People"s Choice Awards 2017 host Joel McHale tries to bribe Tom Hanks
The 47-year-old teamed the tiny dress with fishnet tights and over the top false eyelashes.
Chris Sullivan, an American actor and musician, 36, donned a look-at-me ensemble with hideous neon paint splatter trousers, a preppy blazer and a comedy red bow tie. His finger nails were painted blue and he wore a wooden beaded bracelet.
Twilight star Ashley Greene, 29, wore a shapeless purple sequinned gown that did not flatter the super slim actress at all. The textured fabric of the gown made Ashley look about two sizes bigger.
thirty-five year old Jodie Sweetin, Full House actress, wore an incredibly unflattering rosebud printed dress, which made her look the size and shape of a double divan. It was accentuated by a rockabilly style leather jacket, quiff and red lips.
Karina Smirnoff, an American professional ballroom dancer and professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars, wore a flesh-baring textured black dress with a very short skirt and towering platform heels that would had suited a seedy nightclub better than the red carpet.
Canadian YouTube personality Lily Singh wore a cheap-looking gold pleated dress that put on a very busty display, while Grey"s Anatomy actress Chandra Wilson, 47, went so casual she looked as though shed popped out for a Sunday shop to Costco.
The Peoples Choice Awards take place in the US annual and are voted for by the general public.
Jennifer Lopez suffered a humiliating wardrobe disaster at the ceremony.
As the hitmaker was showing off her famous bottom to the world"s media outside Los Angeles" The Microsoft Theatre, one thing stole the spotlight instead.
The 47-year-old"s show-stopping black gown was clearly ripped at the seam on her left shoulder, oblivious to the A-lister herself.
A number of celebs madehuge style mistakes at the Golden Globes 2017.
Sarah Jessica Parker is known for her daring looks on the red carpet - from outlandish Asian-Inspired head pieces to couture feather hats - but she turned heads for the wrong reasons.
The s*x and the City star opted for a white, plunge neck gown cinched in by a sequin belt.
But the baggy drop-sleeves and her milkmaid braids let down the whole look.
Zoe Saldana opted for a pink dress, like many others on the night, but the frills on both the top half and bottom half of her dress were a little overwhelming.
Presidente Maduro celebra indulto otorgado por Obama a Oscar López Rivera
CHICAGO "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda says he will play Alexander Hamilton at a Chicago performance in honour of the commutation of oscar lopez Rivera"s sentence by President Obama.
Lopez Rivera, who grew up in Chicago, was convicted of seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in 1981 while leading the Puerto Rican independence group FALN. The group bombed buildings in the 1970s. With Obama"s action Tuesday, he is slated to be released May 17.
The Chicago Tribune reports (http://trib.in/2jlrZtb) Miranda said he was "sobbing with gratitude" for the reduction of Lopez Rivera"s 55-year sentence.
Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, tweeted he "wished he was with every Puerto Rican in Chicago right now."
Miranda last played the title role in New York In July 2016. "Hamilton" opened in October in Chicago, led by Miguel Cervantes.
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Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com
Bill Belichick Responds to Antonio Brown"s Facebook Video | NFL January 17th, 2017 at 12:05 AM By Sports Media 101
I got mad at Antonio Brown when he took excessive celebration penalties against Washington, Kansas City and Indianapolis, when he nearly was thrown out of the New York Jets game for wearing cleats honoring Muhammad Ali against NFL rules, when he jogged back to the line of scrimmage against Miami when the Steelers were in their two-minute offense because he was unhappy the ball didnt come to him and when he showed up Landry Jones and even Ben Roethlisberger on the field.
But I cant be mad at Brown for his 17-minute Facebook Live video after the Steelers playoff win Sunday night in Kansas City, no matter how hard I try.
The Steelers had just beaten the AFCs No. 2-seeded Chiefs on the road, becoming the first team in NFL postseason history to win when the opponent scored two more touchdowns, ending a 0-245 streak, according to NFL Live.
Brown had made the play to clinch the win, catching a 7-yard pass on third-and-3 from the Steelers 12 with 2:00 left, enabling Roethlisberger to take three knees to run out the clock. The Steelers were on to New England for the AFC championship Sunday night against the Patriots. Brown wanted to celebrate. So did many of his teammates. Brown captured it all on his iPhone.
Welcome to Social Media 2017.
Was the video silly and unnecessary? Absolutely. But hurtful in any way? I dont think so. Much of it was nothing more than Brown with a ridiculous smile. If you watch it enough, it will make you laugh. I watched parts several times and I didnt see the same narcissistic, look-at-me player that I did when Brown was twerking and humping earlier in the season and hurting his team. I saw a guy who was having the time of his life.
