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Tigers-Blue Jays Preview CBSSports.com The absence of reigning major league home run king Jose Bautista has left a major hole in the Toronto Blue Jays' lineup. Adam Lind is doing his part to fill that void. With Bautista expected to miss one more game, Lind and the Blue Jays will try to win ... Lind's slugging paces Jays to win over TigersToronto Star Blue Jays beat Tigers with batsMontreal Gazette Detroit Tigers have three-game winning streak ended in Toronto by Blue JaysMLive.com Globe and Mail -The Associated Press -Sacramento Bee all 323 news articles »

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Toronto 7, Detroit 4: Phil Coke knocked around; Tigers' bats don't respond Detroit Free Press Tigers starter Phil Coke gave up 11 hits, mostly singles, to the Blue Jays Friday night in Toronto. / NATHAN DENETTE/Associated Press Tigers centerfielder Austin Jackson reacts after striking out during the fifth inning of the Tigers' ... Detroit Tigers have three-game winning streak ended in Toronto by Blue JaysMLive.com Roundup: Jays spray season-hit 15 hits to top TigersCBSSports.com Lind's slugging paces Jays to win over TigersToronto Star Toronto Sun -Montreal Gazette -Sacramento Bee all 323 news articles »

Jays farm team part of $2 billion Vegas makeover Toronto Star The Las Vegas 51s, Triple-A franchise of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Pacific Coast League, have been sold to a Vegas sports group with designs on bringing pro franchises to the gambling capital of North America. Chris Milam, whose Silver State ... Las Vegas 51s Have Buyer With Big DreamsKVVU Las Vegas all 6 news articles »

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Hill, Bautista expected to return on Sunday BlueJays.com TORONTO -- The Blue Jays are preparing to welcome several players back from injury in the near future, including two key regulars as soon as Sunday. Second baseman Aaron Hill will bat leadoff for Class ... Jays Watch: Hill, Bautista back SundayToronto Sun Injury update: Bautista, Cruz, BroxtonESPN (blog) Jays' Bautista returns to Toronto with stiff neckToronto Star Blogs (blog) International Business Times -Montreal Gazette -KFFL all 181 news articles »

Filed under: Coupe, Videos, Ford

CARS 2 was already on our must-see list (for the kids, of course) even before we talked to director John Lasseter, and after that interview, we added a star next to the already-circled June 24 release date. But since we've still got a ways to go before the movie hits the big screen, we'll have to take any information we can gather.

The latest character to be revealed is Brent Mustangburger, who is obviously voiced by sportscasting legend Brent Musburger. The excitable broadcaster will trade in his trademark glasses and blazer for a 1964.5 Ford Mustang body. The golden voice will remain unchanged, though, as the super broadcaster calls the fictional World Grand Prix during the movie.

Hit the jump for a 360 degree video that show just how good Mustangburger looks in Ford blue, and scroll through our image gallery to see the full slate of CARS 2 characters.

Continue reading Brent Mustangburger joins the cast of CARS 2 [w/video]

Brent Mustangburger joins the cast of CARS 2 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 May 2011 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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<p>Summer has been making itself known here in Southern California which means all I can think about is what my closet is lacking.&nbsp;</p> <p>Here's a few things that are on my wishlist for this summer :)</p> <p><br /><br /><strong>Tribal Print</strong>: I love tribal print, I've been trying to find a more authentic looking version though. The ones in the picture below are kind of ehhhh.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/8/0/1/orig-14214801.jpg" /></p> <p><br /><br /><strong>Brightly Colored Nails</strong>: Weeeee! bright nails! I need to stalk up on my hot pinks and pastels. I've been so used to wearing dark colors like black and navy blue.<br /><br /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/7/4/1/orig-14214741.jpg" /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/7/3/1/orig-14214731.jpg" /><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/7/6/1/orig-14214761.jpg" /><br /><br /></p> <p><br /><strong>Velvet Leggings (Navy Blue or Emerald Green preferred): </strong>Self-explanatory. Am I going to hot as hell wearing these in the summer heat? Why yes, yes&nbsp;I am. But I honestly could care less.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/3/9/7/1/orig-14213971.jpg" /></p> <p><strong>90's Sunflower Mini&nbsp;Dress:</strong> My favorite thing on this list! I've been looking for a dress like this forever. Still no luck :( I've been dying to wear one with a light jean vest/jacket and boots with thick white socks. So SO 90s.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/8/5/1/orig-14214851.jpg" width="440" height="424" /></p> <p><br /><strong>Black &amp; Yellow Dr. Martens:</strong> Um hello, these are amazing and I need them.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/3/9/5/1/orig-14213951.jpg" /></p> <p><br /><strong>H&amp;M " The Empire Strikes Back" Sweater:</strong> I'm not really a Star Wars fan but I kind of love this, which means I should kind of own this. I know this is a "summer" wishlist, but I'm a winter lover at heart. Bring on the sweaters!</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/3/9/4/1/orig-14213941.jpg" /></p> <p><strong>Lady GaGa- Born This Way:</strong> It's not clothing I know, but it's on my to do list. Gaga will dominate this summer, guaranteed.</p> <p><img src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/1/4/2/1/4/7/8/1/orig-14214781.jpg" /></p> <p>So there you have it. Those are a few things I'm gonna try and snatch up this summer.</p> <p><strong>What on your wish list this summer?</strong></p>

What do we talk about when we talk about love? Early poets reached for the sun and stars to describe their beloveds, while novelists have struggled to convey their 'wretched ordinariness'

At matins on 6 April 1327, in the church of St Clare in Avignon, Francesco Petrarch may or may not have seen Laura for the first time: her skin "whiter and colder than snow, not touched by the sun for many years", golden hair, black eyes. We don't know for sure whether Laura really existed. Some of Petrarch's contemporaries thought she was just a symbol and a pretext, though on the flyleaf of his Virgil he noted not only the date of his original glimpse of her but also that 20 years later he had news of her death in the plague – and a passing remark implies she was married and might have been worn out over the years with childbearing. From that moment of encounter in Avignon anyway – whether mythic or actual - flowed the inspiration for the Rime Sparse, written over the next quarter of a century: poems dwelling on Petrarch's helpless love for Laura, his dreaming and desires, his excited and jaded senses, his dismay at his own ageing and his grief over Laura's death – and on the work of poetry, forging its tribute to her.

In the poems there's no mention of Laura's husband or children. Nothing actually happens between the lover and his beloved. The meetings he describes only take place in fantasy, in the writing itself; fulfilment is held off all the way up to the end of the 366th and last poem, where the idea of a virgin Laura mingles with praise for the Virgin Mary.

Petrarch draws on the traditions of the troubadours and Dante's Vita Nuova, but his representation of his convoluted, darkened inner state is distinctively original, and tremendous. Somehow his idealising language manages to also be gritty and surprising, rich with contradictions. "When I remember the time and place where I lost myself, and / the dear knot with which Love with his own hand bound me (he / so made bitterness seem sweet and weeping pleasure), / I am all sulphur and tinder, and my heart is afire . . ." Even readers who need the literal translation can feel something of the poetry's loveliness in Italian, how the vowel-music opens its airy spaces round the lament, makes elegant the complexity of allusion.

Quando mi vene inanzi il tempo e 'l loco

ov' i' perdei me stesso, e 'l caro nodo

ond' Amor di sua man m'avinse in modo

che l'amar mi fe' dolce e 'l piange gioco,

solfo et esca son tutto, et il cor un foco . . .

English by contrast is so consonantal. Two hundred years later, Thomas Wyatt used one of the sonnets in the Rime Sparse as the basis for his own poem. "Who so list to hount," he wrote, "I knowe where is an hynde . . ." The familiar semi-magical Petrarchan markers are in place – a forest where the weary lover-hunter will lose his way, the elusive and singular deer who is both prey and fatal enchantress. But something has happened to the love story in its travels across time and geography. It's partly in the sounds of the language, so dense and intricate in the mouth, and the freer play that English poetry can have in rhyme. But it's not only that. In Petrarch, the white doe wears a collar studded with diamonds and topazes (emblems of steadfastness and chastity), which proclaims her untouchable: "It has pleased my Caesar to make me free." The collar in Wyatt's poem declares:

"Noli me tangere, for Cesars I ame;
And wylde for to hold, though I seme tame."

Which doesn't sound like the same thing at all: it seems to suggest a fraught earthly terrain where love and power and possession interact, rather than an idealising dream. And the woman isn't merely the inspiration-aspiration of the poem's trajectory, but has a psychology and will and passions of her own, which are part of the poet's difficulty, as well as her attraction ("Yet may I by no meanes my weried mind / Drawe from the Diere"). The "Noli me tangere" reference to the Christian ideal whose spirit and language underpins the love-pursuit feels more risky, almost blasphemous, in Wyatt. It might have been written about Anne Boleyn – whom Wyatt may have loved, and who certainly wore Caesar's collar. (Is it Anne who in a different poem dies unknown of herself, "dazed with dreadfull face"? There is a story that Wyatt was made to watch her execution.) In other Wyatt poems, it's more or less explicit that the affairs are consummated. A girl walked in his chamber once "with naked fote"; "her lose gowne from her shoulders did fall, / And she me caught in her armes long and small". That's a real chamber, with boards underfoot, not a symbolic mind-space under a green laurel tree (lauro, Laura).

This is the double pulse of the expression of erotic love in literature, between the ideal and the real; between the archetypal space that the dreaming and the words open up in imagination, and the strong resistance that life and other people offer to assimilation to any idea. Shakespeare's sonnets are structured around just this fertilising tension. He isn't only torn between the male beloved ("lord of my love", the fair angel, more lovely and temperate than a summer's day) and the black-browed female whose eyes are nothing like the sun and whose breath "reeks" (the contrast between these extremes seems almost parodistic). The sonnets' ambivalence is at the core of loving – "mine eye and heart are at a mortal war". A language aspiring towards perfection and immutability is entangled in the knotty real textures of unfulfilment, difficulty, decay. Sonnet 95 is about the fair angel, not the dark one:

How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Which like a canker in the fragrant Rose
Doth spot the beautie of thy budding name?
Oh in what sweets doest thou thy sinnes inclose!
That tongue that tells the story of thy daies,
(Making lascivious comments on thy sport)
Cannot dispraise, but in a kinde of praise,
Naming thy name, blesses an ill report.
Oh what a mansion have those vices got,
Which for their habitation chose out thee . . .

