Iron Man 3, under the helmet

Iron Man returns to theaters on Friday in Iron Man 3! At the press junket for the movie, held in Los Angeles on April 22, the cast and crew talked about how the movie came together and the challenges of keeping a superhero's adventures fresh and exciting. You can read my report from the junket on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website!

After the junket, I had the opportunity to sit down with Don Cheadle. He plays Colonel James Rhodes, the man inside the suit of the Iron Patriot. Check out my interview with the all-talented actor!

Kid Reporter Damien Murphy: What sets Iron Man 3 apart from the other two movies?

Don Cheadle: It's bigger and badder. Tony gets to come to terms with who he is and his relationship with (Rhoadey) grows stronger.

Kid Reporter: How is the Iron Patriot different from the War Machine in the last movie?

Don Cheadle: It's just a paint job. Really! The President (in the movie) wanted to re-brand him and just changed the look and re-named it.

Kid Reporter: Did  you actually get to wear the Iron Patriot suit or was it just CGI?

Don Cheadle: I actually had to wear it. It wasn't very comfortable. It was really heavy, but some of it was CGI and motion captured mixed in.

Kid Reporter: What's it like to play Tony Stark's best friend?

Don Cheadle: We had fun! I think it shows in the movie because we just had a lot fun interacting on and off screen as well.

Kid Reporter: Do you have a favorite scene in the movie?

Don Cheadle: I like doing the stunt work especially in the third act. The cable stuff and running around.

Kid Reporter: Did you do your own stunts?

Don Cheadle: Yeah, I did all the physical work -- on harnesses, cables and leaping off two stories buildings...

Kid Reporter: I know you've done a bunch of different kinds of movies, mostly serious ones. What's it like to be in a bi-budget comic movie?

Don Cheadle: I've done a lot of different things, and being in this big-budget action movie is just another piece of the puzzle.

Kid Reporter: Are there other similarities between the other smaller budget movies you've made?

Don Cheadle: No, I wouldn't say that. This one is a huge undertaking. Very technical. But at the end of the day, we are just creating real moments and truthful beats.

Kid Reporter: Why do you think these movies continue to be so liked by so many?

Don Cheadle: They're just a lot of fun. They don't take themselves so seriously. They can just go into the theater and cheer and be entertained.

—Kid Reporter Damien Murphy

Photo: Iron Patriot/James Rhodey (Don Cheadle) (Photo: Film Frame © 2012 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2012 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.)

Seeing is believing – or is it?!

On the new show Brain Games, host Jason Silva and executive producer Jerry Kolber uncover and explain tidbits about the inner-workings of the human brain through interactive games. Brain Games is the only show I know of where the star of the show is the brain of the person watching it! Everything is about you and your brain. It gets you the think about thinking!

Brain Games enables viewers to take a quick glimpse at the amazing human brain and “infects people with wonder,” according to Jason Silva. This show doesn’t just make it enjoyable to learn about complicated topics like how your brain perceives and interprets things having to do with time, it also makes these topics easier to comprehend.  To me, it’s a science show that feels more like something you would want to see with friends rather than something you would watch at school.

On the show, deception specialists Apollo Robbins and Brian Scholl, who is the director of Yale University’s Perception and Cognition Lab, help Jason reveal and delve into the secrets behind the mysteries of not just THE brain, but more specifically YOUR brain. But for all you magicians out there — don’t worry! Brain Games isn’t doing magic tricks at all. It just seems like they are because they are tricking your brain, which is indeed magical!

You might be wondering how I got to learn all about Jerry, Jason, and Brain Games. As it turns out, Jason and Jerry spent the afternoon of April 9 exploring the interactive exhibits in the New York Hall of Science in Queens with me, my editor, and another journalist. Jason and Jerry, while using the exhibits as games or as a visual aid, helped me to see and understand the many loopholes in the human brain’s hardwiring. I even got to interview them and play some of their games. I was always amazed, awed, and sometimes even frustrated at the results of these epic games.

If you are already interested in neuroscience, go check out the Brain Games website. It has some really cool games for you to play and explanations on how they work and what they teach us. Even if you don’t think that you are a “science person,”Brain Games will captivate you. It’s just as entertaining as it is educational!

The first episode of Brain Games airs Monday, April 22, at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. Tune in to find out if you’re brain is game for Brain Games!

Check out my interview with Jason and Jerry on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website!

