Monday, March 30, 2009
Men's Fashion
Monday Morning
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Kids Choice Award - Nick Kca
They may have only been up for one award on Saturday night (March 28) at the Kids' Choice Awards, but the night definitely belonged to the Jonas Brothers. A who's who of teen stars were on hand at the 22nd annual awards show, hosted by Dwayne Johnson.
The first award of the night, Favorite TV Show, was handed out by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson and went to "iCarly." "We wouldn't be up here without you guys," the show's star, Miranda Cosgrove, told the super-excited crowd. Tons of celebs made appearances throughout the night, like Favorite Male Singer winner Jesse McCartney, Will Ferrell, Sandra Bullock and Hugh Jackman, all of whom got slimed, a time-honored KCA tradition.
Although she wasn't there to claim her Blimp, Selena Gomez won Favorite TV Actress for her work on "Wizards of Waverly Place." Keeping the girl power alive were the Pussycat Dolls, who didn't win any Blimps but did perform "When I Grow Up" and their version of the "Slumdog Millionaire" anthem "Jai Ho."
Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, Corbin Bleu and Ashley Tisdale were there to accept the Favorite Movie award for "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." Hudgens also took home a Blimp for Favorite Movie Actress. "A quick shout-out to Lucas [Grabeel] and Monique [Coleman]. We love you guys," Efron said to his missing castmates while accepting the award. "Thank you all for embracing 'HSM.' We love you guys."
It was cute-boy overload as Efron presented the award for Favorite Music Group to the Jonas Brothers. "Thank you guys so much," Joe said, before Nick added, "It's been amazing. We've enjoyed the ride thoroughly." More swooning ensued when "Gossip Girl" heartthrob Chace Crawford announced the JoBros' performance. They rocked the crowd and made girls scream when they performed "S.O.S." and "Burnin' Up."
There was also love for "Twilight," which won for Favorite Book. "This is awesome," Taylor Lautner told the crowd. "Stephenie Meyer wanted to tell you guys 'thank you.' And I can tell you firsthand you guys are gonna love [the 'New Moon' movie]."
Leonardo DiCaprio won the most serious award of the night, taking home the Big Green Help Blimp for inspiring people to be more proactive in saving the environment. And although Miley Cyrus was up for a slew of awards, she only managed to win one for Favorite Female Singer. While hugging her Blimp and fighting back tears, she said, "I really thought I was going to lose."
The night came to an end with Johnson fulfilling his assigned task of finding the right key to make the volcanic slime pyramid explode. What was that key? The Jonas Brothers singing "Lovebug." Other big winners of the night included "American Idol" for Favorite Reality Show, Will Smith for Favorite Movie Actor and past KCA host Jack Black for Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Vacation of a lifetime
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Powerful Cell phone
NEW SAMSUNG D807
FEATURES:
CARRIER:
AT&T, Cingular, Cellular One, Fido, Rogers Wireless, SunCom, T-Mobile
I68+ TOUCH SCREEN UNLOCKED PHONE I9
Dual Sim card | Quad-Band | Java | 3.2 inch Screen
FM Radio | MP3 MP4 Player | BlueTooth
850/900/1800/1900 GSM Band
work in the worldwide
FEATURES:
Network :GSM 850/ 900/ 1800 /1900 MHz
Languages: English, French, Thailand, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese.
Ringtone: 64 chord ringtone, ringtone format: Mp3, mp4, midi, wav
Music: MP3, background music playing
Video: 3GP format, MP4, screen saver/ on/off phone/support movie when call incoming
Camera: 1.3 mega pixel
Shake:Fashion shake control switching function, change music, picture, movie easily.
Card-slot: Support 8GB T-flash card
Data Transfer: USB cable/USB flash disk
Photo: Jpg, gif
WAP: Support Wap 2.0
GPRS: Support (GPRS: CLASS 10 )
Bluetooth: Support bluetooth 2.0
Motion Sensor: Support
Light sensation: Support
Voice recorder: Support circumstance recorder and call recorder
Key guard: slide for unlocking
Telephone directories: 500 groups of phone books, video ringing tones
Messages: SMS, MMS, support group send message
Games: Support, built-in vivid games, support motionsensor games
Others tools: JAVA, MSN, Ebook, Calculator, world clock, three alarm clocks, on/off
Timing, scheduler etc.
