Corey Haim is dead.
He spoke openly about his drug demons, struggled for years to re-find his footing in Hollywood and looked far older than his 38 years in photos. In a way, the Internet headline seemed morbidly preordained and not at all surprising. Still. There was something so tragic about it. And all day long, my mind has been stuck on Ally Sheedy's infamous line in The Breakfast Club: When you grow up, your heart dies.
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March 11, 2010
March 10, 2010
The Payday Lending Exemption Should Make Us Sick
If you care about the consumer financial protection conversation that's been going on in Washington, you have undoubtedly experienced exulted highs and despondent lows as the issue winds its way through the Congressional sausage maker. If you don't care and have not paid attention to the debate, you should.
The question of how banks are regulated when it comes to consumers seems at first, to be about as exciting as re-caulking the tiles in your shower. But I promise - the topic gets much more exciting if you happen to care about your personal bottom line. Today's news that the Senate will remove the teeth from consumer protections by giving a pass to payday lenders should make you sick. The exemption for payday lenders, driven by Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker, is a stomach-turning twist for many reasons.
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The question of how banks are regulated when it comes to consumers seems at first, to be about as exciting as re-caulking the tiles in your shower. But I promise - the topic gets much more exciting if you happen to care about your personal bottom line. Today's news that the Senate will remove the teeth from consumer protections by giving a pass to payday lenders should make you sick. The exemption for payday lenders, driven by Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker, is a stomach-turning twist for many reasons.
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Ed Hamilton, Copywriter, Maps Resume To Google Maps (PICTURE)
Unemployed workers have been using all kinds of unusual strategies to gain an edge in their job searches, whether donning sandwich boards advertising their skills, passing out resumes on street corners, or posting their accomplishments on photoshopped magazine covers.
A copywriter has come up with a creative way to stand out, while showing off his worldliness and tech skills: he mapped his resume to Google Maps.
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A copywriter has come up with a creative way to stand out, while showing off his worldliness and tech skills: he mapped his resume to Google Maps.
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Arianna Huffington: Glenn Beck Gets My Sympathy After Eric Massa Interview (VIDEO)
The trail leading to Eric Massa's resignation from Congress is littered with stories of political infighting and bitter divisions. Along the way, it also brought together a pair of unlikely figures.
"I never thought anything would make me feel sympathetic towards Glenn Beck," Arianna Huffington told Anderson Cooper during an appearance on CNN. "But having to interview Eric Massa for an entire hour made me really feel for him."
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"I never thought anything would make me feel sympathetic towards Glenn Beck," Arianna Huffington told Anderson Cooper during an appearance on CNN. "But having to interview Eric Massa for an entire hour made me really feel for him."
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March 9, 2010
Still Surging: Public Option Picks Up Three More Backers
Three more Democratic senators said on Tuesday that they would either support the public option in a Senate floor vote or were heavily leaning that way.
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) told HuffPost that if the public insurance option comes up for a vote under reconciliation, he will vote for it it. "I would support it, yes," he said.
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Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) told HuffPost that if the public insurance option comes up for a vote under reconciliation, he will vote for it it. "I would support it, yes," he said.
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Rahm Emanuel And David Axelrod Have Become The Sum Of All Media Crapulence
Remember way back when President Obama told people that it was maybe a good idea for them to turn off the teevees and disconnect themselves from the idiot ramblings of the political press, a rough beast with a bottomless hunger for antic narratives and useless gossip?
Maybe Obama should have asked his two top advisers to stop feeding the beast themselves, to spare all of us some grief.
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Maybe Obama should have asked his two top advisers to stop feeding the beast themselves, to spare all of us some grief.
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Rupert Murdoch Nails it: Media is Alive
There is no way around it: I like the way Rupert Murdoch thinks, and today at the opening of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, as reported by Paid Content, he nails it:
"These days our homes and offices are cluttered with the latest electronic devices. It is easy to be dazzled by this new technology. But the bright and shiny wonders that technology gives us can be like the desert sun - they can blind us to what is real and valuable. Amid the digital dazzle, we risk missing the magic: the creative content that brings these devices to life."
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"These days our homes and offices are cluttered with the latest electronic devices. It is easy to be dazzled by this new technology. But the bright and shiny wonders that technology gives us can be like the desert sun - they can blind us to what is real and valuable. Amid the digital dazzle, we risk missing the magic: the creative content that brings these devices to life."
