The race is on in Technologyland, with the new realease of the Kindle Fire HDX, the iPad Mini 2, and the Microsoft Surface Pro during the fall. Who will take home the trophy for best tablet? Well, I wouldn’t bet on Microsoft yet.
The Kindle Fire has a new Mayday button, which immediately connects you to live tech support via video chat, should you have a problem.The iPad Mini will come in gold and feature the same fingerprint technology that the iPhone 5s touted. The Surface Pro…
Well, we’re not really sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lr1WbNz7g0
“Microsoft’s new commercial has the new high-end expensive Surface Pro and their low-end cheaper Surface that’s like an iPad in the same commercial…it seems like they haven’t figured out what the strategy is. I don’t know that consumers can gravitate towards something when they don’t even understand what it’s supposed to be.”, says Yahoo Finance tech reporter Aaron Pressman.
It’s possible that the Surface Pro’s unimpressive sales aren’t the result of the Surface Pro, itself, but poor advertising on the part of Microsoft. The tablet actually has pretty good reviews. It just seems like they haven’t quite figured out how to get people interested.
Perhaps Microsoft is relying on its “third times a charm” luck they had with the third generation of Windows? The Surface Pro 2 is exceedingly improved over the first two attempts, but it may not be enough to get people to fall in love with Microsoft‘s tablet OS, Windows RT, according to BGR.
“Microsoft’s current plight is due to its late entry to the mobile market, high product prices, and weak ecosystem compared to its competitors. Microsoft’s strategy of developing its tablet operating system using its PC operating system as the base, is the main problem preventing Windows-based tablets becoming standardized,” states a report from Digitimes, a Taiwan-based digital trade paper.
Will Microsoft be able to overtake its competition before being left in the dust? That remains to be seen, but from here, it doesn’t look pretty.
Fans of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” got another teasing morsel of what’s to come on December 13th. We began waiting after floating out of the first showing of “Unexpected Journey” last year, and now the heavy marketing for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” has begun! Today, a new trailer for the highly anticipated second installment of the Hobbit trilogy was released, and it is certainly glorious!!
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” picks right up where “Unexpected Journey” ended, right after Gandalf, Bilbo and the rest of the crew escape from the orcs. There are some new twists to be noted in the next installment. The two I found most interesting are an introduction to some Elven characters yet unseen. One is the Elvin king Thranduil, played by Lee Pace. You may know Pace from my favorite show of all time, “Pushing Daisies“.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G41MjEgAKo
The other is Tauriel, an elf woman, created especially for the movie. There are some hints that there could be a little elf love bubbling up between her and Legolas. “Legolas has grown very fond of you,” an unseen voice tells Tauriel. “Do not give him hope where there is none.”
This new elf lady is played by Evangeline Lilly from my second favorite show of all time, “Lost“. Remember Kate and her endless inner struggle to choose between Jack and Sawyer?
Like its predecessor, “An Unexpected Journey”, “The Desolation of Smaug” was shot in 3-D at 48 frames per second and will be released in 2-D, High Frame Rate 3-D, other 3-D formats and IMAX. “Desolation of Smaug” looks like it’s on track to be another smash hit for director Peter Jackson, so put it on your calendar: December 13th!!
Comet ISON was set to be the “comet of the century”, but with just two months to go before peak viewing, which will be Thanksgiving day in the U.S., some scientists say that the sizzle just won’t be there, according to space.com. However, some say that it will earn its title. We’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out who’s right, but what are the reasons behind each camp’s hypothesis?
Comet ISON will fly by at about 3/4 of a million miles within the surface of the sun. The comet was hidden by the sun for the bulk of the summer, and just began to come into view in the darker skies of August. The comet’s brightness seemed to fizzle at first, with some hoping that it would re-emerge after the summer brighter than before. It did emerge brighter, but it was still six times fainter than originally forcasted.
Astronomer Bruce Gary was the first to photograph ISON on August 12th, and he sides with those who say that the comet will be a big disappointment. “I’ve begun to lose interest in this comet which may never become visible to the unaided eye. I wonder why someone ever suggested that it could become the ‘comet of the century’.”
However, Karl Battams, astronomer with the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., is more optomistic and sides with the camp that is holding out hope that the ISON could still earn “comet of the century” glory. “Certainly we’d love it to be a couple magnitudes brighter, but right now, it’s doing just fine. I’d say it’s still on course to become a very eye-catching object.”
Earlier last month, a consensus of reputable observers revealed the comet to be 600 times fainter than the dimmest star that can be observed with the naked eye and the comet’s head appeared to be about 1/30th the size of the moon. Since then the comet has nearly doubled in brightness. Of course, more time will be needed to see just how bright ISON will get.
Has Helen Fielding committed career suicide with her latest Bridget Jones installment? Many of her loyal fans are questioning the authors decision that Mark Darcy, Bridget’s long time love and now husband, should die. So much for happily ever after!
