Seven actresses you might not know are Australian

When most people think of Australian actresses and actors in Hollywood, they usually think of the obvious ones: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, and even Russel Crowe (who’s actually from New Zealand.) But the presence of Australian actresses in the United States is far broader again.
Australian actresses have lead or major roles in a range of American television programs and movies, but they aren’t always obvious, because most adopt American accents.
Here’s a list of seven actresses you might not know are Australian (well, presuming you’re not reading this from Australia.)

Anna Torv (Fringe)

Knuckle Rumbler Presents gets interviewed by DJ WhoBeta at YelaWolf concert

Before the performance of the Yelawolf concert, we had a brief interview with Zack, a member of Knuckle Rumbler Presents. While talking to Zack outside of The Plush Nightclub, he talks about a few of his upcoming concerts, where it all started, and working with other promoters in The Greater St Louis Area.

Zack currently lives in Chicago but continues to support St. Louis bringing National Acts and great music to his hometown. He first start of making this happen was at The Delmar Loop at a club called The Red Sea. This was a venue that allowed up and coming artist of all genres to display their talent to potential fans. This venue played a big part of the music movement in St Louis.

View slideshow: Knuckle Rumbler Presents Interview

Some of the first acts that they brought to the area were hip hop artists Freddie Gibbs and Big K.R.I.T. This was a great start for them bringing talented national artists to this great city. They are now working on Big Freda and The Divas, who will be here in the month of July at The Firebird.

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Zack explains that they want to change the entertainment industry in the St Louis area. He goes into detail saying that Knuckle Rumbler Presents would rather unite with other promoters and eliminate the competitive approach. Other cities have a much more success rate when there is a team of marketers, people networking, and promoters putting their heads together to have the best turnout possible.

YelaWolf rocks the crowd at the Plush Nightclub

The crowd at the Plush Nightclub was very patient awaiting for YelaWolf to come blaze the stage, but it was still early. Fans were scattered inside and out on the venue wearing YelaWolf shirts and wristbands. As the night moved along, the fans were slowly but surely lining up at the door purchasing tickets.

Some of the opening acts for YelaWolf had a decent amount of fans on their own. A number of people in the audience knew the music that was being performed by these up and coming artist. After each performance of the underground artist, the audience applauded showing their full support.

View slideshow: Yelawolf Concert at Plush Nightclub in St Louis

Right before YelaWolf rocked the stage, we were invited to join him for a brief interview. Humble at first, Yelawolf talks about how hard it is for hip hop in the Alabama area. He says that you really have to dig deep to find hip hop in the area. He says that he was really lucky to get connected with the right labels that were able to get him signed to a major deal.

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He also talks about the white rappers in the music industry. YelaWolf explains that their have been white rappers doing this for a long time, but now with the easy access of the internet it create a better opportunity for more of them to be seen and heard.

Not wanting to take up too much more of this young mans time we only asked a few more questions which can be found on the video.

We entered back into the venue and the crowd had almost doubled. That time had come for YelaWolf to rock the stage. After the announcement that he was next to perform, the fans started screaming and chanting his name. He walked onto the stage and the fans began to jump up and down, then the music of his hit single "Daddy's Lambo" banged through the speakers. As he performed the song he held the mic towards the crowd and let them finish the hook of the song.

The next single performed by Yelawolf was "Trunk Music" the hit single that elevated his career and was noticed by many labels in the music industry. He also showed love to the owner of his label and the person who signed him, Eminem, by performing the hit single by Eminem called "The Way I Am."

After the performance was over, the fans of Yelawolf rushed to the table where he signed autographs and had taken pictures.

Celebrity Playboy covers

Swedish Millenium Actress Noomi Rapace Files for Divorce in Stockholm

The Swedish Millenium Actress Noomi Rapace filed for divorce from her husband Ola Rapace on September 17 in Stockholm, Sweden. The couple who were recently at the Venice Film Festival for the promotion of Pernilla August' film Beyond have been together for nine years. They have one child, Lev, born in

Swedish actress Lena Nyman dies at 66

Swedish actress Lena Nyman, who starred in Ingmar Bergman's 1978 film "Autumn Sonata", died Friday after a long illness, her agent told AFP.

"She died early this morning. She was 66," her agent Mats Nilemar said.

