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HBO's standalone streaming service is now live (AAPL)

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hbo now announced at apple event Richard Plepler, CEO of HBO

HBO's new streaming service HBO Now officially arrived on the Apple TV on Tuesday.

Unlike HBO and HBO Go, which both require a cable subscription, all you need to enjoy HBO Now is a broadband connection or an Apple device. Soon it will come to other devices and services, like Dish Network's Sling TV.

HBO Now costs $15 a month, and you get access to HBO's full catalogue of movies, TV shows, and original programming — past, present and future. If you sign up now, however, you'll get a free 30-day free trial to HBO Now.

At Apple's media event on March 9, HBO's CEO Richard Plepler announced HBO Now would launch exclusively on the Apple TV, and it would be coming in April so new customers could enjoy the season premiere of "Game of Thrones" on April 12.

If you don't have an Apple TV, the company recently dropped its price to $69, from $99. You can download the HBO Now app from Apple's App Store here.

SEE ALSO: 31 GIFs that show how the Apple Watch will work

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NOW WATCH: Here's how to get HBO Now on your TV without Apple TV









Most characters on 'The Walking Dead' aren't killed by zombies

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the walking dead rick daryl

In AMC's hit series "The Walking Dead," anyone can get killed at any moment. Creator Robert Kirkman has said that no character is safe despite their popularity in the longstanding comic series.  

However, in the show, more people get killed by the living than the dead. 

In the zombie apocalypse, most people would think the cause of death would either be getting devoured or infected by other zombies. It turns out that’s not the case! 

Matt Yancey put together an incredible graphic extensively tracking the life and death of 105 characters on the series.

Check it out below:

walking dead graphic

SEE ALSO: "The Walking Dead" may have teased one of the next big villains in season 3

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NOW WATCH: There's a good reason 'The Walking Dead' creator doesn't use the word zombie








The 10 funniest Dilbert comic strips about idiot bosses

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dt090712comb_ht

It should be comforting that no matter how much you hate your boss, they can't possibly be as bad as the Pointy-Haired Boss.

The idiot middle manager is central to the popular Dilbert comic series, which was the first syndicated comic that focused primarily on the workplace when it launched in 1989. The character embodies the time-wasting, circular-reasoning, and ignorant mentality of bad bosses that many workers are all too familiar with.

"If you've ever had a boss, this probably hits home for you," Dilbert creator Scott Adams tells Business Insider.

To celebrate National Boss Day on Oct. 16, Adams shared his 10 favorite Pointy-Haired Boss strips from the archives of Dilbert.com

August 2001



July 2009



August 2009



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






17 more episodes of 'Arrested Development' are in the works

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netflix arrested developement

Good news, "Arrested Development" fans. It sounds like more episodes of the cult favorite series are in the works.

Uproxx noticed series producer Brian Grazer broke the news to Bill Simmons in a podcast Tuesday morning.

We're going to do another 17 episodes," said Grazer. "So, stay tuned for 'Arrested Development.'" 

"Arrested Development" was revived by Netflix in 2013 for a fourth season which was met with mixed reactions.

You can listen to the podcast below. It's around the 24:30 mark.

 

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NOW WATCH: This Sports Illustrated swimsuit rookie could become the next Kate Upton








Nintendo’s smartest new product in years is impossible to find in stores

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Amiibo

Nintendo is widely known as a video game company, despite its origins as a playing card and toy company. The Japanese gaming giant is returning to its roots with the wildly popular amiibo action figures: plastic, real-life versions of its most popular characters that work with games. Simply place a figure on the Nintendo Wii U's gamepad during a supported game, and voila! The toys double as keys to unlock in-game content: new levels to play, or characters to fight against, etc.

The toys are so popular that it's nearly impossible to find them in stores, bedeviling potential buyers. "Some figures are sold out and are being sold at online auctions at premium prices – something which none of us had predicted," Nintendo CEO and president Satoru Iwata said in a mid-February financials briefing. "I can say that amiibo has kicked off smoothly."

Except it hasn't. If you're looking for any figures other than Nintendo's most popular, you might be out of luck. Mario, Kirby and Link are widely available, while the likes of Mega Man and Donkey Kong can be very hard to come by. If you want something a little more obscure? Your best bet is heading to eBay or Amazon, where resellers are jacking up prices.

Looking for Captain Falcon from Super Nintendo classic "F-Zero"? He'll cost you over $40: around four times the original price of $12.99.

Fans and superfans

Nintendo's walking a fine line with amiibo. The toys are both appealing to young, new fans and longtime Nintendo loyalists. That's exemplified by the sales breakdown of amiibo, care of Nintendo:

Nintendo Amiibo

The chart to the left represents which characters sold best to retail stores — recognizable names like Link (from "The Legend of Zelda"), Mario (who needs no introduction), and Pikachu (from "Pokémon"). The chart to the right represents which characters sold best to actual consumers — it's topped by relatively obscure characters like Marth (from the "Fire Emblem" series) and Villager (from "Animal Crossing").

