The Inside Scoop on Hypnotism
by Arden Ramos
      On Saturday, October 14th, many people went to see the James Munsey Comedy Hypnosis show which received a lot of positive feedback. “Dude, it was tight. It would have been even tighter if Ed Pastorino got hypnotized, because he’s tight, and I bet he’d be even tighter if he did,” said junior Chris Boucher. Another junior, Christine Harchick said, “It was freaking hilarious! I bought the DVD. I definitely want to be in the show next year.” Junior Kimberley Miller participated in the show that day. When asked about her experience she said, “I knew that I was going to be hypnotized. I was partly conscious, but it was like I wanted to follow his instructions.” Hypnosis in this situation is used for entertainment purposes, but can it be used for something else besides to entertain?
      Here is the question. What is hypnotism exactly? According to the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, hypnotism is defined as, “A peculiar state of consciousness artificially induced; a kind of sleep state that seems to liberate the subconscious powers of the subject. The subject executes suggestions made by the hypnotist as long as they do not conflict with deeper instincts. These suggestions may even be delayed to take affect after the subject comes out of the hypnotic state. The hypnotic state also can be self-induced in order to attain greater self-confidence, self-control, or management of pain.”
      Among further research, hypnotism can be done to one’s self to relax the mind or to even relax the body and to help focus better on tests or homework. Hypnotism can even use one’s imagination to do things such as lose weight. For the people who have tried dieting, exercise, and even medication and it did not work, hypnotism comes as a possible solution.
      Another question on people’s mind is how does hypnotism work? There are two states of the brain which consist of the conscious and subconscious. The conscious is the state of the brain that is aware of surroundings, or that is awake. According to How Stuff Works Inc., hypnotism accesses the subconscious which is the state of the brain that works “behind the scenes.” It pulls information that one has probably not recalled for a long time and pulls it out when one needs it. It helps solve problems, and construct sentences. The subconscious takes care of things one does automatically like typing, talking, and writing. In short, hypnotism accesses the subconscious by relaxing the conscious of the brain. Once the conscious is relaxed doctors, hypnotists, or a friend could possibly control the hypnotized imagination, because the conscious mind does not relay the information it receives to the subconscious. One will react automatically to such suggestions given by people, as if their conscious is telling them what to do.
      How does it feel to be hypnotized? Senior Eddie Rivera who was in the show says, “I was really relaxed. I don’t remember anything except being stuck to the chair. I heard I was only gone for an hour but I felt like I slept through the whole night.” Many people say that hypnotism is just a hoax and it does not work. Other people say that it works and it is a wonderful solution to many things, like solving murder mysteries and helping people lose weight and focus on homework. Is it just something to believe, or is it real? For now, just take note of Senior Allison McCormack’s favorite quote from the show, “Sleep now!”

Good (But Not Great) Charlotte
by Liz Tierney
      “It’s good to be back in Maryland!” Benji Madden of Good Charlotte said.  “We’re from here, you know?”
      The crowd cheered. The band continued with a few off color jokes about Maryland crabs and living in Virginia, spurring off their local connections. However, rather than providing a feeling of connection with the crowd it felt as cheesy and rehearsed as their most recent album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, exploiting their lives’ hardships into lame power ballads.
      Good Charlotte opened with the 2003 radio hit, “The Anthem” and from there stuck solidly to a set list, alternating between hits from The Young and the Hopeless and The Chronicles of Life and Death. However,The band was lacking stage presence in a big way. Joel announced that he was getting over a cold and spent the whole night coughing in between songs. Benji messed up quite a few times on his guitar parts and  both Dino the drummer and Paul the bassist faded into the background. The only member who put on any kind of a show was Billy Martin, the lead guitarist. He spent the night alternating between fantasic guitar solos, rare for a punk rock band, with various effects pedals and piano solos during their more recent songs. He had an energy that almost made up for the rest of the band. But energy from one member did not manage to convey enough to save the band.
      In a vicious cycle, the crowd as well was lacking energy in a way that the 930 Club rarely sees. The small crowd was not dancing or screaming the songs along with the band. “You guys are seriously losing points for crowd participation tonight.” A disgruntled Joel said after a lukewarm reception to “I Just Wanna Live”, their biggest hit of recent years. But, it is no wonder the crowd was not participating. As few people tried to call out song titles but were ignored by the band. One persistent young man in the front kept yelling, “Emotionless! Emotionless!” until finally Joel leaned over and said, “No dude, we’re not playing that one.”
      The most crowd participation they received was during a “quiz.” Their quiz was when the band played the opening chords to a song and the crowd had to finish, the songs were all from the first album and hadn’t gotten any radio play. It was, in a way, a litmus test separating the “true fans” from the “poseurs.” The crowd surprised them by knowing all the words to these songs and actually ended up getting the loudest applause of the night.
      So why was Good Charlotte lacking so much energy? They could just be tired. After all they are  coming to the end of a three month long tour. That’s what junior, Mary Kate Curry thinks at least, “I mean, they’ve been away from home for so long  and tours are pretty rough. They’re exhausted.” She said. While that’s likely it is also true that they could be tired of being Good Charlotte. It has been ten years together as a band and they received a lukewarm response to their most recent album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, nowhere near the success they have had in the past.
      Then again, the rut they seemed to have been in with their last album shouldn’t last for long. Their new single, “Keep Your Hands Off  My Girl,” is totally different from anything they have done in the past. “We have been under the radar for so long we wanted to give a shock to everyone’s system. This song is totally cool and different,” Joel said on the band’s website. And it certainly is. The beats are more suited for a dance club than a rock concert. The song has both the humor of their first album and the mainstream sounds of their second album. It reminds us of a different time, a better time before Hillary Duff and TRL number one hits.