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Styling Secrets of Hair Transplant

Posted by Unknown Sunday, April 14, 2013 0 comments

Styling Secrets of Hair Transplant

If you are getting a hair transplant, you probably want to know all about styling methods. From the days before your surgery to the years afterwards, it is good to know all you can about how to care for your hair. If you did not want your hair to look good, you would not have had the hair transplant in the first place.

When you are having your consultation with the surgeon, explain the kind of hair style you would like to have. This gives him an idea of how best to create the design of the hair transplant receptor sites on your scalp. It might make a difference in the angle of the hair or the direction of the hair.

The doctor will show you before and after pictures of his past hair transplant patients. Do not be discouraged if they all seem to have the same plain haircut in the after pictures. This is often the case when the doctor is trying to be truthful.

He will have the patients pose with their hair sans hair styling products like mousse or gel. This is to prevent you from getting a false impression of what a hair transplant can do. Yet, if you use your imagination, you can see how the right style would make the hair transplant look great.

Before you go in for your hair transplant surgery, your surgeon will give you some facts about how to care for your hair before the surgery and after. He will emphasize that the hair on your crown should be at least 2cm long. This is so that the donor site scar will be adequately covered up until the sutures heal.

Also, the doctor will not tell you to get a haircut. In fact, when getting a hair transplant, the longer your hair is, the better it often works. It hides the sutures and eventually hides any scars you might have.

You will be told to use your normal shampoo before the hair transplant surgery. No special scalp treatment will be needed. Do not worry about any scraggly hair on top of your head. The doctor will blend it in with the grafts as he goes.

It may seem odd, but once the grafted hairs are set, they are just as strong as the rest of your hair. You can cut them, comb and brush them, and even dye them in time. New hairs start to grow within three months. You will find you need haircuts more often, as your hair will grow about one or two centimeters per month.

As for intense styling, your hairdresser can help you with that in about 20 days after your hair transplant surgery. Your grafted hairs are the same as old hairs but they are balding resistant. However, they need special care at first. Your hairdresser should know about hair transplants and understand just what you need to avoid.

After a few short weeks, you can treat your hair transplant grafts just like you did your old hair before you lost it. You can style it however you want. You can comb it and use hair care products on it. Do not forget: this is really your own hair.

How Are Follicular Units Used in Hair Transplant Surgery?

Posted by Unknown 1 comments

How Are Follicular Units Used in Hair Transplant Surgery?

Certain doctors have been aware of follicular units for a long time now, but the knowledge only recently made its way into hair transplant methods. Now these ideas are being used in hair restoration every day.

To understand how follicular units have affected hair transplant surgery practices, it is necessary to first understand what a follicular unit is. A follicular unit is a single entity that is made up of several parts. All these parts are necessary to the whole.

The first part, and the one most people getting hair transplant surgery are interested in, is the hairs. There should be one to four full hair follicles in the unit and one or two fine hairs as well. There are sebaceous glands in the follicular unit which produce oil.

The follicular unit is a living unit with muscle, nerves and blood vessels that are all tiny enough to fit into this small package. The unit is set off by a band of collagen that holds it together. If you look under a microscope at a scalp, you can see follicular units growing in just this way.

The idea of bringing this information into hair transplant procedures led to innovative surgical methods. Rather than just moving around individual hair follicles, surgeons actually moved a unit which contained everything the hair needed to keep growing. The results were ground-breaking.

One way surgeons used to move the donor follicular units to the balding areas was by single strip harvesting. This is done by moving small strips of tissue containing follicular units. This method keeps the units intact and ready to transplant. Earlier methods such as mini-grafting and micro-grafting broke up the follicular units.

As a part of the hair transplant process with Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), a new microscope technique was used. It is called stereomicroscopic dissection. This means that the follicular units are carefully taken out of the donor tissue and kept individually intact.

When doctors use hair transplant procedures with FUT, they do not have to use quite as large of a donor site. The follicular units are small and they can be separated from tissue that has no hair, under the microscope. That way, only the tissue that grows hair is transplanted. It is a much more efficient procedure in that way.

Follicular units placed during hair transplant procedures are put into tiny holes the size of needles. The insertion sites heal quickly, and they leave no marks. This makes for a much more comfortable recovery and better results.

FUT hair transplant procedures can make a big difference in the number of times a patient will have to go back for more treatments. More grafts can be done at one session, so that the patient has to go back fewer times. This is more convenient to patients.

Hair transplant done using follicular unit procedures is becoming more and more the norm. Possibly this is because it puts hair into the scalp in the same arrangement as it grows there naturally. This represents a leap forward in hair transplant technology.

Broadcasters Circle Wagons Against a TV Streaming Upstart

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, April 10, 2013 0 comments

Mr. Kanojia had come to Washington to sell lawmakers and reporters on the virtues of his upstart service Aereo which scoops up the free signals of local television stations and streams them to the phones and computers of paying subscribers. Because Aereo cuts off the stations from the retransmission fees that they have grown to depend on they are determined to shut down the service even the station owners say if they have to take their signals off the airwaves to do so.

Mr. Carey s suggestion was dismissed by some as a hollow threat intended to scare the courts which have ruled twice in favor of Aereo so far and perhaps prod Congressional action. It is at best a far fetched outcome. But it revealed a lot about the state of broadcasting which appears increasingly antiquated in an age when wireless companies like ATT and Verizon instead of TV stations are snapping up spectrum and using it to deliver Internet services like Aereo.

The networks aren t just concerned about Aereo which has a tiny following but about copycats. It s Aereo today but it could be something else tomorrow said Robin Flynn a senior analyst at SNL Kagan.

For several decades companies that were lucky enough to own licenses for local TV stations thrived on advertising revenue alone and because there was relatively little competition they enjoyed huge audiences and profit margins to match.

As cable and then the Internet introduced new competitors station owners began to rely on a second revenue source the so called retransmission fees that come from the cable and satellite operators that pick up their signals and repackage them for subscribers. Now that they ve had a taste of these fees the stations aren t willing or able they say to go back to the old model of advertising alone.

SNL Kagan estimates that station owners took in $2.36 billion in retransmission fees from subscribers last year. (Some of that money is pocketed by owners while a portion is paid to the network that the station is affiliated with like Fox or CBS. Each of the networks also owns some stations outright.)

The research firm projects the fee revenues to hit $6 billion by 2018. The trend lines for broadcasters are similar to those in the newspaper business subscribers are paying a bigger and bigger piece of the overall cost of content creation.

That s why the stations are doing battle with Aereo because it doesn t pay any fees the same way antenna users do not. News Corporation the Walt Disney Company Comcast the CBS Corporation and Univision all of which own stations in New York sued Aereo shortly after the service was announced last year accusing it of copyright infringement. But the media giants failed to win a preliminary injunction against the service last summer and their appeals were rejected last week in a 2 to 1 decision in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

Aereo s success in court could embolden cable and satellite providers to do their own end runs around retransmission fees. So now the station owners are plotting their next moves.

We won t just sit idle and allow our content to be actively stolen Mr. Carey said after speaking on stage at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas. It is clear that the broadcast business needs a dual revenue stream from both ad and subscription to be viable. If the revenue from retransmission fees starts to erode he said one option could be converting the Fox broadcast network to a pay channel

It sounds like an idle threat said John Bergmayer a senior staff lawyer for Public Knowledge a public interest group in Washington. Mr. Bergmayer called Mr. Carey s comments probably just part of an opening gambit to Congress noting that the broadcasters could press for a change to copyright law that would effectively choke Aereo out of existence.

