http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/iran-warns-world-of-coming-great-event/

Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran.

Kiera O’Dwyer, A&S ’14, has been a member of DOBC since her freshman year at Boston College.  O’Dwyer, however, is no amateur when it comes to dancing.  She has been taking lessons since she was three years old, and competing since the age of five.  When she came to BC, she was lucky enough to find an outlet for her love of dance through DOBC.  Along with keeping her involved as a dancer, DOBC provided O’Dwyer with a great set of friends.  “It’s a great opportunity because you meet new people outside of your hall, people of all different years,” she said.

In preparation for the 23 different performances featured in INTRIGUE, the members of DOBC spent long hours on choreography and rehearsals.  The introduction was put together by all of the choreographers, and the finale was the work of the officers.  DOBC Director Corinne Levine, A&S ’12, choreographed two original dances on top of working on the introduction and finale.

Other members of the group have the opportunity to choreograph the rest of the numbers.  “In the beginning of the year, everyone who wants to choreograph gets to present 30 seconds of their dance to the officers,” explained O’Dwyer.  From there, the officers chose which dances to feature in the show.

The ladies of DOBC were kept quite busy with practices in the two weeks leading up to the show, according to O’Dwyer.  After having spent a month apart over winter break, there was much to catch up on, and very little time.  Luckily, their efforts paid off.  Lexi Tedesco, A&S ’14, hopes to attend more DOBC events in the future.  “I liked that it was modern but you could still see ballet and tap.  It felt like a good mix,” said Tedesco.

Regina Bellizzi, LSOE ’14, raved about her personal favorite performance, Lady Gaga’s “Americano” as choreographed by Alex Lorditch, A&S ’13.  “It was so much fun.  I wanted to get up and dance along with them!” she exclaimed.

The next dance changed the pace of the show with the Beatles’ classic “Yesterday,” choreographed by Ashley Kaner, A&S ’12.  “It brought in a new dynamic by using a red balloon as a prop.  The balloon matched all of the costumes and directed the audience’s attention to the stage,” reminisced Michela Shalvoy, LSOE ’14.

For those who missed INTRIGUE, DOBC will be performing at Boston College’s Relay for Life on February 24^th.  They also have an audition for the ALC Showdown coming up.

The Anthrax and Swine Flu scares may have been taken out of proportion considering how many deaths and injuries there actually were. Only five deaths and 17 injuries were reported as a direct result of Anthrax. CNN reported that a little over 1,000 people died worldwide from the Swine Flu epidemic since the very first outbreak in the Philippines back in 2007.

It would seem the media delights in playing with our fears: providing vast coverage of new diseases which actually do not present much of a threat. They know that hyping up a story about a major pandemic will boost their ratings. And the “Bird Flu” virus is no exception.

This recent “breakthrough” of a chemically engineered Bird Flu and the claim that, in the wrong hands, could be catastrophic just seems like a media tactic used to draw readers in. The argument is that this variation of the H5N1 virus which scientists have engineered could be stolen by bioterrorists and wielded against the U.S.

This all began when a 39-year-old bus driver in a Shenzen, a Chinese city bordering Hong Kong, died on January 1 as a result of the H5N1 virus. The virus is not spread easily and must involve either direct contact with someone who is infected or direct contact with infected poultry, though there is little evidence to support that this could become the next epidemic.

The real risk, therefore, does not lie in the potential spread of the virus, because that would be difficult in and of itself, but in an almost sci-fi movie like scenario in which the virus escapes the lab and the information is put in the wrong hands.

There is also very little probability that the death in Shenzen was linked to the chemically engineered virus created at the University of Wisconsin and Erasmus University. Still, after only two birds tested positive for the virus in China, over 19,000 birds were killed as a caution.

Though the public should be alert to possible threats and take warnings by news officials and scientists seriously, there are other threats that the public is not so aware of: filtering the news they receive.

