Woodley’s career took a shocking leap as she performed in the Oscar worthy film, The Descendants, which was released in November, 2011.  In an interview with The Collider, Woodley humbly said, “People always ask about the transition, but it felt like just going to a different school. You don’t really notice the transition, when you’re in the moment.”  

On her second day at work at American Apparel, in 2010, Woodley got a call after auditioning for the part of the rebellious teenager, Alexandra King.  She was booked to act alongside the renowned actor, George Clooney.  Due to her amazing performance in the tragic but hilarious film, Woodley is now honored with a prestigious nomination for a Golden Globe as the Best Supporting Actress.  Previously, Woodley won several Teen Choice Awards for her performance on the teenage drama.  This Golden Globe nomination not only proves that Woodley has great potential as an actress, but also demonstrates how she has gained prestige through experience. 

Woodley told The Collider, “I’d always wanted to do a film because film is always where my heart has been. I like diving into the character for a few months, and then leaving it behind.”

Critics of Woodley’s performance in the TV show are surprised with her performance in the film.  In the television show, Woodley seems to have no connection to her part and her character seems too scripted.  No one expected to see such an incredible and heartfelt performance from the actress who has been considered an amateur on television.  “I don’t remember the last time I was so passionate about something in my life,” she told The Black Book, admitting that this movie means so much to her.

Woodley is expected to earn an Oscar nomination as being a part of the outstanding film.  The New York Times says that Woodley delivered “one of the toughest, smartest, most credible adolescent performances in recent memory.”  Woodley has successfully been able to change the opinion that many Americans have of her as an actress by bringing more heart and emotion to her part.

The Oscars have been held at the Kodak Theatre ever since 2002, which adds up to almost ten years of award ceremonies at the 3,401-seat theatre at Hollywood Boulevard. The Kodak Theatre has many advantages over many other Los Angeles theatres. It has a huge stage fit for a king-sized award ceremony, like the Oscars, measuring in at 113 feet wide and 60 feet deep. The theatre has a special cockpit area for filming the ceremony and it has an underground cabling system to connect it to trucks and other equipment outside of the theatre.

The Academy governor insists that the Academy is not discontented with the Kodak Theatre, but, instead, is simply considering a change of scenery as a business decision to explore all options. The Academy actually likes the venue and prefers to keep the ceremony in Hollywood. It will all depend on the deal the group is offered in comparison to other possible arenas that are available, though.

The entertainment industry is always looking for something bigger and better. Maybe, by finding a new venue for the Oscars, the Academy will explore options that could offer ceremonies just as pristine as the current awards.

Another Earth parallels the internal and external conflict of an identity crisis as an ex-convict (Brit Marling) begins anew, trying to string back together the disseminated pieces of her past, while subconsciously searching for living proof of her being currently lost in the unknown. She has been released from prison four years after she killed a son and his mother in a car crash while drunk driving.

Simultaneously, society has traced another Earth. The watermark seems to suggest “there could be another you out there.” If so, “have they made the same mistakes you’ve made?”

The better question: Is this film truly a story about a girl who wins tickets to fly to Earth II, or is it a story about a lost individual, who begins a journey to reach a peaceful mindset; a routine life where she can try to forgive herself for what she has done?

After fabricating a story about a free cleaning trial for local consumers’ homes, Rhoda initiates a relationship with the husband and father of the deceased, an emeritus Yale professor William Mapother (John Burroughs). As the two begin to interact more each day, it is evident that each is also beginning to pull the other out of the dark.

Once, while her new acquaintance deals with a headache, Rhoda shares a story about the first astronaut in space, Yuri Gagarin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOU0JhkHY3w). During his space odyssey, Gagarin heard a persistent and exacerbating sound, which continued to pound into his ears day by day. Just before he decided he couldn’t take it any longer, Gagarin closed his eyes and shut his mind. He envisioned a symphony to accompany the dissonant sound. He spent the next 25 days journeying in pure bliss and serenity. The allusion works to underscore the inherent conflict of the film: finding peace.

