Almost every single girl wanted to go see it, except for the ones that had avoided the cult. Yes, I am talking about New Moon. Without applause, it was a good movie to say the least. However, when I found myself searching for my keys before the movie was complete, I would also have to say that the movie was too long, especially with such little information needing to be presented. I could have taken three bathroom breaks and steped outside for some air and not missed anything except some shirtless boys and a really messed up girl.

The sound effects were outstanding, so marvelous that I was not able to hear when I left the movie theatre. I loved all the werewolf scenes, however, every time they landed on the ground or jumped that is all you could hear. Can you say migraine? I had not had a headache in forever, and now I can not get rid of it. If you are going to see this movie, bring those deer hunter ear plugs that your father has hidden around the house. Even then it will feel like a TV on full blast.

When a normal person finds out their friend has six toes, they are most of the time creeped out. Like did your mother marry your uncle? Bella on the other hand, when she finds out that Jacob is a werewolf and that Edward is a vampire, does not even take five minutes to contemplate that she is friends with monsters. I think that would bring a person to be a little bit more distraught. The hallucinations of Edward talking and being where he is not. The delusions that people, or should I say vampires, are trying to kill her. Affective flattening in her life style, or maybe that is just Kirsten Stewart acting skills. Isolating herself. Is Bella really head over heels for Edward or just a schizo?

Edward’s character seems to be even more self pitying in this one than he was in the first, and even more controlling. “Oh, Bella, we can not be together but do not hurt yourself.” What does he try to do in the end? Exactlly. Hypocrite? I say yes. In that end scene, though, he needs to put his shirt back on. I know vampires are supposed to be pasty white, but what is he trying to do? Show off his little man hairs? Pay close attention. In the scene with him trying to expose himself, one of his nipples is purple and one is red. That’s not normal.

Most of the movie, Edward had either looked like a lizard, constipated, or as if he had Jaundice but at least they had fixed the first one where he had bright red ears. Also, whenever Bella was near him it looked as though all he did was looked down her shirt.

Not everything in the movie was a waste of money. I had my laughs mainly at the extremely cheesy parts like when she is running to Edward. Also Jacob without a shirt was completely worth it.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

What do you think of when you here the phrase “freedom of speech?” Ignorance sometimes brings our generation to believe that freedom of speech includes things like racial slurs or repetitive swearing, blatantly abusing a privilege one can only find in our country. Freedom of speech should be used as a light. To educate others in any way, creative or just straight forward.

I come to you from a place in time that should consist of growing and finding yourself–finding your voice. For me, this place in time is my college career, for others, it may be just the overall separation from family and old friends who may have been incorporated in every aspect of their lives. This moment that we find ourselves in is the most precious of moments. The moment when we are supposed make our own voice, to use the idea of “freedom of speech,” to further our knowledge with questions and to voice truths on many topics. For me, as a strongly opinionated person, I enjoy using my voice to speak up about things, whether it’s through a satirical article in the paper or even just contributing in class. I find a lot of times our society has a very cookie-cutter mentality in that everyone should be hush mouthed and never say anything to move people from their seats. Constantly aiming for being accepted but never aiming towards things that should be said and saying things that should be heard.

At times, people find themselves wandering outside of the norm of hand over mouth, writers and lyricists alike. We later get controversial songs and books that stir up emotions that get us talking and analyzing–precisely what should occur. The cookie-cutter mentality from surrounding minds then comes in and pops our bubbles of thought preventing us from further growth of the mind. Don’t let these close minded thinkers infest your growth pool! This is your time to use your voice when it has the most affect… as a college student. You may sit there and laugh saying you have no voice as a college student, but you are the future of the country. Don’t use your right to freedom of speech on ramblings of nothing. Use it to open eyes around you.

If you want to see a great movie this holiday season, look no further than Sandra Bullock and her outstanding performance in The Blind Side.

