Friday, December 14, 2007
cohenite - noun - a rare microscopic mineral, carbide of iron, nickel, or cobalt, (Fe, Ni, Co)3C, found in lunar rocks and some meteorites.
When a meteorite flew from space and hit my friend Jeff in his chest, we were all speechless. When the cohenite cleared, not only was he alive, but we had a nice You Tube video.
Golden Compass meets pro-tests,
controversies, and resistance
By Krista Jones
sktff writer
kej50390 psu.edu
The Golden Compass has drawn both rave
reviews and protests outside of movie theatres
around the country. While the author of the
hook that this movie is based off of is a self pro
claimed atheist or agnostic. there still remain mixed
views of the movie. There are many people. for
instance, who honestly believe that this movie is
meant solely for children to
watch. They also helve that the
movie will cause children to
ask for the hook series for
Christmas. read them and he
influenced by the values held
by the author.
Nicole Kidman stars as
Marisa Coulter in the contro
versial move. Of course.
while there is the ohvious con
troversy'. there is also the cap
tivating story. characters. spe
cial effects. and animals to
focus on. Dakota Blue
Richards plays Lyra Be'aqua.
the main character of this
story. In Lyra's world. there is
an authority called the
Magisterium that governs the
people. Everyone has a dae
mon the other half of their
soul -- who has an animal
form and follows them every
where. The story line is some
thing to this effect: Lyra is
given an alethiometcr. ss hich
measures the truth in anyone
depending on what \ on ask it. When children are
being stolen all around her. Lyra ventures to the north
and uses anyone she can to aid her in her search for
these stolen children--Gvptians. armored hears, aero
mints, witches. and her daemon. Pantalaimon. Along
the way. Mrs. Coulter ( Kidman) finds her and quick-
10••••••• • • • • • • • •
Upcoming
Movies
Charlie
Wilson's War
-Dec. 21-
Charlie Wilson (Tom
Hanks) leads efforts to
assist a group which
starts the largest covert
war ever.
Rating: R
r R s.
I Love You
Dec. 21-
Holly Kennedy (Hilary
Swank) attempts to put
her .life back together
,after the death of her
husband, played by
Gerard Butler.
Rating: PG-13.
-Tll
The Golden Compovs released amidst
puhlic protest and controversy.
••••••• • • • • • •
releases:
Walk Hard:
The Dewey Cox
Story
-Dec. 21-
Musician Dewey Cox
(John C. Reilly) sets
out on a quest for musi
cal dominance.
Rating: R
-,*`"l
• reunion years before,
•
• which haven't lasted long due to their struggling
• relationships. Jean then shrugged it off as he now
•
• releases his sixth album titled, The Carnival
• • Memoirs of an /mmigrant. The album's title is a
• continuation of his debut as he digs deeper into his
• "Carnival" thesis. The title is a significance of his
•
• past as he had originally lived in Haiti as a child
• before he immigrated with his parents to America.
•
• While he spent time in Haiti, there were many car
• nivals and festivals that Jean would go to celebrate
•
• the Creole culture. Jean would always cherish and
• remember as he faces a new life on American soil.
• This album is like a carnival, because it contains
• variety of styles that Jean has explored with any
•
• boundaries. Due to its limitless margins, The
•••• • • • • •• • • •••
r National
Treasure: The
Book of Secrets
-Dec. 21-
Ben Gates(Nicholas
Cage) sets out again in
this sequel to the hit
"National Demure."
Rating: PG.
IrriTTl - rjrri"Fr T rri
.C 1 j I), I YILLI J
Iv becomes a confusingly had character. Each actor
and actress truly portrayed the character from the
hook that they were cast in. Even Kidman, who had
some people skeptical of her role at first. played her
part very well.
The Golden Compass was praised for its fantastic
special effects. Throughout the movie, the different
animals spoke and the magic compass was very well
portrayed. The special effects were dazzling to any
one who would watch, and children around eight
years and older will easily become enthralled in this
interpretation of its predecessor.
The big controversy over the
movie was the fact that
Christians and Catholics alike
point to the clear anti-God mes
sage that the movie contains.
Widespread opposition
amongst religious groups has
been occuring ever since the
movie had been announced.
Many claimed that the author of
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO the book, being an outspoken
Atheist, would reflect his views
in the movie.
Those who argue in favor of
the movie cite the fact that while movies come out
every day which are obviously in favor of God. very
few movies are in opposition to Christianity.
