The young girl shows off her big, comfy koala hat and forms playful hearts with her fingers as she drops the question on YouTube: "Am I pretty or ugly?"

"A lot of people call me ugly, and I think I am ugly. I think I'm ugly, and fat," she confesses in a tiny voice as she invites the world to decide.

And the world did.

The video, posted Dec. 17, 2010, has more than 4 million views and more than 107,000 anonymous, often hateful responses in a troubling phenomenon that has girls as young as 10 – and some boys – asking the same question on YouTube with similar results.

Some experts in child psychology and online safety wonder whether the videos, with anywhere from 300 to 1,000 posted, represent a new wave of distress rather than simple self-questioning or pleas for affirmation or attention.

How could the creators not anticipate the nasty responses, even the tender tweens uploading videos in violation of YouTube's 13-and-over age policy? Their directness, playful but steadfast, grips even those accustomed to life's open Internet channel, where revolutions and executions play out alongside the ramblings of anybody with digital access.

Commenters on YouTube curse and declare the young video creators "attention whores," ask for sex and to see them naked. They wonder where their parents are and call them "fugly" and worse.

"Y do you live, and kids in africa die?" one responder tells the girl in the koala hat who uses the name Kendal and lists her age as 15 in her YouTube profile, though her demeanor suggests she was far younger at the time.

Another commenter posts: "You need a hug.. around your neck.. with a rope.."

Some offer support and beg Kendal and the other young faces to take down their "Am I Pretty?" and "Am I Ugly?" videos and feel good about themselves instead.

Much has been made of cyberbullying and pedophiles who cruise the Internet, and of low self-esteem among pre-adolescents and adolescents, especially girls, as their brains continue to develop.

Every since Apple and Google started to comment aggressively about each others business and products, each earnings call or product launch is filled with some punches going around. So here is what Tim Cook (Apple COO) had to say about the iPad competitors at the Q1 earnings call which saw record profits/revenues for Apple.

Apple sold more than 7.3 million iPads last quarter and thats a huge margin over the 1 million Galaxy Tabs sold by Samsung. Android sure has failed to dent the tablets market.

Replying to a question on iPad competitors, Tim was prompt to point out that the Windows alternatives are big, bulky and work with a stylus or keyboard which does little to pelase the customers. But a bulk of his comments then moved to Android, starting with the fact that Google itself says that the OS is not ready for tablets. Pointing out the 7″ tablets as an oversized smartphone, which is far from the ‘real tablet experience’. “If you do a side-by-side with an iPad, you’ll pick an iPad.”

Tim also took shots at Honeycomb, calling it the ‘next generation, which we saw at CES’. He pointed out that Honeycomb isn’t shipping yet, nor are there any dates announced. He actually called it ‘vapor’, also citing lack of performance specs. He ended his iPad competition reply with ‘very confident entering into a fight with anyone’.

Samsung took covers off a plethora of new products at its launch event organized at this year’s CES. The same occasion had last year seen the birth of the Samsung Galaxy Tab which after the debut of the iPad 2 in March underwent a design change and was eventually launched amidst legal wrangles between Apple and Samsung.


Anyway while the last years’ event was mostly tablets centric, that isn’t the case this year. In fact Samsung started off proceedings with the announcement of its new HDTV lineup with the ES 8000 series. These TV’s are smarter versions of Samsung’s existing lineup of Smart TV’s and features a much faster processor and other hardware inside. Available in screen sizes that range from 46 inches to 65 inches these also some with an integrated webcams and support for voice and gesture controls.

These TV’s might also be the first ones on the planet to come with Angry Birds preloaded. This is of course apart from the numerous web apps that you can download for it.

The much awaited launch of Samsung’s top of the line tablet and rival to the Apple iPad; the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been delayed until the last week of September. This move from Samsung comes at a time when an Australian court is hearing the case filed against Samsung by Apple.

As you might be already aware, Apple and Samsung have been fighting it out on courts in various countries across the globe. Apple seems to currently have the upper hand with it managing to pass injunctions against the sale of the Galaxy Tab in a few European countries.

The first of the lawsuits were filed back in April when Apple had blamed Samsung for “slavishly” copying various design and UI facets from a host of Apple products. There were also reports a few weeks ago of Apple reportedly faking comparative images that were used to “fool” regulators in to believing that Samsung products looked “more” similar to Apple products than they actually were.

While the Australian curt hasn’t passed any ruling yet, it seems Samsung wants to play safe here and doesn’t want to b in an embarrassing position wherein they launch a product and it is eventually banned by the courts.MORE DETIAL

No, that’s not a typo. I did not mean to type 14 megapixels in that headline there. It indeed is 41 (forty one) megapixels. Anyway, let me inform you all what this is all about. At the on going Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Spain, Nokia has made one of the most outrageous announcements ever seen in the mobile industry. Perhaps this might turn out to be the most significant advancement in mobile imaging technology since 2002 when the first of the cameraphones started rolling out.

Lest I go on talking gibberish about this, let me talk about the new launch in detail. We are talking about the Nokia 808 PureView – a quite unassuming looking smartphone that runs the “dead” Symbian OS – albeit the renamed, sexed up version of the same called Belle.

Video features of the Nokia 808
The Nokia 808 PureView smartphone not only captures stunning still-pictures, it also includes Full HD 1080p video recording at 30fps with 4X lossless zoom. When recording 720p HD videos, you can use up to 6x lossless zoom. In addition, video autofocus was an area that needed to be dramatically improved. Because of the much larger image sensor of the Nokia 808 PureView, the optics give you a relatively shallow depth of field. What’s more, oversampling techniques in video are used to achieve a holy grail of low visual noise with extremely high levels of detail. As a result, the autofocus system for the Nokia 808 is more precise and sensitive. 
Now if you are wondering how Nokia managed to do this seemingly impossible task, well, let us tell you that in reality, the phone makes use of some very smart (like really smart) “over-sampling” techniques that runs a magic wand on the pixels – grouping seven of them together which go on to become a super-pixel. The phone also gets the ability to film full HD videos with 4x zoom and that too, lossless. If you choose to record in 720p, you can zoom without any loss up to 6x! In the still image mode, you can zoom 3x times! The 808 also becomes the first Nokia handset to feature high-definition audio recording which the company claims can produce CD quality sounds. If that was not all, it features Dolby Digital Plus too.

“Nokia has given more than 4000 ad spots to the Lumia 800 on TV” – complained the promoter of a rival brand. “If only our products were equally promoted ….”While the jury is out, I am certain that the Lumia 800 is breaking no sales records and is far from turning the tide for Nokia. Microsoft getting Nokia to adopt WP was a mutually beneficial move, one which would see Windows phone finally get some traction with a dedicated hardware manufacturer who has equal skin in the game. Nokia so far has not disappointed by launching two handsets in a span of just six months.

The Lumia 800 is best priced at Rs 28,300 (in Mumbai) and that’s competing with the likes of HTC Sensation, Samsung Galaxy SII and a plethora of lower priced Android phones. At a time when dollar rates are surging, it would be unfair to expect price cuts on a top end smartphone from Nokia and I won’t even ask for that (hint: it may still happen). Hence the Lumia 710 has been my bet since long because of the price advantage it has over the rest which also opens up a bigger segment for the device. The QUESTION: Would Nokia promote its dark horse?

