"Toy Story 3" nothing to play with!

Turning 17 is a natural, Americanized rite of passage for the avid moviegoer like me. Everyone gives themselves that proud, secret “pat on the back” for reaching the proper age for viewing rated-R movies without adult accompaniment. Well, as I have come to embrace, enjoy and later forget to enjoy these casually assessed liberties, I find that movies geared towards my entertainment rarely entertain, making my once coveted “age pride” a freedom that could be surrendered willingly. I have been to movie after movie, each time carrying around this deep, inherent enthusiasm and anticipation, hopefully wishing that the imminent cinematic experience would be one of worth. And each time, I leave the theatre with a mix of nonchalant unconcern and a fiscal regret. (Did I really just spent $8.00 on tH@T!??)

Toy Story 3 restored my faith in the theatrical experience and gave me a mixed bag of emotion, laughs and principally, lessons. Toys are ironically the “butt” of the joke in the grand scheme of this movies comedic intentions. Often, you forget that these are indeed toys and instead become deeply and interestedly transfixed in the plot, that will indeed satisfy your imagination and inner-child. The very life-like ideals that the movie plays on (no pun intended) are mature for a kid’s movie; bravery, heart, consideration, love, friendship, death, reverie, demise, pain, despair, hope, relationships and ultimately, separation. This movie will provide a juicy, filling plate of delicious laughs and tears for any fun hungry moviegoer. The writing is positively superb, as are all Pixar movies. Seriously, the bulletproof cast and screenplay make this cinematic effort foolproof, and the soaring box office successes, typical of all Pixar gems, is a true testament to their movies undeniable worth. Two thumbs way up!

Premium Professional-Grade Images for All!

Remember back in 1997 when you were eagerly introduced to the marvels of “clip-art”. Word seemed to have an endless bank of images, appropriate for virtually any and every topic. It’s an effortless way to spice up a dry, mundane slideshow or take up more space in a word document. Yes, clip art was the easy solution to all of your image needs. Well, we have all since grown up and our needs as creative designers and individuals have evolved since as well. For those who want nice, BIG (not grainy), beautiful images, then look no further. The Photo Stock Exchange (www.sxc.hu) has a massive library of almost any image u could think of. And best of all, they’re all free. Just make a free account and download away. Freelance photographers who are gracious enough to share their work with the rest of the world take these images and upload them to the site. The quality is positively astounding. I mean, background image quality. Just look at this image I downloaded of a flower, and used as my desktop picture. I am always amazed at the crystal clear exactness of the photos. So, impress your boss or just spice up an ordinary presentation with these beautiful photos and look back on your old days of clip art dependency with a haughty chuckle.

This is a photo Snapshot of my desktop. Look at the precision and color sharpness.

Great (Free) Programs for Amateur Photo Buffs

I have been a proud and avid Mac user for years now, but upon recently becoming acquainted with the thousands of free programs available on the Apple website, I have discovered and consequently unleashed a new, photo savvy mastermind within myself, with the help of a few very powerful and even better, FREE, photo editing programs. In the world of amateur and professional photo editing and design, the Abode PhotoShop Suite reigns as the quintessential and ideal photo editing software. It has a simple, user-friendly interface and within a relatively short amount of time, you can edit otherwise normal photos into photographic masterpieces. However, for those of use who don’t have a leisurely $800.00 to spare on photo software, the Apple website provides some competently capable utilities that can stand in for the software giant, and in some cases, provide equally astonishing photographs. Regrettably though, these various photo-editing programs are exclusively available for Mac users. (Another evident hint that its time that all computer users move to Mac.) Be careful however that you download Shareware and Freeware programs, because no one likes a tease. (Demoware) Listed below are a few of my coveted personal faves. Enjoy and release the photo genius within!

• Image Tricks
• iCollage for Mac
• myPhotoEdit
• Plastic Beauty
• PhotoStyler

This image was taken using my iSight camera, with only a black & white filter selected.

This photo was editing using the color filter feature, within the Image Tricks program.