Did it violate locker-room sanctity? I guess, but is there such sanctity anymore? The NFL encourages more and more access to its coaches and players. The networks and NFL Films are given total access and their cameras and microphones are on the field during games and in the locker rooms before and after games. The difference is that Browns video was uncensored, showing teammates as they undressed, the team prayer and Tomlins
Read more at http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/ron-cook/2017/01/17/Ron-Cook-Pittsburgh-Steelers-Antonio-Brown-Facebook-Live-video-Mike-Tomlin-New-England-Patriots-Tom-Brady-Bill-Belichick/stories/201701170033
NBA Game Spotlight: Cavs vs. Warriors – The Next Chapter
In the past, a handful of basic precepts defined how the N.B.A. and the shoe-company nation-states dependent on its stars marketed themselves: Big cities beat small ones. The biggest men are harder to market than their closer-to-normal-size teammates. The more television exposure, the better. Winning matters. Also important is relatability, or the connection between player and consumer, which usually involves the players personal biography. Larry Bird was the Hick From French Lick, in Indiana; LeBron James might as well have just walked off a factory line, so completely defined is he by his Rust Belt Ohio roots.
Those old imperatives have never exerted much of a hold over a new, enlightened generation of N.B.A. fans. Ten years ago, the influential basketball blog FreeDarko coined the term liberated fandom. What FreeDarko celebrated were the quirks and oddities of specific N.B.A. players rather than winning seasons or huge marketing campaigns or even geography. (Disclosure: I wrote a few posts for FreeDarko.) Since then, more N.B.A. fans have detached themselves from tribal ties to local teams. And while the franchises and shoe companies that make up the N.B.A. economy havent completely caught up with the online buzz generated by the leagues most dedicated fans, they have begun to prepare for what feels like inevitable change. Antetokounmpo and fellow young unicorns like Kristaps Porzingis of the Knicks and Joel Embiid of the Sixers their taxonomic I.D., co-opted from Silicon Valley, refers to a singular talent without antecedent will go a long way toward determining whether the pro-basketball industrial complex can make as much money appealing to liberated fans as to their hidebound, local-market counterparts.
The size of the market doesnt really matter anymore, Dustin Godsey, the Milwaukee Bucks chief marketing officer, told me, referring to a teams location. You can be a superstar anywhere.
When the team drafted Antetokounmpo three years ago, he was unknown, born in Greece to Nigerian parents. The Bucks didnt bother putting him on billboards as the face of the franchise. Instead, Milwaukee became the first team, according to Godsey, to provide instant in-game highlights on social media, most of which featured Antetokounmpo streaking up the court and making moves that hinted at his absurd potential. In the three seasons that followed, Milwaukee never finished with a winning record. Antetokounmpo did not make an All-Star Game that should change this year, his fourth, because he has been averaging something like 24 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists but video views through Bucks social feeds tripled over the last year. Online streaming of local games doubled. In response, Godseys team changed its strategy: Antetokounmpo now appears on billboards in Wisconsin, in TV ads, at events. Whether he has earned this superstar treatment is of no account he looks good in seven-second video clips.
For the past couple of decades, Nike has practiced caution with its basketball stars. Back in the early 2000s, when Michael Jordan was in his final days with the Washington Wizards, Nike and its Jordan brand aggressively marketed young players like Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson. After they failed to achieve stardom, Nike started to exercise more patience. Today, the company has a tiered system unofficially in place: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the like are signature shoe athletes, and most of the rest get occasional spots in a commercial. Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans and DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings have been two of the highest-scoring players in the N.B.A. this season. They play improvisational, position-free basketball (like Antetokounmpo) and are adored by N.B.A. nerds. Both are signed to Nike but have been relegated to what amounts to a bench role.
Photo Credit Photo illustration by Cristiana Couceiro. White jersey: Mike McGinnis/Getty Images. All other photos: Stacy Revere/Getty Images.
The N.B.A. is changing, Russ Bengtson, an emeritus editor of Slam magazine and a senior editor at Complex, told me. The shoe companies need to figure out a way to become super-nimble the league is full of unicorns now, and by the time a guy becomes a story, the next guy is already coming up. The whole definition of what a star is has changed a bit, and they need to be able to strike while the iron is hot.
As the season rolls into the All-Star break, nearly half the players leading the voting play in ways that defy the old but still widely held archetypes the high-flying shooting guard, the stoic center, the scrappy white sharpshooter. The marketing efforts havent fully caught up to the evolution. This month, Nike released a signature shoe for Paul George, who like Jordan and Kobe Bryant is a handsome, high-scoring shooting guard. But George, who plays for the Indiana Pacers, doesnt signal a possible paradigm shift as Antetokounmpo or Embiid or Porzingis does. He may be very good, but he does not fire up the internet. His time as the N.B.A.s next big thing probably peaked three seasons ago, too.