Specifications:
Telephone directories: 300 groups of contacts of carte de visit, support incoming call with ring and downloaded MP3
Messages &Multimedia messaging: 200 pieces of SMS, 100 pieces of MMS
Schedule power on/off: support auto start/close, can set user-defined photo of starting/closing
PDA: Support Touch Panel input
Game: Support
Alarm clock: 5 groups; can set from Monday to Sunday at random, support MP3 as alarm ring
Talk time: 240-360 minutes
Standby time: 180-300 hours
Shape: Slim Bar
Dimensions: 110x 60x 10.5mm
Weight: 100G
Color: Cool black
Package including:
Quad-band I68+ cell phone x 1
Li-ion genuine batteries x 2
USB charger adapter x 1
Stereo Earphones x 1
USB Cable x 1
Stylus pen x 1
User Manual(English)
CARRIER:
Fido, AT&T, Cingular, SunCom, Disney, T-Mobile
Monday, March 23, 2009
2009 NFL schedules
"I don't believe that will be the case," Goodell said when asked about the possibilities in an uncapped season in 2010. Owners opted out of the current CBA last year, which will trigger the end of the salary cap if no new deal is reached before next March.
Owners' priorities in the negotiations will include having the costs for building and operating stadiums recognized by the players and instituting a salary cap for rookies, Goodell said in a news conference at the NFL's annual meeting in Dana Point, Calif.
There is no timetable yet for when negotiations on a new CBA will begin. Goodell met with new NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith Friday for the first time.
The economy is hurting the league's revenue streams, and Goodell said the ramifications will have an effect on the negotiations. Money from sponsorships and licensing is down, and the league is concerned about the possibility for reduced ticket sales in 2009. Read more,,Sunday, March 22, 2009
Lena the singer
Hopefull Celebrant
The death tunnel in Colorado
The state of Colorado is lucky enough to house not only beautiful landscapes, but a lot of National Forest land as well. These facts motivate Coloradoans to get out there and camp and with the spring equinox just behind us; these memories will become a reality for us soon.
Not all Coloradoans go camping with the same initiatives skateboarding go camping with. We visit the gems of skateparks littered throughout the hills, and, tired and dusty from the trail, sit around the fire ring on our skateboards. And, of course, the eyes of a skateboarder are always keen to seeking out new obstacles, but whoever found this one must have had eyes in the back of their head.
It's not just a skate adventure, its an entire obstacle course to get it. First you must rope down to the waters of the reservoir and configure a raft apparatus, keeping your board dry, to get to the dry portion of the reservoir's enclosed (with a small hole atop) full pipe. The pipe is submerged in water during some times of the year, so this requires some pre-planning as well.
Let's get out there and enjoy this great state this spring and summer.
Mensa Test
The main purposes of Mensa, an international non-profit society, are to identify and foster human intelligence; encourage research into the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence; and to provide its members with a stimulating intellectual and social environment.
The Israeli chapter was established as recently as 2003 by Canadian immigrant Dr. Frank Luger, who gathered the first few hundred members. For the last three years, Mensa Israel has been working toward attaining official nonprofit status, and chairman Roy Daya said he hopes to finish the process in the coming month.
Approximately 500 people in Israel have passed the Mensa entrance test, 200 of whom regularly pay the yearly membership fee and 100 of whom are active members, according to Daya. Approximately one third to one half of them are women and almost all are Jewish, both religious and secular.
The Hottest Style for Spring 2009
Thank God
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Some extra allowance for this tough economic time
Mobile Blogging
I wasn't aware that you can do blogging on your mobile too until I came across blogger's help section. Yes you can do blogging in your mobile, how does it work here's the details.
You send a message - which can be a photo, some text, or both - to go@blogger.com. We take care of the rest. In other words, we auto-provision a new blog and publish the post. It's that simple.
Here's how to start a mobile blog:
- 1. Send an MMS to
go@blogger.com
to create your mobile blog. The text and/or photo in your MMS will be uploaded to that blog right away. We'll message you back with the address, (so you can visit your new blog on the web) and a token (so you can claim your blog and access it from your account). - 2. OPTIONAL - If you feel like changing anything on your new mobile blog or if you already have a Blogger account and want the posts to go to your existing blog, you can log in to go.blogger.com and enter the token we sent to your phone. You'll then have the option to claim your new mobile blog and merge it with your existing blog. Note to users whose blog address does not contain blogspot.com: Once you make the aforementioned switch, new mobile posts will be published to your chosen blog but mobile posts published prior to the switch will not be moved over automatically.