Either way this controversy spins, there is a facet
that brings the film and the books alike more publici
ty. It was a great movie, well worth the money spent
to see it at the theatre on opening night.
iWycleaf Jean
;crew for new
• By Erik Holman
• -
• skiff writer
• •
ethso29@'psu.edu
• • In 1997. a year after being a pail of The Fugees'
• Grammy-winning The Score, Wyclef Jean decided
• to try things on his own as a soloist when he
•
• released his album titled The Carnival. Jean
• received major success from his debut with singles
•
• spawning hits such as "We Trying to Stay Alive,"
• "Gone 'Til November," and "Guantanamera."
•
• Seeing Wyclefs accomplishments as an solo
• • artists, the remainder of The Fugees decided to try
• their approach as a solo artists as well. Group
• • member Lauryn Hill
• would eventually release
• a well-critically
•
• acclaimed and Grammy
• winning "The
•
• Miseducation of Lauryn
• Hill" while the other
•
• member Pras would
• release his hit album
•
• titled Ghetto Superstar.
• With success rising up,
•
• members of the group
• were determined to try to
•
• expand their move as
• soloists even more.
•
• Ten years later, howev-
• • er, things seem to have
• changed drastically.
• Lauryn Hill hasn't
•
• released an official album
• for years as Pras' success
•
• as a solo artist has faded.
••• On the other hand, Jean is
• still living up to his prime
• alone with five albums
•
• deep, each receiving gold
• • and platinum status. The
• group undertook a Fugees
movie. Aside from the movie's
criticism on moral hounds, the
largest issue most take from the
film is that it did not follow the
book well; it even cut out the
book's ending. This movie was
very action packed, but it was at
best a basic summary of the
book. On the main points of the
plot, however, it stuck to the
book's original ideas, and the
movie was overall a decent
Wycleaf Jean has assembled a very diverse
and popular crew for his new album.
Psychological thriller Awake finds
success in theatres at release
By Gabrielle Saitto
staff writer
gps.so2oo . psu.edu
Written and directed by Johy Harold.
Awake is the story of a young man who
must undergo open-heart surgery. The
movie stars Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba
as a young married couple. When Christensen's
character, the young, rich, and handsome Clay
Beresford. is forced to have very risky surgery, his
wife, Sam Lockwood. played by Alba, is by his
side the entire time. During his surgery, Clay
wakes up. realizing that his anesthetic has not fully
worked. Although he is paralyzed and cannot com
municate with his doctors, played by Terrence
Howard, Fisher Stevens, and Christopher
McDonald. to let them know he is awake, he is still
completely alert, and can feel every incision that
the doctors are making on his body.
Awake is a psychological thriller, and the feeling
that the main character, Clay experiences is actual
ly a somewhat fairly common occurrence in hospi
tals. It is known as "anesthetic awareness," and
generally happens when not enough anesthetic
medication is given for a particular patient's body
weight.
As soon as Clay realizes that something is
wrong, and that he is awake for the surgery, he also
comes to the conclusion that the doctors that he
thought were his friends are truly his enemies, and
that if he cannot find a way to
hat he is awake.
, n intensifies. In
addition to dealing with
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO the potential death of her
Actress Jessica Alba.
new husband, Sam must
assembles all-star
album release
Carnival II cannot be considered as just a rap
album, nor reggae, pop, rock, or soul. In fact, Jean
combines all of those genres and mixes it with
even more styles that it can be only be called "car
nival music."
Starting the album with rock, Wyclef collaborat
ed with reggae Rastafarian Sizzla and System of a
Down frontman Serj Tankian on "Riot (Trouble
Again)." The strumming of electric guitars, boom
ing bass and drums, wailing of Tankian, howling of
Sizzla, and droning of Jean all combined equals the
best of both worlds of alternative rock and reggae.
"Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)", featuring Akon, Lil'
Columbian singer Shakira teams up again with
Jean on appropriately-titled "King and Queen" as
the music shifts tempo as much as Jean's energy on
this entire album enjoyably. An all-star lineup,
including Black Eyed Peas' Brazilian singer
Daniela Mercury, and dancehall legend Shabba
Ranks, all celebrate festively on the album's finale
"Touch Your Button Carnival Jam." Overall, this
album is very enjoyable whether a Wyclef fan or a
fan of music.