—Kid Reporter Dani Bergman Chudnow

Photos: (top) Kid Reporter Dani Bergman Chudnow looks giant and Brain Games host Jason Silva looks small in a room set up to create an optical illusion at the New York Hall of Science. (bottom) Dani and Jason at their normal size. (National Geographic Channels/Scott Gries)

My Egypt Travel Log -- Part 2

December 27, 2012

This morning, we woke up early to take a balloon ride across the Valley of Kings and Queens. The blazing flames lifted the balloon up into the air, and we soared in through the sunrise. It was a memorable experience. We lowered to the ground and headed to the tombs we saw from the air.

The Valley of the Kings is known as Biban el-Muluk (meaning doorway or gateway of the kings). All the tombs are hidden from sight by the hills and mountains surrounding them. The total complex contains 62 tombs from nobles and kings. We saw the massive underground tombs of Rameses IV, Rameses IX, and Merneptah. All the tombs were put together so beautifully and intricately. Afterwards, we watched the Alabaster carvers in action in an alabaster factory where we bought an alabaster pyramid.

After a short drive, we reached the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, which is located beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari. The mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun god Amon-Ra and is located next to the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II. Here we learned how she married her brother, Thutmose II, and then killed him, just to become a pharaoh and rule Egypt. She even dressed like a man for people to accept her as pharaoh!

We came back to our hotel and ate fish fry and chicken curry at a delicious local restaurant called Nile Flowers. Then we took the ferry to the bazaar (marketplace). We bought lot of souvenirs and gifts for my friends. The lights suddenly started flickering and everything suddenly turned black. It was pitch black all around us and we were really scared. We slowly walked out of the bazaar and walked towards the area with power. We took the ferry back to our hotel.

My Egypt Travel Log -- Part 1

My friends are talking about the 2012 winter break and what Christmas presents they are looking forward to finding under their tree.  I cannot hold my excitement as I share that I am looking forward to a dream vacation to Egypt!

The next day as we are driving to school on a cold December morning, we hear about the violent clashes in Egypt on NPR. As days go by, there are more reports of demonstrations and protests. The trip we have been planning for months might be in jeopardy.  We watch every report about Egypt on CNN.  After numerous calls to the State Department, we are assured that there is no travel advisory to Egypt.  They advise us to be careful of where we travel and avoid the areas of protests.  With mixed emotions we pack our bags and get ready for our trip.

December 22, 2012

After a long flight from New York connecting through Rome, we arrive in Cairo. Our hotel service takes us quickly through immigration and visa to the van waiting outside. I tried to absorb as much as I can looking out of the window until we reach our hotel. Our van driver assures us that everything is quiet in Cairo now. We go to bed early to get some rest before our Egyptian adventure starts the next day!  

Happy New Year!

People all over the world are ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year. At the International School of Indiana in Indianapolis, students celebrated the Year of the Snake with a fun-packed assembly.

Students from 6th grade up to high school seniors who are learning Mandarin (the official language of China) educated the rest of the school about Chinese cultures and other rituals. This was taught through song, dance, instruments, and videos. Some students even performed Tai Chi!

Mandarin teachers Janet Huang and Sophie Li made it their duty to make sure that every person in attendance knew how to say a phrase in Chinese. The most popular was: 春节快乐！(chūn jié kuài lè), which means Happy New Year.

The assembly was important for various reasons, one being that the mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, was in attendance. After the assembly, Mayor Ballard expressed the importance of learning about new cultures.

“I think it is tremendous. We try to celebrate the Chinese culture within the city, and now that we have a sister city relationship with Hangzhou which is on the East Coast of China, we do Chinese festivals now in the city so we can celebrate it along with them,” said Mayor Ballard. “It is nice to see the celebration.”

—Kid Reporter 易欣雷 (Grace Ybarra)

How does your community celebrate Chinese New Year? Let us know in the comments below!

And for more on Chinese New Year, check out the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps Chinese New Year Special Report!

Photo: A dancer performs during a Chinese New Year celebration at the International School of Indiana. (Courtesy Grace Ybarra)

The Nominations Are In!

This morning was one of the biggest moments of the year for Hollywood. At 5:30 a.m., the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 85th Annual Academy Awards. The Academy Awards — also known as the Oscars — are the most prestigious honor handed out to movies in America.

Oscars are awarded in 24 categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. These awards usually go to grown-up movies, but there's a category for movies kids have probably seen, too. This is the Best Animated Feature award. This year, the five nominees are Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph.

As it turns out, Kid Reporters have written about all five of these movies! Revisit their stories on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website, then let us know what movie you think should win the Best Animated Feature Oscar!

The Oscars will be awarded on February 24. 

