DECEMBER 10, 2014
ENTERTAINMENT
the
HOBBIT
Compared to the previous movies,
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five
Armies should exeed expectations
BY OLIVIA BERGERON-OAKES
with Noah Fratilla
Gaming divides into three domains, the
realm of those who chose to play leisurely with no
concern of statistics, those who pose as pros by
pitifully attempting to claim superiority on public
matches, and those who clearly display superiority
all around. The perfect illustrations of the latter are
Seth Abner and Matt Haag, better known as Optic
Scumpy/Scumper and Optic Nadeshot.
Questioning the validity of these players may
come naturally to those who do not take gaming
seriously, but seasoned players recognize them
as the best professional Call of Duty (COD) players
in the world. With numerous victories at special
Major League Gaming (MLG) events and all around
impressive performances, this deadly duo is only
half of the competitive gaming team Optic Gaming.
The team was officially established in 2010
followed by the bestselling Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 2, the COD that got me into competitive
gaming. Optic Gaming was not always the most
dominant team, they started out placing eighth
in their first MLG online championship, with a
(recorded) roster consisting of: NadeShot (Matt
Haag), MerK (Joe DeLuca), Flawless (Richard
Ferreira), and Vengeance (Blake Campbell).
Though their first official event was a success,
it would be nothing compared to their first
(major) cash prize, after placing eighth in the MLG
national championships on Nov. 7 (my birthday
coincidentally), 2010 for COD: Modern Warfare 2,
pulling in an impressive 2,000 dollars, which would
be split between the victors ($500 per player). It
was this event, that ignited the fuse that would
soon explode into the prestigious (pun intended),
globally recognized squad known as Optic Gaming.
Since the team history and the all around
origin of Optic Gaming was addressed, it is only
logical to discuss the players that bring glory to
the name, but due to constant roster changes,
Optic only inclines, especially after the sudden and
seriously unexpected drop of pro players Clayster
(Clay Eubanks) and Proofy (Jordan Cannon).
Due to the creation of this pitiful void in the
Optic Gaming roster, tensions rose and hype was
stirred among the various big name players within
the realm of Major League COD, due to the fact
that Optic is one of the more desired teams in
the league. After a critical thinking process, Optic
Gaming recruited players Formal (Matthew Piper)
and Crimsix (Ian Porter), both great players with
impressive records and backgrounds.
At 19 years old, pro player Scumper (Seth
Abner) manages to dominate hundreds of players
every day with ease, while also maintaining a
strong connection with his team’s fanbase. Abner
has obtained quite the following on Twitter, and has
earned nickanmes like “The Ginga Ginja” and “The
King.” He also participated in high school sports
and maintained high academic grades at the same
time. Abner saw his gift as a key to success.
Nadeshot (Matt Haag) Along with his fellow
teammate, is at a prodigal age (22), and already
making over one million dollars a year off of
professional gaming. Not only does Haag perform
like a monster in the booth, but he is a savage in
the business industry, with various sponsorships
from big name companies ranging from Red Bull
to Astro gaming. Despite his clear fanbase due to
gaming, Haag displays a lot of charisma towards his
profession, allowing his fans to connect with him
on a more personal level.
Due to the recent release of COD: Advanced
Warfare, the team had some tangible space and
time that would allow them to get the rosters
settled and certain. Because of this, Optic is only
giving themselves optimal opportunity to dominate
the game early. I quote pro player Sharp (Brandon
Sharp) by saying “New COD, new champion.”
An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey began the new
trilogy from Middle-earth. Bilbo’s adventure started with
a long tea party scene, setting up Bilbo’s personality and
the stark differences between hobbits and dwarves.
The company mainly only travels, meeting little
adventure, but this portion of the story did establish
characters and relations. Alliances and enemies were
exposed, between characters and groups. Plot moved
slowly, but plot wasn’t the point of the film.
Though not an exceptionally exciting film, The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey lays the foundation for
the second Tolkien trilogy.
Desolation of Smaug
Speeding up the trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation
of Smaug provided more thrill for viewers. Fighting and
meeting new inhabitants of Middle-earth, the second
movie advances the plot in ways that An Unexpected
Journey didn’t.
The group reaches their destination after finding
their way through the Mirkwood Forest. They meet
the people of Lake-town and make their way to the
mountain. After figuring out how to open Durin’s Door,
Bilbo finally faces the job he brought along to do.
An exciting addition to the series, The Desolation
of Smaug brought Bilbo’s tale to the next level. Viewers
should look forward to a satisfying finale.
P
rovding
an
even mix of
plot,
action,
and character
development,
The
Hobbit films have so
far been satisfying.
Effectively
bringing
important events from
the novel onto the big
screen, the movies
provide a new and
efficient way to travel
through Middle-earth.
