WebProNews

Author: Pam Wright

  • Blake Lively Moving into Movie-Star Big Leagues

    Blake Lively is moving into the movie-star big leagues.

    The Gossip Girl actress is currently filming scenes for The Age of Adaline which also stars Ellen Burstyn and Harrison Ford.

    Lively plays Adaline, a woman who stops aging following an accident.

    The plot “follows the miraculous life of the 29-year-old title character, who stops aging after recovering from a near-fatal accident. Over the 20th century she embarks on an epic but isolated worldwide journey, keeping her secret, until she meets a man who forever alters her life.”

    The role is the actress’s first since the 2012 film Savages. Academy Award-winning Burstyn, 81, will appear as Adaline’s mother.

    Michiel Huisman — best known for his role on Game of Thrones — also stars in the film, playing Blake Lively’s love interest in the upcoming film.

    Kathy Baker and Amanda Crew round out the cast.

    Lively, 26, and Burstyn were spotted in the Gastown District of Vancouver, Canada late last week having lunch together as they prepared to shoot scenes for the movie scheduled to be released in 2015.

    Seems like the Lively-Reynolds household is busy, busy, busy.

    Blake‘s husband Ryan Reynolds is slated to take on the role of a lawyer in the upcoming film The Woman in Gold with another Academy Award-winner, Helen Mirren.

    Blake looks beautiful in her retro look for the film.

    Check out some Twitter pics of her 70s-inspired look for The Age of Adaline:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Kandi Burruss Marries Despite Mama Joyce’s Warnings

    Kandi Burruss has been warned.

    Despite voiced trepidations by her mom — known to the world as Mama Joyce — Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss married former producer Todd Tucker on Friday.

    Mama Joyce has told her daughter repeatedly she believes Tucker is using her and even accused him of sleeping with Burruss’ assistant Carmon.

    When Tucker refused to sign a prenup, it only seemed to confirm her worries.

    The 37-year-old reality star refused to listen to her mama and went forward with the wedding in spite of all the warnings.

    Despite reservations, Mama Joyce did attend the wedding and even offered the newlyweds a beautiful toast in front of family and friends at a reception following the wedding.

    The feud between Mama Joyce and her daughter over her son-in-law’s true intentions has played out on the Bravo show. Tucker tried to work things out with Mama Joyce, having numerous conversations on the show with his future mother-in-law.

    At one point, he asks Mama Joyce if she’s getting excited about her daughter’s wedding.

    Her response was a definitive NOT.

    Todd asked Mama Joyce why it has to be so difficult to communicate. “If it’s ‘Todd, I’m probably never going to like you,’ I can live with that. I didn’t stop liking you, I stopped respecting you,” she responded.

    “They’re together, but I’m out of their relationship,” Mama Joyce said in January. “It’s much healthier. I have rekindled a very healthy relationship with my daughter, and my granddaughter [Riley], and we are in a very good place…I pray and hope that I’m wrong about Todd.”

    The feud has even played out on shows like The View.


    Burruss is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter and a former member of R&B group Xscape.

    The couple became engaged last January after meeting on the show in 2011.

    Burruss was engaged once before to the late A.J. Jewell, who was killed in a bar fight in 2009. She has an 11-year-old daughter, Riley, with ex-boyfriend Russell Spencer of Block Entertainment. This is the first marriage for both of them.

    What do you think? Will the marriage last?

    Image via YouTube

  • Downton Abbey Cast Told to Stay Off Twitter

    Keeping celebrities from Twitter is like trying to hold down the tide.

    Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has felt compelled to tell his cast to stay away from social media — Twitter in particular — during filming of new episodes to prevent any spoilers from reaching the public.

    Fellowes said Downton cast member Richard E. Grant has been tweeting TMI on his account.

    Fellowes made his comments about tweeting during the launch of Grant’s new fragrance, Jack Perfume.

    “He’s very naughty. The trouble we’ve had with things like Twitter,” Fellowes said.

    “We had to explain to the cast about the dangers of tweeting as no one realized how interested everybody was in the show. You’re in a bubble when you’re filming,” he added. “You’re just tweeting these nice things and you don’t realize there are millions of people worldwide trying to pick up the plot.”

    Of course, now we need to check out Twitter to see what Grant may have given away about the upcoming seasons:

    Yea, it’s obvious how he gives the plot away with his tweeting!