Mr. Carey s comments also seemed meant to reassure affiliates. He made clear that moving to a cable network isn t their preference Ms. Flynn said.

Hair Cloning Research for Hair Transplant Procedures

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Hair Cloning Research for Hair Transplant Procedures

The future of hair transplant procedures is in the laboratories at this very time. Scientists are working together to find a way to make the surgery work for more people. They also want to see it work better for the types of people who have hair transplants today. One area of research is hair cloning.

Hair cloning promises to be a revolutionary procedure that would give people with little hair a chance to have hair transplant surgeries. It would do this by multiplying the hair a patient already has rather than using up the good hair that still exists on the patient's head.

Hair cloning is done by taking stem cells, or dermal papilla cell, and cloning them in a laboratory setting. They are then multiplied and combined. The end result is an increase in the number of hairs available for hair transplant.

Not only is hair cloning possible, it has been proven in many scientific studies. Recently one group of researchers did a culture whereby they multiplied the number of dermal papilla cells. With this being possible, hair cloning is a single step away.

Hair transplant procedures that use cloned hair are farther off, though. The research cannot be done as to whether these hairs can safely and effectively be transplanted onto a person's scalp yet. First, they cloning process will have to be completely perfected. Only then can the hair transplant trials begin.

More research needs to be done to find out which hair cells can be used for hair cloning and then hair transplant procedures. Some of the available cells go through several stages before ending in cell death in a very short time. These cells would not be adequate for use with hair transplant surgery. There seem to be other cells which last longer and would work for this application.

A scientist named Dr. Gho has done some work and acquired a Dutch patent on his work with hair multiplication. It is unclear whether this is much like hair cloning or not. That is because Dr. Gho neglects to submit his findings to be published in medical journals. Without review by other doctors, Gho's theories cannot be tried and evaluated.

Certain types of auto-immune diseases, such as alopecia areata can now be treated by means of hair transplant techniques by using the donor strip method. Yet, in the future, hair cloning will make hair transplant easier for these people who often have very little hair to use for grafts.

Some people believe that hair transplant grafts using cloned hair would be about the same cost as the usual hair transplants that are available today. Other experts believe that the price will be much higher - perhaps three or four times per graft higher - because of the specialized methods required to do the work.

Hair cloning is probably not as far away as one might think. It might be ready for use with hair transplant procedures as soon as five years from now, or even sooner. If you are considering getting a hair transplant but you want to wait awhile, hair cloning is something to think about.

The Marketing Method to the (March) Madness

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, April 9, 2013 0 comments

Fans cheer on during March Madness. (Image credit Getty Images via daylife)

March Madness. I never miss it. I fill out a bunch of brackets every year carefully researching the teams and what the experts are saying choosing my favorites predicting the upsets and then picking a champion. I m as into it as one can get.
And to be honest I don t really care about college basketball.
As marketers we see the world differently. This isn t a sports competition. It s a marketing case study. How did the NCAA get someone like me and so many other apathetic viewers to be an avid consumer of its product
There s a method to the madness. And there are a few lessons we marketers can learn from all of it.
Engagement
The NCAA Tournament engages people like nothing else. You don t just sit passively and watch the games though that option is certainly available. You dust off your inner Nostradamus and fill out a bracket with your predictions watch to see what you got right and encourage your friends and coworkers to join you in a little friendly competition. And the level of involvement is a choice. You can spend hours researching or make your picks based on which mascot you think is the cutest. Either method as March Madness has proved again and again can be effective.
Competition and Camaraderie
Although you can fill out a March Madness bracket alone it s way more fun when you involve others especially if there is a pool or prize to be won. It encourages people to bring others in without requiring it. They talk about it compare results admire the sports nut s strategy and laugh at the person who was actually crazy enough to pick Wichita State to go to the Final Four. It s a light friendly competition that brings people together around a common interest. That brings me to my next point.
Passion
Even if you don t like basketball it still includes something that people care about their schools. Whether you are rooting for your alma mater or your home state you always want your team to beat that other team. New programs and ideas need more than one thing to ignite passion in people which in turn can make them passionate about something they didn t care about before. March Madness merges sports culture with alumni culture and state pride which would be harder to accomplish if it weren t for my next point.
It s Simple
Unlike fantasy football that popular as it is takes a fair amount of commitment and research to participate in filling out and following an NCAA Tournament bracket is simple and easy. It lowers the barrier of entry for those on the fence about participating encouraging more people to say Why not I ll fill out a bracket. The next thing you know they are watching the close games talking about matchups with friends and quickly and quietly getting hooked. And that makes them want to do it again next year leading to my last point.
Tradition
Christmas. Movember. March Madness. I see so many good ideas that are one offs. What marketers need to give their consumers is tradition something their company does every year that they can look forward to. The fun of filling out a bracket and involving your office and friends was an idea that took some time to build in popularity. But now it would be hard to imagine the NCAA Tournament without it.
The NCAA Tournament isn t just for watching. It s for participating. So how does your brand match up
Brian Havig is a copywriter at gyro New York. Follow him brhavig

Tributes Pour In for Margaret Thatcher

Posted by Unknown Monday, April 8, 2013 0 comments

It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning a statement from her spokesman Lord Tim Bell said referring to her son and daughter.

President Obama said in a tribute released by the White House that Mrs. Thatcher s achievement as the first woman to serve as Britain s prime minister taught our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can t be shattered. He added that the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty and America has lost a true friend.

Mrs. Thatcher 87 served as prime minister for 11 years beginning in 1979. She was known as the Iron Lady a stern Conservative who transformed Britain s way of thinking about its economic and political life broke union power and opened the way to far greater private ownership.

The daughter of a grocer she was leader of Britain through its 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands and stamped her skepticism about European integration onto her country s political landscape for decades famed for her succinct rejection of three European proposals for closer unity with the words No no no.

Mrs. Thatcher had been in poor health for months and close friends said she was suffering from a form of dementia that hindered her ability to remember some of the key moments of her own career including her close relationship with President Ronald Reagan. Within moments of the announcement of Mrs. Thatcher s death by Lord Bell Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron offered tributes to what Mr. Cameron called a great leader a great prime minister a great Briton.

Mr. Cameron cut short a visit to Spain and France billed as the beginning of an effort to resolve his own troubled relationship with much of the Continent to return to Britain.

Mr. Cameron s office said that in line with her family s wishes Mrs. Thatcher would not be accorded a full state funeral. We can announce that with the Queen s consent Lady Thatcher will receive a ceremonial funeral with military honors according to a statement from 10 Downing Street. The service will be held at St Paul s Cathedral. A wide and diverse range of people and groups with connections to Lady Thatcher will be invited. The service will be followed by a private cremation. All the arrangements being put in place are in line with wishes of Lady Thatcher s family.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen was sad to hear the news and would be sending a private message of sympathy to the family.

Lawmakers said Mrs. Thatcher retired from public life about two years ago. Her career in politics ended in 1990 when her own Conservative Party forced her from office and replaced her with John Major who said Monday that she had brought conviction back to politics.

An assessment in the conservative Daily Telegraph said She will go down in history not only as Britain s first female prime minister but as the woman who transformed Britain s economy in addition to being a formidable rival on the international stage.

Lady Thatcher was the only British prime minister to leave behind a set of ideas about the role of the state which other leaders and nations strove to copy and apply the newspaper said.

