Looks like Yandy and her boyish lookin’ boo have a reason to celebrate Yandy Writes Open Letter To Thank Supports During Mendeecees Underage Sex Trial LHHNY’s Yandy Smith has been through plenty of trials and tribulations since her reality TV “career” began. None more embarrassing, or stressful, than the statutory sex trial that her boyfriend Mendeecees Harris has been acquitted of last week . Today, Yandy took to her personal blog to express her heartfelt thanks to those who sent her positive vibrations. To My Supporters, The past few weeks have been some of the hardest days, hours, and minutes of my life. I found myself torn between a man that I know and love, and an accusation that makes me sick to my stomach. I hoped and prayed that someone I loved so dearly could not be guilty of such a disgusting and shameful act… I hoped, but I did NOT assume. I chose to stay silent until I was able to hear both sides of the stories and form my own opinion. I went to court every single day; I listened intently to the case from both sides ready to face whatever truth was revealed. In the end, the truth is Mendeecees Harris may be many things, but he is NOT guilty of the heinous accusations made against him. I won’t get into much detail because at the other side of this is a young woman that regardless of the outcome, remains broken. I pray that she is able to move past this and realize her full potential and I pray that the world is able to accept that in this case justice was served. Hit the flipper to read the rest of Yandy’s soul-baring statement.
Kristen Stewart has signed on for her next movie role. According to Deadline, the actress will come on board The Big Shoe , costarring with such big names as Elizabeth Banks and Jim Sturgess in a film about a shoe designer (Sturgess) whose family wants to turn his designs into mass-produced knock-offs. The family will hire a psychotherapist named Mary Kay (Banks), while Stewart portrays the woman/muse who lures the main character back to work. No production date or release date has been announced yet. Elsewhere, have you voted for Kristen and Robert Pattinson in the Tournament of THG Finals yet?!?
When it rains, it pours for Lance Armstrong, who is under federal investigation for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation, according to reports. The U.S. Attorney’s office is reportedly in the midst of an active criminal investigation of the disgraced, 41-year-old former Tour de France champion. According to an ABC source, who agreed to speak to the network the condition that his name and position were not used regarding the matter: “Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation” at various points in his (falsely) acclaimed career. The revelation marks a contrast with the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, whose own criminal inquiry of Armstrong was/is underway. Birotte’s office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy, only to drop the case in 2012. Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment against Armstrong. and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped. Today, a high level source told ABC News, “Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole.” Armstrong had no immediate comment. In his much publicized interview with Oprah in January, Armstrong admitted he used PEDs and bullied people throughout his illustrious career. One of those he bullied, Betsy Andreu , said she was furious when she head his admission after all these years … she likely isn’t alone there.
Last year, Hip-Hop Wired reported on numerous homicides in Chicago. Closing out the year there was an unspoken hope that the start of 2013 would bring about some form of change, but that has not been the case…. Continue
Looks like free base if you ask us… Vaportini Allows You To Get Drunk By Inhaling Alcohol Vapor Via Huffington Post We all know that it’s disingenuous of shady-looking stores to bill vaporizers as tools for dispersing the scents of herbs and spices. Nobody uses them for aromatherapy. They use them for intoxication. What you may not know, however, is that it’s now possible to get inebriated using a vaporizer without breaking the law in 48 of the 50 States. We’re not talking about some new kind of legal pseudo-mary jane here, either. If you have the right kind of vaporizer, you can actually inhale an intoxicant that’s legal for those over 21 in all 50 states: alcohol. The vaporizer in question is called a Vaportini. According to Time Out Chicago, it was invented by a Chicago woman named Julie Palmer back in 2009, but it went on sale on her website for $34.50 each in December. The Vaportini works similarly to a traditional vaporizer, in that it involves gently heating the substance until it releases intoxicating vapors, which are then inhaled through a straw. In the case of the Vaportini, that substance is liquor and the heat source is a candle. Palmer has been serving “drinks” — we aren’t sure what else to call them — in a Vaportini at Red Kiva, the bar she owns in Chicago, since she first invented the device. Chicagoist blogger Anthony Todd got a taste of the vapor back then and noted that he was “frankly amazed at how well the flavors of the liquor carried over” from liquid to vapor. He also said that the inhaled alcohol affected him quickly, but that his drunkenness (is THAT even an applicable word in this case?) subsided quickly. Sorry, but you’re gonna look lame as hell in the club with your friends huddled over that glass d!$k, trying to get “drunk”. Images via Vaportini