Simon May in his ambitious new book Love: A Secret History wants to trace the evolution of the idea of love in western culture, from Plato through the various phases of Christian thinking, via German romanticism and Nietzsche to the present day. He argues that we have a problem because "the tremendous liberation of sex and marriage over the past hundred years has been accompanied by love's ossification, rather than its reinvention", and that human love is now "widely tasked with achieving what once only divine love was thought capable of: to be our ultimate source of meaning and happiness, and of power over suffering and disappointment". Such exaggerated hopes for love, he fears, can only set us up for failure.

Novalis's Hymns to the Night were published in Prussia in 1800, when the poet-philosopher was 28; the moment of German romanticism is central to May's argument because he believes the cult of love was born out of "reactions to the irretrievable loss of a divine world-order and the firm moorings it afforded". Novalis's 15-year-old fiancée Sophie von Kühn had died, and the hymns were inspired in a moment when he was "shedding bitter tears" beside her grave, "which in its narrow dark bosom hid the vanished form of my life". A vision of Night came to him, "and at once snapped the bond of birth – the chains of the Light"; the broken lover was made whole in an upside-down world, where light and life turn out to be the lesser part of the world's possibility; only death and night which hold out the possibility of renewal, and restoration of the lover's loss. In the Hymns Sophie doesn't actually feature much at all, and when she does she's dissolved into an idealising generality: "through the cloud I saw the glorified face of my beloved. In her eyes eternity reposed – I laid hold of her hands, and the tears became a sparkling bond that could not be broken." The Night is a haven and its light is the Beloved. Creative love is the daughter of Night. Poignantly the poetry infuses its deathly philosophy with youthful ardour and eroticism, recoiling from the terrible null sum of real sufferings. "Do we perhaps need so much energy and effort for ordinary and common things," Novalis wrote in his Miscellaneous Observations, "because for an authentic human being nothing is more out of the ordinary – nothing more uncommon than wretched ordinariness." And, "at present this realm certainly seems to us so dark inside, lonely, shapeless."

But that tradition in love-literature which sets a transcendent value on love, merging the love-object with divinity, is only one element in a developing complex whole. For every dream of unfettered longing a counteractive impulse seems sooner or later to assert itself: the restless scratch of observation, which snags on real things and difficult "wretched ordinariness". Love-language has been pulled differently in different eras between the great generalising symbols – the heart, the rose, the fixed star – and language's opposite capacity: finding words to capture the unique specificity of the loved one, inside her real moment in history. If all the Beloveds are fair, and roses, and fixed stars, then why one rather than another? Wouldn't anyone do? Whether Petrarch's Laura was real or not is a question for the margins of poetry. More important is whether it matters inside the poetry what Laura – or the fair angel, or the Beloved – was like, or what she felt, or whether she bore children or grew old. It has mattered more or less, at different moments in the history of literary sensibility.

May doesn't write very much in his book about the novel form; but he ought to be reassured that on the whole it has cherished less transcendent expectations of romantic love than the troubadours. (In fact it's never quite clear whose love-longings they are that seem to May so problematically idealising, at the end of a European 20th century when our scepticism has gone through idealisms pretty thoroughly, at least in serious writing – the story is different perhaps in film and pop music. His analysis ends with Freud and Proust, master demythologisers from 100 years ago, which doesn't help explain.) Courtship, marriage and adultery have been the engine of the novel's plot, significantly often. Yet there's something in the novel's fundamentals – its sheer volume unfolding in real time, its prose sentences tending onwards out of the moment, its prose-sound which can't help resembling reasoned explanation – that makes it tend to act love out on earth, not aiming at the heavens.

There's plenty of room inside a novel for love's dreaming. Prince Andrei in War and Peace listens to Natasha Rostov singing one evening at the clavichord; that night he can't sleep, he's helplessly happy and has "a sudden, vivid awareness of the terrible opposition between something infinitely great and indefinable that was in him, and something narrow and fleshly that he himself, and even she, was . . . he felt as joyful and new in his soul as if he had gone from a stuffy room into God's open world." He knows next to nothing about Natasha, her separate life and thoughts (she knows even less about him). Love opens up for him on to this vision of a meaning beyond either of them; yet it depends on his electric attraction to her and her only, her particular slim girl's body and mix of effrontery and naivety. The transcendent ambitions of his love are real and not to be discounted – even when later poor Natasha makes such a mess of everything. Confused by postponement and her ignorant sex-longings, she tries to run away with another man; Andrei falls back on the false reassurance of disillusion, discounting the hopes he had had as puerile (though he had accepted, in the depth of his vision, that she too was "narrow and fleshly"). Irony, however, isn't meant to have the last word. It's just that the story has to move on beyond the moment of ideal aspiration to its difficult fulfilment in time (and then on again, beyond the end of the lovers' rupture, to when they are strangely reconciled in the flight from Moscow).

Realism needn't aim to dismantle the ideal, or prove that it's hollow. Tolstoy here only wants to capture the mystery of that generalising, transcendent yearning and then correct, as the story unfolds, for its likely interactions with the real. He's like a painter making a mark on his paper and looking up to check, then making another mark closer to the way things actually are. Without the ideal longing – grown out of our pair-bonding nature – which first dreams love into being, there's nowhere for its reality to take root. But in novels, love's dreaming has consequences, it has to co-exist inside a book's whole length with change and accidents and the sheer difficulty of mutuality (and sometimes, depending on the novelist, with disillusion, contempt, parody – irony may be allowed a freer rein than in Tolstoy).

In her 1995 novel The Blue Flower, Penelope Fitzgerald pays tender homage to Novalis's romanticism, but tells the story of his love for Sophie in a language very different to the poet's own. The novel begins not in "holy, unspeakable, mysterious Night", but with the poet returning with a friend from university to his family home, finding them in the middle of washing-day, throwing "great dingy snowfalls of sheets, pillowcases, bolster-cases, vests, bodices, drawers, from the upper windows into the courtyard, where grave-looking servants . . . were receiving them into giant baskets". Exuberant, spilling over with their high spirits, imitating Fichte with whom they have studied in Jena, the two young men advance into the courtyard: "There is no such concept as a thing in itself" . . . "Let your thought be the washbasket! Have you thought the washbasket? Now then, gentlemen, let your thought be on that that thought the washbasket!" The housekeeper complains they are trampling on the unsorted garments.

For long periods the world of love has been represented in literature by those whose focus was less on the mantle of the Beloved than on what was hidden under or beyond it – on the one hand her nakedness, on the other essence, light, bliss (and the focus was also on the desiring self – "let your thought be on that that thought"). But the Beloved, all that time, had been taking care to dress to attract the desire of the Lover, choosing and sewing and maintaining the mantle. Once women stepped out of their place in the frame and began to write the story from their own point of view (and once their servants stepped out from invisibility), the sewing and washing side of love was bound to be brought rather more inside the picture.

There have been, of course, idealising portraits of the male beloved, but it's difficult to imagine any male ideal, whether adored by a woman or by another man, offering to the adorer's gaze quite the same unchanging stillness, the same rich eloquence of non-response as female love objects did, once upon a time. Even men's love-writing about men, including Shakespeare's, has tended to find the beloved love-object more agitatingly reactive than Petrarch ever found Laura; the attraction of the male is too firmly fastened to his being something, rather than simply being contemplated. And it's unthinkable that Petrarch could ever have written into Laura what Cavafy rejoices at having seen in his boys: "desires glowing openly / in eyes that looked at you, / trembling for you in voices. . ." When Natasha burns in response to careless, useless, sensual Kuragin, it ruins her for Prince Andrei, not only because she's betrayed him, but also because she's betrayed his ideal of her chaste girlhood.

The Blue Flower is a study of just how the ideal in love might be interfused with the real, and the real with the ideal. Sophie is 12 when Novalis (22) first meets her and determines to marry her. Fitzgerald makes Sophie cheerful, childish, boisterous, affectionate, reluctant to commit to words. "She is not beautiful, she is not even pretty . . . empty-headed, moreover at twelve years old she has a double chin", the poet's brother thinks. Novalis asks her to write to him, but her letters are forced and dutiful. She is the solid object that stops and absorbs his airy aspirations; the living counterpoint to his abstractions. Stubbornly she deflects all his attempts to get her philosophising. "('Should you like to be born again?' 'Yes, if I could have fair hair.') 'I can't comprehend her, I can't get the measure of her. I love something that I do not understand.'" Without her poet-lover to dream her transcendent mystery into being, would Sophie only have been half herself, half realised? Certainly no one would remember her now. Perhaps she was simply ordinary, and only the poet's fantasy made her exceptional. Or, perhaps "wretched ordinariness" itself is the deepest mystery, if love (and art) have only the genius to find it out. Fitzgerald's Sophie refuses to believe in the afterlife. Does Novalis betray her memory in his poetry, having her disembodied spirit appear to him at her graveside?

In All About Love Lisa Appignanesi has made a sort of compendium of love stories, picking them from literature and history and philosophy and anecdotally from life. The effect of cramming so many passions all together inside one book is sometimes a bit like cake for breakfast, cake for lunch, cake for tea – you feel the need after a while for greens, or a nunnery (although no doubt it all goes on in nunneries too). What can we learn, from putting so many examples side by side? If anything, that the forms of love aren't eternal. Our love-icons and constellations of love-imagery aren't perennials, they're rather what archaeologist Colin Renfrew calls constitutive symbols: "in defining symbols, we are not just playing with words, but recognising features of the material world with which human individuals come to engage"; "that engagement . . . is socially mediated, and it comes about when other features of the society make that feasible." Desires, having their origin no doubt in the requirements of our biology and our socialisation, take on shapes and colours differently inside each different historical moment. Fitzgerald makes it clear in The Blue Flower just why love-language in early 19th-century Europe was so death-haunted: her last page is a litany of losses. Not only Sophie died, but also Novalis's brothers and sisters, one after another, in their teens and twenties – and then the poet himself, of tuberculosis, less than a year after the publication of his Hymns. He needed to invent an upside-down night-world.

Appignanesi has enjoyed putting some unlikely writers to bed together; 12th-century Capellanus's rules for love ("When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates") sit alongside The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr Right, 1995 ("Don't meet him halfway or go Dutch with him on a date", and "Always end phone calls first"). "It is terrible to desire and not possess, and terrible to possess and not desire," says Yeats; and Queen Victoria rants against the Women's Rights "on which her poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feeling and propriety". "Happiness is not the question here," Appignanesi writes. "We need love because it confronts us with the height and depths of our being." Well, something like that. It's hard, after all these centuries' accumulations of love-writing, finding the new words to express new forms.

