USA DAILY HOT SEARCHES

The fake baby from American Sniper

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:31:00 +0000

The fake baby from American Sniper

Not sure if Clint just skimped on the budget or didn't trust Cooper with a real baby, but this 'straight from Toys R' Us doll' is painfully obvious.

ESPN's Stuart Scott dies after lengthy battle with cancer

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:04:00 +0000

ESPN's Stuart Scott dies after lengthy battle with cancer

Stuart Scott, an ESPN anchor and reporter whose catchphrases became part of the American popular sports vernacular for the past two decades, died Sunday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 49.

"ESPN and everyone in the sports world have lost a true friend and a uniquely inspirational figure in Stuart Scott," said ESPN president John Skipper. "Who engages in mixed martial arts training in the midst of chemotherapy treatments? Who leaves a hospital procedure to return to the set?

"His energetic and unwavering devotion to his family and to his work while fighting the battle of his life left us in awe, and he leaves a void that can never be replaced."

Scott, who received a standing ovation during his acceptance of the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2014 ESPY Awards in July, addressed his uncertain future at the time.

"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer," Scott told the audience. "You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live."

FOR THE WIN

Stuart Scott's ESPYs speech was his finest television moment

Scott joined ESPN in 1993 for the launch of ESPN2, quickly moving up the ranks as one of the network's main SportsCenter anchors thanks to his rapid-fire delivery and unique phrasing to describe highlights. While Scott might not have invented the term "Boo-yah," he certainly popularized.

By 2008, Scott was ubiquitous among the network's programming. He anchored late-night SportsCenter shows, hosted Monday Night Countdown on location during the NFL season, served as the lead host for NBA on ESPN and ABC and interviewed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.

It was a workload he'd do his best to maintain during several recurrences of cancer, a diagnosis which first appeared during an emergency appendectomy in 2007. The disease reappeared in 2011, when Scott announced on Twitter that he was undergoing chemotherapy. He never revealed what kind of cancer he was fighting, and told the New York Times in March that it was not colon cancer.

By the time the illness reemerged in December 2012, Scott began to share more public details about his plight. In January 2013, he told USA TODAY about his routine at the time, which included only missing his ESPN work days for chemotherapy treatments every other Monday, after which he'd go train at a mixed-martial arts gym.

"I can take this," he said at the time. "Deal with it easier than some people I see. So I think for the ones who can't punch a heavy bag, can't spar, who can't do any of that. I'll do it for you."

Scott's determination was well known to executives at ESPN long before his diagnosis. In 2002, Scott missed several months of work after his left eye was damaged by a football while he was working out with the New York Jets for an upcoming story. Due to previous problems with both eyes, including a right detached retina, Scott had to retrain his right eye to be his dominant eye, a task that presented a challenge when having to read from a teleprompter.

Scott is survived by his two daughters, Taelor, 19,and Sydni, 14, the latter of whom joined him onstage at the end of his ESPYs speech after he asked her to "come up here and give dad a hug because I need one."

While Scott thanked his bosses at ESPN during that memorable oration, he made it clear that there was no career moment that could ever surpass what he considered his life's best highlight.

"The best thing I have ever done, the best thing I will ever do," Scott said. "Is be a dad to Taelor and Sydni."

"Taelor and Sydni, I love you guys more than I will ever be able to express. You two are my

heartbeat. I am standing here on this stage tonight because of you."

Source : http://www.9news.com/

The Beverly Hillbillies star Donna Douglas dies

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:44:00 +0000

The Beverly Hillbillies star Donna Douglas dies

Douglas played tomboy Elly May in the hit comedy about a backwoods family who move to Beverly Hills after striking it rich.

The hit sitcom ran for nine years

Donna Douglas, who starred in the popular 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, has died aged 82.

She passed away at her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, her niece Charlene Smith said.

Douglas played tomboy Elly May Clampett in the hit comedy about a Tennessee family who move to Beverly Hills after striking it rich from oil on their land.

The series, which ran from 1962 to 1971, also starred the late Buddy Ebsen and Irene Ryan as well as Max Baer Jr, who turns 77 on Sunday.

Douglas had long been out of the entertainment business, and was fighting pancreatic cancer.

Douglas worked in real estate after leaving the showbiz world

She was picked from 500 actresses to play Elly May, and said she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy.

Her childhood in Pride, Louisiana, came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat.

"I had milked cows before," she recalled in an interview in 2009. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it."

Her niece said: "She was always happy, and she really loved animals - just like her character on The Beverly Hillbillies. She was a wonderful lady, a very good Christian lady."

Douglas was married twice, to Roland John Bourgeois Jr until 1954, and then to The Beverly Hillbillies director Robert M Leeds. They divorced in 1980 after nine years of marriage.

UFC 181: CM Punk Interview

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:55:00 +0000

UFC 181: CM Punk Interview

Former WWE superstar CM Punk meets with UFC commentator Joe Rogan to discuss his UFC debut coming in 2015.

Fifty Shades of Grey - Official Trailer (HD)

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 06:40:00 +0000

Fifty Shades of Grey - Official Trailer (HD)

Fifty Shades Of Grey - Official Trailer (HD)

In Theaters Valentine's Day 2015

'Pitch Perfect 2' Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 06:32:00 +0000

'Pitch Perfect 2' Trailer

Disney's Cinderella Official US Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 06:25:00 +0000

Disney's Cinderella Official US Trailer

Have courage and be kind. Watch the brand new trailer for Disney’s Cinderella, starring Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, and Helena Bonham Carter. See the film in theatres March 13, 2015.

August Alsina - No Love ft. Nicki Minaj

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 05:49:00 +0000

August Alsina - No Love ft. Nicki Minaj

Vine Star Curtis Lepore On Trial for Allegedly Raping Vine Star GF

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 09:38:00 +0000

Vine Star Curtis Lepore

On Trial for Allegedly Raping Vine Star GF

Vine megastar Curtis Lepore was in court Tuesday ... facing charges of raping Vine star girlfriend Jessi Smiles while she was sleeping, TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Lepore was arrested in October -- and released on $100,000 bail -- but it flew under the radar. During Tuesday's hearing he pled not guilty.

Here's the back story. We're told Jessi flew to see Curtis in L.A. last August but things didn't go well and they broke up. Jessi stayed in L.A. and a few days later got a concussion while shooting a Vine video.

Sources close to Jessi tell TMZ ... Curtis then called her and offered to help her while she was recovering. The victim claims Curtis came over, Jessi fell asleep and that's when he allegedly raped her

The day after the incident, Jessi tweeted, "Be careful of who you trust. Always be cautious for your safety. Be strong and don't let your guard down..."

It's pretty insane. Curtis and Jessi's relationship was a HUGE deal in the Vine world -- they initially got in touch via the social media platform last summer and subsequently met in person in NYC ... in front of hundreds of their Vine fans.

Curtis' lawyer tells TMZ, "Things are not always as they appear and there are two sides to every story."

BTW ... Jessi gave us permission to use her name.

Source : http://www.tmz.com/

Winner of black rhino hunting auction: My $350,000 will help save the species

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:38:00 +0000

Winner of black rhino hunting auction: My $350,000 will help save the species

Corey Knowlton is on edge sitting inside a Las Vegas hotel room, surrounded by a private security detail, explaining why he spent $350,000 for the chance to hunt a black rhinoceros in the southern African nation of Namibia.

"If I sound emotional, it's because I have people threatening my kids," Knowlton told CNN. "It's because I have people threatening to kill me right now [that] I'm having to talk to the FBI and have private security to keep my children from being skinned alive and shot at."

Knowlton was outed over social media as the winner of the Dallas Safari Club's auction for a black rhino hunting permit from the Namibian government last weekend. It didn't take long for the threats and vitriol to start pouring in.

"You are a BARBARIAN. People like you need to be the innocent that are hunted," posted one woman on Knowlton's Facebook page.

