Talladega Frights Presents: My Bloody Valentine

By Tyler Goucher

Reporter

February 4, 2015

Filed under Campus, Features

Bakersfield College: The Renegade Rip Newspaper

Scared that your girlfriend might kill you if you don’t make plans for Valentine’s Day? Why not scare her right into your arms instead. Talladega Frights, the Central Valley’s biggest haunted attraction, which is located inside the Kern County Museum, is hosting their second annual My Bloody Valentine event this Valentine’s Day weekend. 

Among the various haunted attractions, there will also be several contests and a dance party hosted by a professional DJ.

One of the contests that have been mentioned on Talladega Fright’s Facebook page is a costume contest with the theme of “Your Favorite Slasher.”

Contestants have the chance to win a Valentine’s Day package that will include dinner for two and a movie. Romeo, from The Romeo Show, of Hot 94.1, will also be hosting a contest that will award lucky listeners the chance to spend Valentine’s Day with special transportation and VIP access to the My Bloody Valentine event.

This year, approximately 80 new and returning cast members will be contributing to make your Valentine’s Day experience one you will never forget. Co-owner Dana Martin mentioned that this will be the last special event that Talladega Frights will be hosting until the Halloween season, so the turnout is expected to be grand.

Although the event is tailored around a “couples” holiday, there are more than enough reasons for single people and/or groups of friends to attend. According to Martin, “whether or not you have a date on Valentine’s Day, this gives everyone something to look forward to.”

This Valentine’s Day weekend, Talladega Frights welcomes everyone to have frightening good time at its second annual special event, My Bloody Valentine.

Cost per person each night will be $20. Special discounts may be available at www.talladegafrights.com

- See more at: http://www.therip.com/features/2015/02/04/have-a-horror-filled-valentines-day-at-talladega-frights/#sthash.p5R51GQu.dpuf

Don't Funk Up Our Beats Contest

By Tyler Goucher

Reporter

April 3, 2013

Filed under Features

Bakersfield College: The Renegade Rip Newspaper

Funk Volume, an independent label founded by rapper Marcus Hopson, recently hosted its fifth annual, “Don’t Funk Up Our Beats,” contest that ended with stellar results.

The contest is a huge opportunity for up-and-coming hip-hop artists to showcase their talent for a chance to get major exposure. They can also win up to $2500 and an opening spot for a Funk Volume show.

In order to participate, contestants had to purchase and download one of Funk Volume’s exclusive beats, record a music video for their original performance, and submit their entry to the official Funk Volume Facebook page.

With over 2,000 entries from all over the world, this year’s competition was extremely difficult for both fans, and Funk Volume members to judge.

On March 11 the voting opened up for fans allowing people to support their favorite entries.

On March 24 voting ended, narrowing down the some 2,000 entries to 25 finalists who would then be judged by the Funk Volume team and narrowed down to the top 3 entries.

With so many talented submissions that made it into the top 25, many fans and voters were upset with the results of the top three.

Taking third place with his untitled entry from Denmark, rapper Eiqu showcased a relatively typical approach to the hip-hop genre and seemed to lack in lyrical content.

“He sounds like he’s trying to sound like SwizZz,” said voter Jarred Adams. “And he looks like Aaron Carter.”

Some even pointed the finger at Funk Volume for making a poor decision for the third place finalist.

“This was an awful entry,” said Mark Mcauley. “You guys at FV need to get a decent ear for music.”

Taking second place with their fresh approach to hip-hop, a duo from Alabama, Beamin and Timmy received all around mixed reviews.

Some fans thought that they deserved the first place spot like Facebook friend Dylan Sackaney.

“My opinion is that they are better out of the three entries because they both had equally great bars,” said Sackaney.

Some voters, however, were upset that they had even made it into the finalists’ category. “The entry was garbage aside from their flows,” said voter Jeffrey Leung. “The first one is straight up ‘gangsta style’ (no ability), while the second is just forcing rhymes.”

Taking first place with his gritty track entitled BEEF, rapper Street Light brought everything that Funk Volume was wanting contestants to bring to the table; a high quality production, both visually and auditory, and most importantly, an extremely well written and well delivered performance.

Although some disagreed with the first place choice, most fans/voters were happy with the outcome. “He wasn’t my first choice out of the top 25 but he’s better than 99% of them,” said voter, Jordon Levesconte.

“Street Light killed the competition this year!” exclaimed fan Issac Rangel.

Funk Volume’s Don’t Funk Up Out Beats Contest 5 has sparked major discussions and debates on the Internet with over 7,000 people talking about it on Facebook alone.

With such a great turnout, Funk Volume plans on hosting future contests that may involve bigger, more extensive prizes and massive exposure.

Be on the lookout for the next best rapper from Funk Volume’s contest.

- See more at: http://www.therip.com/features/2013/04/03/funk-contest-sparks-debate-among-music-lovers/#sthash.e7NH3mIt.dpuf

Unforgotten Hero

By Tyler Goucher

Reporter

April 17, 2013

Filed under Features, Top Stories

Bakersfield College: The Renegade Rip Newpaper

“Unforgotten Hero” is an upcoming book about the life of Second Lieutenant Jimmy L. Escalle who disappeared during the Korean War and was listed as MIA.

