text:
Americans now have until Christmas Eve to choose a health plan under Obamacare, if they want to be covered starting Jan. 1 -- thanks to a one-day extension announced Monday.
Completing the enrollment process has been complicated due to technical glitches, ever-changing enrollment options, and shifting regulations, but 34% of MarketWatch readers who participated in a poll last week said they have already picked a plan.
The survey of more than 18,000 readers conducted on our website last week also found that of those who have enrolled in insurance plans or intend to, 55% said they expect their health insurance costs to increase. About 40% expect their costs to decrease and roughly 4% expect their expenses to stay the same.
Mark Grueser, a car salesman in Hibbing, Minn., is among those consumers expecting to save on health spending by moving onto an exchange plan. Grueser picked a platinum plan for him and his wife that will charge slightly more than $800 a month in premiums after subsidies and require a $2,000 deductible. That compares to a plan Grueser had with his previous employer where he paid about the same in premiums but had a $6,000 deductible. "It wasn't really smooth sailing but it's done," says Grueser, 60, adding that the state exchange website froze frequently when he first created an account in late November. "The coverage is better than the coverage i had in the past."
For Grueser, the health reform law has helped in another way: he felt more comfortable moving to a dealership that doesn't offer insurance to employees last month partly because he knew he and his wife would soon be able to purchase insurance on the new public marketplaces. Previously, he hesitated to change jobs and lose his workplace insurance because he feared the couple would've been locked out of the individual market since his wife had breast cancer 12 years ago.
The Obama administration has granted consumers more time to pick a plan, pushing the deadline back by one day to Tuesday, Dec. 24 for coverage beginning at the start of next year. Among other 11th hour changes announced in recent weeks: last Thursday, government officials said that people whose individual insurance plans were set to be canceled Jan. 1 because they did not meet the minimum coverage requirements set by the Affordable Care Act will be allowed to purchase bare bones catastrophic plans or forego buying insurance altogether. Earlier that week, insurance companies announced they would give consumers until Jan. 10 to pay premiums for coverage starting on Jan. 1.
Some consumers are struggling to keep up with the last-minute rule changes. David Mak, a 31-year-old day trader in Merced, Calif., said he selected a bronze insurance plan from Anthem that comes with a monthly premium of roughly $200 and a $5,000 deductible. Being a healthy person who doesn't smoke, Mak says he may be a good fit for one the catastrophic plans just extended to people like himself. But those plans aren't eligible for subsidies, and there is at least one technical issue causing him to stick with the bronze plan: as of Friday his state exchange still hadn't registered that he was eligible to enroll in a catastrophic plan and he couldn't get through to the exchange over the phone because of high call volume.
Also see:


text:
Buckle up, Sony enthusiasts. A tipster has told Kotaku that the PlayStation 4 is named "Orbis," and that it will feature an anti-used-game system, offer no backwards-compatibility with PlayStation 3 titles, and ship in holiday 2013.
As for the first part of the rumor, multiple sources told the blog that the Orbis will sport some sort of anti-used games measure. Full Orbis games will be available via Blu-ray disc or as a PlayStation Network download, and will be locked to a single PSN account. Players will not be able to circumvent the system by remaining offline, as the source said users will be forced to be connected to the PSN to boot up their games.
Read more of "Next PlayStation to lock out used games, report says" at Gamespot.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Chapter Four is a wonderful event and it now celebrates one year in-world!! Woohoo!! Happy anniversary and birthday to the organizers and all participating designers! Luckily for us, they are sharing their b-day with free group gifts throughout this round! Here are a few gifts you can find:
hair … Moon{hair}. – Unreflected .. comes with Grey-scales hud
makeup … [theSkinnery] – Spring Allergy
ring … .Atomic. – Celebrate! Cupcake Ring
bracelet … [Deadwood] – unisex
hat … *LODE* – Headwear – Ooo
table … pr!tty – Turtle Table
dresses … *ionic* Mia dress – flowers & noir
dress #2 … .Tokame. Damara Autumn Dress
Not free (but @ TCF)
skin … The Skinnery – Xiao in toffee
hair … Moon{hair}. Cult Division in ombre
Also shown
skybox … [CIRCA] Living – Skyworks – Basic in Sea
furniture … [CIRCA] Living – Charlotte Bay – Full Room set – Mono Blues … comes with 8 blue color combinations plus animations for singles and couples!
For those new to The Chapter Four, it's an event that's truly one of a kind. It features hand-picked creators that design custom mesh products. Four is important here, because there's exactly four rooms where each room is dedicated to gacha prizes, 2-for-1s, being half price, or are at least under 100L!
For more on The Chapter Four, visit their official website.
Be sure to join the group for free to claim all the gifts 😉 TP to the event here.
Happy Shopping!
.<3tekila v.


text:
Casey Moves Back to Montana
I got the news yesterday that Casey has officially moved to his new home in Montana! It was bittersweet for him to return to Montana, but I'm SO EXCITED for him and his new family.
My goal with every horse I "have" (technically Casey belonged to my Mom, but he was "mine" for a year) is for them to be a better horse that what I started with and therefore have value as a good riding horse. To my mind this is the best prevention from a bad situation. A kind, talented, well trained and rideable horse is far less likely to end up in an abusive home, at a kill-pen or just not cared for.
When Casey arrived in Texas he was very nicely trained, but still young and didn't have a lot of hours outside an arena. He would inherently get more time outside from fox hunting, but I also wanted him to be a nice trail riding horse. He has an AMAZING brain. He's generally unflappable and has that fabulous Quarter Horse smarts, so I had a great animal from the start. Mom also wanted me to work with his flying lead changes in case she wanted to try more reining or even western riding with him later. I am pleased to have accomplished all of these goals. We went on quite a few trail rides, which he took to very well. His lead changes aren't quite automatic, but they are definitely there and just need some polish. I haven't shown a finished western riding horse, so I don't know if he has the talent for that event, but I do think he would make a nice reining horse with more training. He stops nicely, turns nicely and doesn't have trouble doing lead changes. He looks at cattle so might even be able to do working cow horse!