I got a glimpse of the 710 during the Lumia 800 launch last year and that’s the last I saw of the 710. And so far there have been no seed units for media, no aggressive in store promotions, no painted Jets, no sky parties, no flash mobs, no TV slots. In my opinion, the 710 actually has the potential to sell way more than the Lumia 800, now if only Nokia pushed this device a little more.A sub Rs. 20,000 smartphone with a beautiful and refreshing OS like WP Mango is indeed a lucrative prospect. And the 710 has a Nokia brand name to back it up. That’s not all, the 710 has the same processing power as the 800 and developers can deliver equally well.

Another way to look at it is Microsoft’s interest. At this point Microsoft cares less about beating the top end iPhone or Android on the market. The biggest criticism of Windows Phone is lack of great apps and MS needs millions of users to entice developers. What Nokia is doing, is at best creating a feel good factor (Yes, the Amazing every day and all). But for the Windows platform & Nokia to be Amazing a year later the requirement is simple: lots of users and a whole lot of quality app which comes from developers making money from the platform.

We have been hearing about the possible impending launch of Samsung’s mighty successor to the (still) highly capablE Galaxy S II for the past few days now. There had been plenty of speculations about the possibility of Samsung coming up with the S III at the recently conclude Mobile World Congress at Barcelona – which as you now already, didn’t turn out to be true.

There have been a few image leaks as well – which have been dismissed as photoshopped imaginations of some creative genius.

Anyway, continuing with the ongoing slew of speculations about the Galaxy S III, folks from over at ZDNet Korea is reporting that Samsung would be finally announcing the Galaxy S III this very month (probably by the end of the month) and would follow it up with a launch sometime in April.

The source for ZDNet are Korean marketing companies who have been contacted by Samsung to make preparations for an event that the electronics major plans to hold later this month. It is highly likely that Samsung would announce the Galaxy S III at this proposed event. Read More

The "16 and Pregnant" star arrested after she stole a pregnancy test from a Georgia Walmart has announced she is not pregnant, TMZ reported Saturday.

Whitney Purvis was taken into custody Thursday after concealing the test in her hooded jacket and trying to leave the store in Rome, Ga., without paying, the Rome News-Tribune reported, citing a police report.

The 20 year old, who was charged with misdemeanor theft by shoplifting before being released, admitted to TMZ that she did take the test off the shelf.

Purvis was quoted as saying that she had planned to use it in the store's restroom -- but lost her nerve at the last moment and threw it away.

"My boyfriend was with me and he had money, but I didn't want to freak him out. I was just being stupid with my decisions. I wish I would have handled the situation better," she told the website.

Purvis later found out she was not pregnant naturally. "I was excited because I didn't want another kid -- I already have one," she said, adding that she "never will go back to jail or steal again."

Last year Purvis' mom, April, was arrested in Rome, Ga., and charged with felony possession of methamphetamines and misdemeanor possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

She was driving with a male passenger when police pulled her car over at a road checkpoint and an officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle.

Tim Shaw, a police chief in Temple, Ga., remembers well his run-in with a "sovereign citizen."

The individual, part of a movement that claims the laws of the land do not apply to them, started harassing him about a year ago, following a traffic stop by one of his officers.

The individual began sending a string of bizarre legal documents demanding more than $800,000. Shaw then received a set of driving directions -- from his harasser's house to his house, and to his parent's house in Florida.

"He was trying to extort over $800,000 out of me," Shaw said.

Thankfully for the chief, the suspect was foolish enough to threaten him. Shaw obtained a protective order, and the matter was resolved.

But the "sovereign citizens" movement has started to hassle other officials in the state and beyond. And one Georgia lawmaker is trying to change the law to address the problem.

State Rep. B.J. Pak is pushing a bill aimed directly at a favorite tactic of sovereign citizens -- filing false liens, similar to what happened to Shaw.

Pak's bill, which has passed out of committee, would call for up to 10 years imprisonment for filing such a false lien.

The FBI considers sovereign citizens to be "extremists," with their offenses ranging from the minor to the severe -- like the 2010 killing of two police officers in Arkansas during a routine traffic stop. The FBI has listed movement efforts in California Missouri, Nevada, Michigan and New Hamsphire, among others.

The movement preaches an off-the-grid lifestyle, though not necessarily a violent one. The Sovereign Citizenship Network website describes the movement as the "non-violent solution to the government problem."

The group urges Americans to "unsubscribe from the system" and "sever yourself from the government" in order to become "the king of your own private domains" -- offering tips on how to deal with pesky infringements by the state like traffic court.

Read more

Ang Slim & Trim ay isa pa sa produkto ng AIM Global manufactured by Nature’s Way. Sa pangalan pa lang, obvious na kung para saan ito. Pampaslim. Pampapayat.

Ano naman ang kakaiba dito kumpara sa ibang pampapayat? Hindi po kasi ito fat burner. Hindi ka madedehydrate dahil sa magLBM ka after mo uminom nito. Hindi yan mangyayari sa iyo. Isa syang appetite suppresant. Kapag ininom mo ito 30 minutes bago kumain followed by 2 glasses of water, feeling busog ka na kaagad. Magfoform kasi sya na parang gel sa tyan mo, so konti na lang makakain mo.

This is all-natural and safe. Ang ingredients po nito, Glucomannan, a water soluble polysaccharide that is considered a dietary fiber. Meron din syang Hoodia gordonii, a leafless spiny succulent plant with medicinal uses na makikita sa South Africa at Namibia. Umiinom ka lang ng food supplement, natutulungan ka pang pumayat.

Kung ikaw ay naggygym pero hindi ka pa rin pumapayat dahil sa pagkatapos mong magwork-out, todo kain ka naman, ito na ang sagot sa problema mo. After mo maggym, ito inumin mo para hindi ka na magtodo kain. Sigurado, papayat ka na nyan.
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An altercation outside a nightclub in suburban Phoenix erupted in a shooting, leaving 13 people wounded including two in serious condition, police said Saturday.

Police are looking for two young men as possible suspects, who fled after the gunfire around midnight Friday in the parking lot of The Clubhouse Music Venue.

Tempe Sgt. Steve Carbajal confirmed to msnbc.com that at least two of the injured were taken to local hospitals and were in serious condition, while the others were treated for wounds that appeared to be less severe.

In an emailed statement, Carbajal said the incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. local time (2:30 a.m. ET).

Police are hunting the pair, described as black men wearing dark clothing, who fled on foot from the club on East Broadway Road, located about 7 miles east of downtown Phoenix.

Carbajal described the shooting as the result of "some sort of altercation" at the club, where a rap music concert was going on.

He didn't have immediate details on the altercation, if both of the men are suspected of firing weapons, and on the type of guns used. It's unclear whether the shooting occurred inside or outside the club.

He said some of the injured drove themselves to the various hospitals in the area so police aren't sure if there were other victims besides the 13. Their identities have not been released.

Administrators at Crocodylus Park in Darwin, Australia, are reportedly baffled by an employee who stuck his arm into a lion's enclosure, causing him to be mauled by the animal, the Telegraph reports.

The victim, 42-year-old Peter Davidson, is the owner of nearby Arnhemland Hunting Safaris and was working at the park as a contractor hired to spray weeds, the Australian Associated Press reports.

He was working near the enclosure of Shebe the lioness when he decided to put his arm through the cage, prompting her to attack.

Davidson's muscle was torn from the bone, and he was immediately rushed to the hospital and scheduled for surgery.

A source close to Davidson told the Northern Territory News that he was trying to scratch the 10-year-old lioness behind the ear.

Whatever his motivation, Davidson has left park administrators stunned by his actions.

"I still can't come to grips with why someone would [do that]," Grahame Webb, the wildlife park's director, told ABC radio. "I wouldn't put my arm in with a lion if my life depended on it."

