For all of you APLAC students past or present, I know you will find this interesting.  Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand's most famous novel.  It is philosophical at heart and is based around the tenents of capitalism and Rand's own philosophy of Objectivism.  It's a 1,000 page book that keeps you interested, but in the end it turns into something altogether very weird.  While I can't say I wholheartedly enjoyed it, it is something interesting to check out.  Before I go on, here is a synopsis:

"Atlas Shrugged explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry (including Taggart Transcontinental, the once mighty transcontinental railroad for which she serves as the operating executive), while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity. In their efforts, these "men of the mind" hope to demonstrate that a world in which the individual is not free to create is doomed, that civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government, and that the destruction of the profit motive leads to the collapse of society."

The theatrical adaption of the book has been a long time coming, and it has neither a star studded cast nor a large budget.  S you can see by the title, this is only the first part.  I'm assuming they're following the divisions of the book and will be making three total films (that is if they even get funded to do Part 2).  So far the movie has received very unfavorable reviews.  Rolling Stone gave the movie 0 stars, Metacritic gave it 25%, and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 6% rating.  As you can see it's not doing very well, but I still want to see it.  Below is the trailer.  The movie was released just this past Friday, but good luck finding it in a theater near you.

Who is John Galt?