Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who ran for president in 2008 and is considering another White House bid in 2016, had harsh words for singer Beyonce and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, in his recent book.
Huckabee began discussing the musical power couple in his new book "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy" by describing Beyonce as "incredibly talented." However, he then suggested Jay-Z is taking advantage of those talents.
"She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom," Huckabee wrote. "Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?"
In an interview with People Magazine to promote the book, Huckabee also questioned why President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, allow their daughters to listen to Beyonce.
"I don't understand how on one hand they can be such doting parents and so careful about the intake of everything — how much broccoli they eat and where they go to school and making sure they're kind of sheltered and shielded from so many things — and yet they don't see anything that might not be suitable for either a preteen or a teen in some of the lyrical content and choreography of Beyonce," Huckabee said.
If you don't recognize Megan Amram's name immediately, perhaps you've seen her face floating around your Twitter timeline.
Amram is one of the funniest women on Twitter, a writer for NBC's "Parks & Recreation," and the author of a new book called "Science ... For Her!" a satirical textbook in the vein of Stephen Colbert's "I Am America! And So Can You."
Amram, a Harvard grad whose resume includes writing gigs for "Billy On The Street" and Funny Or Die videos with Nick Offerman, talked to Business Insider about writing for an insanely popular television show, dreams of a second book, and of course, what happens when her humor offends someone on Twitter.
Why do we "drive" on a "parkway" but "park" at a "strip club"?
Business Insider: Do you remember your first crazy viral tweet? What did it feel like to know you had done something that resonated with so many users?
Megan Amram: I think it was "Why do we 'drive' on a 'parkway' but 'park' at a 'strip club'?" Rob Delaney was such a wonderful early supporter and still has remained so supportive. He retweeted a bunch of my early tweets which gave them a lot of exposure. It felt so incredible! I had no idea strangers would ever want to read my dumb jokes!
BI: Tell us the story behind your Twitter avatar. Will you ever change it?
MA: First of all, I will never, ever, ever change it! It's completely undoctored. My dear friend Natalie took it sophomore year of college when we were taking "glamor shots" in her house. Natalie deserves all the credit for the amazing composition.
BI: You push the line a LOT with your humor — how do you know you're not taking it too far? Do you ever consult anyone else with your jokes before you tweet them?
MA: I think very long and hard about every possibly offensive joke I want to make. I really hate mean humor and would hate to make anyone reading my jokes feel truly bad. I like to think that I only make fun of either 1) very broad things about the human condition (like dying) or 2) the perpetrators of violence or assault, not the victims. For example, my book deals a lot with sexual assault of women in a satirical way, which I guess could be considered "rape" jokes, but it seems obvious to me that I'm making fun of the institution of violence towards women, not the victims of it.
I'm one of those girls that can eat whatever she wants and not get married!!
BI: Have any of your jokes ever completely backfired? Which ones? How did you remedy
MA: Yes definitely, I think I probably make more swastika jokes than the general population. My remedy is more more more!!!
BI: How did you get started writing for "Parks & Rec"?
MA: The Parks showrunner and creator Mike Schur knew of me from my internet writing, but we'd never met in person. He called me in for an interview based on what he'd read of me online, and I guess I wasn't too crazy to be hired! Or I was ironically hired and it's a "She's All That"-style prank! Oh god!!
BI: What has been the biggest takeaway from writing for "Parks & Rec"? What was the biggest surprise about writing for a show?
MA: I can't even count the number of things I learned from writing "Parks & Rec." Mostly because I am a dumb woman who is bad at math. I honestly feel like I wrote with the funniest, sharpest, smartest people who exist in Hollywood. It taught me to have such high standards for the quality of show I want to make. That you should only aim for the funniest, smartest, kindest stories and jokes that you can write. That writing in a talented group pushes you to be more creative and sharp than you ever would've been otherwise.
BI: What awards shows have you been to? What has been your favorite? Why?
MA: I've written for and attended a few. I guess the Emmys, since I got pretty drunk beforehand and ate a pretzel off the floor like a true trash-person? I'm a princess!!!
BI: Who is your dream date?
MA: Stephen Sondheim.
BI: Name five of the funniest women you know OR don't know!
MA: I can't stop at five: All the female actors on Parks, of course, but the six women I wrote with at Parks are all so inspiring: Aisha Muharrar, Jen Statsky, Emma Fletcher, Rachna Fruchbom, and Ali Rushfield. They are so incredible.
BI: What's your next book going to be about?
MA: I really want to write "Grammar ... For She!"
BI:What line from "Parks & Rec" are you most proud of?
