A plucky foot-high Jack Russell
terrier named George saved five New Zealand children from two marauding
pitbulls, but was so severely mauled in the fight he had to be destroyed,
according to his devastated owner.
George was playing with the group of
children as they returned home from buying sweets at a neighborhood shop in the
small North Island town of Manaia last Sunday when the two pitbulls appeared
and lunged toward them, his owner Allan Gay said.
"George was brave - he took them
on and he's not even a foot high," Gay told The Associated Press. "He
jumped in on them, he tried to keep them off.
"If it wasn't for George, those
kids would have copped it."
One of the children, Richard
Rosewarne, 11, was quoted in the Taranaki Daily News on Wednesday as saying
George fought with the pitbulls to keep them off his four-year-old brother,
Darryl.
"George tried to protect us by
barking and rushing at them, but they started to bite him - one on the head and
the other on the back," Rosewarne said. "We ran off crying and some
people saw what was happening and rescued George."
But George, aged nine, was so badly
mauled that a veterinarian had to put him down, Gay said. His heroic
intervention saved the children, though he later died from his injuries. George
was posthumously awarded a medal for bravery.
Warner Bros. has just moved Lurhmann’s F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation The Great Gatsby from December 25 into Summer 2013 in a surprising but understandable move. The Great Gatsby looked at one point like it’d be one of the most formidable contenders in this winter’s awards season, but it seems execs are hoping that a summer release will translate to a wider reach.
The studio announced the release date shift today, via a press release from execs Dan Fellman and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg. “Based on what we’ve seen, Baz Luhrmann’s incredible work is all we anticipated and so much more. It truly brings Fitzgerald’s American classic to life in a completely immersive, visually stunning and exciting way,” said Fellman. “We think moviegoers of all ages are going to embrace it, and it makes sense to ensure this unique film reaches the largest audience possible.” Kwan Vandenberg added, “The responses we’ve had to some of the early sneak peeks have been phenomenal, and we think The Great Gatsby will be the perfect summer movie around the world.”
With its literary pedigree and its award-winning cast (including Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and Leonardo DiCaprio), The Great Gatsby seems a more natural fit for winter than summer. On the other hand, it could work as a nice bit of counter-programming against the usual glut of action sequels. Other Warner Bros. pictures set to open next summer include The Hangover Part III (May 24), Man of Steel (June 14),Pacific Rim (July 12), and the 300 sequel (August 2).
Lynn Cohen Set to Play Mags in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'
Actress Lynn Cohen isn't exactly a household name, but she's been steadily working in the industry since the early 1980s. I know her from supporting roles in films like Munich, Across the Universe,Invincible, and Eagle Eye, but she might be better known for her portrayal of Magda on "Sex in the City" and its two film adaptations. Strangely, she's about to take on a character with a very similar name as Lionsgate has just announced that Cohen has been cast as Mags in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, taking over the part that Melissa Leo almost took and joining Amanda Plummer as the most recent addition to the cast. Click here to read more.
Christian Bale Takes Lead in Todd Field's Western 'Creed of Violence'
If you've seen 2006's Little Children, you know that director Todd Field is a deliberate and patient man behind the camera. These qualities seem very well-suited for a western, and he signed onto one back in 2009, but we haven't heard a peep about it since then. After a six year wait between movies, it seems things are back on track and this project is coming to fruition with an A-list star to boot. (Get it? Boot? Western? Sorry.) The Playlist first reported (and Variety later confirmed) that Christian Bale is trading Tumbler for a horse and heading off to the old west in an adaptation of Boston Teran's novel The Creed of Violence. Click Here to read more.
Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman Team for MLK Film 'Orders to
Kill'?
Though director Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman were looking to team for the civil rights film Selma, the project fell apart a couple years ago. However, the duo haven't given up on setting a movie in that time period as the LA Times has word that they two will team up for Orders to Kill, a very unique approach to chronicling the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. While everyone knows that James Earl Ray has been credited with the iconic civil rights leader's untimely death, attorney and activist William Pepper has said for decades that Ray recanted his confession and died arguing his innocence. Click Here to Read More.
B.J. Novak 'Saving Mr. Banks' & Vanessa Hudgens Did 'Machete Kills'
An impressive cast has already been assembled for the Disney centric film Saving Mr. Banks, a film following Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, and as the House of Mouse creator strives to convince Travers into giving him the rights to her famous character in order to make the classic movie musical. Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman and more are already starring in the film from The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock, and now THRhas word that "The Office" star B.J. Novak is taking the role of Robert Sherman, a Disney songwriter for the musical. Click here to read the rest of the story.
Football, delicious food and treats, cute clothes, getting together with family. Fall is really the best time of the year.
1. What is your favorite
fall activity?
Baking (who
doesn’t love pie?)
