Xpress, the Coolest Section of the St. Petersburg Times, is the home for features, news and views of interest to young readers. Most of the work in Xpress, which appears on Mondays in Floridian, is produced by the Times' X-Team. The team of journalists ages 9-17 from around the Tampa Bay area is selected every year at the end of the school year to serve during the following school term. The current team of 12 was chosen out of 150 applicants. Watch for X-Team application forms in Xpress during the month of May.
Read the reviews by Xpress Film Critic Billy Norris
X-files
Shiver me timbers, matey!
By Compiled from staff and wire reports
Published April 4, 2005
Remember pretending to be a pirate as a little kid? With the peg leg, eye patch, parrot, hook and all that jazz? The only thing missing from that list is a killer pirate name. Enter the Pirate Name Generator at www.fidius.org/quiz/pirate Simply complete the short quiz and your pirate name will be generated for you. All you have to do is provide your real first name and gender, and answer a few stock questions such as: "Are you tough?" "Do others fear your mad business skills?" and "Are you musical?" Based on the information you provide, the site will come up with a name for you. So get your name, or prepare to walk the plank, matey!
What will they think of next?
BlackBerrys, that phone/organizer/you name it, has inspired Sakar International to make a line of hands-free phones/organizers for kids. And if adults can enjoy BlackBerrys, then kids can indulge in BlueBerrys, GreyBerrys, GrapeBerrys and StrawBerrys. These look-alike toys are functional phones (just plug them into your home phone jack) and include a hands-free earpiece so kids can multitask while they're talking. The organizer has space for kids to store phone numbers, e-mail addresses and calendars. There's also a password protection feature that keeps your info private. And at $19.99, that's a lot cheaper than the real thing, which can cost $200 or more. The toy Berrys can be purchased at major retailers.
Targeting the tweens
There's already lots at Target for tweenage girls to fawn over: Hello Kitty, SpongeBob, Bratz. But now the megastore has created Dottie Loves, a signature product line for girls up to age 12. Dottie, who has bubblegum-pink hair and a red dress with white polka dots, loves a lot of things: furry phones and furry duffel bags; flavored lip gloss and glitter sunglasses; cowboy hats and feather boas. Prices range from $2.99 to $39.99. The line made its debut last month.
Xpress quote
"I was on tour with (my former band) Dream Street, and I had on these really heavy pants with drawstrings. I would always tie them really tight and do a last check before the lights came up. But once, the string broke, and my pants went straight to my ankles. I was standing onstage in front of a whole crowd in my underwear."
- Singer-actor Jesse McCartney in Teen People on his most embarrassing moment
