Followers

Powered by Blogger.
  • Home
  • 'Girls' Season 2, Episode 5 Recap 'One Man's Trash'

    Let me start by saying that I dearly missed the presence of Marnie, Jessa and Soshanna in this week's episode of "Girls." This is partially due to the balance and wit their characters provide in the midst of sad and ridiculous storylines, but also because Hannah has officially hit a big fat zero on the togetherness scale.

    Let's begin with the smaller problems that came up during "One Man's Trash."

    She has a rebellious streak that has manifested itself in garbage.

    In the same way teenagers sneak out of the house to defy their parents, Hannah gets a rush from throwing the Cafe Grumpy trash in a can that does not belong to the coffee shop. After the handsome man on the receiving end of her habit comes charging angrily into the coffee shop, Hannah is quick to tell him she's very sorry for what she's done, but that she thinks her rebellion "makes a lot of sense in a way." Does it?

    She has no problem playing ping pong naked or passing out in a shower.

    In case you hadn't figured it out from the previews, Hannah ends up hitting it off with the guy whose trash can she's filling with pastries and coffee grounds. Has name is Joshua (Patrick Wilson) -- not Josh -- and he's a 42-year-old, recently-separated doctor.

    He invites her in to his very pretty, very adult brownstone, and they have sex almost immediately. Soon, they're playing ping pong naked. I'm not saying playing games naked is an entirely terrible thing, as a lot of people enjoy the occasional skinny dip. But ping pong? Really? It just seems (and looks) like a bad idea on a lot of levels.

    Speaking of bad ideas, when Hannah discovers that Joshua has a very high-tech shower that can probably talk, she immediately turns up the heat and ends up fainting because of the amount of steam that accumulates. She is of course saved by Joshua, who is becoming something of a father figure at this point. But what if he hadn't been around?


    We all have moments that make us want to ditch the nine-to-five scene to travel the world, spend a year writing a book or just hide under our covers. But unless you have access to a trust fund, which Hannah does not, quitting your job because your boss was a jerk to a handsome guy isn't all that smart.

    When you're paying your own rent and kicking out roommates every other month, a stable income is a necessity. Unfortunately for Hannah, being a free-spirited girl who stands up for herself only goes so far.

    Mumford & Sons Nabs Biggest Grammy Of The Night

    Mumford & Son's "Babel" took home the trophy for Album of the Year at Sunday's 55th Annual Grammy Awards, besting Frank Ocean's "channel ORANGE," the Black Keys' "El Camino", fun.'s "Some Nights," and Jack White's "Blunderbuss."

    In pre-awards buzz, "Babel" was somewhat of a favorite, in part because the album strikes the right balance of commercial success and critical appeal. The album sold 600,000 copies in its first week, the year's best until Taylor Swift's "Red" debuted with a million-unit week.

    It's worth noting that none of this year's Album of the Year nominees were female, a seeming omission that has not gone unnoticed. The Recording Academy votes on nominees and winners. Dubbed Music's Biggest Night, the awards broadcast is intended to be the gold standard for the industry. While the Academy has often been chided for its peculiar way of including and excluding certain artists and genres, "Grammy-winner" remains music's biggest plaudit.

    According to the Academy, 39.9 million viewers watched last year's show -- the largest TV audience for the event since 1984. An average of 160,341 tweets per minute were posted during the broadcast.

    Last year's Grammy winners included Kanye West and Adele, who combined for ten awards.

    For more on the Grammys, click here. Find more Grammy award 2013 winners in the liveblog below.

    $1 million reward offered as LA manhunt enters fourth day

    Authorities in Los Angeles have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of a fired LA police officer sought in connection with a series of killings and threats against his former colleagues and their families.

    The reward was announced even as investigators continued to comb the snowy mountains around Big Bear Lake, where Christopher Dorner's burned out truck was found on Feb. 7, and hundreds of officers patrolled the neighborhoods where people live who were threatened by Dorner in an online screed.

    Every day that Dorner is loose, said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, is another day when the likelihood of an attack on police officers or their families increases.


    "We are asking the public, 'Please help us to protect you,' " Beck said at a news conference. "Please help us to find Dorner before he is able to kill again."

    Dorner is wanted in the slayings of three people and the ambush-style shooting of two others, all part of a revenge-style rampage that began last Sunday, when he allegedly shot the daughter of a police union lawyer and her fiancé in an Irvine parking garage.