The Blind Side is a movie based on a book entitled The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. It is about Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher and how he went from a homeless boy to football star. The Touhys, a consservative suburban family in Memphis, invited him into thier family. Oher’s father was murdered when he was a young boy and his mother is a crack addict. Living with the Touhys, he had to get his grades up to be able to play football and then again to be eligible for an academic scholarship. With the help of his new family and his tutor, he becomes the number one rated offensive lineman prospect in the county and received scholarships from a number of high-profile universities, including Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana State.

It is a very emotional and inspirational story and this movie is definitely a must-see movie for the holidays. I went to see it for the first time on Friday and it exceeded my expectations. And I expected this movie to be very good. Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy and Tim McGraw plays Sean Tuohy, her husband. Here, Bullock had one of the best performances of her career. Bullock acted like an actual mother would in that situation and that is the major reason why I think that she was perfect for this role and that she did one hell of a job as Leigh Anne. The children also played a pivotal role in the movie. The son in the movie, S.J. (or Sean Jr.), played by Jae Head, is beyond funny in the movie. He is the typical troublemaker kid in the family and he played the role perfectly. In The Blind Side, S.J. trains Oher and gets him in shape. And finally, my personal favorite character, Collins Tuohy, is ironically played by Lily Collins, the daughter of musician Phil Collins. She was at first hesitant to go along with Oher staying there since they are in the same grade, but she eventually warmed up to it and they became very close. She is extremely gorgeous and I look forward to seeing the 20-year old actress in future movies. And finally, Quinton Aaron plays Michael Oher and does a masterful job. He is extremely shy and as most people would be, was pretty nervous going into a total stranger’s home. But Bullock is truly the star of the film and makes this an amazing movie.

This movie was such a good movie for the entire family to see and that is why it ranks number one on my mustsee movies for the holiday season.

If I were asked to describe Sarah Palin, the first words that come to mind aren’t exactly “bestselling author.” But here she is, the outspoken former governor of Alaska and self-proclaimed pitbull with lipstick, now a bestselling author with her 413-page memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. It sold over 700,000 copies in its first week, and as of Dec. 1 it became the first political memoir by a conservative to sell over a million copies.

Okay. I followed the 2008 presidential election like some people follow soap operas, so I saw and heard a lot about Sarah Palin, and she never struck me as the literary sort. Listen to her talk, and not just to her funny accent: When she gets excited or frustrated, particularly in the infamous Katie Couric interview, there’s a flurry of runon sentences, as if she has a million ideas she wants to communicate but can’t find the patience to say them one at a time, like a nervous teenager in a high school debate tournament who lost all her notes. She rambles, talks a lot but doesn’t really say anything, tries creating the illusion of competently answering a question when she doesn’t actually know the answer. Sure, maybe the Couric interview was full of unnecessarily difficult questions designed intentionally to make her look stupid or hickish. Maybe it was unfair to ask the head of the executive branch of an entire state government to name any Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade that she personally disagreed with. Or even the names of any specific magazines and newspapers she reads. One would think a bestselling author (especially one who used to be a governor) could at least do that.

Only after reading Going Rogue did I realize that I was wrong. You see, she may seem like a simple, small-town girl who loves her family and a long day of hunting more than anything else in the whole wide world. She may seem like the kind of girl who seems far more likely to pick up a copy of Field & Stream or ESPN Magazine than The Economist or The Weekly Standard if you saw her at a bookstore (and considering the kind of girl we’re talking about, that’s a mighty big if). And she is. The first chapter opens with Sarah taking a leisurely stroll with her daughters down the midway at the Alaska State Fair. But she’s deceptively complex, our Sarah. This folksy demeanor is all part of her grand scheme to win back the White House from the socialists in 2012. She’s a political mastermind, but she’s just too Main Street for Washington. America simply wasn’t ready for her brand of tell-it-like-it-is honesty in 2008. She has no patience for bullshit and she’s not afraid to say so, and does, on page 2. They don’t call her Barracuda for nothing, you know. She tells us how she got that nickname on page 231, but that excerpt contains content far too graphic to reprint here. All I can say is that she’s hunted a lot more than just moose… have you ever read The Most Dangerous Game? Just kidding.

