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  • Ancient Egyptian Statue Moves On Its Own, Curators At Manchester Museum Say

    Don't go running to mummy just yet: the spooky movements of this Egyptian statue probably have a logical explanation, even if museum curators are in de-Nile about it.

    Staff at the Manchester Museum in Manchester, England say the 4,000-year-old statue, recovered from a mummy's tomb, has been spinning without anybody moving it, NDTV reports.

    The 10-inch tall statue of a man named Neb-Senu was originally an offering to the god Osiris and has been in the museum for 80 years.

    Up until a few weeks ago, the statue had appeared to be stationary.

    "I noticed one day that it had turned around," curator Campbell Price, 29, told NDTV. "I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key."

    Price told the Sun this week that "most Egyptologists are not superstitious people," and said when he first noticed the object had moved, his first instinct was to wonder who moved it.

    “But the next time I looked, it was facing in another direction — and a day later had yet another orientation," he told the Sun this week.

    Price returned the statue to its original position and set up a time-lapse video, which he says shows the statue moving without the help of humans.

    WATCH THE VIDEO (story continues below):

    According to Price, "ancient Egyptians believed that statuettes such as these could act as an alternative home for the spirits of the people they represented, should the body be damaged or destroyed."

    Nevertheless, even the Egyptians didn't expect these statues to move on their own.

    TV physicist Brian Cox thinks he might have a scientific explanation for the spooky movement, according to the Daily Mail: differential friction.

    "Cox suggested that two surfaces, the serpentine stone of the statuette and glass shelf it is on, cause a subtle vibration which is making the statuette turn," Price told the Daily Mail.

    Cox's theory is supported by the fact that in the video, the statue appears to only be moving when visitors are in the museum.

    Price, however, is skeptical of this theory, since the statuette has been on the same surface for 80 years and has never moved before.

    Maybe the mummy's curse will actually be a blessing for the museum, as Price urges the public to visit and try to figure out the mystery for themselves.

    Beyonce Tour: Singer Adds More Stops To Her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour

    Because the world can never have enough Beyonce, the singer has added additional stops to her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.

    Originally scheduled to wrap at the end of the summer, The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour will now continue through the fall. New concerts were added to Bey's schedule this week, including stops in South America and a return to North America for shows in November and December. Beyonce's tour will now end in Boston, Mass. on Dec. 20.

    The tour has been highly profitable for Bey, who grossed $9.7 million in ticket sales from the six shows she played in London alone.

    Check out the remaining stops on Beyonce's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour below.

    June 28: Los Angeles, Calif.
    June 29: Las Vegas, Nev.
    July 01: Los Angeles, Calif.
    July 02: San Jose, Calif.
    July 05: Oklahoma City, Okla.
    July 06: Dallas, Texas
    July 07: New Orleans, La.
    July 09: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
    July 10: Miami, Fla.
    July 12: Atlanta, Ga.
    July 13: Nashville, Tenn.
    July 15: Houston, Texas
    July 17: Chicago, Ill.
    July 18: St. Paul, Minn.
    July 20: Detroit, Mich.
    July 21: Toronto, Ontario
    July 22: Montreal, Quebec
    July 23: Boston, Mass.
    July 25: Philadelphia, Penn.
    July 26: Atlantic City, NJ
    July 27: Charlotte, NC
    July 29: Washington, DC
    July 30: Washington, DC
    July 31: East Rutherford, NJ
    August 2 Uncasville, Conn.
    August 3: Brooklyn, NY
    August 4: Brooklyn, NY
    August 5: Brooklyn, NY
    August 17: Chelmsford, England
    August 18: Staffordshire, England
    August 31: Philadelphia, Penn.
    September 8: Fortaleza, Brazil
    September 11: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
    September 13: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    September 15: Sao Paulo, Brazil
    September 17: Brasilia, Brazil
    September 20: Caracas, Venezuela
    September 26: Mexico City, Mexico
    September 28: San Juan, Puerto Rico
    November 30: Vancouver, B.C.
    December 2: San Jose, Calif.
    December 3: Los Angeles, Calif.
    December 6: Las Vegas, Nev.
    December 7: Phoenix, Ariz.
    December 9: Dallas, Texas
    December 10: Houston, Texas
    December 12: Louisville, KY
    December 13: Chicago, Ill.
    December 14: St. Louis, MO
    December 16: Toronto, Ontario
    December 18: Washington DC
    December 19: Brooklyn, NY
    December 20: Boston, Mass.

