From comedies to thrillers, the acting alone does not singlehandedly make a movie great.  The soundtrack of a film or series can either turn it into an award winner or an adversity.  Some of the world’s greatest works of musical art have become famous due to the film industry.  With the Grammy’s just passed and the Oscars to come, I thought I would share some of my favorites.

LA Song- Christian Kane- Angel Soundtrack (2007)

Despite being about yet another impending apocalypse on the Buffy spinoff, Angel, this song is spectacular.  Sung by minor-league antagonist, Lindsey McDonald, the song furthers the ambiguity of good versus evil in both the character and the series.  Kane’s unique voice succeeds in adding to the eeriness of this episode of the cult classic.

Cell Block Tango- Cast of Chicago (Musical, 2002)

This is by far my favorite song from one of the best musicals ever made: Chicago.  It POPs with the sass and gusto of the SIX murderesses of the Cook County jail in their tales of misfortune when it comes to men and murder.  From the SQUISH of a knife to the crack of a gun (UH-UH) and from the hotel CICERO to an artist named LIPCHITZ, the murderesses recount their stories of woe.  If you haven’t seen Chicago, it is my official movie suggestion.

JUNO SOUNDTRACK (2007):

Though I was not a huge fan of the movie, Juno’s soundtrack is one of the best I have ever heard.  With its mix whimsical and hearty songs, it creates a wonderful conglomeration of songs to make you smile. Some of my favorites are:

Piazza, New York Catcher- Belle and Sebastian

Loose Lips- Kimya Dawson  Described as “anti-folk”, Dawson’s slightly off pitch voice endeared her to many in her many solo albums designed for children.  Dawson has also collaborated with many other artists such as a member of the Strokes, They Might Be Giants, Regina Spektor and the Mountain Goats (yes, the same band that John Green, author and beloved Youtuber, is so fond of).

Sea of Love (remastered)- Cat Power  The original of this song, written by John Phillip Baptiste in 1959, was probably one of the best songs of its era.  Generally, I am wholeheartedly against remakes of any kind, but this version is brilliant in a completely different way from the original.  Charlyn Marshall’s beautiful voice is balanced perfectly with the background, which creates a soothing nostalgia for times of the past.

Tree Hugger- Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants This is definitely my favorite song on this album.  It maintains an upbeat and happy tone while touching on the universal “grass is always greener” complex. Simply fantastic.

I’m Sticking With You- The Velvet Underground To describe this song with one word, this song is adorable.  Interesting factoid The Velvet Underground, though not very well known, was managed for a short time by Andy Warhol.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE SOUNDTRACK(2006):

Little Miss Sunshine has everything.  If it was a high schooler, it would be prom queen, class president, valedictorian, and best dressed.  It is sweet, heart wrenching, hilarious AND it has a fantastic soundtrack.  No doubt, one of my favorite films.

No Man’s Land- Sufjan Stevens Just a beautiful song.

How It Ends- DeVotchKa Also a beautiful song.  The name of the band was taken from the Russian word “devochka” (девочка) meaning “girl.”

ONCE SOUNDTRACK (2006):

A tale of two people who find each other on the streets of Dublin, one a striving musician and the other, a confused young mother, Once is the story of how they help each other survive and thrive.  If you like artsy movies, I definitely suggest this one.  Not everyone likes it, but I absolutely loved it.  At any rate, the soundtrack received a Grammy nomination

Gold- Interference This stunning song has become one of my favorite songs of all time.  It uses classical guitar and pure Irish styles to craft a breathtaking work of art.  I got to a point when my family actually got annoyed with me for the amount of times I played this song in the car.  I admit, it was quite a large number.

Falling Slowly- Glen Hanansard & Marketa Irglova Winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song and rightfully so.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip into the music behind movies!  See you next time!

To listen to all these soundtrack-inspired songs, click here!

Adapted from “Julia” by Wendy Rose

Moon-painted, soaking green eyes,

The warm, smooth, tender doll on my bed

Reflected, hair so dark

Rose from the summer sun.

Tell me it was just a clever joke,

That above the confusion

You floated slowly

In the mirror, magic love burnished bronze

By my side,

Lioness with cub.