About three quarters of the way through hunt season Mom made the decision that she wanted to sell Casey. We agreed that he had a better chance of going to a nice show home if he stayed in Texas so I marketed him here. Only by word of mouth until early August, then I posted a Dreamhorse ad. It is somewhat ironic that he sold to a family in Montana, but the best part is that he now belongs to a family I've known most of my life. Casey will get to do some ranch work, he will continue to do some showing and he will be loved by a little girl. There is a quote/meme you often see on social media about how every horse deserves to be loved by a little girl at least once in it's life.
I completely agree and am THRILLED for Casey and his little girl!


text:
Baby Chains
Even if you live in a technicolor world...and are apparently married...and getting it on with a pregnant "other woman"...am I the only one who thinks that being a "mistress" may not be the most romantic title on earth?? Or is this all about the old S & M...nah, not enough black leather on the cover.
Thanks to Erin and whomever invented ellipses...I really like them.
8 comments:
- Turi Becker said...
I totally overuse ellipses too...
- December 5, 2009 at 7:28 PM
ho writes theese things??!!!
- December 5, 2009 at 8:35 PM
- Pai said...
Harlequin's book lines have some of the most IDIOTIC and repetitive titles I have ever seen.
- December 6, 2009 at 2:37 AM
- JamiSings said...
Pai - Not to mention plots and cookie cutter characters.
I love romance novels and I'm sure someone will smack me, but Harlequinn to me gives the genre a bad name.
I'm sick and tired of things like "The Shiek's Virgin Mistress" or "The Greek Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress" -
That's why I keep saying someone at Harlequinn needs to break the mold with "The Jewish Musician's Sexually Repressed Bride"!
Well, at least it'll be a start. LOL Something other then a shiek or a tycoon or a Navel Seal.
I don't get the mistress thing anyway. To me mistress means either 1: A woman sleeping with a married man 2: The lady of a manor house 3: A domenatrix. None of which I think of in terms of romance.
While I'm sure there are some fine writers who are working for Harlequinn, the books they put out are very cookie cutter.
- December 6, 2009 at 3:40 PM
- Nicole "Gidget" Kalstein said...
Oh, Harlequin. Bad covers, worse titles.
I know pregnant women are supposed to be all glowy and stuff, but I do not find pregnant belly sexy. At all. Also, having sex with a married man while pregnant is kind of weird.
Just sayin'.
Is Harlequin's target demographic fetishists? I'm beginning to think so.
- December 6, 2009 at 3:54 PM
- Random White Guy said...
He's probably not married that would ruin the happy ending that Harlequin always ends with. The word mistress just sounds more intriquing than "His Knocked Up Girlfriend That He Thinks Is Trying To Trap Him Into Marriage and It's Never His Fault He Didn't Use Protection In The First Place."
- December 8, 2009 at 3:44 PM
- email@example.com said...
Uh-oh. I see the end of passion due to arrive in 10 months!
- December 21, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Looks a bit like the Campbell's Soup label!
Heather Brush
- January 25, 2010 at 1:09 PM


text:
A drug dealer — always a trustworthy news source — claims that Angelina Jolie was on cocaine during an interview with Charlie Rose in 2000 to promote Girl, Interrupted.
Franklin Meyer, who spent eight months in jail (Rikers!) for cocaine possession, says he met Angie in 1997 at the Chelsea Hotel. Meyer allegedly saw Angie two to three times a week when she was in New York, and "She would generally spend about $100 each time. That would buy maybe half a gram of coke and a 10th of a gram of heroin."
Meyer tells Life & Style that Angelina had "taken coke" before her 2000 interview with Charlie Rose, and, "She did the show and then she came back over after."
That Charlie Rose interview is online, and there are portions in which Angelina is rambling and mumbling. She starts sentences that she doesn't finish, searches for words and changes her train of thought. Her eyes dart around and even twitch at times. But! She was 25, a new-ish young actress, possibly nervous… and her mother, whom she adored, was sitting right on the side of the set, just off camera. So it's possible that when she's looking around, she's looking at her mother. OR! She is high. Here's a snippet:
And another little clip. Here, she is circumlocutiously chatting about Gia, the model she played in Gia.
Even if she is on coke, well, so what? 99% of Hollywood has been high for years. More notable is the fact that Life & Style dug up her old drug dealer. And — you'll see this in Midweek Madness— the mag is calling this ten-year-old clip "THE VIDEO THAT WILL SPLIT BRAD & ANGIE." Hilarious.
Man Claims Angelina Jolie Was High During Charlie Rose Interview in 2000 [Page Six]
Angelina Jolie On Charlie Rose [YouTube]
Ex-Drug Dealer Says Angelina Jolie Appeared On Talk Show High On Drugs! [Life & Style]


text:
Akia Organic Cotton Bike Socks - Malachite Green
The PieceAkia Organic Cotton Bike Socks
The Fabric78% ORGANIC COTTON* 19% RECYCLED POLYESTER** 3% ELASTANE "
Does GoodOrganic cotton is chemical free and made using up to 91%less water. Recycled polyester keeps PET bottles out of landfill, reducing soil contamination, air and water pollution.
The FeelingSuper soft, breathable, naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so your feet (and the planet) stay happy and healthy. The cosiest way to walk around the house.
The FitWe challenge you to find a more comfortable sock.
Standard delivery (via Evri): £3.45, or free GB delivery on orders over £49. 3-5 working days.
Northern Ireland Standard delivery (via DPD): £3.45, 3-5 working days.
GB next day delivery - weekday (via DPD): £5.90 - order by 2pm Mon-Fri
Orders placed between 2pm Friday and 10am Sunday will be delivered on Monday.
International delivery costs range from £8.95 - £19.95 - find out costs and delivery times for your location here
Free returns on all GB orders via Royal Mail (hygiene products cannot be returned) - 30 day threshold
Please see our returns page for further details on pricing and delivery for different countries.
