You have probably seen an ad for Oliver Stone’s new biopic “W.” (starring Josh Brolin, on the right, as the sitting president) and have been unsure what to make of it. Will this be chock full of half-baked conspiracy theories? A depressing psychological portrait? Most of all, is it worth your hard-earned dollars (or download time)? 

Well, Newsweek enlisted popular Columbia history professor (and the outgoing Provost who seems to have a little bit more time on his hand these days to comment about politics and the economy) Alan Brinkley to review the film, especially on historical grounds. His verdict? “There are no conspiracy theories, no wild speculations, no paranoia. Stone’s film is not hagiography. It is not propaganda. It is, surprisingly, more or less fair.” That gets Bwog at least a little more interested.

 Make you own judgment when the film hits theaters this Friday, October 17th.

This week’s Newsweek cover story is a piece on Barack Obama, CC ’83. Usually reticent to discuss his years at Alma Mater, Obama talks about his reasoning for transferring from Occidental College to Columbia, “By the end of that year at Occidental, I think I was starting to work it through, and I think part of the attraction of transferring was, it’s hard to remake yourself around people who have known you for a long time.”

The article also offers up positively juicy details on Obama’s life as a CCer: “He stopped drinking and partying, leading what he calls ‘a hermetic existence’ for two years. ‘When I look back on it, it was a pretty grim and humorless time that I went through.’”

Also featured prominently in the news this week is young Meghan McCain, fresh off a oddly discomforting GQ write-up. McCain, CC, ’07, is the subject of a long, equally odd Washington Post profile in which a fellow McCain Blogette writer calls her “really articulate.” That comment is followed mere paragraphs later by McCain’s admission that her dad’s campaign bus is “pimped out” and her concerns that”The blog is trying to keep it real, and trying to show how it really is, and I look like crap!”

And finally, The Blue and White’s very own former editor-in-chief and current Politico reporter Avi Zenilman, CC ’07, was mentioned in David Brooks’ latest New York Times Op-Ed.

Vote for Bwog as U.S. News and World Report’s Best College Alternative Media Outlet. Right now we’re a few points behind the Michigan blog. But the Michigan blog is making campaign promises it can’t fulfill. The blog from Michigan said, “If I win, I’ll buy everyone a puppy. That’s a promise.” Bwog’s not about to make promises it can’t keep; you deserve better, Columbia. And so does America. 

After weeks of breathless waiting, university administrators found out yesterday how their school fared this year on that outsized arbiter of institutional excellence, the US News and World Report college rankings. Nothing much changed, at least in the range Columbia cares about: the span between number one and number nine, where it’s been stuck for three years running.

While we’re playing with statistics, other people like putting things in order too! According to Newsweek, Columbia is about as good as it is global–we come in tenth on a list of the world’s most international universities. Columbia looks a little better in China, where Shanghai Jiao Tong University puts us at number seven in the world, and rankings for research universities done by an independent group give Columbia a preen-worthy fourth place.

Alma Mater, however, does not fare so well on the altruism index. The Washington Monthly, a left-of-center political mag, ranks schools in the categories of Community Service, Research, and Social Mobility–which shakes things up a bit. Columbia languishes at number 36 on this list, behind the likes of Alabama A&M and Ohio State (but ahead of Princeton).

The Monthly‘s choice for the school that’s best for America? MIT. Proving once again that geeks make the world a better place.