MA: It's not the most memorable of lines I've written but I think the bit I think is funniest to me is when, in my episode "Animal Control," Harris and Brett (the stoner animal control idiots) are showing Leslie around and Brett shows that they've taped a dead bird to the wall to use as a whistle like the one in the Flintstones opening. It sums up my sense of humor pretty well — outdated references and dead animals.
BI:If you could give one piece of advice to young women writers, what would it be?
MA: Support other women! We are taught to be competitive with other women, to vie with them for the "girl spot" in a group or job. Anything that helps an individual woman is good for all of us! Love and support your friends!
The housing and credit bubble is coming to the big screen.
Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling are going to star in the movie version of Michael Lewis' book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," reports Variety.
"The book follows several key people who played a role in creating the disastrous credit bubble. The feature adaptation will likely feature several A-list actors who have similar-sized roles, similar to the cast of 'Traffic' or 'The Counselor,'" reports Variety.
This is the second time Pitt and his production company, Plan B, are adapting a Michael Lewis book for the screen. Back in 2011, they made "Moneyball," a box-office success.
Lewis' book was published in March 2010 and spent more than 28 weeks on The New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list.
In the latest showing of Taylor Swift's affection for her fans, she sent one young woman a care package that included an envelope with a check to put toward paying off her student loans.
The package also included a picture that Swift painted herself, among other gifts.
The fan, Rebekah Bortnicker, posted tweets, photos, and videos online to show her excitement:
The note attached to the envelope with the check says "Now you're $1,989 closer to paying off those student loans."
On a card, Swift wrote:
Rebekah,
Hi you. I was thinking about you today, and how you have been there cheering me on in the most thoughtful and creative ways. I love the video you made of me and my friends and your text posts always crack me up or make me think. I got out my paints for the first time in a while today and made you something. I really really really hope you like it. I'm not a good painter but I think you're so beautiful and positive, even though you're dealing with the stress life brings, so I wanted to make you something. See you on tour, buddy. Sending you a hug.
Among the city's most skilled networkers are titans of finance and advertising, whose stature and wealth can create connections that lead to powerful outcomes.
Jon Levy may not be a Wall Street billionaire, but over the past five years he's hosted more than 400 influential people from around the world at networking events in his home.
Don't mistake him for just a socialite who loves lavish cocktail parties. Levy is a networking entrepreneur.
Twice a month, he holds his "Influencers" dinners. He invites 12 influential people — Nobel laureates, Olympic athletes, hip-hop icons — to make dinner together. They spend the first part of the night talking about anything but their jobs. After the meal, about 50 more people, many of them former dinner guests, arrive for the Salon, a night centered around presentations in Levy's living room. Not all Salon guests are celebrities in their fields, but everyone has either an unusual job or an unusually strong network.
It's like condensing a TED conference into one intimate night, says Regina Spektor, the acclaimed musician.
At the Influencers dinner and Salon I attended in December, Bill Nye the Science Guy gave a presentation about his new book on evolution, "Undeniable." Break-dancing pioneer Crazy Legs got on the floor and busted out moves. Beatboxing legend, and former member of the Roots, Rahzel ended the night's events by getting Levy to rap along to the classic "La Di Da Di" with Crazy Legs as his hype-man and Levy's sister, singer Batsheva Levy, on vocals.
"I'm offering a novel experience with no expectation that anybody does anything for me," Levy says.
In a city full of boring networking events, Levy has managed to create something uniquely enjoyable and valuable to his Influencers at his sprawling Upper West Side apartment, which his parents passed on to him.
Says Nye, "He's trying to change the world with this remarkable living space he inherited. What's not to love?"
Levy grew up in the apartment as the son of eccentric artists: his father, Benjamin, a painter and sculptor, and his mother, Hanna, a composer and conductor. Their successful careers provided them with the means for both a large Manhattan home and an eclectic group of friends to invite to it. They would throw big buffet-style dinner parties for 40 people and invite jazz musicians to play.
"I grew up around it," Levy says. "I just had no appreciation for it at the time. I was 7 years old and wanted to play Nintendo."
Despite the lasting impression the dinners left on him, Levy says that his parents — who now live in an artists' colony in Israel — had nothing to do with the creation of the Influencers concept.
That inspiration came from a Landmark Education seminar on personal success. Levy says he left thinking about this quote: "The fundamental element that defines the quality of your life is the people you surround yourself with and the conversations you have with them."
So in 2009, Levy, whose background is in marketing and includes a six-year stint as a life coach, began inviting interesting people to his apartment to meet one another over dinner.
