0 Magic Mike Review

Magic Mike is a 2012 movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Cody Horn, Olivia Munn, Joe Manganiello, and Matt Bomer. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 29, 2012.

Adam (Alex Pettyfer) is a slacker who, after losing a football scholarship due to a fight with the coach, moves to Tampa, Florida to live with his sister, Brooke (Cody Horn). He gets a job at a local construction company and meets Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), who also works there as a roof tiler. However, Adam quits on his first day after the supervisor catches him stealing extra sodas. As he's trying to leave his car will not start, so Mike gives him a ride home.

The following day, Adam spots Mike about to enter a popular nightclub. After some begging by Adam, Mike gets him into the club, and Adam soon learns that Mike is a stripper known as "Magic Mike", who works at a club called Xquisite, and that he is at the club to promote the strip show to women. Adam helps Mike in exchange for $100 and is taken backstage at Xquisite, where he meets the manager, Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) and the other dancers - Ken (Matt Bomer), Tarzan (Kevin Nash), Tito (Adam Rodríguez) and Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello).

The club's DJ, drug dealer Tobias (Gabriel Iglesias), provides the dancers with samples of refined GHB to improve their stamina. However, Tarzan ingests too much of the drug, and is unable to perform. Mike convinces Adam to fill in for him, and Adam is a hit with the customers, earning a good amount of money. After a double date with Mike and two of the club's female clients, Adam is convinced to join the Xquisite and Mike nicknames him "The Kid".

Upon returning home, Adam is lectured by Brooke for staying out all night. He introduces her to Mike, and the two seem to be attracted to one another, although Brooke initially acts uninterested. Brooke later attends Adam's first official performance, but becomes embarrassed and leaves.

Mike and Brooke's attraction continues to grow in the following months, despite that Brooke is dating a man who lives in Orlando and Mike has an on-again off-again relationship with a woman named Joanna (Olivia Munn). Adam delves further into the excessive lifestyle of the Xquisite dancers, using drugs and having sexual encounters with many clients. When Dallas announces he has a plan to move their act to Miami, Mike confides in Brooke that he wants to retire from the business in the near future and has been saving money and attempting to get a small business loan to pursue his dream of opening a custom furniture business. Mike later attends a hurricane party at Dallas' house, where the dancers celebrate the move to Miami. After Dallas tells Mike that he will only receive a 7 percent share in the business, instead of the 10 percent he originally promised, Mike becomes uncomfortable and leaves.

At the same hurricane party, Adam becomes part of scheme created by Tobias to sell drugs to Xquisite's clients, and is eventually given a package of ecstasy. A few days later, Mike and Adam perform for a private party at a sorority house, and Adam brings the package of drugs with him. A girl that was given an ecstasy pill by Adam becomes ill, causing a brawl between Adam and the girl's boyfriend. Mike and Adam are forced to flee the scene, with Adam being unable to retrieve the package of pills. He tells Mike it's no big deal because the drugs were only worth $1,000. After cleaning up, the two go to Ybor City, where Mike sees Joanna in a restaurant having dinner with a man and, after confronting her, learns the man is her fiance. Later, at Xquisite, Dallas is infuriated to learn Mike didn't collect payment for the private show before the fight occurred. During the heated discussion, Mike confronts Dallas about the reduced profit sharing, which leads to a falling out between the two men. While they are arguing, Adam admits to Tobias he lost the drugs he was given.

After that night's show at the club is finished, Mike and Adam go to a club. Mike brings home a girl he meets there, and Adam meets up with a party girl named Nora (Riley Keough) whom he originally met at Dallas' party and brings her back to Mike's house, nearly overdosing on Nora's drugs before being found by a worried Brooke the next morning. Brooke angrily confronts Mike and accuses him of failing to protect her brother as he promised and ends her friendship with him. Later on, Tobias' suppliers break into Mike's house looking for Adam, who owes them money for the lost drugs. Realizing Adam lied to him about the drugs' worth, Mike gives them $10,000 - the majority of his savings - to pay Adam's debt. Later that day, Mike goes to Brooke's apartment looking for Adam. She tells him that Adam no longer lives there and she believes he has moved in with Nora. She reveals to him that she thinks it's a mistake for the two of them to go to Miami, with Mike telling her that being a stripper is not who he is, and the reason he is going to Miami is so that he will someday be able to leave that lifestyle entirely, asking Brooke to believe him. Brooke tells Mike that she wonders if he, himself, really believes it.

