Week's News Nuggets

Grad school is clearly in full swing...and apparently Winter is as well...still...

Journalism, Business Classes and Snow Storms - Oh My!  That's a fairly accurate description of this week (if you're not on the Left Coast, you know what I mean).  The biggest upside of the week?  Our first Accounting class of the term was cancelled due to an NYU snow day on Wednesday - that's right, folks, the first day NYU has shuttered its doors in THIRTEEN YEARS!

That means, no additional homework to add to our litany of assignments due in the coming week.  Yip EEE!

The biggest downside of the week?  The death of my cell phone.  (RIP)

Had it not been for two days wasted on the phone with the provider and Best Buy (they really do have great deals on cell phones...likely thanks to their shipping vendor's BEYOND TERRIBLE customer service) I might have been slightly more productive whilst snowed into my 800 square feet of luxury city living.

Alas - enough excuses!  More "On the Line With..." interviews coming to you ASAP...but for now, here's your summary of news-worthy events from the week so far (brought to you, for your reading pleasure,  "Brangelina" and "Anibutler" free!! and I believe that latter name-combo is a "Line" original, so feel free to say you saw it here first!)

And now, the news:

• If you are one of the few people still checking your Myspace accounts, here is yet another reason to become a Facebook convert:  After only 10 months of service as CEO of the site, Owen Van Natta has stepped down.  First their customers and now their leadership...looks like keeping this acquisition going will be an ongoing challenge for parent News Corp.  For the full story from The Wrap, click HERE.  

• Dear John will now be known as the movie to finally knock Avatar out of its weeks-long number #1 spot.  So, either EVERYONE has already seen the 3-D extravaganza on the big screen and there is simply no audience left to attend, or the romantic drama is really that good.  Based on Dear John's release proximity to Valentine's Day, I'm guessing it's a combination of the former along with a good portion of the male population agreeing to see a love-story to "make up for" having "dragged" their significant others to go see Avatar (ladies:  shhhh...let's all agree not to tell the guys we actually liked the "guy movie"...hang on to that, it's our only leverage!)

• According to a press release, DreamWorks Animation is hoping to tap into some 3-D gold of their own with their offering, "How to Train Your Dragon," and a cross-promotional deal with NBC and its Winter Olympics broadcast.  The film opens on March 26th and plans to roll out a series of "sports-themed custom, CG animated vignettes" across all NBC platforms during the games.  The remaining question will be:  Does this film stand a chance against Avatar's achievements and the likely blockbuster hit Alice in Wonderland?  I guess we'll see...but to me, (at the risk of dating myself) the vignettes' description sounds like a non-Disney retread of the classic Goofy Sports genre: "Featuring the characters from the feature film as they compete in humorous variations of the "Dragon/Viking" sports from the mythical Viking Games of 1010, the custom vignettes include competitions such as snowboarding, speed skating, bobsledding and ski jumping."   Again, I guess we'll see...