Nyman got her breakthrough in Vilgot Sjoeman's 1967 and 1968 landmark films "I am Curious (Yellow)" and "I am Curious (Blue)."

She obtained the Swedish Film Institute's Guldbagge award for Best Actress in 1968 for her work in both films, which had caused scandal because of her nudity.

Nyman also played Ronja Roevardotter's mother Lovis in the 1984 adaptation of Sweden's beloved Astrid Lindgren novel by the same name.

Tributes to the actress poured in in Sweden Friday, where she is known for her work in theatre, film and television.

Lady Gaga cancels Indonesian concert, Justin Bieber counts down to 'Die In Your Arms'

Pop star Lady Gaga has been forced to cancel the Jakarta show on her Born This Way Ball tour.

She announced the news via Twitter, telling fans, “We had to cancel the concert in Indonesia. I'm so very sorry to the fans & just as devastated as you if not more. You are everything to me.”

She added that “I will try to put together something special for you. My love for Indonesia has only grown. #GagaSendsLoveToJakarta and all its people.”

Twitter’s second most popular user Justin Bieber and his fans are counting down the hours until the release of his brand new single “Die In Your Arms.”

He posted “gonna focus on the important stuff. the music. #DieInYourArms hits ITUNES in less than #24HOURS - #BELIEVE.”

Twitter user Britney Spears has been providing her Twitter fans with updates on her X Factor judging experience. The pop singer tweeted her love for the city of Austin during the first round of auditions. “Austin - I love you! You made me feel right at home in that judge's chair. Kansas City here we come!” she said after correcting rumors that she walked off set earlier in the week.

Katy Perry has become the third person on Twitter to surpass the 20 million followers milestone. She joins Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber as the only two other Twitter users with more than 20 million fans.

Taiwanese actress Dee Hsu also hit the 20 million followers milestone on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo during the week. She is now around half a million followers shy of Sina’s most followed user, Yao Chen.

Both Britney Spears and Zhao Wei hit 17 million followers this week on Twitter and Sina Weibo respectively. Chinese TV host He Jiong overtook Taiwanese TV host Kevin Tsai on Sina.

Third party estimates put Twitter at more than 500 million registered users. Sina reported that it had more than 300 million registered users on Sina Weibo in February 2012.

Justin Bieber accused of battering man taking photos

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are investigating a complaint that Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber roughed up a man who was taking pictures of the performer at a suburban shopping center, police said on Monday.

Deputies were called on Sunday to an outdoor shopping area in Calabasas, about 23 miles northwest of Hollywood, by a man who reported having just had an altercation with Bieber, the sheriff's department said in a press statement.

According to the statement, the man said he was taking pictures of Bieber, who was with his girlfriend, actress Selena Gomez, when the singer "physically battered" him.

Bieber's publicist with Island/Def Jam Music Group could not immediately be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, Lillian Peck, declined to give further details about the nature of the alleged confrontation or any injuries suffered by the man.

But Peck said the man, who was not identified by police, complained of pain, and after requesting medical attention was treated on the scene by paramedics, then taken to a local hospital, where he was examined and later released.

Bieber, 18, who has professed a determination to maintain a squeaky-clean image, had left the shopping center with Gomez, 19, before officers arrived, according to the man with the camera.

Peck said sheriff's deputies are investigating the case as a misdemeanor battery complaint and were looking for any possible eyewitnesses, but she did not know whether they had contacted Bieber about the incident.

The Hollywood news website TMZ.com reported that the man behind the complaint was a professional celebrity photographer.

Citing accounts of witnesses at the scene, TMZ said the paparazzo was blocking Bieber's car as the entertainer was trying to leave and that a scuffle ensued after Bieber got out of his car, asked the man to leave and the man refused.

TMZ also reported that after the altercation, a lawyer approached the photographer and suggested he could collect a lot of money by calling for an ambulance and filing a police report.

The cherubic-faced singer, discovered in 2008 through homemade music videos he posted on YouTube, released his first album at age 15 and rocketed to international fame on his way to logging 41 million fans on Facebook and 20 million on Twitter.

Bieber's latest hit single, "Boyfriend," debuted at No. 2 last month on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the recent high school graduate paid $6.5 million for his first house, a 10,000-square-foot (929-square-meter) luxury home set in a gated community of Calabasas. Amenities are reported to include a movie theater with stadium-style seating, a library, wet bar, wine cellar, guest house and swimming pool.