What types of messages can I send to Blogger Mobile from my phone?
MMS or Email - note this doesn't include email sent from a mobile device that actually passes through a webmail gateway (such as mail sent from your stanford.edu
account from your phone).
Photos are currently limited to 250K each. If they exceed that size, you'll receive a bounce message letting you know so you can try again with a smaller picture. Note that your phone (or carrier) might have size limits of its own.
Is there a cost for using Blogger Mobile?
Mobile providers' standard rates for sending and receiving text and photo messages apply. Blogger won't charge you for any of its services.
Requirements
Text messaging-enabled mobile device with a text messaging plan. This service is free from Google but charges from your carrier for usage may apply.
Latest Community online - Equestriancupid.com
My Birthday Gift
I love it, i love the features, it is so handy and very stylish. The overall package was great.
Package include Yamaha Acoustic Guitar. The GigMaker Deluxe includes a guitar with a Solid Spruce top, figured back and sides, black pick guard and compensated bridge saddle.
Innclude is a protective gig bag, digital chromatic tuner, instructional DVD, guitar strap, strings, picks and limited lifetime warranty.
Yamaha FD01S Gigmaker Deluxe Acoustic Guitar Package
Yamaha Gigmaker guitar packages are the result of Yamaha's 30-plus years of experience making fantastic, affordable guitars. Yamaha is one of the most respected names in the industry and they have proven that you don't need to spend $1,000.00 or more to own a very playable instrument that sounds great. This Deluxe package includes an upgraded Yamaha FD01S dreadnought-size acoustic guitar with a solid spruce top, mahogany back & sides, chrome tuners, plus the easy playability and full tone quality that you expect – and always get – from Yamaha. The package also includes a guitar gig bag, an electronic tuner, an instructional DVD full of lessons, a guitar strap, an extra set of guitar strings, and picks. This is a totally complete package that delivers absolutely everything you need to start playing now!
FD01S Guitar Features
- Dreadnaught Body
- Solid Spruce Top
- Mahogany Back & Sides
- Rosewood Fingerboard
- Chrome Tuners
Friday, March 20, 2009
Kansas City Plastic Surgeons
Battlestar bids farewell
One of the best science-fiction series ever put on television closes out Friday, March 20, as Battlestar Galactica ends its four-season run with a two-hour finale. In a galaxy somewhere south of it, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated series on the Cartoon Network, ends its first season on a ratings roll.
So the question is: Are we ever going to see something in the middle of these two series? BSG (as its fans call it) was able to capture viewers who didn’t identify themselves as lovers of sci-fi. And the George Lucas project Star Wars: The Clone Wars has drawn both kids and adults. But with one idle and the other departing for good there’s no science fiction on broadcast television right now worth watching. A glimmer of hope surrounded Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, but the series is larded with conceptual failure and bad acting. Its counterpart on Fox’s schedule, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, was once viewed as can’t-miss material but has since faded badly in the ratings. Either the two shows will be the combined beneficiary of Fox’s largesse or they’ll go down the drain together.
There are plenty of other series amalgamated into the sci-fi genre even though — aside from the long-running Doctor Who — most are not what mainstream viewers would call “science fiction” and none is making much noise in the ratings.
More importantly, none of them are making a critical impact like Battlestar Galactica, a superb drama that bears almost no resemblance to the cheesy late ’70s series of the same name. Ronald D. Moore “reimagined” the series in 2004 for the Sci-Fi channel and slowly the word spread to the mainstream that something special was happening on this genre show.
Indeed it was.
The series managed to be a thrilling, dense and evocative home for stories about existentialism, race, religion, war, friendship, the search for identity, family, politics, tribalism and, sure enough, science fiction. The writing, acting and visuals on BSG elevated it to the stratosphere of creative television — a series worthy of top 10 lists that encompassed network, ad-supported and pay cable. (The good news for people who haven’t seen one frame of it is now you can start renting or buying the DVDs and working toward the finale that has so many die-hards anticipating tonight’s end game.) An executive at another ad-supported cable channel once wisely said if BSG had another million dollars to spend on each episode it wouldn’t be any good. What he meant was that tight budgets forced the writers to shy away from stereotypical space battles and bluster, focusing more closely on the storytelling. That’s why BSG managed to cross over and appeal to mainstream TV audiences. The series deftly balanced the kind of mythology that fuels sci-fi enthusiasts with dramatic arcs that enthralled fans of more terrestrial fare. As soon as viewers found out that the bulk of the stories surrounded a phalanx of nuanced characters, they bought in.
