January 2010 Archives

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/83081942.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiU9PmP:QiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

I chose this article for my local news because I've decided that since I want to be a sportscaster, at least one of my articles per week should be about sports. This week, considering that I am a Wisconsinite, the sports topic of the week that stood out to me most was seeing the Vikings lose to the Saints. Not even so much because of the Packers-Vikings rivalry, but because of the man Brett Favre.

That is why I haven't even necessarily selected an article about the playoff game, because the one that I did choose is about Brett Favre retiring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?hp

Of course the biggest national news to take place this week was the first State of the Union address from President Obama. I wasn't able to watch it because I was at work, but I did make sure to check the Times website soon after it was done to check in and see what was said.

There were some major things that stood out to me, the first of which being the fact that the president only spent 9 minutes talking about foreign affairs. I understand that there are a lot of hometown issues going on right now, but it just struck me as odd that there was SO little time spent on this topic. Especially considering that we are the country who is most involved with every other country in the world.

Another major point was the tone of the president. It doesn't mention this specifically in the article that I've cited, but I've both watched and read other articles on this speech and they all seem to mention that the president seemed very aggressive. He would say things such as 'I came into office with two wars, a crumbling economy.... on my plate', which seemed kind of accusatory instead of proactive.

He also spent a good amoutn of time addressing his own party, and asking them to do what he felt he needed from them. He really wants to get his healthcare reform going, and so he needs the Democrats to help him get some of the Republicans onboard and get the 60% of votes. However, he promised to focus more on the economy first and foremost, so that we can reverse the rate of unemployment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/movies/26arts-AVATARMAKESM_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=Pandora%20in%20China&st=cse

I have seen Avatar and I've heard nearly a lifetime's worth of information about it, but this article I came across in the Times really stood out to me. It's a short article that talks about the impact Avatar has had abroad, with a focus here on China.

According to the article, a mountain in Zhangjiajie City in the Hunan region has recently been re-named after the movie. This peak, found in the Southern Sky Column of the city is now called the Avatar Hallelujah Mountains, and this change is apparently an effort to draw Chinese and other tourists to this area.

It almost seems like this geological change was a direct reaction of the James Cameron film being pulled off the screens of Chinese theaters. This has happened because the film made more than $100 million in ticket sales there, even though the film only started showing ealier this month. And as the governement only allows certain amounts of foreign films in the country, the fact that this one was pulling in so much money started to worry the government.

However, travel companies have already begun offering tours that emphasize the region's resemblance to Pandora, the mountain from the movie. The regional government advertises the site as a way into the movie that the people all love. This just goes to show that American movies have a large impact abroad, as the money from over there has contributed to the movie topping the charts for highest grossing films.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/82656477.html

This story of my choice is from the local newspaper of where I am from, Milwaukee, WI. It is a story that I heard about from one of my friend's who lives there, because this story is more or less directly related to them. They are a student at UWM and are in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, which is where this article comes into play.

The article talks about two recent graduates from the UWM Bachelor of Fine Arts program, who are currently involved in a show put on by the Youngblood Theatre Company in Milwaukee. The show is called 'Red Light Winter', and it had just ended its opening day ealier that day on Saturday the 23rd. The two men listed in the article were invloved in the show, and one of them was even a main character.

As I mentioned earlier, it was the opening day of the show, and to celebrate what was later reviewed as an excellent performance, some of the members of the cast head out to a house party. The night carried on with nothing out of the ordinary at first, that is until the room mate of the cast member whose house it was came home. The room mate, a 37-year-old man, didn't seem to mind to mind the company at first as he joined the group for a cigarette soon after he got home. However, a little later, he complained of noise and and started to get upset with the other tenant of the house.

After some arguing, the 37-year-old man is reported to have taken a kitchen knife and stabbed two of the guests, one in the abdomen and another also in the abdomen as well as cutting him on the chest and shoulder. Both were taken to the hospital and treated for their wounds, though the one who was cut was released after some light patching-up, whereas the other man was enlisted in critical condition.

The 37-year-old man was arrested, and the actor in the hospital remained there. The show was cancelled as a result of the incident, and all money raised on opening night was donated to his cause. The show also set up a fund in his name to try and raise more money for the youg actor. Like I said before, I heard about this from my friend because he was once in a show with the two actor's that were stabbed. He called me to tell me about it the day after it happened, and then once I saw it show up on my hometown paper's website, I knew this should be the first entry of my blog. This was news I knew about before any news outlet.