A short time later, during the dancers' final Tampa performance at Xquisite, Mike decides he's had enough. Pretending he needs to use the restroom, he instead leaves through the club's exit and drives away in his truck, effectively quitting. After deciding Mike isn't coming back, Dallas invites Adam to replace Mike as the frontman of the dancers. After leaving, Mike goes to Brooke's apartment. He tells her that he has quit and isn't going to Miami. He apologizes to her for not protecting Adam better. She then tells Mike that after he left her apartment earlier, Adam called her to tell her that Mike had paid off the drug dealers for him. She also tells him she has broken up with her boyfriend in Orlando. They forgive each other, admit their mutual attraction, and decide to begin a relationship.

Thanks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Mike

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0 Obama seeks to rev up blue-collar electorates with Ohio bus journey

Buoyed by a victory over healthcare reform but stung by poor economic data, President Barack Obama will try to rev up his re-election campaign on Thursday with a bus tour designed to appeal to struggling blue-collar workers in key battleground states.

Obama will spend two days visiting cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, states that could prove critical to his ability to garner the number of electoral votes needed to beat Republican Mitt Romney in the November 6 election.

The president, a Democrat, is launching his first bus tour of the 2012 campaign against a backdrop of mixed poll numbers, fundraising challenges, and outside threats to an economy that could derail his chances of re-election.

An average of polls by RealClearPolitics shows the president ahead of his Republican rival by a tight 2.6 percentage points in Ohio and nationwide.

Obama is polling particularly well with women and Hispanics across the country, but working-class men are up for grabs. The Ohio trip seemed aimed at least in part at shoring up support in that demographic.

"It's a race for blue-collar men," said Democratic strategist Bud Jackson, noting that that group was especially affected by the sluggish economy and especially receptive to negative campaign messaging that the president has failed to turn around the economy.

"The ability of the president to win over blue-collar men is more tied to the reality of the moment: are jobs being created and do people feel more optimistic? For him, the proof is somewhat in the pudding."

This may not be the best week to find that proof.

Data released on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in June for the first time in nearly three years, and monthly jobless figures on Friday are expected to show unemployment unchanged at 8.2 percent.

Obama got a political bump from the Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold his healthcare law, but economic uncertainty in Europe and at home remain a major vulnerability. Romney is pressing his case hard that the president has not done enough to boost the economy.

Obama frequently stresses that the economy is not improving rapidly enough while emphasizing that his policies helped avoid another recession and saved the U.S. auto industry from extinction.

Ohio, one of the biggest prizes of the presidential election, is a prime place to test that message. A campaign official noted that the northwest part of the state and the western part of Pennsylvania were good examples of places where the economy had begun to recover and local employers were starting to hire again.

"The president will talk about his commitment to investing in American workers and creating jobs at home and the fundamental challenge we are facing in this country — the future of the middle class," said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Ohio's unemployment rate is below the national average, falling to 7.3 percent in May, and the Obama campaign notes that it has fallen 3 percentage points since Obama took office.

Part of that drop is thanks to Obama's bailout of the automobile industry, the campaign argues, resulting in investment from U.S. automakers in the greater Toledo area. Obama will make stops there.

"It's an automotive outreach," said Kenneth Sherrill, a political science expert at New York's Hunter College.

"Basically, it's outreach to people who voted for him last time around. What he wants to do is to mobilize them again and to reinforce their loyalty: 'I still care about you, I still like you, and you should like me, too.' It's to try to prevent defections."

Thanks:  http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/us-usa-politics-obama-idINBRE86405820120705

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0 Michelle Obama: “All This Just For a Flag”

The internet was buzzing this week with video of First Lady Michelle Obama apparently showing extreme disrespect to the American flag at a ceremony in honor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. As police and firefighters fold the flag to the sound of marching bagpipers, a skeptical looking Mrs. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, “all this just for a flag.” She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr. Obama nods. 

Just for a flag? If that is what she said it is regrettable. Even with all her years being around those who hold high public office Mrs. Obama does not seem to understand the purpose and importance of ceremonies. They reaffirm the bonds of loyalty and fellowship that cement our national unity. Yes, at one level a flag is just a colorful piece of cloth. But it symbolizes much more. It is the emblem of our land and all its ideals. It has been present at every major event of any importance to the country, battles, celebrations, meetings, and the lunar landings. It is a symbol of unity that transcends party, faction and time. It is something uniquely and explicitly American. Men and women have fought and died for it. Our enemies hate us for it and burn it in the streets. All that should mean something.

