CollegeCandy » tragedy

Dear John, I Want To See You

Zahra- Northwestern University — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:00:35 +0000

Tomorrow’s a big day. The big day. The day that I’ve been dreaming about for months.

Yes ladies, tomorrow marks the release of Dear John and I. just. can’t. wait.

Call me cheesy. Call me girly. Call me pathetic. Just don’t call me between the hours of 9pm and 11pm when I’m soaking up the chick-flick of the decade with my girls and an overpriced, oversized package of Twizzlers.

And don’t tell me you’re not excited about this one, too. Dear John has all the elements of the perfect movie and here are 5 reasons why I’m already holding tickets to the opening night premiere.

1. I love a good cry. Dear John is adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel by the same name. Sparks also happens to be the tear-jerking genius who wrote The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, both of which left me heaving into my Diet Coke in the movie theater. As sadistic as it sounds, sometimes I just need me a good cry and after having watched the trailer, um, a lot, I’m positive this movie will give me one.

2. Channing Tatum. As if I even need to mention this. I have admired his chiseled jaw, gorgeous lips, and Adonis-like abs since Step Up came out in 2006. Even after I finally gave up trying to teach myself all the dances in the movie, my love for Channing stuck with me. He was my profile picture on Facebook for awhile. I mentioned him in my final article for my school newspaper. I planned my life as Mrs. Zahra Tatum…

Where was I?

Oh yeah, anyways, all psychosis aside, yes, he was a stripper (NSFW), but he’s gaining real credibility as an actor. I know we’ll get to see a more serious side of him in Dear John, and I’m excited to see how his acting ability has grown. And his pectorals. Because he’s shirtless in this movie…a lot.

3. The trailer is girly glue. You have all the elements of a perfect romance movie: the shirtless guy with sex appeal, the strangely beautiful girl, the gut-wrenching separation and the hot kiss (and I mean hot - if you don’t want to see the movie after that, you don’t have a heart…or a libido).

4. Amanda Seyfried. I am a huge Amanda fan. She went from an unknown to a cult favorite in Mean Girls. Now, she’s a rapidly rising star. She has also found the quickest way to my heart by stunning me every time I see her on the red carpet. Although part of me wants to hate her for getting to roll around half naked with Channing, I can’t help but admire her quirky beauty and be eager to see her try her hand at a romance movie.

5. Everyone Wants Some Lovin’. In this month dedicated to love and romance, it’s nice for those of us without either to get to witness both (without having to watch our friends get all gross, kissy and lovey dovey in front of our faces). And it doesn’t hurt that the guy in love happens to be really, ridiculously good looking.

Did I mention that Channing will be shirtless?
Sigh. I can’t wait!

VTech Victim Memorials on Facebook

CC Staff — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:23:58 +0000

We’ve all created groups on facebook for various reasons — boredom, procrastination, humor… But yesterday, many of us took the time to dedicate our groups to something serious, something real — the horrific, sad, scary shooting at Virgina Tech.

I heard what happened on the news yesterday. I was shocked. But I can’t say what happened to those poor, unsuspecting students hit me until this morning when I saw the many V-Tech memorial groups on facebook. I saw pictures of the actual students who were shot and killed having fun with their friends, enjoying college, living a carefree life like the rest of us. I read other students’ comments from other schools and felt the sympathy and sadness in their words.

Check out the links to the memorial pages.

It has never been more apparent that we aren’t just self-involved, alcoholics who party five days a week. We care about what happens to our peers, people we don’t even know. We see and are concerned with how yesterday’s terrible incident affects the victims’ families and friends. We have all been sadened by the fact that not one of them expected to lose their life that day. Even more, we’re aware and scared by the fact that this could have happened on any of our campuses. We could have been victims too.

People are angry, people are pointing fingers at this shooter, some are saying that they’re glad he’s dead. But I want to know why. Why did he do what he did? What was it that happened between he and his girlfriend that made him snap? What made him so angry and irrational that he thought it’d be a good idea to hurt his fellow classmates?

I doubt there is a word out there that can actually describe what happened yesterday. All I know is, I was comforted when I saw how much love, concern and support is out there on other campuses … in something as small as a group on facebook. My heart goes out to all the victims and their loved ones.

Official Facebook Memorial Pages:

Tribute Page

Shooter Hate Page

Pray for VTech

Always Remember Virginia Tech

Victims Memorial Pages:

Emily Jane Hilscher

Ryan Christopher Clark a.k.a. Stack

Check back for more.

VTech – The Picture becomes clearer…but not really

CC Staff — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:26:37 +0000

According to the Chicago Sun Times and Fox News, the shooter was an Asian National, in the US on a student visa. Unfortunately, in typical new media fashion, they soaked the wrong person’s name, Facebook and MySpace page ALL OVER THE NEWS. If I had not seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it. They pasted his name, bashed him, and then went, “Oh…uh…our bad, we have just been notified this person is still alive and was not involved in the shooting.” They think they have the right name now, but we will see over the next couple of hours.

…OK…time to slow down people. If we have learned ANYTHING as Americans and our global media machine, it is that we cannot rush to media bash innocent-till-proven-guilty people until we have some shred of proof. Then again, I am actually WATCHING Geraldo re-showing his MySpace page to show WHY they thought it was him. In good conscience, I will not link you to it but I am sure by tomorrow we will all know.

Regardless, we know it was 1 guy with a gun and a lot of bullets. There are more comments and updates from people all over the country on Bloomberg. com.

The truth right now is, no one knows why the hell anyone would do this or who this person is. They are assuming that the same person who shot at the dorm in the morning, is the same one who shot up the classrooms. (It seems logical to me.)

However, witnesses have popped up who were in class where the shooting occured. He shot with no words, no comments, nothing. Read more

VTech Community Rallies in Support

CC Staff — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:58:50 +0000

As the day of absolute shock comes to a close, students and the community torn apart by this event prove that they can band together in this time of need.

See the photos of support here.

Update: VTech release of info – Still no ID on shooter

CC Staff — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:36:12 +0000

This person matched the description of the shooter, but was later released.

President Bush weighed in here and promised to help support the investigations in any way.

CNN posted a student video of the events (a little tasteless but they ARE the media).

MSNBC posted a map and timeline of the events.

The sad part is, while the news and every other TV station in the US was covering this – the students had very little information except for an email blast. That is crap. They blamed it on trying to keep students in the safest possible place. If I was a commuter student, the safest place is AT HOME – cancel class for F–KSAKE! But instead, more students were subjected to harm. Now, of course, there is a reasonable expectation – but call radio station, tell the news, do SOMETHING. But early in morning after it happened they thought it was an “isolated” situation.

The students disagree.

What do you think about the University’s decision?

Some sites like CollegeHumor have said that they will continue business as usual, and that’s ok. We, on the other hand, have made the decision to post some links to the most concise information we can find.