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Nicole Wallace Off THE VIEW

Shanka Cheryl
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Nicole Wallace Off THE VIEW

nicole wallace off the view 2015As we reported back in July, Nicole Wallace was on shaky ground with her job at ABC’s problem child “The View,” and after the network tried cutting her job down to occasional contributor next season, she just said no. This lets her say she left the show on her own volition, unlike Rosie Perez. Yes, I know Rosie and everyone at ABC will go to their grave saying Perez left on her own, but as we reported way back in January, this was a push to get her off the show. When Rosie finally does her autobiography in a decade, maybe she’ll fess up and be honest about the whole mess.

Either ABC knew Wallace would quit after they kept trying to get her to take a smaller job, and of course a much tinier salary, or they overplayed their hand. With the ratings  continue to plummet, my people over there have firmly said that the network is “just throwing things at the wall right now to see what fits, and they didn’t feel that Wallace was fitting in.” I’m sure ABC is hoping Candace Cameron Bure being younger will help that demographic along with Netflix producing “Fuller House” which she is in.

Variety is reporting that executive Bill Wolff will be sending out this note to the staff today about her departure next week: “Our friend Nicolle Wallace is going to leave the show at the conclusion of the season. “Having worked with her for most of the last year, you know the warmth, smarts, and professionalism she has brought to the job every day. She will always be a friend of our show, and I know you join me in wishing her only the best.”

The way it went down is that the network asked Wallace about having a downsized role on the show as a co-host, but not on a regular basis. That would have been an easy way for ABC to eventually have phased her out. She turned that down along with being an occasional contributor, because we all know what that means. You’ll be able to see her as a contributor over on MSNBC on “Morning Joe” where she’s there quite often. It doesn’t look like she’ll be serving as a political talking head for ABC any longer either.

Viewers have already been complaining that “The View” has truly lost it’s way and feel more like the red-headed stepchild of ABC’s more popular “Good Morning America,” and there could be a good reason for that. Since “The View” has been put under ABC’s news division, that is exactly where the troubled show is headed. I know, ABC will swear up and down that I’m wrong, but every time they’ve tried to deny my news, it winds up happening months later. Don’t be shocked if Fall 2016 has The View becoming another hour of “Good Morning America” as they slowly evolve it into that next season.

It will be back in September with yet another new co-host panel including Whoopi Goldberg (who was forced to cave in on her support of Bill Cosby after heavy network pressure), Raven-Symone, Michelle Collins, Candace Cameron Bure (the younger conservative viewpoint) and Paula Farris, who is the anchor on “GMA Weekend.” If you hated the revolving chairs this season, get used to it as next season will continue in the same format. Sadly Joy Behar turned down the chance to take one of these positions, but she’s smart enough to know to stay off a disaster. The other sad thing is that Sherri Shepherd, who pulls out her Bible when it’s convenient for her cause then tosses it back down on the floor the rest of the time, will be back as a sub co-host. So if you want to have you and your family lose IQ points, watch “The View” when Sherri’s on.

Molly Sims and Stacy London will also be coming on as sub co-hosts too. Don’t worry, Jenny McCarthy was not asked to return…even as a guest on “The View”

 

American League Week 17 Recap: Yankees Still On Top

Peter Tebin
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American League Week 17 Recap: Yankees Still On Top

new york yankees on top american league week 17 2015 mlbThe end of July has arrived but the dog days of summer is just heating up around the American League. This featured a few teams making a few big moves before the trade deadline as well as a few teams making a move in their respective divisions around the league.

One of those teams has been the Baltimore Orioles after a rough stretch to start the month of July, the team finished on a better not aside from yesterday’s loss to the Oakland A’s 0-5. That included winning eight of their past eleven games to move within 5.5 games of the first place New York Yankees. The team also added a key bat to their lineup and the missing link for Buck Showalter in his issues to find an everyday outfielder outside of Adam Jones.

That player is former Milwaukee Brewer outfielder Gerardo Parra who the team was able to land before the July 31st trade deadline. Parra had spent the past six seasons split between the Arizona Diamond Backs followed by the Brewers. Parra was hitting .328 with nine home runs before the trade.

While the Orioles were making up ground within the American League East, the Los Angeles Angels haven’t been able to hold onto the top spot in the West. This stretch includes losing eight of their past ten games while the Houston Astros have won six of ten to move back to the top of the American League West.

Now this gives us a chance to take a look around the entire American League including each of the three divisions as we wrap up July and open up August.

American League East: The American League East continues to be one to watch all around Major League Baseball. This excitement grew this past week as the Orioles added a key new member to their lineup while the Toronto Blue Jays made some of the biggest moves.

That included trading for All-Star short stop Troy Tulowitzki as well as All-Star left hander David Price. Each of these moves add a key component to their lineup as they make a run at overtaking the New York Yankees atop the division. The two made key impacts in their first game with their respective club.

Tulowitzki after being acquired by Toronto picked up three hits in his debut including two doubles, one home run and three runs driven in. Price on the other hand made on start going eight innings while striking out 11 in the Blue Jays 5-1 win against the Minnesota Twins.

Along with Orioles playing some hot ball of late both the Yankees and Blue Jays have been solid as well. Each of these clubs have picked up six wins over their last ten while both the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox have each went 5-5 over their last ten.

For the Yankees, the week opened up strong outscoring the Texas Rangers 27-7 over their first two games of the series including a 21 run out pour in game two of the four game series. Unfortunately the team wasn’t able to build on that momentum losing their next two games before taking two of three against the White Sox.

The Orioles hot streak continued nearly the entire week after welcoming back Nick Markakis to Baltimore, the team handed the Braves three consecutive losses. The team would end up going on to win two of their next four against the Detroit Tigers before an opening 9-2 win on Monday Night against the Oakland A’s.

