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Rob Gilmore

Roger Ebert, beloved film critic, dead at 70

Roger Ebert, legendary film critic, dead after heroic battle with cancer

Roger Ebert, the much-loved and long-time film critic for The Chicago-Sun Times died today, according to The New York Times.  The Pulitzer-Prize winning movie critic wrote for the Chicago-Sun Times for 45 years and for more than 30 years was the co-host of one of the most powerful programs in television history.  Ebert died today, according to a family friend.

Beginning in 2002, Roger Ebert suffered life-threatening cancer, which resulted in a series of invasive surgeries that left him severely debilitated, according to ABC News.  In 2006, complications from thyroid cancer required the removal of his jaw, stripping of his capacity for speech, eating and drinking without assistance. 

“I looked like the thing that jumps out of that guy’s intestines in ‘Alien,” Ebert wrote in his 2011 memoir, “Life Itself.”

Even still, Roger Ebert soldiered on, still writing regularly for the Chicago-Sun Times and hosting the 15th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival later this month in his hometown of Champaign-Urbana.

On April 3, the film critic who reached the wealth and fame more familiar to the stars of the movies he covered announced that he was taking a “leave of absence” after the return of his cancer caused a “painful fracture” that made it difficult for Ebert to walk.

Roger Ebert was born in downstate Urbana on June 18, 1942, and was the only child of Walter Ebert, an electrician, and Annabel Ebert, a bookkeeper. Ebert began modestly, like many writers, freelancing and selling his work to the local Chicago Daily News and Chicago-Sun Times while pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Chicago.  In 1966, he was hired as a writer for the Sun-Times’ Midwest magazine.  Six months later he would become a film critic.

In 1975, he was awarded the Pulitzer-Prize for criticism, the first time the awarded was given for film criticism.  The show, Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, would make the most famous film critic in the world.  Roger Ebert was 70 years old.

After a series of surgeries in his decade-long battle with cancer, Roger Ebert said about death, “I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.”

Jay Leno’s leaves The Tonight Show- this time, for real

Jay Leno is leaving The Tonight Show after 22-year run

Jay Leno is leaving as host of the popular Tonight Show, and he isn’t missing the opportunity to take another swipe at the NBC executives who axed him, according to CNN.

Jay Leno will finish his 22-year run as host of the Tonight Show, with Jimmy Fallon as his replacement in spring 2014.  “I just have one request of Jimmy. We’ve all fought, kicked and scratched to get this network up to fifth place, okay? Now we have to keep it there.” he deadpanned. “Jimmy, don’t let it slip into sixth. We’re counting on you.”

Jay Leno is 62 years old now, and he represents a much more traditional form of hosting, according to the New York Times.  He’s known for his “Las Vegas-style comedy,” and Fallon, at only 38 years old, incorporates the web and social media into his act, which is more appealing to an increasingly younger audience.

According to a statement by NBC, the Tonight Show will be returning to its original home in 30 Rock in New York, from Leno’s base of Los Angeles.  When the show began in 1954, the original Tonight Show introduced a new era of television.  “It is only fitting that as ‘The Tonight Show’ returns to our state, it will be headlined by New York’s own native son and resident, Jimmy Fallon,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. 

Jay Leno has been expected to leave the Tonight Show for some time now, and Fallon’s appointment is an expected one as he has hosted Late Night successfully for four years. 

Leno first exited the Tonight Show in 2009 after 17 years as host.  His early retirement was controversial at the time, since Leno’s ratings were high as NBC executives forced him to hand over the reigns to Conan O’Brien.  Leno was moved to prime time with his own program, The Jay Leno Show, in the fall of 2009.  When that brought dismal ratings, NBC decided to put Leno back in charge of the Tonight Show at the start of 2010.  O’Brien went on to start his own show on TBS.

Even as NBC executives continued to demonstrate their lack of faith in Leno’s longevity, he continued to perform well, as The Tonight Show rose above other shows in its time slot.  At the end of March, The Tonight Show hit a seven-week high in total viewers, with 3.52 million people watching.

Jimmy Fallon will have some mighty big shoes to fill.
 

North Korea on brink of war

U.S., allies suffer brunt of Kim Jong Un’s Napoleon Complex

As if to dig their own grave, the North Koreans are threatening attacks by a “lighter, smaller and diversified” nuclear force and warning, “The moment of explosion is approaching fast.”  The United States, and its force of more than 28,000 troops in South Korea, are taking the threat seriously, with an overwhelming display of military force on the region. 

