Friday, February 6, 2015

Seventh Son first look review � who you gonna call? Witchbusters!



Youd think Julianne Moore leading a coven of witches who can transform into dragons, bears and Djimon Hounsou would be more entertaining. Moore seems to be having a good time with Seventh Son, but on the sly, as if director Sergei Bodrov is behind the camera like a schoolmaster warning her to stop flailing her arms around and take this seriously. Its not a smart way to play this material.

Seventh Son is a exercise in sword and sorcery clich based on the first of 14 YA books in Joseph Delaneys Wardstone Chronicles series. I doubt well see follow-ups put to film, as Seventh Son has been sitting on a shelf for over a year; its first marketing materials debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in 2012.

The title refers to Tom Ward, a handsome young lad played by Ben Barnes. Hes the seventh son of a seventh son and, as such, pressed into service as apprentice to the local spook Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges). He can best be described as a witchbuster a spell-casting, swashbuckling vigilante who keeps the local spectres and goblins at bay. His previous pupil (Game of Thrones Kit Harington) is killed by Moores Mother Malkin and the timing couldnt be worse. A bloodmoon is coming and the last one a century ago plunged the land into a devastating war. Master Gregory must stop Mother Malkin from doing, um, whatever nefarious thing shes planning to do. Her plans are a little sketchy, but they definitely dont have the common good in mind.

This means Master Gregory must commence browbeating young Tom into accepting his destiny, then showing him how to handle the business end of a pouch of silverbane. The big showdown is going to happen in this cool-looking castle inside a volcano where Mother Malkin lives with her sister, played by Antje Traue who spends her time on screen busting out of her bodice and not bothering to cover up her German accent. Traues got a daughter, Alice (Alicia Vikander), who looks sweet and pure and is sent down to spy on the scheming spooks. Alice uses her feminine wiles to worm her way into Toms heart and gain his trust. With flowers in her hair, she bathes n**e in the moonlight looking a great deal like the White Rock soda girl.

Does the battle of good versus evil have room for love? Sure, why not? Its also got room for a fun set piece with a slobbering giant, a cliff and a waterfall. While Ben Barnes doesnt exactly light up the screen, hes agreeable enough, and no one would doubt Jeff Bridgess commitment to his own vision of this character. His voice is even stranger than his turn as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, something like John Huston chomping on soggy poundcake. Bodrov likes to frame him head-on, with a cloak obscuring his eyes and his facial hair like half an asterisk jutting from his face. He gets a few good zings, too: his frequent retort of wrong question! when Tom asks something he doesnt like isnt much on the page, but hes able to make it work.

While Seventh Son has trace elements of Saturday afternoon fun, its unoriginal nature gets the better of it. I mean, if you were ever a young man coming of age in a high fantasy and wore an elaborate locket of unknown origin around your neck, wouldnt you know by now that it signified a noble heritage? There are flashes where you think Seventh Son is going to be wise enough to put a spin on the standard script, but by the end it just devolves into another loud, messy CGI brawl. How much more ruined masonry can moviegoers take? A lot, it seems, as this genre seems to be in no danger of going away.

Seventh Son is released on 6 February in the US and on 27 March in the UK

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/05/seventh-son-first-look-review-julianne-moore-jeff-bridges-alicia-vikander



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Bobbi Kristina Brown is 'not brain dead'



Bobbi Kristina Brown is 'not brain dead'

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Bobbi Kristina Brown is 'not brain dead'

Bobbi Kristina Brown's family has been gathered around her since she was hospitalized on Saturday after being found unconscious in her bathtub.

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Bobbi Kristina Brown's family tried to squash reports that the family was gathering to say goodbye to her. Her father, Bobby Brown, was by her bedside on his 46th birthday, just as family says he has been since she was hospitalized. VPC

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00:01 It reverberated. Through the media People Magazine on line article 00:05 with the headline family gathering to say goodbye to Bobbi Kristina 00:09 Brown. Then a family represented of released a statement. There is 00:14 no family gathering today that is any different from any other 00:17 day she is not brain dead and the Houston's and the 00:21 browns are not fighting. Definitive but not the end of the 00:25 speculation. Later in the day this dubbed exclusive but the Daily 00:30 Mail out of the United Kingdom. Reporting Bobbi Kristina had been 00:34 taken off life support. I think people care so much about 00:38 Christine that. Because they cared so much about her my. Marketing 00:42 manager with son chase media Candace Leadbetter says there's so much 00:45 out there because people want to know what's going on with 00:48 buddy Christina. They've watched her grow up in the celebrity spotlight 00:53 and struggle everybody who pulled awaiting everybody who prayed for Whitney 00:57 but to follow. Pulled and prayed for by the Christine that 01:01 she is music royalty. I had so I think so they 01:05 want to know how her father and other family members are 01:08 coping social media posted lots of prayers on this. Bobby Brown's 01:13 46 birthday spending it at his daughter's hospital there. For it 01:17 to be a day where you're supposedly celebrating her right. It's 01:21 kind of hard for him because it hit the lack of 01:24 his guarded life with love the line is hanging in the 01:26 balance and there's not celebrate and act.