Webb told the AAP that Shebe has never attacked anyone before this incident.

The lioness was brought to Crocodylus from Darling Downs Zoo along with her mate, a lion named Leo, according to a profile by the Northern Territory News.

We know that President Barack Obama is a huge fan of Showtime's breakout hit "Homeland," but it looks like his 13-year-old daughter Malia is huge fan of NBC's "Parks and Recreation."

"Aziz Ansari... now this is big because Malia is a big 'Parks and Recreation' fan," the President said at a fundraiser Thursday night at ABC Kitchen in New York City. "So having Aziz here is like the only thing she thinks is worth me doing. I want to thank him for what he said earlier. I know he's backstage, but I just want to say that I have more Twitter followers than you, man."

Malia may be able to watch Ansari bring the funny on "Parks and Rec," but there is one show that the President makes sure his daughters stay away from -- "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

"Barack really thinks some of the Kardashians -- when they watch that stuff -- he doesn't like that as much," First Lady Michelle Obama said in an interview with iVillage.com last October. "But I sort of feel like if we're talking about it, and I'm more concerned with how they take it in - what did you learn when you watched that. And if they're learning the right lessons, like, that was crazy, then I'm like, okay."

The President is a fan of quality TV: His other TV favorites include HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and ABC sitcom "Modern Family." His favorite show of all-time is David Simon's critically-acclaimed drama "The Wire," which told the story of poverty and the drug trade in Baltimore.

Random House, the world’s largest publisher of the kinds of books you and I read, has made some adjustments to the way it sells e-books to libraries. Notably, they have tripled the price of many titles. Librarians across the country are expressing their discontent.

The changes were telegraphed by an announcement a month ago that suggested prices would be going up soon, and most expected significant increases — but across the board popular genres and titles have gone up as much as 300%. Nothing is offered below $25, and some common titles are going for above $100.

As Kathy Petlewski, a librarian in Plymouth, puts it: “The first thing that popped into my mind was that Random House must really hate libraries.”

But the dismay at the major increase in prices is tempered by a sort of desperate gratefulness that the publisher is willing to play ball with libraries at all. The other big publishers have been less than generous: HarperCollins’ e-books “expire” after 26 uses, Hachette and Macmillan only make part of their list available, and others like Penguin and Simon&Schuster don’t allow library lending at all. So Random House, in a way, is the gold standard right now. They even make the library books available on the day they first go on sale.

(Incidentally, The Digital Shift has a great page describing publishers’ policies on this topic.)<<<<< READ MORE >>>>>

There's nothing like art that really imitates life, and Tuesday's season finale of NBC's "Parenthood" nailed it big-time with Crosby and Jasmine's wedding. The episode scored so many "just like in real life" moments that we think the producers must have been eavesdropping at a bridal convention. Here are the gems we spotted; any you think we missed?

"Let's just do it, no big planning involved." A perennial favorite -- the quaint idea that a wedding is merely a ceremonial marker to the larger event of committing to spending the rest of your life with someone -- "keeping it simple" should be the mantra. Yeah, right. And then the families chime in. In the fictional Braverman clan, Jasmine and Crosby's proclamation triggered an emergency family wedding with Pappa Bear Zeek doling out assignments with the rigor and finesse of a Marine drill sergeant.

"We'll do it in the backyard and keep it small."
Your cherished moment should be borne witness to, right? Of course! But how many witnesses does it take to record a moment? The Braverman affair was small until Jasmine's mother invited the 17-member church choir, bringing the wedding guest list up to 57 from 40. But the choir sure sounded lovely as the bride came down the aisle.

The drunken wedding party guy.
We celebrate weddings with dance, drink and high spirits -- for the most part. Let's face it, like every other one of life's milestones -- birthdays, graduations, births, deaths -- someone may grow morose when forced to examine and measure their own life. The end result is that (it must be written somewhere) at every wedding, at least one guest will overindulge on self-reflection and generally winds up drunk and face down in the planter. In the "Parenthood" case, Billy the best man passed out before he delivered his wedding toast to the bride and groom and shortly after sister Sarah declines his slurry offer to "get out of here and make magic."

Somebody gets lucky.
Yep, it happens more often than you think. Weddings are the mile-high club of land-based parties. Sex is just in the air. At the Braverman wedding, teenage Drew and his girlfriend Amy shed their virginity while the party dances on outside the bedroom window.

At the end of the day, the bride looks beautiful, everyone remembers having a good time, and the season finale gets great ratings.

Windows 7 has just been released to the general public and there are several tips and tricks flying around on several blogs, just like our earlier ultimate lists where we collect and share some of the best tips and tricks for a product, here are some of the best tips and tricks for Windows 7.

windows7
Windows 7 Features Walkthrough

Want to learn what is new in Windows 7? The How-To-Geek has put up a comprehensive screenshot tour, which walks you through the new features in Windows 7. Take a look at what you should expect from Windows 7 beta to learn more.

10 Things You Should Know Before Installing Windows 7

Windows 7 is in beta, and there are bound to be several things which will not work. The Windows 7 center has a list of 10 things you should know before you install Windows 7.
Dual Boot Windows 7 With Windows XP and Vista

Windows 7 is still in beta and it would be a tad bit early to get a brand new PC to just run Windows 7, so it makes more sense for users to stick to a current machine and dual boot Windows 7 with the current operating system. Adam Pash from Lifehacker has put up a nice tutorial using which you can dual boot Windows 7 with Windows XP and Vista. CLICK HERE MORE DETIAL

Ever eager to provoke, Rush Limbaugh has now succeeded into drawing the White House into a skirmish. The spark: Limbaugh telling his talk show fans that a law student was a "slut" for her testimony to Congress about the need for birth control coverage.

On Friday, two days after Limbaugh's tirade, President Barack Obama called student Sandra Fluke to commend her willingness to speak out and share her dismay over the slur.

The White House termed Limbaugh's remarks "reprehensible," and the criticism was echoed by Democratic members of Congress, women's groups, and the administration and faculty at Georgetown University, the Roman Catholic school in Washington that Fluke attends.

Calls for Limbaugh's sponsors to pull their ads from his show rocketed through cyberspace, and several companies, including Quicken Loans, LegalZoom online legal document service, and bedding retailers Sleep Train and Sleep Number, bowed to the pressure.

For Obama, it was an emphatic plunge into the latest flare-up on social issues. Democratic officeholders and liberal advocacy have accused Republicans of waging a "war on women" because of GOP stances on contraception and abortion rights, and Limbaugh's disparaging remarks were seen as an escalation. READ MORE

Motorola and Verizon have started rolling out a new software update for the Droid 2 Global. The update does not bring Ice Cream Sandwich or any other major enhancements, which quite a few Droid 2 owners would have been hoping for. The update simply fixes some bugs and loopholes, and improves the memory management on the handset.
Below is the full change-log of the update -:

Device Features

• Device is enabled with the Wireless Alerting System.
• A Google Security Patch has been added to improve security level.
• Fixed issue where the device may power ON without user interaction.
• Adjusted camera settings will be saved, even after the device is powered down.
• Resolved possible device resets while playing music.
• Reduced Out of Memory errors.

Email, Messaging, and Data

• Improved ability to access and receive Gmail messages when the Mobile Hotspot is turned on.
• Addressed error that replicated thumbnails in message threads.

Applications & Widget

• WAV files can be played from Visual Voice Mail.
• Purchased ringtones are now able to be downloaded, saved and used where appropriate.

exas State guard Kelsey Krupa was getting a little miffed.

