Hottest World News

Would You Please Pass the Jelly

2009-12-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Would You Please Pass the Jellya-famous-line, a-lady-sitting, a-no-go-area, edward-kennedy, election, fruit jelly, gentleman, grimaces, macdonald pass, old lady, old woman, permanent-link, prince-charming, senate, sigh of relief

Julia Corker

2009-12-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

Julia CorkerAccording to police report Senator Bob Corker’s eldest daughter was robbed of her vehicle yesterday. According to details Julia was driving her Chevy Tahoe towards the family’s house in Washington D.C in the vicinity of Verizon center. She

Susan Boyle’s debut album tops Britain’s charts

2009-11-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

Susan Boyle’s debut album tops Britain’s chartsLONDON — In the contest, she finished second. But on the charts, she’s number one.

Susan Boyle’s debut record, “I Dreamed A Dream,” entered the British album chart in the top spot Sunday. The 48-year-old Scottish

Reps Claim Jake and Reese Are Still Together

2009-11-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Reps Claim Jake and Reese Are Still TogetherDespite reports, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are still very much a couple, according to their reps.

Tiger Woods: Wife Elin ‘Acted Courageously’

2009-11-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

Tiger Woods: Wife Elin ‘Acted Courageously’Tiger Woods is speaking out about the car crash Friday that set off a stream of salacious rumors about his marriage to Elin Nordegren – and allegations that he cheated with a New York club hostess Rachel Uchitel.

Cyber Monday 2009 deals, cybermonday deals, sales and discounts

2009-11-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

Cyber Monday 2009 deals, cybermonday deals, sales and discountsNovember 29: Cyber Monday 2009 deals, cybermonday deals, sales and discounts. Throngs flocked shops this Black Friday to lay their hands on cheap stuff like televisions, toys and computers rolled out by retail giants across the United States.

Lakewood police shooting

2009-11-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Lakewood police shooting(HuffPost)— A convicted felon granted clemency nine years ago by former Arkansas Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is wanted for questioning in the shooting deaths of four police officers in Washington state.

Delaney Starcher, 5-yo girl, suffers rare brain cancer

2009-11-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Delaney Starcher, 5-yo girl, suffers rare brain cancerMany people are searching for the name Delaney Starcher on google in hopes that they will make the name of a 5-year girl most searched on google so many people may know her story and give their support to help the little girl to fight the awful disease she suffers.

Delaney Starcher, 5-yo girl, suffers rare brain cancer

2009-11-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

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Mall of america field

2009-11-30T07:52:00.000-08:00

Mall of america fieldOn Thursday, The Minnesota Vikings and Mall of America® announced a partnership for the naming rights to the field that has served as the team’s home

Tiger woods mistress

2009-11-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

Tiger woods mistressThe internet and news and sports worlds are rampant with speculation about the car crash involving Tiger Woods. It seems suspicious that he backed into a fire hydrant and tree

Surviving christmas

2009-11-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Surviving christmasWhenever you want to take a reading of the current zeitgeist, popular search terms can tell you a lot about what’s on

Tiger Woods accident update: Tiger Woods mistress Rachel Uchitel pictures and Tiger Woods 911 call

2009-11-30T07:04:00.000-08:00

Tiger Woods accident update: Tiger Woods mistress Rachel Uchitel pictures and Tiger Woods 911 callNovember 30: Tiger Woods accident update: Tiger Woods mistress Rachel Uchitel pictures and Tiger Woods 911 call. Tiger Woods has finally tried to set the rumors of his fight with his wife- a leading former model- at rest. He has said that his wife acted to save his life following the car accident.

Tiger Woods: Wife Elin ‘Acted Courageously’

2009-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Walmart Black Friday 2009 flyer, Best Buy Black Friday 2009 sales and Toys R Us Black Friday 2009 ad

2009-11-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

Walmart Black Friday 2009 flyer, Best Buy Black Friday 2009 sales and Toys R Us Black Friday 2009 adNovember 23: Walmart Black Friday 2009 flyer, Best Buy Black Friday 2009 sales and Toys R Us Black Friday 2009 ad. If retailers’ Black Friday schemes are not enough many leading tech giant and computer, laptop, mobile, camera and other gadgets’ manufacturers too have come out with their own Black Friday sales schemes.

Unlikely Angel

2009-11-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

Unlikely AngelUnlikely Angel is 1996 fantasy movie. The film is lighthearted Christmas movie and should be seen as such. Unlikely Angel is among other Christmas movies shown during Christmas. Ruby Diamond (Dolly Parton) is a singer and doesn’t care much about anyone else except herself. As the fate would have it she dies in a road accident. As her spirit parts from her body, she meets St. Peter.

Storkcraft Crib Recall

2009-11-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

Storkcraft Crib RecallStorkcraft Cribs come with a mechanism that allows the front portion of the crib to move vertically up and down. The mechanism allows the parents to lower the front to lay the babies inside and then reposition and lock the front so that baby may not fall down. However some 110 reports were filed complaining that the locking mechanism failed to hold the front and the lock

Scott Fenstermaker

2009-11-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

Scott FenstermakerMr. Scott Fenstermaker is an experienced lawyer with extensive background in criminal and taxation related cases. He serves the NYC and adjacent areas. Scott Fenstermaker is a member of the group of lawyers who have been authorized by the Government to plead issues related to National Security. He is also among the Qualified Civil Lawyers to represent Guantanamo Bay prisoners. He also looks into the matters related to the employees serving U.S Military.

Carrot Top Before and After

2009-11-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

Carrot Top Before and AfterCarrot Top or Scott Thompson has entertained a whole generation with his unique comedy and equally unique looks. However his fans have definitely noticed a sudden change in Top’s looks. He has magically transformed from a skinny guy to a full WWE wrestler and there is a definite change in his facial features. People are attributing his muscle mass to the steroid use

Kate Hudson Wardrobe Malfunction

2009-11-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Kate Hudson Wardrobe MalfunctionThe American music awards were already a long-awaited event out of curiosity of people. The people were holding their breath for many reasons: whether Michael Jackson’s death will have an influence on the decision of judges because he was the nominee for five of music awards. What type of bizarre dress Lady Gaga

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

2009-11-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Inflammatory Breast CancerBreast Cancer is one of the major causes of death among women. Usually the breast cancers can be detected by self exams or mammograms. Women are advised to have regular mammograms after the age of 40, so as to make the detection of cancer as earlier as possible. However a new type of breast cancer has been detected called Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Paula Deen Hit With Ham

2009-11-24T07:54:00.001-08:00

Paula Deen Hit With HamPaula Deen was helping to distribute hams and turkeys for hungry population. Suddenly someone threw a piece of ham that mistakenly hit Paula Deen right on her nose. In the video of the event Paula Deen can be seen wearing purple colored baggy dress and is all smiles. Paula Deen and the staff of the company is seen standing around, passing on the packets of meat. As she passes on a packet she bends and there a piece hits her. Deen quickly recovered her composure and is all smiles again.

Paula Deen Hit With Ham

2009-11-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

DJ Matthew Roberts Video

2009-11-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

DJ Matthew Roberts Videoa-long-time-, a-skinny-woman, biological, birth, charles, intentionally, into-the-world, matthew, matthew-mercuro, matthew-roberts, mother, paula-poundstone, real, turkey

Emmanuel Delcour

2009-11-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Emmanuel DelcourAlthough porn stars provide mind-blowing stimulation to their fans yet the same fans feel awkward when they see them working on a different slot especially when they see them on a “cuisines show”. It seems that Emmanuel has gone tired of being porn star and wants to transform his image in to the respectable one.

Lady Gaga Jay Leno

2009-11-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

Lady Gaga Jay LenoWell, I must say it was a terrific interview. Lady Gaga was wearing a black colored dress at Jay Leno and every question was tackled so superbly that audiences were just out of themselves. Jay Leno kicked it off by complimenting her on her achievement during 2009 and her smashing AMA performance.

Elbert Hubbard

2009-11-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Elbert HubbardElbert Hubbard was a bizarre personality with diverse talents having conflict with each other. It is said that if one portions of Henry Ford and two portions of Henry David Thoreau are blended, we can get Elbert Hubbard.

Stork Craft Recall

2009-11-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

Stork Craft RecallFinally, Stork Craft recall the drop side cribs that caused four infant’s death. Stork Craft manufacturers of cribs and the “CPS” commission of British Columbia have announced to stop the usage of Stork Craft cribs for the infants. Stork Craft cribs were distributed and sold all over America and Canada. US officials and the Stork Craft manufactures declared to recall the 2.1 million drop side cribs from all parts of America and Canada.

Scuffles, slogans as Babri probe report tabled in parliament

2009-11-24T06:49:00.000-08:00

Scuffles, slogans as Babri probe report tabled in parliamentNew Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Seventeen years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid that polarised the country along communal lines, the report of the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry was Tuesday tabled in parliament amid turmoil, slogan shouting and even scuffles between MPs of various parties

Pirelli’s 2010 Calendar PHOTOS: Topless, Muddy Nudity, And SO Much More (NSFW PICTURES)

2009-11-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

Pirelli’s 2010 Calendar PHOTOS: Topless, Muddy Nudity, And SO Much More (NSFW PICTURES)The 2010 Pirelli Calendar is out, and to celebrate its debut they released the below, undated photos of the models (Daisy Lowe, Lily Cole, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley, Marloes Horst, Catherine McNeil, Georgina Stojiljkovic, Enriko Mihalik, and Miranda Kerr) at work with photographer Terry Richardson

Power Balance Silicone Wristbands for Increased Energy, Flexibility and Balance

2009-09-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Whether we’re athletes or just regular people working out to stay healthy and in shape, we all need some sort of encouragement now and then. Should we ever fail to find it within us, it’s good to know we could always rely on the Power Balance silicone wristbands that claim to tap into our bodies’ natural energy and balance it according to our needs – for just $29.95.

Power Balance boasts that it doesn’t make promises, it just delivers results. From the countless testimonials from professional athletes and celebrities listed on the official website, it actually sounds like the rubber wristband can perform miracles in terms of boosting the energy levels and improving balance, thus making us faster, leaner and overall better. The science behind the product is not even something new, Power Balance says, the same concept having been used for many years in practices such as acupuncture and acupressure.

“Optimal health and peak performance occur when your body maintains ionic balance (the exchange between negative and positive charges) and free flowing energy pathways (harmony) at the optimum frequency. […] Power Balance, after years of research and development, has produced a system to safely restore and optimize the electro-magnetic balance within the human body… immediately. Power Balance’s Mylar Holographic Disk (the same substance used to keep static electricity from damaging electrical components) has been imbedded with an electrical frequency that restores your body’s electrical balance, promoting a free exchange of positive and negative ions and align your body’s energy pathways.” Power Balance says of the product.

Apparently, the Disk acts like a “switch” that adapts to each body and its corresponding energy field. “When the static Power Balance Hologram comes in contact with your body’s energy field, it begins to resonate in accordance with each individual’s biological, creating a harmonic loop that optimizes your energy field and maintains maximum energy flow while clearing the pathways so the electro-chemical exchange functions like the well-tuned generator it was meant to be.” it is also said on the same website.

As also noted above, the testimonials claim that, once this product tried, one simply can’t part with it because it works in such perfect accordance with the body. However, there are also those reviewers who say the entire tapping of the energy field and improving it when the body lacks the means and strength to do so could very well be a case of wishful-thinking or what one can accomplish solely on the power of the human mind.

Jimmy Fallon auto-tune skit at 2009 Emmy awards draws gut-busting laughs from some

2009-09-21T04:52:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Fallon did a funny auto-tune skit on the 2009 Emmy awards that made me look up from my laptop.

With a headset wrapped around his ears, mic at mouth, Jimmy Fallon got the Emmy crowd to clap their hands along with him -- then did a pratfall slip so slickly, it made me wonder if it was planned or not.

Pretty soon, everyone discovered it was, with Fallon's "Roll clip" command.

It's fun to get a real-time reaction from Twitter to see how Jane and Joe Public reacted to Jimmy Fallon's routine:

lindaphantastic: Only watching the Emmys for NPH, but... Jimmy Fallon falling down in autotune is the funniest thing I've seen in awhile. 3 minutes ago

Lesley9492: Jimmy fallon presenting with autotune was great haha n_n 8 minutes ago

esgiii: @uteragogo is still laughing at the jimmy fallon autotune gag. #emmys 9 minutes ago

hrtvsmind: RT @PasteMagazine Emmy grades so far: Host Neil Patrick Harris - B. Jimmy Fallon with AutoTune A+. AGREE. 14 minutes ago

jhgrant: RT @chanelonline: Jimmy Fallon's use of autotune is like when your mom started saying OMG. It's dead people. #Emmys / *snort* 15 minutes ago

So 4 positive out of 5 total real-time Twitter reviews ain't bad.

Jay-Z pronounced auto-tune dead.

Kanye resurrected it nicely.

And now Jimmy Fallon brings it to the Emmy masses.

Runestone featured Sunday on History Channel

2009-09-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

A new angle on the Runestone hits national airwaves this weekend, putting Kensington on the map for history buffs.

“The Holy Grail in America” is scheduled to air on The History Channel this Sunday, September 20 at 7 p.m. and again at 11 p.m.

The two-hour documentary, produced by Maria Awes, a former WCCO producer, and her husband, Andy Awes, investigates a story that begins in medieval Europe and culminates in a present day search for answers.

Local footage includes a reenactment of the discovery of the stone at the Kensington Runestone Park with Corey Okonek playing the role of Olaf Ohman and Michael O’Loughlin playing the role of Ohman’s neighbor.

In addition, footage was shot in the Olaf Ohman home located at the park. Filming also took place at the Runestone Museum in Alexandria and of the actual Kensington Runestone.

The story, according to The History Channel, begs the question: “Is it possible the Templars were leaving clues to an incredible journey to the New World?”

History indicates that the Templars were massacred after King Philip IV of France ordered their arrests on Friday the 13th, 1307, but that a Templar fleet allegedly containing treasure was last seen off Scotland in the late 1300s. Stones with similar markings as the Kensington Runestone have been found on islands across the Atlantic Ocean – and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

According to Maria Awes, the Templar angle of the story is new and that it stems from erosion studies conducted on the Runestone. The symbols on the Runestone reportedly match Templar runes all over Europe.

Kristin Chenoweth surviving in style

2009-09-21T04:17:00.000-07:00

Kristin Chenoweth wasn't the only one shocked by her win for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Olive on ABC's short-lived "Pushing Daisies." Considering her competition included "Saturday Night Live" star Amy Poehler and "30 Rock's" Jane Krakowski, it's a safe bet that not many people picked Chenoweth in their office Emmy pool.

It is not unprecedented for an award to go to a canceled show or an actor from a defunct series, but it is unusual. Tony Randall won after "The Odd Couple" was canceled. And "Pushing Daisies" won three others at last week's Creative Arts ceremony: for costumes, makeup and art direction.

"Pushing Daisies" was a whimsical hourlong program about a man who has the power to bring the dead back to life with just one touch. Problem is, once he does that he can't touch them again or they're dead forever. It was never a huge ratings success in the two seasons it ran, but what little following it had vanished after the writers strike.

Chenoweth, best known for her stage work, was visibly stunned and cried through her acceptance speech.

But she was composed enough to use the moment in the spotlight to network.

"I'm unemployed now, so I'd like to be on 'Mad Men.' And I'd also like to be on 'The Office' and '24,' " she cracked. Then she thanked the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for "recognizing a show that is no longer on the air."

Actually, she is appearing on an upcoming episode of Fox's "Glee" and has done two movies since "Pushing Daisies" was buried.

Backstage, Chenoweth said she wasn't angry about her show's short life span. "More sweet than bitter," she said when asked if the win was bittersweet.

Mad Men: Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency

2009-09-21T04:08:00.000-07:00

(S03E06) What do disappointment, opportunities and snakes have in common? They're all themes in this episode of Mad Men. The British, in the form of Powell, Ford and Mackendrick came to Sterling Cooper for a visit, but what that visit meant was anybody's guess. The visit wrecking holiday plans for the staff -- no Independence Day for you, colonists -- was obvious irony and true nonetheless. And the Guy walking into the ad agency, well, it would be a hollow joke after this tragedy. More after the jump.

While Harry, Pete and the others seemed concerned, Don was intrigued, especially when Bert theorized a position that might have genius Don living in New York and London. Don shared the possibility of London with Betty, and he was so happy about it, he was even smiling in bed before sleep. While he couldn't sleep with excitement, Sally couldn't sleep because Grandpa Gene, seeing the new baby as carrying his spirit, his name and even looking like the old man, haunted her.

Continuing the bonding they shared last week, Don was able to get through to Sally when Betty's proffering a Barbie -- a gift from the baby -- didn't do the trick. Proving to be a better father than he ever had, Don brokered a peace between baby Gene and Sally, telling her that the newborn was still unformed, still open to become whatever he might choose to be. Much like Dick Whitman became Don Draper.

The disappointment Don felt when the London appointment turned out to be just another Brit supplanting Pryce in the Sterling Cooper offices was eased by a surprise call from Conrad Hilton. Connie was the old guy Don met at the country club during Roger's derby party. A call from Hilton opened the door to a world of opportunity, at least in Hilton view. After getting Don's opinion on some ads -- "I want you to give me one for free" -- Hilton expected Don to ask for the moon. Don asked for his business, making a snake allusion and proving he can hold his own with the big boys.

The snake bit harkened back to Pryce getting the boot to Bombay in the form of a gift from his British masters, a stuffed cobra in a basket. They admire him so much for squeezing the fat out of Sterling Cooper that they wanted to replace him with Guy. "You always do as you're told," they tell Pryce, and he didn't disagree.

You want more disappointment still? Roger wasn't included in the flow chart for the company that bears his name. At least Bert was able to set him straight; Roger took the money, he had no right to complain.

But Joan had disappointment coming and going. Greg failed to get the chief residency and may never become a New York surgeon. Greg, the rapist with low self-esteem, told her, "I have no brains in my fingers." To her credit, Joan comforted him when she needed it herself. She appeared the next day for the office party -- not a surprise party as planned by the secretaries thanks to Hooker's big mouth -- even though she had nowhere to go and needed to stay at Sterling Cooper. At least Peggy and Don cared enough to give Joan her props.

Thankfully, Joan was there. After Lois's wild ride on the John Deere severed most of Mackendrick's foot, only Joan's quick actions saved him from bleeding to death. In the hospital, Don and Joan, the two most valuable members of Sterling Cooper shared a moment before Powell and Ford came with Pryce, basically to make sure that Guy was alive, even though he was out of his new job. He couldn't play golf anymore, not without a foot, so he was useless to them. Pryce was reinstated. Snakes all around.

Roger had the best/funniest observation of the night, pointing out that Guy might lose his foot when he just got it in the door.

Watch Entourage season 6 episode 10 live

2009-09-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Sept 21, 2009: Watch Entourage season 6 episode 10 live. Entourage season six continues to keep people glued to their television sets. The 10th episode of the sixth season was as enchanting as previous episodes.
The tenth episode of the sixth season was titled “Berried Alive”.

In the tenth episode Ari goes to war with Lloyd when Drama wants out of his contract on Five Towns to get a part on the new Melrose 2009 series, but regardless of the outcome.

Drama has to decide who will be his real agent.

Ashley asks Eric to read his emails so they can have an open and honest relationship, but it becomes clear to Eric that Ashley has major trust issues. Turtle is caught in a psuedo love triangle with Jamie-Lynn and a UCLA co-ed.

Earlier the sixth season beganwith Vince getting his driver's license, by bribing the driving instructor. Vince is preparing for his next role, starring in a biopic of Enzo Ferrari directed by Frank Darabont.

The buzz on Gatsby has restored Vince to the "A"-list. "Line 'em up," he commands Ari, indicating that he's now focusing his priorities on maintaining a steady stream of work and will be less precious about each individual project.

Vince and the boys attend the premiere of his film Gatsby, directed by Martin Scorsese. Eric and Sloan renew the friendship, with Eric wanting to be a little more than friends. However, Eric is truly 'playing the field' as the boys often refer to his many different girls.
The tenth episode of the sixth season was titled “Berried Alive”.

In the tenth episode Ari goes to war with Lloyd when Drama wants out of his contract on Five Towns to get a part on the new Melrose 2009 series, but regardless of the outcome.

Drama has to decide who will be his real agent.

Ashley asks Eric to read his emails so they can have an open and honest relationship, but it becomes clear to Eric that Ashley has major trust issues. Turtle is caught in a psuedo love triangle with Jamie-Lynn and a UCLA co-ed.

Earlier the sixth season beganwith Vince getting his driver's license, by bribing the driving instructor. Vince is preparing for his next role, starring in a biopic of Enzo Ferrari directed by Frank Darabont.

The buzz on Gatsby has restored Vince to the "A"-list. "Line 'em up," he commands Ari, indicating that he's now focusing his priorities on maintaining a steady stream of work and will be less precious about each individual project.

Vince and the boys attend the premiere of his film Gatsby, directed by Martin Scorsese. Eric and Sloan renew the friendship, with Eric wanting to be a little more than friends. However, Eric is truly 'playing the field' as the boys often refer to his many different girls.

'Mad Men' among Emmy Awards' repeat drama winners

2009-09-21T03:51:00.000-07:00

Just like the Emmy Awards' drama series champ "Mad Men," both of last year's drama series lead acting winners repeated for the second seasons of their shows – Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") and Glenn Close ("Damages").

However, the supporting winners on the drama series side were new to the Emmy Awards stage this year. Michael Emerson prevailed on his third consecutive bid for "Lost" and now has a bookend for the guest actor Emmy he won in 2001 for "The Practice." His win in this race means that you still have to go back to 1995/1996 for the most recent repeat champ: Ray Walston ("Picket Fences"). On the female side, two-time lead actress Tony winner Cherry Jones ("The Heiress," "Doubt") took home her first Emmy for her work on "24" as the strong-willed president.

The series finale of "ER" finally won the directing award for Rod Holcomb, who was a nominee for helming the 1994 pilot of this one-time ratings powerhouse. Back then, he lost to Mimi Leder, who directed the gripping "Love's Labor Lost" episode. And Matthew Weiner repeated as drama series scripter for one of his four bids for "Mad Men." Last year he won for a solo credit while he shared this year's Emmy Award with Kater Gordon

Eli Manning Wife is his sweetheart Abby McGrew

2009-09-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Sept 21, 2009: Eli Manning Wife is his sweetheart Abby McGrew. Eli Manning’s marriage with his long time sweetheart is making waves across the nation. The two were dating for years.

Eighty eight year old Elisha Nelson Manning a renowned American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of Peyton Manning and Cooper Manning and the son of Archie Manning and Olivia Manning.

He played college football at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) after attending prep school at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.

He was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, but immediately traded to the New York Giants, who traded 4th overall pick Phillip Rivers. Manning won the most valuable player award in Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008.

Prior to deciding which college to attend, Manning received a call from David Cutcliffe, formerly the offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.

Cutcliffe had been hired as the head coach at Ole Miss and had previously helped Eli's older brother Peyton improve his game. Upon learning Cutcliffe was now in charge of the Rebel program, the 18-year-old followed his father’s footsteps, and made his way to Oxford, Mississippi.

During his football career at Ole Miss, Eli set or tied 45 single-game, season, and career records. His career numbers include 10,119 passing yards (fifth on the SEC career list), 81 touchdown passes (third on the SEC career list), and a passer rating of 137.7.

Manning also led the Rebels to a 10-3 record and a 31-28 SBC Cotton Bowl victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in 2003. He was invited to play in the 2004 Senior Bowl, but chose not to play.

Shohreh Aghdashloo - Emmy Awards 2009

2009-09-21T03:38:00.000-07:00

Shohreh Aghdashloo proudly holds up her Emmy statue for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for House of Saddam at the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday (September 20) in Los Angeles.

The 57-year-old Iranian actress wore a gorgeous floor-grazing Lorena Sarbu gown, Cartier jewels, Stuart Weitzman shoes and Swarovski clutch. She also wore a green wristband in support of the “Green Movement” - Iran’s fight for democracy!

Congrats, Shohreh!!!

Twisted History

2009-09-21T03:14:00.000-07:00

Making fun of history has been a good gig for quite a while. I grew up reading Richard Armour’s fractured retellings of history-book standards, such as It All Started with Columbus, and of course Mad Magazine was a reliable source of misinformation. (The Marx/Marx Brothers and Lenin/Lennon confusion lingered for an embarrassingly long time, thanks to them.) And then there is Blackadder, a show whose humor content scales directly with the viewer’s knowledge of British history.

Mock history has proven to be a fertile vein on the web as well. It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t love Kate Beaton’s Hark, A Vagrant. Reading her irreverent takes on historical topics is sort of like sitting in the back of class drawing moustaches on the Founding Fathers.

Beaton’s comics are pretty minimalist. Her style is deliberately loose, each comic is a single-page gag, and the gags reliably turn popular concepts of history on their head, mostly showing iconic figures acting in ignoble (but funny!) ways. Her brand of humor, of course, depends on the reader understanding the setup instantly, so she generally sticks with recognizable characters (although we south-of-the-border types appreciate her explanatory notes on Canadian history).