Some people claim to listen to or even write about music without thinking about the context.  Some people also claim to maintain civil relationships with their cheating exes, sleep eight hours the night before a midterm, and dislike Tom Brady.  They are straight up lying, or at the very least, completely delusional.  So it’s only fair that I let my feelings about Ms. Del Rey be known before offering so-called unbiased analysis of her work.

I love Lana Del Rey.  I have totally drank the Lana Kool-Aid.  I haven’t followed her career with the same devoted attention and ferocity that some other bloggers have (mainly because she doesn’t rap), but I would totally put a ring on it if I could.  Regardless of her awful SNL performance, regardless of what other people say about her, even regardless of the fact that her real name is Lizzy Grant (Lolz!), as far as I am concerned, she is a 21^st-century hipster goddess.

So, with that garbage out of the way, how is Born To Die?  Honestly, the first thought that popped into my head while listening to the album was, “wow, she is like the white female Weeknd.”  And if you know how I feel about The Weeknd (it’s very positive), you’ll know that Lana and I got off on the right foot here.  The opening title track is basically everything 21^st-century pop music has the potential to be, with symphonic synthesized strings making love to spacious, reverberated drums as Lana offers, “Come take a walk on the wild side/Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain/You like your girl’s insane” (Let me repeat that I love this woman).

The following five tracks alone set up Born To Die as the early Record To Beat for 2012.  Of those five, “Blue Jeans” and “Video Games” are the oldest, most well known, and all-around best.  Some might find lines like “You fit me better than my favorite sweater” or “Heaven is a place on Earth where you/Tell me all the things you wanna do” to be intolerably clichéd.  But those people are incapable of appreciating beauty or feeling joy.  The rest of us are more fortunate.

The second half of the disc doesn’t quite reach the same highs as the first half, but Lana has definitely found her melancholic niche revolving around self-destruction and she sticks to it.  If you’re the type of person who demands variety at the expense of cohesion, you’re basically out of luck here, but if the-album-as-a-unified-concept coherency is your cup of tea, there is very little to fault.  Sure, “I’ve got the summertime, summertime sadness” is one line repeated over and over that could sum up the entire hour-long collection.  But when the girl delivering that line could fly anywhere in the world and have the most beautiful voice in that country (as long as Adele wasn’t there) who really cares?  Pain trumps joy in the “source of compelling artwork” category every time anyway.

The only thing lacking in Born To Die is a second climax after “Video Games.”  When you’re shooting for the-album-as-a-unified-concept coherency, it’s not just enough to have 12 great songs that work together.  You’ve got to craft your work like an aural cinematic masterpiece that raises the listener’s heart rate to somewhere between “riding an exhilarating roller coaster”- and “watching Tom Brady play football”-type levels of pleasure and excitement with each passing song.  But calling this absence of perfection a “negative” is like ditching your superhot hipster fiancé at the altar because you found out she used to have a record deal and call herself something as un-badass as “Lizzy Grant.”  If there has been a better record released in 2012 so far, I haven’t heard it.

9/10

With all due respect to Jerry Thornton of Boston Barstool Sports, and my fellow colleague Rob Rossi, they’re completely wrong. Thornton’s piece, entitled “The Patriots are in a position to settle all the family business”, makes the wrong comparison: Michael Corleone is not Tom Brady, rather, he is Eli Manning (more on that later).  Rossi’s article, “Kill New York, Vol. 2,” is a misnomer, because in his so-called Volume I (Super Bowl XLII aka the Best Game of All Time), the Giants won.

First of all, it’s an absolute travesty for some Boston blogger to compare The Godfather to the New England Patriots. The Godfather is an authentically New York movie, so you’re just pissed that The Departed doesn’t fit into your narrative. Not once does Michael Corleone make the four hour drive to Boston to make an offer that cannot be refused.

