Jerry Curl

"For long you live and high you fly For smiles you give and tears you cry For all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be." -Pink Floyd

Cory G. as featured on JBM .

NBC's Today show has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent — former first daughter Jenna Hager. The daughter of former President George W. Bush will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to television's top-rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer. Hager, a 27-year-old teacher in Baltimore, said she has always wanted to be a teacher and a writer, and has already authored two books. But she was intrigued by the idea of getting into television when Bell contacted her. "It wasn't something I'd always dreamed to do," she said. "But I think one of the most important things in life is to be open-minded and to be open-minded for change." She'll essentially work two part-time jobs as a correspondent and in her school, where she will be a reading coordinator this year. (Via AP )

The AP reports : The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E. Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee. Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel's superhero fare in recent years. That contrasts with Disney's recent successes among young women with such fare as "Hannah Montana" and the Jonas Brothers. "It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with," Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at "full price." Disney said Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for e...

Weekend Top Five: #1 The Final Destination ($28.3M) #2 Inglourious Basterds ($20M) #3 Halloween II ($17.4M) #4 District 9 ($10.7M) #5 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($8M)

Florida International University’s fifth president, Mark B. Rosenberg, took the oath of office today, the pinnacle of a journey that has taken him from an assistant professor at a nascent two-year institution on the edge of the Everglades to the presidency of the same institution, now a major public research university serving as an economic and innovation engine for a global and dynamic city. “Today we begin a new era that speaks to the times we are in,” said Rosenberg to thousands who gathered at the U.S Century Bank Arena, on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus in West Miami-Dade County. “In this new era, we must put our students at the center of who we are, engage our community like never before and reinforce our partnerships with key institutions in South Florida.” Rosenberg, former chancellor of the State University System of Florida and the first FIU faculty member to ascend to the presidency of the university, spoke of his commitment to learning, innovation and creativity and charte...

Gov. Charlie Crist chose trust and loyalty Friday over Washington experience or potential political gain in choosing former chief of staff George LeMieux to replace Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. State Rep. Jennifer Carroll, who was considered for the position, said Crist told her he is choosing LeMieux. LeMieux is Crist's closest political adviser and the governor's pick shows he wants someone who thinks like him to hold the Senate seat Crist hopes to win in the November 2010 election. As LeMieux said after interviewing for the position: "I'm a Charlie Crist Republican." LeMieux served as deputy attorney general under Crist and left that job to run Crist's 2006 campaign for governor. Once elected, Crist picked LeMieux to serve as chief of staff. LeMieux left the position in December 2007 and has since worked for the Tallahassee law firm Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart. (Via AP )

By Steve Greenberg

The AP reports : Authorities in the art world casted some doubt yesterday on the authenticity of an alleged Picasso painting that was seized by Iraqi police south of Baghdad. A painting called "The Naked Woman" that police claimed was painted by Picasso was seized near the southern city of Hillah on Tuesday after the man allegedly tried to sell it for $450,000. Iraqi police said the painting appeared to have been stolen from Kuwait following Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion. But evidence seemed to mount yesterday that it was not a genuine Picasso. The painting has a tag on the back with several misspellings that says it was sold by "the louvre" to "the museum of kuwait," with the words Louvre and Kuwait in lower case. There are also several stamps bearing the name of the Louvre Museum in Paris. But an official with the Louvre Museum said it has never had a Picasso in its collection and does not sell its works because they are government property. The off...

The Advocate interviews the boys from the Miley Cyrus video spoof : What started out as a few good friends setting out to create a memento of their summer getaway on Fire Island has turned into an Internet sensation that has been simultaneously racking up thousands of hits on YouTube and lighting up the blogosphere. When New Yorkers David Fudge, Ted Donath, Colin Stark, Brian Davidson, Richard Davis, Ryan Slyper, and Justin Garlinghouse decided to take a Flip mini digital camcorder and hit the beach to make their own summer party video, using Miley Cyrus’s new single “Party in the USA” as their soundtrack, they had no idea so many people would pay attention. But that is precisely what happened. Only one day after the video hit the Web, gossip scribe Perez Hilton had already posted the video on his website and teen pop diva Cyrus had tweeted that she was “obsessed” with the feel-good parody of her latest hit. Even more telling is the fact that, as of Wednesday morning (three days after ...

