Every summer, parents of anxious teens spend thousands on elaborate abroad programs to boost their kids' college chances. But are the trips worth it? Top schools reveal summer admissions secrets. Plus, the 10 most outrageous programs.
On a sunny June afternoon, a suburban 16-year-old arrives in rural Ghana. She's greeted by a family with whom she'll live for a month, while working at a local orphanage, teaching English, and helping out with construction projects. Along with a dozen fellow American high school students, she'll visit historic slave trade fortresses, learn traditional crafts, and take language lessons in Ashanti Twi.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Best Summer Hikes: Appalachian Trail to Yosemite
For this, her parents will pay close to $10,000, in hopes that the experience will boost her chances of admission to the country's top colleges.
Over the past two decades, as applying to college has become-at least for the well-off-a...
On a sunny June afternoon, a suburban 16-year-old arrives in rural Ghana. She's greeted by a family with whom she'll live for a month, while working at a local orphanage, teaching English, and helping out with construction projects. Along with a dozen fellow American high school students, she'll visit historic slave trade fortresses, learn traditional crafts, and take language lessons in Ashanti Twi.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Best Summer Hikes: Appalachian Trail to Yosemite
For this, her parents will pay close to $10,000, in hopes that the experience will boost her chances of admission to the country's top colleges.
Over the past two decades, as applying to college has become-at least for the well-off-a...
- 6/4/2011
- by Rebecca Davis O'Brien
- The Daily Beast
Women and Hollywood: Melissa Silverstein can’t quite believe her eyes as “a feminist fall at the movies” begins to take shape thanks to many films “that have women leads who seem to be, well, quite feminist.” Among them: “Conviction,” “Fair Game,” “For Colored Girls,” “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest,” “I Am Love,” “Made in Dagenham,” “Secretariat,” and “The Tempest,” to name just a few.
IndieWire: Peter Knegt offers up 10 “underdog actresses for your consideration,” purposely excluding those whose work already “looks like a good bet for a nomination.” The list includes: Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone”), Chloe Moretz (“Let Me In”), Tilda Swinton (“I Am Love”), Mia Wasikowska in “The Kids Are All Right,” Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”), and Olivia Williams (“The Ghost Writer”). Quite a group.
FLICKgrrl: Carrie Rickey joins Allison Willmore in slapping down the notion that “The Social Network” presents a misogynistic portrayal of...
IndieWire: Peter Knegt offers up 10 “underdog actresses for your consideration,” purposely excluding those whose work already “looks like a good bet for a nomination.” The list includes: Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone”), Chloe Moretz (“Let Me In”), Tilda Swinton (“I Am Love”), Mia Wasikowska in “The Kids Are All Right,” Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”), and Olivia Williams (“The Ghost Writer”). Quite a group.
FLICKgrrl: Carrie Rickey joins Allison Willmore in slapping down the notion that “The Social Network” presents a misogynistic portrayal of...
- 10/7/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
- If The Social Network wasn't scoring at the box office and with critics would women writers keep piling on this ongoing debate? Women And Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein argues that controversy surrounding the film's lack of female characters proves "in no uncertain terms that you can’t get away with this even if the movie is good and even if it may be an Oscar front runner." She's referring to what PopWatch's Jennifer Armstrong defines as "downright appalling depiction of women," which "is horrendous, like, ’50s-level sexist - if this were fiction, the snubs would be inexcusable," serving as "strong evidence that we still need feminism." The Daily Beast's Rebecca Davis O'Brien believes the film's females are props, not characters. IFC's Alison Willmore agrees that a ...
- 10/6/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Playlist: Kevin Jagernauth reports that the organizers of the Academy Awards are exploring the possibility of moving up the 2012 ceremony to January as part of “a continuing effort to boost flagging viewership.” It would, however, face “considerable competition from the last weeks of the NFL season” and “the window to get out screeners” would become very condensed (which has prompted discussion about a secure Web site through which members could instantly access films online).
CNN: Larry King announces that he will devote the full hour of tonight’s “Larry King Live” to the new film “Conviction,” another huge coup for the folks at Fox Searchlight. Guests will include the film’s director Tony Goldwyn; stars Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, and Minnie Driver; and real-life inspirations Betty Anne Waters, Abra Rice, and Barry Scheck. Also appearing will be 12 individuals from across the country who were convicted of crimes they did not commit,...
CNN: Larry King announces that he will devote the full hour of tonight’s “Larry King Live” to the new film “Conviction,” another huge coup for the folks at Fox Searchlight. Guests will include the film’s director Tony Goldwyn; stars Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, and Minnie Driver; and real-life inspirations Betty Anne Waters, Abra Rice, and Barry Scheck. Also appearing will be 12 individuals from across the country who were convicted of crimes they did not commit,...