May's preferred description of love is as "a yearning for ontological rootedness". Which definitely leaves the last word to the poets and songwriters: such as Joni Mitchell, who calls it "the strongest poison and medicine of all". Or Goethe in his Roman Elegies, taking time out from his studies "on classical soil" to spend with his new lover, fulfilling a literary tradition and at the same time seizing the once-only real opportunity of love in the here and now. In the Elegies ideal and real are poised in a perfect conjunction.

. . . when she sinks into sleep, wakeful and thoughtful I lie.
Often I even compose my poetry in her embraces,
Counting hexameter beats, tapping them out on her back
Softly, with one hand's fingers. She sweetly breathes in her slumber,
Warmly the glow of her breath
pierces the depths of my heart.
Eros recalls, as he tends our lamp, how he did the same service
For his Triumvirs, the three poets of love, long ago.

Living in the 415 is an open invitation for all your friends and family to visit. But where to put them up? Spare your cramped apartment (and sanity), and book the perfect hotel room for all your out-of-towners.

Your Brother, His Wife, and Their Kids Palace Hotel in SoMa (starting at $239) 2 Montgomery St., 415-512-1111 Vibe: Big, bright, and airy Victorian style straight out of Titanic—but on dry land. Highlights: A killer indoor pool with plenty of kids doing canonballs, on-site babysitting, and an old-school bar with dark booths and classic drinks for the grown-ups. Nearby: Kyo-ya sushi next door and two blocks away, the YBCA complex with bowling alley, skating rink, carousel, and Zeum for the kiddies. Tip: Skip the rooms along noisy Market Street. Instead, book something overlooking the stained-glass dome of the Garden Court restaurant.

Your LA Friend (and Her Little Dog Too) W Hotel in SoMa (starting at $269) 181 Third St., 415-777-5300 Vibe: Like an exclusive lounge with Ms. Pac-Man and DJs spinning in the lobby, dance music in the dark elevators, and a flashy Hollywood-type crowd. Highlights: A $100 deposit gets a traveling pup a cushy bed, bowl, treats, and leash. Unlike most hotels, the W says it’s OK to leave little Tinkerbell in the room (bright and modern, outfitted with Tivoli speakers and Chinese checkers on the window seat) while owners are out exploring SF or getting a massage at Bliss Spa upstairs. Nearby: Supperclub for dinner, Blue Bottle Coffee, Tuttimelon frozen yogurt, 330 Ritch for music and dancing, and serious shopping at Shotwell’s in Union Square and Jeremy’s in South Park. Tip:It’s a short trip from the bar scene downstairs to a hookup upstairs. So unless you’re ready to mingle, avoid the suit who’s been nursing martinis since noon.

Your Best Friend in Town for Pride Parker Guest House in Castro (starting at $149) 520 Church St., 888-520-7275 Vibe: Low-key, cheery bed and breakfast with a mix of gay and straight guests. Highlights: Actual parking spots in one of the hardest-to-park (not to mention sunniest) ’hoods, steam rooms, sherry service, and a backyard garden for lounging. Nearby: Dolores Park, Tartine Bakery, Frances restaurant (make reservations now), Castro Theatre, Badlands for dancing, plus all the usual Castro nightlife. Tip: The noisy J-Church streetcar rumbles past throughout the day, until midnight. Bring earplugs.

Your Colleague and His Expense Account Taj Campton Place in Union Square (starting at $275) 340 Stockton St., 415-781-5555 Vibe: Corporately luxe and bright boutique hotel with a no-frills lobby. Casual business meetings happen over drinks in the bar all day long. Highlights: Downstairs, there are two working stations with free Internet and printers just off the lobby, as well as a $60 prix-fixe menu at Campton Place restaurant, which recently earned a Michelin star. Nearby: Moscone Center, Powell Street cable cars, the Apple Store, Canteen restaurant, and a pulled lamb sandwich accompanied by a smoked Manhattan from Wexler’s. Tip: The music and noise from the cocktail-swigging crowd at Vessel, the nightclub next door, can penetrate the double-paned windows. It’s a little quieter facing Sutter Street.

Your Parents Visiting for the Umpteenth Time Hotel Vitale in South Beach (starting at $399) 8 Mission St., 415-278-3700 Vibe: A calming, spa-like stay for travelers who crave eco-friendly chic and want to be on the water, just out of reach of the downtown crowds. Highlights: Daily yoga classes, an up-close view of the Bay Bridge, free passes to the YMCA gym next door, and spa services upstairs. Nearby: The Embarcadero waterfront, the Ferry Building (with ferry access to Larkspur and Sausalito), AT&T Park, Boulevard restaurant, and dim sum at Yank Sing in the Rincon Center. Tip: Cabs rarely come by, so ask the front desk to call one up lest your parents feel neglected by you—again.

Your Urban “We Are Not Tourists” Friends Chateau Tivoli in Western Addition (starting at $399) 1057 Steiner St., 415-776-5462 Vibe: A hushed, antiques-filled 1892 mansion that feels a million miles away from the usual tourist attractions. Highlights: Huge four-poster beds, weekend Champagne breakfast at the long formal dining table, ornate Victorian rooms, and a laidback staff. Nearby: The Fillmore, Yoshi’s jazz and The Independent for music, Toronado beer and Rosamunde sausages in Lower Haight, and the usual NoPa restaurants and bars. Tip: There’s no parking, so your friends will have to either use public transit or get a spot in one of the garages on Fillmore. Oh, and there are no TVs. Perfect.

Your Hipster Pal on a Budget The Good Hotel in SoMa (starting at $79) 112 Seventh St., 415-621-7001 Vibe: DIY boutique hotel meets European hostel and Urban Outfitters. Highlights: Stylish platform beds made of reclaimed wood are dressed in organic sheets. In the lobby (straight out of Dwell), there are bike cruisers to borrow, volunteer projects to sign up for, a photo booth, and a Readymade vending machine with cute, hipster-approved T-shirts and postcards. Nearby: Cocktail lounge Mr. Smith’s, trend-setters Bar Agricole, Citizen’s Band, and Pinkie’s Bakery, and Slim’s for music. Also, it’s a quick bus or BART ride to the Mission. Tip: Noisy neighbors from Mid-Market make for a less-than-peaceful stay. Avoid walking alone on Market Street at night.

The Wedding Party The Fairmont in Nob Hill (starting at $399) 950 Mason St., 415-772-5000 Vibe: Old-school San Francisco with plush, Victorian furnishings, an elaborate marble-and-chandelier-laced main floor, and a colorful garden restaurant. Highlights: There are several opulent ballrooms for ceremonies, as well as a party-planning department in the hotel. Small boutiques, two restaurants, daily wine service, a rooftop garden, and a thriving apiary keep wandering guests on grounds before the ceremony. Nearby: Grace Cathedral, Nob Hill Spa for pre-ceremony pampering, Nob Hill Café’s house-made pasta, and the Marina, North Beach, and Union Square within view. Tip: Valet parking is $50 a night, but the Grace Cathedral garage a block away is just $27 a day. Also, since the seventh floor wasn’t designed with guest rooms in mind, layouts there are a little awkward.

Your Cousins Hell-Bent on Pier 39 Argonaut Hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf (starting at $208) 495 Jefferson St., 415-563-0800 Vibe: East Coast nautical meets pure Disneyland camp. Highlights: Pet-friendly rooms, Aveda shampoos and lotions, excellent bay views, and a location that’s about as close as you can get to the hordes at Pier 39 without going crazy. Nearby: Alcatraz cruises, Ghirardelli Square, Aquarium of the Bay, RocketBoat tours, and, of course, sea lions. Tip: Gently coax your Midwestern peeps away from the very convenient Denny’s and suggest SF’s classic seafood restaurant, Scoma’s.

The In-Laws You Want to Impress St. Regis Hotel in SoMa (starting at $519) 125 Third St., 415-284-4000 Vibe:Dark, contemporary, and buzzing with travelers toting their iconic Rimowa aluminum luggage on their way to a Wine Country day trip. Highlights: Bathrooms with large standing showers and separate soaking tubs that open up to the bedroom via sliding pocket walls, a spa, and a 24-hour pool and gym. Nearby: Westfield Shopping Centre, Geary Street galleries, a vintage streetcar ride to Zuni Café, SFMOMA, and, if they’re up for it, kayaking in Mission Bay during a Giants game. Tip: Everything in the guestrooms is controlled through a bedside tablet, so the tech-phobic might need help navigating.

Globe and Mail

Jays Watch: Hill, Bautista back Sunday Toronto Sun The Blue Jays hope to welcome back Jose Bautista (left) and Aaron Hill Sunday for their game against the Detroit Tigers at the Rogers Centre. ( Scott Halleran/Getty Images/AFP) Looks like Sunday is going to be the day that ... Jays' Bautista returns to Toronto with stiff neckToronto Star Blogs (blog) Injury update: Bautista, Cruz, BroxtonESPN (blog) Bautista and Hill could rejoin Blue Jays' lineup on Sunday, Romero scratched ...The Canadian Press International Business Times -Montreal Gazette -KFFL all 171 news articles »

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hosted a Mother's Day event for military connected mothers, grandmothers and spouses in the White House East Room.  Guests represented all five branches of the military and included Blue and Gold Star families.

3:15 P.M. EDT

DR. BIDEN:  Thank you, Patty, for that warm introduction and for all you do for military families, and especially the children.  I always love seeing you, and I’m so delighted to see you here today.  Thank you.

Good afternoon.

AUDIENCE:  Good afternoon.

DR. BIDEN:  It’s so nice to see so many friends here.  I’m Jill Biden, and I’m a proud military mom and grandmom.  And it’s a special honor to welcome you all to the White House today.

This has been quite a week, hasn’t it?  (Laughter.)  Yesterday I joined my husband at the Pentagon to commemorate the victims of the attacks on 9/11.  None of us will ever forget that day.  But the heroic actions in Pakistan earlier this week reminded all Americans of the extraordinary courage that our military service members and their families demonstrate on a daily basis.

On Sunday night, as I was -- after the President made his announcement, I was -- it was late, and I was outside waiting for my husband.  I had on my bathrobe, and I was sitting on the steps of our residence, and I could hear in the distance -- because there were so many people that were outside -- and I could hear them at the gates that opened to our driveway, and there were people there singing, “God Bless America.”  And it really just renewed what we all know -- just really -- it just brought this country together.  And I think it was such a great feeling.

We and the entire nation are so proud of all of you.
Michelle and I are thrilled to have you here at the White House today as we express the thanks of our entire nation for those who serve.  You are all heroes -- from the moms who keep their families together while your loved ones are serving overseas, to the grandparents who step in with much needed support, to the siblings and children who are strong and brave while mom or dad is away.