Whitney Houston and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in 2011.(Photo: Dan Steinberg, AP)

Bobbi Kristina Brown's family has been gathered around her since she was hospitalized on Saturday after being found unconscious in the bathtub of her suburban Atlanta townhome.

Whitney Houston's only child is now at Emory University Hospital and is still fighting for her life, as a family statement said on Monday.

Nothing has changed, despite reports that are popping up and painting a more serious picture.

Fox News reported Wednesday that the situation is dire. "It's now a matter of when the family wants to let go and accept that she's pretty much not going to make it," a source told FOX411. "They've left it up to the family as to how long they want to keep her alive."

People magazine is also reporting that a doctor told Brown's family on Wednesday that nothing more could be done. "Everyone is coming to the hospital to say goodbye," said a family member.

And the Daily Mail says Brown has been taken off life support.

But Bobby Brown issued a statement late Thursday denying these reports.

"If we issued a statement every time the media published a false report regarding this matter, that's all we would be doing 24 hours a day. This is false, just as is the vast majority of the other reporting that is currently taking place," he said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A source close to the family tells USA TODAY that it's wrong to say the family is gathering to say goodbye, because the family has been there since the beginning, so nothing is any different today for them.

Also, Brown is "not brain dead," as has been reported.

And, as for other stories saying that the Houston family is feuding with Bobbi Kristina's dad, Bobby Brown? Those aren't true either. They "are NOT fighting," says our source.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1D2xwJQ

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/02/05/bobbi-kristina-brown-not-brain-dead/22928581/



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Saved By the Bell's Tiffani Thiessen to Star in New Cooking Show



TIME Entertainment Television Saved By the Bells Tiffani Thiessen to Star in New Cooking Show Ben GabbeGetty Images Actress Tiffani Thiessen attends NBC's 2013 Fall Launch Party Hosted By Vanity Fair at The Standard Hotel on Sept. 16, 2013 in New York City. She'll serve celebrity friends, including Slater and Jessie

It looks like Jimmy Fallon isnt the only one reuniting the kids from Bayside High.

Saved By the Bells Tiffani Thiessen is getting her own cooking show, called Dinner at Tiffanis, where she prepares and serves dinner for her celebrity friends, including some of the cast members from the 90s teen sitcom.

Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley, also known as Slater and Jessie, are so far the only alums confirmed to appear. Other guests include Seth Green, Jason Priestly and Lance Bass.

On Wednesday night, Fallon brought most of the cast back together for a sketch on his show, giant cellphones and high-waist jeans included. Thiessens show premieres on Feb. 25 on the Cooking Channel.

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Source: http://time.com/3697771/tiffani-thiessen-saved-by-the-bell-cooking-channel/



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Thursday, February 5, 2015

As the Magic Mike XXL trailer is released, we've got 32 pictures of Channing Tatum



  • Channing Tatum is back as stripper Mike Lane in new movie Magic Mike XXL, out in UK cinemas July 31
  • Trailer has prompted thousands to take Twitter to share their admiration for chiselled actor and dancer
  • We look back the 34-year-old's best movie moments, action scenes, dance moves and red carpet poses

He's got the best moves in Hollywood, laid back charm that is fast becoming box office gold and chiselled abs that have got us all talking, now with the release of a teaser trailer for Magic Mike XXL, it's clear Channing Tatum is becoming the world's favourite hunk.

The film clip of the stripper drama sequel is only a minute and a half long but has been viewed more than two million times and women have taken to the web in their thousands to share their admiration for the 34-year-old.

Now, to celebrate the return of our favourite Florida dancer we've taken a look back at Channing's finest moments from posing on the red carpet, playing a tough guy on screen, cuddling his wife Jenna Dewan and appearing in THAT Oscar selfie... to quote the end of the Magic Mike XXL trailer, 'You're welcome.'

