That being said, you should probably drop everything right now and go see The Avengers. 

The Avengers follows Nick Fury, a director if an international peace keeping agency that consists of Marvel super heros including  The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Iron Man. In The Avengers, the world is threatened by Thor’s brother, Loki, who of course wants to take over the world. The Avengers unite to fill their super hero roles and save the world.

My favorite part of The Avengers was that everything was clearly explained. Walking in, I was expecting to be confused and lost through out the movie since I have no previous experiences with any of these characters or movies. Every character was clearly introduced and even though I may not have entirely known what was going on, I never felt lost or like I was missing out.

The Avengers runs a little over two hours and twenty minutes, but with the star studded cast and action packed scenes, you won’t even notice. If you can, be sure to see the movie in 3D, there are scenes – or shall I say creatures – that look fantastic in 3D, just make sure you aren’t sitting too close to the screen to prevent motion sickness.

As soon as The Avengers ended, I instantly wanted to run to the nearest Blockbuster and rent The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and all of the other Marvel films to get the rest of the back story on the characters I instantly became hooked on on screen.

As a girl whose viewing pleasures mainly include romantic comedies, I thoroughly enjoyed The Avengers, and would see it again in a heart beat. So girls, if your guy is begging you to see The Avengers instead of seeing The Lucky One for the third weekend in a row, you should change it up, you’ll like it, I promise!

Goodwill will be accepting donations.

The 25-foot Goodwill trailer will be parked by the apartments next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and will be collecting items such as clothing, kitchen items, bedding, and furniture.

The goal of bringing the Goodwill truck to campus is to encourage students to donate, instead of throw away, items that they no longer need once the semester finishes.

“We want to help students make sustainable choices:  Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle.  Donating items that can be reused helps others and helps the environment,” said Peggy Lauer, director of the Center for Sustainability.

This is the first year Goodwill has come to Maryville. Previous years, the university has had clothing drives and food donations to help others. This year students, faculty and staff can donate much more than clothing and make a bigger difference in the community.

This is how some college students may feel during finals week. Image courtesy of Google.

Focus on What’s Important

The best thing you can do to end the semester is to focus, focus, focus!

“Focus on doing the important things; don’t get sidetracked,” said Dr. Barbara DeSanto, professor of communication. “I psych myself up by saying that I only need to sit in my office chair for 30 minutes to get started.  Once I’m started, it’s easy to continue.”

While it may be easy to get sidetracked, it is important to stay on task so that you do not have to rely on pulling an all-nighter to finish your assignments. Lack of sleep contributes to illness, something that you do not want to have to deal with during finals week and winter break.  Also, it could make you miss your final exam if you suddenly crash or sleep through your alarm on the morning of the test.

Make a Master Calendar

One suggestion might be to make a calendar or some sort of checklist to keep yourself on schedule with your long list of assignments and also to remind you when to return your rental books back to the University Bookstore.

“Make a master day-by-day calendar that has the due dates of remaining projects,” suggests Dr. DeSanto. “Work backward from each due date to schedule the pieces that make up the “big” project/paper and stick to doing those pieces on the days you have assigned them.  You eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

Adhering to the calendar on a day-by-day basis can also keep you from feeling overwhelmed with everything at once.

“Sometimes I remind myself that I just have to get through today.  Thinking ahead can sometimes overwhelm me,” said Dr. DeSanto.

Keep a copy of this master calendar in your folder and on your desk in your room.  That way you will be able to find it easily so you can always know which assignment is due on each day and it can help you keep from procrastinating.

It is important to not procrastinate during finals week. Courtesy of Google Images.

Budget Your Time

“Don’t procrastinate!” said Peyton Bond, a sophomore. “I did that last semester and I was screwed!”

Procrastination is something we all may be guilty of at some time or another, but as easy as it may be to fall into it is important not to procrastinate because you do not want to save everything for the last possible minute.  Saving things for the last minute damages the quality of the work and may tempt you to plagiarize, which is something that will get you in trouble.

Use your master calendar to plan out what you want to finish and when you want to do it.  Making a list ahead of time and adhering to the schedule will help you finish everything BEFORE it’s too late.

