Joe Frazier, the first boxer ever to defeat Muhammad Ali, died Monday after a battle with liver cancer. He was 67.

Mr. Frazier won boxing’s Fight of the Century and then fought Ali nearly to the death in the Thrilla in Manila. Frazier was one of the greatest boxers ever, something that Ali, widely considered the greatest boxer ever, has said publicly.

He knocked Ali down in 15th round at Madison Square Garden in March 1971. No one had ever beaten Ali.

But Ali won the war. Mr. Frazier was forever known as the foil character in protagonist Ali’s story. Ali never let him forget that during their storied careers. Ali taunted him mercilessly, and Mr. Frazier didn’t forgive him for it until much later in life.

Two duo fought three times. Their last fight was Manila in 1975. They traded punches for 14 rounds, until Mr. Frazier’s trained held him back for the final round. Mr. Frazier couldn’t see, his eyes swollen shut.

Mr. Frazier’s battle with cancer was a brief fight, unlike his boxing matches. As recently as September, he was seen signing autographs in Las Vegas.

Elizabeth Edwards arrives at Stand Up To Cancer held at Sony Pictures Studios on September 10 in Culver City, Calif. (WireImage)

Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of disgraced former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, has ceased her treatment for cancer after being told by doctors that further efforts to treat here would have no effect.

She is said to be resting with her family and friends at her side.

Edwards sent the following message to well-wishers via Facebook:

“You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human.

“But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn’t possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know.”

DALLAS — Three-time World champion surfer, Andy Irons was found dead Tuesday in a Dallas hotel room Tuesday. He was 32.

Hotel staff discovered Irons’ body after he failed to respond to a wake-up call, NBC reported.

Irons was in Dallas on a layover, returning home to Kauai, Hawaii after planning to compete in the 2010 Rip Curl Pro Search.

Irons withdrew from the competition, however, citing an illness he contracted in Portugal called Dengue Fever. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the cause of death might have been a methadone overdose, in combination with other prescription drugs were found at the scene.

An autopsy will be performed Wednesday to determine the cause of death.

Family members were headed to Dallas late Tuesday and have requested privacy so they can mourn the loss of their son.

The Mandelbrot Set is one of the most famous 20th century mathematics wonders.

It is a mathematic structure that truly deals in infinite complexity, but Saturday the academic world mourns the end of the life one of one of the most brilliant mathematicians known.

Benoit B. Mandelbrot, the inventor of “fratal geometry” died of pancreatic cancer in Cambridge on Thursday, his family said. He was 85.

An insightful teacher, Mr. Mandlebrot brought The Mandlebrot Set to the public so that anyone with an interest in mathematics, from rank amateurs and beginner students to brilliant Ivy League geniuses, could study it.

He was the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University.

Mr. Mandlebrot leaves his wife, Aliette, two sons, Laurent, of Paris, and Didier, of Newton. He also leaves three grandchildren.

A memorial service is being planned.

Hey Twi-hards, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? Well this time around, you should all be Team Eric, Bella’s human friend played by Justin Chon.

Justin is swinging by Phoenix this Saturday to talk to Blast, and we want to give all of you Twilight fans out there a chance to ask him anything you want. Dying to know if Taylor Lautner’s abs are as impressive in person? Want to ask questions about Eclipse, which comes out next Wednesday? Leave your questions in the comments section below or email them to us (info in the contacts section).

And be sure to check back to see your burning questions answered by your favorite Twilight human!

Former child star Gary Coleman has died at age 42 after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

Mr. Coleman rose to fame on television’s “Diff’rent Strokes” but, like many child stars, dealt with an increasingly difficult adulthood.

“We are very sad to have to report Mr. Gary Coleman has passed away,” said Mr. Coleman’s spokesman, John Alcantar, in a statement Friday afternoon. “He was removed from life support; soon thereafter, he passed quickly and peacefully. By Gary’s bedside were his wife and other close family members.”

Coleman died in a Provo, Utah, hospital, according to news reports.

He became ill on Wednesday at his Santaquin, Utah home and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

(Media credit/Google)

Mr. Caruso and his somewhat grungy looking restaurant were Melrose staples for seemingly since the dawn of time.

Customers of his restaurant will fondly remember the signature “Za Za Pizza” (in both Sicilian and round styles!) in which he liberally covered his pies with mounds of fresh basil, garlic, and tomatoes.

Also not to be forgotten are his succulent stuffed peppers, which oddly enough featured raisins in the stuffing. (I mean, raisins? Who even THINKS of that!)

Mr. Caruso not only will be remembered for his culinary contributions to society, but also for countless unintentional laughs, as his restaurant was covered in endless photos of himself and random family members, and long dead Italian priests.

(Here’s ME with my new grandson in the tub! Here’s ME tossing some dough! Here’s ME with Padre Pio!)

Also offering laughs was his penchant for constantly yelling, talking with his hands, and for driving a Ford that looked like it was manufactured in like 1930.

He leaves his restaurant that’s still never open on Sundays, his recipes, and staff who’ll no longer be yelled at for not getting pizzas in the oven fast enough for his taste.

Stage, film and television actor Shay Duffin, known among moviegoers for his roles in Raging Bull and Titanic, died on Thursday at UCLA Medical Center from complications related to heart surgery. He was 79.

Mr. Duffin was born in Dublin and wowed American and Canadian crowds for years with his one-man shows: “Brendan Behan” and “The Importance of Being Irish.”

He also toured with a stage production of James Joyce’s “The Dead.”

Mr. Duffin played the bartender in “The Departed,” and he had roles in “Raging Bull,” “Titanic” and “Beowulf.”

According to California Artists Radio Theatre, Mr. Duffin’s final performance was on March 17, during which he sang and acted in a production of "Hyacinth Halvey," by Irish playwright, Lady Augusta Gregory.

Duffin leaves four daughters Laura, Linda, Ruth and Susan. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

A month after having heart surgery, local rapper Gang Starr MC Guru has died at age 43.

MTV.com reported that the rapper, whose real name is Keith Elam, died from cancer. He had undergone surgery for a heart attack.

Born in Boston, Guru’s fame rose in the late 1980s when he was half of the duo Gang Starr with partner DJ Premier.

The duo was a major part of the underground rap scene in the 90s.

Pop culture and 1980s icon Corey Haim has died at 38.

The actor was rushed to St. Joseph Medical Center in Providence early Wednesday morning. The cause of death remains undetermined, despite speculations that drugs played a role.

