Will Ferrell to appear on "The Office"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Will Ferrell will be making his way to Scranton, just in time for Steve Carell's farewell.

Ferrell will appear in a multi-episode arc on NBC's veteran workplace comedy "The Office" this season as an inappropriate branch manager who arrives from the home office.

Ferrell's guest stint would mark a reunion with Carell as the two starred in "Anchorman."

Carell announced last year that he would be exiting the series, and it was recently reported that he would be leaving before the season finale, most likely at some point in April.

Ferrell was a regular cast member on the network's "Saturday Night Live." He also produces "Eastbound and Down" on HBO.
News From: www.reuters.com

Michele Bachmann Speech Attacks Obama Care

Michele Bachmann State Of The Union Response Speech Attacks Obama Care Stimulus And More

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered her own rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night despite Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) being tapped to give the official Republican response (video below).

CNN was the only cable network to carry the Tea Party favorite's speech.

Bachmann suggested she's "not in competition with Paul Ryan," according to CNN.

The Atlantic relays advanced excerpts of Bachmann's remarks.

Click here for live coverage of the 2011 State of
After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the massive budget bill with over 9,000 earmarks that the President signed, many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money we don't have.

But, instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt at President Obama's direction; unlike anything we have seen in the history of our country.

For two years President Obama made promises... He claimed that he would find solutions to fix our economy and help create jobs.

Well, here are a few suggestions:

The President could stop the EPA from imposing a job-destroying cap-and-trade system.

The President could agree with House Republicans and commit himself to signing a Balanced Budget Amendment.

The President could also agree to an all-of-the-above energy policy whereby we increase American energy production, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce the price of gas at the pump, and create good-paying jobs in the U.S.

The President could turn back some of the 132 regulations put in place in the last two years that each have an impact of $100-million or more on our economy.

Thanks to all of you, there's reason to hope that real spending cuts are coming. Last November many of you went to the polls and voted out big-spending politicians and you put in their place men and women who have come to Washington with a commitment to follow the Constitution and cut the size of government. And I believe that we are in the early days of a history-making turn here in the House of Representatives.

Last week we voted to repeal ObamaCare, and each day going forward, we must work hard to dismantle the massive government expansion that has happened over the past two years.

Video:

Supreme Court Justices State Of The Union Address 2011

State, Of The Union Address 2011: Supreme Court Justices Won't All Attend

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts will lead a contingent of six Supreme Court justices at President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, quieting speculation that only Democratic appointees to the court would attend.

Roberts had objected to the partisan atmosphere at last year's address, particularly after Obama offered rare criticism of the court during his speech.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirmed that six justices would be present at Tuesday's speech, although she would not say which ones. But as three of the nine justices had previously all but ruled themselves out, it seemed a safe assumption that Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy would join their four colleagues who were appointed by Democratic presidents.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor also are expected to attend. For Kagan, it would be her first speech since Obama nominated her last year. Sotomayor was Obama's first high court pick.

Justice Samuel Alito, who mouthed the words "not true" in response to Obama's criticism, is spending this week as "jurist in residence" at the University of Hawaii law school. Justice Antonin Scalia, at the Capitol Monday to speak to the Tea Party Caucus, has not attended a State of the Union speech at least since the mid-1990s. Justice Clarence Thomas said last year that he doesn't go because "it has become so partisan," although he attended Obama's first speech to Congress in February 2009.

Last year, six justices in their black robes sat silently while Obama leveled criticism at the court – and specifically its conservative majority – for the decision it had announced just days earlier freeing corporations and labor unions to spend freely in elections for Congress and president. Roberts, Alito and Kennedy, Republican appointees, were there, along with Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor, named to the court by Democrats.

Roberts addressed the issue in a speech in Alabama in March. "To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we're there," he said.

Roberts said anyone is free to criticize the court and that some have an obligation to do so because of their positions.

"So I have no problems with that," he said. "On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court – according the requirements of protocol – has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

The shootings in Tucson this month that killed six people and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded have led some lawmakers to abandon the tradition of sitting by political party, creating an expectation that the atmosphere surrounding this year's speech might be less partisan.

Roberts has been to every State of the Union since he joined the court more than five years ago. Kennedy has attended the last four speeches.

Breyer appears to have missed only one State of the Union in his 16 years on the court, and has been the only justice present on at least four occasions. No one from the court attended when Breyer was ill in 2000.

Race to the Top on Steroids

EDUCATION: Race to the Top on Steroids

After 10 years, it’s time to revisit former President George W. Bush’s signature domestic policy achievement, No Child Left Behind. President Obama on Tuesday asked for a rewrite of the revolutionary standards-based law. He wants to set a high bar for states and school districts and give local governments more flexibility for achieving those goals.
There’s just one problem. Obama is modeling his education proposal after the current Race to the Top grant program, which is unpopular with Republicans on Capitol Hill. “Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what’s best for our kids,” Obama said in his State of the Union address, according to the written version of his speech.
Yet GOP lawmakers in charge of this year’s spending bills are looking to eliminate funding for the Education Department’s competitive grant program, which rewards extra money to states that demonstrate innovative ways to boost student achievement. Republicans and other critics of Race to the Top say the government isn’t clear about how it doles out the money and that it is is too dictatorial about the award criteria.
Nonetheless, no one disputes that No Child Left Behind needs some attention. At the very least, lawmakers need to tinker with the fast-approaching 2014 deadline when all states must demonstrate 100 percent proficiency in K-12 education standards. Without any change, school districts across the country will face punitive measures in a few years.
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, R-Minn., has said he wants to tackle No Child Left Behind in pieces, preferring to steer clear of a massive, unwieldy rewrite of the law. “My goal is to pull back federal involvement in the day-to-day operation of our classrooms so the innovation and accountability being driven by states and local schools has a chance to succeed, and I hope we can find agreement in Washington to allow that to happen,” Kline said on Tuesday.
Obama is sensitive to critiques about an overbearing federal government, but the administration is unlikely to relax its achievement criteria for the sake of giving more power to states. Still, Obama made sure to state that education reform isn’t “just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards, and communities.” 

