April 11, 2012

It is one of the weird quirks of literature that people who don't necessarily have the skills to write epic masterpieces themselves are put in charge of deciding what gets published and what gets canned. No doubt they have a difficult job and they correctly weed out much material that does not need to be inflicted on the public. And yet, from time to time, editors make some of the absolute worst decisions that future generations look back on and say, "What on earth were they thinking?" Persistence paid off for the authors of these 40 manuscripts who refused to take no for an answer and were rewarded in the end.

1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole: The Pulitzer Prize-winning, cult classic novel was rejected by multiple publishing companies, including, famously, Simon & Schuster. In despair of ever getting it printed, Toole committed suicide.
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling: The first Harry Potter book was turned down by multiple publishers, including Penguin and HarperCollins.
3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig: This incredibly well-known book only exists thanks to the persistence of its author, who endured more than 120 rejections before finding a publisher.
4. Watership Down by Richard Adams: Now Penguin Books' best-selling novel ever, Richard Adams' classic story was rejected by 13 publishers, some of whom later sent him "groveling letters."
5. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter: Upon seven publishers declining to give her a book deal, Ms. Potter published her book herself. More than 150 million copies have been sold since.
6. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer: Of the 15 manuscript copies Meyer sent out, nine were rejected and five had no response. Only one (wise) company wanted to meet with her.
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell: If T.S. Eliot had had his way, Animal Farm would never have seen the light of day. As the head of publisher Faber and Faber, Eliot called the manuscript "unconvincing."
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Twenty-six publishers wish they could travel back in time and not reject this beloved children's book that has sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.
9. The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Kathryn Stockett was fanatical about getting an agent to represent her and her book The Help, even working on her manuscript while in labor with her daughter. Finally, after 60 no's, she got her "yes."
10. Carrie by Stephen King: The prolific writer got so many no's (30) for his first attempt at a novel he threw it in the trash. Luckily his wife fished it out.
11. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: One publisher's rejection letter said this book was "not funny on any intellectual level." Today the book is recognized as one of the best novels of all time and the title itself is a household phrase.
12. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach: This short fable about a seagull by a retired Air Force pilot was rejected 40 times before an editor at Macmillan took it under her wing and helped it become a classic.
13. Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen: Canfield and Hansen heard from 123 publishers that their book had a stupid title, had no sex or violence, and no one would read it.
14. The Shack by William P. Young: Publishers either found this book too Christian or not Christian enough. So 15 photocopied editions led to a self-publishing company and eventually 15 million copies sold.
15. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: Nearly 40 publishers wished they had given a damn about Mitchell's Civil War drama when it grossed more than $1 million and won a Pulitzer in its first year.
16. MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker: We never would have had one of the greatest TV shows in history if Richard Hooker had been deterred by the 21 publishers who turned down his book.
17. Dune by Frank Herbert: More than 20 foolish publishers turned down Frank Herbert's classic that would become the highest-selling science fiction novel of all time, at more than 12 million copies sold worldwide.
18. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein: Stein's only bestseller received a famous, rude rejection letter from a publisher who turned her down by mocking her trademark style of repetition of simple sentences.
19. A Time to Kill by John Grisham: On his way to becoming a master novelist, Grisham's first book racked up rejections from 16 literary agents and 12 publishers before landing a deal.
20. Lord of the Flies by William Golding: Although Faber & Faber would eventually publish the book, the first reviewer called this book "rubbish and dull" and "pointless."
21. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: Rand was already a successful writer when her publisher, who had first rights to her new book, declared it "unsaleable and unpublishable." The book has since been called the second most influential book ever, behind only the Bible.
22. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank: As crazy as it sounds, 16 publishers declined to buy the story of Anne Frank's experiences in World War II. Doubleday's risk paid off as the book has sold more than 30 million copies to date.
23. Moby Dick by Herman Melville: Publishers initially told Melville his long book about whaling was "not at all suitable for the juvenile market." Ninth-graders everywhere wish he had listened.
24. Dubliners by James Joyce: Because of the edgy content, this classic by James Joyce was not an easy sell. He was shot down 22 times before landing a deal with Grant Richards Ltd.
25. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré: Now known as one of the finest novels of the genre, one publisher rejected the book while saying of le Carré, "He hasn't got any future."
26. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: One publisher said of this book, "I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years." If it had been, one of the best books of all time would have been lost.
27. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy: Alec Baldwin should thank Tom Clancy for being persistent. Without Clancy believing in his book through 12 rejections, there never would have been the bestseller or the great movie.
28. On the Road by Jack Kerouac: The book that defined a generation went through a seven-year gauntlet of rejection from publishers who were put off by the book's talk of sex and drugs.
29. Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl: Twenty rejections from publishers didn't stop this true account of men adrift at sea from making it into book form in 66 different languages.
30. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis: Auntie Mame was on the receiving end of 15 rejection letters for being too outrageous, but it became a bestseller, selling 2 million copies in its first run.
31. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: Kipling's timeless story was rejected multiple times, with one publisher commenting that Kipling did not even understand the English language.
32. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel: It would later rack up awards like the Booker Prize, but The Life of Pi met with unbelievers at five publishing houses before breaking through.
33. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs: At first, publisher Olympia Press turned down Burroughs' book as too controversial. However, when excerpts were sent through the mail and the postmaster general called it obscene material, all the attention got Olympia interested again and they agreed to print the book.
34. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein: In a classic case of getting it exactly wrong, editor William Cole rejected this beloved children's book because he thought it fell in between the interests of kids and adults and wouldn't sell.
35. Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake: Michael Blake lived out of his car while struggling to finish Wolves, and then every major publisher rejected it. Of course, lucky for him, a young man named Kevin Costner found a copy and the rest is history.
36. Lust for Life by Irving Stone: On its winding road to selling 25 million copies, Lust for Life was denied 16 times by publishers, with one calling it "a long, dull novel about an artist."
37. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Countless girls read this book or watched the made-for-TV movie based on it. But Montgomery was turned down by five publishers before securing a book deal.
38. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende: On the advice of a receptionist at a publishing house, whose company she told Allende would never publish the book, Allende found an agent who helped her sell it despite "nobody" wanting to read it.
39. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes: This moving short story that has been made into movies, plays, and TV shows almost never saw book form. It was rejected by five publishers over the course of a year.
40. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot: Cabot says her novel was rejected by "almost every publishing house in America." But she persevered and the book and its sequels have sold millions of copies and been translated to the silver screen.

April 8, 2012

The Pulitzer Prize is the Academy Award for writers. Winning it means the admiration of peers and readers, recognition and validation of the subject matter, and a nice cash prize for the author. Like any contest that could define a career, there is the potential for heated debates and passionate disputes. For these nine Pulitzer winners, victory came with a big asterisk.

1. Walter Duranty

   Journalist Walter Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize for 13 articles he wrote for The New York Times in 1931 about the USSR under Joseph Stalin. We say "wrote" but it was more like he took down what Stalin dictated to him. He gamefully excused the dictator's genocide attempts by actually saying, in the paper, "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." His cover-up of the murderous famine caused by Stalin's programs has led to his dubbing as "journalism's greatest liar" and "Stalin's apologist." The Pulitzer Board has twice considered revoking the award but declined to do so both times, to even the Times’ chagrin.