These are not the characters everyone is looking for, but they are the characters that matter most to Nintendo's most loyal consumers. So, what went wrong?

Pre-orders and exclusives

Justin Bieber and Nintendo's amiibo toys are not so different. Okay, fine, they're pretty different. But they're similar in one important way: Both the Bieber and Nintendo's amiibo are ruined by scalpers. 

Nintendo announced five days ago that preorders were available for a handful of new amiibo. The crush of fans and resellers rushing to pre-order the figures crashed the website of the world's largest game retailer, GameStop.

"Due to very strong demand for the newest wave of Nintendo’s amiibo figures, GameStop is experiencing some technical issues with our website. At this time, we are accepting pre-orders of amiibo in stores only while we resolve these issues," the company told angry fans.

Worse, several amiibo are exclusive to specific retailers: only GameStop carries fan favorite/cult classic character Ness, while only Target has Metaknight, etc.

The crush of fans descending on a single ticket seller often results in resellers (scalpers) getting the upper hand. Want to see Bieber at Madison Square Garden? You're almost certainly forking over more than the original asking price of the ticket, even if you're eagle-eyed and on top of the sale going live. 

Nintendo could just create more toys, of course. The aforementioned Marth is getting a new production run as he corresponds to an upcoming game from Nintendo. The company's official statement on making more amiibo is, essentially, "we'll make more if enough people ask for them." That's a nice sentiment, but Nintendo's burning its most loyal fans in the process.

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NOW WATCH: How to supercharge your iPhone in only 5 minutes








The founder of Scientology has one of the strangest US Navy records ever

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navy rec zoom

Before creating the Church of Scientology, Layfette Ron Hubbard was a successful science-fiction writer turned worldwide church leader and served in the US Navy. 

l ron at seaStrangely, the US Navy and the Church of Scientology have produced drastically different accounts of Hubbard's military career.

In one version, Hubbard was a college graduate and Purple Heart recipient.

Another narrative shows Hubbard was two years shy of finishing college and had minimal military training.

These stark differences are most notably found on Hubbard's "Notice of Separation from US Naval Service" form, as pointed out by the New Yorker.

The document, produced by both the Church of Scientology and the US Navy, have discrepancies in the most basic areas:

  1. Date of entry into active service
  2. Service schools completed
  3. Service (vessels and stations served on)
  4. Service schools completed
  5. Discharge payment amount
  6. Awards
  7. Signature (by direction of commanding officer)
  8. College graduate
  9. Fingerprint 

Military archivists Eric Voelz and William Seibert of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis told the New Yorker that both documents have serious errors.

Here is a look at the Navy's version (and here is the form without notes):

navy final skitch

Here is a look at the Church of Scientology's version (and here is the form without notes):notes sci final skitch

The rest of Hubbard's service record is speckled with conflicting documents regarding his military rank, achievements, medical records, and combat experience.

Hubbard's undefined military rank 

hubbard navy pic

A servicemember's rank is crucial to the military's attention-t0-detail, uniformity, and structure. 

Military personnel are visibly identified with rank insignias on uniforms and are consistently addressed by their rank in conversation.

Hubbard claims that he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander, which is seven notches below the highest rank in the US Navy, a 5-star Fleet Admiral.

The following documents narrate the military's inability to produce clear documentation on a defining organizational detail, rank. 

According to this US Navy document in November 1945, Hubbard was initially rejected for the Lieutenant Commander promotion because he was "not considered physically qualified" for the rank.

Here's the letter the Chief of Naval Personnel sent to Hubbard:

rejection hubbard

However, a US Navy letter stamped "25 June 1947" from the Chief of Naval Personnel to Hubbard confirms a "temporary promotion status" to Lieutenant Commander.

"You are carried on the records of this Bureau as a Lieutenant Commander to rank from 3 October 1945," the letter states.

Here is a look at the letter:

hubbard promoted

And then there is Hubbard's "officer precedence record," which shows a servicemembers' promotion history.

The following document shows that three years after receiving the "temporary" Lieutenant Commander rank, Hubbard was "permanently" promoted on June 3, 1948.

The form below shows that Hubbard followed the Navy's promotion ladder with Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG), Lieutenant (LT), and finally Lieutenant Commander (LTCR).

Here is Hubbard's promotion history card:

fixed ag hubbard

Based on the paper trail so far it would appear that Hubbard's highest rank was Lieutenant Commander as of June 3, 1948. However, the records were revisited 30 years later when the US Navy received the following handwritten letter from a Mr. William Hess of Portland, Oregon.

In his letter, Hess asks for verification that "Ronald Red Hubbard, Lt. Commander, USN, skipper of Albina sub-chaser in 1945, Purple Heart, etc." was in fact a US Navy Lieutenant Commander, and what were the periods of his military service, and what type of military discharge. 