The series has followed, and fans have become endeared to, the slow kindle of Bridget and Mr. Darcy for years. Now, the newest and third installment, called “Mad About the Boy”, begins with Bridget at 52, as a widow. What??
In this latest chronicle of Bridget, she is rolling back onto the dating scene. Her interests include “Roxter”, a younger man, and Daniel Cleaver, who we are already familiar with. He is sort of a “naughty uncle” to Bridget and Darcy’s two children, and makes passes at their mother on a regular basis.
Bridget still has all the delightful banter and quirky personality we have grown to love, but could this be a blow that fans simply cannot forgive?
Boeing is taking responsibility for improving reliability in its 787 Dreamliner, which has had many issues in past months, according to Reuters. The most recent of these being a plane, from Poland’s LOT airline, that had to make an emergency landing at Keflavik airoport in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The problem this time was with the antenna that transmits the plane’s identification, in order to be granted permission to use air space. Without this system, planes have to be granted pre-approval from flight control directly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8hDWSg16o0
Since the plane couldn’t be identified right away, Norwegian authorities refused permission to fly through their airspace. Boeing’s Dreamliner was expected to somewhat revolutionize air travel, but has, so far, seen too many hiccups for comfort. So what is Boeing doing to make things right?
“LOT has already made the proper arrangements and parts and personnel are en route to address the issue and return the airplane to flight status,” Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said in a statement sent to Reuters. “Boeing stands ready to help if asked.”
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Marketing Vice President Randy Tinseth at a press conference in Chile’s capital Santiago said,
“Today, the reliability of the 787 is better than 95 percent. It’s not as good as we’d like to see it. It’s not as good as our customers would like to see it. So we’re looking at ways to improve that reliability over time. I would refer to the problems as teething problems, I don’t think they’re systemic,”
According to Reuters, Tinseth suggested the process of improving reliability could be a long one. Many new airplanes have issues right after being introduced. Take for example, the Airbus A380 Superjumbo. That one had cracks in the wings, but the problem was fixed and the memory faded over time. Hopefully that will be the case for the Boeing 787, and it can go on changing the game in air travel.
Depression in childhood is increasing at an alarming rate in Britain, according to The Telegraph and assuredly, in the US as well. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) reports that there are 80,000 children in the UK that suffer from severe depression, and 8,000 of these are under 10 years old! According to the CDC, suicide was the leading cause of death for children ages 12-17. So what is causing childhood to be so disturbing for this generation?
Here’s one opinion on the matter. Lucie Russell, director of campaigns for the charity “Young Minds”, said: “Modern childhood has become really stressful. There are family breakdowns, increasing pressure from school with testing from a very early age, and then the really significant factor in recent years is social media.”
She continued, “It used to be the case that while some children might have a hard time at school, they could go home and switch off. Now there isn’t that escape, children are on devices all the time. As well as the problems with cyberbullying, we have developed this culture where even young children are trying to create a brand, based on how they look – which can make girls especially feel very anxious – and about how many Facebook friends they have.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ICq2nt5ffQ
Experts say these problems are on the rise because of several factors, including better awareness and diagnosis. Also, there are increasing rates of poverty that put children at risk, as well as environmental toxins and other factors, according to a report released by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Center for Disease Control (CDC). Roughly one in five children experience a mental disorder in a given year, according the CDC.
Dr. Ruth Perou, author of the study, said she hopes efforts by the CDC and other federal agencies to work together will be a model for states. “Nobody is really spared. It affects all demographics, boys and girls, and across all regions.”
These numbers and reports are shocking, so what can be done to care for these children before things get out of hand? It seems that the biggest thing we can do is learn to recognize the signs of depression and get help early on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ICq2nt5ffQ
Experts say that children suffering from depression often feel like they don’t fit in. They could be tired all the time, have trouble sleeping, even complain of aches and pains. They could be easily agitated and have vocal outbursts or cry a lot. There could be a reduction in interests, or an inability to function at events and activities.
WebMD makes an important point, “Not all children have all of these symptoms. In fact, most will display different symptoms at different times and in different settings. Although some children may continue to function reasonably well in structured environments, most kids with significant depression will suffer a noticeable change in social activities, loss of interest in school and poor academic performance, or a change in appearance. Children may also begin using drugs or alcohol, especially if they are over the age of 12.”
For a list of facilities and agencies, by state, that can help a child struggling with depression, click here.
The nation is waking up this morning to a government that is shutting down. There was no agreement reached last night as the famous Ohio clock struck 12, and now the country must move forward in this uncertainty. About 800,000 federal workers will not go to work today, which according to CNN, could cost federal workers put on furlough as much as $1 billion dollars a week. Most non-essential government programs will be suspeded. This is the first government shutdown since the winter of 1995-96, during the Clinton administration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlFynQi4U7k
So, that actually happened. Now how will it affect the everyday public? Well, according to AP, museums along the Washington Mall will be closed, as well as state parks and the white house visitors center. Agencies like NASA and the EPA will run on essentials only, and those will only go in to change email and phone greetings, and other preparations for being closed.
