Tim Burton

Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California. He has been a successful director since 1971. Tim Burton's films can be described as artsy or edgy or just plain strange. Many of his films have starred Johnny Depp including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When Burton was a young boy, he would make short films in his backyard using stop motion animation techniques or shoot them on 8 mm film without sound. Burton was hired at Walt Disney Productions' animation studio, where he worked as a concept artist on The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. Burton's personal artistic tastes clashed with the Disney style, and he longed to work on his own projects. Major motion pictures done by Burton include Beetlejuice, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride, and the newest release, Alice In Wonderland. Burton has been nominated for several awards for his productions, and is known all around the world for his dark, twisted storylines. Well- known stars who have been characters in his movies have been Johnny Depp, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Winona Ryder, and Missi Pyle. All actors have stated that working with Burton was amazing, is an understatement. Burton can be described as "creative, fun to work with, a little odd, but certainly in a good way." as stated by close friend Johnny Depp.

Below are a few trailers for hit movies by Tim Burton, including Sweeney Todd, 9, and Alice in Wonderland.

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan. He is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind from birth and raised in inner-city Detroit, he was a skilled musician by age eight. Renamed Little Stevie Wonder by Berry Gordy Jr., the president of Motown Records— Wonder made his recording debut at age 12. His first album, 'Little Stevie Wonder the 12 Year Old Genius', made the child a huge star, and gave Stevie a number one hit with single 'Fingertips'. The following year, he enrolled in the Michigan School for the Blind, where he studied classical piano. His late teen years saw continued success, with songs such as 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)'. Stevie worked on improving his skills as a songwriter, and producer, and he co-wrote most of his singles from 1967 onward. In 1971, he invested in his own recording studio, Taurus Productions, and recorded two albums on his own. Throughout the seventies and eighties, Stevie continued winning awards and releasing hit songs. He even opened for The Rolling Stones in their tour across America in 1972. He was given a chance to appeal to those who mostly listened to rock n’ roll. Those who heard Stevie Wonder play the concert often claim that they had never heard pop music cross the border into the world of rock so well. Following his rock n’ roll career, Stevie then released another huge pop favorite, You are the Sunshine of My Life. He went onto release Love’s in Need of Love Today and Pastime Paradise. He won three Grammy Awards and an Album of the Year award for his release of Innervisions. He then recorded I Just Called to Say I Love You, which topped both American and European charts. Even to this day, Stevie Wonder continues to release albums, one of the best being A Time to Love in 2005. Stevie has recorded more than 30 U.S. billboard hits, and has received 22 Grammy Awards which was the record for most Grammies given to a male solo artist. He is also very well known for his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr's birthday a holiday. In 2009, Stevie was congratulated with the title of a United Nations Messenger's of Peace. Stevie Wonder has seven kids, from his two marriages to Motown singer Yolanda Simmons, and fashion designer Kai Milla Morris, as well as several relationships. Overall, Wonder has had 10 number one hits on the pop charts, and 20 R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. As well as this, he has produced and collaborated with a multitude of other successful artists. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. Stevie Wonder is an amazing performer, and will continue to blow the world's mind with his outstanding knowledge of how to please a crowd, how to rock several instruments, and to put on a kick ass show.

Below are two videos. The first one is Stevie Wonder rocking out on Sesame Street, singing his smash hit Superstition. The second one is Stevie Wonder singing another smash hit, Don't You Worry About A Thing.

News Article

TITANIC SINKS SHORTLY AFTER HITTING ICEBERG

Shortly before midnight on April 14^th 1912, on the voyage from Southampton to New York City, Titanic struck an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on April 15^th 1912. The sinking resulted in 1,517 deaths, of the 2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The ship did not carry lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat capacity of 1,178 people, although the maximum capacity was 3,547. Several men died, due to the ‘women and children first’ protocol that was followed. The Titanic was popularly believed to have been unsinkable.

On April 18^th 1912, another rather large ship named Carpathia, docked at Pier 54, in New York with 706 Titanic survivors. It was greeted by many, and celebrated by several. No one believed the Titanic would sink because of the great technological advances they invested upon it. Although the Titanic is a well-known disaster around the world, it holds the record for the largest capacity of passengers.

Article Done by: Danielle Thomson

My Favourite Forms of Media

Everywhere you look, there is media. Your shirt is media, texting on your cell phone is media, even Facebook is media. So why not study, what you see everyday? My three favourite forms of media, are television, internet, and social networking. Television is one of my favourite forms of media, because there are billions of tv shows, that most people don’t even watch, but are still on the air. Some of the tv shows I find most interesting, are One Tree Hill, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Vampire Diaries, and Criss Angel: Mind freak. These shows interest me, because the first four I mentioned, are fiction, but certainly deal with real life situations. Criss Angel on the other hand, is fiction, but non-fiction. It is reality, but is what he doing actually real? I believe it is all fake, because although they show a “continuous shot”, how do we know it is continuous. Although I believe the stunts he has on the show are false, he is certainly a great entertainer. Internet, is another of my favourite forms of media. This is because the internet, has basically taken over the world. Books are not needed, now that they have them on the internet, and most people don’t even remember what a book is. The next generation, will be completely virtual. I predict everything will have a touch screen, and technology will be at it’s highest level. The internet can lead to social networking, financing, anything you want it to. Which is why it is one of my favourite forms of media. The internet, is everything that is life. You can get music, books, even a puppy! The internet has provided us with so many opportunities, but also has degraded us. In the next generation, I predict that computers will have most of the jobs. This is because they can do anything. The internet was a wonderful invention, and has taken over the better part of the world. But is it for the better, or worse? My last favourite form of media is social networking. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, even Blogger. Social networking is certainly a link to the internet, seeing as how most of it, if not all, happens on the internet. This provides us with several other links to communication. Communication used to be picking up the phone and calling someone, or sending a note in a bottle, across the lake. Now, all you have to do is have an internet connection, and you’re good to go. Now is this good or bad? You can tell anyone, anything, anywhere, as long as you have a connection to the internet. You will never have to leave your house again! When you’re 35 and you’re still living in your parent’s basement, why go up the stairs and tell them you’re hungry? Why not tweet it to them? Or send them a wall post on Facebook? This is what social networking does to people, which is why it is one of my favourite forms of media.