As I’ve mentioned already, the Sarah Palin we met during the ’08 campaign wasn’t the real Sarah. If you’re a Palin-hater who uses the Couric interview as proof of her being some wide-eyed Pollyanna who is too inexperienced, and just plain simple-minded, to have any real grasp of the complex nature of politics, oh boy, Tina Fey and the rest of the liberal media really must’ve had the wool pulled over your eyes! It’s okay, even syndicated conservative columnist Kathleen Parker fell for it. Mid-campaign, and much to the displeasure of most of the Republican party, she wrote, “Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who is clearly out of her league.” Then, she added, “If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.”

Well, Sarah now makes it perfectly clear to naysayers like Kathleen here that she herself was not the problem. “I choked on a couple of responses, and in the harried pace of the campaign, I mistakenly let myself become annoyed and frustrated with many of [Couric’s] repetitive, biased questions,” Sarah writes. She also says that she was “told to sit down and shut up” by McCain Campaign management at one time, never allowed to really speak her mind. If only she could’ve talked to Katie Couric about those terrorists Obama was pallin’ around with…

One little thing Sarah doesn’t really mention is her ghostwriter, Lynn Vincent. I’m not judging her for using one – many politicians who publish autobiographies do. But they usually mention that fact prominently so as not to be misleading about who really did most of the writing. The cover features Sarah, smiling and gazing away at something off in the distance, wearing a red wool sweater with picturesque Alaskan scenery in the background, like a model in an LL Bean catalog, with no mention of any other author whatsoever. She isn’t even mentioned first in the Acknowledgements section. Maybe Vincent was paid a handsome fee for her lack of credit in Rogue’s authorship. We’ll never know, because Sarah signed a non-disclosure agreement making certain details about her publishing contract with HarperCollins, interestingly enough, a company owned by Rupert Murdoch, the man who also owns Fox News, unavailable. Or maybe, Sarah’s people didn’t want the ghostwriter’s identity advertised. Fun fact – Lynn Vincent also ghost wrote the autobiography of Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, the former head of the Army’s Special Forces Command, who believes that his duty in the military was to defend the Christian nation of America against Satan.

Another fun fact – Sarah’s contract for Rogue is worth somewhere between 2.5 – 5 million dollars, paid in installments. The actual total hasn’t been disclosed by HarperCollins. The average salary of an Alaska governor is roughly $125,000 a year. Sarah, who has traveled to a few cities on her book tour in a $4,000 per hour Gulfstream jet, says she’ll donate much of the proceeds to charity. Sarah announced the book deal in May 2009 then abruptly resigned as governor in July, her reason being “a higher calling.” Am I alluding that Sarah Palin quit for the money? Maybe, but one can never really be sure about matters like these. Let’s not forget that Sarah got her four-year bachelor’s degree after attending four different colleges over a span of five years. So what is it, then? Indecisiveness? Greed? Both? I could go on and on about this subject, but you know, much like Sarah Palin, I’ve never been very good at finishing thi—

The semester is drawing to a close and the homework just seems to pile up. Those weeks of procrastination have finally hit you and you’ve found yourself sitting in your room staring at books, computer screens, and notes.

It’s times like these that a study break sounds reasonable and extremely necessary. You could stay home and relax but the last thing you want to do is sit in the same place you’ve been for the past couple of hours. When those late evening munchies kick in and you find yourself sitting there with your friends, arguing about where to go that you haven’t become such a regular that they yell your name when you walk in the door. Maybe a change is in order.

Downtown Wausau practically shuts down after 8 pm, and unless you’re twenty-one, you’re only option normally would be a sit down diner, but not anymore. In fact that was exactly what Kevin Polito, owner and manager of Polito’s Pizza, had in mind when he opened up his shop in Wausau on the downtown 400 Block. With hours ranging from 11 am in the morning till 11 at night Thursday through Saturday it’s easy to understand why Polito’s has become the new hotspot on the college campuses of Marathon County, Oshkosh, and Steven’s Point.