Now, you might be wondering, why did I call this article “The Godfather: Part Blue”? Well, Godfather Part I was the best movie of all time, until Godfather Part II came out. Super Bowl XLII is the greatest football game ever played, up until Super Bowl XLVI is played this Sunday.

That being said, The Godfather is strikingly similar to the storyline of the New York Giants. You have Eli Manning as Michael Corleone, the youngest (and perhaps the greatest) son of Hall of Fame father Archie Manning (Vito Corleone). Peyton Manning (Sonny Corleone) was tabbed to be the best (lead the Family), but was sidelined this year due to injury (ambushed and murdered at a parkway toll booth). The person who stood most to gain from Peyton’s injury was his rival Tom Brady (Don Barzini, who orchestrated Sonny’s untimely demise).

Now Eli Manning has had a career year this season, and put the team on his back (Michael took over the family after Sonny died). Eli also had to win four consecutive games, one in the regular season (Cowboys), and three in the playoffs (Falcons, Packers, 49ers), in order for the Giants to stay alive. The last, most dangerous team in Tom Brady and the Patriots is still alive. In the iconic climax of The Godfather, where Michael is in a church attending the baptism of his godson, five rivals of the Corleone family are assassinated (four rival bosses plus Moe Greene in Las Vegas). The last mob boss to be assassinated is Don Barzini, the biggest rival to Michael Corleone. With this completed, Michael eclipses both his deceased brother and father in accomplishments and becomes the undisputed Mob Boss of New York.

Now, the Giants are already the undisputed kings of New York with a crushing victory over the Jets on Christmas Eve, but with a victory over Tom Brady this Sunday in Indianapolis, Eli Manning eclipses both his father and brother in Super Bowl rings and overall greatness.

The recent decision to go public has brought about the release of Facebook’s financials. In 2011, the company brought in $3.71 billion in revenue, making a profit of $1 billion. The vast majority of its revenue comes from advertising.

Notably, Facebook’s IPO is set to rival Google’s 2004 offering of $1.9 billion which holds the record for the industry. Only Visa Inc., General Motors Co., and AT&T Wireless have had IPOs of more than $10 million.

Zuckerberg has expressed his reluctance to make Facebook public in the past, fearing the move would damage the company’s image and culture. He was, however, swayed upon realizing that the company  would be required to report its financials by late 2011 due to its size. The decision was then made to reap the benefits of an IPO in the process. Individually, Zuckerberg owns 23% of the company.

With more than 845 million users across the world, Facebook’s IPO promises a windfall to the banks managing the offer. Amongst those potentially managing the deal are Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs.

For its users, the IPO represents a fundamental shift in Facebook’s business structure which has the potential to affect its operations, perception, and direction in the long run. It is clear, however, that the Facebook offering will create waves within the financial and technology sectors regardless of its ability to surpass previously established milestones.

In the category of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

-The cast of “The Help” won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

-Jean Dujardin won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role for his role as George in “The Artist.”

-Viola Davis won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role as Aibileen Clark in “The Help.”

-Christopher Plummer won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as Hal in “Beginners.”

-Octavia Spencer won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her role as Minny Jackson in “The Help.”

In the category of Primetime Television:

-The cast of “Boardwalk Empire” won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

-The cast of “Modern Family” won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

-Steve Buscemi won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Enoch “Nicky” Thompson in “Boardwalk Empire.”

-Jessica Lange won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her role as Constance in “American Horror Story.”

-Alec Baldwin won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Jack Donaghy in “30 Rock.”

-Betty White won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka Ostrovsky in “Hot in Cleveland.”

-Paul Giamatti won Outstanding Performance by a Male actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for his role as Ben Bernanke in “Too Big To Fail.”

-Kate Winslet won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her role as Mildred Pierce in “Mildred Pierce.”

In the category of SAG Awards for Stunt Ensembles:

-“Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows Part 2” won outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

-“Game of Thrones” won Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Show.

Mary Tyler Moore was awarded the 48^th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award.