The Oscar that Disney needed to win

Posted on March 10, 2014 by jamerehill

The Oscars this past weekend was just like any other prestigious award show: filled with glamour, stars, victories and of course heart-break. Many were surprised with some category winners and others seemed to be a given. When it came to the category of best animated feature, it seemed that Disney’s animated feature “Frozen” was taking home the award. But to the production crew at Walt Disney Animation, winning this award was the one thing keeping the Walt Disney Animation studios still open.

The New York Times talked to John Lasseter, chief creative office of both Pixar and Disney animation, about how much was at stake. “There was talk of closing this place,” Lasseter said about what could have happened if they had not won. Proudly, Lasseter and his crew were not going to let that happen, and they made that very clear in there beloved animated production.

Ever since the category for best animated feature was created in 2001, Pixar has reigned winning seven times while their rivals, such as DreamWorks, won the years that Pixar didn’t. Though Pixar is a sibling to Disney Animation, the tension began to increase when the demand for Disney’s once popular hand-drawn cartoons began to decrease. Walt Disnyey Animation may be responsible for many timeless classics such as “Cinderella” and “The Lion King”; still, even younger audiences nowadays are becoming more and more attracted to the computer animation movies as opposed to just the animated classic cartoons.

Now that they pulled off a win at the Oscars this year, things are a lot less tense in the Disney animations studios; on top of winning the award, that very weekend “Frozen” hit $1 billion in the global box office.

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Lack of Sleep Linked to Higher Heart Disease Risk in Adolescence?

Posted on March 10, 2014 by pascalk09

On March 6, findings from The University of Michigan Health System and Baylor University, were published in The Journal of Pediatrics. These finding found that obese teens who get less than the recommended amount of sleep are at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. adolescence

The recommended amount of sleep for teens according to The U.S. National Library of Medicine is about 8.5 hours. During the study there was a group of 37 teens ranging from the ages of 11-17. All of which were obese. A majority of the teens slept for seven hours and only five slept for the recommended amount of hours.

For adults there is a link between lack of sleep and obesity. This study concluded a clear link between obese teens lacking sleep and the risk of diabetes and heart disease but it does not provide a clear cause-and-effect relationship. Other studies before had shown a link but it was not made clear.

There are plans for more studies on if more sleep would help lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine suggests that young adults need to start healthy habits which involve a healthy diet and being regularly active along with a good nights sleep of about 8.5 hours. Establishing these healthy habits can help lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and many other life threatening diseases.

Can getting rid of life threatening diseases be solved simply by teaching children good sleeping, eating, and exercise habits? Eat healthy, be active, and make sure to get the recommended amount of sleep and see if it changes your life for the better.

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Ellen DeGeneres’ Hosting Performance at the 2014 Academy Awards Show

Posted on March 10, 2014 by ljthom

Hilarious, straightforward and care free are all words describing Ellen DeGeneres’ hosting performance on Sunday March 2.

This was her second time hosting the award show in seven years and she stirred quite a buzz.

One of my favorite jokes DeGeneres said during her monologue was about Jennifer Lawrence’s fall last year when accepting her Best Actress Award for the film “Silver Linings Playbook”.

“Jennifer (Lawrence) by the way I’m not going to bring up what happened last year. It’s ridiculous, something like that happens and it’s embarrassing and people just talk about it,” DeGeneres said, while continuing to talk about the incident.

I was really hoping she was going to dance around the audience at the end of the monologue like on her talk show. I guess it’s only because it was a very formal event (darn!).

One highlight of the night was when DeGeneres asked the star-studded audience if they wanted some pizza. The pizza delivery guy arrived later in the show and Brad Pitt (no big deal!) and DeGeneres both handed out paper plates and napkins to the audience.

It was so cool that she was live- tweeting pictures during the award show with the stars in the audience.

The most memorable picture was a selfie that was retweeted over 3 million times with Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o and her brother, Bradley Cooper (holding the camera) and DeGeneres.

Over all DeGeneres did a great job of hosting this years Oscars. I hope they continue to ask her to come back!

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NASA Will Send a Robot to Europa to Search for Life

Posted on March 10, 2014 by elan iles

NASA has recently released it’s projected budget for 2015.  In that budget there is money set aside to fund a mission to Europa.  Europa is a moon of Jupiter.  It is the sixth closest moon to jupiter and the sixth largest moon in the entire solar system.

Scientists have been interested in Europa for quite some time now.  They have discovered that the entire planet is covered by an ice shell, but the strong gravitational pull of jupiter has created an enormous ocean under the ice shell which, scientists believe, is more than 62 miles deep and covers Europa’s whole surface.  The ocean on top of Europa is more than 10 times deeper than Earth’s ocean and it holds more than twice the water found on Earth.  This past December, the Hubble telescope found a huge geyser shooting liquid water 124 miles into the sky on Europa’s south pole.  This has made the moon even more interesting to scientists.