(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Paul Simao)

Opera would cost Facebook over $1 billion: analysts

OSLO (Reuters) - Opera Software would cost Facebook over $1 billion as competition from Google and others could push up the price tag, analysts said on Tuesday, as takeover talk pushed the shares up as much as 26 percent on Tuesday.

Oslo-listed Opera, coveted for its advanced mobile phone software technology, would be a perfect fit for Facebook but the firm's business is also vital for some of the industry's biggest players so any bid is likely to attract others to the table.

"Opera would be sensible for Facebook on several levels," Arctic Securities said.

"It would enhance the now limited mobile experience of Facebook, improve Facebook's mobile monetization problem, help Facebook retain online game developers leaving the social network over the lack of a mobile platform and further improve Facebook's ability to target ads."

Opera makes various web browsers that work across an array of platforms including mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and TVs.

The software is available on most phones, including the iPhone and the BlackBerry, and works on various operating systems, including Android, giving Opera the reach Facebook is seeking.

The browser can compress data by as much as 90 percent, saving consumers on data charges, and has the technology to better display ads, a key factor for Facebook which has struggled to convert its rapidly increasing traffic from mobile platforms to revenue.

Opera, which has about 200 million Mobile and Mini subscribers, has also built a significant market share in key emerging markets, such as India, Brazil and Asia, where Facebook has been generally weak.

$1 BILLION PLUS?

It would be such a perfect fit for Facebook, analysts said it would have to pay a hefty premium.

DNB, Norway's top bank, said the price would have to be double Friday's closing level, or 68.6 crowns, valuing the firm at $1.35 billion, while Danske Bank and ABG Sundal Collier both predicted a price between 50 and 60 crowns a share, or between $1 billion and $1.2 billion.

At 1139 GMT, the stock traded up 17.2 percent at 40.2 crowns a share, valuing the firm at around $800 million.

Opera officials have repeatedly declined to comment.

However, Chief Executive Lars Boilesen last October said he would "love to" further cooperate with Facebook.

"We are already Facebook's platform of distribution in emerging markets like Africa and India. A big part of the Opera Mini traffic is from Facebook. So we are already their channel in these markets," he said in October.

"We would love to cooperate with Facebook, but the same goes for Google and everyone else. There are no limits here, because we are the leading mobile client in these markets," he added.

OBSTACLES

Still, several obstacles remain.

Opera founder and top shareholder Jon S. Von Tetzchner said the firm should focus on organic growth.

"I want Opera to focus on growth and delivering good results; there are big opportunities for Opera," Tetzchner, who holds 10.9 percent of Opera told Reuters. "We have been promised 500 million users by 2013 and I think that's a good goal and the firm should keep going for it."

"I personally think that an ARPU (average revenue per user) goal of $1 is even modest," he said. "I am not pushing for a takeover."

Tetzchner said he was not aware of a bid and had not decided how he would react to one but added it would be "undemocratic" for him to try to block it if others supported it.

Another obstacle could be Google, which has extensive relationships with Opera.

"A takeover by Facebook will likely send cold water down Google's spine," Arctic Securities said.

Google is Opera's default search partner for Opera Mini and Opera Mobile worldwide outside Russia/CIS, making the firm a key relationship for Google.

(Editing by David Cowell)

US commandos parachuted into N. Korea: report

US and South Korean special forces have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence about underground military installations, a US officer has said in comments carried in US media.

Army Brigadier General Neil Tolley, commander of US special forces in South Korea, told a conference held in Florida last week that Pyongyang had built thousands of tunnels since the Korean war, The Diplomat reported.

"The entire tunnel infrastructure is hidden from our satellites," Tolley said, according to The Diplomat, a current affairs magazine. "So we send (South Korean) soldiers and US soldiers to the North to do special reconnaissance."

"After 50 years, we still don't know much about the capability and full extent" of the underground facilities," he said, in comments reported by the National Defense Industrial Association's magazine on its website.

Tolley said the commandos were sent in with minimal equipment to facilitate their movements and minimize the risk of detection by North Korean forces.

At least four of the tunnels built by Pyongyang go under the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea, Tolley said.

