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TopFinds: A Review of Watchmen, France Attacks Scientology

A insightful review of the film Watchmen. France taking Scientology to court. And how the brain reveals if women are having authentic orgasms. These are the top stories making news around the world.

When Digital Journalists commit impressive acts of creative journalism, we editors take notice. Once again, we were treated to original reporting to satisfy diverse palates.

On many minds this weekend is the opening of the film Watchmen, based on the best-selling graphic novel. Luckily for DigitalJournal.com readers, Paul Bright was fortunate enough to catch a preview screening, penning his thoughts on the much-hyped film in a review long on detail. Paul even gave us a tease about how it all wraps up, writing: “There were definitely touches of melodrama, particularly the Scooby Doo-ish reveal at the end.”

Who opens a piano bar during the credit crunch? This question isn’t so much rhetorical as it is the leap into the curious story of a Dutch entrepreneur launching a piano bar in Florida. Digital Journalist Adriana Stuijt interviewed the man behind the Crazy Pianos concept, and shed light on this intriguing business idea. And if you know anyone in Miami, this could be a good article to email them — after all, the bar might sound risky, in a financial sense, but it has all the markings of a fun night on the town.

And in health news, Bob Ewing tracked down the creator of CureTogether.com, which lets people anonymously track and compare health data. Picture it as the Wikipedia for medical info. Bob interviewed the founder and compiled some interesting info about this project. An ideal read for anyone itching to learn more about diseases and symptoms, beyond the prescription label.

Many other major stories are winning acclaim on DigitalJournal.com, including:

Two NFL football players missing off the coast of Florida: One of the more horrific stories of the week concerns the missing football players whose boat capsized near the Florida coast. The Coast Guard has called off the search, but the players’ families maintain their athlete sons are fighters, they won’t give up. This dramatic story hasn’t yet reached a conclusion, so expect the finale to be reported on DigitalJournal.com.

France Accuses Scientology of Fraud, Schedules Trial: The pseudo-religion-slash-Hollywood-trend is not getting any love from France, where it faces charges of fraud and managers at a Scientology bookstore will go on trial for committing and practicing as pharmacists without proper qualifications. We’re sure those folks at Anonymous have something to say about this case.

Russian Scholar Predicts Collapse of US Next Year: Oh Russian scholars, why so apocalyptic? As Leo Reyes reported, some Russian academics believe “President Barack Obama will declare martial law this year” and Russia and China will become the new backbone of the economic world. Commenter Dieter Naumann wasn’t buying it, writing: “Russia’s temporary prosperity was only due to the high price of natural resources, if the US does collapse, the oil market will collapse. Russia cannot survive with oil at $40, what are they going to do when it falls to $20.”

Vatican cardinal Levada calls science-based atheism absurd: Roman-Catholic cardinal William Levada has called atheism “absurd”, prompting Digital Journalist Bart B. Van Bockstaele to opine on why evolution is a viable theory and how the cardinal is merely positing a “straw-man argument.” A worthy read, no matter where you sit on the issue.

Neighbors React To Police Brutality Against 15-Year Old Girl: A shocking video surfaced this week, and DigitalJournal.com readers were able to see this on-camera violence with their own eyes. A Washington State deputy was caught on tape kicking and punching a 15-year-old girl after she allegedly kicked her shoes at him in a holding cell. An investigation is underway, but already the neighbouring community is in an uproar. Do you think the violence was justified?

Spring Break Party

Girls party at a bikini contest during Spring Break
Photo by TremendousEd

Spring Breakers trading their bikinis for work clothes this March: How’s this for a feel-good story — some college students in Galveston have decided to spend their Spring Break cleaning up the mess left by Hurricane Ike. Forget rum and dance parties; these kids have opted for a more altruistic activity during their week off school. As Nikki Weingartner said in the article: “Bravo to those who are making this sacrifice from across the nation!”

Cruise Ships Routinely Dump Trash in the Caribbean Sea: As if there weren’t enough out-to-sea bad news, here’s a revelation about cruise ships polluting the Caribbean with their garbage. Christine Mattice found out that this kind of dumping can upset the delicate ecosystem of the ocean and disable and kill sea creatures. A UN ban should be scaring away cruise ships from this practice but so far those sea-farers aren’t listening.

Science Says Women Can’t Fake Orgasms Anymore: Ladies, if you ever date a dude with a brain-imaging machine, watch out…he can tell when you are faking orgasms, because certain regions of the brain light up when a true orgasms hits the female body. As expected, the commenters get playful and a tad sexy, so join in if you got something to say about the Big O.

Asteroid DD45 just buzzed by Earth: The headline is an instant eye-catcher, because haven’t we all seen too many Hollywood doomsday scenarios involving speeding planet-rocks? KJ Mullins reported on a large asteroid that narrowly missed Earth, now floating harmlessly in the solar orbit. A close one, sure, but will we get a heads-up on when the next asteroid has Earth in its crosshairs?

• Toronto Maple Leafs busy at NHL’s trade deadline
: In sports news, the NHL trade deadline sparked a flurry of big trades, and the Toronto Maple Leafs had their hands full as well. We learned about the Leafs netting goalie Martin Gerber off waivers, and dishing Nik Antropov to the Rangers for draft picks. As always, Nawest Vazquez was insightful with his deadline-day breakdown, giving us hockey fans something more than just the facts.

TopFinds Awards

The honourees of this week’s TopFinds Awards attracted impressive attention and widest readership. Digital Journal thanks the following Digital Journalists with Awards for their passion for covering the top issues of the day: Bart B. Van Bockstaele, Christine Mattice, KJ Mullins, Nawest Vasquez, Leo Reyes, Nikki Weingartner, Adriana Stuijt, Paul Bright, Joan Firstenberg, Bob Ewing, and Carol Forsloff.

The Top Blog Post of the Week
goes to Carol Forsloff for her illuminating piece about opportunities arising from her time spent on DigitalJournal.com. It’s always heartening to hear about other journalistic jobs Digital Journalists can make because of their efforts spent reporting the news. It was also lovely to see the DJ community come out to congratulate Carol on her success, displaying the respect and camaraderie users have come to expect from this online network.

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