June 12th, 2009
Most stars would be happy to be compared to Angelina Jolie. Megan Fox isn’t one of them.
“It’s a lack of creativity on the media’s part,” the “Transformers” star says in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (on newsstands June 12). “Because I have tattoos and dark hair and I was in an action movie? That’s as far as the similarities extend.”
Adds Fox, “I’m not the next anyone.”
Megan Fox
The 23-year-old actress — who says she was joking when she once said she was afraid of the “Changeling” star — admits that she has no plans to get to know Jolie.
“She always seems otherworldly in her power and her confidence,” Fox says. “I’m sure she has no idea who I am. But if I were her, I’d be like, ‘Who [...] is this little bulls— brat who was in ‘Transformers’ that’s going to be the next me?’ I don’t want to meet her. I’d be embarrassed.”
Fox even interjects when asked if she wanted to follow in Jolie’s footsteps of starting out as a sex symbol before taking on serious roles.
“Angelina Jolie was always a Method actress,” she says. “She’d been nominated for Golden Globes before she ever did ‘Tomb Raider’.”
Still, the star — who admits “I’m clearly not ugly” — isn’t bothered by the fact that she’s seen as a sex symbol.
“I don’t know why someone would complain about that,” she says. “That just means that the bar has been set pretty low. People don’t expect me to do anything that’s worth watching. So I can only be an overachiever. I think all women in Hollywood are known as sex symbols. That’s what our purpose is in this business. You’re merchandised, you’re a product. You’re sold and it’s based on sex. But that’s okay. I think women should be empowered by that, not degraded.”
In fact, she doesn’t regret how “Transformers” made her “this new girl” in the industry. Read more…
tags: Entertainment, news author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
June 11th, 2009
carrie prejean miss california
Carrie Prejean has been stripped of her Miss California title.
“The Miss California USA Organization, in conjunction with the Miss Universe Organization and with the blessing of its owner, Mr. Donald J. Trump, announced today the termination of Carrie Prejean as Miss California USA 2009, citing continued breach of contract issues,” the Miss California Organization said in a statement to Access Hollywood.
The group kicked the controversial beauty queen from her post due to “contract violations including Ms. Prejean’s unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization,” the pageant’s Executive Director, Keith Lewis, said in a statement.
Last month, Trump decided that Prejean would be allowed to keep her crown despite racy photos of the 22-year-old surfacing on the Internet. But Lewis claims that in the weeks that followed, the beauty queen did not step up to the plate.
“Since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie is unwilling to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together,” Lewis’ statement continued.
Billy Bush broke the news to Prejean on Wednesday afternoon when he called her for Access Hollywood and “The Billy Bush Show.”
“We’ve just found out from Keith Lewis, your executive director there, that it’s official, they have put out a statement and you have been fired,” Bush said.
“Well, that’s the first that I know about that, Billy,” Prejean said.
“Really?” he continued.
“Yeah. I was just talking to my lawyer and I just got a phone call from you and I’ve gotten some text messages saying ‘Hey, is this really true?’ and I said, ‘True about what?’ and they said, ‘That you’ve been fired.’ And I started to laugh because everyone’s been cooperating and everyone’s been getting along so well,” she said. “This is the first that I’ve heard of it. This is funny to me. I have no idea what’s going on.”
Trump was also involved in Wednesday’s dethroning, and leant his voice to her dismissal.
“I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract with the Miss California USA Organization and I gave her the opportunity to do so,” Trump said his statement. “Unfortunately it just doesn’t look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision. Carrie is a beautiful young woman and I wish her well as she pursues other interests.”
Miss Malibu Tami Farrell, who was the First Runner-Up, is now Miss California.
In addition to the semi-nude photo scandal, Prejean’s reign as Miss California also created headlines at the Miss USA pageant in April after she answered a question from Perez Hilton regarding her stance on gay marriage. She said she believed marriage “should be between a man and a woman.”
Shanna Moakler quit the Miss California Organization, where she had served as a co-executive director back in May after Trump let Prejean keep her crown. When asked last month by Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush if she would return to the group if Prejean quit, Moakler said she would.
“Absolutely,” she said. “In a heartbeat…. It’s not [a] ‘her or me’[situation]. It’s you… have to, at some point, make her take responsibility.”
