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The College Press

————-Friday, 20th December 2013 Issue 3 Volume 9—————

The Christmas Issue

It’s Christmas!

Eat, Sleep, Christ-mas ... Repeat!

Back to the 80’s

Christmas

top 12!

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College Press Editorial Team

Editors: Eveanna Sutton & Amy Farrell

Student Contributors:

Special Thanks To: Mr.

Doyle

Cara Mooney

Sam Burke

Ciara Maher

Sorcha Lavelle Walsh

Eveanna Sutton

Rachel Thornton

Aoife Kavanagh

Emily Blake

A Huge thank you to

all the cast of “Back to

the 80’s” ... You made

me very proud :-)

Mr Miyagi

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How many gifts are there in total in the 12 Days of Christ-

mas?

If you were to receive all the presents in the song, you'd get 364! Day 1 - receive 1 gift Day 2 - receives 3 additional gifts, making 4 total gifts Day 3 - receives 6 additional gifts, making 10 total gifts Day 4 - receives 10 additional gifts, making 20 total gifts Day 5 - receives 15 additional gifts, making 35 total gifts Day 6 - receives 21 additional gifts, making 56 total gifts Day 7 - receives 28 additional gifts, making 84 total gifts Day 8 - receives 36 additional gifts, making 120 total gifts Day 9 - receives 45 additional gifts, making 165 total gifts Day 10 - receives 55 additional gifts, making 220 total gifts Day 11 - receives 66 additional gifts, making 286 total gifts Day 12 - receives 78 additional gifts, making 364 total gifts received.

Happy Christmas everyone, enjoy the holiday and come back

refreshed in the New Year. I hope 2014 will be a very pro-

ductive one for all.

Christmas Message

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Budget- friendly Christmas gifts

Well here we are friends, bang smack in the middle of CHRISTMAAASSS, prepare yourselves for Christmas jumpers, trees fully kitted out in all their Christmas splendour, the twinkling lights on Grafton street, Starbucks famous Christmas coffee, elaborate decorations, all those same cheery songs stuck on repeat for the festive season and of course there’s no for-getting the long awaited Christmas dinner. Yep, it’s crazy and right about now you’re probably trying to figure out what to give fam-ily and friends! So, in the hopes of not spend-ing too much here’s a list of great Christmas ideas on a budget.

#1: Christmas Jumpers from Penney’s - this festive gift will only set you back €15 and

is a must have this Christmas! #2 Mini Company- why not check out the

range of products offered by all transition year students at very reasonable prices.

#3: Festive treats- put together an assortment of loved ones favourite Christmas treats;

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they’ll appreciate the thought and effort you put in!

#4: Pampering in a jar - warm fuzzy socks, lip balm, hand lotion or bubble bath, and some

chocolates. Add a bit of ribbon and a tag, very cute idea for women.

#5: Christmas Oreos- this one may not sound too appealing but who doesn’t love Oreos?!

Especially winter holiday Oreos! #6: Photo Album- put together an album of all

his/her favourite pictures of you together and trust me they will be very happy with

their gift!

I hope these ideas were helpful for every-one.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

By Cara Mooney

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The Ten Films of Christmas

Have I mentioned yet that I love Christmas? No? Well I’m going to now, I

love Christmas! If I could marry Christmas, I would (and trust me I’ve looked

into it). But the only thing I love more than Christmas is movies. So I’ll cut

right to the chase and tell you the ten movies you need to watch this Christ-

mas.

Home Alone: When you get past all the slapstick and some of the throw

away jokes, home Alone is a very likable Christmas movie. I love the family

element in this film, especially the mother and what psychotic lengths she’ll

go to get her son back. This could have been just a slapstick comedy, but they

treated it seriously, giving it a lot of heart and soul.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947): This movie really knows how to portray

Santa Clause, in that he’s not just a chubby, jolly guy, he’s sophisticated and

dignified. It’s basically about a man who believes he’s Santa and so a court

case is drawn out to see if he is or not. The actors are the people who make

this film, making it very charming and elegant. A bit of class and taste is just

what Santa ordered in this holiday classic.