Her team had just pulled off a huge win, the seniors were about to be honored at midcourt, and she couldn't locate her boyfriend, Matt Breneman, in the stands.

"He's about to miss my senior ceremony," Krupa said. "I was starting to get mad. ... Then I heard these gasps and I turned around and he was right there."

Breneman presented his girlfriend of two years with a diamond ring and a question.

Krupa was stunned, then her equally surprised teammates began screaming with excitement as Breneman got down on one knee and proposed.

Krupa said "Yes" and the players mobbed the newly-engaged couple.

"Everyone was crying," senior guard India Johnson said. "Everyone was just so happy for her. There were a lot of tears."

The proposal had been in the works for a couple of weeks, but only Breneman, Texas State coach Zenarae Antoine and associate athletic director Tracy Shoemake were in on the plans.

Breneman had made sure both his and Krupa's parents were there, but Krupa, her teammates and everyone else in the arena were taken by surprise.

"We didn't tell anyone at all," Antoine said. "It made it all the sweeter for everyone."

Everything went according to plan, starting with Texas State's 87-67 trouncing of rival UT-San Antonio, whom the Bobcats had never beaten in seven previous meetings. The win clinched Texas State's first winning season and first Southland Conference Tournament berth since 2008.

Had Texas State lost and left Krupa fuming, Breneman had a backup plan to propose to her after she came out of the locker room to greet her family.

The team did its part by winning, so Breneman left his usual spot in the stands during the final media timeout and circled to the other side of the arena.

"I wanted to walk up from the back of the court so she couldn't see me coming," Breneman said. "I knew if she saw me coming, she would know what was going on."

After the game ended, the team stood at midcourt while Antoine made an announcement over the public address system about a "special presentation." That's when Breneman walked to the center of the court.

"I was definitely shaking," he said. "I spoke everything fine, but I was shaking like crazy trying to get the ring box out of my pocket."

As daylight emerged through the clouds Saturday, rescuers frantically searched for survivors after a string of vicious storms obliterated entire towns and killed dozens of people throughout the South and Midwest.

The tornado outbreak, unusual for this time of year, killed at least 31 people. Saturday began with large swaths of the South still battered by heavy rain and under tornado watches -- and a real fear of the death toll rising.

Of the 31 victims, 15 were in Indiana, 12 in Kentucky, three in Ohio and one in Alabama.

Piles of debris littered land where well-built homes once stood. Tall trees bowed to the winds and lay horizontal with the land. Churches turned into shelters and thousands of people began a weekend unnerved bynature's fury.

The storms pummeled Alabama Friday, gusting across the border into Tennessee all the way to Indiana.

By early Saturday morning, the storms moved through northern Georgia; a tornado was believed to have struck north Georgia's Paulding County, damaging two elementary schools, a small local airport and an undetermined number of homes, said Ashley Henson, a sheriff's spokesman.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Gordon described the weather as crazy.

"It's just nuts right here," he said during the height of the storms.

With power out, authorities relied on thermal radar imaging, and search and rescue dogs to try to find a 9-year-old boy missing after the tornado struck, said Maj. Chuck Adams, a sheriff's department spokesman.

At St. Francis Xavier Church, which was serving as a meeting and reunion point for families in Henryville, dozens waited for news of loved ones as rescue crews combed through debris.

Amid the mounting reports of death and destruction, there was some good news.

A 2-year-old girl was found alive, alone and injured in a field in Salem, about 20 miles south of Henrysville, Adams said.

Yes, even before you arrive at the wedding ceremony, you can make mistakes that can drive an engaged couple crazy. Luckily, it's pretty easy to avoid committing these offenses.

Send in your response card late -- or not at all.

If you receive a wedding invitation with a response card, make note of the reply-by date. It's usually a few days to a few weeks before couples have to give their final head counts to venues and caterers. If you don't return the card, expect a call (or a text or an email) from the couple or a member of the wedding party. It may not seem like a huge deal for them to get in touch with you, but it's a pain because you're likely not the only guest who couldn't bear to write your name, check a box, and drop an already stamped envelope in a mailbox with four to six weeks' notice.

See more: If you don't believe in marriage, is it okay to do this to married people?

Change your response after the reply-by date.

Brides get it -- things come up. But you should understand that your plate may already be paid for. It's not so egregious to alter your response before the RSVP date (just don't change again!).

Forget to fill out your name on the response card.

Most couples know to number the backs of their response cards and have each number correspond with a particular guest they've invited (on the off-chance that person neglects to write his or her name on the card). But not all couples do the numbering trick, and the process of elimination can't help if multiple guests return blank cards.

Send a wedding gift without a card, or without signing the card.

For the same reason, this is confusing. Registry items purchased online don't tend to list the gift-giver's return address. The couple probably would love to thank you for the thoughtful gift, but how can they if they don't know it was you who sent it?

Send a wedding gift to an address the couple didn't select.

My friend specified that wedding gifts should be sent to her and her fiance's shared home address. One guest thought she had a better idea: Send it to the bride's parents' home as was the norm in the past -- except the bride's parents moved. The gift almost didn't ever make it to the couple because of issues with setting up the forwarding address (it arrived eventually, worse for wear).

Ask to bring a guest.

If you're friendly with a soul other than the bride or groom at an upcoming wedding, don't ask for a plus-one. To stay within budget, the couple may have decided that unattached folks with other friends at the wedding don't get dates. If you won't be happy going solo, don't go to the wedding. The same rule applies to asking to bring children. If you can't or don't want to get a babysitter, decline the wedding invitation. If the couple absolutely wants you there, they may ask why you can't make it and offer to allow you to bring a date or your kids -- feel free to take them up on it if they do. But in most cases, it's better not to bring this up if they don't.

Double-dating could be one of the secrets to a long and happy marriage, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Social Work have found that maintaining healthy friendships with other couples can help to solidify a couple's sense of themselves as a unit and can even increase partners' attraction to one another.

Researchers reviewed findings from a series of studies on couple friendships conducted between 2008 and 2010 and compiled the results in a new book, "Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couple Friendships".

The studies examined the overall impact of couple-to-couple friendships. Participants were asked questions such as, "How do you define couple friendships?," "How important are they to you as a couple?" and "How do these friendships work or operate?"

HuffPost Weddings spoke to "Two Plus Two" editors Geoffrey L. Greif, a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland and Kathleen Holtz Deal, an associate professor at the school to learn more about how couple friendships can enrich a marriage.

HP: How does having couple friends benefit your marriage?

KHD: We found that there was a number of benefits to having couple friends. One of them is people actually use their couple friends as a model to emulate and a model to say, "Let's never do that." In both ways, they would have conversations a lot of times afterwards like, "I like the way they do that," or "It's great that they're so supportive like that," or "Let's never fight like that couple does." Modeling is important. Another benefit of having couple friends is that you get to see your partner at their best (hopefully) when you're with other people. Some aspects of our personalities may come out when we're working with more people or people we're not normally involved with. If you have the opportunity to see your partner being really thoughtful towards other people, that can make you feel warmer toward them and make you feel connected with them.

Osama Bin Laden has run into more drama -- and major production hasn't even started.

After congressional republicans voiced concerns that the White House was leaking classified information to Bigelow and her team (a suggestion the administration summarily dismissed) and Sony postponed the film's release until after the 2012 election, the "Hurt Locker" director may have thought she was in the clear.

