Blogs List
Worldly Wonders
 Emily Barske |
You've Got to Read the Book!Fri, November 6, 2009 @ 11:28AM Now as a book lover I think that books show so much more than movies. They have so much more description, but yet you also get to use your imagination to give yourself a picture of the characters or certain places. Maybe it’s just me, but I absolutely hate it when you go to watch a movie about a book you've already read and the characters are all wrong, the events are just less real, and it just is a complete disgrace to the book. Like take the Harry Potter books for instance, Harry's eyes are green just like his mother's. J.K. Rowling gives an explicit description of Harry's green eyes at least once or twice a book. Then in the movie they zoom in on Harry's eyes or just the face, and you see that his eyes are not green but blue! Now this is just one of the minor changes that they made from the book to the movie. I mean, hello, have they heard of colored contacts. Another movie, let’s say Twiligh.
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Being Me
 Ken Black |
Outstanding!Mon, November 16, 2009 @ 2:27PM It was a game I will never forget as long as I live. I don't know what it was like to be down on the field, but from the stands it looked and felt awesome. When I went to the UNI Dome Friday, I was hoping for a good game. What I got was so much more. With 3:30 left, having to go 80 yards with no timeouts, needing to convert more than one fourth down (and long fourth downs at that), you won't win those games in high school football all the time. But it didn't matter, because with 5 seconds left in the game, the scoreboard said Maroons 25, Bobcats 28. It was still that way when time expired. Throughout the game, I was sitting right behind some guys from Fort Dodge, one of whom insisted he was held in the end zone on the Dodgers' final offensive play of the game. They seemed to be sitting on the Marshalltown sideline for no other reason than to cajole Bobcat fans whenever anything went wrong. And for a good portion of the fourth quarter, there was a lot of cajoling to be done.
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The Devil's Advocate
 Mike Donahey |
Vote today!Mon, November 2, 2009 @ 3:58PM "Now go out and vote, it will make you feel good." CBS correspondent Bob Schaeffer attributed those words to his late mother after he moderated a McCain-Obama debate last year. It is wise and timeless advice. Today voters in Marshalltown and citizens in other Central Iowa communities will vote in town elections. Is voting in a town election important? Yes. The men or women we re-elect or elect, will be making decisions, large and small, for us beginning in 2010. Eventually, some of their decisions we will like. Others we will not. But not everything in life turns out the way we want. And that includes politics locally, at the state level and nationally. A vote is like saying "this is who I think should be making those decisions" Not everyone feels comfortable standing up at a city council meeting. Nor do some like writing letters "to the editor.
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Don't Argue With Me
 Tammy R. Lawson |
Just in case ...Tue, November 17, 2009 @ 3:01PM If it cannot be any clearer, see this sentence? --- Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com This phrase is written at the bottom of every single article with my name attached to the byline - online and in the newspaper itself. Here it is again: --- Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com Now, this is where you can reach me. If I am not available, you will be contacted as soon as possible at a number of your convenience. I will always listen, I will always respond, and if something is amiss, I will do whatever I can to remedy the situation. As the writer of an article, I am known to uphold this stance and am a firm believer in it. One more time: --- Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com You may even feel better about yourself at the end of the.
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Fifth-and-Goal
 Mark Pawlak |
Let's Go BowlingFri, November 13, 2009 @ 4:33PM Saturday could be an eventful day in how the college bowl picture shakes out. College football's landscape can be changed in a matter of a few seconds - example an ankle injury to Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi - but here's the best guess as of Friday afternoon: BCS Championship - Alabama vs. Texas. The Florida-Alabama matchup in the SEC title game has the making of an epic battle. Not much separates the Gators and Crimson Tide but I'm going Alabama in a low-scoring affair. Texas gets the nod in what has been a disappointing year for the Big 12 as a whole. Sugar Bowl - Florida vs. TCU. The Horned Frogs of TCU can very well be the nation's best team but we'll never know as four teams should go into bowl season undefeated. If the Gators are overlooking TCU or are hurting from the Alabama game, they could be in for a surprise. Orange Bowl - Georgia Tech vs. Pittsburgh. The Yellow Jackets get the automatic bid by being the ACC champion and take their run attack to Miam.
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Word Up
 Andrew Potter |
Moving stroll the right callWed, November 18, 2009 @ 11:01AM Moving the Holiday Stroll to Saturday was a good thing to do by the organizers of the annual downtown event. The players of this historic Marshalltown High School football run deserve to have the spotlight squarely focused on them when they take on Iowa City High in the Class 4A state championship Friday at 7:05 p.m. in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. To give another nod to the team, players will be honored at the stroll, which runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. It’s going to be a big weekend to be a Marshalltown resident, and now people won’t have to choose one or the other — they get b.
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Plain and Simple
 Pam Rodgers |
So excited for New MoonWed, November 18, 2009 @ 4:50PM Last year around this time, I wasn’t even sure if I was interested in a movie that involved vampires. I am definitely not into anything horror. I was a little scaredy cat growing up where a too frightening commercial would give me nightmares (not something I’m proud to admit it). Well, my sister convinced me to go to Twilight and now a year later I am in the Twilight fanatic category. I absolutely loved the movie. I admit the first 30 minutes weren’t the best but as soon as they got into the Edward Bella plot, I was hooked. Now, I have read all four books and own the DVD. As the time draws near for the second installment of the series, New Moon to come out, I can barely stop thinking about it. From the previews, it looks like it could be 100 times better than Twilight. I am not so into it that I will be at the midnight showing but you can bet I will be there for the first weekend and will probably see it multiple times. It felt like the No.
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Life's Insights
 April Thorn |
Dogs have leashes. Not kids.Thu, July 16, 2009 @ 11:58PM I hate being in a store when you hear a child crying or see one throwing a fit and their parent is not paying attention to their offspring. Not that a parent has to coo at every sound their child makes, but when the crying and/or fit throwing is excessive, that's when a parent should acknowledge the child and either a) try to fix what is wrong, b) discipline the child, or c) decide it is time to go home and take the child out of the store. (Depending on what your personal child-rearing philosophy is. However it seems some parents are without a particular philosophy or brain, rather.) Understanding that children can throw unpleasant fits in stores and can also run away like an Olympic sprinter down a aisle, I get why parents may find it frustrating to take their children into stores. But at the same time the parents did make this choice.
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