Because the hype cycle for up-and-coming stars still moves too quickly for them to be marketing stars as well, its unclear when players like Antetokounmpo, who have no real on-court or business archetypal predecessor, will be able to convert online hype into reliable moneymaking. Nationally, he is still a commercial puzzle a Nike representative told me the company is going to put him in a digital campaign but wouldnt elaborate on other plans.
Antetokounmpo seems to understand that we havent yet completely entered the liberated future. In the locker room after his game-winning shot at the Garden, I asked him if he thought his career so far would have been different if he played in New York or Los Angeles. He seemed, at first, perplexed by the question, before he said, I guess I would have gotten more publicity. But then, like so many up-and-coming superstars, he retreated straight into the sorts of clich that have become the soundtrack for the marketable athlete. But anywhere I am, he said, I am going to be a gym rat and work hard.
Michelle Obama Surprises People Recording Goodbye Messages to Her
7:55 AM PST 1/18/2017 by Rhonda Richford
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver discussed the fate of Michelle Obamas celebrated White House vegetable garden once Donald Trump takes office, saying it would be a public relations mistake for the president-elect to remove it.
It aint going nowhere, he said when moderator Arianna Huffington asked him about the south lawn plot during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Because hes like a comedian isnt he? Hes just kind of regurgitating the stuff that works, and his family are too cued up on the PR to know what works.
Theres a symbolic visual. If you cut down that garden you are cutting down hope. And he wont do that, whether he believes in it or not, Oliver added.
He also said he"d like to see Trump take to the kitchen. When you know the basics of growing and cooking and fact we could do with that on the planet right now. I want to see Donald Trump growing some stuff and cooking some stuff. If not, Im building my bunker, he joked.
The Food Revolution star also alluded to Trumps media mastery and motivation. Hes not stupid, well, he said, to laughter from the audience. But hes got where hes got for a reason. The thing is, that he likes a dollar.
In contrast he called former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg a "genius."
Oliver went on to discuss the challenges the U.K. faces as it prepares to leave the European Union in the wake of Brexit. He said the U.K. would be put in danger as it leaves behind Europe"s set of food safety standards and regulations, which he called one of the safest on the planet.
He said a quickie trade deal between the two countries would be a mistake because of America"s use of hormones, GMOs and pesticides that are banned in Europe. "No disrespect, but we dont want a lot of their gear unless it comes up to our standards, he said. My fear is that we do a deal to make our lives easier now and were going to be flooded with stuff that we dont want our kids to eat.
The celebrity chef spent months in the U.S. investigating the food system and obesity on his ABC show in 2010, and has since become an outspoken advocate of health and an anti-sugary drinks crusader.
He said he had been working with former British Prime Minister David Camerons government on a comprehensive anti-obesity plan that had been near completion and was disappointed by the stripped plan that was delivered by Theresa May after she took over the position. He called the change a missed opportunity.
He also contrasted the progress that McDonalds U.K. has made on many issues with McDonalds in the U.S. He credited the changes the company has made to Britains strong history of documentaries and a media that holds corporations to task. The tension has to keep people honest. Out of sight out of mind people dont care. When its in the conversation we evolve, he said adding that more agitation was needed in the U.S.
The celebrity chef also said that he has honed down his many businesses from diverse restaurants, publishing and production companies into one strategy to fight obesity and diabetes. He also said that he is working on creating awards for companies and executives across the globe that join the fight, and alluded that the initiative may be in cooperation with Davos next year.
He added that while the focus in Davos is on commerce and economics, we can improve food from a business perspective. I just think that we always look at oil and banking and selling of arms as these big industries, but the biggest industry on the planet is food," he said.
Judge Napolitano’s take on Obama commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence
President Obama makes a controversial decision about Chelsea Manning, just days before he leaves office. Veuer"s Nick Cardona has that story. Buzz60
An undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army of Pfc. Chelsea Manning.(Photo: AP)
WASHINGTON Convicted national-security secret leaker army pvt. chelsea manning became the most visible face of the militarys tiny transgender population, one that came from the shadows to the forefront when the Pentagon rescinded its ban on their open service last summer.
Mannings journey from low-level Army intelligence analyst to notoriety for disclosing national security secrets to high-profile crusader for transgender rights paralleled the growing social acceptance of the small population of Americans who dont identify with their gender at birth. Previously known as Bradley, Manning, 29, has more than 100,000 followers on her Twitter account.
Manning, who divulged massive amounts of information to WikiLeaks, had her sentence commuted Tuesday by President Obama. She has been serving a 35-year sentence at the Armys prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and had been eligible for parole in about six years.