Organize Your Workspace

Your calendar will be a great tool, but if your desk is messy then how will you be able to find it? Sort all of your course materials into a pile for each class.  Also, keep some extra paper, pencils, highlighters and Post-it Notes handy to jot down quick notes about assignments.

Since most professors utilize D2L, it may be helpful to create a folder on your desktop for each class with final project directions, study guides and class notes.  That way you will be able to easily access the information for each class, separately, so that you won’t feel overwhelmed.

Eliminate Distractions

You can still get distracted even if your workspace is clean.  Remember this is a time to get homework finished and that summer break will start in a few weeks.  While it may be easy to get distracted with friends and family coming back in town, remember that you will be able to talk to them more after finals week.

Only check your email a few times a day and stay off of Facebook and Twitter, huge time wasters.  Also, maybe turn your cell phone on vibrate or on silent if you are studying.  Let family, friends and your significant other know that during these last few weeks you will be studying and completing assignments and won’t be available to talk as much.

Take Breaks

While studying is important, it is also important to get away from the books and notes for a few minutes.  Taking breaks are important to help refresh your mind and relax your body.

“Allow some time to let your mind and body rest,” said Dr. DeSanto.  “Build in breaks.  Coffee and chocolate are great stress-relievers for me, as it petting my cat.”

Doing exercise, drinking lots of water, eating snacks high in protein and meditating are all good break activities that can rejuvenate your body and help focus your mind on the rest of your work.

These suggestions are just some of the many ways that can best help you prepare for the stressful end of the semester.  Focusing on the important things, making a master calendar, budgeting your time, organizing your workspace, eliminating distractions and taking breaks are all good suggestions for just finishing up your course requirements but also realize the other benefits of ending the semester on a good note.

“Remember why what you are doing is important,” said Dr. DeSanto.  “Important might mean anything from passing a class to that feeling of satisfaction that you really worked hard on something.”

Inspector Emmet Fields recruits the drunk and broke Poe to catch a serial killer who uses Poe’s stories and poems as inspiration. Many of the horrifying scenes are based upon a Poe story or poem. The film references material such as “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” and others.

Woven into the plot is a standard love story between Poe and Emily Hamilton, played by Alice Eve, daughter of a Baltimore highbrow who deplores Poe. When the murderer kidnaps Emily and threatens to kill her, Poe becomes desperately invested. He must follow the killer’s demands by capturing the frightening story in a fictional tale to be published in the Baltimore newspaper. Inspector Fields and Poe follow the clues cleverly assembled by the murderer to find Emily and end the killings.

Rated R, the 111-minute mystery is nothing short of what one would assume a Poe story aught to be: bloody. This is one thriller that is too gruesome for the faint of heart. Scenes include slit throats, hacked wrists and carved flesh. McTeigue’s effective filming techniques and employment of light and dark add to the gripping nature of the film.

Cusack delivers a believably sinister performance in “The Raven”. He brings to life a quick-witted Poe that is wonderfully sharp with an insult. Unfortunately, the role of Inspector Fields, played by Luke Evans, is less delightful. Evans, to no fault of his own, has multiple awkward lines, but his acting is, at times, unconvincing and somewhat laughable.

The suspense and gore of the film is coupled with an intelligent, mysterious plotline that keeps viewers entertained until the very end. It seems only fitting to have Poe, the author of the first mystery, placed inside the mystery thriller that is “The Raven”.

Jason Segel and Emily Blunt in "The Five-Year Engagement."

The story is about the engagement of lovebirds Tom Solomon (Segel) and Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt) and their stressful, crazy five-year trip to the altar. Once engaged, they continually are forced to push off the wedding as life gets in the way. When Violet accepts a psychology post-doc in Michigan, Tom chooses to quit his job as a sous chef at a popular restaurant, and the two depart sunny San Francisco for snowy Ann Arbor. While Violet loves her work and coworkers (Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling, and Kevin Hart), Tom begins to lose his mind, sinking into a hunting, bunny-costume-wearing cocoon of a life. The movie explores sacrifice in relationships, miscommunication, and everyday challenges of love; but ultimately, if love is meant to be, it will. Just hurry to fall in love, get married and start your lives together before all the grandparents die.

