Celebrity Profile- Ron Perlman

By Mary Thornsberry

Some people who see the actor Ron Perlman in movies or Television probably don’t recognize him right away because Ron Perlman is best known for playing characters with lot of make-up I’m sure most peoples first reaction is “Where have I heard that voice that before?” because Ron Perlman might wear a lot of make-up but you will always be able to recognize his voice. some of my favorite Ron Perlman credits include the TV series Beauty and the Beast, Hellboy and Sons of Anarchy.

Ron Perlman was Born on April 13,1950 in Washington Heights, New York. Perlman started acting on the Theater stage up until 1981 when he was offered his first on screen roles a caveman in the film Quest for Fire the story of early humans struggle for fire. Perlman hoped that this film would give him the publicity he needed to start his acting career, but unfortunately Quest for Fire didn’t get the popularity he was hoping for. Perlman went back to the theater stage plus appearing in supporting roles on TV and film.

Perlman was on the verge of giving up acting all together because it wasn’t bringing in the money he needed when he was presented with a script for a new TV pilot called Beauty and the Beast Perlman told his manager not to send it because he didn’t want to play another character covered in make-up but his manager sent it anyway and when he read it he fell in love with the character of Vincent and couldn’t wait to get started. unlike the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast with talking teapots and dancing candle sticks the TV show is more of a modern reality take on Beauty and the Beast it tells the story of a District Attorney who falls in love with a half man/half beast who lives deep in the tunnels and catacombs under the city of New York. The show also starred Linda Hamilton the show was so popular it got picked up for a season 2 and even 3 but when Hamilton requested to leave the show her character was killed off and although they tried to replace the character the ratings dropped to much and Beauty and the Beast was cancelled after it’s third season, how ever Perlman didn’t leave the show empty handed he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an actor in a Television series. I love Beauty and the Beast so much. It has a kind of love and heart that I haven’t seen in a TV show since. They did do a reboot of the show in 2012 with the same title characters, but for the fans who watched the original show it didn’t have the same chemistry that the original had. After Beauty and the Beast Perlman was more recognize for his talent and went on to play roles in many films and television series such as The Adventures of Huck Finn, The Island of Dr. Moreau and Alien Resurrection. Perlman got his first lead film role in 2004 when he played the main character in the comic book adaption of Hellboy the story of a demon man who is raised by a demonologist and must save the earth from other demons, he later reprise his role as Hellboy in 2008 in the film’s sequel Hellboy: The Golden Army.

In the same year Perlman landed his second lead television role as Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy a show revolving around a close-knit motorcycle gang admire Ron Perlman as an actor and as a person there has been roomers of Perlman reprising is role once again for Hellboy 3 and I can’t wait!

Celebrity Tribute – John Hurt

By Mary Thornsberry

Sir John Hurt had been acting and performing for six decades. He had roles in 129 films with a dozen television roles so anyone who has a TV, a VCR or a DVD player will know who he is. I have always been a fan of John Hurt ever since I was a kid, in fact John Hurt was in the first monster movie I ever watched, Alien. Anyone who has seen that movie won’t be able to forget what character he played. He was the one who involuntarily brings the alien on board the ship. I’m not that familiar with John Hurt’s work before the movie Alien, probably because everything before Alien is just a little bit before my time. He got his first film role in 1962 and I wasn’t born until 1986.That isn’t to say I haven’t seen a lot of his films, I have quite a few favorites such as, Alien(1979), Harry Potter 1(2001), Hellboy(2004),V for Vendetta(2005) and the 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who The Day of the Doctor(2013).

John Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, In Chesterfield Derbyshire. At the age of 17 Hurt enrolled in Grimsby Art School where he studied Art. In 1959 he won a Scholarship allowing him to study for an Art Teacher’s diploma at Saint Martin’s School for Art in London.  Since I’m not that familiar with John Hurt’s early work I’ve decided to talk about my favorites of his work. First I’ll start with Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver and directed by Ridley Scott Alien is a Sci/Fi Horror story about a spaceship crew who are stalked and killed one by one by an aggressive and vicious extraterrestrial. This movie never scared me but that doesn’t me I don’t love it. It’s an amazing movie for its time, I think the scariest quality to the movie Alien is not the Alien itself but the idea of being stuck in outer space with a vicious killing machine and there is no escape. Although John Hurt is only in the film for about 30 minutes it’s still one of my favorites of his films.

John Hurt’s time in Harry Potter was even more short lived then his time in Alien but I love his character. Hurt played Mr. Ollivander the wand shop owner who sold Harry his first wand. Harry Potter is not the only one of John Hurt’s films that involves magic. Hellboy is a supernatural film starring Ron Perlman, the film tells the story of a demonic beast turned superhero who secretly works to keep the world safe from paranormal threats. John Hurt plays Professor Trevor Broom, the paranormal adviser who adopts Hellboy and raises Hellboy as his son.’

Hellboy is a really good movie. I love the spacial effects and the humor. In very few of my favorites does John Hurt play a villain but that does not mean he wasn’t good at it. Unlike in Alien, Harry Potter and Hellboy in which John Hurt played an innocent and harmless character in V for Vendetta he plays a character thats just evil.