    Not really.

    Grant, 56, will appear in four episodes of the upcoming fifth season of Downton Abbey as Simon Bricker, described as an “upstairs guest” of the Crawley family. He recently played the role of Jasper in HBO’s Girls.

    Downton Abbey debuted in the UK and Ireland in 2010 — in January 2011 in the U.S. — and was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television show of 2011.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Richard Marx and Cynthia Rhodes Split After 25 Years

    This is a bummer.

    Singer Richard Marx confirmed his divorce from Cynthia Rhodes — best known for her role of Penny opposite Patrick Swayzy in Dirty Dancing — on Katie, to which Katie Couric gleefully responded, “You’re back on the market!”

    Yeah, awkward.

    Trying to recover from her inappropriate response, Couric tried to re-engage the audience, with “Ladies?!”

    The audience didn’t respond to Couric’s attempts at getting them excited about the marital status of her guest.

    “So, how are you feeling about dating at this point?” Couric asked. “I think they felt bad,” Marx observed, miming the reluctant-sounding clapping.

    “No, it’s all brand new to me,” the 50-year-old singer said. “So I’m just having fun.”

    The Right Here Waiting singer and Rhodes, 57, married in 1989 and have three sons together, Brandon, 23; Lucas, 21; and Jesse, 20.

    Couric remarked to Marx that he went to high school in Chicago with her fiancé, John Molner.

    “I never particularly liked him,” said the singer, perhaps getting back at Couric just a little bit for her awkward reaction to his news.

    “We weren’t, like, pals, but I think we played on every sports team together. I was just jealous because he was one of the true brainiacs. We would copy John’s papers,” said Marx.

    Rhodes gave up her career years ago to focus on their family full-time. She is also known for her role opposite John Travolta in the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive.

    His signature song, Right Here Waiting, was written to Rhodes when they were dating as a love letter while physically separated — he was on tour and she was shooting a movie. The song spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

    Image via YouTube

  • Kristen Bell is Stinkin’ Amazing: Watch This

    Kristen Bell can add another accolade to her list of credentials — flat-out amazing.

    Most people were pretty surprised when they learned that Bell was the voice behind the lead character, Anna, in the Disney mega-hit Frozen.

    Any lingering questions over whether the 33-year-old actress can really sing have been annihilated after her recent live performance of Do You Want to Build a Snowman. She not only sings the dang song, she sings it in three different voices.

    If you remember, while singing the song in the film, Anna begins as a little girl trying to win over her increasingly distant sister, Elsa, played by Adele Dazeem — sorry, Idina Menzel — and is shown growing into young adulthood by the end of the song.

    And so she sings it just like in the movie – from a squeaky 5-year-old, to a tween and finally a heartbroken young adult — it is beyond impressive.

    “I’ve wanted to be a Disney princess since I was five years old!” Bell says to the crowd before the song.

    “Disney animation was so important to me, but what’s even more special is that I was able to help shape a type of heroine that I wanted to see that I would identify with when I was 5 to 10 years old,” she said. “I feel like I’m so, so proud of Anna because of all those things and her ability to believe in people even when they stop believing in themselves is very apparent.”

    During the same performance, Bell sang with co-star Santino Fontana, who lent his voice to the character, Hans, in the film.

    Frozen recently entered into the record books as the most successful animated film of all time with over $1 billion in global box office.

    Stinkin’ amazing, right?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Poppy Montgomery Secretly Married for Months

    In this I-know-everything-that’s-going-on-thanks-to-this-social-media world that we live in — well, perhaps with the occasional exception like where to find a missing plane — it must be pretty tricky to keep something like a celebrity wedding secret.

    But that’s precisely what Poppy Montgomery was able to do — for months.

    The Unforgettable actress announced during a Friday appearance on Live! With Kelly and Michael that she and husband Shawn Sanford were married in February — on Chinese New Year to be precise — at Disneyland.

    “On Chinese New Year, I ran away with all of the children and got married at Disneyland,” the star said.

    Montgomery, 38, and Sanford, a Microsoft executive, welcomed a daughter in April 2013. Little Violet Grace is sister to Montgomery’s 6-year-old son, Jackson Phillip, with ex-boyfriend Adam Kaufman.

    According to Montgomery, Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse wore wedding attire and presided over the couple’s wedding ceremony. The bride was a little more casually dressed — in jeans.