And on Wednesday, not long after the news broke, Moakler issued a statement to Access over Prejean’s firing.
“First and foremost, my faith has been restored in the Miss Universe Organization and with Donald Trump. I believed eventually what I intimately knew would come to fruition,” Moakler said.
source: omg.yahoo.com
tags: news author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
June 9th, 2009
It’s the “most powerful, fastest iPhone we’ve ever made,” says Apple SVP Phil Schiller of the 3G S, now with an upgraded three-megapixel camera, voice commands, and picture messaging—all due on June 19. Also: The 8GB version of the iPhone 3G is now just $99.
The news came during Monday’s keynote of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and the announcements pretty much fell in line with earlier predictions, including a new digital compass, better battery life, laptop tethering, and MMS—although the latter two won’t be supported on AT&T just yet, news that was followed by a chorus of groans in the audience.
Look for the iPhone 3G S to arrive in stores June 19, two days after iPhone Software update 3.0 (which adds features such as picture messaging, cut-and-paste support, and stereo Bluetooth) arrives on iTunes. Available in both black and white, the 16GB version of the 3G S will sell for $199 (the same initial price as the old 8GB iPhone 3G), while a 32GB model will go for $299. Meanwhile, we’re finally getting a $99 iPhone—the old 8GB 3G, as it turns out.
The iPhone 3G S comes with an impressive set of new features, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the new handset, which looks exactly the same as last year’s iPhone 3G.
iPhone 3G S
The iPhone’s old 2-megapixel camera gets a bump up to three megapixels, at last, along with an auto-focus lens, auto exposure, improved low-light sensitivity, and—here’s the big one—video recording, including on-the-fly touch editing and the ability to send video clips via MMS (more on the iPhone’s picture messaging features in a moment). Still no LED flash, though.
Apple claims that the 3G S runs faster than the iPhone 3G—up to twice as fast, in fact, which means speedier app launching and Web browsing.
In a first for the iPhone, the 3G S will finally be able to make voice-activated calls, as well as play songs and playlists at your command—not bad, although voice commands have long been standard issue on many other existing cell phones.
Poor battery life has been the bane of many an iPhone owner’s existence, but Apple promises that the 3G S will get you three more hours of Web browsing (over Wi-Fi) and six more hours of audio, although talk time on AT&T’s 3G network remains five hours.
Digital compass
Finding your way on Google Maps for iPhone can be a chore if you don’t know what direction you’re facing, but the new 3G S should fix that with it’s new digital compass, which will give you your longitude, latitude, and precise direction (not to mention better controls on games that rely on the iPhone’s accelerometers).
As announced back in March, both the iPhone 3G S and the iPhone 3G will finally support MMS—one of the biggest missing features on the iPhone—via the iPhone Software 3.0 update, due to hit iTunes on June 17. That’s the good news; the bad news is that AT&T won’t support MMS on the iPhone until “later this summer.” Ugh.
Also included in the iPhone Software 3.0 update: Laptop tethering, which will let you share the iPhone’s 3G data connection with your laptop (via USB or Bluetooth) while you’re out and about. Pretty cool … but while tethering will be available for iPhone users on several worldwide carriers, we won’t be able to tether on AT&T, or at least not for now. Double-ugh. Update: I followed up with AT&T on their iPhone tethering plans, and here’s the response I got: “We plan to offer a tethering plan but we don’t have an announcement to make at this time.”
Get ready for direct downloads of TV shows and movie rentals/purchases on the iPhone (perfect for grabbing some videos before boarding a flight), stability and speed enhancements for the mobile version of Safari, and a “Find My iPhone” feature (which tracks down your lost iPhone, provided you’re subscribed to Apple’s MobileMe service).
source: tech.yahoo.com
tags: Technology, news author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
June 7th, 2009
Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².
Kanazawa’s weather is temperate though rainy. Average temperatures are similar to those of Tokyo though slightly cooler. Mean temperatures are approximately 4°C in January, 15°C in April, 25°C in July and August, 15°C in October, and 5°C in December. The minimum temperature on record was -2.3°C (2002), with a maximum of 37.5°C (2002). The city is relatively wet, with an average humidity of 73% and 178 rainy days in an average year. Precipitation is highest in the autumn and winter; it averages more than 250 mm / month November through January.
As of November 2006, the city has an estimated population of 455,351 and a density of 973.45 persons per km².