Essential government employees, like food inspectors, air traffic control, and border patrol will stay on the job. The military will continue to be paid, thank goodnes. We haven’t sunk that low yet, but many federal workers will not be paid until this standoff is over. The postal service will continue to operate, as it is self-funded.
Enrollment will still open today for people looking for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Social Security checks will still be dispersed, and Medicare and Medicaid fees will still be paid to doctors on time.
The economic impact from the government shutdown could be enormous. The effects will ripple into related businesses cutting back on non-essential employees, which will encourage those employees to cut back on their spending. There will also be hesitation in investments and an undeniable interruption in markets.
The economic impact on us everyday people, could very possibly be at least 10 times greater than the simple calculation of wages lost by federal workers, said Brian Kessler, who is an economist with Moody’s Analytics. His firm estimates that a three to four week shutdown will cost the economy about $55 billion dollars!
“What’s maddening is this is all totally voluntary. It’s totally unnecessary,” said Kessler.
Hopefully the shutdown will not last very long. Hopefully our Congress can get it together soon. But if they don’t, the impact to our economy will grow significantly worse in the coming weeks. For example, many federal contractors will have to cut staff if they don’t get their usual government business. Small businesses will be stalled, as the government will not be processing loans for them.
Even travel and tourism will be effected, as national parks and monuments will be closed and visas will not be issued to foreign travellers. We will just have to wait and see what this government can do in the coming days and weeks to repair our country, hopefully before things get too muddled.
A new film from ESPN and directed by Rory Karpf, called “The Book of Manning”, hightlights the life and career of Archie Manning, the patriarch of the first family of football. John Goodman narrates the film, which tells the story of how Archie and Olivia Manning, the football hero and the homecoming queen, formed their family from the ashes of tragedy after his dad’s suicide and went on to raise 3 athletes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCphuPJ0acs
I’m hoping to get a lot more intimate and hilarious look inside the Manning family with home movies like these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIFiQVmEoog
According to AP, Karpf said that telling the story of how Archie raised his 3 sons was just as satisfying as telling about what a phenomenal athlete he was himself. Archie Manning is not a very well-known name today, but in the 70s and 80s, it was, when Manning was a big deal at Ole Miss and during his pro career with the New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers, and Minnesota Vikings.
He went on to cheer all three of his boys on the field, and two of them in the professional realm. His oldest boy, Cooper, suffered a spinal injury in college and was unable to move on to the pros. Archie Manning said he was glad that “The Book of Manning” didn’t leave out his eldest son whose football dreams were cut short.
“I think one thing I like so much about the documentary is that Cooper’s role in there is equal to Peyton and Eli’s and that’s the way it should be,” Archie said. “His story of his athletic career being cut short, and then what he went through with the laminectomy and so forth, I can’t tell you how uplifting it was for our family to see how he handled that.
“He’s always had a great spirit, but the spirit he had to get through that and the way he dealt with it, his attitude, certainly helped all us get through a tough time.”
Karpf remarked about the great relationship he has with his kids,”You realize that Archie didn’t put pressure on his kids. I think as parents sometimes, whether we mean to or not, we do put pressure. He just gave his kids unconditional support and love.”
Archie seems to want to make it clear that this “first family of football” thing they have going was not planned. He even admits that at one point they didn’t even know if star player, Eli, would even be an athlete. And they were both fine with that.
The film paints the family as very sweet and accepting of whatever their sons may have become, even if it wasn’t a professional athlete. The family is truly an inspiration, not only for what they are to the sport, but what they were as a family.
“I think the first thing that my sons will tell you, that I never tried to be their coach,” he said. “And I didn’t give them as much advice as some people might think, being a former player myself and a former quarterback. If they asked, I gave them my opinion.”
Be sure to catch “The Book of Manning on Tuesday at 8 PM Eastern on ESPN.
Amanda Bynes’ lawyer, Gerald Shargel, reportedly told a New York judge the troubled actress will be undergoing psychiatric treatment in California for up to 18 more months. Shargel informed Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Diana Boyar of the troubled star’s status Thursday at a hearing in Bynes’ bong-throwing case, the New York Post reported.
“She’s in a hospital in California. It’s uncertain when she will be released. Obviously she is being treated there,” the Post reported Shargel said at Thursday’s hearing. “We are in touch with the district attorney’s office and we hope to resolve this by Dec 5.”
In this case, Bynes, 27, is accused of tossing the drug paraphernalia out of a 36th-floor window of her apartment last May. She was charged with tampering with evidence, reckless endangerment and possession of marijuana after the incident. Bynes has been hospitalized for an undisclosed mental illness since July, when the former child star was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold after she tried to break into a retirement community in her hometown of Thousand Oaks, California.
The following night, she allegedly set a small fire in a driveway, which led to police involvement and her eventual hospitalization.