But new turmoil in India has further complicated filming as right-wing Hindu activists protested the production on Friday. AFP reports that members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or VHP, disrupted shooting in the north India city of Chandigarh and demanded that any representations of Pakistan on Indian soil be taken down.

A production company claimed it was merely making "establishing" shots and that the Abbottabad home in which bin Laden was killed would be recreated in Jordan.

The movie will star Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Edgar Ramirez and Mark Strong. Chris Pratt and Jason Clarke were also original members of the cast.

In development for years and written by Mark Boal (who also won an Oscar for "The Hurt Locker") film had to retool after Bin Laden was killed by the Navy's SEAL Team 6 early in 2011.

"The attempt to kill Bin laden in the Tora Bora mountains in 2001 was no longer as relevant a story as what had just happened," Edgerton told Indiewire last year, "But then what had just happened was so fresh and as we all know, history often needs time and perspective to kind of settle in everybody's minds, you can't just go and start shooting the movie in the next month and assume that you're going to get everything right and have all of the information. So the project was put on hold for a while while Mark and Kathryn kind of gathered information."

The movie's working title, "Zero Dark Thirty," is military slang for an early starting time, as Deadline reported.

Mariah Carey made her return to the stage since giving birth to twins in diva-like form: She changed her shoes after singing two songs and touched up her hair and makeup in a sleek, sleeveless black dress, all in front of an eager audience.
Carey, who gave birth to fraternal twins via C-section in April, performed for a few hundred fans Thursday night at New York's Gotham Hall.
Of her return she said: "I didn't realize this was a big deal."
The Grammy winner sang a number of her hits during the short performance, from "Hero" to "We Belong Together" to the Jackson 5 cover "I'll Be There."
The concert was one of four shows Thursday dubbed "Plot Your Escape: Four Concerts. Countless Celebrities. 1 Epic Night," by Caesars Entertainment. Diddy was Carey's opening act in New York, while Lil Wayne and Cee Lo performed in Los Angeles, Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles in Chicago, and Mary J. Blige and Gavin DeGraw in New Orleans. The concerts were part of Caesars Entertainment's rewards program.
The shows happened simultaneously and were streamed online.
"We can't do anything without it being documented," Carey told the audience. "Doesn't it freak you out at all?"
Carey said if her son Moroccan was onstage, he would probably beat-box, and that her daughter Monroe would be a diva.
The multiplatinum performer thanked her fans for being there and joked: "Catch me at my real show next time."
____
Online:
http://www.mariahcarey.com

The former teen star and mother of one is hard at work on her sixth album and recently wrapped the video for her first single, a duet with Monica called "It All Belongs To Me." This is first time the two have recorded together since their 1998 Grammy Award winning hit, "The Boy Is Mine."

"Monica and I have a bond as women and as mothers, working with her doesn't feel like work," Brandy says. "Chris Robinson directed the video and we're both in dysfunctional relationships. We're helping each other through both situations, it's sort of like a 'Thelma & Louise,' girl empowerment video."

Recruiting producers like Rico Love, who wrote and produced "It All Belongs To Me," Jim Jonsin, Danja, Timbaland, Chris Brown and longtime collaborator Rodney Jerkins, Brandy's also seeing what two Canadians have to offer.

"I heard the song that Drake did and I loved it," Brandy says of working with the Cash Money MC and his primary producer Noah "40" Shebib. "I haven't recorded it yet but I'm looking forward to it because it's such a great melody and the beat is nice. It's a vibe that I haven't dipped into and I think the fans would get a kick out of hearing my voice over a record like that. I'm not sure if Drake's going to be on it but I'm a huge fan of his. His melodies are beautiful, I like the way I sound in the shower singing his songs."

Singer-songwriter Frank Ocean is also contributing to her new project, and according to Brandy, their relationship is more than just professional.

A devastating storm system moved across the United States on Friday, spawning a slew of tornadoes that contributed to at least 28 fatalities in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Gordon reported Friday afternoon the agency had about "half a dozen reports of tornadoes on the ground," as well as reports of "significant damage" -- making his comments before some of the worst twisters were reported.

"This is an enormous outbreak that's going on right now across Kentucky and the South," Gordon said. "It's crazy. It's just nuts right here."

Southern Indiana was particularly hard hit, with Indiana Department of Homeland Security spokesman John Erickson saying three had died in Jefferson County as a result. Sgt. Rod Russell with the Indiana State Police said later that three people also were killed in Scott County.

In addition, Emergency Management Director Leslie Cavanaugh of Clark County -- which has about 110,000 people -- reported one death. Sheriff's Department Maj. Chuck Adams added that a man was found dead in his car several miles outside Henryville.

"We've got total devastation in the north-ceindntral part of the county (and) widespread damage from the west to the east," added Adams. "We are inundated with calls."

At least 15 people were killed across Indiana, authorities said.

Aerial footage from CNN affiliate WLKY showed structures torn to shreds and large swaths of trees knocked down in Henryville, about 20 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.

Other aerial images showed similar devastation in St. Paul, Indiana. Several officials -- including Jeffersonville, Indiana, Mayor Mike Moore, U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and Adams -- indicated that the town of Marysville suffered especially significant damage.

Cavanaugh also said that the local high school, Henryville Junior-Senior High School, had been "demolished."

According to Sara Reschar, an administrative assistant for the West Clark Community Schools, "students were already out of the school when the storm hit" -- having been dismissed about 15 minutes earlier. Adams said there were some "scrapes and scratches," but no serious injuries as a result.

Authorities used thermal imaging equipment, search dogs and other means Friday night to look for a 9-year-old boy in Henryville whose whereabouts was unknown after the tornadoes came through, Adams said.

She has been teasing her fans over the past few days about a little surprise that she had made for them.

Today, Avril Lavigne finally revealed her gift to some 4million followers on Twitter and showed a very different side to the skater girl they had all come to know.

The 27-year-old unveiled a new music video as a thank you to all the people who had watched her perform on her world tour and the Girlfriend singer looked more grown up than ever.
The good hearted Lavigne must have really been feeling the love because she asked her fans to show their support by donating money to the Avril Lavigne Foundation, which was set up to help sick and disabled children.

The punk star showed off an elegant and sexy side in the artistic video which sees her enter a hotel room in the part black and white part colour video.

Over the past few weeks, Tulisa Contostavlos has been hitting the beaches and pools of Miami and Los Angeles in a series of tiny bikinis.

But as she prepared to shoot the video for her debut solo single in Florida today, the N-Dubz singer, 23, decided to look to the '50s for inspiration.

The X Factor judge showed off her curves in a floral Ted Baker 'Pictou' swimsuit, exaggerating her slim waist with a elasticated red belt.

Tulisa is filming the promo for We Are You - the first release from her upcoming debut solo album, which she has been recording since last month in the U.S.

After three weeks in California, Tulisa and her entourage arrived in Miami on February 21, where she has been hitting the recording studio and visiting Disneyworld.
Last night, Tulisa appeared in high spirits as she joined Chipmunk, 21, for dinner, before going to the Liv nightclub at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

Tulisa's single We Are You has been produced by ex-boyfriend and N-Dubz bandmate Richard 'Fazer' Rawson.

The sexy singer was a sheer delight at Paris Fashion Week in the transparent dress and matching underwear.

And she finished the bizarre look with a co-ordinating waistcoat and bright coral handbag.

The single star is in the City of Love to hang out with the fashionistas at the French event and was snapped outside her hotel as she headed to a show.

Later in the day she turned heads with another hot fashion statement, dressing for dinner in a tight white and gold dress.