"In the early days, I was doing 20 to 30 hours a week on this stuff," Levy says. "And while my friends were going out, I was doing designing, planning, organizing, and research on people."
When the award-winning magician Marco Tempest was a guest, he asked Levy if there was a way to take his Influencers concept further, and Levy achieved this with the Salon, each of which has a loosely interpreted theme.
On the night I attended, the theme was "Evolution: The challenges that make us, our culture, and our species better." Nye spoke about the scientific theory of evolution; Crazy Legs walked us through the evolution of break dancing.
Of course, Levy had to get people to come in the first place. He says there were three elements that persuaded high-profile executives, celebrities, academics, and the like to visit a low-profile New Yorker's apartment on a Saturday night.
Most important, Levy says, is that he drew from a diverse audience that mostly had no applicable use to his business. When he asked a top jazz musician to perform one night, for example, he was looking for a way to enrich his network, rather than finding a way to nab a lucrative deal.
"When you're connecting with people just to connect with them and to bring them together, it's obvious that there's no angle," he adds.
He made sure to tell everybody he met about the Influencers concept that he was developing — "sometimes before I even discussed my own job."
And finally, he asked everyone about the most interesting people in their networks, and then invited them.
"I'd always have something to invite people to, and I'd always have one or two scheduled so that there was always an opportunity to be connected with people," he adds.
The level of people Levy is able to attract keeps going up, he says, since each high-profile guest he acquires builds his reputation as someone offering a unique experience with no strings attached.
Economist Nouriel Roubini, who met Levy three months ago, says his favorite aspect of Levy's events are that they break the tendency for New York professionals to socialize only within their industry.
"New York City can be so tribalized or balkanized," Roubini says, "so Jon is very good at bridging these usually unrelated urban tribes who are interesting in their own way when they mix with other ones."
New Yorker contributor and author Maria Konnikova likes how Levy tells his dinner guests to avoid talking about their professions until they're revealed at the end of the meal. It's a tendency he encourages his Salon guests to adopt, so that he can build a network based primarily on personal connections.
"At the Salon, you're just enjoying the evening and figuring out which people you actually like, regardless of whether they can be helpful to you," Konnikova says. "It's a nice feeling to know that a conversation is based on pure interest and not any sort of strategic calculation. In the 'real' world, that can be a difficult phenomenon to recreate. I think this way, it's more conducive to connections that, eventually, go deeper: You will help each other professionally, sure, but you know that you genuinely like each other personally, too. That makes a big difference."
Jordan Harbinger received an invitation from Levy to the Influencers after Harbinger interviewed him on his lifestyle podcast, "The Art of Charm." Harbinger has interviewed hundreds of networking experts for his talk show. He says the strength of the Influencers is that — borrowing a term from Wharton professor and fellow Influencers guest Adam Grant— "it's a system that benefits givers and weeds out non-givers naturally."
In Grant's terminology, givers are those who generously share their network with others. Tactful givers only spend time and effort on those who treat them respectfully, and have clout that can be useful for reputation building or developing strong connections down the line.
If someone attends Levy's Salon and doesn't find the performances appealing or the variety of guests useful, then it's in Levy's favor for them not to stay in the community. Harbinger says it's smart that Levy doesn't share many details with those he invites about who will be attending an event, since the average busy professional is conditioned to weigh opportunity cost, and may be wary of something different from what they're used to.
Harbinger and Konnikova agree that building a network outside of your industry can have long-term benefits that may not be apparent at first.
"I think it's the referral network — you need only a few good connections at first, and good people know other good people. Once you have enough critical mass, the momentum builds on itself," Konnikova says.
Levy says that even though he's got a streamlined system in place and has outsourced his email invitations to an assistant, he still spends a minimum of 10 hours each week on the Influencers, scheduling dinners and Salons months in advance.
He says that since he pays for each of the dinners out of pocket, he technically runs them at a loss, but "running this has paid dividends that are disproportionate to the cost and effort."
"One of my core statements is: A network is strongest when the connections between its members are great. I don't want everybody connected through me. I want everybody connected to me and each other," he says.
Levy's career and the Influencers are becoming increasingly intertwined. Since early last year, he's worked as a private marketing consultant for brands in the retail, hospitality, automotive, and tech industries, and the stronger his network the more big brands will be interested in working with him.
Over the past year, he's been finding ways to incorporate product sponsorships into his Salons. When asked how he'll keep them from becoming pure advertisements, he says that he makes their involvement clear and only works with brands he's personally excited about.
For example, the first experiment he did was with the karaoke-machine company Singtrix for an Influencers community holiday party in late 2013. The night was a hit with his guests, and some journalists in attendance gave Singtrix some coverage.