The real reason scientists want to send robots to Europa is to see if there is life on the moon, or if there was ever life in the past.  Scientists are very optimistic about the possibility of life on Europa.  They say that since they believe that life started in the ocean on Earth, the same could be true for Europa.  Finding life on Europa would be a huge breakthrough for the scientific community.  If there is life on Europa, than that means there has to be life in the entire galaxy, which means that we are not alone in the universe.  These missions to Europa have the potential to change the way we look at life here on earth, as well as in the rest of the universe.  I am just as excited as the scientists are that I will be able to see something like this in my lifetime.

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Bonnaroo Concert This Year Includes a Great Line-up of Artists

Posted on March 10, 2014 by joecool12

For all the Bonnaroo concertfans, this year will be pleasing. The 2014 concert will include artists, such as Elton John and Kanye West. The four-day concert begins on June 12 and ends on the 15th. Slated performers include single musicians ranging from Lionel Richie and Jack White to bands featuring Vampire Weekend and Phoenix.

It is a good idea to choose a wide variety selection of artists to Bonnaroo because audience members have different tastes in music. In that case, no one is left out at the concert. There is at least one artist that will suit a the different patrons who attend this event.

Furthermore, if music is not your thing, there are more than 20 comedians performing this year at Bonnaroo. Also each audience gets access to Bluegrass Superjams hosted by actor Ed Helms or Superjams hosted by DJ Skrillex and friends.

Once again the door to more opportunities is being opened to having so much fun. Looking at ticket prices which stands at a whopping $284.50 plus applicable service fees, it would be a waste of money if you do not listen to any genre of music. In other words music is not your thing. However fans of stand-up comedy will be able to laugh for hours upon hours.

This reminds me that Bonnaroo will running a 24-hour cycle with more than 125 bands playing on 13 stages. Access to the concert never does close within the 4-day concert event. When you look at the price of a general admission ticket, you are paying for all the entertainment you are receiving.

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Vegas Duel Leaves Keselowski On Top

Posted on March 10, 2014 by dougcampbell06

After all was said and done at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon, a fuel strategy decision by 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski’s crew left the driver of the #2 car with his first victory of the 2014 season and poised to take a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came up just half a lap short on gas to be able to take his second victory of the season, but still emerged from the race with second place and became only the fifth driver since 1972 to start a season with three consecutive top-two finishes. Three of the previous four went on to win the series championship, most recent being Jimmie Johnson during the 2006 season.

Several drivers led laps early in the event, including pole sitter Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, before Keselowski took the lead over at lap 157. Harvick looked to have a strong car and a shot for the win before a mechanical issue forced him to finish in the 41st position. Afterwards it became a battle between Keselowski and Earnhardt Jr. to see who would have the most fuel and the lead at the end of the race. Earnhardt’s crew chief, Steve Letarte, informed his driver that they would most likely be about a half lap short on gas and to keep saving gas. Already low on gas and feeling the pressure from Keselowski, Earnhardt began having to run his car harder to maintain the lead. All looked to be going well for the early season points leader until he began to slow exiting turn two on the final lap, allowing Keselowski to slip by and into the race lead. Earnhardt still had enough gas left to finish in second over Paul Menard, with Logano and Carl Edwards rounding out the top five.

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Oscar Mayer’s New Invention is the Stuff of Dreams

Posted on March 10, 2014 by l.susan

Just when we thought the human race had run out of things to invent, here comes Oscar Mayer. Yes, I am talking about the company that produces bits of meat to put in between bread slices. So, what are they doing in a conversation about technology?

Oscar Mayer has reportedly released a new device named the “Oscar Mayer Wake Up & Smell The Bacon”, and it does exactly what its name suggests. It is an alarm clock that releases the scent of delicious bacon as it wakes you up in the morning. Mind. Blown.

Physically, it is a small black device that plugs into the bottom of your phone, and is controlled by an application. The scent is released through a small hole on the right side of the device. When the alarm goes off, the app produces the smell of bacon sizzling and the smell is released via a Glade PlugIn which uses the power of the phone to launch that beautiful scent into the nostrils of the user.

The price of this device has not yet been revealed, however, I am sure it will sell a considerable amount due to the fact that pretty much 100% of people love bacon. The only problem I see with it is that once it is used, whoever is woken up is pretty much obliged to cook up some bacon right away. There is really nothing worse than taking in that seductive smell and not being able to relieve the watering mouth that was caused as a result.

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Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres’ celebrity-stuffed selfie effortlessly beat the previous record held by President Barack Obama’s 2012 post-election tweet.

Posted on March 10, 2014 by kelly casas

Of all stunts that Ellen DeGeneres pulled at Sunday’s Academy Awards, one that outlasted the excitement of the evening couldn’t have happened without Twitter.