Then you have the Blue Jays, who made some of the biggest moves in all of Major League Baseball. The moves played out well as the Blue Jays opened up the week splitting two with the Phillies before taking three of four against the first place Kansas City Royals.

These three teams should make for an exciting pennant chase as we look ahead to the hunt for October.

American League Central: Over in the American League Central it is looking more and more likely of only a two team race between the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. This became more and more visible this past week as the Detroit Tigers elected to trade away two former All-Stars in David Price and Yoenis Cespedes.

Despite electing to sell at the break, the Tigers are still in the Wild Card position just being three games behind both the Angels and Twins. Along with the Tigers, both the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians are alive in the playoffs. The White Sox currently trail by 3.5 games while the Indians are just six out of those two wild card spots.

The Royals currently hold a commanding 8.5 game lead over the Twins after both teams have struggled over the past week. For the Royals they opened up the week picking up back to back wins over the Indians before losing four of their next five including three against the Blue Jays. Luckily for the Royals, the Twins managed to win just two of their past seven games and seven of their past ten games.
The Twins opened the week losing back to back games to the Pittsburgh Pirates before taking two of four to the Mariners over the weekend. The struggles continued on Monday as they managed to score just one run in an 5-1 loss as David Price picked up his first win for the Blue Jays.

Could the American League Central be the division with three playoff teams?

American League West: Much like the American League East and Central, the West continues to be a battle for the top spot. This has shown up more and more over the past two weeks as the Houston Astros managed to fight their way back to top of the division after a late first half collapse.

The team’s recent success winning six of ten while the Angels managed to win just two over their last ten games. The success for the Astros this week started with a three game sweep over the Angels before taking two off three against the Arizona Diamondbacks before losing to the Rangers on Monday.

While the Astros hot streak put them in first place the Angels struggled managed to drop them in the standings. The Angels dropped all three to the Astros before being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend before picking up a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.

Outside of these two teams the Texas Rangers could be a team to watch in the division after picking up Cole Hamels before the trade deadline. The Rangers are seven games out of first place in the West but only two games behind the Twins for the second wild card spot.

These next few weeks should be a fun time to watch baseball around the American League.

Jonathan Pollard & Edward Snowden: How the US Hates Tattletales

Marius Manuella
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Jonathan Pollard & Edward Snowden: How the US Hates Tattletales

jonathan pollard and edward snowden usa traitors 2015 images“The Rock,” is one of my favorite movies. Definitely has a high re-watch value, up there with “Con-Air,” “Face-Off” and “Die Hard” 1, 2 and 4. If I chance upon it on cable, the volume goes up and the remote goes down. Sean Connery’s character, John Mason reminds me very much of another old spy who‘s scheduled for parole later this year, Jonathan Pollard. Though Mr. Pollard probably couldn’t take on a bunch of specially trained soldiers, he had several things in common with John Mason. Their first name, that they were spies for friendly nations, that they were put away for a long time and that they’re old.

Mr. Pollard also has something in common with another man who divulged classified government information—Mr. Edward Snowden. Pollard passed classified information to Israel. Even though it’s a friendly nation, espionage is espionage and any country would prefer to keep things up their sleeves, even from friends. Mr. Snowden, who’s in the same line of work as Mr. Pollard (another thing they have in common) divulged National Security Administration secrets to the press. What they don’t have in common is that Edward Snowden is still at large and unlike Mr. Pollard who served his time, Snowden is now in Russia, not exactly besties with the US.

As stated, Mr. Pollard is soon to be paroled later this year. The man was sentenced to life for espionage in behalf of a friendly nation, namely Israel. His offense basically carries the same weight as the offenses of Edward Snowden and Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. For Mr. Pollard, those secrets remained secrets unlike the situation with the latter two whistleblowers. The news of Pollard’s impending parole has raised questions whether Edward Snowden can come home, face charges but get pardoned, or put away indefinitely in the cell kept warm by Mr. Pollard.

The questions about Snowden have been put to rest by the Obama Administration that the man can go home but will face espionage charges for leaking thousands of classified documents to the press. The White House rejected a petition signed by almost 168,000 people to pardon Edward Snowden who made the people aware that the NSA was actively spying on US citizens. Hopes were raised when the government trimmed the fangs of its information vampire with the USA Freedom Act. The Freedom Act would seem to vindicate Edward Snowden and many people now consider him a hero while others still consider him a traitor, especially for dropping in on the Kremlin.

As far as the White House was concerned, it’s a free country and there are other channels for Snowden to voice out his concerns:

“If he felt his actions were consistent with civil disobedience, then he should do what those who have taken issue with their own government do: Challenge it, speak out, engage in a constructive act of protest, and — importantly — accept the consequences of his actions. He should come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers — not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime. Right now, he’s running away from the consequences of his actions.”

— United States Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco

Many thought that Mr. Pollard’s life sentence was too harsh. So his tongue slipped to a friend, at least it wasn’t an enemy? Politicians, Israeli officials and American-Israeli activists lobbied for the sentence’s reduction or commutation. The Pollards even tried to rally Jewish Americans for support, but to no avail. It just goes to show that the US doesn’t take too kindly to tattletales. So what secrets exactly did Mr. Pollard pass on? Unlike today, these secrets remain secrets except for something that sounds like dried grapes and like Edward Snowden’s case, has something to do with surveillance. They were apparently very damaging according to former CIA director George tenet, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and thousands of others in the intelligence community. If Alcatraz remained open, Mr. Pollard would have been a guest there, just like The Rock’s John Mason. It’s probably no surprise if John Mason was based on Jonathan Pollard.

