Okay, we've always heard that Northwestern University's a pretty tough school, but this is ridiculous. Rumor has it that students there who are learning how to write and produce soap operas actually have to do it in Italian. Folks, believe us-- we've been on the air for almost three years now, and we have to say, learning to produce a soap opera is hard enough without having to do it in a foreign freakin' language. When juggling three adultery plot lines, explaining the sudden reappearance of a character who died (twice), and trying to come up with a "switched at birth" twist that hasn't been used within the past six months, the last thing anyone needs is to have to conjugate foreign verbs and try to remember whether "divorce" is a masculine or feminine noun.

Oh, wait a sec... Seems we were mistaken. Those aren't broadcasting students; they're third-year Italian students (as in, students of the Italian language, not scholars from Rome). Apple's posted another one of its patented "feel-good" stories about Mac use, and this one's about how Italian students at Northwestern are picking up the lingo the fun way. These lucky pupils are writing and producing their own Italian-language soap opera, "Navigare Il Fiume d'Amore Senza Remo" ("Navigating The River Of Love Without An Oar"), and they're doing it entirely on Macs. Yes, they actually get class credit for watching Italian soap operas and then making their own-- with the help of Canon DV camcorders and iMovie. Ain't that a kick in the head?

Now, here at AtAT our Italian skills are limited to whatever's on the menu at Bertucci's and what we've managed to pick up from watching "Cartoon Planet" ("Sono una tazza di tè"-- "I am a glass of tea"). That's why we had to turn to BabelFish to learn that "causa" is Italian for "lawsuit." Unfortunately, our extensive legal department (read: a small promotional teddy bear wearing a Westlaw sweater) tells us that just because we were making soaps on the Mac years before Northwestern started horning in on our action doesn't mean we have any grounds for a case. Oh, well... Suing an academic establishment is probably terrible PR anyway, and seeing as how we're not Apple Legal, we'll probably steer clear of such moves. We've got all the drama we can handle right now, anyway.