Another Earth is a story about forgiveness. It is a story that follows a girl who so desperately desires to bring happiness to a man who shares the same past that still plagues her each day.

After a transient falling-out, Mapother takes her to an auditorium to enlighten her with the sound of music. As he strokes a saw with a bow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKC8XVgMVqk), an opera-type voice emanates from the jagged edges. Rhoda closes her eyes, and clears her mind. The only thing holding her back is the truth. When she receives her Earth II tickets in the mail, it is clear that she must conclude the wistful romance that has sprung about from the abyss of sorrow and regret.

Of course, he won’t see her when he faces the truth. How can she ever give him back what she took away? However, she can. She can send him to another Earth, aptly four years behind.

By leaving the ticket for him to pursue, she moves past her straddling on the edge of earth. She redeems herself through her veracity and attains a sort of forgiveness as she vicariously experiences Mapother’s happiness into the unknown.

But the big question is really, why then, if she sacrifices her own ticket, does she meet herself at the culmination? Perhaps, she has finally found herself. Maybe this isn’t a story about literally finding yourself on another material planet. Maybe it’s a confirmation that when you finally relinquish everything holding you back—past struggles, an unsettled state of mind, external conflicts—you can finally see yourself for who you truly are: you.

Rating: 8.1/10

Recently, former model and “Top Model” judge, Janice Dickinson accused Tyra of running a “rigged” competition.

“CoverGirl [chooses] the model—not any of the judges. People don’t know that! When I found that out, I split,” said Dickinson, who served as a judge for four seasons.

The show’s parent network, The CW, issued a statement denying Dickinson’s accusation.

Dickinson’s disparaging remarks regarding the validity of the show have been in response to “Top Model” contestant Angelea Preston’s controversial disqualification in the season finale of “America’s Next Top Model: All Stars.”

In an issued statement to the public, The CW said, “It turns out, our production team and the network learned information that made Angelea ineligible and she was subsequently disqualified from the competition. As a result, new scenes were filmed to address this for the audience during the finale.”

According to People magazine, The CW’s statement suggests that Preston may have originally been selected as the first “Top Model” All Star, thus, explaining the need to film additional scenes.

Further allegations released by fans have indicated that a now deleted post on Preston’s Facebook page may have contained information about the out-coming of the season finale; perhaps, even a hint that she herself was crowned Top Model.

Thus far, Preston has declined to comment on the controversy.

“I have a distaste for [Tyra]. In America you say the truth. On TV you can fabricate it, but eventually we all find out,” said Dickinson.

As the allegations continue to take their course, it will be interesting to see if both Banks and her show will eradicate the criticism to make its way back on top.

Television commercials do not always feature the number one song from an off-the-charts artist, like a Lady Gaga song. Nevertheless, some of the songs they do feature have evoked a popular response, such as AT&T’s commercial featuring Landon Pigg’s “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop.”

“Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop” was first featured in the DeBeers Diamond commercial in 2007. Later on, it was played again in the AT&T telephone commercial, which really helped it gain its claim to fame.

Feist’s song “1234” reached an insane level of popularity when, in 2007, Apple Inc. featured it in its commercial to promote the Apple iPod Nano. The commercial allowed the song to boost up to number seven on Hot Digital Songs; the song itself was gaining 2,000 downloads per week. By the end of 2007, Time magazine named the deemed the song as one of the top ten songs in 2007, and the Feist later performed it on an episode of Sesame Street.

M.I.A.’s song “Paper Planes” became more popular after being featured in the 2008 Pineapple Express film trailer. The remix of the song had been featured in the academy-award winning film Slumdog Millionaire as well as in the film Hancock. The song was even eventually nominated for a Grammy award.

So, the next time you flip through the TV channels, purposely avoiding the commercials, try stopping on a channel and listening to one of the new featured commercials; you might just find the next big hit.

Jess ruins the end of the movie for the guys and makes it less scary for all of them. But this is just the beginning. Then, she tries to help Nick get ready for a big date, but ends up psyching him out even more.