2. Janet Cooke

   Give Janet Cooke credit: she knew a Pulitzer Prize-worthy story when she saw one. Except, of course, she didn't see one; she fabricated one. In 1980, Cooke received a Pulitzer for her Washington Post article "Jimmy's World," the story of an 8-year-old heroin addict who had supposedly been hooked since age 5. Unfortunately for Cooke, the story was a little too good. The mayor of D.C. ordered a task force to search the city for the boy, who they obviously could not locate. As her story began to unravel, Cooke fessed up, resigned from the Post, and the Pulitzer was returned.

3. Edith Wharton

   As it was the first time for a woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize, Edith Wharton's 1921 win in the Novel category should have been a happy affair. Instead, controversy mired the proceedings, and even Wharton herself was disgusted with the Board's choice. The decision of the three fiction judges to award the book to Sinclair Lewis for his controversial Main Street was overturned by the conservative head of the advisory board. He changed the wording of the award's fine print from going to the best example of the "whole atmosphere of American life" to "wholesome American life" and gave the award to Wharton for Age of Innocence.

4. Sinclair Lewis

   Robbed five years earlier of a prize that was rightly his, in 1926 Sinclair Lewis finally won a Pulitzer with his novel Arrowsmith … and he turned it down. "All prizes, like all titles, are dangerous," he said in his refusal letter to the board. "The Pulitzer Prize for novels is peculiarly objectionable because the terms of it have been constantly and grievously misrepresented." The "terms" he meant were the surreptitiously modified words "wholesome American life." To Lewis, the phrase made the contest less about literary merit and more about "whatever code of Good Form may chance to be popular at the moment."

5. William L. Laurence

   In 2005, journalist and host of "Democracy Now!" Amy Goodman began calling for the revocation of William "Atomic Bill" Laurence's Pulitzer Prize. Laurence had won the award in 1946 for his coverage of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. However, as Goodman revealed, "Atomic Bill" was on the payroll for the State Department at the time of his writing. His deployment to Japan was an effort on the government's part to combat "negative" press by independent journalist Wilfred Burchett, who had shocked the world by describing the "atomic plague" that was killing Japanese well after the initial detonation. Goodman and others felt that 50 years of media silence on the effects of nuclear war were a direct result of Laurence's writing.

6. No one

   OK, stay with us here. That no one was named the winner for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1974 was controversial because the fiction judges had unanimously settled on a winner. Their recommendation: the bizarre, 760-page World War II novel Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Pulitzer's advisory board found the book's graphic depictions of sex and drug use "obscene" and the complex, progressive style "unreadable." Over the years critics have united behind the book, lending more poignancy to the controversial decision.

7. Joseph Rosenthal

   The photographer behind the iconic image of six soldiers planting an American flag at the invasion of Iwo Jima never could shake the popular belief that he had staged the famous photo op. Even being awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1945 was not enough for Rosenthal to dissuade people of the notion that it was based on a lie. Part of the trouble was a comment Rosenthal made when asked if he had staged the photo. Thinking the question was referring to a second photo of soldiers celebrating by the flag, Rosenthal had replied, "Sure."

8. Bilal Hussein

   Like Joe Rosenthal, Bilal Hussein also won a Pulitzer for Photography, in 2005. But unlike Rosenthal, the controversy surrounding Hussein's award was much more serious. Hussein had been hired by the AP in 2004 and trained in photography. The collection of 20 photos for which he won the Pulitzer aroused suspicion well before he received the award. Bloggers wondered how exactly he had managed to stumble onto scenes of terrorists shooting rockets and executing people in the street. Could he have been tipped off by high-ranking insurgents? Possibly, considering he was arrested and held for two years by U.S. forces in 2006 for "security reasons." Hussein maintains he was simply doing his job.

9. Wynton Marsalis

   Before he won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1997, Wynton Marsalis was already a polarizing figure in the world of jazz. Critics did not appreciate his complaints that jazz is under the control of a white establishment, or the fact that the media treated him like the genre's official spokesman. But his Pulitzer win had its own niggling problem: the piece that earned him the prize may not have been eligible for consideration. Selections had to have premiered since at least March of 1996; Marsalis' "Blood on the Fields" had premiered in 1994. He sidestepped this technicality by rewriting a saxophone part here and a percussion part there.

March 19, 2012

For many students, graduating from college is a momentous event, and getting to hear a great commencement speaker is just part of what makes the whole experience so special. Yet, not all commencement speeches or choices of speakers have gone smoothly. Some speeches have been marred by errors and slip-ups, others by poor planning and some never even get off the ground due to student protests. Here, we've listed some of the biggest, most famous, and most ridiculous commencement speech gaffes in recent history for your reading enjoyment.

1. Ann Curry

   Graduates of Wheaton College in Massachusetts were confused when Today Show anchor Ann Curry named evangelist Billy Graham, director Wes Craven, and 9/11 hero Todd Beamer as notable alumni of the school. These three are Wheaton alumni, but not of the Wheaton College in Massachusetts, all attending the school of the same name in Illinois. Curry later joked about the incident stating that, "you should never Google drunk" and that she was seriously mortified by the incident, having no idea there was another Wheaton College.

2. Stephen Joel Trachtenburg

   Students at George Washington University didn't have a problem with former university president Stephen Joel Trachtenburg on a personal or professional level; they just didn't want him as a commencement speaker. Students felt that attention would be focused on Trachtenburg's impending retirement and not on their accomplishments as graduates. Plus, most students had already heard the school's president speak on a number of occasions. Trachtenburg stepped down as a result of student opposition, but the students were even more unhappy with their new commencement speaker: no one. Through incompetence or a desire not to offend anyone, the school never replaced Trachtenburg as a speaker, leaving the class of 2007 pretty irritated.

3. Richard T. Jones

   Actor Richard T. Jones has had solid roles in films like Why Did I Get Married?, What's Love Got to Do With It?, and Super 8, but when it comes to commencement addresses, the actor didn't live up to student expectations. Many have called the commencement address he delivered to University of Maryland graduates in 2011 the worst commencement speech of all time. We're not sure if it's the worst, but it's certainly close, mostly because Jones didn't write a speech, choosing instead to improv one on-the-spot, which, as you can guess, didn't work out so well.

4. Manuel P. Pangilinan

   Can't think of anything to say to new grads? No problem, just take bits and pieces of other people's speeches and call them your own! That's what businessman Manuel P. Pangilinan did at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2010. Pangilinan borrowed several parts of his speech from those of celebrities like J.K Rowling, Oprah Winfrey, and Conan O'Brien. When called out on his plagiarism, Pangilinan admitted great embarrassment and offered to retire from his position at the university.

5. Looking for sex

   This high school commencement speaker made a classic Freudian slip when delivering his speech. Instead of saying that grads were "looking for success" he stated that they were "looking for sex" (which we're sure both are true to some degree). The poor speaker was mortified by the mistake, but the audience seemed to find it pretty entertaining, as do we.