Not so with Sydney Padua; the title characters in her loose series of comics, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, are not household names in most homes. Ada Lovelace was the daughter of the poet Byron and is regarded by historians as the first computer programmer; Charles Babbage designed, but never built, the first programmable computer. Both lived in Victorian times and were quirky but somewhat less exciting than Padua makes them seem in her action-packed steampunk comic.

In Padua's fevered imagination, the pipe-smoking Ada and rather more diffident Charles do build a Difference Machine, a steampunk version of a computer, and they use it to resolve the financial crisis of 1837 and impress Queen Victoria. The comics are funny in an escalating-chaos kind of way with some computer humor on the side that most peopel will get, and Padua’s confident style works well with her complicated subject matter. One of the things I like the best about this comic, though, is her extensive historical notes and her delight in finding new and odd facts about Babbage and Lovelace (who certainly do offer plenty of scope for that sort of thing). I do wish that she would take all this a bit more seriously as a webcomic and introduce such modern conveniences as a “next” button, but I guess I’m happy that someone is doing this at all.

Dylan Meconis’s Bite Me is a vampire comedy set in the French Revolution. I’m already on record as being a fan of Meconis’s more serious historical comic Family Man. Bite Me, is an earlier comic, and although some characters overlap, the feel is totally different—it’s a comedy drawn in a loose, comic-book style. Think rollicking, bawdy 18th-century humor, with vampires thrown in. The story is pretty straightforward: Claire, a serving wench in a French inn, takes a liking to Lucien, a mysterious visitor who sleeps all day—in the wine cellar. When Lucien’s desire for a snack overtakes him, he brings Claire over to the dark side and she leaves her dead-end job to help Lucien and the abrasive Ginevra free their vampire castle from a rapacious noble. The story moves slowly at first, but Meconis tosses in plenty of gags and side trips to keep the readers entertained. The humor is witty and knowingly anachronistic, and like most real historical figures, Meconis’s vivid characters are more interested in their own preoccupations than in the events swirling around them.

Each of these comics is a nudge to the ribs of the educated reader. They puncture the iconic images we were presented with in school, reimagining historical figures as actual human beings and acknowledging that we look back at the past with modern eyes, and therefore with imperfect understanding. At the same time, all three cartoonists clearly enjoy researching their topics and turning up odd bits of historical trivia. That affection for their subject matter, I think, is what sets these comics above your standard gag comic—when you're done laughing, you know a little bit more than you did before, which is more than I can say about any history class I ever took.

First recorded instance of "It's not a bug, it's a feature."

Biggest Emmy surprises: Ken Howard, Cherry Jones and . . . ?

2009-09-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

The two biggest Emmy Award upsets of the night came in supporting categories. No pundit on the planet picked Ken Howard for his featherweight role as the tycoon who ditches Jessica Lange in "Grey Gardens." He beat big grandstanding performances by "Little Dorrit" stars Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis. Makes me wonder if the voters in this category actually watched all eight hours of "Dorrit." Easily, Courtenay gave the best dramatic performance in this race, but his big scenes came near the end of the mini.

I'm glad "Dorrit" won best mini. I'm a sucker for Charles Dickens adaptations, but I had suspected that most Emmy voters wouldn't watch it so therefore would be tempted to pick "Generation Kill" instead because of its political relevance, being about U.S. combat in Iraq. Maybe voters in this category actually watched "Dorrit" because there were only two nominees in this race — instead of five like supporting actor. There are different judges deciding each category.

Cherry Jones wasn't expected to win supporting drama series actress as for her role as the U.S. president in "24," but her victory is sweet kudos recompense considering the poor dear recently lost out on an Oscar nomination when Meryl Streep stole her role in "Doubt," which earned Jones a Tony when she performed the role on Broadway. But how the heck did Jones beat both Rose Byrne ("Damages") and last year's champ (and double Oscar winner), Dianne Wiest ("In Treatment")?

Jon Cryer's win was a bit of a surprise, but we knew he was in the running. He submitted a good episode of "Two and a Half Men" to Emmy judges, and his silly, slapstick character is in the tradition of past wins by David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier") as a put-upon TV brother.

Ian McKellan ("King Lear") was picked by most pundits to win lead actor in a TV movie/miniseries, but the victory by Brendan Gleeson ("Into the Storm") makes sense considering Albert Finney ("The Gathering Storm") won this category in 2002 for taking on the same role as Winston Churchill during World War II. Over the last 20 years, most winners here portrayed real-life people.

Most pundits were picking Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad") to win supporting drama actor, but we all had Michael Emerson ("Lost") in second place. Paul probably lost because voters held his character's backstory (he peddles drugs to kids) against him.

No, no, Kristin Chenoweth's victory for "Pushing Daisies" isn't a surprise. I had predicted she'd win.

Obviously, voters are Oscar snobs too. Two-time champ Jessica Lange won for lead actress for a TV role in "Grey Gardens" for a role that most of us defined as supporting. Thus, many of us predicted that Sigourney Weaver ("Prayers for Bobby") would win instead, but we're not surprised by Lange's win. Because we know how Emmy voters think.

'Little Dorrit' comes up big

2009-09-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

It was the little engine that could.

After staying off the radar with little marketing push, the BBC/PBS production of "Little Dorrit" surprisingly became the most honored program of the night with seven Emmys, including best miniseries.

It was a come-from-behind win. At the nomination stage, "Dorrit" was tied with its competitor in the best miniseries category, HBO's "Generation Kill," for sixth place, behind such heavy hitters as series "30 Rock," "Mad Men" and movies "Grey Gardens" and "Into the Storm." But in the end, the Charles Dickens adaptation squeaked past the dominant player in the longform space, HBO. The cabler's "Gardens" was second in the program tally with six Emmys.

"This is a fantastic win that Dickens would be proud of," said BBC Worldwide exec vp programming and production Jane Tranter, who commissioned the mini at the BBC. "If he was around today, he would undoubtedly be writing for television."

Eli Manning Wife is his sweetheart Abby McGrew

2009-09-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Sept 21, 2009: Eli Manning Wife is his sweetheart Abby McGrew. Eli Manning’s marriage with his long time sweetheart is making waves across the nation. The two were dating for years.Eighty eight year old Elisha Nelson Manning a renowned American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of Peyton Manning and Cooper Manning and the son of Archie Manning and Olivia Manning.

He played college football at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) after attending prep school at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.

He was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, but immediately traded to the New York Giants, who traded 4th overall pick Phillip Rivers. Manning won the most valuable player award in Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008.

Prior to deciding which college to attend, Manning received a call from David Cutcliffe, formerly the offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.

Cutcliffe had been hired as the head coach at Ole Miss and had previously helped Eli's older brother Peyton improve his game. Upon learning Cutcliffe was now in charge of the Rebel program, the 18-year-old followed his father’s footsteps, and made his way to Oxford, Mississippi.

During his football career at Ole Miss, Eli set or tied 45 single-game, season, and career records. His career numbers include 10,119 passing yards (fifth on the SEC career list), 81 touchdown passes (third on the SEC career list), and a passer rating of 137.7.

Manning also led the Rebels to a 10-3 record and a 31-28 SBC Cotton Bowl victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in 2003. He was invited to play in the 2004 Senior Bowl, but chose not to play.

'30 Rock,' 'Mad Men' winners again

2009-09-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Emmys kept up their tradition of few surprises last night as NBC's 30 Rock was named best comedy for the third consecutive year at the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and AMC's stylish Mad Men took down its second straight best-drama Emmy.
Including Emmys presented at last weekend's so-called creative arts awards ceremony, PBS's Little Dorrit and HBO's Grey Gardens tied for most Emmys: seven. And, as usual, HBO led the Emmy parade with 21. NBC was second with 16; ABC had 11; Fox, 10; CBS, 9.

Not a lot of suspense with the best-comedy award, as a confused Bob Newhart gave away the winner at the beginning of his rambling comments, confirming it as he looked at an already-opened envelope at the end.

Referring to NBC's new five-night-a-week Jay Leno Show, 30 Rock star and executive producer Tina Fey thanked the folks at NBC for "keeping us on the air even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show."

For the second consecutive year, Glenn Close got the Emmy for best actress in a drama for FX's riveting Damages, where she plays cutthroat lawyer Patty Hewes. Bryan Cranston, the desperate, dying drug dealer in AMC's Breaking Bad kept up, grabbing his second best-dramatic-actor award.

Even though she won a creative-arts award for her Sarah Palin impressions on Saturday Night Live, Fey did not win as best comedy actress for 30 Rock. The audience was shocked - "Whoa!" said presenter Justin Timberlake - when Toni Collette, spectacular as the star of Showtime's United States of Tara, took the Emmy for her role as a woman with multiple personalities.

Alec Baldwin, Fey's 30 Rock costar, made up for Fey's failure, winning as best actor in a comedy for the second straight year.

Michael Emerson took home his second Emmy as best supporting actor in a drama as the enigmatic Ben Linus, arguably the center of ABC's Lost despite his category designation. "One day I flew to Hawaii to do a guest spot," he said, "and it has become the role of a lifetime."

Cherry Jones, who played the latest U.S. president on Fox's 24, was named best supporting actress in a drama.

Little Kristin Chenoweth seemed to break down in tears as she took the traditional first Emmy, for best supporting actress in a comedy, as the lovelorn waitress in ABC's dear, departed Pushing Daisies.

Jon Cryer won the supporting actor prize in the category, after four nominations for CBS's Two and a Half Men.

The Daily Show continued its string, nabbing its seventh straight best music, variety or comedy show Emmy. And The Amazing Race kept pace, winning its seventh consecutive Emmy as best competition reality show. Do you still wonder why so many people don't bother to tune in?

Named best reality show host, Jeff Probst, so much more to Survivor than just a host, said he was living his dream. "The adventure you're ready for is the one you get," he said, quoting Joseph Campbell. "Life is short. Go for it."

PBS's delectable Little Dorrit was named best mini-series and earned two more awards, best director (Irishwoman Dearbhla Walsh) and writer (Andrew Davies, master Dickens adapter).

HBO cleaned up, as usual, in the realm of TV movies, grabbing five Emmys. Grey Gardens, about recluse mother and daughter Big and Little Edie Beale, was named best one. Jessica Lange, rightfully, beat out her co-star, Drew Barrymore, as best actress. Brendan Gleeson was named best actor for Into the Storm. He only played Winston Churchill.

Iranian-born Shohreh Aghdashloo was named best supporting actress in a movie or mini-series for HBO's House of Sadam. Best supporting actor in the category: Grey Gardens' Ken Howard. "I'll make my speech as brief as possible in the hopes that it won't be interrupted by a congressman or a rapper," he quipped.

Emmy made things a little more fun this year by shaking up the order of the awards, handing out all the prizes in one genre before moving to the next: Comedy, reality (weren't those clips inspiring?), movies and mini-series, variety, drama. Best drama and comedy series were held till the end, and who could stand the suspense?

Neil Patrick Harris, from CBS's How I Met Your Mother, a Broadway star who brought panache and fun to this year's Tony Awards, emceed in a white dinner jacket, just two days under the traditional end-of-summer deadline.

The usual remembrance of stars passed in the previous year dripped with class as executive producer Don Mischer got Sarah McLaughlin to sing "I Will Remember You," and clips of the departed flashed, including: Walter Cronklite, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Patrick McGoohan, Eartha Kitt, Van Johnson, Ron Silver, Bea Arthur, Karl Malden, Dom DeLuise, David Carradine, Ricardo Montalban, Ed McMahon.

It was Emmy's second year at downtown L.A.'s 2,200-seat Nokia Theater, in a neighborhood where the city is trying to establish an attractive entertainment complex, after a long run at the cavernous Shrine Auditorium, about a mile away.

Blake Lively Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl gave out the award for best director of a comedy to Jeff Blitz of NBC's The Office. It was as close as the CW got to an Emmy.

Cherry Jones wins Emmy for her role as 24's President Allison Taylor

2009-09-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Cherry Jones is known for her role as President Allison Taylor on the Fox series 24, for which she won an Emmy.

Jones has done extensive stage work, including her Tony-winning lead performances in Lincoln Center's 1995 production of The Heiress and John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt, a role which earned her the 2005 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play.

Cherry Jones is considered to be one of the foremost theater actresses in the United States. She also narrated the audiobook adaptations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series including, "Little House in the Big Woods", "Little House on the Prairie" , "Farmer Boy","On the Banks of Plum Creek" , "By the Shores of Silver Lake" , "The Long Winter" and "Little Town on the Prairie"

In the film industry Jones has played mostly supporting roles. Her screen credits include Cradle Will Rock, The Perfect Storm, Ocean's Twelve, Signs, and The Village.

Jones role of President Allison Taylor on the seventh season of the Fox series 24 is one of which she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Jones will reprise her role as President Allison Taylor during the 2010 season, currently in planning stages.

BBC drama Little Dorrit sweeps the Emmy awards

2009-09-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

The BBC's Dickensian adaptation Little Dorrit has outshone the best of US broadcasting to pick up seven Emmy awards, beating the advertising drama Mad Men and the sitcom 30 Rock to win more gongs than any other television series.

Little Dorrit, starring Matthew Macfadyen, Pam Ferris and Sir Tom Courtenay, was the surprise star of a glitzy show at Hollywood's Nokia Theatre, named as best mini-series and snapping up a brace of awards including outstanding writing, directing, art direction, costumes and cinematography.

Regarded as a neglected Charles Dickens work, Little Dorrit aired last year in Britain, recounting the changing fortunes of the Dorrit family, who emerge from Marshelsea prison for debtors to discover that they are heirs to a great deal of money. Executive producer Anne Pivcevic said: "We're thrilled that Little Dorrit has gone down so well this side of the Atlantic."

The costume drama's victories were not the BBC's only successes. The broadcaster won an Emmy for its Iraq war drama House of Saddam, which was a co-production with HBO, while the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson took home an Emmy as best lead actor in a miniseries for his role as Winston Churchill in Into The Storm.

In an emotional speech, Gleeson thanked Into The Storm's producers for allowing his mother to see a first cut of his performance before her recent death: "It meant a huge amount to me."

The BBC's awards were bright spots in a ceremony where many of the headline-grabbing top categories went to the same winners as last year.

The antics of an office full of chain-smoking 1960s advertising executives proved successful as Mad Men was named best drama for the second consecutive year, seeing off Hugh Laurie's portrayal as an eccentric doctor in House, the plane crash survivors of Lost and the polygamy chronicles of Big Love. Although critically acclaimed in the US, Mad Men has struggled to command an audience in Britain and has been tipped as a possible candidate for the axe as BBC4 cuts costs.

In the comedy stakes, 30 Rock, the sitcom starring Alec Baldwin as a spectacularly arrogant television executive, topped the charts with five Emmys, having chalked up a total of 30 nominations.

There were frequent references during the show to Kanye West's bizarre interruption of proceedings at last week's MTV Video Awards. Accepting an award for his role in the aristocratic drama Grey Gardens, actor Ken Howard also referenced President Obama's recent healthcare address to Congress: "I'll make my speech as brief as possible in the hope it won't be interrupted by a congressman or a rapper."

Other winners included Glenn Close for her role as a ruthless lawyer in the drama Damages and the Australian actress Toni Collette, who was rewarded for her performances as a housewife with an identity disorder in the comedy The United States of Tara.

American actress Kirsten Chenoweth provided the obligatory weepy speech as she struggled to articulate herself after winning an Emmy for Pushing Daisies. The Amazing Race was named best reality show and the satirical news program The Daily Show took an award as best variety program.

Presenting the Daily Show's award to host Jon Stewart, the comedian Ricky Gervais declared the audience to be a motley crowd.

"The thing about the Golden Globes and the Oscars is that they have film stars with their jaw lines and chiseled looks," said Gervais. "But in this room, I'm probably above average."

Live Updates: Giants 33, Dallas 31, final

2009-09-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

11:52 p.m. In a game that had multiple lead changes in the second half, it helps to have the ball last. The Giants benefited from more late-game heroics from Eli Manning, helping offset an awful performance from the run defense and a questionable effort from the backfield. Nevertheless, any win over a divisional opponent is meaningful, and this victory — elevated by the setting — is bigger than most. Some questions must be addressed, but enjoy this one.

11:48 p.m. This one is going to come down to Lawrence Tynes. The Giants have moved into Dallas territory — now at the 41 with 45 seconds to play — and will look to get another 10 to 15 yards before calling on its kicker. Update: The Giants complete two straight passes — to Manningham for eight on third and four, and to Smith for 12. This puts the Giants at the Dallas 21. With a timeout still remaining, Manning wisely takes a knee in the middle of the field, lining up Tynes with an easy 37-yard try. The kick is up and good, but won’t count: Wade Phillips called a timeout before the snap. Doesn’t matter for Tynes, who was able to line up his kick. After drifting left on his first try, his second kick splits the uprights, and the Giants beat the Cowboys, 33-31.

Andy: “Correction: story of the game is Eli Manning and that Giants passing attack.”

11:32 p.m. This is turning into a great game — kudos to Andy, who predicted this one to go to the wire earlier this evening. Dallas punched this one into the end zone to reclaim the lead, 31-30, with less than four minutes to play. As has been the case nearly all game, Dallas dominated the line of scrimmage. This latest drive was defined by a 35-yard rumble by Barber, who had a clear line to the end zone before suffering what looked like either a cramp or muscle pull that severely hampered his stride, allowing Bruce Johnson to track him down at the Giants’s seven. No matter: The next play was an inside draw to Felix Jones, who stormed into the end zone for the score. The Cowboys have 251 yards rushing on the day, 178 in the second half. Quite a dominating performance by the offensive line.

Andy: “Story of this game… Dallas rushing for the most yards in the franchise’s history since 1993. The front five has absolutely obliterated New York’s defensive line.”

11:25 p.m. The Giants add a field goal, pushing their lead to six. With less than eight minutes to play, it’s a 30-24 game. This try came from 36 yards out, a harder kick than the attempt Tynes missed earlier in the half. As Andy pointed out, Tynes does occasionally suffer a brain lapse; let’s hope he’s back on track. The drive was helped out by great field position: New York opened the drive at its own 42, and despite earning only 40 yards — 25 on the first play, a pass to Manningham — was able to double its lead. Big drive coming up for the Cowboys. Could they possibly lose their opening game in the new stadium?

11:16 p.m. Andy: “Anyone else sick of these super low budget Geico commercials?” They could be worse: Some of our readers from the Baltimore area may recall the famous Gebco (not a misprint) commercials, which featured, among other things, former Ravens tackle Jonathan Ogden dancing in a field, surrounded by scantily clad cheerleaders. A true classic of the insurance genre.

11:10 p.m. Touchdown, Giants! Manning hits a shockingly wide open Steve Smith for the go-ahead score, and it’s a 27-24 game. How could Dallas allow Smith to find such a hole? My only guess, having not yet seen a replay, is that Dallas had a player neglect his responsibility in a zone look; that would account for why there was no one with eight yards of Smith when he made the grab inside the five. As Andy astutely pointed out a moment ago, Manningham and Smith have been nothing short of superb. While Dallas’s receivers have not given Romo much help, this young duo has moved the chains, stretched the defense, and got into the end zone. No, I’ll follow Andy’s lead and fall short of proclaiming Smith and Manningham capable of completely replacing Plaxico, but they’ve played well, obviously.

11:02 p.m. Where Romo misread the defense on his play action pass, Manning threads the needle on the deep post. First, Romo. As mentioned, Dallas has been very successful on the ground; obviously, such success allows the offense to go with play action, potentially opening a deep third down field. However, the Giants did not bite on Romo’s play fake, and instead of having a receiver running deep over the middle field in single coverage, the Dallas receiver was blanketed underneath by the cornerback and over the top by Kenny Phillips. Romo put plenty of air under the ball — meaning his intended receiver could have, if there wasn’t a safety over the top, caught the ball in stride — but Philips was playing center field, and made an easy pick.

Now, Manning’s pass. The Giants went with a very similar look: play fake, step up in the pocket, deliver on the deep post. However, Dallas did not have a safety deep, and Manningham (yes, again) was able to get behind the coverage and make a tough grab. The former Michigan Wolverine is having a breakout game.

Andy: “This game has a classic feel to it. An epic ending just feels inevitable. Steve Smith and Mario Manningham are both over 100 yards receiving. That means we’re required to make a generic ‘guess they don’t miss Plaxico that much after all’ statement, right?”

10:52 p.m. Dallas retakes the lead thanks to, of all things, a touchdown run from its quarterback. Not that it was especially long, only three yards, but it obviously caught the Giants off guard.

Andy: “Gotta admit, Al Michaels made a compelling quick case for the N.F.L.’s return to Los Angeles.
New York’s defense doesn’t have a player more important than Justin Tuck. The loss of his versatility is enormous. GREAT play call by Jason Garrett on the quarterback draw. Arguably the smartest redhead in the game.”

Smarter than Washington long snapper Ethan Albright? Garrett called up all the right plays on this drive, which began at Dallas’s own 17. Of course, it helps to get 56 yards on the second play from scrimmage, as Dallas did from Felix Jones. That long run — which came off the left side — was followed by 25 yards on two carries by Marion Barber, and ended with Romo’s three-yard scamper. Still surprised by Dallas’s ability to control the line of scrimmage on offense. Any ideas as to how its offensive front has been so successful?

Jessica Lange in 'Grey Gardens': HBO's big

2009-09-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Jessica Lange won her first Emmy Sunday for her performance in HBO's movie "Grey Gardens," playing a fictionalized version of the real-life Edith Bouvier Beale.

The film is based on Albert and David Maysles' 1975 documentary about "Big Edie" and her daughter, "Little Edie," relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis who were discovered living in squalor on Long Island in the early 1970s. The documentary chronicles the conditions in which they lived and the heavily codepedent relationship between mother and daughter.

The HBO movie goes deeper into the the Beales' lives, using Little Edie's diaries to dramatize their earlier lives as members of Manhattan's high society and their gradual retreat from the world at their summer home in the Hamptons. In addition to Lange's victory, "Grey Gardens" won the Emmy for best made-for-TV movie, and Ken Howard won best supporting actor in a movie or miniseries. Drew Barrymore, who played Little Edie, and Jeanne Tripplehorn, who played Jackie, were also nominated.

The 60-year-old Lange has been nominated for Emmys twice in the past. She's also won two Oscars.

Here's a look at some scenes from "Grey Gardens" and the stars talking about inhabiting their characters.

The Sketchy History of Sketch Comedy Movies

2009-09-20T21:51:00.001-07:00

Monty Python's 1983 film "The Meaning of Life" effortlessly set the gold standard in sketch comedy movies -- which, for clarification, we'll define here as feature-length anthologies of stand-alone comic bits that don't serve to push along any overarching storyline. But while the Pythons' greatest film (gauntlet thrown down!) omitted a plot, their skits were still tied together by the most timeless of through lines: the trials of human life, presented in chapters like "The Miracle of Birth," "Middle Age" and "Death." Furthermore, 1971's "And Now For Something Completely Different," a re-filmed compilation of greatest hits from the first two pioneering seasons of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," is arguably the silver medalist of its kind, and good luck coming up with a third film that actually deserves the bronze.

The cold, hard truth is that sketch comedy movies are nearly impossible to pull off, and most are doomed to fail the test of time. Even with noteworthy players, such stuck-in-their-moment forgettables as 1976's "Tunnel Vision" (featuring John Candy, a pre-senatorial Al Franken and Ron Silver's screen debut), 1977's "American Raspberry" (with Harry Shearer, Warren Oates and Kinky Friedman) and 1980's "Loose Shoes" (Bill Murray, Buddy Hackett, and, strangely, Kinky Friedman again) are irrelevant to 2009 society's collective funny bone. Since snack-sized portions don't allow for deeply developed characterizations, sketch comedy's weapon of choice is usually pop-cultural satire -- which, at its most trenchant, shoves its whoopee cushion right up under the zeitgeist's ass.

The cold, hard truth is that sketch comedy movies are nearly impossible to pull off, and most are doomed to fail the test of time.

Five Rules for Great DVD Commentaries
The Five Worst Films Based on Comedy Sketches
However, this only works in the present tense, since cultural trends move to the fickle rhythms of American taste. "Tunnel Vision" and "American Raspberry" spoofed their era's TV programming (as did the more significant, if equally outmoded and tamely scatological "The Groove Tube," which introduced audiences to Chevy Chase in '74), and "Loose Shoes" played off movie trailers that have since evolved dramatically.

1977's "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (directed by John Landis, and written by the trio behind "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun") and its 1987 quasi-sequel "Amazon Women on the Moon" fare better, if only because their jokes about lowbrow multiplex product and '50s sci-fi camp were eccentric and occasionally clever enough to earn nostalgic followings. Even if they were prescient (and they weren't), the absurdities of genre conventions are hardly a dangerous or evergreen topic.

