Luck of the Irish: How long will it last?

Matt Krombach

Staff Writer

As the cliché headlines fade and bowl games near, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are on top of the BCS standings. The independent conference champions will likely face either Alabama or Georgia after they clash for the SEC championship.

Notre Dame has completely blown everyone’s mind this season, finishing with a 12-0 record. The Irish legacy is a dominant force, but they haven’t had a four leaf clover in their pocket for the past couple of seasons. Although Notre Dame hasn’t had the toughest schedule, they haven’t choked like many had expected. With USC’s loss of Matt Barkely, Notre Dame was able to capitalize in the last game of the season against the Trojans. The most Impressive win for the Irish this season was defeating Oklahoma by a wide margin of 30-13.

Alabama goes up against the Georgia Bulldogs this Saturday, with the winner most likely punching a ticket to Miami in January. The last two years, the Bulldogs had no bite and only competed in the Outback Bowl and the Liberty Bowl. This season they have the opportunity to really turn things up and compete in the BCS National Championship.

It’s Heisman time of year and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel could be the first freshman ever to win the award. Manziel has roughly 5,000 rushing and passing yards combined with 40 touchdowns, an unprecedented number.  Will he make NCAA history?

Sparks will be flying on January 7, 2013.  Will Notre Dame get to the pot of gold?

The best apps for the holiday shopping season

John Santos
News Editor

With holiday shopping season already here, many people are turning to their smartphones to help organize their shopping lists and save money or time. Here are the top five apps to help you get through the hustle and bustle of the season. 

Slice – Slice helps keep track of all your online orders. It sends notifications when your purchases are shipped and when they arrive. It also can notify the user of price reductions on ordered items, ensuring price-matching guarantees. Slice is available free on iPhone and Android devices.

RedLaser – Available for free on iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, RedLaser is the go-to price checking app. The app takes advantage of a smartphone’s camera to scan a barcode and compare prices across many retailers. In addition, the app will show a map of nearby retailers who carry the item, and a list of similar items if you’re not set on a certain brand.

CouponSherpa – CouponSherpa is a free app available for both iPhone and Android users that lets you find coupons and displays them on your smartphone’s screen, ready to be scanned by the store employee.

Lemon Wallet – This app will digitize your wallet and organize your receipts. Snap a picture of any receipt and Lemon Wallet will digitize the receipt and store a record of it in your phone. Receipts can then be organized in the app by type of purchase, date of purchase or amount spent. A basic version of the app is available for free on iPhone and Android.

FastMall – FastMall has interactive maps of thousands of malls in 31 countries. FastMall will give you turn by turn directions to any store. Tell it where you park, and it will tell you how to get back to your car after you’re done shopping. FastMall supports every major mall in the Triangle area, including Cary Towne Centre, Crabtree, North Hills, Southpoint and Triangle Town Centre.

Dropping in the New Year

Courtney McCullers
Sports Editor

The ball drop in Times Square is habitually watched on New Year’s Eve in most households nationwide, even worldwide. The five ton ball, made of over 32,000 LEDs, is a contemporary variation of a historical time signaling device. So, what is the origin of this tradition? In the nineteenth century, time ball stations set clocks to the position of the sun and stars. They were dropped at noon to help navigators and ship captains to verify their marine chronometers. However, with the invention of radio time signals, the balls became obsolete and eventually demolished.

Raleigh annually drops a New Year's Eve
Acorn in the city.

Numerous cities boast variations of the Times Square ball drop. Rural towns often drop live animals to welcome the New Year. Opossums, muskrats, crabs, walleye and mossbunker fish, goats and wildcats are dropped in areas in Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The items chosen for this ceremony vary from an elevator in Seattle, Washington, to watermelons in Vincennes, Indiana. Food proves to be a popular article to be dropped on this day with pickles in Mount Olive, N.C. and Dillsburg, Pa. Pennsylvania drops the most objects to signal the New Year. Florida, renowned for citrus, drops tangerines and oranges in several cities. Georgia and Wisconsin follow suit with peaches in the capital city of Atlanta, apples in Cornelia, Ga. and an 80-pound cheese wedge in Plymouth, Wis. However, some cities choose more traditional balls to drop, such as a steel one in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a simply lighted ball in Oklahoma City.