6. James Franco

   Unfortunately for actor and eternal super-student James Franco, delivering a commencement address to UCLA just wasn't in the cards. Franco never got the chance to slip on stage because he never made it there after students protested plans to have him speak at the College of Letters and Sciences Commencement Ceremony in 2009. Students complained that Franco was an average student at school and their academic peer, making him an inappropriate choice for speaker. Hundreds of other students agreed, and the school was forced to find a new commencement speaker.

7. Sylvia Earle

   Most students expect a commencement address to have a positive message and to have something to do with graduation, the real world, or life after college. Unfortunately for students at Smith College, they got none of the above from undersea explorer Sylvia Earle. While Earle is a legend in her field, many students found it bizarre that she spent her speech talking about the destruction of the oceans, her career, and little else, only really referencing the class of 2011 when she mentioned what they could do to take care of the natural world and help the environment at the very end of the speech. While not a complete disaster, it likely wasn't what most students had in mind.

8. Joseph Anderson

   Pangilinan isn't the only one who's cribbed his commencement speech, however (sadly, there are dozens of examples). Joseph Anderson, principal at the Clinton School for Writers and Artists in Manhattan gave a graduation speech in 2011 that borrowed heavily from one given by famous author David Foster Wallace in 2005 to Kenyon College. If you're going to plagiarize a speech, you probably don't want to take from one of the most famous graduation speeches of all time, as many in the audience will immediately know that your words are not your own.

March 12, 2012

It seems like we're constantly hearing about the trouble that college athletes manage to find themselves in, with athlete scandals and arrests as a hot topic in news and sports blogs. If you think that college athletes seem to get in trouble more than anyone else, you're not imagining things: The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that arrests of college athletes are more than double that of professionals, an impressive number in all the wrong ways. We've found 15 of the most interesting and scandalous incidents to disgrace college athletics, from bar fights to real-life pimping.

1. OSU linemen in a bar fight

   In 2010, two Oklahoma State linemen got into a bar fight, but not just any fight: these two were going after each other, an incident that no doubt brings lots of pride and class to the OSU football organization. It sounds like it was quite the grisly battle, as lineman Anton Blatnik hit fellow lineman Stephen Denning in the face with a beer bottle before the cops stepped in. Denning was not deterred by the cops or his own bleeding face, however, as he tried to fight through police force to retaliate against Blatnik. There's no word on what started the fight, but it ended with a taser shot for Denning, and a misdemeanor charge for Blatnik.

2. Felony sexual assault charges on Missouri running back

   The Missouri Tigers dismissed their star running back, Derrick Washington, after he was charged with felony sexual assault against a former Missouri athletics tutor. The dismissal was a painful one, to be sure: in two seasons, Washington put up impressive numbers including 1,901 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns. But the University of Missouri has a policy against allowing athletes charged with felonies to play until their cases are resolved. For Washington, that turned into a permanent suspension. Since his dismissal from Missouri, Washington has plead guilty to another assault charge, this time for allegations of third-degree assault against an ex-girlfriend.

3. Assaulted by an Oregon Duck

   Missouri isn't the only school with a violent running back problem. The Duck's star running back LaMichael James was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend, an incident that included attempted strangulation. But James' punishment wasn't nearly as harsh as the one received by Missouri's Washington: he was clipped for a single misdemeanor harassment charge with just 10 days in jail, and he didn't actually serve any time. Oregon gave James a slap on the wrist, suspending him for their opening game, but allowing him to continue to play on the team thereafter.

4. Ball State bar fight

   Bar fights seem to be a popular offense for otherwise defensive players: two linebackers for Ball State ended up in a bar fight one Friday night. Travis Freeman and Kenneth Lee, Jr. were charged with Class B battery misdemeanors after getting into a scuffle at a bar and grill. According to reports, Lee grabbed a victim by his neck, and Freeman stepped in to back him up. While we don't think this incident is anything to be proud of, at least Ball State can say more than OSU: these teammates were working together.

5. Improper benefits for Reggie Bush

   Reggie Bush is certainly not the first football player to be embroiled in an improper benefits scandal, but his does seem to be the most damaging to date. The NCAA slammed Bush when they found out that he received at least $200,000 from a sports agent for playing at USC, a major violation in college football, where pay-for-play situations are strictly prohibited. As a result, Bush was forced to return his Heisman Trophy. USC was hit pretty hard as well, getting put on probation for four years, and vacating several wins from the 2004 and 2005 seasons. They were also deemed ineligible to compete in 2010 and 2011 bowl games. Bush's is certainly a damaging case of temptation and punishment.

6. University of Michigan's money laundering

   While Reggie Bush's damaging pay-for-play transaction was pretty straightforward and simple, the University of Michigan's basketball team found itself in a complicated financial predicament. During a six-year investigation, it was revealed that basketball team booster Ed Martin was making payments to players in order to launder money from an illegal gambling operation. The investigation was huge, involving not just the NCAA and Big Ten, but the FBI, IRS, and Department of Justice, with former players called before a federal grand jury. It was discovered that players borrowed several hundreds of thousands of dollars from Martin. The NCAA came down hard on the team, revoking 1997 and 1998 tournament championships and Final Four appearances in both 1992 and 1993. The team was also placed on probation, and vacated from postseason eligibility for two seasons. Individual players, who had since gone on to become professional basketball players, were punished severely as well, revoking Chris Webber's All-American Honors, Robert Traylor's MVP awards, and Louis Bullock's school records. Ed Martin himself was fined and suspended by the NBA after performing public service.

7. LSU leaders in bar fight

   Two LSU football players, quarterback Jordan Jefferson and his teammate, Joshua Johns, were arrested on felony charges following a large bar fight in Baton Rouge that injured four people. They have both been suspended indefinitely from both LSU and the team, which is not at all surprising. What is surprising, however, is that their legal counsel seems to condone this behavior. Jefferson's lawyer, Lewis Unglesby is quoted as saying, "Jordan needs to be back playing football. At the end of this, the evidence will be that Jordan Jefferson acted as a leader for his team, doing what he was taught to do, being a good teammate." Jefferson is accused of kicking someone in the face during the fight. The team has moved on in their season without the help of their troubled leader.

8. Taking the "pimp" image a little too literally

   Plenty of college football players glorify the image of men as "pimps," but we're of the understanding that for most, it's just an image, not reality. Berkeley running back Tracy Slocum actually was a pimp, however, and he was arrested by the U.S. Marshal Service after it was discovered that he had been marketing prostitutes for several months. His charges include domestic violence, sexual assault, and of course, prostitution. Slocum's career with Berkeley is over, and it looks like his future is in jail.

9. Homophobic altercation, you guessed it, at a bar

   Colorado Mesa University redshirt freshman running back Shane Williams got into a fight with a lesbian couple at a Grand Junction bar. Williams apparently made comments about a girl looking like a boy, which led to a fight outside the bar. He was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault on the victim, who reported a fractured skull, black eye, and difficulty hearing after she was slammed onto the pavement. Things don't look good for the young running back, who was also arrested for being a minor in possession of alcohol and possession of a fake ID. Formal charges are pending.