But you lost yourself swimming.

Cruel coyote of malice

Made the room grow cold,

The curtains blew out, and fell back

Your pink lips are silences

Cold, cold, cold.

I am tin-faced,

Hard, yet frail.

Quick rain and jasmine tea,

This is only a dream –

Today is still today,

Dead as yesterday.

You are winter –

Standing so still as if

To stand forever.

Aries

Love today. All of it. It’s lots of fun, I promise.

Taurus

Hoping won’t get you anywhere. Try doing.

Gemini

When you’re ironing your clothes, make sure you’ve got the right setting. Otherwise you won’t be too happy.

Cancer

If a fish is disguised as a cat, you’ve got your story backwards.

Leo

Bits and pieces are what make a whole.

Virgo

If you’re looking down the barrel of a gun, make sure you’re on the right end of it.

Libra

Finding the next step is usually your next adventure.

Scorpio

Stick to the classics. They’ll get you through the new stuff.

Sagittarius

If you lose a button, you’ll find a new one. It all comes together eventually.

Capricorn

Windows are meant to be looked through from the inside, not the outside.

Aquarius

If you’ve got a lot of hair, then styling it ought to be lots of fun.

Pisces

Frogs are extremely adaptable. That can be good.

Currently, UHS is 3rd in the nation in the Sigma Mathematics League, which is a freshman-only math contest. In our 12-state regional division of the Mandlebrot Competition, Math Club’s first tier and second tier teams are in 15th and 35th places respectively. Additionally, senior Xiao Wang is in 27th place as an individual.

UHS Orchestra

On February 12, three UHS students performed in the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra’s annual Scholarship Competition. Last year’s winner was senior cellist Sara Page. The students featured this year were senior Micca Page, on violin, sophomore Benjamin Nead on cello, and freshman Shelby Yuan on piano.

UHS String Players recently auditioned for seats in the South Central Regional Honors Orchestra. These students played at a festival that featured them in three separate performances at the All-Regional Music Honors on February 17-18. Participation in this festival qualifies these students to audition for the All-State Music Festival. Auditions will be held on March 10 and the festival will take place at the University of Arizona April 26-28. These students are: Esther Bae, Bianca Bryant, David Hahn, Jun Lee, Vivian Norquest, Callum Robbins-Gennerich, Emily Rumney, Alessia Stefani, Sam Tamer, Kelly Walker, Ethan Wilson, Stephen Yao, David Johnson, Misha Tentser, Simone Browne, Benjamin Cannon, Sarah Erchull, Courtney Murphy, Benjamin Nead, Shelby Yuan.

The day started with all of us arriving bright and early decked out in our solid black clothes. We then checked in and began running between the buildings to get to our proper rooms for whatever acting event we were entered in.

A couple hours after the conclusion of all of our individual or duo scenes, we began to prepare for the one act. Now this one act play was not a normal play by any means. The play is titled “Any Body for Tea” and is about six old spinster ladies who live together in a house right across the street from the apartment of a handsome Irish homicide detective. These ladies are all very infatuated with the looks of said detective, Dennis O’Finn, and decide that they want to actually meet him. Of course they can’t just invite him over since that would be “improper,” so their next best option was to murder one of their own in order for him to come and “investigate.” Sure enough, they slip rat poison into one of the ladies tea cups and O’Finn turns up with his assistant to solve the murder and the ladies are all over him. Upon realizing their intentions, he decides maybe it would be best to ignore the house for a while. The ladies, of course, are very unhappy with this so they decide the only way to get him to come back to the house is to murder another lady. So again, they follow the same formula of rat poison plus tea and they have yet another dead body! O’Finn returns more frustrated than ever; only this time he realizes an important clue in the evidence that leads him to discover the identity of the murderer, Ms. Hildegarde Hodge. O’Finn then announces he will arrest Hildegarde and all the old women are just tickled with the idea of being arrested by Mr. O’Finn. The play ends with O’Finn explaining to the captain how he needs to be transferred to the arson squad so the ladies won’t commit another murder and how he told them already that he would be transferred to be on the safe side. At the moment O’Finn is transferred to the arson squad, his partner walks in to tell him that there has just been a fire at the old house right across the street from his apartment.