Some sounded even more sinister. "I find you and I will KILL you," read another threat. "I have friends who live in the area and will have you in there sights also," wrote another commenter.

"A hunter afraid of being hunted?! How do you think the rhino feels idiot?" responded one woman to Knowlton's fears.

Despite the backlash, Knowlton has decided to engage the raging debate over how to protect an endangered species, such as the black rhino, by putting down his own money to help save the species and raise awareness about wildlife conservation.

"I respect the black rhino," said Knowlton. "A lot of people say, 'Do you feel like a bigger man?' or 'Is this a thrill for you?' The thrill is knowing that we are preserving wildlife resources, not for the next generation, but for eons."

Knowlton, 35, is a Dallas-based hunting consultant for The Hunting Consortium, an international guide service. He's also the co-host of a hunting show on The Outdoor Channel called "Jim Shockey's The Professionals." Knowlton's online biography says he's hunted more than 120 species on almost every continent.

Hunting has a long been a passion of his -- Knowlton said he started hunting as a young boy. He said he grew up poor, but made a good living in oil production.

"I'm a hunter. I want to experience a black rhino. I want to be there and be a part of it. I believe in the cycle of life. I don't believe that meat, you know, comes from the grocery store. I believe that animal died and I respect it," Knowlton said Thursday night on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live."

He describes himself as a passionate conservationist and desperately wants to explain to his critics why hunting one old black rhino can help save critically endangered species around the world. He knows it's a difficult conversation full of scathing-hot emotion.

Humane Society: We'll block his trophy

The Humane Society opposed the Dallas Safari Club Auction and says it plans to fight Knowlton's efforts to bring the black rhino trophy into the United States.

If Knowlton does hunt and kill the black rhino, he'll need a special permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to import the animal into the country under the Endangered Species Act.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society, wrote in an online blog post that killing one endangered animal to save the species is an "Orwellian idea" and worries that it will inspire hunters to pay millions of dollars for the chance to kill orangutans, elephants or tigers.

"Where will it end?" wrote Pacelle. "The first rule of protecting the rarest animals in the world is to protect each living member of that species."

Helicopters versus drones: The cost of the war on rhinos

But Knowlton argues that, in this instance, killing one black rhino will protect the species throughout Namibia and that this idea is supported by scientists and conservationists around the world.

Of the world's approximately 5,000 black rhinos, about 1,700 are in Namibia.

Knowlton says the Namibian government has identified a handful of black rhinos that can be hunted. These are animals that are old, no longer capable of breeding and are considered a dangerous threat to other younger animals.

He said the threat to the rhino is from its own kind. "One of the other ear-tagged killer rhinos is going to injure it. And then either lions or hyenas are going to drag it down. It's going to die [in] a horrible manner, slowly."

So Knowlton argues, why not let a hunter pay a massive amount of money to take out a threat to the rest of the species. The Dallas Safari Club says the $350,000 paid by Knowlton will be donated to the Namibian government's black rhino conservation efforts.

"As much as I would love them all to live forever, they are going to die," said Knowlton. "The older males are killing each other, and something has to be done about it."

Knowlton's supporters: Science backs him up

Knowlton's supporters say this conservation strategy is based in smart science. The International Union for Conservation of Nature supported the Dallas Safari Club's black rhino hunting permit auction.

The union says its mission is to work with governments and conservation groups around the world to find "practical solutions" to conservation efforts around the world.

It also says "trophy hunting is a fundamental pillar of Namibia's conservation approach and instrumental in its success." And that "well-managed recreational hunting and trophy hunting" have had a positive impact in "stimulating population increases for rhino."

But other animal rights organizations have criticized this conservation strategy and argue that the better focus would be eco-tourism, raising money from people willing to pay to see endangered animals up close in the wild.

Knowlton says the intense and controversial publicity leading up to the Dallas Safari Club auction scared several serious bidders away. Knowlton said going into the auction there were about 10 serious bidders, but by the time the bidding started, that number had dwindled to about three.

"It was the most unfortunate thing. There were people willing to spend $500,000 to a million dollars," said Knowlton. "After what I'm going through now, I understand why they decided not to do it."

Knowlton says he does not yet when he'll schedule his hunting expedition to Namibia. A great deal of planning and preparation must be done, he said.

Knowlton wants to preserve the black rhino's hide and then donate the rhino meat to needy communities in Namibia.

"I speak with my heart. I'm passionate about this," said Knowlton. "I think with the money that I contributed, with everything that is at stake and everything there is to be gained by the world to learn about sustainable use, I think this could be the greatest experience of my life."

Knowlton says if the hunt doesn't go perfectly it could also be one of the worst experiences of his life.

"I don't think it makes me a bigger man; I actually think, Piers, I think it could make me a dead man," he told CNN's Morgan.

"This is probably the most dangerous situation that I'll ever be in outside of walking around right now with all the people that want to kill me."

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/

Teen killed after shooting several people, including 2 ATF agents, police say

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:35:00 +0000

Teen killed after shooting several people, including 2 ATF agents, police say

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

All the victims shot by the 19-year-old are expected to survive

Two ATF agents were in the area and helped search for the suspect

They both were shot

A teen was shot and killed Thursday night in Oklahoma after shooting several people, including two ATF agents, police said.

All the victims shot by the 19-year-old are expected to survive, police said.

The teen, identified as Henry Jackson, was killed at 9:30 p.m. Thursday after going on a two-day crime spree, said Sgt. Ryan Hunnicutt of the Ardmore Police Department.

Authorities say the incident started on Wednesday night when a 19-year-woman called 911 and said she had been shot in the arm.

About four blocks away from that shooting, another man was shot in the hip Thursday afternoon. Officers began to gather information that pointed to Jackson as a suspect in both incidents, Hunnicutt said.

Local police officers were searching for Jackson and two ATF agents in the area for a different matter joined the search.

The agents found Jackson in a car Thursday evening. He opened fire on them, wounding them, Hunnicutt said.

One of the agents was treated at the scene, the other was hospitalized with minor injuries.

Later, Ardmore police saw Jackson traveling in a Ford Taurus and a chase ensued. The suspect fired at officers, Hunnicutt said, and officers fired back, killing him.

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/

5 things we learned from Oscar nominations

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:32:00 +0000

5 things we learned from Oscar nominations

The nominations for the Academy Awards were presented Thursday morning, and as always there were trends and surprises. Here are a few things we learned:

1. Make way for older women.

It's not for nothing that one of best jokes from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globes referred to the lack of meaty roles for actresses of a certain age: "Meryl Streep (is) so brilliant in 'August: Osage County,' proving that there are still great parts in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps over 60," said Fey. And yes, Streep was nominated for an Oscar (for best actress) as well.

But also nominated were Judi Dench, 79, and perhaps more surprisingly, June Squibb, 84. Squibb is a longtime character actress -- you may remember her as Elderly Woman in "Far From Heaven" or Mrs. Cone in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" -- who got a chance to shine as Bruce Dern's exasperated yet caring wife in "Nebraska." In fact, of the 10 actresses nominated for either best actress or best supporting actress, six are over 40 and two others -- Amy Adams and Sally Hawkins -- are in their late 30s.

2. Diversity, but no diversity.

This year featured a number of notable movies starring or directed by people of color, including "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Fruitvale Station," "42," "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" and "12 Years a Slave." But of that group, only "12 Years" got any support from the Oscars, with nine nominations. "Mandela" picked up a nod for a U2 song; "Fruitvale" -- despite showcasing rising talents Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler -- got nothing. And despite a $100 million box office -- and raves for performers Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey -- "The Butler" also came up with zero. During the Globes show, there was a Twitter hashtag protesting the lack of diversity: #notbuyingit. You'll probably see it again on Oscar night.

2014 awards season: Does diversity matter more than wins?