The co-stars were as funny as the stars and stole many scenes. Chris Pratt plays Segel’s rude, obnoxious best friend who knocks up Blunt’s sister (Alison Brie). Then the two embark on an unlikely romance that is as ridiculous as it is cute. All the actors displayed perfect chemistry. Couples, best friends, sisters, you name it, were all believable and perfect. Blunt and Segel especially are so picture-perfect that you want them to ditch their real-life partners and get together.

My only criticism is there were too many unnecessary or overly long scenes and some failed jokes. The movie’s running time is 124 minutes. Personally, I did not mind the length; because 1) I’m not four years old so 2) if I like a movie, I can sit through two hours. Others, however, complained. As suspected from double threat Segel and Stoller, there is plenty of cursing, dirty jokes, slapstick, and occasional nudity (you will see Segel’s behind, but I heard through the grapevine that in the unedited DVD version you will see much more of him, if you know what I mean).

“The Five-Year Engagement” is hilarious, predictable, honest and sweet. You’ll laugh. You’ll smile. You’ll roll your eyes. You’ll cry (just kidding, it’s not that sentimental). You will leave the theatre happy and with a subtly deeper understanding of life and love, because that’s what comedies are supposed to do. Watch the trailer here.

Grade: A

Photo Courtesy of NewCellPhonesBlog.com

In today’s high-paced world, our handheld mobile devices, such as our smartphones, MP3’s, or tablets, help keep us connected and up to speed with the world around us. However, as convenient as they are, there is a growing security risk for anyone that owns and uses a smartphone or other personal device.

Imagine all the information saved on your smartphone. Your smart phone would potentially allow a thief access to your passwords, pin numbers, social media account, and possibly even damaging pictures or your home address. All of these things can be stored on your mobile device, and any person that manages to steal your phone can use any of this information against you.

There are several things you can do to prevent this from happening. The simplest thing to do is to make sure your device is always password protected and to include a small laminated contact number on the back so that in the event that you lose your phone whoever finds it can return it to you.

Yet even if you do take preventative measures to ensure that your phone never gets lost, there is always the chance that it will.  And if that happens you need to know what to do.

1. Change passwords- Go online and change the passwords to any accounts that your phone has access to such as an email account or an iTunes account.
2. Call your phone company- Your phone company can suspend the account tied to your phone to keep whoever has your phone from making any fraudulent purchases.
3. Track your iPhone- Apps such as the free “Find my iPhone” app will allow you to track down the geographic location of your phone.
4. File a police report- For both the purposes of getting police assistance in recovering your phone once it has been located via an app or for filing a claim with your phone and insurance companies, filing a police report should be one of the first things you do when your iPhone turns up missing.

Courtesy of MilagroModernMexican.com

Milagro’s mission is to serve the best Mexican cuisine with the best service in the best atmosphere in St. Louis.  To break it down, I’ll discuss my experience at Milagro Modern Mexican using their mission statement.  Best Mexican cuisine?  Can there really be one restaurant that has the best of something? Well, let me tell you, as someone who is not a big fan of Mexican food, I was quite pleased with Milagro.

They started us off with corn chips and salsa.  The chips were fair, and the salsa was good.  It was very mild, which worked out well for me since I do not like spicy foods.  There is hot sauce on the table for people who like differing degrees of hotness, but I thought it was good that Milagro offers a mild salsa for diners, especially a first-time diner like me.

If you enjoy a drink or two, Milagro has a Bloody Maria bar where you can make your own Bloody Mary with vodka or tequila.  I did not try a Bloody Mary but sampled their Blood Orange Mimosa.

For my entree, I ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which were eggs fried in corn tortillas and also served with queso fresco, cilantro, pico de gallo, avocado, and papas fritas (fried cubed potatoes).  It came with salsa but I had them put it on the side, which they were happy to accommodate.  My dad ordered the Toluca Omelet, which was three eggs with house-made chorizo sausage, red pepper, white onion, and melted Chihuahua cheese.  My mom ordered the Baja Omelet, which included lump crabmeat, spinach, avocado, panela cheese, and chipotle hollandaise.  All of our entrees were tasty.  Mine was a bit chewy and seemed mostly full of tortilla with little egg, but it was still good.  The potatoes were perfectly seasoned and were good to dip into some of the hollandaise on my mom’s plate.  My dad’s omelet with chorizo was even better and had a nice, slight kick to it.  My mom’s crab omelet was delicious and the hollandaise was perfect on top.