    “The children were so in awe of Mickey and Minnie that they didn’t really pay attention to the wedding, and then my stepdaughter said, ‘Why is Minnie dressed better than you? ‘” the actress recalled, laughing at the happy memory.

    The former Without a Trace actress said her mother was not amused at her choice of wedding venue.

    “My mother was horrified,” she said. “She was like, ‘How do you turn Disneyland into Vegas? You don’t run away to Disneyland and get married!’”

    Meeting at an event in Puerto Rico, Montgomery and Sanford began dating in 2011. Sanford has two other children from his previous partnership.

    Image via YouTube

  • Trick Daddy Busted For Drugs, Gun Possession

    Busted again.

    When Rapper Trick Daddy was arrested Thursday for a multitude of drug and weapons charges outside his Florida home, he wondered if it might be for child support payments.

    According to an arrest report, Maurice Young — better known as Trick Daddy — was backing his SUV out of his home in Miramar around 10 a.m. Thursday morning when officers asked him to get out of his car. As he complied with their request, he asked them if he was being pulled over for being in arrears in his child support payment.

    Nope, that’s not it Trick Daddy.

    Apparently, members of the Broward County Drug Task Force were carrying out a surveillance on his home in reference to a pending “sniff” warrant at his residence.

    According to the report, Young admitted his license was suspended, he was late in child support, but didn’t consider other possibilities until deputies informed him it concerned drugs.

    “He confirmed he was aware and asked if it was in reference to child support payments,” an officer said in the police report.

    The 40-year-old rapper subsequently told the arresting officers he had some cocaine and “maybe a marijuana roach, but no grow house.”

    Upon entering the home, deputies found a gram of cocaine on a nightstand and a 9mm Sig Sauer gun under a pillow on a nearby bed. They also found ammunition in a closet.

    Young told police he is a convicted felon and has been arrested previously for trafficking narcotics, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and possession of cocaine.

    Since Young is a convicted felon, it is illegal for him to possess weapons.

    He was released from Broward County jail on $6,100 bond early Friday.

    Young faces charges of possession of firearm by a convicted felon, possession of ammo by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine, and driving on a suspended license.

    Young posted to Twitter since the arrest:

    Image via Instagram, Trick Daddy

  • ATM $37,000: Homeless Man Scores Big Payout

    ATM $37,000: Homeless Man Scores Big Payout

    Sounds like the universe was giving a guy a break — Or NOT — when a homeless man tried to withdraw $140 from an ATM Thursday.

    Instead, the man finished his business at the machine $37,000 richer.

    It took some time for all that money to eject from the machine. So long that a woman called police to come to the TD Bank Branch in South Portland, Maine. She told police the man if front of her was taking far too long at the ATM.

    According to a police statement, officers found the man stuffing cash into a shopping bag.

    (Pause for a moment of laughter)

    Lt. Todd Bernard of the South Portland Police Department told the Bangor Daily News the unidentified man tried to repeatedly request $700 using the “cash advance” feature on the machine.

    He only had $100 in his account.

    The ATM honored his request an estimated 53 times before police arrived and intervened.

    Generally, the cash advance option only works on an ATM for people who have a pre-approved line of credit with a bank — the homeless man didn’t. However, according to a bank official, a “code error” allowed the transactions to proceed.

    “It is illegal. He is taking money that doesn’t belong to him, and the bank at this point has elected not to prosecute, although the case is still under investigation,” Bernard said. “That ATM has been taken out of service and is being checked out to determine why it malfunctioned.”

    The money was returned to the bank and bank officials say they don’t want to press charges. But police don’t seem to be as forgiving as they continue to investigate the incident.

    I wonder if he got his $100?

    Image via YouTube

  • Doris Day: Shout-Outs For Her 90th Birthday

    “Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see, que sera sera.”

    I wonder what Doris Day was pondering when she sang her signature song – Que Sera, Sera – for the first time when it was released back in 1956?

    I bet she never dreamed where life would take her during the past nine decades of her life.

    “All I ever wanted in my life was to get married, have kids, keep house and cook, and even though I did all these things, I still ended up in Hollywood,” she told Closer magazine. “It was a great trip. I’ve had an amazing life and wonderful times. And I’m happy!”

    The actress and singer turned 90 today, April 3, and she is still just as vibrant and beautiful as she ever was in her heyday.

    Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff was born in Cincinnati to a music teacher and a homemaker. Her dream was to be a dancer, but when a tragic automobile accident severely injured her leg, she started singing to compensate, never realizing the blessing in disguise.

    She began singing on the radio and had her first real break with several Big Bands, including those led by Barney Rapp and Bob Cosby. She copped her first hit with the single, Sentimental Journey, with Les Brown’s Band.

    Her acting career dates from 1947 when she joined Warner Brothers Studios, starring in musicals like Calamity Jane.

    By the mid-’50s, she was becoming a bonified superstar, especially with hit films like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which Que Sera, Sera was introduced.

    In 1959, she was in the first of many movies with long-time friend Rock Hudson, in the racy (for its time) romantic comedy Pillow Talk, which led to a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

    For many years after that, she was the top box office star in the world.

    She has also been known and recognized for her work with animals.

    To celebrate her birthday, she will host an event featuring local animal rescues that need to be adopted, and will raise money for her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation.

    “I’ve never been a fan of celebrating my own birthdays,” she said. “[And] helping animals has been a lifelong passion. They give us unconditional love and ask very little in return.”

    Asked what the years have taught her, the forever girl-next-door said, “Live life to the fullest … It’s not coming back again.”

    Shout-outs have been coming from the many stars who have known and worked with her throughout the years.

    Happy birthday Miss Day!

    Image via YouTube

  • Australian Shark Attack Kills Woman, Leaves No Trace

    A woman reportedly “taken by a shark” off a popular east coast Australian beach Thursday is presumed dead.

    Christine Armstrong, 63, was doing what she does on a daily basis — completing a swim from a wharf to the shore with her local swimming club.

    During the swim, Armstrong complained of back pain and told her husband she was heading back to shore. She never made it back.

    According to police, she was attempting to swim 600 meters (2,970 feet) between the wharf and beach near the village of Tathra, 340 kilometers (210 miles) south of Sydney, when the attack occurred.

    “It’s a beautiful little coastal village and this is one of those sad things that can happen,” said local council general manager Leanne Barnes.

    The swimming group later said they noticed a large 11-foot shark swimming nearby. The group, fearing for their safety, stayed close together as they swam back to the beach club.

    Police Inspector Jason Edmunds said another witness on some nearby rocks spotted a large shark attacking something in the water roughly 150 yards offshore, which he believed to be a swimmer.

    “The community is in shock, and the husband is taking it hard, as he has been with her since they were kids,” said Edmunds.

    “Cancer, heart attacks — those are all things we fear but expect, but who gets taken by a shark?”

    Police said a helicopter and boat were being used to search for remains.

    It is believed the woman was a lifeguard, according to a post on the Surf Life Saving New South Wales website.

    The other lifeguards she was swimming with are receiving counseling, the post said.

    “The thoughts of all Surf Lifesavers in NSW are with the victim’s family and friends and also with the members still involved in the search effort,” said the post. “Tathra beach is closed and although nearby beaches north and south are unpatrolled at this time of year, Surf Life Saving is advising swimmers to stay clear of the water until further notice.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Lorraine Bracco Loses 35 Pounds, Shares Her Secrets

    Lorraine Bracco made a decision to lose some weight. And when the former The Sopranos star decides something, it’s on.

    Bracco made the decision to shed pounds, not for vanity’s sake, but to get her health under control after taking care of her ailing parents, who both died in 2011.

    “We were sitting there, dividing these medications, who gets what when. It was insane. I watched and realized, ‘I don’t want to go like that,’” she told ABC News. “I said, ‘I want to be the best I could be.’ I want to live every day the best I can be.”

    At the time of her decision, Bracco weighed 183 lbs.

    “The last person on the take care of list was me. I let myself go,” she said.

    After making her decision, Bracco sought the help of a life coach who helped her come up with a weight loss plan, which entails avoiding sugar and dairy, keeping portion sizes small and substituting most grains for quinoa.

    To satisfy her sweet tooth, Bracco sticks to healthy choices like fruit, gluten-free cookies and Kind bars.

    “I was a huge Twizzler eater. I love licorice,” said the former candy junkie. “The other day I said, ‘I haven’t had this in three years,’ and I had half a piece. I ended up spitting it out because I no longer have a taste for it. It was so sugary, it was almost like poison to me.”

    The 59-year-old actress has also added Pilates to her exercise routine.