We all know producers can be a bunch of real, ah, prickly people. They kind of have to be, since their job, so long as it’s their actual job and not just a title given to them because they invested a couple of mil into the production, is to make sure everything goes smoothly, the film stays within budget, and the money isn’t wasted on limos when it could be wasted instead on expensive CG effects that look completely dated within 3 years*. As a result, these guys tend to be blunt as hell and not afraid to hurt some mothaf*ckin’ feelings when they rolling deep through the movie hood , as it were. Take Joel Silver , the famously take-no-prisoners producer of the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard films.** Screenwriter Doug Richardson, the guy who Wrote Die Hard 2: Die Harder , and Bad Boys , has shared a story from the making of Die Hard over on his official site , and it’s a most triumphant example of producer due diligence at the expense of expensive furniture you’ll ever hear. Remember the scene in Die Hard when the roof of Nakatomi Plaza explodes, and the penthouse lobby and fountain area is completely trashed? You might have noticed there’s an expensive looking couch in that scene; You might have also noticed that it appears to survive the initial explosion, only to show up seconds later completely aflame. There’s a reason for that — the couch wasn’t just expensive looking , it actually cost $5,000 back in 1988 which in today’s money is about 5 trillion dollars.*** Apparently, the scene drew cheers and high fives from everyone on the crew after they pulled it off during the shoot; except for Silver that is, whose eagle-eyed penny-pinching powers detected something odd, or as Richardson puts it, “possible sabotage.” To set the scene for what happens next, you might want to find a copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and check out Silver’s blustery cameo as the director of the Baby Herman cartoon. Joel called for the entire crew to assemble on the nearly-demolished set, gathering the mob around a gorgeous, leather Roche-Bobois sofa. Estimated value, five thousand dollars. The couch, despite the conflagration that they’d all just witnessed, was in showroom condition. Untouched by destructive fire, explosives, or water. “I wanna know,” Joel shouted, “Who just ruined my shot!” You see, Joel had been around more than a few movie sets. He knew how things worked. He understood how the occasional underhanded crew member operated. In this case, he suspected that one crew member had paid off another crew member on the special effects crew to make certain that the five-thousand-dollar sofa survived the wreckage. “Somebody on this crew,” announced Joel, “Decided to furnish their home at the expense of the movie.” Can you blame them though? I mean, this was the ’80s, and we didn’t have Ikea to make giant couches affordable yet. With that, Joel produced a bottle of lighter fluid, doused the expensive sofa in accelerant, and tossed a match to it. The lesson ended as the couch erupted in flame. The set was cleared again. And camera operators were ordered to “roll film.” Five grand must seem a trivial sum for a movie with a $28-million budget, but damned if you can’t respect someone for making sure every dollar spent on the movie ended up onscreen. I just wonder if he hummed “Ode To Joy” while torching some lowly grip’s living-room dreams. No word from Richardson if similar hijinks happened during the making of Die Hard 2. Probably not, I mean, how many times can the same thing happen to the same guy? * I kid, I kid! ** And a jillion others of course. He helped Walter Hill get The Warriors and Streets of Fire made! *** I’m guessing this is the case based on the way people are freaking out about raising the minimum wage. [ Source: Movies.com ] Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow Ross Lincoln Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Ryan Lanza is already grieving and no doubt floored by the deaths of his brother, Adam Lanza, their mother Nancy and the 26 other people Adam killed yesterday. As if that weren’t enough to process, he was