It seems clear that Edward Snowden and Julian Assange can look forward to extended vacations once their feet touch US soil. Like Pollard, Snowden’s charges fall under the US Espionage Act where defendants are not allowed to raise a defense. But unlike Mr. Pollard, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange has the internet and social media at their disposal to gain US and possibly worldwide sympathy. US Administration officials would probably not risk a drop in approval ratings and throw Snowden and Assange in Pollard’s vacated cell, or would they?

National League Week 17 Recap: Mets & Nationals Fight For Top Spot

Peter Tebin
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National League Week 17 Recap: Mets & Nationals Fight For Top Spot

new york mets and nations top spot national league mlb week 17 2015The National League continues to be an up and down roller coaster as teams fight for the top three spots. This includes a two team race in the National League East as the New York Mets and Washington Nationals fight for the top spot. Meanwhile out West the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to hold on to first place over the San Francisco Giants.

Starting in the National League East, the Mets who got off to a fast start to open the season now has managed to get to the top of the division after the Nationals clawed themselves back into first place. Much of that success came over the past week as the Mets managed to win seven of ten while the Nationals have managed to win just three of their past ten games.

While those two teams continue to battle in the East, the Dodgers recent four game winning streak positioned them three games up in the National League West. The Dodgers continue to be the team to beat despite losing three straight to end last weekend as well as Tuesday against the A’s.

Since that point the Dodgers have won four straight games including a three game sweep over the weekend against cross-town rivals the Los Angeles Angels.

Now this gives us a chance to take a look around the entire National League including each of the three divisions as we wrap up July and open up August.

National League East: The National League East has now turned into just a two team race for the division. This comes after a disappointing week for an Atlanta Braves team that had the chance to make ground up in the division. Unfortunate the Braves managed to lose six of seven games for the week before picking up back to back wins on Sunday and Monday.

This dropped the Braves to 48-58 on the season while being eight games behind the Mets in the East. Meanwhile the Mets have been red hot winning five of their last seven games including a big three game sweep over the Nationals this past weekend. In that series the Mets pitching limited the Nationals to just five runs in three games.

While the Mets have been hot, the Nationals have struggled after opening the week taking two of three against the Miami Marlins. The Nationals would go on to lose all three to the Mets before a 6-4 loss on Monday to the Diamondbacks. The Nationals struggles continue to be due to the team’s lack of offense including scoring three or fewer runs in six of their past eight games.

Which of these two teams will continue their pace up to take home the East?

National League Central: The only division in the National League that has not seen a second team climb into first place of last in the National League Central. That has been in large part to the St. Louis Cardinals success from the start of the season to this point while playing the most consistent baseball of all the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

The Cardinals are currently 67-38 and the only team in baseball not to hit the 40 loss mark to this point. That being said the Pittsburgh Pirates have clawed their way back into the playoff picture as they currently sit at 61-43. This past week though the Pirates were able to pick up a game in the standings after going 4-2 over the past week.

The Cardinals on the other hand managed to pick up four wins but also managed to lose three games as well. For the Pirates last week after opening up sweeping the Minnesota Twins in a two game matchup the team managed to split a four game series with the Cincinnati Reds.

The Cardinals on the other hand couldn’t get a series win against the Reds to open the week losing two of three getting shut out in back to back games before winning three of their next four games over a struggling Colorado Rockies team. This time next week the Cardinals could have an opportunity to build a commanding lead in the division with six games against the Reds and Milwaukee Brewers who are at the bottom of the division.

Will the Pirates find a way to take home the division or will the Cardinals continue their dominance in the National League West.

National League West: After seeing the San Francisco Giants fight to within a game of the Dodgers last week the success wouldn’t keep up. This has a lot to do with the Dodgers ability to bounce back after struggling. This shown up last week after splitting a two game series with the Oakland A’s, the Dodgers were able to sweep the cross-town rivals the Angels in the battle of Los Angeles.

While the Dodgers managed to take four of five last week the Giants managed to go just 3-4 in there last seven games. After taking two of three to the Brewers to open the week, the Giants struggled in Texas as the Rangers walked away with two of three games before losing game one of a three game series with the Braves on Monday Night.

Along with the top two teams both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks have been red hot of late. The Padres are 8-2 over there past ten games while the Diamondbacks are 7-3 in their last ten. The Padres were able to take two of three against the Mets to open the week before taking two of three against the Marlins and an opening win on Monday against the Brewers. The Padres could continue their success with two games remaining against the Brewers before a three game series with the Philies over the weekend.

The Diamondbacks on the other hand opened the week with a three game sweep over the Seattle Mariners before losing two of three to the Houston Astros. The team did manage to bounce back with a 6-4 win on Monday against the Nationals.

Much like the American League could we see three teams come out of the National League West?

How keeping your inbox tidy can increase productivity

David Silvester
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How keeping your inbox tidy can increase productivity

keeping your inbox tidy clean 2015 techIt is estimated that there are around 200 billion emails sent and received around the world every single day. This figure is the result of various types of communication between friends, family, business users and the marketing emails sent by millions of companies around the world.

Email is something that almost all of us are used to using and we probably take for granted without realising how much we rely on it as a form of communication.

Email is especially important for business users and has become the standard in business communications for both B2B and business to consumer interaction. One of the factors that make email such a great means of communication for business is the fact that it automatically provides a means of auditing communications. There are also many other features that make email a great communication channel including the ability to generate automatic replies, out of office responses and so on.

How to get the most from email

There are some really useful tips that you can implement in order to make email even more effective. Having your email set up correctly can make you much more efficient and these simple tips will help make it easy to get the most from your email system.