    “I started off very slow. My feeling is also, you sign up to go to the gym and you go to two classes and then you can’t walk. It’s just not the way to do it,” she said. “Now, I go to Pilates class three times a week. I love that there are women who are in their 80s in my class and there were kids who are 23.”

    After her success, Bracco made another decision — to share her secrets in an upcoming book, To the Fullest, to be published in 2015.

    Bracco says she is most excited about her increased energy.

    “I am still a vibrant, contributing human being and I am not dead yet,” she said. “I laugh because I used to wake up and everything ached before I got out of bed. Now I jump out of bed! I’m doing something right.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Anna Kendrick Kills It in SNL Promo Spots

    Anna Kendrick is prepping for her Saturday Night Live hosting gig this weekend in a series of promos for the show.

    If the promos are any indication, it’s going to be a great show — she pretty much kills it.

    Kendrick is seen hanging with SNL regular Taran Killam, running the gamut of comedy — from singing some show tunes to a fake horror skit.

    In one skit, the Pitch Perfect star asks naively, “When does Saturday Night Live air? When does it tape? Is it during the day?”

    In another spot, Kendrick and Killam ponder, “What could be more fun than Saturday’s show?” Kendrick’s reply: “Sumo wrestling in doughnut batter? A mansion full of monkey butlers? A tickle fight with puppies while I’m wearing a bikini made of bacon?”

    The 28-year-old actress makes her hosting debut on Saturday, April 5, with musical guest Pharrell.

    Former SNL head writer Seth Meyers, who now hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC, gave Kendrick some advice after she told him she’s “really scared” about her appearance.

    Kendrick has wrapped filming Happy Christmas due out summer 2014.

    Fans of Pitch Perfect are pumped that Anna Kendrick is returning to reprise her role as Beca, the leader of the a cappella singing group, the Barden Bellas. Kenrick recently admitted she is just as pumped and doesn’t even seem to care about the plot.

    “I’m very excited!” said Kendrick. “I mean I’ve signed on with no script, so you know, if it becomes about parasailing instead of singing, don’t blame me!”

    She even revealed her ideas of what fans might expect from the sequel.

    “I can see it picking up in the year 3000 when we’re all cryogenically frozen,” she joked. “And our voices are digital and we’re breaking the sound barrier.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Restaurant Picasso: Legal Battle Continues in NYC

    A 19-foot-high, painted theater curtain — attributed to Pablo Picasso — is at the center of a legal dispute over whether the piece hanging in New York City’s Four Seasons Restaurant is too fragile to be removed for repairs.

    Experts are concerned the unframed “Le Tricorne” painting, which depicts figures overlooking a bullring, will crumble if taken down to allow repairs.

    The dispute is between the restaurant’s landlord and the actual owner of the painting, and went before a state court judge on Wednesday.

    Real estate developer and owner of the building, Aby Rosen, wants the Picasso taken down from a hallway between two dining rooms. The piece was painted in 1919 and has been in its current location since the restaurant’s opening in 1959.

    Rosen’s lawyer, Andrew Kratenstein, argued the limestone wall on which the painting hangs has been damaged by moisture and steam from the kitchens on the other side.

    Kratenstein told the court an art handler hired by Rosen “was concerned it was more dangerous to leave (the painting) in place.”

    However, The New York Landmarks Conservancy, a non-profit preservationist group that was given ownership of the Picasso in 2005, says that the wall is fine and removing the curtain could ruin it and harm the restaurant’s interior.

    Both sides have hired engineers and experts to view the wall, but only those sent by Rosen find the painting may be at risk if removed. However, an another art mover hired by Rosen said the curtain could “crack like a potato chip.”

    Peg Breen, the conservancy’s president, said in an interview that the painting was the “iconic center” of the Four Seasons.

    “It’s considered one of the loveliest interior landmarks in America and it’s all worked together; it’s all of a piece,” she said.

    “Philip Johnson didn’t just say, ‘We’ll slap up a Picasso for a little while and we’ll see what else comes along,’” she said, referring to the building’s architect.

    Judge Carol Edmead said she wants to hear expert testimony on whether it is necessary to move the curtain April 30 before making a ruling.

    “The best part is all of a sudden everyone’s paying attention to it,” said Four Seasons co-owner Julian Niccolini.

