TMZ Caught Paris outside the Los Angeles Airport on the way back from the Delusion Islands, a paparazzi reporter threw a few questions to Miss Hilton about her DJ “career”. She talks about Ibiza, how she’s booked to DJ the smallest bar in Vegas on NYE, and proclaims, quite smugly, how she is one of the top five DJs in the world.
VIDEO HERE
Kim showed off her gift with a brisk shopping trip yesterday and we have to say - this Christmas present will certainly get her noticed.
Her rapper fiancée plumped for a one of a kind hand painted George Condo Hermes bag. Contemporary artist Condo has painted the piece directly onto the tan leather bag. His image shows two nude figures with what appears to be a monster in the background.
Big shot Kanye knows the New York-based artist from asking him to create a series of pictures for fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - which features a naked Kanye being straddled by a female with no arms.
VIA Mirror.co.uk
Mixmag has received reports that Justin Bieber will soon be kicking off a DJ career.
Sources close to the star say that he's going to announce his new direction with a residency in Ibiza this season and there's hints that he could take on Vegas too.
Details of which venues Bieber will play at are hazy at the moment but we can confirm that he's requested mixing lessons from Usher's tour DJ and top talent agency Starting From Scratch.
“Justin could become the highest paid DJ in the world, commanding the same money he’s earned from complicated stadium tours for simple one hour DJ sets” a source told Mixmag. The biggest clubs in Ibiza and Vegas have begun a bidding war to sign up DJ JB, hoping he'll be ready for a weekly residency by June of this year.
Insiders reckon the teen sensation has grown tired of his pop image after having spent more time in nightclubs since his 19th birthday.
He was recently denied access from Sankeys in Manchester and it's been reported that he managed to get into Watergate in Berlin over the weekend. Bieber will kick off the German leg of his world tour in Hamburg next Tuesday and it seems as if he's taking full advantage of the legendary German nightlife.
Last week he revealed he wished to take a break from making music, thought that doesn't seem to be stopping him from wanting to play music.
How many schemes have there been to revitalize Detroit? Plenty, and while they have run the gamut from freight container condos to local food initiatives, Write House may be the most specific, fixing up dilapadated housing stock in the struggling city, and giving it to a deserving writer. In the organization's words:
"Write A House is Detroit-based literary organization that uses the wide range of available home stock in Detroit to build up support for the literary arts in the city. It’s like a writer’s in residence program, but the writers get to keep the homes, forever."
The deal is this: A neighborhood that is blighted with abandoned home was chosen to develop an arts colony in. Then, Write a House partnered with Young Detroit Builders, an organization that trains young people in construction and renovation. (So the project benefits both writers and the young people who has achieved new skills fixing up the houses.) Their first home (which they are looking for funding for via an Indiegogo campaign) is one of three homes the group has bought and will be fixing up—all within walking distance of each other, so as to build community.
But will writers want to move to Detroit? The organization is banking on it:
"...writers might actually not want to move to Detroit. They might have fallen for the negative hype of the bankrupt city. They might think that it's better to stay in some unaffordable city instead of taking advantage of all we have to offer. We hope they don't, we hope they get on board. We're betting there are enough smart writers out there who see this opportunity for what it is."
“You just think, ’Has this song always been around, or am I just hearing it for the first time?’ It’s fucking amazing.” That’s the normally malcontent Britpop statesman Noel Gallagher describing how so many of us felt about Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” in 2013: From just 15 seconds teased during a Saturday Night Live commercial break in early March, we sensed the electronic duo had hit on an inspired and majestic sound for their retro-focused, sample-free fourth LP Random Access Memories. It was instantly catchy and strangely familiar, and once we learned that, yes, that irresistible liquid funk riff came courtesy of legendary Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, the internet was in a frenzy to hear more. Comments on our post about a second SNL commercial — e.g., “those two 15-second snippets of music are the COOLEST DAMN THING I’ve heard in like 10 years” — were telling.
When the robots, Rodgers, and 2013 MVP Pharrell Williams appeared in that Coachella screener — a week before the single was released in full — the phenomenon of “Get Lucky” was in effect. By mashing elements of various musical styles — a reflection of the modern monogenre? — the song hit in America on Billboard’s dance/electronic chart, alternative chart, mainstream Top 40 chart, even the adult contemporary chart. It had something for everyone, and everyone heard it (except Henry Rollins). By July, “Get Lucky” won Stereogum’s annual Song Of The Summer poll in a landslide. And since a full-length music video for the track never materialized, television picked up the slack by celebrating the legend of the phoenix on the Emmys, Dancing With The Stars, the Voice, X Factor, the MTV VMAs and EMAs, Showbiz Tonight, Jeopardy!, Kelly And Michael, New Girl, Le Grand Journal, Fallon, Colbert, etc. In an era when artists can no longer rely on traditional media to popularize their music, the throwback jam from the faceless French guys bulldozed through the pop culture landscape.