Here's the letter Hess sent:

letter skitch hubbard

A few months later, the US Navy replied to Hess with the following letter showing that Hubbard's highest military rank was Lieutenant — not Lieutenant Commander as Hubbard claimed.

There is also no mention that Hubbard was awarded the Purple Heart.

Here is the US Navy's response: hubbard rank navy doc

'War hero'

purple heart cropped

 The Church of Scientology, the US Navy, and Hubbard have circulated different accounts of the awards achieved during his service.

The church maintains that during his service, Hubbard a "war hero" who received a Purple Heart among a dozen other honors.

The central requirement of the Purple Heart award is to have endured a combat-related injury. 

The Purple Heart in Hubbard's Scientology document is a "Purple Heart (palm)," meaning that he received a Purple Heart and then received another after suffering a subsequent injury. The palm designation (bronze oak leaf) is added to the award.

Since the sister service branches do not maintain a centralized database of military awards, there is not a readily available list of Purple Heart recipients.

As noted earlier, the Navy listed four awards in Hubbard's file: American Defense Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and a Victory Medal.  

As directed by Hubbard, the Church of Scientology released "Flag Operations Liaison" memo in May 28, 1974 to outline the highlights of his military career.

According to the church, here's how Hubbard's awards tally:

gah one more hubbard

Hubbard says he cured himself from blindness and malaria with Scientology

hubbard tv interviewAlong with Hubbard's ever-changing list military awards, he also had a plethora of physical ailments obtained mostly from his time in the South Pacific. 

Nearly all of the records from Hubbard's time in the South Pacific (reportedly in the early 1940s) are missing from his Navy personnel file.

While deployed to the region, Hubbard claimed he became blinded and crippled.

In his 1965 essay "My Philosophy," he describes the combat injuries.

Hubbard writes: 

Blinded with injured optic nerves, and lame with physical injuries to hip and back, at the end of World War II, I faced an almost non-existent future. My service record states: “This officer has no neurotic or psychotic tendencies of any kind whatsoever,” but it also states “permanently disabled physically.”

And so there came a further blow—I was abandoned by family and friends as a supposedly hopeless cripple and a probable burden upon them for the rest of my days. I yet worked my way back to fitness and strength in less than two years using only what I knew and could determine about Man and his relationship to the universe.

I had no one to help me; what I had to know I had to find out. And it’s quite a trick studying when you cannot see. I became used to being told it was all impossible, that there was no way, no hope. Yet I came to see again and walk again and I built an entirely new life. It is a happy life, a busy one and I hope a useful one. 

In a television interview after the release of his book "Dianetics," Hubbard explained that he was able to remove the mental blocks that kept him from recovering. The techniques he used would become the basis of Scientology. 

About a month after he returned from the South Pacific, Hubbard underwent a routine physical at the US Naval Hospital in Brooklyn. On May 11, 1942, Hubbard was diagnosed with "conjunctivitis" and a "sprained ankle." Four days later, he was listed as "ready for duty" and advised to "wear dark glasses for at least 10 days." 

Hubbard's Navy medical records a month after South Pacific tour: medical record skitch fine

The church says Hubbard was "a very fine commanding officer" who sank a Japanese submarine

hubbard navy pictureIn the same "Flag Operations Liaison" memo from the Church of Scientology, it says Hubbard sunk a Japanese submarine when he was a commander of a squadron of warships.

According to the memo, the vessel under his "direct command" engaged a Japanese Imperial Navy submarine and sank it off the coast of Oregon.

Here's the Church of Scientology's version of the Japanese submarine story:

hubbard notes

Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, a Medal of Honor recipient and US Navy operational commander during the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, was assigned to investigate Hubbard's sinking of a Japanese submarine.

In his report dated June 8, 1943 to the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, then-Commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier Fletcher writes, "An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area."

Admiral Fletcher’s investigation suggested that Hubbard mistakenly read a magnetic iron ore deposit on the ocean floor as two enemy submarines on their sonar. 

Here is Admiral Fletcher's report:

skitch letter hubbard

Hubbard opens fire near Mexico

coronado skitch hubbard

Shortly after Hubbard's disputed engagement with Japanese submarines in Oregon, he found himself ordered before a military tribunal for anchoring and firing shells near one of Mexico's Coronado islands.

During World War II, Mexico granted the US Army permission to hold practice exercises near the islands. Unappreciative of Hubbard's impromptu training, the Mexican Navy filed a formal complaint with the US authorities in 1943.

Here's the official complaint against Hubbard, as established by the US Pacific Fleet:

letter to hubbard

Missing documents from Hubbard's year in the South Pacific

In 1976, the Missouri Church of Scientology requested Hubbard's military service record from the Navy.

Hubbard's claimed "Lieutenant Commander" rank, Purple Heart, and tour in the South Pacific are not mentioned in the Navy's letter. In fact, it didn't mention him being deployed ot the South Pacific at all.

