Morihei Ueshiba"A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind."
The end of the world: R.E.M. calling it quits
NEW YORK (AP) — R.I.P. to R.E.M.
The alternative rock group that shook up the music world with its experimental, edgy sound and then earned multiplatinum success and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced on its website Wednesday that it has "decided to call it a day as a band.
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‘The Help’ puts in overtime at No. 1 with $19 million over long Labor Day weekend
LOS ANGELES — “The Help” stayed on the job over Labor Day, finishing as the No. 1 film for the third-straight weekend.
The acclaimed drama about Southern black maids speaking out during the civil-rights movement took in $19 million over the long holiday weekend, according to studio estimates Monday.
That raised the film’s domestic total to $123.4 million. “The Help” also has begun rolling out overseas, pulling in $1.7 million in its first international market, Australia.
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‘In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir’ by Dick Cheney
If this book were read by an intelligent person who spent the last 10 years on, say, Mars, she would have no idea that Dick Cheney was the vice president in one of the most hapless American administrations of modern times. There are hints, to be sure, that things did not always go swimmingly under George W. Bush and Cheney, but these are surrounded by triumphalist accounts of events that many readers — and future historians — are unlikely to consider triumphs.
This is not surprising. The genre of statesman’s memoir rarely produces self-criticism, or even much candor. Apparently, the point is to redeem your large advance from the publisher with a brisk, self-complimenting account of your life and times, with emphasis on your moment in the limelight. There should, of course, be a dash of “news” and a few frank passages about your true feelings — about others, not yourself.
View Entire Story » | 0 CommentsCity Living Can Harm Your Mental State: Study
As compared to rural dwellers, urbanites are more stressed and more likely to develop schizophrenia. Does living in a city hurt your brain?
Humans are an urban species. At least 3.5 billion of us, more than 50% of the global population, lives in cities. That will hit 70% by 2050. Yet our early evolution never prepared us for living cheek-to-jowl in vast concrete settlements. This is precisely the way most of us will spend the 21st century, so the effect this has on our brains is important.
A study published in the journal Nature puts some hard data behind the question by testing how city living affects the way we cope with stress. Researchers scanned the brains of 32 healthy German volunteers from both rural areas and cities during a series of daunting math problems reinforced with negative comments. As it turns out, their brains behaved quite differently. Researchers observed higher activity in the amygdala--the brain region that assesses threats and memories of emotional events--among city dwellers compared to those living in towns or rural areas who exhibited progressively less activity. For those raised in cities, regardless of where they lived now, other areas of the brain regulating the amygdala also lit up (unlike the rural subjects) suggesting that conditioning can persist throughout life. No other brain structures showed significant deviations among the groups.
So is city living bad for you? It sure seems that way. The study speculates that "social defeat and chronic social stress" in cities affects the brain, but it does not try to answer so broad a question. As billions can attest, plenty of benefits go with moving to a big city. Urbanites are, on average, wealthier, eat healthier food, and receive better sanitation and health care compared to their countryside counterparts (although those benefits do not accrue proportionately to the urban poor). But not all is a walk in the (lovely city) park. We also know that living in cities increases the risk of developing anxiety and mood disorders--21% and 39% respectively according to a study published by Dutch researchers last year--as well as doubles the incidence of schizophrenia for those born and raised in urban areas.
But we're only beginning to understand these psychological drawbacks. This new study presents the first compelling data to investigate about how urban environments rewire our brains for stress. As it turns out, New Yorkers may not be quite as tough as they thought. "The mind is a limited machine," Marc Berman, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, told the Boston Globe during an interview about research into the cognitive drawbacks of urban living. "And we're beginning to understand the different ways that a city can exceed those limitations."
[Image: Flickr user Esther Gibbons]
Reach Michael J. Coren via Twitter or email.
'Antiques Roadshow' event in Tulsa gets high appraisal
Thousands of people visited Tulsa on Saturday to have their most prized possessions appraised in connection with the long-running PBS series 'Antiques Roadshow.'
View Entire Story » | 0 CommentsMichael Crichton posthumous novel to be published
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Late author Michael Crichton, whose novels have been adapted into movies such as "Jurassic Park," will have a new posthumous novel "Micro" published on November 22, publisher HarperCollins said on Monday.
HBO’s ‘Too Big to Fail,’ and too soon to find catharsis in our economic meltdown
HBO Films — the Emmy-collecting, moviemaking arm of the cable network — seems to prefer projects that all sound like costume dramas for news junkies who mostly consume media with “New York” in the title: The New Yorker, New York magazine and, of course, the great gray lady herself, where one imagines an HBO movie deal is probably as good as any Pulitzer.
In that spirit, “Too Big to Fail” is the HBO movie version of New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin’s essential book of the same name, a play-by-play retelling of the 2008 economic meltdown. It premieres Monday night to the expectation that, when the right talents are convened, something as complicated as the mortgage bust, the Lehman Brothers collapse and the emergency Troubled Asset Relief Program can be respun into grippingly dramatic gold.
