THE BULLDOG NEWS HOLIDAY EDITION

What’s New About The Bulldog News?

◊ Who’s the Mystery Teacher?

Each issue of The Bulldog News will feature clues about one of our faculty members. Think you know who it is? Then en-

ter to win a $5 Star-bucks gift card by enter-ing your guess in “The Bulldog News Box” which is located in the library. ◊Horoscopes Whether you’re a Libra or a Leo, a Scorpio or a Pi-sces, we’ve got your horo-scope in every issue.

Bernardsvi l le Middle School ’s Official Online Newspaper

Inside this issue:

Purple Team (Reviews)

2-5

Blue Team (Horoscopes)

5

Yellow Team (Faculty)

6

Green Team (School/World Issues

6-7

Purple Team (Book Reviews)

7

Blue Team (Games and Riddles)

8

Special points of interest:

BMS students voice their opinions about the cookie price inflation

Students write reviews about popular video games

Learn more about your favorite vice principal, Mr. Kelly

Find out what your holiday horoscope is in our horoscope section

Guess the answers to a myriad of riddles!

Volume 1

December 2014– January 2015

Mystery Teacher

By Yash Nakadi

Are you walking past a former drummer? Located in the seventh grade wing, this unexpected teacher is known to be the former member of a rock band. Yes, you heard me right. Also known as a social studies teacher to the older students as well as a foot-ball coach, he always tries to be good towards his students. Being a former student of his, I admit I have learned a lot from him about our world, and I encourage that you have this teacher. He is one of the nicest teachers I have ever had and other students can relate to what I am saying as well.

tells him about his Private Military Corporation (PMC): Atlas, explaining to him they can give him a fully working prosthetic arm, and a second shot in his company as a soldier. I did some research on PMCs and found some surprising information. First, the third highest company in the world is a PMC: G4S. Second, PMCs serve to who ever pays the highest, giving its employees more pay than the US military. As said by Phillip Millis, “Anybody who is any good in the Army, isn’t in the Army anymore.” Third, PMCs will work for just about anyone, including ter-rorist groups. Back to the plot of the Advanced War-fare, the main villain is a group called the KVA, with leader named Hades, and they are wrecking havoc in the world. Then, from out of nowhere, the group launched the first ever global terrorist attack, decimat-ing five nuclear reactors in five continents. The world turns to Atlas. They fight the wars and rebuild the cities, but what happens when they have an immense amount of power?

The singleplayer is very immersive with realis-tic characters, character voices, and surprisingly, a realistic plot. The characters and friends of the main character are very elaborate and are not emotionless. Voices sound as if you are in the battlefield, especially when you walk away from the group and start to hear the voices fade away. The plot is pretty amazing, knowing that this could happen in real life. It makes me worried, a little, that with many of the wars we fight aren’t being fought by us. They’re being fought by our wallets.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer of this game is where Call of Duty shines, with many people buying the game spe-cifically for that purpose. With so many people play-ing the game this way, it better be fun, fast-paced, and exciting. In my opinion, Advanced Warfare accom-plishes all of this. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the game. Playing with or against friends is a joy with intense battles that just were not possible in past Call of Duty titles. There are many new features that make the multiplayer twice as good as Modern Warfare 3,

J.T. Dolan

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

When Call of Duty was first released on the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation on October 29, 2003, the game was met with instant success with rave reviews. The newest addition to the Call of Duty franchise is

no different in my opinion, with new game mechanics in-cluding double-jumping, exo abili-ties, and a step back (in a good way) for the game.

The last version of the game, Call of Duty: Ghosts, was not well received by many people that have been playing Call of Duty for a while. The slow game multiplayer was what mainly pulled the game down, and a pretty boring campaign mode didn’t help the game reviews. Many were waiting for a re-fresher very soon after the game was launched. With Sledgehammer Games creating their first Call of Du-ty ever, people were interested as to what a new com-pany and a new set of ideas could bring to the Call of Duty series.

This review is a little different from the aver-age review you would find on the internet. The last Call of Duty I have personally owned is Call of Du-ty: Modern Warfare 3. This game was released in 2011, meaning I have not owned a new game (or at least a new Call of Duty game) in four years. So, this is going to be interesting.

Singleplayer

The campaign portion of the new Call of Duty is very intriguing, taking place in the 2050’s. The main plot (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything important) is you are a previous Marine, Mitchell, who lost his his arm and his best friend, Will, in a mission in North Korea. Will’s father, Irons, is at the funeral of his son when he sees Mitchell and

Page 2 The Bulldog News Holiday Edition

without a friend, but luckily I didn’t have to try.