Haunted
Houses
Scary
Movie Nights
Bonfires
with Friends
2. Do you follow a football
team? If so which one and why?
College
Brigham Young University (BYU). Go Cougars! This is more out of principal because
I graduated from BYU and feel I should support my Alma Mater.
And it
might sound strange, but I also am a Utah Ute fan, except when they play BYU of
course. I also am a fan of Alabama and USC.
Now for Pro
Football.
I love
the Denver Broncos (Hello Peyton Manning)
Now that
Tim Tebow has moved I will have to start following the New York Jets.
3. What is something fun
about fall in your area?
Cornbelly’s
Corn Maze and Pumpkin Festival
Scenic
Skilift Ride at Sundance Ski Resort-The ride is once a month (May-October)
always the week of the full moon.
The
Haunted Forest
Outdoor
Theatre Productions at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre.
4. What are your favorite
fall outfit staples?
Colorful
Cardigans (Fall is the only time I feel right about wearing Orange.)
Dark
Jeans
Anything
Black (sweaters, jackets, etc)
Newsboy
Cap
5. What things are you
looking forward to most about this coming fall season?
Apple
Cider
My TV
Shows
Carrie
Underwood Concert in October!
Family
Time
6. What is your favorite
fall holiday? Traditions?
I love
Thanksgiving for several reasons. I get time off of work and school, and
Thanksgiving is the time when most of my family visits. We usually have a big dinner with the
extended family that is in town, my aunts and uncles, cousins, my grandma and
grandpa, and this year my sister is coming from Colorado. We don’t have specific
traditions. Thanksgiving is great because it is an opportunity to think about
the positive and good things happening in your life. We don’t have any set
traditions. Sometimes we’ll watch Football, or play Canasta. We also usually like to catch a movie
Thanksgiving Night.
A champion needs a
motivation above and beyond winning.
Pat Riley
1972: Olga Korbut's Back Flip on Uneven
Bars
Just
17, Korbut was not considered one of the top gymnasts on the USSR team in 1972.
With one move (a standing back flip to catch on the uneven bars), she stole the
show.
Though she earned only a silver medal for her bar routine in the event finals,
she took home golds on both beam and floor. The crowd adored her pixie-like
appearance and daredevil acrobatics.
She became a household name and helped to make gymnastics popular in the
mainstream media. Interestingly, the move that made Olga Korbut so
famous is no longer a recognized move on the uneven bars.
Before
1976, no male or female gymnast had ever achieved gymnastics’ top score in the
Olympic Games. At the Montreal Olympics, Romanian 14-year-old Nadia
Comaneci scored seven perfect 10.0s.
Her first – the first 10.0 ever awarded in the Olympics – came in the
compulsory competition. The scoreboard, unable to accommodate a ten, flashed a
1.0, and the amazed crowd jumped to its feet in a standing ovation for its new
star. Comaneci went on to win the women's all-around, uneven bars, and floor
exercise.
1976: Shun Fujimoto Hits His Ring Set
with a Broken Knee
The Japanese built a dynasty inmen's
gymnasticsin the 1960s and 70s.
By 1976, Japan had won the team gold in the last four Olympics. In the team
finals in Montreal, however, Japanese team member Shun Fujimoto injured himself
on floor. Fearing that the team would not win if he withdrew from the meet,
Fujimoto hid the extent of his injury and competed his final two events of the
day, pommel horse and rings.
On rings, Fujimoto scored a 9.7, after landing
his full-twisting double back dismount onto a broken kneecap. His score helped
the Japanese earn their fifth consecutive team gold, and he is still revered in
Japan for his selfless commitment to the team.
1984: Mary Lou Retton Wins the Olympic
All-Around Title
At
the Los Angeles Olympics, a boycott from the always-dominant Soviet team left
Retton with the opportunity to become the first American woman to win the
all-around title. She needed to fend off Romanian Ecaterina Szabo, however, and
only a perfect 10.0 on the vault would win her the gold.
Retton stuck her vault – an ultra-difficult full-twisting layout Tsukahara –
and earned a perfect mark. She became a media sensation overnight and was the
first woman ever to be featured on a Wheaties box.
Though
the Soviet Union was not there to compete for the team gold in Los Angeles, the
reigning world champion – China – was. And there to challenge China was a
much-improved US team.
The US squad shocked everyone by taking the lead after the compulsory
round of competition. With stars such as Bart Conner,
Peter Vidmar, Mitch Gaylord,
and Tim Daggett, the US men had the meet of their lives in optionals to
win gold. They capped off their day with near-perfect high bar routines,
including clutch performances from Tim Daggett (10.0) and Peter Vidmar (9.95).