Keep your inbox tidy

Keeping your inbox tidy is one of the key steps to getting the most from your email system. Having hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox can make it really hard to keep track of who you have and haven’t replied to. In addition having lots of email in any one folder can greatly decrease the performance of your email program. Outlook for example has a recommended maximum of 5000 emails for any one folder before performance will be effected.

The best way to organise your email account is to create folders underneath your inbox. These folders could be created for each person that you deal with, each company or by any other systematic method. Creating an organised folder system to begin with makes historic email much easier to find. It also makes it very painless to file away new emails as you receive them.

If you keep only emails that you have not yet dealt with in your inbox and then file them away as you respond to or deal with them it is very easy to keep track of who you still need to reply to.

Create automatic rules

Rules are a great asset to any email program. Rules can often be used in webmail and with most common email programs such as Microsoft outlook. Rules can be created to automatically file emails that come in from certain people. Rules can even be used to automatically reply to certain emails as soon as they come in. You can even create rules to delete email from someone that you really don’t want to hear from!

Reduce spam and marketing junk

No one likes spam email and many people don’t even like marketing emails but many people put up with tens or hundreds of spam emails coming in every day and don’t realise that the majority of them can easily be stopped.

Many people think that marketing emails are spam but technically speaking they are legitimate business communications and they can easily be stopped simply by unsubscribing. Any legitimate marketing company will have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email that they send – this is a requirement by law. It can sometimes take a couple of weeks to get through all of the marketing emails that you receive but if you unsubscribe from each one then the amount of “spam” emails that you receive will be greatly decreased. This makes it much easier to respond efficiently to important emails. As for the real spam – the types of emails that don’t have unsubscribe links, they are harder to stop. Adding these emails to the junk mail folder or simply marking them as spam can sometimes help but often will have little effect. Luckily there are some great third party services out there such as mailcleaner.net that will protect your email account against spam for as little as $10/month.

Following the tips in this article can greatly reduce the amount of time that you spend sifting through your inbox every day. This can make not only your email management more productive but can increase the efficiency of many other related tasks.

TOTAL DIVAS 403: Eating Your Heart Out

Julie Wein
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TOTAL DIVAS 403: Eating Your Heart Out

John Cena gets to spread his love and other things around on this week’s episode of “Total Divas,” and Paige and Alicia Fox talked about Paige moving out of Florida. Paige talked about her new boyfriend, Kevin. Daniel Bryan told Nikki she was too selfish to have a baby. Brie jokingly told Daniel and Nikki they make her feel like a third wheel. Natalya took in several homeless cats. TJ argued with Natalya about having them all in the house.

Natalya’s mom and dad came over to help with the cats. Natalya asked her parents to take care of the cats while she and TJ are on the road. Brie told Nikki that Daniel accused her of living like an animal so he put her clothes in the barn on their property.

Paige said Kevin asked her to move in with him. She then had to break the news to Alicia Fox because she and Paige had talked about becoming roommates. Alicia accused Paige of wanting to go play house. Paige then went to Alicia’s housewarming party. At the party she announced that Paige wasn’t moving in with her because she’d rather move in with Kevin. Alicia said Kevin has a lot of the same qualities Paige’s ex-boyfriend had. Paige then accused Alicia of being a bitch. Later on Paige called Alicia out on her behavior at her housewarming party. She then told Alicia she has been a bad friend. Alicia told Paige she couldn’t stand the sound of her voice anymore.

Daniel and Nikki continued to tease each other in the makeup room before a show. Nikki said he was trying to be playful but sometimes he went too far and hurt her feelings.

total divas 403 recap images 2015

Titus O’Neal, Heath Slater and Adam Rose asked TJ and Natalya for a ride somewhere, much to TJ’s chagrin. Nikki complained that she kissed boyfriend John Cena and caught a cold from him the next day. Nikki told Brie she feels like Daniel Bryan hates her and Brie said he was just having fun. Brie called Daniel and asked him to tell Nikki he doesn’t hate her. Brie begged Daniel to tell Nikki he loves her and he said he does and that he would stop teasing her if she was that upset. Afterword, Nikki admitted she had been too sensitive.

Heath Slater took the gang to a strip club his friend owns and TJ got mad at Natalya for it. TJ sat in the car while everyone else was in the club. When they all got back in the car Natalya told TJ she was sorry and she would make it up to him that night.

Natalya got a call from her mom that one of the cats had thrown up on the floor. Then TJ and Natalya argued about it again. TJ said this was affecting his happiness and Natalya’s too.

Naomi talked to Alicia about her argument with Paige and she said both women were wrong. Naomi also said Alicia doesn’t know how to express herself properly. Alicia then complained about having to watch ex-boyfriend Wade Barrett in a match. She also said she thinks she’s a sucker because she thinks still loves him. Paige said that’s why Alicia has been acting crazy lately. Alicia said she was getting tired of seeing happy couples around her and being single.

POWER 208: Ghost Keeping Three Moves Ahead

The Curvy Girl Diva
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POWER 208: Ghost Keeping Three Moves Ahead

power 208 three moves recap images 2015Ghost is having to keep Three Moves Ahead this week on “Power” as Lobos is in New York and ready to get what he came for. The episode opens up with a hit on him, (while he’s in the pool getting head by the way) which makes him nervous. He tells his assistant that New York is not safe anymore. They need to get the money from Ghost and leave.

