A month before making literal waves in a London swimming pool at the 2012 Olympics, Australian Stephanie Rice is making figurative ones for a photo she recently posted on Twitter. The three-time gold medalist snapped a shot of herself in a bikini this week, showing off both her body and a birthday gift from designer Ellie Gonsalves. Simple and harmless, right? Not to some of Rice’s followers. “i feel that stephanie rice posting a photo of herself in swimwear has brought disgrace to the australian swim team and she should be dropped,” wrote one Twitter user, presumably taking issue with Rice for… okay, we have no idea. Showing more skin here than she does while donning official Olympic attire? The nerve! Rice is no stranger to somewhat racy Twitter photos, as evidenced by this picture of herself as a police officer . She was also once rumored to be dating Michael Phelps , which would be less scandalous than perfectly understandable from both points of view. So, in conclusion: Team Stephanie Rice in a Bikini!
Ali Fedotowsky, who starred on The Bachelorette two summers ago, recently offered her views on who Emily Maynard should pick and as her lifelong mate. “Okay, I keep going back and forth. Like, literally, I’ve changed my mind 500 times,” Ali said of Emily’s remaining aspiring husbands, of whom four remain. While Ali first thought it was either Jef Holm or Arie Luyendyk, Jr., she now says she’s ruled out Arie and doesn’t think Jef is ready to be Ricki’s stepfather. She likens Emily and Jef to herself and Chris Lambton, the runner-up to Roberto Martinez (who she broke up with after an 18 month-engagement) in 2010. “This is a confusing season! She keeps saying that her relationship with Jef is slow to develop – that’s what I always used to say about Chris,” says Ali . “I mean, Chris is a great guy, such an awesome guy. But that’s like code on The Bachelorette for ‘we’re really just not romantically into each other.’” Which brings her to the pick: “If I had to guess right now, I’m going back to Sean Lowe ,” the insurance salesman from Texas who moonlights as a male model, she finally answered. The Bachelorette spoilers offer some hints as to who makes it past the hometown dates, but as far as her final rose recipient, all bets are still off! Whom do you think Emily should end up with?
Following a private battle with acute myeloid leukemia, Nora Ephron passed away at the age of 71 yesterday. Having been responsible for some of the most beloved romantic comedies of all time ( Sleepless in Seattle , When Harry Met Sally ), Ephron was known and admired by a number of Hollywood’s most respected stars, many of whom have released statements in regard to the sad news. Billy Crystal : “I am very sad to learn of Nora’s passing. She was a brilliant writer and humorist. Being her Harry to Meg’s Sally will always have a special place in my heart. I was very lucky to get to say her words.” Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson : “Nora Ephron was a journalist/artist who knew what was important to know; how things really worked, what was worthwhile, who was fascinating and why… At a dinner table and on a film set she lifted us all with wisdom and wit mixed with love for us and love for life. Rita and I are so very sad to lose our friend who brought so much joy to all who were lucky enough to know her.” Nicole Kidman : “She was so smart, warm and funny. I am so grateful that she was my friend and we had the opportunity to work together. My thoughts and love are with her family at this time. I will never forget the dinners, games and laughter we all share.”
Fifty Shades of Grey is a must-read for women everywhere. Apparently, the EL James novel is also making S&M and bondage gear a must-buy for some. The buzzed-about book has left unassuming New York women so feverish, they’ve been snapping up the tools and toys that the hunky Christian Grey favors. They’re even slipping into stores and asking for bondage material – the type of natural filament rope used in the trilogy – the New York Post reports. “Oh, we’ve been selling rope to women,” says Clifton Kahn, owner of Lexington Hardware on the Upper East Side. “I’d say tenfold more rope than usual.” “The women are definitely buying, and it’s still continuing.” Apparently tying someone up isn’t expensive. The store’s most popular item is soft-cotton “clothes line” rope, which retails at a bargain $5 for 50 feet. Tarzian Hardware in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has also seen the trend. “It’s usually men buying rope, but women, they’ve been coming in the last few months,” the manager told the newspaper. “I’ve actually read the book. So when the women began buying rope, it was kind of like, ‘Hmmm, that does seem unusual.’” While New Yorkers act out their S&M fantasies, casting the movie roles of Christian and Anastasia has become an online fantasy game of sorts this spring. Some stars, such as Ian Somerhalder , have expressed interest in the film themselves. Who can you see as the two leads? Vote in our polls below! Who should play Christian? Who should play Ana?
We’re partying like it’s 1999- or whatever year you graduated high school- this week on DVD and Blu-ray. Kicking things off is the re-make of the undercover comedy 21 Jump Street (2012), starring Channing Tatum , Jonah Hill, and the left breast of brunette Melissa Cordero . Then, you’ll want to be front and center as a busload of band geeks learns to loosen up (their bikini tops, that is) in the throwback comedy Bikini Spring Break (2012). Perhaps they could take lessons from nudity legend Laura Gemser and her SKINfamous snake dance in 1976’s Black Cobra ? It’s nude on DVD, so no excuses, ladies! Also nude on Blu-ray, get laid as the British gangster drama Best Laid Plans (2012) hits DVD and Blu-ray with the massive melons of Emma Stansfield . More after the jump!