Hugh Plummer as featured on DNA .

The Washington Post reports : Lawmakers in Uruguay have approved a bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt. Despite opposition from Uruguay's Roman Catholic Church and some of the political opposition, the 99-seat Chamber or Representatives on Thursday passed the bill 40-13, with the remaining members absent. It goes next to the Senate, which approved an earlier version of the bill in July but must now vote again on modifications. If it becomes law, Uruguay would be the first country in Latin American to allow adoption by gay and lesbian couples. The law supported by socialist President Tabare Vazquez's Broad Front coalition, which has already legalized gay civil unions and ended a ban on homosexuals in the armed forces.

As the fighting in Darfur diminishes after years of conflict, senior United Nations officials say they are focused increasingly on the deteriorating situation in another part of Sudan: the south. The shift in alarm has been building for months, but was reinforced late Wednesday when Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, the departing commander of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, told reporters that the war in Darfur was essentially over. “As of today, I would not say there is a war going on in Darfur,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “Militarily, there is not much. What you have is security issues more now. Banditry, localized issues, people trying to resolve issues over water and land at a local level. But real war as such, I think we are over that.” Senior United Nations officials said that while General Agwai was basically correct, they did not want to play down the dire consequences some three million displaced people face in Darfur. Still, they noted, the esc...

An excerpt from the New York Times article about runaway Afghan boys in Europe: Thousands of lone Afghan boys are making their way across Europe, a trend that has accelerated in the past two years as conditions for Afghan refugees become more difficult in countries like Iran and Pakistan. Although some are as young as 12, most are teenagers seeking an education and a future that is not possible in their own country, which is still struggling with poverty and violence eight years after the end of Taliban rule. The boys pose a challenge for European countries, many of which have sent troops to fight in Afghanistan but whose publics question the rationale for the war. Though each country has an obligation under national and international law to provide for them, the cost of doing so is yet another problem for a continent already grappling with tens of thousands of migrants. “Some arrive very beaten, very tired, but if they stay put for just one week they very quickly become adolescents a...

The AP reports : A Russian trio performing Gypsy music with Madonna said Friday they were "pained" to see the pop star booed during her Bucharest concert for criticizing widespread discrimination against Gypsies. Thousands of people applauded the trio's performance with Madonna in Bucharest on Wednesday night during her worldwide "Sticky and Sweet" tour. But minutes later they booed and jeered the pop star when she said discrimination should end against eastern Europe's Gypsies, also known as Roma. In a press conference Friday in Bucharest, Vadim Kolpakov, the youngest member of Kolpakov Trio, said the public reaction was unexpected. "The audience was wonderful when we played," he said. But he called the booing and jeering "the worst" reaction the Roma group had received during the entire tour. "Madonna was surprised (about the reaction) but I cannot comment for her," Vadim Kolpakov said, declining to say if Madonna had made a s...

Reuters reports : U.S. consumer spending rose as expected in July, data showed on Friday, lifted by the government's "cash-for-clunkers" program that fueled demand for autos. The Commerce Department said spending rose 0.2 percent after increasing by a revised 0.6 percent in June, previously reported as a 0.4 percent gain. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, rising 0.2 percent in July. Adjusted for inflation, spending was up 0.2 percent after gaining 0.1 percent in June.

A Miami appeals court that will help decide the fate of Florida's ban on adoption by gay people grilled lawyers on both sides of the dispute Wednesday as it grappled with a thorny question: Does the law protect children from a risky lifestyle, or merely punish a group disliked by lawmakers? During oral arguments before the Third District Court of Appeal, an attorney representing the Department of Children & Families defended Florida's 32-year-old ban on gay adoption by insisting the state has a sensible interest in protecting children from social ills that are more common among gay men and women. "There is evidence that homosexuals have higher rates of mental disorders, suicide and domestic violence," said Timothy D. Osterhaus, deputy solicitor general for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is representing DCF. "This is a plausible rationale." And in comments outside a Florida International University courtroom, where the arguments were held, Jo...