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He's back: The trailer for Magic Mike XXL, starring Channing Tatum (second right) and Joe Manganiello (third left) is here

Flashdance: In Magic Mike XXL Channing plays the stripper who makes bespoke furniture, and in the trailer he's shown in the workshop

In the opening moments of the trailer for the stripper sequel, Channing is shown using power tools in a workshop wearing just a tank top, which offers him a chance to show off his sculpted arms.

The music kicks in and Channing, who plays Mike Lane, starts to gyrate his hips, strip off his welding mask, wipe away the sweat and begin to pop and lock before leaping around the workroom and break dancing on a wooden table.

With such athletic moves, it's hard to believe that the actor - who made his film breakthrough as surly street dancer Tyler Gage in 2006's Step Up - turns 35 in April.

Yet the films are loosely based on his own experiences of being an 18-year-old stripper in Tampa, Florida, which explains his expert performance - and X-rated execution of pelvic-thrusting move 'The Worm'.

Beach bod: Channing shows off a tanned torso on the beach in 2010 romantic film Dear John about a soldier who falls for a college student

Cute: In Dear John, Channing as John Tyree, a soldier who exchanges letters with Amanda Seyfried's Savannah Curtis when he's deployed

Focus: CHanning pictured mid-action in the film White House Down, during a fight scene set in a burning wreck

Fans have long been anticipating the sequel to the popular 2012 film, Magic Mike, and they have been promised even more 'raunchy latex and leather' by the movie's costume designer.

On Tuesday, Channing released a picture of the first poster for the movie; a very risqu photo showing the dancer revealing his impressive six pack abs, as he points to his crotch.

In the June issue of GQ, Channing, who has a one-year-old daughter Everly, revealed that the plot would centre around the guys - played by muscled hunks including Joe Manganiello - going away to a stripper convention.

He added that back when he worked as a stripper, he went to these conventions himself.

First look: Channing Tatum took to his social media accounts on Tuesday to share the first poster for Magic Mike XXL

Those were the days:When the music starts Channing is taken back to his dancing days and starts to pop, lock and gyrate his hips

'The women would come from miles and miles around,' he said.'Then you lock the doors and you say all bets are off. It gets zany and crazy, and it's a wild ride.'

Costume designer Dagmarette Yen told Oysterthat Magic Mike XXL, sequel to the 2012 film Magic Mike, is going to be raunchier than the first and will involve lots of latex and leather.

She said that the ladies will be sweating more than the men despite their energetic dance moves and they sheer range of thongs and posing pouches worn by the actors will not disappoint.

Action man: Channing as John Cale, a policeman who comes to the President's rescue in 2013 film White House Down

He knows it: Showing off some serious tone in a revealing top, and looking suave in a suit

Manly and rugged: Channing shows off sculpted arms in an oiled and muddied white tank top, with Jamie Foxx by his side

Ready for the stage: A still from the first Magic Mike film from 2012 in which a stripper troupe play firemen, policemen and other hyper-masculine characters to perform nearly n**e for the dozens of women in Club Xquisite

Cheer for the boys: Featuring Kevin Nash as Tarzan, Matt Bomer as Ken, Joe Manganiello as Big d**k Richie and Adam Rodriguez as t*t

Back in the day: Rare snaps from 2007 with Garrett Hedlund (l) and withJenna (r)at the Cove Atlantis Beach Club, Bahamas

Alabama-born Channing is also the star of the hit movie remakes of 21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street about cops undercover in high school and then college with Jonah Hill.

He also appeared with Jamie Foxx in action drama White House Down in 2013 and in GI Joe: Retaliation but it's his roles in weepie rom coms such as The Vow with Rachel McAdam, that have earned him his army of female fans.

Channing kicked off his career in 2000 as a dancer in Ricky Martin's She Bangs music video, earning just $400 for the job before becoming a model for Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Today the actor may be the hottest property in Hollywood, and a heartthrob to thousands, but for him there's only one woman - his partner of nine years, Jenna, who he calls 'a very sexy individual' and the couple make it a priority to be together as much as possible.

He really is a model husband, father and actor.