    Image via YouTube

  • Connie Britton Named UN Goodwill Ambassador

    Who doesn’t just love Connie Britton — and her hair?

    Well it seems the United Nations thinks her it-factor is just what the world needs as the Nashville star was named a goodwill ambassador Wednesday for the United Nations Development Program.

    “We are thrilled to have Connie Britton join UNDP’s efforts to fight poverty worldwide,” said UNDP Director for External Relations Michael O’Neill.

    “Connie is passionately committed to humanitarian causes and she will be a great partner for UNDP, helping us raise awareness of development issues amongst the American and global public.”

    Britton calls her appointment as goodwill ambassador “one of the greatest opportunities of my life.”

    “In my own travels, I’ve seen many places where people are living in extreme poverty. It’s unacceptable that, in 2014, one billion people live in such conditions, and a full sixty percent of the chronically hungry in the world are women,” said Britton. “I look forward to working with UNDP to help change this and improve the lives of vulnerable people worldwide.”

    Britton says she plans to focus on poverty eradication, with a special emphasis on women’s issues. She told reporters that women do 66 percent of the world’s work but make just 10 percent of the world’s income.

    Known for roles on Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story and most recently Nashville, the 47-year-old actress and singer became the agency’s tenth such ambassador and joins actor Antonio Banderas, tennis star Maria Sharapova and a handful of soccer stars.

    Britton already has a plethora of foreign experiences. She spent some time studying Chinese in Beijing and traveled to Africa for documentary work and to adopt her son, Yoby, from Ethiopia. She says China was a turning point in her life.

    “I majored in Chinese [Asian Studies] in college [Dartmouth]. I had a great opportunity to study in China and I didn’t want to pass that up,” said Britton in a 2011 interview. “I’ve always been interested in international cultures.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Jennifer Love Hewitt Struggles with Post-baby Weight

    Wow, movie stars really are just like the rest of us.

    Jennifer Love Hewitt recently lamented the difficulties she faces trying to juggle new husband, new baby, a career and losing that stubborn post-baby weight.

    “It’s hard, it’s really hard,” Hewitt admitted. “And I wasn’t sure where I was going to fall and what was going to happen and how I was going to feel. It just feels great to sort of be honest about the fact that it is tough and these clothes make it a little easier, make me feel beautiful. I’m still in a lot of my pregnancy clothes and there is just where I feel good right now. Everything hasn’t returned back to where I want it to be and put on my other clothes and feel good about that.”

    “If your priorities are right, the baby’s most important,” she went on. “You have to eat to feed to your baby. And I have a girl so I want her to see some day why her mom has good self-esteem and good body issues. It gets you down sometimes, I’m not going to lie. I’ve had days where I’m like, ‘Ugh, I wish this was easier.’ But it’s not, and that’s OK.”

    Despite the weight-gain issues, the 35-year-old actress claims she would have another baby in a heartbeat.

    “I loved the whole experience. I’d do it again tomorrow,” said Hewitt.

    And just like the rest of us, Hewitt decided to change her looks a bit to make herself feel a little better post-baby — so she debuted a new blond look.

    “I love it!” she told PEOPLE. “I was just inside with the baby and I felt like I was ready for a change. As Giuliana Rancic says, I wanted to get my ‘momjo’ back! I got my mojo back, I wanted my ‘momjo.’”

    Image via Twitter, Jennifer Love Hewitt

  • Chile Earthquake: Bigger One May be Coming

    Chile Earthquake: Bigger One May be Coming

    The 8.2-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of northern Chile Tuesday evening was big — leaving at least six dead in its wake — and yet, scientists predict another bigger earthquake may be looming.

    “This magnitude, 8.2, is not the large earthquake that we were expecting in this area,” said Mark Simons, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

    “We’re expecting a potentially even larger earthquake,” he said. “It could be tomorrow. Or it could come in 50 years. We do not know when it’s going to occur.”

    “The big question is, is this a foreshock to an even bigger earthquake to come?” said Rick Allmendinger, a geologist who specializes in earthquake analysis at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a visiting professor at the Universidad Católica del Norte in Antofagasta, Chile.

    “It probably has not released all of the stored-up energy on the subduction earthquake fault in northern Chile,” he said. “For the sake of all of our friends in the region, we’re hoping that there isn’t a bigger one still to come.”

    The quake struck around 8:46 p.m. local time and had a depth of 12.5 miles. Of the six known fatalities, four were blamed on heart attacks occurring during the quake. Two other victims were apparently crushed.

