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The group of teenagers who filmed and mocked a man as he was drowning in a Cocoa pond will face charges after all, police said Friday.

 Jamel Dunn drowned in a Cocoa pond July 7

 5 teens laughed while filming drowning, police say

 Cocoa Police turned to state death-reporting statute for charges

 RELATED: Man's body found at edge of Cocoa pond identified

 SEE BELOW: Video of the drowning ▼

 In a news conference, Cocoa Police Chief Michael Cantaloupe did not describe the charges that will be filed against the five teenagers who recorded and mocked 31-year-old Jamel Dunn as he drowned July 7. But he said that after looking long and hard at Florida law, the teens would face charges for not reporting a death.

 He said that there's no law requiring to report to officials that someone is dying. But after someone has died, people are required to contact authorities.

 A day after police said that no charges would be filed despite the immorality of the teens' actions, Cantaloupe said his detectives and prosecutors from the State Attorney's Office spoke for hours on Friday, trying to find a way to press charges. Police are now in the midst of paperwork to the office, he said.

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 The statute they will use, Florida Statute 406.12, is typically reserved for medical examiners when it comes to reported deaths. It reads: "It is the duty of any person in the district where a death occurs, who becomes aware of the death of any person occurring... must report such death and circumstances to the district medical examiner."

 The charge is a misdemeanor.

 "It will be kind of a test case," Cantaloupe said. "... As far as we know, the statute has never been used in this way."

 Cantaloupe said there should be a law that would make it illegal to not report someone who is dying and in need of aid.

 "We don't want another family have to go through what the Dunn family has went through," he said. Building better laws, working with juveniles and establishing better family relationships may prevent another situation, he added.

 Cantaloupe said it's possible Dunn would be alive today if one of the teens had called for help.

 Cantaloupe said he's not giving out the names of the teenagers because it's an ongoing investigation. But he said their ages are between 14 to 16 years old.

 BREAKING: @cocoapolice file charges against teens in case of man who drowned in pond. Chief -- it's duty 4 people 2 report death @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/5I8XwwzQyE — Greg Pallone (@gpallone13) July 21, 2017

 Charging documents and evidence are being sent to the State Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether the charges will be prosecuted.

 Dunn's sister, Simone McIntosh, who just learned from investigators about the charges being filed, told News 13 that she "hopes they stick, and new legislation is written so this never happens to another family."

 Cell phone video

 In the disturbing cell phone video, Dunn, 31, is seen trying to keep his head above water in a Cocoa pond as the five teens stood on the bank, watching, laughing and recording the entire incident, police said.

 They made it clear they were not going to help him.

 "Ain't nobody going to help you you dumb *****; you shouldn't have got in there," one of the teens is heard saying.

 Seconds later, Dunn goes under and does not come back up.

 It's one of the most disturbing videos that Cocoa Police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said she has seen or heard.

 "He went under, didn't come back up, and they continued to laugh," she said.

 As one of them was being interviewed with his mother present, she was in tears, while the boy had a smirk on his face, she added.

 The State Attorney's Office released a statement about the drowning.

 "The incident depicted on the recording does not rise to sufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution under Florida statutes. We can find no moral justification for either the behavior of persons heard on the recording of the deliberate decision not to render aid to Mr. Dunn," it stated.

 "This is an isolated act of unspeakable inhumanity and in no way is a reflection of our community," Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish III said in a statement.

 Dunn was determined to have entered the water on his own after video from a neighbor’s security camera showed him scaling a fence and intentionally going into the pond.

 'Rendering aid' is not a requirement in many states

 When it comes to people in distress, many states do not require that someone render aid or even call authorities.

 Some states do require assistance in car crashes, or if you're the person who put the other person in danger in the first place.

 Another is on the water: Federal law requires a mariner under U.S. jurisdiction to help anyone "found at sea in danger of being lost."

 Also, all states have good Samaritan laws that protect people from being sued for anything that happened while trying to help someone in danger.

 Many countries do have laws requiring assistance, even if you only call authorities. They include Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.

 Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

 WARNING: Some may find this video disturbing. News 13 has removed the audio of the video in respect to Jamel Dunn's family. ||||| Police in Florida are pursuing misdemeanor charges against five teenagers for failure to report a death after authorities say they recorded video of a man’s drowning and didn't intervene.

 The video, taken earlier this month in Cocoa, Florida, about 45 miles east of Orlando, shows a person's head bobbing up and down in a pond. The teenagers, who are between the ages of 14 and 18 and have not been named by police, are heard laughing and joking in the video, with one of them appearing to laugh and say, "He just died!"

 Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe said the department learned of the recording last weekend and later reviewed it. Police identified and interviewed the five teens, he said.

 Police in conjunction with the State Attorney’s Office determined that charges of "failure to report a death under Florida Statute 406.12," a misdemeanor, will be pursued, the Cocoa police said in a statement today. Police said the charging document, case report and video evidence are being sent to the State Attorney’s Office for review, and a decision about whether the charges will be prosecuted.

 “When we initially reviewed this case it was determined there were no laws broken as the teens were not directly involved with the death,” Cantaloupe said in a statement today. "Further research of the statutes and consultation with the State Attorney’s Office yielded the decision to move forward with charges under this statute. It’s our belief that this law has never been enforced in a scenario like this, but we feel it could be applicable.”

 Cantaloupe added, “Pursuing criminal charges is a way to hold them accountable for their own actions.”

 Earlier, Cocoa police said that the five teenagers were not facing criminal charges after the State Attorney’s Office was consulted.

 “As horrible as this video is the laws in the State of Florida do not obligate citizens to render aid or call someone to render aid to a person in distress," Cantaloupe said on Thursday.

 The victim, 31-year-old Jamel Dunn of Cocoa, drowned July 9, police said. He was reported missing July 12 and authorities recovered his body July 14 after a passerby reported a body floating in the pond.

 Police said home surveillance video apparently captured Dunn jumping over a fence and willingly going into the water. "I don't think you can ever replace a lost life," Cantaloupe told ABC News today.

 He added, "I think what we look at is, the hope that what we do from here going forward, whether it be this charge or some new legislation, that another family doesn’t have to go through this. And that we work with our youth ... to instill these morals ... I would’ve never believed that somebody could watch somebody in distress and not do anything about it."

 Of the video recorded by the teenagers, Cantaloupe said in a statement Thursday, "There are no words to describe how utterly inhumane and cruel the actions of these juveniles were towards Mr. Dunn. ... I want to express my deepest condolences to Mr. Dunn’s family and friends."

 Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish III released a statement today regarding the incident. "It saddens me to the core to watch video shot by a group of kids watching a man drown and doing nothing to help him. There just are no words to describe the lack of conscience within these young people," he said.

 "I also would like to extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Dunn’s family and friends," he added. "My hope is we all come together to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else."

 Parrish said of the decision to pursue charges, "While this in no way will bring justice for what occurred, it is a start."

 "In a case like this we struggle to understand how anyone could be so cold and heartless and then learn that there are no laws in Florida that obligate someone to render aid or call for someone to render aid for a person they see in distress," he said. "If this case can be used as an example to draft new legislation, then I am committed to move forward to make that happen. More so, may this tragic incident, which has shocked all of us, cause each of us to examine ourselves and our responsibility to one another."

 "I implore the State Attorney’s Office to follow through and file the charges presented by the Cocoa Police Department!" he added.

 ABC News' Benjamin Stein contributed to this report. |||||

– Despite reports Thursday that they wouldn't be charged with a crime, the five teens who allegedly laughed and filmed a man as he drowned in Florida earlier this month could now face misdemeanor charges. ABC News reports police have recommended charges for "duty to report" against the unnamed teens, who range in age from 14 to 16. News 13 explains that while Florida doesn't have a law requiring bystanders to report someone dying, it does have a law that requires people to report someone has died. Jamel Dunn, 31, drowned earlier this month. Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe says it's the first time the law would be used in this manner, and the teens would serve as a "test case." News 13 reports the statute is most typically applied to medical examiners. The State Attorney's Office worked with police to come up with the charges, but the office will determine whether to prosecute the case. Cantaloupe previously called the teens' actions "utterly inhumane and cruel."


[ooyala code=”BrOWh4NTpclZ6spl7Lv0IUL4nC19XOSe”]

 Google UK Marketing Director Dan Cobley briefly spoke with Bloomberg TV today on Apple’s decision to remove Google Maps from iOS 6, but the most intriguing part about his statement concerned how people could continue to use Google Maps after updating.

 Cobley noted folks on iOS 6 can still “use Google Maps by downloading them or going to the Google Maps website.” This is an interesting comment, however, as there is no Google Maps-related app from Google available in the App Store aside from the Google Earth app. It features 3D layers, including roads, borders, places, photos and more, but it is not an adequate Google Maps replacement. There is also no existing option to download a map from Google Maps in mobile Safari.

 Therefore, it is currently unclear what Cobley meant by “downloading them.” SearchEngineLand asked Google today when iOS would get a new Google Maps app, though, and if it would feature turn-by-turn navigation. Google replied:

 We believe Google Maps are the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps in the world. Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system.

 Those who are missing Google Maps can check out 9to5Mac’s roundup of comparable third-party apps.