Because BSG elevated science fiction to high art you’d think TV executives would be searching for something similar to it. Despite the acclaim BSG garnered, there’s a fear of trying to do something too dark or moody, traits that drew critics to the series in the first place. And while cops, doctors and lawyers are dominating the current pilot process, some networks are giving sci-fi a longer look. ABC is remaking V about an alien invasion (based on a miniseries from the ’80s) and Flash Forward, based on a science-fiction book by Robert J. Sawyer — but written for the small screen by Brannon Braga (the latter-era Star Trek series) and David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, the story for The Dark Knight). Fox is making Human Target, based on the DC Comics character who assumes the identity of those he’s trying to protect. And NBC is developing Day One, a futuristic series that picks up after a global disaster.
But on the small screen, sci-fi breakthroughs are rare. It could be that V or Flash Forward or Human Target ignore special effects and fantastical gibberish and really focus on the narrative, the character development, the writing, acting, directing and the sustaining of an original vision from season to season. That’s how you achieve greatness. But even most non-genre series come to realize brilliance is a fantasy they can’t attain. Which makes Battlestar Galactica all the more stellar in comparison.
I got my phone
Combine rich features with high fashion.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Secure your future with Social Security Solutions
FLag Counter
I talked about SEO Widget the other day and the meaning of the letters listed on the widget. Now we know what are those. SEO Widget is just one of so many widgets available and the next one I'm going to talk about is the Flag counter. We also see this in so many blogs. This will determine on how many visitors did you have in different places. It is very easy to determine because each country that are listed are represented by their respective flag. To give you more understanding, here's some of the details that I have found. There are certain requirements to be followed and here are some:
- bg=FFFFFF This is your flag counter's background color. This can be any valid 6 digit hex number. For instance, if the background color on your website is #191970 (Midnight blue) and you want it to match, you'll change this part to be "bg=191970"
- txt=000000 This is your flag counter's text color. This is adjusted in the same manner as the background color.
- border=CCCCCC This is your flag counter's border color. This is also adjusted in the same manner as the background color.
- columns=2 This is the number of columns in your flag counter. This can be any number between 1 and 9.
- maxflags=12 This is the maximum number of flags shown on your flag counter. This can be any number between 1 and 248.
- viewers=0 This is the text label on top of your counter. "0" is the default, which will say "Visitors" on the top of your counter. "1" will say "Viewers" and "3" will remove the label entirely. Any other value which includes letters (a-z) or numbers (0-9) is acceptable, as well as plus signs (+) which are converted to spaces, exclamations (!), periods (.), and commas (,). For instance, if you'd like this to say "My Flag Counter!", you'd change this to be "viewers=My+Flag+Counter!".
- labels=0 This setting adjusts whether the flags are labeled by their country code, and can be either 0 (off) or 1 (on). When set to 1, each flag is followed by its 2 letter country code.
Something new - Something Different
SEO Widget
We usually see this on every blog but do we really know the meaning of this letters listed?They call this SEO Widget and to understand it further, the following are the meaning:
GBL: Google BackLinks: This data shows the number of backlinks reported for your site in Google. Google don't show all your backlinks so there is nothing to freak-out. Yahoo reports better backlinks.
GIP: Google Indexed Pages: This data shows the number of pages indexed by Google for your website. Our tool will update your number of pages indexed every week and will report current status for your website.
YBL: Yahoo Back Links: This data shows the number of backlinks you site has according to yahoo. Yahoo's data is more reliable than Google and currently Yahoo is the only search engine to show any sort of decent backlinks to your website.
YIP: Yahoo Index Pages: This data shows the number of pages indexed for your site by yahoo search engine's crawler yahoo Slurp. Yahoo updates their index once a week and we will do the same when you use our widget.
MIP: MSN Indexed Pages: MSN now called live search is one of the top 3 search engines according to market share. MSN is currently in 3rd position only next to Google and Yahoo. It's very important to know how your site performs in MSN Live search. Our search engine widget will give you up to date information of the number of pages indexed by yahoo crawler.
ALR: Alexa is the No.1 site in internet to value a website. They use various sophisticated methods to judge the value of a website. It's important to have decent Alexa rankings. Any ranking in top 100,000 is worthwhile. Our tool will update every week to give you the latest Alexa rankings for your website.