Speaking to the BBC Henry A. Kissinger the former United States secretary of state said Mrs. Thatcher was a great leader and a good friend of the United States. She was known particularly for her close working relationship with President Reagan with whom she shared a profound ideological rejection of communism.

But she also won the respect of some interlocutors in Moscow most notably Mikhail S. Gorbachev the last Soviet leader who described her on Monday as a politician whose word carried great weight.

ACM Awards 2013 Luke Bryan Miranda Lambert score big

Posted by Unknown Sunday, April 7, 2013 0 comments

A few tears some expected wins the sweet sounds of Stevie Wonder and even a surprise ending made up the three hour long Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday in Las Vegas.

ACM Awards 2013 List of winners ACM Awards 2013 Looks and trends on the red carpet Complete coverage of the Academy of Country Music Awards

50 Photos

ACM Awards 2013 red carpet

The surprise The show's co host Luke Bryan scored the evening's coveted entertainer of the year honor topping familiar favorites Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert along with Blake Shelton and Jason Aldean.

If some viewers were surprised by Bryan's win then Bryan himself looked even more shocked upon hearing his name standing with his head down for a while almost appearing to fight back a tear or two.

I don't know what to say guys...Thank you guys so much...This is a defining moment of my life he told the crowd.

Lambert was the big winner of the night with three honors female vocalist of the year (for the fourth straight year) record of the year and single record of the year for Over You a song she and her husband Blake Shelton co wrote in memory of Shelton's late brother.

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Over You takes song of the year at ACMs

One of the most tender moments of the night came when Lambert and Shelton took the stage to accept the song of the year award. Shelton said Lambert blows me away adding She really taught me how to write a good song.

Lambert said As a songwriter having your song and your lyrics recognized by your peers is pretty much as good as it gets. And I'm so thankful for being in this genre of country music every single time someone's nominated I just cheer because I love everybody to death.

The Academy of Country Awards didn't waste any time showcasing some of today's biggest country stars Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas.

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ACM Awards 2013 show highlights

Shelton kicked off the 48th annual awards show with a star studded performance of his new single Boys 'Round Here alongside Luke Bryan Brad Paisley Sheryl Crow and Pistol Annies including Miranda Lambert Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley.

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Luke Bryan wins entertainer of the year

Co hosts Shelton and Bryan got the night under way with some friendly banter namely poking fun at each other. Bryan said Blake's jeans are like buying something on credit nothing up front. I mean what size are those extra empty They also called out a few lucky audience members including Kelly Clarkson and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum.

With all of the performances the evening's first honor vocal duo of the year didn't come until almost 9 p.m. ET. Thompson Square took home the award for the second straight year beating out Big Rich Florida Georgia Line Love And Theft and Sugarland.

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Blake Shelton talks about ACMs Miranda Lambert

Leading nominee Eric Church (with seven nominations) scored album of the year for Chief topping Taylor Swift's Red Carrie Underwood's Blown Away Bryan's Tailgates Tanlines and Little Big Town's Tornado. I can't believe I just met John Fogerty. We should hang out later he said to Creedence Clearwater Revival's Fogerty who presented the album honor with Lambert. But that wasn't his first award of the evening. Before the ceremony even began Church won vocal event of the year for his collaboration with Bryan and Jason Aldean on The Only Way I Know.

Little Big Town won vocal group of the year beating Eli Young Band Lady Antebellum The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band. Newcomers Florida Georgia Line meanwhile won for new artist of the year.

The male vocalist of the year honor went to Aldean.

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Miranda Lambert accepts vocalist of the year

Other awards were handed out prior to the live broadcast on CBS including Little Big Town's other win video of the year award for Tornado.

Music dominated the ceremony with performances in the first hour by Kenny Chesney and Church as well as George Strait who performed Give It All We Got Tonight. Lady Antebellum debuted the new song Downtown and Carrie Underwood channeled her music video when she emerged from a black Cadillac to sing her single Two Black Cadillacs.

John Mayer who is returning to the road for the first time since facing vocal issues linked up with Brad Paisley on Beat This Summer. Swift Keith Urban and Tim McGraw joined forces on Highway Don't Care.

Presenters included Faith Hill Shania Twain Trisha Yearwood Gary Allan Chris Young Eli Young Band Beth Behrs Michael Chiklis Kaley Cuoco Fogerty Kevin Frazier Colin Kaepernick Lambert Scotty McCreery Musgraves Nancy O'Dell Jake Owen Keith Urban Tori Kelly and LL Cool J.

Reba McEntire got emotional while introducing the night's tribute to Dick Clark saying He would slap me if he saw me crying up here. Garth Brooks and George Strait then teamed up for the first time performing a tribute to Clark the show's longtime producer who died last year. Brooks sang The Dance before Strait joined him for The Cowboy Rides Away.

And the music continued to the bitter end of the show with Hunter Hayes' performance of I Want Crazy. He was then joined by Wonder for Sir Duke.

Wonder who performed at his first ever country music awards event closed out the night with a performance of Signed Sealed Delivered which got the country music stars out of their seats for a fitting end to the ceremony.

NCAA Final Four Wichita State Louisville

Posted by Unknown Saturday, April 6, 2013 0 comments

Peyton Siva of the Louisville Cardinals goes up for a layup against the Wichita State Shockers on Saturday April 6 in Atlanta in the first of the day's semifinal matchups in the 2013 NCAA men's basketball tournament. Louisville beat Wichita State with a final score of 72 68. Check out the action from the Final Four and look at the second game between Syracuse and Michigan.

Final Four Ticket Prices Sharply Rising Prior To Louisville Vs. Wichita State ...

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Submergence Of The Super Bowl Ticket Market Darren Heitner Contributor Big Dip In Notre Dame vs. Alabama Ticket Prices Demonstrates A Weak BCS Secondary Market Darren Heitner Contributor

Fans are paying top dollar to see Michigan vs. Syracuse and Wichita State vs. Louisville prior to the crowning of a National Champion. Photo courtesy of leverageagency.

The Final Four match up of Louisville vs. Wichita State is not anticipated to be a nail biter. Hardly anyone expects the game s result to be decided in the final seconds of the second half. However tonight s battle between the Michigan Wolverines and the Syracuse Orange is predicted to be one of if not the best game to watch in this 2013 NCAA Tournament. In fact people are coughing up top dollar in order to see it live in the Georgia Dome.

According to secondary market ticket aggregator TiqIQ the average price to get into tonight s Final Four Semifinals is $889.14. The data organized by TiqIQ was provided to FORBES within the past hour. That price is almost double the Final Four average ticket price on the day of the event in 2012 ($494.41) when Kentucky played Louisville and Ohio State faced off against Kansas. It also dwarfs the price of tickets to the 2011 Final Four which were listed at an average of $336.77.

Some may view the increase in average ticket prices as a positive outcome for the secondary ticket market as a whole. It is a shift away from a very weak secondary ticket market surrounding the 2013 BCS National Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame and a market that continued to submerge in the days leading up to the Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens.

Typically tickets hit the secondary market at an extremely inflated value and are eventually adjusted to reflect the immense supply of tickets and oftentimes lack of heavy demand for same. However that has not been the case with entry to this year s Final Four. TiqIQ s data demonstrates that the current get in price for the Final Four is $324 up 129.8% since last week ($141) and that the average price is also up 49.45% over the same period of time (from $594.95 to $889.14).