Just last month I attended a deployment ceremony where I met some folks I now call, “The Grandparents.”  Both parents of three children under the age of 10 were deploying, and these grandmothers decided to circle the wagons and take care of those children.  What a relief it is for those parents to know that their children are being taken care of by their grandparents, and what a gift to the children to be surrounded by love while both of their parents are deployed.

Last summer, I traveled to Iraq with my husband, Joe, to visit our troops during the Fourth of July.  I had lunch with several female soldiers, many of whom were mothers.  These women were managing all the challenges of parenting  -- arranging health care, childcare, and education -- thousands and thousands of miles away from their homes and loved ones.

One woman across the table fought back tears as she told me that she was missing out on taking her youngest daughter to college.  I was at a loss for words.  All I could do at that moment was just reach across that table and grab her hand.

Michelle and I have both been struck by these women fiercely proud to serve their country and never complaining, but still struggling with some of the everyday challenges we all face in managing a home and a family.

You here today, and all the women we have met in our travels, are doing your part.  The government is working hard to do its part.  And each American also has the ability to make a difference in the life of a military family.  That’s what our Joining Forces initiative is all about.

And now, it’s my honor and privilege to introduce a woman who is doing her part as a strong leader and a constant advocate for our service members, veterans, and military families.  I have had the privilege of traveling with our First Lady to meet military families across this country, and I’ve seen firsthand how committed she is to doing everything she can to support them.  I feel so fortunate to have her as a partner in this effort and to have her as my dear friend -- our First Lady, Michelle Obama.  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you, everyone.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you all so much.  Please rest, enjoy the tea.  Welcome to the White House.  Isn’t this great?  It’s fabulous.  (Applause.)  And everyone looks amazing.  (Laughter.)  It’s like a room full of bursting flowers.  And we have our little ladies -- you guys have your pinkies up, everyone’s pinkies up?  (Laughter.)  Or something like that.  (Laughter.)

We're delighted to have you here.  Let me start by recognizing my partner in so much -- and I didn’t know that this woman would be not just a partner but a friend, a Blue Star mom herself who has been sending out the call, educating this country long before she stepped into this role, focusing the nation on the sacrifices of the families -- Dr. Jill Biden.  Let’s give her a round of applause.  (Applause.)

And Patty.  Patty has been a tremendous advisor to Jill and I throughout this entire process, and she is amazing and knowledgeable, and she is going to be a critical component of Joining Forces.  And we are so proud of her and her service.  Let’s give Patty a hand.  (Applause.)

And finally, I want to thank all of you.  Thank you.

I know it’s pretty exciting to be having tea at the White House in the East Room.  But believe it or not, we are just as excited, and probably more excited, to have you all here.  I mean, it is really -- we love you all.  We really, really do.  And that’s because over the last two years, as Jill said, we have been inspired by all of you in so many ways.  Spending time with our men and women in uniform and their families has been the highlight of our work in these roles.

We’ve been moved by your strength and your spirit, by your courage and, more importantly, by your sacrifice.  And as you have opened your arms and your hearts to me -- which you have so fully, and I feel it and I know it.  I'm not a Blue Star mom or a Gold Star mom, but you all have scooped me up in ways that I wouldn’t have imagined.

You’ve also opened my eyes to what being part of a military family is truly all about.  You’ve shown me what it takes for one parent to do the job of two -- juggling the carpools and the soccer practices on top of many of you handling the work of a full-time job and all the rest that goes into running a household; caring for a loved one who’s been injured, or mourning a spouse or a child who never made it home.

And I know that there are people in the room today who feel a little sad because this Mother’s Day is a little less than what you’d hope.  And all we can do is hug you and tell you that we are thinking and praying and working for you all, and we are proud of you.  And some of you are, as Jill said, grandparents caring for a grandchild.  And others of you have served in uniform yourselves.

You’ve shown us what it takes to be a military child, many of you -- changing and leaving friends behind every few years; trying to keep up with homework and activities; and trying to lead the life of a normal kid while worrying about a parent or a sibling who is in harm’s way.  And as Jill reminded us just this past week, as Americans everywhere stood in awe at the bravery of the soldiers who carried out that daring operating in Pakistan, it was also a moment for all of us to remember that everyone who serves is able to do so because of the love and support of their families.

And what you do is not easy.  I won’t even say it’s not always easy.  I don’t think it’s ever easy.  I know that every day you deal with things that most of us can only imagine.  But I also know that along with incredible challenges come incredible strength.  That's something else that I know from you all.

Roseanna Yamashita and her daughter Tyler are some of you who know what I’m talking about.  With a father serving in the army, Tyler is only a junior in high school, but she’s already attended 10 schools on three continents.  And next year, the Yamashitas are moving to Germany.  But Tyler and Roseanna never complain -- as none of you do.  They know it’s part of serving their country.

And then there’s Helen Norberg and her daughter Julia.  They know a thing or two about what I’m talking about.  When Julia had to deploy to Iraq, Helen was there every day to help take care of their three-year-old grandson Isaiah.  She enrolled him in gymnastics, probably just to settle him down.  (Laughter.)  She took him to his first dentist appointment.  And since the only time Julia and Isaiah could speak was during the day, Helen would often leave work, drive to Isaiah’s school with her cell phone, just so he could hear his mom’s voice.

And then, last year as Julia’s deployment was coming to an end, Helen’s house was destroyed by a tornado.  Helen jumped on top of Isaiah to protect him.  She broke two vertebrae in her back.  When the storm died down, Isaiah had nothing but a small scratch on his arm.  And as Julia said, she has been the best grandmother and mother any soldier could ask for.  (Applause.)

And there are stories like this at every table, in every one of your households, in every one of your lives.  I know that.  These are only examples of what you live every day.  So make no mistake about it, even if you’re not the ones wearing the uniform, every single one of you is serving our country.  And every single one of you deserves our support -- not just with words, but with deeds.  Now, words are good.  They help.  Deeds are better.  (Laughter.) Real concrete actions that make a difference for you at your workplaces, in your schools, and in your communities.

And that’s why last month, Jill and I -- with Patty’s help and so many others -- we started Joining Forces, a nationwide campaign to rally this country to recognize, honor, and support our military families.  We’re joining forces across this country, and we’re calling on all Americans to ask themselves just one simple question:  How can I give back to these families who have given me so much?

We’re joining forces across the federal government, building on over 50 commitments that departments and agencies have made for how they can better serve military families.  We’re going to be joining forces with cities and states, encouraging them to adopt policies that will help you all.

We’re joining forces with organizations like the national PTA and the Military Child Education Coalition, to improve school outreach to military kids.  We’re joining forces with businesses and nonprofits, getting commitments from companies like Walmart and Sears to help military spouses find and keep jobs.

And we’re joining forces with families and communities.  We’re urging people to do whatever they can as neighbors, colleagues, and classmates to lend a hand to military families.

We believe that this is what you deserve from us, because showing our gratitude to those who serve our nation whether it’s on the battlefield or at home, is something that every single American can do.  And it’s something that every single American should do.

So, to everyone here, I just want to say thank you.  This is a very small way to say thank you.  Thank you for your strength, your commitment.  Thank you for setting an example for the rest of us.  It has been such a pleasure getting to meet all of you.

So let’s stop crying -- because I’m about to cry again.  (Laughter.)  Let’s just stop now.  (Laughter.)  And remember, it is Mother’s Day.  So today is a non-“Let’s Move!” day.  (Laughter.)  Eat all the cookies you want.  (Applause.)  And enjoy this weekend.  Continue to take care of each other.  We love you.  We are proud of you.  And we will keep working.

So thank you all.  Take care.  (Applause.)

END
3:30 P.M. EDT

Ryan Gosling took a solo stroll in NYC yesterday, enjoying the lovely Spring day and strumming on a three-string guitar. He's back on the East Coast after a short visit to LA earlier in the week. Ryan's been all over the place this month, and soon he'll hop on a flight to the South of France for the Cannes Film Festival. Hollywood's hottest stars including Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie are expected to premiere new projects at the annual cinema extravaganza, and Ryan will promote Drive alongside his costars Christina Hendricks and Carey Mulligan. Ryan, Christina, and Carey shot their racing flick in the California desert last Summer, and it looks like Ryan has lined up a new on-set buddy for the Summer of 2011. Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper are reportedly in talks to star in The Place Beyond the Pines, the latest effort from Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance.

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Dianne at Suburban Stitcher and I have been working on our Stella Blue quilts. I’ve been chipping away at a stack of Flying Geese all week. There are lots to make as I’ve talked about before. I like this part of the quilt making process, because it’s somewhat mindless. You can just sit down and start chain piecing these triangles to your heart’s content, and when you get bored, pick up something else for awhile.

I've started cutting the large star geese now.

I am using Rural Jardin fabric by Moda for this quilt. It is a fat quarter bundle, and I love that I am using so many different fabrics, it’s giving me the scrappy look that I like so much. I am also using Best Press, a spray starch on this quilt. I’ve never used spray starch, and lately I keep hearing about how much nicer it makes your fabric to work with. Since this requires a lot of triangles (bias cuts) I thought this is a perfect time to try it. So far, it’s been great.

there is an undiscovered planet circling a yellow star at the precipice of the milky way galaxy. a planet as green and blue with oceans as our own. dozens of small islands float across the waters, loose and untamed. each island is home to unique creatures and botany. these islands are few and hard to find, but the life beneath the surface is full and plenty with mermaids and their suitors.

Not only that he is famous in his team, John Wall from the Washington Wizards was even invited to the annual White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night. Yes, the Wizards’ star was on the invite list, along with many other celebrities and athletes. He was the one and only guest of The Hill newspaper, [...]

Since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this gifted bit-part actor has played the psychopath to perfection – but don't expect him to come out into the light in his new vampire movie Priest

Fans of the vampire apocalypse sub-genre will already be en route to the nachos, but no matter what your taste there is at least one reason to recommend the newly released Priest. That reason, buried as he usually is in the depths of the supporting cast, is Brad Dourif. Because I don't think it would be rash to claim Dourif as king of the character actors – champion of that noble tradition of bit-part players and background colour, a self-confessed "whore" who never fails to elevate even the dopiest hokum, psychotic creeps a speciality but capable of much, much more.

Almost everyone reading will, I imagine, have relished a Dourif performance at some point in their lives, in part because the man is as tireless as he is gifted, in part because among his many jobs have been a number of near-inescapable cultural behemoths (leaving aside Star Trek: Voyager, he reportedly dispensed with his eyebrows to appear in two of Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings films). But he's due far more reward than a place for life signing headshots at comic conventions. For all his workhorse tendencies, it would be a mistake to laud them over his actual talent – the waxy delicacy of his features the canvas for a rare, skewed intensity, his unnerving presence never once played as smirky camp.