Starring Natalie Portman, V for Vendetta is the story of a vigilante who is out for revenge against the people who hurt him. John Hurt plays the evil politician who is trying to track down the vigilante. With films Alien, Harry Potter, and Hellboy under his belt John hurt was no stranger to science fiction On November 25,2013 John Hurt guest starred on the 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who. In which David Tennent (the 10th Doctor) and Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor) are reunited with their previously regenerated counter part the War Doctor (John Hurt). I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, so when I found out that John Hurt was going to be in the anniversary episode I got really exited and he made a great Doctor. I hoped that they would bring him back at some point but unfortunately on January 25,2017 John Hurt passed away from cancer, I had read a couple of years ago that he was suffering from cancer but when I didn’t hear anything more I hoped that meant he had beaten it. Unfortunately I was wrong.  What I find really ironic is that the morning John Hurt passed away I was watching the movie Hellboy and his character is actually dying of cancer. John Hurt’s films have been in my life for as long as I can remember, it’s strange to think that he’ll never make another one, I’ll miss him but at the same time I’m glad he is not in pain from his illness anymore.

Celebrity Review – Chris Colfer

I first saw Chris Colfer on Glee and I was immediately drawn his character because I was able to relate to his character, I became a true fan of Chris Colfer when I heard his speech when he won his Golden Globe. “Most importantly, to all the amazing kids that watch our show and the kids that our show celebrates, who are constantly told ‘no’ by the people in their environments, by bullies at school that they can’t be who they are or have what they want because of who they are. Well, screw that, kids,” Colfer said. I was bullied and to hear someone stand up and call bullies out on their stuff really meant a lot to me. I’m writing this article so other people can read it and discover the amazing person Chris Colfer is. Chris Colfer, Best known for his role as Kurt Hummel on the hit TV show Glee is an actor, singer, producer and author. In 2011 he won a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a Series, Miniseries, Television or film.

In April of 2012 Colfer wrote, produced and Starred in his first film Struck by Lightning a coming of age comedy-drama about a young high school senior trying to get out of his small town life. In July of the same year Colfer’s first novel The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell hit bookshelf’s world wide and became a New York Times #1 best seller over night. The Land of Stories is the story of 2 twins Alex and Connor Bailey who inherit a magic Fairy Tale book from their grandmother that transports them the fairy tale world. Colfer is now on his 5th Land of Stories book and they continue to stay on The New York Times best seller list Colfer as also written 2 books and 2 children’s picture books set in the world of The Land of Stories they are entitled The Mother Goose Diaries, Queen Red Riding Hood’s Guid to Royalty, The Curvy Tree and Trollbella Throws a Party among these Colfer has also included A Treasury of Fairy Tales Colfer’s 6th Land of Stories book is due to be released in July of 2017. I have read every one of his books and I look forward to them every year his characters are so fun and colorful and they are so much fun  to read he writes in such a way that you get so wound up in the story that you feel like you’re really on the journey with these characters. Chris Colfer was born May 27, 1990 in Colvis, California. his first TV role came in 2009 when he auditioned for a character named Artie Abrams on Glee although the show’s creator Ryan Murphy felt that Colfer was not right for Artie he was so impressed with Colfer’s Performance that he wrote in a character Colfer called Kurt Hummel, the name Kurt came about because Colfer played Kurt in The Sound of Music when he was in high school. In July of 2013 the cast and crew of Glee received a terrible shock when one of the stars of the show Cory Monteith who played Finn Hudson died of a drug overdose, they later gave Monteith a farewell episode entitled the Quarterback at the beginning of the fifth season. Chris Colfer continues to blow the media away since his first appearance on Glee Colfer has become a Golden Globe winner, a best selling author and a producer and I think we can expect even more from him in the future.