But are their failings really about banal thematic fodder? Hands down, what's still the most esoteric American sketch comedy movie to date is "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video," the late Michael O'Donoghue's bizarre, low-budget 1979 send-up of sensational shockumentaries like "Mondo Cane." Originally set to be broken up as a series of "Saturday Night Live" video segments, the studio execs dismissed it as too racy, but even as a feature, it's more of a cult curiosity than a rewatchable gut-buster. And if sex sold as often as the commercial chestnut dictated, it wouldn't matter that such naughtily suggestive, skin-baring '70s sketch comedies like "The Boob Tube," "If You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind!!!", "Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses?" and schlockmeister Herschell Gordon Lewis' little-known perversion "Miss Nymphet's Zap-In" were all painfully unfunny, too.

Since, technically, Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex* (*but were afraid to ask)" proves an exception to the rule (though it is a rare breed: an adaptation of a non-fiction book), perhaps we should be discussing the genre's largely unchanged form. It's easy to dismiss any omnibus film as inconsistent by its very nature, especially when there are multiple creative collaborators to spoil the proverbial broth. But when it comes to sketch comedy -- whose roots expand from American vaudeville, British music hall and the improv scene made popular by such troupes as Second City and the Groundlings -- it really comes down to whether it makes us laugh or not, right?

Not quite. As even a well-regarded "SNL" classic illustrates, there's frontloaded A-material and there's plenty of crap sketches that run in the final minutes after the Nielsen ratings have been safely recorded. Extended to a feature format, sketch comedy has only one "episode" to nail it and a lot more screen time to fill. Even if we all had mutually agreeable tastes and senses of humor, it's their patchwork structure that interrupts the momentum of what can keep us enthralled for an hour-and-a-half at a time.

Segues between skits are often perfunctory (David Wain's 2007 "The Ten," based on the Ten Commandments, comes to a dead halt whenever Paul Rudd addresses the camera between scenes), and when there's little to build upon with the start-and-stop of each new sketch, these movies are only as good as their worst bits. We're not far past 2008's "The Onion Movie," probably the most recent comic anthology of this very rigid configuration, and even with its modern takes on race, politics and corporate tyranny, it's still as toe-curlingly awful as its long-buried ancestors.

College Football Scores for 2009 Have More Surprises in Week 3

2009-09-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

College football scores for 2009 week 3 featured a lot of tests at the top. College football scores in 2009 haven't been safe for top teams, and yesterday's college football scores were no
College Football Scores for 2009 Have More Surprises in Week 3 different. At least one powerhouse fell, while an upstart was destroyed, and the top two college football teams were severely tested. The 2009 college football scores are beginning to look a little more topsy-turvy, as the early part of the season ends and conference play nears.

The college football scores for 2009 were highlight by some upsets in the first two weeks. For week 3, the trend continued, and was led this time by USC's shocking loss at Washington. The Trojans went from being a solid third in the polls to being nearly out of the BCS race altogether, by losing to a team that went 0-12 last year. But the 16-13 score in favor of the Huskies signaled that this isn't last year's Washington.

2009 college football scores this week also had scares in Florida and Texas. The Gators were tested more than they ever expected from the Tennessee Volunteers, but Florida was still in control through much of the game. Nevertheless, the 23-13 score was the Gators first true test against real competition this season.

The college football scores for 2008 were highlighted by the classic Texas-Texas Tech showdown last season. For 2009, the Red Raiders didn't have the same magic, but they didn't go down easily against the Longhorns. Texas and Texas Tech took a while to light up the scoreboard, but when they did, the Longhorns pulled away to a 34-24 win.

The team that pulled off the first shocking 2009 college football score, BYU, was on the losing end of a surprise this week. Florida State, after losing to Miami and nearly getting shocked by Jacksonville State, utterly destroyed BYU on the road, 54-28. Now all talk of BYU being a possible BCS title contender is gone - and with Utah's loss to Oregon, Boise State and TCU are the last mid-major BCS threats left.

botanical vitality

2009-09-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Belly Dance The Carrboro Recreation and Parks Department will present the Khahari Belly Dance Collaborative today at 3 p.m. in the Carrboro Branch Library inside McDougle Middle School, 900 Old Fayetteville Road. Free. 918-7364.

Field of Dreams

2009-09-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

Benefits for Juma Ventures. $75-$200; $500 family. 11 a.m. today. AT&T Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, S.F. www.juma.org

UFC 103 Video: Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin, 1 Day Before

2009-09-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

The latest UFC 103 video blog previews the Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort fight by giving us an inside look at how Belfort spent his last day before the fight.Among the highlights:
-- Belfort looked very relaxed in his hotel room prior to the weigh-in, lounging around and gently kicking the air to keep his legs loose.
-- Belfort had to lose an extra quarter pound after coming in at 196.25 pounds at the weigh-in, but he didn't look overly drained from the weight cut when it was all said and done.
-- UFC President Dana White implored the fighters to give the fans a good show, told them that they'd get $65,000 for Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night or Submission of the Night and reminded them that it was possible to get a double bonus of $130,000 for both the best fight and the best submission or knockout

Blue Ribbon Season

2009-09-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Fairs, food, art, theater and more — your guide to fall 2009 prize-worthy arts and entertainment
By Hippo Staff letters@hippopress.com

From livestock competitions to art walks, fall is jam packed with events.

Consider yourself a foodie? Lobster, chili and Oktoberfests are on the menu. Always in the front row of the theater? Check out the big musicals like Cats and Chicago or the edgier productions like The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later. Looking for stuff to do with the family? Festivals celebrating the change of season fill the calendar and the agricultural and county fairs offer a chance for your kids to see farm animals without having to visit the farm. And the Tupelo, Music Hall and Capitol Center for the Arts have a full section of music, comedy and more.

Feeling a little sad over the end of summer? Don’t retreat to the barn for the season. Here are all the events that will have you psyched about fall.

Art
Take in the works of many artists at once at these events:

• Find work from about 30 artists and artisans at the Concord Arts Market, in Eagle Square near North Main Street Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from Sept. 12 through Oct. 31 this fall (www.concordartsmarket.com).

• Take a free trolley between galleries, studios and museums during Open Doors Manchester, a quarterly downtown event going on Thursdays, Sept. 17 and Nov. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. Framers Market (1301 Elm St., 668-6989), Art 3 Gallery (44 W. Brook St., Manchester, 668-6650, www.art3gallery.com); Manchester Artists Association’s Gallery (1528 Elm St., Manchester, 785-6437, manchester-artists.org); The Art on the Wall at City Hall Gallery in Manchester’s City Hall (1 City Hall Plaza, 624-6455); creative tenants in Langer Place (55 South Commercial St., www.langerplace.com), including East Colony Fine Arts (624-8833, www.eastcolony.com) and Hatfield Gallery (627-7560, www.hatfieldart.com); majestictheatre.net/opendoors.php.

• The Craftworkers’ Guild Harvest Fair is Oct. 2-11, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with crafts from 50 juried regional artisans with selections changing daily at Kendall House, (behind the Bedford Library, 5 Meetinghouse Road, Bedford, 472-8109).

• Galleries around Portsmouth hold receptions during the monthly “Art ’Round Town.” The next is Friday, Oct. 2, 5-8 p.m. Visit artroundtown.org for participating venues, which often includes the New Hampshire Art Association’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St., 431-4230, www.nhartassociation.org). An NHAA juried exhibit, “The Evolution of Photography,” their 30th annual Parfitt Exhibition, runs through Sept. 25.

• Art Walk Nashua now happens once a year, for two days, and provides a tour of galleries, studios and other venues downtown and in Nashua’s millyard. It’s Saturday, Oct. 3, noon-6 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 4, noon-4 p.m. A map is at www.cityartsnashua.org. Previous Art Walks have included Gallery One, the Nashua Area Artists Association gallery space (5 Pine St. Extension, 883-0603, www.naaasite.org); Maison de L’Art (57 East Pearl St., 879-9888, www.moniquesakellarios.com); the Image Gallery at the Nashua Library (2 Court St., www.nashualibrary.org, 589-4610); and several tenants in the Picker Building (99 Factory St. Extension, thepickerbuilding.wordpress.com) including Out on a Limb Pottery Studio (882-8180); Renaissance Glassworks (www.renaissanceglass.com), Art Clay Studios (www.artclaystudio.com); A.W. Emboss; River Art Studio (www.riverartstudios.com); Chimera Gallery (www.chimeragallery.net); Ceasar Fine Art (www.ceaserphotography.com); Sara Prindiville Photography (www.saraprindiville.com) and Warm Stone Studio (www.warmstonestudio.com).

• Visit various show openings during the Art Concord gallery walks Saturday, Oct. 10, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and Thursday, Dec. 3, 5-8 p.m. (concordnhchamber.com, 224-2508). Participating venues may include Cole Gardens (430 Loudon Road); Franklin Pierce Law Center Gallery (2 White St.); Kimball Jenkins School of Art (266 North Main St., 255-3932, www.kimballjenkins.com), which hosts a Wine Tasting Celebration benefit for the school Oct. 1, 5-7 p.m. ($35); League of NH Craftsmen (205 North Main St., 224-3375, www.nhcrafts.org); Mill Brook Gallery and Sculpture Garden (236 Hopkinton Road, 226-2046. www.themillbrookgallery.com), which hosts an outdoor sculpture exhibit through Oct. 18; NHTI-Concord’s Community College (31 Institute Drive, 271-7186, www.nhti.edu/library); Red River Theatres (11 South Main St., 224-4600, www.redrivertheatres.org); Sulloway Gallery (19 School St.), and Verdigris Artisans (88 N. Main St., Suite 205, www.verdigrisartisans.com).

• “ART in ACTION” is Oct. 10-11, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., in Londonderry, where artists will be demonstrating in locations including Grange Hall No. 44, at 260 Mammoth Road, and White Birch Fine Art. Nutfield Sessions musicians perform at the Grange Hall on both days 1 to 3 p.m. Visit www.LondonderryCulture.org or call 434-0399.

• The Hollis Fine Art Festival usually features about 80 artists, who work in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, graphics and photography, Oct. 17-Oct. 18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Nichols Field on Depot Road in Hollis. Contact Steve Previte at slpaint@charter.net.

• The Deerfield Arts Tour Oct. 17-18, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., is a self-guided tour of studios of more than 15 artists and artisans. Visit www.deerfieldartstour.com or a local business for a map.

• While headquartered in Concord, League of NH Craftsmen members statewide are participating in NH Open Doors, Nov. 7 and 8 during Veterans Day weekend. Find a map at www.nhopendoors.com.

• The new Crafts at the Capitol features fine art and craft from more than 20 artists Sat., Nov. 21, and Sun., Nov. 22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 South Main St., Concord).

Check out these exhibits now:
• Birds of A Feather – The French Connection, an exhibit of photo and oils created by Lloyd Behrendt, is at the Beliveau Gallery in the Franco-American Centre (52 Concord St., 669-4045, www.francoamericancentrenh.com).

• The New Hampshire Institute of Art faculty exhibit is in their main building and French Building galleries (77 Amherst St. and 148 Concord St., Manchester, 836-2573, nhia.edu) through Oct. 2. Their Art Ex Libris - Artists Book Extravaganza is in their Fuller Hall and Vault Gallery in October with an opening Thursday, Oct. 7, 5-7 p.m. Other events there include an “FBI Art Theft Program” presentation Sept. 17, 5:30- 7 p.m. See drawings by Jerome Witkin Oct. 7-Nov. 6 with a reception Oct. 7, 5-7 p.m., Contemporary American Ceramics Oct. 7-Nov. 6 (reception Oct. 14, 5-7 p.m.), with their Biennial 2009 Nov. 9-Dec. 4, with a reception Nov. 18, 5-7 p.m., or Cape Breton: A Visual Diary, by Gary Samson Nov. 9–Dec. 4, with a reception Nov. 18, 5–7 p.m. Other presentations are from Jerome Witkin on Oct. 28, 5:30-7 p.m.; Gary Kelley on Nov. 5, 5:30-7 p.m.; and Paint Caesar Dead on Nov. 19, 5:30-7 p.m.

• UMass-Lowell assistant professor Jim Jeffers’s intermedia exhibit, “Genii Loci (Ghosts of Protection),” runs through Sept. 25 at the University Gallery at UMass-Lowell, 71 Wilder St., Lowell, Mass. (978-934-3491, www.uml.edu/Dept/Art/galleries). “Lauren Kalman, Blooms, Efflorescences and other Dermatological Embellishments, Installation of Photographs and Objects” is Oct. 5–30, with a reception Oct. 7, 3–5 p.m. Exhibits rotate mainly monthly.

• Watercolors by New Hampshire artists Bill Childs, Becky Darling, Ethel Hills and Fran Mallon at UNH Manchester (400 Commercial St., 641-4306, www.unhm.unh.edu) this semester, with a reception Sept. 17, 5-6 p.m.

• New Hampshire Furniture Masters, their 14th annual auction is Sunday, Sept. 20, with a gala reception and silent auction of smaller works at 6 p.m., and a live auction at 7:30 p.m., at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St., Manchester) Tickets cost $75 in advance and $82.50 at the door (www.furnituremasters.org, 898-0242). View the auction pieces at the Currier and see lectures and demonstrations from the Masters starting Sept. 18. See a free preview exhibit of the work at New Hampshire Historical Society Library (30 Park St., Concord, 228-6688, www.nhhistory.org) through Sept. 16.

Put these exhibits on the calendar (some future exhibits are also listed with exhibits and receptions going on this weekend):

• The Alva deMars Megan Chapel Art Center hosts “A Figural Presence” Sept. 24-Nov. 25 (100 Saint Anselm Drive, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, 641-7470, www.anselm.edu/chapelart). An opening reception is Thursday, Sept. 24, 4 – 7 p.m. Related events include four panel discussions, a talk from “Visiting Artist: Michael Bergt, Painter and Sculptor” Thursday, Oct. 1, noon-3 p.m.; “Premiere Performance: Sonata No. 5 by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee and George Lopez, piano,” Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m.; and “The Night of the Poet F.D. Reeve, Poet, Novelist, and Critic” Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. (Gallery closed Oct. 10-13)

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester, www.currier.org, 669-6144, closed Tuesdays), along with exhibiting American and European works, is featuring a “Spotlight New England” series exhibit of sculpture, paintings and drawings by New Hampshire-based artists Gary Haven Smith and Gerald Auten through Sept. 13 and special exhibit “Turning Wood Into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection” through Sept. 27. “Evolution of a Shared Vision: The David and Barbara Stahl Collection,” is Sept. 26–Jan. 3, 2010, and features prints and drawings collected over 50 years by these New Hampshire residents. “Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow” is Oct. 10–Jan. 3, 2010, with work by the 20th-century photographer organized by the Phillips Collection. Guided gallery tours are included with admission, such as “Focus Tour – Art and Poetry: The Longevity Tour,” Fri., Sept. 25, at noon, and Sun., Sept. 27, at 3 p.m. Call or see the Web site for others.

The Currier also runs tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Zimmerman House Call 669-6144, ext. 108 for schedule and tickets or visit currier.org. “Zimmerman House Focus Tour – Why Does the Music Sound So Good? An Engineer’s Point of View on Acoustics” is Sunday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m.

• The Beaver Brook “Designs of Nature” art show is Sept. 26-27 and Oct. 2-4, noon-5 p.m., at Beaver Brook Association (117 Ridge Road, Hollis, 465-7787, www.beaverbrook.org).

• The McIninch Art Gallery at Southern New Hampshire University (2500 N. River Road, Manchester, /www.snhu.edu/908.asp, 629-4622) opens “Visage: Portraits by Chris Bartlett and Daniel Heyman” Sept. 24 to Oct. 24 (Closed Oct. 12) with a reception Thursday, Sept. 30, 5-7 p.m. with music from a SNHU student ensemble. “Notes from the Field: Learning Through Service” is Nov. 5 - Dec. 12
(closed Nov. 22-28) with a reception Thursday, Nov. 5, 5-7 p.m.

• Along with classes, Sharon Arts Center (30 Grove St., Peterborough, 924-2787, www.sharonarts.org) holds exhibits. “Heaven and Earth,” multimedia art by Humberto Ramirez of Chile (www.humbertoramirez.net), is there through Oct. 31. “Painting Now: From Periphery to Proliferation,” artists’ forum with Ramirez is Friday, Oct. 2, 5-7 p.m. “Storytime in the Gallery (for Families) is Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 10:30 a.m. The Sharon Arts Downtown Galleries in Depot Square, Peterborough, feature artists monthly (924-2787, sharonarts.org).

Books
Here are some of the places hosting bookish events open to the public this fall. Events are free unless otherwise noted.

• The seventh annual Nashua Reads: One City, One Book program is reading Skeletons at the Feast, by Chris Bohjalian, who will speak about how he wrote the book and will take audience questions on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. at the Rivier College Dion Center. Copies of his books will be available for purchase and signing. A private wine-and-cheese reception with the author, limited to 50 people, will be held before the presentation at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for the presentation and book signing. Attendance at the private reception, which supports the work of the Friends of the Library, costs $25 and includes admission to the presentation and signing. Tickets are available (cash or check only) at NPL; also see order form at the library’s Web site, www.nashua.lib.nh.us.

• The eighth annual Concord Reads is focused on two books, one fiction — Pay it Forward, by Catherine Ryan Hyde — and one nonfiction — The Soloist, by Steve Lopez. There are book discussions scheduled for the fall as well as one showing of each film (both books were made into films) at Red River Theatres in Concord ($5), and several related lectures, programs and panel-audience discussions. See www.onconcord.com/Library for a schedule.

• Toadstool Bookshop in Milford (Lorden Plaza, Route 101A, 673-1734, toadbooks.com) has several author events scheduled, including Ethan Gilsdorf (Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks) on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 11 a.m.; John Clayton (Remembering Manchester) on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m.; Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (The Hidden Life of Deer) on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m.; Katrina Kenison (The Gift of an Ordinary Day) on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 2 p.m.; poet Martha Hall (My Side of the Street) on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 11 a.m.; and romance writers Roxanne Dent (American Heiress) and Gregory L. Norris (writing as Jo Atkinson, Twilight’s Edge) on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 2 p.m. The Toadstool shops in Peterborough and Keene also have many author visits scheduled; see the list online.

• The New Hampshire Humanities Council co-sponsors In Character, a series of living history portrayals at the Nashua Public Library theater. Richard A. Hesse brings Chief Justice John Marshall to life, circa 1835, on Monday, Sept. 14, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.; Abraham and Mary Lincoln are portrayed by Steve and Sharon Wood on Monday, Sept. 21, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and Gwedolyn Quezaire-Presulti portrays Sarah Harris, A Woman of Color struggling to reach her goal of opening a school for Africa-American children, on Mon., Sept. 28, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

• Gibson’s Bookstore (27 South Main St. in Concord, 224-0562, gibsonsbookstore.com) has several author visits lined up for the fall, including Katrina Kenison (The Gift of an Ordinary Day) on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m.; Howard Dean (Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform) on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 2 p.m.; Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (The Hidden Life of Deer) on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m.; Andre Dubus III (The House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days) on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m.; Archer Mayor (The Price of Malice) on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., and several children’s authors. See the full list online.

• Learn about Old and Rare Books with Ken Gloss, owner of Brattle Book Shop in Boston (brattlebookshop.com), the nation’s oldest continuously operated bookshop. He’ll give a talk on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 6:30 p.m. at Pembroke public library, 313 Pembroke St. in Pembroke. The public is invited to bring old books for a free verbal appraisal.

• Ponder the History of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with Gary Hildreth on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Milford Town Hall’s banquet hall (1 Union Square), sponsored by the Milford Historical Society.

• The American History Guys of BackStory Radio (backstoryradio.org) present a discussion of Star Quality: Celebrity in America at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Luncheon at the Capitol Center for the Arts on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 11:45 a.m. Cost is $30 including lunch; reserve tickets at concordnhchamber or call 224-2508 for info. Sponsored by NH Humanities Council.

• Time magazine columnist Joe Klein presents the Voices from the Stage lecture on Friday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. at Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord (44 S. Main St., 225-1111, ccanh.com). Klein is the author of Primary Colors; The Running Mate; The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton; and Politics Lost: How American Politics was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid. Ticket prices are $12.50, $30, $60.

• The Manchester City Library holds a big Book Sale at its main branch (405 Pine St., 624-6550) on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Pay $5 to fill one a library-provided bag with books. Then, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., another sale will offer uncommon books and other unique materials. Updates on plans for that sale will be posted at manchesterlibrary.org.

• Writers on a New England Stage returns for another season at The Music Hall in Portsmouth (28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, 436-2400, www.themusichall.org). The series features artists interviewed on stage, with an audience q&a session following. The season begins with a visit from E.L. Doctorow on Wed., Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m. Subsequent shows are Tracy Kidder on Mon., Oct. 19; Barbara Kingsolver on Tues., Nov. 3; Stephen King on Tues., Dec. 1; Greg Mortenson on Fri., Dec. 4, and Jodi Picoult on Wed., March 31, 2010. All shows are at 7:30 p.m. and cost $13 ($11 for Music Hall or NHPR members).

• The Fall 2009 Books in the Mill series at UNH at Manchester (400 Commercial St., Manchester, unhm.unh.edu) focuses on works by authors from around the world. Monthly book discussions are held in the library mezzanine conference room at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Oct. 1: Sarajevo Marlboro by Miljenko Jergovic. Nov. 5: The Circle of Karma, by Kunzang Chodhen. Dec. 10: Yoruba Girl Dancing, by Simi Bedford.

• Salman Rushdie will be the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Humanities Council’s 20th annual dinner gala Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire in Manchester. Tickets to the gala cost $100. See nhhc.org or call 224-4071.

• Area Barnes & Noble (bn.com) stores have some author events planned as well. In Manchester (1741 South Willow St., 668-5557), Elizabeth Marshall Thomas signs The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World, on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. In Portsmouth (Fox Run Crossings, 45 Gosling Road, Newington, 422-7733), Dennis Lehane signs The Given Day on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m.

• The Tucker Free Library Bookfest is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 10, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donations of books in saleable condition are being accepted at the library during regular business hours. No textbooks, encyclopedias, Reader’s Digest Condensed Books or magazines will be accepted. You may reserve a flea market space for $10 to sell your goods by calling the library (428-3471); payment must be received at time of reservation, space is limited .

• Marianne O’Connor presents a slide show of Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire on Tuesday, Oct, 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Nashua Historical Society, 5 Abbott St., Nashua, 883-0015. She’ll also be at the Barnes & Noble in Nashua (235 DW Highway, 888-0533) on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. to sign books.

• The New Hampshire Writers’ Project presents the 2009 New Hampshire Literary Awards Ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 14, hosted by New Hampshire Public Radio’s Virginia Prescott, at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. Awards are given for outstanding children’s literature, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, lifetime achievement, and poetry. See nhwritersproject.org.

• Steve and Sharon Wood perform Our National Thanksgiving, a first-person historical presentation in which Sarah Hale tells of her 30-year effort to have Thanksgiving made a national holiday, then President Lincoln reads the official proclamation, on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Nashua Historical Society, 5 Abbott St., Nashua, 883-0015.

• There’s plenty of poetry to be had in the area this fall. Hyla Brook Poets Workshops meet on the third Saturday of each month at 10 a.m.; meetings are at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry (122 Rockingham Road, Route 28) through September, then return to the Coffee Factory in Derry. The Poetry Society of New Hampshire meets regularly at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord; they’ll have a reading featuring Martha Donovan, followed by an open mike, on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. The Bridge Café in Manchester (1117 Elm St., 647-9991) hosts the Slam Free or Die open-mike poetry slam many Friday nights ($3 cover charge); for exact dates visit myspace.com/bridgepoetryopenmic. And the Stone Church (5 Granite St.) in Newmarket offers Zion Hill Poetry Readings, hosted by poets Beau Williams and Ari Cameron of Dover, on the second Tuesday of every month, with an open mike from 7 to 8 p.m. and a full bar and menu until 11 p.m.

Comedy
• The Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St. in Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com, will host Bob Marley (Oct. 3), Justin McKinney (Oct. 24), Loretta LaRoche (Oct. 30) and Paula Poundstone (Nov. 13). Justin McKinney will also be at the Music Hall in Portsmouth and the Colonial Theatre in Keene.

• Bill Cosby will perform two shows at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, 50 Merrimack St. in Lowell, Mass., www.lowellauditorium.com, on Saturday, Dec. 5.

• The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St. in Portsmouth, 436-2400, www.themusichall.org, will feature Justin McKinney (Sept. 12), The Second City (Sept. 25), Stephen Lynch (Nov. 13) and Chipper Lowell (Nov. 27-28; kids’ comedy & magic).

• The Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St. in Manchester, 668-5588, www.palacetheatre.org, will feature performances from Karen Morgan (Oct. 10), The News in Revue (Oct. 12), Lenny Clarke (Oct. 16) and Jimmy Dunn’s Comedy (Nov. 21).

• The Shaskeen, 909 Elm St. in Manchester, 625-0246, www.theshaskeen.com, hosts an open-mike comedy night on Wednesdays.

• The Tupelo Music Hall, 2 Young Road in Londonderry, tupelohall.com, 437-5100, will feature George Hamm, Joe Wong and Ryan Gartley for a night of comedy on Oct. 23.