The bong-tossing incident is not even the only case that Bynes is dealing with right now. In a drunk driving case in California, Bynes’ California lawyer Rich Hutton said Tuesday she is mentally unfit to stand trial for a charge related to her April 2012 arrest in Los Angeles. He said the actress currently does not have the mental capacity to understand the legal proceedings. The judge in that case transferred the matter to a mental health court, which will conduct a hearing to determine Bynes’ mental competency.
The actress actually once had a bright future ahead of her before the pressures of growing up Hollywood got to her. Amanda is known for her work on TV’s “What I Like About You” and “The Amanda Show,” as well as in the film “Hairspray”, while her most recent major screen credit was a supporting role in 2010’s “Easy A”. Unfortunately, that once bright career has been overshadowed in recent years by her bizarre Twitter rants and frequent run-ins with the law.
Well, as sad as it is, “Breaking Bad” is no longer, just like most of the show’s characters. Here’s how to cope. You’re welcome.
Last night’s finale of the show was watched by millions of fans around the globe, so we must ask ourselves, what did everyone think? Was it just as awesome to everyone else?
Twitter is the place to go for instant and honest reaction from real people and it doesn’t disappoint for this series finale, either. Here are a few gems from those who watched to finale with baited breath.
"Breaking Bad is over & it's Monday morning & I have to go to work" – my suicide note
Here’s some bad news for those that haven’t stayed caught up with the show. YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE INTERNET CELIBATE UNTIL YOU CATCH UP! People will not just not talk about the biggest finale in the world because you can’t find it in yourself to go on marathon watching binges in order to stay afloat. Get over it. Like this guy: on social media talking about refraining from social media.
Trying to refrain from reading social media today because I'm afraid Breaking Bad will be ruined for me.
“Breaking Bad” fanatics were expecting no less than a satisfying end to the hijinx of high school chemistry teacher and drug kingpin Walter White, and man, did they get it in Sunday’s series finale, and more! Here are the highlights: (Spoiler Alert!!)
1. Walter is dead.
2. Todd and Uncle Jack and the whole crew? Dead.
3. Madrigal executive and drug traffiker Lydia was on the receiving end of Walt’s vial of Ricin. (She’ll soon be dead).
4. Skylar, Marie, Walt, Jr. and Holly-all still alive.
5. Huell may possibly still be alive in the hotel room, waiting for Hank and Gomey.
What about the money?
Walt’s cash, a little more than $9 million, is set to end up in the hands of his family, but, since they didn’t want his ill-gotten gains, he couldn’t give it to them directly. The police would have confiscated it as crime money, anyway. So, Walt tracked down his Gray Matter partners Elliott and Gretchen, and unloaded the cash into their living room. He then made them promise they’d use their net worth and philanthropic reputation to get the money to Walt Jr. under the guise of a trust. And Walt’s final words? They were to former cohorts Elliott and Gretchen, who it had been hinted throughout the series had unclean dealings in the dissolution of their partnership with Walt: “Cheer up, beautiful people… this is where you get to make it right.”
However, he didn’t trust that they’d do it. So he hired two “hit men”, who were actually Skinny Pete and Badger in hoods, to make the Schwartzes think they’d be killed if they didn’t find a way to get Junior to take the money from them.
So, did Walt get his revenge?
Oh, yes he did. Walt, who was wisely counting on the meticulous habits of Lydia, staked her out at her Tuesday-morning-at-10AM spot, which was the café where she had met him so many times, to drink her tea with stevia. He surprised her, as well as Todd, when he pulled up a chair and sat at their table. He was there (presumably) to pitch them on his new idea of how to make high-quality meth without the methylamine.
At the end of the episode, when Walt answered a call Lydia was making to Todd, what Walt was really up to at the café was revealed. He had replaced the stevia in her packet with Ricin. She was having flu symptoms that were actually the effects of the Ricin, working its way through her system.
But, what about Todd?
That M60 was connected to an automatic door-opener system Walt had configured to oscillate, while the automatic weapon unloaded its ammo. After sneaking into Todd and Uncle Jack’s compound, as well as making them think he was there because he was angry they’d never killed Jesse, he gathered them all up, including Jesse, into one room. Then he used his car remote to launch the weapon, thereby taking Jack’s minions out while he dove on top of Jesse on the floor.
By the time the M60 was empty, Walt and Jesse were still alive, but Walt had been badly wounded by the gun. Uncle Jack was dying but Walt took care of business with a shot to the head. Todd was looking out the window, which provided an opportunity for a shackled Jesse to wrap his chains around Todd’s neck and strangle him. Jesse had finally gained retribution for the deaths of Drew Sharp and Andrea.
Then, Walt passed a gun to Jesse, giving his former student and partner the chance to kill him. Jesse refused and drove off, as fast as he could, out of the compound.
Walt even made things right with his family in the end.
