By Opal McClain
Western Sun opinion editor

A beast roams in the hearts of all men. That’s the theory behind werewolf myths. That even the most civilized people can become savage animals if given the appropriate circumstances.

It’s a theory seen in one form or another often throughout both literary and cinematic art. Consider the classic “Lord of the Flies” an allegorical novel which discusses the failures of society and speaks loudly to the brutal side of human nature.

Over the years, audiences have become more and more tolerant of gore and violence, film adaptations to werewolf legends have become increasingly savage and horrifying.

Thanks to technological advancements, the  transformation from man to monster has become more seamless and awe-inspiring.

In “The Wolfman,” Director Joe Johnston’s remake of the classic werewolf film is no different.

Taking the name from the 1941 original, “Wolfman” features a knock-out cast starring the Academy Award winning Benecio Del Toro as the movie’s title character.  It also stars Academy Award winning Anthony Hopkins and Golden Globe Award winning Emily Blunt in supporting roles.

But Johnston is like a demented teenage boy when it comes to his use of gore. Within the first scene, someone has their face nearly clawed off and there are many decapitations and gut revealing mutilations to “THE WOLFMAN” follow.

While each of the actors give amazing performances the characters and the script lack a lot of depth. Perhaps this is because it is a remake, but the entire film is predictable and there is not one jump out of your seat moment.

The biggest shortcoming of The Wolfman is that it’s a horror movie that really isn’t all that scary. The moments that should make you pee your pants in fear, actually serve as humor to today’s desensitized audiences.

There are some redeeming factors about the movie, like the special effects and cosmetics used to transform Del Toro from a slightly effeminate, troubled man into the blood craving monster that terrorizes an entire community.

My opinion is that we can all blame Wolfman’s failures on Johnston. Whoever thought it was a good idea to let a director who is best known for family films like “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Jumanji” try to update a classic horror film really should be shot.

The closest thing to horror Johnston has on his directorial resume is the god-awful “Jurassic Park III”, a film that made me roll my eyes when I was 12.

All in all, it definitely is not the worst werewolf film ever, that award goes to the Twilight saga whose fluffy werewolf wannabes that look more like Balto than a terrifying beast, barking at sparkly vampires.

However, Wolfman is still far from the best and has a miscast director to thank for it.

In the world of sports, everything from the cups the athletes drink out of to the stadiums they play in is up for grabs.

The major sports arenas are a playing field for the teams as well as major companies hoping to influence the public on their company’s product.

While there are some positives and negatives to sponsors, a line has to be drawn somewhere. But where is that line?

I feel like in some sports, athletes have essential sponsors, they have gray area sponsors, and then there are sponsors that are unnecessary for their sport and make one a slave to corporate companies.

In basketball the top players are wearing Nike’s, Adidas, and Jordan’s. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are holding it down for Nike while Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett are the top dudes at Adidas, and Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade are the dudes at Jordan’s.

Shoes are a very essential part of basketball so companies want to have the best of the best on their shoe company. When it comes to a sport like basketball, one’s shoes are a huge part of the sport. So having a shoe sponsor is an essential part of basketball.

It makes sense for sponsors to go get these great athletes and try to put their shoes under the top players feet.

Red Bull I feel like is the gray area on its sponsoring people. Red Bull is an energy drink that holds down more then 50% of the market in energy drinks sales. It is a company that sponsors various athletes.

It sponsors a lot of extreme athletes including a lot of skateboarders in the world, but some companies won’t even allow their riders to ride for them if they had an offer.

Although Red Bull has nothing to do with skateboarding or anything extreme everyone drinks something to rejuvenate while on the fieldof his/her preferred sport, so, you might as well get paid for drinking it.

Now NASCAR is a “sport” that cracks me up with its sponsors. At times I feel like NASCAR only exists so companies can have their names and products advertised.

I saw a guy win a race the other day and he was on the podium about to receive his trophy and his main sponsor was Oreos and Ritz. What do cookies and crackers have to do with cars and racing?

NASCAR is a true example of being a slave to advertising and where it just doesn’t make sense why any one of these drivers are sponsored by the companies they are
endorsed by.

