The James Logan Courier

By Hannah Allam and Zaineb Obeid
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqis are dying in record numbers and fleeing by the tens of thousands from an anarchic nation where armed men rule the streets and there's little faith in government institutions, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.


A U.S. Marine from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment provides security during a patrol through the streets of Barwanah, Iraq, Oct. 26, 2006. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jason L. Jensen)

ACTIVITIES:
Boys basketball program season opener is Tuesday, 11/21 vs Castro Valley at Logan. Game times are 4:30-F, 6pm-JV, 7:30-Var. Please come out and support the boys basketball program.

Come watch the boys soccer team as they play versus Alameda this Wednesday.
Jv at 4 pm, and varsity at 6.

Canned Food Drive is coming up from 11/29 to 12/12 in your 2nd period class. This Wednesday!

By Christina La, Courier Staff Writer

Happy Feet
Rated PG
1 hr. and 38 min.

Happy Feet, starring Mumble, played by the voice of Elijah Wood, is about a penguin who expresses himself differently than the rest. Set in deep Antarctica, into the land of emperor penguins where everyone has the voice to sing a love song in order to attract their soul mate, Mumble is born without that ability. Having his father, Memphis, played by the voice of Robin Williams, drop him when he was only an egg led to this reasonable damage. Although it took him a little longer to hatch, Mumble came out with an urge to dance, by tapping his feet with his own rhythm to follow; it was something that he could do brilliantly.

By Steven Rea and Carrie Rickey
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

ACCEPTED 2 stars. Justin Long (the Mac Guy in those Apple ads) stars in this low comedy about higher education as a college reject who invents a university to send him an acceptance letter. 1 hr. 30 PG-13 (language, bathroom humor, sexual candor) — Carrie Rickey

ALEX RIDER: OPERATION STORMBREAKER 2 .5 stars. Directed by TV veteran Geoffrey Sax, "Stormbreaker" is "Spy Kids" with an English accent — and a less hyper, over-the-top sensibility. It's niche market all the way — the acne niche. 1 hr. 33 PG (sequences of action violence and some peril) — Steven Rea

AMERICAN HARDCORE 3 stars. Paul Rachman's gritty, uncompromising documentary is about punk rock, not porn. With interviews with luminaries like Henry Rollins and Mike Watt, it chronicles the exploits of 1980s bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat, who played it loud fast and raw in opposition to Ronald Reagan's America. 1 hr. 40 R (profanity) — Dan DeLuca

By Stephen Becker
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)

DANCING A JIG: The animated penguins of "Happy Feet" tap-danced their way to the top of the charts over the weekend, pulling in $42.3 million. And hot on their heels was "Casino Royale" ($40.6 mil), as the Bond franchise broke in a new agent without much of a drop off from the opening weekend of the last film in the series. "Die Another Day" opened at $47 mil on the same weekend in 2002, the biggest opening weekend for any Bond film.

THE UP SIDE: "Casino's" producers shouldn't curse those penguins too much. After all, they print money in other places around the world, and the 20th film in the series scooped up $42.2 million of it, bringing its worldwide opening to $82.8 million.


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