He made his way back to Albuquerque from New Hampshire with a stolen car, got a new car, bought that M60 gun, and paid a visit to Skyler and gave her his lottery ticket, the one with the coordinates to his money hideaway in To’hajiilee. The ticket not only would allow her to lead the authorities to Hank and Gomey’s bodies, but provide her a tool to get the police off her back.
He said goodbye to Holly and watched Junior get home from school. And finally, he gave Skyler something she valued more than all his millions, because he admitted what had become clear to everyone throughout his years of mayhem. He wasn’t, in fact, doing it all for the family.
“I did it for me,” he told Skyler. “I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.”
Walt then made his way into his meth lab, and gazed at the lab supplies that got him through, as sirens blared and cops made their way towards the lab. Walt dropped to the ground, as police entered the lab and surrounded him, but he went out on his own terms. He was his lab, surrounded by his equipment, and by his own hand.
90’s Rock Icon Alanis Morissette and her husband, Mario Treadway, are being sued by a former nanny, Bianca Cambiero, for $130,000. Reports say $30,000 is for back overtime pay and $100,000 for “emotional stress”.
Radar Online reports that the lawsuit claims that 39-year-old Grammy winner Morissette and her rapper husband Mario “Souleye” Treadway used to lock Cambeiro in a bedroom with their newborn son, Ever. The couple reportedly refused to let Cambeiro out of the room for the duration of her 12-hour shift.
Bianca worked for Morissette between August 2011 and March 2013. Bianca was reportedly paid $25 an hour during the graveyard shift.The Daily Mail notes that Cambeiro worked from 9 pm to 9 am for 3-4 days a week. So, the fact is, she got paid to sleep in the same room as a baby. For $25 an hour. Sounds stressful.
Cambiero claims that she was not allowed to leave the room while Ever, born on Christmas Day 2010, slept and she was not allowed bathroom breaks. She says that the only time that she did get a break was when Alanis or her husband were in the room or when relieved by the day nanny. Bianca also alleges she went on tour with Alanis and worked seven days in a row on seven different occasions. I can understand the nanny’s frustrations, should these allegations be true, but generally, if most people don’t like their job, they simply find a new one. And usually before two years has nearly rolled by. Just sayin’.
The lawsuit was filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, the night and day nannies in January 2012 asked Morissette’s accountant about being paid overtime and allegedly were told, “We don’t do that.”.
The retrial of Amanda Knox for the now-famous 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher is due to open in Italy soon, according to the BBC, but the American will not be in court. Ms. Knox spent four long years in prison before her acquittal and she has always insisted that she is innocent.
Ms. Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty in 2009, then acquitted on appeal in 2011. However in March, Italy’s highest court overturned both acquittals, ordering a fresh appeals process. The court strongly criticised the way the appeals court had dismissed important DNA evidence, ordering the whole process to begin all over again.
The retrial that the prosecution has taken to Italy’s Supreme Court will open in the central Italian city of Florence. Reportedly, the first session is will most likely discuss procedural issues such as dates for further hearings.
Ms. Knox, 26, is not required to be present for the retrial, however, if her previous conviction is confirmed, Italy can be expected to request her extradition. Earlier this month, she said she expected to win another acquittal, but that “common sense” told her not to return to Italy. “I was already imprisoned as innocent person in Italy,” she said. “I just can’t relive that.”
“I thought about what it would be like to live my entire life in prison and to lose everything, to lose what I’ve been able to come back to and rebuild. I think about it all the time. It’s so scary. Everything is at stake.”
Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from Coulsdon, south London, was found dead in an apartment that she shared with Ms. Knox, a fellow exchange student. Prosecutors said Kercher, who had been repeatedly stabbed, apparently died in a sex game that went wrong.
Ms. Knox insists that on the night of Kercher’s death she was at Mr Sollecito’s apartment, smoking marijuana while watching a movie. Another man, Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for his role in the killing.
According to The Daily Beast, this is how it got to this point in Italian court proceedings: Guede’s murder conviction is final, having passed all three levels of the Italian judicial system, which would be first level, second level and high court. He is eligible for parole in 2016, but on Monday, Knox and Sollecito will have the chance to again appeal their first-level murder convictions in a new second, or appellate, trial.
Italian law differs from American law in that this second appellate trial is not considered double jeopardy, because they are not being tried twice for the same crime, they are still being tried for the same crime. This step is merely a continuation of the original Italian judicial process. As crazy as it sounds, it is simply just how the justice system works in Italy.
Everyone wishes they had a sister like “Glee” star Naya Rivera today! The star was getting crazy as she cheered for her brother Mychal Rivera, as he made his first touchdown today as an Oakland Raider. Mychal is an NFL rookie who played today against the Washington Redskins, putting his team up 14-0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d3JHMoDvMo
Naya was cheering in head to toe raider gear, unless you don’t count the half of her shirt that was missing, and as her brother caught a pass from quarterback Matt Flynn to score his first touchdown, she was seen running from her luxury box seat and yelling with her arms in the air. At one point, she screams, “F–k yeah!” That’s team spirit, people!
