larry page marriage

Larry Page's marriage today was reportedly meant to be a secret, but details on the ceremony have been leaked on the internet. The Google co-founder and his bride, Lucy Southworth, will tie the knot on Richard Branson's estate on Necker Island.

According to reports, 600 guests are scheduled to attend the wedding. Among those on the guest list is former president Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary Clinton, and singer Bono.



Page, 34, and Southworth, 27, have been dating a year. The couple announced their engagement earlier this year.



Chief Executive Larry Page's wedding this weekend is supposed to be a secret affair. But his own search engine is undermining the effort. A recent Google search for "Larry Page marriage" revealed a number of details about the event. Page will definitely be married on Dec. 8 to a woman named Lucy Southworth at an "undisclosed location." According to one blog post, Page might be married on Necker Island, Richard Branson's 74-acre estate in the British Virgin Islands.

In this Web-friendly age, billionaires, politicians, and others who live in the public eye have a hard time keeping information about their lives private. Because the public is so interested in the marriages of the rich and famous, every detail of a billionaire's personal life―from courtship to wedding to, if they're unlucky, divorce―ends up shooting through millions of fused networks and popping up on millions of strangers' computer screens. It's true if you're Bill Gates of Microsoft (MSFT), Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), or Oprah Winfrey of Harpo Entertainment. Page is no exception.

Yes, the rich really are different from you and me. For most people, a wedding is a simple, joyous occasion. Family and friends gather to celebrate the ceremonial joining of you and your true love. For billionaires it's more complicated, with stresses and strains that others don't bear. They don't just have to choose a florist and a band; they usually need a good lawyer, too.

Marriage Means Business
Attorneys familiar with billionaire marriages urge their clients to proceed with care and caution. "A billionaire has to treat an upcoming marriage as a merger. But it's a merger with a potential enemy," says New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder.

Prenuptial agreements are important, but they're no guarantee of a satisfactory split if things go south. Consider the divorce of Steven Spielberg, now at DreamWorks Animation (DWA), and his first wife Amy Irving. She claimed their prenup was invalid because it had been written on a napkin and she hadn't had legal representation. A judge tossed it out; Irving got $100 million.

The prenup of Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, held up, but it still cost him plenty. He agreed to a deal with his wife, Sheila Johnson, in which she would receive half of their assets if they split up. By the time they did get divorced in 2002, his media empire was worth billions―and she got her half. "Very rich people have trouble sometimes knowing exactly what they're worth," says Felder. "Worth is often ephemeral."

Valuations are tricky, too. Donald Schiller, of Chicago's Schiller, Du Canto & Fleck, the nation's largest matrimonial law firm, says valuing a billionaire's worth is particularly complicated when real estate and other privately held property is involved. "You can't evaluate them the same way you can evaluate assets traded on the New York Stock Exchange," he says.

Dishing Dirt
Another issue that comes with prenups is privacy. Agreements can include confidentiality clauses to prevent one of the parties involved from giving out information about a marriage in case of divorce. That can mean barring anything from TV interviews about the ex to writing a book. "Prenuptials often waive a spouse's rights to develop intellectual property from details of the marriage," says Schiller.

He continued, "If it's a well-done premarital agreement and well-documented, the person trying to get out of it could end up with a lot less [if he or she goes public]," Schiller says. "You have to make it…very expensive…for somebody to give a lot of personal information out to the public."

Friendly Divorces Are Rare
It's possible to have an amicable divorce, even if you're a billionaire. When Tim Blixseth, the billionaire founder of the Yellowstone Club, split from his wife, Edra, in 2006, they divided up $2 billion in combined net worth in a single afternoon.

But that is the exception. You're more likely to see a high-profile mudfest like the one Roman Abramovitch, the Russian oil magnate, got into in March, 2007. His wife, Irina, learned that Roman was dating a 23-year-old Russian model, Daria Zhukova. Irina hired two prominent British lawyers, filed for divorce, and ended up with half of her husband's assets.

Given all of the billionaire marriages that have ended badly, Larry Page may well have a prenup ready before he takes his vows on Dec. 8. Money doesn't buy happiness, even if you're capable of spending billions.

Still, Page could give up half his wealth and still be plenty rich. With Google's stock trading near $700, his stake in the search engine is worth nearly $20 billion.

With extra security on hand and holiday shoppers waiting at the doors, the Westroads Mall reopened Saturday morning, three days after a gunman killed eight people and himself at the mall's Von Maur store.

With extra security on hand and holiday shoppers waiting at the doors, the Westroads Mall reopened Saturday morning, three days after a gunman killed eight people and himself at the mall's Von Maur store.

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The store, however, remained closed. Yellow holiday lights brightened Von Maur's exterior, but black tarps draped the inside of the doors. Wreaths sat on tripods just outside, and a note from management said the store will reopen soon. No date was given.

A makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and poems covered about two-thirds of the bottom steps of the entrance gunman Robert Hawkins used to enter the store. On display were eight foam snowflakes, each with a picture of a victim.

Outside the mall, two Red Cross vans and a Salvation Army unit were set up near the food court entrance.

Early shoppers faced wind chill temperatures of only two degrees above zero before trickling into the food court or the mall proper, as retailers started raising their security gates at 8 a.m.

Marge Andrews said there was a very different feeling in the mall Saturday compared to her regular walks there with a friend. She and her husband John, 51, had come to buy sporting goods for their son and clothes for their daughter.

"I come out here almost every morning, and (today) it was kind of just an eerie feeling of, I don't know, quiet," said Marge Andrews, 49.

"It doesn't feel like a Christmas feeling," her husband said.

Mall security videotape released Friday shows Hawkins entering the Von Maur department store Wednesday, leaving, then returning about six minutes later, clutching his midsection as if hiding something and stalking toward the elevators.

Police did not release video from the third floor where Hawkins fired the gun. But a still image taken from the videotape shows Hawkins with his sleeves rolled up, aiming his AK-47.

Mayor Mike Fahey greeted shoppers and reassured retailers that the city stood behind them as they struggled to regain momentum during their make-or-break holiday shopping season.

"I came in here and I was wondering how I would feel about it, but I feel fine," Fahey said. "I did not necessarily look at Von Maur ... but I feel fine."

The mall is safe, the mayor said. "We have a lot officers on duty, and they will be on duty all day long," he said.

Omaha police spokesman Bill Dropinski said he couldn't discuss specifics, but that extra officers were in the area.

The Von Maur company, which operates stores across the Midwest, said it had established a memorial fund with the local United Way for the shooting victims and their families and invited public contributions. It also said it was helping families of the eight victims with funeral arrangements and grief counseling.

Police said Hawkins, 19, of nearby Bellevue, fired more than 30 rounds inside the crowded mall, striking 11 people. Six died where they fell, one died on the way to a hospital and another died despite 45 minutes of emergency treatment at another hospital.

Three other people were wounded, two seriously.

Hawkins was a troubled teenager who spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and lost his job at a McDonald's.

"I've just snapped. I can't take this meaningless existence anymore I've been a constant disappointment and that trend would have only continued," he wrote in a suicide note left at the suburban house where he lived.

Some who knew Hawkins in suburban Bellevue said Friday that they tried to warn police about his recent behavior.

Kevin Harrington, who lived nearby, said he contacted police a month ago to report his and other parents' concerns that Hawkins and his friends had easy access to guns and sold drugs.

Harrington, 45, said he told police in Bellevue about a month ago that one of Hawkins' friends offered to sell Valium to his 13-year-old son. Harrington said he also told police that Hawkins had once shot at a car during a drug deal gone bad.

"We told them about the drugs, we told them about the guns, and nothing was done," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Nelson Lampe in Omaha contributed to this report.

Christmas holidays, Adriana Aguilar won't be joining the festive get-togethers this year with friends and family just across the Texas-Mexico line in Nuevo Laredo.

Christmas holidays, Adriana Aguilar won't be joining the festive get-togethers this year with friends and family just across the Texas-Mexico line in Nuevo Laredo.

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Aguilar, a U.S. citizen living in this bustling border town, simply isn't willing to endure what she expects will be new, agonizingly long waits at security checkpoints along the border.

Stepped-up inspections of border crossers is slowing the ever-growing lines of traffic at the Laredo points of entry. And it could get worse. In less than two months, U.S. citizens will no longer be allowed to enter the country just by announcing their citizenship ― they'll have to prove it.

The changes are raising concerns that people like Aguilar will stay away from the border, damaging economies on both sides. Laredo officials say 40 percent of local retail activity depends on cross-border traffic.

Maria Luisa O'Connell, president of the Phoenix-based Border Trade Alliance, said border cities are concerned they'll lose retail sales tax.

"Instead of choosing to travel to come shopping and have dinner four times, they're going to choose to do it only once," she said. "It's a huge income concern for cities in the U.S. ... What we're worried about is the perception that people will say, 'Why bother?' if it is going to be hard to cross."

The Texas Border Coalition, a group of local officials, asked President Bush in a letter last month to do something about the long wait times before Christmas.

Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, the coalition's chairman, said he would encourage the government to operate like any commercial entity and move the lines along: "I'd do everything to be sure the customers come back and visit my store."

Traffic is particularly heavy on weekends, with lines extending many blocks into Nuevo Laredo.

"It'll be even longer in a couple of weeks," said Francisco Sierra, who was waiting in a line of cars to get close enough to drop off his wife so she could cross by foot to go shopping.

People waited 30-40 minutes on Friday to cross the border in Laredo, the nation's busiest checkpoint. At Eagle Pass, a small border city with a population of 26,000, the wait was 55 minutes.

Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas said such waits are normal, but he expects them to lengthen to two hours or more to cross by car as Christmas approaches.

"It'll get a little more saturated," Salinas said. "Sometimes up to two hours or more ... because the traffic is going to intensify. But as the traffic intensifies, all the lanes are being opened, there's more personnel."

Aguilar said that in three border-crossings in the last two months, she had to show a photo ID to get back into the U.S., rather than just announce her citizenship to the border agent.

Aguilar is now getting her passport in preparation for requirements going into effect next year as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. As of Jan. 31, 2008, U.S. and Canadian citizens 19 years and older who enter at land and sea ports of entry will have to present either a passport or a photo ID plus proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Kelly Klundt said when fully implemented, the checks should reduce the wait time.

She said any increase in ID inspections is not a dry run for January and that the "de facto process of CBP officers for years has been to ask for any supporting documentation."

The Department of Homeland Security issued a reminder Dec. 3 about the upcoming changes, and Klundt said the department is working with communities on local awareness campaigns.

But there's also concern that fewer people will cross because they've heard only vague information about the upcoming requirements or they've been warned about lengthy holiday wait times.

"People right now are confused as to what's required, when is it required," said Stan Korosec, president of the Public Border Operators Association, which represents nine publicly owned U.S.-Canada border crossings. "Then you throw in the delays and I think some people are just going to give up on it."

spitting cobra

Spitting cobra
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Juvenile Red Spitting Cobra, Naja pallida
Red Spitting Cobra

Spitting cobra refers to any one of several species of cobras that have the ability to spit or eject venom from their mouth when defending themselves against predators. The spit venom is harmless to intact skin. However, it can cause permanent blindness if introduced to the eye and left untreated (causing chemosis and corneal swelling).

Despite their name, these snakes do not actually spit their venom. They rather spray the venom, using muscular contractions upon the venom glands. The muscles squeeze the glands and force the venom out the forward facing holes at the tip of the fang. At the same time that the venom leaves the fang tip, a large gust of air is expelled from the lung which aerosolizes the venom and propels it forward. When cornered, some species can "spit" their venom up to a distance of two meters. While spitting is typically their primary form of defense, all spitting cobras are also capable of delivering venom through a bite as well. Most species' venom exhibit significant hemotoxic effects, along with more typical neurotoxic effects of other cobra species.

Contents
1 Species of the spitting cobras
2 Other spitting species
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Species of the spitting cobras
Black-Necked Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricollis)
Black Spitting Cobra (Naja woodi)
Western Barred Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricincta)
Red Spitting Cobra (Naja pallida)
Mozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica)
Malaysian Spitting Cobra (Naja sputatrix)
Black and White Spitting Cobra (Naja siamensis)
Sumatran Spitting Cobra (Naja sumatrana)
Nubian Spitting Cobra (Naja nubiae)
Giant Spitting Cobra (Naja ashei)

[edit] Other spitting species
Some non-spitting cobras have been noted to spit occasionally. Certain, predominantly non-spitting, Asian cobras do have the spitting tendency.[citation needed] The Rinkhals cobra (Hemachatus haemachatus) is another elapid species, which while not belonging to the Cobra genus Naja, is closely related, and is capable of spitting venom.
conservation group says new species of giant spitting cobra, measuring about 2.5 metres and possessing enough venom to kill at least 15 people, has been discovered in Kenya.

WildlifeDirect said the cobras were the world's largest and had been identified as unique. The species has been named Naja Ashei after James Ashe, who founded Bio-Ken snake farm on Kenya's tropical coast, where the gigantic serpents are found.

"A new species of giant spitting cobra is exciting and reinforces the obvious - that there have to be many other unreported species but hundreds are being lost as their habitats disappear under the continued mismanagement of our planet," said the group's chairman, Kenyan environmentalist Richard Leakey.

Mr Ashe, now deceased, was the first to catch a larger-than-normal spitting cobra in the 1960s and suggest it belonged to a different species.

Bio-Ken director Royjan Taylor said the recognition of the new species was an opportunity to raise awareness about snake conservation as well as find remedies for the powerful bite.

"Naja Ashei is responsible for a very serious snake bite," he said by telephone from the farm. "People don't care about saving snakes. They talk of saving dolphins or cats, but never snakes!"

The conservationists' excitement has drawn scientific endorsement from a British-based biologist.

Research published by Wolfgang Wuster, of the University of Wales, said a field visit confirmed the Naja Ashei is a new species.

"The new species is diagnosable from all other African spitting cobras by the possession of a unique DNA," he wrote in a review in July.

- Reuters

luthier

When most 25-year-olds who have just landed their first full-time job start thinking big investment, they think house or condo.

For Jeffrey Beecher, now in his second season as principal bass player for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the decision came down to house or bass.

As of this fall, he is the proud – and deeply indebted – owner of a legendary musical instrument. It is, according to its fully documented history, the first double bass, made in 1690 by renowned luthier Vincenzo Ruggieri in Cremona, Italy.

"It is the first double bass that was not a violone," says the player of a split in the bowed-instrument family tree. Today, the double bass is the only one of the modern string instruments that is tuned in fourths rather than fifths.

Its previous owner was the former principal bass of the Minnesota Orchestra, who, on retirement, decided to sell it. By sheer coincidence, Beecher had called his dealer in Holland within hours of the previous owner putting it on the market.

The decision to buy was a foregone conclusion. "Through the kindness of a (TSO) board member, I had a guarantor for the loan," relates Beecher. He won't say how much he paid for it, other than comparing it to the price of a house. In Toronto, that's a substantial sum.

This was a very serious decision by a very serious musician. Although Beecher looks a fresh-faced 25, he has been playing with the pros since he was a teenager and has a matter-of-fact approach to life, career and the performing arts.

Born and raised in New York City, Beecher had started playing drums, "but thanks to the intervention of a middle-school teacher who needed a bass player, I came to play the bass."

Before he was hired by the TSO, Beecher worked freelance, usually as a substitute bass player for major orchestras. "Orchestral playing is something I feel quite passionate about, and it was also becoming my bread and butter."

Beecher's Toronto contract allows his time to continue working with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, which he has played and toured with for several years. The bassist says the TSO encourages this type of work as it renews its front ranks with players who can bring a wide range of experience and background to Roy Thomson Hall.

"It's a way to re-energize the orchestra," says Beecher, who sees the role of a principal – i.e. section leader – more as a cheerleader than as a police officer.

Between the TSO's 100-plus concert season and his numerous other gigs, "this is the busiest I've ever been in my life."

Beecher moved from the Queen West neighbourhood to an apartment near High Park last week. But he had Silk Road obligations at Harvard University in Boston, as well. So he had to hire people to do the moving and hope it would go well without his supervision.

When in Toronto, Beecher also teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music and will be making his debut with the Amici Chamber Ensemble in their seasonally appropriate "Winds and Ice" program tomorrow afternoon at the Glenn Gould Studio.

Amici is built around a core that includes TSO members clarinet player Joaquin Valdepenas and cellist David Hetherington, and has a long history of creative programming.

Tomorrow's concert – the second in a four-concert season – is a chance to see Beecher in a much more intimate setting, playing the gorgeous "Serenade for Winds" by Antonin Dvorak. The program also includes music by Beethoven and a new piece for cello and piano written and performed by pianist Heather Schmidt, with Hetherington on cello.


Luthier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (November 2006)

An engraver's impression of Antonio Stradivari examining an instrument.A luthier (IPA: /ˈljuːtiɚ/) is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The word luthier comes from the French word for lute, "luth".

The craft of lutherie is commonly divided into two main categories: stringed instruments that are plucked or strummed, and stringed instruments that are bowed. While there are a nearly limitless variety of stringed instruments both historic and modern, from many places and cultures—the following lists give some examples of instruments in each category still in use today.[1]

In the first category are the: autoharp, banjo, bouzouki, charango, cittern, dulcimer, guitar, harp, kantele, kithara, kora, koto, lute, theorbo, archlute, angelique, torban, kobza, bandura, lyre, mandolin, oud, shamisen, sitar, ukulele, and veena.

In the second category are the: cello, crwth, double bass, erhu, fiddle, mouthbow, nyckelharpa, hurdy gurdy, rabab, rebec, sarangi, viol, viola, viola da braccio, viola d'amore, viola da gamba and violin.

Since bowed stringed instruments require a bow, this second category of luthier contains a subtype known as an "archetier", which is a French word for one who makes bows.[2] While the division of luthiers into two categories may seem arbitrary, there are those who are passionate about the difference between these categories.[3][4] For this reason, the remainder of this article will use the division for clarity and convenience.


Workshop of a luthier in CremonaContents
1 Plucked strings
1.1 Lutes
1.2 Guitars
2 Bowed strings
3 Contemporary luthiers
3.1 20th century
3.2 21st century
4 References
5 Suggested reading
6 External links



[edit] Plucked strings

[edit] Lutes
Important luthiers who specialized in the instruments of the lute family (lutes, archlutes, theorbos, vihuelas etc.):

Tieffenbrucker
Martin Hoffmann
Joachim Tielke
Leopold Widhalm,

The varnishing of a violinand in our time:

Andrew Rutherford
Richard Berg
Stephen Gottlieb
Cezar Mateus inter alia

[edit] Guitars
Further information: Classical guitar making
Two important early luthiers in the guitar category are Antonio Torres Jurado of Spain, who is credited with developing the form of classical guitar that is still in use today, and Christian Frederick Martin of Germany who developed a form which later evolved into the steel-string acoustic guitar.

Orville Gibson was an American luthier who specialized in mandolins, and is credited with creating the archtop guitar.

John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto were two important 20th century luthiers who worked with archtop guitars.

Lloyd Loar, worked briefly for the Gibson Guitar Corporation making mandolins and guitars. His designs for a family of archtop instruments (mandolin, mandola, guitar, et cetera) are held in high esteem by today's luthiers, who seek to reproduce their sound.

Paul Bigsby's innovation of the tremolo arm for archtop and electric guitars is still in use today and may have influenced Leo Fender's design for the Stratocaster solid body electric guitar, as well as the Jaguar and Jazzmaster.

Concurrent with Fender's work, guitarist Les Paul independently developed a solid body electric guitar. However both Fender and Paul were preceded by Adolph Rickenbacher's Bakelite "frying pan" solid body electric guitar developed with and patented by George Beauchamp.[5]

A company founded by luthier Friedrich Gretsch and continued by his son and grandson, Fred and Fred Jr., originally made banjos, but is more famous today for its electric guitars.

Bill and Reg May, two Australian brothers and luthiers, founded the Maton company which makes acoustic guitars.

The late Bernardo Chavez Rico began his career as a banjo and ukulele maker but went on to develop a distinctive line of electric guitars through his company, B.C. Rich.

Dana Bourgeois is a luthier who specializes in acoustic guitars; Jol Dantzig is an American luthier and one of the founders of Hamer Guitars; Paul Reed Smith, founder of PRS Guitars, makes electric guitars; and Dean Zalinsky is the founder of Dean Guitars.

Yuri Landman is an experimental luthier who builds electric guitars with 3rd bridges and other applications to enhance the colour of an electric guitar. in 2006 he built the Moodswinger.

Andrew Ellis is an Australian Luthier based in Perth. He is the founder of Ellis Guitars and has produced some innovative guitars such as the 8 String Tricone resonator guitar which is a world first guitar played by James michael thompson.