Mr. Haim, who is best known for the vampiric film "Lost Boys," shared the screen with Corey Feldman, another child actor with a slew of films under his belt. The two actors continued a partnership through several films which later dubbed them as "The Coreys" to many fans. In recent years the

In recent years, Mr. Haim has slowly resurfaced in films such as “Lost Boys: The Tribe” and “Crank: High Voltage.”

This story is still developing.

International fashion designer Alexander McQueen, whose real name is Lee, was found dead in his London home just days after his mother’s death.  He was 40 years old.  It is reported that his death is an apparent suicide.

According to Sky News, a UK media organization, McQueen was found hanged in his London flat.

Police arrived at the designer’s home at 10:20 am where he was found dead at the scene.  His body was removed from his home at 4:46 pm on a stretcher, covered in a red blanket, and loaded into a private ambulance.

His death is not being treated as suspicious.

McQueen was known for being a "bad boy designer;” he built his reputation on his outrageous creations.  He was the creative director of his own label which was bought out by Gucci.

The designer had an A-list clientele including Lady Gaga, Prince Charles and Kate Winslet.

He was one of the youngest designers to achieve the title "British Designer of the Year" which he won four times between 1996 and 2003.

Alexandermcqueen.com reads, "At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family."

His family has asked for privacy “in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”

The Boston Globe reports one of the most well-known authors of the 20th century, J.D. Salinger, has died at his New Hampshire home. He was 91.

Mr. Salinger was the author of the famous “The Catcher in the Rye.” First published in 1951, the book has sold more than 60 million copies.

Mr. Salinger died of natural causes. The author’s son confirmed the news in statement that was released to the Associated Press.

He had been living for decades in Cornish, N.H.

Lou Albano, or Captain Lou, died today at the age of 76.

As gamers, we know Albano from his portrayal of Mario on the “Super Mario Bros. Super Show!,” which aired only one season 20 years ago in 1989.

But he was also a noted WWE Wrestling manager, with over 50 clients to his name, and he also appeared in Cyndi Lauper music videos, including “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, “She Bop”, “Time After Time” and “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough.”

Mr. Albano suffered a heart attack in 2005 and his health dwindled since then. He passed away today at home with his family.

Source: Kotaku

Politics is a messy business. One wrong move is all it takes to end a career: a blunder in a speech, backing an unpopular law, associating with the wrong people. Relatively minor problems can destroy a bright future in minutes. It is a testament to the lasting legacy of recently deceased Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy that he was able to persevere and affect so much change in his unusually long career despite so many setbacks and scandals. He is survived by his wife Victoria, sister Jean Kennedy Smith, the only living child of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, and his three children.

Edward Moore Kennedy was born in St. Margaret’s Hospital in Dorchester on February 22, 1932, preceded by eight brothers and sisters, to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald, both from well-connected Irish-American families. As a result of several moves, to New York, Florida, and London, Kennedy attended many schools and was a mediocre student at most of them. He spent his high school years at Milton Academy where he maintained average grades and excelled on the football team.

Tragedy marked his life early on, and by age 16 he had suffered the deaths of three of his siblings: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in World War II, Rosemary Kennedy to a failed lobotomy, and Kathleen Agnes Kennedy in a plane crash.

After completing high school, Kennedy enrolled in Harvard University, where his grades once again took a back seat to his football career. He had a friend take his Spanish exam in hopes of maintaining high enough grades to continue his sports career. When caught, both were expelled, leading to a stint in the United States Army for Kennedy in 1951.

Thanks to his father’s political connections, he was never assigned to combat in the ongoing Korean War and instead served as an honor guard in Paris after completing basic training and Military Police school.

Shortly after he was discharged as a private first class in March 1953, Kennedy returned to Harvard to finish his studies and, after his sophomore year academic probation ended, his football career as a second string end, working his way up to starting end by senior year. Despite not receiving a varsity letter he was contacted by a Green Bay Packers recruiter with an offer to play professionally, which he turned down to go to law school and “go into another contact sport: politics.”

While attending the University of Virginia School of Law between 1956 and 1959, Kennedy studied abroad at the Hague Academy of International Law and managed his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s 1958 Senate re-election campaign, helping to achieve a record-setting landslide victory. He also received charges of reckless driving and operating without a license, the first of his vehicle-related incidents.

He graduated from law school and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1959, after marrying Virginia Joan Bennett on November 29, 1958, at St. Joseph’s Church in Bronxville, New York. They had three children together: Kara Anne, Edward Jr., and Patrick. Due to his womanizing and her growing alcoholism, the marriage was soon troubled.

In 1960, Ted’s brother John ran for president, and Ted managed his campaign in the Western States, helping John win the first battleground state of Wisconsin in the Democratic primary. After the general election, Ted wanted to remain out West and not run for office immediately, and he was not eligible for John’s vacated Massachusetts Senate seat until his 30th birthday on February 22. Instead, John asked Governor Foster Furcolo to name Benjamin A. Smith II to the seat, which would hold it so Ted could later run in a special election.

Rehashing his brother’s campaign slogan from 10 years prior, Ted Kennedy went against Massachusetts Attorney General Edward J. McCormack Jr., who said that Ted would be “one Kennedy too many.” He faced his first public scandal when McCormack revealed his Harvard expulsion publically, but Kennedy rose above this, aided by McCormack’s overbearing nature in a debate, in which he said “the office of United States Senator should be merited, not inherited,” and called Kennedy’s campaign a joke. Kennedy went on to crush McCormack in the primary by a two-to-one margin and Republican candidate George Cabot Lodge II in the November special election.

Ted Kennedy spent his early Senate career avoiding the spotlight and trying to avoid making enemies of the older, more established Senators, and instead focused on his committee work. Not long after his career started, while presiding over the Senate, he was informed of his brother John’s assassination on November 22, 1963. Seven months later, Ted suffered severe injuries in a plane crash in Southampton, Mass., including a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding, and a back injury that persisted throughout the remainder of his life. The pilot and one of his aides died in the crash.

For a review of some of Ted Kennedy’s major political accomplishments, read Dan Kennedy’s piece for Blast on the Lion’s legacy.

In 1968, after securing the California primary against President Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, the family member Ted was closest with, was assassinated, devastating the young Senator. He delivered a eulogy at his speech, which included one of his most famous quotes:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’

Seen by many as the natural successor to his brother, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and others encouraged Kennedy to make himself available for a draft to take the nomination, though he declined as he felt unprepared and did not want to be seen as a filler now that his brothers were gone.