Akia Organic Cotton Bike Socks - Malachite Green
a little about us...
we are thought
we believe in easy-to-wear clothes. We use natural fabrics; like bamboo, hemp and organic cotton. Sustainable, organic clothing is important to us. Because we want to create fashion that fits your lifestyle.
our committments and values
we've sourced the most earth-kind fabrics we could find. so you don't have to think about it
we only work with natural, sustainable and recycled materials. minimum impact, maximum quality.


text:
The other day I rolled out onto a nearby bike trail to mull over my riding goals for 2012. This topic required serious thought. Faithful readers of this column will recall that last spring I took my first truly challenging ride, covering 9-point-something miles.
Since then, I've bought a fancy carbon bike. I've slowly expanded my notion of "a ride" by joining groups as well as pedaling on my own. I have yet to buy a goofy-looking jersey covered with indecipherable European logos, but I've been tempted.
More From Bicycling
I've also acquired a set of mixed feelings about bike trails and lanes. The latter are strewn with piles of syringes, spent bazooka shells, and the carcasses of elves murdered by Sauron; you're always about 30 yards from something you'll have to swerve into traffic to avoid. Bike trails, meanwhile, are full of cyclists doing stupid things, like towing three skateboarders while wearing earbuds with Neutral Milk Hotel cranked up to 11. From a certain perspective, the worst place to ride a bike is any place with "bike" in its name.
But I like the folks you get to know on certain trails. One of the first people I saw was Larry, a retired shipping-company executive who got fat from desk work and business lunches but who, in his sixties, is now a lean, mean cycling machine. He set a 2011 goal of 7,000 miles and exceeded it. I'm going to ask Larry to be my cycling Yoda, even though he has some peculiar and forceful ideas about the flyers for missing pets that people post on the trail.
"Did Puff ever bring you a bird or a mouse she had hunted down?" Larry asked a little girl taping up a poster for a lost cat.
She said yes. "Well," Larry replied, "now Puff has been hunted, and that's part of life, so you should accept that she's not coming back." Larry said the girl's mother gave him "a look of gratitude" for explaining this difficult truth. I bet she did.
I love bike people.
I asked you for some goal suggestions and am delighted to report that Bicycling readers are incredibly nice, especially the Canadian ones. People offered to have me stay in their houses before I ride up Mt. Rushmore, to let me join their teams, to draft and pull with me, to accompany me across entire states, to carpool to events, to train with me.
The only exceptions were two or three readers who said I should toughen up and stop whining, although one guy spelled it "winning." "You ought to be able to [go up a hill] without winning," he wrote. Let me just say that I am to whining what Michael Phelps is to swimming—a peculiar-smelling national treasure. Winning I know less about. The general thrust of these exhortations was, "I did a climb just like that one on a 1901 Pope high-wheeler with a pig-iron frame and a lead derailleur. When I read your simpering drivel about how impossible it is for you on your fancy carbon bike, I wanted to puke my Hammer Gels into the Large Hadron Collider."
They were sort of right. I do need to toughen up about hills. In that spirit, I veered off the rail-bed course and tackled a few. Heaving up over the long slopes that lead back to Firetown Road, I chanted, "I will learn to love this! I will learn to love this!" as my quadriceps burned.
Still, certain things I will not do. "Try the Hotter 'n' Hell 100 in Wichita Falls, Texas, the last weekend in August!" wrote Rob Ward.
I will also not ride RAGBRAI, which numerous passionate readers suggested. The famous seven-day ride across Iowa actually sounds like fun, but seems to involve camping. I will ride. And I will (maybe) camp. But I will not ride and camp. I will not do two traumatic things, conjoined. If a support vehicle will follow me across Iowa towing a medium-firm mattress, I'm in.
There were other ideas which appealed to me but which will not, I suspect, satisfy the bloodlust of certain Bicycling readers or even my own desire to, as David Copperfield said, "turn out to be the hero of my own life." For example, someone named Tara thought I might enjoy The Flattest Century in the East, in Rhode Island (which probably has to be laid out very carefully, and possibly in circles, if the idea is to ride 100 miles and not leave Rhode Island). I probably would enjoy that. But making that my goal would leave me feeling like a dabbler.
One reason I like Larry as a guru—besides the fact that I have not recently lost a cat—is that he sees cycling not in terms of the next ride but in terms of yearly, monthly, and weekly goals. He also has lots of hints for staying motivated. Larryisms: "Pick a point you often ride to and try to knock off a minute from your time. Go a few miles farther than you have before…maybe 50 or 62.5. Pick one day to do hills."
Back on the path I eventually reached the state line, which meant I'd gone 15 miles and would end up doing at least 30. That was inspiring, too. So I picked three goals for 2012. No less than 2,000 miles. A two-day, 150-mile MS ride from Boston to Provincetown (because the people who invited me were so nice). And the RBC Gran Fondo Whistler, in September. That ride features almost 8,000 feet of climbing. There's a pretty good chance the universe will end before I have to do that, especially if people keep puking into the Large Hadron Collider. But if not, I'm riding that one for you, incredibly pleasant Canadian readers.
I'll need to find people to train with—stout-hearted friends who'll help me push harder when my nerve fails (this happens approximately every 20 minutes). I'm terrified of the fondo, which is an excellent reason for doing it. I won't promise to stop whining, but I will try to undo some of the damage Charlie Sheen has done to winning.


text:
I was excited to see Gravity for a long time. A female-centric sci-fi film? Yes, please! I adore Sandra Bullock. Even when she stars in shitty movies, I don't care. I unapologetically love her. While people envision her as a comedian (and yes, she's incredibly funny), I've always thought she had the potential to shine in more serious roles (sidebar, 28 Days is one of my favorite films).
But the best part of Gravity? It offers us a different kind of female hero.