Other luthiers include John Bailey, Richard Echeverria, Del Langejans, Paul Languedoc, Linda Manzer, Godefroy Maruejouls, Neal Moser, Monty Novotny, Ned Steinberger, Bob Taylor, Carl Thompson, John Suhr, Mike Sabre (John MacLaughlin, Shakti), Tom Anderson, Kim Walker, and Rick Turner.


[edit] Bowed strings
Further information: Violin construction and mechanics
To put the bowed stringed luthiers into some sort of manageable order, it is prudent to begin with the purported "inventor" of the violin, Andrea Amati. Amati was originally a lute maker but turned to the new instrument form of violin in the mid 16th century. He was the progenator of the famous Amati family of luthiers active in Cremona, Italy until the 18th century. Andrea Amati's son, Nicolò, was himself an important master luthier who had several apprentices of note including Andrea Guarneri, Francesco Ruggieri, Antonio Stradivari, Giovanni Battista Rogeri, Matthias Klotz and possibly Jacob Stainer.

Two other important early luthiers of the violin family were Gasparo da Salò of Brescia, Italy and Gasparo Duiffopruggar of Austria who were each originally credited with invention of the first violin. However, this attribute has since been removed but is still often incorrectly cited. da Salò had at least one important apprentice--Giovanni Paolo Maggini who inherited da Salò's business in Brescia upon da Salò's death.

Of those luthiers born in the mid 17th century, there are Giovanni Grancino, Carlo Giuseppe Testore and son Carlo Antonio Testore, all from Milan. From Venice the luthiers Matteo Goffriller, Domenico Montagnana, Sanctus Seraphin and Carlo Annibale Tononi were principals in the Venetian school of violin making (although the latter began his career in Bologna).[6] The Bergonzi family of luthiers were the successors to the Amati family in Cremona. David Tecchler who was born in Austria later worked in both Venice and Rome.

Important luthiers from the early 18th century include Nicolò Gagliano of Naples, Italy, Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi of Milan and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini who roamed throughout Italy during his lifetime. From Austria originally, Leopold Widhalm later established himself in Nürnberg, Germany.

The early 19th century luthiers of the Mirecourt school of violin making in France were the Vuillaume family, Charles Jean Baptiste Collin-Mezin, and Collin-Mezin's son, Charles Collin-Mezin, Jr..

Jérôme-Thibouville-Lamy was the most important musical instrument maker in France. The firm started making wind instruments around 1730 at La Couture-Boussey then moved to Mirecourt around 1760 and started making violins, guitars, mandolins and musical accessories. It was very successful, and opened offices in Paris, then in London. It made thousands of quality instruments that were exported throughout the world.


[edit] Contemporary luthiers

naked twister

DUNCANVILLE, Texas (AP) - One popular address in Duncanville -- for adults -- is Jim Trulock's split-level home.

The Associated Press reports the house has a group sex room and attracts as many as 100 people to swinger parties featuring "Naked Twister" nights.

But the festivities could soon be over.

In response to neighbor complaints, the Dallas-area city has outlawed sex clubs in residential areas.

Citations have been issued. Search warrants may be next.

Neighbors have complained of noise, traffic and parking problems on Friday and Saturday nights, when Trulock's home becomes "The Cherry Pit."

Duncanville officials say Trulock is operating a business featuring live sex acts.

But attorneys for Trulock say the Cherry Pit is nothing more than a private residence where friends get together to socialize in whatever way they prefer.

Guests are encouraged to make "voluntary donations" to cover the cost of food and refreshments. Organizers deny that anyone is charged admission.

On the Net:

Just wanted to give you an update on the ongoing writers strike, before you head off to your glorious weekends of skiing, Christmas shopping, Naked Twister parties and whatever else you folks do on Saturdays and Sundays.

Talks broke off between producers and the writers on Friday, after four days of talks that at first seemed to be productive and then ... well, not so much. In fact, the Writers Guild of America sent out a letter Friday afternoon that pretty much said that the producers were dragging their heels in the talks and even accused them of trying to sabotage the talks. Of course, the Alliance of Motion Picture And Television Producers also sent out their own letter on Friday to explain their side.

As 2007 is about to turn into 2008, it really doesn't look like we're going to see that many new scripted shows for the rest of the season (besides what is already in the can and will be seen in January and February). This could last for months.

Tags: amptp, hollywood writers, producers, strike, wga, writers guild of america, writers strike

jamario moon

One of this year's top rookies was not in drafted in the first or second round of last June's draft. Hell, he didn't even play college ball � unless you count community college. Instead, this 27-year-old rookie had to grind to make it to the League. Nearly six years of playing everywhere from Dodge City, Kansas to Monterrey, Mexico, he is now the starting small forward for the Toronto Raptors. Rags to riches?



Yep, meet Jamario Moon.



At 6-8 and 200 pounds, Moon's long slender frame and versatile skill set can be compared to a poor man's Tayshaun Prince or Scottie Pippen. He can play three positions, and he does it on both ends of the floor. In a game last week against the Bulls, Moon used his long arms to block six shots and get three steals to go along with his 15 points and nine rebounds. He has shown the ability to dish the rock and has impressive athleticism. Moon has already thrown down some nasty jams so far in his month-long career.



For the season, this rookie is averaging a very respectable 9.1 points, 7.4 boards, 1.31 steals and 1.62 blocks. His stellar play and stats have left fans, opposing teams and fantasy basketball enthusiasts asking the same question: Where the hell did this kid come from?



Coming out of high school in Alabama in '00, Moon signed to Mississippi State, but poor grades led him to Meridian Community College in Mississippi instead. After one season there, he dropped his name in the draft where he was ignored by all 29 teams. From there, Moon embarked on a basketball odyssey that took him to the CBA, NBDL, ABA, Italy, Mexico and even a brief stint with the Harlem Globetrotters.



It was last season where Moon's game really developed as a member of the CBA's Albany Patroons. Under former NBA All Star and current Patroon head coach Michael Ray Richardson, Moon developed a knack for playing D. After scouts took notice, Moon was invited to the Raptors' summer league squad, where he performed well. His solid play continued into the preseason where GM and known talent finder Bryan Collangelo took notice and signed the unknown Moon to a contract.



While he has been the Cinderella of the league so far, many (haters) question whether he can keep up at this pace. My opinion? I think Moon has staying power in this league because of the road he had to take.



There is something to be said about people who make it the hard way. Look at guys like Ben Wallace, Raja Bell, David Wesley and Darrell Armstrong. All got in the NBA through the back door and all have made an impact and had staying power. Jamario is no different. Sure, he doesn't have the same potential as Kevin Durant or Greg Oden who are both 19, but Moon has the hunger to stay in the league. When you come from leagues where you ride Greyhounds and play for hundreds a week, make you appreciate when you finally get the contract.



Plus he has one of those games where he can fill up a stat sheet by just staying within the flow of the offense. Cutting, put-backs and running the floor is where he has been doing the most damage - and guys like that are valuable for any team in this league. So don't expect Moon to fade away anytime soon. Watch for him to keep taking advantage of this opportunity he's got in Toronto, because he out of everyone should know that opportunities don't come very often.



Jamario Moon thought he was in for a compliment. As well as he has been playing in his rookie year, who could blame him? Sam Mitchell, though, had other ideas.

Mitchell was asked in his post-practice media scrum whether he had spoken to Moon about his reluctance to drive to the hoop.

His response was comical.

"One second, let me ask him," Mitchell said before yelling to Moon, who was shooting free throws. "Jamario. Did we talk about you driving to the basket.?"

Moon replied with a "Yup."



"Did you get it?," Mitchell said.

"I got it," Moon answered.

Mitchell was upset that Moon, with all his speed, energy and hops, had not made one drive to the basket in the past two games.

"I asked him in front of the whole team," Mitchell said. "I said, 'Jamario, did you know you have set a new NBA record?' He started smiling. I said 'It's not blocked shots, it's not rebounds. It's playing eighty minutes in two consecutive games and not attempting one free throw. That's got to be a record.'

"That's when his smile turned into a frown. I then told him I had one more record for him. He does that again and it's going to be a record how quickly I have him sitting beside me (on the bench)."

Turns out Mitchell was cutting Moon a little slack. He actually hasn't gotten to the line in three games.

EASY BEING GREEN NOW

Don't expect to hear Mitchell praising the lesser-known Boston Celtics any time soon no matter what numbers the likes of Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, James Posey or any other Celtics outside of the big three put up.

"You are playing with three guys who are getting all the attention so you are going to get a lot more open looks," Mitchell said.

Jamario Moon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Jamario Moon
Position Small forward
Nickname Moonshine, Apollo 33
League NBA
Height 6 ft 8.5 in (2.04 m)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg)
Team Toronto Raptors
Nationality USA
Born June 13, 1980 (1980-06-13) (age 27)
Goodwater, Alabama
High school Coosa Central,
Rockford, Alabama
College Meridian Community College (2001)
Draft Undrafted, 2001
Pro career 2001�present
Former teams Mobile Revelers (2001)
Dodge City Legend
Mobile Revelers (2002)
Huntsville Flight (2003)
Oklahoma Storm (2004)
Harlem Globetrotters (2004)
Rockford Lightning (2004)
Kentucky Colonels
Rome Gladiators (2005)
Albany Patroons (2005�2006)
Fort Worth Flyers (2006)
Marietta Storm (2006)
Fuerza Regia (2006)
Albany Patroons (2006)
Gary Steelheads (2007)
Fuerza Regia (2007)
Arkansas RimRockers
Jamario Raman Moon (born June 13, 1980, in Goodwater, Alabama) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Toronto Raptors. He has played for the CBA's Albany Patroons,[1] Fuerza Regia in the LNBP, and most recently the USBL Gary Steelheads.[2][3][4] He attended Meridian Community College where he averaged 20.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds. Moon entered the 2001 NBA Draft but he was not drafted by any team.[5] He is known for his extraordinary ability to jump.

Moon signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Raptors on July 10, 2007 after he had impressed in a three-day mini-camp held by the club.[5][6] In his first start against the Chicago Bulls, he had 12 points, six rebounds, three steals, and one block in 23 minutes.[7] Over the next few games, he kept his place in the starting lineup, and recorded 15 points, nine rebounds, six blocks and three steals in another game against the Bulls on 25 November 2007.[8]

sleepers

Sleepers (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Sleepers

Directed by Barry Levinson
Produced by Barry Levinson
Steve Golin
Written by Barry Levinson
based on the novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Starring Kevin Bacon
Billy Crudup
Robert De Niro
Minnie Driver
Ron Eldard
Dustin Hoffman
Jason Patric
Brad Pitt
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) October 18, 1996
Running time 147 min
Language English
IMDb profile
Sleepers (1996) is a dramatic movie based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name. Carcaterra alleges that the story is true, although much evidence exists to contradict the majority of the events depicted.

Contents
1 Synopsis
2 Truth versus fiction
3 Cast
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Synopsis
Shakes, Tommy, Michael, and John are four childhood friends (played by Brad Renfro, Joseph Perrino, Geoffrey Wigdor and Jonathan Tucker) living in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. Shakes describes the ethnically-mixed working class neighborhood as a "place of innocence ruled by corruption." This essentially means while their neighborhood is safe for children, the people running it are often involved in illegal incidents. As kids, they work for a local gangster named King Benny (Vittorio Gassman) who has them deliver bribe money to the local police precinct on a weekly basis. When King Benny and their families are not watching them, they are often under the eye of Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), himself a one-time delinquent turned priest. As described by King Benny, he would have been a great hitman had he not gone to become a priest. The boys respect Father Bobby deeply, perhaps more than any of the other authority figures.

As the events of the 1960s (e.g. the civil rights movement, Vietnam) unfold, their neighborhood remains locked in time as the boys realize that all of these radical change groups protected by money and upper-class standing couldn't care less about the inhabitants of their poor-white neighborhood. On a hot summer day, the boys see a Greek hot dog vendor whom they and the other neighborhood kids don't respect and tend to rip off. They decide to play a prank which involves stealing hot dogs, and ends up with the boys unexpectedly stealing the vendor's hot dog cart. A near-fatal accident occurs which results in the hot dog cart falling down a subway stairway, crushing a man at the bottom of the stairs. Found guilty of reckless endangerment, Tommy, Michael and John are sentenced to 12 to 18 months and Shakes was sentenced to 6 to 12 months at the Wilkinson Home for Boys in upstate New York; the judge tells them that it was only Father Bobby's intervention that kept them from a longer and harsher sentence.

Upon arriving to the Wilkinson home, they realize that they are not as fit for prison as the rest of the kids there. As described in the novel, the majority of the offenders, Black and Puerto Rican youths, are serving time for violent drug-related crimes. The rest of the inmates, principally Irish and Italian kids like themselves, are in primarily for assault charges and gang activity while in the company of older men. These four do not belong to a street gang and were seen in their neighborhood as relatively good kids whom the adults, many of whom served time in these facilities, did not think would ever end up in prison. As a result, the guards Nokes, Addison, Styler, and Ferguson (played by Kevin Bacon, Jeffrey Donovan, Lennie Loftin and Terry Kinney) readily abuse the Hell's Kitchen quartet as they do not respect them as violent criminals who could react with deadly force. One night the four guards take them to the basement where they engage in the gang rape of the four boys as an assertion of power and authority over the youths.

Throughout their stay, the guards continue to abuse them and other inmates physically and sexually, often while drunk, over any possible infraction. When Father Bobby visits, he explains to them that he and his best friend served time at Wilkinson and his best friend, now at Attica Correctional Facility, was killed internally by Wilkinson and warns them that the same will happen to them if they let the place get to them. When the guards put together a team of inmates to play them in a touch football game, the four are selected and think that they can use this as an opportunity to get back at the guards physically. They ask inmate Rizzo (Eugene Byrd), a fearsome Black inmate on the team whom the guards tend to avoid, to lead the team in assaulting the guards during the game. This goes through and the inmates win but the guards out of revenge toss them into solitary confinement and kill Rizzo as they are locked away. During the remainder of their stay, they are left hopeless and fear every night during which they stay at Wilkinson. Shakes is the first one released after serving ten months.

The time jumps forward to 1981. John and Tommy (as adults, played by Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup), now gangsters, come across Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub. Nokes, now middle-aged and down-and-out, is now presumed to be working as a security guard for an armored car company, as suggested by his uniform and John's line "while you were guarding other people's money".

As the two of them have both been hardened by prison and are currently the leaders of their own gang, they don't think twice before murdering him (in front of several witnesses; their status as gang leaders makes it unlikely that anybody will testify against them).

Shakes and Mikey (played by Jason Patric and Brad Pitt) enlist the help of their childhood friend Carol Martinez (Minnie Driver), Father Bobby, a local cop named Nick Davenport (Daniel Mastrogiorgio), King Benny, and a struggling lawyer, Danny Snyder (Dustin Hoffman) to guarantee the acquittal of their friends and expose the actions of the guards and abuses at the center.

Snyder's career is floundering as he battles with alcoholism and drug abuse. King Benny, by now elderly but still very much in control of his turf, pressures Snyder to work what appears to be a hopeless case.

Mikey is an assistant District Attorney and arranges to be assigned to the case, secretly intending to lose as a means of getting revenge on the Wilkinson home. Shakes is a low-level editorial assistant at the New York Times, and uses contacts from this position to gather background information on the guards at Wilkinson's. Carol is a social worker, and uses her office to access files on Wilkinson's.

Guard Styler, now a policeman, is arrested for murdering a drug dealer by the NYPD internal affairs division led by Davenport, and Guard Addison is killed by black gangsters led by Rizzo's older brother, Little Caesar, (Wendell Pierce) after hearing the truth from King Benny about how his brother really died in prison. In the courtroom, Guard Ferguson, now a social worker on Long Island, is discredited as a character witness, and the sexual abuses perpetrated by the guards are exposed in open court.

At first Snyder appears bungling and disorganized, using mainly material supplied to him anonymously by Shakes and Mikey, but as the trial progresses he begins to be effective, as he successfully casts doubt on several prosecution witnesses.

To clinch the case, after a long talk with Shakes and Carol, Father Bobby lies on the stand about where John and Tommy were the night of the shooting. Father Bobby claims they were at Madison Square Garden at a Knicks game with him and as a result, they are found not guilty as the jury does not doubt the word of a priest (ticket stubs to the game, surreptitiously supplied by King Benny, help convince the jury).

From there, the boys are reunited for a last time for a celebratory party at a Hell's Kitchen bar. In a brief epilogue, it's revealed that after the trial, John and Tommy return to their lives of street crime, and both die violently within a few years of the trial.

Mikey, stigmatized by the D.A.'s office for losing an apparently open-and-shut case, resigns, and stops practicing law, eventually moving to England to live alone in the countryside. Shakes remains in New York, and becomes a full-time writer. Carol also remains in New York, where she becomes a single mother to a son she names after all four of her childhood friends.

[edit] Truth versus fiction
Though Carcaterra claims that the book is a true story, critics have asserted that the majority of it, if not all of it, is fictional:

No record has been found for any such trial even remotely similar to the one depicted in the film.
Carcaterra's school records show that between the ages of 5 and 14, he only missed a total of three weeks worth of school; according to the book, he was incarcerated in a juvenile detention center for six months when he was 13, and he would not have had any school records for this period.
No records exist for any of the other three boys mentioned in the book.
No murders, as described in the book's closing chapters, took place on the dates specified.
Carcaterra states that everything he wrote was true, but that he did change names, dates and places to protect the identities of those involved, making it difficult to independently verify the facts. As an example, he states that he moved the location of the trial to Manhattan. If the trial had taken place in another jurisdiction, such as a different borough of New York or in New Jersey, that would not be reflected in the Manhattan district attorney and court records. The book also explains that school records were altered to show that the boys were in school during the time they were actually in Wilkinson. It is not surprising that only records for Carcaterra exist as his is the only real name used.

The version of the film shown on cable, although uncut, contains disclaimers before the end credits stating that the New York youth correctional authorities and the Manhattan district attorney's office deny that the events in the film took place. A final title card states that Carcaterra stands by his story.

[edit] Cast
New York (PTI): Believe it or not, sleeping too much, just like sleeping too little, can make you restless in bed.

Researchers in America have carried out a study and found that those who slumber more that eight hours a day and short sleepers who get fewer than seven hours of shut-eye experience disturbed nights, the 'ScienceDaily' reported.

"Although it is unclear why long and short sleepers should have similar types of sleep complaints, our findings challenge the assumption that more than seven or eight hours of sleep is associated with increased health and well-being," lead researcher Michael A. Grandner was quoted as saying.

To find out if long sleepers have as many sleep complaints as the sleep-deprived, the researchers at the University of California used data from 100 adults interviewed in the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America Poll.

All the participants were asked how many hours they slept on a typical workday, not including naps, and whether they had any complaints about the quality of their sleep and sleep's effect on their daily activities.

According to their findings, long sleepers reported more problems with falling asleep, waking up during the night, awaking too early, feeling "unrefreshed" upon waking up, and feeling sleepy during the day than those who slept seven or eight hours.

Sleep complaints were more common in both long and short sleepers than in those who got seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Women were more apt to be long sleepers than men were, the researchers found.
number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin is continuing to fall, according to new figures from the Homeless Agency.

The agency says it counted 104 people sleeping on the capital's streets on November 20th.

This compares to 185 two years ago and 275 in 1999.

The Homeless Agency is due to publish its latest report on the state of services for homeless people later today

jim braddock

Jack's (James Tupper) ship has gone down in the Bering Sea, and he has a difficult decision to make if he and Julia (Kelli Williams) are going to survive on "Men in Trees" (8 p.m. ABC). Anne Heche also stars as Marin.

On line: "Bill Moyers Journal" (8 p.m. KCET) gets perspective on the effect of the Web -- blogs, YouTube and social networking -- and the next election.

ADVERTISEMENT

Queen for a day: The final four bands perform a song by Queen as well as an original song on "The Next Great American Band" (9 p.m. Fox).

Animal behavior: The new series "The A-List" (9 p.m. Animal Planet) features a fast-paced countdown of the wildest creatures in the animal kingdom.

Holiday spirit: Sam (Vanessa Marcil) is disappointed when a client would rather donate money to charity than spend it at the casino over the holidays on "Las Vegas" (10 p.m. NBC).

Dad's the suspect: Shawn and Gus (James Roday, Dule Hill) spend Christmas with Gus' parents (Ernie Hudson and Phylicia Rashad) when a neighbor is murdered on "Psych" (10 p.m. USA).