It’s a Wonderful Life: The story of how one man’s life can affect so many

people is heartwarming one to say the least. This film knows how to give us

what it promises; making us realize what a wonderful life we live, especially

around Christmas. Even after sixty-seven years “It’s a Wonderful life” still

proves to be a wonderful Christmas movie.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: A lot like Home Alone, this film

knows how to combine the annoyances and charm of staying home for Christ-

mas. What makes this film great is that it focuses on a lot of details, like mul-

tiple family conversations all happening at once. Funny, detailed and captur-

ing every Christmas moment, Christmas Vacation knew how to expose this

holiday for the lovable curse that it is.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: It’s funny how a lot of Christmas films

focus on the negative. Take the Grinch for example, he’s literally stealing

Christmas, and the whole film is just showing in great detail how he does it.

But all the negativity pays off when he realizes that he can’t steal Christmas,

and that it’s something deeper than he could have imagined, as he realizes in

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the end.

A Christmas Carol: Which one? Any of them. There are literally dozens of

versions to choose from, and even some of the crappy one’s have some ele-

ment of good in them, simply because their using a story that’s timeless,

memorable and unforgettable. Live action, animated or even using puppets,

the films are perfect any time for any generation.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: You know what I love? Tim Burton.

And no film of his shines brighter than this spectacular, musical classic. Just

about everything in this film is memorable, the characters, the songs even the

sets. Owe it to yourself to sit down and watch it, it’s one of the greats.

Elf: What’s the one thing that makes this movie work so well? Will Feral.

Everything about his character is likable, is innocence, his naivety, his en-

ergy, every time you see him doing something stupid on screen you can’t

help but smile, he’s just so delightfully annoying. Nothing much to say other

than sometimes one funny man can make a really funny movie.

Die Hard: It counts, it counts! It takes place at Christmas therefore it’s a

Christmas movie. For anyone saying “but this movie has nothing to do with

the spirit of Christmas”, to that I say, “it’s Die Hard”. This movie kicks ass,

but it kicks even more ass at Christmas. It even ends on the song “let it

snow”, how many action movies end on “let it snow”?.....aside from Die

Hard 2, but Die Hard is better.

A Christmas Story: This is a Christmas movie that seems to have every-

thing, heart, innocence and above all, a lot of humor. It manages to capture

everything there is about being a self centered but also innocent kid at Christ-

mas, the excitement, the build up even the daydreaming. It’s like a dream and

a memory, trying to keep the spirit of childhood innocence alive as we all get

older, and it hits it right on the head perfectly.

By Sam Burke

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EAT SLEEP CHRISTMAS REPEAT 5 things to do over the Christmas season.

#1 Sleep Two weeks can be a very long time, particularly when spent mostly in a house that is preparing as though they got the dates for Christmas and Armageddon confused. It is advised that in the interests of self-preservation you retreat to your bedroom and spend as much time as possible in the happy world of dreamland. If at any stage you wake up and it is not December 25th, simply turn the pillow over and sink back to sleep. Disadvantage: it is more difficult to eat while you are asleep (see point #3)

#2 Prepare for the New Year The trick to this task is to remember to aim low and avoid disappoint-ment. Use the extra time over the holidays to set your goals for 2014 and all the ways in which you will self-improve. Admirable resolutions include exercising (your imagination) every day and remembering to write 2014 instead of 2013 as the date.

#3 Food, Glorious Food Christmas is a special time of year where mankind joins in heightening spirits and spreading goodwill through the miracle of food. If it is green/red/white, has the word “pie” in it, or contains more sugar than you are advised to eat in one day, it is not only acceptable but compulsory to consume it. Selection boxes have been scientifically proven to taste 73% better when you reassure yourself that “I’m going on a diet for the new year” … even when it’s January 2nd.

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#4 Do what you’ve been putting off The past few weeks have been filled with “productive” school activi-ties, “beneficial” learning and “necessary” studying. Such tasks have no doubt been taking away from other aspects of your life, so use this time wisely to catch-up on things you’ve been slipping behind on. If you have yet to watch an entire season of Breaking Bad in a day, haven’t spent a minimum of three hours clicking every sugges-tion YouTube offers or asked yourself if a chocolate Santa breaks in the forest, does anyone even eat it, it is time to re-evaluate your pri-orities.