 Related articles ||||| IOS6 maps fail so hard, a Tumblr is born

 You know you have an issue when someone brews up a Tumblr to mock you: theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com .

 Carabiners with built-in USB cables The Nomadclip draws tons of praise from its users; Nomad also make lots of little charge-cable gizmos like straps that open into cables and cable/keychains. Our house is like Game of Thrones for working USB cables as we steal one another’s precious wires. (via Canopy) READ THE REST

 Behold the multi-ax For the dwarf who has everything: the $550 Ti-Klax Ax, whose head incorporates 10 tools: Ulu blade, knife, hammer, cutting/gut hook, hex wrench, 1/4″ bit drive socket, bottle opener, lanyard hole and carabiner. (via Bruce Sterling) READ THE REST

 Enter now for your chance to win a free iPhone 6S The Apple unveiling has come and gone, and we’ve all gone about our week while visions of rose gold phones danced in our heads. Rather than enter your name at the bottom of the pre-order list, throw your name in the giveaway mix and let us do the work. This is NOT a drill—enter here […] READ THE REST

 Pandora One: 6-Month Subscription For 20% Off Sometimes your Pandora station knows you better than you know yourself, and sometimes it’s just so very wrong. Get six months of upgraded Pandora One and never be stuck listening to (insert your least favorite song) again. If you’ve never used Pandora before, you’re about discover new artists and songs based on your specific taste […] READ THE REST |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– If you're one of the people wailing and gnashing your teeth because Apple removed Google Maps from iOS 6, take hope: Google's making it pretty clear it wants to make a standalone map app available. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Google UK's marketing director said iPhone users "can still use Google Maps by downloading them." Of course, that's off the mark, 9to5 Mac points out—there is currently no such download in the app store. You can get to Google Maps via the browser, but it's not ideal. SearchEngineLand asked Google to clarify. "Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system," the company replied, without elaborating. That seems cagey, so "stay tuned," writes Danny Sullivan. A dedicated app can't come soon enough for many users. Apple's new maps app is so buggy and confoundable that a Tumblr has cropped up for users to post screenshots of its failure, BoingBoing reports. It's derisively titled, "The Amazing iOS 6 Maps."


Interviewed by

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 Seminal new wave band Devo are heading to New Zealand this month for A Day on the Green with Simple Minds. UTR caught up with founding member Bob Casale to discuss their latest album, how it compares to their earlier work, how they feel about the recent US election and how politics and socio-political movements have influenced their work.

 Hey Bob, where are you at the moment?

 We've just finished our US tour with Blondie and now we’re waiting until after Thanksgiving to fly to Australia and New Zealand.

 Are you looking forward to coming over here?

 Absolutely.

 I’d like to ask you about a couple of things in regards to your latest album. Firstly, tell me about why you decided to write new material after such a long hiatus, and secondly, was there anything you wanted to achieve creatively on this album?

 We wanted to be Devo again, and so you can’t help but sound like Devo – we weren’t going to try and sound like anybody else, we were just going to do what we do and try and write good songs with the same kind of attention to lyrical content and song structure as we’ve always given all of our work.

 It was an interesting experiment because we co-operated with other producers which we've never really done in the past, we did focus groups to see what other people thought, and we got involved in social networking and advertising as people do in the modern corporate world.

 You mentioned you wanted to pay particular regard to lyrical content: was there anything in particular lyrically that you guys were exploring on this latest album?

 Well certainly had access to a kind of technology we hadn't has access to in the past. We were writing like bands do today by using programs, and we were sharing files and sending them to each other, which was an interesting process with interesting outcomes.

 Tell us about working in this new way compared to working more traditionally: how was the experience different and how did it affect the output?

 Well there’s no doubt about it that the way you go about creating determines the shape of the creation. What we used to do was go into a studio together – a bunker – and hole up in there for twelve hours a day and not let anybody in and not talk to anybody and then come out with something.

 This was the opposite of that: this was social and shared and passed around in a serial way, like “here I did this, what would you like to do with it”. If you draw on my drawing I’ll then draw on yours.

 More generally new technology – the internet in particular – has changed the music industry landscape forever. How have you found the different platform and how do you think it has affected music output?

 We have to integrate into the way things are done now: the methods by which music is distributed and the methods by which it is consumed.

 We’re quite aware of how upside-down the music business has become and how the function of music to the culture has changed – we knew all of that. That’s why we worked with an ad agency: we were tongue-in-cheek, having our cake and eating it too and trying to see whether we could be relevant being Devo and also accepting the way people like to do things now, so it was very interesting.

 What are your thoughts on the difference in artists who becomes successful today compared to when you were starting out? Even though you guys adhered to a particular artistic vision you became very successful: do you think that balance is possible today, or do you think the framework required for a band has changed?

 Oh everything has changed and I’m not sure what happens in this culture is what people want. Their mentality has nothing to do with the mentality that we were surrounded by and was propagated. We took people out of their daily lives, we tried to lift them up out of the grime and the grunge of their daily existence and give them an alternative – to turn them on in a number of ways, to remove them from the menial, petty things they had to deal with everyday.

 Now, the big artists, the successful artists are completely narcissistic and self-referential. Every song is about them. They talk about themselves. They talk about what they have. They talk about what they’re going to do to somebody else. They talk about what they’re going to get. They talk about how much money they have. And then they put out a new record that talks about the last record, and it’s unbelievable that that’s what people want to hear from their artists.

 Do you think that is what people want to hear or do you think that’s a reflection of something else?

 That’s always a chicken and egg question. You can’t really shove stuff down people’s throats if they don’t want it. You can show them something else that they might not know about because they haven’t seen it but of course the record companies aren’t doing that.

 On the other hand this stuff is selling millions and millions of copies at a time when nobody is buying music, so this must be what the audience wants, they must see themselves in these artists: “If I could do that, I could have ten SUV’s, and a big mansion, and I’d be in the club with the hoes”, that’s what they think. So these artists represent what the public wants.

 Why do you think popular artists today talk about such frivolous stuff compared to what you guys were discussing, which was socially and politically aware and relevant?

 I don't know. I think western society is creatively bankrupt and all it can do is wallow in the extreme indulgence of capitalism, and that’s that. They’re not telling you anything, there is no spirituality, there is no idea or concept. The concept is “get rich or dye trying”.

 While we’re on the subject of music reflecting social movements, tell us why Devo started and whether those sorts of things were part of the impetus?

 We came of age in the middle of a huge cultural war. This country was basically in the midst of a new civil war - the lines were drawn very clearly. There was the preppy college kid who was going to be towards the war and then there was the counter culture who embraced early Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, and they were doing pot and hash and psychedelic drugs, and they were against the Vietnam War. And the two sides hated eachother, and were ready to kill eachother. It was real.

 Why music as a creative outlet at that time considering you were all pretty multi-disciplinary?

 I guess it was a more immediate way of self-expression that required less money and no outside permission. You try to make a film and you have to come up with the money, you need a big crew, you need to ask people for favours and get permission. If you have an idea for a song you can pretty much go into your basement with your band mates and do it.

 Alongside the music you guys were one of the first bands to utilize visual medium in a way they are used today: tell us about deciding to use these other tools alongside the music.

 Yeah we saw it as out of one continuous, synergistic line. We certainly understood the power of visuals and stage set-ups and video combining with the music – to us that was the most exciting thing you can do.

 More recently you guys have utilized new technologies in a similar way: tell us about 'The Crate Escape' game that you have just released.

 Well that was funny because it’s based on a real incident that’s very disturbing. Mitt Romney had a vacation in the eighties and took this beautiful Irish Setter and put him on the roof of his car in the dead heat of summer, and the dog barfed all over the car. It was all documented because Romney had to pull into a gas station and clean the shit off the car. It’s a matter of record so it came up in the campaign in the States because it was kind of a character deal breaker.

 I don’t know about you but all of Devo and all of our friends are quite big animal lovers and protectors of animals so we just couldn't believe the story: it’s just something you would never do if you had a certain kind of empathy or sensitivity. So that’s the same guy we saw lying every day - he’d offer up a new story or take a new position and he’d act like he’d never said what he said the week before. He was a guy who would say anything to win. And it was really depressing and disheartening because he was even with Obama – it was like he could win.

 I guess as a side-note there must be an air of relief considering the outcome of the election over the last couple of days?

 I mean I definitely am relieved, clearly the lesser of two evils won: we dodged a bullet. We had eight horrible years under Bush mainly because of expenditure on ridiculous wars in Iran and Afghanistan as well as the monetary policy of giving tax breaks to the rich and various other things he did. That, combined with the banks being too big to fail and Wall Street crashing because they made those questionable grey area deals - we were really, really down. So here we were four years into Obama’s presidency with our head just barely above water, just starting to breathe again and Romney and Ryan would have come back and dunked our head under water again. ||||| Story highlights Bob Casale worked on many soundtracks for TV, film, commercials, video games

 Bob Casale, 61, was known by Devo fans as "Bob 2"

 Gerald Casale says his brother "was there in the trenches with me from the beginning"

 Devo drummer Alan Meyers, who was with the group from 1976 to 1986, died last year.

 Devo guitarist Bob Casale died Monday, his brother and band mate announced Tuesday. Casale was 61.