SPECIALS
Sound tracks: "Movies Rock!" (9 p.m. CBS) is a celebration of the key role that music (not just rock music) plays in film. Carrie Underwood sings the title song from "The Sound of Music"; Beyoncé interprets "Over the Rainbow," and Mary J. Blige teams up with John Legend on "As Time Goes By."


MOVIES


Trafficking: Director Billy Corben's 2006 documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" (8 p.m. Showtime) tells the story of how drug trafficking in the 1970s and '80s transformed Miami.

Comeback: Despite a string of losses and injuries, boxer Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) makes a comeback in the 2005 drama "Cinderella Man" (8 p.m. TNT).


SPORTS
Pro basketball: The Clippers visit the Sacramento Kings (7 p.m IN TREES -- Someone call the Coast Guard! Jack's (James Tupper) ship has gone down in the Bering Sea, and he has a difficult decision to make if he and Julia (guest star Kelli Williams) are going to survive. (8 p.m., ABC)

CINDERELLA MAN -- This 2005 fact-based drama will have you cheering for boxer Jim Braddock -- perfectly played by Russell Crowe. Sent down to boxing's equivalent of the minors by a string of injuries and bad luck, he turns his career around with the help of a manager who won't take no for an answer. (8 p.m., TNT)


MOVIES ROCK! -- The title of this new special is a bit misleading, as it's not all about rock music in the movies. It's a celebration of the key role that music plays in film, and a galaxy of stars is on hand for the party. Carrie Underwood sings the title song from "The Sound of Music," while Beyonce interprets "Over the Rainbow" and Mary J. Blige teams up with John Legend on "As Time Goes By." (9 p.m., CBS)

CROSSROADS -- They're both in their 20s but sing the old songs like a couple of old pros. In this new episode, country diva LeAnn Rimes shares the stage with British soul, blues and R&B singer Joss Stone. (10 p.m., CMT)

PSYCH -- There's nothing like a murder rap to ruin a holiday with the folks. Shawn and Gus (James Roday and Dule Hill) are spending Christmas with Gus' parents when their neighbor is murdered, and the evidence points to his father (Ernie Hudson). (10 p.m., USA Network)

-- Compiled by Raymond A. Edel
Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) affects 18 million Americans and this number is growing. There is Type 2 diabetes and Type 1 diabetes. What's the difference? If you are overweight, you may be developing a diabetes symptom--90% of those with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes are overweight. If you are looking for a diabetic diet, or diabetes information and diabetes treatment, a medical weight loss program specializing in diabetics may be the answer.

Are you diabetic, overweight and thinking about what type diet plans might work for you? Then weight loss programs like ChangeOneDiet.com or others offering diet plans geared to diabetics might be an option (or medical programs such as Medifast, Medibase, etc.). Read the articles below, then take our Top 60 Diet Quiz to find out which diet plan is best for you.



Our unbiased diet analysis examines your lifestyle, dieting preferences, and needs against the Top 60 diet programs. Then BestDietForMe.com gives you the names of the FEW best diet programs for YOU, plus unbiased reports describing each company� program, complete with reviews of programs like ChangeOneDiet.com so you can choose the right one?/font>



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Overview

Approximately 18 million people in the United States have Diabetes. African-Americans, Latino-Americans, Native Americans, and Asian-Americans have a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes occurs when the body does not make enough insulin or when the insulin you do make does not work as well as it should. Under normal circumstances, the food you eat is converted into glucose (a kind of sugar) and then transported to your bloodstream. Insulin, which is produced by your pancreas, helps to move glucose from your bloodstream into your cells.

Your cells then utilize glucose as an energy source necessary for daily living. In patients with diabetes, the insulin does not effectively transport glucose into the cells. Therefore, it remains in the bloodstream and causes your blood sugar levels to escalate. If left untreated, such high blood glucose levels can result in complications that affect your vision, heart, kidneys and circulation.

Some Facts About Diabetes
People with Type II Diabetes may have a difficult time losing weight. Nearly 90% of people with newly diagnosed Type II diabetes are overweight, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Many people with pre-diabetes display no diabetic symptom. However, you might experience the following: unusual thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, or fatigue for no apparent caus In these instances, you should see a physician and get tested. According to the American Diabetes Association, if you are 45 years of age or older, especially if your BMI (body mass index) is 25 or higher, screening for pre-diabetes is recommended. If you are under 45 years but you are overweight and have any of the above risk factors, testing is also indicated.
When people with Type 2 diabetes achieve even modest weight loss (as low as 2.5% of total weight) they reduce risk factors for the heart. Ideally, however, overweight patients should strive for 15% weight loss or better, which can have major positive effects on insulin sensitivity, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.

According to the CDC, lifestyle modification, that is, a healthy diet and a fitness plan, should be your first choice to prevent or delay diabetes, due to the benefits of weight loss and physical activity. This special "channel" by BestDietForMe.com is dedicated to providing useful information and resources for that purpose.

mayweather hatton

Floyd Mayweather is a 12-5 favorite to defeat Ricky Hatton in this battle of unbeatens that will take place Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The stakes for this fight go far beyond Mayweather's WBC welterweight title. They include:

1. The pristine nature of their records. Mayweather is 38-0 with 24 knockouts while Hatton is 43-0 with 31 KOs. That means they have a combined record of 81-0 with 55 knockouts, and, as Michael Spinks famously declared before his showdown with Mike Tyson in 1988, "Someone's '0' has got to go."

2. Their place in the pound-for-pound rankings. Mayweather was elevated to the top of most lists following his spectacular knockout of Arturo Gatti and Bernard Hopkins' first defeat to Jermain Taylor, and while a good argument can be made for Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather still reigns supreme. As for Hatton, he occupies a spot in the middle to lower portions of most top 10s, but a victory over the king of the mountain would vault him dramatically upward.

3. Their historical standing. Mayweather has won portions of titles in five weight classes and is currently the Ring welterweight champion while Hatton is a two-division champion (including two reigns at 140) and Ring's junior welterweight titlist. Mayweather could further cement his legacy with a dominant victory over Hatton while a Hatton victory could make the Mancurian an unquestioned superstar on this side of the Atlantic.
Those who argue that Mayweather is boxing's best all-around fighter point to his dominance over his opposition. Few fighters have ever been as statistically superior to his opponents than Mayweather, who rarely loses rounds, much less fights. A recent CompuBox analysis determined that the "Pretty Boy" leads the sport in "plus-minus" rating ― and not by a little. The "plus-minus" is the difference between a fighter's average connect percentage and that of his opponents, and Mayweather's plus-30 (46 percent to 16 percent) is seven percentage points ahead of his closest competition, Juan Diaz, who owns a plus-23.

Mayweather's rating compares favorably to the prime Roy Jones (plus-23) and Pernell Whitaker (plus-16). For the record, Hatton's rating is a plus-five (34 percent to 29 percent), which is tied for 16th with Jones, Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Numbers often confirm what each fighter must do in order to give himself the best chance of success. For Mayweather, his plan consists of blunting Hatton's pressure, limit his opponent's offense and use his hand speed to build an insurmountable lead on the scorecards.









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Mayweather's past proves that he can effectively deal with a full-frontal assault. On Nov. 10, 2001, Mayweather defended his WBC super featherweight crown for the final time against Mexican whirlwind Jesus Chavez. Chavez did not allow Mayweather's slickness to deter him as he unleashed an average of 103 punches per round, 66 of which were power punches.

On the positive side, Mayweather was forced to pick up his work rate slightly as he threw 51 punches per round as opposed to his 48 against Genaro Hernandez, Carlos Hernandez, Angel Manfredy and Goyo Vargas. But Chavez was unable to make his 925 punches count as he landed just 182 of them (20 percent) while Mayweather's accurate fists continually caught Chavez coming in, landing 197 of 456 total punches (43 percent) and a searing 51 percent of his power punches (163 of 317).

In his rematch with Jose Luis Castillo, Mayweather used his defensive skills and marksmanship to keep Castillo's offense at bay. The Mexican only managed to throw 50 punches per round and land 11 of them for 23 percent accuracy and connect on 24 percent of his 427 power shots. Meanwhile, Mayweather was effective and efficient as he landed 41 percent of his 33 punches per round overall and 45 percent of his 14 power attempts.

As Mayweather rose in weight, he remained boxing's version of Princeton's slow-down offense in college basketball. In his most recent outing against WBC super welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya this past May 5, Mayweather curbed "The Golden Boy's" output like few fighters ever have. Mayweather limited De La Hoya to 21 percent accuracy overall (122 of 587, an average of 49 punches thrown and 10 landed), 16 percent on his usually vaunted jab (40 of 246) and 24 percent of his power punches (82 of 341).

Meanwhile, Mayweather got a lot of work done with his 40 punches per round as he landed 207 of 481 blows overall (43 percent), 69 of his 240 jabs (29 percent) and 138 of 241 power punches (a scintillating 57 percent). Mayweather topped 60 percent efficiency in his power punches in five rounds and peaked at 78 percent and 82 percent in rounds two and three respectively.

Unlike the De La Hoya fight, Mayweather enters the fight as the bigger man. At 5-foot-8 he stands two inches taller and his 72-inch reach is a full seven inches longer, so he has the physical equipment and know-how to control the flow of the fight. It would also help Mayweather's cause if Hatton repeats the form he showed in his one previous welterweight bout against Luis Collazo on May 13, 2006.

Though he registered a knockdown in the first minute, the slick southpaw Collazo held his own and had Hatton holding on in the final round before losing a close but unanimous decision. In that fight Hatton outlanded Collazo by a slim 259-213 (less than four punches more per round) overall, and landed just five of his 104 attempted jabs. Hatton outlanded Collazo 254-167 in power punches, but aside from the flash knockdown Hatton's punches lacked the heft of his days at 140.

For Hatton to win he must not only follow, but add on to, the blueprint Jose Luis Castillo used to give Mayweather his toughest night as a pro. On April 20, 2002 most observers believed that the defending WBC lightweight champ deserved the nod against Mayweather and the numbers bear that out. The 5-to-1 underdog outlanded "The Pretty Boy" 203-157 in total punches, including a hefty 173-66 edge in connected power punches, many of which targeted the body.

Castillo, who on this night landed more punches against Mayweather than any other opponent tracked by CompuBox, got stronger as the fight went on as he out-connected Mayweather in each of the final eight rounds. Castillo averaged 42 total punches thrown in the round to Mayweather's 37, but the real key was his 46 percent accuracy in power punches.

Hatton has already proven that he can impose his smothering style against a Hall of Fame caliber fighter. On June 4, 2005 in Manchester, Hatton squared off against Kostya Tszyu, who at 35 was chronologically past his best days but was still considered a favorite against the hometown hero.

Though their numbers were remarkably similar (200 of 647 for Hatton overall and 200 of 619 for Tszyu and a 172-162 connect edge for Hatton in power punches) it was Hatton's consistently escalating pressure that proved to be the difference. Fueled by an adoring, singing throng, Hatton belabored Tszyu with withering shots to the body and head as well as energy-sapping roughhousing maneuvers to suck the energy out of the Russian-Australian. An exhausted Tszyu and a compassionate Johnny Lewis chose to halt the contest before the start of the final round.

"The Mad Hatter" couldn't have had a better lead-in to a career-defining fight as he did on June 23 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. There he used a scathing hook to the liver to leave Jose Luis Castillo a pain-wracked wreck after less than four rounds of action. Hatton outlanded Castillo in every round, with his advantage being most pronounced in the power punch category. There, he out-connected Castillo 38-18 in the first two rounds and 76-47 overall. Hatton's work-rate, usually in the low 50s, was at 58 in the first three rounds and he topped 20 connects in each stanza. But it was that final hook that told the world that he was ready for "The Pretty Boy."

Who will remain "Undefeated" after Dec. 8? The career numbers are similar. Mayweather is an 11-year pro while Hatton has 10 years of service.

Mayweather has fought 265 rounds while Hatton amassed 240. Mayweather has four first-round knockouts (none since seventh pro fight) while Hatton has five (none since his ninth fight). Mayweather's longest inactive period was 244 days (from May 2004 to January 2005) while Hatton's was 251 days (May 2006 to January 2007). But their styles couldn't be more different, and that's why this is such an interesting fight.

"The Hit Man" must turn up the heat and keep it high throughout the fight. Zab Judah troubled Mayweather in the first four rounds by fighting his fight and not letting Mayweather dictating the terms of battle, and he ended up losing it ― both strategically and emotionally ― because he couldn't sustain it. Hatton needs to get in Mayweather's chest, push him up against the ropes and pound away at every available target, whether it be arms, torso or ribs. His thousands of raucous supporters will do its best to keep Hatton's spirits high ― and perhaps sway the judges to give him the close rounds.

24 KOs) will defend his WBC and Ring Magazine welterweight titles against the son of Manchester, Hatton "The Hitman" Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs).

Two young fighters in their prime. Two undefeated pound-for-pound champions. Two of the most popular fighters in the sport. The best junior welterweight facing the best welterweight. It's no mystery why the fight is generating so much buzz.
The staff members of BoxingScene comes together to voice their opinions, strategies and predictions for the big fight.

Michael Katz: It's more than just my admiration for pub crawlers. Hatton has the style, and quick feet, to give Mayweather his toughest test to date. Indeed, the Englishman does have a chance to win ― and don't let anglophobes tell you differently.

But all I'm afraid Hatton is going to do is bring out the best in Mayweather and Mayweather will win an unexpectedly spectacular fight ― by points, unless Hatton's face gives out late.

Mitch Abramson: I could base my prediction on HBO's "24/7," but then I would have the fight a draw. Neither fighter distinguished himself in the series, nor did the series distinguish itself to viewers.

In the ring, Mayweather should be too elusive, too accurate with his counters, while Hatton gamely follows him around. I would like to see Hatton win. I think it's better for boxing, but Mayweather is still in his prime, and a prime Mayweather should win on cuts by round ten.

Patrick Kehoe: Mayweather Jr. at the height of his powers, sitting as WBC welterweight champion should not lose to Hatton. Focused, powerful and looking to make it a brutal inside war though Hatton may, Mayweather has seen and felt and over come it all before in the ring and that includes pressure and power and speed and injury and the derision of the crowd.

And yet... What if Mayweather has to resort to flicking and fleeing to gain a technical advantage and run toward the finish line? What will he have lost in winning?

After all, Hatton's the smaller guy ― junior welterweight king looking for HBO pay-per-view gold ― statistically speaking, and according to "Pretty Boy" himself, about on the technical level of one of his sparring partners. A taunt it was designed to be; still, could it prove be Mayweather who will feel the pressure to prove his boasts, to engage in meaningful exchanges with Hatton on the inside? Of course, then he moves nearer Hatton's power game. And that's not taking into account Hatton being able to force Mayweather into a prolonged struggle with his own quality.

Can the welterweight champion's ego handle being tagged as Mayrunner, the guy who had to run from little Manchester Hatton? Or does this become Ali-Frazier I in miniature?

Looks like there might be fireworks any way you look at it.

Tim Smith: Mayweather by decision. Speed is the key factor in this fight. Mayweather's got speed to burn, but I'm not sure that Hatton, even leaping forward, has enough quickness to catch Mayweather with enough shots to do any damage

Lem Satterfield: Mayweather by decision, or late-round stoppage on cuts. He could get caught, go down, but he'll get up.

Bob Canobbio/CompuBox: Mayweather by unanimous decision as he rallies to win late rounds.









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TK Stewart: The eloquent Larry Merchant once said, "There ain't a horse that can't be rode or a rider that can't be throwed." And that's something that I choose to remember at times like this when a guy like Mayweather appears to be unbeatable to everyone. But boxing history tells us that just when a guy is perceived to be flying higher than all of the rest, is when he often spirals down in flames. Don't believe me? Ask Joe Frazier or George Foreman or Mike Tyson.

Hatton is a helluva fighter and he has a style that will present Mayweather with some problems. Remember that a "34-year-old, one handed, part-time fighter" (Leonard Ellerbe's words to describe Oscar De La Hoya) pushed the great Mayweather all the way to a split-decision. Hatton is quicker, faster, stronger and is better on his feet than De La Hoya was by the time he fought Mayweather. Mayweather has been fighting a collection of old men and what he calls "C-level" fighters for a while now.

Like Joe Calzaghe, Hatton is better than the majority of the American press seems to think.

So, I like Hatton to be more active and land the harder punches and to win the fight by a close decision.

JE Grant: On its face this matchup should thrill boxing fans everywhere. Two talented, undefeated fighters who've won real world championships (as well as a few bogus belts) and two men who have convincingly defeated top fighters in doing so. The central difference is that one of the men, Mayweather, is a mega-talent in almost every facet of the game, while his opponent, Hatton, is a clear notch below him on the ability scale.

Mayweather has a proven chin, radar-like defense, and adequate power as a welterweight. Hatton is a killer at 140 but at 147 his vaunted body punching is simply above-average. Mayweather will likely out-speed, out-maneuver, and generally out-perform Hatton in every department.

No one will walk-over Hatton and he will pressure Mayweather throughout. He is willing to go all out with complete abandon and that gives him a slight chance. Very slight. Expect Mayweather to contently dominate round after round as Hatton is frustrated in his attempted bull rushes.

A truly great fighter beats a truly good fighter. Mayweather by 12-round decision.

David P. Greisman: The strategy rarely calls for attempting to out-box Mayweather. Rather, the idea is to pressure, to pump of the volume, to force "Pretty Boy Mayweather" to get down and dirty.

For Hatton, that might not be the best idea. Then again, against Mayweather, has anyone of late shown there to be a best idea?

Although Mayweather's walk-around weight is much less than that of the Mancunian Mauler, the current pound-for-pound claimant has adjusted well to welterweight, bringing to the table a good mix of speed and strength. He won't weigh the most, but he could look like the bigger man against Hatton, and it would not surprise to see him be better as well.

Not that Hatton won't try. This is the biggest fight of his career, and he's bound to look better at 147 than he did in his previous appearance at that weight, a win against Luis Collazo. Hatton has but one choice ― to make it a fight, forcing himself to adjust to Mayweather's footwork and hand-speed, and exposing his tender skin to Mayweather's sharp punching.

Expect blood. Expect back-and-forth shifts in momentum. And expect most of the rounds to go to Mayweather, with the win coming by way of unanimous decision.

Jake Donovan: My usual reaction to a Mayweather PPV fight is "Mayweather by decision." For this fight, I believe Mayweather will go beyond the status quo, forced to stand his ground after Hatton gives him all sorts of hell early.

The first half of the fight will be competitve. The second half, not so much. Hatton's stamina issues become apparent after Mayweather finds a way to neutralize the "Hook-N-Hold." Mayweather ditches pot-shotting, and slices Hatton apart en route to a cuts stoppage in a fight that will not quite match the hype (it'd have to be Fight of the Year to do that), but nevertheless proves to be entertaining.

Mayweather TKO in 11.

Cliff Rold: Hatton brings two things to the table that give him a good chance: deceptively fast feet and the ability to use his short arms to throw compact shots. Mayweather isn't going to have to look to land on Hatton, but Hatton has shown a solid chin in the past and looks to be in fantastic shape. Combine that with his tenacity and work rate and he's likely to land more against Mayweather than any of his previous foes.

Can Hatton land enough to win is the big question, caveated by the question of whether Mayweather would lose a decision at all given his current economic strength and relative home field advantage. I suspect not, though I give Hatton a great chance.

If not for the epic foolishness I felt in watching my pick of Carlos Baldomir over Mayweather evaporate like a raindrop on the sun, I might be prone to pick the upset. Instead, I'm staying safe and going with Mayweather by narrow, perhaps even controversial majority decision in a fight that has the world screaming rematch. Don't be surprised by a violently argued draw either.

Dave Sholler: It's easy to get caught up in the pizzazz surrounding this fight, but in the end, the bout is about the basics. Hatton is a durable fighter who likes to work on the inside and impose his will on the opposition with thunderous body shots. While he isn't the smoothest technician, Hatton has found success doing the little things, like body work, well.

Hatton's opponent, Mayweather Jr., is by far the most complete athlete in the sport. His patented shoulder movements make hitting him nearly impossible and his lightning quick combinations complement his underrated offensive prowess.

To keep things short and sweet, Hatton needs to do work on the body to be successful against Mayweather. He needs to pummel the Pretty Boy's core in hopes that he drops his hands and exposes his million-dollar smile. Unfortunately, the task is easier said than done. Come fight night, Mayweather will keep Hatton at the end of his jab and land bombs when the Brit tries to move in for body shots. It should be more appealing than Mayweather-De La Hoya, but in the end, the king keeps his throne.

Money Mayweather by unanimous decision.

Paul Gallegos: As much as I hate to bet against Mayweather and the track meet, I feel that Hatton will be on his game and somehow catch Mayweather with powerful body shots to slow him down.

Hatton via stoppage in nine.

