Rihanna makes 'history' at Hackney
Posted: June 25, 2012 at 5:12 am
By Greg Cochrane Newsbeat music reporter The star got up close and personal with the 50,000-strong audience
Rihanna has wrapped up BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend with a headline performance which featured a stage design inspired by ancient Egypt, spectacular fireworks and a guest performance from Jay-Z.
Beyonce, Jessie J and Tinie Tempah were among 50,000 fans to watch the Bajan star's 65-minute set close a weekend of live music at Hackney Marshes.
It climaxed with Jay-Z reciprocating Rihanna's cameo during his headline slot on Saturday, as he joined her for an encore of Run This Town, Talk That Talk and Umbrella.
Speaking from the stage, shortly before finishing, Rihanna said: "This is history in the making."
More than 100 artists had already performed across six stages over the two-day event but the We Found Love singer had saved the most eye-catching for last.
Rihanna closes Radio 1's Hackney Weekend
The 24-year-old, wearing a black leather jacket, white T-shirt and cut-off tights, took to the main stage as the sun set against the backdrop of London's Olympic Park.
The stage set itself was an impressive construction - inspired by ancient Egypt it featured a pyramid-shaped video screen, a glittering sphinx, banners scrawled with hieroglyphics and a rotating gold throne decorated with Rihanna's name.
Her performance began at a frenetic pace, opening with Only Girl In The World before moving onto Disturbia, S&M, Cockiness and Birthday Cake.
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Rihanna makes 'history' at Hackney
Fujita: Bounty probe's a personal 'smear campaign'
Posted: at 5:12 am
CBSSports.com wire reports
NEW ORLEANS -- Former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, a union leader with a record of criticizing the NFL's player-safety record, sees elements of a "smear campaign" in a bounty investigation that has sullied his reputation.
Some NFL players agree, and question whether Fujita's three-game suspension has something to do with retribution.
"I'm not saying the NFL is intentionally lying," Fujita said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I've been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they may have just been working with the information they've been given, even though much of that information was inaccurate and lacked credibility.
"It's their cavalier interpretation of everything that's been way off. They clearly proceeded with a public smear campaign with very little regard for the truth."
Saints linebacker Scott Shanle finds it hard to ignore the symmetry of the NFL portraying Fujita as a hypocrite on player-safety matters after Fujita had done the same thing to the league.
"When you look at Scott, who was here for one season [of the three spanned by the bounty probe], for him to get three games, I just felt like there had to be more of a personal issue with that," Shanle said. "When you look at how outspoken he is and a lot of the issues he tries to address, it probably doesn't sit well with the league."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the NFL stands by its finding that Fujita gave "more than token amounts" of money to a pool that also rewarded injury-producing hits called "cart-offs" and "knockouts."
"The process gave all of the players every opportunity to raise arguments and provide any mitigating information," Aiello said. "Scott Fujita unfortunately chose not to avail himself of the process. Nothing that he has asserted in his various public statements undermines the findings of the investigation."
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Fujita: Bounty probe's a personal 'smear campaign'
Katy Perry Hints Russell Brand Was Threatened By Her Success, Made Her Choose Between Him Or Career
Posted: at 5:11 am
Katy Perry has never revealed the reason behind her split with husband of 14 months Russell Brand but in her new documentary Part Of Me 3D the star hints her success may have driven them apart.
In an upsetting scene for the 27 year-old she is seen hysterically crying backstage minutes before a show and later admits that finding her life partner hadnt been the fairytale ending she had expected.
The Firework star also implies that Russell may have been jealous of her success and had weird motives for his behaviour.
"I thought to myself, 'When I find that person that's going to be my life partner, I won't ever have to choose [between the partner and my career] she admitted,
they won't be threatened or have weird motives. Then I started to realize, that's not true.
Clearly the marriage had not been what the star expected and she confessed on camera that she wasnt happy.
That fairytale I had is not true for me right now, she added.