Here's the Navy's letter to the Church of Scientology:

navy sci skitch

Three years later, the Navy sent the following letter to Mr. Hess again outlining Hubbard's military service record (as done before for the Missouri Church of Scientology). The letter shows that Hubbard worked in Naval intelligence and was assigned to the South Pacific in 1941 until 1942.

This missing South Pacific period falls between his time in Camp Pollard, Virginia and New York, New York.

Here's the Navy's response to Hess:

final hess letter skitch

All in all, L. Ron Hubbard's time in the US Navy — whether as a Lieutenant Commander with a Purple Heart or a Lieutenant with basic military training — remains a mystery, given all of the contradictions and discrepancies in official documents.

The only thing that's certain is the founder of Scientology has one of the strangest backstories in the Navy.

SEE ALSO: The chilling story of how Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard rose to power

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NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed








‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ will not have a post-credit scene

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the avengers end final

It sounds like you won’t have to hang around the theater until the credits end for the latest Marvel movie.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” director Josh Whedon has told Entertainment Weekly that there will not be a post-credit scene in the film.

Since 2008’s “Iron Man,” fans of the Marvel universe have patiently sat through all the movie credits to get a small tease at what’s next in the franchise. But according to Whedon, they can’t top what they did on “The Avengers.”

“We all came at it separately—we don’t want to chase that,” Whedon told EW. “That was a jewel and a weird little quirk.”

In the “The Avengers,” the post-credit scene is the heroes eating shawarma following their final battle.

In the EW story, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirms Whedon’s comments. According to Feige, there will be a brief "epilogue-like scene" shortly after the credits start, but that's it.

And to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t fooling, Whedon added, “There is nothing at the very end. And that’s not a fake-out.”

Here’s the post-credit scene from "The Avengers."

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens in theaters May 1.

 

SEE ALSO: 10 lessons you can learn from the Avengers characters that will help you land your next job

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NOW WATCH: The new trailer for Season 3 of 'House of Cards' is terrifying








The story of how Jimmy Iovine helped Apple strike a deal for HBO Now (AAPL)

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Iovine

HBO CEO Richard Plepler was recently interviewed by Fast Company to talk about the release of its new standalone streaming service, HBO Now, which launched exclusively on Apple devices starting Tuesday.

In the interview, Plepler revealed that he called up his old boss, Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, to help land the exclusive partnership deal with Apple.

Plepler, who had once handled public relations for Iovine years before being put in charge of HBO, asked what Iovine thought about the possibility of Apple partnering with HBO for its streaming service.

According to Plepler, Iovine was immediately interested, saying "I think that's the sh--."

To work through the specifics of the deal, Plepler also worked with Time Warner board member Paul Wachter, who had also help facilitate Apple's acquisition of Beats. Wachter then set up a meeting between Plepler and Apple's head of digital media, Eddy Cue, who told Plepler he wanted to sign a deal "the next day."

The resulting partnership turned into HBO Now, a standalone video streaming service that allowed anyone to access HBO's extensive library of shows and movies on any Apple device for $14.99 a month — no cable subscription required.

You can sign up for HBO Now starting Tuesday, and if you sign up today you'll get a free month.

To read Fast Company's full profile of HBO CEO Richard Plepler, click here.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best new apps you might have missed recently

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NOW WATCH: Star Analyst Gene Munster Has A New Prediction About The Apple Television









Here's an awkward photo of Kanye West shaking hands with the guy he allegedly attacked

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Kanye West has agreed to settle a suit brought by a videographer who alleges the world-famous musician attacked him and tried to wrestle his camera from his hands, and that settlement contains a very interesting provision.

In addition to giving the videographer, Daniel Ramos, an unspecified sum of money, West agreed to apologize, according to the videographer's lawyer, Gloria Allred, who's world-famous herself. He also agreed to pose for this unbelievably awkward photo with Ramos:

Kanye West

Ramos sued West in Los Angeles Superior Court for assault, battery, negligence and interference with Danny’s civil rights related to an incident that allegedly happened on July 19, 2013 at LAX Airport. Ramos was with a bunch of other photographers that day when West emerged from the airport.

When Ramos asked West why he wouldn't speak with him, the suit alleges, the star attacked him without provocation. 

"Danny held onto his camera and fell down onto his knees onto the paved sidewalk with enough force that he sustained injuries to his right hip, was in great pain, and had to be transported in an ambulance to the emergency room," his lawyer, Allred, said in a statement.

We reached out to United Talent Agency, which represents West, for comment, and we'll update this post with any response we receive.

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NOW WATCH: HBO just released another new trailer for 'Game of Thrones'








This is the best opening to a video game ever

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bioshock intro

"BioShock" is one of the best video games of all time.

It's universally beloved by fans and critics, but it's the game's opening sequence that helped make it so iconic and memorable.

