Donnerstag, 22. August 2013

Shoutout

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Greetz your Rockstar

Spanish-based video game website 3D Juegos has spoken to Rockstar Games personally and have squeezed out a lot of information for Grand Theft Auto Online, which is titled as "Grand Theft Auto V's multiplayer mode".

A lot of this information is linked straight towards the online mode, and it has already been confirmed that there will be more than SEVEN HUNDRED missions in the game, while FIVE HUNDRED of them are always available.

All of this information in the list is taken from 3D Juegos as well as GameRanx, all credit for the information goes to them.

The camera will zoom out and pan away to your online character seamlessly. During the animation, a matchmaking process will be in progress.
Matchmaking will depend on which friends are playing, and what people have ranks near yours.
You can do almost anything you can do in single player in GTA Online.
Each mission requires a rank depending on difficulty and complexity. The bigger your rank, the more difficult the missions will be.
There are around 700 missions in GTA Online.
Missions will be ordered randomly as you play Online.
For certain heists you might need certain weapons, vehicles or characters such as a sniper or a driver. This will also depend on the mission creator if you download the mission from the Social Club.
Some missions are so complex they need plenty of good communication.
There will be descriptions to help each character on its heist function.
You can change weather, time of day, time you want it to rain or to be a certain weather state, radio station to be tuned at the start of the race or mission in the Content Creator.
There is something called "team lives". If you have 4 team lives and 4 people, if everyone dies there will be 0 lives left, or if you die 4 times, the team will have 0 lives left, which means if anyone dies, it's mission failed.
You can watch races and deathmatches on your apartment TV.
There are masks to hide from the cops.
The Online will be run on the Social Club servers, data will be stored on the cloud. There are datacenters from NY to San Diego, and more Rockstar studios.

Europeans Gets FIFA 14 For Free if They Pre-Order Xbox One

Today, Microsoft announced that FIFA 14 would be bundled with the Xbox One at launch in Europe. For free! But wait, there's a catch: You gotta pre-order. SWAG

The game will hit the Xbox 360 this September and the Xbox One at a later date. European gamers who pre-order the Xbox One will get FIFA 14 included with the console. Microsoft was careful to note that this offer is only good while supplies last!

Becoming Steve Jobs: Ashton Kutcher on his movie transformation

Matthew McConaughey lost 40 pounds for December's "Dallas Buyers Club," and Matt Damon worked out for four hours a day to get ripped for "Elysium."

Ashton Kutcher, meanwhile, wanted so badly to get the role of innovation icon Steve Jobs right, he put himself in the hospital.

The 35-year-old actor became a fruitarian while filming Steve Jobs biopic, "jOBS," in an attempt to "understand some of his discipline," Kutcher explained to CNN.

He picked up a book Jobs once read by Arnold Ehret called "Mucusless Diet Healing System" and began to eat nothing but fruit, shedding 15 to 18 pounds in the process, according to "jOBS" director Joshua Michael Stern.

Ashton Kutcher: Being smart is 'sexy'

"(Jobs) was a really disciplined guy in a lot of ways, around his work and his life and his relationships and his products," Kutcher said. "And part of going on the diet was just to try to get an understanding of that. I didn't like it very much. It was really painful, ultimately. But it was really worth it, 'cause I think I gained a level of empathy towards that kind of discipline and focus that I don't think I could have played the role without."

Arriving Friday, "jOBS" traces Steve Jobs' ascendance from college dropout to globally influential creator and will recount his founding of Apple along with Steve Wozniak (played by Josh Gad).

As one of the more tech-savvy stars in Hollywood, Kutcher was initially nervous to portray someone he calls his "hero."

"I admire him, and I admire his work," Kutcher told CNN. "The scariest thing for me was that I wanted ... people to see my portrayal of him and see it as a portrayal that was honoring him and being honest about some of the flaws that he had. That was really a daunting task."

Of course, Kutcher came to the part with a genetic advantage: The actor, who also stars on CBS' "Two and a Half Men," shares a resemblance to the late Jobs, who died in October 2011. But according to director Stern, Kutcher didn't try to rely on just his looks.

"Ashton walked into the first meeting already channeling Steve Jobs," he told CNN. "He had the mannerisms; he'd studied hundreds of hours. He knew from that first meeting that I needed to take away evidence that he could play the part."

Kutcher's total immersion into the character was so complete that Stern walked away from the actor with newfound respect. "He studied the guy; he lived in his skin every day, which wasn't the easiest place to live, and I really respect him quite a bit. He gave everything he had, and more than anything I knew that this role was important to him. And when something's important to you no matter what you do, you're going to give it everything you have."

Despite those efforts, "jOBS" has faced criticism ahead of its release date, from Kutcher's casting on down.

The biopic was originally slated to bow in April, but was bumped back to August reportedly so the studio could have a longer marketing push. Reviews, thus far, have been mixed, and then there are those questioning its timing.

Kutcher says that when he received the script, which was already a work in progress when Jobs died, that he did have that "immediate concern."

"I know that there were some people that were close to him who didn't want a movie to be made this soon," he said, but because "I have friends that actually know him, I felt ... I could at least protect his legacy somewhat by playing (the part), and I knew I would dedicate myself to making it as good as I could."

When you make as great of an impact on the world as Steve Jobs did, that story's going to be told eventually, no matter what. "I would rather have it get told before the tales about him get too tall and while we could tell an honest story," Kutcher continued. "A lot of times, someone passes away and all of a sudden the stories become these fictional tellings of what happened. I think this film is as close to true as we could find."

At this year's Teen Choice Awards, Kutcher addressed the young crowd in a Jobs-ian motivational moment. He told fans "sexy is smart," "opportunities look a whole lot like work" and closed his speech by saying, "build a life; don't live one."

Apple Shares Hit $500 Again, Representing A Massive $100 Billion Market Cap Gain In 48 Days

Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) are currently up 2.79 percent to $503.25 a share in the wake of Carl Icahn’s lobbying efforts on Twitter. Yet, the stock performance of the past two days shouldn’t diminish the overall performance over the past two months. In less than two months, Apple has indeed gained $100 billion in market capitalization.

On June 27 of this year, shares closed at $393.78, roughly back to their December 2011 level. Today’s price represents a 27.8 percent increase in just 48 days. The last time shares were trading above $500 was on January 23. It proves once again that AAPL still suffers from a lot of volatility and uncertainty.
Even though net profit is still declining, Apple reported good numbers for its Q3 2013 fiscal quarter. After multiple mixed quarters, the company managed to beat the analysts’ expectations. Retrospectively, the market reaction to Q1 and Q2 numbers was certainly too harsh when you compare it to the actual numbers. Apple still has more than $145 billion in cash and a comfortable market position. iPhone sales are still growing 20 percent year over year.

