8 I The Behrend Beacon
Babel, Queen vie for Oscar's Best Picture
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Babe/. The Queen and The Departed (shown above) are all nominated for "Best Picture of the Year.-
By josh Lane
student life editor
ard season is in full swing and the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed their
nominations for the 2007 Academy Awards. There
are some surprises, as there are every year. This
year has two hig surprises, however. The movie
Dreamgirls was not nominated for "Best Picture.''
even though it seemed like a "shoo-in'' before it was
released in theaters. The movie was marketed to
make it seem like it was made just to win an Oscar.
The second surprise of this year is the sleeper hit
Little Miss Sunshine. ft received a "Best Picture"
nomination as well as Alan Arkin, and "Little Miss
Sunshine" herself Abigail Breslin receiving Best
Supporting Actor and Actress nominations.
This year's "Best Picture" nominations span
across many genres. From action to drama and from
war to comedy, they are all included in the nomi
nees. Here is a summary of this year's chosen five
so you can decide which one you need to see before
Feb. 25.
Babel: Director. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
Starring, Brad Pitt, and Cate Blanchett.
This movie is about a series of events that unrav
el when Susan. played by Cate Blanchett, gets shot
while on vacation with her husband Richard, played
by Brad Pitt. The movie has a lot of twists and turns
and interlocking aspects.
The Departed: Director, Martin Scorsese: Starring,
Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack
DVD "Picks of the Week": The Departed
By Josh Lane
student life editor
It's getting to that time of the year when every
week, retailers promise to have a great DVD to
add to your collection. Last week and this week
have two of the best movies of the year: The
Departed and The Prestige.
The Departed was released last week, and if you
don't already have it you are missing out on one
of the best movies of the year. The Martin
Scorsese flick has had nothing but great reviews
and features a huge all-star cast.
Jack Nicholson plays Irish gangster Frank
Costello who controls Boston's mobster under
world. Matt Damon plays a gangster that goes
undercover as a federal agent working for
Costello. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the exact
opposite of Damon's character. He is a cop that
goes undercover to infiltrate Costello's under
world.
It k a gritty movie full of violence and all the
great stuff you want to see from Scorsese. The two
disc special edition has some very cool features
on it. including a very interesting documentary on
the notorious James "Whitey" Bulger, a south
The Cyber Café: lost in cyber space?
By Faith Moisey and Theresa Di Buono
staff writers
If you have a class in the REDC, you may or
may not have noticed that there is no wireless
network available. If you head over to the cyber
café where, presumably due to the obviousness
of the name, you should be able to access the
Internet: however, you cannot.
This very issue has been puzzling the minds of
Penn State Behrend students and staff alike. Why
are we told we can access a wireless server when
we can't? And why has no one said anything
about it?
Ron Hoffman, Manager of College
Information Technology Services, the office that
shares responsibility for supporting the technol
ogy classrooms on campus, summed up the situ
ation very concisely.
He says, "In short, the wireless network that
will cover all of the REDC, including the café,
has been delayed because of a holdup last spring
by the state in releasing funds for all the equip
ment needed for the building, including the wire
less network equipment.
"The funds have now been released and it is
our hope that the wireless network will be
installed in the REDC over spring break. This
would be the best case scenario. However, we
can't make any promises because work on the
r' J r
Nicholson
The Departed takes place in Boston and everyone
puts on their best accent for this one. The story is
about two moles: Damon is a mob gangster who
infiltrates the Boston Police department, and
DiCaprio is a police officer who goes undercover to
infiltrate and befriend the head of Boston's Irish
Mob. Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson.
Letters From Iwo Jima: Director, Clint Eastwood;
Starring, Ken Watanabe.
Letters is the mirror version of the more widely
seen Flags of our Fathers. It is done from the per
spective of the Japanese soldiers trying to defend
Iwo Jima. This version is the better one, and there is
more action than its American counterpart and
much better acting.
Little Miss Sunshine: Director, Jonathan Dayton and
Valerie Faris: Starring, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear,
Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin.
Little Miss Sunshine follows a dysfunctional fam
ily as they take a road trip across California to enter
their youngest family member in a beauty pageant.
The movie is hilarious and the best part is that it's
already out on DVD.
The Queen: Director, Stephen Frears; Starring,
Helen Mirren.
The Queen follows Queen Elizabeth II as she
deals with the media backlash and the shock of the
death of Princess Diana. It's not as boring as it
sounds, I promise. The biggest thing to watch here
is Mirren's "Best Actress" nominated role.
Boston gangster that was the inspiration for
Nicholson's character. Also, included on the spe
cial edition is a documentary called "Scorsese on
Scorsese," which is an audio autobiography of
sorts with old film and pictures from Scorsese's
childhood. Also included are behind the scenes
footage and deleted scenes.
The Prestige will be released on DVD this
Tuesday, and it is a must-own. It stars Hugh
Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson.
The plot outline sounds absolutely ridiculous and
it wasn't until I saw an early trailer that I became
interested in the film. It is about two magicians,
Bale and Jackman who start their careers together
but then they ultimately end up separating and
becoming each others' biggest rival. I know it
sounds riveting so far. The truth is this movie gets
gritty and sometimes violent.
The best part about this movie is that it fires on
all cylinders. The cinematography is excellent, the
acting is superb and the set designs and costumes
are impeccable. The movie has one of the best
twists I've seen in a long time. These two movies
are definitely great additions to any collection.
system has yet to commence."
So if you're looking to access wireless on cam
pus, you're going to have to connect at one of the
other spots for now. Wireless access can be
found at the following locations: Bruno's Café,
Reed Wintergarden, McGarvey Commons, Reed
mailroom area, Hammermill food court and
Hammermill 135 computer lab, Roche Hall,
Nick lobby and Nick 156 computer lab, Science
building lobby, Irvin Kochel center concourse
and the John M. Lilley Library.
The trouble with this lack of wireless Internet
is more than obvious: the school is spending
money on quantity rather than quality. The stu
dents that are living on campus are unable to do
things such as sit in the common area and do
homework while accessing the Internet.
This really should't be a issue either; it's nor
mally a given that when you go to college, you
can sit in your dorm's common area with friends
and do homework, or do something as simple as
put your laptop on your lap and sit on your bed.
These are all things you take for granted when
coming to college to live on campus. When a
school has such a lack of technology, it's really a
disappointment and makes you wonder where all
your money is going.
Students spend a good deal of money on their
laptops and are unable to move them from the
internet jack in their room.
"Top Five Books I Recently Read"
5. "The Blind Side: Evolution of a
Game" by Michael Lewis
4. "The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of
Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We
Will Never Run Out of
Energy" by Peter Huber
and Mark Mills
3. "Global Crises, Global
Solutions" by Bjorn
Lomborg
2. "I'm Just Here For
Food" by Alton Brown
1. "The Complete Short Stories of Ernest
Hemingway" by Ernest Hemingway
"Top Five Movies I Last Rented"
5. Idiocracy
4. Star Wars V:
Empire Strikes Back
3. Employee of the Month
2. Star Wars IV: A New
Hope
1. Children of the Corn
"Top Five CDs I Last Purchased"
5. Calexico's Garden Ruin
4. Joshua Radin's We
Were Here
3. The Shins' Wincing the
Night Away
2. Damien Rice's 0
1. Sufjan Stevens' Illinois
- r - Tri
id
_EL
by Chris Brown
By Janet Niedenberger
The
by Chris LaFuria
Friday, February 16, 2007
i lli • 41*n