Patricia Kluge's Downfall Billionaire Divorcée

Patricia Kluge: The Demise Of A Billionaire Divorcée

NEW YORK – Billionaire Divorcée Patricia Kluge's DownfallPatricia Kluge had it all—beauty, an exotic past, and a rumored “cool billion” post-divorce. So how did she lose it all, from her 960-acre Virginia winery to her 45-room mansion? Sandra McElwaine on Kluge’s dizzying fall.

The saga of Patricia Kluge is one of glamour, sex, power, and money—and the luxurious lifestyle she so carefully crafted has crashed and burned. The era of conspicuous consumption for the ex-wife of the late billionaire John Kluge came to an end last month, when several banks foreclosed on an elaborate 960-acre winery and real-estate development she had established in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1999. And just last week, Bank of America delivered the coup de grace, filing suit against Kluge, claiming she defaulted on three loans worth $23 million. The bank stepped in and seized Albemarle, her opulent, 45-room Georgian mansion, adjacent to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Marie Ridder, a prominent Virginia environmentalist, dined on several occasions at the manse, where Kluge, a statuesque society vintner, 62, entertained movie stars, politicians, and international luminaries at pheasant and quail shoots, fox hunts, and lavish black-tie dinners. Albemarle is over the top and overdone, Ridder says: “It’s really ridiculous and very pretentious. There were these grand busts of people everywhere, and even a private chapel. It was imitation British grandeur without the history to go with it.”

Kluge and her third husband, former IBM executive William Moses, tried to save their pastoral property and stave off creditors in 2009 by putting it on the market for $100 million. (The price has been reduced to $24 million.) Last June, the couple began auctioning off an assortment of treasures, including a massive 8-carat cabochon ruby ring, several initialed shooting guns, silver Faberge plates, and a well-worn frock by Arnold Scaasi, who designed Kluge’s wedding gown.

Although these items fetched more than $15 million, Kluge and Moses were forced to retreat to far less ostentatious digs and now reside in a 6,000-square-foot spec home, the only house Kluge ever constructed on the land adjacent to the winery. (There are also reports she has purchased several apartments in Marrakech, Morocco, a resurgent haven for the chic and well-to-do.)

Kluge’s neighborhood is in a tizzy. How could the woman who was once labeled the “Richest Brit in Virginia” be down and out in Charlottesville?

Kluge’s neighborhood is in a tizzy. How could the woman who was once labeled the “Richest Brit in Virginia” be down and out in Charlottesville?

“Nobody knows anything, and nobody sees them anymore,” says a longtime resident. “She’s become a laughingstock, and that’s sad.”

Born in Iraq, the daughter an English translator father and a half-Iraqi half-Scottish mother, Patricia Maureen Rose attended a French convent school in Baghdad. She moved to London at 16 and then burst upon he swinging ’60s scene as a belly dancer in a sleazy nightspot. There she met and married her first husband, Russell Gay, publisher of Knave, a steamy tabloid, and became a member of his soft-porn enterprise and a celebrity by posing nude and contributing to a cheeky sex-advice column.

A saucy, sultry 5-foot-10, with long, dark hair, she created quite a stir and did not lack for admirers. ”I was hot looking in my twenties,” Kluge told The Daily Telegraph. “I was gorgeous. It was a no-brainer.”

Eventually Kluge tired of her spicy role and opted out. After ditching her career and her spouse, she headed for New York, where she met the married and mega-rich John Kluge, chairman of Metromedia and 35 years her senior. (John Kluge ultimately sold his company to Rupert Murdoch for a reported $4 billion and was dubbed the richest person in America by Forbes. Metromedia’s radio and television stations would later form the core of what would become the immensely successful Fox TV network.)

When Kluge laid eyes on the exotic former centerfold, he was smitten and, before long, divorced. “John was so in love, he even converted to Catholicism to marry her,” said Barbara Sinatra, a family friend.

John and Patricia tied the knot in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1981. According to Marie Ridder, his wife’s belly dancing became the main topic of John Kluge’s conversation. “It was startling to sit next to him at dinner and have him tell you what an expert she was,” says Ridder.

With the new wedding band came a new persona and starring role—society maven. The Kluges adopted a son, John Jr., began construction on Albemarle, and acquired a Palm Beach villa, apartments in New York and London, and a shooting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, close to Balmoral. Patricia Kluge tried to ingratiate herself with her neighbor the queen, but was continually snubbed. Finally one Christmas the queen sent over a gift of a Labrador retriever, indicating a social benediction of sorts.

The Kluges’ foray into the high-powered whirl of Palm Beach benefits proved more problematic. When the couple was asked to host a soiree for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the British tabloids trumpeted the “Naked Truth,” revealing Patricia’s shady past, along with nude photos and the name of her racy movie, The Nine Ages of Nakedness. The couple quickly withdrew from the royal welcoming committee and scuttled off to an undisclosed location. The scandal, she said, “was the best thing that ever happened,” because she learned exactly who her friends were. Even Prince Charles, she claimed, “sent a note” when, a few years later, they were back in the news. John Kluge wanted to split and was willing to ante up. According to The New York Times, “It sounded like a divorce made in heaven, which was refreshing, since everyone had had enough of the other kind.”

Speculation was that Patricia received a cool $1 billion, the largest divorce settlement ever, along with several of their homes in order to liquidate the nine-year union. This startling sum alone was enough to stir up the local gentry, but Patricia’s close connection to the dashing Douglas Wilder, Virginia’s first elected African-American governor, drew even greater scrutiny. And when his helicopter was frequently seen whizzing back and forth between the State House in Richmond and her elaborate pad, a firestorm of publicity erupted. Both vehemently denied any impropriety, saying they were strictly friends, but insiders recall the relationship as “a good romance” and “a terrific fling.” (Wilder is the former mayor of Richmond, and Kluge has been married for 11 years to Moses, with whom she started the extravagant winery. John Kluge died in September.)