But his gifts were obvious from the start. Because, of course, when we rewind as far back as 1975, we find him as the very newest of Hollywood sensations, and rightly so – the breakthrough Miloš Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and his pivotal turn as frail, doomed Billy Bibbit, a role he fitted so perfectly it was if Ken Kesey had foreseen a vision of him writing the source novel 13 years earlier. For a boy of 25 it was a staggering performance, deft and touching and every bit as compelling as those of Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. His Oscar nomination was inevitable; a stellar career was assured.

Except, as it turned out, it wasn't. Instead of an ascension to the upper slopes of the industry, the decades since have provided a hectic route through strange landscapes and scenic backwaters. There were more great performances – shortly after Cuckoo's Nest came some masterful jitters in the prime slice of New York kink that was The Eyes of Laura Mars, after that John Huston's mordant Wise Blood, most recently a lovely moment as a melancholy alien (surely the role he was born to play) in Werner Herzog's The Wild Blue Yonder. There were also roles in a number of grand cinematic missteps: the daddy of them all, Heaven's Gate; David Lynch's Dune, in which he gamely held forth about "the juice of sapho"; Jean-Pierre Jeunet's rickety Alien Resurrection. But while Lynch would hire him again for Blue Velvet, and Herzog has used him as a one-man rep company, the best part of the last 20 years has been spent paying the bills in all manner of horror projects, from the iconic (in some circles he'll be forever best known as the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play series) to the altogether less celebrated – but always performed with respectful sincerity.

In interviews, Dourif himself talks about the shape of his career as simply a product of a working actor needing work, particularly as a father – in the same year Cuckoo's Nest came out, his first daughter was born. But sometimes when I think about him I also find it hard not to picture that otherworldly bearing and remember the example of another thin young man too wispy and off-kilter to be anyone's male lead: Anthony Perkins. But then, much as I love Anthony Perkins, Dourif is by a long way the better actor, both more intense and more versatile. He could always do repellent (as racist wifebeater Clinton Pell in 1988's Mississippi Burning his presence is skin-crawling) – but his Doc Cochran in TV's old west saga Deadwood was a masterclass in unexpected decency, while what made his work in Herzog's Bad Lieutenant so fine was the way he acted as a steadying hand amid the crazed whirl of breakdancing souls and watchful iguanas.

And it's important, I think, not to embrace him just because he's a favourite of Herzog and Lynch, but because he's been fantastic in their films as he has so many others – and because the risk with anyone so reliable is that they get taken for granted, particularly when the wonders they deliver are small in scale. I'm sure Dourif himself would see his career as anything but thwarted for all that he never did get that Oscar, and we should follow his example. Bills have to be paid, and it would be patronising to assume he would have been happier with his name above the titles of wood-stupid action flicks. In any sane hall of fame, his place is safe already.

Cameron Diaz Covers Elle UK Magazine June 2011

by BecomeGorgeous.com
Cameron Diaz is showing off her hot body on the cover of Elle Magazine June issue. The hot babe shares her secret to a hot body in addition to talking about love and marriage, so find out what is Cam's beauty secret!
Entertainment / Celebrity Gossip

Blonde bombshell Cameron Diaz managed to steal attention since she first stepped on the big-screen, with her big smile, tall, lean figure, California blonde locks and blue eyes. The diva, now 38, covers Elle Magazine's June 2011 issue and talks about diet and love.

Apparently, this hottie has decided it's time to switch-up her lifestyle and go healthier. Since her split from Justin Timberlake, Cameron Diaz has been dating and now she found herself a new man, with whom she has been in a relationship for about one year, and apparently it's this relationship that influenced her change of lifestyle.

The 38 year old actress, who has never been married, doesn't feel the need to as she tells the magazine in an interview:
“I think a lot of people are married to people that they’re not romantic with any more. I just didn’t ever marry anybody that I then had to get divorced from. We break up. We move on.”
Her relationship to baseball star Alex Rodrigues seems to be getting serious as their dating is no longer a secret. Cameron Diaz did state in the interview that yes, A-Rod is her boyfriend.

Apparently, the fact that she's been working with her ex, Justin Timberlake doesn't bother her at all, saying that the two are still fiends and wish each-other happiness. She also says that working with Justin has been fun, as the two are good at being funny together.

As far as her new way of life, Cameron says she is now much more careful about what she eats and since she's dating an athlete it's no surprise. Her body has gone through a visible transformation, Cam being now much more muscular. She is now off fried foods and carefully selects her food to get all the nutrients she needs. Cam says:
“I love it. I have never, ever watched what I eat in my life, but I do now. I’m off the fried foods. I’m very thoughtful about what I eat. You have to give your body the right nutrients and really think about what’s best for it.”
“If you’re gonna do heavy lifting, and you want to stay small, you have to watch what you eat.”

Her new way of life seems to have had an impact over Cameron Diaz's outlook on life as she states that she has finally managed to accept certain things and be less cynical. We're used to seeing Cameron flashing a big smile on the red carpet, but apparently she wasn't all that happy in her 20s. She says:
“I’ve gotten less cynical. When I was in my 20s I was not very happy. But I’m a realist. I see things how they are and it’s hard to pretend that they’re anything different.”
Read all about Cameron Diaz's interview in Elle's June 2011 issue.

Photos courtesy of ELLE

There is a line in this gem from the Eagles, Seven Bridges Road, "Sometimes there's a part of me, has to turn from here and go, running like a child from these warm stars, down the Seven Bridges Road. "

That's sort of how I feel about this series.  Its been perfectly pleasant seeing the wonderful embracing of the game in Nashville. They look like wonderful people, and they treated the Green Men just as well as you would guests in your own home ( look at them getting all friendly and such with Nicole Kidman)   They get loud, they love the game, and put paid to the assertion that Southern hockey fans don't know the game.

But yeah, we would rather just file it under "pleasant memories" and move on. The Canucks took a step in that direction tonight, with a win that at least gives the Prez Trophy winners a chance to close it out at home.

The ESPN box score.  The NHL link. Yankee as on point as always with the game recap.

Lets see who wins the shiny gold star tonight. As if you did not know already. A certain native of a certain suburb of Detroit perhaps?

 

I think we all know who the high mark guy is once again tonight.  But a few thoughts and points on the other guys.  

 

-With all the talk about the Twins, they had a pretty strong game.  Most shifts that started in their own end did not end up there ( back me up on that Cam! ), and they did pretty good at pushing the play.  Burrows has made a huge difference being back on that line.  He has made it much harder for Suter and Weber, forcing them to be aware of his physical play and general Mr. Everything awesomeness.

-Erhoff is the embodiment of the hockey term "high risk / high reward". He might just be in the dictionary as an example. But he made some good plays late defensively, and I still love the big German.

-Max Lapierre is not Manny Malhotra.  He is an excellent playoff performer though. As is his old Habs running buddy Higgins, who may just pinch himself daily to be on a team like the Canucks, and not the Panthers. Well done Mr Gillis.

-After the eventual game winner at 7:28 of the third, the Preds got 12 shots at the net.  Five required saves. Great work and give a shit on the blocks late by Kesler with one of them, Edler and Higgins on back to back Weber bombs, Rome, Ehrhoff and Lapierre.  Kostitsyn got a couple in that Luongo had to handle, but the whole team looked engaged for most of the game. They certainly were engaged after the Franson mystery puck goal.

-Alex Motherf%$^ing Burrows.  His play on Weber on the empty netter for Hank embodies the reasons we love the guy here.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011/2012 Hart Trophy nominee. His mates kick ass too ;

 

Unless anyone has any objection, I think I will just hang a 10 on this guy. Ryan Kesler. Hockey player.  I think he is the physical manifestation of the "Beast Mode" gamer option the kids tell me about. That unintentional elbow that forced Smithson out was just a case of too much man. The goal is just another to add to the growing legend. Consider ; 1 goal, 2 assists, +2. 6 shots (1 missed), 1 blocked shot, 3 hits, led the forwards in ice time with 23:40 TOI ( 4:07 PP/ 2:40 PK ).He and Burrows ( and Hamhuis ) the big reason the 5 on 3 looked so bad for the Preds.  I'll forgive the 14 of 31 night on the draws. By his force of will alone, his line goes. 10/10.  (PS, loved the celebration on the GWG too. Looked like Buf' breaking OUR hearts last year! )

Chris Higgins is not all that bad either.  He seems to, every game and shift, find new ways of contributing.  He also seems to be getting even better at reading Raymond and Kesler and being where he needs to be. That line has made Fisher's line a non factor in this series.  3 shots, 1 block, and 1 hit in 17:21 TOI (1:00 PP / :12 PK ), but he does the "little things". 9/10.

Any game now, Mason Raymond is going to break out.  His stats line is not all that impressive. 1 shot, 1 missed, and 1 giveaway in 17:53 TOI ( 1:00 PP / 1:05 PK ) But everytime you looked up, he was out hustling someone in the offensive zone to get the puck and exert more pressure. His solid defensive play in his own end, especially on the penalty kill. 8.9/10.

 

So, don't you know you are supposed to be sucking right now? ;

 

To me anyhow, its kind of amazing how the Twins have become the current whipping boys ( Forwards category ) in this market. ( the speed of it, and the amount of invective thrown at the back to back Hart trophy guys. You would think that would buy you a second of a break, but not with some in Canuck Nation.)  The expectations on them are extraordinary, and they still keep battling.  The assists on the Ehrhoff goal were an example. Critics will just call that all lucky and whatnot, but they both fought through checks and made little touch passes in traffic to get that chance out of nothing.  Their work on the power play was great as always.  Their work 5 on 5 was not all that bad either!

Henrik Sedin has had to answer questions about being injured, and the "what's wrong" sly queries.  You know he wants to contribute and shut some people up.  Tonight, I heard Denis Potvin still say "No" on that question on SNET. Far be it from me to question one of the best defensemen of the past 40 years, but I have to a bit. 1 goal, 2 assists, a +2, with 1 shot and 1 takeaway in 18:05 TOI (4:07 PP / :16 PK ). He went 10 of 20 in the circle, but that draw with 30 seconds left on Fisher won the game. 8.89/10.