The North Koreans are believed to be years away from developing a nuclear warhead powerful enough to reach the United States, but the Defense Department is taking threats against South Korea, Hawaii and Guam seriously.  North Korea does have plenty of conventional military firepower, including medium-range ballistic missiles that can carry weapons hundreds of miles, according to CNN. 

U.S. officials have said that they see no unusual military activity across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula, even though North Korean military leaders have been warning of nuclear attacks for weeks.  Many analysts say the increasingly belligerent talk is aimed at cementing the authority of Kim Jong Un, the country’s young leader. 

The North Koreans have, however, locked South Korean workers out of a joint factory complex and announced plans to restart a nuclear reactor it shut down five years ago.  In response, the United States announced it was sending ballistic missile defenses to Guam, a Pacific territory that’s home to U.S. naval and air bases.

“The moment of explosion is approaching fast. No one can say a war will break out in Korea or not and whether it will break out today or tomorrow,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA declared in its latest broadside, according to CNN. “The responsibility for this grave situation entirely rests with the U.S. administration and military warmongers keen to encroach upon the DPRK’s sovereignty and bring down its dignified social system with brigandish logic.”

“I hope the North will ratchet this very dangerous rhetoric down,” Hagel said, according to CNN.  “There is a pathway that is responsible for the North to get on a path to peace working with their neighbors. There are many, many benefits to their people that could come. But they have got to be a responsible member of the world community, and you don’t achieve that responsibility and peace and prosperity by making nuclear threats and taking very provocative actions.”
 

Summly founder, Nick d’Aloisio, becomes teen millionaire

New teen millionaire and you make $10 an hour at your campus job

Nick d’Aloisio, founder of the popular Summly news app, has become the world’s latest young man to make boatloads of money by creating an application for smartphones, but here’s the catch.

We’re bringing the story to you because the young Summly founder is only 17 years old.  That’s right.  He’s just 17 and sold his first app to Yahoo for $30 million.

The Summly founder created the company when he was only 15, in December 2011, and received financial backing from investors including Yoko Ono and Ashton Kutcher.  The popular service sums up news articles in about 400 characters, making it very easy for users to scan for information and find full articles if they’re looking for more in-depth information.  For some perspective, D’Aloisio is even younger than Yahoo itself, which went into business in 1995. 

The company has been increasingly focusing on its mobile product lines, as tablet and smartphone use continues to increase.  Summply’s appeal is that it is great at condensing information for mobile consumption.  The acquisition is not surprising. 

D’Aloisio said that he will remove Summly from the market for now but that users should expect to see the technology that runs his app in a range of Yahoo products. 

On his website, D’Aloisio, announced the acquisition, in the short and sweet form so characteristic of Summly, on the company’s website today.

I am delighted to announce Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!. Our vision is to simplify how we get information and we are thrilled to continue this mission with Yahoo!’s global scale and expertise. After spending some time on campus, I discovered that Yahoo! has an inspirational goal to make people’s daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision. For us, it’s the perfect fit. 

Not only will Yahoo pay around $30 million to acquire the service but it will also hire two other Summply employees, beyond D’Aloisio, who will join Yahoo full-time while the firm integrates Summly’s technology into its own products.  The high school senior will balance his work at Yahoo while also studying for his final exams in May.
 

Shakira joins The Voice, one more nail in American Idol coffin

Fans go wild for Shakira

Shakira and Usher are joining The Voice, replacing Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green as hosts of the popular television program.  Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will return for the show’s fourth season. 

Unfortunately, according to Rollingstone.com, Shakira and Usher might not entertain as well as their predecessors.  Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green brought a level of unpredictability to the show that made it consistently entertaining for viewers.  Shakira can be a bit too wordy, according to the magazine, and Usher, too laid back to entertain. 

But nonetheless, their talent was sure to make up for what their personalities could not provide.  Shakira began the night with playing the harmonica in the opener, for a minute and twenty seconds. 

When lending a contestant her criticisms or complements, she uses phrases like, “I’m haunted by the timbre in your voice,” “You already have a light within you that projects,” and “I am so passionate about you.”

The evening began with the judges performing a version of the Beatles’ “Come Together,” and then auditions began.  Contestant Judith Hill had to be one of the most impressive contestants of the night, as Shakira listened.  She was a member of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” tour, and her rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants” drew audience members to their feet and judges to swivel in the bright red chairs that have become nearly synonymous with the popular show. 

The first episode of the season began with the usual blind auditions.  Each judge fights to gain 12 of the best contestants on his or her team. The judge’s backs were even facing the contestants, and we learned in the season opener that coaches make assumptions about the contestants based on the sounds a person makes when walking on stage. 

By the end of the night, Usher partnered with two star-hopefuls, R&B singer Vedo and indie pop star Jess Kellner of Austin, Texas.  Shakira partnered with Kris Thomas of Memphis, Tenn., who sang Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love.”