10. SMU's slush fund

    In 1985, the SMU football program was put on probation for three years as a result of recruiting violations, but SMU pretty much ignored the entire thing and just kept on paying players. It was revealed that the payments had continued on a large scale into 1986, when an investigation discovered that 21 players were receiving monthly payments from a booster slush fund. Even the school's board of governors got in on the act, ignoring the NCAA to honor their previous agreements with players and devising a plan to keep paying players until they graduated, slowly phasing out the slush fund. But the truth came out, and punishment came down hard. Both the 1987 and 1988 seasons were canceled, and the team was banned from bowl games and live TV until 1989. Support for the program was cut, and the team lost 55 scholarship positions, as well as four coaching positions. As a result, new players shied away from the scandal-ridden team, and SMU football is still suffering even now. The team did not get a bowl invitation until 2009, and since 1989, has only had three winning seasons.

11. Colorado recruiting and rape scandals

    The Colorado Buffaloes had serious sexual assault issues in the 90s. In 1997, it was revealed that Colorado football recruiting often involved underage drinking, sexual harassment, and even rape after a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by CU recruits. Nothing came of that claim, but in 2004, sexual scandal broke out against the Buffs again. The team's former kicker, a female player named Katie Hnida, revealed that during the 1999 season, she was the subject of sexually graphic comments, groping, and flashing by a variety of teammates. She was eventually raped by a teammate, but didn't report the incident because she felt unwelcome among the players as well as by CU coach Gary Barnett. After the rape, Hnida dropped out of CU and fell into depression before returning to college to kick for the New Mexico Lobos in 2002.

12. Teammate murder at Baylor University

    In 2003, it was found that Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy had been murdered by his former teammate, Carlton Dotson, who shot him during an argument that broke out while the two were recreationally firing guns. Dotson was convicted, and sentenced to a 35-year prison term. That's the sad, but simple part of this story. During the time Dennehy went missing, Baylor and the NCAA began to investigate several allegations of misconduct in the men's basketball team, which uncovered an incredible list of penalties. These included drug use and pay-for-play player support, specifically for the murdered Dennehy. Baylor was severely punished for the scandal, with a probation that lasted until 2010, and the team suffered from defeat until 2008, winning a total of just 36 games from 2003 to 2007.

13. The NCAA's first death penalty: Kentucky

    Although it seems players are terribly behaved these days, the truth is college sport scandal is nothing new. More than 60 years ago in 1951, it was revealed that University of Kentucky basketball players accepted bribes from gamblers for throwing the National Invitation Tournament game in the 1948-1949 season. This opened an NCAA investigation into the team, in which it was found that basketball players were receiving inappropriate financial aid, and thus ineligible to play, but were allowed to play anyway. In light of the point-shaving scandal and impermissible financial aid, the NCAA enacted its first "death penalty," effectively canceling the University of Kentucky's 1952-1953 season with a boycott, and a ban on postseason play for the entire athletic program.

14. ASU cheerleader porn

    In a move that can only be described as terribly awesome, former Arizona State University cheerleader Courtney Simpson managed to link her cheerleading career with her new job as a porn star, wearing her old cheerleader uniform in a pornographic video. Not at all surprisingly, ASU was not pleased about making an appearance in Gina Lynn's Double Dutch, and investigated the possibility of trademark and intellectual property infringement.

15. TCU drug bust

    In February 2012, Fort Worth police busted 17 TCU students in an undercover drug sting, which included four TCU football players. According to reports, police uncovered widespread drug use on the football team, with at least four players acting as drug dealers for players and TCU students. Apparently, drug use on the TCU team was no secret, at least to everyone except coach Gary Patterson, who learned about the problem from a recruit who turned the team down due to the rampant drug situation. This prompted Patterson to order a surprise drug test, a test that 82 players failed. The situation is still developing, but we expect to see harsh punishment from Patterson, who shared in a statement that "drugs and drug use by TCU's student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff."

March 4, 2012

By: Samantha Gray

While power couples might be wealthy and influential in their respective fields today, many met back before either had a big career going. In fact, there are many famous couples who met while in college, either by having classes together, knowing mutual friends, or a chance encounter at a party. These couples have often carried their romance through quite a bit as they've built businesses and professional careers and navigated the perils of being in the spotlight. While not all college romances last, read on to learn about some big names who are still with their college sweethearts.

1. 
   

   Prince William and Kate Middleton

   There are few couples that are known as well worldwide as this duo. The royal couple met while attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and one royal biographer described their first meeting as being pretty awkward (she curtsied, he spilled his drink on himself). The two started off as friends, even sharing an apartment together with a couple of other school chums, before they began dating in 2002. After dating for seven years off and on, the pair was married in 2010 while millions watched the event live on TV. Today, they're one of the best-known and most widely recognized couples in the world.

2. 
   

   Bill and Hillary Clinton

   Bill and Hillary have endured their share of scandals during their marriage, including a particularly notable one involving an intern, but they are still going strong nearly 37 years later. The Clintons have both had pretty illustrious careers, with both former lawyers taking on high-profile political positions, he as president and governor and she as Secretary of State and senator. The two met while attending Yale Law School where they dated for a few years before tying the knot in 1975.

3. 
   

   Kate and Andy Spade

   The fashion-savvy will recognize these names immediately, as they are behind one of the most popular brands in fashion, Kate Spade and Jack Spade. Kate and Andy met back when they were students at Arizona State University and would later marry after starting the Kate Spade brand together with almost no funding in 1993. The iconic handbags Kate designed helped launch their business and won the duo numerous design awards. They have since sold the brand to retailer Neiman Marcus (netting them nearly $100 million) but remain well-known names in the fashion business.

4. 
   

   Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall

   This comedic couple has been together since before either had an established career. While Julia might be the household name in the couple, Brad has been working for decades behind the scenes as a comedy writer and both rose to prominence in the early '80s with a stint on Saturday Night Live. The funny pair met while attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and has appeared not only on SNL together but also on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. They have been married since 1987 and have two children together.

5. 
   

   Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky

   With parents who also met in college, it's no surprise that this former first daughter also met her husband while a student. Both Chelsea and Marc come from political families, though hers is perhaps more well-known than his (both of his parents were senators), and both have highly successful careers of their own, her as a journalist and he on Wall Street. The two first met right before Clinton would attend college, as Mezvinsky was already a student at Stanford and many believe it was this early friendship that motivated Clinton to choose Stanford for her own college education. The two kept their dating under wraps while at school, and didn't openly admit to being a couple until both had graduated in 2007.

6. 
   

   Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

   Mark Zuckerberg is one of the biggest names in tech today, having made a fortune with the now ubiquitous site Facebook. Before he was a tech superstar, however, he was just a regular student at Harvard. It was there that he met his current girlfriend Priscilla Chan. The pair met at a party while waiting in line for the bathroom, with Chan describing Zuckerberg as "this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there." After Zuckerberg left Harvard to work on Facebook he offered her a job at the tech company and she accepted. The rest is history, as the couple now lives together and still works together at the billion dollar company he founded.

7. 
   

