By Josh Yancosek, Flipside staff writer

It’s time to start your journey, traveling through the video game world of “Monster Hunter,” fighting dragons with an arsenal of upgradable weapon. You can now play it wherever you go. It’s “Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate” for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U video game systems.

Players start the journey as a beginner monster hunter, arriving at the Moga Village. Moga has been suffering from earthquakes, and it’s up to you to find the cause. Your travels will take you from the desert to underwater.

As a player, make your mark as a hunter by completing quests to kill monsters. Although, you must upgrade your weapons to face the challenges a monster hunter must face. Also, you need to gather resources to help the village. You can harvest the crops from the farm and the fish with the hunting fleet.

There are a variety of weapons in this game. They come in many types, from close to long-range. You can wield a long sword; a sword and shield; duel blades; a great sword; a hammer; a hunting horn; a lance; a gunlance; a switch axe; a light bowgun; a heavybowgun; and a bow.

With an arsenal like this, players must face some dangerous creatures. They range from fire wyverns (dragons) to raptor-like creatures.

In this Nintendo game, you can also fight together with friends. Share in the glory of the hunt. Conquer or die together – it all depends on the skills of the others you’re playing with.

With downloadable quests, there is no end to the journey in “Monster Hunter 3.”

I have played other “Monster Hunter” games, but none match this. I give this story 10 out of 10! Get it, play it, live it! Learn more at www.monsterhunter.com.

 

By Alex York, Flipside staff writer

With summer right around the corner, days may grow dull for the younger generations.  However, wherever one may be, geocaching is a recreational activity that is fun for the whole family.
Geocaching is a GPS-aided treasure hunt that sends players on a search for containers hidden by other players across the globe.  These “caches” vary in size and shape and can be anything from a pill container to a thermos to a custom-made device, and since anyone can hide one after following the proper steps outlined on the official geocaching website, they can be found just about anywhere.
Signing up for geocaching is as simple as navigating to geocaching.com and creating a profile for free.  Personal information is required when creating a profile, but none of it is public. From that point on, GPS coordinates for each cache are visible and can be entered into any GPS or the geocaching iOS application. The coordinates lead to the general area of a cache, but once a player is within close proximity of one, it’s up to him or her to determine its exact location (with the help of clues left by the cache hider) and find it.  Once a cache is found, geocachers are encouraged to sign the logbook contained within, swap out any items inside for items of equal or greater value, and replace the cache in its original resting place. While it’s not as rewarding as hunting for real treasure, the family-friendly fun most caches provide makes the search worth it.

Aside from just searching for caches, one can set up his or her own caches for others to find. One person who has done so is Alan Johnson, park manager of Ryerson Station State Park, located near the state line of West Virginia. Johnson had set up a series of eight caches around one of the park’s hiking trails.  “It was… supposed to be designed for kids to follow it,” said Johnson. “I selected a route here in the park… that would take them from the parking lot… right back to where they parked at so they didn’t have to walk too terribly far to find them.”  Johnson explained his caches have been well-received by the public. “We have the occasional person that can’t find them,” he said, “and then they send in their notes … if they can’t find them. If a certain number of people can’t find them, then we go out and check to make sure they’re still in the right place and that someone didn’t move them.” The park manager even said that, according to the logbooks contained within the geocaches, people from distant states such as Utah have come to hunt down his caches.
There is quite a process involved in setting up a cache, and Johnson admits to having trouble with it at first. “There are some pretty strict rules as far as where you can put them and how often you can put them out in different places,” said Johnson.  “The difficulty lied in following all the rules and regulations … as far as distances between geocaches and things like that.  Once I got all the technical stuff figured out, it was pretty simple.” Making the geocaches themselves did seem like it was a simple feat, indeed; all it took to create them were plastic containers and logbooks for visitors to sign, which are available from geocaching.com along with other materials for cache creation.
Geocaching is a fun, family-friendly activity that is simple, accessible and good exercise.  All it takes to start searching for caches is a profile, a GPS and patience in case the cache doesn’t reveal itself right away.  To find information about geocaching, locate caches near you and purchase equipment, visit the official geocaching website at geocaching.com.

