Whoever said super PACs are useless? Say you’re down in the polls, you’re lacking delegates, and no one but a small group of loyal supporters have caught on to your message of economic libertarianism. What’s the solution? Ron Paul action figures.

But maybe… it’s more than just an action figure. Under that meek exterior, and behind that high pitched voice lies – THE GOLD STANDARD CRUSADER!

The GS Crusader has many unique abilities, our favorites are:

• The ability to deny the constitutionality of ANY legislation
• Quote any economic text – ever
• Seek and destroy evil wherever it may be with a lengthy speech filled with obscure references
• Invisibility (when it comes to TSA screenings)
• The ability to never be elected president

This is just a brief list can you think of any more?

For all the film buffs out there, Tuesday was a big day.

It was the day the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the 2011 film year.

After surveying the list of nominees it appears most categories went as expected with a few surprises and snubs along the way (see our list below).

This year, the Big award- Best Picture- had 9 nominees. This group of nine was selected in a new and slightly confusing manner.

It started back in 2010, when the category for Best Picture was expanded from 5 to 10.

This lasted only 2 years, with the Academy announcing last summer they have adjusted the rules to fluctuate between 5-10 nominees.  The first 5 films with the highest number of votes get a nod, followed by the next highest vote-getters who get a minimum of 5% of the Academy’s votes. In its first year in application 9 films received Best Picture nominations.

In the coming weeks we will be giving you a break down the major categories, culminating with the awards ceremony on Sunday, February 26.

Best Picture

• “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
• “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
• “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
• “War Horse“ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Directing

• “The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Alexander Payne
• “Hugo” Martin Scorsese
• “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
• “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Actor in a Leading Role

• Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
• George Clooney in “The Descendants”
• Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
• Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
• Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actress in a Leading Role

• Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis in “The Help”
• Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
• Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
• Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
• Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
• Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
• Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
• Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
• Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
• “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin  Story by Stan Chervin
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
• “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
• “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Animated Feature Film

• “A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
• “Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
• “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• “Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
• “Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

• “The Artist”
  Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2“
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Hugo”
  Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “Midnight in Paris”
  Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
• “War Horse”
  Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

• “The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
• “Hugo” Robert Richardson
• “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
• “War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

• “Anonymous” Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” Sandy Powell
• “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
• “W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Documentary (Feature)

• “Hell and Back Again”
  Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
• “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
  Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
• “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
  Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Pina”
  Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
• “Undefeated”
  TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
  Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
• “God Is the Bigger Elvis”
  Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
• “Incident in New Baghdad”
  James Spione
• “Saving Face”
  Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
  Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

• “The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Kevin Tent
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
• “Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film

• “Bullhead” Belgium
• “Footnote” Israel
• “In Darkness” Poland
• “Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
• “A Separation” Iran

Makeup

• “Albert Nobbs”
  Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
  Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Iron Lady”
  Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

• “The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
• “The Artist” Ludovic Bource
• “Hugo” Howard Shore
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
• “War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)

• “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• “Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)

• “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
• “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
• “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

• “Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
• “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
• “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

• “Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
• “Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
  David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
• “Hugo”
  Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• “Moneyball”
  Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
  Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
• “War Horse”
  Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
  Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
• “Hugo”
  Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
• “Real Steel”
  Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
  Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
  Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

James 2:12-13 (NIV)

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Reflection:

What was the situation that we find James writing this letter to the Jewish Christians? Discrimination was a big problem, manifesting itself in favoritism, prejudice, and judgment. James tells it like it is - challenging the church to be merciful, especially to those who are underprivileged and poor. The passage says, if we are not merciful, God will not have mercy on us. And it shows that we truly do not understand or appreciate God’s mercy towards us.

It would be truly horrific to face judgment from God without mercy! But mercy tops it all!

Responding to the Transmission:

Let us take God’s word for what it says. It is a serious sin to not treat others with mercy - to show favoritism, to be prejudiced, and to judge others in a condemning way. Let us reflect on how we think about and treat others. What is our attitude? What do we say about others?

Let us ask God for mercy and forgiveness. In His mercy, He will forgive us. Then, let us ask God that we will be like Him and show mercy to those that God has put in our lives.

UMBC political science professor and national political commentator Thomas Schaller appeared on CurrentTV’s “Young Turks” show last night, weighing in on the question “Should liberals root for Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich?” Schaller suggested, “Newt will get the base fired up, but… a vote cast with intensity counts the same as a vote cast reluctantly. It doesn’t matter how juiced up the conservative id is. The votes in the middle are going to matter.”

Schaller also weighed in on the GOP candidates’ abilities to collect delegates, in The Daily Beast‘s primary coverage. Whereas neither Gingrich nor Santorum will appear on the Virginia ballot, Schaller says Romney is “going to collect delegates at every stop. He’s on the ballots; he’s going to get his 25 percent … He’s the best prepared.”

On Saturday, January 21, more than 200 people attended Create Baltimore, an “unconference” organized around the idea of building a creative community in Baltimore. Among them was Lee Boot, associate director of the Imaging Research Center, who presented a session with photographer John Dean on bringing street commerce to Baltimore.

“I spent time in Istanbul and John spent time in Florence this fall and we were both blown away by how different the concept of street commerce is in other parts of the world from the way we do it here in Baltimore (and most of the states),” Boot wrote on the website, explaining their topic. “We think it could be the missing link for jobs, making the city a destination, and bringing life to struggling neighborhoods.”

The “unconference,” and Boot’s session, were covered in a January 24 Baltimore Brew blog post entitled “Arts and tech community gather for Create Baltimore.”

Deer are cute, but pigeons are “rats with wings.” And rats are just gross. Why do we love seeing some wild animals in the city, and loathe others? Dawn Biehler, assistant professor of geography and environmental systems, discussed this issue on the Canadian Broadcasting Company program “DNTO (Definitely Not the Opera).”

“Humans have a little bit of an anti-urban bias,” she explained. “So when one of these representatives of the wild comes to the city, we feel really flattered that they would want to come and be in this place where we have this concentration of human life.”

The episode, “City, meet wildlife… wildlife, meet city” aired on the program on January 21. It can be heard here; Biehler’s segment begins at 43:45.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

Making the blind see may seem like a miracle.

Some think that miracle has taken place.

The cause for this excitement is some promising results from a new embryonic stem cell treatment for macular degeneration.

Advanced Cell Technology developed the treatment, which was used on two legally blind patients at UCLA. The two women reported encouraging gains in vision, one reporting she had been able to thread a needle, and the other patient reported she was able to navigate a shopping mall by herself.

The news remains controversial for a number of reasons.

As many critics point out, two patients do not make for a statistically significant study. Embryonic stem cells themselves have been controversial, since their creation typically involves the destruction of human embryos.

The first trial of a therapy using human embryonic stem cells, run by Geron, shut down in November mid-trial. (Though Geron cited a lack of funding, rather than controversy, as the cause).

Does embryonic stem cell therapy have a future in the medical field? We’ll wait and see.