Jarrett Moreland as featured on Eye Candy .

By Jeff Darcy

X Factor: S06E01 - Danyl Johnson Audition by iMMOnline

Just to piggy-back on yesterday's story : There's good news and bad news in Cuba. The bad news: There's a shortage of toilet paper, and officials in Havana say it will not ease until the end of the year. The good news: Day-old copies of the Communist party's newspaper Granma, a traditional substitute, are available for less than a U.S. penny. And that's six to eight full, if rough, pages per day. Cuban officials say the shortage is the result of the global financial crisis and three devastating hurricanes last summer, which forced cuts in imports as well as domestic production because of reductions in electricity and imports of raw materials. But CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria says that "at the bottom of this toilet paper shortage is Cuba's continuing commitment to its bizarro world of socialist economics." "Cuba's disastrous economy would be a joke were it not for the poverty it has perpetuated among millions of Cubans," Zakaria said in ...

The Miami Herald reports : For threatening to kill with his illness and then biting a Miami police officer, HIV-positive drifter Johnson Jamerson will serve 15 years in prison, a judge ruled yesterday. Jamerson, 35, was convicted in June of attacking Miami Officer Matthew Hall while trying to escape a police bus bound for jail. He bit through Hall's pants, drew blood and caused a permanent bruise. Hall was not infected, but it was eight anxious months before he got the final test results. He had to avoid intimate "contact with his wife or children for fear he could severely affect them," Miami-Dade prosecutor Ankur Sevak told Circuit Judge Daryl E. Trawick. Jamerson, a former furniture delivery man diagnosed as a schizophrenic, was arrested in January 2008 on trespassing charges after he was found sleeping under the Interstate 395 bridge at North Miami Avenue. On a police bus later, Jamerson slipped out of his handcuffs. Hall grappled with him. While they were struggling ...

CNN reports : China "resolutely opposes" a planned trip by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported today, hours after Taiwan's president announced the visit. Beijing opposes the visit "in whatever form and capacity," a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said, according to Xinhua, which did not name the spokesman. "Under the pretext of religion, (the Dalai Lama) has all along been engaged in separatist activities," he said. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said earlier Thursday that he had approved a visit by the Dalai Lama to pray for the victims of the typhoon-battered island. Ma made the announcement Thursday while visiting a school in the southern part of the country, a government spokesman said. The Dalai Lama has accepted the invitation, his spokesman Tenzin Taklha said. "We are working on the details of his visit, which will take place soon," he said. The visit of the Dalai Lama to Taiw...

Beau Briceno as featured on Nous Models .

MSNBC reports : A judge sentenced Chris Brown to five years’ probation, six months’ community labor yesterday for the beating of Rihanna and ordered the R&B singer to stay away from his former girlfriend for the next five years. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence, including an order to stay 100 yards away from Rihanna unless they’re attending music industry events. A probation report prepared for Tuesday’s sentencing describes two previous violent incidents. The first happened about three months before the February beating while the couple was traveling in Europe; Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument, and he shoved her into a wall. In the second instance, Brown allegedly broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover they were driving while visiting Barbados, Rihanna ’s home country. Neither attack was reported, the probation report states. Brown will serve his ...

Preliminary medical tests on Caster Semenya, the 18-year-old South African at the centre of a gender row, have recorded elevated levels of the male hormone testosterone, Telegraph Sport can reveal. A source close to the investigation into the 800 metres gold medallist has confirmed that tests carried out before the start of the World Championships indicated that the runner had three times the normal female level of testosterone in her body. Telegraph Sport can also reveal that the head coach of the South African team is Dr Ekkart Arbeit, the former East German coach who was accused by a female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and live the rest of her life as a man. Although it is unclear how closely Arbeit has been working with Semenya, news of his position will raise concerns with the International Association of Athletics Federations. The analysis on Semenya’s testosterone levels was carried out in South Africa and...