    Nearly 928,000 people were evacuated, said the director of Chile’s office of national emergency, Ricardo Toro.

    The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several warnings but canceled them by early Wednesday. Tsunami watches that initially extended as far north as Mexico’s Pacific Coast were also canceled.

    An 8.2-magnitude earthquake is capable of causing tremendous damage, however the damage has been reported as minimal.

    Officials say lives were saved because of the steps the Chile has taken in recent years to protect its people and structures in the event of an earthquake.

    Image via YouTube

  • Bao Bao: Baby Panda Goes Out to Play (Video)

    Bao Bao: Baby Panda Goes Out to Play (Video)

    All babies are adorable. But, giant panda baby Bao Bao’s first venture into the big, wide world is too much for anyone to stand.

    Little 7-month-old Bao Bao went outside for the first time Tuesday to frolic in the National Zoo’s “cub-proofed” panda yard with momma panda Mei Xiang.

    According to zoo officials, the cub spent two hours outside, climbing on one of the smaller trees and playing with a piece of bamboo.

    “She was a little apprehensive in the first few minutes, but once Mei Xiang, her mom, came a little bit closer and she realized where her mom was, she made that connection,” said zookeeper Juan Rodriguez.

    “We put some extra hay out there just in case she decided to go out a little farther on the rock work, and if she did fall, she would fall on a big pile of hay, so we made sure that all the area was sort of ‘baby-proof,’ if you will,” said Rodriquez.

    Pretty certain zookeepers consider this little panda cub like one of their own kids. And what proud “parent” doesn’t capture their little one’s milestones? So, yes, the adventure was captured on video for the world to admire.

    Bao Bao — “treasure” in Chinese — was born on August 23, 2013. Her birth is a rarity and her mother, Mei Xiang, was artificially inseminated by father Tian Tian. Bao Bao is only the second surviving cub born at the facility since 1972.

    The other panda born in the National Zoo was Bao Bao’s older brother named Tai Shan, who is now in China where he is reportedly in a breeding program there.

    Giant pandas are an endangered species. There are currently only several hundred giant pandas in captivity and only 2,000 alive in the world today.

    Pandas first arrived at the National Zoo in 1972 following President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China.

    Image via YouTube

  • Kindergartner Praying: Parents Taking it to Court

    Hoax or not, the parents of a Florida kindergartner — who claims she was told to stop praying before her lunch — are suing Seminole County Public Schools as a result of the alleged incident.

    According to 5-year-old Gabriella Perez, she was told to stop praying by one of the Kindergarten teachers on duty when she sat down to lunch. School officials rebuke the allegation, saying there is no basis for the claim.

    Marcos Perez, Gabriella’s father, posted a video on YouTube early last week featuring his daughter talking about the alleged incident.

    “The lunch teacher said, ‘You’re not allowed to pray. I said, ‘It’s good to pray. She said, ‘It’s not good,” Gabriella said in the YouTube video.

    School principal Analynn Jones told Gabriella’s parents none of his staff members had any memory of the incident and added, “We don’t have a policy against student prayer at all.”

    Gabriella’s mother, Kathy Perez, believes what her daughter says is the truth.

    “She wanted to pray, but she’s a rule-follower. I told her she did the right thing. I don’t doubt for a minute that my daughter is telling the truth,” she said.

    The family’s lawyer, Jeremiah Dys, of the Liberty Institute of Plano, Texas, told reporters they will fight this particular battle in court unless the school offers a letter of apology by April 7.

    “The principal has pretty much dismissed this. Saying a 5-year-old cannot pray over her chicken nuggets and mac-and-cheese isn’t in line with the Constitution,” said Dys.

    There have been some question as to the veracity of the little girl’s claim.

    Michael Lawrence, a school spokesman, said staff was told by the principal that there were no rules against prayer following the incident. Lawrence says school officials are considering the possibility that Gabriella may have misinterpreted something.

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  • California Powerball Winner Plans to Help Needy Kids

    Surely we’ve all dreamed about what we would do if we won the lottery.

    A Northern California man, who came forward Tuesday to claim his $242.2 million Powerball jackpot check, says he plans to use a portion of his winnings to set up a charitable foundation “focused on areas of pediatric health, child hunger and education.”