Magic Mike XXL comes to UK cinemas July 31 2015

Spy in a suit: Channing plays a police officer in White House Down, pictured here protecting Jamie Foxx as President Sawyer

Hot shot: Sexy pictures of the couple having a moment while dancing at a party for Ocean Drive Magazinein Miami Beach

Intense: Looking super muscly in a tense scene with multifaceted star Jamie Foxx in the film White House Down

Cute couple: With Jenna Dewan at the MTV Movie Awards, Los Angeles, 2014 (l) andthe World Premiere of 22 Jump Street (r)

Soldier: Channing plays Duke in the 2013 film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, also starring with Dwayne Johnson, fightingmortal enemy COBRA

Working the red capret: With pregnant wife Jenna at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in February 2013 (l) and at the Jupiter Ascending premiere

Romantic: Channing as Leo Collins and Rachel McAdams as Paige Collins in 2012 weepie The Vow

Out and about: At the 22 Jump Street film premiere in Los Angeles, 2014 (l) andleaving the gym in Los Angeles in 2013 (r)

Say cheese: The famous Oscars selfie released by Ellen DeGeneres with Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Ellen, Bradley Cooper, Peter Nyongo Jr., Channing, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyongo and Angelina Jolie

Friends: Channing with Jonah Hill at a photocall for their film 22 Jump Street at Claridges in May 2014 (l) and in June in New York (r)

And lunge: Working out with Jamie Foxx and Maria Elisa Camargo on Despierta America, a TV show in Miami, 2013

Titanic moment: PIctured with his co-star Jenna Dewan during their 2006 film Step Up

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2940938/As-Magic-Mike-XXL-trailer-released-ve-got-32-pictures-sexy-star-Channing-Tatum-six-pack.html



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Harper Lee dismissing claims she's been steamrollered into releasing new book



  • Publisher claims Harper Lee 'said she is happy as h**l' about new book
  • Sequel to her only novel To Kill A Mockingbird will be released this year
  • Biographer insists Lee's sister and long-time lawyer, who died recently, would not have allowed the project to go ahead
  • Friend of the family says Lee is 'blind' and 'would sign anything'
  • Go Set A Watchman was written before Lee penned her masterpiece

The publisher's of Harper Lee's sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird have released a statement from the Putlizer Prize-winning novelist slamming claims she has been coerced into the project.

According to the release, Lee says she is 'happy as h**l' about the publication of Go Set A Watchman, which she wrote before penning her masterpiece.

The statement comes amid speculation the reclusive 88-year-old was coerced into the project after suffering a stroke in 2007 which reportedly left her blind.

Lee previously said she had not realized the manuscript of her new book had survived and that she was 'humbled and amazed' it was going to be published now.

'I'm happy as h**l': Harper Lee's publisher has released a statement slamming claims she has been coerced into publishing Go Set A Watchman, the sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, 60 years after it was written

But critics including her biographer and a friend of the Lee family have spoken out against the release, claiming she is in no fit state to sign publication papers.

Charles J Shields, author of Mockingbird: Portrait Of Harper Lee, said the project would have been blocked if Alice Lee, the novelist's older sister and lawyer, had not died.

'Understanding the relationship between the sisters as I do, I doubt whether Alice would have allowed this project to go forward,' Shields told the International Business Times.

He said Alice, who died in November 2014 at the age of 103, was 'Harper Lee's buffer against the publicity hungry world.'

'It's because her sister is dead,' he explained. 'Alice was in control of Harper's life, of what she signed. But now the lid's off, and a book written half a century ago is going to be published.'

Unaware? Harper Lee, pictured with Gregory Peck, who starred in the movie version of To Kill A Mockingbird, allegedly did not know the manuscript for her original version - Go Set A Watchman - survived 60 years

Adding to the outcry, Marja Mills, a friend of the Lee family and author of a Harper Lee memoir, told the New York Times: 'I have some concerns about statements that have been attributed to her.'

She said Alice Lee, told her that Harper 'can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence.'

Furthermore, publisher Jonathan Burnham acknowledged that the publisher has had no direct conversations about the new book with Harper Lee, but communicated through her Monroeville attorney, Tonja Carter, and literary agent Andrew Nurnburg.

Best-seller: After the publication of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee did not publish again

However, slamming the allegations of coercion,a spokesman for the publishing house claims Lee said: 'I'm alive and kicking and happy as h**l with the reactions to Watchman.'

The novel, called Go Set A Watchman, was written before To Kill A Mockingbird but was rejected by publishers who set her to work on the novel that made her famous.

To Kill A Mockingbird, set around a rape trial in the racially-divided Deep South of the US, has sold more than 40 million copies since it was published in 1960.

Its central characters, Scout, her brother Jem and their lawyer father Atticus, were brought to life in a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck.

The new book revolves around the now-adult Scout's return to her native Alabama from New York to visit her father.

