The Marines: otherwise known as the number one cause of paranoia in gamers. Every time you meet someone in the game that is supposed to help you, they die. Walking down dark corridors with just a flash light, a pistol, and a machine gun with such bad accuracy you couldn’t even hit a billboard from 20 feet away. As I slowly creep my way down a hallway, an alien drops down from the ceiling, then two from around the corner and then one more from out of a hole in the wall. After being dramatically ripped to pieces, I violently set the controller down and walked away. Upon my return I changed the difficulty to easy and my paranoia regressed to a stable level. My advice to you: dark rooms, hallways, or any other place where you need a flash light should be avoided because death is eminent. As the Marine death is eminent everywhere, because everywhere you go is one of the areas listed above.

The Predator: finally a dream comes true. While watching AVP and AVPR I always wished that I could run around invisible with a giant laser atop my shoulder. Although it’s awesome, it’s not the best it could be, being the Predator is way too hard. If a Marine catches you while you’re visible, then every single Marine instantly knows where you are even after you’ve fled the area, become invisible, and returned to a completely different spot. If the laser from your gun hits a Marines back, apparently they know its there and turns around to shoot you. The Predator can only jump onto ledges if he is close enough and if the ledge isn’t too high. The Predator’s gun has to be recharged after every few uses which happens to be as annoying as it is just plain stupid, alien technology shouldn’t have to be recharged. Stealth is something the Predator is supposed to be good at but in the game it’s impossible to achieve.

The Alien: fun for the whole family. The Alien is probably the more entertaining of the three: climbing on walls, running across the ceiling, hiding in the dark and then launching across the room to grab a Marine and rip em’ to shreds. Okay so maybe not fun for the whole family, just the guys. The Alien allows you to do much more than the other two, like running on any surface in the game and getting to use the tiny mouth inside your mouth to bite people. Also certain unarmed civilians can be harvested, in which you pin them to the ground and attach a facehugger to them and impregnate them with baby aliens. The darkness is your friend and you should cherish it deeply. If there is no darkness, you can smash lights to make it that way. Also fire is not your friend, crispy fried alien is not good.

Now online gives you a very similar feeling to the game. It has all the fundamentals of the three campaigns, meaning the Alien is fun, the Marine is scary and intense, and the Predator is ridiculous and annoying. Different game modes like: Deathmatch, which is just marine vs. marine while Hunt is marine vs. predator and Infestation is marine vs. alien and acts like Halo 3 infection games. Also Deathmatch splits into Mixed Species and Species which adds to the fun factor of the game overall.

My recommendation: Rent It. The campaigns are really short and after that all there is to do is multiplayer which is very difficult to rank up in. Don’t get me wrong the game is a blast but there is very little replay value. If you like the game a lot then maybe buy it.

My class enters the halls around the varsity gym and we hear our teacher tell us to take our shoes off and get in a line, boys on one side of the hall and girls on the other. As I’m doing this I start to think that we’re in some clinic. My teacher writes down our height and weight while we wait for everyone to finish.

Next are the push-ups and sit-ups. I honestly believe they went easier on us this year than last year with the sit-ups. Last year we had to go all the way up, while this year we only had to touch our knees and go back down. (The push-ups on the other hand, are still the same.) It’s my turn for the sit-ups and I ready myself. “Up, down,” I hear the man on the CD say. 47 go by and surprisingly, I maxed out for the guys. “Hmm, that was easier than I thought.” The push-ups are next and I always despise these. I pass by 15 and boys and girls in my class have already given up. By 21, I really see no point in going on, so I stop. Shockingly, I look up and there are only a few people left. My teacher tells us we’re done for the day, and my whole class releases a sigh of relief.

Wednesday comes by quicker than I had hoped. My class takes the walk to the P.E. Gym to start the pacer test. I wait to be in the second group to and watch the first. They start quitting by 20 laps, and soon, the last one stops at 44. My group is next. We line up and wait for the man on the CD to start us off. The ring goes off and I run across with ease. By lap 15, I start to breathe a little heavier, and for some reason my mind tells me to stop at 22.