 He was known by fans as "Bob 2" since he played alongside guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh, the brother of Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh.

 "As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning," his brother Gerald Casale said in a Facebook posting. "He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got."

 The new-wave band began after Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met as art students at Kent State University. The group wrote its first music in May 1970 -- the same month National Guard troops fired on antiwar protesters on the Kent State campus, killing four students.

 Devo actively toured in recent years, including a televised performance playing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

 Photos: Devo style Photos: Devo style Devo style – The band Devo plays in 1981. Although Devo never quite managed to maintain the mainstream success it found with the song "Whip It!" in 1980, its status as an important group hasn't wavered. Take a look back at the styles of the American new wave band. Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – Devo, seen here in 1978, had a machine-like persona, using flowerpot hats, industrial jumpsuits and futuristic sounds. Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – Devo is seen in London circa 1978. Their debut album "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" was an underground hit. Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – The band's name was derived from the word "de-evolution" -- the idea that humans are regressing into a destructive herd mentality, band member Gerald Casale told CNN in an interview in February 2010. Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – The band poses for a portrait circa 1979. The band started after Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met as art students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – The band plays its hit song "Whip It!" in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in July 1980. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – Devo poses for a photo in Chicago in October 1981. Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – "When you think about 1980, if somebody would have showed you in a crystal ball 2010, you would have thought it was a bad joke," Gerald Casale told CNN in February 2010. "De-evolution happened and now everybody agrees. They don't think we're crazy. They know that it was true." Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – Devo poses together in Los Angeles in March 1983. Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Devo style Devo style – From left, band members Gerald Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale and David Kendrick appear together at a concert in April 2004. The band actively toured in recent years, including a televised performance playing at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Hide Caption 10 of 10

 "He was excited about the possibility of Mark Mothersbaugh allowing Devo to play shows again," Gerald Casale wrote in his brother's death announcement. "His sudden death from conditions that led to heart failure came as a total shock to us all."

 Mark Mothersbaugh issued a statement Tuesday saying he was "shocked and saddened" by Casale's death.

 "He not only was integral in Devo's sound, he worked over 20 years at Mutato, collaborating with me on 60 or 70 films and television shows, not to mention countless commercials and many video games," said Mothersbaugh. "Bob was instrumental in creating the sound of projects as varied as Rugrats and Wes Anderson's films. He was a great friend. I will miss him greatly."

 Mutato is the name of the band's headquarters, a landmark on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard.

 The band's name was derived from the word "de-evolution" -- the idea that humans are regressing into a destructive herd mentality, Gerald Casale told CNN in an interview in February 2010.

 "When you think about 1980, if somebody would have showed you in a crystal ball (for) 2010, you would have thought it was a bad joke," Casale said. "De-evolution happened and now everybody agrees. They don't think we're crazy. They know that it was true."

 Devo drummer Alan Myers, who was with the group from 1976 to 1986, died last year. |||||

Write a summary.

– "Whip It" fans, sorry for the news: Devo guitarist Bob Casale died yesterday of heart failure at age 61, Rolling Stone reports. He helped form the New Wave band with his brother Gerald in 1973 and stayed on board for decades: "Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning," said Gerald in a statement. "He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got." Gerald said Bob was excited about performing with Devo again, and his death "came as a total shock to us all." The original Devo members, who grew up in Akron, Ohio, formed the band after personally witnessing the 1970 Kent State Massacre. "We came of age in the middle of a huge cultural war," said Bob in an Under the Radar interview two years ago. "This country was basically in the midst of a new civil war—the lines were drawn very clearly." The band had a hit in 1980 with "Whip It," broke up in 1991, got back together five years later, and toured for years after. Their name was based on the idea of "de-evolution"—that people were devolving into a mass-herd mentality. "De-evolution happened and now everybody agrees," Gerald told CNN. "They don't think we're crazy. They know that it was true."


Reuters Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen talks at a news conference Wednesday following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

 WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen spoke for an hour at her press conference Wednesday, but the market only heard three words: “around six months.”

 She was asked how long the Fed would wait after the tapering ends before it begins to raise interest rates.

 Her answer: “So the language that we used in the statement is ‘considerable period.’ So I, you know, this is the kind of term it’s hard to define. But, you know, probably means something on the order of around six months, that type of thing.”

 Hilsenrath: Fed tweaks rate guidance (5:51) Jon Hilsenrath joins the News Hub with analysis of the Federal Reserve's move to alter its guidance on the likely path of interest rates, putting less weight on the unemployment rate as a signpost for when rate increases will start. Photo: Getty Images.

 She added lots of qualifiers to that, including the assessment of the labor market and the inflation outlook, but the markets only heard “around six months.” Markets sold off.

 The taper of the Fed’s bond purchases is on course to end in October or November. Six months after that would be April or May. So Yellen said the first rate hike could come in April or May, depending on how the economy is doing.

 Before this Fed meeting, the market had been expecting the first rate hike to come toward the end of 2015, perhaps in October or December. The updated forecasts provided by the Fed’s “dot plot” would point to a first rate hike in September or October of 2015, just a little faster than the market had been expecting.

 Now we’ve heard from the Fed chair that the first hike could — emphasize could — come two or three meetings before that.

 Listen to What a 2015 rate hike would mean to you.

 Did Yellen mean to be that specific? No, the Fed has always loosely defined “considerable period” as about half a year. It’s supposed to be a little vague. She probably didn’t intend to give any hints about timing beyond what the “dot plot” said. No Fed chair is going to confidently tell markets that it’s going to raise rates in 14 months.

 But now that she’s leading the Fed, the markets will react to what she said, not what she means.

 Now it’s up to Yellen and her colleagues to walk this back, if they don’t like what the market heard.

 Also read these MarketWatch stories:

 Stocks drop after FOMC

 Fed shifts criteria for rate hike and market sours ||||| Communication

 Janet Yellen may have just committed the first substantial blunder of her chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. The mistake: being specific when the occasion called for generality. “The more experienced [Ben] Bernanke knew to avoid clarifying deliberately vague statement language,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a client note after the financial markets reacted badly.

 Investors are dying to know when the Federal Reserve will start raising its target for the federal funds rate, which has been stuck on the floor at zero percent to 0.25 percent since December 2008. The Fed has repeatedly refused to be pinned down. In its statement today, for example, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said “it likely will be appropriate to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends [emphasis added].”

 At her first press conference since becoming Fed chair in February, Yellen was asked what the Fed meant by “a considerable time.” The correct answer to this question is, “We weren’t specific for a reason. Go away.” Yellen, having been connected with the Fed in one capacity or another for most of the past 20 years, should have known that. Instead, she said, “You know, this is the kind of term it’s hard to define, but, you know, it probably means something on the order of around six months or that type of thing.” That was a bit quicker than markets had been expecting, so interest rates rose and stocks fell. The comment “sent equity markets into something of a tailspin,” wrote Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics.

 Michael Wallace of Action Economics in Colorado called Yellen’s specificity a “gaffe.” He wrote that Yellen made “the mistake of �?taking the bait’ and providing a time reference for the purposefully ambiguous phrase.” It wasn’t the only factor in the market selloff today—new economic projections by members of the FOMC were also a factor—but it did make a difference.

 It’s a fair bet that other FOMC members will be suggesting to Yellen that she stick closer to the script next time she addresses reporters. ||||| There is good reason to hope that Janet Yellen may go on to become one of the great leaders of the Federal Reserve: she’s a first-rate economist, a gifted explicator of complicated concepts, and an experienced hand at navigating Washington. (At her first appearance as Fed chief on Capitol Hill, last month, the Republican senators may not have been eating out of her hands, but they treated her with unusual deference.) In policy terms, she’s on the side of the angels: passionately committed to getting the economy growing and bringing down unemployment, particularly for the long-term jobless, who have been the biggest victims of the Great Recession and its aftermath.

 On Wednesday, though, at her first press conference as chairwoman of the Fed, Yellen had an awkward time, conveying a message that she may well not have intended to, and spooking the markets. This may not be a big deal: Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke made similar errors in their early days and quickly recovered. But it did indicate some of the challenges Yellen faces in extricating the Fed from the emergency policy actions it has taken during the past five years.

 Her first task was to explain a U-turn in the Fed’s communications strategy. In December, 2012, in an effort to keep down long-term interest rates, particularly mortgage rates, the Federal Open Market Committee, a policy-making body that Yellen heads, publicly stated that it wouldn’t even consider raising the short-term interest rate that it sets—the federal funds rate—until the unemployment rate had fallen to 6.5 per cent. At the time, the jobless rate was 7.8 per cent, and the 6.5-per-cent threshold for a possible interest-rate hike seemed a long way off. But unemployment has fallen rapidly in the past year, and the rate is now down to 6.7 per cent. The markets wanted to know what the Fed would do if it reached 6.5 per cent.

 Yellen’s answer today was that it almost certainly wouldn’t do anything, but we’d have to trust the judgment of her and her colleagues on it. In place of its firm “forward guidance” regarding the 6.5-per-cent figure, the F.O.M.C. said, in a statement, that its assessment of when to start raising rates would “take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial developments.” The statement also said that the committee believed that it would be appropriate to maintain its rock-bottom target for the funds rate (between zero and a quarter of one per cent) for “a considerable time” after its policy of quantitative easing—printing money to buy bonds—ends, which, at the current pace of drawdown, is likely to happen in October.