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Jan Vormann: Artist Used Legos To Fill Cracks In New York Buildings
German artist Jan Vormann and a small army of volunteers spent the past two weeks filling cracks in New York City buildings with Lego bricks.
Vormann arrived in New York two weeks ago "to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing," the artist said on his project Web site. This is not the first time Vormann has used Legos in this way, but the New York project appears to have involved an unprecedented number of locations.
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Vormann arrived in New York two weeks ago "to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing," the artist said on his project Web site. This is not the first time Vormann has used Legos in this way, but the New York project appears to have involved an unprecedented number of locations.
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American Splendor
I don't know why, but I really like Paul Giamatti. I don't know what it is, maybe it's the way he comes across, a pathetic but harmless loser or maybe it's that I'm not used to seeing a bald, hideous, bug-eyed goblin star as a leading man on the big screen. Either way, there is something about seeing that guy in a movie trailer that makes me want to see the movie. But there after watching numerous Paul Giamatti movies, notably Duplicity, Lady in the Water, and Sideways (hiiiiighly overrated); I began to notice that all of his movies kind of suck, especially the ones he plays a large part in. For that reason, I have avoided seeing any Paul Giamatti movies that came out or haven't seen yet. And that brings us to American Splendor, a film released in 2003 starring everyone's favorite diminutive, balding troll of a man. This was a movie I know I SHOULD have seen years ago, but I was never really that enthusiastic about seeing it because I figured it would be another Giamatti suckfest. Thankfully, I was wrong.
American Splendor is the story of one man's life, Harvey Pekar. Harvey Pekar is a comic book writer who was living in Cleveland and began to write comics about the mundane details of his everyday life, which turned out to be anything but. The comic books were titled American Splendor and in them Pekar writes about any and all events; his job as a file clerk, his co-workers, meeting his wife Joyce, and eventually dealing with cancer, all in the terse prose that tiny comic book panels allow. The comics themselves are funny, poignant, and altogether fascinating; showing a side of life that most mainstream storytelling ignores, but that almost everyone can relate to. The movie is sort of a docufictiamentary (I bet that word would be a lot easier to read if I broke it up, docu-ficti-amentary), with Paul Giamatti playing a fictionalized Harvey Pekar, but one that is based heavily on the American Splendor comics. This is intertwined with some voice-overs by the real Harvey Pekar and unscripted scenes with the real Harvey and various people from his life who are also portrayed in the fictionalized portions of the movie. So to recap, it's essentially a fictionalized biography based on comic books that are based on real events which are portrayed by actors and mixed with real scenes by the real people that are the characters in the comic books, and thus the characters played by the actors in the movie. Got it?
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American Splendor is the story of one man's life, Harvey Pekar. Harvey Pekar is a comic book writer who was living in Cleveland and began to write comics about the mundane details of his everyday life, which turned out to be anything but. The comic books were titled American Splendor and in them Pekar writes about any and all events; his job as a file clerk, his co-workers, meeting his wife Joyce, and eventually dealing with cancer, all in the terse prose that tiny comic book panels allow. The comics themselves are funny, poignant, and altogether fascinating; showing a side of life that most mainstream storytelling ignores, but that almost everyone can relate to. The movie is sort of a docufictiamentary (I bet that word would be a lot easier to read if I broke it up, docu-ficti-amentary), with Paul Giamatti playing a fictionalized Harvey Pekar, but one that is based heavily on the American Splendor comics. This is intertwined with some voice-overs by the real Harvey Pekar and unscripted scenes with the real Harvey and various people from his life who are also portrayed in the fictionalized portions of the movie. So to recap, it's essentially a fictionalized biography based on comic books that are based on real events which are portrayed by actors and mixed with real scenes by the real people that are the characters in the comic books, and thus the characters played by the actors in the movie. Got it?
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Charlie Crist Trails Marco Rubio In Florida Republican Senate Race By Shocking 32 Points
New poll numbers from Florida's high-profile Republican Senate primary race add credence to the theory that the only way Gov. Charlie Crist will win the seat is by switching parties.
The firm Public Policy Polling released findings on Tuesday showing conservative darling Marco Rubio with a jaw-dropping 32-point lead (62 percent to 28 percent) among Florida Republican voters.
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The firm Public Policy Polling released findings on Tuesday showing conservative darling Marco Rubio with a jaw-dropping 32-point lead (62 percent to 28 percent) among Florida Republican voters.
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