"We don't know how many we don't know about," he admitted.

Among the facilities identified are 20 air fields that are partially underground, and thousands of artillery positions.

In February, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that had built at least two new tunnels at a nuclear testing site, likely in preparation for a new test.

The Craziest Secret Military Project of the USSR

Posted on May 15, 2012 by CJ

The subterranean nuclear combat boat was probably the most fabulous secret military project of the USSR.
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They had been dreaming of creating a subterranean combat vehicle for long, similar projects were in Germany too. In 1934 a German genius Ritter made a project of a vehicle moving on land, underground and even underwater 100 m deep and deliver a huge amount of explosives under Mazhino line. Another inventor V. fon Vern patented his model of a subterrain vehicle. He promised to make a vehicle for 5 persons capable to move underground with speed of 7 km/h and carry 300 kg of military load. However the project was closed in the beginning of WWII. None of these wonder machines came out beyond the drafts.
When Wehrmacht was defeated the documents came to the USSR. On their basis in the time of N. Khruschev Soviets finally created an acting model of a subterranean boat. During its first test in the Urals the boat sailed along the mountain with a speed of a pedestrian. During the second test the boat exploded and turned to be immured together with the crew in the mountains. In the time of Brezhnev having understood all foolishness and mercilessness of the project it was eventually cancelled.
Some facts: the subterranean boat had a titanium body with a nibbed nose and stern 3,8 m in diameter and 35 m in length.
The crew consisted of 5 persons. Besides it could take 15 persons more and a tonne of explosives aboard.





The “Mole” under the mountain “Bagodat”

Meanwhile in Germany..

“Combat mole” – a mole was a prototype for the boat…

Chen Guangcheng Phones Congress, Requests 'Face-to-Face' Meeting with Clinton

By John Parkinson | ABC OTUS News – 6 hrs ago

Chen Guangcheng told Congress today that he wants to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face-to-face and he requested to have his "freedom of travel guaranteed" as he looks to leave China with his family and come to the United States.

"I want to meet with the Secretary Clinton," Chen said over speakerphone as a translator conveyed his words in English. "I hope I can get more help from her. I also want to thank her face to face."

The blind Chinese activist, who generated international headlines after he took refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's attendance at a summit in China this week, phoned into a congressional hearing today to report to Congress the latest details of his predicament.

Chen, calling from a hospital room in Beijing, said he "really fears for my other family members' lives" and suspected that all of the villagers who helped him escape house arrest and get to the embassy "are also receiving retribution."

"I'm most concerned right now is the safety of my mother, my brothers and I really want to know what's going on with them," he said. Bob Fu, the founder and president of China Aid Association and a close friend of Chen's, connected Chen on the phone and translated his words into English for the panel.

Concluding the phone call, Chen said he wanted "to thank all of you for your care and for your love."

Despite neither body of Congress being in session this week, Rep. Chris Smith, the chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, convened a hearing today to examine Chen Guangcheng's quandary as he seeks safe travel out of China.
"It was a great relief that I and millions around the world learned of his escape and his reaching safety at the American Embassy in Beijing on Friday morning.  Yet it is with equally great concern that I convene this hearing of the China Commission today," Smith, R-N.J., said before Chen called into the hearing. "Chen has, since leaving the American Embassy in Beijing, expressed an earnest desire to gain asylum for himself and for his family. Questions indeed arise as to whether or not Chen was pressured to leave the U.S. compound."

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said that Chen's case "is not an anomaly" but "symptomatic of pervasive human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government" against its own citizens. Wolf said he will formally request a congressional review of all cable traffic, classified or otherwise, that surrounded the negotiations for Chen to leave the embassy. 

"It is hard to comprehend why the administration would accept at face value assurances that Chen would be safe upon exiting U.S. protection.  You wonder if there were other forces at work," Wolf said. "Had word come down from on high to resolve the Chen situation, no matter what, prior to the arrivals of secretaries [Hillary] Clinton and [Tim] Geithner, who were headed to Beijing this week for high-level economic and foreign policy talks?  Was there even a hint of coercion?  Was there any coercion, subtle coercion, forced coercion or pressure involved?  What were the internal State Department and White House deliberations?" 

Smith said he intends to convene another hearing of the commission on Chen in order to hear testimony from Obama administration witnesses. 