Katy was the bigger star when the couple got together and grew even more during their marriage while Russells career failed to ignite with movie flops such as Arthur. The singer was also on her Californian Dreams tour for much of their short marriage. Russell filed for divorce in December last year, in the movie Katy claimed she did everything to save her marriage.
She said: "I have that same belief system with everything, from career to my life to my personal life, everything. And I will do everything it takes to not fail. And I did everything it took but it still failed."
Katy Wows On 'California Dreams' Tour
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Katy Perry Hints Russell Brand Was Threatened By Her Success, Made Her Choose Between Him Or Career
This Personal Finance Museum Actually Looks Like It's Fun
Posted: at 5:11 am
At the Museo del Riparmioin Turin, Italy, y ou won't find fine art, prehistoric remains or artifacts from past civilizations. This museum is all about personal finance.
The goal of the museum is to distill complex financial subjects (hello, retirment planning!) in a fun and engaging way that appeals to grown-ups and kids. The exhibits are highly interactive, and from what we can tell, it looks pretty awesome.
The museum is sectioned into five different rooms. Here's a run down of what you'll find once you get there:
Know
Your first stop in the museum is a history lesson. But this isn't dullsville. The 'Know' room functions much like a timeline, taking you from the development of money in ancient civilizations all the way through the to current global financial system.
Tell
Here, Dante, Moliere, Shakespeare and Hemingway all stop by to tell guests about their personal triumphs and failures with money. They'll also discuss their assets, debt, savings, greed, usury, and loans.
Dream
In this area, visitors get to kick back and watch popular movies revolving around money. Think of it like a course in financial pop culture.
Learn
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This Personal Finance Museum Actually Looks Like It's Fun
Online Quran Tutors, Female Quran tutoring Online, Learning Quran for Kids – Video
Posted: at 5:11 am
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Online Quran Tutors, Female Quran tutoring Online, Learning Quran for Kids - Video
Bangkok is Asia-Pacific's top destination city
Posted: June 24, 2012 at 11:18 pm
TRAVELTITBITS
Bangkok ranks third in the Global Top 20 Destinations in terms of both numbers of international visitors and spending, according to the latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index.
Despite sluggish global economic growth, the number of people travelling abroad continues to increase, according to Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard Worldwide's global economic advisor.
Total visitor numbers is projected to increase 5.7% from 174.9 million to 184.9 million, while total cross-border spending will rise 10.6% from US$217.8 billion (6,752 billion baht) to $241 billion (7,471 billion baht).
London is the world's most popular destination; the UK capital is expected to welcome 16.9 million travellers throughout this year. Paris came in second with 16 million visitors.
Bangkok is the third top destination for the second consecutive year. The total number of international visitors grew 6.5%, from 11.5 million in 2011 to 12.2 million this year so far.
The fourth city is Singapore with 11.8 million visitors, while the fifth is Istanbul with 11.6 million visitors.
For the world top 20 destination cities by visitor spending, London is again in pole position. Visitor spending grew 10.3% in 2011 to $21.1 billion (654 billion baht), followed by New York at $19.4 billion (601 billion baht) and Bangkok, which moved up by one rank, displacing Paris. MasterCard forecasts that tourist spending in Bangkok will rise 16.6% to $19.3 billion (598 billion baht).
In fourth place is Paris ($17.8 billion, or 552 billion baht), while one place lower is Singapore ($12.7 billion or 394 billion baht).
"Visitors tend to stay longer once they get there, and they spend more as a result," said the researcher.
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Bangkok is Asia-Pacific's top destination city
Don't Expect To Get A Workout At Lululemon's Free Yoga Course
Posted: at 11:18 pm
I've always been curious about Lululemon's free yoga events. Considering they've convinced women to shell out $98 for yoga pants, they've clearly found a way to strike a chord.
