Snap, Crackle, Pop - The Daily Collegian's arts blog.

Susan Boyle has had quite a year, and now the "Britain's Got Talent" runner-up will sing on the hit ABC show, "Dancing With The Stars." Boyle will perform "I Dreamed a Dream", the "Les Miserables" song that skyrocketed her to fame. Pro dancers Tony Dovolani and Chelsie Hightower will perform on the ballroom dance floor as she sings. It sounds like this will be a very beautiful performance, and should be worth tuning in to see.

Boyle's fame began when she sang on "Britain's Got Talent" and shocked the world with a beautiful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream." Then we all remember when she lost, and had a total breakdown that was all over the news, which was pretty sad in my opinion. I think that Boyle being on Dancing With The Stars will bring a good audience since she has become so famous. It is pretty cool how she became a household name in such a short amount of time and from virtually singing one song. Hopefully she will be offered more appearances on other shows because her voice really is amazing and it would not be the worst thing to listen to.

- Vanessa

According to True/Slant, President Obama is not the only writer in his family. Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo just released a semi-autobiographical novel including an abusive parent based on Barack Obama Sr. -- the same parent from the president's memoir, "Dreams from My Father."

Here's a link to an article about Ndesandjo's novel, Nairobi to Shenzhen.

- Stefan

Throughout history, art has always taken on characteristics of its creator, surroundings, and general time period. Now, those three are combined even more literally into a form called "interactive installation work" by digital artist Camille Utterback.

Essentially, Utterback creates an atmosphere with a screen that reflects and reacts to the movement of whoever is standing in the room with it. Her different pieces range from abstract to more concrete, but "it feels like the visuals are just responding to your body very seamlessly," she said.

A video on wired.com explains what Utterback is doing by messing with boundaries of light, video and technology to create a new type of art.

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- Jenna

Jodie Sweetin is finally coming clean about not coming clean. Despite her claims that she had kicked her drug habit, the Full House star admits she's was just lying to everyone. In her new book unSweetined, Sweetin says she relapsed but kept booking gigs to make quick money to pay for her drug addiction.

She went back to partying and spending seven hundred dollars a week on meth and coke. Sweetin even revealed in her book that she downed a bag of coke right before one of her interviews.

I understand that child stars had crazy lives when they were young and got into drugs because they were hanging out with the wrong people when they were so young. However, in this case I don't think the people Sweetin interacted with were bad influences. I mean it was Full House, the most popular family show ever, so she should've become a better person from being on the show, not a drug addict. In my opinion, I feel like she probably would've become addicted to drugs even if she wasn't a former child star. It is a very sad thing to see someone who had so much potential as a child, throw away her life and career for drugs. She was on the right track when she decided to get sober, but it is not okay that she lied that she was sober; she was only hurting herself. It baffles me even more that she went to interviews that were on national television high, and absolutely no one noticed at all or even if they did, they didn't say anything. That is so unprofessional and morally wrong to talk about how you are sober and that your rehab was a success and be high on coke while saying these things. I understand that she is in need of help and had an addiction, but it is just not right. It is sending a bad message to people who grew up watching the show and seeing her as a role model.

--Vanessa Marateo

Move over, Amazon Kindle, and say hello to the Barnes & Noble Nook.

The latter E-reader has arrived in recent news to steal the spotlight due to its surpassing capabilities. Not only is the Nook equipped with integrated Wi-Fi technology, but moreover, Nook owners can lend books to other readers who have the Barnes & Noble E-reader software on their smart phones.

Here's a link to an Information Week article explaining this topic in fuller detail.