Moreover, Apple started a huge $100 billion share buyback program last year, and investors are starting to see the effects. As a result, earnings per share has mechanically increased over time. Investor Carl Icahn revealed yesterday that he was lobbying to accelerate the share buyback program. It drove the stock up 4 percent in just minutes, proving that investors are confident that Apple shares are a good component in their portfolios.

When it comes to products, back in April, Apple’s growth prospects were gloomy — the magical period of double-digit growth for both sales and profit was over. Yet, the analysts’ expectations led to distortion. For years, they were setting the bar too high for units and market share, and too low for profit and sales. Now that analysts are more accurate, the perception of Apple is changing at the same time.
While the company didn’t release any new product after WWDC (aside from the updated MacBook Air), the keynote was received very well by commentators. The star of the show was iOS 7. It proved that Apple was still ready to make radical changes to its core products without fearing backlash. In other words, Apple is still innovating.

But customers are now more likely than ever to buy old iPhone models — Apple needs to contract the production costs of old models, or to find an alternative. In addition to releasing a new flagship iPhone, it will probably release a new low cost iPhone (probably the iPhone 5C). As the company is now switching to another product strategy with the iPhone 5C right around the corner, it will become easier to understand Apple numbers in the coming months. Similarly to the iPad mini, Apple now wants to capture another segment of the smartphone market with a low cost iPhone and to stay dominant when it comes to profit. As a consequence, the company could fight back in the market share war with Android. It would give a great perception boost to Apple.

More importantly, investors are already taking into account the upcoming iPhone event. On September 19 of 2012, shares peaked at 702.10 following a very strong summer. This year, the stock is experiencing the exact same scenario and it will be interesting to see the trend following the new iPhone releases.

Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones to leave 'Parks and Recreation'

Two residents of Pawnee will soon bid farewell: Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones are exiting "Parks and Recreation" during the show's sixth season, EW has confirmed. (Buzzfeed first reported the news.) The pair will depart about halfway through the season, in the 13th episode.

Jones has been with the show since it launched, starring as Ann Perkins, the unlucky-in-love, loyal best friend of Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Lowe came aboard late in season 2 in a guest arc as Chris Traeger, the super-upbeat state auditor, and wound up becoming a series regular. Chris and Ann dated in season 3, and were trying to have baby at the end of last season.

Heidi Klum to guest star on 'Parks and Rec'

In a statement today, "Parks" executive producer Michael Schur said: "The news about Rob and Rashida is true — they will be leaving the show after the 13th episode of the upcoming season six. We've been working on their storyline (on and off) for four seasons now, and heading into this year, with the two of them contemplating parenthood, it felt like a natural time to move them into the next phase. We absolutely love both Rashida and Rob, and will be sad to see them go. Rashida was one of the very first people we knew we wanted in the cast, and as important as Ann is to Leslie (and vice-versa), she'll certainly never be far from Pawnee. Rob we initially thought we could only have for six or eight episodes, and we couldn't be happier that he will have stuck around for 75. They are wonderful, funny, committed actors, they've been a huge part of the 'Parks and Rec' family, and we think we have a great Pawnee send-off in the works for them."

Kristen Bell to play snooty City Councilwoman on 'Parks and Rec'

While it is unclear what that storyline is, Schur recently told EW that when the show resumes, things will be going well romantically for them. "Their main thrust for the first chunk of episodes is just being a couple and dating — and also obviously, trying to have a baby," he said.

Season 6 of Parks debuts Sept. 26 with an hour-long premiere that features a trip to London and guest stars Heidi Klum, Henry Winkler and Lucy Lawless.

'Breaking Bad' vet Jonathan Banks joins 'Community'

He commanded fear and respect as a hitman/fixer on "Breaking Bad," and now he will command fear and respect as... a community college professor. Jonathan Banks will appear in 11 episodes of "Community"'s fifth season, EW has learned.

Banks, who earned a Supporting Actor Emmy nomination this summer for his work on "Breaking Bad," will tackle the role of Pat Nichols, an intense criminology professor with a mysterious background in military and police work. The "Wiseguy" alum makes his first appearance in the second episode of the season when Annie (Alison Brie) enrolls in his class.

Banks popped up on another NBC comedy last season, playing the father of Ben (Adam Scott) on "Parks and Recreation."

His onscreen boss on "Breaking Bad," Giancarlo Esposito, has also guest-starred on "Community."

The 13-episode fifth season of "Community" will debut sometime during the 2013-2014 season on NBC, with series creator Dan Harmon returning to the fold as the showrunner.

See the original story at EW.com

The iPhone 5C Isn’t For The US; It’s The iPhone For The Rest Of The World

Reports suggest that Apple will introduce a cheaper plastic-bodied iPhone 5C on September 10. The 4-inch phone will supposedly replace the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S in the product lineup. While the company will certainly gain market share in the lower-end spectrum of the smartphone market in the U.S., it’s just a side effect. The new model is the perfect iPhone for the rest of the world. In many countries, carriers are switching to unsubsidized, SIM-only plans and the iPhone is too expensive for regular people.
U.S. carriers are the exception, not the rule. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint won’t bill you less if you bring your own phone. It used to be the same for Canada but is slowly changing. But in Europe, you can choose between a standard subsidized plan and a much cheaper SIM-only plan. For example, in France, you get unlimited talk, text and data (with a speed reduction after 3GB) for $25 per month (€19.90). The only downside is that you have to pay full price for your phone.
The same thing is true for the U.K., our own Natasha Lomas currently pays $23 (£15) for unlimited data. And you can switch carriers whenever you want. T-Mobile is trying to bring the same experience to the U.S., but its prices don’t come close to what European carriers provide.

Would you pay $900 upfront for a 16GB iPhone 5?

The European market shift happened a few years ago. Instead of seducing customers with cheap subsidized phones, young and scrappy carriers like Free chose to lure customers away from expensive plans, and it worked. These new plans weren’t just marginally cheaper, they were one-half to one-third the cost. Now, there’s no coming back. Unsubsidized plans will only get more popular every year. In France, they now represent 39 percent of the phone subscriber base — with 74.8 million active SIM cards, it isn’t a small market.
Yet, would you pay $900 (€679) upfront for a 16GB iPhone 5? If you do the maths, it is much cheaper than switching back to a subsidized plan. Moreover, most people don’t want to see expensive bills again on their bank statements. The only option now is to swallow the $900 pill or pick another phone. It’s hard to convince yourself that you need the latest iPhone if you only check your emails and Facebook and take some Instagram pictures. Most people don’t read gadget blogs, they just want an Internet-enabled phone.
These days, most customers have to choose between an old iPhone 4 or 4S and an Android phone. You can buy a Galaxy S4 for $665 (€497). It’s not cheap, but it’s still nearly $250 cheaper than an iPhone 5. Just seeing the 3.5-inch screen of the iPhone 4S in a store should convince you to get a phone with Android, Windows Phone, Or BlackBerry 10.