Haunting and harrowing, Gravity is a gripping cinematic spectacle about astronauts stranded in space. The visual effects are breathtakingly stunning. I can't stand 3-D. But the visuals were so gorgeous, so crisp, I completely forgot I was watching a 3-D film. The film envelopes you, immersing you into the vast expanse of the star-filled void of space. You feel as if you're stranded, drifting in space too. Gravity transports the audience to a place most of us will never see.
Gravity doesn't merely rest on its technical laurels. The dialogue suffers from schmaltz in a couple places but the acting is nuanced and powerful. While George Clooney is his typical charming self as veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski on the brink of retirement, make no mistake. This is Sandra Bullock's film. The film rests on her shoulders, which she carries with raw emotion and nuance.
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is not a stereotypical female protagonist. Yes, she's smart. And white. And thin. While those traits make her similar to the majority of women leads, her personality differs. A biomedical engineer on her first mission in space, she's quiet and reserved. But that shouldn't make you underestimate or question her strength. Dr. Stone analyzes situations, she uses her ingenuity to figure out solutions to the problems that bombard her in space.
We feel the palpable tension she feels. We feel her anxiety, her panic, her fear. It feels claustrophobic at times as the camera shots sit inside her helmet, as if we too are stranded in the empty abyss of space. We also visually see the camera from her perspective, a tactic that garners greater empathy for her from the audience. We see the world through her eyes.
Films often objectify women as sex objects or relegates them to the role of the male protagonist's wife, mother, sister, lover, sidekick. And yes, the studio tried to give Dr. Stone a love interest (bleh), as if she needs a relationship with a man to define her. When we do see strong women who define themselves, they typically are portrayed as tough badasses kicking ass or wise-cracking or feisty. Don't get me wrong. I love badasses. I love mouthy, opinionated, angry, tough as nails women. But those shouldn't be the only kind of female protagonists we see.
It's unusual to see a female hero who's frail or vulnerable or even an introvert. Looking at children's movies, the majority of female protagonists are extroverts. We rarely see a girl who isn't spunky or gregarious in a leading role. (Although others disagree and insist that we see plenty.) As Natalie Portman recently said, feminism in film is about more than just kicking ass:
"I want [women & men] to be allowed to be weak & strong & happy & sad — human, basically. The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you're making a "feminist" story, the woman kicks ass & wins. That's not feminist, that's macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with."
And therein lies the beauty of Dr. Ryan Stone. Not all women leads need to kick ass in order to be strong or complex. We need to see the stories of intelligent, quiet, reserved, vulnerable women too.
We also rarely see a female film hero struggling with depression. Dr. Stone has lost the will to live. Due the tragic death of her daughter, she yearns for silence. Grief swallows her. She tells George Clooney that that's what she likes best in space. The silence. There's no chaos. Only peace. He tells her that he gets it as, "there's nobody up here who can hurt you." In her life, her routines confine her. She goes to work and then just drives, listening to the radio, a reminder of her daughter. Yet these routines keep her buoyant as she struggles to stay afloat amidst her depression. She's surviving but not really living.
The film itself becomes a "metaphor for depression, or for grief: untethered and abandoned in a void so large that it boggles the mind, or simply shuts it down." Dr. Stone drifts and spins out of control, disconnected, echoing the overwhelming feelings of depression. The trauma of child loss in film and television often catalyzes a mother's journey towards empowerment. In Gravity we witness Dr. Stone's transformation from a woman consumed by grief and despair, drifting along on a sea of sadness and attempting suicide, into a survivor who yearns and fights to live. By the end of the film, she's grounded, no longer disconnected.
There's a part in the film when I thought, "Oh, here it comes. The ubiquitous scene where a dude comes and rescues her. As if she can't rescue herself." Thankfully, I was wrong. Some quibble that it's a hallucination of Kowalski, so he's the one who saves her. Nope, it's all her. Sure he inspired her. But it's her memory, it's her imagination.
Now, with a female-centric stranded-in-space sci-fi film, it might be easy to draw comparisons to the queen of survival: Ripley. Both female heroes are stranded in space, both fight to live. Both characters are regular women, both mothers, taking charge in a crisis. Both films feature reproduction themes and motifs: rape and the fear of female reproduction in Alien, womb imagery and rebirth symbolism in Gravity. And both films feature scenes where the female leads remove their protective gear to illustrate their vulnerability. Okay, they do have share a lot of similarities! But here's where they diverge — Ripley has a ferocity that Ryan Stone does not possess. And that's a good thing. We need to see myriad female personalities depicted on-screen.
Some have criticized that the film has to humanize Dr. Stone by making her a mother. It's a fair complaint as most iconic strong female characters in film (Ripley, Sarah Connor, Beatrix Kiddo) are mothers. My fabulous Bitch Flicks colleague Amanda astutely wrote that she encompassed the grieving mother archetype. But Dr. Stone isn't merely defined by motherhood. Nor do I think her being a mother makes her more palatable to audiences. We see and hear about her career. We accompany her on her emotional journey.
Another reason Dr. Stone as a character matters? We need to see more women scientists on-screen. There are still few women scientists, when compared to the number of men, and female scientists are paid far less than their male colleagues. Young girls aren't encouraged to participate in STEM fields. They need to see female role models. When Kowalski asks Dr. Stone, "What kind of a name is Ryan?," she tells him that her father always wanted a boy. It's a brief gender commentary on how society gives preferential treatment to boys. Dr. Stone works in an extremely male-dominated field. Her father bestowed a masculine name upon her all because he wanted a child of a different gender. This interestingly parallels director Alfonso Cuaron's own struggle to feature a female protagonist as the studio wanted him to change the lead's gender. Thankfully, he refused.
Our society sees women as inferior, that everyone aspires to be men. That men do all the awesome, strong things while women serve as pretty décor and accessories to men. Hollywood assumes that only men won't go see "women's movies," whatever the fuck those are (are they films with women sitting around discussing their periods? Wait…I want to see that movie…), while women and men will see films with male protagonists. This is bullshit. People want to see good stories with complex, interesting characters regardless of gender.
