Ukraine's got talent winner

Have you ever heard of Ukraine's got talent? If you haven't, its a lot like America's got talent, only in Ukraine. 2009's winner was 24 year old Kseniya Simonova; a sand artist native to the country.

A sand artist is someone who--on a light board, creates scenes with sand to depict a story. The scenes will be projected into an audience to view. Ms. Simonova's story was a tale of a family during World War two, a story that ultimately brought the crowd to tears.

After all of the judging was completed, Ms. Simonova was crowned the victor of 2009. As the winner, she was rewarded the grand prize of 75,000 pounds(0ne pound is more than one dollar) If you are interested in her art, you can view her judging in many different places, including youtube. I myself have reviewed the video, and find the tale both sad and interesting at the same time. I would recommend veiwing the tape for yourself.

Wii: worth it anymore?

Wii: worth it anymore?
By: Miranda Rosaio

You’ve probably heard of the Wii, right? The Wii used to be the coolest new System on the block, but the power might be shifting. Its top competitor, the PS3 or play station three, was originally too expensive for most people to afford; at a price of $599, it just wasn’t worth it. Now, Sony has lowered the price to only $299. Originally, the Wii was $246, which was a reasonable price for the average family, but now that the PS3 has moved into a reasonable price range, it might just steal the crown away from the Wii.

The Wii revolutionized gaming. Being the first truly interactive gaming system, Nintendo had scored major points. Stores couldn’t even keep it on the shelves it was selling so fast. Then, up crept new systems; including the x-box 360 elite, and the ever impressive PS3. The thought behind the PS3 is amazing. Its graphics are much better, you can download games, and all serious gamers agree, the PS3, can’t be compared to the Wii.

In a recent poll, these were the results:
Out of 24 people, The Wii had 11 votes, and the PS3 had 5, the rest were neutral. This poll means that the Wii is still respected as the top system, but most of the people that voted for the Wii, had either never played the PS3, or were only towards the Wii a little.

In truth, the Wii’s reign didn’t last long, but it is still at the top for now. If the Wii hopes to keep its crown though, it needs to either make a new game that everyone wants that is only available to the Wii, or it needs to modify its system to run better graphics. Any way this fight goes, at least the Wii will still have its title: the first truly interactive gaming system.

My REAL article (Pokemon Platinum)

Pokémon Platinum
By: M.R.

Pokémon Platinum is the newest release of the Pokémon series. It is an add-on to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, which featured Dialga and Palkia. This game’s mascot however, is the Pokémon Giratina, who was featured in Diamond and Pearl, but now plays a larger role.
An evil organization, team Galactic, plans on capturing Dialga and Palkia and using their power to create a new world, and destroy the old. Your job is to stop team Galactic while trying to beat all eight gym leaders, and the elite four.
Pokémon Platinum also includes new advancements. For starters, this game includes the battle frontier (a battle area that can only be reached after the Sinnoh Pokedex is completed). You also now have the ability to capture three legendary Pokémon that originally could have been caught in older versions of the game. Then there is also the trip you take to the distortion world, were you end up capturing Giratina. Also, the secret five forms of the electric ghost pokemon Rotom become available via Wi-Fi.
Over all, Pokemon Platinum is a very successful, being one of the top selling games in Japan. It sold one million copies in its first two days, two million since December 7, 2008. So, Pokemon Platinum is the fastest selling DS game in Japan, selling 2,187,337 copies in just 2008.

PLEASE POST!!!!

For all of the features writers, please post your articles for marking period 4 here!

Pokemon Platinum

Pokémon Platinum
Most people have heard of the newest pokemon adventures that take place in the Sinnoh region. The pokemon Diamond and Pearl series has one more attachment, Pokemon Platinum, which was released in Japan last year. Pokémon Platinum, released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Platinum, is a title in the Pokémon series of video games. It is an enhanced remake of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in the same vein as Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald. It was released on September 13, 2008, in Japan, and was released in North America and Europe on March 22, and May 22, 2009.
The game features Giratina-a pokemon previously available in Diamond and Pearl as a minor character- as its mascot and introduces its Origin Forme, as seen in Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior. Its initial form is referred to as its “Altered Forme” (which you can capture in pokemon Diamond and Pearl) in the English localization, but originally called its “Another Forme” in the Japanese release. The storyline involves a disturbance at the peak of Mt. Coronet (Sinnoh’s largest mountain that divides the region in half), as a portal to the "Distortion World” is opened and Sinnoh's climate becomes colder. The trainers have been given new outfits to suit the colder climate. The Distortion World is a strange place in another dimension where normal physical laws do not apply. Time does not flow, pokemon (other than Giratina) are non existent, the space is ever expanding and retracting and gravity is very disturbed (gravity is no fun anyway).
The Battle Frontier, was originally not available to Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, is now available in Platinum after you defeat the elite four. Also, the battle castle, the battle arcade, and the battle hall are now available, in which you battle seven times in a row and if you are successful, you earn Battle points (BP for short)
Pokémon Platinum sold 1 million copies in its first two days on the Japanese market. According to Media Create, the game has sold 2 million copies in Japan as of December 7, 2008. So far it is the fastest selling Nintendo title. Pokémon Platinum is the second best-selling game of Japan in 2008, as well as the best-selling Nintendo DS game in Japan of that year, selling 2,187,337 copies.

Forced Feature article

The Day After Tomorrow
BY: Miranda Rosaio


The Day After Tomorrow was movie released in 2004 and is all about the concerning conflict of the long term greenhouse effect. The world is sent into spiraling chaos as a massive storm strikes the U.S. At the center of the storm is the paleoclimatolagist (a professor dedicated to the study of weather patterns) Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) who takes on all the dangers of the world as it is sent into a second ice age. Before the chaos begins, Jack Hall’s son, Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is attending an academic bowl in New York City. When the storm hits, Sam and a few others reside to the inside of a library. As everyone fights to stay alive, many people who managed to flee to the south try to figure out how to save the U.S. No one quite understands why the weather is being so chaotic until astronauts send down photographs of the storm from space. The storm is much worse than they realized.
The Day After Tomorrow was a smash hit at box offices, and won an award from The British Academy of Film and Television arts for having the best special effects of the year. I myself would definitely recommend this movie. It is an adventure, fantasy and action movie that can relate to the present day economy. (Don’t forget that it’s PG-13!)

Comic-Article

This is a comic i whipped up to be an article, enjoy!