Besides any pragmatic benefits from being the center of a diverse and influential network, Levy says that bringing people together is what he's most passionate about.
"The things I create are on a social level. And so for me to see that I've brought two people together that then create something, it makes me feel like I've had an impact, I have value," he says. "I get to look back and say, 'Oh, my God. I connected these people and then this new company was formed.' I take a lot of pride in that."
According to Nye, Levy is right on the money. Through him, Nye says, "I've met five people that may change my life. Not bad."
Levy says he became fascinated with studying behavior as a "really geeky" and introverted eighth-grader. One day at school, a new seating arrangement was announced. Students picked their seats, but no one wanted to sit next to him. It's a story that Levy says he doesn't want to dramatically overemphasize, but it's something that put him on a path to dedicating himself to having hundreds of influential friends.
"I would definitely say I became very heavily interested in understanding how people connect and then becoming really good at it," he says.
When he hosts an event, he bounces from guest to guest with energy to make sure things go according to schedule. He makes sure to pause to take photos, start conversations between people he thinks should connect, and join in a toast.
His favorite moment the night I attended?
"Are you kidding? Standing there with Rahzel and Crazy Legs singing 'La Di Da Di' and then my sister jumping in for all the women's parts," he says. "That was freakin' insanity! How do you even make sense of that? You have to understand: I'm a Jewish kid from the Upper West Side. I went to Hebrew day school. I have no right to be participating in that!
"The big joke I always say is that, one day, I hope to accomplish something worthy of an invite to my own dinner."
Here's a video of Rahzel giving a beatbox demo in Levy's living room:
Nancy Grace and rapper 2 Chainz had an amazing debate over the legalization of marijuana Tuesday night on the legal analyst's HLN show.
The rapper, who graduated from Alabama State Universitywith a 4.0 while on a basketball scholarship, is in favor of legalizing the drug. GossipCop summed up 2 Chainz's argument on the show: "Minor drug offenses can prevent people from getting jobs and loans, and suggested that legalization could ease overcrowding in prisons and help the economy, saying taxpayer money would be freed up if people weren’t unnecessarily being prosecuted."
The rapper also revealed he personally used weed to help with his anxiety before "shows in front of 50, 60,000 people."
Grace argued the opposite, citing a few incidents in which young children encountered weed, such as one story "like a mom and a dad on the porch, and the baby dies in a fire."
Grace pressed the rapper on how he — a role model — could support the legalization of marijuana in light of stories like a toddler smoking weed.
"These people are obviously imbeciles. You can't use this case to define an entire community," 2 Chainz responded, while referring to Grace as "Darlin'."
Throughout the interview, Grace had some incredible one-liners:
"And while I have you, why the 2 Chainz?"
"I'm not defining everybody, so don't throw me in that pot and stew me."
"Everybody shouldn't have free access to go get pot like you get orange juice at the grocery store. Like you order it up like a pizza."
She even recited some of 2 Chainz's lyrics:
"'Smoking California weed with California whores' — excuse me, 'true.' I left that out," Grace said. "Truuuue!" 2 Chainz responded.
Despite the back and forth, both Grace and 2 Chainz seemed to enjoy the debate.
After the show, the two tweeted at each other:
.@2chainz you're on. I'm gonna talk u out of this pot thing. Ps. I don't think that's a real rolex u have on. #Pot2Blame?
This year's Razzies nominations were announced Wednesday.
The Razzies "honor" the worst films of the past year in Hollywood, and have been doing so since 1980.
Leading the way with the most nominations is "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" with 7 nods including Worst Picture and Worst Director. "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" follows with 6 nominations, including "Kirk Cameron & His Ego" for worst screen combo.
Others nominees include respected actors like Melissa McCarthy and Nicolas Cage for the maligned "Tammy" and "Left Behind," respectively, as well as Oscar winner Charlize Theron. Frequent nominee Adam Sandler is nominated once again for his performance in "Blended." Cameron Diaz has several nominations, for "Annie," "Sex Tape," and "The Other Woman."
This is also the first year where the Razzies will feature the Razzie Redeemer award, which honors previous Razzie winners who have gone on to achieve critical adulation.
The "winners" will be announcd on Sat. Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. in a "ceremony" at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood.
Below is the complete list of nominees.