I guess at the end of the day though everybody has to get paid one way or another. I bet most people wish they could be getting paid without selling their life away to certain companies, but this is life and people got to live.

If I were in the brand name shoes of some of these athletes who are just trying to make a living and support their families, maybe I would accept all the random sponsors too. But I’m not in that position, so I am writing about how ridiculous it kind of is and questioning where to draw the line on some of these issues?

Ending a seven-game losing streak, the Golden West softball team defeated the Santiago Canyon College Hawks by a score of 5-4 at home, Wednesday afternoon on Feb. 17.

With the score tied at four in the bottom of the seventh, Sophomore Caitlyn Sciacca hit a ground single to third base to send Sheila Samarin home for the win, putting a much needed “W” in the win column, bettering the GWC softball team’s record to 4-7.

Trailing Santiago Canyon 3-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Brooke Hitchcock, Sheila Samarin and Tanya Dowler each hit singles, loading the bases.

A hit by Nichelle Navarro to right field sent her out at first, but enabled Hitchcock to steal home to tie the score.

With Samarin on third and Dowler on second, Caitlyn Sciacca stepped to the plate; hit a ground single to third base, which the Hawks could not put a grasp on.

The juggling was enough for Sciacca to send Samarin home for the winning run.

“It’s a good win, it’s a good feeling,” Sophomore Nichelle Navarro said after the game. “We need to play like this for the rest of the season.”

The win was precisely the medicine that Coach Suzy Brazney felt the team needed. Coming off seven straight losses, losses that included games from tournament play in Arizona, the GWC women needed a mental boost.

“We’re definitely in shape,” Coach Brazney commented before the game. “We tend to lose focus and fall behind early.”

Beating Santiago Canyon was something the GWC women all believed they had the ability to do. Wednesday’s game was the first meeting for GWC and SCC and the GWC women all felt they matched up against SCC very well.

“They’re a decent team, but I know we can beat them.” Infielder and GWC Sophomore Lauren Beard said before the game.

The Santiago Canyon Hawks came out aggressively in the first inning, getting their

first two batters on base and sending both those runners in after the first 10 minutes of play.  Golden West countered with its first turn at bat with Sciacca hitting a double to send Dowler in for the first run for GWC.

Before the end of the first inning and runners on first and third, Kristen Douglas singles, batting in Sciacca to tie the score at two. With two outs in the bottom of the third and Samarin on third base, Navarro would hit a ground single towards third base, sending Samarin in giving GWC the lead at 3-2.

GWC’s lead would not last long as a bad pitch allows an SCC player to steal home for the tie.

Defense is the name of the game for the fourth and fifth innings as neither team scores until a fly ball in the top of the sixth. SCC’s Emily Pulanski sends Ashley Flatten home to give SCC the lead.

Changing pitchers and catchers in the top of the seventh, GWC attempts to overwhelm Santiago Canyon with fresh arms.

Santiago manages to load the bases, but strong defensive play by Golden West halts SCC’s offense, giving GWC their last turn at bat.

Lady Antebellum’s sophomore album follows up perfectly after a wonderful debut album won them praise across the board.

The three person group consists of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood; the first two share lead vocals. “Need You Now” is their New Lady Antebellum is just as good as last title track to their follow up album and rings all too clear to many who have ever longed for a lost lover or made a late night call in their lifetime.

The group has fans of all ages and has even earned a Grammy award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group for their song “I Run to You” from the group’s freshman recording back in 2008.

The group continues to improve and impress along the way and I highly recommend their second album to anyone who likes feel good, and sometimes sappy, music.

By Travis Gilmore
Western Sun staff writer

It’s that time of the year when critics and movie buffs gather around their television screens to see the glitz and glam of tinsel town.

The 82nd Annual Oscar Awards are quickly approaching, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and ABC are revamping the Ceremony with old traditions, a pair of hosts, and plenty of excitement.

The biggest difference to this year’s show is that the Best Picture category has been
expanded to ten nominees. In an attempt to gather more viewers the academy is breaking a 67-year-old tradition to cinemas most prestigious award by doubling the number of nominees.

Audiences felt that last year’s titles like “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” were snubbed from the recognition, so the producers of the award show gave the viewers what they wanted.