Perhaps Mrs. Obama thinks that all the pomp and circumstance she experiences in her daily life has something to do with her, rather than the unofficial office she holds. If so she should disabuse herself of that notion quickly. The official gestures of respect shown to her are the same shown to any First Lady, and if she wasn’t married to the president she would be just another citizen. Ruffles and flourishes are not hers by right, but by coincidence of marriage. Yet this is the same woman who said she had never in her adult life been really proud of America before her husband ran for president, so it is no wonder she might dismiss a flag ceremony as just so much nonsense.

All this just for a flag? Has anyone said, “All this just for Michelle Obama?”

Thanks: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/

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0 Why is Aishwarya Rai not viewing baby Aaradhya to the Public?

Abhishek Bachchan explains why he and Aishwarya Rai are not showing their baby Aaradhya to the media

Everyone is curious to see Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan’s seven-month-old daughter Aaradhya, but the duo have been concealing the little one from the media. Abhishek explains why?

When a blurry snap shot of a baby’s eyes goes viral on the web, one can understand the curiosity surrounding the child. So it could be that Aishwarya Rai has been fervently protecting her baby from the blinding strobelights of the hawkish paparazzi, lest the little one is scared.

Warding off the suggestion that they are being overprotective about Aaradhya, Abhishek recently said that he doesn’t want to “show off” his daughter to the world.

“I am not comfortable with that, I don't need to show her off. She is not an item that she has to be put up to display. She is a child and Aishwarya and I would like her to grow up as normal as possible. I do understand that her parents and grandparents (Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan) are public figures but she is not yet and let her enjoy that. I have grown up in this industry and have been in this position so I understand the curiosity,” Abhishek Bachchan told reporters.

And even as the world has yet to see the first full glimpse of Aaradhya, grandpa Amitabh Bachchan is enjoying playing with the little one.

“Ever realized playing with the 'little one' for just a few minutes could be equivalent to an entire two hour workout in the gym! Child is the father of man,” Big B recently wrote on his blog.

Thanks: http://www.apunkachoice.com/content/article/sid100010237-revealed_why_is_aishwarya_rai_not_showing_baby_aaradhya_to_the_world/

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0 Can Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz?

The last time Iran tried to close the Strait of Hormuz, the trade artery linking the oil-rich Gulf states to the outside world, the Revolutionary Guards had only a few rubber dinghies and primitive mines to achieve their goals. Next time, they will be far better prepared.

For the ayatollahs, the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and the tiny sheikdoms of the Gulf, has become a national obsession in their long-standing confrontation with the West. They know that, for all their long-held nuclear ambitions, they will never be able to match America’s military supremacy. Even if they were to develop the know-how to fit a nuclear warhead to a ballistic missile, the odds are that the weapon would be shot down the moment it left its launch pad by one of the hundreds of anti-missile batteries the US has deployed around the Gulf region in anticipation of just such an eventuality.

So far as the ayatollahs are concerned, a far more effective way of attacking the West would be to place a stranglehold on their economies. As General Sir David Richards, the head of Britain’s Armed Forces, commented at the end of last year, that the biggest threat facing Britain is the parlous state of its economy. And the economies of Britain and the other major developed powers would be thrown into chaos if the Iranians carried out their threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The free and uninterrupted passage of trade through this narrow passage of water is comparable to the importance of the English Channel in sustaining the prosperity of Europe, a status that is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. On average, 14 crude oil tankers pass through the Strait each day carrying an estimated 17 million barrels, more than a third of the world’s seaborne oil shipments. In addition, it has become a vital conduit for tankers carrying liquefied natural gas from states such as Qatar, as the Western economies become ever more dependent on gas for their energy needs.

 At a time when tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme are reaching crisis point, it was almost inevitable that Tehran should start making ominous noises about closing the Strait if the US and its European allies follow through on their threat to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

Oil revenues make up around 80 per cent of Iran’s foreign currency earnings. The rial, Iran’s currency, fell 12 per cent this week after it emerged that all 27 members of the European Union had agreed to implement a complete ban on oil shipments from Iran. Overall, the rial has fallen 40 per cent in value in the past month.

The prospect of increased sanctions has prompted senior Iranian political and military figures to warn that the strait could be closed in retaliation. This week, General Ataollah Salehi, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces, threatened to attack the US Navy if it attempted to move an aircraft carrier into the Gulf.