Just in case the show wasn’t hilarious enough by itself, our student directors, Alaina Martinez and Delia Pepper, decided to switch things up a little, “switch” being the operative phrase. We had six boys playing the roles of the six old women and three girls playing the three officers. The boys all had to dedicate over an hour of their time to learning how to make-up their faces and costume crew had a blast having all of them try on various skirts and dresses. Finding a decent pair of heels to fit some of the boys was the real challenge!

The one act was our last event of the day and our judges had very nice things to say about it. So nice in fact that Alaina and Delia won an award for putting together such a great student directed show! Trevor Bigelow, who played one of the “women,” also won an All Star award for his fantastic performance. When all was said and done, all of us were very happy with how the show turned out. It wasn’t until a week later that we found out that “Any Body for Tea” was invited to the State One Act Competition on February 17^th! We frantically began rehearsing and perfecting the show yet again and gave the best performance yet for the show for a huge audience at Sabino High School for the state competition. Right after we finished they announced the awards for the days’ events and we received a “superior” on our one act! A superior means we were in the top bracket of the scoring. All of us were so happy to have received this great honor to go along with such an amazing experience.

Congratulations for such an amazing accomplishment advanced drama! Stay tuned for our next show to be performed in April!

What does gum on sidewalks have to do with nanotechnology? Or what about pastry design versus architectural design? In Arboretum, David Byrne tells us, maybe a lot more than one would think at first glance.

The delightful thing about this book is that it isn’t, in the traditional sense, a book. Instead of constructing chapters of careful arguments based on meticulous research, Byrne shows his point through simple pencil diagrams of trees and natural structures, labeled with contrasting categories. For example, in an outline of a tree and its roots, the roots are labeled with Christian sects while the branches are labeled with social cliques. Despite the tongue-in-cheek presentation, Byrne’s rationale is fascinating – that the human inclination for organizing in tree-shaped diagrams may mirror biological structures such as neurons and genealogies, as well as the presence of nature itself.

This is the sort of whimsical science the book is grounded in. Byrne presents intriguing ideas such as how brain activity that is signature of thought patterns such as sexism or feminism can be mapped out to resemble cloud types. Fact gives way to fancy, however, as he imagines people identifying concepts in clouds rather than animals and objects.

Through these unexpected and fascinating connections, we see the world in a new way, rife with commonalities, everything echoed back from the strangest places. So, the next time something uncannily reminds you of something completely different, no matter how silly or improbable, don’t just brush it off. There just might be a link.

We lovingly remember the long time Rincon/University High swim and dive coach who recently passed away on January 5^th, 2012. Coach Mike Ward was a special person in all of our lives. He really cared about his team and his students, always encouraging and pushing them to do their best and providing everyone with a fair shot at success. He supported everyone as best as he could and was also a genuinely fun person to be around. I think the best way to celebrate his memory is to let those whose lives he touched speak about him.

—–

“I was only able to know him for one season, but he believed in my ability to do well. I really appreciate that. We all miss him dearly. He was a great coach.”

–Megan Gillespie, Freshman at UHS

—–

“He usually yelled ‘GOOTFW’ when he was ‘mad,’ and it was usually at Daniel Situ or Thomas or Alex or someone like that. Get Out Of The…Frickin’…Water…. or some other obscure acronym.”

-Kelly Walker, Senior at UHS

—–

“I remember he always used to tell me the pool was more important than my dumb job. And then gave me his wardo smile.”

-Kaylee Goettel, Senior at UHS

—–

“Make sure you use his name or ‘Mr. Coach Ward, Sir.’”

-Alex Urman, Junior at UHS

—–

“He was the only coach I had that I felt really cared, he had faith in me, and I wanted to make him proud. And I remember when me and Little Leverenz decided to sit with the boys at Olive Garden and all he said was ‘Good Luck, and don’t come crying to me, you did this to yourselves.’”

-Tessa Collins, Junior at UHS

—–

“He made me dive with a sweatshirt!”