The second episode of The Voice will return Tuesday at 8 p.m.
 

Octomom investigated for welfare fraud, takes Xanax for anxiety

Possible jail time in Octomom’s near future

The all too infamous Octomom is back in the news, this time not for popping out eight kids at once.  Instead, she is being investigated for possible welfare fraud, after going back on public assistance in January, according to ABC News. 

Octomom Nadya Suleman is under investigation by the L.A. County Department of Welfare Fraud Prevention and Investigation because under California law, the mother of 14 children, yes 14 children, can only receive welfare if she is making less than $119,000 per year.  Authorities believe she may have actually earned around $200,000 last year.

A source close to Suleman told ABC News, “I can confirm that we have been in contact with the DA’s office concerning her income and are cooperating.”  If convicted, Octomom could spend up to three years behind bars. She’s 37 years old. 

Octomom makes her money strip-tease dancing and with other publicity appearances.  In June 2012, she even starred in her own solo masturbation porn video.  “I’d be lying if I didn’t say generating revenue wasn’t a major reason why I did it, but I found the experience was empowering and liberating,” Suleman told the Huffington Post last June.

Suleman sought out “state assistance for a brief period of time,” her rep, Gina Rodriguez, admitted in January.  “She spent most of her savings while she was in Chapman Treatment center, paying for around-the-clock nannies, security and her treatment program.  She does not expect to be on longer than three months.”

Last summer, Suleman did discontinue welfare assistance, but her money was quickly depleted after she entered rehab for anxiety and stress, according to her rep.  “She was prescribed Xanax for her anxiety attacks,” Rodriguez said.

Lollapalooza three-day tickets for $75?

Fans go nuts for cheap Lollapalooza tickets

Lollapalooza fans are going crazy across social media as word of a “cheap ticket sale” is spreading across the internet. 

According to ChicagoMag, Lollapalooza will release a few discounted “souvenir” tickets the week before early bird admission passes are made available to the public. Regular admission tickets go on sale March 26th. 

Through the “cheap ticket sale” a three-day admission ticket to the concert event is $75, well less than the early bird rate of $200 and the regular admission price of $235, according to ChicagoMag. 

The Lollapalooza planning committee released an email Monday that the super secret souvenir sale is happening “sometime this week.”  Without any warning about exactly when the tickets will go on sale, but only a vague indication about the start of the sale, fans have been going bat-shit crazy over the early release.

Just check out some of these recent Twitter posts.  “I woke myself up at 9 a.m., so I could go put money in my bank account for the @lollapalooza secret sale tickets & I’m still in bed,” wrote Nicki Sea.

Wesley Ciasson wrote, in all caps, “I will get a Lolla secret sale ticket if it’s the last thing I do!”  Catherine Clark wrote, as many of us students feel, “It’s hard to focus on studying for midterms when the @lollapalooza secret sale is this week.”

And even though the official announcement is a month away, WGN, a local Chicago television station, is already reporting some big names for this year’s Lollapalooza.  This year’s Grammy winners, Mumford and Sons, will be among the headliners. 

WGN is reporting that other headliners include Phoenix, Vampire Weekend and the Killers. The National and the Postal Service will also be featured. 

The festival is August 2-4 in Grant Park.  Good luck getting those cheap tickets, folks.

Lindsey Lohan: No Longer Hot?

What Crack Does to Beauty

At what point do the illegal antics of a previously hot woman, like Lindsay Lohan, detract so potently from her hotness that we gentlemen can safely deem her “no longer hot?”  It’s a question we’ve had for a long time.  Normally age and weight are the culprits, but better men consider factors like intelligence and personality.

It’s a question that’s been levied against Lindsay Lohan.  She certainly isn’t lacking in personality, with crimes against hotness like being totally broke-Charlie Sheen cut Lohan a slick $100,000 to pay her taxes- and violating her probation with the attempted theft of $100,000 in expensive jewelry in 2011- maybe she just wanted to pay her taxes with them- but what else has our dear Lindsay Lohan done to deserve the downgrade?

Okay, okay, so a man determined to strip the hotness crown off our dear daughter of Hollywood’s sweet little head might point out that she probably smokes crack.  Sure, fair enough.  She was just ordered Monday to 90 days in a “locked down” rehab facility for violating her probation.

He might also point out that she clearly can’t drive.  Remember her June 2012 crash into the back of an 18 wheeler?  She successfully avoided jail Monday by pleading no contest to misdemeanor reckless driving and providing false information to police.  In addition to her 90 days in rehab, she must also spend 18 months in psychotherapy and serve 30 days of community service.

