There are quite a lot of new show this fall made with this purpose in mind. Here are a few:

• “The X-Factor” (Weds. @ 8:00 PM on FOX)
      Simon Cowell is back again at the judges table after leaving “American Idol” and starting a new show. The difference between the two shows is “X-Factor” allows groups as well as soloists and no age limits. There are four categories: Girls – with Simon Cowell, Groups – with Paula Abdul, Over 30’s – with Nicole Scherzinger, and Boys – with L.A. Reid.
      After watching this show, I can say that it has come a long way. With fewer restrictions, anyone and everyone is allowed and encouraged to get up on stage and show what they’re really made of. And with Simon Cowell back, the judge that is the hardest to please in America, this new show is sure to have viewers tuned in worldwide.

• “Last Man Standing” (Tues. @ 8:00 PM on ABC)
      Simon Cowell isn’t the only one who’s back on TV! Famous actor, Tim Allen, star of “The Santa Clause” movies and the voice of Buzz Lightyear from the “Toy Story” movies is back to ABC in “Last Man Standing.”
      After personally viewing this show, I can honestly say that I loved Tim Allen’s performance. His macho attitude in a house full of females makes it a perfect comedy. His character is almost the same from his old show “Home Improvement” from the 90s where he played the father of three boys also with that man-of-the-house attitude. This show is more enjoyable to watch and maybe funnier with him battling having to live in a house outnumbered by people of the opposite gender.

• “Who’s Still Standing?” (Mon. @ 8:00 PM on NBC)
      Do you like game shows? Well get ready for a brand new, fast pace trivia game, coming your way on December 19. This is a game show that is different from anything you’ve seen before because contestants try to beat their opponents by answering trivia questions and if they answer wrong? A trap door under them opens up and well, you have to watch the show! Even though its name is similar to “Last Man Standing” it’s only funny if you are the last person standing and win.
      Personally, this show sounds like it will be less than good. The reason I say this is because it’s kind of like a show I’ve watched already. The popular children’s game show “Brain Surge” where the losing contestant is transported down the “ Brain Drain.” I also think the show isn’t unique because it has practically the same prize and concept of ”Who Wants To be A Millionaire” without the person falling through a trap door. Hopefully the premiere of this new show will change my opinion since I haven’t seen it yet to be able to review it that well.

There are many new TV shows out there for your enjoyment this fall but these three seem to stand out. Check out these shows by tuning in on television or watch them online.

Who knows? One of these just might turn out to be your new favorite show!

by: Epiphany Martin, 8th grade
Senior Reporter
THE LION LEDGER

Pizza, the cheesy food that people all over love to eat, could possibly be called a vegetable now.

That’s very interesting to know because lots of people, kids and adults, would not expect for pizza ever to be characterized as a vegetable. But the Congress wants to get it onto kids’ school lunches falling under the category of a “vegetable.”

Why? Congress has a good reason for all of this.

Because a lot of families with kids that go to school are struggling to pay the cost of lunches, they provide money to public schools that serve specific items on their menu— like vegetables. But since most schools don’t serve the required amount of vegetables to get the money, Congress is helping out by letting schools consider pizza as a vegetable since it has vegetable ingredients in it.

Who knows of a school lunch program that doesn’t serve pizza?

Pizza is not really becoming a vegetable but because it has some nutritional balance, that is part of the reason for the decision. It’s made of tomatoes / tomato sauce (vegetables), cheese (dairy), and dough (grain) with some kind of topping (meat).

This is a very good idea which will help struggling families in public schools. But this isn’t going to replace actual vegetables being served in school lunches.

Plus, a lot of parents want their kids to eat vegetables, so when they are eating pizza they don’t have to worry, right? It’s an easy way for parents to know that their kids are eating their vegetables!

But, this news shouldn’t replace vegetables in your lunch either now that you’ve heard about what Congress is doing for public schools.

If parents want, they can give their child veggie sticks like carrots or celery as snacks for recess time. This way, kids and parents are happy and don’t have to worry about their kids not  eating vegetables.

And they can know that even if they are eating pizza, by having actual vegetables on the side, it’s healthy and balanced.

by: Giauna Nu’man, 8th grade
Senior Reporter
THE LION LEDGER

“Breaking Dawn” (rated PG-13) is a movie about a girl named Bella and a vampire named Edward and they get married and have a baby by the name of Renesmee who is half vampire. Jacob, the werewolf, likes Bella and leaves his pack and forms a new one, because his old pack was going to kill Renesmee.