Tasha and Ghost meet at the house and she tells him that he needs to start keeping her in loop about the plan. “No more blind faith.” He tells her that Angela is not after them, she is trying to get Lobos. This of course serves as an issue as this will cut of their supplier. They hatch a plan that will hopefully take care of all their problems; to kill Lobos and find another supplier. Tasha also asks Ghost if Angela suspects him at all and he assures her that she doesn’t

Speaking of Angela, after hacking Ghost’s phone with the help of a mystery guy, she pays him a visit to understand just how it all works. He breaks it down for her and asks her if she is sure this is what she wants. You know she said yes.

power 208 ghost three moves ahead recap 2015 imagesTommy and Ghost meet and have a little spat about the whole situation and it is becoming clearer that Tommy has an issue with the way Ghost is doing shit. He tells him that Angela is looking for Lobos so they should kill him. Tommy is not feeling it. He asks him where they are going to go for their product and Ghost tells him that this is their chance to leave the drug life and start new. Tommy ain’t hearing it and walks away. Kanan is also back and wants Shawn to give him all the info he can on what Ghost is doing.

Lobos calls Ghost and tells him he wants them to meet not about the money but something else. Of course Angela is able to see the call log and deciphers a hidden message. She later follows Ghost to a clothing store. While on the phone with him she asks where he is and he says Truth, obviously lying.

A little while later, Ghost meets with Lobos who tells him that he wants him to take on more responsibility. Ghost informs him that he cannot run a Mexican drug cartel from NYC. Lobos tells Jamie he wants him to take over for him in the US as the head of all of his dealers. He further tells him that he needs to drop Tommy because he is holding him back.

Kanan and Dre come up with a plan to get rid of Ghost and Tommy for good. He rounds up all the local distributors behind their backs and pretty much gets buy in from them to move without Ghost. He also tells the Serbian that Ghost and his people were the ones who hit them, which further intensifies their issues.

Tasha and Shawn continue to keep their relationship a secret. Kiesha comes over for dinner and she can tell straight out that they have slept together and calls Tasha out about it. She can’t say anything and pretty much tells her friend to fuck off.

Angela and Ghost get it on and afterward she goes into panic mode, begging Jamie to run away with her. She knows that shit is about to go down and there is nothing that she can do to save him.

Later that day, she shows up at the Lobos’ hotel with the rest of her team. They go in while she waits outside (after seeing Jamie and Tommy go into the hotel separately). They arrest Lobos AND Tommy. They also bring out a body covered with a sheet. Angela’s heart stops as she thinks it is Ghost. She quickly goes over to the stretcher, pulls the covers back and low and behold, it’s Lobos’ assistant/lover. Ghost watches everything from a hotel window unbeknownst to Angela. She calls him, he doesn’t answer and she leaves him a stern voice mail message for him to call her immediately.

That night, Shawn confronts his dad asking him if he got Tommy arrested. Kanan denies it and spills the beans that Ghost and Tommy framed him and sent him to prison all those years ago. He guilt’s him into plotting to kill Ghost, since it’s his fault Shawn and his dad didn’t have a father/son relationship.

Angela celebrates with the crew as they give her cheers and thanks for the good work. She, however, cannot take it all in because she is thinking about Ghost.

At the end of the episode, she gets a text from him saying that the business he had to take care of at Truth is done and they can leave tomorrow. I am not sure what this means; if he sent Tommy to jail on purpose and is running away with her or if he is referring to something else.

I tell you one thing, it makes for a suspenseful almost season finale next week.

New York Giants Offseason & 2015 NFL Draft Recap

Chris Maurice
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New York Giants Offseason & 2015 NFL Draft Recap

new york giants offseason nfl recap 2015 imagesAfter finishing 6-10 and missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season after their improbable 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, the New York Giants and head coach Tom Coughlin once again find themselves in hot water. Future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Eli Manning hasn’t been playing like himself, and the team as a whole seems to have taken a huge step back from the one that won two Super Bowls in five seasons.

There were questions as to whether or not Coughlin would return as head coach in 2015 after another disappointing finish, but he was invited back officially in March with a two-year contract extension. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, however, was told to pack his bags not too long after the season ended, and the Giants brought back Steve Spagnuolo who was with them during their first championship run back in 2007.

Despite their sub-.500 finishing this past season, the franchise seemed pretty confident in the current roster, only bringing in a minimal amount of help in free agency. The Giants were smart to franchise tag Jason Pierre-Paul, but that’s the only time fans heard their team’s name on SportsCenter. Bringing in Shane Vereen was a good move, and Kendrick Ellis was a solid nose tackle signing for a defense that needs one; but the G-Men definitely could have made more of an effort to ink some big name players, especially on offense.

Entering the 2015 NFL Draft, the Giants still had a handful of issues to address, especially some extra protection for Manning heading into a contract year that may determine whether or not his future in the NFL is with the New York Giants.

Of course adding a little defensive help never hurts, but the Giants really needed a safety and pass-rusher this season. The team has suffered a good amount of defensive bleeding over the past few seasons with some of their best players finding employment elsewhere.

The Giants top players on the board (Amari Cooper and Brandon Scherff) didn’t fall to them at 9th overall, but they still did fantastic with their early picks. It is a little unfortunate for the Giants though. I mean, could you imagine a receiving core of Cooper, Victor Cruz, and Odell Beckham, Jr.?

The G-Men took Miami offensive tackle Ereck Flowers, arguably the most talented tackle in the 2015 Draft Class, with their No. 9 pick; however, it was their second and third round selections that really stole the show.

The Giants traded up to the first pick in the second round in order to grab Alabama safety Landon Collins who, to the shock of many, dropped out of the first round. This pick deserves an A+. The Giants came into the draft dead set on adding some talent to their secondary, and Collins is a day-one improvement for them.

The Giants filled their final big hole in the third round by taking UCLA defensive end Owa Odighizuwa at 74th overall. Another round, another big steal—Odighizuwa is the latest in a long line of great pass-rushers drafted later than expected by Jerry Reese. The Giants needed to bring in some help for Pierre-Paul, and they did it with a fantastic value pick.

