Vol. 53, No.15 Special Section Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 5
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966
April 15, 2015
Local Events
Entertainment
Sports
Student Corner
page 2, 3 “Off Beat Happenings” Coming Soon
page 15
pages 10 - 11
page 3
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WonderCon 2015, Part One
by Devette Johnson Anaheim
WonderCon 2015 is a great prelude to ComicCon 2015. WonderCon of Anaheim offered several incredible varieties of panels, memorabilia, food, movie trailers, insider insights as to how things work, comics publisher presentations, TV series events, and much more. Of course there were many of people that were dressed in their favorite
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characters, heroes and anime characters. The age group ranged from young to old. All walks of life were represented and were very entertaining to see. Many of the people that dressed in their cosplay characters were willing to pose for you; all you had to do was ask. Most of the people that you saw in their cosplay character were hanging out in front of the convention center in groups, showing of all the hard work that they put into making their costumes. Friday and Saturday, the program schedule extends into the evening hours and includes special nighttime programs. On Friday, April 3, we had the privilege to sit in on the panel for“Creating the New Dawn of the Planet of the Apes “. HALON Entertainment’s A. J. Briones (previsualization supervisor) and Ryan Stafford (visual effects producer) took us
behind the scenes of creating a new Dawn for FOX’s blockbuster 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes." Briones and Stafford discuss the exciting creative process of previsualization which helped create some of the most climactic scenes in the film’s final battle. From concept to final feature, the audience was led through the collaboration with director Matt Reeves and the production and stunt teams, using previs on a motioncapture shoot, and the final road to final visual effects. This was a great opportunity for artists and filmmakers to gain an insider perspective on one of the most visually exciting films there was! It was fascinating listening to the discussion with the panel from "The Science of Star Wars” about several questions asking ‘Could lightsabers ever be a reality?’; ‘Does science
matter when designing a Star Wars spacecraft?’‘; What does it take to resist the Dark Side of the Force?’ Fon Davis (production designer, Star Wars prequel movies), Bobak Ferdowsi (NASA flight engineer), Kieran Dickson (editor, Outerplaces.com), Travis Langley (Star Wars Psychology), and moderator Jenna Busch (Legion of Leia) break down the science behind a galaxy far, far away and discuss whether or not Kylo Ren’s Force Awakens lightsaber is sacrilege or genius. It was most enjoyable watching and listening to the panel interact with very young “ Star Wars” fans as they asked in depth questions about their favorite char- Coplay character from Spawn. Courtesy photo by Devette Johnson acters and ships. To round out our Friday evening, we walked WonderCon continued on page 7
Rock N’ Roll Robots Make it to World Championship by Megan Tran San Gabriel/ Oakland CA
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Blue colors, a gigantic jukebox, and lights filled the Rock N’ Roll Robot’s pit area. In Oakland, California, the Super Regionals were held during March 2629. 72 teams from 12 different states competed to get a chance to advance to the World Tournament that will be held St. Louis, Missouri. It was a three-day tournament and each day was different. The first day was judging, the second day was robot matches, and the third day was finalist matches and the awards ceremony. These tournaments are a part of the organization called FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST is separated into four different divisions based on age: Jr. FLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC. The Rock N’ Roll Robots stand as a fiercely competitive and successful team in the third level, the First Tech Challenge (abbreviated as FTC). FTC was
created for students that are in grades 7-12 who enjoy modeling, building, and programming robots. FIRST is an International Robotics Program where students are able to test the boundaries of
imaginative innovation and bleachers after hearing that out-of-the-box thinking. they had won the last match, During the Finalist therefore automatically Matches, the Rock N’ Roll advancing the team to the Robots were screaming for World Tournament. Rock N’ joy and jumping Rock N' Roll Robots continued on page 4 up and down in the