Tolkien fans have to
take the films with a
grain of salt, however,
as the movies stray
from the original plot
line quite a bit.
Of course, that is
to be expected when
a
relatively
short
novel becomes three
full-length
movies.
Books are commonly
stretched to make their
movies interesting, but
The Hobbit was pulled,
pushed, and packed
with new characters
and scenes that extend
beyond usual limits.
Bilbo’s first rescue
of the dwarves from
trolls
was
altered,
the
famous
riddle
game with Gollum was
tweaked, the scenes
in the Mirkwood forest
differed, and Gandalf’s
scenes alone never
even occurred in the
novel.
Other
elements
brought love, danger,
THE PROWL 18
and
suspense
that
the
original
story
had lacked: Legolas’s
appearance in the films,
the romance between
Kili and Tauriel, the
poisoned arrow that
wounded Kili.
Some of this came
from the appendices
of The Return of the
King, the third book of
the Lord of the Rings
trilogy. These and the
newly fabricated scenes
add needed depth and
interest to the story.
Though The Hobbit
is
a
revolutionary
fantasy
novel
and
led the way for the
renowned sequel series,
it is not a particularly
exciting book. Much of it
is description of setting
and journey, rather than
action and thrill.
Looking forward to
the upcoming film, The
Battle of Five Armies
should be an exciting
addition to the trilogy.
The final chunk
of the novel had less
activity and action on
the part of the narrating
hobbit. Based on their
previous
work,
the
filmmakers will tweak to
make a thrilling finale to
the trilogy. Though the
movies stray from the
book, they successfully
make interesting films
out of a less exciting,
seventy year old story.
What big awards you have
Drama’s musical, Roots of Red, places first at recent One Act
competition and earns spot to perform at upcoming Districts
GRACE WEHNIAINEN
CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Over the river and through the
“Roots of Red” told the tale of Kathwoods, to high school theater acclaim erine—or Little Red, as she is better know,
they went. Drama’s production of “Roots played by freshman Megan Begley—and
of Red,” the backstory to Little Red Riding her quest to rescue her grandmother
Hood, fetched
(junior
Nicstraight supecolla Emanurior awards in
el) from some
“The competition was fun
technical and
not-so-malevand I got to meet drama kids
overall categoolent wolves in
from other schools and get
ries, as well as
the woods.
closer with the kids from
a critic’s choice
Students
award, at the
and staff at the
our school. Competing was
2014 One Act
Lovewell
Inintense but fun.”
Competition.
stitute for the
After winCreative
Arts
ning Best Supwrote the play
Tahlia Sandor
porting Actor
in 2012.
junior
for his role as
The One
lead wolf Grey,
Act
Competisenior Daniel
tion rates each
Lemache, shared his excitement at the school’s ability to set up and perform
positive results.
a one-act play—in this case, “Roots of
“A lot of these kids had never done Red”—and it only gives schools 40 minutes
a show before, and this one act was their to do so. Schools were judged based on
first show, so coming into this we were a the efficiency of their tech crew and actual
little worried,” Lemache said. “The fact performance.
that we ended up winning and doing so
Junior Tahlia Sandor, All Star Cast
well at the competition made me feel Member Award winner, talked about her
absolutely fantastic as President and as experience at the competition, held at
leader of the department. It just makes Deerfield Beach High School.
me feel beyond happy.”
“It was kind of overwhelming, beLemache went on to say that his cause the cast was really talented and
award personally validated all the hard there was a lot of us,” Sandor said. “So
work he had carried out over the last few when I did, there was a lot of crying. The
months.
competition was fun, and I got to meet a
lot of drama kids from other schools and
get closer with the drama kids from our
school. Competing was intense but fun.”
“Roots of Red” was the first show for
18 out of 40 cast and crew members, according to Drama director Kristina Johnson. Adding to the group’s little-cast-thatcould feel: the complete absence of an
auditorium for practice and production.
“We got superior tech—with no theater,” senior Tatiana Ahlbum, who played
Gretel, said. “And we’re still growing. It’s
really awesome to see that.”
Johnson got drama involved in One
Acts during her first year, 2012. According
to participating students, the 2014 scores
are an impressive leap from that first competition.
“Considering where we started from,
this is great,” Assistant Director senior Vivian Gordon said. “Roots of Red” was Gordon’s first show as a member of the tech
crew.
Johnson and students agreed that
having an in-school drama class that students auditioned for was key in helping
get cast and crew prepared for the show.
“For the first time in Coral Glades history, we have our very own class during
the day where we can work on stuff,”
Lemache said.
On top of sharpening up the play for
States in Tampa this March, Drama still has
a bit on its plate—namely, a production of
“Pippin” to prepare for this February.