The Giants look as good as the 2011 squad heading into the approaching season. A healthy OBJ and the return of Cruz will do wonders for Eli Manning’s numbers, and hopefully the return of Coach Spagnuolo can bring some life back into this defense. We all know it doesn’t take much more than a Wild Card for Eli and Coughlin to make a crazy Super Bowl run, so this team could easily be considered championship contenders come December.

Unfortunately for Coughlin, having a great draft and looking like a great team on paper doesn’t keep you employed in the NFL. If things don’t turn around in the Big Apple, Coughlin and Manning may be back on the job market come January.

Ryan Reynolds DEADPOOL Trailer Hits In Best Ways

Ricki Reay
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Ryan Reynolds DEADPOOL Trailer Hits In Best Ways


A very brief teaser for the first “Deadpool” trailer first surfaced on the Internet last week, and now the red band trailer has hit.. In the teaser, actor Ryan Reynolds as the mentally unstable mercenary Deadpool reveals that the first full-length trailer for the 2016 movie was released on Tuesday, August 4. You can check out the teaser and the red-band trailer below.

Ryan will be dropping by late night show Conan to reveal the Red Band trailer for his upcoming antihero movie. The trailer has already been shown on the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic Con, however the rest of Marvel fans have been anticipating the release of the trailer to the general public.

In the sneak peak, the narrator introduces Ryan Reynolds as a “5 time Academy Award viewer,” a man “on a EHarmony date with destiny,” who reprises his role once again as Deadpool. Ryan has already taken on the role in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but this time he will be starring as the character.

Even in the brief teaser, it is clear this film will be full of the foul-mouthed hilarity that the character is known for. Fans are anticipating this movie to be a opportunity for redemption for the character, after his disappointing appearance in X-Men.

At this point, it seems Ryan and the film is on track to claim this redemption, as crowds raved over the trailer shown at Comic-Con. Many saying that Ryan may be able to shed the embarrassment of his involvement in The Green Lantern, if Deadpool really is as good as it seems thus far. It seemed Ryan was hoping for the same as he later mentioned, “I’ve only ever done one other proper, actually not proper, superhero movie,” alluding to his role as The Green Lantern which earned itself a low score of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.

deadpool movie teaser trailer 2015 imagesThe trailer for his R-Rated superhero movie earned Ryan a standing ovation, as crowds even chanted “one more time!”

Ryan later commented that he thought it was an “absolute miracle that [Fox studio] let us make Deadpool let alone a Rated-R Deadpool.” I think Ryan is correct, the studio has cut out a lot of Marvel fans with this rating, but at the same time they have created a new take on a superhero movie. It takes what Antman offers fans, which is a not-so-serious take on the action-packed genre, and then amps it up ten-fold by adding profanity, comedy and an over-the-top bold personality that stays faithful to the comic book itself.

Ryan will finally be able to embody the “merc with a mouth” personality that is Deadpool, instead of the censored version that Fox gave audiences in X-Men. Clearly, Fox has been listening to the outcry of fans to see the actual character from the comic book, who is known for being overly self aware and extremely talkative. I think in attempt to make up for “sewing his mouth shut” in X-Men, the studio has let the writers’ imaginations run wild and allow them to exploit every aspect of the character, even the parts that aren’t necessarily for the younger crowds.

Most likely, the film will also feature the unique aspect of Deadpool, which is his ability to “break the fourth wall.” In the Marvel universe, this means his character is aware of its role as a fictional comic-book character and therefore is able to acknowledge the crowd, which adds even more potential for humorous moments in the film.

Ryan, in typical Deadpool fashion, boldly ends his teaser saying that the soon-to-be-released trailer will “blow out your collective sphincters.” Followed by him trying to casually smoke a pipe, but inevitably failing because his face just so happens to be completely covered by a mask.

With the surge of upcoming hero movies, such as X-Men: Apocalypse and Batman V Superman, it is refreshing to see that there will be a new take on the typical Marvel movie. With Ant-Man’s recent success and the many critics praising its use of comedy, I think the premise of Deadpool has great potential to be a hit.

While the Red Band trailer for Deadpool is being released tomorrow (August 4) on Conan, the film itself is not set to debut in theatres until February 12, 2016.
Ryan Reynolds Deadpool Teaser Trailer

ABC’s Of Bachelor in Staged Paradise

Ricki Reay
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ABC’s Of Bachelor in Staged Paradise

bachelor in paradise lacy faddoul and marcus grodd staged wedding 2015 gossipSeems ABC is doing whatever it takes to make people believe that love can truly be found on their reality show “Bachelor in Paradise.” The second season of the show began by showing a couple from the first season of the show, Lacy Faddoul and Marcus Grodd. The two unexpectedly got married in an emotional beachside wedding amongst the current cast.

However, media outlet TMZ has come out reporting that the wedding was completely staged and the ceremony was not legally binding. Sources have come forward claiming that the couple does not have a marriage license in both Mexico (where the wedding took place) and the United States.

The Bachelor franchise has been pushing the legitimacy of their process on fans a lot this past season, as we saw the fake relationship between Britt Nilsson and Brady Toop. However, even with a fake wedding, it’s hard to look past the fact that the success rate of Bachelor relationships is only at 5/34.

It is hard to believe that Grodd and Faddoul ended up getting engaged at the end of last seasons Bachelor in Paradise, considering the premise of the show. The show is a month-long vacation, where numerous of the Bachelor and Bachelorette alum get together and try to pair off in order to make it through each week’s elimination. While doing so, they are also expected to find love.

Watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, it is beyond strange to think that any two people can find their soul-mates after a couple of months of “dating”, and going on at most 3 one-on-one dates together, before meeting each others families. Therefore, it is that much harder to believe that two people can fall in love within the craziness that is Paradise.