    The heart of the search continued to be the San Bernardino mountains where Dorner was last seen, Beck said on Sunday. Officers will also look for him near where some 50 LAPD families live who were threatened by the former policeman.

    "You fish where the fish are," Beck said. "And Mr. Dorner has made his intentions very clear."

    Timeline: Revenge-Plot Slayings | Read: Full Manifesto | Map: Search Locations

    Police locked down a home improvement store in the San Fernando Valley, more than a hundred miles away from Big Bear, after receiving a tip that someone resembling Dorner was seen in the store. Authorities searched car-to-car and cordoned off neighborhoods in Northridge, but the move was seen as mostly precautionary.

    Also on Sunday, the Riverside Police Department released the name of one of Dorner's victims. Michael Crain, 34, was ambushed by a man police believe was Dorner on April 7, as he sat with his partner at a stoplight in his patrol car.

    Philippine town mourns largest captive crocodile

     A southern Philippine town plans to hold funeral rites for the world's largest saltwater crocodile and then preserve its remains in a museum to keep tourists coming and prevent their community from slipping back into obscurity, the town's mayor said Monday.

    The 1-ton crocodile was declared dead Sunday a few hours after flipping over with a bloated stomach in a pond in an eco-tourism park in Bunawan town, which had started to draw tourists, revenue and development because of the immense reptile, Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said.

    "The whole town, in fact the whole province, is mourning," Elorde said from Bunawan in Agusan del Sur province. "My phones kept ringing because people wanted to say how affected they are."

    Guinness World Records had proclaimed it the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity last year, measuring the giant at 6.17 meters (20.24 feet). The reptile took the top spot from an Australian crocodile that measured more than 5 meters (17 feet) and weighed nearly a ton.

    The crocodile was named Lolong, after a government environmental officer who died from a heart attack after traveling to Bunawan to help capture the beast. The crocodile, estimated to be more than 50 years old, was blamed for a few brutal deaths of villagers before Bunawan folk came to love it.

    The giant reptile has come to symbolize the rich bio-diversity of Agusan marsh, where it was captured. The vast complex of swamp forests, shallow lakes, lily-covered ponds and wetlands is home to wild ducks, herons, egrets and threatened species like the Philippine Hawk Eagle.

    Wildlife experts were to perform an autopsy as early as Monday to determine the cause of its death, Elorde said.

    Bunawan villagers planned to perform a tribal ritual, which involves butchering chicken and pigs as funeral offerings to thank forest spirits for the fame and other blessings the crocodile has brought, Elordie said. A group of Christians would separately offer prayers before the autopsy.

    The rites would be held at the eco-tourism park, where the reptile had emerged as a star attraction, drawing foreign tourists, scientists and wildlife reporting outfits like the National Geographic to Bunawan, a far-flung town of 37,000 people about 515 miles (830 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

    The crocodile's capture in September 2011 sparked celebrations in Bunawan, but it also raised concerns that more giant crocodiles might lurk in a marshland and creek where villagers fish. The crocodile was captured with steel cable traps during a hunt prompted by the death of a child in 2009 and the later disappearance of a fisherman. Water buffalos have also been attacked by crocodiles in the area.

    About 100 people led by Elorde pulled the crocodile from a creek using a rope and then hoisted it by crane onto a truck.

    Dorner manhunt leads LAPD to Lowe's store in Northridge

    The manhunt for Christopher Dorner led LAPD SWAT officers to a Northridge Lowe's home improvement store after people reported seeing someone who resembled the fugitive former police officer there.

    LAPD swarmed the store off Nordhoff Street about 5 p.m. Customers were escorted out of the store as police looked for any signs of Dorner.

    LAPD stressed that it was an unconfirmed sighting.

    There have been several reports similar to this one in recent days that didn't pan out.

    The search came several hours after the LAPD issued a tactical alert as it handled the Dorner manhunt as well as security for the Grammys.

    The LAPD did not detail its Grammy security arrangements, but the department regularly sends a large contingent of officers to awards shows.

    This year, the Grammys occurred on the fifth day of a manhunt for Dorner, who is suspected of killing an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer.

    The tactical alert came the same day that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a $1-million reward for information leading to Dorner's capture.

    “We will not tolerate anyone undermining the security of this community,” Villaraigosa said at a news conference at LAPD headquarters downtown. “We will not tolerate this reign of terror.”