Now all their plans are smashed. On Feb. 15, Albemarle House is to be sold by creditors on the steps of the Albemarle County Courthouse. (Rumors abound that Patricia is trying to disassociate her name from the entire process.)

I tried to reach both Moses and Kluge and left messages at the winery, but got no response. When I called The Farm Shop, a café and general store on the property, on Monday morning I was told the bank had taken over and the couple were no longer there.

What precipitated this devastating fall?

Hubris, over-expansion, the recession, and naivete. Million-dollar French wine masters, imported oak barrels, boxes specially designed by Viscount Linley, and overpriced consultants do not produce profits. Nor do $75-a-bottle wines. Like yacht and horse racing, wine making is a wildly expensive proposition, says Michael Mondavi, founder of Folio Wines. “It’s a cutthroat business,” he says from his vineyard in Napa Valley, California. “To establish a brand is extremely capital intensive, and you have to be prepared for seven to 10 years of negative cash flow. If you can weather that storm, you’re generally OK, but if you haven’t planned for that, it can be critical.”

According to local vintners, Patricia Kluge way overspent and overproduced, and tried to go national and global before establishing a regional market.

“Unless you have an unlimited budget, to be taken seriously in this business you have to give it 120 percent of your time,” says Mondavi.

So, was this a business or a hobby for Kluge?

No one can answer that question.

An earlier version of this story said that Douglas Wilder is mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Wilder was mayor from 2005 to 2008.

Sandra McElwaine is a Washington correspondent for The Daily Beast. She has been a reporter for The Washington Star, The Baltimore Sun, a correspondent for CNN and People, and Washington editor of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. She has also written for The Washington Post, Time, and Forbes.

News From: news.yahoo.com

Occ Foreclosure

Key Senator Urges Obama To Push Foreclosure Relief In State Of The Union

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is urging President Barack Obama to pledge a new round of foreclosure relief during his State of the Union address next week. In a letter to the president obtained by The Huffington Post, Merkley said the administration's current anti-foreclosure programs have proven woefully inadequate, and pushed for a more thorough program to keep families in their homes.

"A record one million families lost their home to foreclosure last year," Merkley wrote. "Next week, Mr. President, you will have the attention of the nation. I urge you to use this opportunity to renew efforts to tackle the national foreclosure crisis."

Merkley's call for presidential leadership on foreclosures comes as infighting among federal regulators appears to have stalled out key reforms to the bank divisions that work with troubled borrowers and process foreclosures.

The FDIC has been pushing to impose new requirements on the operations of those divisions, which are known as mortgage servicers. The agency has been engaged in heated negotiations with other regulators at the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the Fed had initially opposed the plan, but agreed to support the rules after a few weeks of negotiations. The OCC, however, which is currently responsible for regulating the largest mortgage servicers -- Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup -- has resisted those rules. The OCC has never publicly sanctioned a mortgage servicer, despite widespread court findings of servicer fraud in the foreclosure process.

The Treasury Department, which had supported the new rules, had expected an agreement between agencies by Friday, Jan. 14, according to a spokesman. That anticipated agreement has not yet come to fruition.

But Treasury itself is engaged in a delicate dance on foreclosure policy -- defending the foreclosure prevention program criticized by Merkley, even as it urges sweeping reform of the bank divisions that participate in that program.

"The goal of the [Home Affordable Modification Program] was to prevent three to four million foreclosures," Merkley wrote, "but to date, fewer than 600,000 homowners have been approved."

Merkley is a persistent advocate for financial reform, and co-authored a key provision of last year's Wall Street overhaul legislation known as the Volcker Rule, which bars banks from speculating with taxpayer money.

At a Wednesday meeting of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Cindy Gertz, Treasury's Director of Operations for HAMP, praised the servicers involved in the Treasury plan, noting that they had ramped up staffing in order to deal with the foreclosure flood. Treasury spokeswoman Andrea Risotto told HuffPost that Gertz's praise for servicers was restricted to HAMP, and not to any other servicer activities. But servicer abuses within HAMP have been widely documented, with borrowers frequently making good on loan modification arrangements only to be foreclosed on.

Risotto noted that Treasury has a "compliance agent" that inspects servicers once a month to make sure banks are implementing the program correctly. Nevertheless, servicer employees have admitted to fraudulently robo-signing hundreds of foreclosure documents a day as a matter of ordinary procedure. Treasury has never sanctioned a servicer for violating HAMP rules, and maintains that it has no authority to do so, because the program is voluntary for banks.

But as Treasury defends servicers with one hand, it is also demanding fundamental reform of the servicer industry with the other. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for an overhaul of the way servicers are paid, arguing that the status quo is a "broken" system.

Regulatory agencies are debating whether to include standards for servicer conduct in new "skin-in-the-game" regulations for the mortgage bond market. The Wall Street overhaul legislation contains a provision requiring banks to retain at least five percent of the default risk whenever they sell mortgages off to investors. But there's a key exception to the rule: for standardized, top-quality loans, banks will not have to retain any of the risk. The FDIC hopes that by including mortgage servicing rules in the definition of a standardized, top-quality mortgage, they can create a new gold standard for mortgage lending that is immune from current abuses.

But these new regulations would only reform the way that servicers operate with regard to new mortgages. They will not help the millions of borrowers already trapped in unaffordable loans, nor will they provide a way to manage the widening gyre of fraud allegations and other improprieties that pose massive potential losses at the nation's too-big-to-fail banks.