If you haven't experienced "BioShock" on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC — or even if you have — the opening sequence sets the tone for the entire game: It's thrilling, eerie, utterly beautiful, and masterfully directed.

If you don't know much about the game, or even if you do, it's best to go into the opening sequence without knowing what's about to happen.

Note: It's best to view this slideshow in individual slides. 

It's the 1960s, and you're on an airplane. Your name is Jack.



Suddenly, your plane crashes. You avoid the sinking wreckage and swim to the surface.



Your plane is in pieces. You're the sole survivor. Now what? ... Ooh, a lighthouse!



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






'Guardians of the Galaxy' director explains why Snapchat is so successful

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james gunn guardians of the galaxy

"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn is extremely open to experimenting with social media platforms to engage with his fanbase. 

Gunn's currently active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other mediums including Periscope and Snapchat. For those who tune in, it provides an unprecedented look at what Gunn's daily routine is like day in and day out. 

Recently, Gunn took to Periscope to do about a 30-minute Q&A off-the-cuff with fans after a long day. He'll snap images and video of himself at friend Nathan Fillion's birthday party, catching up on "Better Call Saul," or giving updates on how the "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" script is coming along (quite well!). You'll also see plenty of images of his pets.

Of late, Gunn's a big Snapchat user.

james gunn snapchatThe app allows users to post photos or videos up to 10 seconds in length that can be shared with friends or publicly. If you share content in a story feed, it will stay on the app for 24 hours before disappearing. If someone screenshots what you upload, you'll be sent a notification.

Tuesday evening, Gunn took to Facebook to deliver his thoughts on why Snapchat is a popular platform at the moment.

Basically, Gunn's point is that we shouldn't be able to relive every single little detail of our lives for the rest of time. Items that we may just want to discuss in the moment should stay there, but don't need to live on for further generations. Snapchat provides one outlet to allow for self expression while helping to maintain a level of privacy those with public accounts on Facebook or Twitter may not be able to receive.

Here's what Gunn said in full. It's been slightly edited for language:

I like to think the immense success of Snapchat is due to the awareness we have, on some innate level, that most everything we post on FB, Instagram, or Twitter is essentially stupid and unimportant, and should be erased immediately.

Do we need the fact that we screwed up cutting our toenails ingrained in the historical tome of Twitter so that, someday, our great-grandchildren will be able to read about it? God, no. We want this dumb s--- to disappear, fast.

So, in that way, Snapchat is a step toward self-realization and humility. It's a step toward just looking at things and talking about them and then letting those things go on their way - the way things once were, the way we all long for them to be again.

It is a small sign of hope for our interconnected civilization.

You can follow me right now on Snapchat at MrJamesGunn and see a picture of my cat rubbing against my feet while I do crunches. I'm godd--- glad it will be gone tomorrow.... except for the mention of it on this Facebook post, where it will live forever. 

SEE ALSO: Here's the painting that inspired the entire look of "Guardians of the Galaxy"

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NOW WATCH: Marvel Just Released A New 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' Trailer And It's Incredible








13 celebrities who left Scientology

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Leah Remini

HBO's explosive new Scientology documentary, "Going Clear," has shed a new light on the controversial church.

In the film, director Alex Gibney is especially critical of famous church members Tom Cruise and John Travolta for allegedly turning a blind eye to the reported harassment suffered by church members.

But many celebrities weren't afraid to leave the church and later speak out against it.

Leah Remini

After 30 years as a devout Scientologist, actress Leah Remini abruptly left the church in July 2013, and she didn't go quietly. 

At the time of her exit from the church, Remini explained to People magazine:

"I believe that people should be able to question things. I believe that people should value family, and value friendships, and hold those things sacrosanct. That for me, that's what I'm about. It wouldn't matter what it was, simply because no one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to." 

After viewing HBO's Scientology documentary "Going Clear," Remini released a statement thanking fans for their support:

"I wish to share my sincere and heartfelt appreciation for the overwhelming positive response I have received from the media, my colleagues, and from fans around the world. I am truly grateful and thankful for all your support."

More on Remini's history with the church here.



Lisa Marie Presley

Elvis Presley's daughter broke from the church in May 2012, removing all traces of Scientology from her official website soon afterward.

She then released her third album, "Storm & Grace," where it was suggested she dissed the religion on several tracks.

From single "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet":

“This here is a city without lights / Those are all the people without eyes / Churches, they don’t have a soul / Soup for sale without a bowl / Religion so corrupt and running lives / Farewell, fair weathered friends / I can’t say I’ll miss you in the end."

After watching HBO's Scientology documentary "Going Clear," Presley tweeted: "Sometimes… The S##t hitting the fan is a damn nice sound ;)."

 



Paul Haggis

Film director and screenwriter Paul Haggis ("Million Dollar Baby," "Crash") spoke out in the New Yorker about his decision to leave Scientology in 2009, saying it horrified him. 

