"Puss in Boots" Isn't "Shrek"

Puss in Boots

 By Sara Prygocki, staff writer

Come to see the new “Puss in Boots” movie if you’re looking for a fun family movie, but not if you’re looking for another Shrek movie. DreamWorks Productions new movie, Puss in Boots works as a standalone and has no reference to the original Shrek movies.

The movie takes place in Mexico, where Puss grows up in a small town as an orphan. He is the odd man out, being a cat, and soon befriends Humpty Dumpty. They have dreams together and are the best of friends before a falling out causes Puss to become an outlaw. After a while he meets up with Humpty’s right hand woman Kitty Softpaws. Humpty tells Puss that he has changed his ways and is ready to be friends again in order to find what they had been searching for their entire lives. Soon Puss is off on the adventure of his life.

The movie is filled with classic Mexican type music, including cat dance numbers. The one thing that remains similar to the original Shrek movies is the sly hilarity that makes both kids and adults alike laugh. Antonio Banderas as Puss and Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Dumpty helped to add comedic talent to the voice actors.

Many entered the movie theatre with low expectations, expecting a cheap Shrek sequel. This film is nothing like that, with its dry humor, new characters and new action sequences defining it as an entirely different film. My only complaint would be that it took a very long time to get to the climax of the film. Overall it’s a good movie to watch with your family, and one of the best animated features of the year.

A Sturgis Alum Out in Africa

Mathew Chamberlain, a 2009 Sturgis Graduate and current Senior at Northeastern University

By Anna Campbell, staff reporter

Here at Sturgis, we constantly hear from teachers and other authority figures that the school, and the I.B. will help us in life; and not only through college, but preparing us for any difficult achievements. Most of us have probably wondered at some point after pulling an all-nighter to write an essay or enviously watching students at other schools glide through easy classes with straight As, where is the proof?

  So finally we found a case study: Mathew Chamberlain, an alum just completed his scientist on a research trip in Africa. He began his sojourn in the first weeks of early September, 2011, and unexpectedly returned in the last week of October. Mat is a fourth-year physics major at Northeastern, and before your eyes glaze over at the mere mention of physics, he has been doing some pretty fascinating research. After graduating Sturgis and attending Northeastern, Mat has traveled to Zambia and Botswana, Africa, with a co-op from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) to detect naturally occurring electromagnetic fields in the Earth’s surface. Electromagnetic fields are physical fields produced by moving electrically charged objects. They are one of the four fundamental forces of nature; their importance to science is something Chamberlain has been studying. Chamberlain got together with WHOI after his co-op advisor at Northeastern’s job database sent his resume to WHOI. “We connect because we have a passion for science and we want to do field work,” Chamberlain said of his relationship with the WHOI scientists.

Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us

 By Anna Campbell, staff writer

We know the holidays. They come every year without fail, and we’re always pleased about it; the time off from school, the food, the gifts, the family love, the holiday spirit, the food, the food. And we know what holidays we’ll be celebrating: Christmas, Hanukkah, perhaps even Kwanzaa or some other holiday of which I am unaware.

But, this season marks the dawn of a new age, one in which we will all, like it or not, be celebrating a new and worldwide holiday: Festivus.

Festivus marks its birth in a memorable episode of Seinfeld, proclaimed ‘Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us’. But beyond that little rhyme, the ideology and traditions of Festivus are deep-rooted and long ago found their way to the Internet. The spirit of Festivus is one of mutual exasperation, aggressive competition, and boundless joy. Festivus-believers are unconcerned with material goods, but all believe in Santa.

S.T.A.G.E. Presents ‘Rumors’ This Weekend

By Alicia Pollard, staff reporter

Photo by Hannah Driscoll, staff photographer.                                                                                                                     The S.T.A.G.E. actors from the Neil Simon comedy "Rumors." From left to right

“Rumors,” the winter play with performances this weekend by students at Sturgis Charter Public School, will feature a number of technical improvements for the school’s theater program, which is known as S.T.A.G.E. (Sturgis Theater Arts Guild of Entertainers).

In “Rumors,” a comedy by Neil Simon, the action revolves around a gunshot in the home of a couple who is having their 10th wedding anniversary party. The first guests to arrive find their hostess missing and their host with a gunshot wound in his ear. The comedy mainly involves the awkward situation of the first guests trying to keep the rest of the party from finding out about the mystery, discovering what really happened, and keeping the situation from becoming a police investigation.

“Neil Simon writes really great comedies with really eccentric characters…it’s a good opportunity for the Sturgis actors to be creative in their characterization,” said Anna Botsford, the director for STAGE, who is a theater teacher at both Sturgis East and West campuses.