Conclusion

All in all, I think that this year’s Call of Duty game was a success. I was pleasantly sur-prised by Sledgehammer’s ver-sion of Call of Duty. Now, do I think that the game is worth six-ty dollars? No. But at the same time, I don’t think any video game is worth sixty dollars, which (to anyone who does not play video games) is the suggest-ed price of almost all console video games. So, if all video games were forty dollars, then yes, I would buy the game with my own money. And even though the game is sixty dollars, I would still buy the game with my own money. If you don’t have the game yet, ask for it for whatever holiday you celebrate.

and possible three times as good as Call of Duty: Ghosts.

One of the many wel-come additions to the multiplay-er is the Exo Skeleton. This is a device that is attached to your personnel at all times and allows for quick movement and fantas-tic versatility. With this suit, you can double-jump in the air, which allows for some cool dog-fights. The suit also allows for players to boost-slam onto ene-mies after double-jumping. And with all of the new weapons in the game, there is a new way to choose them. It’s called the Pick 13 System. This system allows you to create a loadout of every-thing you want to use in the match you are about to play, but only allows you to have thirteen slots used at once. The example to the left shows the slots you can use, with the amount of slots being used at the top. This allows players to use more slots for guns and less for perks, or vice versa. Along with a new multiplayer comes a new set of maps to play on as well. I have only found one or two maps that I do not enjoy, but that is a personal preference and I know many that love to play them. There are also new gamemodes that are fun to play as well, and I have started playing some new gamemode that I didn’t think I would like. With a fast-paced game paired with a good lobby, the game becomes more interest-ing than any Call of Duty game

before it.

Exo Survival

In previous Call of Duty games there have been side “minigames” that have gotten mixed reviews depending on the game. The Call of Duty: Black Ops series has gotten great “minigames” with rounds of zombies that have to be murdered in order to go to the next round, with the objective of surviving as many rounds as possible. Advanced Warfare’s “sidegame” is called Exo Survival, and is actually intri-

guing the way it works. It is a combina-tion of fighting people (and “sort-of” people, hint hint). There is a set of four maps that have to be played with a cer-tain number of rounds total in order to continue to the next set of maps. The final set is just one map, Riot (picture in the “Multiplayer” section of this re-view), where there is a little twist at the end. I found that the mode was very fun, but I wish there weren’t objectives that the game gives you each round such as “Get the Dogtags”, “Diffuse the Bombs”, or “Gather the Intel”. I would-n’t care if completing these gave the player extra points, but instead, not completing these objectives will cause the player to be punished with the game throwing grenades from the heav-ens or random turrets around the map. I cannot imagine doing these objectives

Page 3 December 2014– January 2015

Riddle ANSWERS

1.) sawdust

2.) the large dictionary

3.) atventurine

Roblox

By Jack Pallante

What would you do if you went to a summer college prep class at a repurposed insane asylum? Dan Crawford and his new friends Jordan and Abby do the obvious choice—break into a locked room and look around. At first, there are only creepy pictures. With a little more investigating (and more then a few suspicious killings) they come to mean some-thing, even on a personal level, after discovering infor-mation about the building, its gruesome past, his new friends, and even himself.

Asylum is NOT for the easily frightened, or even for the not-so-easily-frightened. But if you enjoy a scare and a mystery, go to the school library and check out Asylum.

!WARNING! NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADERS DUE TO UNNERVING CONTENT.

Asylum Review By Caileigh Wettasinghe

“It is a very extraor-

dinary game, you

should try it!”

says my twin

Mariel Pallante.

“It is very good for

younger kids,”

says my 5th

grade friend An-

dino Caminiti.

“Its very fun for your

spare time,” says

my 5th grade

friend Jack Ro-

mano.

Have you ever heard of Roblox? Well if

you haven’t heard you should start

playing this amazing PC game. It is so

much fun! If you get an account you

can make different worlds for the

whole world to play on! You can also

go to other worlds that other people

make! Everything is made of blocks!

Come on, Let me show you why its

awesome.

YOUR PROFILE

Everybody in roblox has there

own profile. You have a username,

password, and a roblox character! You

can even get your roblox character

clothes! But they cost tix and Roblox

buxs.

ROBLOX MONEY

In Roblox, things like clothes

and other items cost Roblox Money.

There are two types of money on rob-

lox, Tix and Roblox buxs.

Different kinds of

worlds:

OBBIES

Obbies are one of my

favorite kinds of landscapes!

Its like an obstacle course. If

you have heard of the show

Wipeout, its like that, but on

a computer!