Fairs & Festivals
• The Rochester Fair is at the Rochester Fairgrounds from Friday, Sept. 18, through Sunday, Sept. 27. General admission is $7 for adults weekdays and $8 for adults weekends; children under 10 years old free with an adult, seniors (over 60) $5. Tuesdays are kids’ days and admission between noon and 3 p.m. is $2. Wednesday is Rochester day and ticket prices are $4 all day. Parking costs $2 (except for cars with disabled plates). Call 332-6585 or see www.rochesterfair.com.

• The Auburn Town Fair is Saturday, Sept. 19, featuring a duck race, pony rides, face painting, clowns making balloon animals, live music, a barnyard petting zoo, hot air balloon rides, bounce houses and evening fireworks. Tickets cost $5.

• Litchfield’s 275th Anniversary celebration is Saturday, Sept. 19. The morning’s activities kick off with a parade, followed by historical programming and entertainment at notable town buildings such as the Aaron Cutler Memorial Library (269 Charles Bancroft Hwy), Litchfield Community Church Presbyterian, and the Old Meeting House, which currently is the home of the Litchfield Historical Society. The celebration moves to the elementary school grounds (229 Charles Bancroft Hwy) in the early afternoon, and will feature games, refreshments, music, demonstrations and much more. Visit litchfield-nh.gov.

• The Laconia Athletic & Swim Club (North Main Street, Laconia) hosts the WOW Festival (Winnipesauke-Opechee-Winnisquam) on Saturday, Sept. 19, with bicycle rides (a 67.2-mile ride around “The Big Lake” starts at 7:30 a.m. and costs $50; a 15-mile ride around Paugus Bay starts at 10 a.m. and costs $50), a fun walk (2.5 miles at 11:30 a.m.; $20), live music, barbecue, kids’ activities and more. The barbecue and activities only run from noon to 3 p.m. and costs $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under. Register at www.wowtrail.com.

• The Canterbury Shaker Village, 288 Shaker Road in Canterbury, shakers.org, will hold a variety of events this fall (including their schedule of cooking classes). Special events include the 23rd Annual Wood Day Festival on Sept. 26 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) featuring textile demonstrations, hands-on activities, a look at fiber producing animals and more, and an Antique Show on Sept. 27 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m).

• Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, Education and Cultural Center (18 Highland Road, Warner, 456-2600, www.indianmuseum.org) will hold its 18th annual Harvest Moon Festival on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with games, kids’ activities, craft demonstrations, entertainment and food. Grace’s Kitchen will sell lunch featuring popular Native foods. Admission costs $7 for adults, $4 for children ages 6 to 12 and $20 for a family (museum members receive discounts). A museum tour is included in the price of an admission.

• The 133rd Deerfield Fair, held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, runs from Thursday, Oct. 1, through Sunday, Oct. 4. General admission is $8 for adults, free for children under 12 years old. Seniors (over 60) are $5 on Thursday and Friday. Bracelet days are Friday and Sunday, offering unlimited rides for $20. Call the Derrfield Fair Association at 463-7421 or see www.deerfieldfair.com for a map and detailed schedule of events.

• Apple Harvest Day in Dover is Saturday, Oct. 3, hosted by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Dover. The day includes a pancake breakfast, music, dancers, carnival games and rides, a petting zoo, raffles, pony rides and an apple pie baking contest. On Friday, Oct. 2, there is an evening concert by Don Campbell Band. The Apple Harvest Day 5K Road Race begins Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. in downtown Dover on First Stree; registration costs $17 for adults, $12 for children 15 and under, and registration closes Wednesday, Sept. 30, at noon. Call 742-2218. See www.dovernh.org.

• The Warner Fall Foliage Festival is Columbus Day weekend, Friday, Oct. 9, through Sunday, Oct. 11. Enjoying autumn colors plus food, entertainment, carnival rides and fine crafts along the main streets of Warner. Visit wfff.org.

• Concord holds a “Scarecow on Main” contest on Main Street on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 11 a.m. The cost to enter is $5, due before Sept. 15. Build your own scarecrow with provided materials; awards will be given in different categories. See www.mainstreetconcord.com or call 226-2150.

• The Children’s Museum of NH (6 Washington St., Dover, 742-2002, www.childrens-museum.org) hosts a Not-So-Spooky Spectacular event Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including a bat cave from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; science experiences with the Wacky Scientist at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.; non-food trick-or-treating; costumes; face painting, and art projects. Admission costs $8 per person ($7 for seniors; free for museum members and children under age one).

• Bring the kids in costume to downtown Concord for the Halloween Howl on Friday, Oct. 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Statehouse plaza. There will be trick-or-treating, horse-drawn wagon rides (beginning and ending at the corner of Capitol and Main streets, $2 per person) and a costume parade (line up at 6 p.m.). Visit www.mainstreetconcord.com.

Food & Drink
Here are some of the groups hosting delicious events this fall.

• The Alphorn Bistro at the Inn at Danbury offers special meals throughout the season. Next up is the Oktoberfest beer dinner on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 5:30 p.m. The evening will feature five courses paired with beers. On Sunday, Oct. 25, the Inn will host a 6th Annual Oktoberfest Wine Dinner — five courses paired with wines. Holiday bakers can get a jump on cookie making at the 4th Annual German Cookie Making Classes, Nov. 22 through Dec. 13 (noon to 2 p.m., $25 per person). See www.innatdanbury.com.

• Keep an eye on the Bedford Village Inn, 2 Olde Bedford Road off Route 101 in Bedford, 472-2001, www.bedfordvillageinn.com, which regularly features special wine dinners (Thursday, Sept. 10, for example will feature a Sopranos Dinner featuring The Sopranos label Italian wines and Italian dishes as well as a chance to meet Vincent Pastore and John Ventimiglia, who played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero and Artie Bucco on The Sopranos). The Inn will have more details in the coming weeks about its holiday dinners. See the sample menu and reservation information for its Thanksgiving dinner (noon to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26) online.

• Area farmers’ markets usually run through mid-October. See the list weekly in Hippo’s food section or at www.nhfma.org.

• Great American Downtown (greatamericandowntown.org) will see Nashua’s two downtown farmers’ markets continue into October. The Friday market is in the School Street Parking Lot (see a map online) from 2 to 6 p.m. and runs until Oct. 30. The Main Street Bridge market is on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and runs through Oct. 18. (Nashua has a third farmers market on Tuesdays, 2 to 6 p.m., at 48 W. Hollis St.). Fall Feast Week, similar to the Spring Feast where restaurants offered special menus and deals, is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 23.

• IncrediBREW, 112 DW Hwy., Nashua, 891-2477, www.incredibrew.com, will give beer- and wine-lovers a chance to taste and make drinks that go with seasonal foods. Events on the schedule so-far include the Amber Alefest on Sept. 17, Oktoberfest (featuring the pretzels of German John from Hillsborough) on Oct. 7, Red Red Wine Fest on Sept. 18 and a night dedicated to Italian white wines on Sept. 23. Call to reserve a spot at events.

• The Quill is the new name for the restaurant run by Southern New Hampshire University’s culinary students. Head to the university (2500 N. River Road in Manchester) for lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays or dinner on Thursdays, starting Sept. 17. Dinner costs $25 per person for a multi-course meal to which you can BYO beer or wine. See the menu schedule at www.snhu.edu/restaurant.

• The Wine Society (18 Pondview Place in Tyngsboro, Mass., 978-649-8993; 650 Amherst St. #9 in Nashua, 883-4114; www.winesociety.us) has several upcoming events for your wine-tasting pleasure. Blind @ UnWine’d starts up again for the season on Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at UnWine’d, 865 Second St. in Manchester, www.unwined.net. The cost is $25; call 625-9463 to RSVP. The Connoisseur Workshop (a six-week session for wine lovers who want to advance their knowledge) starts Thursday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. The cost is $225 for the workshop ($200 for Society members), which is held at the Tyngsboro store. Call 883-4114 to RSVP. The Society will also start monthly book club meetings in September where a wine-related book will be discussed along with a tasting of related wines. The schedule of books includes The House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler on Sept. 17, Romancing the Vine by Alan Tardi on Oct. 8; Wine & War by Donald Kladstrup & Petie Kladstrup on Nov. 12. For more information and to RSVP, call 883-4114 or e-mail info@winesociety.us. And check with the society for regular tastings and flight nights.

Here are some more food events to keep your tummy full this fall.

• Glendi! The annual food festival at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 650 Hanover St. in Manchester, will run Friday, Sept. 18, through Sunday, Sept. 20. Come early to stock up on pastries or (and?) come for the dinner plate or the gyros. Admission is free but bring cash for the food.

• New Hampshire Fish & Lobster Festival in Portsmouth will run Saturday, Sept. 19, from noon to 4 p.m. in Prescott Park. The event will celebrate fishing in the state and offer a taste of fresh seafood prepared by local chefs. Admission will be free with seafood tasting for $3 per sample. See www.prescottpark.org.

• The Bow Community Men’s Club will hold its annual Lobst’a Fest on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Bow Community Building, 2 Knox Road in Bow. Tickets for a meal cost $22 and include a lobster, a bowl of fresh steamers, clam chowder, corn on the cob, gingerbread cake and lemonade. To purchase tickets, call Paul Hammond at 225-4225, Charlie Griswold at 228-9621, Dick Welch at 225-5862 or Kirk Hemphill at 731-8392. Purchase tickets on or before Sept. 24.

• The annual Empty Bowls event to benefit New Horizons for New Hampshire is Sunday, Sept. 27, at the Brookside Church, 2013 Elm St. in Manchester, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Guests choose and buy a bowl of soup for $20 (lower price for kids.) See www.newhorizonsfornh.org.

• Apple Harvest Day in Dover will be Saturday, Oct. 3, and hosted by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Dover. The day includes a pancake breakfast, music, dancers, carnival games and rides, a petting zoo, raffles, pony rides and an apple pie baking contest. 742-2218. See www.dovernh.org.

• Prescott Park Arts Festival will hold the New Hampshire Brew Fest 2009 on Oct. 3, noon to 3 p.m. or 5 to 8 p.m. (entrants must choose one session) at Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $35 on the day of the event. Sample a variety of brews and listen to live music. See www.brewnh.com.

• On Saturday, Oct. 10, at 11:30 a.m., it’s the WHEB Chili Cook-Off & Fall Festival at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth. The cost is $15 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under. Sample the chili of several area restaurants competing to have their chili named the best. See www.prescottpark.org.

• Oktoberfest: A Taste of Germany will be held at Rivier College in the Dion Center on Clement Street in Nashua, Oct. 10, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Enjoy German-style food paired with German beers and wines. Tickets cost $50 per person. Call 897-8521 or e-mail mbollinger@rivier.edu.

• Taste of Concord will be Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Grappone Conference Center. Area restaurants will give out samples of their best menu items, with proceeds to benefit the Boy & Girls Club. Plus, the night will feature the second annual Granite State Throw Down competition, when the Granite Restaurant and Bar competes against the Barley House to see who can one-up the other’s signature dish. Tickets are $30. Call 224-1061 or go to www.tasteofconcord.com.

• The 14th Annual New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair Nov. 13-15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. is at Rockingham Park Racetrack (79 Rockingham Park Blvd., Salem). Call 332-2616 or see www.castleberryfairs.com, $5 per adult, under 14 admitted free.

Music
Here’s a look at some of the nationally touring musicians headed to southern New Hampshire in the fall. Go online for complete schedules and ticket information. Look for musical performances at clubs, bars, coffee shops, restaurants and more in the Music This Week listing in Hippo’s Nite section.

• The Dana Center, Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester, www.anselm.edu/dana, will feature musical performances including The Gleason-Brown Quintet (Oct. 3), Chic Gamine & DeTemps Antan (Oct. 16), The Barra MacNeils (Dec. 4), DecemberSong (Dec. 5) and Ying Quartet (Dec. 8).

• The Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St. in Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com, will host the Indigo Girls (Oct. 4), Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Oct. 9), Brian Wilson (Nov. 3) and Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson (Oct. 23).

• Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St. in Keene, 352-2033, www.thecolonial.org, will host the Blues Blowout with Johnny Winter Band, The James Montgomery Blues Band featuring J. Geils and the Uptown Horns on Sept. 25. Other shows include Manhattan Transfer (Oct. 9), Keene Chamber Orchestra (Oct. 11) and ABBAMania (Nov. 5).

• The Granite State Symphony Orchestra will play two shows before the holiday season at the Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St., Concord, www.gsso.org, 226-4776. On Oct. 10, it’s “Old World and the New” featuring works from Mozart and Copland. On Nov. 7, “The Winds of November” will feature works of Mozart, Strauss, Stravinsky and Dvorak.

• Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, 169 Ocean Blvd. in Hampton Beach, 929-4100, www.casinoballroom.com, continues through the fall with Eddie Money, Ernie & The Automatics (Sept. 18), The Disco Biscuits with The Brew (Oct. 8), Social Distortion (Oct. 15), Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys with Buddy Miller (Oct. 16), A.F.I. with Gallows (Oct. 17) and Gov’t Mule with Jackie Green (Oct. 30).

• Lakes Region Opera Company (www.lakesregionopera.com) will present New Hampshire Opera Idol, Nov. 6-8, at Concordia Lutheran Church in Concord. The final round is Nov. 8, at the Concord City Auditorium.

• Lowell Memorial Auditorium, 50 Merrimack St. in Lowell, Mass., www.lowellauditorium.com, will feature Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan and Hard Kaur (Oct. 2); Newsboys with special guests Seventh Day Slumber and Bread of Stone (Oct. 9); Foreigner (Oct. 17); Michael W. Smith with Matt Maher, Phil Stacey and Meredith Andrews (Nov. 1); Brian Wilson (Nov. 12); Jim Brickman (Nov. 14); and Dark Star Orchestra (Nov. 21).

• The Middle NH Arts & Entertainment Center, located in the Franklin Opera House, 316 Central St. in Franklin, 934-1901, www.themiddlenh.org, will feature the ArtsFest Showcase (musicians Qwill, Revelation, Justin Jaymes and Manchuka) on Sept. 19, Latin American and Spanish guitar and wine on Oct. 17, North Sea Gas on Oct. 2 and Don Watson & Friends on Dec. 5.

• The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St. in Portsmouth, 436-2400, www.themusichall.org, will feature musical performers including Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers (Sept. 29), Rufus Wainwright (Oct. 2), Keb Mo (Oct. 14), Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (Nov. 10), Neko Case (Nov. 12), and The Event (downtown dance party) on Nov. 20.

• The Nashua Chamber Orchestra will present “Windswept” on Nov. 14, at 8 p.m., at the Nashua Senior Activity Center, 70 Temple St. in Nashua, and Nov. 15, at 3 p.m., at Milford Town Hall, 1 Union Square in Milford, $8-$15, children under 12 admitted for free. Call 554-6164 or see nco-music.org.

• Nashua Symphony Orchestra (www.nashuasymphony.org) has concerts this fall including “Uncommon Folk” featuring cellist Sergey Antonov Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., at the Keefe Auditorium, Elm Street Middle School, 117 Elm St., Nashua, 595-9156, and “Awake, My Soul” featuring the symphony and chorus on Nov. 21, at 8 p.m., also at the Keefe Auditorium. “Majesty of Brass” will feature the Nashua Symphony Brass Quintet, on Oct. 18, at 3 p.m., at First Church of Nashua, 1 Concord St. in Nashua, www.firstchurchnashua.org. A Concertmaster Trio of the Nashua Symphony Orchestra will play Nov. 15, at 3 p.m., also at First Church of Nashua.

• New Hampshire Philharmonic (www.nhphil.org) will offer shows this season including Sunday Classics with Beethoven and more (featuring violinist Esther Kim) on Sunday, Oct. 11, at the Palace Theatre.

• The Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St. in Manchester, 668-5588, www.palacetheatre.org, will feature Los Lonely Boys, Alejandro Escovedo and special guest (Oct. 14), The Kingston Trio (Oct. 17), and Stayin’ Alive — One Night of the Bee Gees (Oct. 23).

• The Tsongas Arena, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Lowell, Mass., 978-848-6900, www.paultsongasarena.com, will Tiësto In Concert — Kaleidoscope World Tour on Oct. 1.

• The Tupelo Music Hall, 2 Young Road in Londonderry, tupelohall.com, 437-5100, has dozens of shows scheduled for the next few months. Highlights include Al Kooper Rockabilly Trio (Sept. 19), Marcy Playground (Sept. 23), Shemeika Copeland (Sept. 27), (Nick Lowe (Oct. 9), Blues Harmonica Blowout (Oct. 10), Johnny A (Oct. 17), Dar Williams (Oct. 18), Cheryl Wheeler (Oct. 30), Willy Porter (Nov. 8), The Fools (Nov. 14), Enter the Haggis (Nov. 20), Shawn Colvin (Nov. 21), Tom Rush (Dec. 4), John Oates with Pete Huttlinger (Dec. 5) and The Subdudes (Dec. 6).

• Verizon Wireless Arena, 555 Elm St. in downtown Manchester, www.verizonwirelessarena.com, will feature American Idol top 10 finalists (Sept. 15), So You Think You Can Dance (Sept. 20), Australian Pink Floyd (Oct. 25) Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Nov. 15) and Mannheim Steamroller (Dec. 7).

Theater
Find work from local and visiting professional companies:

• Merrimack Repertory Theatre opens their season of professional work with a world premiere of Flings & Eros, “a new vaudevillian romp” by the Flying Karamazov Brothers. The four brothers play all the parts, “as they rehearse scenes from their reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,” according to a Merrimack Rep press release. Previews ($23-$31) continue through Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. Flings & Eros continues Sept. 13, at 8 p.m. (opening night – there’s a champagne toast) through Sept. 30 ($34-$56), with performances Wednesday through Sunday at 50 East Merrimack St. in Lowell, Mass. (978-654-4678, www.merrimackrep.org). Student tickets cost $15. Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, a story of Ireland, the sea and redemption via an all-night poker game involving plenty of drinking, was nominated for four Tony awards. Merrimack Rep presents it Oct. 15 through Nov. 8. Heroes, by Gerald Sibleyras, adapted by Tom Stoppard ,is a regional premiere of a story about World War I veterans 40 years later in a veterans’ home Nov. 19 through Dec. 13.

• The ACT ONE “Festival of Fun” includes concerts and performances such as Susan Poulin’s Shutting Up Peggy Lee through Oct. 3 at the West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth ($17-$19). See the schedule at www.actonenh.org or call 300-2986.

• The summer stock company Peterborough Players (founded in 1933) finishes a run of Copenhagen, a drama by Michael Frayn, Sept. 13. They close their season with the The SantaLand Diaries, a comedy by David Sedaris adapted by Joe Montello Sept. 16 through Sept. 27. Performances are mostly Tuesday or Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m., at 55 Hadley Road, Peterborough, 924-7585, www.peterboroughplayers.org ($38-$45. Student rush $15. “Rush for all” $15 on the first Thursday of each show).

• Manchester’s historic Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, 668-5588, www.palacetheatre.org, hosts music, comedy, dance and presents their own professional musical season. Forever Plaid, a 1950s revue runs Sept. 18 through Oct. 3 at the Palace ($15-$45), part of the Citizens Bank Performing Arts Series. Next in that season is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, from Oct. 30 through Nov. 14. In between, there’s the Palace’s third annual Wine Tasting & Live Auction Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m.

• Seacoast Repertory Theatre presents Altar Boyz, a recent off-Broadway favorite, from Sept. 18 through Oct. 11. Ken Ludwig farce, Lend Me a Tenor, runs from Oct. 23 through Nov. 15 at 125 Bow St., Portsmouth, ($15-$42, www.seacoastrep.org, 433-4472).

• The Dana Center at Saint Anselm College hosts visiting and college performances on the campus at 100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester, 641-7700, www.anselm.edu/dana. The Martha Graham Dance Company (Graham was known for her impact on modern dance) performs there Oct. 1, at 8 p.m. (with an information session on “Contemporary Dance in America and the History of Martha Graham Dance Company” at 3 p.m., call 641-7710) ($6-$34.50). New Art Theatre/Living Classics Series presents the world’s great plays under the artistic direction of Robert Shea (also the Dana Center director), normally for educational institutions. See a public New Art performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. ($6-$23.50). The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats perform Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. ($6-$27.50). The college’s Anselmian Abbey Players produce As You Like It, by William Shakespeare Thursday, Nov. 12 through Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. ($6-$12).

• The national Broadway tour of Camelot comes to the Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 South Main St., Concord, ccanh.com, 225-1111, Oct. 11, at 7:30 p.m. The musical “follows the love triangle of King Arthur, his queen, Guenevere, and the young Lancelot,” ($12.50-$75). The Stepcrew, Celtic-inspired music and dance, visits Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. ($12.50-$45). Cirque Mechanics Birdhouse Factory includes former Cirque Du Soleil and Pickle Family Circus members Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m.

Ghostlight Theatre Co. of New England presents Psycho Beach Party, in which a perky teenage surfer-wannabee suffers from multiple personality disorder, as part of the Capitol Center’s Spotlight Café series. See performances Nov. 14, at 7 or 10 p.m., or Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. ($15-$20). There’s a cash bar and concessions at this show.

• The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later is an epilogue to The Laramie Project focusing on the long-term effect of the murder of Matthew Shepard. The professional Yellow Taxi Productions is one theater in more than 100 cities premiering this play Oct. 12 (see www.tectonictheaterproject.org). YTP’s performance is Monday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m., at the Hunt Building, 6 Main St., Nashua, www.yellowtaxiproductions.org. Suzanne Delle directs. YTP is also offering their Lunch Box Series of free workshops one Tuesday per month, from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m., at the Nashua Library, 2 Court St. “Opera vs. Theatre” is led by Josiah George Sept. 22. “Staging the New Play” is led by Suzanne Delle Oct. 13.

• Houston Ballet II visits the Johnson Theatre, at the UNH Paul Creative Arts Center, 30 Academic Way, Durham, 862-2290, www.unh.edu/celebrity, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., as part of the UNH Celebrity Series ($10-$30).

• Professionals New Hampshire Theatre Project produce Edward Albee’s surreal Seascape Nov. 13 through Nov. 29, at 959 Islington St., Portsmouth, www.nhtheatreproject.org, 431-6644 ($15-$22). Blair Hundertmark directs.

Some companies or venues are dedicated to local original work:

• Catch a Prairie Home Companion-ish live Frost Heaves performance. Fred Marple is your guide to the rural New Hampshire town of Frost Heaves in these comic variety shows. A special “An Evening with Fred Marple” event is Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. at the Merrimack Library. It’s free, but call 424-5021 to reserve a seat. The fall shows are Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 11, at 2 p.m. Visit frostheaves.com for updates or to see video from Fred Marple.

• Image Theater produces original plays by New England writers. They premiere a preview of Impasto, an insider look at art commerce, by Regina Eliot Ramsey, in collaboration with the Whistler House Museum of Art, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., at the Whistler, 243 Worthen St., Lowell, Mass. Visit www.whistlerhouse.org or call 978-452-7641 to reserve seats; $20 suggested donation. Image Theater’s popular “Keep Your Kids at Home Naughty Readings” is scheduled for Nov. 14, at 8 p.m. upstairs at The Old Court in Lowell, with tickets available soon at www.imagetheater.com.

• Specializing in providing a venue for original work and local theater companies, the Players’ Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, 436-8123, www.playersring.org, closes a thriller set on a submarine, Crush Depth, written and directed by Jacquelyn Benson, Sept. 20. Darwin’s Waiting Room presents “Night of Comedy,” sketch comedy written and directed by Eric Doucet, from Sept. 25 through Oct. 11. Rolling Die Productions presents Serving His Master, by Players’ Ring founder, F. Gary Newton, directed by Todd Hunter, from Oct. 16 through Nov. 1. Phylloxera Productions presents Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, directed by Gary Locke, from Nov. 6 through Nov. 22. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m. ($8-$12).

Several community companies offer fall productions:

• Nashua Theatre Guild presents Steel Magnolias, set in a Louisiana beauty salon, Sept. 24, through Sept. 26, at 8 p.m., and Sept. 27, at 2 p.m., at the Jan Streeter Theater at 14 Court St., Nashua, www.nashuatheatreguild.org, 320-2530 ($10-$12).

• Bedford Off Broadway is scheduled to produce the Larry Shue comedy about that painfully awkward friend, The Nerd, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., from Oct. 16 through Oct. 24, at the Bedford Old Town Hall, Meetinghouse and Bedford Center roads in Bedford (www.bedfordoffbroadway.com).

• Charlie overhears plenty when fellow guests at a Georgia fishing lodge are told he doesn’t speak English in Larry Shue’s The Foreigner. Milford Area Players presents this at the Amato Center, 56 Mont Vernon Road, Milford, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., from Oct. 16 through Oct. 25 ($7-$12, www.milfordareaplayers.org).

• The Manchester Community Theatre Players produce The King and I, by Rodgers & Hammerstein Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 18, at 2 p.m.; Oct. 24, at 7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 25, at 2 p.m., directed by Alan Kaplan, at the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire Theatre, 698 Beech St., Manchester (800-838-3006, manchestercommunitytheatre.com).