I went to the retailer's free yoga course at NYC's Bryant Park Thursday night. When I arrived, they had roped off the entire green space and filled them with mats:
The yoga instructor told me the typical crowd on Thursday nights is 600 people! The crowd was mostly women, with a few disgruntled boyfriends thrown in. There were also some spectators, mostly men, some of whom creepily took pictures of us:
Of course, the mats included the Lululemon logo, the only mention of the company that I saw. Some people brought their own mats but weren't allowed to use them.
A yoga instructor stood at the front and yelled out different poses over a loudspeaker, while other instructors walked around and corrected people. But no one really knew what they were doing, especially me. At one point, I fell over and some of the instructors who were just sitting at the front laughed at me.
At the end, the instructor told us we had exercised our bodies and let go of our negative energy. But all I had done was stand on one leg and tried not to hit the person one foot away from me. People became lazy and started to fall asleep on their mats, causing the teacher to yell at them.
If you're considering going to yoga, it's probably worth shelling out $20 for a class more intimate than 600 people.
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Don't Expect To Get A Workout At Lululemon's Free Yoga Course
WorldsBIGGESTGym Life Coach Training Course – Video
Posted: at 12:17 pm
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On-ice star, coaching legend, off-ice 'gentleman'
Posted: at 12:17 pm
Friends, fellow coaches and former players yesterday remembered Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Fernie Flaman as epitomizing the term gentleman. A former Bruins [team stats] captain who won a Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1951, Flaman was a longtime coach at Northeastern University, where he spent 19 seasons. He died Friday night at 85.
A native of Dysart, Saskatchewan, Flaman guided Northeastern to all four of its Beanpot title wins (1980, 84, 85 and 88).
Retired Northeastern sports information director Jack Grinold, who attended and chronicled virtually every sporting event for the college for more than 50 years, knew Flaman as well as anyone in the Northeastern community.
As we are all aware, he was one of the toughest defensemen ever to play hockey, Grinold said. But, as a man of winter, he always had summer in his heart. He was one of the warmest, kindest guys you could ever run into.
Boston University coach Jack Parker and his teams crossed sticks with Flaman and Northeastern for 19 straight years at a time when the four Beanpot coaches (Parker, Flaman, Len Ceglarski of Boston College and Billy Cleary of Harvard) were a constant. He recalled his friendly rival warmly.
Ill never forget when I first got to know him when I was an assistant at BU, I was amazed that this is Fernie Flaman the cop of the Bruins, the tough guy defenseman because it couldnt match what a quiet guy, an unassuming guy, he was, Parker said. His pro demeanor on the ice belied his off-the-ice persona. He was an absolutely fabulous guy. The best way to describe Fernie was that he had a heart of gold. I had many, many meetings with Fernie and been to many social gatherings with him and he was just a classy, classy guy.
Current Northeastern coach Jim Madigan had the privilege of both playing for and later serving as an assistant to Flaman.
As a player, he always treated you as a gentleman, Madigan said. Coming from the pros, he treated us like men. He gave us some leeway and latitude, but there was mutual respect there so you knew not to push the envelope or youd be punished. He really created a family environment within the program. He and Don (McKenney, his assistant) were certainly interchangeable. They taught us to become good players as well as be good men, good husbands and good fathers. He wanted us to graduate and be good ambassadors for the university.
Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna, whose playing career at Harvard University overlapped Fermans coaching days at Northeastern, got to know Flaman when Bertagna was a youngster.
My father was in the construction business and was asked to do some work on a 60-lane bowling alley in Beverly called Go Go Bowling. The owners were Fernie Flaman and Pete Daley, a former Red Sox [team stats] catcher, Bertagna said. I was really young, but I remember the paintings in the lobby of Fernie in his Bruins uniform.
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On-ice star, coaching legend, off-ice 'gentleman'
June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health all night till 5 am Sunday hehe 019 – Video
Posted: at 12:17 pm
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June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health all night till 5 am Sunday hehe 019 - Video