In a speech Wednesday, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair warned, "Chaos in mortgage servicing and foreclosure is introducing a dangerous new uncertainty into this fragile market." Bair suggested creating a foreclosure disaster fund akin to the BP oil spill fund that would compensate wronged homeowners and investors, while capping liabilities for big banks.

Merkley wants to find a solution that deals with homeowners already facing foreclosure (and bank fraud). He's pushing for a six-point program to overhaul the current foreclosure system, including new standards for servicer conduct and new legal mechanisms to provide debt relief to deserving families.

Central to the program is a reform of the bankruptcy code, dubbed by Merkley as "lifeline bankruptcy reform." Mortgages are currently excluded from the bankruptcy process, so even if borrowers declare bankruptcy -- a process that is difficult to qualify for and comes with serious financial penalties -- they cannot get debt relief on their mortgage. By making mortgages subject to renegotiation in bankruptcy under the supervision of a judge, Merkley hopes to establish a process that would allow borrowers to remain in their homes without simply granting a get-out-of-debt free card to everyone whose home value has declined since the collapse of the housing bubble.

"This makes much more sense than paying for modifications," economist Dean Baker, co-Director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, told HuffPost. Under HAMP, the Treasury pays servicers $1,000 to implement each loan modification, plus an additional $1,000 for every year that borrowers keep paying on the modified loan.

A similar program for farm loans was adopted during the mid-1980s and helped thousands of family farms avoid foreclosure, and a recent IMF report suggested bankruptcy reform as an effective solution to the U.S. mortgage mess. The same report found that the high rate of foreclosure may be responsible for between 1 percent and 1.25 percent of the U.S. unemployment rate, currently at 9.4 percent.

Mortgage bankruptcy reform was endorsed by then-Sen. Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, but died in the Senate in Spring 2009 amid weak backing from President Obama. Senate Republicans, who pushed for bankruptcy to be the appropriate way to deal with faltering megabanks, did not believe that consumers should receive the same treatment. Several bank-friendly Democrats also opposed the bankruptcy overhaul, prompting Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to fume that banks "frankly own the place," referring to Congress.

Merkley also calls for an end to the "dual-track" system, in which mortgage servicers begin the foreclosure process even as they negotiate loan modifications with troubled borrowers. The system allows banks to foreclose as quickly as possible if the modification falls through, but also leads to many unnecessary foreclosures as banks improperly continue with foreclosures on successful modifications. Merkley would also require servicers to establish a single individual to contact borrowers, preventing paperwork mix-ups and other bank confusion which lead to improper foreclosures, and establish an independent party to review whether banks have followed the rules on foreclosures.

OCC policy already bans the dual-track system unless the process is required by mortgage bond agreements, but the OCC is yet to enforce that ban with any sanction against banks that violate it.

The potential impact of other elements in Merkley's plan is less clear. He would implement a "short-refinance" plan, which would allow homeowners who owe more on their loan than their house is worth to refinance into a new loan at the current value of their home. Government agencies would then pay the existing bank to expunge the remaining debt levels. But Baker was skeptical that such a program would be workable. With home prices down dramatically nationwide from their bubble-level peaks, even outright housing speculators will be sure to seek relief, triggering a government payout to the very banks who caused the problem by lending recklessly in the midst of a bubble. "There is not going to be any plausible means test that you can put in place that will prevent almost anyone in this situation from taking advantage of the opportunity," Baker said.

Merkley would also provide a $5,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers in an effort to boost home sales. But Baker said such an arrangement is unlikely to be an efficient mechanism to lift the struggling housing market.

State of the Union Barack Obama use address

State of the Union: Barack Obama to use address

Barack Obama will use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to cement himself in the political centre as he aims to capitalise on a series of unexpected recent political successes.
White House advisers have indicated that the speech will be used as a rebranding amid a revival in his fortunes that he hopes lead to his being re-elected next year.
The annual address on Tuesday night, which last year was watched by 48 million, will pull together the themes the US president has been developing over the past two months as he sought to rescue his presidency following what he described as a “shellacking” for Democrats in the November midterm elections. Read Full Story

Luftslottet som sprängdes 2010 Movie Trailers Review Watch Online

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Luftslottet som sprängdes 2010 Movie Trailers Review Watch Online)

Lisbeth Salander is fighting for her life in more ways than one. In intensive care and charged with three murders, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.
Also Known As:
Luftslottet som sprangdes
Luftslottet som sprängdes
Luftslottet som sprängdes
Millenium 3
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Production Status: Released
Logline: In an intensive care unit, Lisbeth Slander's fighting for her life in more ways than one. Charged with three murders, she'll have to not only prove her innocence, but also denounce the government institutions that nearly destroyed her life.
Genres: Art/Foreign, Thriller and Adaptation
Running Time: 2 hr. 28 min.
Release Date: October 29th, 2010 (limited)
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, some sexual material, and brief language.
Distributors:
Music Box Films
Production Co.:
Yellow Bird, Sveriges Television (SVT), Nordisk Film, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
U.S. Box Office: $5,116,339
Filming Locations:
Sweden
Produced in: Sweden

Luftslottet som sprängdes 2010 Movie TrailersWatch Online

Movie Info From: movies.yahoo.com

The Brave One 2007 Movie

The Brave One 2007 Movie Trailers Review Watch Online

New York radio host Erica Bain has a life that she loves and a fiancé she adores. All of it is taken from her when a brutal attack leaves Erica badly wounded and her fiancé dead. Unable to move past the tragedy, Erica begins prowling the city streets at night to track down the men she holds responsible. Her dark pursuit of justice catches the public's attention, and the city is riveted by her anonymous exploits. But with the NYPD desperate to find the culprit and a dogged police detective hot on her trail, she must decide whether her quest for revenge is truly the right path, or if she is becoming the very thing she is trying to stop.
Also Known As:
Brave One
The Brave One
Production Status: Released
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Thriller and Crime/Gangster
Running Time: 2 hrs. 2 min.
Release Date: September 14th, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, language and some sexuality.
Production Co.:
Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment
Gourmet To U
Grant Wilfley Casting
Brainstorm Digital
EFilm
Brainstorm Digital
Silver Pictures
Studios:
Warner Bros. Pictures
U.S. Box Office: $36,789,772
Filming Locations:
New York, New York USA
New York City, New York, USA
Produced in: United States

The Brave One 2007 Movie Trailers Watch Online

news From: movies.yahoo.com

jim Cornelison's National Anthem Video

VIDEO: Jim Cornelison's National Anthem Was The Best Part Of Seahawks-Bears

Sure, the Bears did everything in their power to completely obliterate not only the Seahawks, but all memories of the Seahawks' win over the Saints last week, and the end result of that was a nearly unwatchable game that seemed to drag on forever.

