The Ithacan

The famous “Harry Potter” author released her first novel since the series.

Arrrgh, maties! A new pirate adventure from the creators of “Wallace and Grommit” offers up a surprisingly witty and snicker-worthy story, made possible by its quirky characters and captivating visuals.

The romantic drama “The Lucky One” is the seventh film to be adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel. Like “The Notebook,” “The Last Song,” “Dear John” and others before it, “The Lucky One” delivers a story about a star-crossed romance that must defy the inevitable odds. Aside from underwhelming acting from the leading man, “The…

Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” was one of the most highly anticipated book-to-movie adaptations since “Twilight” and “Harry Potter.” Its plot offers up the opportunity to create a daring and powerful on-screen story about government corruption and the dangers of glorifying violence in the media, with a little romance in the mix. Though the actors…

The scenario: Unsupervised teenagers decide to have a party. Logical conclusion: Things spiral out of control. Director Nima Nourizadeh’s film “Project X” is all about predictability, going for the obvious again and again — and  the film doesn’t seem to be ashamed of itself. Thomas (Thomas Mann) is the stereotypical unpopular high school kid, and…

It’s rare to encounter an on-screen couple that exudes the same vibrant passion audiences may expect from a real couple in love, yet the actors in Drake Doremus’ “Like Crazy” depict a modern story that feels as real as a documentary.

Black water. Together, these two words don’t exactly make most people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It kind of freaks you out. Water is supposed to be colorless! Dark water is probably an indicator that it is dirty. Muddy. Something gross. I was Tumbling on Tumblr the other day (as I often do) and…

Last year, the Chum Buddy was featured in The Ithacan’s Accentuate section of the paper. And for good reason — for those of you who don’t know, the Chum Buddy is a stuffed animal/sleeping bag hybrid shaped like a shark. This innovation dares you to sleep in the belly of the beast! You daredevil. Apparently,…

Designer Colleen Jordan, who was a Featured Seller on the popular website Etsy, has come up with a new way to go green: “Wearable Planters.” You can wear a plant around your neck! As a fashion accessory! Oh, the things we can do in 2011. No, but really — although I don’t know if I…

Apparently there are some peculiar athletic trends cropping up around the world. Let me introduce you to three incredibly wacky activities you may have never heard of before: Freestyle canoeing Freestyle canoe-ers practice the art of paddling quietly through still water. Sounds fascinating right? Participants in this sport enter competitions, and they show off their ability…

Congratulations, folks; we did it! We made it to November. When I think of November, I think of pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving, the unfortunate fact that the weather is getting worse, and… facial hair. I’m going to just come out and say it — I am not a huge fan of No-Shave November. But one cannot…

Happy Halloween, everyone! I know all of you probably got all of your celebrating out of the way this weekend, but because today is the actual holiday I’m going to make it this post’s theme. Every year Halloween costumes become more and more creative, ridiculous or lame depending on who you are. Examples of lame…