TOP RATED

These top rated

worlds are just like any ordi-

nary world. But they have

been played so many times,

they get on the top rated list!

They could be obbies, ordi-

nary worlds, and more.

TOP PAID

Same thing with Top

rated, but they pay you a lot

of money. They pay you Rob-

lox money. (Tix and Buxs.)

CONCLUSION:

I asked a couple of

my friends about Roblox and

this is what they said.

Page 4 The Bulldog News Holiday Edition

Titanfall

by Andino Caminiti

Horoscopes

Have you ever played titanfall? Well if you have you will probably know that it is a fun and successful game. However it was

only released for the xbox one, and later for the Xbox 360. But if you do get it, I recommend the xbox one version because it has fanci-

er graphics.It’s release for the xbox one in America was March 11, and the xbox 360 version was released April 8 in 2013 at it’s e3

release date it won over 60 awards! Including 6 e3 critic awards! The game was highly anticipated because it was made by EA

(Electronic Arts).

Let me tell about the gameplay. In the game you play as pilots that can control huge robots! It is a first person shooter. And

sometimes you need to use these mech style exoskeletons for objectives

you can complete by yourself or with friends. It is a one person game over

a console, which means you can only play on that console, however you

can play system link so you can play with local players,up to 12 players can

play that way. Players can run on walls,use their jetpack,vault over obsta-

cles,and glide along ziplines. the controls in a titan are the same except

when you try and use your jetpack (double tapping a) your titan dashes,

for it cannot jump.

thing that others dislike about Christmas.

Aquarius (January 20-February 18)- If you make cookies, Santa will eat them if it’s the last thing he does.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)-You will receive ice powers. (And fro-yo pow-

Aries (March 21-April 19)- Ru-dolph will be stuck in your stock-ing.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)- Little elves will eat your dinner.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)- Santa will use your toilet.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)- You will find half eaten carrots in your front yard.

Leo (July 23-August 22)- You will get a 2 foot tall candy cane.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)- Dancer will dance you to the North Pole.

Libra (September 23-October 22)-

Prancer will prance around your Christmas tree.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)- Build a snowman. No matter what, your snowman will be awesome.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)- Some gifts will be in unsuspect-ing places.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)- You will find that you like some-

Page 5 December 2014– January 2015

Have you heard

of Ebola virus? Well it is

a very deadly virus that

can sadly kill you(4,951

people in west Africa

have died). It started in

Liberia, Africa. If you

ever get this virus,

(Which I don’t think you

will), This is the order of

what will happen. First

you will, feel a headache

sort of fever. Kind of like

the start of a flu. But, if

you don’t treat in in time,

it could cause life threat-

ening symptoms. Like

bleeding and trouble

breathing. It is very im-

portant to treat ebola

very quickly. Ebola does

not spread in the air like

the flu and cold.Ebola

spreads when somebody

touches the body likquid

of the sick person. Scien-

tist do not know where

Ebola come from.

Do you know where the

name Ebola came from?

Well it came from the

Ebola river in the Demo-

cratic republic Congo.

Last but certainly not

least, this is a way you

can have an advantage so

you will not have Ebola. You should wash your

hands at least 3 times a day (it will keep you

well).

Ebola: A Deadly Virus By Jack Pallante & Jack Romano

Page 6 The Bulldog News Holiday Edition

Many students at BMS are complaining about inflated prices in the cafe-teria. Everyone is irate over one thing, and the students say it best—”COOKIES!”

The cookies are often said to not be as good as they were in years past, yet the prices are constantly on the rise from 25 cents when we were still in Bedwell to 35 cents last year to an insane 40 cents this year.

The students are not just angry about the cookie’s increased prices. This year, there is no discount for buying more cookies. 3 cookies for a dol-lar—easy to spend with no change necessary. However, $1.20 for three cookies, or 80 cents for 2, is an awkward money amount with a necessary use of dimes, quarters, and nickels...maybe even pennies.

Will the great cookie inflation ever stop? Or will it only increase to chips, ice cream, drinks, and even lunches? Only time will tell.

The Great Cookie Inflation Caileigh Wettasinghe

Interview with Mr. Kelly

By Bianca Bonano and Ana

Lopez

Mr.Kelly has favorite

things and likes too! In

this interview you will

learn almost everything

about Mr. Kelly a student

would want to know. One

thing about Mr. Kelly is

what he likes to do. He

likes to exercise, spend

time with his family, and

play sports. Which leads

to his favorite sport

which is baseball. He has

three kids and their

names are Mason , McKen-

na, and Faith. Mr.Kelly’s

favorite ice cream flavor

is chocolate with choco-

late chips! Guess whose

birthday is on August

31st? Mr Kelly’s! Also,

Mr. Calabrese is the first

person Mr.Kelly met at

BMS! Do you think Mr.