But the national anthem sung by Jim Cornelison before the game was fantastic.





Cornelison was just moonlighting as the Bears' "Star-Spangled Banner" singer, but he's the Chicago Blackhawks' full-time crooner, and has been singing the anthem loud and proud before their games for a while now. It's hard to imagine that the Bears won't ask Cornelison back for next week's NFC Championship Game against the Packers.

SportsGrid has more on the reaction to Cornelison on Twitter, which was almost universal praise.

Bears Packers tailgaters

Bears Packers tailgaters start the party early

The Chicago Bears vs. the Green Bay Packers. In mid-January. For a Superbowl berth.

Any fan thinking this last September was living in fantasy-football land. But now in mid-January on a frigid Sunday morning, tailgaters packed the parking lots at Soldier Field several hours before the 2 p.m. kickoff. In fact, Soldier Field lots were full well before 11 a.m. Despite the cold, people laid out picnic-style spreads that rivaled Ravinia in the summer. Most stayed warm with barbeque grills or portable woodburners.

For the first time in 70 years, the Bears and the Packers, one of the longest rivalries in pro football, go helmet-to-helmet today for a trip to Dallas for Superbowl XLV.

The Bears defeated the Packers in their last playoff match Ñ in 1941, a week after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Yet today’s match-up is being called by many the biggest game in Chicago history.

Soldier Field’s Waldron Deck parking area bloomed blue and orange. Among the hearty fans was Joe Pawelecki of Rolling Meadows, who said he hasn’t been to a game since the 1985 NFC championship. He brought his tailgating gear after winning the tickets at a giveaway sponsored by his local Mejier store.

“The Bears will do it, but it will be a close game,” he said.

Other fans also voiced confidence mingled with respect for the Packers. “They’ll win by a touchdown at least,” said Brian Scott of Naperville.

Packers fan Kristine Frank and husband Steve Frank, a Bears fan, of Rockford look at the rivalry with a smile and a kiss.

“We started dating in the off-season and by the time football season started it was too late to back out,” he said with a laugh as he readied the grill.

“For one of us it will be a quiet ride home,” Kristine Frank said, with a wink.

Longtime pals Jacob Frank of Morton Grove and Ron Chilicutt of Schaumburg have been going to Bears games together for 15 years. Frank said that while Bears and Packers fans enjoy ribbing each other, it’s mostly in good fun.

“We hate them but we love them at the same time and we understand that without the rivalry, this game wouldn’t matter nearly as much,” Frank said.

One bond that followers of both teams share is commitment. Bobbie Ford of Fond du Lac, Wis., was so determined to make the game that she left her brother’s wedding reception at 9:30 p.m. last night so she could make the drive.

She showed up at the tailgate deck arrayed head to toe in Green Bay colors.

“It’s great,” she said of her Soldier Field reception. “Everybody’s is smiling and they even wish me good luck.”

All agreed this was a football game that wouldn’t soon be forgotten.

At the beginning of the season, or even mid-season, fans didn’t think much of either team’s chance of becoming a Superbowl contender.

“This just isn’t where the Bears were supposed to be at this point in the season, said St. Charles resident David Strickland. “We had no expectations so it just doesn’t get any better than this.”

In a tribute to his teams colors, Wisconsin residents Mark Plichta and Bill Werner were slicing green and yellow peppers to grill. “Whomever wins this game wins 20 years of bragging rights,” said Plichta. “It’s a game that we won’t experience again for who knows how long.”

Also stuck deep in enemy territory among Soldier Field tailgaters was Green Bay resident Craig Stillman, who said he got his tickets Tuesday on Ebay, paying about $600 each.

“We got 11th row end zone. We were lucky to get them,” he said. Stillman added that Bears fans have been polite, even directing them to the closest port-a-potties.

Bears diehard Shawn McCracken said he’s been at every game since 2002, the year of the Champaign home games. “I’m confident because the Bears match up well with Green Bay,” said McCracken, of Chalmers, Ind.

Today’s winner will face the winner of the AFC Championship: The New York Jetsv. Pittsburgh Steelers game starts at 5:30 p.m. Chicago time. The Super Bowl XLV will be Feb. 6 in Dallas.

The Bears last were in the Super Bowl in February 2007, losing to the Indianapolis Colts. The last time the Bears won the Super Bowl was in 1985.