Worst Picture "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" "Left Behind" "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" "The Legend Of Hercules"
Worst Actor Kirk Cameron,"Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" Nicolas Cage, "Left Behind" Kellan Lutz, "The Legend Of Hercules" Seth MacFarlane, "A Million Ways To Die In The West" Adam Sandler, "Blended"
Worst Actress Drew Barrymore, "Blended" Cameron Diaz, "The Other Woman" and "Sex Tape" Melissa McCarthy, "Tammy" Charlize Theron, "A Million Ways To Die In The West" Gaia Weiss, "The Legend Of Hercules"
Worst Supporting Actor Mel Gibson "The Expendables 3" Kelsey Grammer, "The Expendables 3," "Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return," "Think Like A Man," "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Shaquille O'Neill, "Blended" Arnold Schwarzenegger, "The Expendables 3" Kiefer Sutherland, "Pompeii"
Worst Supporting Actress Cameron Diaz, "Annie" Megan Fox, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Nicola Peltz, "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Susan Sarandon, "Tammy" Bridget Ridenour (nee Cameron), "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas"
Worst Director Michael Bay, "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Darren Doane, "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" Renny Harlin, "The Legend Of Hercules" Jonathan Liebesman, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Seth MacFarlane, "A Million Ways To Die In The West"
Worst Remake, Sequel, Or Rip-Off "Annie" "The Legend Of Hercules" "Atlas Shugged 3: Who Is John Galt?" "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" "Transformers: Age Of Extinction"
Worst Screen Combo Any Two Robots, Actors, Or Robotic Actors, "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Kirk Cameron & His Ego, "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" Cameron Diaz & Jason Segel, "Sex Tape" Kellen Lutz & His Abs, His Pecs, Or His Glutes, "The Legend Of Hercules." Seth MacFarlane & Charlize Theron, "A Million Ways To Die In The West"
Worst Screenplay Darren Doane & Cheston Hervey, "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas" Paul LaLonde & John Patus, "Left Behind" Kate Angelo, Jason Segel & Nicholas Stoller, "Sex Tape" Ehren Kruger, "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Evan Daugherty, Andre Nemec & Josh Applebaum, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
Redeemer Award Ben Affleck, from winning a Razzie for "Gigli" to being respected for "Argo" and "Gone Girl" Jennifer Aniston, from having 4 Razzie nominations to her SAG nomination for "Cake" Mike Meyers, from winning a Razzie for "Love Guru" to achieving critical praise for "Supermensch" Keanu Reeves, from 6 Razzie nominations to critical acclaim for "John Wick" Kristen Stewart, from winning 6 Razzies for "Twilight" to the acclaimed art-house movie "Camp X-Ray"
If you’re not following “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn on Facebook or Instagram, you should.
The director puts out behind-the-scenes photos from the film, shares lists of his favorite films, fan art, and videointerviews, while taking the time to respond to a lot of fan comments.
Earlier this week, Gunn posted an image of a painting from artist Chris Foss which the director said inspired his “Guardians of the Galaxy” team the most.
Gunn said he presented this piece of art and other Foss works during a pitch meeting with Marvel to direct “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Here’s how he explains the painting’s inspiration and what happened during that meeting:
Yellow is an underused color in films, especially science-fiction and fantasy films. In Guardians, I used it as a signifier of change, rebirth, and redemption - the yellow prison uniforms, Drax drowning in the yellow spinal fluid, the yellow Groot spores, and the yellow interlocking Nova Corps net... I believe color is a part of what made Guardians successful. When so many huge, spectacle films have the beige color palette of Saw, the brain becomes thirsty for color. We were that technicolor pitcher of water at the edge of the summer desert.
This doesn't mean all movies should be colorful, just that color in general is important, and too much of one thing is boring. If, over the next few years, films become oversaturated with bright colors, brains will be relieved by a film entirely hazel and gray.
Anyway, this painting, along with other Chris Foss works, was a part of my original presentation to Marvel when I pitched myself as director and I explained the visual direction I was going to take with the film. They were immediately on board, and we ended up hiring Chris Foss to help design some of the spaceships in the film. He was, of everyone, my biggest visual inspiration on Guardians.
It's an exciting time for Disney. With a flurry of successful superhero movies, the animated juggernaut Frozen, and new Star Wars movies on the horizon, things are looking up. Meanwhile, the company's stock is up around 500% since 2009. But where does Disney's money really come from?
As you'll see in the graphic below, The Walt Disney Studios films actually account for a fairly small percentage of their revenue.
In a New York Times op-edtitled "I Owe It All to Community College"published Wednesday, the Oscar-winning 58-year-old actor, who attended Chabot Community College in Hayward, California, writes that the experience "made me what I am today."