I went to see “Breaking Dawn” because I read the books and I thought it would be cool to see the movie. In my opinion though, I think the book was better than the movie.

The movie wasn’t the best. I honestly thought it would be better. I thought is was really boring in the beginning, but it did get interesting towards the end. There was a lot of suspense, and action, which I liked.

There were too many romantic scenes, and I didn’t like that. There was kissing in almost all of the scenes! I also didn’t like the fact that the movie was almost three hours long!

I would give the acting three stars. The acting was just, okay. The character Bella, played by Kristen Stewart, has no expression on her face when she is mad, happy, sad, angry, or surprised. She just has a solemn look on her face.

All of the other actors do a very good job. Robert Pattinson who plays Edward, and Taylor Lautner who plays Jacob.

In the end, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the movie. I wouldn’t see this movie for a second time like I would the others. The three movies before this were much better. Plus, this movie was too long! I didn’t want to sit in the movie theater for two to three hours.

A lot of teenage girls love the movies because of the “cute” actors, and the romantic parts of the movie. A lot of other people like it because of the suspense and action.

So, even though this movie is the most popular film in the country right now, not all teens will think it’s great. Some might, some might not, like myself.

by: Morgan Hill, 7th grade
Senior Reporter
THE LION LEDGER

The league expects to open the season with a tripleheader on Christmas Day. Despite missing almost eight weeks of the season, the NBA is aiming to squeeze in a 66-game season for each team, which would require extending the regular season by approximately two weeks and condensing the playoffs. A typical NBA season begins about Nov. 1 and includes 82 games.

The 76ers are scheduled to open training camp Dec. 9 at the team’s practice facility at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“I was surprised about the news,” the Sixers’ Andre Iguodala said. “I’m not sure if guys are ready, because they were in limbo about when things would start. The biggest challenge is going to be dealing with injuries and how practice is handled. We can’t go too hard in practice with so many games (in a shorter period of time).”

In recent seasons, the Sixers held camp at St. Joseph’s University, but the last-minute timing and scheduling conflicts forced camp to the more low-key environment at PCOM.

The deal was reached about 3 a.m. EST and is pending approval of both the league’s labor relations committee and the NBA board of governors — a collection of all 30 owners — as well as the players union, which must re-form to hold a vote among its 450 players.

To ratify the deal, a majority vote is needed from each side. Both NBA commissioner David Stern and players union chief Billy Hunter said they expect the agreement to be ratified and become the league’s next collective bargaining agreement. The proposed 10-year deal would allow either side to opt out after the sixth year.

Stern said the agreement was “subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we’re optimistic that will all come to pass.”

The full process is expected to take as long as 10 days.

“We thought it was in both of our interests to try to reach a resolution and save the game and to be able to provide the kind of superb entertainment the NBA historically has provided,” Hunter said during a joint news conference early Saturday morning.

The NBA is scrambling to devise new schedules for each team. The Sixers will begin the abbreviated season on the road because their home arena, the Wells Fargo Center, is scheduled to host Disney on Ice shows during the last week of December.

On the league’s original 2011-12 schedule, the Sixers were scheduled to play at the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 26 and remain on the road until Jan. 6, against the Detroit Pistons. It’s unclear whether either of those games will be on the new schedule.

Because of the tight time line, the start of preseason camp will coincide with the start of free agency. During a typical NBA season, there is a lengthy free-agency period well before the start of training camp.

Once the Sixers sign first-round draft pick Nikola Vucevic, they’ll have 12 players under contract. The NBA limit is 15 players. With the Sixers’ current payroll at about $55 million — the salary cap is likely to be about $58 million — they will have very little flexibility during free agency.

One area of concern will be re-signing the team’s two restricted free agents — forward Thaddeus Young and center Spencer Hawes. The Sixers have extended qualifying offers to both Young and Hawes, meaning they’re two of the 12 currently under contract, but other NBA teams can extend either player an offer.

Under the proposed collective bargaining agreement, if another team signs Young or Hawes to an offer sheet, the Sixers will have only three days to match it. Under the old agreement, they had a week.

During the league’s lockout, which began July 1, the players missed only their Nov. 15 paychecks, about one-twelfth of their yearly salary. For max-contract players such as the Sixers’ Elton Brand and Iguodala, that was more than $1 million in pretax money.