Chapter 1

By Acadia Arneson

~~Aniraina​~~ A long time ago, there was peace in a land of castles, and animals. This magical land was everything you could ever dream of! There was no bad heart in the kingdom and everyone was very nice to one another. This place was called Aniraina​! ~~Present Day 2016​~~ In a Starbucks coffee shop in New York City, there was a girl named Jackie. She had been working there for a few months because she wanted to get some extra cash. It was almost time to go home and she had to lock up for the day. At that moment a person wearing a long cloak covering the face came into the shop. “Hello, welcome to Starbucks. We are closing up now but we open tomorrow at 6 AM.” Jackie was shocked to see a weird person in a cloak. The person smiled and said “I have something that you might be interested in.” Jackie was terrified! The man laughed, “Don’t be frightened child, I’m only here as a messenger. What I have here is a special card that you will enjoy.” The man in black handed over a card that had Jackie’s name on it. He said “Go to the place listed above and there you will find your answers.” Jackie took the card and looked at it. It had animals on it and had an address that was near her home. Jackie was confused, as it was in an abandoned building. Jackie was scared that this was a trick, but before she could say anything, the man was gone. She looked around the building and found nothing. So she locked up for the night and headed for home. ~~The next day​~~ Jackie woke up feeling really strange. She remembered that a man in a long black cloak came and gave her a card with an address on it. She was curious as to why she was given the card. So as she was getting ready for her day (as she was not working today) her cell phone notified her that she received an unknown text message. The text said “Come to the abandoned building at 10 am. I will tell you everything when you come.” Jackie was really curious and scared now. Should she risk her life and go to the building or should she call the police and report him? Well, she was curious to see what the man in black wanted to talk about even though he was a creeper. So she decided to go to the building. She brought along some pepper spray just in case. She walked to the building and stared at it. She nervously twisted her short brown hair. The building was old and falling apart at the seams. Jackie went inside to find the man from the night before waiting there for her. The room was big and had broken stuff everywhere. Jackie went to the man and asked the question that had plagued her dreams all night. “Who are you?” The man, who was facing the wall, turned around and saw Jackie looking scared and curious at the same time. He smiled and said in a calming voice, “Ahh you made it. Good. Now to answer your question…” He dropped the cloak he was wearing and stepped into the light. Jackie was stunned! There was an animal standing there! Jackie blinked and blinked her bright blue eyes again. She could not believe what she was seeing and took off her glasses to clean them. There, standing in front of her was an animal with human-like features. The animal that was standing on two legs was a lion!! Jackie felt her legs buckle and she fell to her knees. She looked up at the lion and fainted, but before she hit the ground, the lion caught her and picked her up. The lion then took Jackie into his arms and disappeared from the building. ~~Aniraina​~~ The lion and Jackie appeared in front of a huge castle! The lion gently placed Jackie on the ground and walked to the nearby river to fill a cup of water. He then walked back to her and saw that Jackie had woken up and was looking around. Jackie heard footsteps and looked towards the sound, and saw the lion holding a glass of water for her. Jackie took the offered cup and drank it, feeling the cool water go down her throat. She put the cup down and while she looked around asked, “Where are we? Weren’t we in the abandoned warehouse just a few seconds ago?” The lion helped Jackie up and said “Welcome Jackie to Aniraina​!” As the lion said this Jackie was speechless. Somehow she was in a entirely different world! Jackie knew she wasn’t in New York anymore. Jackie was scared! She thought that this must be a dream or that she might have bumped her head too hard when she fainted. The lion then told Jackie to follow him. Jackie had a lot of questions that needed to be answered. As they were walking to the castle, Jackie asked the first question that came to her mind. “Um, not to be rude or anything but who are you and what are we doing here?” The lion chuckled and said “My name is Shiku Corryn but you can call me Shiki.” Jackie laughed and said, “Shiku means lion’s roar right?” Shiki laughed and said, “That’s right my friend.” As they were talking, they ended up in a large castle. The castle gave a sense of warm welcoming as they entered the building. Shiki showed Jackie to a large table where the other animals were waiting for them. The animals stood up as they came closer to the table. The fox, who looked like the leader, came over to where Shiki and Jackie were, bowed and said in a sweet voice like honey, “Welcome to Aniraina. My name is Nixeum but you may call me Nix for short. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Nix took Jackie’s hand and kissed it before letting go. Next the wolf came and introduced himself in a calm manner. “Hello I’m Frosty, it’s very nice to meet you as well. I hope that you will like being here.” The cheetah came over next feeling really happy and excited to meet a real live human. “Hiya I’m Max but friends call me Maxie! I’m so very pleased to meet you!” Max shook Jackie’s hand feeling exhilarated. The owl came in last landing nearby on a chair, looking at Jackie suspiciously said, “… I’m Sage.” Jackie was surprised at how Sage sounded. Jackie took note to not bother Sage anymore than necessary because of his tone of voice. Jackie then looked around the castle. It was roomy with a huge fireplace at the end of the wall. Shiki got everyone’s attention and with a serious expression said, “The reason why I have brought Jackie is so that she can help us”. Jackie was confused as was everyone else besides Shiki and Nix, who seemed to know what was going on. Shiki then told everyone what was wrong with the world. He said that someone from the animal kingdom was in the human world where Jackie was and needed to be stopped. Jackie listened intently as this was really confusing to say the least. It was too much for her to handle and she promptly fainted. Shiki caught her before she fell then turned to the others. Nix looked at Shiki and shook his head, “We should put Jackie in one of the spare bedrooms until morning. She still needs to rest.” Shiki nodded and told everyone that the meeting was done. Everyone left except Nix and Shiki. When Jackie was safe in the bedroom and they were assured that she was asleep, Shiki and Nix went to the Great Room to talk. Nix turned to Shiki and said, “Do you think that Jackie is the right person to be helping us with the mission?” Shiki reassured Nix and said,” She’s unpredictable and she has a creative mind that will be useful in the mission. We can help her with her weaknesses and make them into her strengths.” Nix nodded and went to prepare the room where Jackie would be training in. END OF CHAPTER 1! Next time we explore more of the mission,Jackie’s training and the villain’s purpose.CHapter