Women often have to endure seeing a mediocre or shitty movie with female leads because we desperately yearn to see ourselves represented. Men get to see themselves in myriad iterations in a wide swath of roles. But women are typically relegated to the love interest, damsel in distress or sidekick. Most female film characters don't shatter gender stereotypes. They rarely lead as heroes, usually serving as props to the male protagonists, and playing out gender tropes.
Seeing a woman in a commanding role on-screen, seeing things from her perspective, seeing her decisions – this is a big fucking deal. Sandra Bullock has called her role as Dr. Ryan Stone "revolutionary," as Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron wrote the script with a woman as the protagonist. Society traditionally thinks of men in leadership roles, not women. You can't be what you can't see. Seeing media representations of yourself in your gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, seeing bodies of different sizes and abilities – all of this matters. It impacts how we see ourselves, the lives we envision for ourselves. And how others see us.
Gravity offers a unique female hero. It's okay that Sandra Bullock's character isn't shooting guns or beating up bad guys. It's okay that she's quiet and vulnerable. It's okay to see a woman struggling through emotional pain. In fact, it's a good thing. Not all women are the same. Our female leads should reflect that reality.


text:
Today, April 1 is the second day of the baseball season and I was all set to watch the Red Sox on MLB.TV. I had paid the $119 for the premium subscription and had updated the MLB.TV app on the Roku . I fired up the Roku and selected MLB.TV and then I selected the Red Sox vs Rangers. It started to connect and it was taking a long time to connect and I thought oh no, but finally it did connect. Unfortunately I then saw those words every MLB.TV user hates, "this game is blackout in your area." I sat there and stared at it confuse, because I am in West Virginia, which is the home territory to neither of these teams. I checked the MLB.TV Web site under blackout and my home teams are Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburg Pirates. I disconnect the power from my Roku and reconnect it, nothing. Then I power down my Airport Extreme and restarted it up, still nothing. Finally I disconnected the cable and waited a couple of minutes and reconnected, no change it was still showing the Red Sox game blacked out. I decided to try the MLB.TV app on my iPad, so I paid the $14.95 and installed the app and fired it up and the Red Sox game came in clear as can be on the same network. I then tried to Googled the problem, I found a lot of complaints on various forums, but no solution other than to call MLB.TV, which I really wanted to avoid. The one thing I did notice was when I clicked on to look up your current IP Address click here it brought up my Airport Extreme ip address and not my external ip address. i knew that was where the problem was, I just wasn't sure of the solution.
While writing this post I finally found the solution to the blackout problem. I decided for the heck of it to play the Twins–Blue Jays game directly from the MLB Web site and sure enough it said the game was blackout in my area. However it said we are unable to locate you please click here. I then had to enter my credit card information and my address once I did that the game came in well. I fired up my Roku and selected the same game and it played fine there too. I still haven't figure why it was working fine on my iPad and nothing else, since everything was on the same network, oh well I guess that has to remain a mystery.
If you are a baseball fan and you live outside your favorite teams home territory like me I definitely think that MLB.TV is a must, whether you buy it month to month or a full subscription. I also think that the MLB.com At Bat 11 app on the iPhone or iPad is worth getting, although you probably don't need both. You can also get MLB.com At Bat 11 on various Android devices. My understanding is that the Android device does video highlights and live pitch by pitch. However it doesn't do full live game video, that is audio only. If you are going to be where you can watch games, then I would go for the iPad application. The games look really nice on the iPad, once its fully connected, although that can take a minute or so. I also love the Gameday simulation, if I am listening to a game and want to check where a pitch went or the stats of the pitcher or hitter. it is fun to be watching the game through the Roku and start pulling up the various stats both in-game and historical on the iPad.
The one thing I don't like, besides the price and having to pay for the iPad application each season, is there is no sound when the commercials run, which is just weird. Again as I said before, if you are a baseball fan and live outside your favorite teams territory then I would recommend getting the subscription to MLB.TV and the app on the iPhone, iPad or your favorite Android device. If you live in the are where your favorite team is blacked out, I am not sure it is worth it. Before you purchase a subscription to MLB.TV I do recommend going to their site and checking to see if your favorite team is blacked out in your area. I do think that it is ironic that Major League Baseball, which is the oldest professional sport in the U.S. has embraced the on-line world, while the NFL is still stuck in the 20th century.


text:
November 26th, 2012
Verdict on 'Liz & Dick'? Successfully bad
Lifetime's "Liz & Dick" has become the TV event viewers love to hate.
There's been a flurry of biting (and, OK, pretty hilarious) commentary about the film leading up to and following its premiere Sunday night, which showed Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor and Grant Bowler as Richard Burton.
Over the course of 90 minutes, the movie swiftly retraced the legendary couple's stormy romance, interspersing the '60s-era story with scenes of the two dressed in black and addressing the camera directly from the grave.
It's not often a Lifetime production draws such an overwhelming amount of attention, and in this case it's due to "Liz & Dick" having Lohan as its star right as the 26-year-old actress works to turn her career around.
Yet while Lohan's talked at length about relating to Taylor's mega-wattage celebrity, when it came time for the world to witness the raspy-voiced actress as the late violet-eyed beauty few seemed to be buying it.
"From the moment she and Grant Bowler [as Richard Burton] sat side by side facing the camera in some mock-interview about their lives, a wall went up between Lohan and us: Is it years of ducking tabloid photographers that has frozen her face into a blank stare?" critiqued Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker of what he found to be a "peculiar, drab, damp little TV movie." "No effort seems to have gone into Lohan's preparation other than to have her eyes tinted Liz-violet."
Casting Lohan as Dame Taylor was a surefire way to draw viewers, said the New York Times' Alessandra Stanley, but she also thought that "Liz & Dick" could've been worse. It wasn't terrible enough to be "entertainingly campy," and the casting didn't help.