"There are many questions, and there are even more concerns.  How will the United States-China agreement on Chen and his family's safety be enforced?  What happens if Chen or any member of his family suffers retaliation?" Smith asked. "The eyes of the world are watching to see that his wishes are honored by the Chinese government."

Crocodile Dundee' star Paul Hogan ends tax battle

Associated Press – 23 mins ago

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• FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2008 file …

SYDNEY (AP) — "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan has resolved his seven-year battle with Australian tax authorities over alleged unpaid taxes dating back to his first international hit movie in the 1980s.

Hogan and his friend and producer John Cornell said through their lawyer, Andrew Robinson, on Monday that the pair had reached a settlement with tax authorities to resolve more than 150 million Australian dollars ($156 million) in alleged unpaid taxes and penalties.

Tax officials barred the Australian actor from returning to his Los Angeles home for two weeks over the matter in 2010 when he returned to Sydney for his mother's funeral. Hogan's lawyers eventually secured a deal that allowed him to leave Australia.

The 72-year-old comedic actor became an international star with the 1986 movie "Crocodile Dundee."

Police tap teen in theft of chef's Lamborghini

Associated Press – 1 hr 43 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A celebrity chef's Lamborghini sports car has been recovered from a teenager's storage container a little more than a year after it was reported stolen from a San Francisco exotic car dealership.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday (http://bit.ly/JJthFf ) that Marin County sheriff's investigators found Guy Fieri's bright yellow Spyder convertible in the city of Richmond while looking into the 17-year-old boy's connection to a shooting in Mill Valley.

The teen was arrested Saturday in the shooting and for being in possession of a stolen car.

Fieri thanked officers for cracking the case, saying he felt better knowing justice is being served.

Fieri drives around the country in a 1967 Camaro convertible checking out greasy spoons as star of the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."

 

NBC to keep Golden Globes for years, judge rules

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY | Associated Press – 1 hr 32 mins ago

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• FILE- In this Sunday, Jan. 17, …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that producers of the Golden Globe Awards acted properly when they negotiated a deal keeping the glitzy gala on NBC through 2018.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz's 89-page ruling states that the production company, dick clark productions, has a right to negotiate the deal and work on the show as long as it airs on NBC. That right was a key part of a long-running dispute between the company, known as dcp, and the Globes' organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The association sued over the broadcast deal in November 2010, but the two sides have worked together on the past two awards shows. The production company has claimed it has a perpetual right to work on the show as long as it airs on NBC, but the association argued that it never agreed to those terms and it was facing the loss of its creation.

The Globes have become big business, with Hollywood A-listers appearing each year. The journalists' group and producer split the multimillion-dollar annual profits evenly.

There was no immediate comment from the HFPA. Matz has said he doesn't expect his ruling will end the dispute, but that it will likely lead to an appeal.

Matz's ruling states the dcp only has a right to work with NBC, but that it does not need to receive approval for its broadcast deal directly from the HFPA anymore because of a 1993 amendment to their working relationship.

"We are pleased the court affirmed our contract and look forward to working with the HFPA and NBC to nurture and expand the Golden Globes franchise for years to come," dcp wrote in a statement.

The company's CEO, Mark Shapiro, said he wished Dick Clark, who died April 18, had lived to see the ruling.

"My only sadness is that Dick wasn't here to see the win," Shapiro said. "This was the brainchild of Dick Clark. It was his idea to do a long-term deal."
The judge stated the unusual agreement came about largely because of HFPA's own leadership problems. "HFPA suffered from the absence of sound, business-like practices," Matz wrote.
He noted the group's complicated internal politics and frequent elections, some of which "triggered bitter feelings."
"HFPA members have always been dedicated to the success of the Golden Globes Award Show," Matz wrote. "But often they succumbed to bouts of pronounced turmoil and personal feuds."

