Human torpedo of truth Charlie Sheen was in Ft. Lauderdale last night dropping bombshells: specifically, that he’d lost a goddess, reports the Hollywood Reporter. Sheen told the audience of 2,500 that “Goddess” Rachel Olson had dumped him—via text, no less. Later, asked how he handled two women at…
Continue reading …Even a world-renowned chef sometimes needs a good old-fashioned cheeseburger. Daily Meal got a number of chefs as well as restaurateurs, food critics, and other VIPs in the food world, to admit to their secret food vices. A sampling: Mario Batali : “Three things: Really well-made ice cream; really well-made Mexican…
Continue reading …Two schoolhouses—one never used and falling apart, the other full of children and thriving—built in the Afghanistan countryside by Greg Mortenson’s scandal-embroiled charity show the complexities of bringing aid to this desolate, war-torn region. “But what I saw of the school-building program was difficult to fit neatly into…
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With Thor, Tom Hiddleston has shot from indie star to Hollywood. Next stop, Spielberg Tom Hiddleston turns up for breakfast at a central London hotel dead on time and breathlessly thrilled. Though the 30-year-old has already had an impressive career, renowned as one of the most penetratingly intelligent actors of his generation and working with directors as illustrious as Michael Grandage and Terence Davies , travelling here on the tube he had a Hollywood moment. He saw a poster of Thor for the first time. He sits forward eagerly. “It’s a wildly exciting time. I’ve never been in a film that has posters on the tube. And it’s not even my face on the poster.” The Thor poster shows a close-up of Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder; Hiddleston plays his Machiavellian brother Loki, the god of mischief. On screen, the two actors are brawn and brain, large and little. Hemsworth’s Thor is a brash yet increasingly likable god; Hiddleston’s Loki is ultimately just a kid who wants to please his dad, Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins . It’s surprising, then, to learn that director Kenneth Branagh initially asked Hiddleston to audition for the title role. Hiddleston digs into his eggs benedict and laughs. “Ken found out he’d got the job in late 2008, when we were appearing at the Donmar together, knocking eight bells of ideological crap out of each other every night in Chekhov’s Ivanov . Dressed as the self-righteous 19th-century doctor Lvov, with wire-rimmed spectacles, a pocket watch, grey trousers, a linen jacket and a goatee, I ran up to Ken’s dressing room holding a massive empty water cooler that I pretended was Thor’s hammer. He looked at me and said, ‘Don’t joke, love, you never
Continue reading …On Easter Sunday, some happy news from the Gabrielle Giffords camp: The Arizona congresswoman can stand and even walk a little, and though she is currently working on improving her gait, she told her nurse she plans to “walk a mountain” one day. More from the Arizona Republic ’s extensive…
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US tycoon reacts with fury to revelation by news station in his home town that he has not voted in primaries for 21 years Donald Trump, property tycoon turned reality TV star turned potential presidential candidate, is a busy man. Too busy, it seems, to make it to the polling booth. Records unearthed by NY1 , Trump’s hometown news station, show he has not voted in primary elections for 21 years. City election board spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez confirmed NY1′s story at the weekend. The news prompted a furious denial from Trump. “I voted in every general election … You’re going to pay a big price because you’re wrong … I have records that I voted and so does the board of elections … I signed in at every election,” he told NY1. Trump has yet to confirm he will run for president but will be hoping for a more committed turnout from his own supporters if he is to move forward with his campaign. In order to secure the nomination he would need to get fellow Republicans to vote for him in a primary election – something that the state election board records appear to show he has failed to do consistently since 1989. Back in 1989 Trump voted in the primary for mayor when Rudolph Giuliani beat business magnate Ronald Lauder, but according to the documents, Trump failed to show up at the primaries after that for over 20 years. It wasn’t just local elections Trump missed. The tycoon also failed to cast his vote in several presidential primaries, including in 1988 and 1996. The star of The Apprentice became a Democrat in 2001 but missed the 2001 and 2005 primaries for mayor. In 2002 records show he also appears to have skipped the general election. In 2008 Trump voiced his support for Barack Obama during the fiercely fought primary with Hillary Clinton. “I think [Obama] has a chance to go down as a great president,” Trump told NY1 in 2008. “Now if he’s not, if he’s not a great president then this country is in trouble.” Perhaps it was this ambivalence that led to him missing that vote too. Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen told Associated Press on Saturday that “for one of the greatest international businessmen who travels all over the country and the world, his voting record is very, very good.” Trump’s campaign has been fuelled by his questioning whether Obama was born in the United States, and by his plans to seize the oil of countries including Iraq and Libya. The latest Gallup poll finds Trump tied in first place among Republican voters with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, on 16%. Mitt Romney is third with 13%, with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in fourth on 10%. Donald Trump United States US politics Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Few architects have to design anything to last more than 100 years, so how do you build a nuclear waste facility to last for millennia? And what sign do you put on the door? Ceremonies will be held around the worldon Tuesday to mark the 25th
Continue reading …Thousands of anti-government protesters held their ground today in the Yemeni capital’s Change Square despite President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s acceptance yesterday of an Arab proposal to leave office after 32 years in power. A coalition of seven opposition political parties also agreed to the proposal with several reservations, but Saleh’s…
Continue reading …The sexual trafficking of girls “is more similar in America and Cambodia than we would like to admit,” writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times . Teen prostitution is “one of our country’s biggest human rights problems.” These teenagers are victims, not criminals, and the system is failing them badly….
Continue reading …Japan will begin an extensive recovery mission tomorrow, sending almost 25,000 soldiers into the disaster zone to look for the bodies of last month’s earthquake and tsunami victims. About 14,300 people are confirmed dead, but another 12,000 are still missing and presumed killed, the AP reports. Their…
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