 This change in language wasn’t wholly unexpected. However, it caused some confusion. Like most other observers, I initially read it as a dovish document: it appeared to be designed to give Yellen and her colleagues the leeway to keep the funds rate low even well beyond the date when the unemployment rate drops below 6.5 per cent. But the bond markets reacted differently. There was a significant sell-off after the statement was released, and market interest rates rose—indicating a belief among investors that an early rise in the funds rate was more, and not less, likely.

 So what, you might say: markets are always bouncing around, and they usually settle down eventually. That’s true, but it matters a great deal to the Fed how investors on Wall Street, and in other financial markets around the globe, interpret its public statements. These days, the primary way that monetary policy works is by influencing expectations about future changes in policy. If bond-market investors believe that a rise in the funds rate is likely to come earlier than they had been expecting, they will be apt to sell now. That can cause an immediate tightening in monetary conditions, which can hit the housing market and other interest-sensitive sectors of the economy. Last summer, Bernanke inadvertently caused a substantial rise in mortgage rates by appearing to suggest that the Fed was already intent on drawing down its asset purchases.

 During her press conference, Yellen got the opportunity to explain what the statement really meant, but instead of clarifying the situation she made it worse. She started out well enough, stressing that the change in wording didn’t mean that the policy stance had changed in any way. Issuing forward guidance had served a useful purpose, she insisted. But, as the unemployment rate had fallen faster than expected, it had created uncertainty about what would happen when the threshold was reached. That’s why she and her colleagues had decided to drop the 6.5-per-cent figure and replace it with the “qualitative guidance” that the Fed would consider a much wider range of metrics than simply the unemployment rate. Yellen also pointed to the bit in the statement about keeping rates constant for “a considerable time” after the policy of quantitative easing ends.

 That’s where she got into trouble. Ann Saphir, a Reuters reporter, bluntly asked her how long the gap would be between the end of the Fed’s asset purchases and the first interest-rate hike. A more experienced central-bank head would have obfuscated and said something vague: policymakers generally believe it is imperative to leave themselves some discretion. But Yellen again referred to the phrase “considerable period,” saying, “It’s hard to define but, you know, probably means something on the order of around six months.”

 To this viewer, it sounded like an offhand comment, but that wasn’t how the markets interpreted it. Six months from October is next April—about a year away. Wall Street hadn’t been expecting a rate change until the second half of 2015 at the earliest. Yellen, inadvertently or not, had changed the timetable—or so it seemed. The stock market, which had recovered a bit after the release of the Fed statement, immediately gapped down. The Dow, which was down about forty points, fell another hundred and fifty points. In the bond markets and the futures markets, prices shifted sharply to reflect the increased likelihood of an interest-rate rise in the spring of next year.

 Yellen, although she couldn’t have known of the market reaction, appeared to realize that she had erred. Any decision to raise rates, she stressed, would depend “on what conditions are like” at the time. She and her colleagues would look at how fast the labor market was moving toward full employment, and whether the inflation rate, which has been dangerously low the past couple of years, was moving back toward the Fed’s two-per-cent target. If inflation was persistently running below the target, that would be a good reason to keep the federal funds rate where it was, she added.

 These were excellent points, and they added to my impression that Yellen has no intention of raising interest rates until she is entirely convinced that the economy is finally growing normally, or something very close to it. Unfortunately, though, the communications error had been made. On the newswires and on Wall Street, the message was that the Fed is getting ready to start raising rates, not immediately, but within a year or so. Traders had already seized upon a set of economic projections released alongside the F.O.M.C. statement, which appeared to indicate that some members of the committee had slightly raised their interest-rate forecasts since their previous meeting. Yellen, in her answers, tried to downplay these projections, saying that people should focus on the statement itself. But it all added to the selling pressure in the markets.

 Once again, this is not the end of the world, and Yellen didn’t do anything wrong. To the contrary, she delivered a cogent and persuasive explanation of why the Fed’s ultra-accommodative interest-rate polices need to be maintained for a considerable time to come: inflation is too low, and there’s lots of slack left in the labor market. But she allowed her message to be garbled, which is something she’ll have to address going forward.

 With the gradual pickup in the economy and the drawing down of quantitative easing, Wall Street’s attention is beginning to focus on the eventual normalization of interest-rate policy, and what impact that will have on the markets. An inflection point in policy is a tricky time to be Fed chairman. There’s always a lot of uncertainty—and provisional statements, which are heavily qualified, can be seized upon as firm expressions of policy. Bernanke had his troubles with this last year; it looks like Yellen may experience some of the same problems. Welcome to the hot seat, Madame Chair.

 Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty. ||||| It wasn't the debut Janet Yellen had hoped for. During her first press conference as Federal Reserve chairman, she said something she almost certainly hadn't meant to, and the markets took it badly. The misunderstanding was more their fault than hers. Even so, it's yet another illustration of the perils of forward guidance.

 Yellen was asked how long the Fed expected to wait before starting to raise interest rates once it has brought quantitative easing to an end: What did the official formula of "a considerable period" mean? She said, "It's hard to define but, you know, it probably means something on the order of around six months or that type of thing."

 The markets seized on this as actionable information. At the present rate of tapering, QE will end in October. Add six months and you get to next spring. Previously markets had expected rates to start rising a few months later than that. So Yellen was judged to be tightening policy, stock prices fell and bond yields rose.

 That was a remarkably dumb conclusion for investors to draw from a press conference that had otherwise been at pains to say that the expected policy track was unchanged. Aside from the six months comment, Yellen gave no indication whatever that the Fed intended to tighten policy, relative to what the markets were expecting.

 What she should have said when asked what "a considerable period" meant was, "It's hard to be more precise; it all depends on what happens." After all, the Fed has explicitly moved away from attaching dates to information about its policy intentions, preferring to say that policy will be guided by conditions. The length of the considerable period will depend on conditions. Enough said.

 The fallacy about forward guidance that repeatedly tripped up Ben Bernanke, Yellen's predecessor, and caused her to stumble at her first outing is the idea that more information -- more words, more numbers, whatever -- must be good. No.

 It's valuable to be told that the Fed will keep interest rates very low while there is still some slack in the labor market, inflation is suppressed, and market expectations of inflation are well-anchored. Yellen said all that. It's also valuable to be told that the Fed will consider a range of indicators in judging labor market conditions -- as opposed to relying solely on a numerical threshold for the unemployment rate (which the Fed has now rightly dropped from its guidance). She said that too. But since the Fed doesn't have a fixed formula for labor market slack -- that's a judgment call -- there's really nothing more to be said.

 Nothing useful, I mean. Investors always want more information, but they're not always good at sifting useful information from noise. The Fed could help them by recognizing that sometimes less is more.

 (Clive Crook is a member of the Bloomberg View editorial board. Follow him on Twitter @clive_crook.)

 Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net.

 To contact the writer of this article: Clive Crook at ccrook5@bloomberg.net.

 To contact the editor responsible for this article: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net. |||||

Write a summary.

– Janet Yellen is getting a lot of grief over her first news conference as leader of the Federal Reserve for, of all things, speaking too clearly. As Rex Nutting at MarketWatch observes, Yellen spoke for an hour yesterday, "but the market only heard three words: 'around six months.'" Those words came when Yellen was asked when the Fed might start raising interest rates once its tapering strategy ended. The official Fed statement on the matter was predictably vague, but Yellen wasn't: “You know, this is the kind of term it’s hard to define, but, you know, it probably means something on the order of around six months or that type of thing.” The markets interpreted that to mean interest rates would go up sooner than expected and immediately tanked. "A more experienced central-bank head would have obfuscated and said something vague," writes John Cassidy at the New Yorker. He calls Yellen's debut "awkward," but notes that Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan got similarly tripped up in their early days. Yellen wasn't trying to change policy, and investors drew a "remarkably dumb conclusion" in thinking otherwise, writes Clive Crook at Bloomberg. Still, Yellen needs to be careful in what she says. "Investors always want more information, but they're not always good at sifting useful information from noise," he writes. "The Fed could help them by recognizing that sometimes less is more." Adds Peter Coy at BusinessWeek, referring to the Fed's rate-setting committee: "It’s a fair bet that other FOMC members will be suggesting to Yellen that she stick closer to the script next time she addresses reporters."


– Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost most of her left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing, will run the marathon this year. Haslet-Davis, who announced her plans Tuesday, tells Boston.com she wanted to make sure she was ready "both physically and mentally"—she was not a runner when she was hit among a group of spectators at the marathon finish line in 2013, but after the bombing she promised herself she'd eventually run the marathon. "I'm going to cry the whole time," she predicts of the April 18 race. Her team, #AdrianneStrong, will raise funds for the Limbs for Life Foundation. Haslet-Davis, a professional dancer, also vowed she'd dance again—and she did.

Expand this summary.

Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg below the knee in the Boston Marathon bombing, said she loves a good challenge.

 This April, she’ll “take on a great one.”

 Haslet-Davis announced Tuesday morning on the Hallmark Channel that she is training for this year’s 120th Boston Marathon. Her team, “#AdrianneStrong,” which she formed about five weeks ago, will raise funds for the Oklahoma City-based Limbs for Life Foundation.