To many, this is nothing more than the Iranians indulging in yet another tiresome exercise in anti-Western sabre-rattling. With parliamentary elections due in March, the regime is keen to demonstrate its refusal to be intimidated over its nuclear programme. But in view of the Iranian government’s inherent instability, it would be prudent for the West to be on its guard against any attempt by Tehran to disrupt such a strategically important linchpin for global trade.

The Iranians’ military capabilities have come a long way since the mid-1980s, the last time they made any serious attempt to disrupt Gulf shipping. On that occasion, angered by America’s deepening support for Saddam Hussein during the long-running Iran-Iraq war, the Iranians launched random attacks against the shipping of pro-American Gulf states such as Kuwait, forcing the US Navy to intervene on their behalf.

Although the Iranians were no match for the US Fifth Fleet, which operates from Bahrain, they caused enormous disruption – and a sharp increase in international oil prices – by the simple expedient of dropping mines in the main shipping lanes, while the Revolutionary Guards attacked unprotected tankers from their rubber dinghies. Ultimately, the Iranian attempt to close the strait was foiled by Washington’s superior firepower.

 But the ayatollahs vowed that, if ever the need rose again to blockade the Gulf, they would have the means to do so. Consequently the Iranian military has spent much of the past two decades overhauling its capabilities, to the extent that if the order were given to close the Strait of Hormuz it could actually carry out the threat – albeit for a few days.

Iran would be able to deploy anti-ship cruise missiles, submarines, mines and thousands of small watercraft that could be used in “swarm” attacks against shipping if the ayatollahs decided to impose a blockade.

Such is the confidence of senior Iranian commanders in their firepower that Admiral Habibollah Sayari, the head of Iran’s navy, recently boasted that closing the strait would be “as easy as drinking a glass of water”. And to prove the point, this week his forces completed 10 days of war games in which they successfully tested three anti-ship missiles.

But if the Iranian military threat is much more potent than it was in the 1980s, the Pentagon insists that it still would be no match for US firepower. One aircraft carrier is able to deploy more air power than the entire Iranian air force, and it is difficult to argue with the assessment of most military analysts that it would take just a few days to knock out the entire Iranian military effort.

Nor would the American response be confined to the Iranian navy, as any attempt by Iran to use military force to disrupt Gulf shipping would inevitably lead to America and its allies using it as an excuse to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, thereby resolving the nuclear crisis once and for all.

Iran would, therefore, be taking an enormous gamble if it attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is why politicians on both sides of the Atlantic dismiss Tehran’s sabre-rattling as a futile gesture aimed at persuading the West not to impose further sanctions. Nevertheless, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, made plain in Washington yesterday that any attempt to block the strait would be illegal and could be countered with military force. But in a country where normal rational assessments do not apply, there remains the distinct possibility that, having acquired the means to close the strait, the ayatollahs will go ahead with their threat.

Any hint of military confrontation could see oil prices soar by 50 per cent within the space of a few days, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the world’s leading developed economies. Iran, meanwhile, would react to any attack on its nuclear facilities by carrying out its long-standing promise to attack Israel, as well as mobilising the scores of sleeper terrorist cells it has stationed throughout the Arab world.

It would not be long before a confrontation that began as a dispute over access to shipping lanes escalated into a major regional conflict.

Thanks:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8995261/Can-Iran-close-down-the-Strait-of-Hormuz.html

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0 Ted opens pinnacle of the US box office

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's debut film, about a foul-mouthed teddy bear called Ted, has topped the US box office in its opening weekend.

The comedy, starring Mark Wahlberg, took $54.1 million (£35m), according to studio estimates.

Director Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike, featuring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey as male-strippers, was in second with $39.2m (£25m).

Pixar's Scottish fairy tale Brave fell two places to number three.

Ted, in which a childhood toy comes to life and proves to be less-than cuddly, has an "R" rating in the US, meaning children under the age of 17 cannot see the film unless accompanied by an adult.

Only two R-rated movies have performed better in their opening weekend - and both were sequels: Last year's Hangover 2 ($85.9m) and 2010's Sex and the City 2 ($57m).

Writer-director MacFarlane also provides the voice of the drug-taking, profanity-prone bear while actress Mila Kunis, who plays Meg Griffin in Family Guy, plays Wahlberg's girlfriend.

Magic Mike, inspired by star Tatum's own early career as a male stripper, also performed better than expected.