With his brothers dead, Ted took on the role of paternal figure to their 13 children, and rumors persist that he coordinated the marriage of Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.

Despite the trauma and hardships he had recently suffered, Kennedy threw himself into his work and became the youngest ever Senate Majority Whip in 1969, a move that seemed to further position him for the presidency, which he still felt conflicted about.

A few months later, Kennedy was involved in what is now known as the “Chappaquiddick incident.” After leaving a party for the Boiler Room Girls, a group of women who had helped in Robert’s presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off the Dike Bridge and into the Poucha Pond inlet. He quickly swam to safety, but his passenger, Boiler Room Girl Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Kennedy did not report the incident to police until her body was found the next day.

Kennedy received a suspended sentence after a guilty plea to leaving the scene of an accident a week later, and gave a nationally-broadcasted speech in which he avoided admitting guilt to driving under the influence of alcohol or improper relations with the 28-year old Kopechne, but expressed his decision to leave the scene as “indefensible.” Despite the scandal, Kennedy received a positive response to stay in office from the Massachusetts electorate.

Doubts have clouded the reports of the events of that night, and to this day many question Kennedy’s story, which a secret inquest by Judge James A. Boyle found to be inconsistent. A grand jury on Martha’s Vineyard also conducted an inquest which was inconclusive. Kennedy condemned Boyle’s inquest, which was made public after the local inquest’s report, as “not justified.”

Kennedy overcame the allegations and easily won re-election the year following the incident, 1970, but lost his position as Majority Whip to Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which he confided to Byrd was a blessing as it allowed him to focus on his committee work.

Kennedy spent much of the 1970s focused on real political work, pushing through legislation such as the National Cancer Act of 1971 and working tirelessly on issues such as the conflict in Northern Ireland, health insurance reform and campaign finance reform. He repeatedly entertained thoughts of running for president, but family problems and the ongoing coverage of the Chappaquiddick incident kept him from committing, despite polling suggesting he could easily win the primary and the lack of other viable Democratic candidates.

In 1973, Kennedy’s son Edward Jr. was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, resulting in a leg amputation. His other son, Patrick, was suffering from severe asthma attacks, and Ted’s wife Joan sunk deeper into her alcoholism, resulting in several stints in instutitions and an accident due to drunk driving leading to her arrest.

In the late mid to late 70s, Kennedy was at his lowest point politically, as he found himself without a chairmanship and Carter taking the reins as the ranking Democrat. Carter’s differing priorities put a strain on Kennedy’s efforts to improve health care, and he instead focused on international good will, visiting China and the Soviet Union in 1977 and 1978. He rose to take the mantle of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, but suffered another blow when Carter refused to back the $60 billion price tag of his proposed national health care plan.

In an unusual bid to unseat Carter, a member of his own party, Kennedy eventually ran for president in the 1980 election, and was the favored candidate due to Carter’s unpopularity and weak stances on many issues, but he ultimately lost, in part due to negative press regarding his answer to the Chappaquiddick incident question and the electorate’s sudden support of the president during the Iranian hostage situation and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When Carter badly bruised Kennedy in the Iowa caucuses, many of Kennedy’s key fundraisers bailed, and it was a downward slope from there. Kennedy, however, clung to his fearless nature, no doubt earned on the grid iron in high school and at Harvard, and pushed his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention despite almost impossible odds, but conceded the nomination when his measure to free delegates from their voting commitments was defeated on the first night of the convention. Ultimately, Carter’s inability to win over Kennedy supporters aided in his defeat to Ronald Reagan in the general election.

In 1981, Kennedy faced unique challenges, including being a minority member of the Senate for the first time, and announcing his divorce from Joan Kennedy, settling for $4 million in 1982 after a relatively benign proceeding. Kennedy, meanwhile, tirelessly fought against policies of the Reagan administration, once again turned down calls for a 1984 presidential run, and embarked on a landmark trip to South Africa, staying at the home of Bishop Desmond Tutu, which could easily have cost him his life in the tumultuous apartheid atmosphere of the time. He later went on to be a key member of arms control talks with Mikhail Gorbachev under the Reagan administration; despite political differences, he and the president respected each other and maintained amicable relations.

After his divorce, drinking and womanizing became more of a public burden for Kennedy, and he was involved in drunken incidents with fellow Senator Chris Dodd in Washington, including allegedly unwanted physical contact with a waitress in a D.C. restaurant. These factors played a big role in his cutting short any plans of running in the 1988 presidential election.

Following the 1986 Congressional elections, the Democratic Party regained control of the Senate. As a result of his good working relationship with many prominent Republicans, Kennedy was once again one of the most powerful men in Washington, and used his position to effectively defeat Reagan’s nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, which he saw as a threat to the civil rights he had fought so hard for. Kennedy used caustic tactics, including a speech which painted a picture of Bork’s America as a land of back alley abortions and segregation, which many saw as slanderous, but which was ultimately effective.

The 1990s saw Kennedy’s flaws magnified, through rape charges against his nephew following a night of drinking with the elder Kennedy, which Kennedy suppressed with a negative press campaign, as well as many articles and jokes about his conduct with women and his persistent drunken antics. This image put him in a position of ineffectiveness against the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, which he opposed due to Thomas’ refusal to comment on Roe v. Wade. His silence on the issue hurt Democrats chances of blocking the nomination, but to speak out would have been regarded as highly hypocritical.

The acquittal of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, and his serious relationship with Victoria Anne Reggie, which led to their marriage in 1992, improved his image, and Victoria is credited with stabilizing his personal life, which let him focus on the larger challenges ahead, including his fight against Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America legislation which earned his title of Lion of the Senate, alater challenge from Republican Mitt Romney for his Senate seat, and his defense of President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. More recently, Kennedy served as a voice against the Iraq War from the start, though he supported the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

By far his most passionate endeavour was the reform of health care in America, “the cause of his life,” he said, but which he died unable to attain. After a seizure in May of 2008, doctors announced Kennedy suffered from a malignant glioma, a brain tumor. After a risky operation to remove the tumor, which was considered a success, Kennedy underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. His condition declined quickly over the next year, and he died at his home in Hyannis Port, MA on August 25, 2009.

Frederick Rincon contributed research for this story.

Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia is calling for his colleagues in the Senate to honor his “best friend in the Senate” by naming the seemingly-impending health care reform legislation after the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who died after a year-long battle with brain cancer yesterday.