ATW: All The Web indexed pages. Alltheweb.com is an other search engine mostly powered by yahoo. It has its own set of loyal users it will be good to know the number of pages indexed in Alltheweb search engine too.
AVI: AltaVista Indexed pages: Altavista.com was once the industry leader in search. After a buyout by yahoo it's now used by a small amount of search users. But they have some great features very useful for webmasters. A site performing in top 10 search engines is best for internet. Altavista is one of the top 10 search engines and it's good to know how your site is being indexed in Altavista.
To use this tool all you need to do is just to enter your website address ex: www.example.com. The results would be displayed on the next page with just one click.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Alexa Toolbar
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Founded | 1996[1] |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Industry | Internet information providers |
Products | Search Engine |
Parent | Amazon.com |
Website | Alexa.com |
Type of site | Web traffic and ranking |
Advertising | Web banner with AdBrite |
Registration | N/A |
Available in | English |
Current status | Active |
Screenshot[show] |
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is best known for operating a website that provides information on web traffic to other websites.
Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat in an effort to solve the internet search problem by tracking user decisions and using that data to aid future searches. From the company's early website in 1999:
Alexa Internet was created from a novel vision.A vision of navigation that learns and improves over time with the collective participation of its users. We all experience the gaps in navigating and finding information on the Internet as it is used today--frustrating keyword searches that turn up hundreds or thousands of web pages and sites, very few of which are of any interest. What if we, as a community of users, could effortlessly pool our collective experience and add human intelligence to navigation? What if we could fill in those gaps? It is a radical concept and it is our goal to make it real, and we invite you to join us in this effort. What we are doing can change the way we use the Internet forever. The Alexa service is the first Internet software product that learns from people. This intelligent navigation service provides a continuous source of relevant recommendations of where to go next on the Web.
Paintball a different kind of game
How Do I Create A Team Blog?
Team blogs are quite useful when small groups of people wish to contribute to a single blog. Basically, one person initially creates the blog, then adds other people to it as members.
Team members can either be administrators or not. Administrators can edit all posts (not just their own), add and remove team members (and grant admin access), and modify the blog's settings and template. Non-admins can only create and edit their own posts.
Here's how to add members to your blog:
First, go to Settings | Permissions:
Then click Add Authors:
Next, type the email addresses of the people you're inviting to the blog, separating each address with a comma. They'll receive an email with a confirmation link soon. Note that they must have Google Accounts, and if they don't already, they'll be prompted to create one.
When you're ready to send the invitations, click Invite.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Power of Google and it's origin
The story of how "Google Inc" came into existence is really interesting. Larry and Sergey spend a lot of cash on buying memory disks for storing data. They needed money to pay off their bills and get a place of their own as they were still operating from their dorm. After being refused by their friend and founder of Yahoo! David Filo for funds they talked to Andy Bechtolsheim, one of the founder members of Sun Microsystems. He looked at the demo of Google and immediately realized the potential it had. As Andy was in a hurry he simply made a check for $ 100,000 in the name of "Google Inc". At that time "Google Inc" did not exist so to realize the check they collected more funds and started "Google Inc." with around $ 1 million starting investment.
Cell Phones
In Celebration Of St. Patrick's Day
Monday, March 16, 2009
Do you know this?
Computer-virus infections don't cause your machine to crash anymore.
Nowadays, the criminals behind the infections usually want your computer operating in top form so you don't know something's wrong. That way, they can log your keystrokes and steal any passwords or credit-card numbers you enter at Web sites, or they can link your infected computer with others to send out spam.
Here are some signs your computer is infected, tapped to serve as part of "botnet" armies run by criminals:
• You experience new, prolonged slowdowns. This can be a sign that a malicious program is running in the background.
• You continually get pop-up ads that you can't make go away. This is a sure sign you have "adware," and possibly more, on your machine.
• You're being directed to sites you didn't intend to visit, or your search results are coming back funky. This is another sign that hackers have gotten to your machine.
So what do you do?
• Having anti-virus software here is hugely helpful. For one, it can identify known malicious programs and disable them. If the virus that has infected your machine isn't detected, many anti-virus vendors offer a service in which they can remotely take over your computer and delete the malware for a fee.
• Some anti-virus vendors also offer free, online virus-scanning services.