She showed off her enviable curves and impressive cleavage in the mini-dress, which also revealed her tanned and toned legs, as she went for some posh nosh at La Maison du Caviar.

The 33-year-old actress appears in sexy promo shots which mark the return of US drama The Client List.

Jen drapes her gorgeous curves over the floor wearing just a bra and knickers.

She stars as a mother-of-three who has to turn to prostitution to survive after being abandoned by her husband.

But it's not long until she figures out that giving more than just facials and massages will line her pockets even more, so she teams up with the salon owner to provide extras.

Although the new series hasn't been aired yet, it's already had complaints from legitimate massage therapy workers.
I tried to make a joke on Twitter that I wondered why people were not writing to Dexter about killing people, or to Nurse Jackie about taking drugs on the job.

"Those are big, big television characters audiences love and adore so if there can be a serial killer we all like, I feel like a happy-endings specialist is the least of our worries."

The MTA released some mesmerizing photos of the subterranean mega-project, started in 2007 and slated to be completed in 2016, when New York will run a brand new subway line through the tunnel from the Financial District all the way up to 125th Street along the East side.

The photos reveal some serious progress, and puts into jaw-dropping perspective the immensity of the task at hand.

And for some more photos, and specifically portraits of the construction workers doing all the dangerous mining, check out Gina Levay's "Sandhogs," or watch the documentary by the same name (see the trailer below).SEE MORE

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle expressed disappointment with Lamar Odom's ongoing absence from the team and bluntly stated that the forward will face scrutiny upon his return, from owner Mark Cuban to the players in the locker room.

Odom will play Saturday night for the Mavs' D-League affiliate in nearby Frisco and then is expected to re-join the Mavs for the first time since Feb. 20 when the team travels to Oklahoma City for Monday's game, Carlisle said.
Odom left the Mavs on Feb. 22 to tend to a family matter and missed his fourth consecutive game Friday night when Dallas played New Orleans. He will also miss Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz. Odom left the team to attend to his ill father in Los Angeles, sources told ESPNDallas.com.

The Mavs need Odom's presence off the bench in the midst of nine games in 12 nights, the most grueling stretch of the season.

"Mark asks a fundamental question of anybody in our franchise: Are they in or are they not in?" Carlisle said. "Our fans want to know that Lamar's in. Our players want to know that Lamar's in. It's not about how many points he's scoring or rebounds; those things are a factor. Our fans, our players want to see the guy playing like his pants are on fire and we haven't seen that so far and that's got to change."

Texas Legends owner and Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson confirmed Friday that it was Odom's idea to play with the Legends first.

Carlisle said he would expect that Odom will address his teammates before Monday's big road game against the Western Conference-leading Thunder.

"It's got to be few words and strong action and it's got to go from there, and I'm sure he'll address the team," Carlisle said. "But, from this point going forward it's attitude and action.

"We're going to do everything we can to get the guy ready to play ... but he's well aware now of exactly what's expected. And it's not about the stats. It's about how he approaches it in terms of his actions on the court, his engagement in the game, being into it and intensity, passion, all those kind of things."

Carlisle acknowledged that Odom is dealing with a personal issue, but he said he does not know specific details. Even so, Carlisle said that Odom's underwhelming season, the worst in his 13-year career, combined with the off-court drama, is wearing thin on a veteran core of players attempting to defend its championship.

"There is a personal issue here and we do not know the extent of it or the details of it," Carlisle said. "There is a fine line between compassion, which our owner is showing, and gross insensitivity."

Mallika Sherawat had something lethal in her Cannes wardrobe – a 22 ft python that she draped around herself on Sunday. And just to make sure no one misses her latest stunt to promote the snake drama Hisss, the Bollywood Bombshell has been tweeting about it for days: “with the Producers of Hisss, makin Hissstory”

Her other tweets on the subject include: “And now for a very special and private photo shoot in Cannes with my date, Rudy the Sssnake” and “All the Sssnakes have just entered the Majestic Hotel in Cannes! Hissstory is being made

Mallika Sherawat is at the Cannes Film Festival to unveil the first look of her home production Hisss. According to reports, her Love, Barack will also be introduced at the gala event. Directed by Jennifer Lynch and produced by Govind Menon and Vikram Singh Lamba of Split Image Pictures, Hisss also stars Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta and American character actor Jeff Doucette.
In fact Mallika has much to cheer about at Cannes this year. A French fashion website reportedly voted her among the 13 best-dressed celebs at the Festival. While opinion remains divided about her status as style icon, the actress was clearly over the moon for being noticed above other beauties like Aishwarya and Deepika: “WOW! 1 of the 13 best-dressed @ Cannes?! and me the only Indian listed!?”
From >>>>>>>>>>>>

If there was ever anything to make you wish to God (with a capital G) that Molly Ivins were alive and sitting right next to you with a glass of Maker's, providing a running commentary, it is ABC's new series "GCB." I will not be as good at reviewing this fictional Texas scenarios as Ivins was at critiquing things that actually happened in Texas. Have you ever read her take on the Texas legislature? It was a beautiful thing to behold, but I am not there yet. Additional handicaps: 1) I am from the South and grew up visiting relatives in Texas, but I am not a Lone Star native. 2) My taste in television tends toward "The Bachelor" and "Criminal Minds." Consider your source.

Here's what I do know: Generally speaking, it's not terribly effective to give a film or series that you want people to remember a name that is an acronym -- especially an acronym easily confused with CBGB or BCBG. Fortunately, there's an easy way to remember this one -- just remind yourself what the series was going to be called before a lot of people got very upset: "Good Christian Bitches." (For a while, the title was going to be "Good Christian Belles," which would have been no fun at all.)

Billed as a Texas version of "Desperate Housewives," the show is based on the book "Good Christian Bitches" by Kim Gatlin, who also co-wrote the series. The premise is this: Recently widowed former mean girl Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb) is forced to move back to her hometown of Dallas with her two kids to live with her socialite mother, played by Annie Potts. The women Amanda terrorized in high school, who in her absence have grown up to control the Dallas society machine, are less than thrilled by Ms. Vaughn's return, especially since their husbands definitely are thrilled. The GCBs, led by Carlene Cockburn (Broadway veteran Kristin Chenoweth), thus conspire to make Amanda's life hell. A lot of the conspiring and hell-raising happens to take place in church.

As Brooks Barnes noted in the New York Times, "If the first episode is any guide, the series ... will be way, way (way) over the top."

I'd say so. The entire thing begins with a failed Ponzi scheme and oral sex that proves fatal to both parties.

It's understandable that some Christians feel that this show misrepresents them: God here is made an accessory to the GCBs outfits and their antics. Some have argued that naming any show "______ Bitches" is demeaning to women in general. That's probably true, and if so, an acronym hardly fixes the problem. And I suppose it threatens to misrepresent Texas women, specifically, to the larger world.

Harvey Weinstein really wants to get into the Katy Perry business. During a pre-Oscar party at Soho House in Los Angeles, Weinstein was talking to Perry about co-starring in new drama about British opera singer and reality television star, Paul Potts.

"I was talking to Katy about a new project, a possible dramatic role in the Paul Potts movie, which will be shooting in England soon," Weinstein told Page Six. "We'd really like someone like Katy or Adele to play the role of Potts' wife, and Katy seemed genuinely interested."

What makes that sorta funny? Potts's real-life wife, Julie-Ann, isn't a singer at all.

As for Paul Potts himself, if the names sounds familiar-ish, perhaps that's because you are one of the 89 million YouTube users who watched the former mobile phone salesman sing "Nessun Dorma" on "Britain's Got Talent." Potts went on to win the reality competition, which launched him to international fame.