A variety of factors have been attributed to the large cost of entry through the secondary ticket market. First of all Michigan and Syracuse alumni are known for their staunch support of their athletic programs. Additionally Michigan a team full of talented players has not reached the Final Four since 1993 and the last time the school won the NCAA Tournament was 1989. With a young core finally coming together to show off their immense skill the fan base appears to be paying whatever it takes to cheer on the Maize and Blue.

Darren Heitner is a Partner at Wolfe Law Miami P.A. in Miami Florida Founder of Sports Agent Blog and Adjunct Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University. Follow him at DarrenHeitner and learn more about him at http //www.darrenheitner.com.

Evil Dead Blood soaked remake scares up mixed reviews

Posted by Unknown Friday, April 5, 2013 0 comments

That means the new Evil Dead remake directed by Fede Alvarez in his feature debut has its work cut out for it even with Raimi and original star Bruce Campbell on board as producers. This time around critics are divided on whether the new version stakes its own claim to the Evil Dead mantle.

The Times' Mark Olsen says it does writing that the remake has a gleeful exuberance of its own analogous to the mad invention of the original and adding that it nimbly walks the fine line of tribute update and doing its own thing. Alvarez nails the tone scary without being downbeat fun without being too jokey and delivers plenty of over the top gore great gushing geysers of it.

PHOTOS Movies Sneaks 2013

The New York Times' Manohla Dargis however finds the film a bit lacking. Specifically she says it doesn t have the original's wooden performances puffy clothes and hairdos or its amusingly crude special effects and as such it has none of the first movie's handmade charm or hilarity intentional or otherwise. What the remake does share with its predecessor is a lust for blood as Alvarez gets his gore on and makes handy sport with an electric meat knife and a nail gun among other convenient and preposterous household items. Dargis ends with an endorsement of supporting actor Lou Taylor Pucci who deserves a boost.

NPR's Ian Buckwalter concedes up front that the remake can't hold a candle shotgun or revving chainsaw to the original which was a masterpiece of punk filmmaking. Fortunately he continues Alvarez doesn't try to replicate the practically accidental glory of that film. Instead this 'Evil Dead' is polished and meticulously planned and it benefits from the attention to detail as well as from Alvarez's obvious love for the spirit of the source material.

In a measured review for the Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips calls Evil Dead a grim outlandish remake whose gore goes straight to 11. Alvarez manages a shrewd narrative variation or two on the original Phillips says and indeed the new one is better acted more carefully composed. On the other hand it feels like a lot of other remakes of '70s and '80s horror titles. Competent craftsmanship vacuous slickness. All in all It's not bad.

Lou Lumenick of the New York Post would disagree. He claims he was tempted to walk out of the film writing if it hadn t been my paying job as a critic to watch Fede Alvarez s remake of 'Evil Dead' all the way to the end I probably would have headed for the exit door long before the point where somebody cuts off her own arm with an electric carving knife. That said Gorehounds will have a field day with the plentiful mutilations decapitations and other blood drenched moments in the redo.

If that's the case perhaps the Village Voice's Chuck Wilson is a bit of a gorehound. He calls Evil Dead a wittily gory remake and a virtuoso feature debut. The new film honors the motifs of the original and the plotting as a whole feels fresh as does the emphasis on women strong enough to defend themselves. He ends his review with a challenge Dare ya not to look.

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Movie Review Evil Dead Remake Delivers a Blood Monsoon

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Sony TriStar Pictures/AP Photo

For many it doesn t get better than The Evil Dead. The 1981 original and its two sequels are the perfect blend of blood drenched graphic horror and B grade camp giving birth to one of the most abused horror movie clich s of all time na ve college or high school kids alone in a cabin or other secluded area making predictably dumb decisions that will only make their situation worse.

This new Evil Dead remake (which drops the definite article from the title) is produced by original The Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and his trilogy star Bruce Campbell. Make no mistake these two are extremely protective about their property have a great relationship with the franchise s many fans and I fully believe wanted to deliver the best possible Evil Dead remake they could. In order to do that they put the franchise in the hands of director Fede Alvarez which was exactly the right thing to do.

This time around we find five friends gathered at a remote country cabin to help one of them Mia (Jane Levy) kick her drug habit. Joining Mia is her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) who s angry at David for leaving town and apparently forgetting about his friends and Olivia (Jessica Lucas) a nurse who supposedly will be able to administer any sort of drug should Mia need it.

Turns out the cabin sits above a cellar once used to exorcise a demon from a young woman who was burned at the stake while surrounded by dozens of dead cats hanging from the ceiling and cast of characters who looked like they were on a break from the set of American Horror Story.

Thanks to the odor emanating from the basement the friends discover the creepy subterranean dwelling where they also find the demonic book used to dispatch of the possessed girl. Clearly Eric hadn t seen many horror movies because the barbed wire wrapped around the book certainly should ve raised a red flag. And if that wasn t a clear enough signal to stay away the Frankenstein like stitching of the book cover suggesting that the book isn t leather bound but perhaps human skin bound should ve been another dead giveaway. But NOOOO Eric just had to know what was in that book and when he got it open he just had to read the various Latin phrases inscribed below the demonic pictures covered with messages written in blood.

So far this sticks close enough to the original movie when the recorded messages unleashed hell literally. Soon enough Mia in the throes of drug withdrawal becomes possessed.

Putting Jane Levy (TV s Suburgatory ) in the role of Mia may very well be the best bit of horror movie casting since Naomi Watts in The Ring. This is a breakout performance for her. Her energy whether it s nervous frenetic scared is infectious. Levy pulls you into this disgustingly gory graphic tale and never lets you go making you feel as though you re experiencing everything she is. Alvarez certainly deserves credit for utilizing his young star s prodigious talents.

While not as funny as the original The Evil Dead and none of the characters are quite as memorable or iconic as Bruce Campbell s wisecracking Ash there s plenty of humor in this remake most of which can t be repeated here. Campbell promised fans a blood bath and the team that he and Raimi assembled delivers.

Except it s less a blood bath and more like a blood monsoon. But if you re paying money to see Evil Dead you know what you re getting yourself into and you re not going to be disappointed. While there s room for improvement Evil Dead is still a cathartic nauseating (in a good way) crowd pleaser you ll want to see more than once.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Facebooks Phone Is Another Triumph of Mediocrity

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Mark Zuckerberg poses with HTC CEO Peter Chou (left) and ATT President CEO Ralph de la Vega after today s grand unveiling. Photo Alex Washburn/Wired

Maybe you were hoping for something radically new and different from a Facebook phone. If so Zuck just broke your heart. But so what. Facebook never does anything new. New doesn t matter in the blue. What matters is this What Mark Zuckerberg announced today runs software called Facebook Home that makes it easier for people to spend more time with Facebook. And that s all he really needed to pull off.

In fact the long rumored Facebook phone turned out not to be a phone at all. Or even a new OS or a fork of the Android operating system like Amazon s Kindle Fire. It s something more than an application and slightly less than an operating system. As Wired.com editor Mark McClusky described it Facebook Home is an apperating system. The genius of the Facebook phone is that the company made a phone without making a phone at all. It s not overly ambitious. It s not a big bet. And that s why it may have such a huge payoff.

Over the past few days lots of pundits have been asking who this is for. Facebook gave us an answer today It s for people who don t care about a rich full experience on the Internet yet love Facebook. People who want to run apps but are overwhelmed by them. People who want to connect with friends and family but want it to be super easy to do so. For many people Facebook is the Internet just as AOL was before it. And just as Facebook is the best way for them to experience the Internet in a browser Facebook Home is going to be the best way for those people to experience the Internet on a phone.