Naya looks so excited and just beams with sister pride, but what I can’t help but wonder is who that woman is that shows up at the end that looks like she just watched someone stab her puppy to death?
Besides working on “Glee”, Naya has been one busy girl lately. According to E!, she is also working on a music album. Her debut single, “Sorry,” which features her rapper boyfriend, Big Sean, was recently released on iTunes. Along with that release came a somewhat NSFW lyric video for the song, that features a number of nude ladies in silhouette.
There’s more to Naya Rivera’s career than just singing. She is a fairly accomplished young up and coming actress as well! She has been in more than just “Glee”! She has actually been in The Royal Family and The Master of Disguise with funny man Dana Carvey, as well as Glee: The 3-D Concert Movie.
Tune in to “Glee “on Thursdays at 9 on the FOX network.
“Breaking Bad” is absolutely everywhere these days, and “Saturday Night Live” is no exception. The “Breaking Bad” series finale expectation dominated the season premiere. Early on, Jesse Pinkman, also known to his friends as Aaron Paul, stopped in to help Jay Pharaoh’s President Obama sell Obamacare.
Jesse stepped in to help the president after a series of regular Americans lamented about the pitfall’s of the president’s health care plan, including a dad (Bobby Moynihan) and his deadbeat son (rookie cast member Beck Bennett) who doesn’t have a job but remains on his dad’s health care plan thanks to the fact that he was not over 26.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/539029
“If I’m such a bum, how come I have health care?” he asked.
Pinkman and the “SNL” cast reprised a long-standing internet meme that says Walter White, the mild-mannered school teacher and “Breaking Bad” protagonist, would not have had to resort to making and selling meth and killing people to pay for his cancer treatments, if only he had health insurance that provided the coverage available through the Obamacare exchanges.
“I had this friend and he got sick. Like, cancer cancer sick. But because there wasn’t Obamcare, he couldn’t afford treatments. So he was like, backed into a corner,” said “Jesse from New Mexico.”
“And keep in mind – this man was a teacher with a family,” Obama added.
“So, he did what any of us would have done. He started cooking meth. And soon it wasn’t just meth. It was murder. And not regular murder. Like, he blew half a guy’s face off.”
Here, the president stepped in to stop the impending carnage, then Pinkman asked if anyone wanted to know what happened to his friend. The entire crowd shouted “No!” in unison, echoing the millions of “Breaking Bad” viewers trying to aviod spoilers. And of course there was the equally hilarious “SNL” requisite commercial break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAxj36wYNGY
Breaking Bad wraps up with the much anticipated series finale on AMC Tonight!
McDonald’s made an announcement late Thursday that, Yahoo finance reports, will silence their critics while simultaneously keep the risks to the business incredibly minimal. Here’s what McDonald’s announced the company will do:
It will now allow customers to get a side salad, fruit or vegetable instead of fries with value meals. They also promise to promote water, milk and juice as the drinks for Happy Meals on its menus and in ads, but of course, you are still allowed to buy a Coke for your kid if you choose. This is still America.
They also say they will use Happy Meal packaging “to generate excitement for fruit, vegetable, low/reduced-fat dairy, or water options for kids.” Messaging on Happy Meal bags and boxes will talk up smart food choices and good health, and ads aimed at young people will do the same.
Previously, healthy eating initiatives haven’t been on the front burner for the golden arches, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying. Before McDonald’s automatically included apple slices in its Happy Meals, it had offered them for many years as a substitute for fries, but parents rarely chose them. When McDonald’s tested a Happy Meal version that didn’t contain fries, it didn’t go over well.
Also, and I speak from first hand experience here, suggesting your kids “make a healthy choice” and order apples and milk instead of fries and a coke gets the same reaction as “Hey, let’s go to the dentist!”.
Some may say that wackadoo menu placement of these items makes ordering them difficult. It’s probably fair to say millions of McDonald’s customers aren’t ending up with fries in the bag because they couldn’t find a salad on the menu.
Now, while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with children or adults eating well, if you think this is what McDonald’s is about, check out the menu section of its website and look at what’s listed first. The very best way to see for yourself is to sit near a store counter at lunchtime and listen to what people actually order.
McDonald’s has listened to concerns, treating it’s animals better and fitting it’s menu with greens, as well as, trying out “healthy” things such as egg whites and grilled chicken. This is all fine, but it doesn’t exactly bring the cash rolling in for McDonald’s, whose stock price has quadrupled in the past decade, about five times the advance in the stock market overall.
The only thing that’s changed since the highly critical “Super Size Me” came out in 2004, are McDonald’s system-wide sales numbers. They have steadily gone from $51.3 billion that year to $88.3 billion in 2012. That isn’t mediocre salad rolling those sales in.
