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Clear As Iron
Iron Man II pales in comparison to its predecessor
By Becca Fine
Not all comic book movies are created equal. The genre of spandex (or iron) clad superheroes battling creepy villains with names like Doctor Octopus can indeed be limiting, but it certainly isn’t a dead end. Consider The Dark Knight and Spiderman I. Both movies achieve greatness through character development and gripping storylines. Iron Man II, on the other hand, is chiefly composed of gimmicks and cheesy dialogue—clearly Paramount Pictures considered epic action scenes to be sufficient. I disagree; comic book movies can’t be awesome without the steadfast elements of awesome moviemaking.
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Formsprung
Internet anonymity promotes passivism
By Cally Shine
Before Formspring was an option, I was never known to hold back. If something was said that upset me, everyone would know about it. Thus, one month ago, powered by overwhelming curiosity, I signed myself up for my very own Formspring. After weeks of my Facebook news feed consisting of an unfathomable amount of “Ask me anything’s” followed by a link, I had decided to hop on the bandwagon. A few days later, I was hooked on a streak of sending anonymous mean messages and giving snarky retorts to vicious cyber attacks.
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Planet Palin
“Sarah Palin’s Alaska” takes off
By Johannes Harkins
An Alaskan sidewalk is filled to the edge with polar bears. Every time a car drives by honking, the bears erupt in a cheer, brandishing their painted signs. These aren’t exactly the kind of bears people take their kids to see in zoos, nor are they the kind that steal picnic baskets. They are “Polar Bears Against Palin,” a group protesting Sarah Palin’s fight against endangered species status for Polar Bears, and they’re not the first group to question Sarah Palin’s anti-nature attitude.
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Orjazzmically Good
Garfield jazz takes home the cake, brownies, and cookies at Essentially Ellington
By Tory Sheffield
By now, it’s pretty common knowledge that the jazz band did something really big recently. To both confirm and reiterate this exciting information, Garfield’s Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Clarence Acox, was declared the winner of the prestigious 15th annual Essentially Ellington competition on May 10 in New York City.
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The Idiot Box
Why TV needs to get smarter
By Sam Heft-Luthy
Everyone (or maybe it’s just me) has that one uncle, or that hated family friend, who refuses to call it “TV.” Not even “television” is good enough for this guy. Every time he mentions that LCD screen that flashes pictures into your eyes at the speed of light, this dumbass has to call it the “idiot box.” It’s not an original joke. It’s not a funny joke. It’s not even a tolerable joke. But is it true?
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Will The Curtains Open Or Close?
Garfield’s play promises to be much better then that terrible pun
By Sam Heft-Luthy
When addressing this year’s Garfield musical, Curtains, one must mention the elephant in the room: Roosevelt. Completely independent of one another (this is not sarcasm, it was actually just an unfortunate coincidence), both the bulldogs and the roughriders will be performing the same play.
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Quest For the Best: Way to Abuse Wealth
By Johannes Harkins
Everyone is raised to save money. Parents teach their children the value of a dollar with a dime a week allowance until it grows into a savings account. But now the economy is in tip top shape and money practically grows on trees. So now one of the major problems of the day is finding what to do with all the money burning a hole in everyone’s pockets. Never fear, these solutions will have your bank account empty in the most fantastic way possible.
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Magical and Revolutionary?
The brand new iThing
By Kelley Hargus
Everyone who I’d talked to about the new iPad explained that I really needed to get my hands on one in order to fully understand the appeal. Hesitant to spend the minimum $499 on what many were calling a big iPod Touch, I chose the bum route.
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Kick-Ass is, well...
The movie's title fits it excellently
By Sam Heft-Luthy
Kick-Ass brings us a new superhero story in which the hero loses his mother not to a crime syndicate but to a brain aneurism, the villain is your run- of- the- mill mafioso, and the only clear victor is Youtube's visitor count. Kick-Ass is both great fun and a well-done deconstruction of the modern superhero.
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Straight Shooting With...Sunny Thompson
By Cally Shine
Every American household knows the name of Marilyn Monroe. She is the icon for classic Hollywood glamour and beauty. After her tragic death in 1962, there have been countless books published, movies made, and plays performed with Marilyn as their main topic. One in particular stands out, scripted from her own words and songs, called Marilyn: Forever Blonde. The star is the beautiful Sunny Thompson.
Who’s That?One of the UK’s most popular shows remains anonymous in the USBy Johannes HarkinsIn the United States, the default answer for “which superhero would you most like to be?” is “Superman.” To be fair, it’s pretty hard to argue for any other response. Superman is a relatively complete package; invincibility, unworldly speed, X-ray vision, flight, super strength. But what if there was a superhero who could go back in time and alter Superman’s life inexorably, a superhero who could even prevent him from being born. Meet Dr. Who, British icon and cult legend. 
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