"JC" Casarez: Expect Hatton to fight every second of every round while making it rough on the inside for Mayweather. This will be very similar to the first Castillo fight with the difference being Hatton's quick feet and his relentless pressure. Mayweather will have his share of moments but I feel the judges will look at El Hatton's activity as the deciding factor in the close rounds giving Hatton the win.

Hatton by split-decision.

Alphonso Costello: Hatton's punch and clutch will put John Ruiz's jab and grab style to shame. He will slow Mayweather Jr. down by making him waltz instead of doing the running man. Nevertheless, Mayweather tangos his way to victory thanks to the help of his Argentine sparring partner Carlos Baldomir.

Ronnie Nathanielsz: Hatton is another brave Brit but he's going to find out that he needs much more than a fighting heart ― although that helps ― to beat such a classy fighter as Mayweather.

Mayweather is the complete package ― he's got quickness, tremendous defensive skills and, believe me, he may want to cement his place as No. 1 in the pound-for-pound list and let his hands go. If that happens it will be lights out for Hatton.

It should be an exciting fight while it lasts and a great way to end a great year in boxing.

Larry Tornambe: Mayweather has never seen the kind of pressure Hatton will bring to the ring on Saturday. Hatton will not be able to land anything cleanly to earn an edge in the fight. Mayweather's hand speed will get him out of certain trouble and lead him to a decision win.

John Hively Mayweather by decision in a close fight. This could be Mayweather's toughest fight since the first Castillo battle. I think Hatton has a good shot at this if he can apply the pressure continuously and throw the left hooks to the head after throwing his right, preferably straight rights.

When opponents have thrown the straight right, on occasion, Mayweather has tilted his head to the right, resting his right cheek on his right shoulder, hands too low to protect his face and jaw. When he's done this, he's been wide open for the left hook.

In the overall scheme of things, however, Mayweather has too many skills for Hatton, but we may be able to see how rugged he really is. Will he fade under Hatton's pressure? Maybe, but by then his lead will most likely, but not necessarily, be insurmountable. Hatton has a good shot at winning.

Don Colgan: Mayweather is too fast, too talented and has too many weapons in his arsenal. Mayweather will outclass Hatton from the opening bell. He will outpunch him 2-1 in a bout that will resemble Mayweather-Gatti, except that Hatton is a far more formidable foe and will land from time to time.

An eighth-round TKO win for Mayweather over a brave, battered Hatton, who won't go down yet will absorb a thorough battering.

Dave Wilcox: This might be one of the most one-sided superfights in recent memory. I love Hatton's mentality and toughness, but he is overmatched in this bout. Come to think of it, that seems to be the case for most Mayweather opponents. Good ol' Hatton will do his best but in the end, his face will be a bloody mess. It should be target practice in this one for Pretty boy.

Hatton will have his moments early on to excite his large fan base but he won't be able to keep pace with Mayweather's speed and crisp punching. This one will end on cuts by round 11.

Mayweather by TKO.

Dan Creighton: Mayweather in a big 10th-round knockout.

James Blears: Mayweather enjoys a six-inch-plus reach advantage over Hatton, which will only be significant if Hatton keeps his distance instead of charging in. Rocky Marciano had the shortest reach of any heavyweight champion including Tommy Burns. But his fabulous physical conditioning enabled him to soak up everything Jersey Joe threw at him, until he was able to land his bomb in the unlucky 13th.

With Hatton, it won't be one blockbuster punch. Rather the unrelenting blister of blows he inflicts upon Mayweather throughout what must evolve into a war, rather than a master class of quicksilver boxing.

Mayweather looked pretty forlorn in the closing rounds of his first bruising encounter with Jose Luis Castillo. He also looked quite close to being overwhelmed in the opening rounds by De La Hoya before the golden glitter turned to tarnish, and wore off those aging legs of De La Hoya.

There's no smoke without fire. Rumors have been surfacing about Mayweather's hands. Sure they're brittle, but it's more than that. There's something untoward, and up with them right now. Although Mayweather previously punched through considerable pain to dismantle a game and brave Diego Corrales, his mitts are in considerably worse shape today. At a guess I'd say it's serious tendon or metacarpal problems.

This could be a significant factor as the fight wears on.

Hatton is bursting with power and confidence and he's at his peak. I feel Mayweather is slightly veering towards a downward slope, although he still retains much more than just touches or brush strokes of artistic genius.

Hatton has to work as he's never worked before and avoid getting tagged by razor sharp precision blows as he comes in. He simply mustn't take three punches to get off one of his own.

Mayweather is great. But he's not invincible, and he's beginning to feel the aches and pains passed on by Father Time which poses the greatest threat to his wonderful array of Jove like talents.

I'm convinced Hatton is going to fight Mayweather to a virtual standstill and win a unanimous points victory. But he's going to have to pay quite a price, which will probably involve plenty of lumps, bumps and at least one nasty cut, which will have to be handled astutely.

Carlos Irusta: Mayweather, by points. He's to smart, too fast, more clever and tactical. Hatton is always looking to slug it out, but in his last few bouts, he showed some kind of declination in his rhythm, and Mayweather is too elusive for him.

Amy Green: Not being a fan of Hatton, my prediction is at best, predictable. He hasn't impressed me against Urango, Castillo or Colazzo. And his opponents prior to them are pretty unknown and of uncertain quality, versus Mayweather's.

Mayweather will be able to outsmart and escape Hatton's bursts of ferocity and keep his pound-for-pound title intact at the end of the evening, and Hatton will serve as further proof that the Rolling Stones are still the greatest thing to come from England to the United States.

Ernest Gabion: I am going with the upset of the year and maybe the last few. I really think style-wise Hatton is the type of fighter that could give Mayweather all the issues he can handle. Hatton is quick of foot and hand, is relentless, and shows no intimidation or fear when faced with Mayweather.

For the physical marvel Mayweather is, he hasn't shown the same prowess at 147 he has displayed from 130 to 140. He is a bit slower, far less active, and somewhat less mobile. Hatton has shown he can be the same fighter no matter who they put in front of him and I think this is no different. It's going to be up to Mayweather to adjust to what Hatton is doing not vice versa and I think that is where we will see Mayweather's "0" go.

I like Hatton by unanimous decision.

Sammy Rozenberg: Mayweather by a comfortable decision.

Joe Harrison: Hatton's making a big mistake in facing today's best pound-for-pound boxer, Mayweather. It will be a real battle, with Hatton's high pressure style of boxing making it a difficult evening for Mayweather. On the other hand, Hatton did not look quite as effective when he fought at the welterweight limit against Luis Collazo. Put him in the ring with someone like Mayweather at the welterweight limit, and Hatton's chances of victory are slim to none.

When it comes to boxing, anything can happen, and it is possible for Hatton to pull off the upset. Yes, it is possible, but it will not happen. Expect Hatton to show a lot of heart, but he will be overwhelmed by Mayweather's superior skills.

Mayweather by decision.

Patrick Conner: Mayweather by unanimous decision.

Jaime Estrada: Mayweather by decision. I think he is the more complete fighter.

Bradley Yeh: There are a few assumptions I have made in order to predict this fight; I have assumed that at least the Hatton who fought Tyszu will show up, as anything less probably will not do. I have also assumed that the Mayweather who fought De La Hoya and Gatti or Corrales will also show up. With that foundation laid Mayweather still has advantages all over the place in terms of speed, arm length, evasiveness, possibly (speed/technique assisted) power, corner ability at marquee level, state of mind when the going gets tough (ability to stick to a game plan), experience with quality welterweights, experience with champions in their prime, and the list goes on.

Hatton often launches from a distance, and this will give Mayweather opportunities other Hatton opponents haven't properly capitalized upon yet. Hatton is more clever with his fight plans than some are giving him credit for, and his ability to consistently and powerfully attack from angles created either with foot work or arm placements has paid dividends almost every time he is presented with an opponent he can hit. Mayweather will not be quite so accommodating.

If you believe that the Mayweather who handled the welterweight/light middleweight De La Hoya quite easily will not beat Hatton ― who is still really a light welterweight ― then Hatton is your man, but only by KO in my book. Otherwise, unless you like unconventional betting risks, you must go for the superior athleticism and accomplishments of Mayweather who will almost certainly capitalize on the fact that, for all his strengths, Hatton's game plan is still quite predictable.

While I envy Mayweather's skills and accomplishments, I think it would be great for boxing for Hatton to win, but I am not sure that he will.

Ron Gallegos: Tough fight to gauge: I've been following the shows on the fight and it's difficult to underestimate Hatton. He's a gritty kid who still lives and plays among "his people" at the local pub, the grocery, etc. His manager is from the grit level as well and he seems to have instilled the never-die attitude in Hatton. The kid has no quit in him.

The real question of the fight is whether Mayweather has lost anything. Is he mentally dismissing or "overlooking" Hatton? If so, that would be a mistake. From the training shots of Mayweather, he still appears to be in top condition. So if he's mentally there, his condition will again be top-notch and that's more than enough for anyone in his weight class.

I look for Mayweather to box and frustrate Hatton for the first five rounds, and then he will begin to tattoo him with some power shots that will sway any judges still on the fence in his favor. He should win decisively in a unanimous decision. No knockout here.

Rick Reeno: I don't see anything to make me go with Hatton in this fight. At the same time, the fight will be much tougher than Mayweather thinks. I've always felt Hatton was the kind of fighter who matched up very well for Mayweather's style. I've noticed a pattern with fighters who manage to frustrate and give Mayweather problems. All of them, except Jose Luis Castillo, had one weapon in common: a good jab. Corley, Judah and De La Hoya gave Mayweather fits by using a crisp jab to set up their punches. Hatton's has a mediocre jab, and he won't be able to use it against a fighter like Mayweather, who sports a 72 to 65 edge in reach.

Mayweather, like Roy Jones, has a nasty habit of backing himself into the ropes and allowing his opponent to expend energy by unloading punches. The utilization of that strategy nearly cost him the fight against De La Hoya. Regardless of what Mayweather says, I have a feeling he's going to use the same strategy often and by doing so, the fight will be much closer on the scorecards. Sooner or later, like Roy Jones, this strategy will catch up to him, but not against Hatton.

Mayweather by unanimous decision.

Guest predictions sent to BoxingScene.com

Iceman John Scully: I know a lot of people have been bringing up all the ways Hatton can and will win this fight. Many have talked about his relentless pressure, his awesome body punching and his will to win to go along with his dogged determination as factors in why they will pick him to defeat Mayweather.

And while I believe Hatton is a warrior and a very determined individual who always comes to fight and is probably much more skilled than most give him credit for I also believe Mayweather is one of those guys, like a Ray Leonard, who has all the tools and gifts at his disposal.

I have actually trained in the gym out in Las Vegas when Mayweather was also training, and while I am sure Hatton works hard in the gym I would find it hard to believe he trains any harder than Mayweather.

I also think Mayweather, like Ali and Leonard before him, is a guy who has the image of a boxer and a personality first, but like those two guys did countless times, I think when the going gets tough Mayweather will respond like a champion. If Hatton thinks he is just going to bully Mayweather with no resistance coming back at him then I think he will be terribly mistaken.

I also think the majority of people that count all the ways Hatton will win this fight also happen to be people who do not personally like Mayweather and their opinions are more wishful thinking than anything.

As much as I think Mayweather is very, very immature in his repeated bragging about how much money he has on HBO's "24/7," as much as I think his friend Leonard Ellerbe talks way too much trash about world-class fighters for a guy who never fought for a living before, and as much as I think Mayweather probably will not be remembered ― for a variety of reasons ― as a true and revered legend of the game so many years after his final fight like Leonard and Ali are now, I do think he is far and away the elite of today and everything in this equation points to his winning Saturday in very convincing performance.

Putting it another way, the night before James Toney and Roy Jones fought out in Las Vegas back in 1994, Jones' lawyer asked me for my honest opinion and I told him this: "James Toney is a very good, maybe even a great fighter, but all the things that make him great will never come into play stylistically against a Roy Jones." Substitute the names Mayweather and Hatton and you have my same prognosis for Saturday.

Las Vegas is under a British invasion as thousands of UK boxing fans have traveled to the city to support Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31KOs) as he challenges WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24KOs) at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.

Prior to both fighters taking the scales, UK fighters John Murray, Jimmy Campbell, Dean Harrison, Lee Meager and Martin Gethin were announced to the crowd by Michael Buffer as they briefly took to the stage. Hundreds of Hatton fans were chanting for Hatton during the entire proceeding.

Buffer told the crowd the amount of money being wagered on Ricky Hatton is the largest in British boxing history. Shane Mosley was then announced to the stage with Juan Manuel Marquez and Bernard Hopkins. The UK fans, obviously fans of Joe Calzaghe, showered the boos on Hopkins. When Oscar De La Hoya was announced, the UK crowd gave him a very big reception and chants of "Oscar" rang out.

Enzo Maccarinelli and Joe Calzaghe then went to the stage to a huge ovation from the crowd. Calzaghe and Hopkins seemed uneasy next to each other, and the two fighters would immediatly showboat to the crowd while trying to upstage one another. The crowd, obviously, gave Hopkins hell with chants of "your next" while Calzaghe raised his arms. Moments later the UK crowd began a loud chant of "Hopkins is a p*ssy." The chant got to the veteran as he tried to get in Calzaghe's face. The fighters began to exchange words as Hopkins was pulled back by the other fighters and staffers on stage. Marco Antonio Barrera got a decent pop when announced to the crowd.

Both fighters were then announced to the crowd, Hatton receiving a monster crowd reaction, while Mayweather received mostly boos. Mayweather took the scales, weighing 147-pounds on the nose. Hatton would come on and weigh-in two-pounds



For Mayweather to win, he must do what he has always done ― slow the tempo, use his defense to induce frustration and land enough eye-catching punches to win rounds and perhaps tear open Hatton's sensitive scar tissue around the eyes. The fact that they will be welterweights wearing 10-ounce gloves as opposed to 140-pounders wearing eight-ouncers will bode well for Mayweather because of the extra padding that will protect his brittle hands while softening the impact of Hatton's punches.

The guess here is that Mayweather will pick and stick his way to a close, but unanimous decision.

whitney saint john

Whitney Saint-John
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Whitney St.-John (age 26) was a newscaster on Naked News. She joined the show in November of 2006. She holds a major in French literature, a minor in Spanish and a certificate in German. Born in the east coast of America, Saint-John grew up on the water and became a windsurfer at a young age. She quickly became a fixture on the beach. Bitten by the acting bug, Saint-John studied acting in New York with a renowned television studio. She moved afterwards to Toronto to train with The Second City. Saint-John has competed for two years in the beauty pageant circuit. It was during one of these competition that she was noticed by Naked News.

Saint-John was usually in charge of the Naked Sports segment. She left the show on 18 April of 2007.


[edit] External links
Naked News website CAUTION: Adult Content
This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications.
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From left to right: John Saabas, Executive Vice President, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC), Ulana Chukha, Manager of the 2007 Centraide campaign and Marc Primeau, Co-Manager of the 2007 Centraide campaign, both of P&WC, and Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, President and Executive Director of Centraide.




LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Dec. 7, 2007) - For the third consecutive year, the 5,800 employees of Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) raised more than $1 million for the Centraide of Greater Montreal campaign. P&WC is a United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) company.

"With more than a million dollars raised, we have once again demonstrated the great generosity of Pratt & Whitney Canada employees," said John Saabas, Executive Vice President of P&WC. "Together, we have the power to change the world and to help thousands of people in need."

Mr. Saabas presented a cheque for $1 035 920 to Michele Thibodeau-DeGuire, President and Executive Director of Centraide, during a ceremony held today at P&WC facilities in Longueuil. The funds collected during the campaign will be used to support Centraide's efforts in the Greater Montreal area.

Last year, P&WC employees raised $1,005,111. This year, the objective of $1,000,000 was exceeded by 3 per cent. Each employee gave $ 267 on average, with a participation rate of more than 65 per cent. Moreover, a record number of 230 "leader" donors ($1,000 or more) contributed to the campaign.

A number of fund-raising activities, including the traditional spaghetti lunch, variety show and special raffles were a big hit with employees and retirees. "Again this year, many employees contributed directly to organizations supported by Centraide by donating their time for specific activities," emphasized Ulana Chukha, manager of P&WC's 2007 Centraide campaign. "P&WC employees are proud of their community involvement."

Pratt & Whitney Canada, based in Longueuil, Quebec, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines powering business, general aviation and regional aircraft, and helicopters. The company also offers auxiliary power units and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., USA, is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.

cinderella man

Cinderella Man is a 2005 American Academy Award-nominated drama film by Ron Howard, titled after the nickname and inspired by the real life story of former Heavyweight boxing champion, James J. Braddock. The film was produced by Howard, Penny Marshall, and Brian Grazer.

Contents
1 Primary cast
2 Plot synopsis
3 Filming
4 Reaction
4.1 Timing
4.2 Depiction of Max Baer
5 Exhibitors' refund offers
6 Nominations
7 References
8 External links



[edit] Primary cast
Russell Crowe - James J. Braddock
Renée Zellweger - Mae Braddock
Paul Giamatti - Joe Gould
Craig Bierko � Max Baer
Paddy Considine - Mike Wilson
Connor Price - Jay Braddock
Angelo Dundee - Angelo the cornerman
Bruce McGill - Jimmy Johnston

[edit] Plot synopsis
James J. Braddock, an Irish-American hard-nosed boxer, formerly a light heavyweight contender, is forced to give up on boxing after losing a number of fights. As the United States enters the Great Depression, Braddock worked at a variety of menial jobs to support his family, but still dreams of somehow returning to boxing and making it big. Thanks to a last minute cancellation by another boxer, Braddock gets a second chance to fight but is put up against the number two contender in the world by the promoters who see Braddock as nothing more than a punching bag. Braddock stuns the boxing experts and fans with a third round knockout of his formidable opponent. Fighting with permanent injuries to his hands, Braddock continues to win and before long he comes to represent the hopes and aspirations of the American public coping with the Depression. Dubbed the "Cinderella Man," in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, he would eventually defeat the seemingly invincible Max Baer to become the heavyweight champion of the world.


[edit] Filming
During filming in Toronto, several areas were redressed to resemble 1930s New York. The Richmond Street side of the The Bay's Queen Street store was redressed as Madison Square Garden, complete with fake store fronts and period stop lights. A stretch of Queen Street East between Broadview and Carlaw was also made up to appear to be from the 1930s and dozens of period cars were parked along the road. Maple Leaf Gardens was also used for all the fight scenes. Many scenes were filmed in the Distillery District.

The TTC's historic Peter Witt streetcar and two more Witts from the nearby Halton County Radial Railway were used for the filming (in the opening scene if you look closely you can see the TTC logo on the streetcar), travelling on Toronto's existing streetcar tracks (photo of a streetcar repainted for the film).

The filming was done at night, so these important streets could be used during the day.



[edit] Reaction
Although the movie received very good reviews from most critics [1] and audiences, it fared relatively poorly at the box office during its first several weeks. During its North American theatrical run, the movie (which cost $88 million) had earned only approximately $60 million.[2] There are several theories as to why ticket sales were so low:


[edit] Timing
The film was released in summer, the season of the blockbuster. Would-be Oscar nominees are usually released from autumn onwards, culminating around the Christmas holidays. It also coincided relatively closely with Million Dollar Baby, another boxing movie that was extremely popular and well-reviewed.


[edit] Depiction of Max Baer
Max Baer is portrayed as a brutal character who behaves inappropriately outside the ring and viciously inside it (to the point of killing two opponents in the ring). Baer's relatives and boxing historians have criticized the film's depiction of him, arguing that he killed only one man in the ring, Frankie Campbell, not two (in the movie, it is stated that he also caused the--slightly delayed--death of Ernie Schaaf, something commonly claimed by the press at the time, but never proven), and was considered by many to be a gentleman. This is supported by historical evidence which shows that Baer's demeanor, both within and outside the ring, was much less brutal than the film portrayed, and he often cracked jokes.

The author of the book on which the movie was based has asserted that Baer was kind, charismatic, loved and respected, and pointed out the emotional pain that Baer endured the rest of his life following Campbell's death, and the fact that he gave purses from his bouts to Campbell's family to help give Campbell's children an education.[3]

The depiction of Max Baer in the film is no different from his depiction in the press at the time, and this image was often used by promoters to attract interest in his fights. Also, the Max Baer on screen never actually boasts about killing Campbell or Schaaf, although he does warn Braddock that he may die if he fights him, and offers to "take care" of his wife once he is gone, blowing a kiss to her as he does so. The real Max Baer (who was also an actor) starred as a much more negatively depicted, hostile boxer in the movie The Harder They Fall, which holds many similarities to him in real life.