News From: www.suntimes.com

Love the Way You Lie Lyrics Video Mp3 Song

Eminem: Love the Way You Lie Lyrics Video Mp3 Song Watch online

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
Well, that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there's a steel knife in my windpipe
I can't breathe but I still fight while I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right it's like I'm in flight

High off of love, drunk from my hate
It's like I'm huffin' paint and I love it, the more I suffer
I suffocate and right before I'm about to drown, she resuscitates me
She fuckin' hates me, and I love it

Wait, where you going? I'm leaving you, no, you ain't
Come back, we're running right back, here we go again
It's so insane, 'cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman with the wind at his back

She's Lois Lane but when it's bad, it's awful, I feel so ashamed
I snap, "Who's that dude?", I don't even know his name
I laid hands on her, I never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
Well, that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

You ever love somebody so much, you could barely breathe when you with 'em?
You meet, and neither one of you even know it hit 'em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling, yeah, them chills, used to get 'em
Now you're gettin' fuckin' sick of lookin' at 'em

You swore you'd never hit 'em, never do nothing to hurt 'em
Now you're in each others face spewing venom in your words when you spit 'em
You push, pull each others hair, scratch, claw, bit 'em
Throw 'em down, pin 'em, so lost in the moments when you're in 'em

It's the race that took over, it controls you both
So they say you'd best to go your separate ways, guess that they don't know ya
'Cause today, that was yesterday, yesterday is over, it's a different day
Sound like broken records playing over

But you promised her, next time you'd show restraint
You don't get another chance, life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again, now you get to watch her leave out the window
Guess that's why they call it "window pane"

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
Well that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Now I know we said things, did things that we didn't mean
And we fall back into the same patterns, same routine
But your temper's just as bad as mine is, you're the same as me
But when it comes to love, you're just as blinded

Baby, please come back, it wasn't you, baby, it was me
Maybe our relationship isn't as crazy as it seems
Maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is I love you too much to walk away though

Come inside, pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don't you hear sincerity in my voice when I talk?
Told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball
Next time I'm pissed, I'll aim my fist at the drywall

Next time? There won't be no next time
I apologize, even though I know it's lies
I'm tired of the games, I just want her back, I know I'm a liar
If she ever tries to fuckin' leave again, I'ma tie her to the bed
And set this house on fire

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
Well that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Eminem: Love the Way You Lie Lyrics Video Mp3 Song

Video From: www.youtube.com

Kinect Kicks Cat Across The Room Video

Man Playing Xbox Kinect Kicks Cat Across The Room (Video)

My first thought was that this guy was playing some sort of soccer game, but those open-handed slaps would suggest otherwise. Unless, of course, he was playing against Luis Fabiano or Diogo.

And if he was in fact playing a soccer game on his Xbox Kinect, I’d say it looks like he booted home a brilliant strike from outside the 18-yard box judging by the way that cat flew into the camera. Whether he was in fact playing a soccer game is anyone’s guess, but one thing does remain certain: This game is one that should definitely not be played in the vicinity of your household pets.

Kinect Kicks Cat Across The Room Video

News from: www.totalprosports.com

Schmidt's CEO Exit Marks The End of an Era

Schmidt CEO Exit Marks The End of an Era

When Eric Schmidt ends his run as Google's CEO, he'll leave behind a legacy of big accomplishments and some open questions for Larry Page.

Perhaps it's a sign of what a good chief executive Eric Schmidt was at Google that I thought he'd spent just five years in the role.

When I remembered that Schmidt had in fact joined Google as CEO at the dawn of the new century, I was shocked. We were all so young back in March of 2001, untouched by nation-altering tragedy. Back then, Google was just an awesomely good search engine.

Schmidt, now chairman, shepherded Google from search to a network of wide-reaching and powerful services. As he noted during Thursday's announcement when Larry Page became CEO, Schmidt was the one that played the adult role at a critical time in Google's development. Without his discipline, what might Google have become?

I'm sure that Larry Page and Co-founder Sergey Brin had many big ideas back in 2001, but how to make them real, and how to bring it all together to create a powerful, vibrant and, most important, vastly profitable business would have been vexing, if not nearly impossible, without a seasoned CEO like Schmidt to show them the way.

Schmidt's button-down, yet affable style seemed to mesh well with Brin and Page's youthful "smartest geek in the room" approach – and there is no doubting their success.

Schmidt, meanwhile, must be credited with every major win, from AdSense to Picasa, from AdMob to Android, and Gmail.

It's a not a perfect record. Schmidt didn't always know how to quelch Google's backroom developer impulses. He let the Google Wave thing get out of hand and seemed unable (or unwilling) to guide Google Buzz to a gentle death.

News From:  www.pcmag.com

Schmidt steps aside at a critical juncture. Google's made great strides in mobile, but the successful delivery of Honeycomb (Android 3.0) hangs over them. An industry is relying on Google. Without this made-for-tablets Android OS, it's unlike any Android tablet can compete with or beat Apple's iPad. Schmidt helped oversee the delivery of the very successful Google Chrome browser and the still somewhat confusing Google Chrome Operating System. The departing CEO will leave it to Page to figure out how far Chrome goes as a platform and if it ever merges with Android.

Ten years is quite a run as a chief executive, and Schmidt's legacy with Google is assured. Now we'll wait to see how Page will run the company he cofounded, and where Schmidt will go from here.

2011 State of the Union Drinking Game

The Barack Obama 2011 State of the Union Drinking Game

4 taxpayers of any sex: 1 rich white banker- type wearing dark suit with loosened tie. 2 ordinary folks wearing jeans; 1 in a blue or flannel work shirt, the other in a white shirt, sleeves rolled up. 1 poor bedraggled person wearing clothes that look like they were retrieved from the bottom of a rodeo dumpster behind the animal performer stalls.

1 living room with a TV tuned to the State of the Union Address.

1 shot glass per person. Everybody brings own, scattering array on coffee table in front of TV. Banker gets first choice for use during game. White shirt picks next, then work shirt. Banker pockets last shot glass as well, and Rags either rents it from him, steals a replacement from the kitchen or drinks out of own cupped hands.

Ante up 25 bucks. Cash. Except Banker, who tosses in an I.O.U. and Rags who everybody just avoids eye contact with.

3 packages of steamed Vienna Beef Chicago style hot dogs in the middle of table with butter grilled buns, tomatoes, onions, and some of that weird neon green relish on the side.

1 bottle of bourbon.

A large stash of beer in cans on ice. Rags gets whatever is on sale, like Heileman's Old Style Ice Light Dry. Banker gets import of choice. Jeans get whatever they want, but have to buy all the beer, bourbon, hot dogs, condiments and carry the groceries by themselves.