3. Where's Tom Hanks? What about Oprah?

Tom Hanks is one of the most beloved film stars in Hollywood. He's a successful producer and two-time Oscar winner. After a sluggish few years, marked by "Cloud Atlas," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Larry Crowne," he was back in the good graces at the box office and with critics, thanks to "Captain Phillips" and "Saving Mr. Banks." The result? No Oscar nominations. Maybe he split the vote; maybe voters just weren't that impressed. (They certainly weren't by "Mr. Banks.")

As for Winfrey -- also a successful producer and personality -- the theory is that "The Butler's" summer release hurt its chances. But it was still a surprise that her name wasn't listed for either the Oscars or the Golden Globes. Better luck at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Oprah.

4. There are no sure things.

The handicappers were wrong about a lot. Take a gander:

• Snubbed: Robert Redford, "All Is Lost." An almost wordless solo performance goes for naught at the Oscars. "Lost," indeed.

• Snubbed: The Coen brothers, "Inside Llewyn Davis." Despite their offbeat production, Ethan and Joel have become Oscar favorites -- even if it's just a scriptwriting nod. Not this year. Llewyn Davis will have to keep walking the streets (probably with a waterlogged shoe).

• Snubbed: Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks." So much for "Banks" despite its Disney pedigree.

• Snubbed: James Gandolfini, "Enough Said." The academy thought "Enough" was apparently too much, since neither Julia Louis-Dreyfus nor Nicole Holofcener's script were picked, either.

• Surprise!: Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine." The academy loves Woody Allen screenplays (he got nominated, too), and Hawkins wasn't overlooked.

• Surprise!: "Philomena." A small, character-driven movie about a woman searching for her son? Best picture, best actress (Dench) and best adapted screenplay nominations are the prizes.

Special coverage: All things awards season

5. Love for "Dallas Buyers Club."

Perhaps "Hustle," "12 Years" and "Gravity" will duke it out for best picture. But remember "no sure things," because when it came to audience response at the nominations, "Dallas Buyers Club" was the clear winner, greeted with cheers for every nomination. It has an Oscar-friendly subject -- a heroic battle against AIDS -- and strong performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. It received a surprising six nominations.

The Academy Awards are March 2.

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/

'Gilligan's Island' Professor, actor Russell Johnson, dead at 89

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:27:00 +0000

'Gilligan's Island' Professor, actor Russell Johnson, dead at 89

Actor Russell Johnson, best known as Professor in the 1960s TV sitcom "Gilligan's Island," died Thursday, his agent said. Johnson was 89.

Johnson played the iconic role of Professor Roy Hinkley, whose scientific schemes to get the castaways rescued were always foiled by Gilligan's bumbling.

He died at his home in Washington, where he lived with his wife, Connie. She and their daughter, Kimberly, were at his side, said agent Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson is also survived by a stepson, Court, and a grandson, he said.

Johnson worked up until his death, signing autographs over the holidays, said Eisenstadt. He called Johnson's death "unexpected."

The chief deputy coroner in Kitsap County, Washington, told CNN that Johnson died from natural causes.

Johnson was "just a positive and nice guy" who always treated people with respect, his agent said.

His acting career began in the early 1950s with many jobs as a character actor on television. He played Marshal Gib Scott in two seasons of "Black Saddle," a Western that ran in 1959 and 1960.

Johnson acted in dozens of television shows after the four seasons on "Gilligan's Island," but his career seemed stranded on its own island because of the popular sitcom role.

A noteworthy big screen role was as a nuclear physicist in the 1955 science fiction film "This Island Earth."

Share your memories

Johnson was in Ray Bradbury's 1953 sci-fi classic "It Came From Outer Space."

Before becoming an actor, Johnson served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He was on a B-24 Liberator when it was shot down during a bombing raid over the Philippines in 1945, according to his official biography, and used his G.I. Bill benefits to pay for acting school after the war.

Johnson, in a 2004 interview for the Archive of American Television said the success of "Gilligan's Island, which he never expected to last more than the initial order of 13 episodes, was the result of the "great chemistry" of the cast.

Tina Louise, who played the glamorous Hollywood starlet Ginger on "Gilligan's Island said she was " very saddened to hear of the passing of Russell Johnson."

"My prayers and condolences go out to his wife Constance and his family," Louise said. "He will always be in our hearts and remembered from Gilligan's island as part of American pop culture history. He will truly be missed."

Advice to young actors

Johnson's advice to young actors was to "prepare yourself."

"Most of us have to really learn how to do what we do, and that takes some studying and being part of an acting group," he said. "Preparation is everything, and that means studying."

Another important ingredient to acting success is perseverance, he said. "You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't persevere, if you don't stick to it, it doesn't mean anything."

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/

Colby fire above Glendora burns homes, spews smoke over L.A. Basin

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:24:00 +0000

Colby fire above Glendora burns homes, spews smoke over L.A. Basin

The fast-moving blaze is probably the harbinger of a rare winter fire season sparked by the driest conditions on record.

A fast-moving wildfire in the hills above Glendora burned at least 1,700 acres of withered brush and five homes Thursday, and sent a smoky pall over much of the Los Angeles Basin — the likely harbinger of a rare winter fire season sparked by the driest conditions on record.

Weather officials had been warning about the fire danger for months, capped by a January that had the windy, nosebleed feel of October.

The native chaparral that burns so easily in normal circumstances was parched and ready to combust.

The fire sent smoke and ash south and west toward the Pacific Ocean. People as far away as Huntington Beach and Santa Monica smelled the wood smoke and saw their shadows cast in an eerie red light.

Commuters on the 10 Freeway reported seeing the flames from as far away as West Covina, with cars caked in dust and ash 30 miles from the fire.

Winds were gusting to 30 mph Thursday morning and were projected to climb to 40 mph by Thursday night, said Scott Sukup of the National Weather Service. With relative humidity expected to remain in the single digits through Friday and temperatures forecast to hover in the 80s and 90s, he said, "it's not going to get any better" for firefighters.

The blaze was first reported about 5:30 a.m. Three men arrested later by police said it started with an illegal campfire they were using to keep warm in the pre-dawn chill. A gust of wind blew embers down the canyon.

About 550 firefighters and support staff, with two tanker planes and eight helicopters, scrambled to keep the flames from spreading into Glendora's northern neighborhoods or moving west into parts of Azusa.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for all residents north of Sierra Madre Avenue and east of San Gabriel Canyon Road. By late evening, those orders had been lifted for many neighborhoods.

Brad Smith, 30, was dropping off a friend on Englewild Drive shortly after 5:30 a.m. when he saw the flickering glow about a quarter of a mile away. He rushed toward it and started going door to door to wake up residents.

Within minutes, the heat was upon him. "It got really scary," Smith said. "People were just getting their stuff out and really rushing with what little time they had."

Rita Abouchedid drove her three teenage children to their grandparents' house and then returned to their home on Kregmont Drive, which her husband built a decade ago.

"My husband didn't want to leave, we couldn't leave him alone," she said.

As she stood on her roof, other family and friends had returned to use hoses on the flames as they advanced into her backyard. Palm trees lining her street had caught fire and were raining burning debris, and electrical transformers were arcing. The smoke made it hard to see.

"It's like a dream, it isn't real," Abouchedid said.

Meteorologists say there is no end in sight to the high-pressure ridge over the Pacific that is keeping storms offshore and parching the state from Humboldt to San Diego.

Federal fire officials are well past being able to identify a "fire season," so a large blaze in January is no longer seen as an anomaly.

California's year-round potential for fire comes with a steep cost. CalFire and U.S. Forest Service officials maintain a system of hiring seasonal fire crews that are laid off as the traditional fire season fades. But when the winter fire outlook factors in the state's prolonged drought and super-dry fuels, fire bosses must make a calculation: weighing the expense of keeping crews on standby versus scrambling to find appropriate resources to throw at an unexpected winter fire.

