Culture
El Gato • Tuesday, December 11, 2012 •www.elgatonews.com
Give Thanks on Thanksgiving
by Quincey Klein
News Editor
With students and members of the workforce on
a break from the normal grind, many attended the
7th annual Give Thanks show on Nov. 23 and spent
their Thanksgiving weekend dancing with friends,
and heavy beats. Vital Events and Midnite Events,
two Northern California massive organizers, responsible for well-known events like Wobbleland, teamed
up and presented the Bay Area with a diverse lineup
of electronic music DJs hailing from varying corners
of the world and genre pockets.
Held at the nearby San Jose Civic Center, crowds
of spirited concert-goers lined up at the doors. Some
donned standard club attire, while others sported
bright colors and eye-catching sparkles, typical of
electronic music shows. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, many wore festive Native American costumes
and feathered headdresses that were visible above
the crowd. Before long, music was pounding inside,
detectable even from outside the venue. The anticipation was palpable throughout the early performances of Manufactured Superstars. Even though
people were already dancing, the headliners were
yet to come.
The crowd grew in both size and enthusiasm as
more and more people began to filter in later in
the night. At 9:15, Downlink, an American “filth”
dubstep producer known for his use of aggressive
bass, started his hour-long set.
Dirtyphonics followed, although only two members from the four-person French electronic music
group attended. They were a crowd pleaser, offsetting the previous set of dubstep by focusing on
drum and bass. Towards the end of the set, the
crowd began to chant for “Play For Real,” one of the
group’s more popular original tracks. Dirtyphonics
obliged and attendees shouted the lyrics in unison
and with feeling.
Showtek, which consists of two internationally
famous Dutch EDM brothers, transitioned the show
at 11:30 into a hard-style dance party. While one
served as DJ, the other ran around stage, pumping
up the crowd.
Finally, the headliner, Arty, kept the crowd
energized, possibly even more than any of the
other producers, when he took the stage around
1:00. Known for his house anthems and upbeat
tunes which feature vocals, Arty has been rising to
stardom in the recent years with the help of other
hugely popular house DJs like Tiesto and Avicii. The
melodic sound of Arty was the perfect way to end
the night, as it transformed the vibe from frenzied
and rowdy to peaceful and passionate.
Attendee and LGHS Junior Dixie Bronec said,
“Give Thanks was a night to remember and probably the better part of Thanksgiving break. All the
outfits that I saw were fun and creative with a lot
of 3D and light up ones. Dirtyphonics was probably
the best performer of the night right next to Arty.”
The coordinators and artists lived up to the
legacy of past spectacular Give Thanks shows with
flying colorings, including exceptional music and
upbeat vibes.
courtesy elibrary
13
Read more Orson Scott Card books
by Joey Robinson
Editor-in-Chief
Many of you are likely familiar with Orson
Scott Card through his disturbing yet brilliant
novel Ender’s Game, which is arguably one of the
greatest required reading books for English class.
However, most people are unaware that Card is a
very respected science fiction, historical fiction,
and fantasy author. He has won both the Hugo
and Nebula Awards twice for Ender’s Game and
its sequel, Speaker for the Dead.
Speaker, which is set over 3,000 years after
its predecessor, kicks off the second part of the
“Ender Saga,” which also includes the criticallyacclaimed novels Xenocide and Children of the
Mind. In these books, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin,
who is now biologically only around 30, has
watched himself become a ruthless villain in the
minds of the public, who believe he mercilessly
slew the Formics, the bug-like alien victims from
Ender’s Game.
The extended story also deals with Ender’s
attempts to reintroduce the Buggers using the
larva he recovered at the end of Ender’s Game,
and a small outlying settlement’s attempts to
live peacefully with the Pequeniños, a more
recently-discovered pig-like race who inhabit
a world contaminated by the bizarre descolada
virus. Although these novels are much more
philosophical than the first, they still feature
the same intrigue, drama, and brilliant ideas that
made Ender’s Game such an impressive story.
