Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway & More Share Oscar Dress Hints

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By Alex Apatoff





02/05/2013 at 04:30 PM EST







Clockwise from top left: Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Amy Adams


Splash News Online; PR Photos; Getty; WireImage


The countdown to the Academy Awards has officially begun, and so has the buzz around what the nominees will be wearing.

Nominated actresses shared their gown plans with reporters at a Beverly Hills luncheon in their honor Monday.

Though Jennifer Lawrence joked, "I'm going to wear sweatpants," it turns out just the opposite is true. "Last time was comfort. This year, I'm like, 'Suck it up, wear a corset,'" she said. "I am going to go for fashion this time."

Last year, before donning her skintight red Calvin Klein Collection number, "I ate a Philly cheesesteak and fries, and I was like 'This is definitely going to help,'" she said. "It didn't, 'cause I had to double-Spanx it."

Another star eyeing extra Spanx? Anne Hathaway, who said she couldn't start preparing for a very important reason: "It was the Super Bowl! I couldn't think about dresses with all that delicious fried food around!"

Though she did say she's looking at some "cool options," let's hope they're all more drama-free than her Giambattista Valli SAG dress, which she revealed had a broken zipper – but her "magician" stylist made it work anyway.

The Master's Amy Adams was tight-lipped about her pick for the Oscars, allowing only that it will be "a dress! No girl ever tells you. Has any girl ever gotten up here and said, 'I'm wearing this designer and it will be this color?' " she teased.

But Jessica Chastain was a bit more forthcoming about her plans, saying, "I'm going to go for something that's perhaps colorful."

Her reasoning: "Most little girls dream about their wedding dresses, but I always dreamed about my Oscar dress – maybe because I like color!" Also on her wish list for the gown: "I love fashion that celebrates a woman's body [and] maybe is a throwback to the glamour of Old Hollywood, that silhouette, but somehow making it modern."

• Reporting by MELODY CHIU

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

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NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.


With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.


"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.


City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.


"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.


Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.


Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.


"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.


Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.


While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.


Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.


Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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Mystery after basketball coach, fiance murdered in parking lot

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This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.


Family and friends had only praise for a Cal State Fullerton coach and her fiance Monday, a day after the recently engaged college sweethearts were found fatally shot in the parking structure of their condominium near UC Irvine.


The bodies of Monica Quan, an assistant women's basketball coach, and Keith Lawrence, who worked as a campus officer at USC, were discovered Sunday night in their parked car on the top floor of the parking structure at the upscale, high-security condominium complex.


They were each shot multiple times, and authorities said they have
tentatively ruled out the possibility of the crime being a murder-suicide or
motivated by robbery.


PHOTOS: Memorial for slain basketball coach


Those that knew the couple said they were shaken by the news.


Marcia Foster, the head basketball
coach at Cal State Fullerton, described her assistant as a special
person: "bright, passionate and empowering."


"I'm sorry we're gathered here today for news like this," Foster said at a campus news
conference Monday. "There just aren't words."






Friends said Quan shared a love of basketball with Lawrence, whom she met at Concordia University in Irvine, where the two played basketball. A tweet from Concordia on Monday described the two as "incredible alum."


Lawrence was a standout player, both at Concordia, where he helped lead his team to the 2007 NAIA national championship game, and at Moorpark High, where he was a starter.


Tim Bednar,
who coached Lawrence at Moorpark, said the point guard and shooting guard came from a family of athletes, was
talented, yet quiet and humble. After Lawrence graduated in 2003, he
continued to participate in summer youth camps.


When he returned for the camps, Bednar said, he was known as the "best basketball player that ever came through" the school.


"He was awesome with the kids," Bednar said. "They all wanted to be around Keith Lawrence."


Lawrence's friends and family put up a Facebook page. "RIP Keith
Lawrence, you will be missed," it said. Within hours, 840 people had
left comments or indicated they "liked" it. Concordia put up a link to
Lawrence's game-winning shot that carried the school into a post-season
tournament.


Michelle Thibeault, 27, said in a Facebook message that she had known
Quan for more than a decade. The two were on the same athletic teams
and went to junior high and high school together. "Monica was loved by
everyone," she said.


During a somber gathering at the Cal State Fullerton gymnasium Monday, Foster said: "We just shared a moment of incredible joy on her recent engagement. A bright light was just put out."


[Updated, 9:35 a.m. Feb.5: An earlier version of this post attributed a statement about Monica Quan to Quan's brother, Ryan. It should have been attributed to Marcia Foster, head basketball
coach at Cal State Fullerton.]


About 40 people later gathered at Walnut High School to remember Quan, whose aunt described her as "vivacious and energetic."