Likewise, costly firefighting equipment such as helicopters and water-scooping planes are not usually kept on contract past the fall months. Thus, when a blaze is sparked at this time of year, agencies pay a premium to hire aircraft at a moment's notice.

A red flag warning was extended for the foothills and other parts of Los Angeles County through 3 p.m. Friday, said Sukup of the weather service.

A second brush fire started late Thursday morning near Pyramid Lake and burned two acres before being knocked down by crews by 12:30 p.m.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that air quality was expected to quickly decline to unhealthful levels across the region and remain poor. Officials said residents from the San Gabriel Valley to the Pomona Valley, in particular, should avoid outdoor activities, and that the smoke and ash could affect people with lung and heart disease and asthma as far south as Long Beach.

Two firefighters and two residents suffered minor injuries.

Glendora Police Chief Tim Staab said the fire started near where Colby Trail meets Glendora Mountain Road, an area that is not a designated camping spot.

The three men were tossing pieces of paper onto the fire, Staab said, when a gust of wind "just blew embers all over the place."

"They got scared and ran," Staab told The Times. "Two ran in one direction, one ran in the other."

Glendora police Cpl. Nancy Miranda said she first spotted two of them when she was helping with evacuations on North Palm Drive. A resident pointed to them running down a wash alongside the road, apparently trying not to be seen.

When she stopped the disheveled pair, they said they had lost track of their friend. They were covered in ash and smelled like smoke, but denied starting the fire.

"I knew immediately that something was off," Miranda said.

She searched their backpacks and, finding marijuana and cigarettes, took them to the Glendora police headquarters.

Their friend was picked up by forest officials as he walked down Glendora Mountain Road, and police took him into custody.

Eventually one of them admitted accidentally starting the fire and was "apologetic," Staab said. The trio had been sitting around a campfire "trying to stay warm," he said, when a "gust of wind came up."

"There's absolutely no evidence that these three men started the fire on purpose," Staab said

The suspects — Clifford Eugene Henry, 22, of Glendora; Jonathan Carl Jarrell, 23, of Irwindale; and Steven Robert Aguirre, 21, a Los Angeles transient — were arrested on suspicion of recklessly starting a fire and were being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

"They just didn't show very much common sense this morning in starting this campfire," Staab said. "Especially when it's breezy out? Especially when it's the driest season on record? Please."

At the western edge of the smoke and flames, Ana Vasquez stared up at a ridgeline trying to spot her husband who was spraying fire hoses and hacking at brush to protect an avocado grove her family has owned for more than 50 years.

He called every few minutes. Her tone was desperate.

"He's up there somewhere and it's getting hairy," she said.

A few blocks to the west, dozens of firetrucks and their personnel were gathering along San Gabriel Canyon Road in Azusa to prevent the blaze from entering Azusa Canyon and threatening hundreds of homes in a community known as Mountain Cove.

n the upper reaches of Glendora, Ron Galloway, 63, stared at the smoldering remains of a guesthouse at a historic mansion once owned by the Singer family, where he has lived for four years.

Spanish-style arches were all that remained in front of heaps of broken roof tiles and smoking lumber. Galloway's Toyota MR2 was burned to its frame, its wheel rims melted like mercury on the ground.

"I lost everything. How am I going to survive?" Galloway said.

The mansion was built in 1924 and later owned by the heirs of the Singer family, of the Singer sewing machine company.

When he saw the fire, Galloway got out with just his cellphone and the clothes he was wearing. His roommate, Rudy Rosas, 47, grabbed his Social Security card, birth certificate, two pairs of pants and two shirts and rode to the bottom of the hill on his bicycle. He watched the fire crackle across the hill as others joined him.

Palm trees rained embers down into the neighborhood.

When a plume of thick black smoke spiraled into the air, Galloway said he knew the building and all his possessions were gone.

At least 11 people will be displaced by the destruction of the Catholic retreat. In all, officials said 17 structures were damaged. By Thursday afternoon, firefighters said they had finally stopped the blaze's forward spread.

Source : http://www.latimes.com/

Kate Gosselin's twins go silent on 'Today'

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 08:13:00 +0000

Kate Gosselin's twins go silent on 'Today'

Kate Gosselin appeared on "Today" with daughters Cara (left) and Mady on Thursday.

Despite Kate Gosselin's command to her twin daughters to just "spit it out," neither Cara nor Mady Gosselin were interested in speaking much on the "Today" show Thursday.

The 13-year-old twins, who became famous as kids on the TLC reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8," appeared on the morning show along with their mother for an interview with "Today's" Savannah Guthrie.

The segment was supposed to be a chance for the twins to elaborate on the conversation they sparked with People magazine last week, in which they said their lives are pretty normal for having grown up under the lens of reality TV.

The only problem was that neither twin wanted to speak up during the awkward sit-down -- instead, they glanced around at their mom and each other.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

When Guthrie asked Mady what she would say to the world about how her family is doing in their post-reality life, she was met with an "um" and a long pause.

Mom Kate jumped in with instructions: "Mady, your words," she said. "It's your chance. Spit it out." When that didn't work, Guthrie tried to get a response from Cara, who was just as quiet.

"This is their chance to talk, this is the most wordless I've heard them all morning," Kate told Guthrie. "I don't want to speak for them."

After some coaxing and a few more lengthy silences, Mady piped up to speak for her sister.

"A lot of people think that filming our show has damaged us," she said. "But it's only really helped."

The original series, "Jon & Kate Plus 8," ended in 2009 along with Jon and Kate Gosselin's marriage. Kate Gosselin soldiered on with another reality show, "Kate Plus 8," but that ended up getting canceled as well. Aside from the occasional celebrity weekly story or OWN interview, Kate, Jon, and their brood -- which includes their 9-year-old sextuplets, Alexis, Aaden, Collin, Hannah, Joel and Leah -- have mostly faded from view.

But with the cover of People magazine's January 20 issue, Cara and Mady step back into the spotlight to correct any misconceptions the public has about their family.

"People expect us to be damaged," Cara said, as her sister chimed in that others "think we're supposed to be so messed up, like, 'Ooh, the poor Gosselin kids, they're going to be scarred for life, waaaaah.' Here's the big news: We're not messed up."

"It's so false," Cara said. "We're fine. We're better than ever, actually."

Those words are likely a relief to anyone who caught the "Today" interview and wondered why the two were so quiet.

According to Kate Gosselin, any press that they do are things that the twins agree to do.

"It's really frustrating when there is so much out there that is not true," she told Guthrie Thursday. "We know the truth, and that's why they're here, even though they're tongue-tied this morning, to say, 'hey, we're OK, we're doing well.'"

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/

TONYA AND NANCY SAGA WAS JUST BIZARRE

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 07:57:00 +0000

TONYA AND NANCY SAGA WAS JUST BIZARRE

It was a melodrama that started in Detroit with the kneecapping of Olympic gold-medal front-runner Nancy Kerrigan, moved like a cyclone to Portland, Ore., where her chief rival, Tonya Harding, lived, then skipped across the Atlantic Ocean and followed them to the sleepy village of Hamar, Norway, where the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games figure skating competition was being held. It remains a maelstrom you had to be in the middle of to fully appreciate.

The saga of Tonya and Nancy seemed too surreal to be true even as it was unfolding in real time 20 years ago. The Zapruder-like tape of Kerrigan wailing "Why? Why? Why?" after she was clubbed on the knee -- in an ill-conceived conspiracy hatched by Jeff Gillooly, Harding's live-in ex-husband, and three cohorts who fancied themselves henchmen-for-hire -- lives in sports infamy. The kicker is, the plot that was clumsily pulled off on Jan. 6, 1994, at the U.S. national figure skating championships at Detroit's Cobo Arena, began to unravel in mere days because of their foolishness and the paper trail they left.

Even with the benefit of hindsight, it's hard to pick out which part of the tale was most bizarre.