Reuters

The judge's ruling came after he heard nine days of testimony earlier this year over the deal negotiated by dcp. Clark sold the last of his interest in the company in 2007, but the dispute focused heavily on events that took place while he still owned it in 1993.
The judge had to determine whether a 1993 agreement between the HFPA and dcp gave the production company the right to work on the show perpetually, provided it airs on NBC. The association contended it never agreed to the perpetuity clause, and that if it were upheld it would the HFPA control over its signature property, the Globes.
Attorneys for dcp argued that the clause was to ensure continuity and protect the production company, which had just negotiated a multi-year deal to return the Globes to broadcast airwaves for the first time since a scandal knocked them from CBS in the early 1980s.
Matz noted the contrast between the production company and the journalists' group in his ruling.
"In contrast, dcp acted in a consistently business-like fashion, and for almost all of the 27 year relationship it had with HFPA before this suit was filed dcp was represented by one experienced executive who was adept at dealing fairly and effectively with the often amateurish conduct of HFPA," he wrote.

The disputed deal is worth $150 million, but the association contends the broadcast rights are worth much more now. The show, while not a reliable predictor of Oscar night glory, attracts the top stars from both television and film and attracts millions of viewers each year. The booze-filled gala is more unpredictable and less staid than other major reality shows, which has only been amplified by host Ricky Gervais in recent years.

Matz noted that the agreement between the HFPA and dcp — and his ruling — tie the two groups together as long as the show remains on NBC. If the network drops the show, the production company's rights to work on the gala would also end.

Shapiro said that despite the trial and the cloud of uncertainty it has cast over the Globes, dcp has a strong relationship with NBC that includes several other shows.

 

Hunger Games,' 'Bridesmaids' top MTV Movie Awards

By SANDY COHEN | Associated Press – 7 mins ago

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  FILE - In this file image released …
• FILE - In a Monday, March 12, 2012 …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — This year's MTV Movie Awards will be a showdown between a bevy of bridesmaids and a cast of killer kids.

"Bridesmaids" and "The Hunger Games" top nominees at MTV's annual film honors with eight nods apiece, including bids for best cast, breakthrough performance and movie of the year. Rounding out the best-picture contenders are "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," ''The Help" And "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1."

MTV announced nominees Monday in 12 categories, including six new ones such as "best on-screen dirtbag" and "best gut-wrenching performance." Also new this year: Nominees were selected by a panel of actors, producers, agents and industry tastemakers instead of via online vote from the public.
Fans can still choose the winners, though. Voting begins online Tuesday at 8 a.m. Eastern time.

The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards will be presented June 3 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City and broadcast live on MTV.

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The complete list of nominees:

Movie of the year: "Bridesmaids," ''The Hunger Games," ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," ''The Help," ''The Twilight Saga: breaking Dawn-Part1."

Female performance: Emma Stone, "Crazy, Stupid, Love"; Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"; Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games"; Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"; Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Male performance: Channing Tatum, "The Vow"; Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "50/50"; Josh Hutcherson, "The Hunger Games"; Ryan Gosling, "Drive."

Breakthrough performance: Elle Fanning, "Super 8"; Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"; Liam Hemsworth, "The Hunger Games"; Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"; Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants."

Comedic performance: Jonah Hill, "21 Jump Street"; Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"; Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"; Oliver Cooper, "Project X"; Zach Galifianakis, "The Hangover Part II."

Cast: "21 Jump Street," ''Bridesmaids," ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," ''The Help," ''The Hunger Games."

On-screen transformation: Colin Farrell, "Horrible Bosses"; Elizabeth Banks, "The Hunger Games"; Johnny Depp, "21 Jump Street"; Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"; Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Fight: Channing Tatum & Jonah Hill vs. kid gang, "21 Jump Street"; Daniel Radcliffe vs. Ralph Fiennes, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"; Jennifer Lawrence & Josh Hutcherson vs. Alexander Ludwig, "The Hunger Games"; Tom Cruise vs. Michael Nyqvist, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol"; Tom Hardy vs. Joel Edgerton, "Warrior."

Kiss: Channing Tatum & Rachel McAdams, "The Vow"; Jennifer Lawrence & Josh Hutcherson, "The Hunger Games"; Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1"; Rupert Grint & Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"; Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone, "Crazy, Stupid, Love."

Gut-wrenching performance: Jonah Hill & Rob Riggle, "21 Jump Street"; Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper, "Bridesmaids"; Ryan Gosling, "Drive"; Bryce Dallas Howard, "The Help"; Tom Cruise, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol."

On-screen dirtbag: Bryce Dallas Howard, "The Help"; Colin Farrell, "Horrible Bosses"; Jennifer Aniston, "Horrible Bosses"; Jon Hamm, "Bridesmaids"; Oliver Cooper, "Project X."