The product that Facebook chose to roll this out on the HTC First is at best a mid tier device. But that s OK. Thinking about it in the context of say chamfers or pixel density misses the point. This isn t a product rollout designed for someone who cares about processor speeds. Hell this isn t a rollout designed for someone who knows what a processor is. Facebook simply needed to show something that makes it easy to connect consume and share more content with your friends. It did that. That dive into Facebook home screen is the only thing that matters you don t even have to unlock your screen to dig into social. So who cares if Facebook Home makes its debut on mediocre hardware Certainly not the people who made Facebook a hit.

Facebook itself is a triumph of mediocrity. It s not the best communications platform that s Twitter or WordPress. It s not the best photo sharing app that s Instagram or Flickr or maybe even Snapchat. It s certainly not the best app platform the best address book or the best messaging service. Likewise it s so easy to hate on Facebook for privacy policies or the annoying ads or for constantly rearranging things or the things your crazy uncle posts there or well hell take your pick. But Facebook is really really good at connecting people. And that means it can be just OK at everything else.

Like Facebook your phone at its most basic level is designed to connect you with other people and deliver information. Like Facebook it is a messaging system that also has applications. The first phone with Facebook Home doesn t need to amaze. It just has to work. It just needs to prove that it s good enough at letting you upload pictures of your kid and good enough at letting your dad easily see pictures of his grandson and good enough at reminding you that it s Sam s birthday and hey do you want to say happy birthday Happy Birthday Sam

Facebook Home as Zuckerberg says is built around people not apps. Chat Heads personalize your conversations with constant visual reminders of who you are talking to. Updates from friends just magically appear on your lock screen. New messages trickle in while you read the news of the day. It s your friendly companion right on your lock screen. As long as it excels at connecting you with other people and has a clean straightforward design that s easy to use it wins. I mean look at how well that s worked out for Facebook itself.

And most importantly this thing is flexible. You can install it yourself which means Facebook Home will run on at first a few and then lots and lots of Android handsets. And there are an enormous and growing number of Android handsets out there with more all the time.

Android is already the world s most dominant mobile OS. In the coming year there are going to be hundreds of millions of Android handsets sold many for next to nothing in the developing world. At $100 the HTC First with Facebook Home is going to tempt a lot of people who love Facebook (AKA the Easier Internet). The HTC First may be the first Android handset to come with Facebook Home loaded but it certainly won t be the last. Before long you can bet you ll be able to pick up a handset with Facebook Home pre installed for free with a two year contract. (And while this is just a hunch I suspect there is a strong correlation between people who want a free smartphone with people who really dig Facebook.)

Will businesses take to it Almost certainly not. No business other than maybe Buzzfeed wants its employees spending more time on Facebook. Will it be a hit with early adopters and the tech set That s laughable. No. Will millions of Americans just want a handset that can run Facebook That seems like a bet I d take.

You see if you re not already Facebook averse there s no real downside to Facebook Home. It s just more software that makes it easier to do the things you already do without having to give anything up other than your privacy but that s a devil s bargain you long ago forged with Zuck anyway.

There s another thing Facebook is really good at too and that s tracking. And by all appearances this phone is good at that too. It s going to know where you are who you re talking to and when even what apps you re running. All of which is great for Facebook because ultimately Facebook wants to know every little thing it can about you so it can get you to click on some ads.

Facebook Home doesn t even have to be a hit. At least not right away. The important thing is that it s out there and it didn t require a lot of up front capital or RD investment in hardware. It s a better strategy than anything else the company has done in mobile. People who already really like Facebook will also like this. For people who live in Facebook it may even drive them to buy one handset over another. Sometimes mediocre is all it takes.

Maybe you should be.

URI lockdown ends no evidence of gunman on campus

Posted by Unknown Thursday, April 4, 2013 0 comments

A building at the University of Rhode Island was cleared room by room Thursday as state police investigated then dismissed reports of a man with a gun in or around Chafee Hall on the Kingston campus.

The Kingston campus lockdown has ended the school reported on its Facebook page. State police have cleared Chafee Hall. The investigation has revealed that at no time was there a gun or an active shooter on the campus.

Classes already were canceled for the day but the school announced that they would resume Friday. Transit buses that had been rerouted away from campus were resuming normal routes.

Earlier the school had notified the campus community through its emergency alert system the website and e mail to Secure yourself indoors (not Chafee) stay there and do not move about outside until further notice.

There were no reports of injuries or of shots fired the website said. The university activated its Emergency Operations Center.

Chafee Hall houses several departments and some college administration offices.

Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Col. Steven O'Donnell had said earlier Thursday that a phone call was made from the URI campus reporting an active shooter on campus. The school South Kingstown police and state police responded hel said.

All of a sudden we heard someone yell 'You're a nice guy You're a nice guy ' and sounding scared said Tori Danielson who was sitting in the back of a lecture hall in a class of more than 350 people in Chafee Hall. Everybody started running and screaming out of the room and our professor told us all to run. And everybody just ran out.

Danielson said she did not hear gunshots and did not see anyone get hurt.

I didn't hear anybody say that there was a weapon and I didn't see if there was. I was too far away she said.

Contributing The Associated Press

ANALYSIS Is Facebook phone worth the wait

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A view of the Facebook app's splash screen in front of the login page.(Photo KAREN BLEIER AFP/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO It was years in the making is the Facebook phone worth the wait

Ultimately that's for consumers and reviewers to decide.

Rumors have swirled for years about the mystical phone which Facebook introduced at its headquarters today. For the financial sake of Facebook it's imperative that the new phone manufactured by HTC carried by ATT and sporting an Android operating system sells well. It's the linchpin in the social networking company's pursuit of mobile ads. The $99 phone goes on sale April 12.

The phone/service features Home (facebook.com/home) downloadable software that brings the Facebook experience to several Android devices HTC One X HTC One X Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II.

At first blush the new phone could find a receptive audience among the under 25 crowd which is comfortable with having their mobile devices within reach at all times. Facebook chafes at suggestions that teens and twentysomethings are leaving the social network so a phone immersed in news updates and other Facebook features might go over well.

Facebook the No. 2 mobile ad publisher in the U.S. behind Google last year accounted for 9.5% of the $4.1 billion mobile ad market. It's expected to take 13% of the $7.3 billion market this year estimates researcher eMarketer.

A phone could hard wire the Facebook experience on a mobile device increasing consumers' time on the service analysts say. But the experience has to be more than a branded device they say. Branded phones from Barclays and Mary Kay did not fare well.

It can't be just about the hardware says Phillip Redman mobile analyst at Gartner. It can do two things for success Change the business model and give it away to its best users or design it for low cost or no cost calls among Facebook friends.

Facebook's entry is one in a glut of recent smartphone contestants. New models from Samsung (Galaxy S4) HTC (One) and BlackBerry (the Q10 keyboard) highlight a bumper spring crop. Apple's rumored iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 lurks in the shadows.

The handset market is very competitive says Clark Fredricksen vice president at eMarketer. Samsung Apple and Android all are gaining market share and boast computing platforms to feed into (the) mobile market. It remains to be seen if Facebook will gain traction.

Facebook boasts 1 billion members 30% of which are mobile only users according to market researcher ComScore.