Hanks explains he graduated from high school as "an underachieving student with lousy SAT scores" and no way to afford college. Chabot was the perfect answer to Hanks' question of what to do with his life after high school "because it accepted everyone and was free."
During his two years at the school, Hanks took classes he loved (oral interpretation), classes he loathed (health, a requirement), classes he aced (film as art), and classes he dropped after the first hour (astronomy, "because it was all math"). Hanks says he "nearly failed zoology, killing my fruit flies by neglect, but got lucky in an English course, 'The College Reading Experience.'"
By the time he graduated, Hanks had made Chabot’s dean’s list. He went on to California State University in Sacramento, where he studied theater arts before dropping out to pursue acting full-time. Luckily, things worked out for the hopeful kid from Oakland, California
Since then, Hanks says that "classes I took at Chabot have rippled through my professional pond." He cites "an outline format I learned from a pipe-smoking historian, James Coovelis," that he used while producing the 2008 HBO miniseries "John Adams" as just one example.
Hanks concluded by offering his support for Obama's proposal that would make two years of community college free for anyone willing to work for it:
President Obama hopes to make two years of free community college accessible for up to nine million Americans. I’m guessing the new Congress will squawk at the $60 billion price tag, but I hope the idea sticks, because more veterans, from Iraq and Afghanistan this time, as well as another generation of mothers, single parents and workers who have been out of the job market, need lower obstacles between now and the next chapter of their lives. High school graduates without the finances for a higher education can postpone taking on big loans and maybe luck into the class that will redefine their life’s work. Many lives will be changed.
Under Obama's proposal, students who attend at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA while in college, and make steady progress toward completing their programs would have their tuition eliminated.
The White House said the program would be taken in partnership with states and was inspired by new programs in Tennessee and Chicago. If all states participate, an estimated 9 million students could benefit. A full-time community-college student could save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year, according to Reuters.
Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are longtime supporters of Obama, and have often attended fundraisers. Hanks even narrated a campaign video in 2012, and the actor was honored by Obama last year at the Kennedy Center Honors.
To read Tom Hanks' full New York Times essay, click here.
From Thursday, Jan. 29 until Feb. 5., roughly 200 IMAX theaters across the country will screen the final two episodes of Season 4, "The Watchers On The Wall" and "The Children," before premiering the first season 5 trailer.
Originally scheduled to run from Jan. 23 through Jan. 29, the date was pushed back to accommodate for even more theaters to show the digitally re-mastered season 4 episodes.
Tickets will be available on Fri., Jan 16 on IMAX's website.
Here's a running list of the theaters screening "Game of Thrones," via IMAX. More theaters are currently being added to this list. You can also check here for specific showtimes at a theater near you.
The documentary feature "ART AND CRAFT," which was codirected by Sam Cullman and Jen Grausman, follows the story of American painter Mark Landis, who was exposed in 2008 for producing forgeries of famous artworks.
Since he donated the pieces to more than 45 museums, technically he has not committed any crime. Landis is a complicated and endearing character. He suffers from schizophrenia and views himself as a philanthropist.
The film has been shortlisted for an Academy Award. In addition to its theatrical run, it was recently released digitally. We spoke with the directors, who shared their take on this riveting story.
How did you persuade Landis to be in the film?
When we were first exposed to Mark Landis' story, we imagined he might not be the most forthcoming subject. His exposure was still unfolding and it seemed certain that a man in his position would never share his secrets or tricks. But from our very first conversations and through to completion of the film, Landis proved surprisingly open and transparent.
After first spending some number of hours on the phone getting to know each other, we sent Landis DVDs of our past works so he could vet us. It turns out that in addition to his deep knowledge about art and art history, Landis is also a huge movie buff. Soon thereafter, he invited us down to Mississippi to start filming. On the first shoot, Landis gave us a major interview and we also filmed him buying art supplies and later making forgeries. By the second visit, we were filming him giving them away as a "philanthropist."
In retrospect, Landis' openness to the film and our endless inquiries about his past, his process, and his complex motivations make perfect sense. Diagnosed as a teenager with schizophrenia and multiple behavioral disorders, in the 1970s, Landis had endured a lifetime of marginalization as a person living with mental illness. In many ways, his 30-year con had become a means to change all that, to connect with the world, in control and on his own terms. We were an extension of that process, and Landis eagerly welcomed our company and the opportunity to tell his story.
If he had sold his pieces, how much would they be worth?
It's hard to imagine what Landis' fakes would be worth if sold or auctioned off as the real thing. Over his 30-year "career," he knocked off an amazing range of artists and styles that includes 15th-century religious icons, Picasso, and even Walt Disney-animation cells.