Max Baer was actually a Jewish activist, he wore a large Jewish Star of David on his boxing shorts in fights.


[edit] Exhibitors' refund offers
In a campaign to boost ticket sales after the film's disappointing opening, AMC Theatres advertised on June 24, 2005 that in 30 markets (about 150 theaters nationwide), it would offer a refund to any ticket-buyer dissatisfied with the film.[4] The advertisement, published in The New York Times and other papers and on internet film sites, read, "AMC believes Cinderella Man is one of the finest motion pictures of the year! We believe so strongly that you'll enjoy Cinderella Man we're offering a Money Back Guarantee." The promotion moderately increased box office revenue for a short period, while at least 50 patrons demanded refunds. Following suit, Cinemark Theatres also offered a money-back guarantee in 25 markets that did not compete with AMC Theaters. AMC had last employed such a strategy (in limited markets) for the 1988 release of Mystic Pizza,[5] while 20th Century Fox had unsuccessfully tried a similar ploy for its 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street.


[edit] Nominations
HOW many ways can a man be manly in the movies these days? The film historian Robert Sklar once wrote that "each generation exaggerates its own crises of masculinity." If this is true, we must be in a doozy of a crisis right now.

There hasn't been this much industrial-strength machismo, both as cause for celebration and denunciation, since the post-Vietnam Reagan '80s superhero heyday of Rambo and Gordon Gekko. Consider, for starters, that the "Superman" and "Die Hard" franchises, long dormant, were recently revived; a sequel to "Wall Street" is being readied; a new Indiana Jones movie is in the pipeline; and that, come January, Sylvester Stallone, having already revived Rocky, will once again be wearing the Rambo muscle suit. Not one to press his luck, Rambo will be touring Myanmar, not Baghdad.


Photo Gallery
Return of the mustache
I don't want to overplay the parallels between the Reagan and George W. Bush years, but might the backwash of a colossally unpopular war have something to do with the fact that so many of our movies are -- how can I say this politely? -- atavistic?

On the far side of the blood-and-biceps "Beowulf," consider the gallery of actors today who represent throwbacks to a relatively uncomplicated male mystique. When Russell Crowe or George Clooney are talked about or written about, the tone is often almost strenuously adulatory, as if they stood for an old-style Hollywood machismo that must be preserved at all costs. Crowe was on the cover of "Men's Journal" last month as "Our favorite S.O.B." A new Colorado magazine called Shine featured Clooney on its inaugural cover and inside announced that he "embodies the courageous John Wayne spirit of the Westerns" (which is probably the last thing Clooney wants to hear).

Still, it can be deeply satisfying to watch these actors preen. A little masculine confidence goes a long way in the movies and, in the right roles, these men remind you of what you loved about, say, Bogart or Mitchum or McQueen. Crowe can be sluggish and inchoate in a Depression-era retread like "Cinderella Man," he can be thuddingly heroic in "Gladiator," but at his best, in "L.A. Confidential" and "3:10 to Yuma" and, to a much lesser extent, in "American Gangster," he has the bully-boy insolence of male privilege down pat.

Clooney, in particular, is associated in the public imagination with Golden Age Hollywood icons. In his self-deprecating savoir-faire he is seen as a burlier version of Cary Grant, while his Danny Ocean routine has some of the Sinatra finesse. In films such as "Syriana" and "Michael Clayton," he plays the standard Bogart cynic turned do-gooder. It's easy to imagine Clooney fitting into any number of Hollywood classics, from "Casablanca" on down. (Clooney is a godsend to all those women who, during the pre-"Departed" reign of Leonardo DiCaprio, despaired of ever seeing a leading man on the screen who looked to be past the point of his first shave.)

But a retro-ness clings to Clooney that, especially for a younger generation, may ultimately work against him. He's a new movie star in an old mold as opposed to, say, Johnny Depp, who has a satyr's pansexual appeal and the shape-shifty genius to fully inhabit, even unify, mind scapes as disparate as Tim Burton's and Jerry Bruckheimer's. Depp is the most original male presence in the movies in large part because he is the most original sexual presence.

By comparison, actors such as Clooney and Crowe, or Denzel Washington, rarely get to play out their sexual dynamism. Is it because Hollywood thinks there are no women who are their match? Despite their high whammo quotients these men have starred in alarmingly few erotic dramas, let alone romances, and that's a deprivation for us all. The Golden Age icons may have been men's men, but they were overwhelmingly defined by their maddening/ornery/blissful relations with women. The sullen gravitas of Clooney, Crowe and Washington in "Michael Clayton" and "American Gangster" represents an overvaluation of the strong-and-silent mystique, and it reminds me of what Gore Vidal once wrote about the humorlessness of American society: "What other culture could have produced someone like Hemingway and not seen the joke?"

Muscle men

IF atavism is truly your meat, you'll find it most blatantly on view in the brawnfest "300," where Spartan beefcake enthusiastically disembowels wounded Iranians -- oops, Persians -- before expiring valorously at Thermopylae. It's there in "Beowulf," where, thanks to motion-capture technology, the hulky, ovoid Ray Winstone is transformed into a warrior with miracle abs. Brad Pitt must be wondering why he spent all those months buffing up to play Achilles in "Troy." No more is it necessary for an actor to put in quality time with a personal trainer. In the future, all the personal trainers in Hollywood will be CGI technicians.

These big-screen blam-pow epics tap the same market that caters to World Wrestling Federation smackdowns and male-niche TV shows such as "Lost" and "24" and all-testosterone, all-the-time cable channels like Spike TV. They appeal to men who tune out regular box- ing but tune in to extreme boxing. This he-man swagger, of course, takes in a lot more than the movies these days: It's also the preferred stance in our presidential politics, where the candidates who come out swinging get the most ink. (Now that "Invasion U.S.A" '80s action star Chuck Norris is soldered to the Huckabee campaign, who's waiting in the wings? The Rock? The Hebrew Hammer?)

The "actors" in "300" and "Beowulf" fly the banner for a movie business that may one day rate the annual Comic-Conconvention in San Diego as highly as Cannes. But they're not the only screen stars who seem like replicants these days. Matt Damon in the "Bourne" movies is a heat-seeking missile who incises his way into mayhem with an almost preternatural velocity. The new James Bond, as played by Daniel Craig, is a feral assassin who doesn't blink an eye while electroshocking himself back from the dead. Craig doesn't have the suaveness or the square-cut facial planes of his immediate predecessors (and that's a good thing). In the past, the Bond movies were never really about violence; they were about how stylish you could look while being violent. "Casino Royale" changed all that.

The nauseating uptick in carnage on display in "Saw IV" and all the rest is a low-rent manifestation of the same hyper-violent syndrome often found in big-ticket "Bourne"-style action pictures. In both instances, we are witnessing a worst-case scenario of male aggression -- maleness and murderousness are twinned. (In the case of a lurid art film like "The Brave One," Jodie Foster's Charles Bronson-ish vigilante is the Frankenstein monster created by male murderousness.)

It's easier to dismiss this scenario in the slasher cheapies, which were also quite big in the '80s, than in the more serious current fare. In many of the Iraq-themed films, the psycho soldier, so familiar from Vietnam-era movies, is once more a featured player. The traditional all-American good guy is the bad guy again. In the centerpiece to Brian De Palma's "Redacted," which is inspired by a real incident, American soldiers in Samarra rape and murder a 15-year-old girl and then kill her family. In Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," also inspired by a true story, a recently returned American soldier who served in Iraq -- the son of a Vietnam vet played by Tommy Lee Jones -- is ultimately discovered to have been murdered by men in his own unit. In both movies, the perpetrators are portrayed as hollow-eyed thugs. The implication is clear: These men were zombified by an unjust war (or conversely, an unjust war attracted zombie recruits). Instead of going after the policy makers who put these men into that war, the filmmakers demonize the soldiers themselves.

If there is a more all-American male icon than the fighting soldier, it's the Westerner, and he too has undergone an extreme makeover. Traditionally Jesse James has been touted in the movies as a mythic hero in much the same way that he once was in the dime novels. In "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Brad Pitt's Jesse is a sociopath whose antennae are tuned to the tiniest quavers of betrayal. His murders are swift and remorseless. In one sequence, seeking vengeance, he savagely beats an innocent boy. This Jesse James is one of the very first casualties of the American fame industry and, as such, Pitt, who has a sly knowingness in the role, is perfectly cast. The legendary Westerner has been transformed into an icon deranged by his own celebrity. His murderer, Casey Affleck's Robert Ford, is ultimately also annihilated by his own notoriety.

Modern masculinity

JOEL and Ethan Coen have said that in their "No Country for Old Men" -- which is set in Texas in 1980 but feels contemporary -- the classic Westerner is split into three archetypes at war with one another. Josh Brolin's hunter Llewelyn Moss is the scruffy Everyman who makes off with somebody else's millions from a drug deal gone wrong; Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh, whose massive head looks like a carved chess piece and whose weapon of choice is a cattle stun gun, is the sagebrush Terminator who pursues him. Tommy Lee Jones' Ed Tom Bell is the local sheriff who tracks them knowing full well that a new malevolence has entered into the West that he cannot survive. Bell may be Old School, but Chigurh is Old Testament.

It's significant that even people who admire this movie feel cheated by its fatalism. They want a happy ending. (Don't they know Cormac McCarthy, who wrote the novel, doesn't do happy?) These are the same folks who complained that the killer wasn't captured at the end of "Zodiac." Without Chigurh's rampant, unpunished depravity, which is so ghoulish it's comic, the movie has no meaning. He represents the sheer animality of male aggression. His triumph in this most masculine of genres certifies his ascendancy in a terrifying modern world a fancy hotel overlooking New York's Central Park.
It's late on a Sunday afternoon and the actor, who has spent the past two days promoting his latest film, is behind schedule.
Still, somehow, fans knew he would be emerging at exactly that time. As soon as they saw him, they swarmed.
"It's like that in New York," he says later, adding that he doesn't get anywhere near as hassled back in Sydney, where he's on first-name terms with the paparazzi.
Five minutes of genial banter and scores of flashbulb flares later, we're cruising down a Manhattan avenue in a blacked-out four-wheel-drive. Crowe's window is down and he lights a cigarette.
With his eyes hidden behind sunglasses and dressed in his Rabbitohs baseball cap and trackie gear, he's almost invisible.
A few blocks later, confident we've given anyone following us the slip, the car stops and Crowe and I are on foot, striding through Central Park.
"We're going to the best pub in town," he says. "It has beer and some great New Zealand wines."
He's referring to his suite in an old, established and discreet hotel on the ritzy Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he says his wife, Danielle, will most likely be preparing dinner for their boys, Charlie and Tennyson.
"I'm just going to pop in and say hello and then we can go up to the balcony and have a drink," he says.
Twenty minutes later, we round the corner to the hotel and, boom, flashbulbs explode as a herd of paparazzi who have been lying in wait yell, "Give us a smile, Russell," "Take off your glasses" and "This way, Russell, over here."
"G'day fellas," he says, and we keep moving. So this is what it's like to be famous? "Yeah," he shrugs.
Crowe is sanguine about the daily intrusion of the paparazzi, having worked out a strategy to deal with them: he wears similar clothes to reduce the value of his image and is pleasant to the photographers while not exactly stopping to accommodate their requests.
"It becomes this thing where I am not running from you. I am not going to be aggressive towards you.
"You're not chasing me out of this f***ing town, mate. You're not going to do a Heath Ledger on me � I feel for Heath because that sort of thing should never have happened.
"Quite frankly, I despise the people who set the agenda that created that situation � you know, paparazzi spraying water pistols at Heath Ledger.
"You deserve a kick in the arse, mate. Who are you to make a public humiliation out of him � the guy who is giving you your living? Anyway, that's all bulls**t and not even worth talking about."

The suite where the Crowes have temporarily set up home looks like, well, home.
Kids' toys are scattered over the floor and Danielle is indeed in the kitchen, preparing the boys' dinner. Crowe gives her a warm kiss. Seventeen-month-old Tennyson, strapped in a highchair, gets one, too.
Charlie, who turns four later this month, is playing with a book and calls with excited enthusiasm, "Dad, you're home from work!" before making a joke about the name of the hotel where his father has just been flogging his film.
"He has a great sense of humour," the proud father says.
Crowe is relaxed and visibly happy. Spending five minutes chatting quietly with Danielle, it's impossible to ignore their genuine affection and chemistry. Then we're out the door.
"I'll be back to read the bedtime stories," he informs the boys.
Despite having a reputation for being a demanding, impatient, hard-to-handle perfectionist, and a history for being a Hollywood hothead who's not afraid of a bit of biffo when he feels slighted (as evidenced by the telephone throwing incident at another New York hotel, but more on that later), Crowe looks like, and is, a besotted husband and father.
"I love it," he says when asked about married life.
"It has all its ins and outs, but some people you talk to always give you the negative end of the stick. The thing is, every week, every month that goes by, our connection is just deeper, and it's cooler and it's more complete. And when you have babies and you create that family of your own, the reason you do that is because it's symbolic of that closeness."
I ask if fatherhood and marriage have changed him. He pauses, and cracks open a Budweiser.
"I'm the same bloke, but things change within your life in terms of emphasis. Touring (with his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts) is probably in the past because, if I tour, I have to take time away from my kids. I have my job (acting) and I have my family, and I just don't have space for that any more.
"Doing a gig in San Diego as opposed to reading Charlie a bedtime story � I'll take the bedtime story, mate. Any day."
Crowe and Danielle Spencer met in a cafe in 1990, five months before they started filming the small Australian film The Crossing, in which both starred.
The meeting was organised by the film's director. Crowe was 25, Spencer, 19, and he remembers it clearly.
"It was just one of those odd things. She walked in and I was like, she's very interesting, a very interesting person," he says with one eyebrow raised and a faint smile.
It was more than a year before they got together, by which time Crowe's acting career was taking off.
He was about to be cast in Romper Stomper, which would launch him in Hollywood. The relationship ultimately faded to black after a few years.
"It was one thing to be away for 12 weeks in Adelaide, but it's a different thing being away for six months in LA. We never broke up, as such, it was just logical.
"We never really had the conversation that put brackets around it. But I remember saying to her on the phone one night that I felt I was being really unfair on her."

In the ensuing years, he famously hooked up briefly with his Proof of Life co-star, Meg Ryan, and reportedly dated several Hollywood ladies. But, it seems, he always held a flame for Danielle.
"Yes. She was my friend, first and foremost. I had actually told her brother in 1994 not to take any sort of break-up seriously because this was the woman I was going to marry. And he's always remembered that."
Spencer and Crowe reunited in 2001 when his band was on tour in America and her first album, White Monkey, had just been released.
"It was getting a lot of really good attention and I had seen her a little bit. I knew she was in a relationship, so I just used my influence to get her on the tour as a support act."
By the time they hit the road, Spencer's relationship had ended. One thing led to another and, as Crowe recalls, "it was just so natural and simple" to get back together. They married two years later.

Crowe's latest role in American Gangster couldn't be any more different to his real life. He plays personally louche but professionally honest cop Richie Roberts, opposite Oscar winner Denzel Washington.
Washington plays real-life Harlem crime boss Frank Lucas, a heroin dealer who makes a fortune by running his death-peddling job as a smooth, unimpeachable small business, until he meets his nemesis.
The Ridley Scott epic is already generating an Oscar buzz for its stars and director.
The gritty, blood-soaked film premiered at No 1 in the US last month. "I think what people actually like about this film � the reason they're comfortable coming out and liking it � is the big cat gets caught, and he gets caught on the weight of evidence through investigation," says Crowe.

Scott, who directed Crowe to an Oscar in Gladiator, is not backward in coming forward about his Academy Award aspirations for American Gangster.
"These two guys (Crowe and Washington) � it could go either way," he tells me. As for his chances for Best Director, the Englishman is pleasingly straightforward: "I don't know, I live eternally in hope."
Does it matter? "Yeah. It's similar to being a tennis player and never getting to Wimbledon. I've been to Wimbledon every year and I've never won. Of course it matters."
Gangster reunites Crowe with Washington, with whom he first worked in the 1995 science fiction thriller, Virtuosity. Washington says that in the intervening 12 years, he's noticed a change in his co-star that has nothing to do with acting.
"Between then and now, I've seen his work and, obviously, he's a brilliant actor. I knew that then. You know that now," says Washington.
"The thing I like is the way he lights up when his children walk in the room. He hadn't become a father back then. He's a good man. He's a good father, I see myself in him � the way I related to my kids � and it's nice to watch."
While Crowe has a full year of acting ahead of him (including his fourth film with Scott, Nottingham), he's also about to roll into his second year as joint owner (with Peter Holmes a Court) of Sydney's rugby league Cinderella team for 2007, South Sydney.
This year's on-field successes were a bonus and have had an unexpected result. "All (the players') mates who play for other teams want to play for South Sydney.
"For however many years, Souths had to go out and drag people by the scruff of the neck and pay them double. Now we don't have enough people answering phones from player managers. And we're talking about the biggest

big wheel

Council's Winterland Ferris wheel spies on flats - again
Dec 7 2007 by Robin Turner, Western Mail


Council's Winterland Ferris wheel spies on flats - again

IT MAY be the spectacular centrepiece of Swansea's Christmas "Waterfront Wonderland".

But for the residents of expensive flats living as close as 30ft from the towering Ferris wheel it has meant revellers in glass "pods" peeping into their bedrooms and even their toilets.

The residents of Gloucester Place in Swansea's plush Maritime Quarter say users of the 140ft-high ride can see right into their homes as they travel round and round on the massive, festive wheel.

Fed up Gloucester Place resident Colin Buckley yesterday denied he and his neighbours are being "Victor Meldrews" by complaining about the wheel to Swansea Council, which positioned it opposite their homes for the run up to Christmas.

But he admits he and other residents couldn't believe it when � after complaining about the wheel's positioning last year � it was put in exactly the same place this year.

Mr Buckley handed a petition of complaint to Swansea Council at its monthly meeting in the shadow of the big wheel at County Hall yesterday.

He said of the council, "They have not taken our views into account. All we are asking for is for the Ferris wheel to be sited on a different part of the show ground so that it would not intrude into our privacy."

Council officials said yesterday it would be far too expensive to move the Ferris wheel now, but its location would be reviewed next year.

Mr Buckley said Gloucester Place residents were promised that after last year's event they would be consulted over the location of the wheel. But he says their views were ignored.

One Maritme Quarter resident said yesterday, "The big wheel is a big hit with families and is now firmly part of the Christmas scene in Swansea. But when you go to the toilet in a flat which is quite high up you don't expect to see people sailing past in a glass pod looking in at you."

In its first year last Christmas, the Waterfront Winterland attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

This year, as well as the wheel, the attraction features Santa's Grotto, food outlets, a "K2 climbing wall" on which users are showered by a snow machine, and a skating rink.

The Ferris wheel dominates the Waterfront Winterland and as it is brightly lit at night it has now become a temporary landmark on the Swansea Bay skyline.

A council report on the Winterland says, "It is unlikely the Waterfront Winterland would be financially viable without the Ferris wheel. But it is recommended in view of the comments received from residents, a review of the site layout should be undertaken in relation to the Christmas 2008 project."

In a statement yesterday, the council said it had received a petition of 15 signatures requesting a change of location for the Ferris wheel.

A council spokesman said, "Officers have met residents on site and taken their comments on board and have recommended to council that a review of the positioning of the wheel in 2008 is carried out."

Geoff Haden, spokesman for Tourism Swansea, said the Waterfront Winterland and the Ferris wheel had become a fantastic attraction for Swansea over the past two Christmas periods.

But he said, "The pods on the wheel do come close to people's windows. Having said that, people I have spoken to who have been on it are either too scared to look out or are busy concentrating on the wonderful views over Mumbles Head and Swansea Bay rather than looking in people's windows.

"Also, I have been told the glass pods spin around as people go around the wheel so they are hardly going to have a chance to nose into people's windows."

Local councillor David Phillips has sympathy with the residents.

He said yesterday, "It's not that they don't want it, they just don't want it right outside their bedroom windows. This is something which could so easily have been avoided at the planning stage. But for some reason the Ferris wheel was put in exactly the same place as it was last year when we also had complaints.

"What I would say to the council is 'why was this not done?'."

Charlotte suffered voyeurs by the busload

Charlotte Church found her own bedroom window was being looked into, in 2003, when she bought a luxury apartment in Cardiff Bay.

She found that despite splashing out ￡450,000 on the upmarket flat she became the latest attraction for tourists travelling around her native Cardiff on an open top bus.

Coachloads of sightseers were able to spot the Voice of an Angel star at her penthouse apartment.

And to make matters worse, it passed by every 20 minutes.