It was also the No. 1 mobile app in the U.S. in February in terms of engagement accounting for 24% of all time spent on mobile apps 27% if you include Instagram.

Daddy Yankee Rappers Rep Denies Gay Rumors

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Tweet After a photo of a man who appeared to be the Gasolina rapper kissing another man surfaced on the internet on Apr. 3 a rep has publicly refuted the swirling rumors and stated that Daddy Yankee NEVER came out. Keep reading for more details.
With rumors of Daddy Yankee s sexual orientation building up online and after multiple Spanish language websites published stories claiming that the rapper had officially come out as homosexual his publicist released a statement denying all claims.
Is Daddy Yankee Gay Rapper s Rep Refutes Rumors
Online blogs and social media are once again to blame for the spread of false news reports which other media outlets have also shared regarding a public figure said Mayna Nevarez president of public relations firm Nevarez Communications. Mayna continues saying that one unreliable website s report gained steam through social media but not on merit The reports circulating regarding Daddy Yankee s declaration of homosexuality was falsely written by an online outlet known for fabricating false information and spreading it through social media sites.
The rumors around Daddy Yankee really took off on Apr. 3 when several Spanish speaking websites posted stories with a picture of a man who looked like the rapper kissing another man. The stories claimed that the rapper had released a statement officially coming out. However fans remained skeptical and many pointed out that there were minor physical differences between Daddy Yankee and the man in the picture.
Daddy Yankee Condemns Rumors On Twitter
Both Daddy Yankee and his rep have been quick to squash what they say is a false story. Besides Mayna s statement Daddy Yankee also posted a quote in Spanish from Albert Einstein saying I fear the day when technology overlaps humanity. It will be then that the world will have permanent ensuing generations of idiots.
A pretty appropriate quote for the situation sounds like Daddy Yankee is upset about the rumors
What do you think HollywoodLifers Let us know
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More Celebrities Denying Gay Rumors Is Will Smith GAY Reports Of Jada Pinkett Smith Divorce Spark Same Sex Rumors Taylor Lautner Victim Of Gay Hoax Twilight Star s Coming Out Cover Is Fake Is Russell Armstrong Gay RHOBH Star s Attorney There Is No Tell All Book Take Our Poll

Roger Ebert renowned film critic dies at age 70

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.cnn_html_media_utility before color red content '>>' font size 9px line height 12px padding right 1px .cnnstrylccimg640 margin 0 27px 14px 0 .captionText filter alpha(opacity 100) opacity 1 .cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a .cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a visited .cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a link .captionText a .captionText a visited .captiontext a link color 004276 outline medium none .cnnVerticalGalleryPhoto margin 0 auto padding right 68px width 270px > Film critics Gene Siskel left and Roger Ebert in 1994. Ebert died on April 4 according to his employer the Chicago Sun Times. Ebert had taken a leave of absence on April 2 after a hip fracture was revealed to be cancer. Ebert at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival Roundtable at the American Pavilion in Cannes France. Ebert received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame given for his achievements in television. The movie critic receives the 2 288th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 23 2005 in Hollywood California. Ebert signs his book Great Movies II in 2006 in Santa Monica California. Ebert at a book signing in 2006. Chicago Sun Times columnists Richard Roeper left and Ebert promote their television series Roger Ebert the Movies in this undated photo. Ebert and director Martin Scorsese attend the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival in 2009. Ebert had cancer and lost part of his lower jaw in 2006. The film critic at the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 5 2010 in Los Angeles. Ebert and his wife Chaz Ebert attend the 14th Annual Webby Awards on June 14 2010 in New York. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Los Angeles (CNN) The last hand in the two thumbs up film critic team Roger Ebert died Thursday two days after revealing cancer returned to his body.

Ebert and Gene Siskel co hosted the iconic review show Siskel and Ebert At The Movies until Siskel's death in 1999 after a battle with a brain tumor.

The Chicago Sun Times the base of operations for Ebert's syndicated reviews announced his death at age 70.

I'll see you at the movies were the last word's Ebert wrote to his readers. It was published in an essay titled Leave of Presence on his blog Tuesday in which he explained he was planning to slow down and reduce the number of movie reviews he wrote.

Report Film critic Roger Ebert has died A look back at those we have lost in 2013. Film critic Roger Ebert died on April 4 according to his employer the Chicago Sun Times. Ebert had taken a leave of absence on April 2 after a hip fracture was revealed to be cancer. Jane Nebel Henson wife of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson and instrumental in the development of the world famous puppets died Tuesday April 2 after a long battle with cancer. Shain Gandee one of the stars of the MTV reality show Buckwild was found dead with two other people in Kanawha County West Virginia on April 1. He was 21. Music producer and innovator Phil Ramone right with Paul Shaffer left and Billy Joel at the Song Writers Hall of Fame Awards in New York in 2001. Ramone died March 30 at the age of 72. Writer/producer Don Payne one of the creative minds behind The Simpsons died this week at his home in Los Angeles after losing a battle with bone cancer reports say. Gordon Stoker left who as part of the vocal group the Jordanaires sang backup on hits by Elvis Presley died March 27 at 88. Deke Richards center died March 24 at age 68. Richards was a producer and songwriter who was part of the team responsible for Motown hits such as I Want You Back and Maybe Tomorrow. He had been battling esophageal cancer. Legendary publisher promoter and weightlifter Joe Weider who created the Mr. Olympia contest and brought California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the United States died at age 93 on March 23. Playboy magazine's 1962 Playmate of the Year Christa Speck Krofft died March 22 of natural causes at the age of 70. Rena Golden who held top positions at CNN died at age 51 after battling lymphoma for two years on March 21. Harry Reems the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic Deep Throat died March 19 according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems whose real name is Herbert Streicher was 65. Bobbie Smith who as a member of the Spinners sang lead on such hits as I'll Be Around and Could It Be I'm Falling in Love died on March 16 at age 76. Pictured clockwise from left Spinners band member Pervis Jackson Billy Henderson Jonathan Edwards Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough 1977. Sweden's Princess Lilian the Welsh born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married has died at the age of 97 the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement. Alvin Lee the speed fingered British guitarist who lit up Woodstock with a monumental 11 minute version of his song I'm Going Home died on March 6 according to his website. He was 68. Hugo Chavez the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a 21st century socialist and foe of the United States died March 5 said Vice President Nicolas Maduro. Bobby Rogers one of the original members of Motown staple The Miracles died on Sunday March 3 at 73. From left Bobby Rogers Ronald White Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore circa 1965. Actress Bonnie Franklin star of the TV show One Day at a Time died at the age of 69 on March 1 of complications from pancreatic cancer. Actor Dale Robertson who was popular for his western TV shows and movies died at age 89 on Thursday February 28. Richard Street former member of the Temptations died at age 70 on February 27. Street second from the left poses for a portrait with fellow members of the Temptations circa 1973. Van Cliburn the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958 died on February 27 after a battle with bone cancer his publicist said. He was 78. Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died on February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989 under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Damon Harris former member of the Motown group the Temptations died at age 62 on February 18. Harris center on the stool poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974. Lou Myers a stage film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy A Different World died on February 19 at the age of 75. Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss who had owned the Lakers since 1979 was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin Magic Johnson James Worthy Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss' ownership. Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self inflicted gunshot wound authorities said. She was 37. During her career McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts. Ed Koch the brash former New York mayor died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88 his spokesman said. Patty Andrews center the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters died at her Northridge California home on January 30 her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene left and Laverne. Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19 according to his former team. He was 92. Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82 Major League Baseball said. Pauline Phillips better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis Minnesota at age 94. Aaron Swartz the Internet activist who co wrote the initial specification for RSS committed suicide a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co founded Demand Progress a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship. Claude Nobs the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival died aged 76 following a skiing accident. Richard Ben Cramer the Pulitzer Prize winning writer whose 1992 book What It Takes remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles died January 7 according to his longtime agent. He was 62. Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed Snakes on a Plane. Tony Lip who played mob figures in the hit cable show The Sopranos and several critically acclaimed movies died January 4 a funeral home official said. Lip whose real name was Frank Vallelonga was 82. Character actor Ned Wertimer known to fans of The Jeffersons as the doorman Ralph Hart died on January 2. He was 89. Pop country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler Page was the best selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Photos People we lost in 2013

My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me Ebert wrote. What's more I'll be able at last to do what I've always fantasized about doing reviewing only the movies I want to review.