And even if we could estimate the perceived value of these objects, Landis was a notoriously bad record keeper, and to this day we still don't know how many works he has made overall. We do know, however, that Landis rarely copied major works by major artists. He tended to copy lesser works by well-known figures — or key works by artists outside of the canon. Still, he probably could have made a fortune.
In one segment in the film, Mark explains that one piece, an academic drawing of which he's made many variations, is "probably worth about a million dollars."
What's your takeaway from making the film?
What makes documentary work so exciting is the sense of discovery at the center of the process. It forces you to stay on your toes, remain open to new experiences, and to be flexible at all costs, so that the work gains depth when challenged by new information, rather than fall apart. All this was absolutely the case — and reinforced, even — in the making of "ART AND CRAFT."
The film examines the curious story of a prolific art forger who isn't in it for the money, but chooses instead to donate his work to museums. We began shooting at the very moment Landis’ 30-year ruse was exposed, and initially imagined a documentary that would highlight the cat-and-mouse chase between a forger and his pursuer — a set-up that also positioned the film to explore core art-world questions about provenance, authorship, and the way creative work is valued in the marketplace.
But once we met Landis and observed him confronting his exposure and his legacy, we soon understood that the film would have to prioritize the more universal and human themes that had emerged. We still had a film about authenticity and identity, but, inspired by our main character, "ART AND CRAFT" had outgrown its art-caper foundations in a way that felt right for this story. And besides, for a film about a forger, it should come as no surprise that things are not always as they seem.
Director Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" — which is the first movie to ever be shot over 12 years, filming the same actors as they aged — is receiving tons of Oscar buzz and just cleaned up at Sunday's Golden Globe Awards.
The film won three Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Director, and Patricia Arquette took home the statue for Best Supporting Actress.
But despite the film's box office and critical success, the stars of the movie aren't necessarily raking it in.
Following her Golden Globes win, Patricia Arquette revealed that "Boyhood" was more of a passion project than a lucrative gig.
"It’s important to me as an actor to be able to make a living, but I’m going to tell you something — I paid more money to my babysitter and my dog walker than I made on 'Boyhood,' and to be in 'Boyhood!'" the actress told WENN.
Arquette, who recently appeared on "Boardwalk Empire" and can currrently be seen on "CSI," says that TV — not film — is often more lucrative.
"Television actually allows you to make a living, feed your children, send them to college. And to have the luxury to make the choices of doing what it is you think that matters," the actress told WENN.
"It blows my mind (we won) because we didn’t even know if people would even accept this movie and then to find that people were moved by the movie," Arquette continued. "Winning totally blew our minds. I’m so happy for Rick (Linklater) and so happy for the producers, because they gave $4 million dollars. They gambled on a movie with no safety net, no contracts past seven years… You could’ve ended up with nothing."
For "Boyhood," 54-year-old director Richard Linklater insisted that financier IFC Films give him part ownership of the movie's copyright.
Unlike a typical deal that offers a percentage of profits — or "points" — so a director shares in the success but has no control over the movie's future, Linklater's pact gave him a say in where and how the film is released.
... As an owner, he can join in marketing decisions, touch each part of the revenue stream and eventually sell his stake to a library (by contrast, many directors still are paid for home video on a "royalties" basis that is much lower than theatrical gross).
While exact financial details have not been released, Linklater's ownership is apparently "substantial," his lawyer told THR in June.
But most directors don't take this kind of deal because it forces them to give up a big part of an upfront fee, which is usually estimated to be in the low-seven figures.
"And that's precisely why most directors haven't taken this route," notes THR. "They stick to Hollywood's oldest adage: Take the money and run."
Bette Midler got quite the surprise Wednesday after she dropped her cell phone in the toilet and then submerged it in rice to try and absorb the water.
The fix did not go as planned. First, Midler got rice stuck in her phone, and later, she found a worm crawling out of the headphone opening.
Midler tweeted a play-by-play of the horrifying incident:
World gone mad. AND I dropped my phone in the toilet AGAIN!! I should own stock in Carolina Rice.
According to Wired, submerging your wet phone in rice may actually save it — sometimes.
Many folks swear by stuffing your phone in a bag of dry rice and letting it sit for 24 to 36 hours or more. This is cheap, easy, and can be done in a pinch. But this method could have some negatives: If the rice absorbs the water well, you may be left with a mushy rice mess stuck in its creases and I/O ports. Those with skin in the game (as you’ll see below) also say that the starch from the surface of the rice can get inside your phone and muck it up, but I haven’t been able to find solid empirical evidence of this. To be safe, wrap the phone loosely in a paper towel before dropping it into the rice.