-Rochelle Olstad, Junior at UHS

—–

“This year, we weren’t able to have state shirts. Mr. Ward came into my hotel room at states and we secretly plotted to surprise the team with the shirts. We snuck them onto the bus and Mr. Ward had me leave during dinner to go get them and present them to the team.
He loved his team.”

-Nicole Urman, Senior at UHS

—–

“I remember one time the boys were in the lane next to Anik, Nicole, and I and I guess their flip turns were really bad and Coach Ward said ‘It looks like this lane is getting attacked by terrorists!’ It was hilarious!”

-Ariana Manson, Junior at UHS

To read more about Mike Ward’s life and legacy please visit the links below:

http://azstarnet.com/sports/patrick-finley-once-lost-at-sea-ward-never-at-loss/article_7618c111-39d5-52a2-b1a1-e948c5639376.html

http://bringfh.frontrunnerpro.com/runtime/142383/runtime.php?NavigatorId=473611&SiteId=142383&ItemId=1073707&op=tributeMemorialCandles&viewOpt=dpaneOnly

http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2012/01/07/remembering-mike-ward/

http://azstarnet.com/sports/swimming-and-diving/high-school-and-prep/ward-dies-coached-swimmers-at-rincon/article_e641c721-e969-5658-8b26-b02496d38096.html

UHS Alumni Sara Habib ('01) and Yassi Jahanmir ('01) founded the Tucson Fringe Festival in 2011. CREDIT: Safiyyah Okoye (UHS '01).

Many of us may wonder, “What do UHS grads do after they leave high school?  Do they ever reach great heights?”  The Tucson Fringe Theater Festival was founded by two UHS alumni.  Having both been very involved in the arts, Yassi Jahanmir and Sara Habib, graduates of the class of 2001, had many great things to say about UHS and how the skills they learned while there have traveled with them throughout their lives.  I had the opportunity to ask Yassi and Sara about the Fringe Festival and how their experiences at UHS have influenced them.  They had a lot to say about both of these topics.

What is the Fringe Festival?  What significance does the name have in regard to the event?

The Fringe Festival began in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1947. Some “uninvited” performers produced their own shows during a more structured theater festival inventing a space for experimental theater on the “fringes.” Since then, Fringe Festivals have spread all over the world, sharing a code of ethics that dictate how the festivals are produced. There are four basic Fringe tenets:

1. Accessibility, for both performers and audiences. Low rental rates, low ticket prices.
2. Artistic Freedom. This means that the festival is “unjuried” (no one chooses who gets to perform) and uncensored (no one dictates what can be performed). This provides an experimental laboratory where performing artists can take risks.
3. All the money goes back to the artists. This eliminates the middleman and allows for the performers to be rewarded for their hard work.
4. Focus on the live performing arts. We think that there is something special about live performance. In this especially “mediatized” world in which social relationships are becoming more digitized, we think that it is important to offer an artistic environment for the community to participate. This isn’t about us being technophobes or even anti-technology, but instead it is a call for real human interaction within the arts.

Who is invited to submit works to the Festival?

Anyone and everyone.  That is the beauty of Fringe. The more diverse, the better.

There are other Fringe Festivals around the United States.  Are you connected with those?  What motivated you to start the Fringe Festival in Tucson?

We are not officially connected with the other Fringe Festivals around the US, but many of the people have been very supportive as we are forging our unique Tucson Fringe path. Many other Fringe producers have answered questions and given advice regarding how to best do “Fringe.”  We have felt very welcomed into the Fringe community and are very grateful with that.

Yassi: Having done theater all my life, including a stint as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in the auditorium my senior year with Mrs. Boosamra, I feel very passionate about theater’s ability to comment upon society and to forge a sense of community. I was volunteering at the New York Fringe Festival a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the sense of experimentation and vitality of the Fringe performances. Downtown Tucson was in the midst of a renaissance and it seemed the perfect time to introduce an alternative theater scene to the increasingly arts-filled urban environment of downtown Tucson. We wanted to build on the strength of Tucson’s art scene and create a safe space for artist experimentation and communication that would fortify the performing arts community.