Kellan Lutz is taking his gorgeous face and ripped body to the small screen. Sort of. The Twilight Saga will lend his voice to an upcoming episode of Family Guy , Entertainment Weekly confirms, coming on board this fall as a high school football player who takes Meg out on a date, but… … “he’s interested in another member of the Griffin family – and it’s not one of the women,” teases executive producer Mark Hentemann. Hentemann also joked that Lutz’s recording session went well and the actor is “very handsome.” Okay, that second part was likely not a joke. The star’s episode will air some time this spring and you can visit our friends at TV Fanatic in the meantime for all the best Family Guy quotes .
It’s looking more and more likely as if Ann Curry is on her way out of Today . According to The New York Times , the co-host – who took over for Meredith Viera about a year ago – would essentially be the scapegoat for the long-running NBC program, which was topped in the ratings by ABC’s Good Morning Americ a for the first time in years this spring. It’s unclear if Curry would be removed completely from the show or moved to a different role, but newspaper sources say discussions are ongoing and a decision is expected to be reached prior to NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics in late July. If the ax does come down on Curry, Savannah Guthrie is expected to replace her. Matt Lauer, meanwhile, recently renewed his contract and won’t be going anywhere for awhile. [Photo: WENN.com]
Experts say that Osbourne has a promising range of treatment options. By Gil Kaufman Jack Osbourne Photo: A few tell-tale signs are what clued Jack Osbourne into the fact that something was seriously wrong with his health. The son of hard rock icon Ozzy and “America’s Got Talent” judge Sharon Osbourne revealed earlier this week that he has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier this spring. According to the “Today Show,” Osbourne, 26, decided to visit a doctor when he noticed tingling in his extremities and suffered a 60 percent loss of vision in one eye. MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system and which currently has no cure, but is very treatable. It causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord resulting in the loss of myelin, the insulation around nerves. Among the symptoms are: loss of vision, numbness, tingling, excessive fatigue and weakness. The effects can range from mild to debilitating, but experts said that with the right mix of medications and doctors Osbourne has a good chance at leading a fulfilling life. “The prognosis now is better than it’s ever been,” neurologist Dr. David Snyder, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at New York Hospital Queens told the morning show. “We have treatments we just never had before.” The disease can affect any organ system in the body, according to NBC chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman. “Every nerve has insulation around it and MS attacks that insulation so that the electrical impulses from the brain to tips of fingers and toes don’t work as well,” she said. The key for Osbourne is keeping in tune with any changes to his body and getting on the right mix of medicines to help slow down the progress of flare-ups. “Now somebody on medication, treated early, we’re very hopefully we’re interrupting the natural course of the disease,” Snyder said. “Patients are leading full lives, with families, jobs and travel.” While some people have not responded well to treatments, he said a large number do and lead full, if slightly modified, lives that may require a cane or other precautions. Around 400,000 people in the U.S. have MS, with 200 new cases diagnosed each week. Like other autoimmune diseases, MS affects more women than men, affecting females two to three times more than men. Osbourne is right in peak age range in which most cases are diagnosed (late teens, 20s and 30s), which is why his revelation is not a surprise to experts. Snyder said that given Osbourne’s age, his prognosis is relatively bright.
Kimye have put their respective L.A. homes on the market, fueling rumors the couple plan to live together. By Jocelyn Vena Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Photo: Eric Ryan/ Getty Images Are Kimye ready to take the next step? Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have each put their Los Angeles-area residences up for sale as they seemingly make plans to move in together. According to TMZ , both stars are selling their homes as “pocket listings,” meaning all parties agree the listings will remain private and won’t be advertised. Kardashian is reportedly asking $5 million for her Beverly Hills residence; no word on how much Yeezy wants for his house. But the couple apparently want to rent in a gated area where they can have privacy. An Usmagazine.com source reported similar news on Thursday (May 31): “Kim is selling her home privately. Kanye and Kim are thinking about moving in together.” Kardashian and West began dating formally earlier this spring after being “friends for years,” a magazine source said. The pair were spotted at the Cannes Film Festival last week, where West arrived to premiere his film “Cruel Summer.” While TMZ and Usmagazine.com insist they may soon move in together, yet another source told
This is a powerful story, and if this kid can achieve what he has, there isn’t anything that you can’t achieve. Homeless High School Student David Boone Accepted To Harvard David Boone had a system. There wasn’t much the then-15-year-old could do about the hookers or drug deals around him when he slept in Artha Woods Park. And the spectator’s bench at the park’s baseball diamond wasn’t much of a bed. But the aspiring engineer, now 18 and headed to Harvard University in the fall, had no regular home. Though friends, relatives and school employees often put him up, there were nights when David had no place to go, other than the park off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. So he says he made the best of those nights on the wooden bench. His book bag became his pillow, stuffed with textbooks first — for height, he says — and papers on top for padding. In the morning, David would duck into his friend Eric’s house after Eric’s parents left early for work so he could shower and dress before heading to class at Cleveland’s specialized MC2STEM High School. David expects to graduate from there next month as salutatorian of the new school’s first graduating class. “I’d