Picks of the Litter

This Edition's Litter: Websites

Are you an aspiring stock investor? Do you enjoy watching professional sports? Then point your browser to a site that combines the excitement of professional sports with the challenge of Wall Street - www.wallstreetsports.com. Wall Street Sports operates a stock simulation where you can trade shares of Michael Jordan, Jim Harbaugh, Mark McGwire, and hundreds of other pro players. The objective is to build and manage a successful stock portfolio by buying and selling shares of athletes. This is a fun opportunity to test your market skills, and if you're good enough, win some prizes.

Some market tips:

• Michael Jordan's stock is greatly overvalued.
• The day after an NFL game, NFL stocks typically go up, then decline as the week progresses. Other sports react differently.
• A player's stock normally declines during the sport's offseason.

Joel's Pick:
www.aint-it-cool-news.com

Who doesn't like to be on the cutting edge of entertainment news? Specifically, news of movies that are considered "cool," such as the Star Wars prequels or the upcoming "Titanic." If you're interested in this type of movie, www.aint-it-cool-news.com is a great source of information for you. Harry Knowles has operated this site for over a year and a half, and in that short span of time it has become the definitive source for the most up-to-date movie news on the internet. Knowles has cultivated a group of "spies" who regularly report on test screenings of yet-to-be-released films. Knowles then posts these reviews on the site.

Hollywood studios have reacted differently to the site, depending upon the reaction of reviewers. Warner Bros. decried the reviewing of test screenings after several negative reviews of "Batman and Robin." However, 20th Century Fox is riding high as Knowles continues to recieve positive reviews for its late-fall release, "Alien Resurrection."

Knowles' style is not the most polished on the internet, often misspelling words or using incorrect grammar. But this gives the site an honest, straightforward appeal, leaving the glossy, tabloid-type stories to others. For this site, only project news is fit to print. The site is updated 5 or 6 times a week, giving fresh and relevant news almost as it happens. I've linked to this site for over a year now, and I continue to enjoy knowing all about a movie before any of my friends. If you want to share this feeling, be sure to visit www.aint-it-cool-news.com.

Next Edition's Litter: Movies
Send us your Picks at either brlewis@indiana.edu or jcorbin@indiana.edu.