Filmed shortly before the Grammy Award-winning singer’s death in July, the video of Winehouse performing the duet “Body and Soul” with Bennett appeared on YouTube on Wednesday, on what would have been her 28th birthday. The stylized film, just under three-and-a-half minutes long and featuring the duo singing in the recording studio, fades between black-and-white
Continue reading …Everyone swoons over James Dean’s swagger, but soon a lucky bidder will be able to swoon over his words. The BBC reports that three hand-written love letters from Dean to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Barbara Glenn will be going up for auction at Christie’s in London on November 23, and they’re collectively estimated to sell
Continue reading …‘Doonesbury’ Pimps Worst Palin Rumors: NBA-Sexing, Racist, Airheaded Shopper
September 15, 2011 No Comment
NBC may have lowered itself to an “exclusive” interview with author Joe McGinniss today — something they did NOT do in 1993 when McGinniss drew universal condemnation for a sleazy Ted Kennedy biography titled The Last Brother. But Garry Trudeau has devoted almost a week now to spreading McGinniss gossip in his Doonesbury comic strips, with all the worst charges: she slept with NBA star Glen Rice, she fired all her “dark-skinned” employees, she wore push-up bras to get what she wanted, and she was an airhead who wanted to shop all day. This tabloid sleaze is not new for Trudeau: twenty years ago, he devoted his strip to recounting allegations made by a prisoner named Brett Kimberlin (also known as “The Speedway Bomber”) who claimed he sold Vice President Dan Quayle marijuana in the 1970s. Trudeau didn't care that Kimberlin was convicted of perjury in 1974 for lying about — drugs. Notice how Trudeau's strips again have a misogynist anti-Palin flavor: Thursday: Roland Hedley: Hey, Matt, did you know Palin once had a romantic encounter with Glen Rice? Matt: Glen Rice, the basketball star? No way. Who’s going to believe that? Hedley: Glen Rice, apparently. Hedley, a long-time Doonesbury character is currently working for Fox News in Trudeau's world, so he's interested in trying to discount and disparage McGinniss's “reporting.” Wednesday: “She didn’t really give a s— about her job,” says someone who knew her well. She’d say “I have to go to a f—– meeting tonight.” And she’d be like, “I got on my biggest push-up bra. I’m gonna get what I want.” Hedley's lame spin for Fox: “As mayor, Palin used every tool in kit.” Tuesday: “About 20 minority (state) employees…worked as campaign volunteers for Sarah…almost as soon as she was elected, she ordered them all fired.” “Her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, came in one day and said “They’re all fired. That’s what she wants.”…”Sarah just isn’t comfortable in the presence of dark-skinned people.” Hedley's lame spin: “Palin shaped staff to look more like Alaska.” Monday: “Gary Wheeler…served as head of Governor Palin’s personal security detail. ‘What it came down to is she didn’t want us around…’ “She didn’t want anyone to follow her to Nordstrom’s when she went shopping every day…She didn’t want anybody to know she wasn’t coming in until 10 am and then leaving by three…” “You know what she was? A housewife who happened to be governor. I’d fly cross-country with her many times and she’d spend the whole trip reading People magazine…” Hedley's lame spin: “New book explodes myth of Sarah not reading.” Saturday: “She freaked out afterward. Hysterical, crying, totally flipped out. The thing that people remember is her freak-out.” “She was just horrified. She can’t believe she’d done it.” Hedley's lame spin: “Book boring. Going for coffee.”