Although Best Picture nominee “District 9” is said to have a 75-1 shot at winning the award, the academy is at least hoping to grab bigger ratings than recent years have shown.

This year will also feature a duo of hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. For Martin, this is his third time hosting the event and Baldwin’s first.

Although this won’t be the first time that the Oscars have been hosted by a pair, it’s nice to see them thinking outside the box, and not resorting to Whoopi Goldberg or Billy Crystal.

Other alterations to the show have to do with speeches. It has been rumored that producers are informing nominees to prepare two speeches. One speech to explain what the award means to them, and another for the “Thank You Cam” backstage, although no one believes that this will go according to plan.

The popular pick of the night belongs to James Cameron’s “Avatar”. The film dominates the event with nine nominations, and may have also started a new
revolution in filmmaking.

Cameron used groundbreaking technology to capture the alien world of Pandora, and with this new wave of movie magic critics are making a case to add a new category to the Oscars:Performance Capture.

Only time will tell when the academy deems performance capture a recognizable achievement in cinema.

The 82nd Oscar Awards are sure to bring back the ratings it once had years ago with all the new changes and nominees.Look for films like “Avatar,” “Inglorious Bastards,” and “The Hurt Locker” to round up the golden statues.

The Academy Awards will be televised on March 7 on ABC beginning at 5 p.m.

By Fernando Alcantara
Western Sun sports editor

It is every creative mind’s worst nightmare: running out of great ideas. For that reason, the idea of recycling or at the very least, the expert use of reinvention is the trick up every magician’s sleeve.

The always dependable: plan B. When Visceral Games, the developers of “Dante’s
Inferno” came across the idea to develop a game using Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” as inspiration for a new video game, they must have believed they had their hands on gaming gold.  This reviewer agrees.

“Dante’s Inferno” (available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Sony PSP) takes inspiration from the first poem of “The Divine Comedy,” “Inferno.”

The “Divine Comedy” itself is a complex, allegorical epic that will require a copy of Cliff’s Notes by the side of the casual reader.

While the basis for a great video game was there in terms of back story and inspiration, whoever made the decision to make it an exact replica of Playstation’s “God of War,” and “God of War II” is where this reviewer must protest and emphatically disagree.

“Dante’s Inferno” is reminiscent of the “God of War” franchise from the controls, to the mini-games, to the way the main character runs from one side of the screen to the other and an exact clone in total game-play.

In “Dante’s Inferno” you play as Dante, a knight who returns home from battle to find his wife Beatrice slain and whose soul has been reaped by the devil. Dante falls to the depths of hell, hell-bent on rescuing his love from Lucifer.

Slaying demons by the hundreds with a scythe that Dante wins in a battle with Death in the opening level is quite fun and the combo counter on the left of the screen keeps track of the hits delivered in succession.

Blisters are a sure thing if you desire a large number on the combo counter.

“Dante’s Inferno” is excellent visually and the game controls, although great are not without flaws. You will find that in your button mashing, Dante will need to finish an attack combo, which may leave him open to attacks.

When he is knocked down, enemies can attack him. This is a huge annoyance.

The fun begins to run out, as the game gets longer; too many enemies that require uninspiring battles are one reason. Bad level-design and boring objectives are the other.

For fans of the “God of War” series, you’ll just wonder why you’re not playing that game instead.

“Dante’s Inferno” is not necessarily a complete letdown, but it is a complete rip-off in design and style of play and unfortunately just reminds us that “God of War” which is a much better game and gives the gamer a more complete experience.

The recommendation is to skip the game and read the poem instead.

I’m not exactly sure when or why Western culture suddenly became so sure that the world is going to end in the year 2012, but so far I’ve heard theories about polar shifts, meteorites, giant volcanoes, a plague, a nuclear holocaust, chemical warfare, and the Antichrist.

Yet the most common apocalyptic philosophy I have heard is the one that seems to make the least sense, and it has to do with ancient Mayan astrology. The foundation of this entire rumor seems to be based upon the end of the Mayan Long-Count calendar.

The Mayans kept very precise astrological records, which were supposed to help them prepare for any turning points in their culture and society, so when historians found that the Mayan calendar ended on December 21, 2012, they assumed there was a reason for it.