We also heard it covered by dozens of popular bands, which was just as well, since Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter themselves never performed the song live. (That could change at next month’s Grammys ceremony, where the song will compete for Record Of The Year.) In the past few weeks, we’ve seen “Get Lucky” honored in many publications’ lists of the year’s best tracks. Spotify named it 2013′s most viral track (it had the most streams in 24 hours). And in our annual readers’ poll the Gummy Awards, the single recently took top honors in the Best Song category. It was The Year Daft Punk Broke (sorry), so let’s take a look back at how inescapable “Get Lucky” was with a supercut below. Thanks Matt Neatock for helping me put it together. Enjoy.
Don’t expect to see Keanu Reeves in the Point Break remake.
The 47 Ronin star told BBC 5 Live Radio that he wouldn’t be involved in the new version of the 1991 surfing action movie.
“Absolutely no,” he said. “It’s not my place.”
Reeves, who played rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah, did say that a remake sounded exciting, but wasn’t sure of how it would work out.
“If they can find a way to do it that works out good, then God bless them,” he said. “But is it a good thing? I don’t know.” Reeves suggested that certain movies, such as The Wizard of Oz and Apocalypse Now should have a “no-remake clause.”
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the original Point Break also starred Gary Busey and Patrick Swayze. A sequel to the cult film had been rumored for years, but with the death of Swayze in 2009, that plan seemed unlikely. Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. decided to do a remake with the screenplay written by Kurt Rimmer, who wrote the 2012 remake of Total Recall. In April, Ericson Core who did the cinematography for The Fast and the Furious, was announced as the director.
“It’s not a literal remake of the original the way ‘Footloose’ was — it was identical to the original film, producer Andrew Kosove said in 2011 when the remake was announced. “[Our 'Point Break'] has got elements of the original and it’s not just surfing, it’s other kinds of extreme sports, but surfing is very, very prominent in the story.”
Although Keanu Reeves, who turns 50 next September, won’t be involved in a Point Break remake, he said he would be on board for a third Bill & Ted film.
“I’m open to the idea of that,” Reeves said on Today Monday. “I think it’s pretty surreal, playing ‘Bill & Ted’ at 50. But we have a good story in that. You can see the life and joy in those characters, and I think the world can always use some life and joy.”
Reeves said there is actually a story in the works for a sequel.
“Yeah, there’s a story; there’s a script,” he said. “We’re trying to get the dough together to make this crazy story.” He also joked that, like himself, Ted won’t look his age in the movie.
“You know, it’s ancestry,” Reeves said. “Yes, indeed, because it’s not me. I could probably take better care of myself. My ancestors gave me some good genes.”
Read more Via inquisitr.com
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor Denzel Washington is in the running to play villain Lex Luthor in the upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel, "Batman vs. Superman," Inquistr reported.
Warner Bros. has already announced Ben Affleck will play Batman, Henry Cavill will play Superman and Gal Gadot will play Wonder Woman.
Although the movie studio hasn't officially announced Lex Luthor will be featured in the movie, Washington is quietly being courted to play the iconic character, Inquistr said.
The role has been previously played on the big screen by Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey.
Washington, a double Oscar winner, would be the first African-American actor to portray Luthor in a movie.
Read more here VIA UPI.com
..............maybe Kim's could be no more duck face ?
VIA Huffington Post : Apparently, Kanye West is tired of the world criticizing him for sticking his foot in his mouth. The rapper went on a 27–minute–long rant at his Toronto show, saying he'll stop speaking negatively for "six months, at least."
His oddly–musical stream of conscious described how West is looking forward to 2014, and even 2024. "I decided to completely focus everything in 2014 on all the new ideas and all the creative outlets," he said.
The rapper referenced the disagreements he has had with Nike, and promised to move forward from it with a positive attitude. "I'm not [going to] ever bring up Nike again. And the only way I'll bring them up is in a positive light," he said. "Because I actually appreciate the opportunity to have been able to make my own shoe with them, and if I didn't have the opportunity I wouldn't have my deal I have with Adidas right now."
West has become well–known in recent years for his controversial actions and statements. While he isn't willing to change who he is, he noted his need to keep it quiet for a while. He explained that his fans are one big family and he is the "crazy cousin." He joked that every family needs someone to play that role.