This isn't the first time Weinstein has courted Perry for something. Last year, Weinstein said he wanted Perry to play Marilyn Monroe in a stage version of "My Week With Marilyn." He also used her song, "The One That Got Away," during marketing for "Marilyn." Guy really loves "Teenage Dream," apparently. (Who doesn't, but still.)

Mallika Sherawat Sizzles at Cannes Film Festival. Mallika Sherawat sizzles at the premiere of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps during ongoing Cannes International Film Festival 2010. Mallika Sherawat looks horrible at the event in that dress. Mallika Sherawat who is almost forgotten in bollywood by her movies, remains in news due to public appearances in particular her lust to get place in Hollywood. Mallika Sherawat is planning to host a bash at Cannes with some of the big names in world cinema at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival. Mallika is throwing a big bash at the festival and sources say she is inviting top bosses of several Hollywood production companies and other international personalities. Let’s see how much success she get with this gimmick. Checkout Mallika Sherawat Cannes Pictures.

Deepika Padukone clearly loves her tattoos. First it was the RK tattoo at the base of her neck and then another one depicting an anklet. No wonder, she was chosen as an ambassador by the organizers of the first Tattoo Convention.

The remixed version of the iconic song ‘Mit Jayee gham’ sees Deepika sporting a scorpion tattoo and swinging to the tune with an attitude. After watching the song, IndiaInk Invention got in touch with her and requested her to visit their first ever convention which took place on Sunday, 10th April 2011.

However, the actress was shooting in London for ‘Desi Boyz’ and was unable to attend the convention.She forwarded the invitation to the ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ team. Abhishek Bachchan, Prateik and Rohan Sippy attended the convention instead.
Manoj Thakur, Partner at Par Excellance Entertainment says, “Deepika Padukone’s absence was felt, especially at an event that she would have readily identified with. With her own much-written about the tattoo at the base of her neck and the cutting-edge tattoo she’s seen sporting in the movie, she would have been the perfect ambassador for this tattoo expo.”

The cast of Dum Maro Dum launched the special Dum Maaro Dum tattoo at the convention.

A wealthy New York woman is facing criminal charges after being accused of keeping an illegal immigrant as an indentured servant and forcing her to live in a closet for nearly six years.

Documents posted on the Smoking Gun allege that Annie George, 39, and her now-deceased husband, Mathai Kolath George, hired an illegal immigrant from the Indian state of Kerala. The immigrant, identified only as "V.M.," was promised about $1,000 a month in wages to live in the family's 34-room, 30,000-square-foot home, known as Llenroc mansion, which houses a helicopter pad, 15 fireplaces, marble flooring, 24-karat gold gilded ceilings and a glass elevator. V.M. was tasked with taking care of the Georges' four young children, along with performing household duties in the mansion located about 20 miles north of Albany.

New York's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Even if V.M. had been allowed to leave the residence at the end of a regular 40-hour workweek, she would have been entitled to a minimum, pretax income of $290 per week, or $1,160 per month.

Instead, the "forced labor situation" (as described in the court papers) was even worse than the already-below minimum wage offer of $1,000 month. V.M. received 85 cents an hour, working 17-hour days, seven days a week, over the 67 months she was kept inside the George residence.

All told, V.M. received only about $29,000 over the five and a half years she was forced to work for the George family.

Georgia O’Keefe once wrote to Mabel Dodge Luhan, “I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore.” With this in mind, we present the work of Claiborne Swanson Frank, a photographer living and working in New York. Swanson Frank was formerly Anna Wintour’s assistant at Vogue, and from the photos below we can see the magazine’s influence on this budding photographer.

We talked to Swanson Frank over the phone as she walked her dog and answered questions about her work. Slightly breathless, she was excited to discuss her debut photo collection from Assouline, titled, “American Beauty" -- which features over 100 photos of inspirational women from their twenties to mid-forties.

After taking a class, she decided to follow her dream of becoming a professional photographer in 2010. Her first project was “Indigo Light” -- a series of 29 portraits of her female friends and family members that present the women on their own terms. To Swanson Frank, portraiture is a collaborative process; she works with each woman to present her at her very best, but also remembers that the clothes should always be the woman’s own; it’s not a fashion shoot, but a moment of being, crystallized in time.
CSF: To be a woman in America is such a gift because we have such a freedom to express ourselves and to celebrate our accomplishments. I wanted to tell that story through portraits of these women, through these conversations. There’s been two wars, the collapse of the economy, 9/11, and women in America are wildly different now than ever before -- this really hasn’t been explored on this level before. This is the new creative guard, in a sense.

Andrew Breitbart used the Internet relentlessly to ignite political scandal and expose what he saw as media bias, even if he sometimes had to edit the facts to do it.

The fiery online publisher and blogger who collapsed and died Thursday at 43 relished public combat with liberals -- a YouTube clip last month shows him bellowing at Occupy Wall Street protesters, "Stop raping people, you freaks!" Yet the conservatives and tea party activists who loved him said he exposed corrupt leaders and what he called the hopelessly liberal "old media guard."

The converted Hollywood lefty who partied his way through Tulane University was also a soft-spoken father of four. The conservative warrior chose to live on enemy turf, Brentwood, the tony Los Angeles enclave favored by the Hollywood elite he so often mocked.

Breitbart used his website to promote a hidden-camera video with actors posing as customers that led the downfall of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. He posted explicit photos of former Rep. Anthony Weiner that caused the New York congressman to resign in a sexting scandal, and an edited video that caused former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod to resign over since-reversed perceptions she was a racist.

In a new media age, Breitbart argued that anyone with a laptop could reshape public discourse. He used his skills at sites like Big Journalism and Big Government, and his takedown of Weiner established him as a conservative media star.

He was filled with contradictions. He was a self-avowed enemy of the mainstream media, yet he subscribed to The Associated Press and admitted loving the venerable news agency's photos that came from afar. "It's a love-hate relationship," he confided at a quiet moment. He pleaded with conservatives to drive relentlessly forward -- walk into the line of fire, he would say -- yet the final sentence from his prolific and often caustic voice on Twitter was, ironically, an apology for calling a follower a "putz," just in case he misunderstood a message to him.

His business partner and lifelong friend, Larry Solov, once said Breitbart had two speeds: lighthearted jokester and fiery culture warrior.

"They flip back and forth," Solov said. "And there is not that much in between."

Breitbart died after collapsing shortly after midnight during a walk near his home. He was rushed to the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Breitbart suffered heart problems a year earlier, but his father-in-law, actor Orson Bean, said he could not pinpoint what happened. Larry Dietz, watch commander at the Los Angeles County coroner's office, said an autopsy was likely.
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When Zac Efron dropped a Magnum condom at The Lorax premiere, you’d just assume it was a simple mistake at best or a deliberate message to the ladies at worst. Except if you’re The National Enquirer, you immediately assume it’s a clever stunt to woo his two decades older The Paperboy co-star Nicole Kidman away from Keith Urban which makes all the sense in the world. I don’t know how we missed it. Via Gossip Cop:

“He thinks she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on,” reveals a so-called “insider,” adding, “Zac said if Nicole wasn’t married, he’d put the moves on her hard.”
…
The Enquirer alleges that Efron’s recent red carpet miscue was all part of a plan to “impress” Kidman.
Efron dropped the “gold magnum condom – which is used by well-endowed men” because, as the magazine’s source explains, “He knew reports of the incident would get back to her.”
“He wanted to let her know what kind of man he really is,” says the Enquirer insider. CLICK HERE

In Mumbai the rich build helipads atop their houses, the poor beg not just for food but also water. The condominiums of the wealthy tower above the tarp roofs of the poor so that when they turn to the heavens in prayer they see instead the rich at play. Obvious disparity is a defining feature of Mumbai, and the city's survival and relative harmony despite this is what makes it so fascinating to writers.