• You may have to reinstall your operating system if your computer is still experiencing problems. It's a good idea even if you believe you've cleaned up the mess because malware can still be hidden on your machine. You will need to back up your files before you do this.
How do I know what information has been taken?
• It's very hard to tell what's been taken. Not every infection steals your data. Some just serve unwanted ads. Others poison your search result or steer you to Web sites you don't want to see. Others log your every keystroke. The anti-virus vendors have extensive databases about what the known infections do and don't do. Comparing the results from your virus scans to those entries will give you a good idea about what criminals may have snatched up.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A program to succeed
Like any other money making online. There's one website that offers a complete package on how to earn money through the web. This is the Money Making Club. This website is the most effective step by step money making system in existence. Curious? Check it now and see what they've for you.
Miss my baby
Beach to Beacon 10K race on Sunday March 15, 2009
Maine's popular Beach to Beacon 10K race opens their online registration tomorrow, Sunday, March 15th at noon. The 6,000 limit field is expected to sell out in 24-hours and the only way to register is online. My suggestion is either bring your handheld or plan your Southie St. Patrick's day celebration accordingly because you do not want to miss this registration.
Ten years ago, Joan Benoit Samuelson 1984 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist, started this beautiful race in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It is a gorgeous 6.2 mile race that starts at Crescent Beach and ends at Portland Head Light.
This years race will be run on August 1, 2009 at 8:00am. The registration fee for the 10K road race and 10K wheelchair race are $35. Beach to Beacon is also offering a children's fun run for $5. Bring your co-workers out for the Corporate Challenge for a fee of $35. Each registration fee will have an additional $3.75 charge for the online registration. Remember, only online registration is available for this race. No paper applications are available.
Beach to Beacon is a big draw for elite runners from all over with its large prize purse. The top ten men and women will receive cash prizes ranging from $500 or 10th place to $10,000 for first place. Cash prizes are also available for the top three men and women in the wheelchair, masters and seniors divisions. The top five Maine finishers will receive a cash prize. If the winners should sent a course record, a bonus of $2,500 will be given to open runners and $500 given for the Maine course record. The current mens course record is 27:28, set by Gilbert Okari of Kenya in 2003. The womens course record is 31:26, set by Alventina Ivanova of Kenya in 2006. The current Maine course record was set in 2005 by Eric Giddings of South Portland.
To register for Beach to Beacon, visit their website beachtobeacon.org at noon on Sunday. Do not delay as the 6,000 spots will sell out quickly.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Announcement to any occasion
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Iron Man 2 in 2010
She will play the villainous Black Widow opposite Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle in the new movie.Johansson's representative has confirmed the actress signed up on Thursday (12Mar09), a day after Mickey Rourke joined the cast - he'll play villain Whiplash in the sequel, according to Daily Variety. The film is scheduled for a May 2010 release.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SUMMER SAFETY
Please remember though that with the fun comes responsibility. Statistics show that forty to fifty percent of all boating accidents have alcohol involved. Please remember just as you should observe all the laws and safety when driving your car your boat is no different.
We must remember that personal flotation device should be worn at all times and by all people. We must protect not only ourselves but our friends and family as well. So please make sure all flotation devices meet the recommended standards and proper sizes as required. Also make sure you obey all the laws and rules of the lakes or rivers you are fishing on.
So please remember that while the summer times is designed for fun and relaxation. Always be safe and keep those around you safe, because when everyone makes it home then it is truly a great vacation. The most important thing though is to remember always wear you personal flotation devices and that Boating and Alcohol Don't Mix.
My new acoustic guitar
Fragrant foul: Malodorous mascots in March madness
Ah, a little cool air.
Xavier's nationally ranked basketball team has just dashed off the court for halftime. With a double-digit lead, the Musketeers would probably rather keep playing.
Not Strietmann. She needs this timeout.
"This is warmer than normal," she says, sticking out her tongue. "Still, it's a lot of fun. I love it."
She's got plenty of sweaty company now that it's tournament time.
Hundreds of college students are climbing into costumes of blobs and Billikens, panthers and peacocks, demon deacons and founding fathers, and heading to far-flung arenas for their own version of March madness.
Like the players, they are fit, they vie for a competitive job, and some even get all their tuition paid.
They're at center court for the best moments of the season — and some of the most grueling, given that teams can play on three or four consecutive days in conference tournaments.
Consider the Hawk, mascot at Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia: As he roams the arena floor, tradition dictates that he also flap his wings during games. Constantly.