Card has also recently written a series beginning
with a book titled Ender’s Shadow that focuses
on the eccentric yet incredibly intelligent character Bean from Ender’s Game and his time on
Earth shortly following Ender’s departure.
Of course, like any great author, Card is not
limited to just one genre. Chief among his other
series is The Tales of Alvin Maker, a historicalfiction series set during the westward expansion
phase of American history that brings to life
early American folklore. It follows Alvin Miller,
a magically-gifted young man who must contend
with himself, his brother, his government, and
the mystical Unmaker, an entity whose actions
are very similar to the scientific force of entropy.
Furthermore, Card has demonstrated his
unique brilliance through the Homecoming
saga. This series of four books transposes the
biblical story of Adam and Eve onto a futuristic
race of humans who, after being sheltered from
thoughts of war and malice by a mind-control
device set up by their ancestors, must return
to Earth and deal with the consequences of a
nuclear winter and their newfound penchant
for bloodshed.
Card, an overwhelmingly prolific author, has
also been writing a number of smaller series.
These include a fictionalized and dramatized
group of stories of the women of the Old
Testament, and a swath of standalone novels,
including everything from Lost Boys, the story
of a serial child-murderer in Utah, to a loose
adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream set in urban Los Angeles titled
Magic Street.
So, before you rant about how the English
department only assigns centuries-old books
about orphans in boarding schools, we suggest
you investigate Card’s treasure trove of novels
even further.
M. Huang
Cole Sprouse is “cole”t ured
by Michelle Huang and Haley Wade
Culture Editors
Close your eyes for a moment and dig deep into the memory box of your childhood. After
shuffling around for a bit, have you uncovered memories of a favorite Disney show starring
a dazzling pair of platinum blond twins? Were you ever jealous of their “suite” life? You
have probably not thought about those child titans for ages now and may expect
them to be more or less perfectly normal citizens. However, that is only the case for
one of the twins. The transformation of Cole Sprouse, child star turned Internet
sensation, has become the spectacle of the decade.
Avid “Suite Life” viewers will remember Cole Sprouse as Cody Martin, Zach
Martin’s nerdy, sensitive brother. Cody’s intellectual persona has stuck with
Sprouse through his years after the show and is still prevalent in his blog
posts and tweets.
Cole Sprouse has undergone a radical alteration since leaving the Disney
scene. He now sports shoulder-length blond hair that he likes to wear in a
ponytail, corduroy coats, and a satchel, as well as a quirky sense of humor
that never fails to astonish his fans. Oh yes, he also has fans now, after joining
a cult-like social media/blogging website called Tumblr.
After creating a Tumblr, Sprouse gained favor with his fellow bloggers once
they realized who was in their midst. With his texts, he incorporated Photobooth
pictures he took of himself where his face was oddly distorted, to the delight
of his followers. Pictures that Sprouse posted of himself playing video games in
the nude quickly circulated through the
website until they had tens of thousands
of notes and reblogs.
Sprouse also presented to the community his inner thoughts concerning
anthropology. Many a follower was enlightened through Sprouse’s explanations of life from
an ethnocentric point of view. It is easy to see
that anthropology has replaced acting as Cole’s
current passion.
Sprouse also often made audio posts, or
recordings of his own voice to communicate his
insights. He spoke of the role childhood stardom
played in his life, and his feelings on acting as
the “nerdy twin” while his brother was the “cool”
foil character who often held the attention of the
show’s feminine viewers.
Alas, Sprouse did not last long on the wild world
of the interwebs. A month ago or so, Sprouse
posted one last message saying, “So my goal
for this website was accomplished. I got
all the information that I needed and now I’m deleting this
account.” Nothing is left on his blog, coletureconcept.
tumblr.com, except for a community of sad fangirls
mourning his loss.
Heartbroken and betrayed, Sprouse’s fans
have turned to other sources to satiate
their need for Cole. Thankfully, Sprouse
still runs and maintains a sassy Twitter
account and a Blogspot. However, we
ultimately have Tumblr to thank for
bringing this majestic beauty back
into our lives.
all photos courtesy coletureconceptarchive.tumblr.com