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 120 days until the 120th running of the #bostonmarathon Honored to partner with @limbsforlife giving limbs to those who cannot otherwise afford them. Announcing this partnership with my marathon team #adriannestrong !! Let's do this team!! A photo posted by Adrianne Haslet (@adriannehaslet) on Dec 20, 2015 at 10:05am PST

 “I made the decision a little while ago,” Haslet-Davis told Boston.com. “I wanted to train and really see if I was ready this year both physically and mentally before announcing that I’ve been training.”

 After the 2013 bombing, Haslet-Davis, a professional ballroom dancer, vowed to dance again. She accomplished that goal less than a year later, and showcased her skills at the marathon finish line on April 28, 2015.

 Though she was never a runner, after the bombing, she also vowed to run the marathon.

 “I could do a quickstep for hours, but I couldn’t run a block, but I have great trainers and I am getting more comfortable in my blade,” she said.

 Half of me is so SO ready to run right now! #underconstruction A photo posted by Adrianne Haslet (@adriannehaslet) on Dec 31, 2015 at 12:34pm PST

 Haslet-Davis said she is up to 10 miles with her training. She’s planning to run the April 18 race with her team. She said her race will be dedicated to anyone who has ever supported her or the other survivors.

 “It’s just a giant thank you to everyone,” she said.

 “I’m going to cry the whole time,” Haslet-Davis later added. “For me, [the finish line] has been defined by triumph, blood, sweat, tears, and tragedy—and with victory—and everyone who crosses it crosses for a different reason for themselves. And maybe it’s even a different reason from when they first cross the starting line.” ||||| A woman who lost part of her leg in the boston marathon bombing two years ago returned to the site yesterday-- but not to run. She returned to show that she could still... Dance.

 The elegant steps of a professional ballroom dancer were the only thing moving along Boylston Street this morning. Adrianne Haslet-Davis fox-trotted across the marathon finish line and trampled on the memory of losing her left leg two years ago..

 Haslet-Davis was with her husband outside forum restaurant when the second of two explosions blasted marathon spectators. She returned today as part of an on-line campaign highlighting her inspiring comeback.

 Among the on-lookers in awe of her performance: Brian Walker, who was at the finish line when the first bomb went off and rendered aid to the injured.

 Adrianne's recovery continues, as does her husband's. Better on the outside, she says, than on the inside but getting better everyday. Some of her biggest steps taken just Tuesday morning, for her and for her city. |||||


Write a summary based on this article:

UPDATE 10/31/16 10:55 p.m.: Newton County Coroner Danny Shoemaker confirms three people were killed in the accident, including two children and one adult.

 Accident scene on Highway 80 (Photo Source: WTOK-TV)

 Multiple people were killed and several more injured Monday evening in a hayride accident in Newton County.

 It happened before 8 p.m. on Highway 80 in Chunky. Sgt. Andy West with the Miss. Highway Patrol says multiple people were killed and several people were injured in that accident involving a hayride and another vehicle.

 "There were two vehicles involved. One of the vehicles was pulling a trailer, which was loaded with several occupants. Adults and children were on the trailer. Both vehicles were traveling westbound on Highway 80 when an F-150 collided into the rear of the trailer," said Sgt. Andy West.

 West says the vehicle apparently rear-ended the trailer that was carrying many people. Newscenter 11 confirms seeing at least three helicopters landing on scene to transport those who were injured to the hospital. Lifecare Ambulance and Metro Ambulance have been called to the scene, as well. Newscenter 11 saw four people being airlifted by helicopter to hospitals.

 "It's a small community. This is a bad thing to happen anywhere, but when it's local, it really hits home. These are good people, and our hearts go out to them," said West.

 We have no word yet on how many other injuries there are.

 We will continue to keep you posted throughout the night as we learn any new information. ||||| In Chunky, Miss., a small town of about 325 tucked into a crook of the Chunky River outside Meridian, several adults and children were enjoying a classic Halloween tradition: a hayride in the crisp October air.

 After donning Halloween costumes, the kids and their parents piled onto the back of a hay-lined flatbed truck towed by a Jeep. They were driving along Highway 80, a two-lane, pine-tree-lined road through the rural town, when the night took a tragic turn.

 At about 7:45 p.m. Central Time, a Ford F-150 driving down Highway 80 rear-ended the trailer during the hayride, Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Andy West told WLBT.

 MHP confirms multiple deaths after a Ford F-150 rear-ended a trailer carrying adults and children in Chunky, MS https://t.co/FOcnzMcEpO pic.twitter.com/fm2NyybPun — WLBT 3 On Your Side (@WLBT) November 1, 2016

 It is unclear what caused the crash, and no arrests have been reported.

 Three helicopters and several ambulances rushed to the scene and took the injured to three hospitals.

 Two died at the scene, and a third person died while waiting for a helicopter. Two of the dead were adults, and one was a child. They were all related, but their names have not been released at this time.

 It is unclear how many people were injured.

 “It was just chaos,” Newton County Coroner Danny Shoemaker told the Associated Press, speaking of the scene on Highway 80.

 “It’s a small community,” West told WTOK. “This is a bad thing to happen anywhere, but when it’s local, it really hits home. These are good people, and our hearts go out to them.”

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 ‘Closet homosexual’: Trump supporter launches smear robo-calls against Utah’s Evan McMullin ||||| In this image made from video, people gather around a pickup truck on a flatbed truck at the scene of an accident on U.S. Highway 80 in Chunky, Miss., late Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. A vehicle struck the... (Associated Press)

 In this image made from video, people gather around a pickup truck on a flatbed truck at the scene of an accident on U.S. Highway 80 in Chunky, Miss., late Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. A vehicle struck the flat-bed trailer carrying adults and children who were dressed up for Halloween, killing three people... (Associated Press)

 In this image made from video, people gather around a pickup truck on a flatbed truck at the scene of an accident on U.S. Highway 80 in Chunky, Miss., late Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. A vehicle struck the flat-bed trailer carrying adults and children who were dressed up for Halloween, killing three people... (Associated Press) In this image made from video, people gather around a pickup truck on a flatbed truck at the scene of an accident on U.S. Highway 80 in Chunky, Miss., late Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. A vehicle struck the... (Associated Press)

 CHUNKY, Miss. (AP) — A vehicle struck a flat-bed trailer carrying adults and children who were dressed up for Halloween, killing three people and injuring several others in a small Mississippi town, authorities said.

 Two children and one adult — all related to each other — were killed in the crash, Newton County Coroner Danny Shoemaker said late Monday. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

 "It was just chaos," Shoemaker said, describing the scene of the wreck on U.S. Highway 80 in Chunky, a town near the Alabama border, about 80 miles east of Jackson.

 There was no immediate word on what caused the crash.

 The coroner said two people died at the scene and the other died waiting for a hospital helicopter.

 Three helicopters and multiple ambulances took the injured to hospitals. Some had life-threatening injuries, Highway Patrol Capt. Johnny Poulos said.

 Poulos told The Associated Press it appears the vehicle struck the trailer about 7:45 p.m. CDT. Details about the number of people injured were not immediately available. Investigators were on the scene late Monday.

 Poulos said he did not know what group was sponsoring the trailer ride.

 Chunky has a population of about 325. It is near the Chunky River, a popular site for canoeing.

 ___

 This story has been corrected the location of Chunky. It is east of Jackson, not west. |||||

– A vehicle struck a hay-lined flatbed trailer carrying adults and children who were dressed up for Halloween, killing three people and injuring several others in a small Mississippi town, authorities say. Two children and one adult—all related to each other—were killed in the crash, Newton County Coroner Danny Shoemaker said late Monday. Their names and ages were not immediately released. "It was just chaos," Shoemaker tells the AP, describing the scene of the wreck on US Highway 80 in Chunky, a town near the Alabama border, about 80 miles east of Jackson. Halloween hayrides are a tradition in Chunky, which has a population of around 325, reports the Washington Post. "It's a small community. This is a bad thing to happen anywhere, but when it's local, it really hits home," Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Andy West tells WTOK. "These are good people, and our hearts go out to them," he says. West says a Ford F-150 pickup truck apparently rear-ended the trailer, which was being pulled by another vehicle, while both vehicles were traveling westbound.


Clash of the Titans (2010) List Price: $28.98 Price: $16.99 find out more information Buy posters from this movie by David Cornelius

 "Forget the kraken, how 'bout releasing a plot?"

