Generation Opportunity finds Millennials say: ‘Gas Prices Are Too Damn High’

Generation Opportunity (GO) will celebrate its first anniversary in June. Since launching last year they’ve already garnered 2.8 million Facebook fans – a feat many organizations that have been around for decades have been unable to accomplish.

GO is a non-partisan non-profit organization that reaches out to Millennials, young adults between age 18 and 29, to get them involved in the political process. GO does this through new media and intense grassroots networking. “We have literally met tens of thousands of young people on the ground and been to hundreds of events,” Paul Conway, president of GO, said. Through the 2011 National Student Government Summit in Bethesda, Maryland, for example, GO trained student government leaders from across the country on how to combine social media and grassroots tactics to better impact their campuses and state capitals on issues of youth unemployment and job creation.

By /// April 19, 2012

Is Heineken really the beer for Bond?

Ad Age recently reported that 007 will be drinking Heineken in the upcoming “Skyfall,” the next installment in the Bond film franchise. Fan reactions have been mixed at best.

Now, Bond does not always drink martinis. As recently as “Die Another Day” (2002), he was sipping a mojito with Halle Berry’s Bond Girl Jinx. But should a man whose book descriptions read like a page from GQ be drinking Heineken?

By /// April 6, 2012

‘Wrath of the Titans” Excellent CGI Almost Redeems Non-Existent Story

With “Wrath of the Titans,” its epic sequel to the 2010 remake “Clash of the Titans,” Warner Brothers delivers more CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) action, and little else.

A decade after Perseus (Sam Worthington) saved Princess Andromeda (then played by Alexa Davalos), the demi-god is a widower raising his young son Helius (John Bell) alone. In the years since Zeus released the kraken sea monsters, the Greeks have almost completely stopped worshiping the gods, greatly weakening the power of Olympus. As the gods lose power, the imprisoned titan Kronos regains influence. When Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares (Édgar Ramírez) join Kronos and capture Zeus (Liam Neeson), Perseus is forced to once again take up his sword to battle the legends of Greece as he journeys to the Tartarus underworld to rescue his father and stop Kronos from rising.

By /// March 30, 2012

The Franklin Center Fuels Rise of Citizen Journalism

In July of 2009, Business Insider reported that 105 newspapers had closed in the first six months of the year, in an article with the headline, “The Year The Newspaper Died.” Fortunately, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was founded the same year.

The Franklin Center is a non-profit designed to work with non-traditional news sources like non-profit journalism groups, independent activists and bloggers to help fill the gap of shrinking media covering state capitols. The center first made a splash with the uncovering of “phantom congressional districts” in November of that year.

By /// March 28, 2012

REVIEW: “The Hunger Games” Falls Short of Expectations

Susan Collins’ Hunger Games book series was never really for children. That may have been her intent, but the books are full of gruesome deaths and brutality that are not always appropriate for children, and have drawn fans of all ages.

Collins ability to deftly weave the vulnerabilities of young love with more adult themes of sacrifice and survival is a principal attraction to the series. The Hunger Games released this weekend unfortunately moderates its source material in an effort to fit every moment on screen and sacrifices impact to retain a PG-13 rating.

By /// March 25, 2012

Fun Facts About Disney’s John Carter

Disney’s “John Carter” hit theaters this weekend. Full of action and romance, it’s the original sci-fi, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars,” which was first published in parts in All-Story magazine in 1912.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you see the film:

If it looks like “John Carter” stole from “Star Wars” and “Avatar,” think again. George Lucas and James Cameron have both noted that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars story influenced their own creations. As “John Carter” director Andrew Stanton noted, “It was difficult to go back into this book and not look like you were being derivative of everything else, because it’s been an inspiration for things for 100 years.”

By /// March 11, 2012

In Memorandum: A Tribute to Andrew Breitbart

Today, the conservative movement lost one of its most dynamic voices, Andrew Breitbart. Through his “Big” media network, Breitbart fought against government overreach, media bias and liberal Hollywood with all the passion of “a 1960’s radical,” as Jonah Goldberg noted this morning on Fox News

But Andrew Breitbart was more than just a fighter. To me, Andrew Breitbart was a sort of modern Samuel Adams. Adams was vitally important in creating the committees of correspondence to link the thirteen colonies together in their efforts to break ties with Great Britain. The committees kept people in the different colonies informed on how each colony was being affected by British rule and how patriots in each colony were fighting overreaching laws.

Samuel Adams was a loud Massachusetts leader, mostly in print, but he was also happy to play second fiddle, to work behind the scenes and let others receive praise. That was my experience with Andrew Breitbart.

By /// March 1, 2012

Movie Review: Act of Valor is Damn Worthy of Your Time

“Act of Valor,” a new film from Relativity, is a fitting tribute to the fallen Naval Special Warfare members, who give their lives on a regular basis to protect our country from terrorism.

By /// February 25, 2012