Reuters reports : Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro criticized the United States on Wednesday for being willing to spend billions on its high-tech military but finding it difficult to approve healthcare reform that would protect its poor people. He wrote in a commentary published on a state-run Internet site that huge military budgets are approved easily by the U.S. Congress but U.S. President Barack Obama is struggling to convince federal lawmakers to pass a bill that would "deliver health services to 50 million Americans that don't have them." "What hope can that society offer the world?" he asked. Obama's plan, aimed at making healthcare less expensive and more broadly available, has come under fire in the Congress, primarily from Republicans who argue, among other things, that it is a step toward socialism. Castro pointed out that a free health clinic in Los Angeles recently attracted 8,000 patients, some coming from hundreds of miles away because they...

Well before its opening on Broadway, the revival of West Side Story now playing at the Palace Theater had been touted for the fact that some songs and dialog performed by its Puerto Rican characters would be delivered in Spanish. But on Tuesday, publicists for the musical said that some of these sections have been changed back to English, as they were originally performed on stage and in the well-known West Side Story film. In a news release, publicists for the Broadway production said that “slight changes have been implemented” to the show, adding: “ ‘A Boy Like That’ is now predominately sung in English to the original lyrics and selected dialog and lyrics in ‘I Feel Pretty’ have reverted to English.” The release said that the changes went into effect last Thursday. In a statement, Arthur Laurents, who directed the revival and wrote the book for West Side Story , said, “From the outset, the Spanish in West Side Story was an experiment. It’s been an ongoing process of finding what ...

The Jakarta Globe reports : Sheila, the only Sumatran tiger remaining at Jambi’s Taman Rimbo Zoo, was killed and skinned on zoo grounds after being drugged by poachers early on Saturday, leaving virtually nothing behind except the innards and a few ribs of the animal, which is critically endangered in the wild. The killing of the rare Sumatran tiger over the weekend will be thoroughly investigated, authorities said on Sunday. “There is no doubt that the killers were professionals because they did their job very cleanly, taking off the skin in the enclosure rather than dragging the 100-kilogram animal out, which could have attracted attention,” said Didy Wurdjanto, the head of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center. Didy said the killers were also well aware of the tiger’s worth on the black market, with body parts such as the animal’s bones in high demand for use in traditional local and Chinese remedies as a pain killer or aphrodisiac. Even the blood was thought to have been ...

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77. The Kennedy family statement: “Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.” President Obama's statement acknowledging Mr. Kennedy’s accomplishments: “An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time.” (Via NYC )

Homotography reports : W Magazine delivers an inspired editorial by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for its September issue. ‘Sunday in the Park’ combines a retro world war theme with racy lingerie styling by Alex White.

MTV reports : After negotiations with Dancing With the Stars and Ugly Betty fell through, Paula Abdul has finally booked her first major post- American Idol gig. And it's the perfect fit. The Grammy-winning singer will host the September 17 VH1 Divas show, which is slated to feature performances by Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Adele, Leona Lewis and Jordin Sparks. Abdul announced the deal on Monday on her official Twitter feed, telling fans, "Hi guys! im really excited 2 announce ill b hosting this year's VH1 Divas ! The show will be live on Sept 17th @ 9 pm EST." After a four-year hiatus, the show is returning with a fresh-faced lineup of contemporary hitmakers [unfortunately], who join the list of legends who have graced the Divas stage since the event began in 1998, including Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Cher, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and Beyoncé. Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Barnardo Velasco as featured on DNA .

Here's an excerpt from an article that hits close to home for us. As much as we know that healthcare reform can and must happen, we're just not as engaged on the issue. Read on from MSNBC : Add this to President Barack Obama's problems in selling his health care overhaul: A lot of the tech-savvy activists who helped put him in office are young, feeling indestructible and not all that into what they see as an old folks issue. It's a crucial gap in support and one the White House may have to correct if Obama is to regain the momentum and get Congress to act on his top domestic priority. Matt Singer, a 26-year-old founder of the liberal group Forward Montana and an activist in the health care trenches, has tried to engage young people. "Right now we're seeing a big conversation with seniors, but you're not seeing the same mobilization among young people who are President Obama's core constituency," Singer said. "The age demographic most supportiv...