His brother Daniel Sedin was working hard too. People forget that the Twins are still seeing Weber and Suter on almost every shift. They still end up making those two ( thought by many the top pair in the NHL ) work their asses off to contain them. The battle aint over yet, but the Sedins looked better this game than the previous nights in this series.  In his 16:55 TOI (4:07 PP ) Daniel was credited with 1 assist, +1, 2 shots, (1 missed) and a takeaway. The Preds blocked 15 shots tonight. Weber led his team with 5 blocks. I am wiling to bet more than one of those was on Daniel. 8.7/10

Alexandre Burrows. Hated in opposing cities the league over. The member of the Ball Hockey Hall of Fame, one time Growwl, Checker (ECHL), Moose (AHL,thank you Craig Heizinger for insisting Nonis sign this guy! ), and now Canuck star got there by just outworking the other guy. He has talent. He has moves. But its that hard work every shift that makes him the fan favorite he is.  Tonight was just another example.  His work on the penalty kill, especially the 5 on 3 with his fellow Terror Twin Kesler, was wonderful.  His hard work on the Henrik empty netter, his screen on Rinne on the Ehrhoff goal. 1 assist, a +2, and 3 shots. I flat out am calling the ESPN stats guy a liar for the no blocks and hits. I saw him hit Weber with my own two eyes! 1 takeaway, 1 giveaway, and 1 of 3 filling in at the dot round out a very full 17:15 TOI ( 1:00 PP / 2:40 PK ) 9.125/10.

 

A Quebecois, a Mexican from Toronto, and a 9th round Dane walk into a bar... ;

 

Maxim Lapierre is a dirty player, we heard. He'll cost you dumb penalties, other fans intoned.  Media mavens would remind us that he was a fantastic playoff performer.  Those media guys were right so far.  Tonight, Mr Lapierre took a penalty for getting "interference" on Tootoo, before the Rome call made it a 5 on 3, but it was killed off by his guys. Every shift seemed a hard working one though.  He won 9 of 14 draws, including several defensive zone draws, as well as ones on the penalty kill.  That skill has enabled AV to not have to rely just on Kesler for big faceoffs. He was the guy AV went with when he cut down,for the most part, to three lines in the third, giving Hodgson's shifts to Lapierre as well. 1 hit, 1 block, 1 missed shot in his 14:06 TOI ( :36 PK ) 8.66/10.

Raffi Torres looked comfortable with Hansen and Lapierre. They all work hard, and force the other team to defend them as often as they lock down on defense to prevent opposition chances.  His 12:46 TOI, he was a +1, had 3 shots and missed one more.  The stats guys said he had no hits, but he menaced several guys at least.  8.65/10.

Everyone's favorite Dane Jannik Hansen had another solid game.  The stats guy only saw him get 1 blocked shot, and 1 hit, while going a +1 in his 12:20 TOI ( :59 PK ).  That almost seems inconsequential by his standards.  Led the team in pissing other guys off, how's that? 8.64/10.

 

Stick with me kid, I'll make you a star ;

 

Cody Hodgson will do just fine in the NHL. In his limited duty in the playoffs so far, he has shown solid hockey sense, and he definitely has the skills.  His skating is fine as well, thank you very much.  Tonight he was a -1 ( on for the Franson goal, I think it was ), and had 1 hit. 1 for 2 in the circle tonight. 7.99/10.

Mikael Samuelsson had a few more shifts and ice time than the rookie. He is back on the point on the #1 PP, because he works there ( had a couple lousy plays there too, but also several good ones ) Was a -1, had a hit and a takeaway in his 13:27 TOI (4:00 PP ). He did get back with the Twins a few times, after penalty kills and such. But he is where he deserves to be 5 on 5 still. 8.1/10

Tanner Glass? About the same. He had a few more shifts and ice late compared to Cody. 8:04 TOI. 2 hits. I think he had a half chance or two against the Borg like checking of the Preds, but I can't be sure without an audit. 8.02/10.

 

Blue line powers activate ;

 

Big minute man tonight was former Pred Dan Hamhuis. He was on for 24:13 TOI ( 2:04 PK ). The stats man said he had a +1,1 hit, 1 blocked shot, 1 shot, and a giveaway. The stats man can suck it. Hammer was a rock tonight. His work on the 5 on 3 was legendary, as was his work on other kills. Passes that started breakouts. Plays on boards that prevented the other team getting pressure. Dan the Man has a knack for being in the right place when he is on his game. He was on his game. 9/10.

His partner Kevin Bieksa had a bit more noticeable game according to the stats team. His 23:54 TOI (:51 PP / 1:33 PK )  was considerable. Most the time it was positive. +1, 3 shots, 1 hit, 3 blocks, and a takeaway.  His penalty was an offsetting one for getting to physical with Weber.  8.9/10

Mr Christian Ehrhoff had a bit of what we might call a "lively" night.  He was directly at fault on the Ward goal ( with his partner), but had a goal and 2 assists.  Was a +1, had 3 shots, 2 blocks and a hit in 20:37 TOI ( 4:00 PP/ 22 PK ) I know he may have made a couple mistakes here and there. but he was solid late when it counted, and had a goal and 2 assists. 9.1/10.

Alexander Edler had a similar evening.  He played less than Ehrhoff ( his minutes taken here and there by Salo pairing with the big German instead, as well as 'Hoff's big minutes on the power play contributing ) at 16:21 TOI (:16 PP / :56 PK ), but he had a goal, on a great shot. A +1 with 2 other shots missed, 2 blocks, and 3 hits.  8.9/10.

I don't know about you, but I am pretty happy that Sami Salo is back.  He makes the whole team better with his presence, and is just a solid all round player.  In 16:45 TOI ( 1:07 PP / 1:29 PK ) he had a penalty for the always called, the dreaded "delay of game".  Not his fault the Preds finally score a power play goal!  He also blocked 2 shots, and had 2 hits. He was solid, as evidenced by his getting more minutes in the third. 8.8/10.

Aaron Rome, however, has had better games, though its not like he was horrible. He was fairly solid defensively ( though the stats guy says no, I saw he had 2 giveaways anyhow. One in his own end particularly galling ), but not THAT good.  His penalty on Erat that led to the 5 on 3 was one that just cannot happen. 1 shot, 2 blocks, and 1 hit in 13:20 TOI ( 1:13 SH ). Let's start a rumour that Ballard starts Game 5. 8.49/10.

 

Ricky Bobby is a DRIVER Roberto Luongo is a GOALTENDER ;

 

There was a goal he would like back, the early third period one that tied the game.  The other one seemed more a case of his defenders leaving Ward alone too long in front, and he did make the original save.  But that tying goal will be enough for some of the goaltending sages to nod their head and intone how he has to grow.  Perhaps.  Roberto Luongo made some huge saves tonight as well. The ones on Hornqvist, during a scramble, and later on a strong rush, were both all about hanging in and never giving up on the play. Luongo did that. 21 shots and 2 goals is a fairly pedestrian .905 sv % in this game for the big fella.  Still he made the saves when he had to.  Let's keep with the lucky Chinese Numerology numbers for the goalie. 8.88/10.

 

So, there you go.  It was a solid game overall, and a win is a win. The Predators pushed a little harder than they have in the other games the Canucks won.  They did not push enough. The better team won again.  Let's not forget that the Preds were the better team in Game 2 on Roger's Arena ice. They can do that again. Put the workboots on, and out hustle these guys on home ice fellas.

Kansas City Star

Don't be blue, Elvis, but Jacob is now the king Kansas City Star Maybe it was his name that caught the attention of jazz musician (and now his wife) Diana Krall. The two have twin boys. The name caused a ruckus in 2008, when a couple in Sweden wanted to name their daughter “Elvis.” No, they were not Elvis Presley ...

On Saturday, May 21 the Garden Club of Montclair, a member of the National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc., and National Garden Clubs, Inc. joins the&nbsp;Montclair Property Owners Association in dedicating the Montclair Blue Star Memorial, honoring U.S. Armed Forces, past, present and future. The event will begin at 10 ...

Well, well, Bradley Cooper really is everywhere today. There's the possibility that he'll play Lucifer in Paradise Lost, and a report [1] that The Hangover, Part II is going to be huge. (Duh.) But this is the interesting part: Derek Cianfrance is putting together a film called The Place Beyond the Pines -- we first heard about this last year -- which will bring him back to set with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling. And the other big role in the film has been offered to Bradley Cooper. Variety [2] has this news, and the trade's recap of the script offers us a little more info than we previously had about the story: Gosling will portray a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son, but when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer -- the role Cooper is being lined up to play -- their confrontation spirals into a generational feud. That complements what the director said [3] about the film, which he co-wrote with Ben Coccio fueled partly by inspiration from Jack London, earlier this year, I have a film called The Place Beyond the Pines, which is all about fathers and guns, and it has motorcycles and guns in it. It’s kind of an epic movie. It takes place over a couple of generations and it’s kind of a crime story, kind of a mystery. I’ve had people tell me they feel like its ‘The Deer Hunter’ meets ‘The Godfather.’ As with so many other projects, distribution rights will be sold at the upcoming Cannes market, and if things go well there the film will shoot this summer. As for Bradley Cooper, while I've scorned the idea of him taking the Paradise Lost role, I'd be really interested to see what might happen if he worked with a director like Derek Cianfrance. Is this my dream casting for this movie? No, but I think it might work -- his energy could even turn into a real asset for the film, beyond marketability. [1] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/hangover-part-ii-track-far-185817 [2] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118036453?categoryid=4076&cs=1 [3] http://www.slashfilm.com/derek-cianfrance-talks-place-pines-epic-reunion-ryan-gosling/

Last December we heard that director Derek Cianfrance would re-team with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling for a drama called The Place Beyond the Pines. At first details were scarce with the filmmaker saying it was "all about fathers and guns, and it has motorcycles and guns in it." Then in February he also said it was "kind of an epic movie. It takes place over a couple of generations and it’s kind of a crime story, kind of a mystery." Now we have a better idea about the story itself along with news from Variety revealing Bradley Cooper is being lined up to take a role in the film described as a multi-generational crime drama. The story apparently follows a professional motorcycle rider (Gosling) who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son, but when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Cooper) ...

Will the Blue Angels be flying Joint Strike Fighters next time we see them? - TheDigitel | Well it's unlikely that will occur by the next time we see them, 2013, but apparently there are discussions that the Blue Angels will hang up their F-18s for the F-35s. And while we're talking F35, there are several reports out there that a House ... [photo via]

Steel beams from World Trade Center will be on display during 2011 Indianapolis Air Show - dBusinessNews | Two huge steel beams from New York City’s World Trade Center, a target of the deadly and historic terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will be on display during the Tom Wood Automotive Group 2011 Indianapolis Air Show, May 13-15 at Indianapolis Regional Airport (formerly Mt. Comfort Airport).  The beams, one of which measures over 21-feet long and the other which measures over 18 feet, will soon be the focal point of “Project 9/11 Indianapolis,” a permanent memorial along the White River Canal dedicated to the thousands of people who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Penn., and the Pentagon nearly 10 years ago. The memorial’s design will incorporate the times that the Twin Towers collapsed, as well as a passage from President George W. Bush’s address to the nation on the evening of Sept. 11th. ...