Photos: (from left to right) A still from Brave (Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.); a still from The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Aardman Animations for Sony Pictures Animation); a still from ParaNorman (LAIKA, Inc.); a still from Wreck-It Ralph (Disney. All Rights Reserved.); a still from Frankenweenie (Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

—Editor Dante A. Ciampaglia 

The girl who makes Ralph wreck it

On a last-minute invite, I got to attend the wrap party celebration at the Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California, for the movie Wreck-It Ralph (which opens in movie theaters today). It was there that I got to interview Stephanie Scott on her latest role in the new movie. She plays the girl playing all the video games as Ralph jumps between different game worlds. In the interview, she shares what it's like doing a voice over, her favorite character in the movie, and her favorite video games.

Check out my interview below! And read about my trip to Disney Animation Studios a few months ago for a behind-the-scenes look at Wreck-It Ralph!

—Kid Reporter Damien Murphy

On Tour in Copenhagen

Roller Coasters, The Little Mermaid, and More!

As the Lufthansa airplane landed at the Copenhagen Airport, I was glad to arrive at my destination after two flights over a distance of 4,500 miles during the last 12 hours. I was on a 16-day concert tour with the Concert Choir of the Georgia Boy Choir (GBC) to Scandinavia, and, among other places, Copenhagen, Denmark. Every year, the choir tours to a different place every summer; for example, we traveled to England last year to become the Choir in Residence at Oxford Cathedral and Wells Cathedral.

This year, the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir invited us to give a concert at the Copenhagen Cathedral, the same way that the GBC had invited them to perform in Atlanta a month before our tour. We would stay in the homes of their boys, much like the way they had stayed in our homes when they were in the United States. I couldn't wait for this unique opportunity and was so excited to be able to spend four days in the beautiful city of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Cathedral, where we were asked to perform, is the national cathedral of Denmark and is a lovely, neoclassical church with a seating capacity of more than 1,100 people and a bell tower containing both the largest and oldest bells in the country. Measuring 83 meters (272 ft) in length and 33 meters (108 ft) in width, the church had great acoustics, causing all of our notes to echo much longer after being sung. We adjusted to the space during the three hour rehearsal in preparation for our concert. The conductor of the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir said to us after listening to the rehearsal, "You all were very good." This was an excellent comment from the conductor of such an outstanding boy choir.

But our tour was not just a musical experience. It was also a fun one. The choir visited Tivoli Gardens, perhaps the most famous amusement park in all of Europe. The park contains many different mechanical rides for all ages, pleasure flower gardens, a Chinese styled Pantomime Theater, a concert hall, and numerous restaurants. Opened in 1843, it is still one of the most visited amusement parks in Europe and the most visited in Scandinavia.

My friends and I tried out several rides one afternoon, including the world's tallest carousel, the Star Flyer; the short but back-breaking Demon Roller Coaster; the exhilarating and fast paced Dragon's Tail; and finally the infamous Vertigo, in which riders can control a plane that loops around and spins wildly in the air. Coming off of the Vertigo, I heard a fellow chorister say, "That was the best ride ever. Even better than the ones at Six Flags!"

Another must-see attraction the choir visited was the Little Mermaid Statue, based on the fairy tale icon from the story of the same name written by Hans Christian Anderson, who was Danish. Although only 4 feet tall, the statue has become a symbol of Denmark, and was even moved to China to be displayed at the Denmark Pavilion during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

For all three nights I spent in Denmark, I stayed in the home of August, a boy that I hosted when his choir came to Atlanta. He was very smart, great at singing, and excellent at speaking English. We loved doing things together during these few days including watching TV, playing on the trampoline, playing catch, and simply just talking to each other. I learned a lot about life in Denmark and found out that it really isn't too different from life in America.

Yet the best experience of all in Copenhagen was the concert that we gave at the Copenhagen Cathedral the night before we left. We sang songs from a dozen countries around the world in several languages including Latin, German, Russian, Czech, Chinese, and English. We prepared for a year in order to sing these songs, and performing them was as equally rewarding as seeing the audience's appreciation for our singing. Our voices serenaded the audience for more than two hours, and we received a long standing ovation from the huge crowd.

Sadly, the next morning it was time to leave Denmark to continue the tour in Norway, and August and I said farewell to each other. I will miss him and the gorgeous city of Copenhagen and the country of Denmark as a whole, but I know that I could not have spent four days in Denmark in any better way. Singing there during this unforgettable concert tour was definitely the experience of a lifetime.