Music: "The Devil is in the Details," Chemical Brothers, "Hanna"; "Impossible," Figurine, "Like Crazy"; "Party Rock Anthem," LMFAO, "21 Jump Street"; "Pursuit of Happiness," Kid Cudi (Steve Aoki Remix), "Project X"; "A Real Hero," College with Electric Youth, "Drive."

___

Comedian Martin Lawrence files for divorce in LA

Associated Press – 1 hr 8 mins ago

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• FILE - In a Monday, Sept. 25, 2006 …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Court records show Martin Lawrence has filed for divorce from his wife of nearly two years.

The actor-comedian cited irreconcilable differences in his filing Wednesday. He and Shamicka Lawrence married in July 2010.

The couple dated for years and have two daughters together, ages 9 and 11. The 47-year-old star of "Big Momma's House" and the sitcom "Martin" is seeking joint custody of the children.

The filings state the couple separated last week and they have a prenuptial agreement.

The divorce was first reported Monday by celebrity website TMZ.

 

Scott Brown touts Democratic endorsements in Massachusetts

By Rachel Rose Hartman | The Ticket – 7 hrs ago

Scott Brown (Steven Senne/AP)

Few Republican senators are aligning themselves with Democrats as strongly or as publicly as Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is this year.
In his latest move, the freshman lawmaker is spending much of Monday touting endorsements from Democratic mayors in his home state. That comes in addition to the advertising and messaging he's already used to link himself to Democrats.
"Honored to have the support of former Boston and Worcester Democratic mayors Ray Flynn and Konnie Lukes," the senator wrote on Facebook and Twitter. The two Democrats hail from the state's largest cities. Brown is scheduled to appear with each supporter at a separate campaign event Monday in the lead-up to a highly competitive general election contest against Elizabeth Warren.
Democrats are dying to oust Brown, who was first elected in a 2010 special election for Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat, which had been held by Democrats since 1953. In an unexpected victory, Brown arguably became the first major tea party candidate to gain election to Congress—though he has since pushed back against that label and the partisanship it suggests, saying he has always advocated a bipartisan platform.

Republicans make up just 11 percent of registered voters in Massachusetts, with the largest group of voters choosing to remain unaffiliated.

Democrats successfully recruited Warren, a Harvard law professor and President Obama's top pick to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), for the 2012 Senate race. (She was passed over for the CFPB spot following fierce Republican pushback in Congress.)

Meanwhile, Democrats have been actively attacking Brown's bipartisan persona. "A vote for Scott Brown is a vote for President Mitt Romney, the Republican Party, Wall Street, and the big corporations," Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers stated in an email message to supporters last week.

 

White powder packages sent to Wells Fargo NYC branches

Reuters – 1 hr 30 mins ago

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(Reuters) - A rash of incidents Monday afternoon involving envelopes sent with suspicious white powder had police scrambling around New York City and forced the nation's fourth-biggest bank, Wells Fargo & Co, to shut down five branches around the city.

In one of six cases identified by the New York Police Department, the substance turned out to be corn starch, a police spokesman said. The substance has not yet been identified in the remaining five cases, the spokesman said.
The Wells Fargo branches will remain closed pending further investigation by the police, bank spokesman Ancel Martinez said. The branch locations include Third Avenue and 47th Street; Madison Avenue and 34th Street; and Broadway and 85th Street.
More than 500 protesters demonstrated at the bank's annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco last week to express anger over foreclosures, executive compensation and corporate taxes.

Among other large banks, spokesmen for Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co said they had not closed any branches on Monday due to suspicious envelopes. A Citigroup spokesman had no immediate comment.

According to a website called maydaynyc.org, demonstrations are planned in New York City on Tuesday against "the corporations who rule our city."

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets.

(Reporting by Edith Honan and David Henry in New York and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte; Editing by Eric Walsh)

 

Husband of CNN’s Dana Loesch not targeted by leftists on Twitter, evidence suggests

By Chris Wilson | The Ticket – 3 hrs ago

 Chris Loesch, the husband of CNN contributor Dana Loesch, is a Twitter victim. That much is certain. The question is whether his tormentors are a nefarious horde of liberal tweeters or a benevolent algorithm that snared him accidentally.