N'Awlins Air Show is Saturday and Sunday in Belle Chasse - NOLA.com | The US Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron perform during the preview show for students, military members and their family members of the 2009 N'Awlins Air Show at Naval Air Station -Joint Reserve Base in Belle ...

Rockford AirFest 2011 Seeks Heroes to Honor - WIFR | ROCKFORD (RAF) -- Rockford AirFest 2011 will honor area Heroes to be recognized before and during this year's show, and community members are asked to nominate people for the program. A Hero can be a member of the US military or a veteran, ...

BAFB prepared for air show - KSLA-TV | The 2011 Defenders of Liberty Air Show is set to take flight this weekend at Barksdale Air Force Base. The show features some of the best pilots in the world from all branches of the military, and it attracts hundreds of ...
   
2011 air show act has new angle - Monroe News Star | "Vintage Warbirds" will include a T-6 Texan trainer, P-51 and MiG 17 fighters, and a B-17 and B-29 bomber Preview will highlight the different performers at this weekend's Defenders of Liberty Air Show at Barksdale Air Force Base. ...

Manassas Freedom Museum hosts weekend air show - WTOP | The museum's B-25 nose is set to go on tour at local schools. (WTOP Photo/Hank Silverberg) WASHINGTON - Tucked inside one of the region's busiest small airports is a museum hoping to get a boost with a new exhibit and sky-high event. ...

Chino Sneak peak - You Tube

Cleveland college teams with Hemlock Films to produce aviation show from General Aviation News | The creators of the Emmy award-winning PBS hit “Red Tail Reborn” have partnered with Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, Ohio, to bring “The Restorers” to televisions nationwide. This new PBS series, based on the original 2004 movie of the same name, will chronicle those who restore warbirds and antique…

CWJ 2011: Live Vulcan, Victor, Lightning, Nimrod, Buccanneer, and more! from PPRuNe Forums | Only 3 1/2 weeks left until this year's Spring Cold War Jets Open Day at Bruntingthorpe, on Sunday 29th May! ...

S. Korea's largest aviation exhibition draws big crowds - Yonhap News | The Black Eagles, the aerobatics team for the South Korean Air Force, performed formation flying with T-50 supersonic trainer jets, and the opening day show also featured other world-class aerobatic pilots. Now in its third year, the aviation ...

The acrobats of the air force to do the show Show - Maritima.info | The official presentation to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force of all demonstrators the Air Force (Patrouille de France, Rafale, Cartridge Golden Alphajet, aerobatic team of the army air) was held this Thursday on the air base ...

Taking to the air for festival - News & Star | Aerobatic routines from the precision flying squad SWIP team will provide plenty of drama. Other air demonstrations include the British fighter aircraft the Hawker Sea Fury, the Matadors aerobatic team and a parachute drop. Festival favourite the RAF ...

Air show for Sydney announced - Cape Breton Post | John Fraser event manager and Lauri Gallaway from Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation are shown following the press conference to announce an air show for Sydney in June. Greg McNeil - Cape Breton Post SYDNEY — Nova Scotia's only air show this summer ...

HORNET SOLO DISPLAY 2011 from AirSpace | Today there where the first Low level Trainings 2011 in Payerne. For his 2nd year as Display Pilot, Ralph «Deasy» Knittel made already an impressive show. You can enjoy him during those airshows listet: ...

Runway 5K Run/Walk at EAA AirVenture 2011 to Benefit Three Community Groups - AMTOnline.com | All participants receive snacks, water, and a timing-chip to track their progress, plus Saturday  admission to AirVenture – featuring the widely popular Night Air Show and Daher-Socata Fireworks, country star Aaron Tippin in concert, and an expanded ...

REO Speedwagon at EAA from eaavideo.org | On Monday, July 25, REO Speedwagon will rock Oshkosh, courtesy of Ford Motor Company. The performance, free of charge to all AirVenture guests that day, is held on ConocoPhillips Plaza immediately following the afternoon air show.

Do you have a hero on this forum? Do you have a hero in real life? Lets give thanks and appreciation to those who have made our lives better for one reason or another. Im talking about real true blue heros not some lame-A NBA star or something superficial like that.

Kate Abbott, commissioning arts editor for the Guardian, selects the capital's best arts venues south of the river, from a cinema museum to vast chambers under the streets of Bermondsey

Old Vic Tunnels

The dank, atmospheric tunnels under Waterloo station were discovered by director Hamish Jenkinson when he took a wrong turn at Banksy's Cans Festival, kicked down a mystery door and trespassed into this epic space that had been unaired and unexplored for 20 years. He has since replicated that sense of magical discovery for punters, with a rich programme that began with 228, a Punchdrunk collaboration. Subsequent projects have included visitors being wheeled in on gurneys for Cart Macabre, and Steve Lazarides's Hell's Halfacre extravaganza. This year will see the pitch-black space become a minotaur's lair. Outside, it's still a graffiti tunnel, preserved just how Banksy would want it to be.
• Station Road Approach SE1, oldvictunnels.com

Old Police Station

The only thing that marks out the Old Police Station Art Centre from the police station next door is a gnome on a pole, suspended where the blue Met lamppost once hung. It feels as if the police have only just left – there are posters everywhere, detailing best practice for fingerprinting, and what officers should do in the event of a bout of excited delirium from a prisoner. Next to the pop-up Boozer bar are the cells, now doubling as exhibition spaces or toilets. In the courtyard is a large shipping container that houses Cartel, an additional space curated by Agency Gallery, and artist studios for hire. The site also has a recording studio and a radio station, not to mention a former interrogation room.
• 114 Amersham Vale SE14, +44 (0)798 168 1842, theoldpolicestation.org, open Fri 7pm-1am and when there are exhibitions Wed-Sat noon-4pm

Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield is set just south of the Albert Embankment, in the girls' half of the former Lambeth ragged school. Train lovers often pop in, mistaking it for an old signal house, only to find a double gallery. One half is found up the heavy flagstone stairway in the resurrected Victorian classroom, complete with original raked floor. The other is in a dim railway arch where exhibitions are accompanied by the low rumblings of trains. The Ragged Canteen is open for weekday lunches and weekend coffee and cake stops. While you're here, wander to Man and Eve on Courtenay Street, another local gallery, in an old sea scouts hut.
• 22 Newport Street SE11, +44 (0)20-7582 6465, beaconsfield.ltd.uk, open Tues-Sun 11am-5pm

Brunel Museum

This Bermondsey museum sits in the engine house above the first construction project Isambard Kingdom Brunel ever worked on, aged 19 – the Thames Tunnel. Its gardens are decked out with benches shaped like later Brunel bridges, myriad murals and a Frankenstein tree. Every Tuesday at 6.15pm prompt you can take a tour from Bermondsey station along the river, before creeping through a tiny entrance into a huge underground chamber – half the size of Shakespeare's Globe – where Brunel nearly drowned in 1828. This arena, inaccessible to the public for 145 years, now hosts a miscellany of events, from cancan dancers to choirs and theatre festivals. Recover from your subterranean trip with a drink in the bank-side bar.
• Railway Avenue SE16, +44 (0)20-7231 3840, brunel-museum.org.uk, open daily 10am-5pm,Tues 10am-9.30pm

The Cinema Museum

An Aladdin's cave for cinephiles. Every inch of wall space is taken up with memorabilia, from 1930 ratings boards with the certificate H for horrific (a precursor to the X rating) to MGM posters inviting punters in with the promise "that lovely lion is here today!" The owner – who has single-handedly built up this mind-boggling collection – takes visitors on tours. At first, there's the in-house cinema with period seats and art nouveau house lights. Then there are film star head shots and a room stuffed with ushers' outfits. This listed site is the former workhouse where Charlie Chaplin reputedly arrived as a destitute nine-year-old in 1898. Fans of the Tramp will be particularly in awe here.
• The Master's House, 2 Dugard Way SE11, +44 (0)20-7840 2200 (call to arrange tours), cinemamuseum.org.uk, adults £7, children and concessions £5

South London Gallery

Like its north London counterpart the Camden Arts Centre, South London Gallery is an innovative public space. It opened in 1891 to enrich the cultural lives of local folk, and has recently undergone an elegant, Riba-nominated expansion by 6A architects into derelict buildings across the way. These accommodate the cultural overspill that comes with curating 10 shows a year and housing a bulging collection featuring Antony Gormley, Anselm Kiefer and Tracey Emin. The tasty new cafe is in the former living room (now gold-stencilled) of the Victorian terrace façade at No 67. But don't miss the shows, the interactive Sunday Spot workshops for families, and the Thursday night Art Assassins programme for imaginative teens to get stuck in.
• 65 Peckham Road SE5, +44 (0)20-7703 6120, southlondongallery.org, open Tues-Sun 11am-6pm, Wed 11am-9pm

The Agency Gallery

This gallery in a Victorian terraced house in Surrey Quays is known for nurturing new talent, having put on some of the earliest exhibitions by artists who have gone on to great things, such as Turner prizewinner Douglas Gordon and Rebecca Warren. It's painted a stern black outside, but inside it has a deconstructed finish with raw exposed brickwork that somehow never detracts from the displays. It moved here from its former Hoxton site in 2009, a shift that may prove that the new home of inventive art lies in the capital's south-eastern reaches.
• 66 Evelyn Street SE8, +44 (0)20-8692 0734, theagencygallery.co.uk, open Wed-Sat 10.30am-6pm, last Friday of the month 10.30am-9pm

Asylum

It takes a while to recover from the gardens, the beautiful square of former almshouses and the Victorian gas lamps here. You feel miles away from London and modern times, but this is Peckham, and there's a Toys R Us round the corner. And that's just the exterior. Inside, Asylum is a curator's and a photographer's playground. A former chapel, founded in 1827, it has been taken over by two local artists who curate group shows and community events. It was bombed in the blitz, and the entire place was gutted, but somehow the original stained glass windows survived. This weighty historical legacy means that artworks have a lot to contend with, and there are also remnants of vandalism adorning the walls, but that adds to the charm.
• Caroline Gardens Chapel, Asylum Road SE15, +44 (0)7796 684834, asylum-arts.co.uk

CGP/Dilston Grove

A white cube gallery with a twist, CGP offers up a double whammy of contemporary art and enviable community engagement across two rough-and-ready spaces in Southwark Park. Café Gallery straddles the lake in the centre of the park, with three interlinked white cubes showing contemporary art. The DIY allotment out back, bejewelled with bunting and wild flowers, is ploughed by locals as part of the Friday morning club run by Frances Ward, who also anchored the Tate Modern community garden. In the south-west corner of the park, Dilston Grove is a massive gothic hall with light walls and heavy-set rafters showcasing experimental installations.
• Southwark Park SE16, +44 (0)20-7237 1230, cgplondon.org, open Wed-Sun noon-6pm in summer

Danielle Arnaud

It's not often you enter a stranger's home and pootle around alone and unwatched, but that's the effect Danielle Arnaud is after. This gallery in a home has to be rooted out – there is no sign on the door, which Arnaud believes puts visitors in an inquisitive mindset before they enter; a quest to search out affecting art. It is a grand Georgian house, and the light offsets artworks naturally, with no need for nondescript whitewashed walls or distracting commercial lighting. The artists shown here, from Phyllida Barlow to Laure Prouvost, have to navigate the domestic fittings, fireplaces and furniture.
• 123 Kennington Road SE11, +44 (0)20-7735 8292, daniellearnaud.com, open Fri-Sun 2-6pm

Jerry Mitchell is the E.F. Hutton of Broadway choreographers and directors: When he talks, people listen.