Apple will be prepared to face the unavoidable shift to unsubsidized plans.

Releasing a cheap iPhone that is competitive with popular Android phones, has a bigger screen than the iPhone 4S display and is considered as “new” by everyone is the right strategy for Apple. The company will regain market share in Europe and will be prepared to face the unavoidable shift to unsubsidized plans.
But Europe is only part of the story. While it is still the second market behind North America, China is the indisputable third market for Apple. The gold iPhone 5S will do well on the Chinese market, but many customers would rather pay less for their phones. That’s why the iPhone 4 and 4S are a lot more popular in China than in the U.S. The iPhone 4 currently costs $500 in Chinese Apple stores. They hurt the margin and the bottom line as production costs remain high — Apple still uses glass and aluminum. A plastic-bodied phone will lower production costs.

The iPhone 5C could be $200 or $300 cheaper than the iPhone 5S, but the key element of the 5C is that it’s a new phone. Apple wants to play the market share game again by exploring new market segments, just like it did with the iPod mini and nano, or the iPad mini. But it all comes down to perception. Why should I buy this phone instead of this one? Here’s what Apple wants you to think: it’s an iPhone, it’s the same price as these other phones, and it’s new.

Facebook Aims To Be A News Source By Now Letting Everyone Embed Public Posts

With hashtags, trending topics, verified profiles, and now the ability for anyone to embed public posts on external websites, Facebook is making a big push to become a primary source of real-time news, both for journalists and readers. It opened post embeds to a few partners last month. Now anyone can grab embed codes from public posts, and Facebook’s added in-line video playback, and better mobile display.

Facebook is chasing Twitter, which has positioned itself a critical host of candid first-person news accounts as well as breaking dispatches from journalists and their outlets. Embeds, which Twitter launched back in 2010, have helped it gain mainstream relevance by spreading its wings across the web. Embeds generate product awareness, referral traffic, and eventually ad views.

Facebook has essentially copied Twitter’s playbook, adding asymmetrical following (to contrast two-way friend) in late 2011, and then hashtags, trending topics, verified profiles, and embeds over the last few months — all which Twitter already offered. Facebook is even toying with a way to show news feed posts about real-time events chronologically like Twitter while keeping the rest of the feed sorted by relevancy. These product choices have all proven successful for Twitter, so while Facebook might take some flack for stealing, they’ll probably help it too.

Though Facebook’s roots are in private sharing, its goal is to connect people, and big real-time news moments bring the world together. Facebook hopes that more publishing tools for newsmakers and discovery tools for readers will make it a bigger part of the public web, rather than just a walled garden.

#5. Jimmy Page Kidnapped a 14-Year-Old Girl

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Jimmy Page is basically the reason you think guitars are awesome. His run with some rinky-dink garage band called Led Zeppelin set the benchmark for all hard rock and metal to come, while simultaneously pissing off any amateur guitarist who thought "Stairway to Heaven" didn't sound too difficult.

Ian Showell / Stringer/ Hulton Archive / Getty
"I might not be able to play music like them, but I can definitely do as many drugs."

And sure, he was no slouch in the deviant rock star department either, with tales of the band's outrageous behavior still being talked about today ("I heard they once used a live shark as a dildo!"). But that's par for the course, right? We like a little debauchery with our rock stars.
The Incident:
Of course, debauchery has its limits, such as kidnapping a 14-year-old girl, having sex with her, and keeping her behind closed doors for years so as to avoid jail time. Which, as you probably already figured, Page totally did.

Hulton Archive / Getty
It isn't rape if it happens in the air. Citation: aliens.

In 1972, Page was hanging around a nightclub and laid eyes on 14-year-old Lori Maddox. He liked what he saw and didn't give a shit that she was underage by, well, a lot. Why should he, after all? The club clearly didn't.

little_queenies via Fanpix.net
"In a certain kind of light, she clearly looks probably 18. Close enough."

As the young, handsome lead guitarist in the biggest rock band in the world, Page was probably very shy and awkward around girls. So, instead he sent roadie Richard Cole to Maddox's table with the message, "Jimmy told me that he's going to have you whether you like it or not." The roadie then grabbed her and chucked her in the back of a limo, saying, "You fucking move and I'll fucking have your head."
From there, they drove back to Page's house, where he and Maddox proceeded to have lots and lots of dirty illegal sex. Of course, Page knew this was incredibly wrong, and if word got out, he was screwed. So he did the only responsible thing he could think of: for three long years, Maddox was for the most part kept behind closed doors so the relationship with Page wasn't discovered and he wouldn't end up in jail.

Clive Rose / Getty
Just think of everything we'd have missed out on.

Why You Forgot About It:
It was a different time, we guess? Obviously Page never went to jail or got arrested, and Maddox actually stayed with him for years afterward, calling him "romantic." We're going to guess it was classic Stockholm syndrome. We'll just quote Maddox's own words from the book Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga: "It was magnificent. Can you believe it? It was just like right out of a story! Kidnapped, man, at 14!"
Yes, right out of "a story," the type that usually ends with Liam Neeson chopping the kidnapper in the throat.

Malcolm Taylor / Stringer / Getty
He actually looks like more of a sex offender now than he did when he was a sex offender.

#4. Motley Crue's Lead Singer Killed Someone While Drunk Driving

Karl Walter / Getty

Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin were plenty outrageous, but Motley Crue may well have had them beat. Known and loved as the hardest rocking (and hardest partying) band on the planet, Motley Crue have sold 90 million albums over their 30-year career. More importantly, their off-stage antics helped put the children of every cocaine dealer in Los Angeles through college.

Alec
OK, children and grandchildren.

Their shenanigans were so over-the-top crazy, it almost made them caricatures, lovable parodies of the hedonistic '80s. Of course, not everything they did was lovable. Like the time one of them killed a man.
The Incident:
On December 8, 1984, lead singer Vince Neil was having a party at his house. The party was on day three, and booze was running low, so Vince jumped in the car to drive himself and his rocker friend Razzle to the liquor store. You know where this is going.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty
Hint: not to the liquor store.

A drunken Vince was speeding the entire time, not because the liquor store was about to close, but because "over the limit" was basically Motley Crue's catchphrase, and he was all but contractually obligated to be a crazy idiot all the time. Naturally, he soon lost control of the car and collided head-on with a Volkswagen coming the other way. Razzle was killed instantly, and the two people in the other car were hospitalized, with one comatose for a month.
Why You Forgot About It:
Money and fame have their benefits.

Frank Micelotta / Getty
Man-hugging with Snoop Dogg is just the beginning.