   Stephen and Tabitha King

   When it comes to popular literature, there are few names that loom as large as Stephen King's. He's written numerous novels, short stories, and other works during his career and is one of the most successful authors of all time in terms of sales. His wife has had a successful writing career as well, though perhaps not as high profile as her husband's. The couple met while students at the University of Maine. Tabitha had a work-study job at the school's library and met Stephen when he came in. The couple began dating and had their first child together in 1970, the same year they graduated.

8. 
   

   Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman

   There aren't many celebrities who are married to college sweethearts, but this star of movies and TV is an exception. Elizabeth Banks met Max Handelman at the University of Pennsylvania on their first day of school in the fall of 1992. They dated throughout college and beyond, marrying in 2003 after more than 10 years of dating. Today, both Banks and Handelman have thriving careers. She's well-known for her acting and he's a successful sportswriter and producer.

9. 
   

   Zadie Smith and Nick Laird

   British novelist Zadie Smith has written a number of award-winning and highly successful novels as has her novelist and poet husband Nick Laird. These literary superstars met while attending Cambridge, where both majored in English. The two married in 2004 and now have one child together.

10. 
    

    Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric

    Einstein enrolled in a mathematics and physics program at Zurich Polytechnic in 1896. It was there that he would meet his first wife, Mileva Maric, who was also enrolled in the school as the only woman in the program. Over the next few years of school, their relationship would change from friendship to romance, and they would marry after graduation in 1903. On a scandalous note (at the time), the two had their first child before they were married and would go on to have two more children before separating in 1914 and later divorcing. Some historians believe that Maric helped Einstein write his famous 1905 papers, but the issue has never, nor will likely ever, be put to rest.

February 29, 2012

By: Samantha Gray

Slow news days often seem to involve some story or another about literary burnings in America and abroad, with the Harry Potter series and the Qur'an seemingly popular targets for reactionary moral guardians these days. Their torches and (usually metaphorical) pitchforks stem from millennia of censorship and colonialism. As human nature pushes some to destroy or suppress what they can't understand, book burnings often lead to future frustrations, as academics and other interested readers eventually lose out on valuable scholarly resources. These book burnings represent massive destruction of history and culture, but their impact makes us remember landmark literature, some of which might very well have improved humanity's lot had they only survived.

1.  

   The Library of the University of Louvain

   When German soldiers torched University of Louvain's library during World War I, scholars across the globe mourned the loss of irreplaceable Renaissance and Gothic literary works and one of the only surviving written examples of a rare Easter Island language. More than 300,000 volumes perished in the blaze along with other priceless historical artifacts and artworks, which generally seem to accompany literature into oblivion in some of the most infamous examples of purging.

    

2.  

   Irish National Archives

   Nobody knows for certain who bombed the Irish National Archives in 1922, resulting in the almost universal loss of the Public Record Office of Ireland. The government blames the Irish Republican Army, the Irish Republican Army claims the whole thing was an accident. Just about the only thing anyone can agree on is the devastating loss of centuries upon centuries of history obliterated completely in one conflagration. A small number of 14th century manuscripts miraculously managed to survive, but these days much of what politicians and academics can glean about Irish official history comes from only the 19th and 20th.

    

3.  

   Burning the Books and Killing the Scholars

   China's first emperor completely altered the nation's history by demanding the destruction of Confucian philosophy and literature hailing from defeated regions. Anecdotes – though no definitive proof – also link Qin Shihuangdi to the live burial genocide of scholars he deemed culturally threatening. Obviously, historians have yet to unearth a solid number for the books he destroyed, but the overarching impact his raging paranoia left behind still resonates even today. Entire schools and academic corners may have wound up lost forever as a result!

    

4.  

   The Library of Alexandria

   When the Library of Alexandria, one of the world's first, burned at the (theorized) behest of a conquering Julius Caesar, academics believe it may actually stand as one of the all-time biggest book burnings. Even factoring out sheer volume, the destruction is undeniably among the most significant examples of completely game-changing book burning. Seeing as how innovations such as the "screw-shaped water pump," geometry, the Earth's circumference, and more happened right there, it's probable that many others went extinct alongside original works by Plato, Aristotle, and other great thinkers.

    

5.  

   Nalanda University

   This Indian marvel allegedly took months to fully burn to the ground when ransacked by Muslim invaders in 1197. As the most resplendent university of its time (or any time, really), Nalanda University launched in A.D. 427 and pioneered many common higher-ed standards still in use today, such as entrance exams and student housing. Eventually, it came to host the then-largest collection of important Buddhist and Hindu texts, though the school's popularity had already begun wavering by the time it fell.

    

6.  

   The House of Wisdom

   Known also as Byat Ul-Hikma, The House of Wisdom shares no commonalities with the Baghdad research center destroyed by American troops in 2003 beyond the name. One of the greatest think tanks of the Islamic Golden Age launched in the 760s succumbed to the Mongols during their 1258 invasion. In its prime, however, it acted as the premier center for scientific, philosophical, religious, and mathematical inquiry. Apocryphally, water sources soaked up The House of Wisdom's blood and ink for months after, but some savvy scholars at least managed to smuggle out some of the manuscripts

    

7.  

   Bonfire of the Vanities

   Girolamo Savonarola, before his excommunication as a Dominican cleric, infamously tried to cleanse Italian society of all things he himself deemed too decadent or pagan. More than just books ended up in the massive bonfires, including art, mirrors, makeup, music, clothing, games, and other aesthetic or luxury goods. Such demonstrations were nothing new in Renaissance Italy, but Savonarola's particularly piqued the public's fanaticism and ire alike. His second major event in 1498, which coincided with a new Medici rule, instigated such fervor that riots wound up ravaging Florence.

    

8.  

   Book Burning at Mani

   Today's historians are lucky to know anything about the Mayan civilization at all since the Bishop of Yucatan Diego de Landa's purging of its productions on July 12, 1561. An exact number of books and codices remains elusive, with reports ranging from "only" 27 to several thousand. It doesn't much matter, though. What makes this horrific colonial incident among the biggest in history is how the religion, art, and other traditions of an ancient society almost died out entirely because of one man on one day. Only a small sliver from that awful day remains, merely allowing us a tiny peek into a highly complex former dynasty.

    

9.  

   Make room for the Siku Quanshu

   For more than six decades, the Quinlong Emperor set out cobbling together a massive collection of Chinese history, art, and literature books known as the Siku Quanshu. In order to make room for it in society's consciousness, anywhere between tens and hundreds of thousands of written works, which spanned about 3,000 titles, wound up utterly destroyed. At least 50 authors faced execution after being labeled evil for criticizing — even questioning — the ruling class. Among the volumes purged were encyclopedias he deemed unfit, some of which managed to escape and appear centuries later.

    

10.  

    New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

    Anthony Comstock's New York Society for the Suppression of Vice burned so many books, artistic works, and photos, it eventually inspired "Comstock Laws" preventing the United States post office from distributing materials deemed offensive. Starting with its 1873 inception, the organization destroyed literally tons of books in its heyday, citing them as pornographic and detrimental to a moralistic society. Rarely, however, do these demonstrations ever lead to legislation, so Comstock's cronies left quite a mark on American history.