"I was in a cult for 34 years," said Haggis. "Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

After reading an article by the St. Petersburg Times that reported physical violence committed by church members, Haggis was extremely bothered.

"They were ten years old, twelve years old, ... scrubbing pots, manual labor—that so deeply touched me," Haggis told the New Yorker. "My God, it horrified me!"

Haggis ultimately left Scientology after the church refused to publicly denounce Proposition 8 — the ballot that banned same-sex marriage in California. 

Haggis, who sent Leah Remini a letter commending her "brave" decision to leave the church, is featured prominently as a talking head in director Alex Gibney's "Going Clear" documentary about Scientology.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider






Next month, 1,800 hedge funders will get to rock out at a private OneRepublic concert

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OneRepublic

Teenage girls are going to be jealous of this one...

Rock band OneRepublic will be giving a private performance for a bunch of hedge funders next month at the SALT Conferencethe Wall Street Journal's Rob Copeland reports.

Every May, nearly 1,800 hedge funders make the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for SALT, the must-attend hedge fund conference of the year. 

The annual event, which is hosted by Skybridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci–affectionately known as "the Mooch"–brings together top investors and politicians for three days of panels and discussions. Last year, Kevin Spacey showed up for an awesome keynote. 

It's tradition that there's a private concert for the attendees (mostly middle-aged finance guys) on Thursday night. 

At last year's SALT conference, Lenny Kravitz gave a killer private performance that lasted over an hour. Previous headliners at SALT have included Train and Maroon 5.

Some of OneRepublic's hits include "Apologize," "Stop and Stare," "All the Right Moves," "Secrets," "Good Life," and "Counting Stars." 

Have a listen to "Secrets" below: 

 

SEE ALSO: Here's what happened when I went to Las Vegas with 1,800 hedge fund managers

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NOW WATCH: Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted








Here are the car brands that appear the most in 'Furious 7’

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furious 7 dom letty vin diesel

"Furious 7" broke box-office records when it debuted in theaters over Easter weekend.

The film has already made over $406 million worldwide, and is on track to be the first $1 billion movie of 2015.

While you'll most definitely remember the ridiculous, over-the-top stunts from the movie, can you recall all the cars you saw?

Concave Brand Tracking, a market company which tracks and analyzes brands in entertainment content, identified around 30 different cars in the film.   

Concave provided us with lists of the top 10 car brands featured in the last three "Fast and Furious" films, "Fast Five," "Fast and Furious 6," and "Furious 7."

Here are the top 10 car brands featured in "Furious 7":

1. Dodge
2. Chevrolet
3. W Motors
4. Plymouth
5. Subaru
6. Maserati
7. Mercedes-Benz
8. Nissan
9. Audi
10. Aston Martin

Dodge was the most visible car brand seen in both "Fast Five" and "Furious 7." BMW tied Dodge for the most brand visibility in "Fast and Furious 6."

Below, you can see the top 10 car brands featured in "Fast Five," "Fast and Furious 6," and "Furious 7": 

fast furious car brands

Even though Dodge cars can be seen on screen more than double the amount of a Chevrolet vehicle (5 minutes and 33 seconds vs. 2 minutes and 41 seconds), Concave notes Dodge's appearances in "Furious 7" are mostly (92%) subtle with no discernible logo time on screen.

The logo names for W Motors, Subaru, and Audi are all considered 100% visible. 

exposure breakdown furious 7

In addition, Concave broke down the cars associated with the main six cast members the most.

Fans of the series shouldn't be surprised to see Dodge is linked most closely to Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel). Since the first film, his car of choice has been a classic American muscle car. 

Dodge Charger R/TTyrese is mostly seen with the Chevrolet brand, while Jason Statham's villain Deckard Shaw is associated with a Maserati most of the time. Walker's character Brian O'Conner can be seen with five different car brands including Nissan and Subaru.

character cars furious 7You can see Concave’s study here.

SEE ALSO: "Furious 7" will likely be the first $1 billion film of 2015

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Preview a never-before-seen clip from the 'Star Wars' digital collection

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star wars digital collection

For the first time ever, all six "Star Wars" films will be digitally released across platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and more Friday.

The releases will include tons of bonus content with never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage from the “Star Wars” saga. 

Disney shared an exclusive preview clip of one of the bonus features from the digital collection with Business Insider. The clip "Discoveries From Inside: Costumes Revealed" from "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones," introduces Trisha Biggar, the costume designer George Lucas hired to help give Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) a more refined, couture look as queen in the prequels while transforming the look of the rest of the film.

Check it out below:

SEE ALSO: All the bonus features that will be available on the new "Star Wars" digital collection

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Founder of Scientology's son said his dad drugged him and thought of himself as the Antichrist

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While HBO's recent documentary "Going Clear" mostly focuses on the strange and allegedly abusive practices present in Scientology, it also chronicles the life of the religion's founder, L. Ron Hubbard

In a 1983 interivew with Penthouse Magazine, Hubbard's now-deceased son, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., made some shocking claims about his father and his own childhood. 