Sara: One of the things that attracted me to Fringe initially is the idea that anything and everything goes—there’s no “wrong” way to Fringe.  I was inspired to study Art History in college after taking AP Art History at UHS, and I have a particular interest in performance art, so that was what drew me to Fringe initially. I like any forum that makes art affordable and accessible, The other great thing about Fringe is that there’s a real opportunity to combine the traditional with the avant-garde—Tucson has such a diverse art and theater community already, it seemed like it would be such a fantastic environment for Fringe to grow and thrive.

Fringe 2011: "Halloween in America" by Fish Karma and the Love Generation. They will be performing "Lethal Fairytales" at this year's festival.

How did you gain momentum to get it off the ground?  What challenges did you face when you first put on the festival last year?  For your second year, how have the challenges changed, and how do you hope to overcome these for future Festivals?

Yassi: Sara and I were having a catch-up phone call in September 2010 and I mentioned my experiences at New York Fringe. As we continued chatting, our love of Tucson combined with our interests in art (Sara) and theater (me), we decided to be “crazy” and founded the Tucson Fringe Festival. Six months later, the festival opened. It was actually pretty easy to get it off the ground. Beowulf Alley Theater Company, The Screening Room and other downtown Tucson businesses were very supportive and loved the idea of Fringe. We really were lucky to come into such a supportive environment. In terms of challenges, last year we were competing against the March Madness broadcast of the U of A basketball team. I think that a couple of performances directly conflicted with basketball games. As U of A basketball fans, we know that nothing can compete with the Wildcats, so we moved the festival to February. Our biggest hurdle, past and present, is attracting audience. Our continual goal is to have recognition within the Tucson community and make live performance an attractive evening for our patrons.

Sara: I think that drawing on our connections in the downtown area was crucial to getting the festival off the ground, and the support from the venues and surrounding businesses was outstanding last year. I’d also like to mention the Parasol Project as a huge asset to gaining traction and interest within the performance art community, as they were instrumental in planning our opening Gala last year and are quite active Southern Arizona performance artists.

In terms of challenges we faced in 2011, as it was our first year I think we planned quite well, but you don’t know what you don’t know when you are doing something for the first time. Going in this year was a lot easier since we learned a lot from our experiences last year, and most of the unknowns we’ve encountered (so far) for 2012 have been “known unknowns.”

What kinds of audiences are you targeting? Do you think Tucson is a good city for this type festival?  What was the response to the festival like last year?

We are targeting all kinds of audiences. Each festival offers a plethora of diverse theater events, so there is always bound to be something for everyone. Yes, Tucson is a perfect place for a festival like this: Tucson supports wacky, creative, and awesome people and Fringe hopes to be the home base for that sort of thing.

Last year, everyone who came to the festival really enjoyed themselves and many people who attended the shows decided to see other shows. As we grow, we hope to attract larger audiences, but everyone who has attended has been very happy with shows that they saw.

Bryan Sanders (UHS '00). Creator of "The Free Baja Spectacular."

What are your hopes for this year and the future of the Tucson Fringe Festival?

As a second year festival, we are really excited that all of our shows are produced by local artists. Our hope for this year’s festival is that we have a lot of happy audiences and that we inspire more artists to create pieces for future Fringes. As for the future of Fringe, we hope it becomes  a staple in the yearly arts/theater community and that it becomes the place where people come for the new, exciting, avant-garde of live performance.

UHS is well known for its academics, but it is also has a lot of opportunities for students interested in the arts and other non-academic career paths.  How did your experience–academic and artistic–at UHS help influence your vision?

Yassi: Academics are super important and open a lot of doors for future opportunities, there is no doubt about that. But UHSers have the capacity to be both brilliant academically as well as do amazingly creative things. I wish I could list all of the amazing things that all of my classmates have done in every imaginable realm. I am constantly inspired by all of my classmates’ achievements, both academically and creatively. As for what I learned at UHS: First thing I learned was how to multitask like a bandit. Between multiple AP classes, SAB, dance, choraliers and swimming, I learned that I felt my best when I was doing multiple activities and doing them well. A success in one activity bolstered me to believe in myself in other activities.  UHS definitely teaches you how to manage multiple things at the same time and how to do them all well! The second thing I learned at UHS, which is definitely the most important, was how important my friends and the UHS community were. I felt very supported by the faculty and my fellow students while at UHS. [It] pushes you to do your best, both academically and otherwise, which fosters a strong sense of community. Some of my best friends  (10 years later) were made during the stressful, yet immensely rewarding, times at UHS.