     

February 15, 2012

By: Samantha Gray

Americans can't seem to agree on anything anymore. It's always war between left versus right, 99 % versus 1 %, gays versus straights. And like any war, children sometimes get caught in the crossfire. One of the latest battlegrounds is the classroom, and the spoils of victory are the hearts and minds of little learners. Debate rages among school boards across the land over what to leave out of textbooks, what to include, and how exactly to word it, which is ironic because everyone knows one of the hallmarks of being an American adult is forgetting everything you learned in school. Oh well; here are 10 textbook passages clothed with controversy.

1. "Explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict."

   We could make this entire list solely out of controversial excerpts from textbooks from the Lone Star State, but we'll limit ourselves to two (see next). It would be hard to find an example of an issue that divides people around the world more than the events of Palestine in the last 50 years. With one fell swoop, this loaded discussion question from a world history book places the entire blame for the Arab-Israeli conflict on Arab people. It's akin to saying, "Explain how colonial America's rejection of the British Empire led to years of conflict."

2. "Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone."

   This Texas history book excerpt deals with major philosophers whose ideas were crucial to political revolutions since 1750. The question used to include one man's name at the end of the list: the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. That's right, they cut American icon Thomas Jefferson from a book about history. Instead, Protestant superhero John Calvin was added, the argument being Jefferson cribbed many of his ideas from Calvin and others.

3. "Men had many more rights than women. Unless there were no sons in a family, only a man could inherit property. Only men could go to school or become priests."

   In 2005, the State of California began to hear grumblings from members of the Hindu community about the representation of their religion in school history books. Among other complaints, they preferred the history of women's rights in their culture be set in a better light. Their suggested revision spoke of men's "different rights" and how women weren't prevented from learning, but that their education "was mostly done at home." Multiple experts called it a deliberate attempt to distort the record books.

4. "Egyptian records from the time don't mention the Exodus of the Israelite slaves. And archaeology hasn't uncovered any evidence of their years in Egypt or of their dramatic departure."

   This was another headache Oxford University Press created for California around the time they were ticking off Hindus. Although Jews did not dispute this statement in a sixth-grade social studies book Oxford was offering, they were perturbed that such figurative asterisks were not placed next to discussions of major events in other faiths. The board of education rejected the book after opponents from the Jewish community complained.

5. "Christian worldview … is the only correct view of reality; anyone who rejects it will not only fail to reach heaven but also fail to see the world as it truly is."

   Homeschools are one of the last bastions of biology materials that espouse creationism. This doozy of a sentence appeared in Biology: Third Edition, printed by Bob Jones University Press. As inflammatory as the line is, because the majority of homeschoolers are fundamentalist Christians, there hasn't been a major outcry against it. But non-Christian parents teaching their kids at home have a devil of a time finding Big Bang books.

6. "This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things, such as plants, animals, and humans."

   The South would be the other place you can still find Darwin disagreement. Although they've since modified their stance, in 1996 and 2001 the Alabama Board of Education ordered a sticker be attached to all public school biology textbooks clarifying evolution as a "controversial theory." The label went on to say, "any statement about life's origins should be considered as theory, not fact." The 2005 version of the sticker removed the word "controversial."

7. "Then there was a dreadful scream, and there glaring at her in the doorway stood the Witch of the Future…"

   What started in Chicago suburbs in 1991 as a parent crusade against an elementary reader was taken up by national conservative groups like Focus on the Family. Their anger was directed at the "Impressions" line of children's textbooks because they included stories like "The Witch and the Rainbow Cat," about a young girl who gets trapped in a witch's cabin. The issue became a hot-button topic in Chitown, and boy, were the school board elections crazy in '92.

8. "All praise is due to Allah that I moved to Boston when I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be a brainwashed black Christian."

   In 1974, the school board in West Virginia's Kanawha County was tasked by the state with promoting more diversity in their textbooks. When this quote from Malcolm X's autobiography was discovered in the language arts books the board had committed to buy, there was an uproar. One thousand people protested the meeting where the board finalized the book purchase. Then 12,000 people signed a petition to ban the book from schools. Three thousand coalminers went on strike. Dynamite was thrown. People were shot. But the books stayed.

9. "Scholars of the People of the Book know that Islam is the true path because they find it in their books. But they shy away out of ignorance and stubbornness. And God knows their deeds and will judge them."

   The Islamic Academy in Virginia had already been the source of a study by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that found the school's textbooks promoted discrimination against non-Muslims. This quote is supposedly one of the results of a move toward tolerance in the books. It appears in a book for 11th-graders and basically condemns all Christians and Jews.

10. "We want you to help clean the weapons and fight the Russians in jihad."

    Technically qualifying as American textbooks because they were produced by the University of Nebraska, in the late '80s, millions of textbooks were sent to Afghan children to try to turn them against the Communists while teaching them math and language skills. The books were a blatant attempt to mix education with propaganda, as the primers were illustrated with pictures of tanks and assault rifles and math equations like "5 guns + 5 guns = 10 guns." It's still a controversial moment in the history of education in this country.

February 1, 2012

By: Samantha Gray

Twitter is like a window into the soul of America. It shows us faster and more accurately what is on our collective minds than any other medium currently in use. So it was only a matter of time, in a bad economy and a worse job market, that Twitter would be flooded with both job seekers and job offerers. The way they find each other is through certain key hashtags, the best of which we have laid out for you to help you in your quest for employment. Some of these will give you broad search results and take a while to sift through, but let's face it — you have lots of free time.

To Find an Employer

These are the tags to plug into Twitter's search engine to connect you with companies with openings.

1. #hiring: Here it is, your No. 1 word to find a hiring company is … hiring.
2. #tweetmyjobs: It's a pretty clunky phrase, but #tweetmyjobs has been tagged nearly a million times, so include it in your search.
3. #HR: The folks handling the headhunting for the company will be from human resources, so go straight to the source.
4. #jobopening: Now we're talking. This tag is almost exclusively used by people offering people work. Easy.
5. #jobposting: "Jobposting" is another efficient tag to search, only it's used a bit less than #jobopening.
6. #employment: Often listed along with #jobs at the end of a tweet, #employment is a major keyword used by businesses in the market for talent.
7. #opportunity: There will be some quotes and other tweets that don't help you, but there will be plenty of hookups to employment opportunities.
8. #recruiting: Search this hashtag to find not only employers that are hiring, but inside info on the recruiting techniques they'll be using.
9. #rtjobs: Many Twitter users are there helping you out by retweeting job openings they come across.
10. #jobangels: The JobAngels are a volunteer group working to help unemployed people find jobs, and they have a strong presence on Twitter.
11. #jobsearch: Sometimes this will be the only hashtag a hiring company will use, so be sure to make it one of your search terms.
12. #joblisting: Attention! I'm a hiring employer and this is my way of telling you that I've got a job right here just waiting to be filled.

To Attract an Employer

Strut your stuff and get yourself out there with these hashtags to help employers find you.