Guides started to point out the plush residence as being the home of "one of Cardiff's most famous celebrities". It was reported that one busload even ogled the then 17-year-old Charlotte sharing a passionate kiss on the balcony with a boyfriend.

One friend said at the time, "It's a dream home, but she never bargained on the tourists."

In Swansea, Catherine Zeta- Jones's family home at Limeslade, Mumbles has also come under the gaze of visitors.

Tourist buses regularly stop outside the house, Silverhurst, to take photographs but as part of a gated community the house is protected by high stone walls.

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani's The Reliance ADA Group proposes to bring to New Delhi what it says will be an iconic mega structure.

Its aim is to see that this structure will bring recognition to New Delhi and India, the way Eiffel Tower has done to Paris, the Petronas Towers to Kuala Lumpur, and the London Eye to London (UK). In fact, the London Eye has not only been able to reinvent and reposition the city of London as a modern 'happening' city but also reinvigorated the economy of the city.












On the lines of the London Eye, Reliance ADA Group plans to build in New Delhi, the Big Wheel - one of the largest observation wheels in the world.

It will have the potential to attract over eight million tourists per annum the company says. The pricing for the ride will be such that it would suit all sections of the society. The project entails an investment of $ 80- 150 million.

The proposed Big Wheel will have a diameter of 150 to 180 meters (bigger than the London Eye) in Delhi's central location, with more than 30 air-conditioned viewing cabins accommodating over 1200 people per revolution, will be a cutting-edge engineering marvel. It will be totally 'green' project with no environmental pollution.


Reliance ADA Group's aim for the Big Wheel with the support of Delhi Government in the form of providing land at a central location, is to build and operationalise the project to coincide with the inauguration of the Commonwealth Games 2010.

Reliance ADA Group will be setting up similar wheels in other Indian cities as well.




Reliance says that the Big Wheel will be a symbol for:
-The re-emergence of India
- The Common Wealth Games inauguration
- A national Icon of unity
- The dynamism of the city, government and the country

For the City of Delhi, it will additionally ;
- Generate incremental flow of national & international tourists into the city
- Provide new direct and indirect job opportunities
- Bring investments of upto US$ 80 - 150 million
- Generate additional tax revenues
- Be a catalyst for improvement of the local infrastructure and transport links
- Be a centre-point for national and international gatherings through a state-of-the-art entertainment/convention centre

Reliance has entered into a Joint Venture with the Great Wheel Corporation (GWC), an international company and owners of the Intellectual Property Rights for such viewing platforms, combining its global experience and know-how of developing, building, financing and operating iconic landmarks like the Singapore Flyer, which is proposed to be inaugurated in April 2008. GWC is also setting up observation wheels in Beijing, Dubai, Berlin and Orlando in the US.





Big Wheel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the tricycle. For other uses, see Big Wheel (disambiguation).
A Big Wheel is a type of tricycle, traditionally made of plastic, with an oversized front wheel, that rides very low to the ground. Introduced by Louis Marx and Company in 1969, the Big Wheel was a very popular toy in the 1970s in the United States, partly because of its low cost and partly because consumer groups said it was a safer alternative to the traditional tricycle or bicycle.

The design was quickly imitated, under a variety of brand names. Although Big Wheel was a registered trademark, it was frequently used as a generic name for any toy whose design resembled that of Marx. Marx sold the Big Wheel brand name and molds in the early 1970s to Empire Plastics, makers of the Power Cycle brand, which was Marx's biggest competitor.

By the late 1990s, few manufacturers were making these toys, and Empire filed for bankruptcy in 2001. The Big Wheel brand was reintroduced under new ownership in 2003.


[edit] Popular culture
On South Park, Eric Cartman is often featured riding a Big Wheel, particularly in the episodes "Chickenlover", "The Jeffersons" and "Cartoon Wars".
VH1's mini-series "I Love Toys" ranks the Big Wheel as the 40th most popular toy.
A yearly Big Wheel race takes place on Easter Sunday down Lombard Street in San Francisco. [1]
In the Stanley Kubrick Film The Shining, Danny, the son of Jack Torrance rides through the long halls of the haunted hotel on a Big Wheel.

james braddock

-- Someone call the Coast Guard! Jack's (James Tupper) ship has gone down in the Bering Sea, and he has a difficult decision to make if he and Julia (guest star Kelli Williams) are going to survive. (8 p.m., ABC)

CINDERELLA MAN -- This 2005 fact-based drama will have you cheering for boxer Jim Braddock -- perfectly played by Russell Crowe. Sent down to boxing's equivalent of the minors by a string of injuries and bad luck, he turns his career around with the help of a manager who won't take no for an answer. (8 p.m., TNT)


MOVIES ROCK! -- The title of this new special is a bit misleading, as it's not all about rock music in the movies. It's a celebration of the key role that music plays in film, and a galaxy of stars is on hand for the party. Carrie Underwood sings the title song from "The Sound of Music," while Beyonce interprets "Over the Rainbow" and Mary J. Blige teams up with John Legend on "As Time Goes By." (9 p.m., CBS)

CROSSROADS -- They're both in their 20s but sing the old songs like a couple of old pros. In this new episode, country diva LeAnn Rimes shares the stage with British soul, blues and R&B singer Joss Stone. (10 p.m., CMT)

PSYCH -- There's nothing like a murder rap to ruin a holiday with the folks. Shawn and Gus (James Roday and Dule Hill) are spending Christmas with Gus' parents when their neighbor is murdered, and the evidence points to his father (Ernie Hudson). (10 p.m., USA Network)

Arizona State's film library includes the standard X-and-O footage. But there are cuts that go beyond zones, schemes and tendencies. There's Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Kevin Spacey and Chuck Norris.

In Hollywood, that probably is a pretty good starting five. But ASU coach Herb Sendek isn't trying to prepare the Sun Devils for a Crowe-Costner-Connery-Spacey-and-Norris lineup.

Sendek just hopes that some of his favorites can help ASU get ready, and stay ready, throughout a long a season that continues today against Coppin State at Wells Fargo Arena. advertisement




For now, Crowe is the key player on Sendek's lineup card. His portrayal of James Braddock, a Depression-era heavyweight and a gritty champ for gritty times, in Cinderella Man has been near or at the top of the locker-room marquee alongside another Crowe-featured film, Gladiator, since last season, Sendek's first at ASU.

Sendek also is intrigued by Crowe's portrayal of mathematician/economist John Nash's battle against mental illness in A Beautiful Mind. Sendek watched it again the other night. He probably needed to see something other than more of ASU's sobering loss at Nebraska on Sunday.

But in seeking some relief, he discovered something that might turn into a motivational message before the Sun Devils' Dec. 15 game against nationally ranked Xavier or their Pac-10 opener vs. Oregon on Jan. 3.

"Nash did it without medication and overcame it through the power of his own mind," said Sendek, who jokes that he also is partial to the film because Nash studied at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon.

Sendek has been using film and literature for a long time. At the Maui Invitational, he sent a team manager out at 10 p.m. It was not a late-night search for fast food; Sendek wanted the Sun Devils to see The Usual Suspects, the 1995 film starring Spacey.

"For as long as I've been with him," said ASU assistant Mark Phelps, who was on Sendek's staff at North Carolina State, "Coach always thinks outside of the box, so he gets a message to the players. He has always used different examples that might stick in your mind more than writing something onto a blackboard."

This season has included a scene from The Untouchables, which stars Costner and Connery in a film about Elliot Ness' battle against Chicago gangsters. They ask each other what they're prepared to do. The Sun Devils watched the film. Sendek asked them the question.

"It's different, but I like it," junior forward Jeff Pendergraph said of Sendek's approach. "I've never had a coach who's done it. But it's a good way to learn things."

A Sendek standard over the years has been a scene from Missing In Action 2: The Beginning. Norris' character is hanging upside down with his head in a bag. There's a rat in that bag. Norris fights his way throughout the terrifying situation and survives.

Sendek has shown the scene to his players. But sometimes he just tells them about it and the toughness it signifies. Motivation mined from graphic scenes often is better explained than seen.

"He tells this story about a woman who had only two copper coins," sophomore playmaker Derek Glasser said. "She gave those two coins to somebody who needed them. She gave all she had."

In the bag of motivational tricks, that parable might be better than Norris. Sendek is certain that it's more effective than Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's Rocky series has been a motivational standard. Sendek played Rocky Balboa, the sixth in a series, before an ASU win last year over Southern California, ASU's first Pac-10 victory. Glasser remembered watching a movie, but not the name.

"I must be getting old, because a lot of today's kids don't know about Rocky," he said.

That's OK, coach. Crowe was a much more believable as a fighter than Stallone ever was.

James J. Braddock
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James W. Braddock


Statistics
Real name James Walter Braddock
Nickname(s) Bulldog of Bergen, Pride of the Irish,
Pride of New Jersey, Cinderella Man
Rated at Heavyweight
Nationality American
Birth date June 7, 1905(1905-06-07)
Birth place New York, New York
Death date November 29, 1974 (aged 69)
Death place North Bergen, New Jersey
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 86
Wins 51
Wins by KO 26
Losses 26
Draws 7
No contests 2
James Walter Braddock (June 7, 1905 � November 29, 1974) was an American heavyweight boxing champion.

Fighting under the name James J. Braddock (ostensibly to follow the pattern set by two prior champions, James J. Corbett and James J. Jeffries), his amazing comeback from a floundering career (that saw him lose several bouts before struggling to support his family by working on the docks during the Great Depression) earned him the nickname The Cinderella Man from Damon Runyon. His manager was Joe Gould.

Contents
1 Early life and boxing career
2 Baer vs. Braddock
2.1 James Braddock vs. Joe Louis
2.2 Retirement, World War II
3 The film: Cinderella Man
4 See also
5 References
6 External links



[edit] Early life and boxing career
James Walter Braddock was born in Hell's Kitchen in New York City on West 48th Street within a couple of blocks of the Madison Square Garden venue that made him famous. His Irish Catholic family was poor and wasn't able to provide him with a formal education or with any luxuries of life. Like most Irish Catholic boys of his era, his desire was to play football for Knute Rockne's "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame. However, poverty and a need to feed his family prevented Braddock from following his dream. After a successful amateur boxing career during which he simultaneously held the amateur championships of New Jersey in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, James Braddock turned pro at the age of 21, fighting as a light heavyweight. After three years, Braddock's record was 34-5-7 with 21 knockouts.

In 1928, he pulled off a major upset by knocking out highly regarded Tuffy Griffiths. The following year he earned a chance to fight for the championship, but he narrowly lost to Tommy Loughran in a fifteen-round decision. Braddock was greatly depressed by the loss and badly fractured his right hand in several places in the process. His career suffered as a result, as did Braddock's disposition.

His record for the next thirty-three fights fell to 11-20-2, fighting with what close friends described as "generalized indifference."[citation needed] With his family in poverty during the Great Depression, Braddock had to give up boxing for a time and worked as a longshoreman. Due to frequent injuries to his right hand, Braddock compensated by using his left hand during his longshoreman work, and it gradually became stronger than his right. He always remembered the humiliation of having to accept government relief money, but was inspired by Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, a Christian anarchist organization founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933 to help the homeless and hungry. After his boxing comeback, Braddock returned the welfare money he had received and made frequent donations to various Catholic Worker Houses, including feeding homeless guests with his family.[1]


[edit] Baer vs. Braddock
In 1934, Braddock was given a fight with the highly touted John "Corn" Griffin. Although Braddock was intended simply as a stepping stone in Griffin's career, he knocked out the "Ozark Cyclone" in the third round. Braddock then fought John Henry Lewis, a future light heavyweight champion (and friend of future heavyweight champion Joe Louis) who had previously defeated Braddock. He won in one of the most important fights of his career. After defeating another highly regarded heavyweight contender, Art Lasky, whose nose he broke during the bout on March 22, 1935, Braddock was given a title fight against the World Heavyweight Champion, Max Baer.

Considered little more than a journeyman fighter, Braddock was hand-picked by Baer's handlers because he was seen as an easy payday for the champion. Instead, on June 13, 1935, at Madison Square Garden Bowl, Braddock won the heavyweight championship of the world as the 10-to-1 underdog in one of the most stunning upsets in boxing history. Baer admitted afterwards that he had underestimated Braddock as "a chump" and had received the worst pummeling of his professional career.

During the fight, a dogged Braddock took heavy hits from the powerful younger champion (30 years vs 26 years for Baer), but Braddock kept coming, wearing down Baer, who seemed perplexed by Braddock's ability to take a punch. In the end, the judges gave Braddock the title with a unanimous decision. James Braddock suffered from problems with his arthritic hands after injuries throughout his career, and in 1936 his title defense in Madison Square Garden against the German Max Schmeling was cancelled in suspicious circumstances. Braddock argued he would have received only a US$25,000 purse against Schmeling, compared to $250,000 against rising star Joe Louis. It was also likely that Braddock's manager, Joe Gould, did not want a potential German victory to be used as Nazi propaganda.


[edit] James Braddock vs. Joe Louis

When ready to fight, the thirty-two-year-old Braddock chose to defend his title against the 23-year-old star Joe Louis. Realizing that Louis would be a heavy favorite and being an astute businessman, Joe Gould negotiated an agreement whereby Braddock would receive 10% of Louis's future earnings. At Comiskey Park, in front of fifty thousand fans, Braddock knocked Louis down in the first round of their June 22, 1937 bout, but Louis recovered and dominated the bout, winning by an eighth round stoppage. According to Braddock, Louis threw far more punches than Braddock.

Although Braddock never complained, few knew that during the fight for Louis, Braddock actually received medication for arthritis. Braddock barely lifted his left during the fight because the medicine numbed him like a muscle relaxant. Braddock's only lucky punch happened in an uppercut, simply since he failed to raise his left over his head. His follow up punch missed Louis's chin, and slammed into Joe's chest. The punch cracked around the auditorium. Only an inch short kept Braddock from retaining the title. Joe Louis worked Braddock over in the subsequent rounds, added twenty-three stitches, and moving a tooth right through his mouthpiece and into his lip. Joe Louis is on record as saying Braddock was "the most courageous fighter I ever fought." Braddock is purported to have aided Louis with some of his tax problems with the IRS later in life and the two developed an abiding friendship.


[edit] Retirement, World War II
Braddock always said he wanted his hand raised in his final fight. His last ring performance was in 1938, when he fought Welsh boxer Tommy Farr. Braddock came from behind to win a unanimous decision, breaking and bloodying Farr's nose, cracking two of his ribs, and knocking him down three times. The last two rounds were considered by many sportswriters to be the best of Braddock's life.

Following his retirement, Braddock and manager Joe Gould both enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1942, where they became first lieutenants. Before the war ended, Braddock served on the island of Saipan, where he trained enlisted men in hand-to-hand combat. In 1944, he received the James J. Walker Award in recognition of his long and meritorious service to the boxing industry.

Later in life, working as an Operating Engineer in Local 825, he helped to construct the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and also worked as a marine equipment surplus supplier, running generators and welding equipment. Braddock and his wife Mae raised their three children, Jay, Howard and Rosemarie, in a house they bought in North Bergen, New Jersey.[2]

On his passing in 1974 at the age of 69, James W. Braddock was interred in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Tenafly, New Jersey. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. The James J. Braddock North Hudson County Park in North Bergen is named in his honor.


[edit] The film: Cinderella Man
The 2005 biographical film Cinderella Man tells the story of James J. Braddock. Directed by Ron Howard, and starring Russell Crowe as Braddock with Renée Zellweger as his wife Mae, the movie had an estimated budget of $88 million, but only managed to gross $108.5 million world-wide. Paul Giamatti, playing Braddock's manager Joe Gould, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The role of neighbor Sara Wilson was played by Rosemarie DeWitt, who is Braddock's real-life granddaughter (daughter of Braddock's daughter Rosemarie Braddock and husband Kenny DeWitt).

Although the film received many positive reviews (80% were positive according to Rottentomatoes.com), some critics argued that part of Braddock's journey was glamorized too much by director Ron Howard.[citation needed] One example is that throughout the film, Max Baer (Braddock's final opponent at the climax of the movie) is portrayed in a semi-hostile (and inaccurate) manner. The character of Baer in the movie is portrayed as an arrogant villain who shows no remorse after killing men in the ring. In reality, Baer was badly shaken by the one death he caused, giving money to the family of his victim and putting the victim's children through at the University of Notre Dame, which Baer regarded as the best Catholic university in America.[citation needed] Baer's son, actor Max Baer Jr. of The Beverly Hillbillies fame, has stated that he remembered his father having nightmares over the bout. [3]

Max Baer was flamboyant and high spirited, laughing and joking with regularity. However, this was more for show than to be malicious. In reality he was regarded by those who knew him best as humble, gentle, and sensitive, once remarking, "The only thing I don't like about boxing is that usually some guy gets hurt, and it's not me."

However, short of this one discredit, the film was said to be fairly accurate, though the film is seen from the perspective of Braddock, who viewed Baer in this way, particularly after the disparaging remarks made by Baer about Braddock's wife during the fight.[citation needed]

Braddock once remarked, "If he said those things to upset me, he succeeded, and he also lost. The guy obviously didn't know what kind of a guy I am, or he would have kept his gloves up and his mouth shut."[citation needed] These words are themselves paraphrased in the movie toward the end of one round. The scene in which Baer quarrels with Braddock at a restaurant was also based on a real life incident,[citation needed] although the true circumstances of the altercation remain unclear.

daniel baldwin

Daniel Baldwin has been a naughty boy. He was supposed to show up to court this morning at 10:00AM for a hearing but didn't show up because he's in Toronto shooting a movie.

Baldwin wasn't even supposed to leave the country without getting it cleared through the court first, so the judge revoked his probation.

Baldwin's probation officer also snitched on the actor revealing that he missed an appointment on December 5 and several AA meetings. I say throw the book at him, these celebs need to understand that they're not above the law. Daniel Baldwin
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Daniel Baldwin
Birth name Daniel Leroy Baldwin
Born October 5, 1960 (1960-10-05) (age 47)
Massapequa, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s) Cheryl Baldwin
Elizabeth Baldwin (1990-1996)
Daniel Leroy Baldwin (born October 5, 1960) is an American actor, producer and director. He is the second oldest of the four "Baldwin brothers", all of whom are actors.

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Career
1.3 Personal life
2 Filmography
2.1 Actor
2.2 Director
3 References
4 External links



[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life
Baldwin was born in Massapequa, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (née Martineau), a breast cancer survivor who founded the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center of the University Hospital and Medical Center at Stony Brook, and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach.[1] Baldwin was raised in a Catholic family of Irish and French descent.[2][3] In addition to his three famous actor brothers, Alec (born 1958), William (born 1963) and Stephen (born 1966), Baldwin has two sisters, Beth Baldwin Keuchler (born 1955), and Jane Baldwin Sasso (born 1965).

Baldwin was a standout high school football player and graduated in 1979 from Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa, NY. He also attended McKenna Junior High School.


[edit] Career
Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

From 1993 to 1995, the 6'2" Baldwin was a regular on the cast of the television series Homicide: Life on the Street.


Baldwin as Beau Felton on Homicide: Life on the StreetBaldwin has also recently starred in the science fiction/mystery series Anonymous Rex, based on the novels of Eric Garcia. In 2005, Baldwin was featured in VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, a reality show in which overweight celebrities compete to see who can shed the most pounds. He was the team captain of "The Eastsiders" which also featured rapper Biz Markie, plus-size model Mia Tyler, and actor Joe Gannascoli (later traded for Judge Mabalean Ephriam from Divorce Court).


[edit] Personal life
A one-time sports handicapper, Baldwin is divorced from Cheryl Baldwin (they met in high school), by whom he has a daughter, Kahlea (born in 1983). Kahlea moved to California to pursue a career in fashion and film. In 1990 he married actress Elizabeth Baldwin; they had a daughter Alexandra in 1994 before divorcing in 1996. Alexandra moved to England with her mother and Step father and now lives in Bonita Springs Florida. Since 1994, he has been involved with his Homicide: Life on the Street co-star, Chicago-born actress Isabella Hofmann, by whom he has a son, Atticus (born on July 13, 1996), who was named after the crusading lawyer in "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Baldwin spent two weeks at now-defunct treatment center Anacapa by the Sea in Port Hueneme, California, for treatment of addiction to cocaine. In 1998, he was found running naked through the halls of New York's Plaza Hotel, and arrested for possession of cocaine. He pled guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to three months in drug rehab. He later told People magazine he had been battling a cocaine addiction since 1989. On April 22, 2006, Baldwin was arrested after police received a call that a woman had been threatened at the Ocean Park Motel in Santa Monica.[4] Authorities subsequently declined to press charges.