As for the service, we really had a nice waitress.  She was funny, attentive and just an overall nice person.   With Milagro being a relatively small restaurant, she was taking care of several tables at once and was equally attentive to each one.

The atmosphere is impeccable.  It is somewhat small but nicely decorated.  The walls are adorned with gray, white, and brown tiles, with a matching bar.  It is an intimate environment that is sure to please everyone.

Overall, our time at Milagro was definitely worth it.  The food was great, the service was great, and the atmosphere was great.  As for the best Mexican cuisine, I’ll have to come back for lunch and dinner to make that judgment call.  Next time I must order the Churros y Chocolate (homemade cinnamon Mexican doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce) which might help me make that decision.

The Lucky One follows Marine Logan Thibault as he returns home to search for a mysterious woman whose picture he found while on tour in the Middle East that he credits with saving his life. Logan travels on foot to a small southern town, where he meets his good luck charm Beth and is thrust into her life by taking a position at her home run dog kennel. As Logan searches for a way to explain the reason he appeared into her life, Logan and Beth grow close and fall into a whirlwind relationship resulting in their two worlds colliding.

The Lucky One carries all of the typical components of a Nicholas Spark’s movie; a couple that faces an obstacle that makes falling in love seem impossible, they fall in love anyway,  a disaster soon follows and they ride off into the sunset regardless. What The Lucky One also has in common with all the previous stories told before it, is the audience will leave happy.

At 100min., The Lucky One starring Zac Effron and Taylor Schilling rarely has a lagging moment. Packed with drama, romance, action and sadness, this movie has the full package that will keep you hooked until the credits roll. Like other Spark’s movies, The Lucky One has a way of sucking you into the small town and the lives of the characters, feeling like you are a part of the culture.

Taylor Schilling, a virtually unknown actress owns the screen as single mom, Beth, living with her Nanna, trying to deal with the loss of her brother and a pain in the rear end ex husband who constantly threatens taking her son, Ben, away. Zac Effron shines as an off duty marine dealing with post war trauma while trying to find one of the only things that makes sense in his world.

As a lover of all chick flicks, I had a feeling walking in to The Lucky One that I wasn’t going to be disappointed. I was drawn into the story within the first five minutes and became frustrated as the credits started to roll. The one complaint I had, was I found it weird to see Zac Effron portraying a full on adult after growing up watching him in High School Musical. Needless to say, after seeing the movie, I now think that Zac Effron should be cast in every romance film ever. Ever.

Youth interact with an organization at the Youth & Family Volunteer Fair at The Magic House. Image courtesy of Simone Bernstein.

There were 27 agencies in attendance at the fair this year, including several non-profit organizations in the greater St. Louis area.  Among these agencies included Autism Speaks, Making Music Matters, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Crisis Nursery, Therapeutic Horsemanship, United Way of Greater St. Louis and Webster Community Arts Foundation.

VolunteenNation co-founders Simone and Jake Bernstein created St. Louis Volunteen.com in July 2009 after they were frustrated with the lack of information about volunteer opportunities in the area for students under age 18 that wanted to get involved in the community.

“I was extremely frustrated at the age of 12 finding volunteer opportunities in the St. Louis area,” says Simone Bernstein, co-founder of Volunteen Nation.  “So I decided to create a website about a year and a half ago.  The mission of the site is to help kids find volunteer opportunities that fit their interests.”

In March 2012, St. Louis Volunteen went national and became VolunteenNation.  The organization strives to spread the spirit of volunteerism for youth and families across the nation.  Their goal is to add 35 hundred positions to their growing database of volunteer opportunities across the nation.

Youth interact with the different organizations present at the fair. Image courtesy of Simone Bernstein.

“Teenagers are ready to take action and dive into solving problems in the community,” says VolunteenNation.  “Anyone can volunteer at any age. Everyone can make a difference. ”

The Annual Youth Volunteer Fair is just one of the many events VolunteenNation holds each year.   VolunteenNation also held a 9/11 Remembrance Day service event trail and park cleanup and a tennis clinic for children with autism last year, with more events planned for this year.

For more information about VolunteenNation, check out their website here or email info@volunteennation.org.  You can also find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for the latest updates and to find volunteer opportunities for youth and families.