Continue reading …RIM’s Q2 earnings report: $329 million in net income, not enough to fend off critics
September 15, 2011 No Comment
The first quarterly earnings report post- Wake Up Call have just been published for Canada’s own Research in Motion, and while the cash is still flowing, investors and analysts alike aren’t feeling too rosy about the future . Despite Q2 revenue of $4.2 billion and a GAAP net income of $329 million, RIM’s stock plummeted nine percent following the news. Why? That reality was at the lowest end of estimates, and as we’ve seen, it takes a blowout quarter to please the folks on Wall Street. Nevertheless, the company’s touting a subscriber base that ballooned 40 percent year-over-year (surpassing 70m total), and while it’s quick to trumpet the rollout of seven new smartphones, not a one of them managed to astound the QNX-desiring critics . The report also notes that 10.6 million handsets were moved in the quarter, around $780 million was invested as “part of a consortium of companies that successfully bid to acquire intellectual property assets from Nortel,” and it’s forecasting that BlackBerry smartphone shipments in Q3 will grow between 27 percent and 37 percent compared to Q2. Sadly, the company only “shipped” 200,000 PlayBook tablets, with the prevailing thought being that it actually sold far fewer. Moreover, nary a forecast was given for future PlayBook sales. As for thoughts from the head honcho(s)? Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, stated that “overall unit shipments in the quarter were slightly below our forecast due to lower than expected demand for older models,” further noting that his firm will “continue to build on the success of the BlackBerry 7 launch to drive the business as we focus our development efforts on delivering the next generation, QNX -based mobile platform next year.” Next year is a long, long way away, though, and there’s no doubt whatsoever what kind of competition will be in place by the time 2012 rolls around. We’ll be hopping on the analyst call here in a few, and you can look beyond the break for any notable mentions. RIM’s Q2 earnings report: $329 million in net income, not enough to fend off critics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Investigation launched into fatal shooting at Ministry of Defence ground at Lydd in Romney Marsh A 19-year-old soldier has died in a shooting incident at a military training ground. Kent police were called to the Ministry of Defence training ground in Lydd, Romney Marsh, at about 2.45pm Wednesday. The incident is being investigated by police, the army and Health and Safety Executive. An MoD spokesman also confirmed it was investigating the incident. The soldier has not been named but his next of kin have been informed. The death follows that of a 20-year-old soldier who was shot during an exercise at Lydd ranges in November 2006. Guardsman Ian Wright, who served with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. The ranges, which are 15 miles south of Ashford, have been used for military training for more than 150 years, according to the MoD. They are situated on reclaimed lands of the historic Romney Marsh, estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. The ranges are used for live firing with a danger area extending out to sea. Red flags are flown during firing, when access is banned along the foreshore and Galloway’s Road. Military Ministry of Defence guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …As some of us suspected, Michaele Salahi wasn’t kidnapped —she just ran off with a rock star . But mystery remains: How exactly does she know Journey guitarist Neal Schon? The Washington Post points to a 2009 story revealing that, prior to becoming famous for crashing a White House dinner, the…
Continue reading …Precious few Americans drive cars manufactured in 1964—the same isn’t true of the US Air Force. The average age of an Air Force plane ranges from 25 years for an F-15 to 47 years for refueling aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reports in a look at a pricey problem….
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The federal Food and Drug Administration and toxicologists are disputing suggestions by television show host Dr. Mehmet Oz that trace amounts of arsenic in many apple juice products pose a health concern. (Sept. 15)
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Click here to view this media Following a Thursday speech unveiling his plan to “liberate” the economy, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was asked if he enjoyed his job. “Hell, no!” he exclaimed. “I’m not having any fun.” “But I am glad I’m there… I wanted to be Speaker because I wanted to lead an effort on behalf of our country. And it’s that mission that drives me every day… But I like to accomplish my mission and get the hell out of there.” Boehner later added that he never aspired to be a politician. “I always wanted to be a salesman. And eventually that’s what I did. I was in the sales and marketing business in the packaging and plastic industry. And I thought I was going to do that the rest of my life but along the way, I got involved in my neighborhood homeowners association and I ended up in the United States Congress.” UPDATE: John Amato: John Boehner threw down the tea party gauntlet this morning and said it’s his way or the highway in response to Obama’s jobs bill and what the Super Committee will be allowed to do. He dismissed tax breaks for corporations (which is a long standing ideal of conservative policy) and labeled them as gimmicks and then said only federal spending cuts (not the military of course) and attacks on our social safety nets will be permitted to move forward in his vision to help our struggling economy. It’s a destructive philosophy as the facts have bared out and the president must not buckle again to the GOP or the Villagers’ bipartisan shared sacrifice fetish. If he does offer up social safety net reforms that include benefit cuts, the 2012 elections will be a complete disaster .
Continue reading …Ah, this would explain the blood on his hands. Rachel Maddow continues her yeoman's work as propagandist for Democrats, dishonestly attributing power over sentencing in Texas murder cases to Gov. Rick Perry instead of with juries where it actually resides. (video after page break) Here's Maddow on her MSNBC show Tuesday night, all but accusing Perry of single-handedly dispatching death-row inmates — Texas is killing two more of its prisoners this week, including one that was killed already today. Thirty-one-year-old Steven Michael Woods Jr. was killed at 6:22 p.m. local time in Huntsville tonight. That's the 235th person Rick Perry has put to death in his time as Texas governor , more than any other governor in modern US history. Not only does Perry lack the authority to execute by decree as suggested by Maddow, he cannot grant clemency without approval from the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles. Woods was convicted for murdering two people — in May 2001, more than a decade ago. In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, Maddow did refrain from describing the case as a rush to judgment, so there's that. As Perry stated in the tea party debate, Texas has an appellate process after convictions for murder. What Perry did not mention is that this process is automatic. That's why it routinely takes a decade or longer for convicted murderers to be put to death, even in law-and-order bastions such Texas. For example, the second death-row inmate to be executed in Texas this week, Duane Buck, committed his crimes — another double murder — back in 1995. I can't help but wonder how many of the survivors of Buck's victims have already died before he suffers the consequences of his actions. To paraphrase Brian Williams's question to Perry during the debate, has Maddow ever struggled to sleep at night in anguish over victims of violent crime — or only for its perpetrators?
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