Polito’s brings a fun atmosphere that not only caters to your budget but also to your taste buds with New York style homemade specialty pizzas like Chicken Bacon Ranch, and Mac n’ Cheese for less than $4 a slice. They are also home to the ”largest pizza in Wisconsin” at 28 inches to feed a hungry crew. And, if you happen to be out of the minor age range they offer a nice selection of domestic and microbrewed beer.

Not a pizza person? It’s alright. Polito’s has you covered with an array of different kinds of hot subs, wings, and breadsticks. In addition, they offer daily specials too numerous to mention but well worth checking out at their website, politospizza.com, which also features their menu.

So on those nights when you just need a break, head down to Polito’s and enjoy great food with great people. If the demand is great enough, they might just expand their hours into the late night like at their other locations.

If we were to chart out a schematic of feelings, what would we do with nostalgia? Nostalgia can only happen to a creature who muses on the ideal which was yesterday. Nostalgia commands the present with a demented delusion of grandeur. The mirage of nostalgia yields forth a phantom oasis, a pretense of historical opulence – as if our past life appeared agreeable in proportion to its distant vantage. The present moment reveals an unsatisfactory emptiness and gives way to an aching, yearning return to what was. But how could yesterday have been so exquisite that it dares quench today’s burning thirst? It cannot, and the pensiveness of nostalgia must always collapse in upon itself and turn to angst, boredom and spleen. When you are nostalgic, you long for whom you were. Your reminiscence acts like a mirror that reflects an image that no longer exists, an echo bounding what was but will never again be. Nostalgia furnishes an escape, a flight of reverie from the burdensome predicament which is today to the diversion of what is no more. Serving as a kind of temporal resonance, the feeling of nostalgia bends time in around and upon itself, as if decades were condensed in moments. It seems that the opposite of nostalgia is not reality, but rather desire. Desire prods and goads because it serves the active dimension of emotion. Desire shapes whom you will be tomorrow, nostalgia seizes you in yesterday’s web. Desire catalyzes valiant potential, while wistful nostalgia metamorphoses dreams into fossils.

Two old men talking politics at a diner. This might seem like a cliché, but I see them almost every time I’m there, so maybe some clichés are true. It’s not always the same men or the same diner or even the same town, but they’re always around. It’s like their natural habitat. They sit at the counter, a newspaper stained with coffee and ash unfolded between them, echoing the Opinion page:

“Oh, the recession ain’t anywhere near over. This ain’t like Mexico, you can’t get cheap labor like that here.” And Guy #1 will go on with his argument for a while until Guy #2 finally has enough and interrupts.

“…But I’m sayin’ it doesn’t make no difference to me whether we’d have Obama or McCain, the economy would still be goin’ to shit because of all them Wall Street bankers and CEOs…”

Or something to that effect, for hours on end, discussing economics or foreign policy or whatever hot-button issue makes the headlines that day, in rough, gravelly voices periodically interrupted by loose, phlegmy coughs. I’m never sure if it’s all the coffee and cigarettes that cause them to sound so battered and sickly or if it’s the politics – more specifically, the bitter, endless disputes that go along with it.

I remember a commercial from when I was a kid, a public service announcement, actually, that claimed every cigarette you smoke takes seven minutes off of your life. So what about political arguments? A really bad one can literally go on for hours. Then factor in all the cigarettes you have to chain-smoke to keep yourself from pummeling the other person… in just one argument, you’ve shortened your life by at least three or four hours! Say you have one of those every week. 52 weeks times (let’s say) 3.5 lost hours is 182 hours or about 7.5 days every year, more or less. It’s a dangerous hobby – just look at what happened to Hunter S. Thompson.

In my experience, political debates just go in circles, a lot like a merry-go-round: At first it’s really exhilarating and you’re getting really into it, the rush, the speed, the wind in your hair. But after so long you realize you’re not going anywhere and then you get dizzy and angry and just want to puke. Some of the worst arguments can go on for hours, especially when alcohol is involved. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I’ve even been stupid enough to get involved in a few. Nobody ever “wins.” Very rarely does anyone compromise or admit they were wrong, because nobody wants to be wrong. In fact, both sides usually leave with their own beliefs strengthened. Afterward, all I feel is angry, angrier than I was before the argument started, and nauseous, like I’m coming down with a bad flu or maybe something even worse, something chronic and longterm that keeps coming back, like cancer. There’s still that merry-go-round effect – I know I might get sick, but I just can’t resist the initial rush.