The NBA owners entered the labor dispute fighting for a more even split of basketball revenue, saying they had lost about $400 million last season. Players had been guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income under the old deal. Also, the league said it wanted more “competitive balance,” which it felt could be achieved with additional restrictions on how much each team spends.

The union disagreed, but ultimately the league achieved a victory on givebacks. The new deal’s target is a 50-50 split. The league did not, however, achieve the exact “hard cap” system it desired.

At Saturday morning’s news conference announcing their tentative settlement, both Stern and Hunter said they felt urgency to strike a deal because “others depend on us.”

Some of those dependent others include employees at the Wells Fargo Center, whose hours have been slashed. In addition, every NBA game pours money into surrounding establishments such as hotels, restaurants, and bars.

“Our fans and the support from the people and (their) patience through a large part of this process — that’s where a lot of this credit goes to,” said the president of the former players union, Derek Fisher. “The efforts that have been made have been largely with them in mind.”

Technically, Saturday’s agreement was a “settlement” because each side had filed a lawsuit against the other. On Nov. 14, the union dissolved and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA. Because the NBPA no longer exists, these latest talks were characterized as “settlement talks” and not “collective bargaining.” The union, which became a trade association upon dissolution, hired high-profile lawyer David Boies, who represented the NFL during its lockout earlier this year.

Back-channel discussions between lawyers for the players and lawyers for the NBA began in earnest on Monday of last week, but weren’t reported until Wednesday.
___
© 2011, The Philapdelphia Inquirer / Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

by Kate Fagan
The Philadelphia Inquirer / (MCT)
MCT CAMPUS

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.

If you are in 8th grade, you were about 3 or 4 years old. The youngest you could have been to remember watching the movie in theaters and remember anything.

Everybody else in school (except for the adults) has probably seen the first Harry Potter film either on TV or on DVD.

When the first film came out, no one was really interested in it but young kids and mostly readers of the books.

But soon the movies slowly evolved into a more exciting movie series and almost everybody, even adults, wanted to watch.

Harry Potter fans are either just people who like the movies, or people that like the movies and have also read the books. (There are probably people who are just fans of the books and not the movies, too).

There are seven books but eight movies because, as most of you know, the last movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was split into two parts.

It’s been so long since the first Harry Potter film came out that the actors don’t look like they did back then. But thankfully, pretty much all of the main characters from the first movie stayed until the end for all eight films.

What you might not know is that the actor who plays Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is not the original from the first film. What? Yes, believe it or not, it’s true!

If you go back and watch the first film, you’ll see that Professor Dumbledore looks different. That’s because the original actor was Richard Harris. He played the part for the first two films but died in 2002 so they needed to find a new actor to replace him.

Which is Michael Gambon, the one most people know today.

If it has been awhile since you last saw the first Harry Potter movie, now is a good time to check it out again on the tenth anniversary of the film.

Anyone who watches it might feel like they’re watching a whole new Harry Potter film because the actors playing Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were just kids back then and don’t look anything like they do in the recent movies.

If you’ve never seen the first Harry Potter movie, what are you waiting for?

by: Hiwot Dereje, 7th grade
Senior Editor
THE LION LEDGER

In one research study last month, they show that 91 percent of kids ages 2-17 are video game players which is up nine percent since 2009.

(Source: “The Video Game Industry is Adding 2-17 Year-Old Gamers at a Rate Higher than that Age Group’s Population Growth“)

In 2009, Microsoft did a study to see if teenagers who play video games could take the skills they learn while playing them and use them in the classroom. It all started because of a high school student age 17 who told Microsoft that he thought about winning the video game he played in order to succeed.

Killing all the bad guys in the game wasn’t the student’s main focus.

(Source: “Microsoft Researches Educational Value of Video Games“)

In a poll done for Duracell, the company that makes batteries for electronics, the survey showed that 73 percent of parents believe that kids can learn a lot from educational video games.

(Source: “Survey Reveals Parents Believe in the Power of Educational Video Games“)

Not all games are bad for you or going to make you violent. There are even some games that help make you smarter.

from Staff Reports
News Team
THE LION LEDGER

The reason why they are protesting is because a large group of Oakland residents believe that their needs have not been met. They believe that 99% of the world is poor and 1% are celebrities with all the money.

They say that the media, citizens, and others have been favoring the needs of the 99% without listening or responding to the needs of the 1% regular people who are in the lower and middle classes.

