Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Academy Award Nominees






Come February 26th, all film fanatics will have their tv’s tuned into watching the 84th Academy Awards this year.  Not familiar with the nominees?  Well, take a look!

For Best Picture:
·         Hugo
·         Midnight in Paris
·         Moneyball
·         The Tree of Life
·         War Horse
·         The Artist
·         The Descendants
·         Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
·         The Help

For Best Actor in a Leading Role:
    ·         Demain Bichir (A Better Life)
    ·         George Clooney (The Descendants)
    ·         Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
    ·         Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
    ·         Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

For Best Actress in a Leading Role:
·         Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
·         Viola Davis (The Help)
·         Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
·         Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
·         Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)




For Best Animated Feature Film:
       ·         A Cat in Pairs
       ·         Chico & Rita
       ·         Kung Fu Panda 2
       ·         Puss in Boots
        ·         Rango





For Best Cinematography:
·         The Artist
·         The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
·         Hugo
·         The Tree of Life
·         War Horse

Which of your favorite films will win?  Tune into ABC on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.

Compiled by Ali McCathern 

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Google +









Google +, the latest addition to the social networking phenomenon, incorporates many qualities of the ever-so-popular Facebook. Like Facebook, it includes notifications (when someone shares a post with you) and allows users to post updates. On Google +, however, these posts may be edited after they have been published. Google + also features a Stream much like Facebook’s Newsfeed. The Stream includes what appear to be status updates from the people in your circle. The user-friendly interface of Google + also makes it more convenient to share updates with only certain people. Instead of “liking” a post, users click the trademark “+1” button. And instead of adding other users as friends, users add people to their circles. 
 
Though Google + is similar to Facebook, it has several distinguishing features:

Circles. These allow you to put people into separate groups, making it convenient to share certain things with only certain groups.

Hangouts. These are video chats between a user and people in his/her circle. You may choose to allow other users to view and join the hangouts.

Instant Upload. This feature uploads photos taken from your phone directly to Google Plus, where you then decide who to share them with.

Sparks. A search engine that suggests categories or people based on your interests.

Huddle. Turns group texting into one convenient chat—everyone shares the same page and conversation at once.

For prospective users, Google + has created a helpful tour of the site that debriefs every important feature with interactive diagrams. 

 Article compiled by: Angie Stewart

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Best Superbowl Commercials

            While many pro-football fans looked forward to watching the actual Superbowl game, many people watch only for the commercials.

Here are the top five most popular SuperBowl XLVI commercials.

1.      “Kings Court,” the Pepsi commercial
2.   “A Dream Car. For Real Life,” Kia Optima commercial
3.   “Matthew’s Day Off,” Honda commercial
4.   “The Dog Strikes Back,” Volkswagen commercial
5.  “The Catch,” Coca Cola commercial

Compiled by: Jenna Rajczyk

Friday, February 10, 2012

Susan G. Komen v. Planned Parenthood

    

     The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation recently decided to pull the plug on its financial support of Planned Parenthood.  The reduction in funding, which has led to a nation-wide debate, has led to a spike in Planned Parenthood online donations. 
Typically, the Planned Parenthood organization receives an average of 100 or 200 online donations every day.  However, after Susan G. Komen suspended its support, this amount rose to an astonishing 6,000 online donations, raising a grand total of $400,000.
 “People respond powerfully when they see politics interfering with women’s health. That’s why we’ve seen a tremendous outpouring of support,” Tait Sye, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said.
Komen officials originally told the Associated Press that they decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood due to a new national policy that barred support for organizations under government investigation.  Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life, endorsed the national policy that places Planned Parenthood in direct violation of Susan G. Komen’s new policy. 
“I have to say, it was some of the best news of my entire life,” Yoest said about the Komen decision. “We’re so used to seeing Planned Parenthood succeed at defining themselves as the trendy place to be, and for Komen to make such a smart decision in recognizing the reality behind Planned Parenthood spin,” she adds. “As a breast cancer survivor, I was always troubled with this whole idea that the nation’s largest abortion provider was enmeshed in the breast cancer fight when they weren’t actually doing mammograms. I look at this as smart stewardship.”
Last September, a House committee initiated an examination of Planned Parenthood’s compliance with federal restrictions on funding abortions.
In response to this announcement, Planned Parenthood proposed a counter-statement that contributes the Komen’s fund cutoffs to the influence of anti-abortion activists.  Additionally, Planned Parenthood stated that the loss of funds is also partly to blame on recently-hired Komen vice president, Karen Handel, who had previously advocated for the group’s defunding in her run as Georgia governor.
            However, just a few days following the massive public backlash of this decision, Susan G. Komen founder, Nancy Brinker, released a public announcement apologizing to the family planning organization, stating that Komen will preserve its eligibility for future grants.
            “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives. . . We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically to penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not,” Brinker announced in the statement.
 “Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That s what is right and fair,” Brinker said.


Article compiled by reporter: Emily Jadwin 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Superbowl Sunday

The sweat collects on your eyebrow and your heart races as the anticipation builds inside of you. This is no ordinary feeling; it’s the feeling you get during an excruciating close Superbowl.
            Ah Superbowl Sunday, all the grocery stores are cleared out of meat, chips, and pop; and electronic stores are wiped out of their most expensive televisions. Just for one game. This year, it was a good one. 
            There was nothing ordinary about Sunday in Indianapolis, it was Superbowl Sunday and this year, it was being hosted in there own Lucas Oil Stadium. As transients hustle and bustled about, they all were there to gather for the XVI Superbowl.
            The competitors: New York Giants and New England Patriots. Looking at their team’s history, both teams have a record of winning three Superbowls.
But if their 2011-2012 season were an indication of Sunday night’s performance, one would think the Giants would have lost. They only won a mere nine games losing seven, making it to the playoffs by the seams of their pants.
On the other hand, the Patriots won 13 games and only lost three.
The final score was Giants: 21-Patriots: 17. It is a bitter, bitter moment in Massachusetts right now, and at the same time a celebratory one in New York.

- Article compiled by: Lucas Horner