His rant might have gone a little overboard, but his sentiments seem positive. "I just really feel like I want to be expressive with my work, with my music. I want to be expressive with this opportunity I have with Adidas, and just go home to my family," he told his audience.
Will Kanye manage to keep his mouth shut in early 2014? We'll believe it when we see it.
If you have an incredibly high tolerance for West's antics, check out the full video of his below:
......cant stress this enough.....its not pretty....its makes the "twerking" seem less awful
The Disney hit is a good, subversive kids' film—until a needlessly jarring surprise at the end.
After I saw Frozen last week, I texted my best friend. Per her request, I sent her a list of the elements that her kids (ages seven, five, and three) might find scary: Rampaging snow monster, heroine freezing into solid ice, seemingly noble prince who turns out to be evil.
My friend quickly texted back to say that the prince sounded scariest of all. And she was right.
In Frozen, our heroine Princess Anna embarks on a quest to bring back her sister, Elsa, who has run away after inadvertently revealing her magical, winter-creating powers. Elsa accidentally strikes Anna with a shard of ice that pierces her heart; Anna believes that a kiss from the charming Prince Hans, whom she thinks is her true love, will save her from death. But just when he should be saving the princess, the male lead reveals himself to be a greedy, throne-usurping would-be killer: Hans leans in, supposedly about to give her that kiss ... then sneers, “Oh, Anna, if only there were someone who loved you.”
Ouch. That moment would have wrecked me if I’d seen it as a child, and the makers of Frozen couldn’t have picked a more surefire way to unsettle its young audience members.
It’s not like Disney has never given us heartbreaking moments before. (Bambi’s mother, anyone?) And it’s not that there’s no purpose behind the film’s cruel twist, either: The naïve and lonely Anna has fallen in love with and become engaged to Hans in the course of just one day. As her other love interest, Kristoff, tells her, this is not exactly indicative of good judgment.
However, there is something uniquely horrifying about finding out that a person—even a fictional person—who’s won you over is, in fact, rotten to the core. And it’s that much more traumatizing when you’re six or seven years old. Children will, in their lifetimes, necessarily learn that not everyone who looks or seems trustworthy is trustworthy—but Frozen’s big twist is a needlessly upsetting way to teach that lesson.
Before the shattering reveal takes place, the audience has already enjoyed more than an hour of Hans’s niceness. He’s kind to people and animals; he saves Anna’s sister, Elsa, from being killed; he even offers free winter cloaks and soup to the poor.
More here VIA The Atlantic
Life in Victorian times was arguably considerably more dangerous than now, if the newspaper reports of the time are anything to go by, writes Jeremy Clay.
A recent BBC News Magazine piece set out the dangers within the Victorian or Edwardian home. But there were plenty of ways to come a cropper outside the home.
1. Killed by a mouse
An equation familiar to anyone who's sat through a few old episodes of Tom and Jerry. Women + Mice = localised uproar. It's a sexist old TV trope, of course, but it played out for real in England in 1875, when a mouse dashed suddenly on to a work table in a south London factory.
Into the general commotion which followed, a gallant young man stepped forward and seized the rodent. For a glorious moment, he was the saviour of the women who'd scattered. It didn't last. The mouse slipped out of his grasp, ran up his sleeve and scurried out again at the open neck of his shirt. In his surprise, his mouth was agape. In its surprise, the mouse dashed in. In his continued surprise, the man swallowed.
"That a mouse can exist for a considerable time without much air has long been a popular belief and was unfortunately proved to be a fact in the present instance," noted the Manchester Evening News, "for the mouse began to tear and bite inside the man's throat and chest, and the result was that the unfortunate fellow died after a little time in horrible agony."
2. Crushed by his own invention
Sam Wardell couldn't afford to oversleep. He was the lamplighter in the New York town of Flatbush in the mid-1880s. He lit the streetlights in the evening, and needed to be up early to put them out again at dawn. It wasn't a job for slobs.
And so, with the boundless ingenuity of the age, he hit on a neat failsafe. He took a standard alarm clock and supercharged it, adding a Wallace and Gromit-style embellishment to ensure he woke in time. First he connected the clock by a wire to a catch he fitted to a shelf in his room. Then he placed a 10lb stone on the shelf. When the alarm struck, the shelf fell and the stone crashed to the floor. Ta-da!
It worked perfectly, and perhaps would have carried on doing so, if Wardell hadn't toyed with the configuration. One Christmas Eve he invited some friends round for a party and cleared his room of furniture to make space. When they left, he dragged his bed back into the room. He was tired, and didn't pay much attention to where he put it.