Baldwin was arrested on July 19, 2006, after he crashed his Ford Thunderbird into two cars parked on a Los Angeles street. According to the police, Baldwin ran a red light after weaving through the traffic in West LA just before 1 pm. He then crashed his rented Ford Thunderbird into two parked cars while going 80 mph in a 35 mph zone. Jason Lee, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles police, said "The Thunderbird pushed one of the vehicles about 20 feet, and that was a Hummer." Police say Baldwin was driving with a suspended license, at the time of the crash. He was transferred to UCLA Medical Center with back and neck injuries, but did not appear to be seriously hurt.[5]

On November 7, 2006, Baldwin was arrested in Santa Monica, CA, after allegedly stealing a white GMC Yukon SUV, according to TMZ.com. The actor was taken to jail and booked for investigation of grand theft auto. Bail was set at $20,000. "The car belongs to an acquaintance of Mr. Baldwin, but he had no permission to take it," said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County sheriff's department.[6][7]

On February 6, 2007, an arrest warrant was issued for Baldwin in Newport Beach, CA, by the Orange County Superior Court for his failure to show up for an arraignment stemming from an auto-theft charge.[8] At the time, Baldwin was in Detroit, Michigan filming a movie. He turned himself into police on February 20 and pleaded not guilty to his charges. He remains free on bail.

v • d • eBaldwin Brothers
Alec (1958) • Daniel (1960) • William (1963) • Stephen (1966)


[e

dimebag darrell

addition to being an SEO, I am also a musician. Because of this, December 8th carries a great deal of significance to me: it was the date that two of my biggest influences were slain. Both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell Abbot (Pantera, Damageplan) not only created timeless music that helped define rock and roll, pushing it into uncharted territory, they did it with different, yet admirable approaches that I try to bring to SEO every day.

John Lennon's Vision
"The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility."
- John Lennon

As a Beatle, he not only helped lay the blueprint of rock and roll that we still use today, he helped elevate it to something more than music. In his solo career, he saw the potential of his music to act as a vehicle for something bigger. He used music to call out injustices. He used his music to inspire hope. He used his music to make a difference.

I see the internet as something similar. The internet is a superhighway; each of our clients has a message. As an SEO, I can help be part of the vehicle that gets the message in front of the people for whom it will make a difference, whether that difference is: helping people plan for retirement so they don't have to work forever, helping those with cancer find new/different treatment options, helping young couples find interior design materials that can help turn their first house into a home, and more.

Each of our clients exist because their products or services make a difference to their consumers. Remembering that what we do, as SEOs, makes a difference in the lives of thousands (even millions) of people is both motivating and rewarding.

Dimebag Darrell's Passion
"When I tried to play something and screwed up, I'd hear some other note that would come into play. Then I started trying different things to find the beauty in it."
-Dimebag Darrell

Heavy metal, baby. Whether you love it, or whether you don't, like any genre of music, it has its prominent figures. In heavy metal, Dimebag Darrell is a character who cast a long shadow. In the early '90s when grunge and alt-rock were rolling across the rock landscape, many metal bands tried changing to fit in. Some simply quit.

Not Pantera.

They stayed the course. And they turned out some of the most well-respected and best-selling albums in heavy metal history. Through it all, however, Darrell's position was never militant or about "fighting the fight in the name of heavy metal"; it was about giving your everything to the things you love and believe in. He loved heavy metal. He lived heavy metal. As a result, his passion translated into the music. It was in every note he played, every riff he wrote, every show he played, even the one he was playing when his was life ended on stage - following his passion and doing what he loved to do.

I'm fortunate, as an SEO, to be doing something I love for a living. I don't just punch the clock and go through the process. I read up on my own time. I take a ridiculous amount of notes. I keep an eagle eye on how the changes I implement are making a difference for my clients. And while a number one ranking on every keyword for each of my clients may not be a realistic goal, it's a goal I strive for nonetheless - because passion is never discouraged by "the odds."

And I love that I'm surrounded by co-workers who share that same passion.

So What About You?
Who are your influences? What have you learned from them? Are you using that in your own life? In your own work? And if not, is it because you simply haven't taken the time to see where their influence can apply in your life?

Isn't it time you did?

[Laughs] He's not our problem anymore. But seriously, I think people have the right to choose what they like or dislike. My issues with Anselmo are my own and they shouldn't have to be anyone else's. If I asked people to choose, then I wouldn't be any better than him. He has been the king of lies and manipulation in our camp for a long time. I know now that that started with the heroin use, but he can never go back to being the person he once was, and when he was that person — man, he was on! A great frontman, and I would never try and say different. But I just don't believe, or believe in him, anymore... I can't! When that Metal Hammer interview came out with Philip saying Dimebag Darrell needs to be beaten severely... and no matter how he tries to explain that one away, he said it. Plus a few other things. Metal Hammer sent the audios of his interview to Vinnie [Paul, Dimebag's brother and former PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN drummer] and yes! That's Phil Anselmo's voice. I heard it myself. But after it was posted on Blabbermouth, Dime asked me — and I could hear the lump in his throat — "What did I ever do to him?" And you know, I had to fight the lump in my own throat, I hated seeing him hurt, and he asked me again, "What did I ever do to him?" And I told him, "Nothin', baby. All you ever did was love him in his heart you are the one person on this earth that he truly respects and he can't face you... so in his drug-induced mind he's made you his enemy... for no reason at all... all because he's a junkie and you're not, which makes you not part of his world." And ya know, he said, "Maybe you're right, but I can't do this anymore." I know the last thing Dime told me that day about him was he was done! He would never stand on stage with him again! Philip had humiliated and embarrassed him for the last time! Dime told me then, "I'm writing him off. No longer will he trample through my peaceful mind!" And when that tour bus came home and there was no one to get off of it... that was one of the hardest things I had to do was go on there and pack up his bunk, but while I was doing it I found a two-page letter that Dime had written about Philip and in his own handwriting. It says what he had told me that day and a few other things about Mr. Anselmo, so in my heart I just can't believe in him anymore... It's tired. When Dime forgives him then I will... I have to stand

max baer

Max Baer
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Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the boxer and actor. For an article about his actor son, see Max Baer Jr..
Max Baer
Statistics
Real name Maximilian Adelbert Baer
Nickname(s) Livermore Larupper
Rated at Heavyweight
Nationality American
Birth date February 11, 1909(1909-02-11)
Birth place Omaha, Nebraska
Death date November 21, 1959 (aged 50)
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 84
Wins 72
Wins by KO 53
Losses 12
Draws 0
No contests 0
Maximilian Adelbert "Madcap Maxie" Baer (February 11, 1909 � November 21, 1959) was a famous American boxer of the 1930s, onetime Heavyweight Champion of the World, actor and entertainer.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Professional boxing career
2.1 Cinderella Man
2.2 Career Statistics
3 Acting
4 Family
5 Death
6 Funeral
7 Legacy
8 Selected filmography
9 TV guest appearances
10 References
11 Other Sources
12 See also
13 External links



[edit] Early life
Maximilian Adalbert Baer was born on February 11, 1909 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Jacob Baer (1875�1938) who was of French-Jewish ancestry and Dora Bales (1877�1938) who was of German-Scots-Irish ancestry. His eldest sister was Frances May Baer (1905�1991), his younger sister was Bernice Jeanette Baer (1911�1987), his younger brother was boxer-turned-actor Jacob Henry Baer, better known as Buddy Baer (1915�1986) and his adopted brother was August "Augie" Baer (1913�1992) [1].

Jacob Baer came from a long line of butchers. His father Achille or Aschill Baer {1831�1900} operated butcher shops in the frontier towns of Cheyenne in Wyoming Territory [2] and Red Jacket, Michigan [3], before moving his family to Denver, Colorado [4]. Achille/Aschill and his wife Frances "Fanny" Fischl {1852�1925} had 7 sons and 2 daughter. Their sons, including Max's father Jacob, were named for the tribes of Israel and the children's early education was in Jewish schools. [Brumbelow, Joseph, S. "Buddy Baer - Autobiography" 2003].

Jacob met Max's mother Dora Bales, when he was an employee of the Swift Meatpacking Company's plant in South Omaha, Nebraska, where Dora's father John Bales, was also employed. Dora and Jacob married on Christmas Eve of 1904. Max's sister Frances was born in the Fall of 1905. Family legend has it Max made his lusty, 10 pound appearance during a brutal Nebraska snowstorm on February 11, 1909. In late summer of 1910 when Max was six months old, Swift & Company transferred the family by passenger train to Denver, Colorado where Jacob would enter a management position. The Baer's lived in Denver from 1911-15, where Bernice and Buddy were born. They spent a short time in Kaylor, New Mexico, where Jacob took charge of a packing house. There were no schools in Kaylor so Bernice was sent away to boarding school in Denver. The family was so upset at being split up they moved back to Denver, staying until 1919. The Gradon Mercantile Company soon offered Jacob a job in Durango, Colorado and off the family went. [Brumbelow, Joseph, S. "Buddy Baer - Autobiography" 2003]. In May 1922, tired of the harsh Colorado winters, which aggravated Frances' rheumatic fever and Jacob's high blood pressure [5], the Baers piled into a just purchased automobile and began the long drive to the milder climes of the West Coast, where Dora's sister lived in Alameda, across the Bay from San Francisco, California. [Brumbelow, Joseph, S. "Buddy Baer - Autobiography" 2003] They drove more than 1,000 miles along unpaved roads, which only a few generations before had felt the wooden wheels of the emigrants' covered wagons on their surfaces.

Jacob's expertise in the butcher business resulted in his acceptance of numerous job offers around the San Francisco Bay Area. While living in Hayward, Max took his first job as a delivery boy for John Lee Wilbur. Wilbur ran a grocery store on B Street and bought meat from Jacob. The Baer's lived in the Northern California towns of Hayward, San Leandro and Galt [Brumbelow, Joseph, S. "Buddy Baer - Autobiography" 2003] before moving to Livermore in 1926. Livermore was true cowboy country, surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of rolling hills and rangeland which supported large cattle herds that provided fresh meat to the rapidly burgeoning towns nearby. In 1928, Jacob bought the Twin Oaks Ranch in Murray Township where he raised over 2,000 hogs, and which he worked with daughter Frances' husband, Louis Santucci. [Brumbelow, Joseph, S. "Buddy Baer - Autobiography" 2003] Baer often credited working as a butcher boy, carrying heavy carcasses of meat, sledge-hammering cows with one blow, and working at a gravel pit, for developing his powerful shoulders.


[edit] Professional boxing career
Baer turned professional in 1929, progressing steadily through the Pacific Coast ranks. A ring tragedy little more than a year later almost caused him to drop out of boxing for good. Baer fought Frankie Campbell (real name Francisco Camilli, whose brother was Brooklyn Dodgers star Dolph Camilli) on August 25, 1930, in San Francisco in a ring built over home plate at San Francisco's Recreation Park to fight for the unofficial title of Pacific Coast champion [6]. In the 2nd round of the fight, Campbell clipped Baer and Baer slipped to the canvas. Campbell went toward his corner and waved to the crowd. He thought Baer was getting the count. Baer got up and flew at Campbell, landing a looping right at Campbell's turned head which sent him to the canvas. After the round, Campbell said to his trainer "something feels like it snapped in my head." But Campbell went on to handily win rounds 3 and 4. As Baer rose for the 5th round, Tillie "Kid" Herman, Baer's former friend and trainer, who had literally switched camps overnight and was now in Campbell's corner, savagely taunted and jeered Baer. In a rage and determined to end the bout with a knockout, Baer soon had Campbell against the ropes. As he hammered him with punch after punch, the ropes were the only thing to hold Campbell up. Tillie Herman, as Campbell's chief second had the privilege of throwing in the towel but did not. Referee Toby Irwin seemed oblivious to what was occurring. When Irwin finally stopped the fight, Campbell collapsed to the canvas. It is reported Baer's own seconds administered to Campbell and that Baer was by his side until an ambulance arrived 30 minutes later. Baer "visited the stricken fighter's bedside" where he offered Frankie's wife Ellie the hand that hit her husband. "She took that hand and the two stood speechless for a moment. 'It was unfortunate, I'm awfully sorry'. said Baer. 'It even might have been you mightn't it.'" Ellie replied. [7] [Shand, Bob - Oakland Tribune - September 26-31,1930]

At noon the next day, with a lit candle laced between his crossed fingers, his wife and mother beside him, Frankie Campbell was pronounced dead. Upon the surgeon's announcement of Campbell's death, Baer broke down and sobbed inconsolably. Brain specialist Dr. Tilton E. Tillman "declared death had been caused by a succession of blows on the jaw and not by any struck on the rear of the head." and that Campbell's brain had been "knocked completely loose from his skull." [Oakland Tribune - September 26,1930]

The incident earned Max the reputation as a "killer" in the ring. Campbell's death was used for promotional purposes to make Baer seem dangerous. This publicity was further sensationalized by Baer's return bout with Ernie Schaaf, who had bested Baer in a decision during Max's Eastern debut bout at Madison Square Garden on September 19, 1930 [8]. An Associated Press article in the September 9, 1932 Sports section of the New York Times [9] describes the end of the return bout as follows: "Two seconds before the fight ended Schaaf was knocked flat on his face, completely knocked out. He was dragged to his corner and his seconds worked over for him for three minutes before restoring him to his senses...Baer smashed a heavy right to the jaw that shook Schaaf to his heels, to start the last round, then walked into the Boston fighter, throwing both hands to the head and body. Baer drove three hard rights to the jaw that staggered Schaaf. Baer beat Schaaf around the ring and into the ropes with a savage attack to the head and body. Just before the round ended Baer dropped Schaaf to the canvas, but the bell sounded as Schaaf hit the floor." Schaaf was never quite the same after that bout. He complained frequently of headaches[citation needed]and his ring performance was mercurial in succeeding bouts. Five months after the Baer fight, on February 11, 1933, Schaaf died in the ring after taking a left jab from the Italian behemoth Primo Carnera. Although Carnera was vilified as a "man killer", two sports writers, Grantland Rice and Jimmy Cannon [10], claimed that Schaaf had died as a result of damage previously inflicted by Baer. The majority of sports editors noted [11] however, that an autopsy later revealed Schaaf had meningitis, a swelling of the brain, and was still recovering from a severe case of influenza when he touched gloves with Carnera. Schaaf's obituary stated that "just before his bout with Carnera, Schaaf went into reclusion in a religious retreat near Boston to recuperate from an attack of influenza" which produced the meningitis. A further examination of the situation can be found at [12] [13].

The death of Campbell and accusations over Schaaf's demise profoundly affected Baer, even though he was ostensibly indestructible and remained a devastating force in the ring. According to his son, actor/director Max Baer Jr.:

My father cried about what happened to Frankie Campbell. He had nightmares. "In reality, my father was one of the kindest, gentlest men you would ever hope to meet. He treated boxing the way today's professional wrestlers do wrestling: part sport, mostly showmanship. He never deliberately hurt anyone." He helped put three of Frankie's children through college at The University of Notre Dame.[1]

In the case of Frankie Campbell, Baer was charged with manslaughter. Baer was eventually acquitted of all charges, but the California State Boxing Commission still banned him from any in-ring activity within the state for the next year. Baer gave purses from succeeding bouts to Campbell's family, but lost four of his next six fights. He fared better when Jack Dempsey took him under his wing.

In 1933, Baer fought heavyweight Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium. His trunks displayed an embroidered Star of David[14], which Max swore to wear in every bout thereafter. He dominated the rugged fighter from Germany into the tenth round when the referee stopped the match. Because Baer defeated Schmeling, Hitler's favorite, and Baer had a half-Jewish father, he became popular among Jews, those who identified with Jews, and those who despised the Nazis' racial policies.


[edit] Cinderella Man
On June 13, 1935, one of the greatest upsets in boxing history transpired in Long Island City, New York, as Baer fought down-and-out boxer James J. Braddock. Baer hardly trained for the bout. Braddock, on the other hand, was training hard. "I'm training for a fight. Not a boxing contest or a clownin' contest or a dance." he said. "Whether it goes one round or three rounds or 10 rounds, it will be a fight and a fight all the way." "When you've been through what I've had to face in the last two years, a Max Baer or a Bengal tiger looks like a house pet." "He might come at me with a cannon and a blackjack and he would still be a picnic compared to what I've had to face." [15]

Baer, ever the showman "brought gales of laughter from the crowd with his antics" the night he stepped between the ropes to meet Braddock. As Braddock "slipped the blue bathrobe from his pink back, he was the sentimental favorite of a Bowl crowd of 30,000, most of whom had bet their money 8-to-1 against him." Max "undoubtedly paid the penalty for underestimating his challenger beforehand and wasting too much time clowning." At the end of 13 "dull, uninspired" rounds during which "Baer didn't throw 10 genuine punches of any sort" and Braddock was described as "a plodder" the most "colorless bout in a decade" ended with Braddock emerging the victor, outpointing Baer 8 rounds to 6 in the "most astounding upset since John L. Sullivan went down before the thrusts of Gentleman Jim Corbet back in the gay nineties." Braddock took heavy hits from Baer, but kept coming at Baer until he wore Max down. At the end of the bout, Max hugged and congratulated Jim, then the judges gave Braddock the title in a unanimous decision. When asked why he threw away the title, Max's response was matter of fact. "'No alibi,'" said he cheerfully. 'Jim fought a good fight and I hope he's more appreciative of the title than I was." [16] The fight has since become a boxing legend.


[edit] Career Statistics
Max Baer boxed in 84 professional fights from 1929 to 1941. In all, his record was 72-12-0. 53 of those fights were knockouts, making him a member of the exclusive group of boxers to have won 50 or more bouts by knockout. Baer defeated the likes of Tommy Loughran, Ernie Schaaf, Walter Cobb, Kingfish Levinsky, Max Schmeling, Tony Galento, Ben Foord and Tommy Farr. He was Heavyweight Champion of the World from June 14, 1934, when he knocked out the massive, 125-kg (275-pound) Primo Carnera, to June 13, 1935, until his reign ended in the aforementioned Braddock fight.

Baer fought Lou Nova in the first televised heavyweight prizefight, on June 1, 1939, on WNBT-TV in New York. His last match, in 1941, was another loss to Nova. Baer and his brother, Buddy, both lost fights to Joe Louis, Buddy's two losses to Louis coming in world title fights. In the second round of their 1935 fight, Joe knocked Max down to one knee, the first time Baer had ever been knocked to the canvas in his career. A sizzling left hook in the fourth round brought Max to his knee again, and the referee called the bout soon after. [17]

Baer was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1968, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995. The 1998 Holiday Issue of Ring ranked Baer # 20 in "The 50 Greatest Heavyweights of All Time." In Ring Magazine's 100 Greatest Punchers (published in 2003), Baer is ranked number 22.


[edit] Acting
Baer's motion picture debut was in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) opposite Myrna Loy and Walter Huston. In this MGM movie he played Steven "Steve" Morgan, a bartender that the Professor, played by Huston, begins training for the ring. Steve wins a fight, then marries Belle Mercer, played by Loy. He starts seriously training, but it turns out he has a huge ego and an eye for a women. Featured were Baer's upcoming opponent, Primo Carnera, as himself, whom Steve challenges for the championship, and Jack Dempsey, as himself, former heavyweight champion, acting as the referee.

On March 29, 1934, The Prizefighter and the Lady was officially banned from playing in Germany at the behest of Joseph Goebbels, then Adolf Hitler's minister of Propaganda and Public Entertainment, even though it received favorable reviews in local newspapers as well as in Nazi publications. When contacted for comment at Lake Tahoe, Baer said, "They didn't ban the picture because I have Jewish blood. They banned it because I knocked out Max Schmeling."

Baer acted in almost 20 movies, including Africa Screams (1949) with Abbott and Costello, and made several TV guest appearances. A clown in and out of the ring, Baer also appeared in a vaudeville act and on his own TV variety show. Baer appeared in Humphrey Bogart's final movie, The Harder They Fall (1956), opposite Mike Lane as Toro Moreno, a fictionalized version of Primo Carnera, whom Baer defeated for his heavyweight title. Budd Schulberg, who wrote the book from which the movie was made, portrayed the Baer character, "Buddy Brannen", as bloodthirsty, and the unfounded characterization was reprised in the movie Cinderella Man.

Baer additionally worked as a disc jockey for a Sacramento radio station, and for a while he was a wrestler. He also served as public relations director for a Sacramento automobile dealership and referee for boxing and wrestling matches.