I don't recall when I slipped from writing about the mainstream to writing only of the margins. But one evening a few years ago I found myself accompanying a young hijra, an Indian transgender, to the home of her guru for a story I was reporting. I was then invited to attend a brothel madam's birthday party in the red light district. Thereafter it seemed only natural that when the brothel workers went on pilgrimage to a shrine high up in the hills outside Mumbai, that they would invite me along.

With every interview, I learnt a little more of the intimate hardships of poverty. Through every shared experience I saw how great a struggle it was for an already marginalized person to survive in a city with eyes only for the prize of power and wealth. For the courage they displayed, everyone I met deserved to have his or her story told. Then in 2005 I was introduced to a girl called Leela who didn't just have a story, but who became part of a story that captivated India.

Leela was 19, and a bar dancer. Every night she danced fully clothed to Bollywood music in a seedy little bar called Night Lovers. The more energetic and calculated her dancing, the more likely it was that her customers, the men who'd come to watch her, would reward her. If they liked what they saw, they flung money at her. On a good night Leela earned the equivalent of $50. Customers also showed their appreciation with gifts of perfume and offers of money for sex.

Leela was one of 75,000 women who danced in bars. And at the time there were 1,500 such bars in Mumbai. Their aesthetic was a curious blend of a 1970s nightclub and a Bollywood set. But even among the crowd, Leela stood out. Most bar dancers were illiterate. Leela read novels. She had a wicked sense of humor. And she knew without a doubt that she deserved better than her customers. Through hundreds of hours of interviews I found that despite the physical hardship and routine degradation at the hands of customers and cops, Leela's life, relative to the alternative of the street or back in the village was under her own control, and, as far as she was concerned, a happy one.

In the summer of 2005, the local government decided to ban dancing in bars. The decision was a bald attempt to capture the middle class vote, and cost thousands of women their livelihood. Innumerable bar owners, waiters, bouncers, even taxi drivers and tailors who'd earned money from the bars also suffered losses.

Leela's life, which I chronicle in my book Beautiful Thing, was now out of her control. Like the Bollywood films to whose music she danced, it was chaos in the extreme. READ MORE

"Punk'd" is back, and its causing some series drama for its Hollywood targets. In this sneak-peek of the wedding-crashing premiere, Justin Bieber -- who is celebrating his 18th birthday -- punks his good friend, pop superstar Taylor Swift, and from the look on her shocked face, you'd think she won an award.

This season, Ashton Kutcher is passing the torch to a different celebrity host each week, including Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Kellan Lutz, Hayden Panettiere, Bam Margera and “Punk’d” alum Dax Shepard, among many others, who will punk their unsuspecting famous friends, including Khloe Kardashian Odom, “Teen Wolf’s” Tyler Posey, Demi Lovato, and more.

This just in: President Obama will be re-elected president in 2012.

At least, that's what the newly discovered Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule suggests.

With only two exceptions over the past 50 years, a Democrat has won the White House when the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for Best Picture have not gone to the same film. When the same picture takes both honors, a Republican wins.

This year, "The Descendants" won Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Globes, and "The Artist" won Oscar's Best Picture. (Full disclosure: "The Artist" also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical).)

CNN's OutFront blog spotted the pattern (and yes, even they float the question of whether or not they have too much time on their hands), and the details are pretty intriguing. Of the two times the rule failed to hold true, one can be somewhat easily explained away:

In 1976, when "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" won both awards, things went crazy, and Gerald Ford failed to win.

But as Ford was never actually elected as president or vice president in the first place, there is an argument to be made he was never a true incumbent.

The other, CNN notes, was when the filmic adaptation of Steinbeck's "East of Eden" won the Golden Globe but failed to capture the Oscar. Steinbeck himself was fiercely political and published a long memo outlining a plan that he hoped would keep Eisenhower from a second term.

Every other election cycle, the award shows have "predicted" the party of the next president. Reagan won his second term the year that "Terms of Endearment" won both honors, and Bill Clinton won in 1996 when "Braveheart" and "Sense and Sensibility" split the statuettes.

The Conservative Party is reviewing tapes of every call made by the Responsive Marketing Group call centre in Thunder Bay, Ont., in the last election before Elections Canada investigators arrive next week, CBC News has learned.

Investigators are planning to interview the centre's staff, which the Conservative Party hired to make phone calls to identify and rally supporters in the 2011 federal election.

The news comes on a day when Conservative MPs' counterattack backfired after they accused the Liberals of being behind mysterious election calls — but mixed up two similarly named call companies, naming the wrong one as the smoking gun.

After a week of denials over the role the Conservative Party and a campaign team played in phone calls directing voters to the wrong polling station, and opposition party allegations over harassing calls in other ridings, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushed back in question period.

The Liberals, Harper said in the House, have said people got misleading phone calls from numbers in the United States. But when two of his MPs tried to offer more details, they named a U.S.-based company that the Liberals have never used.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said Harper was smearing thousands of Canadians complaining about the calls.

"The prime minister and his colleagues have remarkable ability to turn themselves into victims," Rae said.

"The prime minister cannot deny the fact that two of the companies that are involved with respect to [campaign] activities are now under serious investigation. Nor can he deny the fact that there is an RCMP investigation ongoing with respect to what happened in Guelph."

Elections Canada is investigating automated robocalls in Guelph, Ont., that tried to send voters to the wrong polling station on election day.

Opposition MPs say they have reports of robocalls or strange, harassing live calls from more than 45 ridings in the lead-up to the May 2, 2011, election. They allege the Conservative campaigns made the rude calls, claiming to be the Liberals, in an attempt to make the Liberal campaigns look bad. Harper says the opposition parties didn't report the calls at the time and are acting like sore losers.

This just in: President Obama will be re-elected president in 2012.

At least, that's what the newly discovered Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule suggests.

With only two exceptions over the past 50 years, a Democrat has won the White House when the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for Best Picture have not gone to the same film. When the same picture takes both honors, a Republican wins.

This year, "The Descendants" won Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Globes, and "The Artist" won Oscar's Best Picture. (Full disclosure: "The Artist" also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical).)

CNN's OutFront blog spotted the pattern (and yes, even they float the question of whether or not they have too much time on their hands), and the details are pretty intriguing. Of the two times the rule failed to hold true, one can be somewhat easily explained away:

In 1976, when "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" won both awards, things went crazy, and Gerald Ford failed to win.

But as Ford was never actually elected as president or vice president in the first place, there is an argument to be made he was never a true incumbent.

The other, CNN notes, was when the filmic adaptation of Steinbeck's "East of Eden" won the Golden Globe but failed to capture the Oscar. Steinbeck himself was fiercely political and published a long memo outlining a plan that he hoped would keep Eisenhower from a second term.

Every other election cycle, the award shows have "predicted" the party of the next president. Reagan won his second term the year that "Terms of Endearment" won both honors, and Bill Clinton won in 1996 when "Braveheart" and "Sense and Sensibility" split the statuettes.

This news, if you can call it that, comes amid signs that Hollywood isn't as Obama-mad as it used to be. Four years after the likes of Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Halle Berry effusively praised the "Yes We Can" candidate, the relationship appears to have cooled considerably.