Sara: I think my experience at UHS, similar to what Yassi said, has truly taught me how to balance many different interests and projects in my life. I absolutely draw on those multitasking skills daily even 10 years later. I too feel quite inspired by our schoolmates in their endeavors- that is one of the things I enjoyed most about attending UHS. I love catching up with UHSers about what they’re interested in and what they’re doing, because I think that we all have that same drive to do more, to learn more, to grow more, in every area. I think that the most important aspect of attending UHS that has influenced me in my life today is the idea that you can really create whatever reality you want for yourself. If you can visualize something happening, and gather a little steam and support, there’s not a lot one can’t accomplish.  When great minds freely connect, even the most daunting challenges can seem easy.  I think I took that for granted when I was attending UHS – with the clarity of hindsight I know that it’s truly a special place and time in life. My strongest friendships and most inspiring, hilarious, and brilliant life experiences are all connected back to the amazing thinkers I first knew at UHS.

How can students at UHS and elsewhere be a part of supporting these types of events in our community?

Hopefully in the future, UHS students will submit pieces to Fringe and create your own crazy/awesome performance pieces. That would be the ideal! We would love to support young passionate people creating live performance. Also, we would love to have attending live performance be a part of the normative high school curriculum.

The director of The Starter House giving an actor notes during rehearsal.

Is there any advice you have for current students who have an interest in pursuing the arts after UHS?

Yassi: Having acted, directed, and done a little bit of everything in theater in Manhattan, my advice is this: make your own opportunities. As smart, passionate people, you are able to do whatever you want, and if what you want isn’t available, do it yourself! In college, I founded a theater group, Theater for Charity, that made all of its own shows and donated all of the money to charity. In New York, when I wanted to act and didn’t want to play certain roles, I directed a play and cast myself. Here in Tucson, we wanted a more experimental theater scene, and Sara and I created the Fringe Festival. At UHS, you are taught that you can do whatever you want, and our advice to you is that it is absolutely, completely true as long as you believe it. If what you want to do doesn’t exist, create it!

Sara: Don’t let people scare you away from pursuing your dreams in an arts-related field because they have an opinion about the money, or the hours, or the benefits, or whatever other reason they think you should do something else.  If you are passionate about something, pursue it wholeheartedly, with no second-guessing yourself, and like Yassi said, make your own opportunities.  On a more pragmatic level, if you are considering a career in art, you should also take some basic business classes.  Creating art is entrepreneurial—you are running your own small business selling yourself, and your creations.  Business savvy is essential when it comes to promoting your work and negotiating contracts, and it goes a long way in turning your passions into paychecks.

The National Merit^® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT^®)–a test which serves as an initial screen of more than 1.5 million entrants each year–and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.

Finalists will receive one of three awards, which are also described on the website, as follows:

National Merit^® $2500 Scholarships: Every Finalist competes for these single payment scholarships, which are awarded on a state representational basis. Winners are selected without consideration of family financial circumstances, college choice, or major and career plans.

Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship award
: Corporate sponsors designate their awards for children of their employees or members, for residents of a community where a company has operations, or for Finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage. These scholarships may either be renewable for four years of undergraduate study or one-time awards.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards: Officials of each sponsor college select winners of their awards from Finalists who have been accepted for admission and have informed NMSC by the published deadlines that the sponsor college or university is their first choice. These awards are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study.

This year’s University High School finalists:

• Emma E. Baker
• Jingjing Fan
• William A. Fines
• Andrew G. Loucks
• Brian T. McElroy
• Reed Thomas Patterson III
• Delia Pepper
• Emeric Quade
• Anna Andrea Sanova
• Nicole M. Urman
• Samuel C. Williams
• Allyson J. Yoder
• Zhenglong Zhou