    Zosia Mamet's 'Pantsless' Look Gives Us Lena Dunham Flashbacks

    Zosia Mamet, who plays straight-laced Shoshanna on our beloved "Girls," hit the red carpet on Sunday wearing a mini dress that could have probably doubled as a shirt -- i.e., the "pantsless" look. Mamet styled the white dress elegantly with understated hair, neutral makeup and flat shoes.

    The cute look gave us serious flashbacks to the "pantsless" outfit Lena Dunham wore on the red carpet last fall (you know, the one that had the media all in a tizzy).

    We're going to assume that Zosia, just like Lena, didn't actually forget her pants but simply liked the loose, laidback look of the dress. Are you digging the ultra-short hemline as much as we are?

    Melissa McCarthy's Weight Fluctuates Year After Year: 'I've Been Every Size In The World'

    Melissa McCarthy has been thrust into a new kind of spotlight since busting out onto the Hollywood scene in 2011's "Bridesmaids." But with all that attention comes a lot of criticism.

    McCarthy has been called out for her weight over the years, most recently by movie reviewer Rex Reed, who said she was "tractor-sized" and "a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.”

    Still, it sounds like those kinds of comments don't affect McCarthy, who says that she's not as sensitive as she once was. In the July/August issue of More magazine, the star of "The Heat" admits that with age comes a newfound respect for yourself.

    "I've been every size in the world," she says. "Parts of my twenties, I was in great shape, but I didn't appreciate it. If I was a 6 or an 8, I thought, why aren't I a 2 or a 4?"

    "I bought into it -- I should be taller, thinner, have better hair. But I think that's part of being young," the now 42-year-old star continues. "Now, especially with kids, you lose any sense of time or energy to worry about all the little stuff."

    The mother of two -- McCarthy has two daughters, Vivian, 6, and Georgette, 3, with husband Ben Falcone -- has been open about her weight struggles, but refuses to let harsh remarks bother her. After Reed's review was released, McCarthy spoke out about his choice of words, telling the New York Times, “I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate. I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.”

    'A Beautiful Body' Book Project Jade Beall, Photographer, Celebrates Mothers' Real Bodies


    When Jade Beall published a series of self-portraits of her semi-nude postpartum body online -- and a followup semi-nude photo of a friend that got thousands of "likes" and shares from her photography studio's Facebook page -- she realized she’d struck a nerve. Hundreds of mothers wrote to her, hoping Beall would be willing to take portraits of them "just as they were" as well. The photographer, and mother of one, was so moved by these intense reactions that she complied, in a big way.

    Now, these women’s photos (Beall has captured more than 50 moms and counting), and written accounts of their journeys from self-doubt to body confidence, will appear in "A Beautiful Body," a book that Beall is bringing to fruition via crowd-funding and help from volunteers. Put together, these images are meant to show mothers as they really look, imperfect but no less beautiful for what society might consider their physical "flaws."
    Story continues with more photos below.

    beautiful body project

    The photographer, whose baby boy Sequoia is now 16 months old, says the concept has roots in doubts that have haunted her throughout her life -- and hit her particularly hard after she gave birth. She explained to HuffPost over email:

        As a teenager I suffered from feelings of deep unworthiness. I had acne and I was unable to look in a mirror for nearly three years, unless it was by candlelight. ... I gained 50 pounds with my pregnancy and that added to my personal history of oppressive self-loathing in a culture that praises mostly photoshopped images of women in media.

    The project is volunteer-driven, and Beall does each photoshoot for free. She writes on Kickstarter that she plans to use some of the extra money she has raised to help people travel to her studio in Tucson, Arizona.