 

 

By Flipside staffer Brittany Tender

On March 8, a group of about 30 Burgettstown High School students, members of the school’s Asian Culture Club as well as a handful of advanced art students, embarked on a most unusual field trip. Their destination was the Andy Warhol Museum, a gallery of contemporary art containing more than 8,000 of the well-known artist’s works.
Upon entering the building on Pittsburgh’s North Shor, the class was greeted by a towering stack of Brillo boxes, smaller replicas of the Brillo brand soap pad packaging inspired by Warhol’s own sculptures. These boxes – which could be purchased at $40 each – were situated in a small lounge area, and acted as a preview of the works of art located deeper within the museum.

The students were divided into two groups, one of which was escorted straight to the studio to partake in a hands-on workshop to recreate one of Warhol’s screen-prints, while the other moved on to begin viewing a selection of the vast collection of artwork on display.
Screen-printing is a method of creating artwork during which the negatives of a photograph are used to filter light on a special board made of silk or similar polyfiber materials in order to create a pattern for an image. The areas that aren’t exposed will allow ink to pass through, creating a replica of the negative. This medium is one of the most well-known ways in which Warhol created his signature works, most notably his portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, and also allows for multiple variations of the same picture to be created.

Students used a pre-made screen of Warhol’s controversial “Flowers” series to create their own version of the famous pieces. Another part of the workshop highlighted a different part of his contemporary artwork, during which participants created a label for a product using ripped paper under a screen-printed product package.

The gallery features artwork of more than 60 artists whose work was in some way influenced by Andy Warhol, with 900 paintings, about 100 sculptures, 60 feature films, and more. Some of the art was even interactive – one sculpture consisted of a pile of hard candies, which visitors are free to take a piece of; the tour guide encouraged the students to sit on a couch made by Warhol for his studio; and perhaps most intriguing, the “Silver Clouds” exhibit, a small room in which fans keep several silver pillow-like balloons cycling through the air that visitors can interact with.

The Warhol Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and is located across the Andy Warhol Bridge from downtown Pittsburgh. More information on the museum as well as an online sample of the featured works can be found on its official website, http://www.warhol.org.

 

In February, members of Jefferson Baptist Church in Greene County joined a larger mission trip group in Grand Goave, Haiti, for eight days. The group arrived in Port-au-Prince and took a bus several hours to the town of Grand Goave, where their mission project began. There, the group built houses for families who lost their homes as a result of earthquakes in Haiti. Pictured here are images taken by Flipside staffer Julia Vilenica, who participated in the mission trip. View her photo gallery on the Flipside blog http://youngobservers.wordpress.com/.

 

 

 

By Jenna Campbell, Young Observer staff blogger

On Thursday, February 7, I attended my sophomore class trip to Washington, D.C. Upon arrival, we visited the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veteran’s Memorial, Lincoln Memorial,  Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. However, the primary reason we were there was to visit the Holocaust Museum.

The museum is a memorial to the millions who died at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. It takes visitors through different floors in a sort of chronological or timeline-like fashion. It begins with Hitler and the Nazis coming to power all the way to Liberation Day. Many of the artifacts that were recovered and donated are displayed at the museum, along with pictures, videos and the fully detailed history before, during and after the mass genocide.

It was my first time going to the museum and despite the fact that I have thoroughly studied the Holocaust both at school and on my own time, I had no idea what to expect. Even standing outside the building, I could feel that the place had a very solemn atmosphere. It wasn’t a place meant to be taken lightly, and already I didn’t.

As I walked from one floor to another, I began to lose control of my emotions. My steps got heavier, and both my sympathy and anguish grew. In my opinion, I believe the emotions I felt would be typical emotions for any compassionate human being visiting the museum for the first time.

There is nothing sugarcoated at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum itself shows and explains a very important part of history exactly as it was, with hopes of preventing it from happening again. Everything it contains and that period of history itself means something different to each and every person who has and hasn’t visited the museum.

I learned a lot from the trip. It made me think about a lot of things, and now I have hopes to go back this summer. I want the opportunity to spend more time there and to take both my parents and brother with me. Honestly, it all seems unbelievable, unimaginable, unreal, until you see it for yourself and that is why I want to take my family. That is also why, if anybody ever has the chance to go, I would highly recommend visiting because in the words of Holocaust survivor and author of “Night,” Elie Wiesel said, “For the dead and the living we must bear witness.”