The name “Kanazawa”, which literally means “marsh of gold”, is said to derive from the legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro (lit. “Togoro Potato-digger”), who was digging for potatoes when flakes of gold washed up. The well in the grounds of Kenrokuen known as ‘Kinjo Reitaku’ was recreated by the Maeda lords to acknowledge these roots. The area where Kanazawa City is was originally known as Ishiura Village, and the Ishiura Shrine near Kenrokuen is a remnant of this period.
The centre of the castle town was the castle. While many castle towns in Japan had the castle placed to one side of the city, Kanazawa spread out concentrically from the castle site. Kanazawa Castle itself largely burned down in 1888, but there are a few buildings remaining, notably the Ishikawa Gate and the Sanjikken Longhouse, and one large section has been painstakingly rebuilt to authentic standards of construction. The castle site dates back to the fifteenth century, when it was the centre of power for the Ikk?-ikki, which was a Buddhist sect that had overthrown the old regional governors, the Togashi clan, and established what is called “The Peasant’s Kingdom” in the district of Kaga, the southern part of present-day Ishikawa Prefecture.
During the fifteenth century, the powers of the central Shoguns in Kyoto was waning, and their regional governors were assuming even greater powers, carving out their own little fiefs. In Kaga, the priest Rennyo, of the Jodo Shinshu sect, arrived in the Kaga region to proselytise. Rennyo’s brand of Buddhism quickly spread among the samurai and peasants. The followers of Rennyo were directly under the control of the central Honganji in Kyoto, and were known as the Ikko sect, the “Single-Minded” sect. At the time, due to the diminishing power of the hereditary regional governors, the Togashi, central control over the region was weak, which allowed groups of Rennyo converts to increase their political ambitions, leading to the suicide of the last Togashi governor in 1488.
Today, this fascinating city is a popular tourist destination.
tags: information author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
June 7th, 2009
As if Israeli reality was not sufficiently visceral, Israelis have become a fixture on American reality television programs, bringing a little piece of the Holy Land to American living rooms.
Israelis have appeared belting out power ballads on mega hit program “American Idol”, living like castaways and eating non-kosher shellfish on “Survivor”, as well as bludgeoning (and being bludgeoned) on “The Ultimate Fighter”.
Some of the most prominent Israelis on the U.S. small screen have included American Idol contestant Eliot Yamin (born to an Israeli father) who finished third place in the fifth season of the show, Pugilist Ido “The Hebrew Hammer” Pariente from “The Ultimate Fighter”, Yonatan Kashanian, winner of “Grande Fratello“, Italy’s version of “Big Brother”, and Mr. Clean look-a-like Ami James, a tattoo artist on Miami Ink and owner of his own clothing line.
For many viewers outside of Israel hooked on reality television, the participation of Israelis in these programs may provide an inside glimpse of Israeli life that rarely makes it past the nightly news. For instance, on the Web site for the Australian version of Project Runway, the bio for Israeli contestant Oren Nuri reads like an archetypal Israeli coming of age tale as it mentions Nuri’s four years in the Israel Defense Forces and the long backpacking trip to Australia he took after his discharge.
For many Israelis, their appearance on reality television can become a ticket to fame or entry into American society. Unlike other more-established immigrant communities, Israelis don’t have a “Chinatown” or a “Little Italy” of their own. Also, when it comes to reality shows like “Survivor”, it’s hard to doubt that athletic Israelis who spent years in the army before backpacking across the Andes or the Himalayas may have a leg up on middle-aged Americans fresh from their suburban cul-de-sac.
Estimates vary on how many Israelis currently live in the United States, with an Israeli Immigration Ministry report from 2008 saying that around 450,000 Israelis reside in the United States and Canada. For such a small minority in North America, the number of Israelis chasing their fifteen minutes of fame far from home is delightfully out of proportion.
tags: news author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
June 7th, 2009
Sexy samurai underwear is the latest trendy present Japanese women want to buy for their partners, the news agency Kyodo reported.
The underwear is designed to look like the armour used by samurai warriors in the Middle Ages and is selling faster than companies like Rogin Inc can supply it – despite a price tag of 12.000 Yen.
The trend was triggered by samurai films on television as well as computer games with particularly cool-looking samurai heroes.
pictures here
tags: erotic, fun author: Robby Dream comments: No Comments
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