At 05:00 the next morning, the alarm sounded. The shelf fell. The stone dropped straight onto the sleeping Wardell's head.
3. Killed by a coffin
Henry Taylor died an ironic death. He was a pall bearer in London's Kensal Green Cemetery, and was midway through a funeral when he caught his foot on a stone and stumbled. As he fell to the ground, the other bearers let go of the coffin, which fell on poor, prone Henry.
"The greatest confusion was created amongst the mourners who witnessed the accident," said the Illustrated Police News in November 1872, "and the widow of the person about to be buried nearly went into hysterics."
4. Killed by eating her own hair
The doctors were baffled. The patient was seriously ill, that much was clear, but they couldn't fathom the cause. So when the 30-year-old died, in a village in the English county of Lincolnshire, they asked her grieving relatives for permission to carry out a post-mortem. Whatever they imagined they might find, it can't possibly have been what they actually discovered - a solid lump, made up of human hair, weighing two pounds and looking for all the world like a black duck with a very long neck.
"This remarkable concretion had caused great thickening and ulceration of the stomach, and was the remote cause of her death," said the Liverpool Daily Post in 1869. "On inquiry, a sister stated that during the last twelve years she had known the deceased to be in the habit of eating her own hair."
Check out the rest here via BBC : 6. Torn to pieces by cats, 7. Drowned by decorum, 8. Killed by a drunken bear, 9. Laughed himself to death, and 10. Killed by a bet
“Most people just assumed that for somebody to go into some of the neighborhoods I spend a lot of time in, that I would be this large, burly, tough sort of man,” says Carol Ott. “Well, no, I’m just a 45-year-old mother of two who thinks that our city deserves a little bit better.”
Ott is the person behind Baltimore Slumlord Watch, a website dedicated to documenting every abandoned property in Baltimore. She’s also the director of a new organization called Housing Policy Watch, which means that thinking about blight is Ott’s full-time job.
Like many cities in America, Baltimore struggles with a high vacancy rate. Official counts put the number of abandoned properties at 16,000, but the actual number may be twice that. How that happened is a complicated story, but what Ott thinks matters now is accountability—which is why she publicly lists the names and addresses of absentee owners on her site.
Hunt for Baltimore Slumlords blogger video here discusses where Baltimore housing crisis is.
Via The Atlantic
For those not familiar with Baltimore visit "That Guys on Heroin" here.
Lisa Robin Kelly -- who played Eric Forman's older sister on "That '70s Show" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.
The 43-year-old actress passed away in her sleep Wednesday night at a rehab facility in California.
We spoke with Kelly's agent who tells us the actress had just voluntarily checked herself in for treatment for an alcohol problem this past week ... and was determined to clean herself up.
The agent tells us, "She had been fighting demons for a while and finally lost her battle."
More Here Via TMZ
It's no secret that many men hate shopping. But if you had any doubt, just swing by your closest mall and take a look: Dozens of men, as far as the eye can see, slumped on couches and benches, surrounded by shopping bags, just... waiting. Looking miserable.
Misery finds company on Instagram with the account miserable_men. Photo after photo of anguished, abandoned dudes out shopping, from the grandpa falling asleep in the mall to the dad waiting outside in the heat with the stroller, will probably make you chuckle a little... and perhaps inspire some sympathy.
To all the men out there still recovering from the misery of Christmas shopping, know that you're not alone.
More here and pictures VIA Huffington Post
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A first-class U.S. postage stamp will jump 3 cents in price to help the Postal Service make up losses from the Great Recession, the postal regulator said.
Similar increases will apply to magazines and advertising mail, the Postal Regulatory Commission said.
The hike, raising a first-class stamp to 49 cents from 46 cents, starts Jan. 26 but is temporary, lasting "just long enough to recover the loss," Chairwoman Ruth Goldway said in announcing the increase.
She predicted "just long enough" would be close to two years.
The independent regulatory commission determined the Postal Service's loss, caused by a substantial 25.3 billion-piece drop in mail volume, was $2.8 billion between 2008 and 2011, Goldway said.
The commission in its 2-1 ruling rejected the Postal Service's request to make the increase permanent, saying the service "failed to provide justification for permanent price increases in connection with recession-related mail volume losses."
Read more VIA UPI
Page Six Reportng on the death of the Kardashian Brand- Not only are the Kardashians’ TV ratings sinking, but their faces are failing to sell supermarket weeklies.
“It’s over. The fatigue factor has really set in,” one magazine publisher told me. “None of the Kardashians, either alone or together, is selling.”
Sources say Jann Wenner paid $110,000 for a heavily retouched photo of Kim Kardashian in a white bikini, which he splashed on the Dec. 23 cover of Us Weekly under the headline, “My Body Is Back.”
