Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2006)
Clackamas Print ntertainment Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006 tew American muscle oc Piazzisi fe Clackamas Print [t’s the new car season, and lerican sports cars are pulling ad of imports in style, design and formance. American automakers have come with several new models, and lated some of their older ones, long the recent American releases ; Chrysler’s 300C and Crossfire; d’s remade GT and Mustang; i Chevy’s updated Corvette, taro concept car and the brand- v Cobalt. Dodge has also jumped Bard the new car trend, releasing B Charger, Magnum, Challenger Bcept and SRT fine. American cars are producing amazing numbers when it comes to horsepower. The Ford Mustang is producing 300hp. Dodge has the Magnum at 340hp, along with the Chargers 350hp and of course the Viper’s huge 500hp. Chrysler’s 300c is putting out 425hp, and Chevy’s Corvette is soaring with just about 505hp. The Pontiac GTO is produc ing nearly 400hp. What do the Import companies have that compares to those num bers? Mazda’s top sports car, the RX8, only has 238hp. Honda has the 240hp S2000. Both the Celica and MR2 put out under 180hp. Mitsubishi’s have stepped ■While foreign companies Be their sports cars, they Bbably won’t compete ■ well against the new Bases of the American Bpanies. which far out- Biber the new imports. ■ recent releases, by ■import companies are BMazda RX8, Nissan Bz and the remodel of ■Mitsubishi Eclipse. horsepower, with the Eclipse pro ducing 263hp, and the turbo-charged Lancer pumping 286hp. The only import with higher numbers is the Nissan 350z, pumping out 300hp. American companies are produc ing cars that would have all been considered “super cars” due to their horsepower output less than 10 years ago. Why have American automak ers decided to add these new cars, re-vamp some of their existing sports cars and change the way they mar ket? The answer is rather simple. American car companies have been taking some- Internet Photo 2007 Camaro Concept thing of a nosedive in profit margins over the last few years. It is even a concern that GM may be facing bankruptcy in the near future if they are not able to turn the company around. After the American companies ran a few target market studies, they realized that they lacked appeal to younger buyers. The only way American manufactures could regain sales in the under-35 market is to reconsider the cars they were and weren’t producing. Import companies not answering back with high-horsepower sports cars have no reason to now; their profits keep going up and their pro duction lines are in high demand. ‘ However, according to rumors, Toyota and Mazda have been working on their old “super cars” and are looking to re- release the Supra as well as tiie RX7. It would be a strong and likely response to the recent American muscle trend. Only time will tell whether the muscle car gamble on the part of the American automakers will pay off. RT 262 transitions into photography’s future imberly Schlewe se Clackamas Print Digital is lhe way of the future, this year CCC is capturing the pion. Beginning Fall Term, Digital Itography and Photo-Imaging has I offered at CCC. |RT 262 introduces concepts, iniques, practices, aesthetics, and les of photographic imaging and Ige-making with digital photogra- |and software. Adobe Elements 3, ever and more polished version of pbe Photoshop, is used throughout Bourse to edit, organize and print ■1 photos. Students are introduced to the pro In Adobe Elements 3 on the first I of class. The software allows the pal images to be cropped, trans lied, filtered, cloned and other Iniques may be applied for student lerPoint presentations, web page Igos. slideshows, personal photo albums, etc. Instructors Bill Allen and Nick Molatore lead the class two days a week for two hours. Each week’s first class “consists primarily of lecture time for covering concepts, discuss ing topics from the text, answering questions, and working on lab assign ments,” explains Allen. “The second class will alternate between in-the- field photo sessions and in-class photo critiques.” The outcome has been ideal for a new class. With a full classroom, Allen and Molatore are able to help their students develop strategy for organizing, and properly photograph ing images. Currently a student showcase is on display in Streeter next to classroom 181. All photos are generated student photos shot during Fall Term 2005. Portraits, landscapes, still life, artis tic and humorous student work have been matted and put on display for the rest of January and into February. Eventually, all pieces will be entered into the Art Department’s Student Art Center for a yearly showcase from various students at Clackamas Community College. Students, instructors and commu nity residents are welcome to come and view the artwork on display now in Streeter. If you’re interested in tak ing this class and/or receiving more information about it and the current artwork on display, please contact Allen at 503 657 6958, ext 2806. INTERIOR DESIGN AT MARYLHURST LOVE YOUR WORK le Cougar Café is open every day! Color Texture Light Fabric Carpet Wallpaper Concrete M - Th: 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Fridays: 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Year-Round Admission « i c • . Design Process Furnishings Windows Walls Lighting Floors Ceilings Hardware * Scholarships for transfer students I / pure to stop by the Player’s Grill |is week and try our new Il Ì Wood Metal Paint Glass Blueprints CAD drawing Drafting / • Small seminar-style classes To work with an advisor, e-mail studentinfo@marylhurst.edu or call 503.699.6268. ★ US News & World Report BEST COLLEGES 2006 "Number one in the-Northwest for small classes" HflL f s definitely a L winner! MARYLHU R ST U N IV E R SIT Y JUST 10 MINUTES SOUTH OF PORTLAND Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accredited 17600 PACIFIC HIGHWAY (HWY. 43) MARYLHURST, OREGON Serving students since 1893. www.marylhurst.edu 800.634.9982 The X-Box 360 has proven to be a huge waste of money One might think that when I finally saw an X-Box 360 on a shelf at a local department store I’d have been ecstatic, but I had to consider a few questions for myself before I committed to forking over my hardly-earned cash. “Self” I said, “why in the world is there a 360 sitting on the shelf that nobody wants to pay for1?’* Well, one of tire senior editors from Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) magazine, Dan “Shoe” Hsu, seems to think they’re just not worth their steep price tag ... a fact he blatantly pointed out to Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Retail Sales and Marketing for Microsoft Peter Moore in this month’s issue. ‘Wouldn’t you be pissed if you paid $400 for a new console and many of its games looked only marginally better than their current-gen equivalents?” Shoe asked Moore. Moore then asked him to “call out” some games to support the claim. “The 2K sports games. Amped 3. Tony Hawk. Need for Speed. Gun. King Kong. People can argue that they’re not getting that big next-gen leap in graph ics. On top of that, you’re asking consumers to pay an extra $10 for these games.” countered Shoe. The interview article was roughly six pages long and as entertaining as it was painfill, but Shoe’s right Microsoft is trying to rip off the gamer crowd, and what they don’t seem to realize is it’s going to be a lot tougher to pull one ova on us than the usual consumer base Then there’s the video floating around the internet of a 360 spin ning up a disc. You can tell the disc is spinning up because the machine is so loud its fen/drive noise is prevalent even on the webcam the video was shot with (another common complaint). While the disc is spinning in 1he drive a pair of hands reaches out and tips the X-Box on its side. The disc inside grinds against some unknown piece in the drive and the hands tilt the X-Box back to its original position while the disc grinds again. They eject the disc and show the data side to the camera, and the disc looks like it’s been mauled with a senated butter knife. How bad is it? Assuming I bought that 360 core system I saw on foe shelf, I’d have paid over $600 at a retail store for the box and all the accessories I’d want If I’d tried to buy online to guaran tee delivery I’d be paying almost twice as much. So here’s what I did so that I could play the same game with only slightly less impressive graphics on a system I already owned: I bought Need For Speed on Gamecube for $40. People who don’t buy a 360 are enjoying foe same games at a fraction of the cost, and with only minimal headache. I think the positive side here is that the X-Box 360 is saving money for those smart enough, and that’s a problem for Microsoft that Moore hasn’t quite figured out. - thedpad@gmail.com