Using Lohan to portray Dame Taylor is "not a kindness to that actress, who fails to deliver the kind of breakthrough performance that augurs a comeback ... She isn't ridiculous in the role, and her eyes do look violet, but she is oddly passive, sleepwalking through scenes that call for passion and caprice." Bowler as Burton, meanwhile, offers a "pallid impersonation."
Time's James Poniewozik agreed that one can't definitively call "Liz & Dick" the "worst TV movie of the year" - there are cable public-access productions he hasn't watched, after all - but he does think that the makeup mole on Lohan added more to her credibility as Taylor than her acting.
"When Lohan is made up and still - slinking in a doorway, glowering into a mirror - the illusion is nearly complete. But when she opens her mouth, it's all over," Poniewozik said. "Lohan simply never becomes another person the length of the movie: whether she's meant to be showing spunk or pique or passion, she gives nearly every line the flat delivery of the first read-through of a high-school play." But to be fair, she couldn't "make a movie this bad by herself."
The Wrap's Tim Molloy placed blame with the script. "[Lohan] isn't good, but no one could be good with this dialogue," Molloy said. "['Liz & Dick' is] redundant and boring in a way that no star could save."
People magazine, however, pegged Lohan as the survivor in this scenario. "Completely miscast ... Lohan makes a reckless but brave dive into a pool that anyone can see is empty," said Tom Gliatto. "But Lohan, despite all her career troubles, is still a star."
Did you watch "Liz & Dick" last night? What'd you think?
soundoff (245 Responses)
Post a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
About this blog
Our daily cheat-sheet for breaking celebrity news, Hollywood buzz and your pop-culture obsessions.


text:
Kershaw feels all right on first day
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Clayton Kershaw allowed two runs in two innings of Saturday's exhibition opener, but there's no need to panic.
"Physically, I feel great," said the Dodgers' Opening Day starter. "I got behind in some counts. That's a good lineup. For the most part, for the first day, I felt all right. You never like to give up runs, but I guess it's better now than April."
Kershaw allowed four hits, including RBI doubles by Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham. He also struck out three, including Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, with no walks. After his two innings, he went to the bullpen and threw 15 more pitches.
Ronald Belisario followed Kershaw, loaded the bases with no outs, then allowed a two-run ground single by Dayan Viciedo. Non-roster reliever Mark Lowe pitched a scoreless inning and was acknowledged by manager Don Mattingly afterward for a curveball that the White Sox seemed to have trouble picking up.
Lowe credits pitching coach Rick Honeycutt with an adjustment that made him more comfortable on the rubber.
"I had been too tense, and we've worked on getting me relaxed," said Lowe. "It's worked. It's nice to come here and have coaches like Rick and Sandy [Koufax] and the others. I like everything here."
Mattingly also said he was impressed with rookie right-hander Matt Magill, who struck out three of the five batters he faced.


text:
Endurance triathlon racing comes with a price tag that can be pretty hefty. It's taken me 12 years to craft the secret of managing family finances while supporting my triathlamate's passion and keeping some mad money for myself, too.
It all started when I wandered into the garage way back when and saw my husband, measuring tape in hand, sizing up the space to figure out where he was going to store his extra bikes.
"Yes, of course," I nodded as he explained that he needed a tri bike for racing, a road bike for training, a mountain bike for cross-training, and yet another (his old beater bike that looked pretty darned good to me) for his CompuTrainer?.
Boy was I na?ve back then.More: Beginner's Triathlon Gear List
I now understand that triathlon investment is really about three things:
- The size and location of the race(s) you will be doing: Registration fees, travel costs, food and lodging for you and whoever else will be going with you.
- The scale (and quantity) of bikes that are purchased.
- The amount of zeal you have for the sport.
We needed a plan so we didn't wind up in an ugly discussion about money down the road, so I came up with five questions that I ask my husband each year. I suggest you go through this exercise, too, and ask yourself:
- How many races am I entering this year?
- Is this a bucket list item, or is it going to become a part of my long-term lifestyle?
- Do I want to keep races local or is this my opportunity to see the world?
- Do I want to qualify for the World Championship in Kona, and possibly enter the lottery each year just as a backup?
- Who else do I want to invite along to out-of-town races?
In addition to the costs of racing, ongoing gear upgrades are a huge deal. Take bikes, for instance. A handful of seconds could mean the difference between grabbing a spot at the World Championship race? or not.
If you don't care about finish times, I'll guarantee you care about comfort. A top-end tri-bike can make a world of difference in how well you train and feel (and recover) following a long cycling day. Whether it's shoes, helmets, wetsuits or water bottles, each technological upgrade translates into speed and comfort. And in my book, that's worth every penny.
- 1
- of
- 2


text:
Tagged: Michael Kirkman
Victims Help Vampires Prevail
After that exhibition of lunkheaded managing by Ron Washington in the top of the 8th of Game One of the ALCS, I believe anyone who predicted a Rangers' triumph over the Yankees should be given a mulligan.
I say this selfishly, of course.
But, seriously:
1. You used four relievers in the eighth inning and none of them are your flame-throwing closer Neftali Feliz?2. Having already used two of the four lefties in your bullpen, the 5-0 and 5-1 leads now just memories, southpaw Clay Rapada on the mound with lefty-killer Marcus Thames coming to the plate, you pull Rapada and replace him with another lefty in Derek Holland? Apart from everything else you are now down to one lefthander left in your pen, rookie Michael Kirkman. And of course, oopsie, lefty-killer Thames kills lefty Holland with the game-winning hit.3. Harold Reynolds made a great point on MLB Network. Up 5-1, with Gardner on and C.J. Wilson tiring, you have Michael Young playing in close at third against Derek Jeter? Fearing he's going to bunt? When all he still does well is pull lefties? Don't you want Jeter to bunt? You need six outs and you can give three runs. Idiocy.