- 10/6/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Women in "The Social Network" are "less prizes than they are props," writes Rebecca Davis O'Brien at The Daily Beast, "buxom extras literally bussed in to fill the roles of doting groupies, vengeful sluts, or dumpy, feminist killjoys." "What are we to do with a great film that makes women look so awful?" she asks, going on to target the film's portrayal of Asian women and its "shots that linger on women's bodies." Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon claims that "Ultimately, the question becomes whether the film's sexism is intentional and, if so, whether it accurately reflects reality."
Does "The Social Network" have a problem with women? I wouldn't say so, but its characters sure do. Are women underrepresented in the film? Sure. It's a story about guys! Desperate, socially inept guys. It's a cinematic sausage fest. Of the different arguments being floated on this topic, the one that I find...
Does "The Social Network" have a problem with women? I wouldn't say so, but its characters sure do. Are women underrepresented in the film? Sure. It's a story about guys! Desperate, socially inept guys. It's a cinematic sausage fest. Of the different arguments being floated on this topic, the one that I find...
- 10/6/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Filed under: Hot Topic, Cinematical
Now that 'The Social Network's hype is in full bloom -- until Oscar season officially starts, anyway -- critics have come out against the way women have been portrayed in the film. I'll be the first to admit I'm torn on the issue, but I'd also wager that the majority of the criticism boils down to the flashiest pull quote in 'The Social Network's ad campaign. Naturally, it's from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who declares, "The Social Network' also defines the decade." Naturally, this led to an outcry of people who didn't want to be lumped in with Travers' generalization -- especially women who protest both the disparity between fact and fiction in 'The Social Network' and the overall portrayal of women in the movie, which is poor to say the least. (Here's David Ehrlich's take on...
Now that 'The Social Network's hype is in full bloom -- until Oscar season officially starts, anyway -- critics have come out against the way women have been portrayed in the film. I'll be the first to admit I'm torn on the issue, but I'd also wager that the majority of the criticism boils down to the flashiest pull quote in 'The Social Network's ad campaign. Naturally, it's from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who declares, "The Social Network' also defines the decade." Naturally, this led to an outcry of people who didn't want to be lumped in with Travers' generalization -- especially women who protest both the disparity between fact and fiction in 'The Social Network' and the overall portrayal of women in the movie, which is poor to say the least. (Here's David Ehrlich's take on...
- 10/5/2010
- by Jenni Miller
- Moviefone
Filed under: Hot Topic, Cinematical
Now that 'The Social Network's hype is in full bloom -- until Oscar season officially starts, anyway -- critics have come out against the way women have been portrayed in the film. I'll be the first to admit I'm torn on the issue, but I'd also wager that the majority of the criticism boils down to the flashiest pull quote in 'The Social Network's ad campaign. Naturally, it's from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who declares, "The Social Network' also defines the decade." Naturally, this led to an outcry of people who didn't want to be lumped in with Travers' generalization -- especially women who protest both the disparity between fact and fiction in 'The Social Network' and the overall portrayal of women in the movie, which is poor to say the least. (Here's David Ehrlich's take on...
Now that 'The Social Network's hype is in full bloom -- until Oscar season officially starts, anyway -- critics have come out against the way women have been portrayed in the film. I'll be the first to admit I'm torn on the issue, but I'd also wager that the majority of the criticism boils down to the flashiest pull quote in 'The Social Network's ad campaign. Naturally, it's from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who declares, "The Social Network' also defines the decade." Naturally, this led to an outcry of people who didn't want to be lumped in with Travers' generalization -- especially women who protest both the disparity between fact and fiction in 'The Social Network' and the overall portrayal of women in the movie, which is poor to say the least. (Here's David Ehrlich's take on...
- 10/5/2010
- by Jenni Miller
- Cinematical
-It's no surprise that David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network is getting Oscar-buzz, zeitgeist hype and debates about what is fact and fiction. Now the role of women in the film is kicking up controversy. The Daily Beast's Rebecca Davis O'Brien argues that the femme roles are props in a film that "not only reflects its era, but will shape it." Stephen Colbert declares that there are no women of substance in the movie except for the small roles of lawyer Rashida Jones and Zuckerberg's scorning girlfriend Rooney Mara. The women in the movie are seen as liabilities, writes Jezebel, if not woefully disrespected. "Complaining about misogyny in modern blockbuster cinema," writes O'Brien, "is about as productive as lamenting Facebook’s grip on our ...
- 10/4/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
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