 The newly remade “Clash of the Titans” is what happens when a couple Hollywood producers are convinced a three thousand-year-old legend could use a little punch-up. “OK, so, like, I dig the story and all, but I’ve got some notes. First, the hero, he’s all squeaky clean and stuff. Folks don’t buy that anymore. We need to make him angry at the gods, you know, a pissed-off rebel who wants to do everything on his own. But can you beef up the roles for the other warriors? You know, maybe have one of them be a mentor type, so we can have a couple training scenes? Those are easy to film, and we’ve seen them a hundred times before. Old ideas make me comfortable. I also like the long journey - make sure we get lots of swooping helicopter shots of the men walking across snowy mountains and grassy fields and stuff, just like in ‘Lord of the Rings.’ Oh, and make sure all of the guys dress like the characters in ‘300,’ because that movie made a ton of cash. We need to add a hot chick in there, too, someone who can join the mission. I know the princess has to stay in the city, so just throw someone else in there, and make sure she’s hot. Hot chicks are hot. And since the hero is mad at the gods, everyone should be, too. Ooh, yeah, maybe that’s what’s the problem - everyone’s mad at the gods, and they’re mad right back. I don’t get this whole ‘pettiness of the gods reflects the foibles of man’ business. What the hell’s a ‘foible,’ anyway? Just make ’em pissed off. One of the gods can be the bad guy. How about Hades? He’s, like, the bad god, right, like the devil or something? Yeah. Make him the bad guy. The other bad guy, what’s his name? Calibos? I don’t get this whole curse thing. Just make him secretly related to the hero instead. Oh, and we need to have a badass genie in there. Genies are Greek, right?”

 And that’s only half of it. Sure, the 1981 “Titans” was a mish-mash of mythology, too, but at least those filmmakers managed to work an actual story out of their Greek myth stew; the three writers credited on this remake forget to include much of an actual plot, or character, or logic. It’s as if the script was based not on Beverly Cross’ original screenplay, but on the recollections of someone who watched the older film a couple years ago while drunk. We get the main story points, usually in order, but the dots never connect.

 (It doesn’t help that director Louis Leterrier - who made “The Incredible Hulk” and “Unleashed,” so we know he can deliver when necessary - makes most of the action sequences so frenetic and poorly staged that we can never really tell what’s going on, to whom, and where. It’s not enough for this movie to not make sense from scene to scene; it lacks logic within those scenes, too.)

 The revised story explains, via bulky voiceover exposition, how the gods are losing their powers because humanity isn’t worshiping them enough these days. (The gods apparently get their power from prayer. But how did they get their power before people were around? Hey, man, just roll with it.) When a gang of soldiers from Argos riot and destroy a statue of Zeus, the gods strike back by letting Hades (Ralph Fiennes) unleash some gargoyle-ish thingies upon the seaside. Alas, this also leads to the drowning death of a kindly fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite) and his family - but not their adopted son, Perseus (Sam Worthington, inexplicably wearing his “Avatar” crew cut and only bothering to hide is Aussie accent in half the scenes), who’s revealed to be the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson).

 Perseus winds up in Argos and, like any good hero, ends up not doing anything for the first ninety minutes of the movie. Sure, he learns how to swordfight from noble warrior Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), and there’s a whole heap of talk about how important he is, but really, he does nothing. For an entire three quarters of the film. Nothing.

 Well, he does manage to whine. Oh, Perseus is a whiner, through and through. He’s mad at the gods for killing his family, and once he discovers his true heritage - a revelation so clumsily handled we can’t blame Worthington too much for not bothering to react in any way to it - he decides he must refuse to “become like them,” a phrase repeated throughout the script but never fully explained. Become like how they’re powerful, you mean? Like how a couple of them are evil? Or is this just a “I can man up and do it on my own” chunk of macho gumption?

 I’m not so certain it’s the latter, although I am certain the screenwriters thought it would be. Themes of self-reliance abound, with Perseus repeatedly rejecting gifts from the gods - except, of course, when the plot calls for him to use those gifts. Then he’s OK doing that. You bet I’ll use Zeus’ magic lightsaber-y sword to kill the baddies, and yessiree, I’ll gladly participate in multiple - and quite literal - dei ex machinis to get me out of some sticky situations, and, oh, hey, thanks for the Pegasus, too, but make no mistake: I’m doing this alone, like a real man!

 So Perseus is in Argos, and he stumbles into a bit of insider politics as the queen (Polly Walker) gloats that her daughter (Alexa Davelos) is more beautiful than the goddesses, which is enough to anger… well, it’s supposed to anger Thetis, but nobody really bothered giving any of the non-Zeus/Hades gods any lines, so Hades shows up instead, relaying the message that Thetis is royally cheesed by the queen’s talk. It’s Hades who whips up the “sacrifice the princess or we’ll level Argos” threat. (By the end of the picture, the kraken does enough damage either way; I think they just wanted to show some major monster destruction and didn’t care if it mattered within the plot.)

 Once the locals find out Perseus is a demigod, they shanghai him into joining Draco on some vague quest to find out how to stop the kraken. Perseus, being a grade-A ineffective hero, requires much convincing. Eventually they ride off, encountering giant scorpions and wicked monsters and strange genies made of wood (yes, really), and every single time, Perseus does nothing; it’s his cohorts who save the day. Perseus’ job here is to swing his sword a couple times, fall over, and get rescued by nameless beefy supporting characters. The poor lug doesn’t even get more than a handful of sentences in dialogue until somewhere around the midway point.

 Joining them on this voyage is Io (Gemma Arterton), a former lover of Zeus, cursed to eternal life and eternal beauty. (They left out the part of the myth where Io is turned into a cow. I suppose once you’ve cast someone who looks like Gemma Arterton, you’re smart enough to keep her in human form as long as possible.) Io has been watching over Perseus his entire life and has now decided to hang around out in the open. Because the plot requires it, the two fall in love (in as best a display of affection Worthington can muster while still maintaining a complete absence of charisma or personality).

 But wait, what about the princess? Wasn’t she the love interest? Doesn’t the addition of Io give the princess nothing to do? Doesn’t making her a non-entity undermine the importance of her impending sacrifice? Doesn’t her reappearance late in the film merely distract us from what we thought was the main story? Those are such good points. It’s a shame the screenwriters didn’t think of them.

 Everything that follows is a half-baked checklist of half-remembered moments from the original film, only cranked up in an effort to be bigger and louder, if not more effective. (Even Bubo the mechanical owl shows up, in a ten-second throwaway joke that plays about as subtly and as cleverly as having Harry Hamlin jog across the screen while shouting “I’m Harry Hamlin and I was in the original film! Now back to the remake!”) The plot carries our heroes from point to point and monster to monster, but there’s no rhythm to it, no appreciation for the story as a whole, no purpose to the adventure besides getting us to the next hollow set piece. You could rearrange half these scenes and still wind up with the same movie.

 It’s only until all of Perseus’ sidekicks are killed off - either due to Perseus’ incompetence or their having to display courage because, sheesh, somebody has to in this movie - that the meathead finally mans up and takes the lead. (At this point, we have twenty minutes left in the film.) He fights Calibos (Jason Flemyng), a villain done up like a Klingon burn victim and messily reduced to the role of Hades’ toadie, perhaps because everyone insisted the character remain in the film but nobody bothered to think up a reason to keep him around. Then it’s off to defeat the kraken, in a scene that combines all the tedium of a bland CG special effect with all the inelegance of a sloppily written climax.

 Meanwhile, we have the gods themselves. The writers tried their hardest to make them more vital to the plot, not quite understanding the whole point of gods-as-manipulators. This leaves us with plenty of shouty exchanges which eventually boil down to an effort by Hades to overthrow Zeus - the sort of thing that probably sounded important during a pitch meeting but ultimately comes off as filler. Back on solid ground, there’s not much happening. There are battles and escapes and dire warnings, to be sure, but it’s all as clumsy and as empty and as faux-epic as a Michael Bay movie. It’s Perseus on the road to nowhere. At least the 1981 crew remembered to have things actually happen in between the Harryhausen bits.

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 originally posted: 04/03/10 07:50:43

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  ||||| We begin today’s review with a public service announcement:

 The new mythological adventure/fantasy film “Clash of the Titans” is advertised as a 3D production and tickets are priced accordingly -- which is to say, at about one-and-a-third times the cost of a ticket to a plain-old 2D movie.

 Well, it ain’t worth it.

 I’m not talking about the quality of the film itself, which is not very high -- although not as low as you probably (and understandably) fear/expect.

 Rather, I’m talking about the sheer awful quality of the 3D transfer of the film. “Clash” was shot in standard format, then gussied up to add a small bit of depth on the screen and considerably more at the boxoffice. A mere handful of shots have a feel of multi-dimensional immersion. But that number is small in comparison to the 3D sensation afforded by, oh, “How to Train Your Dragon,” which was made expressly for the 3D format, or even “Alice in Wonderland,” which, like “Clash,” was retrofit for 3D but with a more studied hand.

 And, of course, all of those pale next to “Avatar,” a film which “Clash” continually calls to mind for reasons not entirely its own fault. Because, you see, if the filmmaking and 3D effects aren’t anything like those in “Avatar,” other things, alas, are.

 “Clash,” you see, stars “Avatar”’s Sam Worthington as -- get this -- a half-human/half-not-human hybrid whose quest to drive evil from his planet involves riding a winged beast that no man has ever mastered and settling an internal conflict about which portion of his nature should command his loyalty.

 Obviously, “Clash” isn’t an “Avatar” knock-off -- it’s far too soon even for the most opportunistic filmmaker to pull that trick. Rather, it’s loosely based on the laughably stoic and dated 1981 “Clash of the Titans,” which was itself loosely inspired by the Greek myths involving Perseus, a demi-god (in this case, a son of Zeus and a human mother) who fought off such beasties as the Medusa and a gigantic sea monster (or Kraken) in his rise to become, later in life, a beloved king.