By simply urging a few well-dressed Oscar nominees — and others sitting in the front rows of the ceremony — to huddle for a selfie photo, in the space of just an hour, DeGeneres managed to outdo the president.

The goal: make history by creating the most retweeted tweet of all time. In the end, the social TV audience, already buzzing since red carpet arrivals, made the mission easier than ordering some pizza for the Oscars crowd (DeGeneres did that, too).

To the tune of 2 million retweets by night’s end, Oscars host DeGeneres’ celebrity-stuffed selfie effortlessly beat the previous record held by President Barack Obama’s 2012 post-election tweet. Obama’s record-breaking tweet was also a photo, one in which he embraces the first lady, posted with the message “Four more years.”

DeGeneres’ group shot boasted a bevy of Oscar nominees — Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and half of Jared Leto’s head.

“If only Bradley’s arm was longer,” DeGeneres tweeted, via her @TheEllenShow account. “Best photo ever. #oscars”

Much was made of the selfie acting as product placement for Samsung, since DeGeneres had Cooper take the photo on a Samsung Galaxy, but DeGeneres’ iPhone tweets throughout the ceremony seemed to belie that intent.

Regardless, it was mission accomplished for the Oscars host. “1M RTs” popped up as a Twitter topic after the photo hit 1 million retweets.

“We crashed and broke Twitter,” DeGeneres announced during the Oscars broadcast — there was indeed a temporary network problem.

The selfie currently claims more than 3 million retweets. Obama’s: less than 800,000.

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Pizza company Sbarro files for 2nd bankruptcy claim in 3 years

Posted on March 10, 2014 by ballspach

After already filing for bankruptcy in April 2011, the pizza chain “restaurant” Sbarro, commonly found in malls, airports, interstate rest stops and train stations, and in UCF’s own Student Union, has taken another big hit to their growth as a competitive pizza restaurant when they filed for bankruptcy, forcing the chain to close over 40% of their locations across the U.S. Last month, the company announced that 155 company-owned restaurants in the U.S. were due to be closed, effective immediately after the announcement. Only 220 locations will be open nationwide, with 600 other locations owned by franchise operators that will remain open internationally. This chain can all but thrive in the shadow of other big pizza chains like Papa John’s, Domino’s or Pizza Hut.

The bankruptcy dwindled the number of Sbarro employees to 2,700, however the company is certain that the bankruptcy plan will not allow any other locations to be closed. Spokesman Jonathan Dedmon said that Sbarro has already closed weaker locations and anticipates that 80% of their debt will be erased. $20 million has also been secured in new financing, aiding the company in their fight against bankruptcy. Dedmon also stated that, “the previous closures and bankruptcy filing are part of an overall plan to invest in and grow the company for the future.”

Malls across America will start to become a bit emptier, as not only Sbarro announced the closing of different locations, but retailers such as Radio Shack announced that over 1,000 stores will be set for closing, Staples announced that 225 stores would be getting the axe. Department store giants J.C. Penney announced plans earlier this year that 33 stores would be closing, and Macy’s would close 5 stores and lay off 2,500 people in order to be more cost-effective.

If one location were to be closed, Sbarro or Qdoba should move out, in order for a Chipotle to make it’s home at the heart of campus here at UCF.

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High Security for Upcoming Boston Marathon Due to Last Year’s Bombing

Posted on March 10, 2014 by bri yost

In last year’s bombing of the Boston Marathon 3 people were killed and 260 were injured. Boston’s FBI say that there is no such threat to this year’s race.  Massachusetts State Police Colonel Tim Alben acknowledged that at last year’s event there hadn’t been a specific threat or intelligence that warned them either, but this time they are ready for anything.

“There was no chatter last year, and we are all very aware what happened then,” Alben told reporters.

The security will include Police helicopters flying above, bomb sniffing dogs, uniformed military police officers, and hundreds of uniformed police officers who will be right next to a suspected large number of plainclothes law enforcement officials.

Many of the runners are performing an honor run for the victims – Martin Richard,  Lingzi Lu, and Krystal Campbell, as well as others who were maimed for life. Kurt Schwartz, Massachusetts Undersecretary of Homeland Security, also makes it clear that the goal is to keep the character of the 118 year old event by making it a “fun, festive, family focused day.”

Officials insist that the character of the 118-year event will be preserved if runners and Patriots Day revelers cooperate by not bringing bags and bottles to the event, helping authorities “strike the right balance,” for the race.

“It will be a fun, festive, family focused day,” Schwartz insisted.

To help keep the integrity of the marathon and create sound security, backpacks are prohibited through the eight cities and towns that participate in the marathon and police are calling for all belongings to be held in clear plastic bags. No one will be allowed to carry any liquid more than one liter.

This race is to be one of honor, for those set on pushing their bodies through the pounding run and for those victims who no longer have the chance to do so.

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