RULES OF THE GAME:

Every time Barack H Obama mentions bipartisanship, everybody has to drink 2 shots of beer. If he talks about the lessons of Tucson, the last person to throw their arms in the air, fall to their knees and shout "Hallelujah!" has to drink 1 entire beer.

Everybody has to drink 2 shots of beer whenever John Boehner appears to cry. 1 shot of bourbon if he breaks down sobbing and disappears entirely from view.

Every time Barack H Obama says "Democratic leadership," the first person to stop laughing is exempt from drinking 2 shots of beer.

If either Vice President Biden or the Speaker of the House Boehner is seen nodding off on camera, last person to start singing "Wake Up, Little Susie" has to drink 3 shots of beer.

If the President says the State of the Union is good, but could be better, the last person to eat a fully accoutered hot dog has to drink 1 shot of bourbon.

Whenever the President defends ObamaCare, everybody drinks 2 shots of beer. If he mentions Congress voting to repeal it, drink a whole beer and throws hot dogs at the television. The first person to hit Nancy Pelosi in the head is exempt from having to drink 2 shots of bourbon.

If the President relates a touching heartfelt story of a supporter who was denied a decent education, Rags gets to kick everybody else once. Twice, if the subject of the anecdote is in the audience. 3 times, if he/ she is sitting next to a 2 star general.

Every time President Barack Obama talks about his resolve and adopts a frowny look with his brow all furrowed and stuff, drink 1 shot of beer.

If the Chief Executive winks at or points at Michelle, all 4 players swordfight with hot dogs. Whoever is left with an intact weenie does not have to eat an entire shot glass full of that weird green relish.

If the president mentions the Chinese President by name, the last person to ask "Hu Dat?" has to drink 2 shots of beer.

EXTRAS:

Optional: Have all players drink with left hand. Unless left- handed. If they are caught drinking with dominant hand, they must watch the entire Republican response and no drinking allowed.

If the Dancing Baby from Ally McBeal appears on the screen at any time, stop drinking immediately.

Banker takes home money, shot glasses and bourbon. The I.O.U. is discarded.

Leftover beer and hot dogs go home with Rags after he/ she finishes washing the dishes.

San Francisco based political comedian, Will Durst, writes sometimes: this is an example. Coming soon from Ulysses Press: "Where the Rogue Things Go!" Pre- order your copy at Amazon.

News From: www.sfgate.com

Monster Jam in San Diego 2011History

The Largest Monster Jam in San Diego History!

Qualcomm is playing host and tickets are going fast! Megan Tevrizian gets a sneak peak with driver Jim Koehler.

“The Largest Monster Jam in San Diego History!” is categorized as “local”. This video was licensed from Grab Networks. The copyright notice of this video is “http://cache.thenewsroom.com/provider_graphics/knsd_logo.jpg.” For additional video content, click the “video” tab at the top of this page.

If you are a new American Consumer News reader, we would like to welcome you to our website. American Consumer News exists to help people become better managers of money and more savvy consumers. We provide daily news covering the companies that consumers interact with on a regular basis, such as Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Bank of America and Ford. We provide reviews of a variety of products, publish press releases relating to consumer issues and have a wide variety of consumed-focused video reports.

News From: www.americanconsumernews.com

Elizabeth Olsen The Sundance Horror-Thriller 'Silent House'

Olsen Twins' Sister Elizabeth Stars In An Exclusive Clip From The Sundance Horror-Thriller 'Silent House'

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

In 2004, the filmmaking team of Chris Kentis and Laura Lau captivated Sundance Film Festival audiences with the quietly creepy "Open Water." That film, about a couple who are left to grapple with sharks when they become separated from a scuba excursion, went on to become a critical and box-office success. Kentis and Lau are hoping the same is true for their new psychological horror-thriller "Silent House," which is playing as part of this year's Sundance Film Fest's Park City at Midnight series. Check out an exclusive clip from the film below.

Based on the acclaimed Uruguayan film "La Casa Muda," "Silent House" stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's younger sister Elizabeth Olsen as Sarah, a young girl who returns with her father and uncle to fix up her family's summerhouse after it's violated by squatters in the off-season. It's an innocuous enough beginning, but things quickly take a turn for the sinister when Sarah begins to hear strange sounds emanating from the walls of the boarded-up house.

Is someone or something trying to get out? Is the house haunted? Or is Sarah just going stark raving mad? Judging by the clip above, which shows a terrified, blood-soaked Sarah desperately trying to escape the house, it seems that she has some legitimate cause for alarm. Then again, we never do get a glimpse of what Sarah is running from, so it could all be in her head -- a popular device in films of late.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see how the film is received. Kentis and Lau's "Open Water" slowly and masterfully built tension throughout the course of the movie, and "Silent House" promises to do the same. Plus, we're interested to see what kind of acting chops 21-year-old Olsen has. She's been getting some strong buzz these days, and it's a safe bet that she's come a long way since playing herself in those direct-to-DVD "Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley" movies.


News From: moviesblog.mtv.com

The Company Men 2010 Movie Trailers Review Watch Online

Bobby Walker is living the American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and co-workers Phil Woodward and Gene McClary jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands, and fathers. Bobby soon finds himself enduring enthusiastic life coaching, a job building houses for his brother-in-law which does not play to his executive skill set, and perhaps the realization that there is more to life than chasing the bigger, better deal.
Also Known As:
Company Man
Downsized
Production Status: Released
Genres: Comedy and Drama
Running Time: 1 hr. 53 min.
Release Date: December 10th, 2010 (limited); January 21st, 2011 (wide)
MPAA Rating: R for language and brief nudity.
Distributors:
The Weinstein Company
Production Co.:
John Wells Productions, Spring Creek Pictures
Filming Locations:
Boston
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Produced in: United States

The Company Men 2010 Movie Trailers

2011 State of the Union

State of the Union 2011 Watch Video

On January 25, President Obama will give his third State of the Union address. With a struggling economy, two ongoing wars, and a new Republican majority in the House, the president is under pressure to outline a compelling vision for the nation.