"The smartest option," Wired writes, "is to keep synthetic desiccants [like Silica Gel] on-hand. They are far less messy, and they work more quickly and efficiently than rice."
We can only imagine the Divine Miss M's face upon discovering the worm:
Why choose between an Xbox One and PS4 when you can have both?
That's the idea behind the "PlayBox," a monstrous custom laptop that manages to cram both an Xbox One and PS4 into one device with a 22-inch, 1080p screen.
To swap between game consoles, there's a switch in the back, and the PlayBox works with both Xbox One and PS4 wireless controllers. Games are loaded into either side.
The PlayBox is the latest custom project from Ed Zarick, a hacker-maker who builds custom prototypes for game enthusiasts. In the past, Zarick has modified both the PS4 and Xbox One, turning each into their own laptop and even combining the Xbox 360 and Xbox One into a single package called the Xbox Duo.
While the PlayBox is technically a laptop, it's huge even when compared to other gaming laptops. You also need to keep it plugged in, so unless you're near an outlet, you won't be using this beast on your next road trip.
You won't be able to buy the PlayBox in store anytime soon, but if you're interested in ordering one for yourself, you can request your own made-to-order PlayBox by contacting Zarick here.
The 87th annual Oscar nominations will be announced Thursday morning in two parts at 8:30 a.m. and 8:38 a.m. on ABC.
If you're not near a TV to watch, the Academy is live streaming the event on YouTube.
Chris Pine and Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs will present 13 nomination categories while "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuarón and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams will present 11 categories.
We'll have coverage of all the Oscar nominations as they're announced.
Tune in and watch below. A global live stream is available on the Oscar site here.
Chris Pine Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, director Alfonso Cuarón ("Gravity"), and J.J. Abrams ("Star Wars: The Force Awakens") will announce this year's nominees at 8:30 a.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
If you want to watch along, check out the live stream, here.
Neil Patrick Harris will host the 87th annual Academy Awards Sun., Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
We'll be updating this post live with the full list of nominees.
Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning, and one of the biggest shocks came during the Best Animated Picture category, in which the breakout hit "The Lego Movie" was snubbed.
The crowd at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hillssounded surprised themselves after the five noms were announced.
Instead, here's what was nominated:
"Big Hero 6" Don Hall, Chris Williams, and Roy Conli "The Boxtrolls" Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable, and Travis Knight "How to Train Your Dragon 2" Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold "Song of the Sea" Tomm Moore and Paul Young "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya" Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
This was the year in which "The Lego Movie" really had a chance to take home Oscar gold because Disney didn't release ANY Pixar movie.
Since 2007, Pixar is 5-for-5 when it comes to best animated picture award nominations and wins. Last year, "Frozen" won the Oscar, while no Pixar movie was nominated.
Instead, this gives Disney's "Big Hero 6," featuring the loveable caretaker Baymax, a good chance of bringing home the Oscar for Disney Animation.
However, it may not be a shoo-in for the win. DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon 2" stunned at the Golden Globes when it beat out both "The Lego Movie" and "Big Hero 6" for the award.
"The Lego Movie" did get a well-deserved Oscar nod for its infectious title song "Everything is Awesome."
Nintendo announced a new lineup of 3DS handheld consoles during its Nintendo Direct broadcastWednesday morning.
The main differences between the old lineup and the new one? The new 3DS consoles are faster, have a new "C-stick" for camera controls, and work with the company's line of NFC-enabled Amiibo figurines, which you can buy and insert into games to give you an advantage.
The new 3DS consoles also come with face-tracking technology, which is very important for this console. On older 3DS consoles, you had to sit right in front of the screen to get the 3D effect; but now, the new consoles will be able to track your eyes and face so you can see the console's 3D from any angle.
Take a look at the new consoles:
Because the 3DS XL comes out the same day as "The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D," Nintendo will also release a special edition of the new 3DS that looks like this:
Nintendo is selling the $200 3DS XL only in North America. The smaller and cheaper Nintendo 3DS model will be in Japan only. When asked whether the normal 3DS would ever come to the US, Nintendo said it had "nothing to announce at this time."
The housing and credit bubble is coming to the big screen.
"When you're connecting with people just to connect with them and to bring them together, it's obvious that there's no angle," he adds.
"I think it's the referral network — you need only a few good connections at first, and good people know other good people. Once you have enough critical mass, the momentum builds on itself," Konnikova says.
Tom Hanks is the newest fan of President Obama's push to 
Maryland
North Carolina
Virginia
Happy Oscar Thursday!
Oscar nominations 