Author Jim Escalle, a former Bakersfield College student, found out about his uncle at the age of 8 and became increasingly interested in anything related to World War II and the Korean War.

As a young child, Escalle spent most of his free time going to local air shows to watch various types of aircraft attempting aerial stunts.

These hobbies, as well as the discovery of his uncle’s past, drove Escalle to dig deeper into the disappearance of his uncle and the events that led to his demise.

After graduating from Fresno State in 1983 with a degree in Liberal Studies, Escalle began to heavily research the Korean War in an attempt to better understand what had happened during his uncle’s life.

“When I started my research,  I had mainly what my father and grandfather had told me, but around 2001, I came across this Korean War website created by a man who just happened to be in my uncle’s squadron,” Escalle said.

“I clicked on a link and a squadron picture appeared and it had the names of most of the pilots in his squadron in Korea. I was overwhelmed with emotion when I saw that picture for the first time in my life.”

He went on further to explain the lengthy research process he went through in order to acquire the amount of information needed to start writing his book.

“Over the next several months, mostly using the Internet, I contacted government agencies dealing with MIA issues, Air Force history offices, and anyone else I could locate. I also used the internet for tracking down a few of my uncle’s squadron mates from Korea, as well as some from his flight training days,”

Escalle said. “As more time went by, I finally received copies of my uncle’s military personnel record. I was fortunate in this case because a fire broke out at the St. Louis facility where these records are stored, permanently destroying the Air Force personnel records starting with names beginning with the letter H. The fire didn’t affect the records from A-G.”

When talking about his influences as a writer, Escalle gave most of the credit to his mother.

“I would say my biggest influence as a writer would first be my mother, who said during my elementary school years that I had writing talent and should put forth my best effort at whatever assignment I was given.”

He also gave credit to his middle school language arts teachers who ‘stressed the fundamentals in proper grammar, sentence structure, etc.’

Escalle has helped others with their research, including an Australian filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the Korean Air War, but currently is not writing anything, book or otherwise.

“Right now I’m focusing my full attention on letting people know about this book,” Escalle said.

Although the book’s release date is tentative, “Unforgotten Hero” has already received advanced praise from numerous authors, servicemen, and political figures.

“A heartfelt tribute to one of 34,000 mostly anonymous Americans who died defending freedom in South Korea. ‘Unforgotten Hero’ ends with a gut-wrenching revelation that should be known by everyone who wears his country’s uniform,”said Barrett Tillman, author of “Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945.”

“Jim Escalle’s book is a ‘must-read’ for all American patriots who want to learn of the sufferings, sacrifices and sadness of our brave heroes,”said John LeBoutillier a former congressman New York.

“Forgotten Hero” is expected to hit shelves on June 19, 2013.

- See more at: http://www.therip.com/features/2013/04/17/local-author-writes-book-about-heroic-uncle/#sthash.vul5HK5Q.dpuf

The 2nd Amendment: Our Natural Right 

                                                         The 2nd Amendment: Our Natural Right

                                                                          By Tyler Goucher

                                                                          January 21 2013

            Last week, President Obama initiated 23 executive actions that could potentially modify the 2^nd amendment of our constitution and leave millions of Americans without a way to protect themselves. These actions are not only a violation of our natural born rights, they lay the groundwork for a tyrannical, dictatorial agenda led by King Obama him self.  If we allow the 2^nd amendment to be altered, we are basically giving the government the power to alter any other amendment or law that they deem necessary in order to “protect the American people”. Isn’t it convenient that there has been more publicized mass shootings since Obama’s reelection than ever before? Are the American people so naïve to believe that this has all just been some kind of coincidence? Obama’s administration is aiming to come after our guns in order to fully domesticate us and to keep us entirely dependent on government care. They will start by blaming assault weapons and semi-autos in order to ease the American people into the idea of completely abolishing the 2^nd amendment. 

How will the government justify their actions you ask? By staging false flag attacks on U.S. soil that can be blamed on the 2^nd amendment. If they can make the American people believe that guns are the primary reason for violent crime in the United States, it gives the perfect pretext to ban our firearms. FBI statistics have shown that guns are on the bottom of the list of violent crime in the U.S., and in places where violent crime is up, gun ownership is down. It’s not the guns that are killing people; it’s the people that are killing people. Most people who have not studied history aren’t aware that false flag attacks have been used for thousands of years to in order to support government agenda. It is the perfect way to force feed fear down the general public’s mouths and to keep them living in “the matrix”. One thing’s for sure, if this mafia owned government attempts to disarm the American people, a 2^nd American Revolution will commence. 