After a while, a waitress will appear from the kitchen with a pot of coffee, walk toward the counter, then hover over the two men and briefly listen to their tirade, maybe because she’s genuinely interested in what they have to say or maybe to be polite and let one of the two finish his thought before interrupting to ask whether they’d like a refill or not. And one of the two will look up at her and say, “Ohhhh, I donno… well sure, why not,” then smile for the first time in what seems like years, adding, “Ya gotta go somehow, right?” as he lights another cigarette.

Once again the true colors of our economy show up at the worst possible time. Jobs are scarce, and even our parents are finding it difficult to help support us through school. Us as students, being the go-getters that we are, fill out form after form and apply for all the financial aid that we are eligible for. Never once did we think we would receive an “I.O.U” from the state, but that has obviously changed. I am referring to the WHEG, better known as the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant. Either you or someone you know has received a letter or notification on PRISM that indicates the amount of money that you may receive if funds become available. After receiving this update on my aid, I went to the business office to find out if the funds would actually ever come in. The answer was probably not. The total of my WHEG Grant came to $2,980.00. Money I will never see, but was completely eligible for. How did this problem of scarce funds come about you ask? The Wisconsin Higher Education Grant is a state-funded grant program available to eligible undergraduates who have demonstrated financial need. The amount of students has grown exponentially due to the fall of the economy which in the end has allowed more students to be eligible for the grant. There is only one problem with this situation: the pot of money used towards the grant did not grow as more students became eligible. Executive secretary for the higher educational aid board Connie Hutchinson stated that if there isn’t any change in the state assembly’s budget this year, more than 6,000 students will not receive aid in spite of being eligible. WHEG is a first-come-first-served disbursed aid program and has, in turn, placed students who applied after June 26 on a waiting list. Democrats, who currently control Wisconsin’s state senate, want to increase program funds to $50 million, while the Republicans, who control the state assembly, want to limit the funds to $39 million. Hutchison later stated that the board must operate under the assumption that funds will not be increased. For many students this means taking out more loans, or no college at all.

What does being an individual mean? I’m sure you have heard this affect before, either witnessing it on television or hearing it from someone you know. They say, “I am not like anyone else…I am my own self; an individual.” But is this the case? Read the full story

Going green? It may be important to inform yourself before buying a hybrid car.

First, a little bit of information about hybrid vehicles. According to an article on lovetoknow.com, there are currently three different types of hybrids on the market. The two most common are the series hybrid and the parallel hybrid. The series hybrid has an electric engine that runs the car once it reaches a certain speed, with gasoline being utilized solely to start and stop the car. The battery in this type of vehicle is larger than that in a standard car, and it is charged simply by driving. The wheels of the vehicle turn using only electrical power. This kind of hybrid is considered a good candidate for taxis and buses, since it is useful in sporadic start and stop traffic situations. The parallel hybrid uses both gasoline and electricity to start, stop, and power the vehicle. However, the electric engine is used when a more substantial boost of power is needed, and braking charges the battery. The battery in a parallel hybrid is much smaller than that of a series hybrid, and the vehicle is more suited for long distance trips. The third version of the hybrid utilizes aspects from both the series and parallel hybrids… so is this a hybrid of two different types of hybrids? This combined version is more like a series hybrid at low speeds, and the electric engine takes over at high speeds. There are other types of hybrids, but these are the most common. Some examples of hybrid vehicles you may have heard of include the 2006 Toyota Camry, the 2007 Mazda Tribute, the 2008 Dodge Durango, and the current poster child for hybrid vehicles, the 2009 Toyota Prius.

Many of these vehicles are already on the road, being purchased in an attempt to own a more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly car. However, the article on lovetoknow.com states that even though, “The future of hybrid and alternative fueled cars looks to a bright future,” there are still some ‘hidden dangers’ that consumers should be aware of.”