• The Peacock Players youth educational company produce James & the Giant Peach from Oct. 16 through Oct. 18, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee from Nov. 13 through Nov. 22 at the 14 Court St. Theater in Nashua (886-7000, peacockplayers.org). They host a “Taste of Broadway” benefit auction and dinner, Friday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m., featuring a Broadway Idol contest at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua ($25-$45).

• StageCoach Productions, presents the true story of a Kentucky man, Floyd Collins, a musical by Adam Guettel, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m., Oct. 24, at 8 p.m., and Oct. 25, at 2 p.m., at 14 Court St., Nashua (www.stagecoachproductions.org, 320-3780, $15-$18).

• In their second season, Theatre KAPOW presents Alone: Selected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, an adaptation of Poe’s work, written and newly revised by founding tKAPOW member Brian Kennedy. It includes The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado, and poems The Raven and Annabel Lee. See it Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Dana Center or Oct. 29 or Oct. 30 at 10 a.m. at the Stockbridge Theatre, at Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Visit www.tkapow.com for details or call 437-5210.

• Best Foot Forward Productions is scheduled to present Chicago from Nov. 12 through Nov. 15 at Central High School, 207 Lowell Road, Manchester (bestfootforwardproductions.org, bffproductions@comcast.net, 641-6066). Their offshoot, Dark Side Productions, is scheduled to produce Isles in the Moon, by Jeff Symes, from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 at Central High.

• The Leddy Center (30C Ladd’s Lane, Epping, leddycenter.org, 679-2781) produces Charlie & the Chocolate Factory from Oct. 30 through Nov. 15 ($18).

• See Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf when M&M Productions produces it Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., from Nov. 6 through Nov. 14 at Bedford Old Town Hall (www.mandmp.com, 320-1431). Deb Shaw directs.

• The Actorsingers of Nashua have been producing musicals since 1955. Their fall show this year is Anything Goes, with music by Cole Porter, Nov. 13 through Nov. 15 at the Keefe Auditorium, 117 Elm St. in Nashua (www.actorsingers.org, 889-9691).

• The Acting Loft has a performance of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s musical A Man Of No Importance, scheduled for Nov. 13 through Nov. 15 at 516 Pine St., Manchester, 666-5999, www.actingloft.org. Alfie Byrne, a bus driver in 1964 Dublin, is harboring a secret. Acting Loft’s new Grooing the Doop sketch comedy troupe performs Sept. 18 and Sept. 19.

• The Majestic Theatre performs the musical adaption of Charles Dickens’ Oliver! from Nov. 13 through Nov. 22 at 281 Cartier St., Manchester, 669-7469, www.majestictheatre.net ($12-$16)

Find out what’s going on at these local venues:

• The Greater Derry Arts Council at the Adams Memorial Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, DerryArts.TicketLeap.com, 437-0505, kicks of Derryfest weekend with “Derry’s Got Talent,” Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. ($5-$7). Band showcases “Jam Night” are Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. ($10), Oct. 23 and Nov. 20. The new Theatre Sports Comedy Improv series in which the audience provides material for improv teams start Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m., and continue Oct. 3, Nov. 11 and Nov. 21 ($10-$12). The Opera House will be used as a radio sound stage to re-create the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. ($10-$12).

• Now known as the Middle New Hampshire Arts & Entertainment Center, the Franklin Opera House at 16 Central St., Franklin, themiddlenh.org, 934-1901, is kicking off the season with their ArtsFest Showcase of theater, dance and music Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. ($13-$17). Franklin Footlight Theatre presents musical Sweet Charity there Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. from Nov. 13 through Nov. 21 plus 3 p.m. on Nov. 21.

• The Concord City Auditorium serves as a stage for a number of local performers and events. The theatrical ones include the 1944 Big Band Comedy Canteen, sponsored by Walker Lecture Series. Betty Thomson directs the Community Players of Concord in this musical revue of a World War II radio show, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 27 at 9:30 a.m., and 2 p.m. Admission is free (225-9004).

Check out a staged reading of Less Rosenthal of Goffstown’s new play Gideon, Oct. 4 at 3 p.m., at the start of the Audi’s second season of Page to Stage. The new monthly series is supported by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and admission is free (225-2164 or 225-6497).

The Community Players of Concord’s Children’s Theatre Project presents The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., and Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. ($8, 224-4905, www.communityplayersofconcord.org).

Catch the farce Noises Off which runs Oct. 22 through Oct. 24 at 8 p.m., presented by local company R.B. Productions ($12-$15, www.rbproductions.org, 225-7779, cklose63@comcast.net).

The Miss Capital Area scholarship pageant is Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. ($10, 622-5405, misscapitalarea@comcast.net).

The Walker Lecture Series sponsors Tim Sample’s “Maine Humor” Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m., with free admission.

Community Players of Concord present the Stephen Schwartz musical, Godspell, Nov. 20, and Nov. 21 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. ($12-$17, 224-4905, greymurf@aol.com).

Top welterweight Sugar Shane Mosley fails to land big fight

2009-09-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

While Floyd Mayweather Jr. takes on the smaller Juan Manuel Marquez in a big welterweight bout this weekend, at age 38, reigning welterweight champion and pound-for-pound best nominee Shane Mosley shows no sign of slowing down or coasting in his final years as a pro. This man has fought a who’s who among the best of his era, including some whom nobody else wanted to face, such as Ronald Winky Wright and the late Vernon Forrest. That track record will continue the day after Christmas this year, when he takes on a former welterweight titlist whom very few want to tango with, Joshua Clottey.

After gaining the title from then best welterweight Antonio Margarito earlier this year, Shane Mosley has been vocal about wanting to face the best in the world, particularly either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. When those fights failed to materialize, he actively sought out Andre Berto before settling for Joshua Clottey who is the physically largest and possibly most dangerous of options. Worse for Mosley, it’s the highest risk, lowest reward fight of all his possible choices, given Joshua Clottey does not have a popular enough following to warrant HBO pay-per-view.

So this is the reward Sugar Shane Mosley gets for winning the welterweight championship? He has to go with a fourth option for an opponent? Joshua Clottey definitely warrants the opportunity based on his talent and accomplishments in the ring, but this is certainly a fight Shane Mosley did not want. To his credit, Mosley has agreed to face the challenge, but after man handling Antonio Margarito and considering his age, he was only supposed to be considering big fights.

Why didn’t they happen? Business. Despite the fact Shane Mosley is the recognized champion at 147 pounds, has an exciting style and has accumulated hall of fame level credentials, he has never successfully been the A side of a promotion and put butts in the seats. Furthermore, boxing fans no longer place a great deal of weight on championship belts given the great multitude of them today. Therefore, his leverage as a champion with limited live gate appeal is diminished.

Consider the Manny Pacquiao – Ricky Hatton fight earlier in the year. No major championship was at stake, but the promotion was a tremendous success because of the strong fan following each man brings to the table. As for Shane Mosley, he brings a terrific B side to a promotion but let’s consider his options.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., despite his awesome pay-per-view numbers against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, he has not proven an ability to carry a promotion yet. He was the B side in both bouts and marketed as the man everyone loves to hate. Manny Pacquiao, as good as he is, happens to be just too small for Shane Mosley. Yes, Pacquiao would bring the fans to the fight, but he would be signing his death warrant in the process, as I am convinced there is no way he would match Mosley’s size, strength and skill level in the ring. The third option, Andre Berto, is just not ready yet to pose a formidable challenge against any fighter at the elite level, and given his young age, there is no reason to rush him along.

Therefore, Shane Mosley joins Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams as prominent boxers nobody wants to face in the ring. With limited options, maybe they will all face each other. Mosley and Clottey get it started on December 5th….great for boxing but not great for their bank accounts.

Mayweather vs. Marquez Play by Play UFC 103 results

2009-09-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

Efrain Escudero is an Ultimate Fighter winner and it took him more than 9 months to win the first UFC prize, but his fans were thrilled, especially by the first round stoppage of Cole Miller at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Marquez’s fight wasn’t really impressive, though Mayweather has come after almost two years of pause. He trully has class, but isn’t such a good fighter, unfortunately for him and that’s why he prevailed.

Floyd Mayweather Jr managed to defeat Juan Manuel Marques right after coming after 2 years of pause, but that was expected, because Marquez’s style isn’t very good and also it’s a big difference between their size and weight. Also some UFC fans ask why did they put them fight together considering the differences between them.

Marquez knows how to take hits and he proved it by being able to stay on his feet for 12 rounds. This also proves Mayweather is not that good, because he wasn’t able to knock out Marquez.

Minnesota: Eric Decker Sets Record; Huts Ankle

2009-09-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Update:
With less than one minute left in the first half of Minnesota's matchup with California, Decker grabbed a school record 199th reception, this a 12 yard touchdown from quarterback Adam Weber. However, he left Minnesota's final drive due to an apparent left ankle injury. He finished with eight receptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

Recommendation:
Decker has proven one of the most prolific wide receivers ever to play in the Big Ten Conference; that he made the record-breaking play on a touchdown seems only fitting. His injury didn't look too serious, but check his progress the next few days

Wisconsin vs. Wofford: Who has the edge?

2009-09-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

When Wisconsin has the ball

Wofford uses a 3-4 defense, which will be an adjustment for UW's offense. The Terriers can bring pressure and last

season ranked 10th nationally at their level with 34 sacks. The biggest issue Wofford's defense has to deal with is a lack of size up front. Its starting defensive linemen average 250 pounds, compared to 319.4 pounds for Wisconsin's offensive line. Wofford used a lot of players on defense last season: 19 had 20-plus tackles, 15 had sacks and 11 had interceptions. Mitch Clark, a returning first-team All-Southern Conference selection, is supposed to anchor the defense but is out with an injury. The Terriers return only one starter at linebacker in senior Gary Blount. Sophomore inside linebacker Mike Niam is a 245-pounder who leads the team in tackles (22) and forced fumbles (two). The only returner in the secondary is Mychael Johnson, who moved from cornerback to free safety. The Badgers must improve on third down after converting five of 13 last week against Fresno State. The big problem was too many third-and-longs, due to poor production on first down. Until John Clay's 72-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, the Badgers had 17 carries for 43 yards on first down (2.5 average). Two of those were sacks that lost 13 yards and there were two penalties that lost an additional 10 yards.

Edge: Wisconsin.

When Wofford has the ball

The loss of sophomore fullback Eric Breitenstein, who suffered a knee injury last week and could be out for the season, is a huge blow for Wofford. He is averaging 6.7 yards a carry and leads the team with 187 rushing yards. The fullback dive sets up the Terriers' triple-option and the position will now be filled by committee with three players. Junior halfback Mike Rucker, who had an 80-yard touchdown run against Charleston Southern, is the top remaining threat. Wofford ranked second nationally last season with an average of 343.3 rushing yards. This year's team also ranks second at 285.5. UW allowed a season-high 276 rushing yards last season to Cal Poly, which runs a similar option offense. But Wofford does not have a quarterback as experienced as Jonathan Dally, or a receiving threat like Ramses Barden, who would have led Cal Poly to the upset if not for three missed extra points. Wofford sophomore QB Mitch Allen took over for the departed Ben Widmyer and is averaging 73.5 rushing yards per game. Allen has completed only 7 of 18 passes (39.8 percent). The Badgers did some early preparation for Wofford's offense in camp and should be better prepared after the Cal Poly debacle. Edge: Wisconsin.

Special teams

Wofford had two bad snaps on punts that contributed to its 40-7 loss to South Florida in the opener. Rucker is a threat on kickoff returns, averaging 24.4 yards. This could be an opportunity for the Badgers to get straightened out on their return teams. The Terriers are allowing 15.3 yards on punt returns and 23 yards on kickoff returns. Wisconsin's David Gilreath set up two touchdown drives last week with kickoff returns of 38 and 35 yards. He is averaging 27 yards, up from 19.6 last year. After missing his first three field-goal attempts, from 55, 41 and 47 yards, Philip Welch made his next two - a career-long 57-yarder at the end of the half and a 22-yarder in overtime to beat Fresno State.

Intangibles

This is the first Big Ten opponent for Wofford, which has played South Carolina (twice), North Carolina State, West Virginia and South Florida since 2005. The Terriers battled South Carolina evenly for most of the game last season before losing 23-13. That caused Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier to say, "I really admire the way that those guys play. Coach (Mike) Ayers never has to worry about the effort level of those kids. They all play their hearts out every play." Wofford had two of its top-five home crowds last season, including a record 12,124 for a game against Georgia Southern. The Terriers played seven home games overall in front of a total of 64,828 fans, or roughly 16,000 fewer fans than will be in the stands for today's game.

Prediction

Despite the offensive similarities, forget about Cal Poly. Wofford's version of the option offense is not as dangerous as Cal Poly's was last season. Think more of The Citadel, which is from the same conference as Wofford, and traveled to Camp Randall Stadium two years ago. That game was tied at halftime before the Badgers pulled away to win by 14 points. The Badgers could use a little breathing room in the second half to look at some more players before the start of Big Ten play.

Wisconsin 38, Wofford 17

Alabama Vs North Texas Final Tuneup for Tide

2009-09-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Alabama vs North Texas is not expected to be much of a match. Basically, Alabama vs North Texas is just a finale tuneup before Alabama gets to the major parts of their schedule. Alabama already took one lowly opponent lightly for a little while last week, before finally blowing up Florida
Alabama Vs North Texas Final Tuneup for Tide International. But Alabama vs North Texas probably won't turn out the same, as this may be the last chance the Crimson Tide have to relax for a while.

Alabama vs North Texas is a game where the Crimson Tide come in as 38 point favorites. This is the last non-conference game for the Tide until November, when they face Tennessee-Chattanooga before the Iron Bowl with Auburn. But for all intents and purposes, Alabama vs North Texas is the last game for the Tide before the SEC schedule begins.

The non-conference schedule has worked well for Alabama thus far, having beaten Virginia Tech in the Kickoff Classic, and then handling Florida International despite some first half troubles. Alabama vs North Texas is expected to be even easier - especially since they can afford to let star wide receiver Julio Jones sit out today. But there won't be easy games for the Tide after this.

Next week, Alabama begins a difficult road through the SEC West. Three SEC West teams, including the Tide, are in the top 10 already. However, before they go through those teams, Alabama opens up against Arkansas next week, then goes to Kentucky.

Alabama vs North Texas is a game where Nick Saban doesn't want to be caught looking ahead. But one can say the same about their games against Arkansas and Kentucky too. For the first really gigantic showdown of the year lies ahead on October 10, at Ole Miss. By then, it could be a match up of two top 5 teams.

Ole Miss has all the major buzz in the SEC West this year, picked as a sleeper to win the division and even challenge Florida. But their clash with the Tide will prove if that was just preseason hype. For Alabama, it's their big chance to prove nothing has changed from last year, and that the Tide are here to stay as national championship threats.

Botulism blamed for dead birds at Great Salt Lake

2009-09-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

SALT LAKE CITY — Tens of thousands of dead birds are showing up along the shore of the Great Salt Lake.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources estimates 20,000 to 50,000 birds have died so far this year from avian botulism, a disease that periodically plagues birds at the lake.

Biologists say the outbreak ramped up in early August and is expected to last into the fall.

This year's outbreak — which has left scores of ducks and avocets dead on shores and marshes — is considered moderate, said Leslie McFarlane, a state wildlife disease expert. A similar episode in 1997 killed more than a half-million birds around the lake.

The botulism bacteria is commonly spread when birds eat maggots from a dead bird that's been infected.

Outbreaks are routinely reported across North America, and it's not uncommon for thousands of birds to die. Cases tend to increase in the summer, when warmer temperatures and low-oxygen water provides a good environment for the bacteria to thrive.

Once ingested, botulism affects the nervous system, causing paralysis and often a slow death from starvation.

This year's outbreak at the Great Salt Lake isn't likely to put a significant dent in the millions of birds that flock there each year to breed, eat and rest during long migrations.

Dead birds this year have been found from Farmington Bay, on the lake's southern end, to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge farther north.

Ron Taylor, manager of Antelope Island State Park in the middle of the lake, said he hasn't seen any sign of dead birds along the island's shore.

McFarlane says people shouldn't allow their dogs to pick up dead birds found along the lake's shoreline. A few years ago, several dogs were paralyzed — but later recovered — after handling ducks during training sessions with hunters.

An avian botulism outbreak at the Great Salt Lake in 1929 killed 100,00 to 300,000 birds. Another in 1980 killed about 110,000.

A new stage

2009-09-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Moby liked drinking. Some in the recovery or temperance communities surely will frown on him for saying this, but the DJ/performer/songwriter/electronic-music star found sucking down booze to be fun. On at least one tour following the astonishing success of his 10-million-selling 1999 album, "Play," he says, Moby had an assistant whose main job was arranging parties (i.e., opportunities to drink).

"I had a 15-year period when I was basically drunk," says Moby, born Richard Hall, whose stage name grew from his middle name, Melville. As a result, he says, "I played a lot of places I don't remember. I think I played Albany."
Well, Loudonville: In full flush of his "Play" success and excess, Moby performed a concert at Siena College in 2000. He plays Albany proper this weekend, when he headlines the 28th annual LarkFest. The free event, taking place from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday on a blocked-off Lark Street, from Madison Avenue to Washington Avenue and the segment of Washington from Lark to Henry Johnson Boulevard, will feature more than 30 acts performing on five stages, plus arts, crafts, food, drink and family fun.

Moby is scheduled for the Washington and Lark stage from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. (Although many think of him as a DJ, he will appear with a full band.) If the weather cooperates, organizers are predicting a crowd of at least 80,000, of whom, given the physical limitations of Lark Street and its stages, perhaps 5 percent might actually be able to lay eyes on Moby while he's performing.

Still, even that number would be one of the larger crowds Moby will entertain on the six-week North American leg of a world tour to promote his latest album, "Wait for Me," released in June. Although in this country he's gigging at 1,000- to 2,000-seat venues like the House of Blues in Boston, during three months in Europe over the summer Moby repeatedly played to stadiums stuffed with 50,000 people per show, capacity crowds he'll encounter later in the tour as it winds through the Far East.

"I've never been as big here, even though it's my home country," he says. (Neither have the techno and electronica he practices.)

"Wait for Me," a collection of moody, atmospheric, gorgeous and at times heart-rendingly emotional songs recorded in Moby's New York home studio with a collection of talented but unknown friends doing the singing, is his most personal album in years, he says. Absent are fun dance tracks. "It's more of (something to listen to on) a rainy Sunday morning."

Reviews have been mixed, sales moderate. "By 2009 standards, (sales) are pretty good," he says. "By 1999 standards they're abysmal, but (for) today they're OK."

Having an Everest like "Play" happen in the middle of his career was, Moby says, "disconcerting, strange and anomalous." It made him wealthy; besides stellar sales, every song on the album was licensed for TV, movies and advertising. But, he says, "The biggest problem and greatest liability of selling that many records is you attract people professionally who want you to continue selling that many records -- they don't want the gravy train to stop."

He, however, did. "There's that deathbed question," he says. "When I'm lying there, do I want to be able to say that I accommodated the marketing needs of a major record label or that I made the music I loved. … There's really only one answer."

9/11 widow, veterans find 'Tower of Hope' in pets

2009-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK -- After her husband's tragic death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Cathy Carilli decided to commemorate her spouse by giving back to those who sacrifice so much.

As a way to cope with her grief, she founded The Tower of Hope, devoting her life to soldiers injured in the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Designed to pair invaluable service dogs with veterans and others with similar disabilities, The Tower of Hope allows for unconditional companionship and support.

Cathy tells Zootoo Pet News about her beneficial organization and how by enhancing the lives of others, she has greatly improved her own.

How did the idea for The Tower of Hope come about?
One night after my husband Tom's murder on 9/11, I was having a particularly stressful and emotional night. I was alone in our home, contemplating the meaning of what was left of my life, I was having difficulty breathing and unable to stop crying when suddenly I heard the sound of foot steps, then came the head-butt, followed by a nuzzle. It was our baby girl Tazzman, a beautiful Savannah cat that Tom gave to me in the summer of 2001. Our three other cats were just a few steps behind.

I don't know how long the five of us sat on the kitchen floor that night, but I do know that the pounding in my heart slowed, and the hate harbored in my heart towards the terrorists subsided for the moment. It was then that I realized how powerful a companion my cats were and it was at that point that I committed to building an organization which partnered people and animals in Tom's memory.

How has incorporating animals with your husband's memory impacted your healing process?
After that night, I began the long journey of turning my grief and anger into action. For well over a year each time I thought of Tom, the image that came to mind was a plane slamming into the World Trade Center.

Today, when I think of Tom the image that comes to mind is his happy smiling face eager to share something fun and exciting.

Of the many deserving out there, how do you decide which disabled persons to sponsor?

We have a few priorities which govern our actions. Many of our recipients are veterans, primarily of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We chose to focus on seriously wounded veterans because those wars were the direct result of the 9/11 terror attacks.

When it comes to an individual, we have the difficult task of choosing among many qualified people. It's not easy -- we make the decisions on a case by case basis with input from our board members and final decision by a granting committee.

It seems that you overwhelmingly choose veterans, is that by design?
The events on 9/11 inspired men and women in the military to defend our freedom in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. TTOH has the opportunity to defend their right to live an independent life as they return home with injuries from the war. A considerable portion of the net proceeds from our fundraising is allocated to supporting these well deserving heroes.

How long does it take to train these service dogs?
It takes approximately 18 months to train a service dog; they are given to families who raise them and give them basic dog training, and lots of love. At a young age, they enter a more rigorous program where they are taught by professional trainers how to do the tasks that a recipient would need.

When the needs of a specific recipient are identified, the dog is further trained to meet those needs. The dog is then introduced to the recipient, and together they go through a two-week process of training to get to know each other.

When they are finished training, there is a graduation ceremony, and the two go off to lead their lives. The teams are periodically monitored to ensure they are functioning well together, and occasionally retraining or additional training may be necessary to meet developing needs

How many dogs has Tower of Hope trained and paired with a disabled person?

13. Their stories are detailed on our Web site, www.TheTowerOfHope.org

How many applications or queries do you receive in a month or year?
Varies. But we receive far more requests than we have funds for. That's why it's so important for us to continue to raise money -- we would like never to turn down a valid request for a service dog for anyone.

Which training facilities do you frequently work with?

We have a rigorous process of approving facilities as for who we work with it truly depends on the special needs of each recipient and how they can best be met.

Are volunteers welcome at either these training facilities or the Tower of Hope itself?

The Tower of Hope is beginning to build a volunteer corps to help us with our work. We can also refer people to our training facilities if they wish to work directly with the dogs and recipients.

We welcome volunteers to help us manage our events; get the word out about our work and to raise funds. I can't expressly speak for all facilities we work with but most welcome volunteers.

Do you have any pets now?
Yes, I still have four cats and take in a service dog in training when my schedule permits.

When in your life did you know you were/are an animal person?
From the second I became aware of them. As a child we always had pets in the home but what sticks out in my mind the most is being 5-years-old and suffering from my second broken leg in a year which caused me to be bed and house bound. My cat, Midnight, became my constant companion and only friend, 5-year-olds don't find sitting bedside with a friend to be of interest.

Dr. Doolittle, Born Free, Charlottes Web and All Creatures Great and Small were some of my favorite books.

How did that realization change your life?
I realized that animals can be great companions. And that became true once again after 9/11. Were it not for the comfort of my animals, I would have had a much more difficult time.

What is one thing people can do to improve the lives of animals?
Perhaps people who have pets should always remember that animals require attention, they need attention. And they are living creatures that need to be nurtured and loved. Most people do that, but some may not get that. A well-trained, loved animal is a happy animal.

For the animals in your life what would they say about your presence in their lives?

I hope they would say that I have shown them unconditional love and understanding bringing great joy to their lives.

But what may better reflect my interaction with my pets is the words of a friend: "When I die I want to come back as one of Cathy's cats."

Behind the Scenes at San Diego’s Gay Fraternity

2009-09-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

KEVIN KAO, EZRA EVANGELISTA and ARTHUR HUANG probably wouldn’t have joined any other fraternity, but Delta Lambda Phi was different. Not only was it founded 22 years ago specifically for Gay, Bisexual and “Progressive” (Queer-friendly) men, but its members get along and have fun with each other without drinking or hazing.KEVIN KAO, ARTHUR HUANG and EZRA EVANGELISTA:

Behind the Scenes at the Gay Fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi

Bet Ohio State vs. Toledo

2009-09-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Buckeyes were defeated 18-15 by USC at home last Saturday night, which seemingly takes Ohio State out of the national title picture. The Buckeyes had just 265 yards of offense as quarterback Terrelle Pryor struggled in his biggest start to date. Pryor threw for just 177 yards on 11-of-25 passing with one interception while rushing for 36 yards. Ohio State turned he ball over just once in the loss, but couldn’t effectively move the ball, picking up just 10 first downs in the game. The Ohio State defense did keep the Trojans in check, but allowed a lengthy touchdown drive to USC in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets are coming off a 54-38 win over Colorado at home in a game where the Rockets offense dominated the Buffaloes, racking up 624 yards of offense. Aaron Opelt threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 109 yards and two more scores. DaJuane Collins rushed for another 160 yards to lead the ground attack while Eric Page caught three passes for 138 yards. The Rockets have posted 85 points in two games, but allowed 90 as a defense. Even in last week’s win, Colorado have over 450 yards of offense, but the Rockets did force four turnovers.

