blog #14

Everyone has to overcome odds at some point in their life to move forward. In Stephanie Meyer's, a book from Eclipse, the main characters overcome more than their share of odds. First of all, Edward Cullen, the vampire whose in love with a mortal, has to overcome the day by day battle of his instinct temptations to suck his girlfriends blood. The two cannot kiss, hug, or even be in close proximity to each other without the risk of Edward losing control. Another issue the two have to constantly overcome is their differing opinions on the issue of Bella transforming into a vampire and also her friendship with Jacob, a young werewolf. Edward, on one hand, cannot stand the thought of separating Bella from her soul just so that he can live forever with her, and he also disapproves of her intermingling with his born enemy, the werewolf clan. He believes that Bella is in danger every second she spends with her werewolf friends because they have very little control over where and when they transform into ferocious monsters capable of killing almost anything. However, in truth it is almost the same amount of risk for Bella to be spending time around blood thirsty vampires, than a clan of uncontrolled werewolves.

blog #13

Throughout the entertainment industry the line between gay and "bromance" comes almost similar in acting scenarios. In the upcoming movie "I Love You, Man"Paul Rudd and Jason Segel take their bromance to a new level where Paul needs a new best man for his wedding and Jason's relationship with his fiancee is threatened by going on to many "man-dates". Throughout the comedy these incredible actors come as close to the gay act as possible making it as uncomfortable for themselves as for the people watching them act. They have had many experiences in other films and TV shows where getting close to a male counterpart was just part of the job. "Don't call it a bromance. We hate that word." is what the actors commonly express to people while proclaiming their sexuality as 100% straight. Although they both agree that in these roles its made them realize the greatness of having someone to talk to about male issues and to people who aren't necessarily women. This movie "I Love You, Man" comes out in theaters this Friday.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/17/love.you.rudd.segel/index.html

blog #12

4 American soldiers were killed in the Iraq War just in today. The cause was a roadside bombing in one of the worst of several attacks on the United States troops. The attack was initiated by the Taliban who have increased their threats against outside forces exclaiming they'll use more force if they have to to remove outside threats. As well as this incident, just days before a suicide bomber attacked on a roadside bombing outside a high school. This attack killed 2 Afghan citizens and wounded many other bystanders. The wounded consisted of merchant workers who own shops on the street this occurred. One worker exclaimed how they were working and all of a sudden heard a huge explosion. When they looked outside they saw three family members lying on the streets with blood pouring out of them. As days go on the war in Iraq continues as the longest wars ever with multiple deaths and casualties that leave people questioning if the war was a good thing after all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/world/asia/16afghan.html?_r=1&hp

blog #11

In France, there is a wall called the Wall of the Disappeared with names of Pied Noirs on it. The Pied Noirs were French colonists who were located in Algeria, Africa. After France was ruled by Charles de Gaulle, millions of pied noirs were murdered or were forced to flee to neighboring cities to try to stay alive. These people wanted rights among Africa and colonized in its colonies to promote these colonies fully developing. A series of wars occurred because of the French goverment not supporting the citizens of france helping the Algerians. This led to thousands of deaths which are now displayed on the Wall of the Disappeared.

blog #10

Throughout the world, a cut back in jobs is leaving the world in a major economic crisis. Although, job experts say that you should ignore the news about job loss and continue to find a job because there are 1000s out there. They advise the unemployed to look into jobs that are in the stable industry meaning any in the education, health care and government genres. On the contrary, jobs such as construction, banking and manufacturing could be more risky and leave you with a less likely chance of having a long term job. One suggestion is to move to the south. The south is overflowing with jobs because of the health care industry of the old people who move there. The upper midwest such as New York are the worst places to look because thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost and it has an extremely high unemployment rate. Not only does this occur in the U.S. but other countries are dealing with unemployment as well.

blog #9

On CNN I read a commentary about Valentine's Day and the stupidity of it. First of all, he states how the holiday really has no meaning it is just a commercial holiday so retailers can make money. Prices skyrocket and advertisers spend huge sums of money to advertise their products to men and women looking to buy their loved ones gifts. Roland exclaims how that how is buying a gift or sending someone flowers on a different day makes it any less special than if it was sent on Valentine's Day. With the suffering economy, spending money on Valentine's Day is an act of stupidity according to Martin and says that this is not the way to bring up the screwed up economic structure of the U.S. This day is seen as an excuse to take your loved one out to dinner or buy them something that shows you appreciate them when really this should occur normally throughout the year. According to Roland, Valentine's Day is a worthless holiday just to increase profits of vendors which in a way I somewhat agree with.

blog #8

I read an article on cnn.com about Slumdog Millionaire and how it was originally seen to be a total box office flop, it magically ended up with 8 Oscars. With it's success led to people questioning if Bollywood movies will start to become even more popular in the United States then they already are. Even though its not 100% Bollywood there are numerous aspects of Bollywood found in the film that keep it more on the traditional Indian side rather than American life. Many indian actors/actresses have made their way to Hollywood such as Aishwarya Rai who was featured in Bride and Prejudice which we just recently watched in class. The idea of Bollywood completely moving to Hollywood is a little unreasonable figuring one of their main beliefs is no kissing. This tends to throw off audiences and it decreases their interest in these types of movies.