Health care reform was one of Kennedy’s flagship issues and a cornerstone of his policy throughout his decades in the Senate. By naming the bill after him, many hope that he will accomplish in death what he was not able to in life, another in a long line of personal and publicized tragedies in his expansive career.

Byrd’s full statement:

I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come. My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy and I both witnessed too many wars in our lives, and believed too strongly in the Constitution of the United States to allow us to go blindly into war. That is why we stood side by side in the Senate against the war in Iraq.

Neither years of age nor years of political combat, nor his illness, diminished the idealism and energy of this talented, imaginative, and intelligent man. And that is the kind of Senator Ted Kennedy was. Throughout his career, Senator Kennedy believed in a simple premise: that our society’s greatness lies in its ability and willingness to provide for its less fortunate members. Whether striving to increase the minimum wage, ensuring that all children have medical insurance, or securing better access to higher education, Senator Kennedy always showed that he cares deeply for those whose needs exceed their political clout. Unbowed by personal setbacks or by the terrible sorrows that have fallen upon his family, his spirit continued to soar, and he continued to work as hard as ever to make his dreams a reality.

In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.

God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason. And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly.

In my autobiography I wrote that during a visit to West Virginia in 1968 to help dedicate the “Robert F. Kennedy Youth Center” in Morgantown, “Senator Kennedy’s voice quivered with emotion as he talked of his late brothers and their love for West Virginia. ‘These hills, these people, and this state have had a very special meaning for my family. Our lives have been tightly intertwined with yours.’

I am sure the people of the great state of West Virginia join me in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy family at this moment of deep sorrow.

We mourn untimely death of John Hughes, who passed away on August 6. The noted director and writer of many successful films during the 80s and 90s suffered a heart attack during a visit in New York, leaving many to ponder how different pop culture would be without his motley crew of films that have defined generations of teenagers worldwide.

Born in Lansing, Michigan as John Hughes Jr., his early life wasn’t out of the ordinary. His mother worked on a series of charitable groups while his father supported the family as a salesman. Yet, it wouldn’t be until the family relocated to Northbrook, Illinois where he would find inspiration and soon base the landscape of his future films around it.

Though Mr. Hughes was far from his teenage years when his most notable works “National Lampoon Vacation” “Pretty in Pink” “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” hit theaters in the 80s. He managed to tap into the intrinsic and poignant moments within one’s own adolescence. He brought to screen iconic moments from a group of high school kids dodging their principle in “The Breakfast Club” to a couple of teens creating a real-life dream girl in “Weird Science.” All the while making stars out of actors such as Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer and Anthony Michael Hall.

Mr. Hughes gave a rare interview to AFI (American Film Institute) in 1985 where he discussed his films. In reference to his then-latest success, “Sixteen Candles” he made the point to explain, “Now I get hit a lot of times for having sentimental endings, and I do that deliberately … and with that film everything came just right, and that has a lot to do with the fact that when you are that age, you want things to come out right … and they never do … so I choose not to, and at some part I depart from reality, and say this is what I would want to feel at the end of the day. Life doesn’t always, movies can.”

And perhaps that is what made his films so memorable — the fantasy and escape for someone to play hooky from school and embark on a memorable adventure, or the idea that four very different classes of people from four different cliques could actually form a connection on some level.

Despite his somewhat less visible stamp in current cinema, some may have noticed his penned name Edmond Dantes as story writer for such films as “Drillbit Taylor” or “Maid in Manhattan.” And even then, there are classic Hughes endings to make audiences smile: situated stories that for an odd hour or so provide a window of escape from the day.

So while children of the 80s grieve the loss of another pop icon, many will undoubtedly remember how John Hughes managed to achieve what many people in the entertainment industry value: immortality. His films will continue to live on in late night DVD marathons and on the lips of many who quote the works from memory.

In the memorable words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And many would agree John Hughes made the best of it.

John S. Barry, an executive largely responsible for the surge in popularity of WD-40, the lubricant so multipurpose it has at least 2,000 uses, died July 3 after battling pulmonary fibrosis, the NY Times reports. He was 84.

Barry became a part of Rocket Chemical Company after they were commissioned by aerospace companies to develop several degreasers and rust-prevention liquids. Their main project, a water displacement formula, took 40 attempts to perfect, and thus, the most famous lubricant in America was born. WD-40 “" “water displacement, formulation successful on 40^th attempt.”

Soon after its invention the lubricant made a huge splash among aerospace companies, so large that employees stole cans from work to use in their own homes. The inventor of the lubricant, Norm Larsen, then had the idea to sell the miracle lubricant to the general public.

Barry became president and chief executive of Rocket Chemical in 1969, 10 years after the product first hit shelves in San Diego. Sales were consistently increasing, with new uses often being discovered by users in their own homes, however it was Barry who made WD-40 synonymous with lubricant.

Barry decided to change the name of Rocket Chemical to the WD-40 Company, dispelling all rumors that the company produced rockets. He works tirelessly to protect the formula, choosing not to patent it in order to keep it secret. He protected the company’s trademarks and the infamous yellow and blue can as signatures of WD-40.

Barry perfected the look and marketing of the product during his tenure as executive, and in a fantastic marketing move, sent 10,000 samples a month to soldiers during the Vietnam War to help keep their weapons dry. The company was seen as not only the manufacturer of a great product, but also one that values its country’s soldiers.

In less than 15 years, Barry helped to increase sales to wholesalers by almost 1,200 percent. In his first year as president, Rocket Chemical was selling to 1,200 wholesalers. By the early 80′s, the WD-40 Company was selling to more than 14,000.

Barry pushed to get the solvent into supermarkets and foreign markets. WD-40 Company’s annual sales shot up to $91 million by 1990, compared to just $2 million in 1970.‚  In it’s most recent fiscal year, they reported sales of $317 million in 160 countries.

“We may appear to be a manufacturing company, but in fact we are a marketing company” Barry once said to Forbes Magazine.

Barry leaves a lasting legacy not only in the success of WD-40 Company, but in his family as well. He is survived by Marian, his wife of 56 years; his two sons, Randy and Steve; his daughter, Deborah and his four grandchildren.

SAN DIEGO — Fred Travalena, a Las Vegas showman and impressionist, died after a long battle with cancer in Encino, Calif. Monday morning.