Neil was convicted of DUI and vehicular manslaughter, which could've brought him up to 10 years in prison. This didn't happen; in fact, almost nothing happened. Being a superstar, Neil had enough money to pay for the weaseliest lawyer available. Said lawyer managed to talk down the sentence to 30 days in jail, five years' probation, and $2.5 million in fines. Oh, and Neil only served 20 of those 30 days because Motley Crue had a tour scheduled and, as any criminal will tell you, the courts are very understanding of this sort of thing. Next time you're in this situation, tell them you can't go to jail because you'd miss your overnight shift at Walmart.
Even Neil himself recognized that he got off scot-free, saying, "I wrote a $2.5 million check for vehicular manslaughter when Razzle died. I should have gone to prison. I definitely deserved to go to prison. But I did 30 days in jail and got laid and drank beer, because that's the power of cash. That's fucked up."

Peter Kramer / Getty
Neil would prove his repentance by continuing to be wealthy and successful forever.

Not so fucked up that it's stopped Neil from driving under the influence several times since then, of course. But at least he admitted it that one time.

#3. Sean Penn Tied Up and Then Beat the Crap Out of Madonna

Martin Schalk/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Sean Penn is known for two things: acting and taking regular shits on right-wing politics. When the phrase "Hollywood liberal" gets tossed around, Penn is often one of the first examples mentioned. The Iraq War was perhaps his finest moment, as he spared no expense in letting the world know exactly how he felt about young people dying for oil. Over and over again.

Elvert Barnes
"Look at me! Look at me ... er, I mean, no more war!"

So it's easy to think of him as a Bono type, a guy who might be annoying, but only because he cares about the suffering in the world too much.
The Incident:
While married to Madonna, Sean Penn pulled a Chris Brown that out-Chris Browned Chris Brown before there even was a Chris Brown.

Getty
He punched three women to steal that cigarette.

The two then-rising stars were married in 1985, although nobody really knows why, since the whole thing was a mess from the start. Sure, Penn was a ragehead who dealt with annoying paparazzi by shooting at them, dangling them upside down from balconies, and smacking them with rocks. But that's not what we're talking about here; his knack for doing the same kind of stuff to Madonna, however, very much is.
Penn and Madonna would get into violent arguments all the time, and it probably didn't help that Penn drank so much every night that even Andre the Giant would've told him to slow it the fuck down. Finally, in 1988, after Penn flew into a rage over Madonna's supposed affair with Warren Beatty, she called the marriage off. Penn responded by turning his abusive nutcase dial up to 11.

Brenda Chase / Stringer / Getty
Aka "the only number it ever went up to in the first place."

After he got good and drunk (again), Penn climbed into Madonna's house, where she was alone. He then grabbed her, tied her to a chair, and assaulted her for hours, both physically and emotionally. He then went out for more booze, came back, and kept up the beating. Madonna only escaped after telling Penn that she had to go to the bathroom, which meant he had no problem battering, beating, bloodying, and bruising the supposed love of his life, but felt it would have been too degrading to make her pee in front of him.
Why You Forgot About It:
While Penn was arrested, the charges were dropped because Madonna didn't want to generate a media circus, which may have been the one and only time in her life that Madonna actually wanted the press to go away. A couple of decades of political activism and two Oscars later, and the world barely remembers an incident that would turn most people into a pariah. But hey, can we really blame him for the immature mistakes he made when he was only, uh, 25 years old?

#2. Charles Dickens Split from His Wife in the Most Assholish Manner Imaginable

Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images

Don't let us imply that dickish celebrity behavior is some kind of recent phenomenon. For instance, there is classic author Charles Dickens.

"Bet you didn't think this was how I looked. Weird, right?"

Charles Dickens' ability to market orphans as adorable made him one of the few literary geniuses who actually got recognized during his lifetime. He was basically the 19th century version of a rock star. And just like a good little rock star, he dumped his aging wife for an 18-year-old actress, and didn't give a shit who knew it.
The Incident:
It's one thing to end a marriage; it's quite another to make your hatred of your spouse as public as humanly possible, which is exactly what Dickens did. In 1836, a then-unknown Dickens married Catherine Hogarth; by all accounts, it was a pleasant enough marriage, resulting in 10 children. Then, Catherine got fat. This was apparently an unforgivable sin in the Dickens household, where the ability to push out 10 kids must surely mean you can at least do a couple push-ups right after.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University
"You only ran 5 miles today? Such a cow."

So he went and got himself a mistress, 18-year-old actress Ellen Ternan. Now, cheating on your wife because she got old and overweight is bad, but what happened next truly exposed Dickens as a douche on the level of any evil orphanage shutter-downer in his books. Once his affair was made public in 1858, he went on the warpath, slandering his estranged wife in newspaper after newspaper and letter after letter. According to him, Catherine was a "donkey," an "unloving and unloved mother," not his intellectual equal, and entirely to blame for saddling him with so many noisy-ass children. What, was he banging her under the influence of hypnosis?
His annoyance over so many kids didn't stop him from claiming custody of nine of them, with only the oldest, Charles Jr., being financially independent enough to flip his father the finger and stay with his mother.

"That old schizophrenic bastard can die alone with his hallucinations."

Why You Forgot About It:
Creating that whole "White Christmas" thing helped keep Dickens in the public's good graces, but so did Catherine's outright refusal to rebut. She never reacted to Dickens' abuse and never rebuffed his public letters, or even spoke to a journalist. Literally her only comeback came on her deathbed in 1879 when she handed over a collection of letters Dickens wrote her, with the simple request, "Give these to the British Museum, that the world may know he loved me once."
Goddammit, who let all these chopped onions and dust mites into the room all of a sudden?

Here's a drawing of Dickens as a child laborer, just in case you aren't topped out on sad.

#1. Eric Clapton Is Incredibly Racist

Kasos Katopodis / Getty

Depending on who you talk to, Eric Clapton is either a hardcore blues legend or the king of vanilla soft rock. Yeah, he gave us "Layla," but he also forced us to deal with "Wonderful Tonight"; both were monster hits, proving that everyone loves Clapton, and Clapton loves everyone.

Even George Harrison loved him, and Clapton wrote wrote "Layla" just to steal the man's wife.

Unless you're a filthy colored immigrant, that is, in which case, he kind of wants you to get the shit out of Britain.
The Incident:
Eric Clapton is an unapologetic follower of first-class douche Enoch Powell, a member of the British Conservative Party and full-blown racist. His 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech, which basically foretold of an England in tatters if (non-white) immigration was allowed to run rampant, was ridiculously controversial and seriously damaged his political career. But Clapton stood by him.

Enoch Powell
He had a thing for racists in immaculately tailored suits.