But the glossy, which usually sells about a half million a week, sold fewer than 400,000 copies, an insider with access to circulation reports told me.
Bauer’s In Touch dropped 70,000 copies from its average circulation with a recent Kardashian cover, and another Bauer title, Life & Style, dropped 50,000.
Star magazine, from American Media Inc., sold 50,000 copies less than its newsstand draw of 325,000 with its Dec. 2 issue blaring, “Kris & Bruce: Divorce Bombshell: Kim Helps Kris Hide $25 million.”
“I think it’s because Kanye West is so nasty and aggressive. People don’t like him,” the publisher said. “It’s rubbed off on Kim. It’s rubbed off on the whole family.”
Marc Berman of TV Media Insights had a different explanation for why ratings of E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and its various spinoffs have sunk.
“It’s simple — overkill,” Berman said. “The Kardashians are everywhere. They never take a break.”
_______________________
Me thinks its more to do with a seemingly nice family
Turning into this
Snowflakes have captured the human imagination since long before we understood their origins. Even before the invention of the microscope, just holding a snowflake up to your eye could let you see an incredible level of detail — and, it seems, the details were always different. Snowflakes have become a symbol of uniqueness, of the sheer level of variety possible, even within a simple and restrictive framework. People see, or try to see, something about human nature in the birth of such delicate and varied structures.
How could a simple, natural process give rise to that kind of variety? It would seem that a simple process like ice formation would play out fairly predictably, but it turns out that while we may know the basics of how snowflakes form, the random factors that influence their specific pattern are virtually unknowable. From flecks of dust to a passing currents of hot or cold air, there are all sorts of unpredictable factors that give rise to a snowflake’s particular conformation. There are, however, some generalities.
More here Via Geek Answers
Ninety-nine years ago today, something strange happened on the Western Front: It fell silent. World War I had only just erupted that summer, but the fighting had already proven fierce, claiming nearly a million lives. On December 24, 1914, however, an estimated 100,000 soldiers, mainly British and German troops, laid down their guns, left the trenches, and mingled in the frigid cold of No Man's Land to mark Christmas—an uplifting if surreal moment in an otherwise soul-crushing war.
"All I'd heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices," Alfred Anderson, a British veteran and the last survivor of the Christmas Truce, recalled in 2004. "But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted 'Merry Christmas', even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war."
Elsewhere on the Western Front, the celebrations were more exuberant and long-lasting, involving everything from impromptu soccer games to spirited renditions of "Silent Night" to free haircuts by a British machine gunner. On December 30, The New York Times republished a bubbly letter from a British soldier that captured the mood well:
We exchanged souvenirs: I got a German ribbon and photo of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. The Germans opposite us were awfully decent fellows—Saxons, intelligent, respectable-looking men. I had quite a decent talk with three or four and have two names and addresses in my notebook.
It was the strangest scene you could imagine—going out unarmed to meet our enemies, also unarmed. After our talk I really think a lot of our newspaper reports must be horribly exaggerated. Of course, these men were Saxons—not Prussians.
Full Story HERE VIA The Atlantic
This past year, we've introduced you to some wacky cooking methods. We've made an entire lunch in a Coffee Maker and even poached salmon and pears in the dishwasher.
But a few weeks ago, we stumbled upon a crazy culinary appliance that may be the most legitimate of them all: the hair dryer.
Now, before you think we've fallen off the kitchen stool from too much eggnog, check out the science and history behind the idea.
Hazen's classic recipe for roast duck contains this unusual twist: Dunk the duck in boiling water and then thoroughly go over it with a hair dryer, Hazen writes in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking .
The result, she says, is duck skin that's "succulent" and "deliciously crisp" but not oily.
We'll explore exactly how the blow dryer helps crisp up poultry skin in a moment. But first, a bit of background — and some fun with chocolate.
The technique dates back to 1978, and it was pioneered by culinary guru , whom you might call the patron saint of Italian cooking in America.
The food scientists over at America's Test Kitchen three reasons to keep a hair dryer in the pantry:
1- relighting charcoals on the grill
2- putting a glossy sheen on cake frosting and
3- softening up a bar of chocolate to make it easier to shave off slivers.
Many of us don't have the time to give our cake frosting a professional blowout, but softening up chocolate struck a chord and made us immediately think of one thing: blow dryer s'mores!
Most hair dryers produce air that's about 200 degrees Fahrenheit when the nozzle is about 2 inches from a surface. That's the perfect temperature for melting chocolate (or butter) without burning it.
Read More Here Via SALT