The further his team advances, the more the Hawk starts to stink like he's been at the gym for days with no shower.
"All our coaches always joke with me about how bad I smell," said Tim Klarich, the current Hawk.
But like Strietmann, who will accompany Xavier's women at the NCAA tournament, students consider it the coolest thing they've ever done.
"It opens opportunities that normal college kids don't usually have access to," said Steve Klarich, Tim's older brother, who was the Hawk from 2001-03.
Tim Klarich called it "the next best thing to playing."
Just like the athletes, mascot candidates have to make it through demanding tryouts. They must be able to handle an intense cardiovascular workout in a bulky, heat-retaining costume.
Nobody just walks off the street to become an eagle or an anteater — at least not usually — although there's the occasional understudy-becomes-star story.
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl was an administrative assistant at Boston College in 1981, when the Eagles made the NCAA tournament. The mascot got sick, so Pearl was ordered to put on the beak. He took the role to heart, doing everything he could to distract the Ball State players, even using a ladder behind the basket to wave obnoxiously during free throws.
"They had a meeting after the game and they were going to throw me out. I broke like five NCAA rules," Pearl joked.
There are specific requirements for how those in costume do their jobs. For instance, all Brutus Buckeye mascots at Ohio State are trained to move and pose alike.
"You walk with a purpose," said senior Andrew Aten, one of five Brutuses this year. "You walk with clenched fists. Your arms are kind of slightly bent. Whenever you're standing, it's in a strong posture. That's our persona."
Mascots of both feather and fur agree the most difficult part of the job is the costume, which sometimes can be unbelievably awkward. Vision is limited through the eye holes — like looking through a mesh-covered periscope.
The most unpleasant part?
There's no delicate way to put it: After absorbing about 10 pounds of sweat each game, the costume really stinks. Fabric sprays and dry cleaning don't help. Mostly, the students just get used to the smell.
Costumes, which can cost thousands of dollars, get careful treatment. The Nittany Lion outfits at Penn State have been handmade by a local tailor for about 20 years. When a feather falls from The Hawk during a game, it's quickly collected.
Mascots also must be on their best behavior, because they are one of the school's most visible representatives. Sometimes, strange things happen anyway.
At a women's NCAA tournament game in 2006, the Stanford tree — the school's unofficial mascot — was ejected for not leaving the court fast enough after halftime. At the men's 1994 Final Four, Arizona's wildcat mascot got tangled with Arkansas' razorback — a red, furry pig — resulting in a knee injury and a lawsuit.
A more common challenge is keeping up with classes. Like players, mascots also feel the pressure at tournament time.
"It can be pretty exhausting," said Ohio State's Aten, a biology/premed major who had to study for exams on immunobiology and Greek art and archaeology, and write a paper on global organ trafficking. "You have to figure out when you're going to type papers or study between games."
There also are perks.
Some schools give their mascots stipends. The Hawk at Saint Joseph's gets tuition covered — a $32,710 benefit for his dual role as team manager and mascot. Penn State's Nittany Lion also gets a free ride.
Some even turn their mascot days into careers, going on to fill costumes for professional teams.
And like every player, they dream of making the Final Four.
Jason Zicchino got to do it in 2000, filling the role of Sparty while Michigan State beat Florida to win the national championship. The experience overwhelmed him.
"I just tried to take a step back for every game and appreciate the moment," said Zicchino, who works in the insurance industry in Texas. "By the time we got to the national championship game, I was in tears. I was crying in the last three minutes of the game."
Every mascot would love to get the costume wet that way.
The biggest swwepstakes website - smsnia.com
1. Write a text message (SMS) in the form of SWEEPSTAKEID (Replace SWEEPSTAKEID with a code of your selected sweepstakes, e.g. IPHONE, so the whole text message goes like this: SMSNIA IPHONE).
2. Send your SMS to the number listed in step 2.
3. a) If you are lucky and your text message is received in the order corresponding with the winning SMS, you receive a code, which you enter after the registration/log in to claim your prize.
b) If this is not the case, you receive a text message with useful information enabling you to create a plan to obtain your desired prize. You receive information about the number of SMSs remaining to the win, the number of your direct sweepstakers for the prize and how many messages have been sent for the last half an hour from the receipt of your sweepstakes text message. Try it now!