Jess ends up moping around the rest of the day because she doesn’t want her roommate upset with her. She spends all of her time thinking of ways she can get Nick to forgive her and one of her main ideas was “the feeling stick.” Jess has this idea in her mind that Nick doesn’t know how to share his feelings or talk about things with her, so she uses the feeling stick to try to get him to talk. Instead, Nick snaps the stick in half.

All out of ideas and all out of feeling sticks, she decides to just approach him. So, she’s sitting in his room waiting for him to come home, and when he finally does, he comes in with the girl he was out on a date with who immediately wants to know why there’s a girl in his room. Once again, Jess has messed things up with Nick.

Meanwhile, Schmidt is trying to get Winston up-to-date on what has been going on in America for the last two years he wasn’t here. He’s watching movies, reading articles and Googling like a mad man. He was so out of the loop for so long he has no idea what’s going on in the world.

Eventually, Nick sits down with Jess and they talk things out and everything goes back to normal. The episode ends with all of them slowly figuring out how to live with each other and not get on each other’s last nerves. This group of roomies is slowly becoming what some may call a family. It should be exciting to see what’s in store for their relationships next episode.

Rating: 9/10

Although exciting, the trip to Greece is barely a vacation. As soon as the ladies arrive in Greece, they are given another challenge. While flying to the Island of Crete, each of the contestants must prepare a one minute speech that they have to deliver in front of a press conference.

Angelea chooses not to write anything down for the sake of being sincere and she actually pulls off her speech quite well, but not well enough to be crowned challenge winner. Jay Alexander announces that Allison won the challenge and, as a result, famous Greece designer Lina Fanouraki awards her a piece of jewelry.

After settling down in their temporary home at Blue Palace Resort & Spa, the ladies collaborate with designer Michael Cinco to create their final runway gown given the theme “Immortal Goddess.” Of course, only two girls will be given the opportunity to wear their dresses, which adds to the pressure of the competition.

Later on, the ladies are sent off to do yet another photo shoot, but this time they are expected to pose in underwear in an enlarged Greek salad bowl. Shannon automatically refuses to participate in the photo shoot since it is neither in line with who she is nor with what her brand stands for. “It’s always important to stand up for you and what you believe in because at the end of the day you will eventually earn the respect of others,” she said.

Aside from Shannon, Laura struggles to get the right shot during her shoot. “Laura got sick and I felt her pain. It kind of sucked but this is the ‘All Stars’ cycle. Anything can send you home at this point,” Dominique said.

Allison also fights to keep her eyes open during her shoot, but her eyes keep tearing up when in contact with the sun.

At deliberation, Dominique ends up winning best photo, but both Laura and Shannon find themselves in the bottom two. Although the judges feel that Laura has not been living up to her brand lately, they decide to send Shannon home.

“Shannon, you’re not just going home because you didn’t do the photo shoot. The judges actually looked at all of your photos, but what they realized is not only did you not do the photo shoot, but you’re the only girl in this bunch that never had best photo or won a challenge. You’re a great model but when you came to ‘All Stars,’ you just became a good model. Go back to being the great model that you were because it’s in you,” Tyra said.

In spite of elimination Shannon said, “I think I handled myself with class and dignity and I kept true to who I am.”

Although it was clear that Shannon would be sent home after being in the bottom two on more than one occasion, it was interesting to see her hold firm to her beliefs. With only five girls left though, there’s no telling where the competition may go from here.

Rating: 7/10

Instead of going off to do another challenge, Jay Manuel pops by the ladies’ house to announce that they will have the opportunity to write and record their own songs with the assistance of music producer Tom Polce. Also, the ladies will star in their very own music video in place of a photo shoot. “This [challenge] is about branding as a celebrity. It’s not just about modeling,” Angelea said.

While most of the ladies get enthusiastic about their next “All Star” task, Allison immediately panics. “[The challenge] is excellent for people who sing. I don’t sing,” she said.

Both Lisa and Angelea’s lyrics stand out to Polce, but he deems Lisa the challenge winner allowing her to bring her fiancé over as a reward.

