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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2010)
10 January Caillat comes back with second album N icole C ampbell _____________ Many songwriters write about the common topic of love, where they express their mediocre relationships and epic failures, in a 12 to 17 song album. Fortunately, Colbie Caillat's album, "Breakthrough" is much more than a group of average love songs with the author pleading for forgiveness. Each song on this album relates to everyone in some way, and Caillat's voice truly sticks in your head with a message. Caillat was 19 when she took her first guitar lesson, and that was also when she wrote her first song. From there, one of Caillat's friends posted a song on Myspace. Now she is 22, and has released two albums: "Coco" and "Breakthrough" assisted by Jason Reeves who helped her craft each song. She plays mainly acoustic and pop music combined with classical folk and jazz. Fler first album, "Coco" was released in 2007. It included "Bubbly," a number one song on iTunes' "Top Songs," and the hit singles, "Realize" and "The Little Things." She released "Falling For You" in the Summer of 2009, and it quickly became number one on Itunes, leading to her current album, "Breakthrough" which she made available to the public in late August. "Breakthrough" includes: "I Won't," "Begin Again," "You Got M e," "Failin' For You," "Droplets (Featuring Jason Reeves)," "I Never Told You," "Fearless," "Runnin' around," "Break Through," "It Stops Today" and "Breakin' At The Cracks." In my opinion, the first song on an album should be a good opening song that grabs your attention, but doesn't make the other tracks seem dull. "I Won't" had interesting things to say. It began with intriguing acoustics that held my attention. "You Got Me" was dull because the chorus was short and it just didn't grab me. "Droplets (featuring Jason Reeves)" opened with strong guitar picking, and begins very mellow, but then climbs up to a chorus that stayed with me the whole day. "Breakthrough" is much better than "Coco" because all the songs are alike in that they have an upbeat tune, but each song has an interesting message. "Breakthrough" is an album that will leave you dancing through for the rest of the day. UU Yogurt offers a tasty treat J uua V an W inkle ______________ O n a rainy w inter night m ost people d o n 't think of going out for frozen yogurt. H ow ever at U U Yogurt, you w ill feel right at hom e b e g in n in g w itb tb e first sam ples and extending to the last scoops at the bottom of the bow l. I had never eaten frozen yogurt before and w as interested to see how it w ould taste. U U Yogurt features a w ide range of flavors to cater to m ost tastes. They ranged from the classics of chocolate and vanilla to blueberry and orange. There w ere even special flavors for the holidays such as eggnog and pepperm int. Everything at U U Yogurt is self-serve. M achines dispense the yogurt and a buffet holds the toppings. To determ ine w hich flavor I w anted, I sam pled orange, tart and chocolate. I selected chocolate. There w ere stacks of tw o different sized bow ls to hold the yogurt. One average sized one and one that looked too big for one person. I filled the sm aller one w ith chocolate and m oved onto the toppings. M any different toppings w ere spread across a buffet. It seem ed like every possible option som eone could think of to put on yogurt w as there. D ifferent chocolates, fruits, and candies w ere arranged in no obvious order. H aving a craving for chocolate,. I opted for the R eese's Peanut Butter Cups, K it Kats, and chocolate sprinkles. N ext to these w ere sauces. There w ere m any of these to Photo by Juiia VanWinkle UU Yogurt, a frozen yogurt shop, opened in Lake Oswego. They have a large selection of seasonal flavors, toppings and sauces available for costumers to create their own unique dessert. choose from as w ell, such as fu d g e and caram el. U pon finishing m y creation, the yogurt w as w eighed and paid for. I w as curious to see w hat the frozen yogurt tasted like. I'm not a fan of norm al yogurt, bu t the tw o are different. A fter taking a bite, I im m ediately knew m y opinion of it; the frozen yogurt w as delicious. I ate every bite of w hat I had taken.. U U Yogurt isn 't cheap, bu t the pricing is fairly average. The final cost for m y yogurt cam e to $4.15. Instead of charging by the topping, the price is determ ined by the w eight of the yogurt. The fee is 45 cents an ounce. C harging by the ounce allow s you to be able to select m any toppings and choose how m uch you w ant of each. A s soon as I w alked in the door, it w as obvious the staff w as friendly and helpful. They passed out sam ple cups to help determ ine the desired flavor. They greeted w ith a "H ello " and ended w ith "H ave a nice evening". Sim ple gestures like this m ade the experience m ore enjoyable. How ever, not everything w as perfect. O n the U U Yogurt w ebsite they advertise that they serve sorbet. In the store there w asn 't any and w hen asked the staff said that they had run out. Toppings w eren't labeled. This caused m e to w onder w hat som e of the less obvious ones even w ere. The inside of the shop w as basic and plain, but there w as a couch in one com er, w hich w as a nice touch. These setbacks w ere m inor and shou ld n't keep som eone from enjoying the yogurt. U U Yogurt w ould be an ideal place to take fam ily or hang out w ith friends. It's tasty yogurt is topped w ith lots of options and a friendly staff. I w ould return to U U Yogurt w ith others to share m y new found great treat. Photo courtesy of covershut.com Colbie Caillat released her second album, "Breakthrough” in August of 2009. The songs include the hit single, "Failin' For You." Her first album, "Coco," came out in 2007. Caroline Cooney offers an on-the-edge realistic thriller H aley C ool _________________ Have you ever taken a moment to look at the face of a missing child, whether it was on the news or in the paper? Even though "The Face On the Milk Carton" was written in 1990, it's a worthwhile read. I was on the edge of my seat when I read this book. I was trying to guess the ending of a book, but in this story I had to guess what was going to happen in the next chapter. If you like trying to solve the mystery. This book is definitely one you should pick up. "The Face on the Milk Carton," by Caroline B. Cooney tells the story of Janie Johnson and how her world changed when she looked at a milk carton and saw her face. Her friends shrug her worry off because they don't believe that she is the little girl on the milk carton. The only person who takes her seriously is her neighbor, Reeve Sheilds. Janie struggles to understand that her parents could have kidnapped her when she was a little girl, as unimaginable as it seems. When she's alone, she digs around for clues about her past. When she heads up to the attic, there is more evidence to prove that the face on the milk carton is really her. It is impossible for a normal child to relate to Janie Johnson; the majority of children are not kidnapped. However, aside from kidnapping it is easy to relate to Janie. She tries to balance her social life with Reeve because she is crushing on him and doesn't know how handle this with because they are just friends. Teenagers tend to try to stay on good terms with their parents and that is what Janie does, even though she suspects them of kidnapping her. Caroline B. Cooney is a brilliant writer and left me wanting to finish the book in one sitting. Until the final chapter of "The Face On the Milk Carton," I could not set Photo by Aiex Houston Caroline B. Cooney offers a thrilling read with her novel "The Face on the Milk Carton." Cooney has written many other suspense novels aimed at the teen audience. this book down. One of the best parts of the book is when Janie confronts her parents. The story they spin seems so unrealistic it makes you question if they are telling the truth. The confrontation does not solve her problems so she has to keep investigating into her past while dealing with flash backs from the day of her kidnapping and her real family. As talented as Cooney is, the way she left readers hanging at the end was unsatisfying. When you are expecting the story to finally conclude be ready to start another book to learn what happens to Janie. Instead of just ending the story in one book, it becomes a series of four books. I would recommend this book in a heartbeat because the plot is strong and easy to ftpllow. Cooney will not put you to sleep as you read. I had high expectations when I first picked up this book and those expectations were met and even exceeded. If you don't mind reading multiple books to finish the story, you should definitely pick up this book.