In 1776, the 13 colonies of North America broke off from the tyrannical British Empire and through blood, sweat, and tears, the Declaration of Independence was signed creating the United States of America. Think of today’s government as Britain’s Empire in the 1700s, we need to realize we are being taken over by foreign interests and our only line of defense is to secede from the union and reboot the constitution. If we won’t fight for our own rights and liberties, will we fight for the generations to come? Or will our children and grandchildren be the victims of our lack of patriotism?

Resources:

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

http://drudgereport.com/

http://www.infowars.com/

Science or Science Fiction? 

                                                                    Science or Science Fiction?

                                                                          By Tyler Goucher

                                                                        January 22nd, 2013

          The first thing I look for when deciding whether or not a website is legitimate or not, is if there is a clear author and/or publisher printed somewhere on the landing page. For example, there is a publications link on the home page of aip.org that goes over its authors and publications in detail providing a way for readers to verify its legitimacy. The first thing I noticed when entering 13moons.com, was a masquerade of unverified quotes and sayings. After reading every inch of the home page, the only information regarding the owners/publishers of the website was located at the bottom of the page with only two different ways to contact them in order to verify their legitimacy.  

         

          Upon clicking on the “Enter Website” hyper-link, I wasn’t surprised to find several more quotes, none of which were quoted by notable scholars of academia. I noticed that they used the 2012 Mayan prophecy and the multiple conspiracy theories that went along with it in order to sell various forms of merchandise. They went from predicting that the end of the world was coming, to claiming we have “crossed the prophetic threshold” and have shifted into the “new age”. This is a classic brainwash technique; get people to believe something really bad is going to happen and then when it doesn’t, use their false sense of security to manipulate them into believing they survived some type of doomsday. In the case of 13moons.com, the “science” backing its authenticity is clearly anecdotal using hearsay testimonials by random “nobodies” that explain their bias, uneducated points of view on the subject.

         

         As far as spotting signs of bogus science in other forms of media, the same rules almost always apply. I often times find myself researching the claims made by both researchers and journalists who don’t come off as being a legitimate source of information. By using these tools in all walks of life, we carry with us the ability to breakdown information, allowing us to tell the difference between fact and fiction. 

Resources:

http://www.astronomynotes.com/bogus-science-sevensigns.html
http://www.aip.org/
http://13moon.com/time-is-art.htm

The Rise of Designer Drugs: Synthetic Cannabis 

A new drug has spawned recently within the last few years, which has been a leading cause in the increase of drug-related hospital visits and overdoses. The drug in question is Spice, or Synthetic cannabis.

Spice is a designer drug that contains legal herbs that are sprayed with harmful, synthetic chemicals. These chemicals are responsible for producing the marijuana-like effects that users crave. With prices ranging from $10 to $20 a gram, it is a relatively inexpensive way to get intoxicated, making it a cheap and addictive alternative to its illegal counterpart.

The manufacturers of these designer drugs are able to get away with selling them because the ingredients are constantly changing and the product’s literature explains that it’s not meant for human consumption, making it hard for the DEA to crack down on them. However, the DEA has been able to move many of the main ingredients of spice to the Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. Some of these ingredients include: CP-47, JWH-073, and Cannabicyclohexanol.

The long-term dangers of spice are still not widely understood, but even some of the short-term side effects are worrying many health professionals. Many users have reported feelings of extreme nausea, increased agitation, and increased heart rate with only small to moderate doses. In higher doses, many users have reported experiencing panic/anxiety attacks, hallucinations, and delusional thought patterns.

According to one user, 19-year-old Jordan Basinger, spice is much more dangerous than what the manufacturers claim. “Sometimes I freak out when I smoke too much cause my heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest,” Basinger claims. “But I continue to smoke it because it gets me high and I don’t have to worry about failing drug tests.”

This is yet another reason why more and more spice users are sprouting up, most companies and corporations do not include synthetic marijuana as a part of their pre-employment drug screenings. To users, this is a loophole in the system that allows them to still get high while chasing the American dream.

Well, that chase will be short lived according to many doctors and scientists who have been doing extensive research on the long-term side effects of this dangerous designer drug. Just this month, Nephrologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discovered that there is a direct link between long-term kidney damage and the use of synthetic marijuana. In the study, four test subjects were shown to have experienced many negative side effects after a nine-week period of continual use; some of these side effects included: nausea and extreme abdominal pain. After more extensive testing, doctors were able to find some type of acute kidney injury in all four of the test subjects.

Spice is not only linked to kidney damage, it is also known to cause seizure-like symptoms such as tachycardia. According to a former spice user, 21-year-old Tim Wombacher, his brother experienced seizure-like symptoms after only a small dose. “I remember, not long after we had smoked, my brother started to hold his chest and acted like he couldn’t breathe,” Wombacher explained. “We were worried that the spice might have been laced or something.” He went on further to explain how his brother was taken to the hospital and luckily came out of the experience alive.

Even with its increased popularity and media attention, spice is still known by many as a cooking ingredient. This disregard is one of the many reasons why the drug continues to devour the world’s youth, devastating families and tearing apart friendships.

More information:

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/spice-synthetic-marijuana

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/spice_product/spice_product.shtml