To be honest, even if Grodd and Faddoul’s engagement is sincere and they do plan on getting married, it wouldn’t be the first time a Bachelor relationship began with a hopeful engagement but shortly after ended in a plit.

I don’t blame the couple for agreeing to the fake ceremony, as they got a free trip to Mexico for them and their family and probably additional monetary compensation; All they had to do was pretend to cry, kiss one another and then deliver a speech about how true, forever love is completely attainable in Paradise. Thereby, giving hope to the current contestants.

bachelor in paradise staged fake wedding lacy faddoul with marcus grodd 2015Unfortunately, the surprise wedding fooled all the contestants as they wiped away tears, thinking about the possibility that they too could be getting married to someone they meet in Paradise. Former Bachelorette contestant Jared Haibon even said, “seeing that wedding gave me hope. There’s nothing more I’d like than to come back a year from now and get married to a girl I love.”

So ABC might have the contestants fooled and a few devoted “Bachelor Nation” fans, but it seems the majority of the world sees right through these stunts. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases it takes a bit more than a couple of dates with someone while being filmed by cameras to determine if there is any long-term compatibility between them.

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR 710: Orlando Finals

Shane Mclendon
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AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR 710: Orlando Finals

american ninja warrior 710 orlando finals flip rodriguez balls 2015 imagesThe previews to the Orlando Finals episode of “American Ninja Warrior” promised some real showmen. They were a few characters that stood out, but most of the runners were extremely focused on the course instead of adding flair. I’ll take substance over style myself.

30 athletes and only 15 move on to the national finals. Here’s the breakdown from Orlando where the always tough Cannonball Alley took its toll on a massive amount of competitors. Guys lucky enough to make it past that challenge had to face the Invisible Ladder, which makes really fit guys seem like they are chain smoking couch potatoes by the time they reach that last section of the course.

I had no idea that break-dancing was still a thing. Kyle Johnson does this professionally and apparently earns real money. After his short run ended on the Log Roll he may need to schedule another Bill Murray birthday party appearance.

cory cook running american ninja warrior 708Running the ANW obstacle course after a few beers is a bad idea. That has to be the equivalent of the feeling after being sent through the spin cycle of the Rolling Log. Alexio Gomes looked like he might just throw up after the Log. He gathered himself enough to possibly pass a field sobriety test, but not Cannonball Alley. He was the first of many victims of that challenge. The third ball is hard to get hold of unless it’s pulled close to the upper body.

Boxing trainer J.J.Woods had a hell of a run going until Cannonball Alley knocked him back to reality. Amazing how one obstacle can get so many guys. It helps to watch the mistakes of others on sections like Cball Alley.

Matt “The Butcher” Jordan is not a serial killer ninja, rather a meat man from a small town in South Carolina. He finished his run shirtless, hopefully that’s not how he ends his shift at the meat market as he carves up steaks. The Salmon Ladder can’t be underestimated. It sent Jordan packing back to his tiny town in S.C.

new colonel sanders 2015Unfortunately I caught a glimpse of a disturbing KFC commercial as I fast forwarded through the ads. Who the hell is running the ad campaign for this place? You can’t just make the founder into a mascot and plug in a weird looking actor to take his place in TV commercials.

The most shocking thing about this week’s competition was hearing that one competitor, Jo Jo Bynum, cannot swim. He had to be rescued as he fell in the water in a past competition! How the hell do you become a super fit athlete and never take time to learn to swim? Lakes, rivers, and oceans are human eating monsters that kill people daily, but can be defeated by learning a simple skill….swimming. Bynum went fast enough to make it to the next round in Vegas, but is going to have to take swimming lessons before he gets respected as a warrior. #5yearoldsswim

Dr. Ninja, Rich Shoemaker had a nice run going and even blew a kiss as he mounted the Warped Wall, which is still cool but basically a formality for these runners. Cannonball Alley was not what the doctor ordered (only medical reference not used by Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila) as Shoemaker was bounced into the water.

alexio gomes gripping balls on american ninja warrior 2015Two hands seem to be the best way to go on the third ball, but it’s risky to be in the air between those two points also.

Travis Rosen trains with his young son for ANW and that is a common storyline with family and friends. We are all busy so we don’t connect with each other like we should. Challenges like this crazy obstacle course gives families something to conquer together, thus building bonds that are getting harder to create. Rosen conquered the Cannonballs, but the Double Helix finished the 40 year old off. His 6th place finish was impressive and we will see the old guy in Vegas.

Drew Drechsel had a cool odd couple story with his training partner / roommate. One is a health nut while the other eats candy and hates running. Drechsel had a nice run, even though signing his shirt was unnecessary, and nearly got through the Invisible Ladder with tremendous effort but fell short.

adam arnold tire run american ninja warrior orlando finals 2015Walk-on Warrior Adam Arnold was brilliant in his run. The guy quit his job to get this shot and blazed through the course with ease. His run erased his nobody status as he heads to Vegas and a possible fling with co-host Kristine Leahy who looked completely smitten with the underdog!

Mill worker John Alexis Jr. was a favorite going in but disappointed himself and onlookers as he fell off the Tire Swing. It only takes a slip of the fingers to let one of the simpler obstacles knock a runner out of the contest.

Just when I thought we might have a week with no real weirdos, here came Neil Craver with his golden shorts and gold body paint. This artist had the goods though as he ran smoothly through the course. Akbar commented on how this guy “wasn’t afraid of getting hurt,” which I’m not sure is a compliment or helpful in this event. Craver may not have been the strongest guy there, but his grip was something to behold. He should have fell off the Invisible Ladder long before his hands finally failed him. Great run and we will see this dude in Vegas.

alexio gomes gripping balls on american ninja warrior 2015Flip Rodriguez is a great warrior who will be a favorite in the nationals. His run was as slick as any other on this night. He has experience and the right body type after trimming down from last year. He ran out of steam at the top of the Ladder, but put out a tremendous effort that had me sitting on the edge of my chair hoping he would finish the drill!