Oddsmakers from online sports book BetOnline have made Ohio State 20.5-point favorites over Toledo on Saturday afternoon. The over/under total for this game has been established at 58.

College Football Week 3 Betting Trends

OHIO ST is 1-0 against the spread versus TOLEDO since 1992

OHIO ST is 1-0 straight up against TOLEDO since 1992

OHIO ST is 108-79 ATS (+21.1 Units) when playing on a Saturday since 1992.

OHIO ST is 45-27 ATS (+15.3 Units) in road games when playing with 6 or less days rest since 1992.

OHIO ST is 13-4 ATS (+8.6 Units) in road games in September games since 1992.

Ohio State is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games

Ohio State is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games

Toledo is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games

The total has gone OVER in 4 of Toledo's last 6 games
Week 3 College Football Injury Report
OHIO ST

No significant injuries.

TOLEDO

No significant injuries.

Ohio State vs. Toledo Current Odds

Ohio State Buckeyes -20.5 Over 58

Toledo Rockets +20.5 Under 58

Mark Snyder's scouting report and prediction for U-M vs. EMU

2009-09-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Matchup: No. 25 Michigan 2-0; Eastern Michigan 0-2.

• Kickoff: Noon, Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.

• TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WOMC-FM (104.3), CKLW-AM (800), WTKA-AM (1050).

• Line: Michigan by 24.

• Injuries: Michigan — WR Junior Hemingway (ankle), probable; RB Fitzgerald Toussaint (collarbone), OL Tim McAvoy (knee), OL David Moosman (shoulder), out. Eastern Michigan — None.

Stars show up for both teams in Best, Decker

2009-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

MINNEAPOLIS -- The two best players in this game have showed up big time in the first half, adding some flavor to the Cal-Minnesota matchup.

Golden Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker answered Jahvid Best's third touchdown run with his second receiving score, as he beat cornerback Darian Hagan to the end zone. Two of Decker's three catches have gone for touchdowns, while Best has 13 carries for 114 rush yards.

Who lifts his team to victory? We'll find out in the second half.

hempfest boston

2009-09-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

Somewhere around 300,000 people converged on the Seattle waterfront
Saturday and Sunday to attend the 19th annual Seattle Hempfest, the
world's largest marijuana "protestival," as organizers like to call
it. While organizers and drug reform advocates were out in force to
encourage attendees to get involved in changing the marijuana laws,
for most of the crowd, Hempfest was one big pot party. And that has
some movement critics unhappy.

Last year's attendance was estimated at 310,000. While figures are
not yet in for last weekend's event, given the huge crowds, it is
likely this year's figure will be even higher.

With hundreds of vendors selling glass pipes, bongs, tie-dyes, and
assorted other pot-related paraphernalia, as well as dozens of food
vendors, with seven stages alternating musical acts with activist
speakers, and with crowds so thick that people literally could not
move at some points by mid-afternoon on both days, Hempfest seems
more like a dense urban community than a festival. And like any urban
community, Hempfest had a police presence, but as far as can be
determined, police couldn't find anyone to arrest despite the
ever-present scent of marijuana smoke in the air.

That's in part because Seattleites voted in 2003 to make adult
marijuana offenses the lowest law enforcement priority. But it is
also in part because, unlike some other police forces, the Seattle
police actually acknowledge and heed the will of the voters. In all
of last year, Seattle police arrested only 133 people for marijuana
possession -- and those were all people who had already been detained
on other charges.

It is that tolerant attitude toward marijuana that makes the massive
law-breaking at Hempfest possible. In almost any other city in the
US, such brazen defiance of the drug laws would almost certainly
result in mass arrests. Even this weekend's Boston Freedom Rally, the
second largest pro-marijuana event in the country, will see numerous
arrests -- if police behavior in the past is any indicator.

Drug reform organizations including NORML, Students for Sensible Drug
Policy and StoptheDrugWar.org (publisher of this newsletter) were
present with booths or tables, as were numerous medical marijuana
support groups. But those booths and tables had to compete with
bong-sellers and pipe-makers, t-shirt vendors and hippie couture
outlets, and the hundreds of other vendors cashing in on the crowds.

To really get the drug reform message out, Hempfest organizers and
reform activists took to the various stages between acts to exhort
audiences to make Hempfest a party with a purpose. Among the
nationally known activists speechifying at Hempfest were "Radical
Russ" Belville of NORML, Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and
Abuse, Mike and Valerie Corral of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana (WAMM), Debbie Goldsberry of the Berkeley Patients Group,
Washington state legislator and head of the Voluntary Committee of
Lawyers Roger Goodman, medical marijuana specialist Dr. Frank Lucido,
former medical marijuana prisoner Todd McCormick, cannabis scientist
Dr. Robert Melamede, and NORML founder Keith Stroup and current
executive director Allen St. Pierre. For a complete list of speakers, go here.

Activists also educated those interested in learning more about
marijuana law reform and related topics at the Hemposium tent, which
featured panels on "Human Rights for Cannabis Farmers, Dispensers and
Consumers," "Global Hempenomics," "Cannabliss: An Entheogen for the
Ages," "Cannabis and the Culture Wars: The Coming Truce," and
"Cannabis Coverage: Reefer Sanity for the 21st Century." For a
complete list of Hemposium panels, click here.

While Hempfest came off without any serious problems, it has sparked
a couple of related controversies. This week, Criminal Justice Policy
Foundation head Eric Sterling wrote a blog post, Hempfest is Huge,
But is It Good Politics?, in which he answered his own question with
a resounding "no." Hempfest and similar rallies are "a political
fraud," he wrote. Even worse, they are "advertisements for
irresponsible drug use."

Similarly, former Hempfest organizer Dominic Holden stirred the pot
the week before Hempfest with an article in the Seattle Stranger, A
Few Words About Hempfest, in which he complained it was a
"patchouli-scented ghetto" and overly countercultural. Like Sterling,
Holden saw the hippiesque trappings of Hempfest as counterproductive.
"Countercultural celebrations and drug legalization advocacy are
mutually undermining ambitions," he wrote.

Hempfest organizers were not amused, and on Sunday, Holden was
removed from the back of the Main Stage by unhappy erstwhile
comrades. They explained why in an interview with Steve Bloom's
Celebstoner, and Holden continued the spat with his own interview.

Perhaps the organizers of Hempfest and similar events will listen to
Sterling and Holden, but probably not. Hempfest is a celebration of
the pot-smoking counterculture, and it's not likely to go away or
change its ways because a guy in a suit and a disaffected former
friend are unhappy with how it operates. Straight-laced drug
reformers will most likely just have to put up with Hempfest and its
pot-happy ilk. They can treat it like the crazy aunt in the attic,
but they can't get rid of it.

Wofford 101: Who Is Wisconsin Playing Saurday

2009-09-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nico Savidge of The Daily Cardinal for answering the question all Badgers fans are asking this week: what is a Wofford and why is UW playing them Saturday morning at Camp Randall?

And, Wofford hosts the annual summer training camp of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, who's website waxes poetic about the campus, the school's athletics, and it's alum:

The Terriers are members of the historic Southern Conference. Wofford is the smallest college in the nation to play NCAA Division I-AA football. The school fields intercollegiate athletic teams in 17 sports, composed of nine men's sports (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, rifle, soccer, tennis, and track) and eight women's sports (basketball, cross country, golf, rifle, soccer, tennis, track, and volleyball).

Wofford is among the nation's leaders in graduation rates for athletes and producing Academic All-Americans. Wofford student-athletes graduate at a higher rate than the overall student body. Activities, such as the Players' Speakers Bureau, put athletes in the community as role models for area youth.

Among its alumni, the athletic program counts Carolina Panthers Owner/Founder Jerry Richardson, who played two seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts. Other prominent alums include former Air Force Head Football Coach Fisher DeBerry and more recently, Wendy Nix, a two-year golf team captain and now reporter, commentator and anchor for ESPN.

Wofford consistently has scored high on the National Survey of Student Engagement, which measures the level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and a supportive campus environment.

Wofford can be found in numerous commercial and non-commercial college guides, including U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges," The Princeton Review College Guide, The Fiske Guide to Colleges, The (Yale) Insider's Guide to the Colleges, and Peterson's Colleges for Top Students. The college consistently lands on "best value" lists in many of these publications. Wofford ranks fifth in the country in the percentage of undergraduates receiving credit for studying abroad according to Open Doors 2008, an annual report published by the New York-based Institute of International Education.

Wofford's entire 170-acre campus is at national arboretum, which was named the Roger Milliken Arboretum at Wofford College in 2008 in honor of the longtime trustee and benefactor. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the college is committed to quintessential undergraduate education within the context of values-based inquiry.

There you go: dazzle your friends at tomorrow's tailgate, and impress those sitting next to you at Camp Randall with your vast array of Wofford knowledge. You'll either sound like an ESPN/NCAA college football savant, or a postman who used to hang out at a Boston bar--I think it was called. "Cheers".

sports interaction

2009-09-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

We’ve already given you a Sports Interaction review detailing some of the reasons that we like this particular online sportsbook, but with the football betting season fast approaching we figured a few more details couldn’t hurt.

1. NFL Pick’Em – Each week Sports Interaction has weekly cash prizes that they give out to contestants and offer members a chance to see their name on the leaderboard.

2. Trish Stratus – A former WWE Superstar and entertainer, Stratus has officially endorsed this sportsbook.

3. Game Chat – You can now chat live with other bettors before, during, and after the game you are looking at. You can also use the Bet Options feature to post your picks or search for other opinions.

4. Live Betting – You can bet on every play of the game this football season, all in real-time. This just increases the action and intensifies the game you are watching.

5. Twitter – You can get special offers just by friending them on Twitter.

6. Expanded Content – With a new sports betting blog, new articles with picks are provided every week.

7. Casino – You can enjoy action 24/7 with blackjack, table games, slots, and more.

8. Poker – If you move onto one of the poker leaderboards you will be eligible for even more prizes.

9. Customer Service – Their 24/7 support will help you take care of any issues immediately.

10. Deposits & Payouts – Easy deposit methods and fast payouts that are hassle free, including using your credit cards.

If you are ready to get started trying to beat the football odds then sign up with Sports Interaction today. If you need help finding winners then sign up for the football picks offered by our expert handicappers.

Week 2 NFL Picks and Betting Odds

2009-09-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sports Interaction betting analyst Frank Doyle makes his picks for Week 2 of the NFL season. He was 2-1 last week. The latest betting odds for each of these games appear below as well.

Early season can be a great time to make money in NFL betting. In the first few weeks, everybody is adjusting. After a summer of hype, the first real shots are fired in Week 1 and when the smoke clears it's a question of deciding who has exceeded expectations (New Orleans, Green Bay), who has disappointed (Houston, Chicago) and who is just hard to figure out. San Diego, I'm looking at you.

San Diego and New England were disappointing on Monday night, both failing to cover in games that were not expected to be close. They're both favorites again this week, New England at the Jets and San Diego at home against Baltimore.

I think Baltimore +3 with Sports Interaction is a really strong play here and they represent one of my strongest Week 2 NFL picks. Not only did the Chargers struggle against Oakland, but they lost Louis Vasquez, a guard, and their center, Nick Hardwick. The public doesn't usually miss offensive linemen - Philip Rivers will miss those guys more than a little bit when he sees Kelly Gregg and Haloti Ngata coming for him. Ravens +3 with Sports Interaction is the pick.

Betting the under can be rewarding financially but it can put certain strains on anybody watching the game. Nobody wants to watch three-and-outs for three hours. But Sports Interaction has set the total at 43.5 for the big game on Sunday night, the Giants' visit to Dallas, and that looks high to me.

New York has a ball control offense, a clock-eater, while I don't expect Tony Romo to get much change out of the Giants' defense. This will be a good night to take your girl out to dinner, telling her you much prefer her to football, while knowing you can pay for the night out with your winnings as they duke it out between the hashmarks. Under 43.5 points with Sports Interaction at Arlington is the pick.

Finally, although any handicap bigger than a touchdown should be treated with caution, Minnesota -10 with Sports Interaction at Detroit looks a gimme. The Lions are getting some good ink for scoring 27 points, but that's really just the writers - who are only human, despite evidence to the contrary - being nice to the fat kid in the yard. Detroit is just as rotten as ever. Look at the box scores. Three interceptions from a rookie quarterback. Thirty-three yards rushing. They're doomed. Minnesota -10 with Sports Interaction is the final pick of the week.

Please note that Frank Doyle's Week 2 NFL picks and predictions do not calculate into the Gambling911.com overall record for its own free picks, which can be found daily by visiting the Gambling911.com website.

Open an online betting account with Sports Interaction with $25 here using your credit card and receive a FREE MATCHING $25.

Jacquelyn Mitchard's sequel to Deep End of the Ocean is skillful, ludicrous

2009-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Local novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard will never be mistaken for Anne Tyler, the doyenne of domestic dystopia, whose eccentrically intriguing characters overshadow Mitchard's rather predictable people. Nor will she be confused with Ruth Rendell, whose dense plotting of a mystery makes Mitchard's simple storylines look like a novice's. (Mitchard claims Rendell as an idol, but her name, unforgivably, is misspelled on Mitchard's website!)

Nevertheless, Mitchard's latest book, No Time to Wave Goodbye, exhibits all the traits that have made her so successful and well loved: brisk, journalistic prose, a group of readily identifiable characters and a tale that tugs at the emotions with the insistence of a wayward child. Her legions of fans will undoubtedly gobble up this sequel to her massive debut success, The Deep End of the Ocean, for which Mitchard thoughtfully provides a précis in the course of this book.

With the reappearance of the long-lost Jaycee Dugard in California still screaming from the headlines, Mitchard coincidentally rekindles her saga of the unfortunate Cappadora family. The younger son, Ben (also known as Sam), had been reunited with them after being kidnapped nine years earlier, and this new story kicks off 13 years after the conclusion of Deep End. All the familiar faces are here: Beth, the damaged mother; Pat, the opaque father; Kerry, the fragile sister; and Vincent, the guilt-ridden older brother. Even the comically named police detective Candy Bliss reappears.

It is around Vincent and his need for expiation that the new plot revolves. He has made a documentary film about families, including his own, who have had children kidnapped. This naturally opens up a can of ugly worms, but it is when the movie is nominated for an Oscar that things really take a turn for the worse. Ben/Sam's own baby daughter is abducted on the very night of the Academy Awards, and a frantic search begins as all the old demons come shrieking back to haunt the Cappadoras.

Even though the kidnapper's identity rapidly becomes obvious, the story's tension arises from Mitchard's descriptions of the frictions that arise within and between the characters. This is when she is at her best. Frustratingly, she frequently undercuts these skillfully sketched scenes with faintly ludicrous moments of improbability.

Her style, likewise, veers between remarkable perceptiveness ("Something had seeped out...of all of the families. It was as if they'd lost some kind of affective pigment") and Harlequinesque hyperbole ("Vincent [went out] where the extravagantly benign California night bathed his face").

The book concludes, however, with a terrific sting that cleverly (and chillingly) ties up a nagging loose end. It's too bad that more of that quality wasn't present in the larger narrative of an otherwise pedestrian story.

Over 24 Brother Speed Motorcycle Club members involved in accident

2009-09-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

WILSONVILLE, Ore. — Oregon State Police say more than two dozen motorcycles, most of them belonging to the Brother Speed motorcycle club, crashed on Interstate 5 on Friday afternoon, blocking freeway traffic for hours.

Police say the bikers were behind a car when traffic slowed in the northbound lanes near Wilsonville, south of Portland.

They say the bikers and car tried to slow but collided, scattering bikes across the pavement.

The Oregonian in Portland reports that two bikers with critical injuries were flown to Portland hospitals by helicopter. Rescue personnel say seven others were treated for shoulder and hip injuries and broken bones.

The freeway reopened about 6 p.m., nearly four hours after the accident.

Sal Aunese Wiki

2009-09-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sports network ESPN today plans to air a tribute to Sal Aunese who played for CU as a Quarterback in 1987 and 1988. Sal had a very short sports career as he fell prey to inoperable stomach cancer in 1989.

This show is part of the ongoing ESPN series to cover College Football which covers the background of various college super stars of their time.

Sal Aunese was survived by his wife and a five-month old son, T.C. McCartney. Incidentally TC McCarney is now a quarterback at LSU. The plot of the documentary is something showing the son who is trying to walk in the footsteps of his dad.

ESPN’s show covering the Sal Aunese will start on Friday evening with a version of the story airing on ESPN Radio’s The Sporting Life at 9 p.m. MT. A shortened version of the segment will air on College Gameday, which airs beginning at 8 a.m. MT on ESPN.

Sal Aunese Biography and Wiki Info
Sal Aunese was 20 years old and few inches shy of 6 feet when he started as Colorado’s junior starting quarterback. He was close to 200 pounds. He continued to be the starter all through 1988 and led his team, Buffaloes, to an 8-4 record, passing for 1,004 yards and running for 397. He had won the job early in 1987 as a sophomore.

Sal Aunese was diagnosed with cancer on March 30, 1989, and he died six months later. Colorado dedicated the 1989 season to him and went 11-1, losing 21-6 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The Buffaloes won the Associated Press national title a year later.

wielding man sought in Pike Creek heist

2009-09-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

State Police are looking for a gun-wielding man who held up a Pike Creek-area bank Friday.
Police say the suspect ordered employees and customers to the floor at the PNC Bank branch near the Pike Creek Shopping Center on Limestone Road just before noon.

He then demanded and got cash from several tellers before taking off and disappearing into some nearby woods.

The suspect is white, 30 to 40 years old, 5-10 to 6 feet tall with a large build, and was wearing a black hat, dark sunglasses, a white surgical mask, orange construction vest, black T-shirt, dark pants and white gloves.

Anyone with information can call Troop 2 or Crimestoppers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What can I do for Labor Day in Connecticut?

2009-09-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

Many of us are enjoying a three day weekend thanks to Labor Day. Here are a few happenings in Connecticut this weekend, from festivals to live music, to fresh seafood.

Greek Odyssey Festival- The Greek Odyssey has already started causing a stir for its four day celebration. The Greek Festival will take place September 4-7, 2009 at the Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Orange, CT. The festival will run from noon-10:00pm Friday-Sunday and noon-8:00pm on Monday. Rain or shine come enjoy the free festival.
Woodstock Fair - The 149th Woodstock Fair is this September 4-7, 2009. The fair is located at the junction of Route 171 & 169 in South Woodstock, CT. The fair will feature exhibits, baked goods, collections, arts and crafts, flowers, midway, entertainment, and animal shows. Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for senior citizens over 60, and children 10 and under are free. Parking will cost you $5. Gates open at 9:00am and close at 11:00pm on Friday-Sunday and 8:00pm on Monday.
Mystic Seaport Fish & Ships Festival - This three day festival takes place at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. The festival will feature steamed lobster, grilled fish, New England clam chowder, and a raw bar from local docks (clams, oysters, and shrimp). The festival begins on Saturday, September 5 - Monday, September 7, 2009. The hours are11:00am-4:00pm on Friday and Saturday and 11:00-3:00pm on Monday. You will also be able to explore the ships and exhibits.
Guitar Under the Stars - The annual end of the summer tradition in Hartford, CT is Guitar Under the Stars. It will take place September 5, 2009 at the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza. Live music will feature Daniel Salazar, performing with the Hartford Festival Orchestra. For more information visit www.ctguitar.org. A variety of musical styles will be played.
Farmington Antiques Weekend - September 5 & 6, 2009 is the annual Farmington Antiques Weekend at the Farmington Polo Grounds located at 152 Town Road, Farmington, CT. Dealers travel from beyond New England to sell jewelry, oil paintings, linens, furniture, fine antiques, garden tools, and Christmas ornaments. Saturday admission is $10 and can be used on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday admission is $7.
Haddam Neck Fair - If you're looking for exciting contests and shows the Haddam Neck Fair is the place for you. The fair will take place at 26 Quarry Hill Road in Haddam Neck, CT this September 4-7, 2009. The fair will feature tractor pull contests, animal shows, and baking contests. You can also enjoy arts and crafts, photography, stage entertainment, livestock, and baked goods among other things.
Check back for more ideas of what to do this Labor Day weekend or read my

Sports Come Through in the Clutch

2009-09-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

DETROIT — In 1968, when I was young, Detroit was in shambles. Its soul had been wrenched open the summer before by riots that pitted angry black residents against a mostly white police force. The city’s newspapers were on strike. Auto industry leaders were beginning to worry about a threat posed by the Japanese.

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Associated Press
The Tigers’ success this season has boosted Detroit’s spirits in much the same way the team’s World Series championship in 1968, above, did.

Keep up with the latest news on The Times’s baseball blog.

Go to the Bats Blog »
Only one thing kept the city together, or so it seemed: the Tigers.

On the beaches of its metropolitan parks and in the kitchens and backyards of homes across Michigan, like the one where I grew up, we heard the voices of Ernie Harwell and Ray Lane broadcasting the play-by-play on WJR-AM and its sister stations.

When the Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, we were all united in more than just delight. The community, young and old, needed the success for spiritual reasons as much as for the sheer pleasure of seeing a sports team prevail.

Lately, I’ve felt a similar bond, only on a much grander scale and across many playing fields. As so many people around the world have lost their jobs, and seen their homes deflate in value and their countries become unsettled, sports have stepped in to distract us.

It is almost as if athletes everywhere have sensed an extra responsibility in 2009 and are rising to the occasion. They have good reason to do so. Even before the recession that has gripped the world, fans were increasingly fed up with doping scandals and violence and disappointments involving their sports heroes.

But athletic performance makes a difference now, far more than in a prosperous year.

Here in Detroit, where the Tigers have a tenuous grip on first place in the American League Central, two special events have gripped the city’s attention this year.

In April, it was the N.C.A.A. Final Four, in which the Michigan State men’s basketball team ultimately lost to North Carolina. Granted, it was a stretch to classify the East Lansing-based Spartans as a local team, but the 100-mile distance was happily overlooked, given the boost that M.S.U. gave to the local mood.

Two months later, the city was alternately jubilant and depressed, not to mention sleep deprived, thanks to the Red Wings. They tussled with the Pittsburgh Penguins before conceding the Stanley Cup in Game 7. That final buzzer at Joe Louis Arena ushered in a remarkable few months.

This summer has brought to mind not only my 1968 Tigers, but also the United States’ hockey victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics and France’s victory over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final, which sent a million people surging onto the Champs-Élysées in celebration.

In rapid succession, fans around the world have been riveted by events that almost no one could have predicted.

In June, the United States men’s soccer team stunned top-ranked Spain in the Confederations Cup and led a shocked Brazilian team in the tournament’s final. There was no Miracle on Turf, however, and the Americans wound up losing the game but gaining respect.

Then came Roger Federer’s record-setting match against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, an agonizing, exhilarating nail-biter whose final set lasted 30 games. The session went on long past the usual breakfast at Wimbledon and well into lunch before Federer finally claimed his 15th Grand Slam singles title.

It seemed only a blink of an eye before the 59-year-old Tom Watson was in the spotlight, falling a good putt short of winning the British Open but reassuring every golfer around the world that age was second to skill.

Layered over those individual performances was the three-week Tour de France, with so much drama it was hard to know which story was the most intriguing.

The Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, whose eyes have the same intensity as Federer’s, emerged as the best in his sport. But Lance Armstrong’s third-place finish at 37, after three and a half years away from racing, was clearly what many Americans cared about most.

Of course, sports are a diversion, not a solution, and bad news does not stop because players are having a good year. As these events took place, the unemployment rate in America rose above 9 percent, the British government was hit by scandal, and Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite died.

But the summer isn’t over just yet. We still have the P.G.A. Championship this week and the United States Open in tennis.

Then comes fall and the World Series, when maybe, just maybe, my Tigers can recreate their magic once more.

Gerry Mcnamara

2009-09-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Gerry McNamara is a little like Anthony Bourdain. They both travel the world in search of great things. They’re both tall and lanky. And they both cook in the French style. Okay I don’t actually know how, and if, Gerry cooks his food. But when I think of GMac, I think haute cuisine. Maybe it’s just me.

At 26, Gerry Mcnamara – flight 1549 is still a young man. But after so many stops and starts in professional basketball, the window on a professional career is closing fast. Gerry’s was thisclose to make the Utah Jazz roster this past season but his recent turn with the NBDL’s Reno Bighorns didn’t yield NBA-calibur results. It sure seems that if he wanted to he could have a fine career overseas but I get the feeling Gerry’s tried that and it didn’t stick. He wants to be in America doing what he loves.