Next up is the recording studio. Allison calms down a little bit after choosing to dedicate her song to her father who passed away; she even ends up impressing Polce with her delivery. Hailing as the winner of yet another challenge, Lisa continues to wow her opponents not only in the recording studio, but also at the video shoot. “I just want everyone to see I’m the queen of all trades and that there’s nothing I love doing more than performing,” she said.

Recording artist Game, internet sensation Keenan Cahill and Tyra Banks stop by at the set. Game gives the ladies some tips on how to execute their performance on screen, but not everyone was keen on taking it. “Alexandria was so awkward and rigid in taking direction,” Jay Manuel said.

Allison, on the other hand, nails her video after some encouraging support from Game who empathized with her loss.

Although she had been the most intimidated about the challenge, Allison ends up winning best photo at panel. Lisa ends up winning second best photo although she clearly aimed for first place. Alexandria, however, finds herself in the bottom two alongside Angelea. Although Angelea had been in the bottom two three times, Tyra spared her solely because her video came out better than Alexandria’s.

“I’m still very proud of myself, and what I accomplished with myself this week is a great learning experience and I’ve gotten to experience some amazing things that would have taken me a couple years to do by myself,” Alexandria said.

Like Bianca’s elimination in the week prior, Alexandria’s elimination was not surprising. She never stood out as the one to beat. Nevertheless, the episode was extremely fun to watch. Viewers got more insight on Allison and her personal loss. Also, the video shoot was a nice change of pace from the typical photo shoot every week, and it was interesting seeing the ladies in a different element.

Rating: 9/10

Bianca also realizes that now she has to survive in the Top Model house on her own. “Here I am, alone in the wilderness, and a bunch of hyenas are surrounding me,” she said.

As always, the ladies are sent off to do another challenge. With assistance from Ben Bennett, founder and creative director of Hatch Beauty, the ladies are expected to create a fragrance. The ladies then have to promote and sell their products to the public at a launch party hosted by cycle three winner, Eva Marcille. Not surprisingly, Bianca has a problem with the challenge. “When I find out we have to get into a bathtub in a swimsuit, the first thing I think is ‘When am I going to be taken [seriously] as a model rather than just a gimmick?’” she said.

Lisa, on the other hand, chooses to have a lot of fun at the launch party by splashing water and fully interacting with her fans. As a result, she not only wins the challenge, but receives immunity at panel.

The ladies’ next photo shoot pays homage to two popular reality TV stars, Snooki (“Jersey Shore”) and NeNe Leakes (“Real Housewives of Atlanta”). Half of the girls portray Snooki while the others portray NeNe. Some of the girls never tuned into either of the shows and struggled to bring their respective celebrity to life in their photographs. Thankfully, Bianca gives some girls insight into each of the characters. “I actually never watched [“Real Housewives of Atlanta”] so I have no idea who NeNe is, but Bianca helped me with characteristics of NeNe,” Lisa said.

How sweet is that considering these girls typically never get along?

Ironically, Lisa ends up giving the best portrayal of NeNe that night. “Lisa’s performance blew me away,” Jay Manuel said.

Although already immune from elimination, Lisa ends up receiving best photo at panel. Angelea, whom the judges have seen incredible improvement in, scores second best photo. Shannon, Kayla and Bianca, however, are not so lucky. After Tyra announces that she will be sending two girls home, all three girls wait silently for deliberation. Tyra decides to give Shannon another chance. “You were a runner up cycle one and it was for a reason,” Tyra said to her.

“I’m happy with what I did and I wouldn’t take back anything,” Kayla said of her “All Star” experience. “It sucks to lose, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes,” Bianca said before leaving the “All Star” house.

Overall, the theme of the photo shoot was entertaining, but the ladies’ performances were comical. This homage was definitely a downgrade from their previous Michael Jackson tribute. Although Bianca does have potential to succeed after “All Stars” and in some respects, was misunderstood by the other girls, her elimination was not surprising at all. It was only a matter of time before she would go. Now that she is off the show, let’s see if the other girls will finally get some well deserved camera time.

Rating: 7/10