A master artist, Travalena became known throughout his field as “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” He entered Las Vegas in 1971 and has sported impressions of people from Frank Sinatra to Jack Nicholson for more than three decades.

This is yet another entertainment personality to have passed away this week. Incidentally, he made brief appearances on The Tonight Show with host Johnny Carson in the early 80s. Mr. Travalena was 66.

Television pitchman and reality show star Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Fla. home.

Mr. Mays’ wife found him unresponsive Sunday morning.

“My dad didn’t wake up this morning.. I’m sure you’ll all hear about it. It hasn’t yet hit me but it’s about to,” said his son, Billy Mays III via his Twitter account. “He’s gone. I’m gonna be strong for him. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers everyone.”

Mr. Mays is the famous television product spokesman who became so well-known that Discovery Channel created a reality series around his work.

His death is under investigation, but authorities have said it does not appear to be suspicious. An autopsy is scheduled for this week.

According to Tampa’s Bay News 9, Mr. Mays was on US Airways Flight 1241 from Philadelphia to Tampa on Saturday when the flight took a hard landing after the front landing gear blew. No one was reported injured in the flight, but Mays did tell the station that he hit his head.

Mays’ wife, Deborah, said the family was not going to make a public statement and asked everyone to respect their privacy.

The television salesman-turned-star is the latest household-name death to hit the news after the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson in the past two weeks. Mr. Mays was less renowned than the previous three, but he was as well known as many famous entertainers for his bevy of television commercials and the reality show.

LOS ANGELES — The king is dead.

On the afternoon of June 25, music icon Michael Jackson’s heart suddenly stopped at his Hollywood home. Paramedics and doctors could not revive him. The media competition began. Gossip website TMZ.com reported it first, and soon ABC and NBC were quoting the celebrity gossip site as if it were CNN or BBC “"‚  as if it were a colleague. CNN confirmed it last, but the news was true all the same. The King of Pop was gone forever. Michael Joseph Jackson, age 50.

Fans responded quickly.

A swarm gathered at UCLA Medical Center with pictures of his face and shirts with his name.

As news of his death sent shock waves the world still mourned the passing of Farrah Fawcett, who lost her battle with cancer, and Ed McMahon, whose combination of medical illnesses took his life several days ago. Three icons in a matter of less than a week, and in its wake the public still grapples to cope with it. Yet it was Mr. Jackson’s death which proved to overwhelm the public.

Jackson once revealed in a televised interview that the most honest song he has ever written, the song he feels people should examine when it comes to him, is “Childhood” from the album HIStory. The first verse of the song reveals a poignant fact, “no one understands me.”

And in the aftermath of his sudden death, questions still abound in attempts to understand how this King of Pop, the artist who enamored fans with his dancing and music, could have fallen from grace so tragically.

Although we may never know the truth to the molestation charges pressed against him, the scandal was detrimental enough and made a lasting impression. Mr. Jackson lost credibility among many fans and friends as his antics grew increasingly questionable “" from wearing pajamas while on trial or jumping on the roof of his car before onlookers outside the courthouse.

What does remain is a prolific body of work which has inspired generations of musicians, artists and actors.

The beginnings of Michael Jackson, as one of seven musically gifted children, hail from Gary, Indiana. At age five, Mr. Jackson began to reveal his flair for singing during school recitals and eventually became a part of his father’s dream team later known as The Jackson 5. Michael quickly became the most adored brother, captivating audiences as the years went by and fame grew quickly.

After a momentous meeting with legends Barry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, and Diana Ross, it appeared that Mr. Jackson and his brothers were on their way to being stars with hits like “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.”

The price of fame eventually came at a cost. Unlike most children his age, Mr. Jackson’s catapult toward the limelight cheated him from normal childhood experiences “" a factor that would become a recurring theme in his music and life.

Where most child stars fall into the shadows of entertainment history, Mr. Jackson developed into a man and flourished. And it appeared, with the success of his solo project “Off the Wall” that he might do well after all, but no one could have predicted what would happen in 1982.

Thriller, a compilation of songs that fused his R&B roots with rock and pop, forever bridged the gap between rock and soul. The diverse tracks and addictive melodies pushed the album to record heights. It remains the top selling album of all time. Added to the appeal of his music was the timing of another trend: MTV. Jackson saw the potential in using music videos and was one of the first to use it heavily to promote his work. The apex of this phenomenon came with the featurette video of “Thriller,” an homage to classic horror films, in which Jackson incorporated his own style, music and choreography.

This also marked a period of Michael Jackson’s change in appearance. Mr. Jackson, who was rumored to have undergone excessive plastic surgery, suffered from a debilitating skin disorder called Vitiligo which causes one’s skin pigmentation to become patchy in appearance. This would be the first in a string of social dissections of his eccentricities. Even though his life was often plagued by public scrutiny, the popularity of his music throughout the course of the 80s never faltered, as legions of fans copied his moves and style as “The Gloved One.”

In the end, while most people permanently decided to love, admire, or loathe Michael Jackson, it was the media that truly had the mood swings. There’s no doubt he was often the center of attention by tabloids and the press “" a fickle beast that one moment adored him and the next shut him down.

But the boy from Indiana, whose humble beginnings rooted in a band of brothers, who captivated the world in the 1960s, is gone. And the performer who showed us how to moonwalk, dance the Thriller, and ask the tender question, “Who’s Lovin’ You?” is long gone. And so, too, is the eccentric, increasingly insular celebrity. The legend of Michael Jackson will never be forgotten.

John M. Guilfoil and Brooklynne Peters of the Blast staff and Blast correspondent Ashley Dean contributed to this report.

After years spent in a public battle against cancer, the beloved television icon, sex goddess and social advocate Farrah Fawcett died Thursday at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica at the age of 62.

Ms. Fawcett’s death marked yet another sobering truth in a week full of sadness and tragedies. And while the world mourns another icon, one cannot help but celebrate the joy and vibrancy she delivered onscreen.

Fawcett lived the life few could ever expect, even by Hollywood standards. The Texas native began her career after photos in Cashbox magazine labeled her one of the most beautiful co-eds. An agent noticed her potential and convinced the young University of Texas Austin student to try her hand at Hollywood. This led to a series of small stints in, dental and hair product commercials.

Then came the breakthrough, and its name was Charlie. Famed producer Aaron Spelling had embarked on a new project called “Charlie’s Angels” a series about a trio of glamorous detectives bent on righting society’s wrongs each week. The instant Fawcett portrayed Jill Munroe, the athletic angel, her notoriety shifted, almost overnight, to utter stardom.