By Julia Vilenica, Young Observer staff blogger

To start a space painting, you’ll need to be outdoors. Put a tablecloth (one you can ruin) on something like a card table or flat surface. Supplies needed include posterboard, and some masking tape. Put the tape on the side of the paper that is NOT shiny, and tape it to the tablecloth.

You’ll need some spray paint, too. Although I like to use a wide variety, all you really need is a black, a white, a clear and a few colors. Try to have at least one light color and one dark color. The paints all need to be shaken well before being used. You’ll need a piece of cardboard to use a a straightedge, as well as some magazine paper.

To make the planets, I use lids. Any size lid will work, but the heavier the lids are, the better they work. Make sure the inside of your lid doesn’t touch the paper, and you’re ready to go!

Put the lids on the paper (make sure it’s the shiny side). It doesn’t matter where, or how many. You can even put some off the side of the paper. I like to put mine on only the top part of the paper, so I can make mountains.

Before you can spray onto the paper, test your spray paint in a cardboard box.
This will show you how the nozzle sprays.

Over your ‘planets’ (the lids) put a light mist of black paint onto the top half of your paper.

Different paints have different nozzles. It doesn’t really matter which you use, as they’ll both work, but make sure if your spray paint has a little white piece of plastic stuck into the nozzle that you leave it there. It won’t spray without it!

Take one lid off of the paper, and choose the colors you want in your planet. Starting with the lightest color, spray a small mist onto the circle, trying not to get it in the black. Then move to the darkest color. Here, I used orange and red.

Take a piece of magazine paper, and place it onto the planet over the wet paint. Carefully, put your palm onto the paper and turn it. Pull the paper off by one edge, and throw away the paper. There are two ways to do this. If you’re good with a bottle of spray paint, then just spray the bottom edge of the planet with black and carefully put the lid back on where it was. If you’re just starting out, you may want to replace the lid first.

For the next planet, I put down a thin layer of white paint, and two stripes of grey. Using a small piece of magazine paper, I did the same thing as with the last planet. Using the grey and white, in my opinion, makes it look like a moon. I replaced the lid and sprayed the bottom edge with black.

For the third and final planet, I used lines of light blue and pink. Instead of twisting my hands when I put the magazine paper down, I ran my fingers back and forth across it. After that, I replaced the lid and put a spray of black across the bottom edge.

Once your planets are finished, and all of the lids are on, pick two or three colors and spray them anywhere you want. I chose orange and red, but other good colors for this are green, pink, and dark blues. After those colors are dry, you need to cover the whole paper with black. Don’t worry if the colors show through; that won’t make a very big difference.

If you want stars, you have a couple of options. You could use light blue, dark blue, red, white, yellow… I like to use light blue, white, and red. In this painting, I’m only using light blue. Over the cardboard box, spray the color you want for your stars onto your index finger. Quickly, before it dries, flick it onto the paper. you can create a lot of stars,
or none at all. It’s up to you.

Here’s where it gets kind of tricky – making the mountains. Spray a nice, even layer of gloss over where you want the mountains to be, and put down a piece of magazine paper. Gently but firmly, run your fingers over the paper and then peel it off. This is just your starting point- you can make the mountains any shape you want. If you have to, spray the gloss again before putting down another sheet of the paper. If you want, you can take a small piece of paper and lighten up certain areas, adding texture and shape to it.

Spray another layer of gloss over the top of your mountain. Take a tool (a small paint scraper will work, if it’s not too long) and gently scrape in little zigzags across where you sprayed the gloss, following the shape of the mountain. It takes some getting used to, but once you get it, it’s really easy.

Just below your zigzags, gently place your cardboard straightedge where you want your lake to be. I chose dark blue and light blue, but really you can use any color. Unlike the rest of the painting, start with the dark color this time. Spray it onto the paper in sort of an oval shape, not  touching the bottom or the sides. Pick up the straightedge, and wait for the dark color to dry. Once it has, put the straightedge back and spray your light color into the middle of the cardboard, so that you aren’t spraying directly onto the paper, and only the mist falls down onto it. Let it dry, and then cover the sides, corners, and bottom with black.