 In this telling, Perseus (Worthington) watches as the fisherman who adopted him as a foundling is killed by the god Hades (Ralph Fiennes), who’s engaged in crushing a human insurrection against the rule of Zeus (Liam Neeson). Hades has threatened to destroy the city of Argos by unleashing the Kraken unless the city offers its princess as a sacrifice, and Perseus, though mistrusted by the humans because of his godly parentage, leads a small band intent on destroying the Kraken and sending Hades back to the underworld.

 “Clash” is basically a quest story, broken up with fights against monsters (a couple of which are pretty cool, actually) and some truly limp and ill-played attempts at humor (a pair of hunters with Yakov Smirnoff accents join Perseus’ crew for no discernable reason). Fiennes and, as Argos’ senior solider, Mads Mikkelson, afford some juicy fun, but Worthington projects the charisma of the young Russell Crowe’s lighting double. And there’s a fair bit of gore for a PG-13 film, for what that’s worth.

 But the going is pretty slim here. Director Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk”) cannot stoke any of the film’s elements -- semi-romance, personal salvation narrative, or, most importantly, dramatic adventure -- into anything engrossing. It all passes quickly, as far as that goes, but when it’s over it passes entirely. And something that sells for a premium price ought to linger.

 (98 min., PG-13, multiple locations) Grade: C ||||| Clash Of The Titans (Film)

 Rating: M Running Time: 106 Director: Louis Leterrier Cast: Alexa Davalos, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Sam Worthington Distributor: Roadshow Release Date: April 01, 2010 Film Worth: $3.00 FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

 A big, loud, uninvolving mess played by actors who arenít even taking the film seriously

 It's in 3-D! It's a remake! It cost millions to make! It's directed by a hack! It's filled with slick, over-used CGI! The dialogue is terrible! The characters are cardboard cut-outs! Yes! Welcome to the latest market-research-driven, soul-dead Hollywood blockbuster! It's Clash Of The Titans! As the American film industry continues to triumph at the box office but dies a long, protracted death when it comes to creativity and originality, this idiotic "event movie" pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with Hollywood right now. It's big, it's loud, and it's filled with meaningless action...and it also feels like not one single person involved with the production could give two hoots.

 Based on the kitschy, ridiculous but vaguely enjoyable 1981 adventure of the same name (most famous for its excessive use of togas, and the wonderful stop-motion animated work of the legendary Ray Harryhausen), Clash Of The Titans is set in ancient Greece, and follows the battle waged between God and man. As Zeus (Liam Neeson) tries to teach the humans a lesson for disregarding him, he unleashes his evil brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) upon them, with demi-God Perseus (Sam Worthington) - the bastard son of Zeus - getting caught up in the middle. Only he can kill the Kraken, a massive sea creature which will be dragged from the bottom of the ocean to teach the Greeks the ultimate lesson. To learn how to kill the Kraken, Perseus has to journey across the land to get a tip from three witches, who tell him that the secret lies with the evil Medusa.

 Though stupid right from the premise, director Louis Leterrier and screenwriters Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (it took three people to write this?) add to the idiocy with reams of arch, ridiculous dialogue, plenty of plot holes, and characters that make little to no sense. The performances follow suit. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes look suspiciously like they're taking the piss, hamming it up deluxe, and playing in an acting style that wouldn't look out of place in a cheap local pantomime. Meanwhile, "man of the moment" Sam Worthington's character should have been called Aussieus for all the effort he takes in masking his down under accent. Though left to struggle with dialogue that would hobble even Meryl Streep, the hardly expressive Wortho is particularly wooden here, as if he was trying to make the job easier for the people designing his action figure. Only charismatic Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen comes out unscathed as Wortho's hardman sidekick.

 As Clash Of The Titans rolls on, it begins to feel more and more like a video game, with each new adventure emanating the vibe of a new "level" on your XBOX or PS3. The overly edited action sequences are almost impossible to follow, ironically rendering them dull and tedious, and they're made even more incomprehensible by the use of 3-D. The result is a blurry, uninvolving mess, but you know...whatever. Nobody involved with Clash Of The Titans seems to have cared about the film...and - by the Gods! - neither should you. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– In Clash Sam Worthington plays a half mortal hopelessly in love and stuck between two worlds. Sound familiar? This remake aims for Avatar, but falls short. Though it has expensive effects (3D!) and stars (Ralph Fiennes!), it even falls short of the cheerfully cheesy original. This movie manages to make Avatar's plot look sophisticated, writes Dana Stevens on Slate. "Compared with this witless, chaotic mess of a movie, James Cameron's epic looks worthy of the ancient Greek authors." Peter Sobczynski of eFilmCritic says Clash "not only amplifies all of the flaws of the original but even screws up the things that it actually got right the first time around." "It's big, it's loud, and it's filled with meaningless action," says FILMINK's Erin Free. The film "pretty much sums up with what's wrong with Hollywood right now." Ralph Fiennes, does fine, says the Oregonian's Shawn Levy. Worthington, however, projects "the charisma of the young Russell Crowe's lighting double."


Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Barack Obama opens up about how he felt after Donald Trump's inauguration

 Former US President Barack Obama has warned against the irresponsible use of social media, in a rare interview since stepping down in January.

 He warned that such actions were distorting people's understanding of complex issues, and spreading misinformation.

 "All of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet," he said.

 Mr Obama was quizzed by Prince Harry on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

 Prince Harry, fifth in line to the throne, is one of several prominent figures who are guest-editing the programme over the Christmas period.

 Obama on the extremes of social media

 The former president expressed concern about a future where facts are discarded and people only read and listen to things that reinforce their own views.

 "One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases.

 "The question has to do with how do we harness this technology in a way that allows a multiplicity of voices, allows a diversity of views, but doesn't lead to a Balkanisation of society and allows ways of finding common ground," he said.

 Mr Obama's successor Donald Trump is a prolific user of Twitter, but Mr Obama did not mention him by name.

 Mr Trump has been accused of overusing Twitter and following only a narrow range of users, though he maintains it allows him to connect directly with the American people.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Boxers or briefs? Prince Harry grills Barack Obama on his likes and dislikes

 Mr Obama suggested face-to-face contact would help counteract extreme views.

 "Social media is a really powerful tool for people of common interests to convene and get to know each other and connect.

 "But then it's important for them to get offline, meet in a pub, meet at a place of worship, meet in a neighbourhood and get to know each other.

 "Because the truth is that on the internet, everything is simplified and when you meet people face-to-face it turns out they're complicated."

 What were the pressures of being president?

 "It's hard, being in the public eye is unpleasant in a lot of ways. It is challenging in a lot of ways.

 "Your loved ones are made vulnerable in ways that might not have been true 20 years ago or 30 years ago.

 "So it is a sacrifice that I think everybody has to be at peace with when they decide to go into politics. But, ultimately, I think the rewards of bringing about positive change in this world make it worthwhile."

 Mr Obama pays tribute to the support of his family, especially his wife Michelle, describing how glad he is that she was "my partner throughout that whole process".

 And leaving office?

 Mixed feelings given "all the work that was still undone".

 "Concerns about how the country moves forward but, you know, overall there was serenity there," he added.

 Mr Obama compared his time in office to being a relay runner.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption "Serenity" on leaving office - Obama's last White House press conference in January

 "If you ran hard, you did your best and you were able to pass that baton successfully and the world was a little better then you had done your job."

 He cites Obamacare - ensuring more people can afford basic healthcare - as a major achievement.

 "What an enormous blessing it is to say that 20 million Americans have health insurance that didn't have it before."

 How does he see the future?

 Without dismissing the problems faced by the world, he remains an optimist.

 "If we take responsibility for being involved in our own fate, if we participate, if we engage, if we speak out, if we work in our communities, if we volunteer, then all the problems that we face are solvable despite all the terrible news that you see.

 "If you had to choose a moment in human history in which you'd want to be born you'd choose today because the fact is that the world is healthier, wealthier, better educated and more tolerant, more sophisticated and less violent."

 What does Prince Harry have to say?

 As well as editing, Prince Harry was himself interviewed on Today.

 "I haven't done that many interviews but it was quite fun, especially interviewing President Obama despite the fact he wanted to interview me.

 "It's been a big learning curve but also these are incredibly important topics we all need to think about and need to be discussed."

 The prince's programme focused on issues such as the armed forces, mental health, youth crime and climate change. ||||| Prince Harry definitely knows how to handle a difficult question.

 The prince bagged former U.S. President Barack Obama's first interview since leaving office, during his stint as guest editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday.

 The two definitely had the banter, and you can tell that they're close.

 SEE ALSO: Barack Obama and Prince Harry want activists to get off their hashtags and into the real world

 But presenters from the Today programme interviewed the prince after the Obama session. And the hosts asked him directly what everyone wanted to know: Would Obama get an invite to Prince Harry's wedding to American actress Meghan Markle in May?

 "Well, I don't know about that. We haven't put the invites or the guestlist together yet so who knows whether he's going to be invited or not. Wouldn't want to ruin that surprise," Prince Harry said.

 The question is especially on everyone's mind as The Sun reported, citing a "senior government source," that the government doesn't want Prince Harry to invite Obama to his wedding as it would risk the former president coming to a royal wedding before President Donald Trump has a chance to meet the Queen.