The man who won a Tony Award for Best Choreography for his work in “La Cage Aux Follies” and has just launched a Broadway version of “Catch Me If You Can” brought one of the city’s more ambitious productions, “Peepshow,” to Planet Hollywood two years ago. The show has since changed significantly by casting the indefatigable Holly Madison to the Bo Peep role, updating production numbers and set scenery and ditching the live band and the needless male dog character.

Based in New York, Mitchell returned to Las Vegas to take inventory of the production and gauge how Madison’s desire to sing through the “Teddy” scene was playing out. He also attended the second performance of the AIDS/HIV research and treatment benefit “Broadway Bares” at the “Peepshow” theater. He stopped in for a segment on “Kats With the Dish” that aired Friday on KUNV 91.5-FM. Following are some “textual” highlights from that interview:

On Madison expanding her role in the show to that of a vocalist: There’s a number in the show called "Teddy," the story of Goldilocks, which has gone through four or five different versions. As you rotate the cast, you have different performers with different talents.

She came to us maybe 4 months ago, before I went to New York and got “Catch Me If You Can” on Broadway, with the idea that she would sing in the show. I said, “I’ll get ‘Catch Me' open, and you keep taking singing lessons. I’ll come back and I’ll retool the number specifically for you.” So that’s what we did and, you know, she has a lot of talents. We made the number for her. Singing is something she wants to do. She’s been practicing and studying, and that girl, if she sets her mind to something, watch out. She’s made it happen. … She’s good, she’s really good. She doesn’t sing the whole number herself; there are three other girls who sing with her. But last night (April 25) was the first night she’d performed it, and the audience screamed when she came down to the front of the stage and bared all. … Holly is the visual idea of what Vegas has to offer.

On the ascent of Cheaza, who plays Peep Diva in the show: I think she is spectacular. I give credit to where the talent is. I’d rather go to a show with someone incredibly talented delivering it than with a big name who can’t deliver. ... I first saw Cheaza with Wayne Brady, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She comes in and sings for me and Andrew Lippa, who wrote the show, and could sing every song in the show. Then what she became is the spine of the show. She is tall enough to give you some attitude, and she will challenge you on it.

On the value of Josh Strickland in the lead male role: Listen, I have nothing against any other shows on the Strip. I know they are all brilliant, but I don’t know of another male voice in town that does what Josh does. He carries the show vocally, every night, full out, 110 percent. He is a true star. I saw him on Broadway, in “Tarzan,” and he totally blew me away. He was doing back handsprings in dreadlocks and totally inhabiting the role, and he sings like an angel.

On how to adjust the show to ensure profitability: Every show, whether in Vegas or on Broadway, comes down to how many tickets are you selling? Are you selling enough tickets to meet what it costs you every week to run the show? Good business is you want to sell more than you are paying out. That’s how you make a profit. The show opened probably at the worst time a show could possibly open, not only here, in this town, but in New York City. I work in New York City much more than I do in Vegas. Everything has changed about the financial structure of a show, permanently. People don’t buy in advance in New York City anymore, which used to always be the case. Getting producers to put money into a show is much harder. They’re much more cautious about the product, how will it pay back, when will it pay back, so they are making different investment choices.

So when we got this show up and running, with Base (Entertainment’s) guidance -- quite brilliant guidance -- we were able to look ahead and see how we could keep the show running and hopefully start making money. So we had to make cuts, we had to make judicious cuts. We made a lot of cuts. The (live) band was one of them. We cut scenery, we cut moving automation, but what we didn’t cut were the girls. What we didn’t cut were the numbers and the impact of the numbers. The milk tank, the saddle going out over the audience, the moments that we knew turned the audience on, we left alone, and we made eliminations in other places. We cut the dog, the original dog who befriended (Bo Peep) that didn’t become the bang for the buck that we all wanted. … This is the kind of work you do for the long run, and it has been successful.

On the barrier between full-scale Broadway productions and Las Vegas audiences: I have a very simple answer: Vegas is not a “text” town, meaning spoken word. Vegas is a sound and a visual town. It’s very difficult to have a successful show here if people have to listen to the words. The No. 1 reason being it’s an international town. A lot of people do not speak the language, so you’re cutting out a huge amount of your audience if it’s all in English and it’s important to understand what is being said in English.

The reason that musical shows like “Jersey Boys” or “Mamma Mia!” are successful is because those songs are internationally successful. You can go to a nightclub in Italy and hear “Dancing Queen,” and everyone is on the floor dancing to “Dancing Queen.” In this town, when you are looking for a soundtrack, you need to go with songs that are known. … This town is a visual and aural town before it is a textual town. Shows like Jabbawockeez (at Monte Carlo) and Blue Man Group (at Venetian, en route to Monte Carlo) tell stories without speaking a word.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.

Derek Cianfrance, the writer/director of last year's Blue Valentine , has found backing for his next project, The Place Beyond the Pines . Variety reports that Sidney Kimmel Entertainment will produce the original screenplay and that Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper are likely to star. Gosling is said to already be attached to the project in the role of a motorcycle rider who, after having a child, begins robbing banks to support the baby. Cooper has been offered (but has not signed on) for the part of a rookie cop who goes up against Gosling's character. Gosling, who played the lead in Blue Valentine , has a whole slate of projects lined up, including Drive , Crazy, Stupid, Love. and The Ides of March . He's also slated to play the lead in a big-screen reboot of Logan's...

It’s a little scary stepping up your projects in size and difficulties. Since I normally am totally lost when looking at most plans, I thought this would be a good project to start with. I wanted to build this chair out of Cypress, however, my local wood store was out of premium Cypress and convinced me to use Spanish Cedar instead….... won’t do that again. I figured I might could stretch 45 board feet into 2 chairs. So, ordering 45 board feet I was charged for 62 board feet because of the irregular widths of the boards. Paying for 6/4 wood, because they claimed to be out of 5/4 , I realized that after getting home the widths were only 1 1/8ths wide? WTH?? Ok, so I decided to get on with the building. The plans weren’t that hard to understand, except the “full size” plan parts are printed all over each other and trying to figure which line belonged to which piece got a little confusing at times. I used tracing paper and cut out templates so I could use them again for future chairs I may want to build. Man I sure wish I could trace and cut straight…sanding the pieces helped straighted out my crooked lines. Speaking of sanding, did you know that Spanish Cedar can clog up a drum sander in no time at all? With hardware list in hand, I headed to BIG BLUE!!!! Can someone tell me where to find nuts for a lag bolt?? Yep, I was looking, knowing in my mind that HAD to be a misprint…... it was. Actual assembly wasn’t too bad, I followed my own instinct instead of going by the plans, after all, they said to buy nuts for a lag bolt! Looking at it after assembly, I was blinded by all the screws used to construct it. So, I cut plugs, filled the holes, and sanded them down. All in all, I am pleased with the way the chair turned out, and plan to build at least one more. At $13.99 cost for the plan, I feel it was a fair value. After all, the chair looks like it’s suppose to, and didn’t collapse when I sat in it! 4 star rating due to overlapping templates and the “lag bolt nut”.

Kristin Cavallari's Engagement Ring and Self Designed Shoes StyleBistro Newly engaged Kristin Cavallari became the belle of the ball as she hit blue carpet for “Something Borrowed” premiere flashing her stunning engagement ring and self-designed shoes. Reality star wowed in a strapless white minidress by Shoshanna that ... and more »

USA Today

Patient Rays get the best of Drabek National Post (blog) Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Mike McCoy (L) reaches out to pitcher Kyle Drabek (4) as he walks off the mound after being taken out by manager John Farrell (R) during the sixth inning of a Major League Baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. ... Blue Jays edge RaysNorthJersey.com Price dominates as Rays beat JaysGlobe and Mail Drabek replaces Romero in matinee as Blue Jays face RaysTSN Tampabay.com -Beaumont Enterprise -Toronto Star all 1,068 news articles »

Telegraph.co.uk

Barack Obama pays 9/11 respects at Ground Zero The Guardian President Barack Obama carries a wreath accompanied by a firefighter at the Ground Zero site of the 9/11 attacks. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS Barack Obama spoke no words as he laid a red, white and blue wreath at the centre of Ground Zero. ... Obama visits ground zero, honors 9/11 victimsCNN International Obama to meet with unit that killed Bin Laden FridayLos Angeles Times Obama lays a wreath at Ground ZeroToronto Star BusinessWeek -USA Today -The Associated Press all 3,796 news articles »

Never mind Los Angeles's reputation for year-round sunshine—the Fox lot's Zanuck Theatre had ice everywhere during a presentation to introduce promotional, licensing, and media partners to the next film in the Ice Age franchise. Working with Fox vice president of special events and marketing Len Iannelli, Erick Weiss and Honeysweet Productions produced, with sets, design, decor, and museum graphics from Angel City Designs. Honeysweet created a pop-up museum gallery inside a Classic tent for the guests to check out animation company Blue Sky Studios (responsible for the Ice Age movies, Robots, Horton Hears a Who, and most recently the box-office-booming Rio). There were giant real ice sculptures at the entrance to the theater, as well as a 20-foot-tall 3-D Scrat character from the movie that greeted guests at the entrance. Inside the theater was a full Ice Age set: Three-dimensional carved foam icebergs flanked the multitiered stage, backed with 2-D representations of glaciers and a fabric treatment. Leading the presentation was C.E.O. and chairman Tom Rothman, with star wattage help from Ray Romano and Queen Latifah.