James McGrath is a cool cat that does not take himself seriously at all. He works whatever job he can find so he can dedicate himself to ninja work full time. He’s a six year vet that isn’t worried about some fake American dream of a 401K and retiring when you are nearly dead. McGrath is living the American Ninja dream. He flew through the first seven obstacles so fast that he had time to relax for a good 30 seconds before climbing on the Invisible Ladder. He took a moment to glance at his crew on the sidelines which is pointless. They can’t help you on the course! You are alone with the challenge. Focus. He barely made it by flinging his legs up on the platform just before his tank was empty, grabbing first place on the night. He bested the second place finisher by more than a minute.

It was a great night of course running in Orlando and next week ANW heads to Pittsburgh for their city finals. I hope it is as good as Orlando and that everyone competing there can swim.

BALLERS 107: Dwayne Johnson Can’t Save This Mess

Shane Mclendon
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0

dwayne johnson bulge on ballers 107 recap 2015Awful. I don’t know how to be any clearer about this week’s episode of “Ballers.” They could have re-ran most any prior episode. That’s how little happened this week. I could summarize the 30 minutes I sat through in about four sentences, but that would be too kind. I hate to dog a show that could be really good, but I am left little choice when they fill up 30 minutes with the same old stuff. They did toss in a storyline about Jason’s mom dating a young dude. But why should I care about that at all? Jason has been an afterthought who is just there to get Vernon a good deal with Dallas. All of a sudden I’m supposed to be concerned with his mother and her romantic dealings?

Spencer continued his role as the good guy, offering to pay the $150K for Vernon to make the pics go away. Vernon appreciates that, but will never learn his lesson as long as other folks bail him out. Spencer telling Vernon to be smart will go down as the most unused advice in history.

ballers 107 ends ricky working out images 2015I had hope for Ricky after last week’s interview with Jay Glazer. I thought the show was morphing the wideout into a likable character. Nope. Same old loud mouthed dick this week. He came unglued over his girlfriend’s leaving him and left her a nasty voice mail. Nobody listens to voice mails Ricky, and more importantly, you caused all this! That Bella is super bad btw.

Julie Greane lets Bella know about Ricky’s fun house. She didn’t have a clue of course. Ricky isn’t the only POS on the show. No I don’t mean Reg this time. I’m talking about Angela wanting a sit down with Spencer along with the check for $150,000. She apparently has unfinished business with Spence and if my guess is right, she wants part of her payment in the form of romance with Spencer. Joe and Spencer storm out of the meeting with Maximo, but they will have to give in after what we saw at the end of the show with their boss seeing the pics from his yacht party.

ballers 107 marlo thomas recap images 2015Sitting through a dinner with your mom and her shady young lover must be pretty terrible. I can relate…I had to sit through it playing on my TV screen. I would have taken a dinner scene with Reggie over that meaningless plot. It seemed like more of a chance to have some stunt casting with Marlo Thomas who should share her plastic surgeon with more Hollywood celebs so they can get it done right. This lady looks great, and I was hoping for her real life Donahue to come out and do some family counseling.

chris birdman andersen in ballers 107 images 2015The hunt for Bella continued as Ricky searched for his lady. He finally found her in a club dancing with Chris ‘Birdman’ Andersen. This Miami Heat player looks like a real life weirdo and seems kind of annoying so his cameo was a perfect fit for Ballers. There was some pushing and shoving between he and Ricky, and even a pathetic verbal dagger from Ricky about his glee over LeBron going back to Cleveland. That’s the best trash talk an NFL wideout can muster?

Well Charles Greane is going to make an NFL comeback. Spencer is all for it since he believes his boy misses the game. In truth, the big guy probably does need the routine of football to keep him busy and out of trouble with his wife. One more slip up and he will find himself a full time bachelor swimming in nasty pools and likely broke in a few years.

Ricky finished up the episode laying up in his fun house bed with a couple of beauties. That’s how you live a life opposite your terrible daddy! Joe and Spencer’s boss is of course outraged with the photos sent to him showing drug use on his boat, so someone is going to have to make amends next week.

I know comparisons between Ballers and Entourage are all too common. I have done it since the show started. The premise is the same. The formula should work. Ballers is just Entourage in the NFL world. It just isn’t resonating with me, nor with most viewers. The show would work if it were focused more on Spencer and Joe. Ricky just does not do it for me. He’s a bonehead womanizer that I just can’t get behind. Vince from Entourage was a womanizer but I didn’t get the vibe that he was a bad guy. I just don’t like Ricky and I don’t see that changing. The heartfelt interview with Glazer should have been the turning point, but he is who he is….a real dick that I can’t get behind.

Joe is the comic relief of the show. He does what Drama and Turtle did for Entourage. He just needs more screen time along with Julie like I have said before.

Spencer is similar to Eric’s role. He has to manage all the moving parts and try to steer his crew in the right direction. Vernon is a paper thin character that I could not care less about Spencer helping rise to the top and of course there is Ricky. Ricky cannot be the focus of the show. I don’t know if it’s the acting or if the character was just poorly constructed. Surely, Denzel Washington‘s son has enough acting DNA to do a good job so maybe it really is just the character.

There are three episodes left so I will do my best to wade through the muck and find something redeeming in the next three weeks. Pray for me.

For those of you that really want to see a true show about the real NFL, check out Playmakers which ran on ESPN back in 2003 and was yanked after the NFL had some issues with it being a little too real for their tastes. This is what Ballers could have been, but so far is failing miserably.

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