Once considered the heir to the Scientology throne, Junior eventually defected, changed his name, and became one of the Church's — and his father's — most vocal critics.

Junior, later known as Ronald DeWolf, said he was born two and a half months early (weighing just two pounds, two ounces) as the result of a failed abortion by his father. After the death of Aleister Crowley, a famous English Occultist who considered himself the Antichrist, Hubbard decided he should "wear the cloak of the beast" and thought of himself as the devil incarnate, according to DeWolf.

"What a lot of people don't realize is that Scientology is just black magic spread out over a long time," DeWolf told Penthouse. 

Heavily involved as a teenager and young man in Scientology, DeWolf said he eventually became disenchanted with the rampant hypocrisy and immorality of the church and his own father.

L. Ron Hubbard, Jr."I began to see that my father was a sick, sadistic, vicious man. I saw more and more parallels between his behavior and what I read about the way Hitler thought and acted," he told Penthouse. 

DeWolf said his father used excessive drugs like cocaine, peyote, amphetamines, and barbiturates.

Hubbard even encouraged his son to take drugs with him, according to DeWolf. When DeWolf was 10 years old, he said, Hubbard allegedly laced the boy's bubble gum with phenobarbital, a heavy sedative most famous for its use in execution cocktails.

Hubbard felt the drugs helped him access black magic's power to brainwash people, according to DeWolf.

Because of his defection, DeWolf claimed he faced years of persecution from Scientologists. He died at 57 in 1991. His grandson, Jamie DeWolf, one of the few members of the family still willing to speak out against the religion, remembers him as a warm, loving, yet guarded grandparent, the Telegraph reported.  

When a Penthouse editor asked Scientology then-president Rev. Heber Jentzsch if Hubbard would respond to his son's allegations, Jentzsch said, "I will tell you this: if I were ever asked by Mr. Hubbard, I will make sure that all of the media who have currently interviewed him [Ronald DeWolf] will never, ever, ever, get a personal interview [with Hubbard]."

According to Lawrence Wright's book, "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief," which sparked the HBO documentary of a similar title, the Church "fiercely disputes" DeWolf's interview. 

In 1984, DeWolf went on tape, stating his comments were accurate. Then in 1987, he signed an affidavit recanting the interview as "no more than wild flights of fancy based on my own unlimited imagination." Five years later, DeWolf said he signed the recantation to protect his wife and kids from the church.

We reached out to the Church of Scientology for comment on the Penthouse article and will update this post if we hear back.

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Here's what it was like to 'discover' Kate Moss and launch one of the most famous modeling careers ever

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Just as the modeling business was poised to get bigger, models got smaller.

The waifs, as the new generation was called, seemed like both a reaction to the excesses of the supermodels and a perfect reflection of a time of diminished expectations-in fashion and life.

"The movement happened because we needed a change," says Polly Mellen, who'd moved from Vogue to a new beauty magazine, Allure. And just as in the sixties the signs of changing times first appeared in England.

Sarah Doukas was a teenager, working in an antiques market on London's King's Road in 1972, when someone took her picture and sent her to an agency. For three years she modeled and sold antiques in London and Paris, before changing careers and managing a punk rock band, The Criminals, at the end of the seventies, when punk rock swept England.

A few years later she met and married an American musician, the lead singer of a band called Earthquake. They moved to San Francisco, where they had a child and lived until 1982.

Earthquake had disbanded, and Doukas needed a job. A photographer friend sent her to Laraine Ashton. In six years there she rose from junior assistant to running the place, booking models like Jerry Hall and David Bailey's then wife Marie Helvin.

Then, with the help of the rock band U2's lawyer, she put together a business plan for her own agency and began seeking backers, including Virgin Records tycoon Richard Branson, whose brother was one of her friends. In 1987 he agreed to give her interest-free loans until the agency, which she called Storm, got on its feet.

Working out of her bedroom, she recruited two bookers and began searching for girls. She found many of them on the street.

Kate Moss Christie's auction"Wherever I was going, I was looking," she says. "I found a great girl outside a garage in Battersby, in her school uniform."

Another discovery had pink and green hair. Clearly Doukas had a different kind of eye.

Once she'd gathered seven girls, she took their test photographs on a trip to Paris, Milan, and Japan.

"So things progressed," says her younger brother, Simon Chambers, who joined the company, computerized its accounts, and acted-he laughs-as "a reluctant babe magnet."

Fashion editors soon came sniffing around. Harriet Jagger of British Elle lived a street away, "and she would walk by on her way to work and come in and see who I had new, nearly every day," Sarah says.

Sarah and Simon were on their way home from a scouting trip to Los Angeles and New York in 1988 when Sarah spotted a scrawny fourteen-yearold at Kennedy Airport.

kate mossKate Moss, a schoolgirl from Croydon, and her travel agent father had been waiting three days for standby seats back to England, where they were expected at a wedding.