    Retiree B. Raymond Buxton says he has been playing the game for two years, but this win came as a complete surprise.

    “‘Unbelievable!’ is all I could muster,” Buxton said of the moment he learned he’d hit the jackpot. “I sat in front of the computer for hours in disbelief, frequently checking and rechecking the numbers across multiple sources. Once the initial shock passed, I couldn’t sleep for days.”

    He won $425.3 million, the largest jackpot ever won in California and the sixth-largest in the nation, and opted to take a lump-sum check for $242.2 million before taxes.

    When he came forward to claim his prize on April Fool’s Day, he wore a shirt featuring the Star Wars character Yoda with the words “Luck of the Jedi I have.”

    Buxton told lottery officials he decided to buy a second ticket for the February drawing while getting lunch at a Subway inside the convenience store at Dixon Landing Chevron in Milpitas.

    Tuesday was also a pretty good day for the Chevron where Buxton bought the ticket —they received a $1-million bonus for selling it.

    Buxton’s lucky numbers were 17, 49, 54, 35, 1 and the Powerball number 34.

    At first, Buxton decided to keep his secret on the low-down, but that proved a little unnerving.

    “Sitting on a ticket of this value was very scary,” he said. “It’s amazing how a little slip of paper can change your life.”

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  • Allergy Relief: Some Tips to Avoid Feeling Miserable

    Few would argue that it’s about time Spring has sprung in the U.S. However, for allergy sufferers, this time of year has its own short-comings.

    Allergies can certainly sap the joy of Spring right out of a person. But, there are some great advice out there to make the season bearable for sufferers.

    Tree pollen — which can travel through the air up to 200 miles — is typically the first to emerge after the long winter and many areas in the U.S. are currently registering ‘very high’ readings.

    Here are some tips to reduce the affects of allergies:

    It’s a good idea for allergy sufferers to switch allergy medications frequently, as long-term use of the same medication can build up the body’d tolerance, making the drug ineffective.

    It’s also not a great idea to take antihistamines everyday. It’s better to wait until it’s really needed — again, the effectiveness of the drug loses its potency if taken everyday.

    Nasal sprays can take a couple of weeks before the medication begins to work, so don’t give up on them if you feel like it’s just not working and start using them early-on so they can build up in your system.

    Some foods should be avoided to alleviate symptoms. Some fruits contain similar proteins to pollen, which can cause allergy symptoms. It might be a good idea to avoid apples and melons, for example.

    Although it’s impossible to avoid allergies entirely, people can reduce the effects of allergies by avoiding them as much as possible.

    It’s good to avoid the outdoors between 5 to 10 a.m as pollen counts are typically the highest during these hours. If you must be outdoors in the morning, take frequent showers and change your clothes often to wash off the pollen.

    You can also check daily pollen counts and avoid stepping outdoors too often if the count is extremely high.

    Keeping the inside of your home pollen-free is important. You can ensure a lower interior pollen count by keeping your windows closed and changing your air conditioning filters often.

    Some natural alternatives might be effective as well. According to several studies, a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids can reduce allergy symptoms.

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  • Emma Watson Speaks Out on Pressure to be Beautiful

    Emma Watson has spoken out against the fashion industry and calls the pressure it places on young women ‘dangerously unhealthy.’

    The Harry Potter actress told Sunday Times Style magazine that she feels pressure to look great but is coming to terms with her own limitations.

    “As a younger woman, that pressure got me down but I’ve made my peace with it. With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can project an unobtainable image that’s dangerously unhealthy I can take criticism on the chin a lot more,” said Watson.

    The 23-year-old claims she finds women who aren’t perfect much more interesting and captivating.

    “I’m excited about the ageing process. I’m more interested in women who aren’t perfect. They’re more compelling,” she explained.

    That does not mean Watson will just let herself go. At the New York premier of Noah, she wore a beautiful Oscar de la Renta dress, and tweeted her look.

    And it’s obvious the Noah star loves fashion and the goodies that the fashion industry promotes.

    No doubt she loves beautiful things and looking her best. Like most women, she relies on her friends to give her fashion advice, rather than relying on a stylist.

    “I love showing them images and asking, ‘What do you think of this dress?’ I call on my boyfriends for advice all the time – ‘I mean friends who are boys, and my girlfriends,’” she said.

    If recent tweets elude to anything, it’s that the young actress is very occupied with fashion and her looks.

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