In 1974, six years after Enoch was drummed out of political life by his remarks, a drunken Clapton was performing at a concert in Birmingham, and apparently saw an Arab man leering at his wife. This was too much for Clapton, who began a diatribe lambasting "wogs," "blacks," "Jamaicans," and anyone else who lived in England and wasn't white. No official recording exists of the speech, but some choice quotes that witnesses agree on include Clapton saying, "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!" and that Britain was on its way to becoming "a black colony."
Clapton then picked up his guitar and went right back to covering songs originally performed by black people.

Why You Forgot About It:
The lack of actual footage of him saying it helped, despite the large number of people reporting on it (and a whole anti-racism movement being launched thanks to his comments). When asked about it, Clapton bafflingly says that of course he isn't a racist, but still insists that Powell was "outrageously brave" and "misunderstood," and that his own views on the matter haven't changed. Hey, you can't say he's not consistent.

The 5 Most Insanely Misunderstood Morals of Famous Stories

#5. The Great Gatsby Criticizes Decadence, Inspires Parties

The Great Gatsby is that 1920s American novel with hidden pictures of naked women on the cover. It's also deeply critical of the self-indulgent lifestyle of rich people with more money than scruples, like that Gatsby dude in the title. True, the story does feature quite a few parties, but Gatsby just throws them to attract a ditsy flapper girl, a relationship that doesn't end well (SPOILERS: everyone dies). As a result, Gatsby's parties turn out to be empty and meaningless affairs -- sometimes literally empty, like that time he turns on all his lights as though he's throwing a party, but no one's there.

"'Oh, Gatsby! Now I know why they call you great!' I sure am, old sport! And not talking to myself right now!"

Due to its critical tone and tragic ending, the story has been called a "cautionary tale of the decadent downside of the American dream." You can debate whether the big-budget Leo DiCaprio movie adaptation grasped the message of the book, but we know one group of people who absolutely didn't.
The Fans Who Missed the Point
Yeah, it turns out that when your story has rich people dressed fabulously in opulent surroundings drinking classy liquor, fans aren't as likely to say "Look at the selfishness, hypocrisy, and moral vacuum" as they are to say "That party is AWESOME. Let's do that." For instance, rich people love throwing non-ironic "Gatsby parties," unaware that invoking the name of the novel basically amounts to admitting that the world would be a much better place without you.

"The firecrackers are all made from poor children's letters to Santa."

A few years ago, Prince Harry attended a Gatsby-themed 21st birthday party that cost $25,000 to throw. The following year, Paul McCartney threw his own expensive Gatsby birthday gala (although they're Brits, so in their case we could at least understand why they'd want to dance on the corpse of the American dream). Meanwhile, if you dare venture into Pinterest, you'll find page after page of users collecting material for Gatsby-themed weddings. As Zachary Seward of The Atlantic puts it, "It's like throwing a Lolita-themed children's birthday party."

Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
"Nice gun for my hubby to shoot after I die in a car crash. (11 repins, 7 likes)"

The Gatsby craze revved up even further before the release of the film. In London, newspapers had to advise their readers about which of the many Gatsby parties they should favor. And CNN, while actually conceding that the book critiqued this sort of thing, offered up a guide on hosting your own Gatsby bash. For babies.

#4. 127 Hours Fans Love Getting Stuck in Dangerous Canyons

127 Hours is a film starring James Franco as real-life hiker Aron Ralston who, in 2003, went on a hike in Blue John Canyon, Utah, fell into a ravine, and became trapped under a boulder. Since Ralston did not tell anyone that he was going hiking, no one knew where to look for him, and he ended up spending 127 hellish hours trapped in the canyon ... oh, and having to amputate his own arm with a cheap multi-tool knife to escape.

The Fans Who Missed the Point
127 Hours has a pretty clear moral: For fuck's sake, if you must go hiking alone, tell someone where you're going and be careful, or else you'll have to cut your own fucking arm off. And yet hikers like Amos Wayne Richards walked away from the movie with the message, "Wouldn't it be neat to go hiking in the exact same place that guy did, and also not tell anyone about it?"

This is like seeing Pulp Fiction and thinking, "Hey, let's visit the basement of a pawnshop."

Keep in mind, Richards wasn't some dumbass 20-something James Franco wannabe -- he was 64 years old. And, of course, while 60 feet down a 70-foot-deep ravine, Richards slipped and fell the last 10 feet to the bottom. During the fall, he dislocated his shoulder, bumped his head on a rock, and broke his leg. It took Richards four days to crawl out of the ravine, and by the time the park rangers found him, he had already finished all of his water. If someone adapted his story into a movie, it'd be called 96 Hours (of Stupidity).

Followed by the sequel, 31 Hours (on an IV).

In the end, it's the collective dumbness of 127 Hours fans that saved Richards. The park rangers at Blue John Canyon realized that Richards was missing because they were used to the influx of hiking enthusiasts to the canyon since 127 Hours was released. In fact, since 2005 (Ralston's biography came out in 2004), more than two dozen rescues have been performed in that same area -- between 1998 and Ralston's incident, that number was "none."

Who wouldn't risk everything for that view?

Let this be a lesson to Hollywood writers everywhere: If you write a movie where your main character is forced to cut his own limb off and drink his own urine, people will go out of their way to try to end up in the same situation. Likewise ...

#3. Into the Wild Inspires Fans to Get Lost in the Wilderness

Into the Wild (both the book and the 2007 film) tells the real story of Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, an idealistic young man who dealt with the aimlessness of post-college life by taking off to live alone in the Alaskan wilderness -- it was the '90s, so his only other option was forming a shitty alt-rock band.

Christopher Newport University

Fashion-wise, there wasn't much difference.

As we've previously pointed out, this was a pretty misguided idea, since his little adventure was fueled more by "misunderstanding Emerson and Thoreau" and less by "knowing what the fuck he's doing." McCandless died alone in an abandoned bus in the middle of nowhere, but neither the film nor the book shy away from this fact, portraying him as a good guy who fell victim to some foolish choices.

Mostly involving hair.

The Fans Who Missed the Point right

So what do you do after you read a book where the main character ends up dying a slow, miserable death due to his own stupidity? Why, you copy that stupidity, of course. Since the book was released, hundreds (if not thousands) of fans have made their way to the site where McCandless died, like a pilgrimage to Mecca for overprivileged grad students. Not all of them have survived.

Paxson Woelber
"It's a shitty bus, like the book said! Well, this was worth it."

In 2010, a Swiss fan died trying to cross a treacherous river on her way to see the bus -- the same river that trapped McCandless and caused his death in the book she loved so much. Another young fan from Oklahoma has been missing since March of this year after trying to pull a McCandless in the mountains of Oregon. At least those two had come somewhat prepared. Others, like fan Marc Paterson, have decided that they want to make the trip as authentic as possible ... which means taking the exact same (ridiculously dangerous) route as their hero and bringing the same limited amount of supplies, food, and common sense that McCandless had.