    "We are facing an epidemic of women who feel unworthy of being called beautiful," Beall told HuffPost, describing a world in which "nearly all of us struggle to feel beautiful in our own skin." And the expectations faced by women who have given birth are particularly harsh. "Shaming mothers for not 'bouncing back' after childbirth can cause feelings of failure when being a mother is challenging enough and when a big number of us have already lived a life of feeling un-beautiful prior to giving birth," she says.

    For a glimpse into the experience on the other side of Beall's camera, yoga therapist Michelle Marks (featured on slide 16 of the gallery below) wrote about her journey from terror to exhilaration on Offbeat Home. Marks says the final product made her cry:

        I had exposed myself to Jade -- not just my flesh, and typically hidden parts, but the angles, and lines and aspects of me that came with being a mother. The exposure called to light remembrances of how my body changed shape over two different pregnancies, and two births, and the stories that my body has stored from the act of surrender to motherhood and the unexpected life that has become mine since taking the leap of faith into motherhood.

    Beall -- who describes her photography as "medicinal" -- intends her book as balm not only for the women who volunteer to be photographed, but also the society whose expectations she's hoping to heal.

    Ultimately, she hopes to channel her passion into more than a single book. Future volumes she’s thinking about may tackle themes like aging, cancer and eating disorders. She'd like to photograph men as well as women -- and possibly even expand to other media, such as magazines and film. "My dream is to be a part of a movement of being kind to ourselves and to others and witness a generation of young people that no longer waste years of precious life on self-loathing like I have because they think they are un-beautiful," Beall said. AAX

    Danniella Westbrook: 'I Was Kidnapped, Drugged And Raped By Gang For Three Days'

    Danniella Westbrook has revealed she was once drugged and raped whilst being held captive by a group of men for three days after failing to pay drugs money.

    The former EastEnders star made the disturbing revelation during an interview on This Morning ahead of the release of her autobiography.

    She said: "I'd left EastEnders and was with a guy in a boy band and had split up with him, and it was a terrible time anyway. I was really heavily into drugs and moved away from everybody where I grew up and moved to South London.

    "I had a few different people that I used to get drugs from and, obviously being on TV, everybody thinks you're really rich... and I'd used that as a drug addict to my advantage.

    "One of the guys I owed the money to sent their people to get the money [£5,000]... and I just knew the moment I open the front door and there were these three guys standing there."

    Explaining how she couldn't see a way out, Danniella said: "When it was clear that I didn't have the money, they said 'get ready, you're coming with us' and I thought I was going to get taken somewhere and get beaten up and dumped somewhere... and I wished it had of been that."

    She continued: "I knew if I shouted out it was going to make it worse - these people are not scared of the police or anyone else. They are there to do what they've got to do and they took me to a rented flat and gave me vodka, drugs and what I thought was ecstasy, but it was rohypnol and I was there for nearly three days.

    "It was a case of them raping me and doing what they wanted to do with me and that was the start of my nightmare really."

    Following the attack, Danniella said: "I just went home and thought 'I'm a drug addict' if I tell anybody they'll just say it was what I deserved.

    "I blocked everything from that day out. I felt pretty worthless anyway being a drug addict but from then on my life just got worse. I just had this secret that I didn't want to tell anyone."

    On telling her husband and her mum, she said: "Telling my husband was really really difficult - he's the closest person to me in the world and always has been and I just thought that this fantastic man who has gone through every single drama that I'd had in my life would never want to be with me and it actually wasn't like that.

    Sarah Gadon In 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2': Actress Joins Cast Following Shailene Woodley's Exit

    One actress exits "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and another enters. After it was revealed earlier this week that Shailene Woodley's role in the movie had been cut, "Cosmopolis" actress Sarah Gadon announced on "Entertainment Tonight Canada" that she will take on an unnamed part in the franchise.

    Woodley was slated to portray Mary Jane Watson, with her departure prompting rumors that another actress, 26, would take on the classic role instad. But director Marc Webb told Deadline.com that the character was being placed on hold until "The Amazing Spider-Man 3," rendering Gadon's impending contributions to the movie unknown. The Wrap's Jeff Sneider confirmed "100%" that Gadon will not take on the Mary Jane role.