4. This is the weakest point but it still needs to be raised. Why did Washington let Wilson start the 8th? I know the set-up men are not lights out, but once again, as with Ron Gardenhire in Game One of the ALDS, you have Sabathia beaten. If you don't think Darren O'Day (tied for 7th in the AL in Holds) and Oliver and all the rest are good enough to get you three outs, revert back to Question #1.
The Yankees are, as noted here during the Twins series, Vampires. It is not necessary for the opposing manager to walk his virgins across the field and offer up their necks to them on a platter.


text:
With my iPod headphones plugged in, the abbot of Shaolin keeps his expression perfectly neutral as his eardrums are assailed by the thumping beats of the Wu-Tang Clan.
"I don't get it," says Shi Yongxin in his heavily accented Mandarin, after politely listening to the pioneering 1990s rappers from the New York borough of Staten Island who, in homage to kung fu movies of the 1970s, described themselves as coming "straight from the slums of Shaolin."
We're sitting in the restaurant of the Shaolin Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site nestled in a wooded valley in the shadow of Mount Song in China's central Henan province. This small monastery is the 1,500-year-old cradle of Zen Buddhism and the spiritual home of kung fu, where for centuries the temple's monks have practiced martial arts so they can uphold justice in society and cultivate their own search for enlightenment. Outside in the warm sunshine, tourists wander the temple grounds and watch incredible displays of strength and acrobatic kung fu, performed at regular intervals by the world-famous fighting monks.
It's hard to imagine a place less compatible with the violent tirades of one of hip-hop's greatest ensembles. But I'm trying to explain to his eminence that, even though he is unaware of the Wu-Tang Clan, many people who came of age in the West in the 1990s first heard about his temple from songs such as "Shaolin Worldwide," and lyrics such as:
The Jedi, only use the Force if ya force me
Shaolin What? Don't get it f**ked up and cross me
Rappers gettin' stuck for actin' stuck up and flossy
"People tell a lot of tall tales about the Shaolin Temple," the abbot says with the composed demeanor of the deeply religious. "They are not familiar with and don't represent the real history of Shaolin, the Shaolin culture, or the inherited essence of Shaolin."
If this sounds accurate in the case of RZA, Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan, it is also a criticism that many in China have leveled against the abbot himself. The 46-year-old is a highly controversial figure. Since he became, in 1999, only the 30th monk in the temple's long history to be ordained a full abbot, he has faced relentless attacks for accepting expensive gifts and for commercializing the ancient temple. For those who denounce him through the Chinese Internet, the abbot's initiatives are a sad reflection of society's crude materialism in a country where, in the past few decades, the crumbling of communist ideology and the rush for wealth have left a spiritual and moral vacuum.
Buddhism is the dominant religion in China, with as many as 300 million believers across the country. Like other forms of Buddhism, Zen emphasizes letting go of worldly cares and working toward enlightenment through meditation and practice of the Buddha's teachings, which include a ban on harming any sentient beings. As its home, and the centerpiece of many kung fu novels and films, the Shaolin Temple has become an integral part of Chinese popular culture. In fact, it is probably one of the most famous global brands to have come out of China in any industry, thanks in no small part to the abbot, whom Chinese media have dubbed the "CEO monk."
The temple's business ventures include investments in its famous globe-trotting kung fu performance troupes, renting out the Shaolin name for films, cartoons, and stage productions, and an early stage investment in a possible line of traditional Chinese medicines. It has also sent monks to set up more than 40 Shaolin kung fu and meditation centers in countries across North America, Europe, and elsewhere, but the abbot says these and most of Shaolin's other "cultural activities" barely break even. Instead, he says, the vast majority of the temple's "few dozen million renminbi" in annual income comes from tickets sold to the roughly 2 million tourists that visit the site every year. The temple keeps 30 percent of the ticket revenues and hands 70 percent over to the local government.
The temple has registered its trademark across the world in an attempt to stop people from using its name to promote concepts that do not fit with its Buddhist precepts. But the main battleground is in China, where intellectual property protections are weak and companies making everything from soft drinks and chopsticks to electrical machinery and buses have appropriated the Shaolin brand. Even liquor producers and makers of pork sausages have taken the name, despite the fact that strict Zen Buddhism prohibits the consumption of meat and alcohol.
The overwhelming number of infringements and the weak protection offered by China's justice system mean it is simply not worth going after every offender, but the abbot is optimistic that things will change for the better eventually. "Now if we are to engage in a lawsuit to protect our rights, we will have to spend a lot of money and time and the result will not necessarily be satisfactory," he says. "Once Chinese citizens are like Western citizens, in an environment where the awareness of law is firm, people will naturally abandon using the name of Shaolin Temple." I'm struck by how similar his vocabulary is to that of a typical Chinese chief executive.
Nevertheless, he explains, the creation in 1998 of the Henan Shaolin Temple Industrial Development Company, saw the temple become the first Chinese religious group to register a trademark for its name, "We're using legal and commercial means to protect our intellectual property, protect our brand, and protect our own inheritance," he says.
The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt many times since it was established in the fifth century and, following the communist victory in 1949 all of its surrounding farmland was confiscated and redistributed among the masses, leaving the monks with no way to feed themselves. In the disastrous cultural revolution of 1966-1976, the monks who remained at the temple were beaten, persecuted, and forced to disperse, but when the terror ended some returned and set about reviving their traditions, including the practice of kung fu.
Since his arrival at the temple in 1981, aged 16, the abbot has dedicated his life to its restoration and revival. I get the feeling he has had to make many compromises in order to protect and promote his monastery and its heritage. But, as he points out, the Vatican is a multinational corporation with its own bank, and Shaolin's annual income doesn't even put it in the top 100 on the list of richest temples in China.
"We don't have much savings in the bank but there is a lot of grain stored in the barn, enough for two years, so if there is a disaster in society the Shaolin Temple could hold out for two years or so," he adds. It is an astonishing insight into the historical legacy that has forced him to hone his business skills.