McDonald’s is still in line to make a profit of more than $5 billion this year, and to open hundreds more units on top of the more than 34,000 it already has globally, even though competition has been more fierce than ever. Wendy’s and Burger King have upped the fight, just as so-called fast-casual chains such as Panera proliferate.
However, these changes aren’t even taking place immediately. According to McDonald’s, the plan will be rolled out to 30% to 50% of the markets that are affected within three years of the announcement, and in every one of the markets by 2020. Because it takes that long to buy lettuce(??).
Of course, the company will sell some of this healthier stuff, but it’ll be largely incremental to revenue. Even if it proves to be a disaster, the costs are probably going to go relatively unnoticed. The power move in this is getting its critics to shut their yaps for a bit, yet keeping the brand protected. Their business isn’t veggies, and it never will be.
Their business is undoubtedly McRibs. And burgers, fries, chicken sandwiches, of course. Health advocates might tell themselves they’ve won a round, and in a way, they have. But, what’s really happening is that McDonald’s will now just get back to selling burgers by the millions and watching that money roll in.
Cate Blanchett has earned more than critical acclaim and the hearts of audiences everywhere with her performance in “Blue Jasmine”. She has earned some pretty serious Oscar talk, as well. “Blue Jasmine” is a Woody Allen film that mimics Tennessee Williams’ classic play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, with Blanchett playing fallen New York socialite, Jasmine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FER3C394aI8
The film follows Jasmine, “a Park Avenue Princess”, whose wealthy husband Hal, played brilliantly by Alec Baldwin, winds up in jail as a result of sketchy business practices.
She subsequently falls on hard times, and is forced to move in with her adopted sister, Ginger. Ginger, in contrast, lives in a humble apartment in San Francisco. Depressed and nursing an addiction to alcohol and pills, Jasmine desperately tries to maintain the appearance of wealth as the truth is gradually revealed.
The critics couldn’t keep their tongues from wagging after witnessing the magic that is Cate Blanchett:
“‘You hire her and get out of the way”, Allen has said of his incredibly talented leading lady, which is a hint about how very raw her presence is.
“It will need a miraculous performance to defeat her,” added the Mail. “Cate Blanchett leads an impeccable cast in Allen’s 46th film as director,” said the paper’s film critic, Chris Tookey.”Mesmerising, loathsome but full of pathos, hers is a barnstorming performance, reminiscent of her stage turn as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, but with more than a touch of Lady Macbeth as well.”
“Woody Allen deserves his five-star review and Cate Blanchett an Oscar for her role as a modern-day Blanche DuBois,” concurred Kate Muir, in the Times.
“Blue Jasmine” will be released on DVD in October or November, it’s still being determined.
Microsoft is reportedly forming an Super Store to offer apps for Windows 8 computers as well as Microsoft phones and tablets.
According to ZDNet, Microsoft has been busy creating a single, new app depot for the upcoming new versions of the company’s operating systems. Those would be Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1.
The move, if done right, could seriously help Microsoft change the general perception of the company’s app stores. As it is, Microsoft trails its rival, Apple, in the sheer numbers of available apps.
Obviously, a unified Windows store with apps that are able to run on all Windows 8.1 platforms could ultimately boost the total number of programs available for all devices running Windows, as well as help boost Windows RT and Windows Phone acceptability with both application developers and the computer and smartphone consumer .
Microsoft execs have been hinting lately, that in the future there will be “One Windows” and one Windows API. In fact, at the company’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week, Executive VP Terry Myerson restated that, “We should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices. And all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices.”
Attendees said Myerson told the thousands of gathered employees that both the computer and smartphone versions of Windows software will receive a “special” coordinated updates to accomplish the change. The updates could come as early as next spring.
According to CNet, Azure is also likely playing a role in this scenario. Maybe something to do with cloud compilation of applications?
This would involve Microsoft compiling developers’ applications for them, like they did with the Windows Phone during the move from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8. That move was meant to help with portability and performance. It could also be that the back-end code for certain apps runs on Windows Azure and is streamed to phones and PCs. That would give users the impression that Halo 4 really is running natively on their Windows Phone or Windows RT tablet.
In addition to happy developers it could also result in happy customers! Ultimately, a single store that included both Windows 8 Metro-Style and Windows Phone 8 apps would definitely help with the never-ending complaints about shortages of Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps.
There is great news this week for the average Joe! Gas prices are down and will continue to fall…for now. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is now $3.42, down from $3.59 on September 1st.
This average price is the lowest it’s been at this time of year since 2010, according to AP. Last year at about this time drivers were paying 37 cents/gallon more than they are this year, on average, because Hurricane Irene and refinery and pipeline problems disrupted gasoline production in August and September. California prices rose sharply in late September, then hit a record $4.67 per gallon in early October.
Fortunately for us, there are no such problems this year. However, California drivers are again paying the highest average price, outside of Hawaii and Alaska, at $3.95 per gallon, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express. The lucky people of South Carolina drivers are paying the least, at $3.11 per gallon.