If you were in his shoes, what would you say? What's happening in your corner of the country, and what should we do about it? In a minute or less, give us your "State of the Union." We'll feature the best ones here on washingtonpost.com.

SHARE YOUR STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

WHAT: In a minute or less, tell us what you think is the biggest challenge facing our nation. What is YOUR take on the state of the country?
WHEN: Now through Friday, Jan. 21, 2011
HOW: Log in below with your YouTube account; videos must be your own




News From: voices.washingtonpost.com

Comcast's local-news On the Media

On the Media: Comcast's local-news pledge rings hollow

Given the hucksterism that qualifies as reporting in the 'public interest,' don't expect much improvement at KNBC-TV after the latest media mega-merger.

Among the many promises made in its just-approved takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Corp. pledged to sustain and even add hundreds of hours to the news and public affairs programming at the 10 TV stations NBC owns around the country.

As a baby step in the right direction, NBC should start by putting in the garbage-disposal all those no-calorie "news" segments about, for example, "The Biggest Loser," "Law & Order," "America's Got Talent" and movies from Universal Pictures. Convert those time slots, instead, to some meat and potatoes coverage about what's happening in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city halls.

Not that there appears to be the vaguest hope that the news savants at NBC will ask local stations to back away from shameless hucksterism. That's the stock in trade across the television networks when it comes to using the news to pump up other corporate properties.

If you want to see Exhibit 1 that NBC's local stations don't have a clue about what constitutes real news, take a trip out to KNBC's headquarters in Beautiful Downtown Burbank. There, like at other FCC-licensed stations, you have the right to eyeball the "public file."

The file includes all sorts of interesting morsels but most importantly — for these purposes — a listing of the news programs that the stations consider serve the public best.

What makes you want to laugh (or is it cry?) are some of the stories listed under the report titled "Quarterly List of Programming Providing the Most Significant Treatment of Community Issues." In the last three months of 2010, there was a segment from Sept. 16 called "A giant inflatable gorilla has been stolen from a Simi Valley Kia dealership." Or this from Dec. 15: "KISS vocalist Paul Stanley has a second career as a painter."

Then come the multiple line items listing KNBC stories that shill for NBC's prime-time lineup, at least a handful for "The Biggest Loser," the same for "America's Got Talent," a couple of pieces on "Law & Order Los Angeles" and a story on the finale of the a cappella singing competition "The Sing Off."

But NBC Uni owns a lot of things. So don't just pimp your TV offerings. You've got theme parks too. In September, viewers saw about three minutes on the 11 p.m. newscast, according to the log, on the opening of "Bates Motel: The annual Halloween Horror Nights attraction" at Universal Studios. An anchor assured us it was a "great time" and weatherman Fritz Coleman called it "the best haunt in town."

And your Universal Pictures division has movies. So there's not only a story about "The Dilemma," the recent Ron Howard pic about a couple of buddies and marital trouble, but one hawking a title from Universal's film library. The public surely is well served by that story on the 25th anniversary of "Back to the Future," now available from Universal Home Entertainment! And for the 30th anniversary? Perhaps a half-hour "Special Report."

If this ranks among the "most significant" treatment of community issues, you would hate to see the worst, wouldn't you?

To hold an FCC license, stations like KNBC agree that in exchange for the use of the precious and finite public airwaves they will operate in the "public interest." That means airing programs that are "responsive to the needs and problems of its local community."

The helpful people at KNBC will lead you to a file drawer jammed with quarterly reports, dating back more than a decade, documenting its compliance with these rules.

In addition to the faux public service offerings promoting NBC Universal products, the bulk of the listings are for legitimate or semi-legitimate news stories. I found notations about political stories, piles of crime reporting and, for example, investigative reporter Joel Grover's look at how some local farmers markets aren't so local, or so organic.

As part of its union with NBC, Comcast has pledged to add 1,000 hours of news and public affairs programming a year across the 10 stations that it owns and operates, including KNBC. That would break down to just 16 minutes per day per station, according to public interest groups.

The company hasn't said how it will fulfill that obligation, or how anyone could really measure it, given the unspecified starting point for that kind of programming. Still, some who work inside KNBC think that the station will meet its portion of the obligation via a soon-to-be-launched digital news channel called California Non Stop.

The people I talked to, who didn't want to be named for fear of losing their jobs, predicted the California Non Stop programs would not reach nearly as many viewers as the mother station, KNBC. They said the lineup of shows on the drawing board — with names like "The Mix," and "the Rundown" and "Foodies" — will be fluffy, advertiser-friendly fare.

Another person inside KNBC defended the new programming, as well as the story choices that KNBC makes every day. "The lion's share of what we do are things that are substantive to the local market," said this individual, who declined to be named while the Comcast deal is pending.

I don't want to be a cynic about the chances of local news coverage improving under Comcast. But less than a year ago, USC's Norman Lear Center released a study showing that all Los Angeles' TV news stations manage an average of just 22 seconds of local government coverage for every half hour of news they put on the air.

And we're talking about the station, KNBC, that pushed into infotainment overdrive so aggressively that the previous news director hired one of the "Real Housewives of Orange County" to report a story on federal credit card rules. (That show is on Bravo, an NBC Uni cable channel.)

There has been lots of blather about the FCC imposing reporting requirements and other provisions to assure that the latest media mega-merger will not lead to a further diminution in the news.

If you believe that, think about this: The KNBC log book, chockablock with listings of promotional stories, was an earlier FCC device, designed to assure a flowering of broadcasting in the public interest.


News From: www.latimes.com