One of the dangers that consumers should be aware of is addressed in an article on usatoday.com, which stated that a recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that hybrid vehicles are more likely to hit pedestrians because of how quiet they are. Bikers and pedestrians, especially those who are blind, cannot hear the cars approaching and therefore are more likely to be involved in an accident. The article also posted an excerpt from a blog done by Consumer Reports, which compared the rates of crashes involving pedestrians between hybrid and conventional vehicles. Out of the amount of vehicles studied, 0.9% of hybrids were involved in accidents with pedestrians, compared to 0.6% of conventional vehicles involved in the same sort of accidents.

Hybrid vehicles may also be dangerous to maintain. According to Sandy Nuebauer, store manager of O’ Reilly Auto Parts in Medford, the required procedures for routine maintenance of hybrids “are very specific, and mistakes can be dangerous or expensive.” Hybrid vehicles use an extremely high voltage system, so certain precautions need to be taken when servicing them. Some of these precautions include wearing insulated gloves without tears or any other damage, keeping track of warning symbols, such as orange coated wires and a triangle with an exclamation point or lightning bolt in the center, and making sure to switch off the HV (High Voltage) system, while waiting at least 5 minutes for the capacitors to discharge, before attempting to work on the vehicle. There are also very powerful magnets within hybrids, and Nuebauer warns that, “People with pacemakers or other magnetically sensitive medical devices really shouldn’t work on hybrids. The rotor assembly is made with strong magnets and could shut down a person’s pacemaker.” She sums it up by saying that, “Hybrids are definitely the wave of the future because of the fuel economy, the low emissions, and you still get performance from the hybrid vehicle. They are fast becoming an attractive car. However, any person purchasing a hybrid vehicle should ask many questions about how the maintenance is handled, because of the dangers involved. It’s not a self-maintenance vehicle.”

Another concern consumers may have is that of electromagnetic fields. An article on consumerist.com stated that, “Hybrids need to move a large amount of electricity near the driver which cause electromagnetic fields or EMFs.” This information is raising concerns about the possible health hazards EMFs may cause. Hybrid car batteries are also larger than conventional car batteries, and there is concern that their disposal may create an environmental hazard as well.

Despite these concerns, hybrids might still seem like a good option to replace all those “gas guzzling” cars and trucks. The growing number of hybrid vehicles on the road attests to the fact that a portion of the population believes in the future of hybrids, and an article on Wikipedia states that hybrids in general, achieve better fuel economy and release lower emissions than a vehicle using a regular internal combustion engine. Dr. Louis Pech, a biology professor at UWMC, echoed these sentiments in an interview with the Forum. When asked about the possible environmental hazard that hybrid car batteries may present, Pech explained that these batteries are similar to a lot of electronic waste made with heavy metals that can be recycled and used again, but has to be disassembled first. “There is concern that these kinds of things go to third world countries, where they’re disassembled under rather poor environmental conditions that can hurt people because they get exposed to these chemicals,’ Pech said. “Having said that, there are programs, for example, where you can send your cell phones and e-waste where they’re disassembled and stuff is extracted safely.” Pech states that although the initial mining of the metals is pretty hard on the environment, in theory, hybrid car batteries should be able to be recycled safely.

Pech also seemed skeptical about the claim that EMFs could cause dangerous health problems for hybrid owners. “Even when you’re running a conventional gasoline engine there’s a generator running, and electric fields. But most of the time when a hybrid is moving, it’s running off the gasoline engine. As my understanding is, there’s not a lot of good evidence out there that electromagnetic fields have really bad health effects.”

So are hybrids the best option for the future of automotive transportation? There are other alternatives for shorter trips. After all, it’s hard to find a vehicle that gets better gas mileage than a bicycle, and bicycles offer various health benefits as well. However, for those of us who need to travel a little bit farther, perhaps it’s up to each individual to make their own choice on if we will take part in the “wave of the future.” Perhaps simply to be informed first, before we purchase such a vehicle, is one of the best choices we can make as a consumer in the current automotive market.