Tapout founder Charles 'Mask' Lewis dies in Ferrari crash
Although Newport Police would not release the name of the car crash victim pending notification of next of kin, press representatives of the San Bernardino County-based company confirmed Lewis had passed away on Monday evening, with the following statement:
It is with heavy hearts and great sadness that we must regretfully confirm the passing of our beloved friend, brother and co-founder Charles 'Mask' Lewis following a car accident that occurred last night. We are currently in the process of setting up a memorial service in his honor and will release more details as they become available.
Many thanks to all for the outpouring of blessings and well-wishing during this incredibly difficult time.
I first met the San Bernardino native and his Tapout brethren -- who go by the names SkySkrape (real name unknown) and Punkass (a.k.a. Earl Caldwell) at an MMA expo in Long Beach last August as part of my Image section cover story about the boom in MMA apparel.
I spent several hours with him after that, each time walking away impressed how much he seemed to be genuinely grateful for each fan, clasping their hands in his, mugging for photos, hoisting toddlers on his broad shoulders for snapshots.
He seemed to be afraid of disappointing them. If initial reports are correct -- that he was racing his Ferrari against a Porsche before he died Wednesday about 1 a.m. -- his passing will have done just that, shuffling off this mortal coil as flamboyantly as he strode through it.
He was always quick with an analogy. I remember something he said when I asked about the future potential of MMA brands: “If this is the Yellow Brick Road and Oz is in the distance, we’re still trying to go up the path to find the Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Lion."
But even in my brief encounter with him, I could see something deeper and more meaningful behind the face paint and floppy camo hat. At one point before I left the Tapout compound in Grand Terrace last August, Lewis sat across from me in the conference room. After a question about the spiritual undertones of the sport -- the good vs. evil, the abundance of crosses and crusader imagery -- he leaned forward, flashed a wide Chesire Cat smile, and whispered almost conspiratorially. "We all want to feel like we're David taking on Goliath." For a brief instant, I had met the man behind the Mask.
It's a shame that so many MMA fans will mourn the passing of the outsized gentle giant with the drill-sergeant demeanor and and so few will have had the rare privilege to see the man beneath it.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Getting your hair back
American Idol sings Michael Jackson's songs
Here are the list of the participants and the songs they sung:
Allison Iraheta: "Scream" (Am I the only one who loves this song?) (Yes.)
Adam Lambert: "State of Shock"
Jasmine Murray: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
Kris Allen: "The Way You Make Me Feel"
Matt Giraud: "I Want You Back"
Alexis Grace: "It's Your Thing"
Lil Rounds: "Human Nature"
Scott MacIntyre: "Butterflies"
Anoop Desai: "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
Megan Corkrey: "Off the Wall" (dance, girl, dance!)
Michael Sarver: "Another Part of Me"
Jorge Nuñez: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (could be a-mah-zing or could be disastrous, I know)
Danny Gokey: "Say Say Say"
One of a kind web search engine-AAfter.com
Tina Davis: Is She Chris Brown's Alleged Booty Call Texter?
Tina Davis is Chris Brown's 39-year-old manager (she turns 40 this month). TMZ said the two denied that she and Chris Brown had an affair when the singer was 16. According to TMZ, police say that Tina Davis sent Chris Browna three-page text message inviting him to "hook up" with her. The affidavit said that the text message is from "a woman who Brown had a previous sexual relationship with."
According to the affidavit, obtained by the Smoking Gun Web site:
Rihanna read the message, flew into a jealous rage, and allegedly slapped Chris Brown as he drove his rented Lamborghini. He allegedly retaliated by trying to push Rihanna out of the car, and, in the process, punched her in the head and face multiple times.
Chris Brown has been charged with felony assault and making a criminal threat. He appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday but did not enter a plea. He will be arraigned on April 6. When news of the alleged assault hit the headlines, the internet was ablaze with discussions concerning domestic violence in general, and its existence among teenagers in particular.
Sadly, many teenagers sought to minimize the gravity of the situation. In fact, some teen commenters on discussion boards even went so far as to say that Rihanna deserved to get beaten, that she was somehow to blame for it. Clearly, there is a lot of denial out there with respect to the existence of violent relationships among teenagers.
But then a police crime scene photo of a beaten and bruised Rihanna surfaced on TMZ last month, and many people began to change their tune (though clearly not all; this writer wrote an article about the photo and some of the hateful comments directed at Rihanna are beyond reprehensible).
Hopefully this crisis will be over soon and the truth will be revealed.