The protesting began on October 10. On that day their group was formed and they started to sleep outside. They want the people of Oakland and everywhere else to recognize that they are not going to stop until their requests have been met. (The protesting actually started with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and then it spread around the country and to other parts of the world!).

The Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan is very worried. She and her supporters are trying very hard to make sure that the City of Oakland is safe and that this protesting is under control. On October 25, the protests got worse. So much and so severe that police came and brought tear gas to evacuate the protesters from Downtown Oakland.

You can see proof of “Occupy Oakland” right across the street from the school. If you walk down on Piedmont Ave. at Gaylords coffee shop, there is a sign with big lettering that says “OCCUPY OAKLAND. DO WHAT’S BEST.” (The school choir also had to cancel a field trip last week because of the protests going on in Downtown Oakland).

Hopefully soon, the protesting will stop and everyone will find a way to solve the major issues. To read more about all of this, please go to: www.occupyoakland.org

by: Hiwot Dereje, 7th grade
Senior Editor
THE LION LEDGER

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.

For those parents with more than one child you may track multiple kids at once.  It even tells if  your child has moved outside of the preset area or reached a pre-set destination.

The child’s phone must be an Android OS smartphone to be able to install the “Trick or Tracker” app. The parent can use any smartphone that has Google Maps on it (like an iPhone) but the company recommends that both phones have Android OS.

Since a lot of children have smartphones these days, this safety app can help prevent bad things that could happen to them during trick-or-treating.

This app also turns your child’s phone into a flashlight which can be used by your child to see more clearly in the night and also let drivers see them when they’re crossing the street. The feature includes neon colors and patterns (kind of like a glowstick).

It looks like this app is making it  even safer to trick or treat with the help of technology. So no one has to be afraid to trick or treat on one of kids’ favorite holidays of the year. “Trick or Tracker can help give parents peace of mind without sacrificing any of the Halloween holiday fun,” the inventor of the app said.

The app costs $4.99 from the Android marketplace but if you want to get it for free, go to their website, www.trickortracker.com on October 31 and download the app as their treat!

(Source: Iconosys Company Press Release)

by: Alinda Amuiri, 7th grade
Senior Editor
THE LION LEDGER

They might give you that creeped out feeling but did you know that you can actually eat some of these bugs? Nasty!

You can eat termites which taste like carrots, and you can even eat spiders! Yes, tarantulas are edible, in fact, they taste like crab and a little nutty.

Most people won’t try to eat these things no matter what anyone says but some people in other countries eat it regularly. Places like Australia, Africa, and many other places eat insects daily.

It may sound disgusting, but it’s a regular thing people do in those countries. But before you go out and find a bug on the floor and chomp on it, remember that not all bugs are edible and can even hurt you.

You may not like all of them (or any of them at all) but there may be some that you might like. For instance the Palm Weevil Larva tastes like bacon. There is a list of edible bugs and what they taste like in the link below.

Now that you know about this new type of “food,” go open yourself up and try new things.

(Source: Fox News– “15 Insects You Won’t Believe Are Edible“)

by: Christopher Mullins, 7th grade
Editor
THE LION LEDGER

The iPod is made by Apple. A lot of students at St. Leo the Great have one. Some even have the kind that has a camera in it.

Most of them say that they love it and that they would get the newest iPod whenever it comes out.

The iPod lets you listen to music, watch videos, view pictures, and play games. If you have the iPod touch, you can even go on the internet and check / write e-mails and chat with friends.

When the first iPod came out, all it did was play music and could only fit 1,000 songs. It didn’t have video and you couldn’t save pictures onto it. You used to have to get music onto it by putting your CDs into the computer and uploading them to your iPod.

Then they made a special site called the ITunes Music Store so you could buy music online and download songs and save them to your iPod. Now you can buy them wherever you are and you don’t even have to connect your iPod to your computer.

The very first iPod had a thick design and there was only one kind. Then over the years, it turned into a thin design and was easier to carry around and transport with you so whether you were working out or just walking around with it, it didn’t have to be this big thing you carried in your pocket.

Now there are different sizes and models (and colors) that people can choose from. And the “biggest” one can hold 40,000 songs!

On the iPod’s 10th birthday, take a look at how it has changed over the years in the information graphic below. (And tell us what iPod you have by voting in this month’s poll).

by: Jordan Coleman-Stithz, 7th grade
Senior Reporter
THE LION LEDGER

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