For this New Year’s Eve in Raleigh, the customary acorn will be dropped at First Night Raleigh 2013 celebration in the Raleigh City Plaza. A children’s celebration will be held from 2-6 p.m. at the Museum of History. Later that evening, various live performances will take place throughout downtown before the drop at midnight. To volunteer for this event, email info@artsplosure.org.

Former Apex student publishes first book

Matt Wotus
Editor-in-Chief

After two years of writing, former Apex High student and Legacy writer Frank Campisano IV has published a novel called Project Nova. The current Elon University freshman describes the book as resembling a high budget Hollywood movie. He added, “But at its heart, it’s something deeper, an exploration of human psyche and relationships. There’s an element of presentation involved, dressing up the story I’m telling in a way that will actively engage readers.”

 “It’s the best feeling in the world [to publish a book]. It’s a sense of total completion, an achievement that is the end result of a long journey,” said Campisano. Even though it was a long journey, he said that he received much support from his friends and family. “There was a lot of support, definitely, but it comes in varying levels of sincerity,” said Campisano. He added that it isn't unreasonable for some people to be doubtful, as writing a novel is a rather large task, but once he had something to show for it, “everyone was singing a different tune.”

One Direction releases new album

Sarah Kebea
Staff Writer

Genre: Pop. For fans of: Take That, Cher Lloyd, JLS and Olly Murs.


With hits like “What Makes You Beautiful” and “One Thing” British-Irish boy band One Direction is back with their anticipated sophomore album, Take Me Home, released last Tuesday. Their debut album, Up All Night, topped charts all around the globe, and Take Me Home continues to impress. The album is already number one on iTunes, having only been on the chart since early November. Take Me Home includes a range of music, from upbeat dance hits (ex. “Live While We’re Young”) to slow ballads (ex. “Little Things”). The album will feature 17 songs, including the record-breaking lead single “Live While We’re Young”, which has topped charts in 40 countries, including the U.K. and U.S. The album is now available on iTunes for purchase.

Breaking Dawn: Part II lacks bite

Amanda Nash and Sarah Muzzillo
Chief Videographer and Features Editor

Breaking Dawn: Part II premiered last Thursday at midnight, signifying the end of a worldwide phenomenon based on Stephenie Meyer’s four-book saga. Since the final Twilight film hit theaters, the movie has already racked in a whopping $340.9 million dollars worldwide.

The film begins with a ten-minute credit intro, featuring red-tinged images of nature, an eyeball, and a few other unnecessary pictures: the first indication of a dragging two hours.

The opening scene features Breaking Dawn’s main character, Bella Swan, discovering her enhanced senses after being turned into a vampire. After Bella meets her daughter, Renesmee, for the first time, the movie’s plot centers on protecting the half vampire-half human child from an enforcement agency in the vampire world called the Volturi.

As to be expected, Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of Bella was lackluster at best. Throughout the film, many moments, intended to be dramatic, simply came off as cheesy and contrived. Unfortunately, there were unintentionally funny moments, including the animated Renesmee and the climactic fight scene.

Although some visuals were better than those in previous Twilight movies, they hardly compare to other big box office movies of 2012, such as The Hunger Games and The Avengers.

In contrast, the conclusion of the Harry Potter franchise successfully combined dramatic special effects with a detailed plot and honest acting. Breaking Dawn had a larger budget than The Deathly Hallows, but Harry Potter still grossed more money during opening weekend. Maybe Summit Entertainment needs a little more screen magic for upcoming films.