do my homework in a rapid station, usually Tower City since they have heat, and I’d stay wherever I could find,” he said. David says that giving up would have left him stuck in a dead-end life, so it was never an option. “I didn’t know what the results of not giving up were going to be, but it was better than nothing and having no advantages,” he said. “I wanted to be in a position to have options to do what I want to do.” David was born to a young mother, who divorced his father when David was a little boy. When David was a student at Sunbeam Elementary, medical problems put him in the hospital regularly, said Mary Solomon-Gatson, the school’s former nurse. Even then, she said, he impressed her as a bright child. He was one of the school’s few students to pass the state’s achievement tests, she said, despite missing classes constantly. Even at that school, which covers kindergarten through eighth grade, David said he was pushed to join gangs. He refused, fueling tension with gang members. Once, he says, they tried to jump him. Because his older sister dated a member of a rival gang, he said, the situation was that much worse. “There was a lot of pressure for me to join. That was the life they lived, so it was the only life to live and they thought if I wasn’t with them, I was against them,” David said. In the summer after eighth grade, he said, gang members shot at his family’s Eddy Road home. He attributes that mostly to the issue of his sister’s boyfriend, but his whole family was affected. No one was injured, but the family split up. His mother went to stay with a boyfriend, he said. His three sisters went to stay with friends and he went to his friend Eric’s house — for a while. Though Eric’s family took him in for a short time, he said, he couldn’t stay there permanently. “We’ve been through a lot as a family,” said his mom, Moneeke Davis. “There’s been a lot of challenges and adversity.” But she said David was determined to build a better life. “He’s so focused, so driven and so humble,” Davis said, adding that she is grateful for the people “the Lord put in [David’s] path” to help him. Sometimes he stayed with Solomon-Gatson, sometimes with Eric, sometimes with other friends and relatives, and sometimes in the park. “It’s a lot to take someone in, particularly a teenage boy,” David said. “I was kind of upset that no one would, but I was never upset at any one person.” Though the park baseball diamond was mostly isolated from crime in other parts of the park, he soon decided it wasn’t safe to sleep there. He says he developed a new plan: When he wasn’t in school, he would sleep in parks during the day and roam and study at night, so he’d be awake and alert to trouble. “If you sleep in the daytime in the park, people don’t bother you,” he said. “You’re just taking a nap. It’s acceptable.” In between studying at Tower City, he’d work at a now-closed boutique, he said, to buy food. Before leaving Sunbeam, David had applied to several district specialty high schools, including the John Hay School of Science and Medicine. But he was intrigued after attending a meeting at the Cleveland Public Library about the newly created MC2STEM High School, which teaches science, technology, engineering and math with a hands-on, projects-based program. David likes tinkering and learns best by pulling things apart to see how they work. When he was 6, he says, he took apart the family television set and put it back together in working order. His favorite part of school, pre-high school, was an eighth-grade project about solar electricity. That let him dive in and make plans for a combined solar and wind farm that he was excited about. MC2STEM caught his eye because it would allow him to work on projects at the Great Lakes Science Center, with General Electric at the Nela Park campus and with companies across the region. With a nudge from Solomon-Gatson, he applied and was accepted. Instantly, he was hooked by an early project on alternative energy. That covered material he had worked on for his solar and wind farm project and had him working on it with GE engineers. MC2STEM also pushed him — hard. “They don’t accept mediocrity,” he said. The school requires students to master a subject before moving on to the next. In the first two years, students receive an A in a class or an incomplete and keep taking the class until they earn an A. MC2STEM also has longer school days and a year-round schedule with classes most of the summer. Through the school, David has worked at Lockheed Martin and Rockwell Automation and landed a spot last year at the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like many students at MC2STEM, he took classes at Cleveland State University this spring, in subjects such as differential equations, calculus-based physics and an introduction to computer science. MC2STEM Principal Jeff McClellan praised David’s appetite for learning and his ability to connect with people who can help him learn what he needs. “If you tell him that ‘a person can help you with your calculus, make the call,’ he’ll do it,” McClellan said. “He was getting up at 5 a.m. and coming in early to get caught up on his work.” Over time, McClellan learned one of the other reasons that David was coming in early was because he was bouncing from place to place to place. So McClellan and his wife took in David. He lived with them for more than a year — parts of 10th and 11th grade. “My wife and I talked it over and said that we can’t do everything for everybody,” McClellan said. “But we could help him. It was just the right thing to do. He needed somewhere to go.” David is now living with his friend Eric again but said he was thankful to McClellan for the home when he needed one and for continuing to offer help after he left. “There’s nothing I can’t call him for,” David said. Now the school and the district can brag about David’s success. He turned down places like Yale and Princeton to go to Harvard, where he will study engineering and computer science. He also landed a Gates Millennium Scholarship, which will cover all of his college costs not covered by other aid. “It wasn’t all easy,” David said. “It wasn’t all fun and games. It was a lot of hard work and I just made it happen.” What an amazing story. It is kind of hard to understand why his mother or one of his sisters wasn’t able to care for him — but times have been hard and when they are that hard people really struggle to take care of themselves, so much so that they can’t take care of others. Source