Fans like Paterson talk about testing their limits and rebelling against modern life, but here's the thing: That plan didn't work out so well for McCandless. As evidenced by the journals he left, his journey did not lead to any sort of greater enlightenment. He was hungry and afraid and trying to escape that place. If he had come across a McDonald's, he would have traded his entire philosophy for some McNuggets.

"We can enlarge your French fries if you add your dignity as well."

But hey, Paterson did equip himself with one vital piece of equipment that McCandless didn't have: a copy of Into the Wild. We can't wait until he gets to the end. yep

If You Could Change One Thing About Your Communications

"Immature people always want to win an argument, eve at the cost of a relationship. Mature people understand that it's always better to lose an argument and win a relationship."
- Author unknown

Communication and human relations, along with motivation, are leadership traits that often are over looked for their importance in your success. In fact, if you only increased your understanding of effective communication, the role of listening and the role of feelings, and did nothing else, your career and life would be improved.

Take a moment to evaluate, really think about this question, what are the biggest recurring communication challenges in your workplace? Tough question isn't it?
As a certified business coach who spent 39 years as an executive, and 25 of those years as a credit union CEO, I can share with you that tense situations are negatively impacted by the way communication does not happen. With the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, I can think of a lot that should have been done differently.

If you will accept the premise that all communication is meant to elicit some behavioral response, then it follows that we never get the response we want when our communication is poor, and we only sometimes get the response we desire even if our communication is good. Any communication that does not prompt a specific action or emotional response, increased knowledge, or an improved understanding is not effective.

For example, consider a credit union executive who has to endure a channel of communication (almost always one-way) with an examiner... I disliked that part of my old job. My nemesis was a high "C" in his DISC personality, while I was a high "D". Most of you have taken the DISC assessment but as a reminder, a "C" type is reserved and task-oriented, cautious, calculating, concerned, careful and contemplative. While nor polar opposites, a "D" type is outgoing and task-oriented, dominant5, driving, demanding, determined and a decisive doer. We don't sit around comfortably and listen to "C" types pontificate.

If he had known that I didn't understand his requests, or cared enough to ask, he would have realized that he was guilty of poor communication and I had not even heard his request. Now back to you specific organization... how many opportunities are there for miscommunication to occur? Even a simple instance of communication causes conflict and confusion. Multiply that 100 times and you begin to get a picture of the potential for miscommunication in our everyday lives.

There are emotional aspects to communication and it requires more than exchanging information. Your feelings and emotions can change during a conversation and affect the outcomes, or you may simply not like or respect the other person so there is a bias at the beginning. Effective communication asks us to be open, to trust, and have mutual respect and perhaps a shared vision. If you are more determined to win an argument than to retain a relationship, the communication will fail.

Before that next meeting, pause and ask yourself, how you feel about the other person's ideas and how the other people feel about your ideas. You cannot engage in conversation if you are still evaluating the other person's ideas, and the same is true if the other people don't believe your ideas.

Emotions always affect communication. Stephen Covey said, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." It's not about winning an argument. It's about getting the positive response you want.

If You Could Change One Thing About Your Communications

"Immature people always want to win an argument, eve at the cost of a relationship. Mature people understand that it's always better to lose an argument and win a relationship."
- Author unknown

Emotions always affect communication. Stephen Covey said, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." It's not about winning an argument. It's about getting the positive response you want.

success in the eyes of Apple's guru, Steve Jobs?

Do you want to know what is success in the eyes of Apple's guru, Steve Jobs?

Success has many fathers, some used to say. But when the most influential businessman of all time is trying to explain what is success, all you need to do is listen. Listen to Steve Jobs' words of wisdom and try to take to your head as much as possible.

I don't think there's a need to introduce Mr Jobs for you. But let me try do it in a few words. Steven Paul Jobs (died in 2011) was an American entrepreneur, marketer and inventor who was the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and customer electronics field, transforming one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies.

So in my humble opinion, there won't be so much exaggeration if I say that Steve Jobs is the best person who could tell you what is success.
Jobs is able to explain what is success to him. Take your time to sit relaxed and have all ears to the words Steve is saying.
There is no doubt for Jobs that you have to have a lot of passion for what you are doing. Without passion, there is no possibility for you to understand what is success. What is the reason for having passion for you activities you seem to do on a daily basis? Well, it is simple. If you can't find passion, you will just give up. Any rational person would make such a step.
Steve Jobs is sure that if you don't love it, if you don't have fun doing your actions which can bring you nearer to the knowledge about what is success, you are going to give up. And that's what happens to most people.

Jobs proposes you to look at the ones who ended up being successful, the people who exactly know what is success by their experience.
If you take the time to observe those people, it will be obvious to you that they definitely loved what they did and that's why they were able to persevere.
If you understand what is success and what you must do to take it to the point where you touch your successful life and happiness, you are able to persevere even when it gets very tough to make it through.

According to the founder of Apple, you are put on the straight way to your failure if you don't do what it takes to fall in love with what you are doing.
When it comes to getting what is success in life, the thing is you have to be a great talent seeker. Because no matter how smart you are, you need a team of very talented people. Only together you are able to see what is success in your business.
It is your task to figure out how to size your collaborators up very quickly and make decisions without knowing them too well. You must be able to build an organization which can eventually build itself without your help. So that's why it so important to have great people around you in order to see what is success.

My name is Daniel Kasztura. I live in Poland. I love being myself. I like the issue of personal development. I want to add value to you by writing about how to grow as a person. I am convinced that you can be a better person if you constantly learn how to develop your personal skills. I would be honored to know you took advantage of the helpful lessons presented here. Good luck:)

10 Secrets of "The Butler"

Set secret No. 1: Lee Daniels despises his name in the film's title

Following an extensive battle with the MPAA over the movie's original title "The Butler," also the name of a 1916 short, Lee Daniels reluctantly agreed to differentiate his film by using the title "Lee Daniels' the Butler." Yet the director admits he doesn't like seeing his name on the marquee, and says the title change broke his heart. yes

"I do work for kids that are impoverished, that come from where I come from, which is the projects, and I don't want them to feel that your name is more important than your work," Daniels said. "I don't feel comfortable with it. I don't feel like I'm Martin Scorsese, or Quentin Tarantino. I'm just a filmmaker trying to tell a story."

Set secret No. 2: Cuba Gooding Jr. was up for the role of Cecil Gaines

Cuba Gooding Jr. once eyed the role of leading man Cecil Gaines, and even did a screen test for the part before Forest Whitaker was cast as the butler.

"But after watching the movie," Gooding Jr. said, "I could not picture anybody else other than Forest Whitaker." aha

Set secret No. 3: Terrence Howard avoided looking 'too pretty' by removing a fake tooth

Daniels wanted to cast his pal Terrence Howard in "The Butler," but thought he was "too pretty" for the role of Gaines' feisty neighbor. That is, until Howard removed a fake tooth he's had for 25 years to toughen up for the part.

