interesting things
The president and the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure are both stepping down from their roles, the nation’s largest breast cancer foundation said in announcing a major leadership shakeup Wednesday. The high-profile departures come in the wake of continuing fallout from Komen’s decision earlier this year to briefly end funding for Planned Parenthood.
via Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines http://news.yahoo.com/komen-president-resigning-founder-shifting-roles-010547085.html
If you move an owl’s body around in any direction, its head will remain remarkably still.
See also the eerie stillness of chicken heads. (via stellar)
Tags: video
via kottke.org http://kottke.org/12/08/this-owl-will-not-move-his-head
Japan Tobacco plans to change the name of its top-selling domestic brand, Mild Seven, as part of an effort to boost overseas sales and dislodge Marlboro as the world’s most popular cigarette.
via WSJ.com: What's News US http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577576990588768670.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
I’ve been reading a lot of stuff lately that has been of questionable substance, and I’m calling bullshit on this big Variety scoop today that implies Warner Bros will get Ben Affleck as director of its Justice League film. This is a story I checked out days ago, and didn’t run when Affleck’s reps stated that it was not going to happen with him. Now, it makes sense that Warner Bros would offer Affleck the project. Chris Nolan is top man over there, but after three Batfilms and after producing the Superman reboot Man of Steel, he’s gotten spandex-clad protagonists out of his system. After Nolan, the studio then offers everything else to Harry Potter director David Yates (who is now keen on Tarzan) and Affleck, who has become a major director with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the upcoming Argo. Just because the studio wants Affleck doesn’t mean he will do the movie, and several sources tell me he might take a meeting, but that’s it.
After putting his acting career in the dumper with questionable choices like Gigli, Affleck admirably scripted a second act for himself with his writing and directing skills, and did it by taking on unexpected, thoughtful films. His reps clearly denied he would take this, and why would he want to direct a Justice League movie, unless he himself had figured out a way to make one that would compare favorably with Joss Whedon’s billion dollar Marvel smash The Avengers? I don’t see it. As my old agent/manager pal Michael Black used to say sometimes when I came at him breathlessly with an important but dubious package involving one of his clients, “Don’t dress for that premiere, darling.â€
via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/ben-affleck-on-justice-league-his-camp-says-no/
President Obama and Mitt Romney have found some new common ground -surprisingly – on an issue of gay rights. Obama today joined Romney in publicly disagreeing with a controversial ban on gay members of the Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest and…
via Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines http://news.yahoo.com/president-obama-mitt-romney-agree-gay-boy-scouts-004006433–abc-news-politics.html
Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has filed a defamation lawsuit in New York against the National Jewish Democratic Council and top officials, saying they made libelous statements regarding his political contributions.
via Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines http://news.yahoo.com/wealthy-gop-donor-adelson-files-libel-suit-ny-000857776.html
The Ohio Senator and one of the frontrunners to become Mitt Romney’s running mate told a CNN reporter in Denver Wednesday night that he’ll probably stay in the Senate. Probably. Earlier this week ABC News’s Jon Karl reported that at least two potential Romney VP picks “have been told to stand ready for an announcement any day now that Romney has returned from his foreign trip.” The other being Tim Pawlenty. Perhaps just playing coy, Portman made the happy-where-I-am comment during his five-stop jaunt through the swing state as a Romney surrogate, adding, “I just got elected two years ago.” And Portman said about his current gig in Washington: “I think it’s a very important position right now,” explaining that there are pressing issues facing the nation, including the debt, the deficit, developing energy resources, and health care issues.
“And right now Congress is paralyzed,” Portman continued. “And we’re really in kind of a partisan gridlock. We need leadership, and that’s where I intend to stay. I think I can really help in there.”
Portman has held several fundraisers for the Romney campaign in his home state of Ohio and made sure to give the guy a vote of confidence as he added intrigue for the millions of people with Mitt’s VP app squeezing the shine off their smartphones. “We need Mitt Romney. And I will help him all I can. But I’ll probably stay in the United States Senate.”
Read more posts by Brett Smiley
Filed Under:
rob portman
,mitt romney
,veepstakes
,politics
via Daily Intel http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/portman-stay-in-senate-romney-vp.html
John O. Brennan called allegations by Mitt Romney and other Republicans “irresponsible,†and said there needed to be leeway for legitimate efforts to inform the public.
via NYT > Most Recent Headlines http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/us/politics/counterterrorism-adviser-john-brennan-rebukes-critics-of-leaks.html
@AlecMacGillis: Pretty remarkable: it’s apparently now OK for a candidate to openly object to registering poor people to vote. http://t.co/6vjk9CYD
@davidfrum: Is Obama gay? Or gay-gay? Decoding the Fox News wink. http://t.co/tYbwihFq