#5 Nothing Doing nothing is cheap, easy and often you can eat while you do it (at this stage eating shouldn’t count as doing something because it should be like breathing to you. If not, you’re doing it wrong). The cold weather makes it the perfect time to chill… ouch. By Ciara Maher

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I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when it became

known that this year’s musical was ‘Back to the 80’s’,

many of us and myself included, didn’t really know what

to expect! Once again I think I can safely say how pleas-

antly surprised both the audiences from the matinee and

evening shows were!

The show kicked off as an explosion of colour hit the

stage with ‘We’re the kids in America’. As each perform-

ance progressed, the cast, who had been working tire-

lessly for weeks, seemed to get more and more into their

characters and even some ‘add-libbing’ was introduced

with a subtle “I bruise like a peach!” from the heroic Fer-

gal (Austin Mahony). New and previously undiscovered

talents were displayed such as Billy (Tom Finn) who put

the mean girl of the show Cyndi (Jade Silke-fetherston)

in her place with his truly electric dance moves. Also I

think the shrieks from the audience on Friday night will

support me when I say there was a moment of “wow”

when Mr. Cocker (Charlie Lawlor) sang his first note. It

was also great to see two new faces playing the leading

roles of Corey Palmer, both the younger and older ver-

sion. (Mike Joyce and John Boyle) And of course some

familiar displays of talent from Tiffany Houston (Bronagh

Nugent).

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Of course this spectacular display of energy wouldn’t

have been possible without an endless list of support

from teachers, from Ms O’Brien and her high range of

contribution including prompting, directing of the band,

oh and I suppose a bit of piano in between, to Ms Lene-

han and her annual display of expert organisation that

at times would put Monica Gellar to shame. However, I

feel a special mention should go out to one particular

teacher who cameo-d in the fight scene between Fergal

and Michael Feldman (Cian Lavelle-Walsh)… For those

of you who unfortunately missed the show, I would like

to inform you of a distinct and familiar voice that

boomed through the sound system, creating immense

tension, all hidden behind the name Mr Miyagi. I will

now reveal to you that it was none other than…… Mr

Ger Doyle who also directed the musical. (And basically

re wrote the entire second act) The “Doyle Stamp”, as I

like to refer to it, was sprinkled throughout the show

with lines such as “#britney” thrown in.

Overall it was really a fantastic show. I was lucky

enough to see all five performances and it seemed to

get better every night! Very well done to everyone in-

volved and to those who can, we hope to see you per-

forming again next year!

One final word… As the first matinee came to a close a

junior infant student came up to me and said “That was

the best day of my life! Can we watch it again?” Job

well done!

By Sorcha Lavelle-Walsh

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T.Y. Mini Company Fair Last Wednesday, 11th December 2013, transition year

students held their mini-company fair where a wide va-

riety of products were sold and purchased by the stu-

dents and teachers of the school.

From the start of the year, the T.Y. mini-companies have

put in much hard work and effort to think of, create and

source the product which they believed could make a

successful business. One may think this is easy, but trust

me, it is not! Firstly, thinking of an innovative yet realis-

tic idea is much trickier than it sounds, especially in a

group of people with different interests. Then continuing

on to find the funds and supplier to get/make your prod-

uct is even more difficult. However, despite these obsta-

cles, many students managed to turn a creative idea into

what will be a successful business and this was shown at

the fair.

Although many products deserve a mention, there were

a few that stood out and if you haven`t heard about them

already, I`m sure you will be very impressed by what

some groups have achieved.

Polar pockets, a company who created a thermal pocket

for the inside of sports shorts so that consumers hands

can keep warm during matches and training on harsh

winter days. In this group we have Jordan Duggan, Mi-

chael Dillon, Paul Crummey and Kevin Dunphy all in

TYA. It goes without saying that this is an inventive

idea and one which I`m sure will be very popular with

those who play sports. Shorts are supplied by Kukri, a

top brand which would make them a very wise invest-

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ment especially in the cold weather we are having at the

moment!

Another group with an original idea is Shuggs. Shuggs are

fleece lined insoles that slip into any shoe to keep toes

warm and cosy in the typically freezing Irish weather. Not

only will this product keep your feet nice and toasty

(especially useful come January when we`re back in

school and you can`t wear uggs) shuggs are also very rea-

sonably priced only costing 5 euro a pair. If you want

more details about this company, contact Blathnaid Cor-

less, Laura Hannon, Ornaith Mahon, Kiera Cross or Ciara

Kiely all in TYF.

