Everyone’s talking about one movie right now – James Cameron’s Avatar. It’s only been in theaters for a couple of months but it’s already broken the money-making record of Titanic, another Cameron film.

Avatar is a movie like nothing before it.  It’s already won Golden Globe awards for Best Director and Best Drama/Action.  People are still lining up at theaters everywhere to get tickets.  But why does everyone want to see it so badly?

Avatar is a movie with a plot that features both action and romance.  Taking place on the far off planet of Pandora, Cameron created an entirely new line of creatures, plants, and people.  The surprising part?  It’s not actors in makeup, but all animation.  There are only a select number of scenes that are shot with actual actors.

One of the most interesting things about Avatar is that it’s available in IMAX 3D.  Honestly, seeing the movie in 3D makes a huge difference.  It makes you feel like you are actually on the planet of Pandora, too.  At one point, I reached out towards the screen to make sure it was just a movie. But the truth is, for two and a half hours, you leave earth and join a place truly out of this world.

Avatar is setting a bar for all movies to follow.  In itself, it is different from anything anyone has ever seen.  These imaginary blue people could be the future for film everywhere.  Maybe someday there’ll be another Avatar-like movie or something like it.  But for now, we have a great movie to enjoy.

Scrubs

While the show is still comical and full of excitement, I miss the focus it used to have on JD.

This is a typical music video from the music group Grizzly Bear, a band that meshes poetic lyrics, beautiful harmonies, and bizarre ideas to create a genre of music that blows one’s mind away.  For those of you who haven’t heard of this alternative music group, Grizzly Bear is a memorable, unconventional band that has performed on TV and radio, Paul Simon, and Feist and even has a soundtrack on Twilight’s latest “New Moon” CD.

What makes their music so mesmerizing, so exceptional, is that the songs they write are captivating, but not mainstream.  Their quirkiness and appeal are matched only by their music videos.   Just like the band’s music, their videos exhibit a high level of creativity, humor, and engagement.  They have a new CD out called “Veckatimest”, which has one of my favorite songs, “Two Weeks.”  If you get the chance, check it out.

This is all fine and dandy, but you may find that nobody is on Facebook or that bogus copyright laws have removed all but a few Muse music videos from YouTube.  The fact that these activities have expired themselves is not encouraging you to complete your work anymore than it was before, right? Behold Hulu.

Hulu is a website featuring extensive streaming video of TV shows and movies from the biggest networks.  It epitomizes convenience; there’s no four-minute commercial to sit through every ten minutes. There are only a few commercial breaks that are just 30 seconds or one longer commercial. But it’s shorter than the average commercial break of a TV show and it’s only at the beginning of the video with none following.

The biggest plus about Hulu is that it’s completely legal.  You can log onto www.hulu.com without the fear of a virus infecting your computer every time you click something or that somebody in the federal government knows you’re watching television online.  Networks and companies are working together to bring you these shows and movies, so you can watch, relax, and enjoy.

Taking all of this into account, Hulu embodies the best procrastination tool ever.  It’s convenient, easy, free, legal, and you can waste away as much of your time as you want.  Watch a 30-second clip of Stewie from “Family Guy” calling Lois’s name (the infamous clip: over ten and a half million views on YouTube), or a 22-minute episode of the latest installment of “The Office”.

At this point, this must seem pretty horrible.  Procrastination has been a fundamental pariah of your personality because of the fact that you can’t rid yourself of it, and here I am showing you an easier and more entertaining way to do it.

Before you laugh Hulu off, consider how many hours a week you waste watching TV, on TV.  It’s Monday night, and you have a huge load of bookwork due for Spanish the next day.  You would’ve done it during the weekend, except your teacher assigned it Monday, giving you only one day to do it. This is a pretty common predicament for most of us.  The conundrum tying up the predicament is that by the time you get home from basketball practice, shower, and eat, it’s just about 7PM and “Heroes” is on TV!  You have the choice of watching it, doing all of your homework into the night and getting a less than optimal amount of sleep.  Or, you could skip “Heroes”, do all of your homework and get a good night’s sleep.  The choice to skip the show is possible because you can go on Hulu anytime after it airs on TV and watch it there!

These contradictory arguments are compatible with both sides of the spectrum, meaning Hulu pleases everybody.  However, there are rumors Hulu will start charging for some of its completely free streaming video.  Also, some episodes of high demand shows like “Glee” expire after a certain amount of time.  So hurry up and fall in love with Hulu the way I did.  And use it as you please, whether or not you’re procrastinating.

The Beatles revolutionized music within their nine years as a band, and even over forty years later, they continue to be a chief influence to musicians around the world. Within a decade, they went from being a local English band to a legendary icon worldwide. Not only are they appealing audibly but visually. For these particular reasons, it only made sense to Drake to dedicate an entire game of Rock Band to them. The process, as you can imagine, was not easy. The creative developers worked with the Beatles’ own Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, as well as Yoko Ono to represent the late John Lennon and Olivia and Dhani Harrison on behalf of George Harrison. They were meticulously involved in the entire process of creating an experience that allows other people to stand in their shoes, play their music, and belt out their beloved hits. Drake admits that it was very hard to please all five members of the Beatles’ party, but in the end all the criticism only made the game better. The project was evidently successful, as over one million copies of the game have already been sold.

As any Beatles fan knows, the British foursome was deeply into love and charity. Stone Chin (PR for Xbox) helped make it possible for The Beatles Rock Band users to follow in their footsteps. Unlike most video games, this game is beneficial globally. Any time someone purchases “All You Need is Love” at the online Xbox store, proceeds go to a Charity called “Doctors Without Borders”, which provides assistance in nearly 60 countries to people threatened by

violence, diseases, etc. Perhaps you’d like a hand painted Beatles Xbox console. Fifty exquisite consoles have been made, and each will be auctioned off for “Doctors Without Borders” as well. The last hand painted Xbox 360 was auctioned for $18,000.

The Beatles Rock Band for Xbox 360 captures the very essence of all that is The Beatles. It is full of their greatest songs, gives money to charity, and educates children in music appreciation, inspiring them with the hits of the greatest band of the yesterday, today, and surely of tomorrow.

For more information on “Doctors Without Borders”, go to www.doctorswithoutborders.org.
John Drake is also the drummer for The Main Drag, a Boston-based band in which all five members are employees of Harmonix. You may recognize their song “Jagged Gorgeous Winter” from Rock Band 2.

As a pre-teen, I don’t like the idea of kids having a separate menu just because of age.I guess restaurants, and their owners, don’t take into account that we are young adults and we might just want smaller portions from the better menu.I would rather have a mini filet mignon than the usual options of chicken fingers, pizza, buttered noodles, and other simple foods.But seldom do I find a smaller portion of the “regular menu” foods.And I know that I usually steal off my parents plates just because their food looks better.