A spokesman for her publisher said: 'Harper Lee still enjoys reading and uses a magnifying machine from the New York Institute for the Blind to read books, newspapers and documents.'

Go Set A Watchman will be published on July 14 by William Heinemann, which was the original UK publisher of To Kill A Mockingbird.

The publisher says Carter came upon the manuscript at a 'secure location where it had been affixed to an original typescript of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Burnham said during a telephone interview that he had known both Carter and Nurnburg for years and was 'completely confident' Lee was fully involved in the decision to release the book.

'We've had a great deal of communication with Andrew and Tonja,' said Burnham, adding that Nurnburg had met with her recently and found her 'feisty and in very fine spirits.

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2940847/Lee-happy-Mockingbird-sequel.html



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Julian Edelman starts stripping during Super Bowl parade



Julian Edelman may be doing the unthinkable -- he's having even more fun than Rob Gronkowski.

In what was most definitely (maybe) an homage tothe new Magic Mike XXL trailer, Julian Edelman ripped off his cardigan for the adoring masses during the New England Patriots' Super Bowl parade Tuesday.

At this point, Edelman is competing with Rob Gronkowski for the Patriots player having the most fun Tuesday. It's hard to topchugging beer while wearing a hat of a character from an adored animated film, but doing an impromptu striptease on a 34-degree day is pretty good.

Then there's this:

To be fair, he didn't bring it himself -- someone threw it to him:

Yeah, Edelman is having the most fun.

Source: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/2/4/7978769/julian-edelman-striptease-patriots-super-bowl-parade



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NBC's Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest



WASHINGTON NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.

Williams repeated the claim Friday during NBCs coverage of a public tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier that had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters, a game to which Williams accompanied him. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he had misremembered the events and was sorry.

The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiments Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.

I would not have chosen to make this mistake, Williams said. I dont know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.

Williams told his Nightly News audience that the erroneous claim was part of a "bungled attempt" to thank soldiers who helped protect him in Iraq in 2003. I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago, Williams said. I want to apologize.

Williams made the claim about the incident while presenting NBC coverage of the tribute to the retired command sergeant major at the Rangers game Friday. Fans gave the soldier a standing ovation.

The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG, Williams said on the broadcast. Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.

Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook in a formation that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to crew member interviews.

That Chinook took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.

No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft, he said Wednesday.

The helicopters, along with the NBC crew, remained on the ground at a forward operating base west of Baghdad for two or three days, where they were surrounded by an Army unit with Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams M-1 tanks.

Miller said he never saw any direct fire on the position from Iraqi forces.

The claim rankled Miller as well as soldiers aboard the formation of 159th Aviation Regiment Chinooks that were flying far ahead and did come under attack during the March 24, 2003, mission.

One of the helicopters was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades one did not detonate but passed through the airframe and rotor blades as well as small arms fire.

It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I know how lucky I was to survive it, said Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer. It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didnt deserve to participate in.

Reynolds said Williams and the NBC cameramen arrived in a helicopter 30 to 60 minutes after his damaged Chinook made a rolling landing at an Iraqi airfield and skidded off the runway into the desert.

He said Williams approached and took photos of the damage, but Reynolds brushed them off because the crew was assessing damage and he was worried that his wife, who was alone in Germany, might see the news report.

I wanted to tell her myself everything was all right before she got news of this happening, Reynolds said.

The NBC crew stayed only for about 10 minutes and then went to see the Army armored units that had been guarding the nearby Forward Operating Base Rams and came out to provide a security perimeter around the aircraft. Tim Terpak, the command sergeant major who accompanied Williams to the Rangers game, was among those soldiers, and the two struck up a friendship.

Miller, Reynolds and Mike OKeeffe, who was a door gunner on the damaged Chinook, said they all recall NBC reporting that Williams was aboard the aircraft that was attacked, despite it being false. The NBC online archive shows the network broadcast a news story on March 26, 2003, with the headline, Target Iraq: Helicopter NBCs Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire.

Williams disputed Wednesday claims the initial reports were inaccurate, saying he originally reported he was in another helicopter but later confused the events. In a 2008 NBC blog post with his byline, he wrote that the Chinook helicopter flying in front of ours (from the 101st Airborne) took an RPG to the rear rotor.

OKeeffe said the incident has bothered him since he and others first saw the original report after returning to Kuwait.

Over the years it faded, he said, and then to see it last week it was I cant believe he is still telling this false narrative.

tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/nbc-s-brian-williams-recants-iraq-story-after-soldiers-protest-1.327792



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