“Monica is like the daughter we never had,” Nicki Lew said.


ALSO:


2 women slain in rural Riverside County


Students sever fingers during game of tug of war


Woman and child abducted at Sam's Club in Orange County


-- Nicole Santa Cruz, Lauren Williams and Kate Mather


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The Lede Blog: Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Girl Shot by Taliban Militants, Speaks in New Videos

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Last Updated, 4:54 p.m. Speaking on camera for the first time since she survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban last year, the young activist Malala Yousafzai began with the words, “Today you can see that I’m alive.” The 15-year-old, who was shot in the head as she left school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley four months ago, promised that she would continue to be an outspoken advocate of the right for “every girl, every child, to be educated.”

In the brief statement, the young advocate attributed her survival to the prayers of her supporters and urged them to contribute to a fund established in her name to further the cause of education for girls. “Because of these prayers, God has given me this new life,” Ms. Yousafzai said. “And this is a second life; this is a new life. And I want to serve, I want to serve the people.”

A video statement from Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani activist who was shot in the head by Taliban militants.

The English-language statement was recorded just before Ms. Yousafzai underwent surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, over the weekend to repair damage to her skull caused by the bullet fired into her head at point-blank range in October.

On Monday, the hospital released more video of the young patient, speaking to one of her doctors after the five-hour operation to reconstruct her skull and implant a device to restore hearing to her left ear.

Video of Malala Yousafzai speaking to a doctor in Birmingham, England after an operation on Saturday.

“I’m feeling alright and I’m happy that the operations, both the operations, were successful,” she told Dr. Mav Manji, a critical care specialist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Asked about the future, she said, “My mission is the same, to help people, and I will do that.” She also expressed her gratitude to the doctors in Pakistan and Britain who cared for her. “God gave me a new life,” she said, “because of the prayers of people and because of the talent of doctors.”

At a news conference on Monday, Dr. Anwen White, the neurosurgeon who led the reconstructive surgery, and Dr. Dave Rosser, the hospital’s medical director, explained that the titanium cranioplasty, which involved repairing the missing area of her skull with a specially molded titanium plate, “went very well.” (Video of the news conference was posted online by Britain’s Channel 4 News and the hospital uploaded images of the surgery in progress to YouTube.)

An update posted on the hospital’s Web site explained that, after the skull surgery, “Malala then had a cochlear implant fitted – a small, complex electronic device that provides a sense of sound to someone who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The cochlear implant is to restore hearing to her left ear after she was left deaf in that ear by the bullet.”

As Fatima Manji of Britain’s Channel 4 News reports, the activist also recorded statements in Urdu and Pashto, languages spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the Urdu version, Ms. Manji notes, the girl said, “I would be willing to sacrifice myself again.”

The video statement was produced for the Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington “that identifies, trains and empowers emerging women leaders,” which will administer the new “Malala Fund,” in cooperation with the young activist and her family.

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Second-generation iPad mini could pack a display with 324 pixels per inch

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Apple (AAPL) may be about to make up for delivering a disappointingly low resolution for its first-generation iPad mini display. BrightWire reports that supply chain sources have told Chinese website My Drivers that the next-generation iPad mini will indeed feature a 7.9-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, or 324 pixels per inch. For comparison, consider that the original iPad mini delivered a resolution of just 163 pixels per inch, less than both the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fire HD and the Google (GOOG) Nexus 7, which both featured displays with resolutions of 216 pixels per inch. BrightWire’s report also backs up earlier rumors we’ve heard about Apple choosing AU Optronics to make an HD Retina display for its next-generation iPad mini.


[More from BGR: iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak now available for download, compatible with iPhone 5 and iPad mini]






This article was originally published on BGR.com


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Sean Lowe: Three Reasons He Makes The Bachelor Special

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The Bachelor






By Rennie Dyball





02/04/2013 at 06:00 PM EST



What is it about this season of The Bachelor?

For the past few installations, I've watched with just a passing interest, armed with my iPad so I can enjoy other diversions during the boring or painfully awkward Bachelor and Bachelorette dates.

The TV franchise has been around for so long that I was almost watching out of obligation ... I've spent so much of my life following these people and their televised quests for love that I've got to keep up for tradition's sake alone.

But this season is different. I'm excited for Monday nights and find myself watching without any outside distractions. I've had several girlfriends tell me they feel the same way – for some, after nearly deciding to stop watching the series entirely, they're excited about it all over again.

We've got Sean Lowe to thank for that.