I don`t think I could talk about T.Y. mini companies with-

out mentioning Niamh O`Donnels`(TYB) Pink and

Smokey make-up brushes. Pink and Smokey is a set of

make-up brushes for the remarkable cost of 20 euro. To

purchase this product you can approach Niamh herself or

you can visit Neeba hair and beauty studio Cutlery Road

where brushes are stocked. This would make a perfect

Christmas present as while brushes are cheap they are also

great quality and have been praised by none other than

Ryan Tubridy who Niamh had the opportunity to meet.

Unfortunately, there are many other great companies but I

cannot write about them all. I think everyone`s hard work

should be recognised and I think it is fair to say that over-

all the fair was a success with a few young entrepreneurs

discovered!

By Eveanna Sutton

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The Uniform Rule

I have a dream; a dream that’s quite clear

But I think it applies to every year,

Where I can wander the halls and wander the school

Without living in fear of “The Uniform Rule”

Where I can wear a coat when it’s cold outside

Where I can go to class with my tie untied

Without getting lectured and treated like a fool,

Without living in fear of “The Uniform Rule”

There’s no need to be tough, there’s no need to be picky,

And you won’t solve anything by flipping the bickie,

‘Cause your bad ticks are soul-crushing, your detentions are cruel,

Why go to this trouble for “The Uniform Rule”?

So loosen the reigns, cut us some slack,

We’ll become a mindless sea of grey and black!

You talk about equality; well “equality” ain’t cool,

When we’re all equally miserable with “The Uniform Rule”

So let us wear Docs and white-toe shoes,

Throw a splash of colour on the black-and-grey blues,

And we’ll show you style; we’ll glitter like a jewel!

When you lighten the weight of “The Uniform Rule”

By Rachel Thornton

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CHRISTMAS

Carols bring sung

Holly being hung

Reindeer flying here and there

Icicles hanging everywhere

Stockings pinned up by the fire

Toys for every heart’s desire

Magic dancing in the air

Ask for presents – if you dare

Santa leaves gifts, to show he cares.

By Aoife Kavanagh

Friends

Some friends are small, other are tall. Some friends are

chubby, others love their mummy. Some friends have fun,

others chew gum. Some friends smell, others might go to

hell. Some friends doubt themselves, others are just special

elves. The one thing that your friends won’t doubt is when

you’re around, they are safe and sound. Although they some-

times may not show it, they love you a ginormous bit, and

when I sit here, that becomes crystal clear. Merry Christmas ;

-)

Emily Blake

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'Twas The Day After Christmas (David Frank) 'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the

house

Children sat slack-jawed, bored on the couch.

Wrappings and toys littered the floor,

An incredible mess that I did abhor.

With Mom in her robe and I in my jeans,

We waded in to get the place clean.

When suddenly the doorbell: it started to clatter,

I sprang to the Security-View to check out the matter.

The new-fallen snow, now blackened with soot,

Was trampled and icy and treacherous to foot.

But suddenly in view, did I gasp and pant:

An unhappy bill collector and eight tiny accountants.

The door flew open and in they came,

Stern-looking men with bills in my name.

On Discover, on Visa, on American Express,

On Mastercard too, I sadly confess,

Right to my limits, then beyond my net worth,

Over the top I had charged, in a frenzy of mirth.

The black-suited men, so somber, so strict,

I wondered why me that they had first picked.

They stared at me with a look I couldn't miss,

That said "Buddy, when are you for paying for this?"

I shrugged my shoulders, but then I grew bolder,

Went to the cabinet and pulled out a folder.

"As you can see," I said with a smile,

"It's bankruptcy that I'll have to file!"

And with a swoop of my arm, my middle digit extended

I threw the bills in the fire: the matter had ended.

The scent of burnt ash came to my nose,

As up the chimney my credit-worthiness rose.

Without another word they turned and walked out,

Got into their limos, but one gave a shout:

"You may think that's the answer to all of your fears,

Miscelleny

Well done to the Sen-

ior Rugby team, you

have done yourselves,

your mentors and

your school proud.