13. #hireme: Don't beat around the bush. #Hireme is short, sweet, and to the point.
14. #MBA: Have an MBA? Shout it out in a hashtag to direct employers to your top-shelf business acumen.
15. #linkedin: If you're unemployed, you're no doubt already networking away on LinkedIn, so let them know you have a viewable profile.
16. #profile: While you're at it, go ahead and tag "profile" too, and couple it with #facebook, #linkedin, #monster, or any other place your details are posted on the internet.
17. #unemployed: It's what you are, so own it and let employers know you are totally available for engagement.
18. #resume: If you're tweeting about your resume posted online, be sure to hashtag it.
19. #CV: Curriculum vitae is basically a more fleshed-out résumé, but #resume is nearly twice as popular. Use both to be safe.
20. #needajob: Thousands of the unemployed have tacked this phrase onto the end of their tweets in the hopes an employer will stumble across it in a search.

To Educate Yourself

These tags may not directly land you a job, but they will enlighten you on the latest trends in finding, keeping, and enjoying a job.

21. #jobtips: By far the best search phrase in this category, it will load you up with more good job advice than you could ever read.
22. #career: At half a million tags, searching #career will score you some job listings and tons of helpful guidance for your professional life.
23. #interview: Hiring companies don't use this word as much, but "interview" and "interviews" are still helpful because they turn up a wealth of advice from fellow tweeters on making your best possible first impression.
24. #benefits: Knowing what to expect in the way of benefits is a good weapon to have heading into an interview.
25. #personalbranding: Do a search for this hashtag to find ideas and tips on selling yourself in the job market.
26. #compensation: If you know the going rate for whatever you do, you are much less likely to be taken advantage of.
27. #training: Searching for "training" is a good way to find great, free job training resources.
28. #jobhunt: A search for this tag brings up mainly advice on job searching, but there will be a healthy smattering of job postings, too.
29. #unemployment: This tag has been used more than 100,000 times by users tweeting about unemployment news, ways to combat unemployment, and jobs to pull you out of unemployment.
30. #employers: They may not be tweeting about themselves, but plenty of employees and commentators are tweeting news and reviews of employers and their practices.
31. #jobless: Curious about what's going on with others in your predicament? Search for this commonly-used tag and find out.
32. #laidoff: It's the same idea as #jobless, except it has more of a sad connotation. If you want to commiserate with some other people about searching for that elusive job, this is the tag to search.

To Find a Certain Type of Job

If you don’t want just any old job, try searching these hashtags for that special placement you have in mind.

33. #freelance: This is a hugely popular tag used by job hunters who want to leave the option of part-time, freelance work open.
34. #homebusiness: If you're eyeing a job being self-employed, try searching this term for entrepreneurship ideas and tips.
35. #greenjobs: Here's one for the truly unselfish people who put the environment before employment.
36. #dreamjob: If you aren’t sure what you want to do with your life, search this tag and get some ideas of what other people would do if they had their druthers.
37. #hotjobs: Hot jobs call for a hot hashtag.
38. #consulting: Another in the potentially temporary job category, #consulting is a nice tag to widen your net and earn some income.
39. #consultant: It might seem silly to use two tags that say virtually the same thing, but those three letters might make the difference in connecting you with your new employer.

Hottest Tags by Field

If you work in one of these industries, you are in a trending field, which could be good (lots of job listings) or bad (lots of competition).

40. #SEO: "SEO" is another one that has been tagged millions of times by job seekers and tweeters discussing search engine optimization.
41. #webdesign: Clocking in at nearly a million uses all-time, #webdesign is another hot topic on Twitter.
42. #accounting: If you're an accountant, you are in luck, as job listings in your field pop up regularly on Twitter.
43. #telecom: Telecommunications is another field with a strong showing on Twitter; it's been used in hashtags more than 81,000 times.
44. #legal: We live in a litigious society, and the need for paralegals and other non-lawyers is increasing. It's a great career to consider because paralegal certification can be obtained relatively quickly.
45. #lawyer: The number of lawyers in America has surged in the last 10 years, which explains why this tag is such a popular one in the Twitterverse.
46. #industry: Pair this with another tag like #music or #hotel and you'll find listings and info on your area of expertise.
47. #salesjobs: You don't have to pound the pavement looking for a sales job; just do a search for this popular tag on Twitter.

To Search When You Have a Couple Hours

You'll need to free up your morning to adequately search through these tags.

48. #jobs: You've probably been wondering when this word would come up. The tag's been used all of 14 million times all-time, for everything from political discussion to job listings. Your best bet is to search it with another tag from this list.
49. #job: Although it has registered only half the uses as #jobs (7 million), the singular version calls up more listings and won't take you as long to sort through.
50. #design: Because it's a generic word, #design has been hashtagged a healthy 2 million times, so if you work in design be sure to supplement tweets with at least one other tag.

Thanks go to topsy.com for the usage stats included in this list.

January 23, 2012

By: Samantha Gray

One of the greatest conduits for explaining creativity remains, interestingly enough, creativity itself. Although every writer, artist, thinker, dancer, actor, director, and other assorted innovators each nurture their own unique process to get the job done, at least a few commonalities exist. The more cinematically inclined might very well find the following films — even those depicting fields beyond their expertise – relatable to at least some degree.

1. 8 1/2 (1963) dir. Frederico Fellini

   Inspired by the director's own struggles with creative block, this seminal, influential masterpiece explores one of the most stressful facets of the entire process. Here, a filmmaker begins succumbing to the frustrating reality of constipated innovation when his science-fiction project stumbles. Oneiric visuals pass in and out of actuality, reflecting the overwhelming mental haze that comes when one's creative process abruptly pauses and hinders productivity for an unknown period of time — not to mention how personal issues often end up exacerbated as a result.

2. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) dir. Carol Reed

   Creative types these days still have to deal with employers, marketers, and distributors who enjoy meddling in their visions, frequently to disastrous ends. So they can fully relate to this partly fictional account of Michelangelo's very real Renaissance woe. The Agony and the Ecstasy adapts the story of his work on the Sistine Chapel and the volatile patronage of Pope Julius II. Like the title states, their relationship mirrors the same emotions experienced when one throws himself into a potentially game-changing project requiring passion, concentration, and a hefty time investment … then watches it all end up dismantled and overanalyzed.

3. Tampopo (1985) dir. Juzo Itami

   Poor widowed Tampopo only wants to run a fine little ramen stand supporting her and her beloved little son. Unfortunately, she also happens to completely suck at all things culinary. A pair of truck drivers who happen across her stand attempt a veritable Cinderella story as they embark on a whimsical, lighthearted romp to whip up a far more appetizing recipe. It's more fun than heart-wrenchingly, movingly insightful, but still enjoyable viewing all the same, particularly the hilariously bizarre parallel vignettes satirizing both Japanese and foodie cultures.

4. Barton Fink (1991) dir. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

   The eponymous author, a renowned Broadway playwright, winds up on an assignment in Hollywood penning movies about wrestling. Unfamiliar with the new medium, format, and surrounding culture — which he worries might separate him from the more salt-of-the-earth element that so fascinates him — Barton Fink descends into a nasty period of writer's block. Although some of the Coen Brothers' trademark wit and humor wrench things up to a beautifully over-the-top level, their depictions of imagination tug-of-war and mental blockage might very well seem eerily on the mark to many creative types.