Kate's father was arguing with people at the counter when Doukas spotted them. Luckily they made the flight.

"As soon as the seat belt sign switched off, we rushed over," Sarah says.

Kate's father had seen Doukas on television and knew she was legitimate. The next day Kate's skeptical mother agreed to accompany her to Storm.

"She thought it was major con," Kate recalled.

"I didn't think I was going to change the face of modeling," Doukas says.

kate moss"But I'd found this amazing-looking girl. She came into the office, and she did a job immediately." Doukas called all the magazines and faxed photographs of Moss to everyone she knew.

"Nobody was interested," she says.

Moss was only five feet seven inches. Her career started slowly.

"She was in school, and I don't ever agree with taking anybody out of school," Doukas says. "We worked on the holidays and stuttered along for a year. But she wasn't greatly interested in school, and then she left, and then we started. Every day I said, 'I'm going to make you a star.' I didn't know I was going to make her a superstar."

kate moss 

Excerpted from Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross with permission from HarperCollins.  

SEE ALSO: Here's why Gigi Hadid is the hottest model in the fashion industry right now

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Former 'Top Gear' host Jeremy Clarkson is back on TV!

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Jeremy Clarkson Have I got news for you

Jeremy Clarkson is returning to TV and to his former home at the BBC. 

But just for one night.

The bombastic TV host and automotive journalist has been hired to guest host an episode of the BBC news quiz show "Have I Got News For You" on April 24. 

"Jeremy's contract has not been renewed on 'Top Gear' but he isn't banned from appearing on the BBC," a network spokesperson told BBC News.

This would mark Clarkson's first appearance on the BBC after the broadcaster announced late last month that it would not renew Clarkson's contract which expired at the end of March.  

The network's decision to part ways with the polarizing TV personality came after an internal BBC inquiry found Clarkson had punched a "Top Gear" producer when he failed to obtain a hot steak dinner after a long day of filming.

In addition, the fracas with the producer came on the heels of a controversy-filled 2014 for Clarkson — which saw the TV host mired in scandal stemming from accusations of racists, sexists, and culturally insensitive comments. 

Prior to his dismissal, Clarkson had spent nearly three decades as a host on "Top Gear" and is credited with being the driving force behind the show's explosive international success.

With more than 350 million weekly viewers, "Top Gear" set the Guinness World record as the most watched factual TV program in the world. In addition to the UK show, the Top Gear brand also includes numerous international spinoffs, a live stadium tour, merchandising, a successful magazine, and website.

"Have I Got News For You" is BBC's comedy quiz show where panels of celebrity guests are grilled on the week's major news stories.  For the past decade, the show has employed a series of guest hosts ranging from hollywood stars such as Benedict Cumberbatch and William Shatner to politicians like London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Clarkson has been a frequent participant in the quiz show, and last served as a guest host on an episode in April 2014. 

See the full episode of Clarkson's 2014 "Have I Got News For You" episode:

SEE ALSO: 10 reasons why BBC's 'Top Gear' is the greatest show on TV

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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson eats 800 pounds of cod a year

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Dwayne Johnson The Rock

Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? We can. It's cod.

In an interview with "Muscle and Fitness" magazine, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson explained in detail what he eats every day. 

In a fitness plan that consists of seven full meals and two and a half hours of exercise, Johnson admits to eating cod in four of those seven meals, adding up to a staggering two and change pounds of the fish each day. Every day. All year. 

Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight did the math— Johnson eats about 821 pounds of cod a year (here's the full meal plan).

Mallory Ortberg of "The Toast" documented her reaction to reading Johnson's meal plan in real time.

Ortberg writes,

MEAL 2: 8 oz cod/12 oz sweet potato/1 cup veggies: DWAYNE THE ROCK JOHNSON YOU JUST HAD A WHOLE THING OF COD A MINUTE AGO HOW MANY CODS HAVE YOU GOT STUFFED UP IN YOUR FRIDGE MY MAN?? I MEAN.

Because that much cod a year is ridiculous to even imagine consuming (as is working out for two and a half hours a day, seven days a week) we plugged in Johnson's cod intake to a mercury calculator to see if 800 pounds of cod per calendar year was in the unsafe zone for mercury consumption.

cod

For fun, we guessed Johnson weighs about 260, and, according to his meal plan, consumes four medium-sized servings of Alaskan cod a day. The calculator determines safe mercury levels by weekly intake, so that's 28 servings a week.

Alas, the calculator does not allow you to plug in a number that exceeds 10 servings a week! But even when we plugged in 10 servings, the NRDC calculator concluded what we kind of already assumed: at 10 servings of cod a week, Johnson is above the safe level of mercury intake (and he's consuming more than twice that amount.)

To quote Ortberg: "I got nothing left to say at you, my man, I gotta lay down on the floor for a real quick minute, please continue doing you until you can no longer do it."

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