Read more:
It was nearly two years ago that the Army, in a memo obtained by USA TODAY, agreed to provide Manning with hormone treatment to allow her to transition to a woman. The commandant of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks concluded that providing the hormones was necessary for Mannings health. Allowing her to grow her hair out was not.
Only by virtue of being an Army prisoner was Manning,still a soldier while incarcerated, able to acknowledge publicly her transition to a woman and to receive treatment. Any other member of the military would have been discharged from service. In another disconnect, the Veterans Affairs Department had been approving treatment for transgender veterans for years.
In 2013, Pvt. Chelsea Manning was still known as Bradley Manning.(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)
The Pentagon changed that inconsistency in its policy last summer when Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced repeal of the ban, and plans to allow troops to receive treatment, including reassignment surgery.
By the end of 2016, more than 100 troops had informed their superiors that they wanted to transition to the opposite s*x, be recognized in their new gender or were seeking counseling or treatment. A RAND Corp. study estimated that there may be about 6,600 transgender troops among the active-duty force of 1.3 million members. Treating transgender troops could cost as much as $8 million per year, and up to $50,000 per case.
Manning, by September, had received assurances that she was a candidate for reassignment surgery, according to her lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union.She had been on a hunger strike, protesting the Armys delay in providing the treatment, which had been prescribed by her doctors. Manning had also attempted to commit suicide twice last year.
President-elect Donald Trump has not made known whether he agrees with the Pentagon"s new policy on transgender troops. It can be reversed.
Markeith Loyd: Arraignment of Niece and Ex-Girlfriend 01/12/17
Many of us have taken it for granted that all Republicans would work for full repeal of Obamacare. After all, not a single Republican voted for it. However, it is always important to understand the reasons why politicians support or oppose a piece of legislation.
When you listen to many prominent Republicans voicing their disdain for Obamacare, you generally hear the following complaints: it raises taxes, it cuts Medicare, it contains death panels, it is 2,700 pages long and most notably the individual mandate.
The problem is that these are all ancillary to the crux of what is so offensive about Obamacare. The overarching concern about Obamacare is that it harnesses the factors that have already driven up the cost of healthcare and health insurance, most prominently, the mandates and subsidies, and multiplies them to the nth degree. The tax increases, Medicare cuts, and individual mandate are merely tools to fund those interventions. Many Republicans never had a problem with them. This is why they were never repulsed by Romneycare, which doesnt contain tax hikes and Medicare cuts. As for the individual mandate of MassCare, they contend that there is nothing wrong with a state mandate.
As such, it comes as no surprise to read these tidbits in Politico:
If the law is partially or fully overturned theyll draw up bills to keep the popular, consumer-friendly portions in place like allowing adult children to remain on parents health care plans until age 26, and forcing insurance companies to provide coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Ripping these provisions from law is too politically risky, Republicans say. []
On Tuesday, the major options were discussed during a small closed meeting of House Republican leaders, according to several sources present.
Then on Wednesday, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) gave the entire House Republican Conference a preview of where the party is heading. His message: When the court rules, well be ready.
But Boehner warned that theyll relegislate the issue in smaller, bite sizes, rather than putting together an unwieldy new health care bill.
If all or part of the law is struck down, we are not going to repeat the Democrats mistakes, Boehner said, according to several sources present. We have better ideas on health care lots of them. We have solutions, of course, for patients with pre-existing conditions and other challenges.
If Politico was the only source promulgating this, I wouldnt be worried. Unfortunately, top GOP leaders have expressed their desire to keep the slacker and pre-existing mandates in place on numerous occasions. This sentiment has also been evident in the GOPs partial repeal strategy in which they target the most unpopular provisions. These mandates are emblematic of the worst provisions in the law the ones that will drive up the cost of private insurance and force everyone into government-run healthcare.
Ive long struggled with the question of whether Republicans lack a full understanding of the free market or whether they simply lack the communication skills and fortitude to articulate free market positions to the public. I suspect that with most members there are elements of both.
Boehner is definitely correct is asserting that we should not make the same mistake as the Democrats by offering all our conservative reforms in one shot. We obviously cannot expand HSAs, enact tort reform, institute premium-support Medicare, reform Medicaid, and eliminate all the insurance mandates in one bill. But whatever piece-meal approach we take must reflect a conservative free market view, and it must only take place after full repeal of Obamacare, especially of the slacker and pre-existing conditions mandates. It is better to give out pure subsidies to the real sick for healthcare than to destroy the entire system with the paradoxical pre-existing insurance mandate.
We better pray that the Supreme Court rules in our favor on severability and strikes down the entire law.