Shoppers anticipate Black Friday

Rebekah Gould 

Staff Writer

The day after Thanksgiving has a sound of its own. It’s the hustle and bustle that lets everyone know the season of giving is around the corner. It’s Black Friday. Stores everywhere have door buster deals that make people act crazy, buying toys for naughty and nice girls and boys. For some families Black Friday is a tradition. Eat turkey on Thursday and get up bright and early on Friday morning. This year offers some changes in store hours. Some stores such as Walmart and Sears will open at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The 2012 holiday spirit starts early, so get those lists and check ‘em twice.

Are you hoping that Apple stores will have amazing deals on iPads and iPhones? Well, you won’t find the sales there. Walmart has the iPad 2 for $399, while Target has the iPad with retina display for $499. Don’t be too disappointed in Apple, all of their accessories such as headphones and cases are discounted. They also have a free app called “TGI Black Friday” which will guide you to the best deals.

Do you have a movie-lover in the family? Walmart and Target have select DVDs and Blu-Ray discs for under $10. Select X-Box games at Walmart are on sale for $25 and under. Don’t have a X-Box? Taget has the 4G X-Box Kinect bundle for $199.99.

Do you know any fashionistas? Anthropologie opens at 6 a.m. Friday, with sales on red line items at 50% off. But after 11 a.m. the discount drops to 25% on red line items. Also opening at 6 a.m. is JCPenny. Outerwear for men and women is featured at $50 and under, sweaters for men and women are featured at $15 and under. Kohls is opening at midnight on Thursday with 40%-50% off of outerwear and sleepwear for the whole family.

Black Friday deals

Matt Krombach
Staff Writer

With Black Friday and the holidays rolling around, electronics always have great deals. Here is a collection of door busters for a number of electronic deals.


Target-

Polaroid 19" LED/DVD TV $109.99

Nook Simple Touch $49.00

4 GB XBox 360 Kinect Bundle $199.99

Best Buy-

Toshiba - Smart Wi-Fi Ready Blu-ray Player $39.99

Toshiba - 40" Class - LCD - 1080p - 60Hz – HDTV $179.99

Sony - PlayStation 3 (250GB) inFAMOUS Collection Limited Edition Bundle $199.99

Panasonic - 32" Class / LCD / 720p / 60Hz / HDTV $189.99

Sony - Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified Limited Edition PS Vita Wi-Fi Bundle $199.99

Beaver Creek has multiple stores which are open for Black Friday.

Microsoft - Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle $199.99

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 – Windows $89.99

Kindle Fire HD 16GB Tablet $199.99

Asus - Tablet with 16GB Memory – Black $279.99

Garmin - nüvi 50LM GPS $99.99

Samsung 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive $349.95

Samsung - Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 with 8GB Memory – White $179.99

Motorola - DROID RAZR MAXX 4G LTE Mobile Phone (Verizon Wireless) Free with 2 year activation

Panasonic - 55" Class / LED / 1080p / 120Hz / 3D / HDTV $899.99

HH Gregg

Mitsubishi 73” 120Hz HDTV $799.99

Samsung 51” HDTV $479.99

Samsung 43” $379.99

LG Blu-Ray Player W/ Built in Wi-fi $59.99

Staples-

Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition Intel Core i7 3.2Ghz, 8GB RAM, 1TB, 15.6-inch, Blu-ray $899.99

Dell Inspiron 15 Intel Core i3-2350M 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 15.6-inch $399.99

Amazon Kindle WiFi eReader Graphite $69.99

BlackBerry PlayBook 32GB GE8033 7-inch 1GHz BlackBerry Tablet $159.00

Samsung UN46ES6100FXZA 46-inch 120Hz 1080p Smart LED HDTV $799.99

Samsung 50-inch 60Hz 1080p LED HDTV 3.7-inch ultra-slim UN50EH5000 $698.00

Sony Bravia 50-inch Full HD 1080p LED HDTV $898.00

Target

There is no bad deal in the Target section. A 19 inch TV with a DVD player for only $110 is an incredible deal. The Xbox 360 deal is fantastic because if you were to buy an Xbox and a Kinect separately you would spend about $50 more.

