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:

Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan Surfaces 120 Years Later

Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen

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Nicole:

Google Gives Free Voicemail to San Francisco Homeless

Gabriel Garcia Marquez Turnes 80

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Giulia:

Patrick Swayze’s Cancer Battle

Koby Bryant’s PSA for ASR

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Gina:

Reese’s Empowering Bracelet

“Chop Shop” - Dreams In a Place of Despair

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Kerry:

Bamboo Laptop: Will Apple Be Green with Envy?

The Explosive Truth About Twinkies

Jason Castro sang Hallelujah on Tuesday’s American Idol, which made Simon, a fan of Jeff Buckley’s cover of the song, a very happy judge. But the irony of the Hallelujah’s American Idol-level popularity is that when Canadian singer songwriter Leonard Cohen first recorded the song in 1984 on his Various Positions album, Columbia records opted not to release the record because, at this point, Cohen was not as popular as he once was in America. But Cohen remained popular in Europe and in his native Canada. And Hallelujah wound up being one of his most popular songs ever. It was covered by artists including Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan, Regina Spektor, Bono, K.D. Lang, Sheryl Crow, John Cale to name just a few. But it was the late Jeff Buckley’s cover which became the most well known, and was ranked #259 on Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and dubbed “the most perfect song ever” by Q Magazine.

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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. Several topics really stood out this week, including the Oscars as social advocacy inspiration, civil rights and Black History Month, and lots of hot news on entertainment going Green. Check out our most popular posts of the week on these subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Happy Belated “Freedom to Marry” Week!

Rosa and Raymond Parks: Valiant Valentine #5

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Nicole:

Top 10 Oscar Picks to Inspire Social Action

Cornel West: Black Thoughts On Black History Month

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Giulia:

H&M’s “Fashion Against AIDS”

Ed Begley Jr. Goes Green

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Gina:

Top 10 Best Picture Winners That Inspire

Remixing “Chicago 10″

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Kerry:

How To Set the World On Fire Without Burning Out

Eco-Brokers Cater to Green Homebuyers

I was shopping at H & M last week and was impressed with H & M’s “Fashion Against AIDS” clothing collection. Not only are the clothes cute, but they are for a fantastic cause as you can see from this promo video

Hoping to promote awareness especially to youth about HIV/AIDS, H & M teamed up with Designers Against AIDS to create this unisex collection designed by celebs: Rihanna, Good Charlotte, Jade Jagger, My Chemical Romance, Rufus Wainwright, Timbaland, The Cardigans, Chicks on Speed, Justice, Katharine Hamnett, Scissor Sisters, Tiga, Henrick Vibskov and Ziggy Marley. The artists donated their services, and 25%of the proceeds from the collection will go to HIV/AIDS prevention projects around the world.

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