    Dorner allegedly carried out the slayings as part of a vengeful campaign sparked by his 2009 dismissal from the Los Angeles Police Department, authorities said.

    Sunday's tactical alert was declared shortly after 2 p.m. In a tactical alert, officers can be held over on their shifts and do not respond to low-priority radio calls.

    Officials hope the huge reward will give police the break they've been waiting for.

    Police Chief Charlie Beck said the reward was "the largest local reward ever offered to our knowledge." The reason for such a significant reward, Beck said, was "not about capturing a fleeing suspect, but about preventing another crime, likely another murder."


    "This is an act of domestic terrorism," Beck said of those killed and allegedly targeted by Dorner. "He has targeted those we entrust to protect the public."

    A massive manhunt for Dorner began last week after the 33-year-old former officer and Navy veteran allegedly began a deadly campaign that has left an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer dead.

    The city of Los Angeles, law enforcement organizations, private groups and anonymous donors have all contributed to the reward fund, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.


    Los Angeles County Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas are expected to ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to contribute $100,000 to the fund, according to Tony Bell, an Antonovich spokesman.

    In addition to Los Angeles officials, representatives from the Riverside and Irvine police departments and the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service attended the news conference.

    The frustrating search for Dorner has gone from Riverside to Corona to Big Bear to Point Loma in San Diego. There have been numerous false starts, but officials say the heightened publicity has not brought them closer to making an arrest.

    Bacon Enthusiasts Converge in Lowa for Festival Photo

    The smell of bacon was in the air Saturday as thousands converged on Iowa's capital city for an increasingly popular festival celebrating all things connected with the meat.

    Some people wore Viking hats and others walked around with makeshift snouts for the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. The annual event featured more than 10,000 pounds of bacon served in unusual ways, such as chocolate-dipped bacon and bacon-flavored cupcakes and gelato.

    "I love bacon more than I love my job," said Katie Nordquist, who was dressed in a tuxedo T-shirt that looked like bacon Saturday for her first time at the festival.

    And there was a lot of bacon to choose from. The smell of unique concoctions like bacon gumbo and chocolate bacon bourbon tarts wafted through one of two buildings at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The other building had an Iceland theme, with a Viking boat and Icelandic dishes with bacon, to honor a group of delegates visiting from the country.

    Urbandale resident Mike Vogel showed up for a fourth year wearing a head-to-toe bacon costume. He said a widespread love for bacon is the reason about 8,000 tickets to the event sold out in just over three minutes.

    "I think it's the right time of year when everybody's been cooped up," said the 39-year-old videographer. "It's a good time to get out, have some fun, try some new stuff, have a few beers and enjoy yourselves with everybody else."

    Other events scheduled included lectures about bacon and an eating competition. The festival was preceded earlier in the week with a bacon queen pageant and a pig pardon by Gov. Terry Branstad.

    Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association, said bacon used to be just a breakfast food. Now chefs from across the state and country use it in everything from vegetable dishes to desserts.

    "It's come a long way and you can find it in almost any kind of food or beverage offering," she said.

    Festival co-founder Brooks Reynolds, who officially started the event just a few years ago, said it's become the largest bacon showcase in the world. He called the event a "bacon fellowship."

    Los Angeles police reopen case that led to fugitive ex-cop's firing

    Los Angeles police said Saturday that they would reopen an investigation into the firing of Christopher Jordan Dorner, a former cop accused of killing three people as part of a revenge plot targeting law enforcement officers.

    Dorner wrote a manifesto declaring war on police in retaliation for being fired from his job as an LAPD officer and losing an appeal to be reinstated. He promised to bring "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" to officers and their families, calling it the "last resort" to clear his name and strike back at a department that he says mistreated him.

    "I do this not to appease a murderer. I do it to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all the things we do," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement.

    He said police would also look into any allegations made in the manifesto.

    Beck addressed what he described as the "ghosts of the LAPD's past," and said that one of his biggest worries was that those ghosts would be "resurrected by Dorner's allegations of racism."

    "As hard as it has been to change the culture of the Los Angeles Police Department, it has been even more difficult to win and maintain the support of the public. As much as I value our successes in reducing crime, I value even more our gains in public confidence," he said.

    The development came as police continued their search for Dorner, 33, in snowbound mountains. Bundled up in winter gear, teams returned to the pine forests and trails surrounding Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains.