Here, the Fitness Gram has a bad popularity among the students; I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the same all across the state. The students really see no point in it and just think it is an excuse for the state to make us go through strenuous exercises. We are already pulled out of classes for TAKS tutoring and other things, so there really is no point to pull us out and tell us how fit we are as most of us already know.

Like many seniors, waking up in the morning is the first battle. How easy it would be to say my alarm didn’t go off, or to feign sickness. More often than not, I only come to school to avoid making up the work I would have missed otherwise. When I do eventually clamber out of bed, I stumble around getting dressed, hoping I get ready in time to catch the ride from my friend Drew Gassiot.

I show up to second period. I say second as I take first period off every day. My stated reason: No one should get up that early and not get paid for it. My real reason: I want to be out of school for as much as possible. So I climb the staircase to either Shack’s or Deatherage’s and I plop down in my chair. The next 90 minutes are spent either attempting to make wise cracks at Shack or plowing through an simple Economics exercise.

Third period arrives and I slowly walk to the other side of the school. My friends ask me what’s wrong in the halls or in class. I don’t feel like anything is wrong with me that day in particular, but I am asked in nearly every class. Walking from the second floor to the fine arts section, I dodge in and out of the crowd. I make it to class and ease into the office or the table in Ferman’s room.

Fourth period. As I stare at the computer screen in the Editor’s office and wait for time to pass, I realize how much I really do not want to be here. It’s not that I don’t have passion for journalism, I know how important the work done here can be. But I also know my rank is locked, I’ve been accepted to the college I wished for, and June could not get here any faster.

So if a senior seems really down or really excited it is not because of a good or a bad day, it’s because it is our senior year, and we are all ready to leave high school, go to college and get on with our lives.

Both staffs know they have earned the award, but CSPA will announce whether the Crown is a Gold Crown or Silver at the award ceremony.

“Really, it’s a huge honor just to receive an award,” Journalism Adviser Leland Mallett said. “I don’t really care what we get. I’m just proud Legacy is getting two.”

The staff has never received a national award, and Editor-in-Chief Gregory Uribe sees winning the awards as long overdue.

“It’s nice to finally get the recognition we deserve,” Uribe said. “My staff has worked hard this year and the award is a symbol of their dedication.

Even though it took two years for Legacy journalism to earn an award, Online Editor Will Ritchie believes it was all a process leading up to the success of this year.

“The first year was just getting started, the second year was to keep it going, and this past year was more exploring what we can do,” Ritchie said.

While Uribe and Ritchie go to New York to pick up the award, Managing Editor Aaron Sakowski looks forward to having the opportunity to experience New York’s signature food.

“The best thing about winning a Crown Award is that we get to go to New York and get New York style pizza,” Sakowski said.

In the midst of fun in New York, the staff has a purpose for the New York trip. Like Uribe, Yearbook Editor Erica Brockway feels the Yearbook Crown Award reflects all the work put into the book.

“Our yearbook was very bold. It stood out from the rest,” Brockway said. “A lot of time and effort went into that book. We deserve the Crown.”

The follow-up, 2010’s Pieces of a Real Heart, is no such masterpiece. With the release of their fifth full-length record, the band are seasoned musicians and songwriters who clearly know what they’re doing: they’ve learned fairly well how to put 2+2 together and form well-crafted pop tunes. But the inspiration needed to create moving and powerful Christian music isn’t present at all. Stylistically, the music retreads past ground, with melodies rarely having any true emotion and the lyrics barely having anything new to say. It’s not hard to fall for the catchy hook and chugging guitars of “Take Over Me” or to enjoy the story of a growing child in “I’ll Show You How to Live,” but the album is just a template with no lasting effect.

The album’s brightest spot is “Dear Heart,” with its quirky indie-pop feel and its revelatory lyrics:  “Dear heart, do you belong to me or do I belong to you? I’ve heard it said to follow your heart, but oh heart, you’ve let me down, chasing love where it can’t be found.” But even if this song were perfect, it is not redeeming enough to save an album from a band that has produced truly inspired and moving work in the past. In the end, an album could never be recommended when it advertises a real heart and in fact has no heart at all.

2.5 out of 5 stars