With the fame came a frenzy of fans and press. Scores of women (and some men) emulated her beauty by sporting the feathered hair look. Meanwhile, a pin up of the vixen, with her radiant smile, come hither stare, and gorgeous layers of blond hair riled up many a boy and man alike to sleepless nights. Among those legions included a then unknown Brad Pitt, who has often said that he had her poster on his wall as a teenager. The world either wanted to be with her or look like her.

After her time spent as an “angel,” Fawcett’s popularity fell as the role that made her famous also worked to typecast her into a corner for many years. Fawcett would receive acclaims over the years, including a Golden Globe nomination for “Extremities,” in 1987. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role opposite Robert Duvall in the 1997 film “The Apostle.”

The greatest gift Fawcett left the to world was in her final stages of cancer. Her struggle against the disease became a televised phenomenon as she welcomed viewers into the very real and scary facts about treatment and living with cancer.

When it comes to the making of entertainment icons, the one commonality shared across the board is the ability for that person to make an impact outside of their medium; an impact that becomes an inspiration to the world. Ms. Fawcett not only redefined the image of beauty, she also informed the world of the daily plights of cancer patients.

Ms. Fawcett is survived by her son, Redmond, and partner of more than 30 years Ryan O’Neil.

LOS ANGELES “" In the city of angels, where the lifespan of dreams of those bent on making it onscreen or on stage and being adored by the public is rather short, Edward Leo Peter McMahon, Jr. took his final breath at the age of 86 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on Tuesday. Although the cause of death remains unclear, the legendary star’s failing health has caused concern for some time among his fans, family, and friends.

McMahon has survived decades in an industry that eats its own young. Yet it is no surprise that the Detroit born and Massachusetts raised entertainer made it far. The star not only had a unique ability to charm audiences on television with his humor, but his down to earth demeanor made him likable. Mr. McMahon’s appeal is definitive of an era driven less by sensationalism and more by wholesome images; a fantasy, untarnished by scandal.

He earned loyal friendships like that of Johnny Carson. At the end of the day with his famous pearly white smile, he never resorted to pretentiousness or snobbery “" a stark contrast to the current trend where twittering and blog posts of hate toward celebrities and their bad behavior are all the rage. Mr. McMahon has lived scandal-free as a consummate television personality for decades.

For decades, Mr. McMahon entered homes late at night with the famous words “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” the catch phrase announcement for his long-time friend Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” The duo was not only an iconic fixture of television, but their rapport and sketches set the standard for late night television. Children of the 80s will also remember him fondly as the host of “Star Search,” in which a legion of current pop stars like Christina Aguilera and Usher made their debut.

It seemed Mr. McMahon’s name would always be associated with the industry of dreams. In recent news, he fell on hard times with the pending foreclosure of his estate after a serious injury. Fortunately, an undisclosed benefactor stepped into to help him.

Mr. McMahon had this to say about success: “Honesty is the single most important factor in having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.” And there is no greater proof as viewers all over still remember him as an honest, wholesome entertainer.

On Twitter and social networks, where celebrities are vilified and ridiculed, news of his death remains a top trending topic. And, fitting for his career, television stations all over memorialized him after his death.

In the end, Mr. McMahon was the good, honest guy whose persona was rooted in a warm smile and those infamous large-framed glasses. He will be much missed, and most certainly unforgotten.

Farewell, Ed McMahon. The stage you take tonight is among the best and most exclusive one; for it is one reserved for icons.

John Updike, 76, best selling author, died Tuesday after succumbing to lung cancer.

Updike is survived by his wife Martha, four children from his first marriage, Elizabeth Pennington, David Hoyer, Michael John and Miranda, and three stepchildren.

We’ll bring you more later in the week on the life of Mr. Updike.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we falsely stated that Mr. Updike wrote “The World According to Garp,” which was written by John Irving.

Complying a list of what made 2008 so special is pretty tough. You have a world view, a local view, perspectives on certain sectors of human interests, and analysis that favor a new trend. So much goes into 2008, that I wanted to do 2,008 memorable moments of 2008.

It would have been appropriate had our publication been a scholarly review of cultural and sociological studies. But alas, it’s BLAST! So I cut it down to the list to eight of the most memorable, and (if forgotten) important moments.

While I could list “Christmas” this, or “New Years” that; I’m not as festive for the season as most people are. But I do appreciate a look-back to what got us where we are in the first place. So on to the list and a brief explanation as to why these events were important:

8. The Beijing Olympics
You saw it on TV, or were one of the lucky ones to have been there. A vast majority of the global world, not the American world, tuned in to watch and support their respective country. You should find it memorable that a Communist Country opened it’s doors to the world and hosted such a prestigious event. With obvious controversy leading up to, during and follow the event, you have to admit that China handled such a momentous event with flying colors. No pun intended. Bringing together such diverse groups of people is truly one for the record books. Many of which were written that week.‚ 

7. The Phoenix lands on Mars
Not exactly covered like the Olympics, the martian landing of the Phoenix on the Northern polar ice cap on mars is just as important, if not just as costly.‚ ”Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light,”‚ NASA officials stated‚ earlier in the year.‚ Most don’t realize the true rocket science that goes into learning about our planetary history. So a worldwide effort of this magnitude rivals that of the Olympics, in that NASA is sending it’s athletes into space.

6. Bank Bailout
Many saw it coming, many even said it was already happening. But everyone can agree, it’s the most talked about debacle for Americans. Forget the billion dollar Hubble debacle, we had ourselves a far-reaching and horribly understated crisis of our foundations in finances. If we don’t learn how to control our credit, we end up licking wounds of debt and disarray. And if that wasn’t enough to mortally wound the triumph that was our mixed economy, we decided that we needed to bail out our banks. I guess we understood the hardships banks would face in a couple of months; compared to our lifetime of debt. I’m just glad our bailout money bought them a nice day at the spa. All 700 billion dollars of it.

SYDNEY, Australia — Lesbian relationships in Australia received welcome recognition this November after two bills enforcing equality were passed through the Senate.‚ The amendments expanded the terms “de facto relationship”, “parent”, “step-parent” and “relative” to include same-sex couples giving them equal rights on a number of issues.

Australian Social Security entitlements, Medicare health care, tax, and employment benefits were some of the areas where gay and lesbian couples would receive equal rights.

Openly gay Labor Senator Penny Wong said her government had followed through on last year’s election promises to remove discrimination from Australian Commonwealth laws.