Google goes viral: Unexplained Phenomenon logo making waves on the web Updated 10:00 a.m. ET

2009-09-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

In an apparent effort to drive skeptics temporarily insane, search engine Google today began featuring a new doodle with a UFO which, when clicked, takes users to a search for "unexplained phenomenon." The search itself brings up a list of sites purporting to discuss paranormal phenomena, many of them doing so in an unquestioning way.

Google, which is traditionally science-friendly, undoubtedly has a reason for this move. If it is an experiment in viral marketing, it appears to be working. As of 9:04 a.m., "unexplained phenonemon" was the number one search item on the U.S. search site.

One clue appears to have been posted at Google's twitter account. Shortly before midnight Eastern Time in the US, Google posted the numeric phrase "1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19 ." Substituting letters for numbers, this translates to "All your O are belong to us." In the unexplained phenomenon graphic, a UFO is seen "beaming up" one of the O's in Google.

The phrase is a reference to "All your base belong to us," a mistranslated phrase from a Japanese video game that became a joke spreading virally across the internet in 2002. A video of the opening shot from the video game "Zero Wing" can be seen below.

Ren Faire, Scavenger Hunt, Silent Rave, Smellovision, & Irish, Native Am, Brazil Fests

2009-09-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

Still recovering from my wrist injury & my hard drive crash, this week I manage to publish on time at last! Next week: should be able to return to including images. :)

Here's your week in weird. Enjoy it! Want this weekly? Subscribe to email, Facebook, or Twitter.

-Johnny

The Week in Weird
Back to School Silent Rave 9/4 Boston Metro
The weird event of the week is a dance party with no music! Bring an iPod with music to dance to. Or just dance to the music in your head! 7:30-10:30pm. Copley Square, Boston, MA. more more
King Richard's Faire preview event 9/3 Boston Metro
Also weird!! King Richard's Faire is the big Renaissance Faire in Massachusetts and to attract customers they are doing a free preview! They'll have baby tigers, jousters on horseback and performances by the royal court set up all along the river. 11am-3pm. Hatch Shell on the Esplanade, Boston, MA.
Carousel on Boston Common 9/8 - 10/20 Boston Metro
Also in Boston, visit the carousel on Boston Common! The merry-go-round is open daily from 11am to 9pm, next to Frog Pond. Only $2. Closing whenever weather gets cold. Boston Common near Frog Pond, Boston, MA. more
Now in Smellovision 9/4 Boston Metro
This is so creative!! l really want to see this! Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the original from 1971 was filmed in a way that can be set to smells. Come see, hear, & smell the show -- it's free! 6:30 - 9:30pm. Union Square, Somerville, MA. more
GO Urban Adventure Race 9/5 Boston Metro
This urban scavenger hunt is where you walk around the city collecting clues. It's touring the nation and making just one stop in Boston. Boston, MA. more
Battle Road Trail Walk 9/5 Metro West
But if you're going to walk for hours, why not learn something. This is a 3.5 hour walk along the "battle trail" that was basically one long car chase, sans cars, circa 1775. 12:30pm. Free. Minute Man Visitor Center - Rt 2A, Lexington, MA.978-318-7825. more
Our Friend the Fugitive 9/6 Metro West
Yet another program from the creative people at Minuteman Park is about fugitives from slavery. 2pm. And Oct 25. Lexington, MA. more
Labor Day parade (Marlborough, MA) 9/7 Metro West
I usually work on Labor Day but here's an entire community organizing a parade to celebrate. Marlborough, MA. more
Bread and Roses Festival 9/7 North Shore
This music and dance festival is more like it! It celebrates a famous labor strike in American history. Lawrence, MA. more
Newport Waterfront Irish Festival 9/5 - 9/7 Rhode Island
I've been to this event, and with 5 music stages, it's worth a visit, but doesn't go much beyond the typical music and vendors that many fairs feature. However, it's the largest Irish event of the year in New England. Newport Yachting Center., Newport, RI. more
Lighted Boat Parade & Fireworks 9/5 North Shore
While you're in the area, get a picnic lunch & watch the ships go by! The best view is on the left side of the harbor (as you face the water). Gloucester Harbor, Gloucester, MA. more
Gloucester Schooner Festival 9/4 - 9/7 North Shore
No doubt this ship & waterfront festival are related to the boat parade! Gloucester, MA. more
Brazilian Independence Day Festival 9/6 - 9/15 Boston Metro
I also recommend the Brazilian Independence Day Festival, even though I've never been, because Brazilians really know how to party. They'll have a parade, music, and the usual kids stuff like balloon animals. Artesani Park, Soldier's Field Road, 1234 Charles River, Boston, MA. more
Seakonke Wampanoag Tride Annual Pow-wow 9/5 - 9/6 Southern Mass
This small native american festival takes place in my hometown and I've been. It's at the corner of Rt 44 & Bay State Road, call 401-723-1563. They have a ring of vendors and ethnic music and dance, including participatory. It's a wonderful chance to learn. Redway Plains, Bay State Road at Winthrop Street, Rehoboth, MA.401-723-1563. more
End of Summer Bash & Fireworks 8/22 - 9/4 New Hampshire
If you are up in the White Mountains for hiking and touring, stop by for the fireworks. Waterville Valley, NH.603-236-8175. more
Three Apples Storytelling Festival 9/7 Metro West
Here's a storytelling festival! It's definitely for adults and not just a kids thing. It's like a one-person theatre show. I've been to this and it's fantastic! But this year it's just one day. See http://www.storynet.org/Calendar/massachusetts.htm. At the Bedford Farmer's Market, Bedford, MA.617-499-9529. more more
Kimball Farm Corn Maze -- Night Maze! 9/4 - 9/5 Northern Mass
What's better than a corn maze? Doing one at night by the light of the full moon! Kimball Farm Corn Maze, 780 East Broadway, Haverhill, MA.978 521-3990. more

Busted. Van Jones Linked to 9-11 Truther Movement Back in January 2002

2009-09-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, news broke out that Barack Obama's communist Green Czar was a 9-11 Truther. The administration much later in the day released a statement saying Van Jones was "not now or ever" involved in the 9-11 Truther movement.

Jones said the petition he signed in 2004 did not reflect his views and that he did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.

Not true.
This article at Rense.com from 2002 links Van Jones to the 9-11 Truther movement at its infancy:

Digital Library Programmer Analyst at George Washington University

2009-09-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

George Washington University's Gelman Library System is recruiting a Digital Library Programmer Analyst.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position ##0601384):

•Assists with the installation, maintenance and customization of programming related to open source and commercial, off-the-shelf software applications/enhancements and modifications to meet current and projected needs; reviews and modifies systems programs as needed to correct utility or application programs.
•Serves as the primary XML-XSLT programmer.
•Deploys XML-based product DigiTool (Ex-Libris). DigiTool is GLS's digital object management platform.
•Defines and implements programmatic interfaces with other Digital Library systems.
•Applies principles of usability, accessibility and assessment to develop effective interfaces and navigation structures to meet user needs.
•Provides web application programming; maintains web software applications; develops and/or maintains documentation and procedures/programs manuals to indicate system/program logic; and may perform content management for GLS' website.
•Designs and develops web interface to SQL databases; Linux and Windows server system administration to include installing patches and programming modules, writing Perl scripts, creating SQL Select Queries (custom Voyager Library System), and may provide programming support related to Metalib, SFX, and locally developed applications.

ESPN Kicks Off The 2009 College Football Season Broadcast

2009-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

ESPN begins its 2009 college football broadcast coverage today at 7:00 p.m. across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN Radio, ESPN Classic, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN GamePlan.

ESPN will present 28 games over Labor Day weekend, including Labor Day on all its networks. Chris Fowler will host for his 20th season with analysts Lee Corso who has been affiliated with the show since the first year, Kirk Herbstreit, who joined in 1996, and Desmond Howard, entering his fourth season.

Complete Schedule Of 2009 College Football Games on ESPN

The first week schedule of 2009 college football season coverage on ESPN is as follows:

First Week Broadcast Schedule of 2009 College Football on ESPN
Day, Date & Time Game Network Commentators
Thu., Sept. 3, 7 p.m. ET South Carolina @ N.C. State ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Sean McDonough, Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews
Thu., Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m. ET North Texas @ Ball State ESPNU Charlie Neal and Jay Walker
Thu., Sept. 3, 10:15 p.m. ET Oregon @ Boise State ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Heather Cox
Fri., Sept. 4, 8 p.m. ET Tulsa @ Tulane ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore
Sat., Sept. 5, noon ET Navy @ Ohio State ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman and Bob Griese
Sat., Sept. 5, noon ET Minnesota @ Syracuse ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Pam Ward and Ray Bentley
Sat., Sept. 5, noon ET Kentucky vs. Miami ESPNU Clay Matvick and David Diaz-Infante
Sat., Sept. 5, 1 p.m. ET Jacksonville State @ Georgia Tech ESPN360.com Frank Giardina and Doug Chapman
Sat., Sept. 5, 2 p.m. ET Northeastern @ Boston College ESPN360.com Dave Popkin and Jon Ritchie
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Georgia @ Oklahoma State ABC / ESPN360.com Sean McDonough, Matt Millen and Holly Rowe
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Western Michigan @ Michigan ABC / ESPN360.com Mike Patrick, Craig James and Quint Kessenich
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Baylor @ Wake Forest ABC / ESPN360.com Dave Lamont and JC Pearson
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Reverse Mirror of ABC ESPN2 / ESPN360.com
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Jackson State @ Mississippi State ESPNU Todd Harris and Charles Arbuckle
Sat., Sept. 5, 3:30 p.m. ET Missouri vs. Illinois ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham
Sat., Sept. 5, 6 p.m. ET Middle Tennessee @ Clemson ESPN360.com Ryan Rose and Danny Kanel
Sat., Sept. 5, 6 p.m. ET William & Mary @ Virginia ESPN360.com Jim Barbar and Sonny Randle
Sat., Sept. 5, 6 p.m. ET The Citadel @ North Carolina ESPN360.com Bob Picozzi and Paul Maguire
Sat., Sept. 5, 7 p.m. ET BYU vs. Oklahoma Radio / ESPN Mobile TV Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Heather Cox
Sat., Sept. 5, 7 p.m. ET Louisiana Tech @ Auburn ESPNU Eric Collins, Brock Huard and Beth Mowins
Sat., Sept. 5, 7 p.m. ET Connecticut @ Ohio ESPN360.com Michael Reghi and Jerod Cherry
Sat., Sept. 5, 8 p.m. ET Alabama @ Virginia Tech ABC / ESPN Radio
Sat., Sept. 5, 10 p.m. ET Maryland @ California ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Terry Gannon and David Norrie
Sat., Sept. 5, 10:30 p.m. ET LSU @ Washington ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Mark Jones and Bob Davie
Sat., Sept. 5, 10:30 p.m. ET Prairie View A&M @ Texas Southern ESPNU Carter Blackburn and Eddie Robinson, Jr.
Sun., Sept. 6, 2 p.m. ET Grambling State vs. South Carolina St. ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Charlie Neal and Jay Walker
Sun., Sept. 6, 3:30 p.m. ET Mississippi @ Memphis ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore
Mon., Sept. 7, 4 p.m. ET Cincinnati @ Rutgers ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Bob Wischusen and Brian Griese
Mon., Sept. 7, 8 p.m. ET Miami @ Florida State ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile TV Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Erin Andrews

Kitzhaber gets plenty of media hits on reentry

2009-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

There's no question that former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber remains a heavyweight political figure on the state's landscape.

His announcement that he's running for governor again won him front-page news around the state, prominent television coverage and plenty of bytes in the blogosphere.

But what's striking is how far from laudatory the commentary was about the Democrat's re-entry into Oregon politics. Questions are being raised about how effective he was in his two terms in office and whether he will be a forceful and successful leader this time around. Check out the comments on Blue Oregon's post announcing his entry into the race. That blog comes from deep in the Democratic base, but the comments seemed about equally divided between cheering him on and questioning whether his time has past.

Look at my own paper, The Oregonian, still the most influential media outlet in the state. The paper carried three commentaries related to Kitzhaber today.

Columnist Steve Duin concluded that Kitzhaber "always brought more than enough brains to the table, and not nearly enough in terms of temperament and work ethic."

The Oregonian's editorial on Kitzhaber did laud his successes on salmon recovery and health care, but added that "he has sometimes not shown the persistence or bedside manner needed to persuade Oregonians and key stakeholder groups to go along with him on issues such as school funding, tax reform or transportation."

And former Labor Commissioner Jack Roberts, a Republican who writes a regular column for The Oregonian, cheerleaded for another heavyweight Democrat - Congressman Peter DeFazio - to get into the race.

[Roberts, it should be noted, had an earlier column slamming Kitzhaber and complaining that the state's media had not been tough enough on him the first time around. The irony is that Roberts could have had the Republican gubernatorial nomination for the asking in 1998 to run against Kitzhaber and he passed up the best chance anyone had to be tough on him.]

The Eugene Register-Guard offered a more upbeat appraisal, saying Kitzhaber made a good start in laying out a broad agenda. The Salem Statesman-Journal editorial focused on the political landscape in the governor's race but said: "Kitzhaber often was seen as aloof; and personal characteristics can be as important as such campaign issues as health care, the economy, the environment and education."

And, not surprisingly, the commentary from the right was particularly sharp-edged, given the new media environment.

Oregon Catalyst quickly put up two posts, one slamming Kitzhaber for his love of Edward Abbey's novel on eco-terrorism (Kitzhaber once had a bumper sticker on his SUV saying "Hayduke lives" but made it quite clear he didn't support eco-terrorism) and another on his history of supporting tax increases. That's one thing that Kitzhaber mostly didn't have to contend with during his two terms as governor: the blogosphere.

Star-filled mausoleum awaits Michael Jackson at Forest Lawn Glendale

2009-09-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

Star-filled mausoleum awaits Michael Jackson at Forest Lawn Glendale
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Posted by Maureen Clayton at 01:13:13 PM
Read more: Celebrity Deaths, Celebrity Relatives, Entertainment News, Michael Jackson, Music News

Michael Jackson's family is preparing to bury the singer in a mausoleum in Glendale, California, that is filled with legendary entertainers.

Only Jackson's family and closest friends will be in attendance. The service at Forest Lawn Glendale is not open to the public at all.

"If you're not an invited guest, the most important thing to understand is one, the park is closed," said Sgt. Tom Lorenz from the Glendale Police Department.

The Glendale Police Department has issued credentials to 500 members of the media from all over the world.

The Jackson family will pay for all funeral expenses, including the massive police presence that has been brought in to make sure there are absolutely no problems.

Few details have been released about the service, but it is known that Gladys Knight is set to sing.

Jackson's funeral comes 70 days after his sudden death on June 25. The private burial service begins at 7 p.m.

The family held a massive public service at Staples Center for the pop star, but the burial had been delayed due to division within the family.

It was revealed on Wednesday that twelve plots were being purchased at the cemetery. Attorneys did not give a total figure for the extraordinary service, but the city of Glendale estimates that it will be upwards of $150,000.

Forest Lawn is closed on Thursday and will reopen on Friday, but it's unclear how close fans will be able to get to Jackson's resting place. He is set to be laid to rest inside the ornate Great Mausoleum.

Glendale Avenue is completely shut down on Thursday from San Fernando Road and Los Feliz Boulevard. Side streets are closed as well, but will be open to residents and businesses. Every street leading into Forest Lawn has been closed since 4 a.m.

Jackson's funeral won't end the legal drama over his drug-induced death at age 50, which authorities have labeled a homicide. No criminal charges have been filed over his death, which came on the cusp of London concerts meant to restore Jackson to his once-incandescent stardom.

Last week, coroner's officials said they believed Jackson's death was homicide, and his death certificate has been amended to reflect that. It cites "injection by another" as the fatal injury.

Investigators have said a mix of the powerful anesthetic propofol and another sedative killed the pop singer. The new record lists "acute propofol intoxication" as the main cause of death and "benzodiazepine effect" as another significant contributor.

The certificate does not mention Dr. Conrad Murray, who was Jackson's personal physician. He told detectives that he gave the singer a series of sedatives and propofol to try to help him sleep.

The coroner's determination of homicide makes it easier for prosecutors to seek criminal charges, but does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.

Acetyl L-Carnitine and Alpha-Lipoic Acid may be Fountain of Youth for the Brain

2009-09-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Throughout human history aging people have yearned for a magic elixir to help them turn back the clock and restore youth. It could be that this dream is about to come true. In a recent landmark study, old lab rats taking a mixture of acetyl L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid regained so much of their youth and vigor they "got up to do the Macarena", according to study director Bruce Ames.

The free radical theory of aging

Scientists studying aging have decided that we age because our cells and the DNA that contains our genetic code sustain damage by an onslaught of highly reactive chemical species they refer to a free radicals. These loose cannons in the body are the result of normal metabolic processes, making oxygen a double edged sword. We cannot live without it, but oxygen also generates these damaging chemical species that create havoc with our cells and cause us to age.

A mitochondria is like a tiny furnace contained in each cell in the body. Mitochondria generate energy inside each cell by burning food in the presence of oxygen. This is why cells that are fully oxygenated have a higher level of energy. But again, oxygen can be both friend and foe. This firing process ends up subjecting the mitochondria themselves to high levels of free radical damage. As we age, mitochondria become so damaged by these free radicals that they lose their ability to function efficiently. The result is continually diminishing cellular energy and even more aging. And as our cells lose energy, we become subject to degenerative diseases.

Researchers look for a way to halt mitochondrial deterioration

The study, reported in the October issue of Neurochemical Research, took place at the University of California. Researchers investigated mitochondrial decay and oxidative damage by examining the activity of the mitochrondria in the brains of young and old rats, as well as old rats fed with R-alpha lipoic acid plus acetyl L-carnitine (LA/ALC).

The brain mitochondria of the old rats, compared with that of the young rats, had significantly lower levels of naturally present antioxidants and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. They also had more oxidative damage to fats and proteins, and overall decreased activity. Feeding LA/ALC to the old rats partially restored age-associated mitochondrial dysfunction to the levels had by the young rats. These results document that mitochrondia decay plays an important role in brain aging. They also document that a combination of nutrients targeting mitochrondria can ameliorate mitochondrial decay by preventing oxidative damage.

Interest in LA/ALC has been increasing since researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University found that activity, energy and cognition could be improved by adding the compounds to the diet. Lead researcher Tory Hagen says that after just a month, older rats on the supplement were about twice as active as older rats not supplemented, whose activity was minimal.

Supplementation with LA/ALC has also been shown to improve both spatial and temporal memory. Pictures of the brain cells of supplemented old rats show less decay. Apparently, compounds such as LA/ALC can either mask or reverse metabolic problems caused by cellular aging and the natural oxidative process. Human trials are now underway to determine whether the LA/ALC combo can give people a way to enhance energy and cognitive function well into old age. If in fact they can, the numbers of people afflicted with degenerative diseases could be significantly decreased, and the older years could really become the golden time pictured in ads for retirement accounts.

The University of California has patented the LA/ALC combo as a way to enhance metabolism and alleviate oxidative stress. Juvenon, a company founded by Ames and Hagen have licensed the patent from the university, and introduced their first version of the combo. Fortunately, both R-alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl L carnitine are readily available as separate, non-patented items that can be taken in tandem.

Researchers recommend LA/ALC for prevention of Parkinson's Disease

Researchers in China are also climbing on the LA/ALC bandwagon. The Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, June edition, reported a study to evaluate the preventative effects of LA/ALC on the mitochondra in a human cellular model of Parkinson's Disease. The researchers found a 4-week pretreatment with LA/ALC effectively protected various human neuroblastoma cells against rotenone-induced mitochrondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage.

When combined, LA and ALC worked at 100 to 1000 fold lower concentrations than they each did individually. They also found that the pretreatment with LA/ALC increased mitochondrial biogenesis and decreased production of reactive oxygen species. They reported that LA/ALC might be an effective and safe prevention strategy for Parkinson's Disease.

Happy Labor Day: an Oxymoron

2009-09-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Labor Day. The Rodney Dangerfield of holidays. Nobody knows why it's treated like the runt of the celebration litter. Maybe it has to something to do with our biological clocks being stuck on elementary school time. Deep down in our bones, we're anticipating the first Monday of September pounding the final nail into the coffin of our vacation signaling a return to whatever scholastic institution we've been consigned to that semester. Making it as endearing as thunderheads on a picnic morning.

Labor Day. The last plastic souvenir sports bottle of lemonade on the dying coals of summer. The beginning of the end of the bright light and harbinger of the darkness. Swimming pools close. Ice cream trucks tie up their bells and convoy back into hibernation, And Dad suffers his last second-degree hissing bubble burn from the BBQ grill for at least nine months. The dividing line between baseball's endgame and football's chrysalis from two- a- day drills into hardcore Bowl envy. The solstice is dead. Long live the autumnal equinox.

Labor Day. As a kid, I was too busy recoiling from the looming specter of the end of my freedom to pay much attention to the meaning or even the name of the holiday. One 24 hour period carved into the almanac to honor the American worker. Seems a bit of an archaic sentiment these days. A gesture almost as empty as the candy counter at a Cineplex after a Labor Day weekend Harry Potter festival, especially what with lean and mean being all the rage. And trust me, there is a lot of rage out there.

Labor Day. Now might be the perfect time to trot out that old chestnut that if it weren't for the blue collars there wouldn't be any white collars much less $4,500 Brioni grey pinstripe merino wool suit collars. Without labor and the labor movement, we might still be nomads, camping on a frontier, boiling river water to wash down our nightly meal of beans and mush and roots and moss. Getting way too friendly with the livestock. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Labor Day Admittedly, not the sexiest holiday: There are no fireworks to watch or ugly birds to cook or chocolate covered bunnies to steal marshmallows from. Just one Monday off for all those ordinary guys and gals trying to make ends meet; raising 2.3 kids, juggling a mortgage while trying to cover the monthly cable bill with at least one premium channel thrown in. The lifeblood of America's body politic has always been its workforce, the people. (claimants before Judge Judy disincluded) I'm talking about real folks who don't think "work ethic" is a dirty word. Or a dirty two words. Or whatever.

Labor Day. A calendaric conundrum. A day we celebrate what it is we do for a living by taking the day off from work. Paying tribute not to fancy movie stars or stodgy founding fathers or rich and bloated athletes, but us. The real American heroes. You and me. OK, mostly you. But allow a guy who memorized his social security number at the age of twelve, wish you a happy Labor Day. Go out and buy a new notebook and a couple of pens. And a ruler. Nobody buys rulers anymore.

Will Durst is a San Francisco based political comic who writes sometimes. This is one of them. Please catch his new one man show "The Lieutenant Governor from the State of Confusion," appearing at a theater near you.

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Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount Punch Video

2009-09-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s season-opening loss at Boise State was the worst possible scenario for Oregon in every way: The vaunted Ducks offense was lethargic, ineffective, impotent and any other synonym you can imagine for “really bad,” held to a meager eight points and 150 total yards in a deflating loss that could send the entire season careening off the tracks. And no Duck was more disappointing in the loss than LeGarrette Blount: The senior running back, last seen hurtling over and through Oklahoma State defenders in a breakout Holiday Bowl performance last December, finished with –5 yards on eight carries and was dropped in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter.

A frustrating night, for sure, especially for a guy who spent the week before the game leading the nation in trash talk. But “frustration” does not quite describe Blount’s reaction after the game as well as “psychotic flip-out” directed at anyone and everyone in his general vicinity:

Blount has returned from one suspension already this year, an academic issue that kept him out of spring practice. But cold-cocking an opposing player, taking a swipe at a teammate and attempting to head into the stands after opposing fans is another animal entirely: Blount will certainly be suspended for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of his senior season, and could plausibly be hit with assault charges if Boise State or local authorities were feeling especially vindictive about it. At any rate, his very promising future at the next level is — to use a technical, “insider” term — kaput.

The hero of the fracas: Oregon assistant and former Nebraska star Scott Frost, the quick-reacting blonde dude who saved a Bronco fan from the fate of Byron Hout on the field. General rule of thumb: When your night ends with you being restrained by an ad hoc coalition of authority figures and security guards, you have had a very, very bad night. As a Duck, at least, Blount may not have many left.

Blount From Oregon Punch and Other Insanity

2009-09-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

LeGarrette Blount and his cowardly sucker punch put a damper on yet another spectacular night The beat goes on for the top football service ever. GodsTips goes 10-5 yesterday including four MLB underdog winners. GodsTips sweeps college football to go to 24-11 in football. Nothing changes. GodsTips remains the Center of the Handicapping Universe. Baseball has seen winning days 24 of 35.

Get two NFL sides for Friday. MLB is coming. Click now to purchase at OffshoreInsiders.com

Unlike LaGarrette Blount, we kick the bookmakers rear end man-to-man, not like the coward from Oregon who should be suspended for the year.

Byron Hout Provoked LeGarrette Blount Punch After Boise State-Oregon

2009-09-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Oregon football player LeGarrette Blount punched Boise State football player Byron Hout after Thursday night's game, and Blount is, rightly, getting a lot of criticism in the sports media this morning. But Hout deserves a share of criticism, too: He's the one who provoked the incident.