--Stefan

I hate it when people think it is okay to call celebrities fat, when they clearly are not. I hate it even more when there are commercials publicizing these thoughts to the world. The NFL FOX Sunday cartoon featured characters of the Dallas Cowboys laughing about Simpson's often-critiqued figure. During the skit, the Dallas head coach is seen asking Simpson's former boyfriend, Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo, "Is Jessica around, we sure could use a defensive tackle." While Cowboy star and Romo pal Jason Witten adds in the skit: "Unlike Tony, at least Jessica comes up BIG when it counts." First of all, why would anyone actually let this air on TV? Second of all, why are people calling Jessica Simpson fat? No wonder so many people have eating disorders and have self image issues. Weight is regularly talked about in magazines and on TV, and celebrities are constantly targeted that are not even fat. This sends a horrible message to teens and young adults who are very impressionable.

What makes this whole situation a little better is that Kim Kardashian is sticking up for Jessica Simpson. It shows a lot about Kardashian and her character. She is completely right when she said that people have no right to be making fun of her because she has such an amazing body. These types of acts are what can help the eating disorder problem. When people put out the message that everyone is beautiful and should be comfortable with their own body, then maybe some people will start to listen.

The network and Burger King, which sponsored the Oct. 11 cartoon, apologized for the commercial Wednesday. The apology was obviously the right thing to do, but that still doesn't change the fact that the commercial aired and people saw it, and heard its message.

- Vanessa Marateo

When you were growing up, did you ever read Where the Wild Things Are? Well, if you haven't heard, Hollywood is adapting it into a film version, just like Jumanji, The Cat in the Hat, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. However, how do they turn a short picture book into a feature-length film? Check out this MSNBC link -- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33312261/ns/entertainment-movies/ ---- for an interesting article.

-Stefan

So, I recently came across another amazing video. Actually, I'm more amazed by this man and all of his work than just one video. His name is Bill Shannon, and apparently he's been out there for a while - he's a hip hop dancer, but he's been disabled since he was a child.

At age 5, Shannon was diagnosed with Legg-Calf Perthese disease, which he says affects the ball and socket joint development in the hips. Basically, the blood circulation to the hips is dramatically reduced, so that the joint bones don't solidify. Thus, any pressure to the hips crushes this softer bone, which is the head of the femur of the ball of the hip. OUCH. I've never heard of this disease, but I sure wouldn't want it - he's been on crutches almost his entire life.

BUT, there is a silver lining. Shannon has overcome almost everything he has to endure to become an amazing hip hop dancer. Yes, on crutches, hence his nickname: Master Crutch. He's even had a video on MTV2, shown below:

This guy's incredible. He's invented a new type of hip hop dance which uses crutches and a skateboard, which he calls Stepping Roll. He said he first created it just to walk long distances when he lived in Chicago - but as we can see, it's evolved a little from that.

His blog is fascinating, so I recommend reading it! Enjoy.

--Robin

Read some German poetry, it's good for you.

Translation is difficult, an art form, really. There can be good and bad translations, but what happens when you encounter a writer whose work purportedly cannot be expressed in another language?

This is the case with famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Lord knows there are many bad translations of his poetry, so it's with great pleasure that I stumbled across this article.

It turns out Edward Snow, one of the better Rilke translators, has produced a definitive volume of his work.

This is fortunate, because the English-speaking world has been privy to bad translations, incomplete ones, etc. Plus, you can't beat the no-nonsense title: "The Poetry of Rilke." This isn't a collection of favorites. This is the whole shebang, surveying all of his most important later works (the best ones, mind you).

Of course, you could label a lot of poets as untranslatable. Snow comes pretty close, though, and you've got to give credit where it's due.

--Ricky

If you love seeing cute, furry puppies doing completely amazing tricks, well tune into Animal Planet's new show, SuperFetch. The show, hosted by Zak George, features awesomely absurd tricks people can teach their pets. This kind of show usually draws in a pretty large audience, and there are numerous people out there who love to watch dogs do funny things. In all honesty, who doesn't? Kids and adults alike can enjoy this show, and it's actually pretty entertaining. The owners of these dogs can actually be pretty funny as well, especially when they teach their dogs these amazing tricks. SuperFetch is a great addition to Animal Planet, and will do well. I'm looking forward to more episodes of crazy dog tricks.

-Vanessa