    The actress even took to Twitter herself to clear up the speculation:

    Despite Woodley's exit, Gadon joins a bang-up cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Martin Sheen and Chris Cooper. Gadon, who has been acting since she was 10, previously starred in "A Dangerous Mind," "Dream House" and "Cosmopolis."

    Jackie Stallone Reveals Latest Version Of Her Face After Admitting, 'I Look Like A Chipmunk'

    Jackie Stallone has shown off the latest version of her face in a new photoshoot, after revealing she isn't happy with the way her plastic surgery looks.

    The 91-year-old seems to have undergone further procedures since she famously appeared on 'Celebrity Big Brother' in 2005 as she poses for a series of new pictures.

    She told Reveal magazine earlier this week that she thought she looked "like a chipmunk" following her numerous operations, but refused to rule out further ones.

    "I've got too much. I look like I've got a mouthful of nuts... I feel I look like a chipmunk," she said.

    "I know it isn't normal. The papers in London are the worst. They say, 'She's the world's worst', that I look like a pet bulldog. I really do. I've seen too much bad work."

    Jackie has been out of the spotlight in recent years, and her looks caused confusion last year when a woman called Ivonne Weldon turned up at the premiere Sylvester Stallone's new film, and was mistaken for her.

    Google Nexus 7 Suffering Big Performance Drop-Offs 12 Months After Release?

    Google and Asus scored a huge win the the tech space last year with the launch of the Nexus 7. With its small and neat form factor, stock Android OS seven-inch screen, nice specs and - crucially - exceptionally low price, it was one of the first Android tablets to truly spark a light in the iPad-dominated market.

    Unfortunately, reports are starting to emerge that the tablet might be experiencing growing pains - or, possibly, a premature death.

    According to Dustin Earley at Android and Me, in a blog post widely cited in the tech media on Wednesday, the Nexus 7 is showing severe drop-offs in performance.

    "I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance," Earley writes.

    "I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps."

    And he's not alone. Beneath the piece dozens of Nexus 7 users say they have also experienced issues, while Google's own forums hold similarly dispiriting tales.

    "I have all the same exact issues. Horrific lag when doing anything in the browser, any simple multi-tasking, and at least one crash/reboot per hour," said one user, Kunal Patel.

    Not all users said they had experienced problems however, with some saying the tablet worked as well as the day they got it.

    Apple Insider (arguably not an unbiased source...) suggests that the issue might be down to cheap SSD memory. One Android app developer said it related to a well-known bug in Samsung's "flash controller firmware".

    We wouldn't hold off on purchasing a Nexus 7 based on these reports alone - the tablet is still an excellent device for the price.

    Amanda Bynes & Wyclef Jean: Actress & Rapper Not Collaborating For Bynes' Album

    Amanda Bynes' music career may still be in the works, but she's down one major producer.

    The 27-year-old former actress and current tweeter was rumored to work with the Fugees' Wyclef Jean on her supposed upcoming record deal. A representative from Jean's camp, however, has denied any involvement.

    Jean's team reportedly told TMZ that the producer and rapper hasn't spoken to Bynes about collaborating, nor has any plans to do so.

    Rumors of a Bynes-Jean team-up were sparked by a statement from the CEO of Chinga Chang Records, a company that reportedly offered Bynes a record deal. "I think it would be perfect," CEO Dan Herman told E! News. "Linking the two of them will be something major." He added that Jean was "receptive" to the idea of teaming up with Bynes, and spoke of arranging a meeting between the two of them earlier this week, which never took place.

    After retiring from acting, Bynes first publicized plans to begin a career in music last month. "Look forward to seeing me in music videos!" she announced on Twitter. "I'm looking forward to a long and wonderful career as a singer/rapper!"

    Bynes recently distanced herself from Chinga Chang Records, taking to Twitter to announce that her music career will begin after she completes various surgeries to remove the "webbing" between her eyes and to "shave the bridge down" of her nose.

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