Best Buy

A Garmin GPS works so well and is a must buy if you are in need of a GPS. A Playstation 3 bundle is always a good buy because it’s a combination of a gaming console and a Blu-Ray player combined, so either of the PS3 bundles are great buys. Getting a 40 inch LD HD TV for under $200 is an incredible deal so go ahead and get the Toshiba if you have the money. Tablet fans might want to get their hands on the Asus tablet with 16GB memory.

HH Gregg

If you’re a movie watcher, and want a big screen, and I mean BIG screen TV, get the Mitsubishi 73 inch for under a grand.

Staples

Both Dell Inspirons are great deals and so is the Samsung 50 inch LED HDTV. If you want more memory and do more than just browse on your computer and make multimedia presentations, edit videos, or use a computer most of the day the Inspiron 15R with the i7 processer. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, reliable computer for college, buy the Inspiron for $400.

Camera shopping advice

Jake Pedersen 
Chief Photographer 

With the holiday season quickly approaching, people all across America will be shopping for the hottest item.  If you are trying to buy photography equipment for that shutterbug of the family, but don’t quite know what to get, below is a list of the must haves for photographers of all levels.

The first camera is the Olympus EM5. It is a little on the expensive, costing $1,299. However, it will be one of the best pieces of equipment you will purchase. It has a 16.1 mp sensor putting it up there with the greats, like Nikon and Canon.  The EM5 has a 3” tilting screen, so you can get a child’s eye view or an eagle eye view. The screen is also touch screen, helping you select your depth of field without having to look through the lens. You can also scroll through the pictures via touch screen. If you prefer the “old school way” of scrolling through pictures or selecting the depth-of-field by pushing buttons, you can also do that.  If you prefer to look through a view finder as opposed to staring at a screen, you can do that as well.  Another great feature is that it is mirrorless, so Olympus was able to put in more photo-enhancing technology. (When I shot a beach wedding with this camera, it quite accurately and beautifully showed the sky, ocean, beach, and the wedding party with amazing contrast.) One final feature is that it has an ISO sensitivity from 200-25,600. ISO up to 32000 is when noise starts to come into play. When you go up to 6400 and even 12800, you start getting some unusable pictures.  In short, this is one of the best cameras you will own. It has an amazing color rendition, very sharp pictures, and amazing contrast.

A less expensive option is the Nikon D3000. It costs anywhere from $439 on Amazon or $189-$325 on KEH.com. It is an SLR with a 10.2 Megapixel camera, and an ISO sensitivity of 3200. However, you start to see noise at an ISO of around 800. It has a pop-up flash, but I would recommend buying an external flash. It is a good, inexpensive camera for all levels, but it would be more suitable for a beginner or intermediate shooter, because it has low megapixels and fewer capabilities than a Nikon D7000 (16.1 mp., ISO of 25600). The camera comes with the battery, a battery charger, USB cable, Rubber eyecup, camera strap, body cap, and a lens cover along with an 18-55 mm F3.5-5.6 lens. Some cons are that due to limited space, there is no top LCD to display the frame content, aperture, and shutter speed.

A competitor of the Nikon D series is Canon’s Rebel series, and more specifically the Canon Rebel T3i. It is a very easy to use camera and is great for beginner and intermediate photographer. It can beautifully capture the essence of what you are photographing.  The T3i has an 18 mp sensor, better than the previous Rebels.  It has an ISO of 64,000, not quite as high the previously listed Olympus EM5, but still great. Noise starts at 1600 for shadows and low light, but in high light situations, it is not noticeable. The depth of field is amazing and is very sharp. Having daily access to the whole Rebel series, I can say that this is the best one to get. It also has a video recording feature, something the previous rebels did not have. It does not have a built in microphone, so that is an extra purchase you will have to make.  Some cons are that there is no rubber on the handle, making it a little slippery when taking pictures. Also, you will have to purchase a microphone since one is not built in. The kit comes with a battery, charger, strap, camera, and an 18-55mm lens. Prices are $649 on Amazon and BandH photo.com.