The Megan Williams Tragedy

GIVE THIS ATTENTION TOO!!!
Written by msbeatnik on
document.write(localTime('Sep 11, 2007 19:34 GMT'))
Sep-11-07 2:34pm
From: happynappyhead.blogspot.com
I'm giving credit to Bossip for posting this originally. According to the Charleston Gazette, poor Megan Williams (pictured above) went through hell for about a week. God help me, I probably would've conspired to kill them in some form or fashion......
Carmen Williams doesn’t understand why her 20-year-old daughter was tortured, raped and tied up in a shed. Police tell her that what happened was probably a hate crime, that it happened because Megan Williams is black. “Every time they stabbed her, they called her ‘nigger,’” her mother said. She said a man and a woman — who Megan Williams thought were her friends — took her to the house of Frankie Lee Brewster in Pecks Mill, Logan County. Megan Williams was held in the house for about a week, police said.According to criminal complaints filed against six people in this case, she was beaten, stabbed, choked, sexually assaulted and threatened with death. The details are even more horrible. According to the complaints, she was forced to eat dog and rat feces and to lick up blood. She was made to lick parts of Brewster’s body, under the threat of death. Her hair was pulled out. She was made to drink from the toilet. She was sexually assaulted while hot water was poured on her body, and while a man held a knife to her.A woman allegedly cut Megan Williams’ ankle and said, “That’s what we do to niggers around here.” The act was perpetrated by these six degenerates:The FBI is looking at this as a hate crime. Let me be real blunt. I'm not posting this blog to start a race baiting thread. God knows I HATE when others do that to black folks but I am bringing attention to it for SEVERAL reasons. THE MAIN REASON is that Megan Williams' life deserves to be commented upon. CNN covered the story on CNN.com but they didn't give any details. But when a young, Caucasian millionaire goes missing or a young, college co-ed goes missing due to kidnapping or foul play, it gets the front page news. I AM NOT SAYING they don't DESERVE the attention. They are people too and their lives have value but so does Megan's. And she deserves JUST as much attention.This, without us spreading the word and talking about it, will just disappear like other crimes, be they against blacks or whites, have disappeared and that's just not fair.Another reason is this could be YOUR child or YOUR sister or YOUR friend. We need to teach our kids to be DISTRUSTING at first and then have others earn their trust. Not everybody is your friend and you need to know your surroundings before going anywhere with anyone. I don't know how well she knew these people, but Megan was betrayed in the worst way.My main reason for posting this, however, is to remind those out there who think that sh*t is really all good. It's NOT, it's really not. The fact that these people felt they could get away with this, in THIS country, shows a lot about minorities are viewed. I am glad they found her because they would've killed her. They wouldn't have let her live to tell the story. Looking at Megan's picture, I had to turn away because it made me want to holler, but mostly it made me want to cry at seeing her there in that hospital picture.Recovery won't just be physical; it will be mental and emotional. I will pray for her and I hope that she gets through this.I hope that all the media pundits, whores and other in that ilk jump on this story the way they jumped on Michael Vick for torturing, albeit violent, pitbulls.I hope that Nancy Grace, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and every other "news" station and newspaper picks this up in the SAME way. It's the same crime except against a human being. If they do not, then Americans have a HELL of a lot to be ashamed of. They would have earned a name for valuing animals more than their own people..........

An Interview With Rachel Johnson

This is an interview I held with Rachel Johnson, a freshman here at Ole Miss who had her violin stolen from a music instrument locker in Scruggs Hall.

Bold=Me
Italics= Rachel Johnson

·Do you think the UPD and Music Department at Ole Miss handled the issue well? If not, what do you think they could do, or could have gone, to address the issue more thoroughly?

The UPD has not made an effort to get back in touch with me after I filled the report with them. I really don’t feel like they’ve done anything to help with the recovery of my violin.

·What kind of violin, exactly, did you own?

A handmade German violin, we think by the Hopf family, as that name was branded on the back of the instrument.

·Are you going to purchase another violin soon?

If mine hasn’t shown up by Christmas break, I’m going to look for one back home.

· You said that your violin was family heirloom, is there any chance you could ever replace it?

I’ve been told before that a new violin couldn’t match my violin’s tone, hopefully one of a similar level will be affordable. As far as sentimentally, that violin is the only one I’ve ever played on, so nothing could replace it on that level.

·How much do you estimate the total value of the Violin to actually be?

I couldn’t really say.

Two weeks ago, Rachel Johnson, a violinist in the LOU Symphony, had her violin stolen from a musical instrument locker in Scruggs Hall. Her violin had had been locked up for 2 day there and when she returned to the locker, it was gone. The locker, which she shared with 5 other musicians, also violinists & violists, had all of the instruments accounted for, except for hers. Her violin, a family heirloom, was in exceptional condition and was anywhere from 80-100 years old. After informing UPD of her violins absence, they told her to file a police report and that they would keep an eye out for her instrument. There is one possible suspect in this case, Nkem, who briefly shared the music locker with the other violinists, but stopped using it soon after. Nkem is the only other violinist who shared the locker, and knew the combination. The violin came up missing the weekend of October 2-3, the days before the premiere LOU Symphony concert on Monday, the 4th. Along with the missing violin, Nkem, who’d been present at every rehearsal prior to the violin’s disappearance, was also missing. Rachel Johnson and Tenola Plaxico, another violinist in the LOU symphony and resident at Kincannon hall, went to Nkem’s dorm room to find that he wasn’t there either, and not surprisingly, he also wasn’t present at the October 4th, concert. Since the disappearance of the violin, Nkem has not been present to rehearsal and is officially out of the school. During his time with the LOU Symphony, Nkem had been borrowing a violin from the University, as he did not own his own personal violin. Rachel, who now also has to borrow a violin from the University of Mississippi music department, makes frequent checks to local pawnshops and the UPD office to see if anything turns up.

A Little About Myself

Hi,

I am a freshman at The University of Mississippi in pursuit of a Geological Engineering major. I am very passionate about Environmental Protection, "Going Green" and love for our natural resources.