Kelly has a favorite ani-

mal? Well we know what it

is. It is a Penguin. In ad-

dition to this Mr. Kelly

does have a pet. He has

two cats. As you should

know you have to be a

teacher before you can be

a principal or vice prin-

cipal. So you may be won-

dering why Mr. Kelly be-

came a teacher. He became

a teacher because he

loves working with kids!

Mr. Kelly likes being a

leader so he became a

vice-principal! Now you

know all we have to tell

about Mr. Kelly!

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Review

By Ethan Glazar

The grass is always greener when Tim Green is around. On a buzzing Tuesday on October 28th, Tim Green arrived at BMS. We got the privilege to interview him, and we found out the information following about him. When he was in school, Tim Green liked tackling people. Then he found football—a sport where they wanted you to tackle people and cheered for you when you did. He was immediately drawn in. Tim Green did not just concentrate on Football though. In school, he studied hard, and still is a strong advocate for trying hard on school. When he visited, he told us a story about his devotion to his football ca-reer. He used to go to the weight room almost every day, as he wanted to become a professional football player.

Many know that Tim Green is a lawyer, but few know that he

went to law school while still in the NFL. While all his teammates were spending their new wealth of money (and time) on trips and luxuries they couldn’t normally provide for themselves, Tim was going to law school. He said he liked read-ing and writing, both of which are used as a lawyer; and if he were going to do some-thing, he might as well do something use-ful. Today he is still a lawyer.

Many of his readers are wondering, will Mr. Green ever write about other sports? The answer is no; he would like to but his publishers say to stick with what they know “works,” aka baseball and football.

like creature. By the third book, things get a little slow at first, but then another battle breaks out in London, and our heroes are, of course, safe. The fourth and fifth books are fairly short and act as a big transition to the finale of the sixth book, where a major plot twist emerges. Really major. Actually so major that it made the ending seem pathetic. I loved this series, but the ending let me down. It makes you think, “really, after all of that? Seriously?” though that shouldn’t discourage you from reading the series. It was well writ-ten (besides the ending), had a good versus evil plot, and was mostly enjoyable to read. I give it a 8/10, for even though it was good and enjoyable, there were some confusing parts, and the ending was pathetic. But other than that, ‘twas pretty good.

By the title, anyone individual who has familiarized themselves with the Harry Potter series would think that this is a spinoff series J K Rowling has created. But no, it has nothing to do with the series at all, though fans of that series as well as the Percy Jackson series are likely to enjoy this six part adventure. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Mi-chael Scott is a tale of two normal teenag-ers, Sophie and Josh, who get sucked into

a world of magic. They meet the immortal Nicho-las Flamel, historical figure in the category of “magic through the ages”, and their lives will nev-er be the same again. They turn out to be the “legendary twins of prophecy”, as if we’ve never heard of that before. Nevertheless, though, it is still a captivating series. The first book is a nice introduction, and you know by the countless num-ber of characters from mythology that have been thrown at you in the book, that along the way you will have to memorize a lot, and I mean a lot, of characters. The second book is good, with a battle in Paris between a teenager and a giant dinosaur-

Page 7 December 2014– January 2015

“They turn out to be the ‘legendary twins of prophecy,’ as if

we’ve never heard of that before”

Tim Green Comes to BMS!

By Caileigh Wettasinghe, Ethan Glazar, and Jacob Sugarmann

CROSSWORD

The Bulldog News Crossword Puzzle

Answers will appear in the next

issue.

Riddles By Samantha Meyer

1.What is made of wood but can’t be sawed?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

2.What is Mrs. McMillan’s favorite book in the library?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

3. What is a green form of quartz

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

12345267854

key:1=a,2=t,3=v,4=e,5=n,6=u,7=r,8=i

Stumped? See answers on page 3

Across

4. Holiday Celebrated by many African-Americans

7. Holiday celebrated for the new year

8. Gift 10. Symbol used by those who celebrate Christmas

11. Hung on doors

12. Chocolate Chip

15. When new years day begins

16. Men Made of snow

17. Number of days in Hanukkah

19. Balls of snow

Down 1. Put on trees outside 2. Hanging ice 3. The Holiday Celebrated with a menorah 5. Hot liquid chocolate 6. December 25 9. 7 Candles used to celebrate Hanukkah 13. A Drink made from egg 14. What goes on the top of a Christmas Tree