—Kid Reporter Andrew Liang

Photo: Kid Reporter Andrew Liang on the streets of Copenhagen. (Courtesy Andrew Liang) 

We Go Together: Grease, The School Version

I just finished my middle school’s production of Grease: The School Version, where I played the role of Sandy. I had a blast! Between the tech crew, stage crew, and the cast, 150 students were involved in our Drama Club. In all, we played three school shows and three sold-out public performances. I was very honored to get this role - it has been a great experience, one I will never forget.

Are you interested in becoming involved in the drama club at your school? I have learned a lot during my experience, but these three things stood out:

1. Musicals require hard work and dedication. We practiced October through February, rehearsing several days each week after school. During the month of February, we practiced on Saturday mornings for three to four hours. There was a live band, so we also came in the evening to practice a few times. Also, the teachers involved in putting together this production often spent five to six hours a day working on the musical, from technical stuff to the amazing set to keeping 150 kids occupied. We could not have done it without them!

2. I made a lot of friends during Drama Club, and I looked forward to seeing them nearly every day at practice. I found that we had a lot of things in common, from acting (of course!) to softball to books. They made my experience a whole lot better.

3. I learned a lot more about acting. The teachers taught me to be my character, not just me play someone else. This was my first big role, and I learned to express myself onstage, pronounce my words more clearly and using diction. I also learned some useful techniques to help my singing.

I am sad that Drama Club’s production of Grease: The School Version is over, but I will always have memories from this great experience!

—Kid Reporter Katelyn Barr

Photo: Katelyn Barr as Sandy in her school's production of Grease: THe School Version. (Courtesy Katelyn Barr)

Actors in real life at the Hugo press conference

When you see actors in movies, they almost seem unreal, up on a big screen, usually playing fictional characters.

But when you see actors — movie stars! — at a press conference, they’re sometimes very different. And sometimes, what they say is really interesting because it’s unscripted. 

I covered the press conference for the new movie Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The story centers on a 12-year-old orphan named Hugo who lives through an adventure in the 1930s in a Paris train station.

When I walked into the press conference, I was shocked at how many chairs were set up for reporters (and how many were already filled). "Are there really going to be that many reporters here?" I wondered. I felt pressured. What if I don’t get to ask any questions? What if the stars don’t notice me because I’m just a kid? 

What-ifs chased each other round and round in my head.

When the stars finally arrived, I felt ecstatic. There they were, right in front of me! Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Asa Butterfield. They looked so different in real life — no make-up and, in the case of Hugo, no “period” costumes.  And of course, Asa and Chloe are a bit older now. 

A reporter asked Asa, as an actor, to describe his relationship to Hugo, the orphan he played in the movie. In other words, was it difficult for a non-orphan to play an orphan?

“I found it quite hard to relate to him because of all the hardships he’s gone through in his life,” Asa said. “So I just had to come up with a false past for him that was similar to mine and relate to him in that way.” 

Relating to a character was also a challenge for Sir Ben Kingsley, who played the role of Georges Melies, the film’s mean and dour shopkeeper with a secret past who is saved from sadness by Hugo (Asa Butterfield). Unlike the film’s fictional characters, Melies was a real person, a star actor, dancer, and director of early silent films, whose brilliant career was ultimately crushed and forgotten.

Sir Ben was asked by a reporter how he got into Melies’s character?

“In a sense, I worked in reverse,” he explained. “What I focused on was how glorious his life was, and then I had an appreciation of the loss of that glory. So my preparation was in his body, how his body had to let go of being basically an athlete and a dancer." 

Finally I was called on to ask a question to American actress Chloe Grace Moretz, who also plays a child orphan in the film.  When she tried out for her role, Chloe had faked a British accent and fooled director Martin Scorsese into thinking that she was British — and therefore perfect for the role. I asked her how she was so convincing.  

“I was fully British from meeting Marty to the end of the audition, where I went back to my American accent,” she explained. “The whole time he totally thought that I was a British actress because he had never seen any of my other movies. So by the time that I left, I was like, ‘Okay, thanks, Marty. See you.’  He was like, ‘Whoa.’  He was, ‘So you’re American?’” Chloe also told me that when she worked on her British accent, she tried to mimic Asa, who actually is British.  It paid off. “You fooled me, kid,” Scorsese said. 

All-in-all, it was a good press conference for a great movie.

Check out Kid Reporter Grace McManus' report from the red-carpet premiere of Hugo! 

—Kid Reporter Grace McManus

Photo: Director/Producer Martin Scorsese (center) discusses a scene with Asa Butterfield (left, as Hugo Cabret) and Chloë Grace Moretz (right, as Isabelle) on the set of Hugo, from Paramount Pictures and GK Films. (Credit: Jaap Buitendijk, © 2011 GK Films, LLC. All Rights Reserved.)