"Lee called me and he was like, 'TT, I'm having trouble. I want to put you in this movie, but I can't now. There's this one character left but you're too pretty for him. I don't know what to do!' " Howard recalled. "And he's like, ' dCan we cut your hair off or maybe give you an eye patch or a scar or something?' And I was like, 'You know what, I got a crown on this front tooth, you know, I can take that out.' He's like, 'Don't you do it! Don't you do it! ... I'll set up a dentist appointment right away!'"

Set secret No. 4: Cuba Gooding Jr. jumped into a pool sans swimsuit at a 'Butler' kick-off party

Daniels says his lips are sealed about many of the behind-the-scenes moments on the set of "The Butler." Yet he does indulge in one story about a raucous launch party.

"Cuba, Cuba ... " Daniels reminisced. "At our opening party for the cast, Oprah was there and everybody was there, and Cuba decided to jump into the pool naked. Let's just say that was the beginning of "The Butler." Oh, "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

Set secret No. 5: Oprah Winfrey took Daniels' direction with a smile ... until he asked her to get into her underwear

Daniels said he felt very protective of Oprah Winfrey on the set, as she readily took his direction and allowed herself to become vulnerable. But the duo did clash once: when Daniels asked the Big O to bare it all.

"I had her in her bra and panties," Daniels said. "She was like 'No!' And I said 'Oh, OK.' I would have fought her on it, but the only reason why I didn't is because it was a PG-13 movie. 'You win.' "

Set secret No. 6: Terrence Howard thinks he and Oprah have chemistry

Terrence Howard and Oprah Winfrey share a hot and heavy scene in "The Butler," and Howard brags they teamed up well on screen because they have chemistry in real life too.

Making out with Oprah, he said, is "the greatest dream for any man. A guy can get the the prom queen, but to get Miss America or get Miss Universe? That's the notch in the belt." But really, he insists, "She was into me! She had to approve me in that role. You're not going to pick somebody to kiss and have a closeness like that with, that you don't have a potential attraction for!"

Set secret No. 7: James Marsden faced incredible pressure to get his JFK accent right

To prep for the enormous task of playing John F. Kennedy, James Marsden kept podcasts of the president's iconic speeches on his iPod, which he listened to as he went to sleep. The actor said getting the accent right was crucial in accurately portraying Kennedy.

"That was a really defining part of Jack: his accent," Marsden said. "It wasn't necessarily Boston -- it was a little bit of New Yorrk, it was all these things mixed in. It was the Kennedy accent. And I knew that was going to be the barometer by which you're measured. And then beyond that you just hope to bring something else that you might not have ever seen -- capture sort of his essence, his intelligence, his charm. But I knew that all those other pieces would not have fallen into place if you did not have the accent."

Set secret No. 8: Yaya Alafia nearly vomited after being spit on during a dinner sit-in scene

When Yaya Alafia played a black college student engaged in a sit-in at an all-white lunch counter, she was actually spit on by another actress during filming. Alafia reveals she had an overwhelming reaction to the degradation.

"The things that happen in the body when something like that happens in real life happened on set. You're acting, it's make believe, but the lines get blurry in scenes like that. Especially when you're using real saliva," Alafia said. "I actually had to jump up after cut, run out to the street and get some fresh air. I thought I was gonna vomit. I just gagged a bunch and washed my face probably four times. It took a while energetically to cleanse as well. But it was always great to remind ourselves as difficult as this was, it was nothing compared to the people that really sat at these lunch counters and endured this time and again, and again, and again. They couldn't go back to their hotel rooms and just shake it off. There was no cut."

Set secret No. 9: Forest Whitaker referenced high-profile news stories to play Cecil Gaines

Whitaker said he examined today's racially charged cases, and internalized these stories, to get better into the mindset of his character.

"I had to take this whole shape of history and make it a part of myself personally," Whitaker said. "To be able to take these experiences we're experiencing today; what people are feeling about Trayvon Martin or Oscar Grant. These things are affecting people and they're affecting their lives and their souls. We have to remember when you talk about 'The Butler,' we're talking about the civil rights movement, which is continuing. It's a living history, it's not a dead history."

Set secret No. 10: The movie portrays a first in Hollywood history

While "Lee Daniels' the Butler" chronicles the evolution of the civil rights movement throughout the 20th century, it is also a story about family. With the film, screenwriter Danny Strong strove to portray African-American families in a way that Hollywood has historically ignored.

"We don't (usually) see the black family in this situation; intact and loving and talking, and being. We don't see that on the screen," Strong said. "I had a moment with Lee in the editing room; we were watching the scene where they send Louis (David Oyelowo) away to college and he turned to me and said, 'Never in the history of cinema has there been a scene of a black family sending their kid off to college.' He said, 'You should be really proud of yourself.' And I started to tear up."

Top 20 Movies this summer

May 24: "The Hangover III," "Before Midnight" aha

As Memorial Day rolls around, you have two trilogies to choose from: "The Hangover III" and "Before Midnight," the three-quel to Richard Linklater's accidental trilogy that began with 1995's "Before Sunrise" and continued with 2004's "Before Sunset."

In the presumed end to the "Hangover" franchise, the Wolf Pack reunites because Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is in crisis, and then they have to team up with their one-time nemesis, Mr. Chow, to retrieve something that was stolen. "It does not revolve around a wedding, and it does not revolve around a forgotten night," director Todd Phillips said. "It's a different structure."

In "Before Midnight," we catch up with lovers Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) to see if they've finally made their relationship work, and under what terms, during a visit to Greece. "These films are the opposite of victory-lap sequels," Linklater said. "We've had six to nine years to think about it and dig in, and we wouldn't do that if we didn't feel that there was something new for them to say and some new station in life."

May 31: "Now You See Me," "The East," "After Earth"

Following Memorial Day weekend is the magic-heist film "Now You See Me," which squares off against star/co-writer Brit Marling's "The East."

"Now You See Me" is a glossy tale about four magicians (played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco) who execute a bank robbery as part of their act (part of the fun is learning how the tricks are done).

"The East," meanwhile, is an indie thriller about a corporate spy infiltrating a freegan anarchist collective that executes "jams" on unsuspecting companies. Whether it's done by magic or terrorism, both films are about free thinkers teaming up to hold corporate America financially and morally responsible for its wrongdoings; consider them companion pieces.

Despite taking place in the future, at its heart, "After Earth" is a father/son survival story in which Will Smith tries to build his son Jaden's movie career -- er, tries to direct his son toward a rescue beacon. Smith's original idea for the film had the father and son crash their car in the mountains, but screenwriter Gary Whitta jazzed up the piece with a primordial planet filled with defense mechanisms meant to kill humans. "Earth has evicted us because we were messing (it up)," Whitta said. "If you took 'Jurassic Park' and dumped 'King Kong' in the middle of it, that's what you have in this environment."