Ebert had already lost his voice and much of his jaw after battling thyroid and salivary gland cancer.

He suffered a hip fracture in December and it recently led to the revelations about cancer he said.

Ebert started as the Sun Times film critic on April 3 1967 writing about 200 reviews each of those 46 years he said. The last year however was his most prolific.

Last year I wrote the most of my career including 306 movie reviews a blog post or two a week and assorted other articles he said. I must slow down now which is why I'm taking what I like to call 'a leave of presence.'

Ebert The critical critic

Ebert who won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism in 1975 had a way with words and a sharp wit that is not easily matched.

About Rob Schneider's Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo in 2005 If he's going to persist in making bad movies he's going to have to grow accustomed to reading bad reviews.

Concerning Schneider's reaction to another critic who panned the film But Schneider is correct and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. Therefore Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo while passing on the opportunity to participate in Million Dollar Baby Ray The Aviator Sideways and Finding Neverland. As chance would have it I have won the Pulitzer Prize and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner Mr. Schneider your movie sucks.

Reviewing Crocodile Dundee II I've seen audits that were more thrilling.

Giving no love to Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith To say that George Lucas cannot write a love scene is an understatement greeting cards have expressed more passion.

Ebert The film philosopher

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.

If you have to ask what it symbolizes it didn't.

If a movie isn't a hit right out of the gate they drop it. Which means that the whole mainstream Hollywood product has been skewed toward violence and vulgar teen comedy.

I am utterly bored by celebrity interviews. Most celebrities are devoid of interest.

Ebert Remembered

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Our whole city learned with sadness today of the passing of Roger Ebert whose name was synonymous with two things the movies and Chicago. In a Pulitzer Prize winning career that spanned more than four decades thousands of reviews and countless acts of generosity to others Roger championed Chicago as a center for filmmaking and critiques. With a knowledge of his subject as deep as his love for his wife Chaz Roger Ebert will be remembered for the strength of his work respected for his courage in the face of illness and revered for his contribution to filmmaking and to our city. The final reel of his life may have run through to the end but his memory will never fade.

Sun Times Media Editor in Chief Jim Kirk The long relationship between Roger and his Sun Times family speaks volumes about Roger's commitment to his craft and to his fans around the world. Roger's reviews were highly anticipated by readers and the film community. Film commentary was only one of several gifts. He was a reporter first in every aspect of his craft. He could write as eloquently about world affairs as he could on the upcoming blockbuster. Roger will be missed not only by the Sun Times family but by the journalism and film communities. Our thoughts are with Roger's wife Chaz and their family during this time.

North Korea Moves Missile to Coast but Little Threat Is Seen

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North Korea has been issuing a blistering series of similar threats in recent weeks citing as targets the American military installations in the Pacific islands of Hawaii and Guam as well as the United States mainland. In its latest threat on Thursday it did not name targets but said it was authorized to take powerful practical military counteractions against the threats from B 2 bombers from the United States B 52 bombers from Guam and F 22 Stealth jet fighters from United States bases in Japan that have recently run missions over the Korean Peninsula during joint military exercises with South Korea.

The moment of explosion is approaching fast the general staff of the North Korean People s Army said in a statement carried by the North s official Korean Central News Agency. The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.

Most analysts do not believe that North Korea has a missile powerful enough to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States mainland or that it is reckless enough to strike the American military in the Pacific. Still with the North s bellicose postures showing no signs of letting up the United States announced Wednesday that it was speeding the deployment of an advanced missile defense system to Guam in the next few weeks two years ahead of schedule in what the Pentagon said was a precautionary move to protect American naval and air forces from the threat of a North Korean missile attack.

Testifying before a parliamentary hearing Defense Minister Kim Kwan jin of South Korea said the missile North Korea had moved to the east coast possibly for demonstration or for training appeared not to be a KN 08 which analysts say is the closest thing North Korea has to an intercontinental ballistic missile though its exact range is not known. The new missile was unveiled during a military parade in the North Korean capital Pyongyang last April.

South Korean media quoted unnamed military sources as saying that the missile was a Musudan. Deployed around 2007 the Musudan is a ballistic missile with a range of more than 1 900 miles according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. Guam is nearly 2 200 miles from North Korea.

Wee Yong sub an army colonel and deputy spokesman for the Defense Ministry would say only that the South Korean and American military have been closely monitoring the movements of all North Korean missiles including the Musudan.

Chances are not high that they will lead to a full scale war said Mr. Kim the defense minister referring to the North Korean threats. But given the nature of the North Korean regime it s possible that they will launch a localized provocation.

On Thursday for a second straight day North Korea blocked South Koreans from crossing the border to enter a jointly operated industrial park threatening the future of the last remaining symbol of inter Korean cooperation. It also warned that it would pull out more than 53 000 North Korean workers from the joint factory park located in the North Korean city of Kaesong if taunts from the South Korean news media continued.

After the North s threat to close the industrial complex last week some South Korean media reports said the North Korean leader Kim Jong un would be all talk but no action when it came to the park because he did not want to risk one of his most precious sources of hard currency.

After the United Nations Security Council imposed further sanctions against the North for its launching of a three stage rocket in December and its third nuclear test in February North Korea has appeared to harden its stance considerably. It said it would never negotiate away its nuclear weapons arsenal but would instead expand it. On Tuesday it declared that it would restart a nuclear reactor that gave it a small stockpile of plutonium and would readjust its uranium enrichment plant for weapons efforts.

Photographs published Wednesday on the Web site 38 North which follows North Korean developments show new construction at the aging reactor dating back several weeks. Once operational the reactor can produce one bomb s worth of plutonium a year.

The Pentagon s decision to deploy a new missile defense system to Guam now is the latest in a series of steps intended to deter the North from either military action or new missile tests.

Earlier this week the Defense Department announced that two of the Navy s Aegis class missile defense warships were positioned in the Pacific to monitor North Korea. Installing the land based missile system in Guam will free up the ships which have radar and interceptor missiles to be repositioned closer to the North Korean coast. That would give President Obama a wider range of options if the North Koreans fire their missiles in a test or at a target.

We haven t made any decisions a senior administration official said. But we want as many options as possible.

David E. Sanger Mark Landler and Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington.