1988: Marina Lobatch Earns a Perfect
Score in the Rhythmic All-Around
Marina Lobatch never
won a world or European Championship title, but she put it all together at the
1988 Olympics. With scores of 10.0 onevery
apparatus, she won the all-around
with a 60.000 in an incredibly-close competition: Bulgaria's Adriana Dunavska
earned silver with a 59.950, while Lobatch's Soviet teammate Alexandra
Timoshenko took bronze with a 59.875.
1992: Vitaly Scherbo Dominates the
Men's Competition
At
the 1992 Olympics, Vitaly Scherbo became one of the all-time greats in just
three days of competition. He won six out of the eight gold medals awarded in
men's gymnastics: team, all-around, pommel horse, rings, vault, and parallel
bars.
Despite a deep field of talented men, Scherbo's picture-perfect technique and
uncanny ability to stick landings set him apart. Only swimmers Mark Spitz and Michael
Phelps have ever won more golds in a single Olympics.
1996: Kerri Strug Sticks Her Vault on
an Injured Ankle
The
US women were on the verge of an historic win in the team competition in
Atlanta. Then the unthinkable happened: Dominique
Moceanu, the youngest member of the team, fell on both of her vaults
in the last event of the day.
With just a slim lead over the Russian team, it was essential that Kerri Strug,
the final American gymnast to perform, nail her vault. But Strug fell too,
injuring her ankle in the process. With just one more shot, Strug ignored her
injury and ran down for another attempt, sticking her vault before crumpling to
the floor in pain.
In doing so, she assured the Americans their first Olympic team gold, and
instantly became one of the most recognizable faces of the 1996 Games.
Paul Hamm was
the reigning world all-around champion at the Athens Olympics, and after
leading prelims, looked to be the one to beat. But Hamm fell on vault in the
all-around final, earning only a 9.137.
A win seemed impossible, until Hamm hit two incredible sets in a row on
parallel bars and high bar. On each routine he earned a 9.837, the highest
score of the event. On the strength of those two marks, Hamm managed to slip
into the gold-medal spot by the slimmest margin possible (.012), and became the
first American man to win the Olympic all-around title.
Here is an interview
with one of my favorite gymnasts, Shawn Johnson. This was in May, while she was
still considering competing in the London Olympics.
It
might have been divine inspiration that brought the devil down to Georgia-or it
might have been a high school literature class. Either way, Charlie Daniels
admits that writing his 1979 hit was a rush job.When Daniels and his been went in to record
their album Million Mile Reflections, “we
realized we needed a fiddle song,” Daniels says. “It was a fast process, and
this thing came into my mind.”
His
story of a fiddler named Johnny, who bests the devil, nods to classic tales
like Faust and The Devil and Daniel Webster but likely owes a debt to a Stephen
Vincent Benet poem “The Mountain Whippoorwill” that Daniels read in high
school. “It had to do with a fiddle
contest in the mountains with a young player who went up against legends and
won,” he says. “I was very impressed with it because I was a young fiddle
player at the time, and it affected me personally.”
Daniels
played seven different fiddles to create the devil’s tune, which he has
described as “just a bunch of noise.” “The devil’s just blowing smoke.”
Meanwhile, the verse lines recited between Johnny’s licks drew from old
Appalachian square-dancing refrains (“Fire on the Mountain/Run boys run”).
More
than three decades after the song hit No. 1 on the charts, “I never get tired
of it,” says Daniels. And one thing never changes: “I can play it 10,000 times
and the devil never wins.”
In
Honor of the Olympics~ here’s a fun reminder of the Women’s Gymnastics Team in
the 1996 Atlanta Georgia Games. Dominique Moceanu used The Devil Went Down to
Georgia as the music for her floor routine.
We all
remember the Magnificent Seven! TheThe Magnificent Seven is the name given to the United
StatesOlympic Women'sGymnasticsTeam that won the
first ever Gold Medal for the United States in the Women's Team Competition at
the1996 Atlanta
Olympics. The seven members
of the team wereShannon
Miller,Dominique
Moceanu,Dominique
Dawes,Kerri
Strug,Amy Chow,Amanda
BordenandJaycie
Phelps. The
accomplishment was considered phenomenal because the Soviet Unionhad won the event in
every Olympics it had entered since the 1950s. Furthermore, the United States
had never won the event in the Olympics - or the World Championships. Yet, inAtlanta, they fielded the
deepest U.S. team in history and upstaged both the Russians and theRomanians, then reigning as
World Champions for the second time. Who could forget Keri Strug’s
moment of Glory.
Today
was a great day in Olympic History. For the First time since the 1996 Atlanta
Games the Women’s Gymnastics team took Gold in the Team Competition. It was
such a proud moment! And just a shout out to Jordyn Wieber. Her floor routine
was amazing.
And in
other breaking news Michael Phelps has won his 19th Olympic Medal making
him the most decorated Olympian of all time. The record was previously held by Larissa Latynina, a Soviet gymnast who
competed in 1956, 1960, and 1965.