5. La belle noiseuse (1991) dir. Jacques Rivette

   Honore de Balzac's "The Unknown Masterpiece" serves as the rather loose inspiration for a Cannes Grand Prix winner about an older painter who ekes out a quiet life with his wife, who once worked as his model. When a new muse and her artist lover (a man much younger than his creative mentor) happen into their lives, the humble home springs forth a wellspring of ideas and passion. The more youthful model's presence encourages the completion of La belle noiseuse, a painting shelved when the aging man lost his will to complete it. While the film unfolds, viewers end up treated to deep analysis of protagonist Edouard Frenhofer's own personal reawakening.

6. El Sol del Membrillo (1992) dir. Victor Erice

   Known also as Dream of Light or Quince Tree of the Sun to international audiences, El Sol del Membrillo concerns a painter (Antonio Lopez Garcia, as himself) and his persistent failure to relay the true beauty of a quince tree he once planted. In the backyard it sits, tormenting him with its lusty leaves and flirtatious fruit. And no matter how skilled he may prove with a paintbrush or other subject matter, he just can't seem to capture his taunting muse on canvas. It's a beautiful work regarding the pain of never living up to one's own creative expectations, no matter how much pining, passion, and time go into a project.

7. Noises Off! (1992) dir. Peter Bogdanovich

   Fans of breakneck, screwball comedies and showbiz deconstructions must absolutely pick up Noises Off!, which focuses on everything that can and will go wrong backstage — and how these incidents can impact productions right as they happen in front of a live auditorium audience. Creative individuals who must work with others know firsthand how the process can result in almost as much discord as it does harmony. No movie does it better than this hilarious send-up where a dysfunctional theater troupe starts crumbling for multiple reasons, but has to wipe up the hilarious mess before hitting the stage lest it ultimately muss their show.

8. Adaptation. (2002) dir. Spike Jonze

   Adaptation. began life as Charlie Kaufman's attempt to write a screenplay based on Susan Orlean's novel The Orchid Thief, but ended up an engaging metacommentary on the nature of inspiration. At the center sits a pair of twins (named after the screenwriter himself), one working on an adaptation of The Orchid Thief (See? Meta!), the other pooping out cliche Hollywood fare, earning, of course, far more money in the process. The persistent debate over selling out and making a living or staying true to one's artistic inclinations factors quite heavily into this dissection, obviously.

9. American Splendor (2003) dir. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

   Underground comics sensation Harvey Pekar found his writerly niche chronicling the mundane minutia of his file-clerk life, pairing up with numerous artists for straightforward, frequently insightful stories. Part biopic, part documentary, the film named after his most popular series digs into the creative process of this fantastic figure. Many stereotypes regarding how great authors (and, of course, others in artistic industries) conduct their personal and professional business end up entirely shattered with its protagonist's earnest — albeit cantankerous — approach and everyday background.

10. Synecdoche, New York (2008) dir. Charlie Kaufman

    Once again, the brilliant Charlie Kaufman dissects all the intricacies of creativity with stark-raving clarity, this time stepping into the director's chair. Synecdoche, New York's intensity unapologetically reflects the ugly, obsessively isolationist component that so often torments great innovators. And, of course, their loved ones. With a postmodern deftness, he traces the trajectory of creative torment and passion's darker corners.

January 16, 2012

Baseball may have been America's national pastime once, but today football is king. No doubt attention spans are shorter, and the relaxed pace of a 9-inning ballgame isn’t for everyone. But the exodus of fans from the gentlemen's game was certainly hastened by the Steroid Era. People who had loved baseball because of its purity and resistance to change felt betrayed by players who had shattered decades-old records by cheating. For many, college sports remain the only place to see pure competition. Though baseball and basketball seem clean enough, college football unfortunately  has an ugly side seeping through that in recent years has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

1. Sleazy recruiting

   Recruiting is easily the ugliest aspect of college football. Recruiting violations are popping up more and more. Coaches pepper players as young as 13 with text messages and phone calls, or treat them to alcohol and strippers. Agents arrange rides in Ferraris and gifts for family members. And it doesn’t get any better when college players head for the NFL draft. They are met by more greedy agents looking to capitalize on football stars by any means necessary.

2. Health damage

   For a game that has been played for a century and a half, it is only recently that steps have been taken to prevent dangerous head injuries to players. In fact, it took the NFL instituting policies penalizing helmet-to-helmet hits before colleges started getting serious about protecting players. Still, two former college footballers recently sued the NCAA alleging the association did not do its due diligence to crack down on coaches teaching players to hit with the helmet, or to provide for injured student athletes.

3. De-committing

   At least some football players do it for motives other than just a love of the game. In a practice tactfully referred to as "de-committing," players who had previously pledged to attend a certain university renege on the promise and go somewhere else. In layman's terms, they bail for a better deal. Part of the problem is coaches try to lock high school players in so early that the team's management or competitiveness may have changed by the time a player gets there. But students aren’t the only ones to blame; players can have promised scholarships revoked if a new head coach chooses not to honor prior agreements.

4. Steroid use

   Although coaches and officials claim a decline in steroid use in the last decade — writing it off as "a problem in the 90s" — some allege the problem persists in Division I football. In 2005, former BYU player and later NFL-er Jason Scukanec claimed up to 15 Brigham Young players had doped and that the story was the same for teams around the country. The same year, USA Today reported steroid usage among high school athletes had more than doubled from 1991 to 2003. It is naïve to think a 'roiding high school star would not try to find a way to pass NCAA drug tests in order to maintain a high level of performance in college.

5. Keeping the status quo

   As the recent events at Penn State have made abundantly clear, football is a sacred cow. An assistant coach saw a young boy being raped and his first move was to call his dad for advice on how to proceed. He knew exactly what Joe Paterno knew: don't rock the boat. The venerable head coach was aware of the molestation, and apparently even he was afraid to come forward. He knew perfectly well it meant heads would roll in Penn State's multi-million dollar athletics program. When he was fired for sitting on the information, students at Penn State rioted, proving once again that you don’t mess with college football.

6. Soaring revenues

   With heads firmly buried in the sand, some still contend that to allow college football players to see some of the revenue that schools and promoters are reaping off their work would hurt the "integrity" of the game. It is true that footballers with scholarships get free room and board, which can be worth as much as $40,000 per year or more. However, compare that to the average pay for the CEOs of football bowl games: $500,000 per year. The Texas Longhorns team is worth $129 million. Meanwhile, many of the players' families who are poor hope and pray that their son will make it to the NFL (a 1% chance) so he can finally be paid for his work and send some money home. If he doesn’t, he'll find all that time he spent playing and training hurt his chances of landing a job in the non-athletic world.

7. Coach meltdowns

   Every so often, a college football coach goes over to the dark side. It's that moment when the pent-up aggression from watching grown men smash into each other for three hours gives way to rage. Upset that a journalist had referred to one of his players as "fat," OSU head coach Mike Gundy went on a long, screaming tirade. Florida Gators coach Urban Meyer warned a reporter to "be very careful" and threatened to fight him. Coaching legend Woody Hayes went to the dark side when he punched an opposing player for intercepting his quarterback at a crucial point in the game. Hayes never coached again.