June 7: "The Purge"

In "The Purge," a future version of America has decriminalized murder for a 12-hour period once a year. Those who can afford to do so either participate and kill off the have-nots or go on lockdown to protect their families. Ethan Hawke's character, who became rich selling security systems, finds his family besieged after his son lets in a man on the run. It's basically a home-invasion story with some sociopolitical underpinnings, but it'll provide some summer chills as the purge begins.

June 14: "This Is the End," "Man of Steel"

"This Is the End," which opens ahead of the weekend on June 12, will also provide a high body count but for comedic effect. Various celebrities are at a party at James Franco's house when the apocalypse occurs. "We thought it would be funny to see famous people die in graphic ways," star, co-writer and director Seth Rogen said. "We killed most of our favorite stars. ... Michael Cera plays a lunatic cokehead version of himself. He makes the best corpse."

Does Henry Cavill make the best Superman, though? "Man of Steel" is another reboot, this time with director Zack Snyder at the helm. Unlike the last Superman film, Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" (2006), this is an origin story with a young Clark Kent realizing the scope of his powers and what he was out on Earth to do.

June 21: "World War Z"

Brad Pitt is also out to save the world, but only because it's infested by zombies. The producer and star of "World War Z" (based on Max Brooks' book) plays a former U.N. staffer caught up in a zombie pandemic. Pitt has said the film offered up a couple of challenges, and not just how to fight the undead: "How do we keep the global, dynamic scope of the book, and how do we originate a genre that's been done quite often and really, really well?" One of the solutions is to show the pandemic as it unfolds instead of merely documenting the aftermath.

June 28: "White House Down," "Byzantium"

Channing Tatum also plays the hero, but on a smaller scale. In "White House Down," he plays a man who has just interviewed for his dream job with the Secret Service and is on-site when terrorists storm the White House. He may not have gotten the job officially, but he in effect does it anyway by protecting the president (Jamie Foxx). Expect lots of explosions.

For a female-action alternative to most of June's fare, Neil Jordan ("Interview with the Vampire") has another story of the undead on the way called "Byzantium." Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan play a mother-daughter vampire duo who've broken a cardinal bloodsucking rule of no females allowed. "It's a feminist movie," Arterton said. "Traditionally men, not always, are sexualized as vampires, not women. Women are the ones who are usually victimized."

July 5: "The Way, Way Back"

Sam Rockwell stars in the latest film from writing team Jim Rash and Nat Faxon ("The Descendants") as the owner of the Water Wizz water park who takes an awkward teenage boy under his wing. They head out on vacation with his mom (Toni Collette) and her boyfriend (Steve Carell). "It's inspired by real-life happenings," Rash said, "but it's heavier on the funny side than 'The Descendants,' even if both are dysfunctional family comedies." It won audiences over at Sundance.

July 12: "Pacific Rim"

Guillermo del Toro knows his monsters, and in "Pacific Rim," he brings to life his biggest ones yet: kaiju (Japanese for giant monsters). The film also features giant robots controlled by soldiers battling the race of alien beasts who rise from the ocean. There's a stellar cast as well (Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Idris Elba, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi), but really, the selling point here is monsters vs. robots, right?

July 19: "The Girl Most Likely"

Kristen Wiig has her first post-"Bridesmaids" starring role in "The Girl Most Likely." Her character pretends to commit suicide to get a guy's attention, but the move backfires and lands her back at home with her mother (Annette Bening). "It's a comedy with an underpinning of real emotion, because this character is a hot mess and falling apart at the seams," co-director Shari Springer Berman said. "But it's Kristen, so you love her. Kristen can do anything."

July 26: "The Wolverine"

Hugh Jackman is back for another round as Logan in "The Wolverine," in what should be a stand-alone film within the" X-Men" series (hopefully erasing any bad memories leftover from "X-Men Origins: Wolverine.") This time, the story is from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 comic series, so Logan is in Japan, where he meets up with a man he'd saved from a POW camp during World War II. Logan's lived a long time, but his friend offers him a way out: to make him mortal. In his way are Viper and Silver Samurai, the Yakuza and members of the Japanese criminal underworld.

August 2: "The Spectacular Now," "2 Guns"

An indie teen coming-of-age story ("Spectacular Now") starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller is no box office match against "2 Guns," but it'll remind audiences of John Hughes films that they love -- and make Teller a break-out star.

In the meantime, Mark Wahlberg teams up with Denzel Washington (and re-teams with his "Contraband" director Baltasar Kormákur) for "2 Guns," in which a DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer are forced to work undercover together as members of a narcotics syndicate, but neither one knows the other is also a federal agent. When they discover the truth about each other, they have to go on the run -- together.

August 9: "Elysium"

A little more high-concept is the much-anticipated sci-fi film "Elysium," starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and directed by "District 9"'s Neill Blomkamp, about the wealthy living on a space station while the impoverished live on a polluted planet. "It's not a sequel; it's not a franchise," Foster said at San Diego Comic-Con. "This is completely original, and it has a real sociopolitical relevance. It's about all sorts of things that matter to me, plus beautiful gut-wrenching explosions."

August 16: "Austenland"

In a summer filled with "gut-wrenching explosions," "Austenland" offers a respite for those looking for something more gentile. Keri Russell plays a mega-Jane Austen fan who spends her life's savings for a weekend getaway at a spot that promises to re-create life as portrayed in such classics as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility." She's hoping to find her own Mr. Darcy, but fantasy and reality collide in this comedy about role-playing romance, also featuring "Flight of the Conchords" star Bret McKenzie.

August 23: "The World's End"

Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz") completes his Simon Pegg-Nick Frost trilogy with "The World's End." A group of friends (including Pegg, Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan) want to re-create a classic pub crawl from their youth: 12 pubs in one night, ending at a pub called (what else?) the World's End. On the way, they discover that their hometown has been invaded by aliens! But that won't stop these determined drinkers. "We are going to get to the World's End if it kills us," Pegg vows. We'll probably die laughing.

Donnerstag, 22. August 2013

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#3. Sean Penn Tied Up and Then Beat the Crap Out of Madonna

#2. Charles Dickens Split from His Wife in the Most Assholish Manner Imaginable

#1. Eric Clapton Is Incredibly Racist

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#5. The Great Gatsby Criticizes Decadence, Inspires Parties

#4. 127 Hours Fans Love Getting Stuck in Dangerous Canyons

#3. Into the Wild Inspires Fans to Get Lost in the Wilderness

If You Could Change One Thing About Your Communications

If You Could Change One Thing About Your Communications

success in the eyes of Apple's guru, Steve Jobs?

10 Secrets of "The Butler"

Top 20 Movies this summer

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