A 73% female audience watched Tatum's character Mike take newcomer The Kid, played by British actor Alex Pettyfer, under his wing.

Tyler Perry's new release Madea's Witness Protection was in fourth, with $26.4m (£17m), while Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted fell to number five with $11.8m (£7.5m).

Internationally, two big franchises got a head-start on their US openings, with animated sequel Ice Age: Continental Drift opening to $78m (£50m) and The Amazing Spider-Man in second with $50.2m (£32m).

Thanks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18670838

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0 Romney blames Obama of 'vicious lies' on Bain Capital

Romney blames Obama of 'vicious lies' on Bain Capital

“So shame on you, Barack Obama!” cries out the voice in the latest TV ad from the Romney campaign, airing only in Ohio. Yet the voice belongs not to presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, but to an unlikely figure to appear in any Romney commercial: Hillary Clinton.

The footage comes from the bitterly contested Democratic primary campaign of 2008, when then-Sen. Clinton – now President Obama’s loyal and steadfast secretary of state – complained about the Illinois insurgent spending “millions of dollars perpetuating falsehoods.”

“But that’s Barack Obama,” the ad’s narrator intones, before adding that the man who went on to win the presidency first attacked Clinton with “vicious lies.” 

The ad also cites a Washington Post column from last month that denounced a particular Obama attack ad against Romney as “misleading, unfair, and untrue.”

Tough stuff – and the latest attempt by the Romney campaign to demonstrate that it intends to meet head-on the barrage of attacks it has faced on the candidate’s private-equity career at Bain Capital. The Obama ad denounced in the Post column was one that had suggested Romney outsourced American jobs overseas during his 15-year career at the Boston-based financial firm.

Those Obama ads in turn relied on a Washington Post news article, published June 21, that reported that six companies that Bain invested in during Romney’s tenure at the firm were “pioneers” in the emerging trend of outsourcing U.S. jobs to foreign countries like India and China.

The Romney campaign collected statements from the six companies’ current and former CEOs, all of whom maintained that they had in fact added U.S. jobs during their respective periods of affiliation with Romney and Bain. They also said their reliance of foreign call centers and packaging plants was solely to support existing foreign sales of U.S. exports. After a meeting with the Post’s editorial board, in which the campaign demanded a retraction of the June 21 article, the paper announced it was standing by its reporting.

Then the independent group FactCheck.org weighed in on the Obama ads, declaring “we found no evidence to support the claim that Romney -- while he was still running Bain Capital -- shipped American jobs overseas."

An Obama-Biden campaign spokesman told Fox News that FactCheck.org “did get this one wrong.”  Interviewed at the campaign’s headquarters in Chicago, campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt discounted the testimony from the current and former CEOs, and instead urged a reporter inquiring about them to talk to the workers who lost their jobs when these businesses shut down U.S.-based plants.

LaBolt also sought to cast doubt on Romney’s longstanding career narrative, which holds that he left Bain Capital in February 1999 to run the Salt Lake City Olympics.

“What the Romney campaign and others have tried to do is to extract Mitt Romney from his tenure at Bain,” LaBolt said. “Some of these jobs were shipped overseas after 1999, but the fact is that Romney remained CEO and sole owner of Bain Capital through 2001.”

In support of that claim, Obama-Biden campaign aides uploaded state and federal disclosure forms that they said are “unambiguous” in showing that Romney continued to list Bain as his employer in 2001. A lengthy rebuttal sent to FactCheck.org by Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, cited dozens of forms from 2001 and 2002 that listed Romney as the sole owner of Bain or its various subsidiaries and funds.

Contacted by Fox News and asked about the documents, a source at Bain Capital insisted that Romney never returned to the firm or did any substantive work for it, or for its “portfolio companies,” after February 1999.  Some of the 2001 documents cited in Cutter’s letter clearly showed Romney listing his occupation with Bain as “former executive” and explaining his role in the firm and its offshoots as “passive…with no management capacity.”

Bill Burton, the former Obama White House aide who now runs Priorities USA, a liberal super PAC that is spending $10 million on ads attacking Romney for his tenure at Bain, claimed the effort is materially benefiting the president’s re-election prospects.

“They're clearly starting to work,” Burton told MSNBC on Monday. “If you look at any of the numbers out there, any public polling or focus groups, they're clearly working.  Our fundraising has picked up considerably, and the spending we are doing is having an impact.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/02/romney-accuses-obama-vicious-lies-on-bain-capital/#ixzz1zX0vN6yD

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