    Taylor Swift, Harry Styles Sex Tape? Phishing Scam Takes Over The Internet With Cringeworthy Promise

    Poor Taylor Swift can't seem to catch a break. On the heels of her breakup from British boy wonder Harry Styles of One Direction, rumors of an alleged sex tape recently surfaced and drove the Internet wild.

    But wait just a minute before you Google "Taylor Swift sex tape" (seriously, dude). The whole thing turned out to be a phishing scam banking on Haylor's likability, reports Yahoo.

    A Facebook message that read "The famous singer Taylor Swift had her iPhone hacked Monday and a sex tape between her and former boyfriend Harry Styles has been leaked on the Internet. Taylor's publicists are trying to take down all of the websites hosting it, but we found a working one! Watch the video before it's taken down!" led the many clickers to a form where they had to fill out their personal details. We're hoping no one in their right mind went through with it, but hey, sex sells.

    And since it does, the tabloids are now competing to run the most intimate detail about Taylor Swift's love life. Star magazine wrote that "all she wants to do is kiss for hours, which is probably why none of the guys she dates stick around," according to Hollywood Life. OK! magazine printed that "lyrics have been written [about Harry]," insinuating that Taylor is already recording heartbreak songs about her last beau.

    Another report says Styles, who just turned 19 in the company of a stripper, doesn't care about Swift's songs and doesn't care if she writes one about him like she did about John Mayer or Jake Gyllenhaal. Yet a different report says the two love birds will reunite after they both perform at the BRIT Awards Feb. 20.

    Rihanna, Chris Brown Attending Grammys Together?

    It's been four years since Chris Brown and Rihanna failed to show up at the 2009 Grammys, following a domestic violence incident that Brown later pleaded guilty to. But the pair -- who have since reconciled and released a bluntly-titled duet together, "Nobodies Business" -- aren't letting that stop them from potentially alienating everyone and attending the 2013 Grammy Awards show together Sunday night.

    A source told the website Hollywood Life that Rihanna was "looking forward to the Grammys and [she] will be with Chris the whole night, so you know that's going to be extra f*cking special. He already told her he would go with her, so it's a wrap."

    And in a revealing interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rihanna confirmed that she had taken her ex-boyfriend back into her life, saying that she was happier with him than without. "I decided it was more important for me to be happy," she said. "I wasn't going to let anybody's opinion get in the way of that. Even if it's a mistake, it's my mistake. After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I'd rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it."

    While we'll have to wait and see if Rihanna, 24, and Brown, 23, do actually show up on the red carpet together for the first time since the 2009 assault, we do know that the "Diamonds" singer has already been standing by her man's side in court. Rihanna accompanied Brown to court Thursday, where he faced allegations that he failed to complete community service stemming from his plea bargain, and blew him a kiss from the front row.

    Christina Applegate Leaving 'Up All Night' After NBC Comedy's Many Retoolings

    The many retoolings of NBC's "Up All Night" have reportedly taken their toll on Christina Applegate.

    According to Deadline, the actress is leaving the sophomore NBC comedy, which is produced by Lorne Michaels. “It’s been a great experience working on 'Up All Night,' but the show has taken a different creative direction and I decided it was best for me to move on to other endeavors,” Applegate said in a statement. “Working with Lorne Michaels has been a dream come true and I am grateful he brought me into his TV family. I will miss the cast, producers and crew, and wish them the best always.”

    Deadline reports that NBC is looking to proceed with the series and could be looking to "Friends" alumna Lisa Kudrow to replace Applegate.

    "Up All Night," which also stars Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph, has gone through many growing pains since its premiere in September 2011. In its second season, "Up All Night" ditched Rudolph's character Ava's talk-show to create "smaller, lower-key home stories." In October 2012, with ratings sagging, NBC announced that it it was rebooting "Up All Night" from a single-camera to a multicamera series and upping its episode order to six.

    Applegate appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" a month later and said the show is going through "a metamorphosis ... a big one." Then, she joked, "None of us are actually gonna be on the show."

    The comedy switched showrunners in December, as Linda Wallem replaced Tucker Crawley (who had replaced Jon Pollack) and NBC revealed that the show was scheduled to resume production in February in front of a live studio audience after a three-month hiatus.

    In January 2013, "Up All Night" creator and executive producer Emily Spivey left.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Up All Night" is scheduled to return to NBC in April or May.

    NBC told HuffPost TV they had no comment on Applegate's departure at this time.

    Total Pageviews