 Prime Minister Theresa May has invited Trump for an official state visit, which would include meeting the Queen, but the visit hasn't been scheduled amid fears that it would be met with mass protests.

 Prince Harry's entire interview with Obama is well worth a listen. We all need something to kill the time while we're waiting for our wedding invites, right? ||||| FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 29, 2017 file photo, former U.S. President Barack Obama, center left, and Britain's Prince Harry watch wheelchair basketball at the Invictus Games in Toronto. Former President... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 29, 2017 file photo, former U.S. President Barack Obama, center left, and Britain's Prince Harry watch wheelchair basketball at the Invictus Games in Toronto. Former President Barack Obama told Prince Harry in an interview broadcast Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017 that he felt... (Associated Press)

 LONDON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama told Prince Harry in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he felt serene the day he left the White House despite the sense that much important work remained unfinished.

 Obama said it was "hugely liberating" to be able to set his own agenda in the morning and to have the time to talk with his wife, Michelle, now that he is no longer president.

 He spoke with Harry in the prince's capacity as guest editor of the BBC Radio 4 news program. Both men said the interview, recorded in Canada in September, was Obama's first since leaving the presidency in January.

 "I miss the work itself because it was fascinating," Obama said of his eight years in the Oval Office, citing his health care reforms as one of his proudest achievements.

 He did not mention his successor, President Donald Trump, but did say people in government should be careful in their use of social media.

 In his guest editing slot, Harry also focused on climate change, the military and mental health.

 He used his position to ask Obama a "lightning round" of questions of the type normally asked of entertainers, not politicians.

 The former president declined to say whether he wears boxers or briefs, but was willing to say he prefers Aretha Franklin to Tina Turner — "Aretha is the best," he said of the Queen of Soul — and favors retired basketball star Michael Jordan over current star LeBron James.

 Obama also said he is "obsessed" with helping to train the next generation of leaders and said the world is in many ways healthier and wealthier than it has ever been.

 Harry also interviewed his father, Prince Charles, who offered more gloomy assessment. He said the root causes of climate change are not being addressed even as it leads to more destruction in many parts of the world.

 At the end of the show, Harry would not say whether Obama will be invited to his May wedding to American actress Meghan Markle, saying the guest list hadn't been drawn up yet. But he did say Markle had enjoyed her first Christmas as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II at her country estate.

 "She really enjoyed it, and the family loved having her there," Harry said. |||||

Write a summary.

– Former President Obama told Prince Harry in a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday that despite the sense that much important work remained unfinished on the day he left the White House, "there was a serenity there, more than I would have expected." Obama said it's "hugely liberating" to be able to set his own agenda in the morning and have time to talk with his wife, Michelle, in his post-presidency. He spoke with Harry in the prince's capacity as guest editor of the BBC Radio 4 news program, reports the AP. The interview, recorded in Canada in September, was Obama's first since leaving the Oval Office in January. "I miss the work itself because it was fascinating," Obama said of his eight years, citing health care reform as one of his proudest achievements. He did not mention his successor, but did say government officials should be careful in using social media. Harry also focused on climate change, the military, mental health, and asked Obama a "lightning round" of questions. The former president declined to say whether he wears boxers or briefs, but prefers Aretha Franklin to Tina Turner—"Aretha is the best"—and favors basketball star Michael Jordan over LeBron James. Obama also said he is "obsessed" with helping to train the next generation of leaders. As for the elephant in the room—whether Harry will invite Obama to his May wedding to Meghan Markle—Mashable notes that the prince deferred, saying, "Well, I don't know about that. We haven't put the invites or the guest list together yet, so who knows whether he's going to be invited or not. Wouldn't want to ruin that surprise." He did say Markle enjoyed her first Christmas as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II. "She really enjoyed it, and the family loved having her there."


– Love bacon? Love pizza? If so, Little Caesars is hoping you'll drool over its newest experimental pizza featuring a bacon-wrapped crust. Beginning Feb. 23, customers who fork over $12 can chow down on a deep dish pizza, topped with pepperoni and bacon, with 3.5 feet of bacon wrapped around the crust, USA Today reports. Officially dubbed the Bacon Wrapped Crust Deep! Deep! Dish Pizza, it replaces Little Caesars' soft pretzel crust variety. "Every time you take a bite out of the crust, you'll get bacon," CEO David Scrivano promises. At 450 calories per slice, "This is a more indulgent offering for a demographic that craves premium quality," he says. Scrivano notes the idea for a bacon-wrapped crust came from an employee in Little Caesars' research and development wing who ordered a bacon-wrapped filet at a restaurant. The pizza adaptation will be available nationwide until late April, CBS Detroit reports. A warning: it may not "travel" well, Scrivano says. In stranger pizza news, Pizza Hut has awarded pizza-themed nail polish to 30 people who wrote the chain cheesy love poems as part of a Valentine's Day competition, Time reports. They'll take home a set of eight polishes with names like "Say Cheese," "Voracious Veggie" and "Dough You Need Me." (Find out why you should always buy the bigger pizza.)

Expand this summary.

CLOSE Little Caesars is debuting a new pizza with 3 1/2 feet of bacon wrapped around the crust. This latest creative cuisine to satisfy bacon-lovers brings to mind some of the other more creative dishes featuring bacon.

 Beginning Feb. 23, for a limited time, Little Caesars is offering a Bacon Wrapped Crust DEEP! DEEP! Dish pizza. (Photo: Little Caesar Enterprises)

 Little Caesars has devised a brand new place to feed the public's obsession with bacon: wrapped around the pizza crust.

 More specifically, 3 1/2 feet of bacon wrapped around the pizza crust.

 Today, the innovative budget pizza chain will unveil plans to nationally roll out on Feb. 23 the Bacon Wrapped Crust Deep! Deep! Dish Pizza. At $12, the limited-time offer will be one of Little Caesars' priciest pizzas.

 "Every time you take a bite out of the crust, you'll get bacon," says David Scrivano, CEO at Little Caesars. The pizza also comes with pepperoni and has bacon sprinkled on top. The promotion replaces the chain's Soft Pretzel Crust Pizza.

 Like many food makers and food sellers, Little Caesars is looking for a new way to cash in on the nation's continued infatuation with all things bacon. Domestic bacon sales have climbed for five consecutive years, recently hitting the $4 billion mark, reports research specialist Information Resources. Bacon has shown up in recent years in everything from sundaes at Burger King to milkshakes at Red Robin.

 Its popularity is sizzling.

 "Bacon has become the ultimate indulgence," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a research firm. As a comfort food, bacon has emotional connections for many consumers with Mom-made breakfasts and weekend morning family occasions."

 But there's another silent driver, says Tristano. "It's a rebellious show of strength by many consumers to show that the health and wellness traction is like car tires spinning on ice."

 Even then, if you want to enjoy that slice of bacon-crusted pizza, you might not want to look at the nutritionals. A single slice weighs in at 450 calories; 23 grams of fat; 830 milligrams of sodium and 40 milligrams of cholesterol.

 "You can always get a plain, cheese pizza or a veggie pizza," points out Scrivano. "This is a more indulgent offering for a demographic that craves premium quality."

 The concept, says Scrivano, came from Little Caesars' R&D team. A team member was dining out a few years ago and ordered a bacon-wrapped filet. That dining experience spurred the team to figure out a way to wrap bacon around the pizza crust, he says.

 But there could be some challenges, says Tristano.

 Among them, it could slow things down in the kitchen. The added complexity of wrapping bacon around the crust could disrupt efforts to sell other products, he says. Also, much like fast-food items like french fries and burgers, bacon wrapped around pizza crust might not "travel" so well, he warns.

 At the same time, this is a bit of a stretch for Little Caesars, which typically appeals to a budget-minded customer, says Tristano. But with gas prices down and disposable incomes rising, the timing could work in the chain's favor, he adds. "Timing is everything," says Tristano, "and the timing for consumer spending and bacon's popularity may align for Little Caesars."

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1EmTbeB ||||| By Edward Cardenas

 DETROIT (CBS Detroit) – Bacon lovers rejoice! Bacon-bacon! Little Caesars is introducing a new crust that will blend chewy, cheese pizza and crispy bacon.

 The Detroit-based company announced Wednesday it is introducing Bacon Wrapped Crust DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza on Feb. 23.

 “The Bacon Wrapped Crust DEEP!DEEP! Dish is another example of how we’re continuing to innovate and offer variety on our menu while fully leveraging our core strengths built around value, convenience, and quality,” Little Caesars Pizza President and CEO, David Scrivano stated in a release.

 The new pizza, which will be available nationwide for a limited time, takes Little Caesars’ 8-corner, Detroit-style deep dish pizza and wraps the crust with two types of bacon and tops it with pepperoni. It will be sold at participating locations for $12 plus tax where applicable.

 “Little Caesars focuses on giving customers new flavors and choices at a great value and with the sense of fun we’re known for,” said Edward Gleich, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, said in a release. “With the new Bacon Wrapped Crust DEEP!DEEP! Dish we’re pushing pizza to its bacon limits with more than 3 ½ feet of bacon wrapped around the crust alone.”

 The bacon wrapped pizza will be sold until late April, and will be available from 4-8 p.m., and by request. |||||