Lockdown at URI lifted probe continues into gunman report

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Authorities have lifted a lockdown at the University of Rhode Island after a report of a gunman proved bogus at the leafy Kingston campus.
School officials said in a statement this afternoon that an investigation proved at no time was there a gun or an active shooter on the campus roughly three hours after hundreds of panicked students went running from Chafee Hall an arts and sciences building on campus and police stormed in armed with assault rifles and bullet proof gear to investigate officials and witnesses say.
Col. Steven O Donnell head of the State Police said in a statement that local campus and state police responded to a phone call shortly after 11 20 a.m. reporting an active shooter on campus. Speaking in a phone interview aired on NECN he said the call was in reference to someone knocking on the door at Chafee Science Center saying I m a good guy and I have a gun.
We re looking to track down the person who was the one who made those comments O Donnell said.
Dispatcher Penney Hanson of the South Kingston Police told the Herald earlier that police were investigating an isolated incident specific to one hall on campus but added that the building was locked down and checked.
Asked if police found anything relative to the report Hanson said Nothing. There were no reports of any injuries she said.
Everyone can resume their normal activities the school said in a statement shortly after 2 p.m.
Panic gripped the campus and Chafee Hall for hours earlier this morning and afternoon.
Taylor Kinzler a URI junior Lakeville native and Miss Massachusetts 2012 said in a phone interview that she was on the second floor of the building this morning when she heard screams from a first floor auditorium.
Quickly an announcement came over the public address system telling students and staff to evacuate sending more than a thousand students running from the seven story building Kinzler said. Almost immediately roughly a dozen police officers stormed in toting assault rifles she said.
They did an amazing job getting reinforcements here and the police came immediately said Kinzler. At first we thought it was a joke. Nothing like this ever happened before. But once the alarm went off and people started running in the hallway ... It s been very scary with all the recent shootings. We were just hoping everyone is OK.
Kinzler said she and hundreds of other students were initially kept outside about 20 to 30 feet from the building before they were ushered into a nearby building as part of the campus wide lockdown.
A campus alert had been blasted across the top of the university s website earlier today warned people on campus to seek shelter and stay where you are.
The university posted on its official Twitter feed that campus police were on scene and officials activated an emergency alert system. As a precautionary measure officials said they cancelled all classes today on the Kingston campus only. Regular classes will resume tomorrow.
It s all based on a rumor a URI police dispatcher said earlier this afternoon. We are still in lockdown. It s only a rumor at this time but we have to work on rumors as well.
The frenzy around the report inundated the university s website shutting down the homepage because of what officials called extraordinarily high volume.
Roughly two hours after she initially fled Chafee Kinzler said she started to calm down a little after she learned no one was hurt and it appears the situation wasn t as dire as it initially seemed. She added that even as hundreds fled some staff members were caught on Chafee s top floor though they were since escorted out by police.
The campus is completely bare right now she said. But we know the situation is OK.

Why Are Some People Better Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery?

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, March 26, 2013 0 comments

Why Are Some People Better Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery?

Just when you think you have found the solution to your problems with balding, you might discover that hair transplant surgery is not for everyone. It is discouraging, but do not give up hope until you investigate to find out if you are a possible candidate. You may be surprised.

The most important thing to remember is that you need hair for the hair transplant to your balding areas. The hair has to come from somewhere on your body. Wherever you take the hair from is called the donor site. There can be different donor sites for different people.

The most common donor site for hair transplant surgery is on the head. If the sides and back of your head have full lustrous hair, you are in luck. This hair can be used as donor hair to replace hair you have lost on your balding spots. If your hair in these areas is not healthy, you face a difficult problem - where does the surgeon get the hair?

A new procedure allows doctors to use donor hair from other parts of the body. For example, if a man has a particularly hairy chest, some hair can be used from that area as donor hair for the head. This hair transplant procedure requires a surgeon skilled in the latest techniques in order to keep scarring to a minimum.

Another aspect of choosing donor sites is the color of the hair being used in the hair transplant. If it does not match the area around the balding area, it will look unnatural. The texture should be even as well as the waviness or curliness of the donor hair and the area of hair around the balding area.

If you have lost your hair due to genetics, or a family history, you will likely be a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. Men who have hair loss in their families usually have a good idea of the way the baldness pattern will play out.

Your relatives may have had hair that went bald into a horseshoe pattern and held at that stage. If this is the case, your surgeon will know what to expect. Then, he can take "bald-proof" hair from the sides and back of your head as donor hair and perform the hair transplant.

If you have lost your hair because of some kind of trauma or burns, you will also make a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. This is because the hair you still have will probably still be healthy. It will provide good donor hair for your hair transplant. The most likely situation is that you will have enough hair to make this possible. However, if you have lost too much hair, a hair transplant may not be possible.

You can benefit greatly from hair transplant surgery if it is right for you. Do not give up on it until you talk to a surgeon. If your surgeon says that you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery, you may want to get a second opinion. However, if you are a good candidate for the procedure, it is nice to know that there is a good reason you are being accepted. It will make you more confident in your surgeon.

Why Some People Do Not Want To Have Hair Transplant Surgery

Posted by Unknown Monday, March 25, 2013 0 comments

Why Some People Do Not Want To Have Hair Transplant Surgery

Hair transplant surgery is not for everyone. In fact, some people have been so disappointed and even angered about their results that they have filed class action lawsuits against hair transplant surgeons and clinics. There are several reasons they give for their dissatisfaction.

1. Underestimating Procedures. Certain surgeons and clinics underestimate the number of procedures necessary to achieve the desired effect. This leads people to have a false hope of having a full head of hair in a very short time. When this does not happen, they are understandably angry. They did not get what they were promised.

2. Underestimating Price. Surgeons usually do give some sort of estimate of the cost of the entire procedure of a hair transplant. A reputable surgeon will emphasize that it is only an estimate and that things may change once the procedures are started. Also, she will give an honest accounting of what she expects the procedure to cost.

An unscrupulous surgeon, on the other hand, will distort the facts about his hair transplant procedures. He will try to get the patient started by stating that the price will be very low. He will know all along that the procedures will cost much more, but he will lowball the price anyway just to get the patient started so that they have to finish.

3. Creating Scars. All hair transplant surgery will create small scars. Some people find them unacceptable. They want to wear their hair short, and they see the scar peeking out from under their hair, even if no one else does. Of course, there are also physicians with poor skills who create large scars and people who are prone to scarring. Hair transplant scars are a sore subject for man people.

4. Uneven hairlines. Some people who have hair transplant surgery end up with uneven hairlines. This is caused by the oversight of negligent doctors. If a person gets to work with a reputable surgeon, things like this just do not happen. However, if someone has seen a person with this problem, it will likely turn them off to hair transplant surgery for good.

5. Old-Fashioned Plugs. People with the large plugs that look like doll's hair or toothbrush bristles are still around. While this type of hair transplant is rarely done anymore, the effects are still evident among people of a certain age. If someone who knows one of these people has a balding problem, they are not likely to think of hair transplants. The only way they would is if they have some other, good, experience with them.

6. Doctors Who Put Money above the Patients' Interest. Any doctors who make decisions that are not based on the welfare of his patient are following their Hippocratic Oath in its intentions. Doctors are held to a high standard and when a surgeon tries to convince a patient to get hair transplant surgery when it is not best for him, he is not really acting as a doctor should. The horror stories are out there and many people are aware of them.

There is a higher rate of suicide following hair transplant and other cosmetic surgeries. This is partly because the patients are disappointed that their lives do not miraculously change overnight. However, other reasons for their despair are poor results and unscrupulous doctors. People who are afraid of this misery are likely to bow out.

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