The James Logan Courier

By Linh-Chi Nguyen, Courier Music Editor

Yesterday, James Logan High School teachers met in their house offices and discussed possible schedules to accommodate collaboration for next school year.

The meeting was held to discuss the mandatory schedule change which would come into effect starting the 2011-2012 school year. The school's Site-Based Decision-Making group will examine the possibilities of this change.

The main reason for the implementation of the new school schedule is to come up with another hour to allow for collaboration time. This time would be set aside for teachers to collaborate about issues and suggestions during meetings.

By Wailin Wong
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

LAS VEGAS — Tablets may have been all the rage at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, but with tens of thousands of products on display, there was something for everyone.

Here are some interesting nuggets from the four-day show, which ends Sunday:
—Oh, baby: The Smart Baby Monitor from French startup Withings consists of a small camera that beams audio and video to the screen of any Web-connected smart phone, tablet, computer or TV using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It's a gadget made for an iPhone generation of parents, as it eschews traditional bulky baby monitors for a smooth, white design. The sensor can track temperature and humidity in the baby's location, and parents can play lullabies remotely through the device. Withings said the monitor will be available in late March.

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)

"Splatterhouse's" legacy undoubtably will be the new heights to which it elevates video game gore. True to the name, it's swimming in blood, with the most minor of attacks spraying the screen with blotches of red while the more advanced moves practically coat the entire level in the stuff. Throw in some special kills that trigger some very painful-looking interactive cutscenes, and the award for the goriest game in existence is now handily in this game's possession. A subtle reliance on cel shading slightly mutes the effect, but only slightly.

But Namco justifies the whole disgusting display by applying some real weight — figuratively as well as literally — to all those attacks. "Splatterhouse's" storyline encompasses a good eight to 10 hours of play time, and the novelty of all that blood would dissipate awfully quickly if the storytelling and gameplay propping it up weren't so surprisingly strong.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Director of Parent & Community Relations

In an effort to meet the needs of families who would like their children to attend school outside their neighborhood, the New Haven Unified School District is opening the intra-district transfer process for 2011-12 earlier than in past years.

Parents and guardians seeking to have their children attend a District school outside of their attendance area must apply for an intra-district transfer. Applications turned in by Feb. 1 will be given high priority for placement; however, placement cannot be guaranteed.

From wikipedia:
Alfonso Arau (born January 11, 1932) is a Mexican actor and director.

Arau was born in Mexico City, the son of a doctor. He directed the films Zapata: The Dream of a Hero, Like Water for Chocolate (adapted from the novel written by his ex-wife Laura Esquivel), A Walk in the Clouds with Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame production A Painted House, adapted from the John Grisham novel of the same name. Among many roles in his career, Arau has played the chief bandit "El Guapo" in Three Amigos (USA, 1986), a comedy with Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Chevy Chase. He played "captain Herrera", a lieutenant of rebel "Mapache", in Sam Peckinpah's 1969 western, The Wild Bunch and the smuggler "Juan" in Romancing the Stone which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Arau appeared in the 1972 Mexican film El rincón de las vírgenes ("The Virgins' Corner"), where he played the assistant of a fake mystical doctor traveling from town to town, who reminisce about their travels, when a group of women decide to propose the doctor for sainthood. The movie was set in 1920s rural Mexico.

Read more about Alfonso Arau and Like Water for Chocolate, free from the Los Angeles Times.