Here's why I think the 29-year-old is a rare breed of Bachelor who's breathed new life into the long-running series:

1. He Seems Like a Truly Genuine Guy
In all honesty, Sean didn't wow me on Emily Maynard's season of The Bachelorette. I found him to be a little dull (sorry, Sean!) and not entirely believable. So I didn't expect to be thrilled by his turn handing out the roses. But week after week, I find myself really believing in his assertions that he's look for lasting love.

I mean, really, don't they all say that? But from night one, he's been straight up with his bachelorettes about his feelings, and he's just got that intangible "something" about him – you can't help but root for this guy. Even my often-jaded colleagues who've met him in person were impressed!

2. He's Easily Smitten
Maybe this makes him more endearing, or maybe it's indicative of the dramatics to come when he'll need to whittle down the list. Either way, I'm so tickled by the fact that after the majority of dates, Sean is just smitten by a new woman. So far, he seems to be falling for AshLee, Desiree, Lesley, Lindsay, Sarah, Selma and, of course, Tierra.

It's refreshing and sweet, not to mention believable ... What guy wouldn't fall for a group of beautiful women on budget-less dates?

3. He's Got Quite the Cast of Costars
Bravo to the casting department on this one. The mix of women vying for Sean's affections is diverse, dramatic and destined for medical emergencies. (Chris Harrison promises more ambulances this season!)

And did anyone else find last week's kiss-less date with Selma incredibly hot? They didn't need to get their lips involved for viewers to feel the intense heat between them. So this week, call me a marketer's dream: Two Bachelor episodes in the next two nights? Sold. Thanks, Sean.

This week's double episode of The Bachelor will air Monday (8 p.m. ET) and Tuesday at (9 p.m. ET) on ABC.

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

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CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.


The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the start, just over half of the 187 gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had been bullied; by 2010 that dropped to 9 percent of gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls.


The researchers said the same results likely would be found in the United States.


In both countries, a "sea change" in cultural acceptance of gays and growing intolerance for bullying occurred during the study years, which partly explains the results, said study co-author Ian Rivers, a psychologist and professor of human development at Brunel University in London.


That includes a government mandate in England that schools work to prevent bullying, and changes in the United States permitting same-sex marriage in several states.


In 2010, syndicated columnist Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" video project to encourage bullied gay teens. It was prompted by widely publicized suicides of young gays, and includes videos from politicians and celebrities.


"Bullying tends to decline with age regardless of sexual orientation and gender," and the study confirms that, said co-author Joseph Robinson, a researcher and assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "In absolute terms, this would suggest that yes, it gets better."


The study appears online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.


Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said the results mirror surveys by her anti-bullying advocacy group that show bullying is more common in U.S. middle schools than in high schools.


But the researchers said their results show the situation is more nuanced for young gay men.


In the first years of the study, gay boys and girls were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By the last year, bullying dropped overall and was at about the same level for lesbians and straight girls. But the difference between men got worse by ages 19 and 20, with gay young men almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.


The mixed results for young gay men may reflect the fact that masculine tendencies in girls and women are more culturally acceptable than femininity in boys and men, Robinson said.


Savage, who was not involved in the study, agreed.


"A lot of the disgust that people feel when you bring up homosexuality ... centers around gay male sexuality," Savage said. "There's more of a comfort level" around gay women, he said.


Kendall Johnson, 21, a junior theater major at the University of Illinois, said he was bullied for being gay in high school, mostly when he brought boyfriends to school dances or football games.


"One year at prom, I had a guy tell us that we were disgusting and he didn't want to see us dancing anymore," Johnson said. A football player and the president of the drama club intervened on his behalf, he recalled.


Johnson hasn't been bullied in college, but he said that's partly because he hangs out with the theater crowd and avoids the fraternity scene. Still, he agreed, that it generally gets better for gays as they mature.


"As you grow older, you become more accepting of yourself," Johnson said.


___


Online:


Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org


It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


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Parole Board urges Brown to release former Charles Manson follower

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California's governor has been asked to make the final decision on whether a former Charles Manson follower will be released on parole after serving more than 40 years in prison.

The state's Board of Parole Hearings submitted to Gov. Jerry Brown its recommendation that Bruce Davis is suitable for parole.

The 70-year-old Davis was convicted with cult leader Manson and another man in the killings of a musician and a stuntman. He was not involved in the infamous Sharon Tate murders.

California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton says the board had until Monday to deliver legal documents to Brown, but they submitted the package Friday.

Brown has up to 30 days to act on the parole decision. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected a previous parole recommendation for Davis.

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IHT Rendezvous: The Face of America's Illegal Immigration

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WASHINGTON — In my latest Letter From Washington, I write about the “Kumbaya” moment that immigration reform seems to be enjoying — and the certainty that it will not last as the hard work of writing laws gets underway. But who are the illegal immigrants?