MSNBC reports : The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson’s death a homicide, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died on June 25. A designation of homicide means that Jackson died at the hands of another, but does not necessarily mean a crime was committed. Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol acted together with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson’s death June 25 in his rented Los Angeles mansion, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released. Dr. Conrad Murray, a Las Vegas cardiologist who became Jackson’s personal physician weeks before his death, is the target of a manslaughter investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. Dateline NBC's Josh Mankiewicz confirmed that Murray is the target of a manslaughter probe.

The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House officials predicted today in a fiscal assessment far bleaker than what the Obama administration had estimated just a few months ago. Figures released by the White House budget office foresee a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, $2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May. Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three-quarters the size of the entire national economy. Obama economic adviser Christina Romer predicted unemployment could reach 10 percent this year and begin a slow decline next year. Still, she said, the average unemployment will be 9.3 in 2009 and 9.8 percent in 2010. This recession was simply worse than the information that we and other forecasters had back last fall and early this winter," Romer said. (Via MSNBC )

ArtsBeat reports : The Christmas season starts earlier every year: on Monday it was announced that the musical Irving Berlin’s White Christmas would make its return to Broadway in November, publicists for the show said in a news release. The musical, adapted from the 1954 movie that starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, will once again play at the Marquis Theater, where it will run from Nov. 13 through Jan. 3. As in the film, the stage show follows a pair of popular song-and-dance men who attempt to save a Vermont inn from closure while they also woo a pair of everlovin’ sisters. Structured around a score of Irving Berlin standards, the Broadway production is directed by Walter Bobbie, with a book by David Ives and Paul Blake, and choreography by Randy Skinner. Last season’s Broadway production starred Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman, Kerry O’Malley and Meredith Patterson. Casting for the 2009 run has not yet been announced.

(Via Queerty )

Chris Leabu as featured on HIH .

The New York Times reports : Public health officials are considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. The topic is a delicate one that has already generated controversy, even though a formal draft of the proposed recommendations, due out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the end of the year, has yet to be released. Experts are also considering whether the surgery should be offered to adult heterosexual men whose sexual practices put them at high risk of infection. But they acknowledge that a circumcision drive in the United States would be unlikely to have a drastic impact: the procedure does not seem to protect those at greatest risk here, men who have sex with men. Recently, studies showed that in African countries hit hard by AIDS, men who were circumcised reduced their infection risk by half. But the clinical trials in Africa focused on heterosexual men who are...

American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders. The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies. The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud. The assessments come as the top Ame...

Here's an excerpt from a New York Times article , highlighting the often sad lives of old race horses: Just last month, Tour of the Cat, 11, was at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., competing at racing’s lowest levels. He had at least one sore ankle and raced for the 79th time, managing to beat only one other horse. His odyssey from bottom-level horse to unlikely stakes champion and back again illustrates how many in the racing industry routinely overlook their responsibility to aging animals. Tour of the Cat might have made an 80th start if not for a group of racehorse devotees who know one another mostly through the Internet and who share a conviction that old horses should be retired with dignity. The group found a sympathetic horse owner, Maggie Moss, who claimed Tour of the Cat for the rock-bottom price of $5,000 on its behalf. She then shipped him here to Old Friends at Dream Chase Farm. “It was like finding Babe Ruth sleeping under a bridge,” said Michael Blowen, the farm’s p...

The Daily News reports : Venezuelan Stefania Fernandez, an 18-year-old brunette, won the Miss Universe 2009 title Sunday, giving her South American country its second consecutive win and its sixth title in the beauty pageant. The svelte Venezuelan model defeated favorites from Australia and Dominican Republic to became the 58th winner of the crown in a show broadcast live around the world from the Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas. The first runner-up was Miss Dominican Republic, Ada Aimee de la Cruz, while Miss Kosovo, Gona Dragusha, was second runner-up. Fernandez received the crown from fellow Venezuelan Dayana Mendoza, who won the 2008 Miss Universe contest held in Vietnam's resort city of Nha Trang. Overcome with excitement as the two Venezuelan beauties embraced, Mendoza initially fumbled and dropped the jewell-studded crown before placing it on Fernandez' head. It was the first time that a contestant from the same country won the title for a second year run...