Harding, then 23, grew up in a trailer park, liked to play pool and bingo and once menaced the other motorist in a fender bender with a whiffle ball bat. Gillooly, her childhood sweetheart who was known to have a violent temper, was convicted for arranging the attack on Kerrigan to improve Harding's medal chances. The contrast between them and the chaste Kerrigan, a Hepburn-esque beauty who still lived with her parents at age 24 and said training left her no time for a boyfriend, couldn't have been more jarring.

But there was also Shawn Eric Eckardt, Harding's 320-pound bodyguard who liked to give would-be employers a wildly concocted résumé saying he was a security expert who had conducted successful "hostage retrieval" and counterintelligence operations against "targeted terrorist cells" in the Middle East, Europe and Central America. The truth was, the 26-year-old Eckardt still lived with his parents, too, and he blubbered like a baby the moment federal agents knocked on the door to question him.

The Detroit getaway car driver was Derrick Smith, 29, a former night janitor and paramilitary buff who was remembered in his rural town outside Portland for rigging barbed wire and booby traps on the side of a hill where he lived with his in-laws and grandmother. That would be the same granny who greeted a local TV camera crew when it showed up unannounced by firing two gunshots into the air that sent the crew scurrying for cover.

Shane Stant, the man convicted of hitting Kerrigan with a collapsible metal baton, was a 6-foot-2, 220-pound bar bouncer and self-proclaimed bounty hunter who head-butted the glass panel out of a stuck Cobo Arena door in a panic as he made his frantic escape. Until his arrest, his only other big moment of recognition seemed to be a bodybuilding award for Best Chest of the Northwest.

There was also Tonya's mother, Sandy (LaVona) Golden, who'd been married six or seven times, depending on whom you asked. Golden hired herself out to one of the many hotly competitive TV tabloid shows that descended on Portland. Then she vexed her handlers by routinely violating the exclusive access they'd paid for by speaking over the velvet ropes that had been set up to ward off other reporters.

One day Golden riffed about how she'd been a waitress until recently but was forced to quit because of "artificial parts" in her hands. (She didn't elaborate.)

At the time, I was one of the Olympic writers for The Washington Post, and I was sent to Portland to cover the story in January 1994. The following month, I went to the Winter Games in Lillehammer, too, where Harding skated for the United States after a controversial fight for her right to compete. The U.S. Olympic Committee backed down after Harding filed a lawsuit for $20 million.

The night that she and Kerrigan skated their opening short program crackled with unbelievable tension. The Feb. 23 broadcast still ranks as the sixth-highest rated TV show of all time because nearly half the country -- an unbelievable 48.5 percent of American households -- watched, even though it was shown on tape delay.

A few nights later, Kerrigan performed well in the free skate but lost the gold medal in an upset to 16-year-old Russian orphan Oksana Baiul by one-tenth of one point on one judge's card.

Harding finished a desultory eighth after taking the ice late and stopping midway through her program because of a broken shoelace, which earned her a restart and catcalls from the crowd.

To understand just how big a sensation the saga was by the end, it's important to appreciate the context: The attack on Kerrigan happened five months before the feeding frenzy over the O.J. Simpson car chase and his arrest. It pre-dated the explosion of reality TV, and the now-routine sight of some of the most notorious PED users in major league baseball and track and field and cycling deflecting accusations with their vehement denials, or righteous finger-wagging, or crying crocodile tears on cue at news conferences called to protest their innocence.

Harding held one of those, too.

It happened on a Thursday. With a trembling chin and tears in her eyes, Harding read a seven-paragraph statement on Jan. 27 -- three weeks after Kerrigan was attacked -- before a packed room of reporters at the Multnomah Athletic Club in downtown Portland. Harding still insisted she had no prior knowledge that the assault was going to happen. But for the first time, she confessed that she did learn "some people close to me" were involved shortly after her return from nationals.

Then Harding returned to practice the very next day at her Clackamas Town Center shopping mall rink. And critics shrieked "How could she?" But Harding skated in full view of a huge media throng and estimated 2,000 people -- including one woman who kept riding the escalator up and down to get a better glimpse of her.

On still another day, two Harding supporters slung a homemade sign over a mall railing one floor above the ice that read:

"We love Tonya.

"Deal with it America."

The reason the conspiracy unraveled within days was because Eckardt couldn't resist bragging to the wrong guy -- in this case Eugene Saunders, an ordained minister who was also a classmate of Eckardt's in a paralegal course they were taking. After Eckardt played him a scratchy tape of one of the planning meetings for the Kerrigan attack, Saunders went straight to authorities. They had him arrange a meeting with Eckardt at a diner and wear a tape recorder on his back.

Eckardt arrived as promised, but insisted on speaking in the parking lot. So the 26-year-old Saunders -- heart racing now -- agreed to step outside, contrary to FBI instructions.

"Are you wired?" Eckardt asked.

"Why would I be wired?" Saunders answered.

"Well, I didn't want to lie," the minister said somewhat sheepishly in a phone interview we had a few days later.

Harding's ability to soldier on with her Olympic training only created more harping that she was a cold-hearted, sawtooth-edged woman capable of anything.

It didn't help that it was estimated whoever won the gold medal could earn as much as $10 million in endorsements, and that by Jan. 14 -- just six days after the attack -- CNN began running an undated interview in which Harding said of Kerrigan: "We're teammates, we're friends. But when it comes down to it, there are little dollar signs swirling around my head.

"I didn't have the money that other people had growing up. And I still don't …"

Kerrigan didn't come from money, either. Her father, Dan, was a welder and her mother, Brenda, was legally blind. She grew up in blue-collar Stoneham, Mass., playing hockey with her brothers. She and her parents would often stay in the same hotel room at her skating competitions to save money.

Still, by the time she and Harding were on their collision course to qualify for the '94 Games, Kerrigan had been beautifully packaged and expertly campaigned as America's next Ice Queen. She'd gotten her teeth straightened. Vera Wang designed Kerrigan's costumes pro bono, and she'd signed a flock of pre-Games endorsement deals. With her porcelain skin and auburn hair swept up in a classic bun, Kerrigan had an ethereal look as she glided across the ice.

Harding, in contrast, was all firepower and explosive jumps and unapologetic aggression. "A little barracuda," former coach Dody Teachman once called her.

She came along just as figure skating decided to emphasize athleticism and jump-packed programs as well as artistry, and the shift perfectly suited her. By 1994, Harding and Midori Ito of Japan were the only women who had ever performed a 3½-revolution triple Axel in competition. Though Harding stood only 5-foot-1 and weighed just 98 pounds, she could bench-press 110 pounds.

She was known to boast: "Nobody skates like me."

But in the insular world of skating, Harding always had a hard time shaking her wrong-side-of-the-tracks image or living down the many stylistic faux pas she made, like the program she once skated to the rap song "Funky Cold Medina."

She was once prevented from competing in a costume that was deemed too risqué. Her hair and makeup were often derided as garish. She met Gillooly when she was 15, dropped out of high school in 10th grade (but later got her general equivalency diploma), and married him at 19 against her parents' wishes.

By many accounts, it was an abusive relationship.

Harding twice sought restraining orders against Gillooly, and she divorced him in fall 1993 -- only to let him move back in during the run-up to the Games.

Kerrigan would later say she was grateful that Gillooly and his co-conspirators were so bumbling. She missed only a few days of training after the hit. By the start of the Lillehammer Olympics a month later, everyone connected to the attack had been arrested except Harding. After her news conference confession of limited involvement, she later pleaded to a felony obstruction of justice charge and had to pay a $160,000 fine, as well as perform 400 hours of community service. She also was stripped of her '94 national title by the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

Today, at 43, Harding lives in central Oregon with her second husband and their son, who soon will turn 3. Kerrigan, 44, married her agent, Jerry Solomon, and they live in Boston with their three children.

The anniversary of their story is sure to prompt more reminiscing when the Winter Games begin next month in Sochi, Russia, especially because Kerrigan has been hired to work there as a commentator by NBC, which is planning to air its own show looking back at the incident.

