Castillero Cobra News

8th Edition

Castillero Cobra News is a newspaper written, edited, and produced by the students in the Journalism elective.

Zootopia

By : Arissa Ventura and Renae Romanowski Zootopia, Disney’s new animation, was a hit in the box office theaters. This movie was released on March 4, 2016. It stars Ginnifer Goodwin, who plays a steadfast bunny police officer, Judy Hopps, who dreams about making it big in the city of Zootopia. The deuteragonist, Nick Wilde, is voiced by Jason Bateman, a fox con-man. The story begins with Judy Hopps, who is dreaming about being a police officer, but was put down by her peers, because she was a bunny. It follows her until she is attending police academy. Meanwhile in Zootopia, there is trouble brewing. There has been many missing animal attacks, and nobody could solve the case. Judy, who is very upset with her position as a meter maid, steps up to solve the case. Even though, she has to partner up with the infamous Nick Wilde. The movie has many hidden elements to it. The film describes the inequality between predators and prey, which helps represents the real-world prejudice between men and women. For example, Judy Hopps was told not to follow her dream as a police officer because she was a bunny. Zootopia is encouraging its characters to overlook species stereotypes. It is also admitting the fierce consequences of discrimination. It portrays how Wilde was bullied and teased as a pup for being a fox and a predator. Wilde dealt with this by giving into the stereotype and becoming a conman. This movie is the perfect family film and it has a great heart to it.

Editors Benjamin Barlow Joey Cannizzaro Content : Pages 1-2 MOVIES! • Zootopia • Batman vs. Superman Pages 3-4 All Things Happening in our School • 2016 Math Olympics • Humans of Castillero Page 5 All About Games • Video Games and your Brain

“Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” By : Hailey Pham !

“Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” is a fantasy/science fiction movie packed with action

and intensity. The highly anticipated film was released on March 25th, 2016, earning mixed reviews from critics. The movie takes place after the battle of Henry Cavill (the actor that plays Superman) and Michael Shannon (Zod) which took place two years ago. Superman and Zod's clash left Metropolis in utter devastation. With many lost lives and a damaged city, many left feeling angered. This included Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne). Immediately assuming that Superman is a threat to his city, Batman launches his more than personal vendetta to end Superman's reign on Earth. Meanwhile Jesse Eisenberg, (Lex Luthor) also conspires to take the Man of Steel down, but for different reasons that don’t include saving humanity. Dawn of Justice was directed by American film maker Zack Snyder, who also directed other movies such as: ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Justice League part 1’, ‘Watchmen’, and many other action and science fiction films. Movie content director Sean O’Connell said, “An improvement over Man of Steel” Sean directed that too. “And a much better Batman movie than it is as a Superman film.” New York Times writer A. O Scott described the director and movie as, “In keeping with current business imperatives, what Mr. Snyder has concocted is less a free-standing film than the opening argument in a very long trial.” Despite Sean’s previous successful movies, his new one has become the victim of some of the stinkiest reviews. Vox Culture writer Alex Abad describes the movie as, “A stink bucket of disappointment, a sad and unnecessary PG-13 orphan fight that director Zack Snyder believes is an homage to DC Comics’ most iconic heroes, but is more along the lines of a home invasion perpetrated on comic book culture.” ‘Dawn of Justice’ surprised us all with it’s hero vs. hero plot. In most marvel movies, there’s a villain and then there’s the beloved hero. Almost everyone roots for the hero and they usually come out triumphant. But, pin two of Marvel's most popular superheroes against each other and the outcome can be displeasing to many. Even though the movie earned its share of critics, it is still an enjoyable film that fans enjoy.

Math Olympics By : Bella Pope and Iris Gu ! Did you attend the annual Math Olympics at Castillero Middle School? The Castillero’s Math Department sponsored its Math Olympics after school, on Wednesday, March 30th, 2016. The Math Olympics has been a school tradition ever since 1998. Castillero’s Math Olympics ended around 7:00 p.m. All Castillero student were welcome from grade 6 to grade 8. Remember your team had to contain 2-4 members. You were competing against other groups with the same level of math, including (Math 6, Acc. 6, Math 7, Acc. 7, Math 8, Algebra, or geometry.) Did you know that there was prizes? At the Math Olympics, everyone was a winner. All participants will receive a certificate of participation. If you scored in first, second, or third place in your math level, each member in each team that wins, received prizes and ribbons. Don't forget, Castillero also held a competition based on your individual level. Those students also received prizes. Castillero’s Education Foundation also provided a delicious pizza dinner for the students. After dinner, we encouraged you to bring your family to join us for dessert at 6:15 p.m. in the Indoor Commons. Then there was an Awards Ceremony in the gym, held after dessert. Sorry, this was not spectator Olympics, we can only assist family members that come at 6:15 p.m.

Humans of Castillero By : Mayra Garcia Recently, Castillero’s Journalism class was working on a book called Humans of Castillero. This book was based on a best selling novel called Humans Of New York. The book is based on a man who goes around New York and asks random people their story. After he writes down the answer that the people give him he takes a picture of them. This is mostly the topic of Humans Of Castillero. ! This wonderful idea to make a book was first started by the 8th grade Social Studies and Journalism class, Ms. O’Connor. Ms. O’Connor realized that even though middle schoolers are young they all have a story to tell. The book is based on the student's point of view. The only difference that makes this book unique is that the students used quotes that inspire them to succeed in life. ! I had the great honor to be an editor of the book along side with Arissa Venterra and Renae Romanowski. “All of our hard work paid off” said Arissa with a smile as we had finished our book. Renae mentioned to me, “that creating the book was really fun because we were able to understand and learn a little more about our classmates”. I agree with Renae and Arissa with everything they said The best part of making a book was spending time with my classmates. I am really proud with the results of our hard work, it definitely paid off.

Video Games and your Brain By : Jayden Price !

There are many games that

people like to play online with each other that need lots of strategy while working together including Minecraft, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and other adventure/action games. Some people think that playing those games makes your brain ‘rot’, but it may just do the exact opposite. Scientists have proven that some video games of different genres exercise different parts of your brain. Call of Duty exercices your Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex because after firing a weapon, it shows the player has good reflexes, and are better in the area of cognition and planning. !

Minecraft is a game where you have to collect materials and survive from different

enemies like zombies, skeletons, and spiders. Mortal Kombat is a street fighting game where it tests your reflexes, but is very gorey. Street Fighter is almost the same thing as Mortal Kombat, but pixelated and not bloody. !

Other games, in the genre of sports, also require using your brain, like Madden for

example, it requires making good reads, choosing a play that you think will work. The NHL Hockey series also works your brain really well. When you're skating down the ice, it has certain settings that shows you when and where your shots will go when you press certain buttons. !

Even though some video game are good for brain, doesn't mean you should focus on

them more than school, especially when you have a really big test coming up. When you see people on youtube playing video games, they all probably had good educations and decided to use their brains to make money and put it to good use.