erroneously named as the man responsible for the Connecticut shooting by overzealous media outlets at first. Many TV news outlets and websites were scrambling after reporting Ryan Lanza, 24, was the shooter, even though state and federal officials did not confirm this. It is now believed that Adam Lanza , 20, had an ID of Ryan’s on him, leading to the initial confusion. But for Ryan, it made for an interesting few hours at work. Ryan, 24, has worked at Ernst & Young in New Jersey for four years, following in the footsteps of his father, a former partner in the large accounting firm. Ryan was at work yesterday and not a suspect in the case for even an instant, but news outlets claimed his killed 26 people in Newtown, Conn. Some even splashed his photo on screen. Not surprisingly, he was inundated with posts, texts and calls, after which someone began posting on his Facebook page (presumably Ryan) that he is NOT the killer. Because he was not involved whatsoever, it’s unclear if he realized his brother was involved at the time the media was initially reporting the story. NBC, one of, if not the first to report Ryan’s involvement, later said that an ID bearing his name on Adam’s person made them believe Ryan Lanza was the culprit. Not the case, clearly. In any case, it’s the last thing Ryan and Peter Lanza care about now. They are said to be “in shock” over what happened, much like the rest of the nation and world. Both spoke to the FBI in Hoboken, N.J., but “are not suspects, they have no involvement ,” a source says. Ryan, the source adds, is as clean as they come. The Lanza brothers’ parents are divorced, and Adam lived with mother Nancy in the same town where the massacre – one of the worst in U.S. history – took place. It is believed the guns used were registered in her name. The first Adam Lanza photos were released to the media last night, along with a portrait of a young man whose troubles apparently went unrecognized. “It looks like there’s mental history there,” a law enforcement source says.
Phew, well that’s a relief. Jovan Belcher’s mom ain’t with all the reckless rumors about her grandbaby’s paternity and claims reporters went rogue with a recent report that her son fought his child’s mother because he had doubts about whether he fathered her child. Via NY Daily News reports : Jovan Belcher’s mother angrily denied a report that claimed she told investigators that her son had argued with his girlfriend about the paternity of their baby before he shot her dead and killed himself. “It’s a lie. It’s all a lie,” Cheryl Shepherd told the Daily News on Friday. “That’s my grandbaby and it was wrong for them to put that out there. That is Jovan’s baby and it is my grandbaby.” The New York Post, citing an unnamed law-enforcement source and an anonymous Kansas City Chiefs insider, reported that Shepherd told authorities that the couple had argued over the paternity of 3-month old Zoey on the morning of Dec. 1. That would have been right before the Chiefs linebacker shot Kasandra Perkins, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he shot and killed himself in front of the team’s general manager, head coach and an assistant coach. Shepherd, from West Babylon, L.I., was at Belcher’s Kansas City home when Perkins was shot, and made a desperate 911 call in an attempt to save her. She told The News there was never an argument about the identity of the child’s biological father. “I never said that,” she said. “You are hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Zoey is Jovan’s baby and my grandbaby. I have never had any doubt.” A Kansas City Police Department spokesman said the lead investigator in the case had not uncovered any information that corroborated the report. “We haven’t had anyone give us that information,” Darin Snapp, the KCPD public information officer, told The News. “I talked to the lead detective on the case, and he hasn’t received any information of that nature. It might be true, but none of the witnesses or people we have talked to have provided that information. I can’t confirm that (report).” Snapp added that the case file had been turned over to a prosecutor’s office, and that if any paternity issue surfaced, it would be handled as a civil matter. Shepherd has maintained custody of Zoey, although Perkins’ family — the 22-year-old Kasandra was from Texas — indicated in a statement that it would be involved in the girl’s upbringing. An open-casket wake for Belcher was held in Dix Hills, L.I., on Tuesday, and a funeral was held on Wednesday at the Upper Room Christian World Center. Belcher was a star player at West Babylon High School and attended the University of Maine before playing for the Chiefs. “I’m not going to say anymore, but I want you to put this out there: That baby is Jovan’s baby. That baby is my grandbaby,” Shepherd said. You tell ‘em mama!