Reportedly, Even high oil prices haven’t stopped gasoline’s decline, as oil briefly topped $112 in late August as a U.S. threat of military action against Syria made the market nervous about Middle East supplies. Even though the price of oil has since fallen, it still remains above $100 per barrel, but gasoline has actually dropped to its lowest price since January 31st. In fact, Friday, oil fell 16 cents to close at $102.87 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
But, Tom Kloza, Chief Oil Analyst at GasBuddy.com and Oil Price Information Service, which tracks retail and wholesale gasoline prices, remains cautiously optimistic.”It’s a layup for me to predict lower prices until Columbus Day weekend.”
Wholesale gasoline prices have fallen faster in recent days than pump prices, so drivers can expect to pay even less as the pump prices catch up. HIstorically, gas prices tend to decline soon after Labor Day. However, despite the recent drop, the national average is unlikely to fall back to $3.29 per gallon, which was this year’s low, set in early January. That is, unless the price of oil falls under $100 per barrel, GasBuddy’s Kloza said.
This could happen as long as tensions in the Middle East don’t flare up again, and if the hurricane season remains tame. Fortunatley, U.S. oil production is expected to hit a monthly rate in October that the country hasn’t even seen since 1989, and, Saudi Arabian exports typically rise in late fall and in winter as the country uses less oil to generate electricity for air conditioning. This generally makes global supplies higher, but last year gas prices didn’t start going down until mid-October. There are many reasons for this fall’s drop in price, experts say:
For one thing, refiners are allowed to switch to cheaper blends of gasoline in the winter months as clean-air rules are relaxed. Also, gas demand declines in the fall after the kiddies go back to school and summer driving ends, and supplies rise, at the same time, because refiners are still making gasoline as they continue operations to make heating oil for winter and diesel and jet fuel for shippers.
And, this year, refineries have been relatively problem free (knock on wood), as there haven’t been hurricanes, or unexpected problems, explosions, etc. at refineries or pipelines, like there were last year.
Should conditions remain perfect for cheap prices, as they look right now, we could have one of the cheapest driving seasons we’ve seen in a very, very long time! Happy driving!
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Jennifer Aniston previously married Hollywood A-lister, Brad Pitt, who is now engaged to Angelina Jolie. Now, Aniston is aiming at keeping her second wedding small since she reportedly “hated” her giant, fancy wedding to Brad Pitt. “It was too big and incredibly stressful.”, according to One News.
“This time she wants a small family affair and she wants to go the extra mile to let her father see that she is happy at last. And she knows that including his son would make him happiest.” squeals an insider.
At her upcoming wedding to fiancé Justin Theroux, she is hoping to give her younger brother Alex the major role of best man! Jen is excited to tie the knot with her fiancé, Justin, in a low-key ceremony at the mansion they share in Bel Air, California, and they want to be sure to give Alex one of the big roles on her big day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHC-DXnpgHU
Alex, or AJ, is a drifter and a modern nomad that lives in differnt places all the time between Los Angeles and Alaska in his van. He has numerous tattoos on his chest and arms in addition to a number of other inkings. Despite his unusual appearance, Justin is fully on board with the situation. “Justin feels that having AJ act as his best man at the wedding will give him an anchor in the family,” a family insider said. “There’s no doubt that AJ is quirky, but he’s got a good heart and Jen does love him.”
Marvin Gaye III, 47, is suffering from potential kidney failure. He has recently announced that the disease he has will require a kidney transplant. The adopted eldest son of the late Marvin Gaye said that the preemptive lawsuit brought by Robin Thicke against his late father’s estate was a distraction and was not allowing him to deal very effectively with his medical issues.
Marvin Gaye’s family was threatening to sue Thicke and his “Blurred Lines” collaborators, claiming their No. 1 song is essentially a remake of Gaye’s 1977 disco hit, “Got To Give It Up.” But then, the “Blurred Lines” collaborators, Robin Thicke, T.I., and Pharrell, took a preemptive strike against Gaye’s heirs by filing a complaint in a California court last month asking a judge to determine that “Blurred Lines” does not copy Gaye’s song or take his composition without credit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eugx6aZLwuo
Marvin Gaye III said that he had to spend a lot of time on the defense. He said, “I have a lot of better things to do than to be sitting here trying to defend my father’s legacy, which I’m glad to do because that’s my position in the family.”
However, The Associated Press reports that he is now leading an organ donation campaign. This particular campaign is meant to encourage Blacks and Hispanics to participate more fully in organ donation programs. Since seeking the transplant, he has become very aware of the difficulties that exist for people in similar circumstances.
The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement saying:
“African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics/Latinos are three times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from end-stage renal disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions that can damage the kidneys. Almost 35 percent of the more than 95,000 people on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant are African-American.”
On top of all that is going on for Gaye III, he is also trying to promote his new album. He hopes the album will raise awareness, and money, to support kidney research.