[edit] Family
Baer married twice, actress Dorothy Dunbar (married July 8, 1931-divorced October 6, 1933) and Mary Ellen Sullivan (married June 29, 1935-his death 1959). With Sullivan, he had three children, actor Max Adelbert Baer Jr. (born 1937), James Manny Baer (born 1942) and Maudie Marian Baer (born 1944). During a separation from his first wife, Max had affairs with movie stars Jean Harlow, Mae West and Greta Garbo.

Baer never lived to enjoy the TV and movie success of his son, Max Baer Jr. (who played Jethro Bodine in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies). At the time of his death on November 21, 1959, Baer was scheduled to appear in some TV commercials, which he had planned to do in Los Angeles before returning to his home in Sacramento.

Since Max Baer Sr. was unable to defend himself from Ron Howard's unflattering portrayal in Cinderella Man, the task of rehabilitating his father's reputation has fallen to Max Baer Jr. [18].


[edit] Death
On Wednesday, November 18 1959, Max refereed a nationally televised 10-round boxing match in Phoenix. At the end of the match, to the applause of the crowd "Baer grasped the ropes and vaulted out of the ring." and "joined fight fans in a cocktail bar." [19] The next day he was scheduled to appear in several television commercials in Hollywood, California. On his way he stopped in Garden Grove, California to keep a 13 year old promise to the son of his ex-sparring partner, Curly Owens, by presenting the 18 year old with a foreign sports car on his birthday, as he had promised him as a child that he would. [20].

Max checked into the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel upon his arrival on the 19th. "Hotel employees said he looked fit but complained of a cold." As he was shaving, the morning of November 21st, he experienced chest pains. He called the front desk and asked for a doctor. The desk clerk said "a house doctor would be right up." "A house doctor ?" he replied jokingly, "No, dummy, I need a people doctor." Dr. Edward S. Koziol "gave Max medication and a fire department rescue squad administered oxygen. Baer's chest pains subsided and he was showing signs of recovery when he was stricken with a second attack. A moment before he was joking with the doctor, declaring he had come through two similar but lighter attacks earlier in Sacramento, California. Just as I was talking to him, he slumped on his left side, turned blue and died within a matter of minutes. His last words were, 'Oh God, here I go.'" [21]. Max Baer was just 50 years old. [22].


[edit] Funeral
Max Baer's funeral was one of the largest ever attended in Sacramento, where he had made his home for almost 30 years. "A crowd of more than 1,500, many with scarred eyebrows and smashed noses bade farewell." Among his mourners were "four former world champions," "politicians, people in wheel chairs and Cub Scouts." There were "men of wealth and distinction - and bums shuffling off skid road. They were women in mink stoles and diamonds - and women in cotton house dresses, and in slacks. They were babies in the arms of their young mothers - and elderly couples, helping each other's halting steps." "Hundreds of others, unable to get into the funeral home, crowded around the outside. Some chose vantage points on car roofs and nearby scaffolding." Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey were among his pallbearers. There were "tears in the eyes of 'Curly' Owens, his one-time sparring partner, as he took down Max's gloves from a big white floral arrangement." "The cemetery service was concluded by an American Legion firing squad, recognizing Baer's service in World War II." His obituary made the front page of the New York Times. He was laid to rest in a garden crypt in St. Mary's Lawn Cemetery in Sacramento

julie warner

NEW YORK -- Joel and Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men" came out on top of the National Board of Review Awards on Wednesday as the Miramax Films/Paramount Vantage co-production picked up best picture, best ensemble cast and best adapted screenplay honors.

George Clooney and Julie Christie took home best actor and actress prizes. Clooney's "Michael Clayton" from Warner Bros. and Christie's "Away From Her" from Lionsgate landed on NBR's Top Ten Films and Top Independent Films lists, respectively. Michael Douglas received a career achievement award.

Tim Burton took home the best director prize for the DreamWorks/Warner Bros. musical "Sweeney Todd." Diablo Cody ("Juno") and Nancy Oliver "Lars and the Real Girl" tied for best original screenplay. All three films made the NBR top 10 films list.

Miramax also scored big with a best foreign film win for Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and best directorial debut and best supporting actress wins for Ben Affleck and Amy Ryan, respectively, for "Gone Baby Gone." The director's brother Casey Affleck won best supporting actor for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

The Iraq War expose "Body of War" took home best documentary, "Ratatouille" took home best animated feature, and both "The Great Debaters" and "Persepolis" won the Bvlgari Award for NBR Freedom of Expression.


Recent Gotham Awards nominee Emile Hirsch won breakthrough performance by an actor for "Into the Wild," and Ellen Page won breakthrough performance by an actress for "Juno."

A list of winners follows:

Top Ten Films:
"The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"The Bucket List"
"Into the Wild"
"Juno"
"The Kite Runner"
"Lars and the Real Girl"
"Michael Clayton"
"Sweeney Todd"

Top Five Foreign Films:
"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"The Band's Visit"
"The Counterfeiters"
"La Vie En Rose"
"Lust, Caution"

Top Five Documentary Films
"Darfur Now"
"In the Shadow of the Moon"
"Nanking"
"Taxi to the Darkside"
"Toots"

Top Independent Films
"Away From Her"
"Great World of Sound"
"Honeydripper"
"In the Valley of Elah"
"A Mighty Heart"
"The Namesake"
"Once"
"The Savages"
"Starting Out in the Evening"
"Waitress"

Career Achievement -- Michael Douglas
William K. Everson Film History Award -- Robert Osborne
Julie Warner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Julie Warner (born February 9, 1965 in Manhattan, New York) is an American actress from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Warner is divorced from writer-director Jonathan Prince, and has a son named Jackson.


[edit] Career
Warner attended the Dalton School at age 12. While there, she met an agent who advised her to attempt acting, and soon after she landed a role on the soap opera Guiding Light. Warner then attended Brown University where she majored in theater arts and graduated in 1987. After college, Warner moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a waitress while auditioning for acting jobs.


[edit] Notable roles
Warner appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Booby Trap" in 1989 and "Transfigurations" in 1990.

Warner's most famous roles include her breakout performance co-starring with Michael J. Fox in Doc Hollywood in 1991; co-starring opposite Billy Crystal in 1992's Mr. Saturday Night; and as Chris Farley's love interest in Tommy Boy in 1995. She also appeared as recurring character Megan O'Hara in the TV Series Nip/Tuck. In 2005, Warner began starring as wife to Howie Mandel in his hidden camera/situation comedy Hidden Howie.

One of summer's best, smartest action movies. The film is a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy that began in 2002 with "The Bourne Identity"and carried forward in 2004 with "The Bourne Supremacy."Each was a travelogue of espionage that took audiences around the globe as the amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) sought his true identity while efficiently taking down thugs and government agents along the way. "Ultimatum"follows suit, but since this is the final film in the series, more answers are at hand, with Damon again succeeding at being a terrific ―and unlikely ―action hero. In this movie, the actor is put through hell ―the sort of hell no mere mortal could survive, such as falling off buildings and surviving horrific car crashes ―and yet throughout

porsche girl

Tonight, Friday Dec. 7, 2007, ABC 20/20 did a report of more disturbing misuse of the Internet. (The talk is about the porsche girl Nikki Catsouras case).

The case of impersonation and harassment in Missouri that led to the death of a 13 year old girl is covered on my Internet safety blog, here.

The show started with an account of a horrific teenage girl's auto accident in her dad's Porsche, and then the posting of tasteless pictures of the incident apparently leaked by the California Highway Patrol. The story by John Avila, Eamon McNiff, Scott Michels, "A Family's Nightmare: Accident Photos of Their Beautiful Daughter Released
Family of Nikki Catsouras Has Sued Investigators for Allegedly Releasing Accident Pictures," here. The company Reputation Defender has tried to get "amateur" postings of the pictures on the Internet taken down as requested by the family, but with limited success because of First Amendment claims.

In another case, a Peruvian woman who was charged for manslaughter for a drunk driving accident in Austin, TX in 1996 fled to Peru, but has posted brazen pictures of her partying on the Internet, and a reporter found this online with search engines. A Texas congressman wants to strengthen the law to have people like her extradited back. The story by Emily Friedman is "Manslaughter Fugitive Lives High Life in Peru: On MySpace Page, Woman Who Fled Drunken Driving Crash Says Drinking a Favorite Pastime," link here.

Then Bill Ritter and Ann Varney have a report about school fight clubs on the Internet (e.g. the famous film "Fight Club"), "Teen Violence Made Popular Online Fighting, Pranks Made Popular on YouTube and MySpace," link here. Now teenage girls have their fight clubs. College admissions and employers will be able to see these unless they are removed.

Lynn Sherr and Chris Kilmer did a report on cell phones on planes, and found a theoretical risk of bringing a plane down that has never been verified. Engineer John Nance questions that there is a practical risk, and Jet Blue and other airlines are adding new shielding that may soon permit cell phone and Internet use on planes. The story is called "Cell Phones Are Dangerous in Flight: Myth, or Fact?; 20/20 Asks Whether or Not a Cell Phone Can Bring Down a Plane", here. - By Bill's TV Series News and Review

child was held and questioned at the Fairland police station for hours after her father was wrongfully detained following a shootout in which two hijackers were killed.

The father, Fungai, who wanted to give only his first name, was on Thursday furious with police and still in pain from being handcuffed.

He said that all he had wanted to do on Wednesday, when he saw a woman wrestling with a man in the carpark of the Fir Drive Centre in Northcliff, Johannesburg, was help.

'I was told that these are handcuffs, not bracelets'
"I was going to pick my daughter up from school when I saw this woman struggling with a man in the carpark. I wondered what they were doing. I drove into the centre," he said.

What Fungai didn't know was that the woman was Elmarie Wypkema, and two armed men were attempting to rob her and hijack her red Porsche.






Just as Fungai drove in, Marc Ishlove, a police reservist, opened fire on the two hijackers, killing both in the process.

"This all took place about five metres from me. I couldn't reverse my car as there was a car behind me. Suddenly the reservist comes up to me, pointing his gun and ordering me out the car.

"He said to me 'Get out the car or you will end up like those other two guys'," said Fungai.

'This morning my hands were still numb from the handcuffs'
He was told to lie spreadeagled on the ground and was handcuffed.

"I said to them that the handcuffs are too tight. I was told that these are handcuffs, not bracelets," he said.

After being kept in an unventilated police van for an hour, he was taken to Fairland police station.

This all happened, he said, while his daughter waited for him outside her school.

"A kid at the school told her that I had been arrested. How degrading and embarrassing is that, a child who looks to her dad as a hero, hearing something like that?" fumed Fungai.

Worse was to come when police picked her up and took her to the station. They asked her questions about her father.

"She asked them 'Why are you asking me these ridiculous questions?'," Fungai said.

It was not only Fungai's daughter who was questioned by the police, who also spoke to his wife and even a former girlfriend.

His daughter, said Fungai, was still at the police station at 7.30pm that evening.

Fungai said he was eventually released at 9.30pm. When he got into his car, he discovered that police had damaged its back-seat mechanism. "They told me to get a quote and submit it," he said.

Fungai said he was offered trauma counselling by the police only after he appeared on Talk Radio 702.

"This morning my hands were still numb from the handcuffs. I couldn't pick up stuff earlier," he said.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said: "If he feels that he was mishandled by the police, he must submit a statement and the police will investigate."
Not long after their 18-year-old daughter died in a car accident, Christos and Lesli Catsouras were forced to relive their grief.

They soon began receiving anonymous e-mails and text messages that contained photographs of the accident, including pictures of Nicole Catsouras' decapitated body, still strapped to the crumpled remains of her father's Porsche. A fake MySpace page was created, which at first looked like a tribute to Catsouras but also led to the horrific photos.

Video
Young Life Cut Short "What type of individual would do that?" asked Christos.

Watch the story Friday, Dec. 7 on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET

The pictures, taken by California Highway Patrol officers and e-mailed outside the department, spread around the Internet, making their way to about 1,600 Web sites, according to an investigator hired by family. The images became so persistent that Lesli Catsouras stopped checking her e-mail. Nikki's three younger sisters were forbidden to use the Internet, and 16-year-old Danielle was taken out of school to be home schooled out of fear that her peers might confront her with the pictures.


"There was threats that people were gonna put the pictures on my locker, in my locker," said Danielle. "I remember her in such a great way, I don't wanna see it and have that image stuck in my head."

"I've stopped using my e-mail," says Lesli Catsouras. "I don't want to see these every single day. …And you know, I take a risk every time I go on the computer."

We talk about Nikki all the time, " said Christos. "We've got pictures of her everywhere, We laugh about her, cry. I always called her Angel."


'A Life of Its Own'
A judge in California ruled that the Catsouras family's lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol for allegedly releasing the accident scene pictures can go forward. According to Catsouras family attorney Tyler Offenhauser, the ruling is a significant step toward getting justice for Nikki because a jury will now decide whether the CHP must take responsibility for its employees' conduct of disseminating the graphic photos outside the agency.

"They were crime scene pictures that never, ever should have gone out," Christos Catsouras said. "There was a big mistake made by the California Highway Patrol that was never really acknowledged, or they never wanted to help us once that mistake had been made."

The California Highway Patrol declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation. Though the CHP has admitted in a letter to the Catsouras family that its dispatchers violated department policy, it has said it is not legally responsible for the Catsourases' anguish.

According to state highway patrol reports, at approximately 1:45 p.m. last Halloween, 15 minutes after taking her father's Porsche 911 for a drive without permission, Nikki Catsouras was traveling 100 mph on State Route 241, near Lake Forest, Calif., when she clipped another car and lost control, slamming into a concrete tollbooth, killing her instantly
There were last minute dramas on the last day of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally, but it wasn't enough to change the identity of the winning crew.

Victory went to Bjorn and Mathias Waldegård in a Ford Escort RS1600, who had led on Day One, momentarily relinquished their lead to Gerard Marcy and Alain Lopes in a Porsche 911 on Day Two, but then led all the way to the finish from the end of Day Three. For the ex-World Champion, already a four-time winner of the original Safari Rally, this was quite an emotional occasion since it is 30 years since he first won the legendary event.


The dramas centred on Marcy who struck problems in the second section, the infamous Usambara Mountains, when he hit a rocky bank and broke his front suspension. He tried to drive out of the stage but failed. Consequently, he had to wait for the other competitors to finish the section and for his service crew to drive 22 kilometres in to mend the Porsche.

Marcy set fastest times on both the first and third section of the final day and received an enormous cheer when he drove over the finish ramp, arriving after nearly all the other cars. Marcy fell back from second to fourth overall, to the benefit of two other Porsche drivers, Frederic Dor and Geoff Fielding, who occupied second and third places behind Waldegård.

Yet another Porsche 911, that of Paul-Eric Jarry, was fifth, just 10 minutes ahead of Waldegård's team mate and fellow ex-World Champion, Stig Blomqvist, who took sixth place after what had been, for him, a troubled event. Behind Blomqvist were the two South African Datsun 180Bs of Roddy Sachs and Wayne Kieswetter, whose steady performances were rewarded with seventh and eighth places respectively.

The best local driver was John Rose in the Datsun 240Z, built for his 60th birthday that he had celebrated at the beginning of November. Completing the top ten finishers was Australian, Graham Alexander with his Datsun 260Z which, in his opinion, was not destined to go much further.

In all, 42 cars from the 58 starters were classified as finishers and went over the ramp in front of the Sarova Whitesands Hotel north of Nairobi on Monday afternoon.

Final top ten positions

1 Bjorn Waldegard/Mathias Waldegard Ford Escort Mk1 15h34m08s
2 Frederic Dor/Didier Breton Porsche 911 16h04m45s
3 Geoff Fielding/Preston Ayres Porsche 911 17h05m02s
4 Gerard Marcy/Alain Lopes Porsche 911 17h14m18s
5 Paul-Eric Jarry/Craig Redelinghuys Porsche 911 17h29m11s
6 Stig Blomqvist/Ana Goni Ford Escort Mk1 17h39m47s
7 Roddy Sachs/Peter Young Datsun 180B 18h13m20s
8 Wayne Kieswetter/Rob Hellier Datsun 180B 18h36m22s
9 John Rose/Michael Borrisow Datsun 240Z 19h02m20s
10 Graham Alexander/Ross Runnalls Datsun 260Z 19h06m05s

Driver Quotes:

Car No. 1 Bjorn Waldegard

"It was quite a long day since the driver was not allowed to make a mistake and the co-driver was not allowed to make a mistake. The first section today was quite tricky and I would have liked to have attacked in the Usambaras but there was a bit too much traffic these days. I was a bit nervous all day but when I pulled up at Whitesands I felt fantastic. It's been thirty years since I won my first Safari. The car's been perfect all day."

From co-driver Mathias Waldegard: "I feel great to make it to the end and to win. We took it quite carefully as we knew we had to finish."

Car No. 2 Gerard Marcy

"Our problem today came out of the blue on an uphill left-hander at not much more than 50 or 60 kph. The car slid a little and I corrected and suddenly it turned sharp right and hit the rock. We tried to drive out of the section but after about 8km we realised that we were doing too much damage. The service crew came in when they could and found that we had broken the outer tract control arm joint so that the strut was completely free. They fixed it and we continued and did the last section where we did fastest time, as we had done on the first section. I'm very happy to have finished. This Porsche is fantastic and I've really enjoyed driving it on these roads."

Car No. 3 Stig Blomqvist

"That was a long hot boring day but we did it mainly without problems. It's a shame about our problems that came earlier as it meant that we were never really able to challenge for the lead but I've enjoyed myself and enjoyed the driving."

From co-driver Ana Goni: "Today was tough. The steering became loose half way through the Usambaras. I'm relieved to have finished. Compared to the other Safari Classics the event has been just as good as always."

Car No. 4 Frederic Dor

"It's not been a perfect day because we first had a front damper seize and then actually broke a rear one in the Usambaras. We were starting to run out of these special XTC dampers from New Zealand and therefore when we changed three before the last section, they were all pretty well used. The car is very soft now, nice to drive in traffic but not so good on the stages. When you drive fast on these roads the suspension needs to be stiff so that when you hurt your back you know you're going too fast."

Car No. 7 Keith & Mary-Ann Callinan (Escort, Australia)

"I'm a very happy competitor to finish. We lost the clutch right at the beginning of the second section which made it pretty difficult, but the section would have been just sensational if we'd had a clutch. We didn't have time to fix it so we had to do the third section with no clutch as well and get back to Mombasa. It's a fantastic feeling to finish. The East African Safari Rally is a true marathon."

Car No. 10 Geoff Fielding

"We took it good and steady. We bust a rear damper in the second section quite near the beginning and we had to nurse it through. I'd hoped to be in the top ten but to be on the podium is beyond words. It's absolutely fantastic, brilliant. The car is in perfect condition and I am just overwhelmed. What an event."

Car No. 11 Graham Alexander

"The car's been losing water all the time. We've had to top it up before a section and then sit on the start line with all the fans going to try and keep the temperature down. We've only used fourth and fifth gear in most of the sections. Frankly, I don't think the old girl would have done another day, but we're naturally delighted to be here and to have finished in the top ten."

Car No. 34 Ian & Val Swan (Volvo, Australia)

"Well, the car held together, although there must be a bush gone on the front of the axle because you can feel it moving in the body when you accelerate. Today we just kept our fingers crossed and gritted our teeth all the way. To be honest I drove like I was a 110 . We started today with the objective of finishing and we did. It was a lot tougher than I expected and we've never been so glad to finish an event."

Record-size spitting cobra found in Kenya

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A new species of giant spitting cobra, measuring nearly nine feet and possessing enough venom to kill at least 15 people, has been discovered in Kenya, a conservation group said on Friday.

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WildlifeDirect said the cobras were the world's largest and had been identified as unique. The species has been named Naja Ashei after James Ashe, who founded Bio-Ken snake farm on Kenya's tropical coast where the gigantic serpents are found.

"A new species of giant spitting cobra is exciting and reinforces the obvious -- that there have to be many other unreported species but hundreds are being lost as their habitats disappear under the continued mismanagement of our planet," said the group's chairman, Kenyan environmentalist Richard Leakey.

Ashe, now deceased, was the first to catch a larger-than-normal spitting cobra in the 1960s and suggest it belonged to a different species.

Bio-Ken director Royjan Taylor said the recognition of the new species was an opportunity to raise awareness about snake conservation as well as find remedies for the powerful bite.

"Naja Ashei is responsible for a very serious snake bite," he told Reuters by telephone from the farm. "People don't care about saving snakes. They talk of saving dolphins or cats, but never snakes!"

The conservationists' excitement has drawn scientific endorsement from a British-based biologist.

Research published by Wolfgang Wuster, of the University of Wales, said a field visit confirmed the Naja Ashei is a new species. "The new species is diagnosable from all other African spitting cobras by the possession of a unique DNA," he wrote in a review in July.