Watch the video closely, and you'll see that Blount, dejected after his team just lost, was walking off the field with his head down. Hout then grabbed Blount and shouted something. We don't know what Hout said, but whatever it was, it prompted Boise State coach Chris Petersen to run up to Hout, restrain him, and yell at him. Suffice to say, if Hout had just said, "good game," Petersen wouldn't have reacted that way.

Only after all that did Blount level Hout with a vicious straight right to the chin. Blount's punch was worse than Hout grabbing him, and it was worse than just about anything Hout could have said. But if Hout hadn't provoked Blount, the punch wouldn't have happened.

Petersen, to his credit, not only restrained Hout but said afterward, "It was just emotions getting the best of players" -- suggesting that he knew it was players on both teams, not just Blount, who overreacted in the heat of the moment. And it's also to Petersen's credit that after Blount punched Hout, none of the other Boise State players retaliated by punching Blount, which would have made an ugly scene even uglier.

Still, while everyone is calling this morning for Oregon to suspend Blount, Petersen should send a powerful message by disciplining Hout as well. Hout wasn't an innocent victim.

LeGarrette Blount Just Sucker Punched His Way Out of College Football

2009-09-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

There's no other way to put this: Oregon tailback LeGarrette Blount straight lost his mind Thursday night, sucker punching a Boise State player and requiring physical restraint to leave the stadium after the Ducks' embarrassing 19-8 loss. Boise State's Byron Hout appeared to tap Blount on the shoulder during postgame interactions, before turning away, only to take a Blount sucker punch to his jaw that floored him. Broncos coach Chris Petersen rushed in to separate him from further incident.

Blount then hopped away, only to get into another altercation with several Boise State fans seated near the field. At that point several people had to restrain him and forcibly drag him down the tunnel into an unknown but probably dark future. It's not unreasonable to speculate that his college career is over. Blount was particularly atrocious in Thursday's game, netting negative five yards on eight carries including being on the wrong end of a safety.

(Video after the jump.)

Hout is not immune from criticism in his role in the affair, but Blount crossed a line in punching a player who had turned away from him. His inexplicable escalation after arguing with some Boise State fans while leaving the stadium only further condemns him to a severe fate.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen, who was witness to the sucker punch, was more diplomatic, telling ESPN's Heather Cox that emotions had gotten the better of some players while turning attention to his team.

It's too bad, because, despite his bad game, Blount is a marvelous talent who would have done great things for Oregon this year. At this point he's just as likely to face a lengthy suspension or outright booting from the Oregon football program as he is to play again this year.

Of no small irony -- the American Football Coaches' Association had recommended full-team pregame handshakes to build sportsmanship in the game during opening weekend

World S Longest Golf Course Online

2009-09-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

There have been some stories floating around the internet lately, about a 909 yard par 7 hole that is the longest in the world. While I’m sure that golf course appreciates the publicity, the reports are wrong! The 7th hole at Sano Golf … Read more

World S Longest Golf Course Blog Results
•World’s longest golf course — 1365 kms — to open in Australia
“We’re very excited about it. It’s been a long time coming and a lot of effort,” project chairman Don Harrington said. “This is the longest golf course in the world. It’s unique terrain, there’s something for everybody.” … Read more
•Australia Unveils World's Longest Golf Course At 848 Miles || Jaunted
That’s more than just a pretty long hunk of green; in fact it’s the world’s longest golf course. Granted that all distances are big in the Australian outback, where the Nullarbor Links is located, but perhaps this is taking things a …Read more
•Best Golf Resorts of the World: World's longest golf course, part …
Bring your fairway woods and your long irons for this one, the longest golf course in the world–842 mile miles long–the Nullarbor Links. Under construction in Australia, some of the tees, fairways and greens are under construction, … Read more

•Aussie Golfer: The Australian Golf Blog: World's longest golf …
The world’s longest golf course is set to open in Australia in October. Aussie Golfer reported on Nullarbor Links last year and outlined it was to become 18 holes laid out across the Nullarbor Plain. A vast, flat area of the Australian … Read more

•World's Longest Golf Course
World’s Longest Golf Course: Waiting around and not knowing, that’s been the toughest part for Paul Casey. The world’s No. 3-ranked player spent another day on the range at TPC Boston yesterday, killing time, checking his phone

Real World:Cancun, Episode 11: Bronne finally speaks up

2009-09-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

When the group goes out, Jonna usually goes to excessive measures to get any male that breathes to give her attention. Her attention seeking ways have went from annoying to disturbing. While the girls were sitting down in a nightclub, Jonna waited for the gentleman that was talking to Emily to leave so that she could get up and dance with him. Jonna accused Jasmine of being insecure in the last after show, but she is obviously dealing with her own self-esteem issues if the only time she is attracted to a guy is after he shows interest in her friends. Later in the episode, Jonna says that the girls possess the qualities that she hates in other girls. That's not true. Jonna's possesses the qualities that usually prevent females from getting along. Most women's main concern when it comes to other competitive females is whether the female will try to take their man. Does anyone see how flawed Jonna's logic is?

Jasmine, on the other hand, is definitely letting Jonna get her under her skin too much. Jonna's behavior is quite annoying, but Jasmine only encourages Jonna's behavior when she loses her temper and stoms off. Jonna is obviously the type of person that can only get the point when she is treated like her presence doesn't matter.

The Student City job has finally come to an end and all of the roommates are happy to get the chance to finally relax and party freely.

CJ is preparing to go to Las Vegas for a try-out that several scouts of the NFL will attend. He has tried out several times in the past, but has never had any luck. The roommates admired how disciplined he had been while preparing for the try-outs.

Shortly after the group had their meeting at Student City, CJ announces that he has brought tickets so that Bronne and Derek can come to Las Vegas with him for his anticipated event.

During a shuttle ride back to the hotel, CJ punched someone in the face for picking on Derek. In the confessional, the two boys were obviously very drunk while they boasted about beating and kicking the guy on the bus. The next day, while everyone was outside of the hotel, security came and scooped CJ up. They actually had with them the young man that CJ had punched in the face. CJ and Derek both denied knowing who the guy was, but ulitmately CJ went to jail and was told that he would stay there for 36 hours unless he had 1800 pesos worth of bail money. Bronne and Derek put money together to help with CJ's bond and he was released from the jail.

Although CJ did not get any immediate information on the try-outs, he got positive feedback from the scouts that were there, and an agency was interested in possibly signing him.

Jonna slipped and fell at one point while she was out, and she twisted her ankle. Everyone felt like she was being overly dramatic and asking for attention. Her ankle was actually swollen, but at the point when she asked every guy in the house to carry her around the house in a small little night gown that revealed her crotch several times, she started to get annoying.

Emilee stomped on Bronne's zombie magazine and tore it all up. Ironically, she did this right after indirectly admitting that she was jealous of the hotel that the boys stayed in during their mini vacation. Emilee confessed to Bronne what she had done to his magazine, but she placated him by explaining the situation as if it was all in fun and nothing to be concerned about. Bronne went outside and was going to brush the whole situation off, but he could not handle it. He came back in the house and told Emilee and Ayiiia that he had always disliked them and was sick of them. He compared Ayiiia to Hitler and compared Emilee to Mussolini.

Bronne has done a swell job of keeping his cool around the girls up until now. He deserves credit for that.

Ayiiia is obviously accustomed to people not liking her. She laughed in Bronne's face and brushed it off. One might think that she gets cursed out on a regular basis.

Oddly enough, Emilee looked more hurt by Bronne's comments than she did when Ayiiia told her she was a waste of life and deserved to be adopted. Of couse, though, Emilee went back to being a mean girl later on and said that Bronne was the biggest loser in the house. Look at the fight below.

Kudos to Jasmine! When the girls got together to discuss Jonna's constant need for attention, she walked in the room and could sense that she was being talked about. Jasmine called her outside and blatantly told her that the cries for attention were unsettling and were causing the girls to feel uncomfortable. Jonna apologized, but at this point, the sincerity of her apologies are questionable. She used the same line to Jasmine that she used to her ex-boyfriend, Matt, when he found out CJ had kissed her:

"I don't want you to be made at me!"

Jonna knows exactly what she is doing.....she was telling the boys about the color of her nipples the next day.

A 'Boondock Saints II' Trailer And '9' Cast/Director Interviews In Today's Dailies -- 9/2/09

2009-09-03T01:50:00.000-07:00

The Sundance Film Festival will add the Next section for next year's gathering. The category will showcase six to eight films which make "innovative and original" use of low-/no-budget features. I wonder if "District 9" would have made the cut. (Variety)

-- Buried in a report on the upcoming lineup for Dino De Laurentiis Co., it was revealed that an adaptation of Karen Russell's novel "St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves" is in the works. The story follows a group of girls raised by werewolves as they are being prepared to interact with civilized society. (Variety)
-- James Mangold's upcoming spy thriller starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Maggie Grace added one more to the cast: Marc Blucas. In the movie, a woman (Diaz) goes out on a blind date with a man (Cruise), only to learn that he's a federal agent. Shenanigans predictably ensue as the two get caught up protecting a special battery with an infinite supply of power. (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- "Murderball" co-director Dana Adam Shapiro is taking his first crack and feature fiction with "Monogamous," which will star Rashida Jones and Chris Messina. The movie is described as a "cautionary tale about sex, photography and fear of marriage" and is currently set for a 2010 release. (The Hollywood Reporter)

-- Follow the link to check out the debut trailer for "Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day," which hits theaters on November 1. (IGN)

-- The September 9 release of Shane Acker's "9" is fast approaching, and the director sat down to chat about it with Sci Fi Wire, joined by stars Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly. Check out the video at the link below. (Sci Fi Wire)

Murder Mystery: What Happened to Janet Abaroa?

2009-09-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

A murder mystery played out in the suburbs of Durham, N.C., in April 2005, when Janet Abaroa, a beautiful, 26-year-old northern Virginian, was stabbed to death in her own home.

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Raven Abaroa tells dispatchers his wife Janet is dead and blood is everywhere.

More PhotosFour years later, despite the lack of arrests, Janet's family and police continue to search for clues.

The woman's family members believes they know what happened to her that night, and all their suspicions point toward her former husband, Raven Abaroa. Those suspicions were bolstered recently when Raven and his second wife separated and she went public with her fear that he might somehow have been involved in his first wife's death.

Raven Abaroa has said he discovered his dead wife's body in the bedroom of their Durham home after he returned from playing soccer that evening. Nothing else in the house was disturbed, authorities say. The couple's 6-month-old son, Kaiden, was left unharmed in another room.

Love Story Starts at College
Janet Christiansen, the seventh of 10 siblings, came from a solid Mormon family. At Southern Virginia University, in Buena Vista, where she played soccer, she met Raven Abaroa in 1998, a fellow soccer player who instantly swept her off her feet.

2009-09-03T01:44:00.000-07:00

Are they "Hung"?

2009-09-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

Aug. 8, 2009 | Ray Drecker is impotent in all the ways that Viagra can't help. The hero of HBO's "Hung," played by Thomas Jane, was once the golden boy of West Lakefield High's football team, but now he's middle-aged, divorced, depressed and earning a pathetic paycheck teaching history and coaching basketball on the same grounds where he was once regarded as high school royalty. Worse still, an electrical fire guts his house, leaving him with but one major asset ... in his pants.

Cue angels' voices and heavenly beams of light on his junk: Ray may be a failure in nearly every arena, but he does have the gift of a really big penis. So, after a bit of fumbling, he gets a pimp: Tanya Skagle, played by the fantastic Jane Adams, a struggling poet he meets in a get-rich-quick workshop.

Despite its dry humor and indulgent sight gags (flagpoles, cucumbers and other phallic images abound), the show expects viewers to buy its basic premise. There is certainly a thriving market for gay and bisexual escorts, but just how believable is a straight male prostitute? After all, legendary madam Heidi Fleiss recently abandoned plans for a Nevada "stud farm" that only catered to women because she decided it isn't "where the money is," and the recession, which looms large in "Hung," is making it tough for even female sex workers to get paid. Even in more prosperous times, the idea of there being a real market for gigolos goes against our assumption that women don't have to work for sex and that, well, they just aren't that into it.

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RedditAt the same time, we're likely to fall for most any fiction about studs for sale, because we don't know any better. From "Pretty Woman" to "The Girlfriend Experience," we've walked millions of imaginary miles in working women's shoes, but straight male prostitutes are still a mystery. It's been decades since "American Gigolo," and "Deuce Bigalow" didn't exactly drill deep into the authentic experience. So, I talked to some real-life Rays -- yes, they do exist -- about what's realistic about "Hung" and what isn't.

For the first man-whore myth, look no further than the show's name, which attempts to explain in a word why Ray is meant for escorting. Greg, a 48-year-old escort represented by an international agency serving wealthy businesswomen, says he's "been blessed in that area," but finds that "a lot of women really aren't into it -- sometimes it hurts them." For those who missed sex ed, most vaginas are no deeper than five and a half inches, meaning an abnormally large penis would likely hit the opening of the cervix -- and, as any woman who has had a pap smear can tell you, it isn't an erogenous zone. Yet, when Ray and Tanya get it on for the first time, she screams out in pleasure as he repeatedly slams into her: "Oh my God, you're so big!" Watching this scene as a straight woman is like watching a mainstream porno: It's hard to relate to the spastic, rapturous woman on-screen.

But unlike, say, "Big Cocks in Her Little Box," it's our man Ray who is being treated like a piece of meat: In one scene, a woman old enough to be his mother asks to get a peek at his penis. In another, a female client instructs him, "Show me your pecs," much like a man might shout: "Lemme see your tits!" It's a wry and refreshing inversion of the traditional gender script -- but working men say it entirely misses the point of M4W escorting.

Sometimes, sex is only a distant thought. "Male companion" James Craig -- a 40-year-old Englishman with a taste for fine wines, James Bond tuxedos and women – wrote in an e-mail, "No one wishes to appear the single person at that office function when everyone else has a spouse or date, so having a partner to take with them, who will not only blend in but treat that person like the special woman that she is, would be the solution." I couldn't help imagining him delivering the line in a soft-focus, late-night commercial for himself.

Male escorts can also be just pawns in a larger game of social chess. The men I spoke with have accompanied women to high school reunions, office parties and weddings. Sometimes they hit the town and, oops, "accidentally" run into the client's ex, who has the privilege of meeting the handsome, successful and adoring new man in her life. Greg just recently returned from a three-day stay at a winery with a client and her friends, who all believed he was her boyfriend. "It's been three days and I'm still getting e-mails from this lady about how all of her friends were like, 'Where did you find this guy, he was great!'" The kind of great that costs a couple thousand a weekend.

There are certainly women out there who are just looking to get off, but Greg says he's never had a client ask him to "come over and bang their brains out" like Lenore, Ray's first client, did. Women are looking for "a men-tal se-duc-tion," he says with the syllabic precision of a motivational speaker. He primes them with conversation, flirtation, compliments, but sometimes it never comes to sex. "I can't tell you how many times the evening [comes to a close] and they are so content they've forgotten all about it. They just lay down and pass out."

Alex, a 39-year-old straight male escort with a thick Russian accent, reiterates the importance of patience, rather than a large package. "You don't make money off the sex, you make money on the time spent talking." Sometimes men talk with a potential client for weeks through e-mail or go on several paid dates before anything physical happens, if it ever does. "Do you know any woman who would want to pay to get fucked in five minutes? They're paying for the imagination, the fantasy," he explains. "Emotionally and physically, the women suck your energy, your life out of you for the money they're paying you."

It isn't some velvet-robed playboy fantasy; it's a job. You would never turn down unattractive clients -- as Ray initially does with a plump, middle-aged married woman -- because it would ruin your reputation and the demand is so small that you can't afford to be picky. You sleep with a client whether she's a nubile secretary or a grey-haired granny. Unless, that is, she just wants to talk, which is sometimes the case. David Sterry, author of the memoir "Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent," liked that part of the job so much he became a marriage counselor: "I was doing the same work only I was clothed and getting paid much less for it." Those who trade in sin, from bartenders to sex workers of all persuasions, know all too well the worth of a sympathetic ear.

Male hooking isn't always talk therapy, though. Sex can be bizarre and menacing, even (or maybe especially) for those who do it for a living. Sterry had clients who seemed to be reenacting a past sexual trauma. One woman in particular would lie in bed and have him silently crawl under the covers and "orally pleasure her while she laid there like she was dead." He says, "I knew someone did something to her, you know? Every single time she wanted exactly the same thing." And some of these darker dynamics are starting to trickle in to "Hung." While Ray's first two clients were randy caricatures, his latest is a heartbroken woman who uses our well-hung hero to playact her way through past hurt. The waters of sex for pay are getting murkier, more difficult to navigate, and there is hope yet that "Hung" will sail beyond gigolo cliché. Jane Adams' character, Tanya, is certainly doing her best to convey to Ray that a woman's fulfillment depends on more than a big dick. Maybe he'll actually start to listen -- just like a good male escort would.

Andhra Pradesh CM dead in chopper crash: PMO sources

2009-09-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Prime Ministers Office declared on Thursday that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air crash. Andhra CM's chopper mystery
YSR: The mass leader
Full coverage

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests. ( Watch )

Five bodies were been found at the site where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy chopper’s wreckage has been traced.

The government on Thursday confirmed that Nearly 24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.

The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country's biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.

Mighty Morphin Power Ranger morphs into an MMA fighter

2009-09-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

Jason David Frank, who was once a Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, is now trying to use his super powers to turn into a mixed martial artist.

The former action star from the hit series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" has officially made the move to mixed martial arts, and while training with UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard, he hopes to make his real fighting experience as successful as he did on television.

Frank is hoping to fight as soon as possible.

"I was supposed to fight in 2007, but it fell through. In truth, I've wanted to put the work in until I'm ready," Frank said in an interview from the Suckerpunch website. "I know I have a target on my back. Everyone is going to want to beat up the Green Ranger."

And this is the moment where I weep for MMA.

Frank may just turn into a great fighter, though it's doubtful considering that he is 35 and worried about signing a management team before trying to schedule a fight. But this just furthers the notion that MMA is a fad, and can be used as a publicity stunt for someone with a flailing career. Considering that Frank's last acting job was a 2007 direct-to-video film called, "The Junior Defenders," he clearly needs a career boost.

At the same time, the beauty of MMA is that there is no hiding in the cage. When pretenders have tried it out in the past, they've been shown the floor of the cage, very quickly

Novelist Draws Inspiration from Life Experience

2009-09-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

Novelist Draws Inspiration from Life Experience

Twin cities author Christian Koegel has written a novel that was recently published through Lulu.com, the online marketplace for digital content. The novel is based on a multitude of situations Koegel encountered while spending three weeks enrolled in a trucking school in Sioux Falls, SD. The main protagonist was not based on any one character, but a multitude of the local residents and real life tractor/trailer drivers the author interacted with.

Having just finished his undergraduate studies in Creative Writing in late 2005, the author made a rash decision and decided to embark on a vastly different career path. “I was just at a point in my life where I finished college, and was asking myself, ‘now what?’” Koegel explained. A self proclaimed free spirit, the author saw freedom in the open road and enlisted into a rigorous truck driving program in neighboring South Dakota. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, there were too many rules and regulations as far as the industry was concerned,” Koegel pointed out, “but at least it gave me a great idea.”

The author wrote the book in six months in 2007, and then took another year to edit and add a “B” story to his manuscript. Based on the feedback he received from friends, family and colleagues, he decided to release it himself without submitting it to any of the more prestigious publishing houses.

At only a pinch over 65,000 words, Koegel’s book barely qualifies as a novel, his marketing angle being that it is a quick, entertaining read. The story centers around a character on the last leg of his career as a driver, the reader follows him from state to state as the mysteries of his life and future are told through flashback and the non-chronological structure of the novel. The author attributes it as a very subjective look at a character dealing with ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. He hopes that truck drivers read the novel and will buy the scenarios as plausible.

Koegel credits Lulu and the driving school he attended for making the book happen. “I set about a career path, but it ended up being a social experiment that was incredibly rewarding.” Although, Koegel’s career as a driver might have come to an end, he looks forward to writing more literary fiction and graduate school. “At least I can say I drove a big rig…on the interstate no less,” he remarked.

“A Need for Charlie” is now available on Amazon.com[1], Barnes and Noble.com[2], and many other online bookstores in the United States, as well as internationally. And of course, it is available on Lulu.com[3].

Lulu.com is the premier marketplace for digital content on the Internet, with over 300,000 recently published titles, and more than 4,000 new titles added each week, created by people in 80 different countries. Lulu is changing the world of publishing by enabling the creators of books, video, periodicals, multimedia and other content to publish their work themselves with complete editorial and copyright control. With Lulu offices in the US, Canada the UK and Europe, Lulu customers can reach the globe.

Christian Koegel is 27 years old and works in Human Services in Saint Paul, MN. He lives in nearby Woodbury, MN with his girlfriend. His book can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/a-need-for-charlie/5108477.

Weekend preview: The real world South Florida

2009-09-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

CJ Koegel, left, the randy heartthrob from MTV's The Real World: Cancun hosts the party Friday at Pangaea at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. CJ, of course, is the 24-year-old Boca dude who, when he's not in the middle of some spat between Joey and Ayiiia, is looking to hook on with a NFL team as a punter. At least he'd lead the league in great hair. At the Pangaea party, ladies get free Belvedere before midnight and Tom Laroc spins. Info: 954-581-5454.

Some Palm Beach flavor
September's second annual Flavor Palm Beach restaurant month gets a kick off with a Clematis Street blowout Friday night from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Centennial Square. The party, which benefits the American Red Cross, will include tastings from some of the participating Flavor restaurants, entertainment and more. Advance tickets are $15, with admission $20 at the door. Info: 561-366-1000.

Goat's blood
Really? Do you really want to watch Rob Zombie's blood-soaked treatment of Halloween 2 Thursday night at the Sunrise Cinemas at Las Olas Riverfront with 93 Rock's deranged Goat? Really? Yes, there are drinks and games and prizes ... OK, here are the details we discussed earlier in the week. You've been warned.

Icy hot
Watch the final round of judging for the 2009-2010 Florida Panthers cheerleader squad, now christened the Bova Panthers Ice Dancers, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Broward Mall, 8800 W. Broward Blvd. in Plantation. It's free. Info: 954-765 -1329.

Such a Von Teese
Yes. Thursday night's Cointreauversial event at the uncompromisingly swank Setai is designed to celebrate the new cocktail of the same name created by burlesque goddess Dita Von Teese, right. Luminous. It's a seductive blend of Cointreau, creme de violette and edible violets. Dreamy. They're free from 9 to 10 p.m. Sweet. And there will be sultry sounds from DJ James Dolby and a burlesque show. OK. But imagine my disappointment to learn that Dita is otherwise engaged Thursday night. No Dita. Imagine. The Setai is at 2001 Collins. Info: 305-520-6400.

Remember the times
Saturday would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday, and there are many among us in the mood to remember. At 12:01 a.m., Hot 105 FM will go all-Michael all day and that night is hosting a party at Karu & Y in downtown Miami, with a celebration of the music, a best-dressed contest (circa Off the Wall and later), best dance moves and other events. Winners get cash and other prizes. Advance tickets are $15, $20 at the door. More info: 305-567-5708.

On Thursday a Michael Jackson tribute will be the centerpiece of the free Clematis by Night event in downtown West Palm Beach. Soul singer Tony Wilson, who has received attention for his Michael-like moves, will lead the tribute from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Info: 561-822-1515.

Dance with the stars
Many people remember Edyta Sliwinska for being able to move around Dolphin great Jason Taylor on Dancing With the Stars with more fearless athleticism than many NFL quarterbacks (except Rex Grossman, who once did a mean tango with Taylor, left).

On Saturday Sliwinska and fellow DWTS star Alec Mazo will host a daylong series of workshops at Coconut Creek's Goldcoast Ballroom, 1415 Lyons Road.  There will be four 45-minute workshops on the cha-cha, rumba, samba and jive. Cost is $20 each, or $65 for all four.

There will also be time set aside for questions, photographs, open dance and a performance by the pros. The open dance and performance is $40. Private lessons also are available.   Reservations are required and can be made at 954-979-0770.

Hmmmm... beer
Football and free beer. Poetry. Beginning Sept. 5, your neighborhood Quarterdeck will give you a free 60-ounce pitcher of beer when you and a buddy each order a meal. The deal is good on Bud, Bud Light and Bud Select from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and all day Sunday through Jan. 3.

Drink your Vitamin C!
4 Orange Premium Vodka, which claims to be the only vodka distilled from Florida oranges, is looking for a few good women during an open casting call Thursday night at Il Bacio Restaurant & Lounge in Delray Beach.

Specifically the company is looking for "sophisticated" promotional models, which they call "Grove Stand Girls," to serve as brand ambassadors at various events around South Florida. Yes, there is a pay check involved.

The casting call runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Be prepared to have your photo taken and to provide scouts with your measurements, including the size of your ... feet.

Cocktails and refreshments will be provided. Everyone 21 and older, including non-applicants, are welcome.