This album not only touches all of the genres in
music, but it breaks the mode of a rap album as
Jean adds his own rule explore limitless possibil
ities and have fun while you're ahead.
he will he mur
red in order for
is fortune to he
aken from him.
As Clay is in sur-
gery. his wife,
,am, is struggling
th her own per
il demons as the
Wayne, and Niia, shows a
story of a struggle of a
woman becoming trapped in
the system where giving
money would become her
only main source in life.
Atlanta rapper T.I.
appears in relaxing "Slow
Down" as Chamillionaire
shows up on the Indian
"Hollywood Meets
Bollywood (Immigration)."
Jean then escapes the rap
roots as R&B singer Mary J.
Blige croons on "What
About the Baby" and Norah
Jones soothingly emerges on
"Any Other Day." The
album's surprise, however,
may be on Paul Simon's
appearance on quick-strum
ming "Fast Car." While not
many hip-hop artists may
consider Simon for a feature
on their album, Jean makes
it work nonetheless with his
eclectic personality. After
all, Jean did get country
singer Kenny Rogers to
appear on his second album
The Behrend Beacon I
A still photo from the new movie Awake
also deal with the fact that her new mother-in-law
hates her. and tries relentlessly throughout the sur-
gery to change the situation
The movie ~ A tvake had a decent storyline, and
many twists and turns. With impressive actors like
those in Awake. most would have expected the
movie to he somewhat better. The movie is hard to
follow at times, due to the fact that while Clay is
under the knife, hut aware of what is going on, he
has out of body experiences and travels backwards
in time.
The acting presented in the movie is good over
all. Alba does an excellent job at portraying the
upset wife. The doctors. Howard. Stevens, and
McDonald are each good at playing the role of doc
tors, however the hospital and surgery in the movie
is not exactly what would he called realistic.
Awake was the first feature movie debut for Johv
Harold as both the writer and director, however he
played both roles fairly well. His only flaw would
have been trying to include too many twists and
turns within the plot line in too short of a time span.
Although the movie might not he entirely plausi
ble. the movie does a good job of keeping the audi
ence guessing, and on their toes.
The movie was released on Nov. 30, 2007, and
has made over $10,745,000 since then. It is due to
he released on video March 11, 2008. It is rated R
for language, a brief scene of dnig use, and an
intensely disturbing situation.
No Country for Old Men
surprises audiences
By Robert Davis
staff writer
ikdso23Vpsu.edu
"No Country for Old Men - is a film adaptation
from the novel written by Cormac McCarthy with
the same title. The film was directed by Joel and
Ethan Coen, a brother team who have been making
critically acclaimed films for years. Some of their
older materials include such films as "Fargo - and
"Oh Brother, Where Art Though?" They have been
known for doing many films involving money,
crime, violence and ironic dry humor. The film had
an estimated budget of $3O million and was filmed
on location in West Texas, New Mexico and
Mexico. "No Country for Old Men" has an intrigu
ing plot with many complexities.
The story follows Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin)
who stumbles up
deal gone bad wh
hunting. All the
are shot and dead, hi
Moss finds a truck
heroin and a case
$2 million. H(
decides to return
the scene later
night to give a man
was dying some wate..
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
When he arrives, he Actor Tommy Lee Jones
finds the man is dead
but another truck pulls up. A group of men chase
him off and he returns home wounded by a shotgun
blast. Now, a psychopathic hit man named Anton
Chigurgh (Javier Bardem) who kills his victims
with an air operated cow gun and a silenced shot
gun knows about Moss and suspects he has the
missing money. Mayhem ensues as Moss,
Chigurgh, and drug men from Mexico chase one
another in a bloody battle for the money.
All along, Sherriff Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones)
follows the trail and tries to bring Moss back home
for his own safety. The film does not follow expec
tations for a normal plot line. I do not want to give
away any details that will ruin it. but many people
found the ending upsetting. The film is themed
around how increasingly violent our country is
becoming and how incredibly sad the violence cre
ated from human greed is.
I saw this film last Wednesday night and really
enjoyed it. The more I think back on it, the more I
appreciate it. All the actors in the film are absolute
ly amazing. Most effective is Javier Bardems char
acter Anton Chigurgh who is entirely terrifying and
psychotic. I highly recommend this film to anyone
who does not just want to watch a violent crime
movie, but who likes a heavily character driven
film with numerous moral implications. Some
scenes will truly blow you away, making you
uneasy and surprised.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO