The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Before He Was Indicted, Ted Stevens Was “Tubed” by Blair Golson

Strawberry Fields Forever by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

Green Video of the Week: Crazy Alien Plants

Fat Princess Video Game: The Joke’s Not Really That Funny

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Andy Kondrat:

Alaska’s Northwest Passage to Open For Second Straight Year

Stephen Colbert Interview’s Brendan Koerner, Slate’s Green Lantern

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Jon Popham:

L.A. Bans New Fast Food Joints

Flint Michigan Seeks Sponsors…For Police Surveillance Cameras

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Gina Telaroli:

Veganism in Ohio: Update #2, Photo Diary

An Apology for Slavery and Jim Crow? We Shall See…

The City of Flint, Michigan is seeking sponsorship…for its police surveillance cameras. For a mere $30,000 the Midwestern City will plaster the name and logo of an advertiser across one of its police surveillance camera boxes. The advertising space on the boxes comes mounted on a telephone pole and complete with a blue light flashing 24/7 to get would-be perp’s and potential customer’s attention. For those unwilling or unable to cough up the $30K, the City will also accept smaller sums to be prorated in the form of smaller ads spread across the boxes, similar to the advertising on NASCAR vehicles.

Flint, the hometown of General Motors, has suffered terribly from the decline of America’s largest automobile manufacturer, as documented in Michael Moore’s famous debut Roger & Me. The surveillance boxes reflect not only the poverty now rampant in this once flourishing industrial cradle of the Midwest, but the eroded tax base of a City that has to resort to one of the basest forms of capitalism to fund its policing. I just wonder who would advertise on one of these boxes. One would have to figure that the target demographic here would be people most concerned with being caught by one. Perhaps a Bail Bonds Company would be a good fit to add to the feeling of absolute civic collapse in this tragic Michigan community.

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The Supreme Court opened fire on gun control laws declaring that a sweeping ban on handguns in the nation’s capital violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In a 5-4 ruling, this landmark decision states that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to have a gun.

Wow. Is it just me or does this seem like an awful idea? Here are 10 films that make a strong case for gun control:

1) Bowling for Columbine

Michael Moore’s controversial documentary about the roots of America’s predilection for gun violence

2) Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story

Terrence Fisher, a teen living in a housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, had seven of his friends shot and killed by a gun. Terrence is not a gang member or a drug dealer he is just a normal teenager who likes making hip-hop with his friends. What could Terrence do to stop gun violence in Bed-Stuy before losing another friend, or his own life? Terrence and a fellow teen filmmaker, Daniel Howard, picked up a camera to tell the story about gun violence in Bed-Stuy.

3) A History of Viloence

A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core

4) Unforgiven

Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.

5) The Outsiders

When two poor greasers, Johnny, and Ponyboy are assaulted by a vicious gang, the socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.

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Charlton Heston died Saturday night in his home at the age of 84. Heston appeared in many epic and well known films including Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes, The Agony and the Ecstasy and his first big starring role, The Ten Commandments.

My favorite Heston movie was Orson Welles‘ Touch of Evil in which Heston actually played a Mexican. The infamous opening scene is below (it’s all ONE shot..!)

But of course Heston was more than one of the biggest actors to ever grace Hollywood, he spent the greater part a good deal of his later years not acting, but making a political presence.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Dean Karmen Shows Steven Colbert How To Filter Water

St Patricks Day Goes Green with Green Beer: Top 10 Eco Beers

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Nicole:

East Meets West at Dubai Art Fair, But Shadow of Migrant Labor Remains

TakePart’s “I Am Voting For” Campaign Wants You To Vote the Issues

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Giulia:

Simon Cowell Gives Big

Scarlett Johansson Dates For Charity

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Gina:

Top 10 Easter Films

Top 10 Films That Have Helped to Frame the War in Iraq

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Kerry:

Aqua Colbert Massage In a Bottle

Dakota the Mummified Duckbilled Dinosaur Gets Its Rocks Off

Today, March 19, marks the 5 year anniversary of the war in Iraq. Regardless of how you personally feel about the war, one thing that’s have been positive and necessary over the past 5 years, are the many films and other forms of media being made that deal with the war and work to inform us as a public. So as to encourage folks to spend some time reflecting on our current situation I present you with the Top 10 Films That Have Helped to Frame the War in Iraq.

Some of these films deal directly with the conflict, others with ideas of war in general and some with what led us to war and what has happened since. All of these movies are available on Netflx and many should be in your local video stores - so and rent one today:

1. Iraq in Fragments, directed by James Longley

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The Oscars honored several films which highlighted several worthy causes worth paying attention to and taking action for.

If you like the Oscars and taking action, then follow this Top 10 list of actions inspired by the films, the speeches, the parties, and the outfits featured during the Academy Awards.

1. Julie Christie, who was nominated for her amazing performance in the amazing film Away From Her, directed by the Amazing actor/filmmaker Sarah Polley, wears an orange ribbon, representing the “campaign to close Guantanamo,” which Julie says is “a very, very important issue” It’s affecting the whole world.”

with Amnesty International’s online interactive Tear It Down campaign.

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Last week I looked at one of the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary, a category that features amazing films, but gets little publicity. Leading up to the Oscars, I am going to explore all 5 of the films that are nominated.

The doc I chose today comes as a result of my watching the State of the Union last night and because after Thursday I will personally no longer have health insurance. The annual speech designed to explore how our country is doing got me to thinking that the state of my personal union isn’t very different than the country.   The majority of my friends don’t have any health insurance and despite making good wages, with the amount of rent they have to pay just to live in New York City, they can’t afford to shell out 300+ dollars to have insurance (when I quit my full-time job, I asked how much it would be to get Cobra - the answer was an astounding 490 dollars a month).

Michael Moore’s Sicko aims to find out why my friends and I and millions of Americans don’t have health insurance. Considering where we live and the resources our country has it seems strange that our health system would be ranked 37th in the world:

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Health care is a major issue with days, with some 47 million Americans currently living with no health insurance. So to see the types of numbers associated with the ex-CEO of UnitedHealth’s lawsuit, kind of makes me sick (ironically I am covered by United Health). William McGuire has agreed to give up more than 400 million dollars in stock options and retirement benefits in order to settle his lawsuit. The scandal dealt in backdated stock options and with the lawsuit settled, McGuire doesn’t have to admit any guilt..Sure seems like a lot of money, especially considering 90 percent of my friends can’t go to the doctor without forking over large amounts of money. If you haven’t checked out Michael Moore’s Sicko you should, it’s a depressingly frank look at the system in which we live and how we look out for folks in our country. Also, even though guys like William Mcguire are out there trying to get rich while their neighbors get sicker, there are some groups that are working to find alternatives to traditional health care. The Rock Dove Collective in New York City is a great group that is working to provide services to those who need it :  

“The Rock Dove Collective is a radical community health exchange working to address the need for accessible and anti-oppressive health care in our communities. We coordinate a network of health practitioners who provide physical, mental, sexual, emotional, social and spiritual care from a (radical/progressive) perspective on well-being.Many of our practitioners accept mutual aid in exchange for their services; the Rock Dove Collective strongly encourages this and believes that incorporating mutual aid into more instances in our lives will help to set the foundation for a freer and more just world.”

Roger B. Smith, former CEO of General Motors and silent star of the acclaimed documentary Roger and Me is dead. He died after a brief bout with an unspecified illness in Detroit.Smith was notorious for changing the automotive industry when it was just on the brink of becoming global and also for giving and then taking back lots of jobs from hard working Michigan residents. This isn’t an uncommon problem for companies these days as trying to stay alive in the global climate while still staying true to local roots is more complicated than one might think. Just ask the folks at the Lego Corporation.Economics and politics aside, it seems despite all his efforts Michael Moore won’t get to have a chat with Smith. Check out the trailer for his award winning documentary and then Netflix it (or whatever you do) to get the whole story.