Kerrigan recently said she and Harding have never spoken since the attack. And Harding -- speaking in director Nan Burstein's ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The Price of Gold" that premieres this week -- continues to maintain she never knew about the plot beforehand, though Gillooly and Eckardt told authorities otherwise.

"The people who say I did this -- I mean, 'Huh?' " Harding tells the camera, wagging her head with both palms turned up and disdain flitting across her face.

Harding was never going to be America's sweetheart no matter how wonderfully she skated, and she always knew it. Twenty years later, she remains forced to settle for being the most notorious figure skater who ever lived.

Source : http://espn.go.com/espnw

Aaliyah: Fans Tweet ‘RIP,’ Wish Aaliyah Happy Birthday on 35th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 20:36:00 +0000

Aaliyah: Fans Tweet ‘RIP,’ Wish Aaliyah Happy Birthday on 35th Birthday

Aaliyah at 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' at the NBC Studios in Burbank, Ca. 7/25/01. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Aaliyah, the R&B singer who died in 2001, had her birthday on Jan. 16.

She would have been 35.

At the age of 22, Aaliyah–born Aaliyah Dana Haughton in Brooklyn–and eight others were killed in a plane crash over the Bahamas after she filmed the music video “Rock the Boat.”

Aaliyah was identified as a rare talent from an early age, and when she was 12, she signed a record deal with Jive in the early 1990s. She also appeared on “Star Search” and sang with Gladys Knight.

When she was 15, she released “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number,” which topped the charts. Later, she released “One in a Million” in 1996, which sold 2 million copies.

In 2000, she appeared in the film “Romeo Must Die” alongside rapper DMX.

On Wednesday, fans tweeted “RIP” in her memory.

“Happy Birthday to the beautiful and talented, Aaliyah! #RIP,” wrote one.

Added another, “Till this day im still in love with Aaliyah.”

“HBD Aaliyah! You’ve inspired my voice, my music, and millions around the world. You were taken too soon but will never be forgotten…#RIP,” tweeted another user.

Source : http://www.theepochtimes.com/

'American Hustle,' 'Gravity' Dominate 2014 Oscar Nominations

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 20:30:00 +0000

'American Hustle,' 'Gravity' Dominate 2014 Oscar Nominations

"American Hustle" and "Gravity" stole the show this morning as both blockbuster films were nominated for 10 Oscars with "12 Years a Slave" right behind at nine nominations. The surprise of the day came from "Nebraska," a film that nabbed six Oscar nods. "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Captain Phillips" also got six.

The stars dominated the individual nominations as expected with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey all making the cut for Best Actor, while Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep were all nominated for Best Actress.

For Best Picture, all the big names made it in as well, including "American Hustle," "12 Years a Slave," "The Wolf of Wall Street," and "Gravity."

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS 2014, COMPLETE LIST

Best Picture:

"American Hustle"

"Captain Phillips"

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Gravity"

"Her"

"Nebraska"

"Philomena"

"12 Years a Slave"

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"

Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle"

Jonah Hill, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"

Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine"

Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"

Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"

Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"

June Squibb, "Nebraska"

Best Director:

David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"

Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"

Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"

Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Actor:

Christian Bale, "American Hustle"

Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"

Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyer's Club"

Best Actress:

Amy Adams, "American Hustle"

Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"

Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"

Judi Dench, "Philomena"

Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Best Original Screenplay:

"American Hustle"

"Blue Jasmine"

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Her"

"Nebraska"

Best Adapted Screenplay:

"Before Midnight"

"Captain Phillips"

"Philomena"

"12 Years a Slave"

"The Wolf Of Wall Street"

Best Animated Feature:

"The Croods"

"Despicable Me 2"

"Ernest & Celestine"

"Frozen"

"The Wind Rises"

Best Foreign Feature:

"The Broken Circle Breakdown," Belgium

"The Great Beauty," Italy

"The Hunt," Denmark

"The Missing Picture," Cambodia

"Omar," Palestine

Best Visual Effects:

"Gravity"

"The Hobbit: The Desolation"

"Iron Man 3"

"The Lone Ranger"

"Star Trek Into Darkness"

Best Cinematography:

"The Grandmaster"

"Gravity"

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Nebraska"

"Prisoners"

Best Costume Design:

"American Hustle"

"The Grandmaster"

"The Great Gatsby"

"The Invisible Woman"

"12 Years a Slave"

Best Documentary Feature:

"The Act of Killing"

"Cutie and the Boxer"

"Dirty Wars"

"The Square"

"20 Feet from Stardom"

Best Documentary Short:

"CaveDigger"

"Facing Fear"

"Karama Has No Walls"

"The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life"

"Prisoner Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall"

Best Film Editing:

"American Hustle"

"Captain Phillips"

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Gravity"

"12 Years a Slave"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa"

"The Lone Ranger"

Best Music (Original Score):

"The Book Thief"

"Gravity"

"Her"

"Philomena"

"Saving Mr. Banks"

Best Music (Original Song):

"Alone Yet Not Alone" from "Alone Yet Not Alone"

"Happy" from "Despicable Me"

"Let It Go" from "Frozen"

"The Moon Song" from "Her"

"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"

Best Production Design:

"American Hustle"

"Gravity"

"The Great Gatsby"

"Her"

"12 Years a Slave"

Best Short Film, Animated:

"Feral"

"Get a Horse!"

"Mr. Hublot"

"Possessions"

"Room on the Broom"

Best Short Film, Live Action:

"Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)"

"Avant Que De Tout Perdre" (Just Before Losing Everything)

"Helium"

" Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?" (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)

"The Voorman Problem"

Best Sound Editing:

"All Is Lost"

"Captain Phillips"

"Gravity"

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

"The Lone Survivor"

Best Sound Mixing:

"Captain Phillips"

"Gravity"

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Lone Survivor"

Source : http://abcnews.go.com/

Liam Hemsworth Slams Miley Cyrus With the Painful Truth

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 19:23:00 +0000

Liam Hemsworth Slams Miley Cyrus With the Painful Truth

Been curious about how Liam Hemsworth is coping with his very public split? Well, wonder no more. The Catching Fire star revealed exactly how he feels about life after Miley Cyrus. And to say her threw a major burn her way is a serious understatement.

During an interview with the Associated Press,

These days I feel like I'm more centered and grounded than I've ever been.

Translation: My life was a complete shit show with Miley. He goes on to credit his costar Jennifer Lawrence for helping him through the messy breakup.

For a few years I went down a path where I forgot to be in the moment and enjoy the moment. But being around someone like Jen, who is so honest and laughs all day long, I am forced to be in the right now. I'm much happier.

Oh what a sad turn that relationship took. You may recall that the pair met on the 2010 set of the teen romance The Last Song. But let's be honest here, he really dodged a bullet by breaking up with Miley. It's clear that she has gone off the deep end. It seems in her desperate attempt to shed that cute Disney Hannah Montana image she may be taking things a bit too far.

More from The Stir: Miley Cyrus' Eyebrows Are Back & We Are Officially Confused

Her trashy twerk-a-thon during the MTV Video Music Awards will go down as the most disturbing performance of all time. And to be clear, it wasn't the grinding alone that pushed it over the top. Her outfit. That tongue. Her attitude. Ugh. That kind of behavior didn't stop when she left the stage. If he wasn't "much happier" without her, that would mean he was as crazy as she is. It seems he's way too grounded for Miley's new world.

How do you think Miley will respond to Liam's diss?

Source : http://thestir.cafemom.com

Trailer for Noah - Coming soon

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:54:00 +0000

Noah

(Paramount Pictures)Release Date: March 28, 2014

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman

Plot: The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.

Genre: Drama, Fantasy

IMDb: tt1959490

Website: www.noahmovie.com

Our hero! Batkid saves the day in San Francisc

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 09:44:00 +0000

Our hero! Batkid saves the day in San Francisc

SAN FRANCISCO — The day dawned blue and warm. Perfect weather for a robbery. Or so the Penguin thought.