In the same way you made your mountains, make them again at the bottom and sides. Spray another layer of gloss, and scrape the paint in a zigzag.

 You can spray a white highlight behind one or all of the planets; leave the lids on and spray halfway onto the lids and halfway onto the paper. After that’s dry, you can remove your lids very carefully. Let the painting dry, and you’re done!

By Alex York, Young Observer staff blogger

As an early Christmas present last year, I got my first Smart Phone: iPhone 4S. I was immediately astounded by the wide range of features present in the device, and I also fell in love with many of the quirky details.

My experiences with the gadget have revealed many of these interesting traits that can be found in iPhones and other iDevices, as well. Some are buried beneath tons of coding while others are extremely prominent, but either way, they deserve to come out of the shadow of the more well-known features of Apple’s electronic tools.

One prominent feature of Apple’s products is Siri, a “personal assistant that helps you get things done just by asking,” to quote the Apple website. This definition is true; Siri will look up definitions, locate services on command, set reminders, make calls, and so on.  Although Siri seems to be all business at first, the program actually does have a sillier side.  For instance, if asked to tell a story, Siri will occasionally recite the tale of how a certain digital assistant got her job and learned to cope with the strange questions she must endure. Another humorous exchange takes place when a user inquires about the meaning of life; Siri sometimes responds, “42,” as a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Other times, she gives the literal definition of the word “life,” or declares that she will write a “very long play in which nothing happens,” possibly as a nod toward Samuel Beckett’s famous play, Waiting for Godot.

Siri does have her limitations, however. The voice recognition misinterprets speech quite frequently, leading Siri to prompt a web search for the misinterpreted phrase. This strange system also leads to emails and other documents to be written incorrectly, so users should be sure to check over messages before sending them. While Siri can be a pain at times because of the voice-to-text issue, playing around with the program is a lot of fun, especially for those unacquainted with the digital helper.

An even more advanced feature that has been implemented in many devices is iCloud.  This service allows data on a user’s iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or even computer to be uploaded to a virtual cache called the Cloud and then transferred to all of his or her other devices in an instant.  This can be really handy at times; photos taken with an iPhone can be sent automatically to computers for use in documents, apps downloaded on a laptop can be played on an iPad without the need to manually sync, and music purchased on or uploaded onto a computer can be listened to on an iPod without the hassle of cables. The Cloud has other miscellaneous functions as well, such as “Find My iPhone,” which, as the name suggests, can pinpoint the location of a lost device, and iWork, which can store documents, presentations, and spreadsheets from an associated computer.

This service is truly revolutionary, although it does have its drawbacks. The Photo Stream function, which shares photos and images between the devices, requires constant management in order to keep the sharing in check.  If users don’t keep an eye on what’s being transferred and what is not, unneeded and unwanted image files will quickly fill up devices with small memories, which deals a blow to the usability of iCloud.

One of the most complained about features of iDevices is Auto-Correction, commonly referred to as “AutoCorrect.” AutoCorrect acts like a spell check feature of the typical word processor in that it points out mistakes as they are made. This removes the burden of self-checking documents and messages and helps gets things done a bit quicker.  It does, however, frequently confuse misspelled words with other words with extremely different meanings, which has lead to whole websites dedicated to showcasing AutoCorrect’s clumsiness. While it can be annoying, aggravating and even somewhat amusing at times, it can be easily turned off, though its usefulness outweighs its flaws. However, there is one thing that AutoCorrect never picks up on, and that is foreign languages. After digging through the settings menu a bit, however, I did find a remedy to the problem which is entertaining in itself: foreign language keyboards. Many major languages have their own specialized keyboards stored within iDevices, with English being just one of them. Enabling different keyboards causes a new button to show up on the typeface, allowing instant language swapping. AutoCorrect even adapts to the language that is currently in use, increasing its functionality exponentially.  While this is useful for foreign language classes, international business, and other tasks which require non-English vocabulary, I enjoy using it to see how much funnier AutoCorrect acts when it doesn’t even understand the simplest English words typed!

Every piece of technology today has its quirks, be they helpful or hurtful, serious or silly.  Apple’s iDevices are no exception. From Siri’s pop culture references to AutoCorrect’s multilingual personas, new users will find surprises around every corner.