“They deliver, on an important day for us, on a very important election commitment”, she said.‚ ”More importantly, they will deliver the sort of equality before the law that same-sex couples have never previously experienced.”

Liberal opposition Senator George Brandis acknowledged the significance of the bills saying they would complete law reform in the area of same-sex relationships which began 40 years ago when homosexual relationships were decriminalized.‚ Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens party and also openly gay, was not so commending.‚ While he commended the ‚ recognition of rights, he was scathing for the ‚ lack of leadership to include equality in same-sex marriage.

“Both the older parties have a task to undertake: to communicate better with the Australian community and to understand that the pressure coming from sectional groups, minority groups, to sanction marriage for all couples regardless has great public support”,‚ Brown‚ said.

A poll taken by Australasia’s largest online lesbian dating and community site Pink Sofa supported Senator Brown’s sentiments with 88 per cent of the more than 4000 respondents wanting same sex marriages legalized. Website‚ member Jenny Ball was thrilled with the outcome but also wanted more.

“This really is a milestone for the Australian Gay and Lesbian Community and is something that has been long-awaited and now brings us in line with a number of other forward-thinking countries,”‚ Ball‚ said. ‚ ”The next key step is for the government to ratify the laws that currently prevent same-sex marriage, thereby removing the final piece of discrimination and marginalization against the community”.

Marriage for same-sex couples remains on the horizon however with the Labour Government as well as the opposition parties refusing to be swayed by public opinion.

Looking for a great place to rock around the Christmas tree this holiday season? Not looking to do it alone? Well, Forbes.com has unveiled its list of the 40 cities where you are statistically bound to find someone to meet you under the mistletoe.

Boston, home of Blast, was ranked lucky 7. Just barely beating New York City. To determine the rankings, Forbes looked at 40 of the largest cities in the US and ranked them according to “coolness, cost of living alone, culture, job growth, online dating, nightlife and number of singles”. Although some categories might leave you a little skeptical (“coolness” was determined by a poll that simply asked “Among the following U.S. cities, which one do you think is the coolest?”), the rankings are pretty interesting. Boston seems to fit rather fairly into the number 7 slot with a population of 4,058,570, with 29.09 percent of it being single.

Amongst the the criteria for ranking was online dating and Sam Yagan, owner of OkCupid.com and CrazyBlindDate.com which has a “chapter” in Boston, would have expected Boston to rank higher.

“It surprises me a little bit. I thought Boston would rank higher, just because there are so many young singles there and it’s such an easy place to be out and about,” Yagan said. Boston is one of the most popular cities on OKCupid.com for people between 18 and 34 he explained.

“The colleges absolutely have something to do with it. People who are in school are always dating – they are living in a dating bubble -there are lots of opportunities to get together, whether it’s parties or research around campus, and they have much more flexible schedule,” Yagan added, “On the other hand, the nightlife does tend to end a little early.”

That seems to be the main downside to Boston. Young adults are willing to stay out all night, but don’t really get that opportunity with Boston’s early bedtime – unlike New York, Las Vegas , and Miami, where the nightlife never ends. Boston’s saving grace in this category is its people. The night might end early, but the quality of the company might be a little higher than in other cities according to the polls.

“I’ve been single in both cities [Boston and New York] and I run a dating sight which also gives me insight,” Yagan said, “and I think that obviously NY nightlife goes much later, it’s usually 4 o’clock before most places think about closing, but Boston is more accessible and more casual. They’re not worried quite as much about what you wear, and in NY people are more focused on flaunting their wealth.”

Michael Winter, promoter for Saint one of Boston’s popular clubs, agrees. “As far as the people go, our people [Bostonians] tend to run clubs all over the country. Our people tend to be a lot more street smart and book smart. If you go to Vegas, a lot of the nightclubs there are run by Boston kids. I think we have a smarter breed … most of these kids have college degrees to boot. We’re a lot more real.”

Bostonians are apparently a lot more cultured, too, ranking second only to Los Angeles in the ranking’s categories. The Theatre District, array of musical groups and venues ranging from The Boston Symphony Orchestra to The Paradise have a lot to offer in the way of cultural diversity.

As Mark Twain once wrote, “In New York they ask ‘how much money does he have?’ In Philadelphia, they ask, ‘who were his parents?’ In Boston they ask, ‘how much does he know?’”. Boston is a thriving city of culture and colleges and a great place to meet other singles if you’re willing to spend a little quality time in a library or cafe rather than the discos.

Michael Crichton, award winning author and filmmaker, best known for his work on “Jurassic Park” and the television series ER, died Tuesday in Los Angeles, after a private battle with cancer. He was 66.

Mr. Crichton’s success began with his first novel, and his first bestseller, “The Andromeda Strain,” which was published in 1969 while he was still in medical school at Harvard University. It was adapted to film by Universal three years later.

Although he didn’t stick with medicine, his experiences had a hand in the creation of ER, and science and technology were integral parts of his fiction. Some of his most popular works include: Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Prey, State of Fear and Next.

“Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand” his family said in a statement.

From the very start, the exciting nature of Mr. Crichton’s novels easily translated into screenplays, which led him to co-write, direct, and produce the adaptations of many of his own works and even get involved with other screenplays, such as Westworld in 1975 and Twister in 1996.

One of the most well known writers in the world, Mr. Crichton’s works have been translated into 36 languages. He even had a dinosaur named after him “" the ankylosaur, or the Crichtonsaurus bohlini.

He was a loving husband and father to his wife Sherry and daughter Taylor, and leaves behind a science fiction legacy that many will fall short of meeting.

A private funeral is planned.

It was October 2005, and professional photographer Karen Sparacio was in Uganda. She was there to photograph a relief organization. Ayaa Grace, an Alhcoli woman, invited her to visit the Acholi Quarter.  What the Sparacio saw changed her life and, soon, the lives of hundreds of Ugandans as well.

Sparacio took in the creative and colorful jewelry that these women were making out of what little they had.  She brought some of the jewelry back with her to the states to see if she could sell some of these beaded works of art to help raise money for the women.  The few she brought with her sold quickly, and she returned to Uganda in January 2006, to initiate the beginnings of Project Have Hope.

The Acholi Quarter was a rundown civilization, a slum, outside of Kampla.  The state people live in was unparalleled to the sincere and pure souls that the photographer saw there.  Sparacio spent two and a half weeks photographing the Alcholi women and capturing the illuminating spirits of the women in this slum.