View Entire Story » | 0 CommentsJim Lehrer to step down from daily broadcast at ‘NewsHour’
Jim Lehrer, who has anchored PBS’s “NewsHour” program for 36 years, said Thursday morning that he is stepping down from the daily broadcast, ending the longest run of a national anchorman.
Lehrer, 76, said he would leave as anchor on June 6 but would continue to appear on Fridays to moderate the show’s weekly news analysis segment featuring a panel of journalists. He will also continue to be involved with the program’s producer, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, based in Arlington.
In addition to his familiar role on PBS, the widely respected Lehrer may be best known to American audiences as the moderator of presidential debates. He has handled that job 11 times, including one of the debates between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.
View Entire Story » | 0 Comments'Thor' Lights Up the Box Office
After last week's record-breaking numbers from 'Fast Five,' there's a new champ in town - 'Thor.'
The Norse god of thunder pulled in $66 million over the weekend, hammering past the $32.5 million accumulated by 'Fast Five,' which made over $83 million during its domestic debut last weekend.
'Jumping the Broom' came in third with $13.7 million and 'Something Borrowed' followed close behind with $13.1 million.
'Book of Mormon' Leads Tony Nominations
Broadway season winds down with a slate of plays and musicals jockeying for Tony nominations.
‘The Office’ without Steve Carell
For six seasons of NBC's hit "The Office," Steve Carell has stood in, symbolically, for everyone's stupid manager/team leader/division head -- even in an economy where millions of people ceased having a boss at all. At least they still had Michael.
1 in 4 children in US raised by a single parent
MIAMI (AP) — One in four children in the United States is being raised by a single parent — a percentage that has been on the rise and is higher than other developed countries, according to a report released Wednesday.
Of the 27 industrialized countries studied by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. had 25.8 percent of children being raised by a single parent, compared with an average of 14.9 percent across the other countries.
Ireland was second (24.3 percent), followed by New Zealand (23.7 percent).
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Coney Island gets first new roller coasters in 80 years
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eight decades were opened on Wednesday as part of efforts to reverse the decline of New York City's world-famous theme park.
Book Reveals Out-of-Control Government Spending and Tax Laws Spur Huge Underground Economy
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The United States has an “underground economy” – in which no taxes are paid – that already amounts to more than $1 trillion a year and is growing fast, according to a new book, which notes that this underground economy is now greater than the total economies of all but fifteen other countries. Author Peter Rush, a public affairs expert, former journalist and small business owner, places the blame for this mammoth tax evasion squarely on the United States Congress and
As China Ages, Birthrate Policy May Prove Difficult to Reverse
View Entire Story » | 0 CommentsReading ‘The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China’
Title: The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China: Including The Art of War
'Rango' has best opening of the year
share: diggfacebooktwitter LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Rango" has roped in the biggest opening weekend gross of the year thus far with a final total of $38.1 million in 3,900 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The Paramount film, featuring Johnny Depp as the voice of a Wild West chameleon sheriff, is the first animated feature from Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects studio founded by George Lucas in 1975. Universal's mind-bending thriller "The Adjustment Bureau," starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, earned $21.2 in 2,800 domestic locations. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: "The Adjustment Bureau," Universal, $21,157,730, 2,840 locations, $7,450 average, $21,157,730, one week. "Beastly," CBS Films, $9,851,102, 1,952 locations, $5,047 average, $9,851,102, one week. Never Say Never, Paramount, $4,277,128, 2,254 locations, $1,898 average, $68,828,539, four weeks. "Take Me Home Tonight," Relativity Media, $3,464,679, 2,003 locations, $1,730 average, $3,464,679, one week. "True Grit," Paramount, $975,388, 725 locations, $1,345 average, $168,681,088, 11 weeks.
View Entire Story » | 0 CommentsDepp's 'Rango' corrals $38M opening at box office
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Rango" has lassoed the top spot at the box office.
The animated Paramount film featuring Johnny Depp as the voice of a Wild West chameleon sheriff rode into town with a $38 million debut, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
"Rango," which was directed by "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise maestro Gore Verbinski, is the first animated feature from Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects studio founded by George Lucas in 1975.
"The draw for audiences was certainly Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski, but when you look at the reviews, it was 88 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a level that Pixar operates at," said Don Harris, Paramount's executive vice president for
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The Oscars 2011: glory for The King's Speech, Colin Firth and director Tom Hooper - Telegraph.co.uk
 Telegraph.co.uk |
The Oscars 2011: glory for The King's Speech, Colin Firth and director Tom Hooper
Telegraph.co.uk “The King's Speech” was crowned best picture at the Oscars with Colin Firth taking the gong for best actor. By Nick Allen, Los Angeles 5:49AM GMT 28 Feb 2011 It was a stunning triumph for the British film charting how King George VI overcame his ... Oscars 2011: In quotes 'Speech' a reach? Time will tell 'Youth-friendly' Oscars show gets thumbs down |