Page Two

Posts written by the IHT’s Page Two columnists.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that in 2011, the last year for which there are estimates, 6.8 million of the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States were from Mexico. The Pew Hispanic Center, which often has the most reliable immigration data, says the number has dropped to 6.1 million, from 7 million five years before.

The combined effects of the economic slowdown in the United States, with fewer jobs, and much more aggressive border-control efforts and stepped-up deportations by the Obama administration explain the decline.

After Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are the countries of origin of the largest numbers of unauthorized immigrants, with more than 1.5 million combined, according to the Homeland Security figures. Next are four Asian countries — China, the Philippines, India and South Korea — which accounted for a little more than 1 million between them.

Not surprisingly, the government estimates that the majority of these immigrants live in California, Texas and Florida. Next, however, are two non-border states: New York and Illinois, with more than 500,000 each.

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BlackBerry searching high and low in India, Indonesia

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NEW DELHI/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Research in Motion Ltd must chart a tough course in its two key emerging markets of India and Indonesia: quickly launch cheaper handsets to woo lower-end subscribers while restoring its tattered brand among the countries’ status-conscious.


The company, which is rebranding itself BlackBerry after its best-known smartphone, has won millions of followers in these two Asian countries, mostly by selling cheaper handsets and offering service packages as low as $ 2 a month. So it’s unlikely that the Z10 model introduced last week, which operators in India expect to sell for around $ 750, will appeal to the users it must reach if it is to build market share.






“It’s clear that not only are India and Indonesia among the largest markets but in terms of future smartphone growth, they’re amongst the ones with the most potential,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager at technology research group IDC in Singapore. “But the two devices that have been launched are not well aligned to the needs of these two markets.”


While the company does not break down its sales by country, data from IDC shows that Indonesia was BlackBerry’s biggest market outside the United States and Britain last year, while India was ninth.


ABI Research said that BlackBerry accounted for nearly half of Indonesia’s smartphone shipments in 2012. Compare this with a global share of just 5.3 percent. In India, the world’s second-largest mobile phone market, BlackBerry ranks third after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Nokia.


In both countries, young people are drawn by low-cost handsets allowing them to communicate for free on the BlackBerry Messaging Service (BBM). Almost all carriers offer services for the device. Indonesia’s XL Axiata Tbk PT, for example, saw a 45 percent jump in BlackBerry subscribers last financial year after offering packages for as little as 20 cents per day.


But this picture is changing rapidly.


The rise of messaging services such as WhatsApp that are not confined to any single operating system and the proliferation of cheap Android devices have diluted the BlackBerry’s appeal.


Mickey Nayoan, a 32-year old product designer in Jakarta, swapped his BlackBerry for a Samsung phone six months ago and isn’t missing it.


“I survived without BlackBerry because there’s WhatsApp,” he said. “More and more people use it and so I don’t need BBM anymore.”


At the same time, higher-end users have deserted what is increasingly seen as a low-end brand.


“When they came up with the cheaper versions, that took the allure off the brand for many Indonesians who are very status-conscious,” said Ong Hock Chuan, a Jakarta-based communications consultant.


ANDROID MAKES INROADS


While BlackBerry remained the number one smartphone brand in Indonesia in the second quarter of last year, the most recent period for which rankings were available, Android overtook it as the most popular operating system, according to IDC.


IDC said when it released the data last September that this was partly because of delays in the launch of the BlackBerry 10. The Z10 is likely to launch in the second half of February in India and in late March in Indonesia.


Data from StatCounter, a website which estimates mobile web traffic, shows BlackBerry’s share in Indonesia falling from about 20 percent in 2011 to about 5 percent last year.


On the other hand, carriers and users say, glitches with BlackBerry services and a perception that the brand has lost some of its luster mean that it will be hard to sell the Z10 and a keyboard model, the Q10, even to better-off users.


“It really depends on how BlackBerry 10 performs. If it can fix problems of previous BlackBerry (services) it could succeed in the market,” said Hasnul Suhaimi, CEO of Indonesia’s XL Axiata. But for now, he said, “it will just be about people swapping out existing devices.”


To reverse this, BlackBerry must announce cheaper devices quickly, analysts say. BlackBerry launched handsets designed on its old platform for just such users in India and Indonesia last year.


“The Z10… is obviously a high-end product and India is not a market at that price point,” said Anshul Gupta, an industry analyst at technology advisory firm Gartner in Mumbai. “We don’t know exactly what will be coming here, but I would expect them to launch different models in India which would give them more traction.”


(Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Mumbai and Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore; Writing by Jeremy Wagstaff; Editing by Emily Kaiser)


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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