Saving the day while raising the spirits of a major U.S. city was pint-sized Miles Scott, 5. Miles is in remission from leukemia, and, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, managed to turn his obsession with comic book heroes into the real thing. Well, almost. There was no way Penguin was going to get away with anything on Friday.

Thousands of San Franciscans responded to an avalanche of social media blasts, lining the streets wherever Miles and a full-sized Batman swooped into action. At Hyde and Green streets, there was a damsel in distress to rescue, and the bat duo arrived in a Lamborghini with Batman decals. At 550 Montgomery St., a burgled bank vault needed to be liberated. And at Union Square, there was a hamburger to down.

HOLY BIPARTISANSHIP, BATMAN: Obama, politicos root for Batkid to save the day

"This just restores your faith in humanity," said Carmen Kiew, 30, a sports blogger who sat on the steps of Union Square with a handmade sign that read "Gotham's Hero."

"I love that this city came together for a little kid who has been so brave," Kiew said. "Between the police and everyday citizens who felt it was important to show their support, it just makes you feel great."

Behind Kiew, thousands of citizens of Gotham-for-the-Day held up camera phones as they awaited the bat-eared duo's arrival. The bat pair took a lunch break inside Macy's before heading to AT&T Park to foil the Penguin once and for all, and then — of course — would show up at City Hall to get the key to the city from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

Every other T-shirt on Friday seemed to sport the famous Batman logo in support of Miles; some were simply hand-drawn with markers, while others were official Batkid tees, which were sold by uniformed police officers at $20 a pop, with all proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"That poor little kid," said Daniela Vilchis-Lent, 18, who came from Oakland with five relatives, some as young as 2, to cheer Batkid on. "If my taking a little time to be here helps him, then I'm glad to do it."

By all accounts, the groundswell of civic support even caught Make-A-Wish by surprise. When a local social marketing company reached out a few weeks ago, asking what the foundation's plan was to spread the word about Miles, "They honestly didn't have a plan and were happy for the help," says Stefania Pomponi, founder of the Clever Girls Collective.

Pomponi and her staff promptly contacted Twitter, which provided the @SFBatKid handle. Then things blew up, in the way that online viruses can.

"It wasn't long before we were getting e-mails and tweets from all over the world, people saying that they were so glad they could participate in this event thanks to social media," said Pomponi. "It's been amazing. It's truly developed a life of its own."

Miles, who lives in Tulelake in far Northern California, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 18 months old, ended treatments in June and is now in remission.

His father, Nick Scott, thanked the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation and the estimated 7,000 people who were helping make his son's wish come true.

"All the doctors, nurses and all the other parents that have to deal with the same thing we're going through. I hope they get a conclusion to their illnesses like we're getting," Nick Scott told KGO-TV.

Make-A-Wish has fulfilled similar wishes across the country. In Anaheim, a child became Batman's sidekick, Robin; and in Seattle a child was a secret agent, said Jen Wilson, a spokeswoman for the local organization.

By the time Batkid, wearing a movie-ready mini-Caped Crusader costume, showed up at City Hall after saving San Francisco Giants mascot Lou Seal from the clutches of his nemesis, the gathered masses could not contain their excitement. Thousands roared as Scott made his up onto a platform; his even smaller brother was, fittingly, dressed as Robin. Everywhere, nothing but a sea of people with arms raised, cell phones in hand.

"Today, November 15, 2013, is Batkid day forever," said Mayor Lee, as Scott chomped away on gum in front of a faux front page of the Gotham City Chronicle, whose headline blared, "Batkid Saves City". "You won our hearts with your story ... it's been a day of magic."

The mayor then cautioned Batkid that even though he'd soon be returning to his home, "we might need to have to signal for your help."

A little recuperation might be in order first. A planned interview with Batkid was scotched at the last minute, with a member of the Batkid retinue explaining that the five-year-old was hitting his wall. It seems even superheroes need a nap.

Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologises for oral-sex remarks

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 09:39:00 +0000

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologises for oral-sex remarks

Flanked by his wife, Renata, in a city hall news conference, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologised for his graphic remarks

roubled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has apologised for obscene comments he made on live TV while denying he had offered oral sex to a female staff member.

The Canadian politician used what he called "unforgivable language", in remarks to reporters.

He also threatened to take legal action against former employees who made claims about his drinking and drug use.

It is the latest scandal to engulf 44-year-old Mr Ford, who last week admitted smoking crack cocaine.

Police documents released on Wednesday quoted Ford associates as saying that the mayor had driven drunk, used racially abusive language, threatened staff, consorted with a woman suspected of being a prostitute and made a sexual proposition to a female staff member.

'Particularly disappointing'

On Thursday morning, he told reporters the allegations were "outright lies", although he conceded he might have driven after taking alcohol.

However, reporters were left gasping by his profane outburst as he denied having once offered oral sex to a former female employee.

The father of two young children said that he was "happily married" and crudely commented that he enjoyed enough oral sex at home.

Later on Thursday, Mr Ford was flanked by his wife, Renata, as he expressed regret for the "graphic" language, the latest in a string of apologies.

He said his integrity as a father and husband had been attacked, prompting him to "see red".

"I acted on complete impulse in my remarks," he said.

Mr Ford also announced he was getting help from healthcare professionals.

The erratic mayor was wearing a Toronto Argonauts jersey when he made the sexually charged comments.

The Canadian Football League team said in a statement: "These latest remarks, while wearing our team's jersey, are particularly disappointing."

'Stubborn, pig-headed'

Councillor Karen Stintz later said the city had suspended all school trips to city hall indefinitely because staff deemed it unsafe.

Meanwhile, many of the 44-member city council turned their backs on the mayor as he addressed political matters.

"This is one of the most stubborn, pig-headed people I think we have ever seen," said Councillor Janet Davis.

"He seems to have no self-awareness, no core of moral character. It is stunning."

In his initial remarks on Thursday, the mayor had vowed legal action against his former chief of staff and two other aides over allegations they made to police, detailed in legal papers released on Wednesday.

The police interviews were conducted to obtain a search warrant for Alexander Lisi, Mr Ford's friend and occasional driver, whom police accuse of marijuana possession and trafficking.

The mayor also threatened litigation against a waiter who said he believed Mr Ford and a woman had snorted cocaine in a private room at a restaurant on St Patrick's Day 2012.

On Wednesday, the city council voted 41-2 requesting he take leave, but they have no authority to remove him. Mr Ford has vowed to stay on and run for re-election in October 2014.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne suggested the provincial government could intervene, as she made a televised statement on Thursday.

"The things we are seeing and hearing about Mayor Rob Ford are truly disturbing," she said.

But it was not all bad news for the conservative mayor, who was elected in 2010 on a pledge to tackle wasteful spending at city hall.

It was announced that Mr Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, would get their own TV talk show next Monday, entitled Ford Nation.

The deal with Sun News Network follows last week's cancellation of the brothers' popular weekly radio show with a local broadcaster.

Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 09:36:00 +0000

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million

The African-American comedy could come much closer to "Thor: The Dark World" than expected.

Malcolm D. Lee's sequel The Best Man Holiday -- opening nearly 15 years after the first film -- could approach or cross $33 million in its North American debut, vastly exceeding expectations.

The Universal comedy is pacing to gross $13 million or more on Friday, possibly eclipsing Thor: The Dark World for the day, although Thor 2 is still tipped to stay at No. 1 in its second weekend with a gross north of $37 million.

Thor 2 could approach $450 million in global ticket sales by the end of the weekend -- catching up with the entire gross of the first Thor ($449.3 million) in another major victory for Disney and Marvel Studios' Avengers universe.

From Universal, Best Man Holiday -- projected to top out at $20 million -- sees Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Monica Calhoun and Melissa De Sousa reprising their roles. The first film, opening to $9 million in 1999, is credited with helping to usher in the era of aspirational African-American comedies.

