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Ares's Eco-Gym: A Lesson in Making the World a Better Place

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In the midst of the distressing news this past week, Good Magazine recently published an inspiring video article about someone who has made the world a better place.

The story concerns Manuel de Arriba Ares, a retired gym teacher in the village of Valdespino de Somoza in the city of Leon, Spain. Ares has built an “ecological gym” for the village–an outdoor gym that uses no electricity and that is made entirely from recycled materials!

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Magnetic Cows, Commitment-Phobia, the Volt, and More

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Each week, Re:Creation will bring you commentary on news stories from a variety of topics that will restore your interest and fascination with this world.

Science

Cows often get a bad rap, though they have seemed cooler since their appearance in Chick-Fil-A ads. Thanks to a new scientific study, they’ve now gone up further in coolness. New research by Dr. Sabine Begall of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany reveals that, whaddayaknow, cows have a magnetic compass!

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News You May Have Missed About Batman and Superman

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On September 2, 2008, The Dark Knight broke the $500 million dollar mark and officially became the second highest grossing film of all time (behind Titanic). This does not account for inflation, of course, but it is still an impressive feat and another notch on the film’s proverbial Bat-belt. Its records so far include biggest opening day, opening weekend, and being the fastest film to pass the $300 and $400 million dollar barriers.

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“Are You Idiots?” Caring for China

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To see Zhang Ziyi onscreen is to recognize her as a cinematic presence. The star of films such as House of Flying Daggers and (most famously) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not so much an actress as an iconic figure of the martial arts genre—a feminine beauty that is capable of terrifying strength when the occasion calls. She can dance, yes, but she can also kick.

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Tornado Streams of Consciousness

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It’s amazing how what you’ve planned to write can change in a few hours.

For those of you who haven’t heard, at least three tornados have hit my fair state of Virginia, specifically, the area where I live. No one had expected these tornadoes to arrive. Like the rest of the Virginians, I was expecting only a little afternoon rain as I left for work at the Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk. And even when it grew dark and began to rain harder, it didn’t seem like anything too out of the ordinary.

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Music Musings: Colour

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Many of you may not have heard of Andy Hunter, but you may be more familiar with his music than you might otherwise believe. Hunter is a British DJ who specializes in techno music, in various forms from electronica to trance. Though he has recorded only two CDs, Exodus and Life, his music has been used in the TV show Alias, video games Need for Speed Underground and Burnout Revenge, the movie The Italian Job and trailers for The Matrix Reloaded, National Treasure and the upcoming Speed Racer.

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Dollar Challenge

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If you have a Dad like mine, you’ve probably heard innumerable lectures about the value of a dollar. Yet there’s some truth to that today. With just one dollar, you can buy a song off of iTunes or most other online music stores. Or you could get an item off of the value menu at fast food chains such as Burger King or McDonalds. And that’s not even counting the numerous items you can find at the dollar stores.

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Movie Musings: Leatherheads

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There’s a point in “Leatherheads” where both football teams are completely layered in mud. This poses a great challenge for the sports reporters, who note that they now can’t tell any of the players apart.

And that’s the problem with this movie, which wants to be a lavish, romantic and fun period piece about the early beginnings of professional football, with a touch of comedy thrown in for good measure.

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Movie Musings: Stop Loss

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3 stars out of 4

The surprising thing about the new film produced by MTV Films Stop-Loss, is how insightful it is in the details of every scene. Though occasional touches such as the music montage slip into the film, it plays more like an insightful independent film than a stylized piece of entertainment, unafraid to depict life the way it really is.