of excitement and nervousness permeated the student lounge on the first night as we prepared to take our places. The Overture ended and the show began and though there were a couple of mistakes here and there, they were generally unnoticeable. The crowd absolutely loved it. They fed off of our energy and we fed off of theirs. We then carried this energy over into the next night’s performance and although it was harder to get a laugh out of this audience, we had another amazing performance (despite some people getting caught behind the panels). All in all, the performances on Friday and Saturday were successes with a full house both nights. Everyone had a blast and the crowd really seemed to enjoy the show. With the vast amount of fun it is a wonder as to why one would not want to join Drama so to offer encouragement to those who feel a little reluctant Keefe had this to say: “First off, it must be stated that theater is not everybody's thing, which is perfectly fine. I think people often believe drama kids want everyone to participate in the arts. Not true. If everyone did, most people would not enjoy the shows as much… the kids are nice, the environment is chill, the shows are always a good time. I think the arts department is on the up and up, and will only get better from here. If you are on the fence about joining, now is as good a time as ever. The winter drama festivals are always one of the best days of the school year.” New Black Ops Thrills Gamers By Kevin Patterson ‘13 On November 9, 2010, video gaming giants Activision and Treyarch released the seventh installment in their record-shattering first-person shooter Call of Duty franchise. This new edition, entitled Call of Duty: Black Ops, takes players behind the scenes of the Cold War to perform top secret missions. Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops’ predecessor in the franchise, set records for video game sales upon its release in November of 2009, but it seems Black Ops is ready to seize those awards from its older brother. In the story mode, players fight through a saga of historical fiction based off of the action of the Cold War. The game’s script, written with the help of David Goyer, screenwriter of The Dark Knight, is graced by the acting talents of Gary Oldman, Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, and Ice Cube. From the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the napalm-ridden battlefields of Vietnam, the story takes players through various cultures to save the world at large. Although the campaign of Black Ops is a jewel, most gung-ho Call of Duty enthusiasts will spend most of their time on the multiplayer battlefields. Online, players challenge each other to matches in which the winner is decided by the number of kills, defusing and blowing up bombs, or simply staying alive the longest. If players collect multiple kills in one life, they earn killstreaks, or prizes that will increase their kills totals. Whereas lower killstreaks are basically radar enhancements, making eleven kills in one live can call in an army of rabid, hungry dogs that will chow down on the opponents. Doing well online will earn players CoD Points that can be used to purchase guns, grenades, or perks, advantages that boost a player’s capabilities in a certain aspect of the game. While online multiplayer is generally a blast, “noobs”, or inexperienced players who ruin the fun of others, can be a pain. Whether by firing grenades around the map, chasing players around with no intention of killing them, or by screaming, blasting music, and blowing into the microphone by which players communicate strategy, noobs are the downfall of the entire game. The final game mode, Zombies, is the most unrealistic aspect of the game. Players team up in abandoned, apocalyptic buildings barricaded by sandbags and twoby-fours and fight off waves of the undead Nazis killed in earlier games. As if zombies weren’t enough, players are forced to fend off dozens of electric, fire-breathing zombie dogs that charge and bite hopeless gamers. No matter how well you fight them off, the zombies will eventually eat your brains out (unless you beat the level, but come on, that’ll never happen). All in all, Call of Duty: Black Ops has many attractive features to draw forth new players and reaffirm the love of veterans. Whether players are interested in saving the world in campaign, raining fire on online enemies, or decapitating scary zombies, the various types of gaming available in Black Ops make it an instant classic that should not be missed by any interested gamer.
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