Here's what we know: Rebecca Hains, an assistant professor of communications at Salem State University in Massachusetts, tweeted a link at 5:10 p.m. ET on Sunday evening to an account of a Twitter dustup she had with Dana Loesch, a conservative commentator. The two had mixed it up over the politics of birth control, and Hains accused Loesch of distorting facts and sensationalizing her comments.

The tussle would have gone unnoticed had it not been spotted by Daniel Barber, a Bay Area freelance writer and Twitter bomb-thrower who goes by @DBarberHotnuke. (His profile picture is of a mushroom cloud.) After retweeting Hains' post, he went on to offer a few choice comments about Loesch, an affiliate of the late conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart:

@dloesch is one of the few women on this planet that if I learned she'd been brutally raped and murdered I wouldn't shed a tear.
@DBarberHotnuke at 7:40 pm

After some scattered pushback, Barber elaborated:

And that's not to mean I'm advocating @dloesch be raped and murdered, but simply that I wouldn't shed a tear if it happened.
@DBarberHotnuke at 7:41 pm

No one ever said Twitter was civil. A half-hour later, Loesch's husband, Chris Loesch, dutifully responded:

. @DBarberHotnuke I wish the liberal internet tough guys that were so cavalier in their wish for harm on @dloesch would grow souls.
@ChrisLoesch at 8:16 pm

Dana Loesch says she regularly receives hate mail, and usually her husband ignores it. This time he decided to respond. "When people are really rude, you can only look the other way so many times," he told Yahoo News. "You need to sometimes remind them people are watching."

Chris Loesch posted nearly 50 tweets in the next 45 minutes, retweeting messages from supporters and responding to others who he felt were maligning his wife. Around 9 p.m. on Sunday, Twitter suspended his account.

Several conservative sites arrived at the conclusion that Chris Loesch was the target of a coordinated campaign of liberals who reported his account as abusive. "He was apparently targeted by leftist users who utilized the 'Block & Report Spam' function to trigger the social media account's automatic spam algorithm," one Washington Times blogger wrote. Human Events, a less obliquely conservative outlet, called the campaign the work of "digital brown shirt gangs that make coordinated attacks to silence conservative voices by abusing Twitter's spam flagging feature." Supporters started a #FreeChrisLoesch hashtag. After he was briefly reinstated later that night and then summarily uninstated, the tag was appended to #FreeChrisLoeschAgain.
Hains, the user whose account of her argument with Dana Loesch sparked the mix up, connected Yahoo News with several users who say they routinely report misbehaving Twitter users as abusive. "I absolutely do advise people who are harassed by these hateful idiots to use block and report," a man named Charles Johnson responded in a tweet. There is no hard evidence, however, that such efforts alone can get a legitimate user removed if he or she is not actually being abusive.
Twitter has about 900 employees and 140 million active users, so like many companies with huge numbers of users they rely on algorithms to detect anomalous behavior. These secret algorithms are incredibly sophisticated in order to prevent people from cheating them, and they're generally very effective. A recent Berkeley study that deconstructed the algorithm found a fairly low degree of error in the site's detection system for malicious spammers.
Although calls and tweets from Yahoo News to multiple Twitter spokespeople went unanswered, the company is certainly accounting for factors other than pure numbers of people flagging accounts as spam. If that were the case, prominent voices of any political flavor would regularly vanish and reappear. (This Yahoo News reporter's experimental attempt to get himself suspended on Twitter by encouraging followers to report him as abusive was unsuccessful.)
More likely, Chris Loesch triggered a red flag at the Twitter headquarters by responding to well-wishers too zealously after rising to his wife's defense. Dana Loesch posted a screenshot of the warning page her husband received for his first suspension, which states that he was cut off for "sending multiple unsolicited mentions to other users." His rapid-fire retweeting of others in the immediate aftermath of his spat with Daniel Barber could well meet that definition.

Still, several outlets accept the idea that leftist thought police are systematically purging Twitter of conservative voices. The National Review Online writes that, "in recent days, left-wing users in America have taken to suppressing conservative accounts on Twitter. They have used Twitter's anti-spam measures to shut down conservative voices by flagging their accounts en masse as spam." But it is unlikely that Chris Loesch triggered a conspiracy. He just tweeted too much.