But what about Lindsay Lohan’s accomplishments?  This is the girl from “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday,” two Hollywood smash dunks!  We grew up with her in “Parent Trap.” 

Surely, she isn’t totally washed up.  These days, the time she’s not spending in rehab has been with Playboy.  She did a full spread, for $1,000,000 we might add, for the January-February 2012 issue of the popular adult magazine.  Somehow, she’s already blown through all that money.  Maybe it’s the crack (that she probably smokes- let’s be real.)

And hey, she is proudly appearing on her buddy, Charlie Sheen’s Fox sitcom “Anger Management” next week, right before she ships off to rehab in New York!  They might not be the blockbuster deals of her past, but I guess you can’t say isn’t employed, right? 

Now it’s your turn.  What do you think of Ms. Lohan?  Hot or not?
 

Bates Motel: Get Your Dose of Rape, Incest, Stabbing All in One Show

New A&E Show Premieres to an Impressive 2.4 Million Viewers.

Bates Motel is a raunchy show, to say the least.  The first episode, which earned A&E a whopping 2.4 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, is making the program one of the most popular on television. 

Bates Motel is a television prequel to the genre setting film, “Psycho,” the 1960 American horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and “promises to give television viewers an intimate portrayal of how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years,” according to A&E’s website.

The first episode goes like this: Norma Bates is raped by a resentful local, Keith Summers.  Norma is eventually saved by Norman, who beats the rapist over the head.  When he awakens, he is handcuffed and leers, “You liked it” at Norma.  She stabs him to death.  All this is done to a backdrop of implied incest.  Ya, all this was in the first episode!

Here you have ‘Bates Motel’ in a nutshell.  It’s rape, incest and killing wrapped up in one sick and twisted program.  Sure to turn off the faint of heart in the first episode, there are clearly enough of you horror hungry TV viewers of primetime to keep the show going.  It’s the most popular premiere ever for A&E, and Bob DeBitetto, President and GM of A&E is proud of his TV-14 rated television show. 

“We are extremely pleased with the initial viewer response to this edgy and provocative series and are confident that it will continue to draw in new audiences.”

Though the show has garnered positive ratings from critics, parents and right-wing groups like the Culture and Media Institute disagree.  “Bates Motel is one of the most despicable attempts at TV ratings in recent memory,” said Dan Gainor, to RadarOnline.com.  “A woman is stabbed, handcuffed to a table, beaten and raped.  She stabs her rapist eight separate times and kills him… Yet A&E thinks that’s TV-14?” 

What do you think?  Would you want your 14 year old watching this show?  Comment below!

Biggest Loser Wants Big Win

Biggest Loser winner, Danni Allen, tackles Chicago Marathon Next

Biggest Loser winner, Danni Allen, isn’t stopping at winning the biggest championship of her life.  No, she’s going to run a Chicago Marathon, too.

The Biggest Loser winner, who lost a whopping 121 pounds and won $250,000 for the monumental achievement, is determined to tackle the Chicago Marathon this October.  “That’s going to be my fitness goal after ‘Biggest Loser,’” said the former high school varsity athlete, who was on the soccer team and went on to play for her Clemson University water polo team in South Carolina. 

More recently, you could find Danni Allen at her Chicago-area Lifetime Fitness running, spinning and taking spin classes to stay fit during a brief break in filming, according to the Chicago-Sun Times.  “We were the only ones in the gym on Christmas Day,” said Kim Moody, Allen’s fitness instructor on the Biggest Loser.

The Biggest Loser winner says her winnings will give her some time to evaluate the direction of her career.  She says her days of bartending on Friday nights and as an advertising account coordinator might be over.  “I’m not sure if I’ll continue,” she said to the Chicago-Sun Times. “I do have a little extra cash under my belt. It’s given me the opportunity to think beyond the desk. I’ve been given that gift of time to really evaluate my life and find new things for me to try.”

Allen worked especially hard to lose the extra weight after the show ended filming min-January.  “One of my biggest fears was putting the weight back on,” Allen said. She even went so far as to turn her Wheeling apartment into a “safe zone,” free of ice cream, potato chips and stuff she knew she would have difficulty  resisting if she had a moment of weakness.

The ‘Biggest Loser’ winner even went so far as to promise her new-found friend, runner-up Jeff Nichols, a vacation with her winnings.  “We promised each other we would reward the other one with a vacation,” said Allen, adding that she’ll probably be the third wheel because Nichols will be accompanied by his girlfriend. 

“But everybody’s talking about how I’m single and hot now, so maybe I’ll find my man on this vacation, too,” Allen said.