Though the Mayan culture is known to have been an intellectual one, there is something else we need to keep in mind about their society- it failed! The Mayan culture literally disappeared without a trace, and even the historians are unsure why.

This, in my opinion, takes away any validity Mayan astrology may have had in the first place. Let’s not forget, also, that we’re talking about predictions that were made during a time when people didn’t know where the sun went at night, and mice were thought to spontaneously pop into existence from dusty corners.

Inhabitants of this culture would have soiled themselves if they had ever even seen a horse, but there are people today who honestly see them as a credible source in predicting the end of the world? Astounding.

It seems to me that in all the Chicken Little’s of the world would just stop berating around squalling about how we’re all doomed, and instead promoted a little common sense, this apocalyptic nonsense would subside.

The fact is, nobody really knows when the world is going to end. It could end as your reading this, it could end in 10,000 years, hell it might not even end at all.

In reality, if and when the world does end, chances are there’s absolutely nothing you or I could do about it that’s my theory.

Instead of wasting your time analyzing pre apocalyptic omens from ancient history, kick back, suck down a few margaritas,and enjoy the sunshine. 2012 will be here soon enough, and when it comes, we’ll see just how psychic the Mayans really were.

Myspace is ruining your relationship. Facebook is diminishing your chance at any genuine, social interaction.  And Twitter is, well, just plain annoying. I hate to say it people, but these “social networking sites” are nothing more than A) a complete technological realization of one’s inherent arrogance, or B) an attempt at keeping in touch with those people who you really don’t care about in the real world, but feel some sort of obligation to at least pretend to.

Using Facebook as a ‘valuable method of communication’ is merely a facade; face it people- would you really have sent that happy birthday comment had the site not so conveniently reminded you? And if friend number 107’s birthday were worth remembering, wouldn’t you at least have their phone number for a text?

Besides the fact that these sites diminish basically all legitimate social interaction, when a romantic relationship is thrown into the mix, it becomes a platform for insecurity.  Because, obviously, it’s a completely rational, even productive use of time to scour your hunny’s “friends” for anyone that might be found slightly desirable, and then proceed to Facebook-stalk them accordingly.

Or, if stalking someone else’s page and viewing their 72 pictures of themselves isn’t stimulating enough, you could always upload some more of yourself… because the six albums already up totally don’t show your hotness enough.

But hey, at least you aren’t like those people who have 30 pictures of their cat and random nature shots but none of themselves.

And those random status updates? They serve as a modern day consummation of Lacan’s mirror stage and the Ideal-I; we live in a post-The Hills, reality TV obsessed society where we assume really, genuinely cares about everything that we do.

It’s simply being considerate to quench everyone’s thirst for your whereabouts with a steady stream of updates about what you’re doing right this minute! But they don’t care. And they probably aren’t going to in five minutes, either. But have fun playing Farmville! : ) : )

College is a very expensive choice in life and is getting more expensive every year. Sometimes it seems that one will never have enough to pay for one’s choices for their academic future.

Although Golden West College is a community college, the cost of attendance is rising. With financial aid and fee waivers, it certainly helps the average student to improve their minds while not starving, but students still need an extra boost of financial help.

Golden West College is providing an opportunity for every student to apply for the chance at receiving a scholarship.  There is a general application, a Nursing application, and one for departments.  One may apply to all the applications at least once, only if the scholarship applies to the student.

With the general application, a student need only submit once and be qualified for all the general scholarships that apply. It is not difficult to fill one out.

One simply has to input personal information, explain any extracurricular activities, list any rewards they received during that college academic career, submit a short essay about why they deserve and need the scholarship and then attach an “unofficial transcript” at the back of the application.

The best part about this scholarship is that there are no minimum requirements to submitting an application.  Any student may apply and be considered to be awarded a scholarship.  The award date for the applicationis May 11,2010
at 6:30 p.m.

The deadline to submit the application is Monday, March 1 at 2 p.m. in the Foundations Office located near the Administration Building. There are still other way to earn scholarships through GWC.  Simply go to their website address at http://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/scholarships/index.html and download the handbook, List of Scholarships [pdf] and gain access to all the different opportunities to earn financial support for their college career.