The menu for our lunch has been arranged by the temple's veteran chef, and as our waiters arrive with the first dish—a delicate selection of vegetarian morsels called "three treasures to welcome guests," made from baked bran, pickled radish, and dried tofu—the abbot's phone rings and he reaches into his flowing crimson gown to retrieve a buzzing Samsung mobile. He politely dismisses the person on the other end of the line and I notice his immaculately manicured fingernails and also that his earlobes are unusually large, a physical trait that in China is said to indicate competence and bring good fortune and riches.
As the bowls keep coming, the abbot is careful to point out that he normally eats very plain food. In fact, that morning I had been allowed to attend dawn prayers and join him and his monks for a hearty meal of rice porridge, vegetables, and steamed buns, served by trainee monks who couldn't have been more than 10 years old. At that meal, the abbot sat with the others on wooden benches in silence as they scarfed down their food in less than 15 minutes.
Having spotted his phone, I decide now is the time to ask him about his penchant for gadgets and expensive gifts, including a Volkswagen SUV and an iPad he is often seen using in public. "The Volkswagen is worth less than Rmb 1 million [£98,000] and it was given to me by the local government because we have brought them a lot of profits," he tells me with only the slightest hint of exasperation breaking through his Zen composure. "We attract a lot of visitors and students so the government awarded me a car to encourage me to do a better job."
He says the iPad and other gadgets are all gifts from devotees but that he tries to use such things until they are broken and unusable before replacing them. "I'm not doing what I do for other people but for society, for the masses; it's not for me personally or for the local government but if there is a need in society or among the ordinary folk, then I should do what I can."
We tuck into a dish of cabbage and shredded dried tofu with the delightful name of "floating fragrance in a Buddhist pot" but I notice that the abbot is hardly touching his food. The mention of his dealings with the local government is an illustration of the difficult relationship in China between organized religion and the officially atheist ruling Communist party. The Chinese government only recognizes five official religions—Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism—and requires that these be organized into institutions supervised by "patriotic associations," in turn supervised by the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Communist Party's United Front department.
Other world religions, such as Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, or Baha'i, are not recognized by Beijing, nor are countless underground Catholic and Protestant "house churches." The government tends to tolerate much of this "unofficial" religious activity as long as it is a private matter, but any hint of political organization will bring a crackdown.
The Shaolin abbot doesn't need to worry about this. He has been a member of the National People's Congress, the country's rubber-stamp parliament, since 1998 and vice-chairman of the official Buddhist Association of China since 2002. Ordinarily, the abbot and other senior monks at the temple will decide who can be ordained as a monk, and the temple will then register them with the provincial religious affairs bureau. But the position of abbot must be directly authorized by the religious affairs authorities, almost all of whom are atheist Communist Party members.
I ask his eminence why he thinks he was chosen, and his answer is simple: "Because I am obedient. I'm willing to donate myself and serve the people." To "serve the people" is a traditional communist slogan that regularly trips off the tongue of party bureaucrats. He explains that this subservience of religion to the state has always existed in China and in many other countries as well. "Throughout history it is the same: Religion must respect the emperor, respect the government. If a religion doesn't respect the government, it will have difficulty surviving," he says. "We have to rely on the government to publicize and promote us. The government has a lot of power and it's difficult to promote ourselves without it."
There he goes again, speaking like an executive from a global marketing firm.
As the waiters place a fried eggplant and tofu dish called "blossoming smile of enlightenment" in front of us, I ask him how he responds to the critics who say he is too fond of mixing the sacred and the profane.
"Our aim is to promote Buddhist culture, to baptize human souls and purify people's minds," the abbot says. "What we have done so far [in terms of commercialization] is actually quite conservative because we don't want to get too mixed up in the affairs of society or overexploit Shaolin Temple." He describes how a proposal in 2009 by the local government to list the temple on a domestic or international stock exchange was abandoned after he and the other monks voiced strong objections.
On the abbot's instructions, the flow of dishes has slowed and most of his plates have been cleared without him tasting more than a spoonful or two. Throughout our lunch it feels as if he is trying to convince me that he is not the materialistic villain he is often portrayed as in China. More than once he mentions the fact that he and each of his monks live a plain existence, normally surviving on just Rmb 7 (70p) per day.
His explanation of the pressures he faces in a modern Chinese society is, however, persuasive. "We hope we can improve the bad atmosphere of modern society through the influence of the Shaolin Temple; over the years we have seen society pollute the earth and overexploit resources, and people's desires continuously grow," he says. "We wish everyone could lead a simple life like us monks and not chase after famous brands and luxury lifestyles in the way the awful nouveau riche in our country do."
One of the last dishes is laid in front of us and the abbot breaks into a beatific smile in appreciation at the irony of its name. It is a vegetarian version of "Buddha jumps over the wall," an oily soup that usually includes meat and seafood and is supposed to taste so good that it can tempt even devout monks to jump the monastery wall and renounce their monastic vows.
"See, that shows you how open and sympathetic Chinese Buddhism is," he says. "In other cultures or religions, if somebody used this kind of name for such a sacrilegious dish there would be a huge fight."
Coming from a religion where monks who have sworn not to harm sentient beings wield swords and practice cracking skulls with their fists, this too is persuasive. For the abbot, temporal dealings—including business—appear merely a necessary diversion on the path toward enlightenment.
This article originally appeared in Financial Times. Click here to read more coverage from the Weekend FT.


text:
Conn. woman gets 8 years for $6 million bank fraud
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – A Naugatuck woman has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for participating in a scheme to defraud Webster Bank and Bank of America of $6 million.
Susan Curtis was sentenced Thursday in U.S. district court in Bridgeport. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud and tax charges.
Federal authorities say Curtis was working for the property services division of Webster Bank when she duped it into paying $5 million in fees to two companies she and her husband established.
U.S. Attorney David Fein said Curtis stole from her employer to buy luxuries such as cruises and artwork. He said the lengthy prison term is appropriate.
Her husband, Kevin Caffrey, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)