Black films have been making strong gains at the North American box office, with Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniels' The Butler and 12 Years a Slave all overperforming. Those movies -- all dramas -- are drawing a mixed audience, while Best Man Holiday is expected to play primarily to African-Americans, similar to Tyler Perry's pics.

Universal spent a modest $17 million to make the sequel, which Lee produced with Sean Daniel.

This weekend was supposed to have seen the debut of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, but Paramount pushed the film to Christmas Day in order for Scorsese to trim the running time.

STORY: 'Best Man Holiday’ Cast Reveals Favorite Holiday Traditions at Premiere

High-profile openings at the specialty box office include Alexander Payne's awards entry Nebraska, starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte. Paramount is opening the critically acclaimed film festival darling in New York and Los Angeles.

Also debuting in select theaters is Charlie Countryman, starring Shia LaBeouf opposite Evan Rachel Wood. Millennium Films is distributing the movie domestically.

Fox 2000's The Book Thief, opening last weekend in New York and L.A., expands into an additional seven markets.

STORY: 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire': 5 Most Anticipated Scenes

Next weekend, the 2013 holiday season gets underway in earnest with the release of Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The sequel is poised to turn into an instant blockbuster, with bullish box-office observers saying it could open to a mammoth $170 million domestically (the first film debuted to $152.5 million in March 2012).

Catching Fire is rolling out early in Brazil, where it opens this weekend. It will open in most international markets next weekend, timed to its North American launch.

Source : http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending Nov. 15

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 07:45:00 +0000

iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending Nov. 15

iPhone big screen or big screens, curvaceous, and pressured

Fortunately for the iOSphere, Bloomberg found a “person familiar with Apple’s plans” to spill the beans and provide a week’s worth of rumor cud-chewing over the iPhone 6 display.

While many iOSpherians are convinced that the iPhone 6 will have a bigger display and a curved display, there is Deep Uncertainty about how big, or which way the curve will, you know, curve.

But let’s not quibble. This one source, in a story written by two reporters, was also familiar with Apple’s plans to introduce not one but two Bigger Screened iPhone 6 handsets. Thanksgiving Day has come early this year.

You read it here second.

“I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Apple is investigating curved displays… That doesn't mean, however, that just because Apple looked at something that they're going to release it.”

Avi Greengart, analyst, Current Analysis

“Analyst Debunks Curved Display On iPhone 6 Release Date”

Kristin Dian Mariano, International Business Times, with the iOSpherian translation of Greengart’s commonsense observation.

iPhone 6 will have two screen sizes, curved “glass,” and maybe pressure sensors

Talk about a cornucopia of Innovation, eh? This abundance of information overflows from a Bloomberg story, “Apple Said Developing Curved iPhone Screens, New Sensors,” by Tim Culpan and Adam Satariano.

And where did it come from you ask? From “a person familiar with the plans.” Or, as experienced iOSpherians like to say, a PFWP.

Maybe they caught Tim Cook or Phil Schiller when he was in a chatty mood in an elevator. Or maybe they talked to the drycleaner of the next door neighbor of the best friend of a coworker who has a cousin who plays online games with an engineer who overheard an Apple designer talking to someone before the subway door closed. But somebody who’s not just anybody.

[IPHONEYS: The iPhone 6 edition]

“Two models planned for release in the second half of next year would feature larger displays with glass that curves downward at the edges, said the person, declining to be identified because the details aren’t public. Sensors that can distinguish heavy or light touches on the screen may be incorporated into subsequent models, the person said.

BGR’s Zach Epstein argues in his post on the Bloomberg story that the phrasing “with glass that curves downward at the edges” is not a reference to a curved displays “but rather that the glass covering the panels will be curved.” Which doesn’t clarify much: does he mean the display is flat but it’s covered with a convex glass cover? Or that the glass cover is flat but it curves down over the edge of the phone?

Curved screens – both convex and concave - have been an obsession with the iOSphere for months, even years, though with little analysis on how or why curving the screen, or the “glass,” actually improves the phone. The obsession has been intensified by Samsung’s Galaxy Round smartphone, which curves upward from the two sides, and the just-announced LG G Flex, which curves upward from the top and bottom.

The latter design at least has the sense to mimic traditional wired handset designs going back 70 years, as shown in this Wikipedia image of a rotary phone from the 1940s.

The Bloomberg reporters suggest that perhaps it’s a curved BIG screen that’s vital to Apple’s future, because the Galaxy Round is Samsung’s “latest phone in an array of sizes and price points that’s helping keep Samsung ahead of Apple in global market share.” The PFWP says the screens will measure 4.7 and 5.5 inches, which would make them, as Culpan and Satariano astutely point out, “Apple’s largest iPhones,” since the current 5S and 5C measure just 4.0 inches.

It “seems rather curious that Apple would introduce two new displays sizes at the same time,” posted a skeptical John Gruber at his DaringFireball blog. “Apple has only introduced one new iPhone display size since 2007, but they’re going to introduce two at the same time next year? That smells fishy to me.”

Bloomberg’s PFWP didn’t have much to say about the new pressure sensors, which apparently are intended to detect how firmly someone is pressing on the screen and then do…well something very cool and magical as a result.

The PFWP did add “that the company probably would release [the new phones] in the third quarter of next year.” A person familiar not only with plans but probabilities.

iPhone 6 won’t have a curved display

Or maybe it won’t not have one. It’s hard to tell from reading InternationalBusinessTimes.com.

The headline of Kristin Dian Mariano’s post is emphatically assertive: “Analyst Debunks Curved Display On iPhone 6 Release Date”

Yet the post’s first sentence changes that completely: “Apple may not show off a curved display on iPhone 6 release date, according to an analyst.”

The analyst is Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, who is simply making the utterly common sense observation that Apple, like other companies, creates a whole bunch of ideas, tests many of them out, throws most of them out, and finally eventually comes up with improved or new products.

“I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Apple is investigating curved displays and any other component coming on to the scenes. That's what Apple does. Apple tests things out internally to see if they make sense,” Greengart is quote in Mariano’s post. “That doesn't mean, however, that just because Apple looked at something that they're going to release it. They probably have watches, glasses, hover boards, and who knows what else just to see what it's like.”

In short, he’s admitting “I have no idea whether they’re planning to have a curved display on iPhone 6.” In Mariano’s skilled hands this becomes “analyst debunks curved display on iPhone 6.”

Source : http://www.networkworld.com/

Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic split stunt goes viral

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 07:40:00 +0000

Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic split stunt goes viral

Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme was featured in a Volvo Trucks ad where he performed an epic slipt between two trucks. VPC

"Epic" is the word being used to describe a new Jean-Claude Van Damme video.

"Mind-blowing" is another.

The action star does the splits between two Volvo trucks in a new ad that went up on YouTube on Wednesday and already has been viewed more than 6 million times.

"I've had my ups and downs. My fair share of bumpy roads and heavy winds. That's what made me what I am today," says Van Damme, 53, in a voice-over at the start of the video. "Now I stand here before you. What you see is a body crafted to perfection."

As the camera pulls back, Van Damme is seen standing on the rear-view mirrors of two side-by-side trucks. The trucks are moving backward on an empty chunk of highway.

Van Damme says he has "a pair of legs engineered to defy the laws of physics, and a mind-set to master the most epic of splits."

And then the two trucks slowly move apart as they travel in reverse, with Van Damme's legs spreading with them. This continues until Van Damme is in a complete split.

The film was designed to show the stability of Volvo steering, explains Jan-Inge Svensson, the engineer behind the development of the system's software at Volvo Trucks, on the Volvo website. "The stability and control are so good that you can reverse a truck over a long distance with very high precision, which is exactly what we've had to do in this film. It had to be perfect — right down to the last centimeter."

Source : http://www.usatoday.com/