Daily Archives: June 2, 2011

Green Lantern

June 02, 2011   Jennifer Mika   3 Comments

By now, most comic books and their superheroes have been made into action and adventure movies. The idea of superhero versus villain has been seen throughout theaters all across America and they’re not stopping anytime soon. One of the last great comic books to be made into a movie has finally arrived. Director Martin Cambell has followed the trend by releasing Green Lantern, which is based off of the comic books published by DC Comics. Created in 1940, the Green Lantern created several fictional characters and superheroes that possessed a power ring and lantern. These objects gave each character a wide variety of super power and strength over the physical world.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is the first human to join the Green Lantern Corps, a group of protectors of peace and justice. The Green Lanterns have been around for centuries and have the ability to control earth with the help of a magic ring. However, when their enemy Parallax threatens to disrupt the peace they have created, the Green Lantern Corps must rely on their newest member Hal Jordan. Being the first human to join, the Green Lantern Corps is having trouble trusting and respecting Jordan. It is up to Jordan to prove himself and ultimately save the Universe.
With a $150 million budget by Warner Bros, critics and audiences are expecting high end special effects. The only conflict that may arise is the choice of using Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan seeing that he has already been casted in Deadpool, another comic series turned movie, which will cause a frenzy for comic fanatics. Mistake?

The film will be released June 17.

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New Florida Law: Drug Screening For Welfare

June 02, 2011   Fouad Egbaria   1 Comment

Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed a measure into law that would, effective July 1st, force those applying for welfare to submit to drug screening. The measure is meant to limit the misuse of tax payer dollars on those whom cannot pass a drug test. Gov. Scott put it bluntly: ”It’s the right thing for citizens of this state that need public assistance. We don’t want to waste tax dollars. And also, we want to give people an incentive to not use drugs.” Democrats from Florida congressional delegation have deemed the bill “unconstitutional.” They argue that not only is it unfair to families in need, it sets a dangerous precedent that could be applied to other types of federal assistance, such as student loans.

Scott’s co-founding of a company that offers drug screening as a service make the measure even more objectionable to many, as it would seem to be an obvious conflict of interest. However, Scott no longer has a majority stake in the company. Nonetheless, the measure, like almost every political action in this day and age, is extremely divisive; where as Republicans view it as a necessary trimming of the welfare budget, Democrats view it as a violation of basic constitutional rights. It is worth noting that those who fail the drug screening may opt to allow somebody else to received the federal benefits for them on behalf of their children (of course assuming that the person would pass the screening). Despite this alternative, the measure’s overall ideological thrust will not prevent Democrats from looking on with worry at what they perceive to be an attack upon the all-important Constitution of the United States of America.

 

Contains information from CNN.

 

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Shaquille O’Neal Retires

June 02, 2011   Fouad Egbaria   3 Comments

After a long and distinguished career, Shaq has officially decided to call it quits, making his announcement today via Twitter. O’Neal played in the NBA for 19 seasons and on six different teams, beginning with the Orlando Magic after his collegiate career at Louisiana State University. The 7’1” behemoth finishes fifth on the all-time leading scorers list, only trailing virtuosos like Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Malone.

Shaq has large shoes to fill, literally and figuratively, and it is unlikely that we will another big man with the charisma and ability to dominate a game the way he did. While Kobe was certainly already a great player during the Lakers three-peat (2000-02), nobody will argue that Shaq was the heart and soul of that team. Shaq was such an overpowering force on the court that opposing teams often resorted to using the so called “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy, which entailed purposely fouling him in order to take advantage of his below average free throw shooting. It was an admission of the inability to stop him, and even though it seemed “cheap” and slowed games down, what could teams have done? Once Shaq got into the painted area, it was over, and Shaq could be seen slamming the ball through the rim with a violence that on a handful of occasions did damage to the hoop itself, breaking the glass or causing the backboard to come crashing down.

Shaq was more than just a basketball player. He was a dilettante, an athletic renaissance man. Shaq appeared in movies, had a brief and surprising successful career as a rapper, and even held aspirations of participating in law enforcement. It was clear that Shaq was nowhere near the player he used to be the last several seasons with the Suns, Heat, and Celtics. Shaq spent most of this season on the bench, injured, and wasn’t particularly effective even when he was on the court. But, when he was healthy, Shaquille O’Neal was arguably one of the most dominant players of all time, centers or otherwise. Perhaps even more missed than his ability on the court will be his undeniable charisma and ability to make fans laugh every time a microphone is put in front of him. In this era of professional sports and an ubiquitous media, players are told to be as low-key as possible, to avoid controversy at all costs; Shaq was a welcomed breath of fresh air, candid and carefree at all times. He will be missed, not only as an NBA player, but as an NBA personality.

 

Contains information from CNN.

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Worst Showing of the Year for Dow, S&P 500

June 02, 2011   Fouad Egbaria   No comments

The Dow Jones and Industrial and S&P 500 both had their worst day in almost a year on Wednesday, with the NASDAQ also coming up far into the red on the day. The Dow fell 280 points (2.2%) and the S&P 500 similarly dropped 31 points (2.3%). Every component of the Dow was in the red on the day. Many point to economic data that is far from encouraging with respect to private sector jobs as a contributor to the slide, but the continuing European debt crisis has also had an effect, particularly in the worsening case of Greece. According to Michael Sheldon, the chief market strategist at RDM Financial: ”Initially, we just had bad news from the weekly jobless claims data, but now we’re starting to see a broad-based economic slump.” This isn’t anything new. Jobs have been hard to come by for quite a while now, but the market is starting to experience the brutal effects of that now as the situation has “snowballed” over time, as Sheldon put it. According to a report by the ADP, the notion of a weak job market is confirmed by the numbers: the private sector only took on an additional 38,000 jobs in the month of May where as experts were expecting an addition of approximately 170,000 private sector jobs.

The bad news is, many experts predict that the market will likely dip even further as we move through the month of June.

 

Contains information from CNNMoney.

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