Project Have Hope is based in Malden, Mass. Sparacio learned the unique craft of the Alcholi women and took back these skills with her to the United States.  Like the Acholi women, she and other volunteers make colorful beads out of recycled paper.  She then sells the jewelry at local craft fairs and online at www.projecthavehope.org.

Project Have Hope has helped hundreds of women since its inception in 2006. With the money earned from jewelry sales and donations, Project Have Hope has created programs that provide women with the skills to work and become educated; the organization also rekindles the hope that may have faded from these women along the way.  With the money raised, Project Have Hope started a literacy program for 22 women who had never before even stepped inside a classroom.  Karen Sparacio’s organization also began a vocational training program.  Currently, 18 women are enrolled, and when the training is complete, they will receive a loan that will enable them to immediately start their lives in the working world.

What began as a small loans program for 30 women to start small businesses, has grown to a “high risk jumbo loan,” for women with strong and viable business ideas.  The high risk loan will take these women two years to repay.

“[The main goal of Project Have Hope] was to help women create something that is sustainable once I’m gone,” Sparacio said. “Realistically, I know I can’t do this work forever. So my goal is to help provide the women with the education, skills and finances needed to help them support themselves without the need of outside, foreign assistance.”

Sparacio has spent thousands of hours working on Project Have Hope. When asked what she has gained through this journey, she simply says, “Friends.” Many of the women she meets in Uganda have been raped and assaulted, their children have been abducted and husbands have been beaten or killed.

“But they smile widely and often, laugh gregariously, and move forward with each passing day,” she said. “I am honored to consider many of them as friends. They are the people who remind me, even when I do not see them everyday of what is important in life.”

It must be true that life’s greatest gifts are not seen, but felt.

Sparacio remembers one boy who had been abducted at the young age of 8. He was forced to become a child soldier, but escaped nine months later. Sparacio took the boy to live with his Aunt in the Acholi Quarter. Through Project Have Hope, he has been sponsored in school for the past two years.  Whenever he sees Sparacio, he walks with her and holds her hand.

In January, the boy saw her sitting alone and asked if he could sing her a song. He began to sing the children’s song “Head and Shoulders…Knees and Toes,” while simultaneously touching each body part.

“He grinned happily and proudly as he sung. No matter how bad of a day I am having, I think of him and smile. What a sweet, kind child!” Sparacio said. “To at least some small degree, I was able to give him back his childhood and give him hope for the future.”

For more information on Project Have Hope, visit ProjectHaveHope.org.

More women attend college than men, and several private colleges across the country find themselves working to recruit more men to balance out the ratio and enhance social appeal. 

Yearly tuition at many private universities has topped $40,000 per year. At that price, college administrators realize that they must offer much more than an education.  They must offer an experience. 

That experience includes anything and everything from activities to real-life work experience to a vibrant social life. A key ingredient to a memorable social life is a good mix of men and women. 

The New York Times article found that women make up 58 percent of those enrolled  part-time or full-time in college. In the late 60s, there were more men, and in the mid 70s, the genders were equally represented. But since the mid 80s, there have been more women than men.  That gap continues to widen. 

Admission offices at universities across the country are reacting with new strategies to attract more men to their colleges with the primary purpose of creating a more gender-balanced social and learning environment. 

Admissions materials 

Recruiting starts with admissions brochures sent to students at their homes. Dickinson College, a Carlisle, Penn. liberal arts school,  is actively recruiting more men than women, Time Magazine reports.  Since Vice President of Admissions Robert Massa started working at Dickinson College, the percentage of men on campus has jumped from 36 percent to 44 percent. 

Dickinson College’s website features proportionally more pictures of men and athletics.  They highlight their new physics, computer science and math buildings, and they started an international business program with the intent of appealing to potential male recruits. 

Several private colleges, including Dickinson and Chicago’s DePaul University send more admissions brochures to men than women, hoping to generate more interest from prospective male students.   

Athletic Presence 

Seattle University switched athletic conferences, moving up to a more competitive conference where other colleges have stronger athletic programs, reports PBS’ News Hour. The University has seen a drop in their winning percentages, but hopes to see an increase in the percentage of male students on campus.   

Women comprise 61 percent of the student body at Seattle University. Mike McKeon, the director of admissions, believes that “more prominent athletic programs — clearly male athletic programs — are going to help us to attract more men.”  

Other colleges are also using athletics to attract male students.  Shenandoah University in Virginia started a football program to not only lure football players but men who are looking for a college with a football team. 

Inequality in the response?

Susan Seckor, associate provost at Seattle University, fought for women’s equality in education for many years and wonders why there was no concern when more men attend college than women.   

“There’s a part of me that finds it outrageous and ridiculous that anybody would have the gall to suggest that when we’re now finally willing to recognize and applaud the gifts of over half of humanity, that there is this reaction that somehow sees it as alarming instead of exciting,” Seckor said in a PBS interview.  “I think it’s a sad day, frankly, and I think it’s a disgusting day.” 

A survey by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education said men still hold more of the upper management and decision-making positions at universities.  The survey also found that men also earn higher salaries. 

While women have made great strides, serving as college presidents of some of the nations top universities, including Harvard, UPenn, Princeton and Brown, women still account for only 20 percent of college presidents.   

The debate will continue, for now, as to how to best serve the students, effectively manage the university and properly represent both sexes, in both the student body and in upper administration.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday morning after suffering apparent seizures, CNN and the Boston Globe are reporting.

It was originally thought that Kennedy may have suffered a stroke, but that appears not to be true.

Sources say that Kennedy was spending time at the family compound in Hyannisport when he fell ill shortly before 8:30 a.m. He was first taken to Cape Cod Hospital before later being flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

A seizure is a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain that affects physical actions for a short time, according to the Epilepsy Therapy Project. Seizures are not a disease, but rather symptoms of many different disorders that can affect the brain. Seizures can mimic stroke-like symptoms, but a stroke is a specific vascular problem.

The senior senator from Massachusetts had surgery in October to clear a carotid artery. Doctors hoped that this surgery would prevent a stroke. Family members said they are “guardedly optimistic” that he will make a full recovery.

Family members also said that Kennedy was well enough to call and cancel lunch plans he had made with them. Presidential candidates McCain, Clinton, and Obama sent wishes of a speedy recovery. Senator John Kerry was seen arriving at Mass General Saturday afternoon, presumably to visit with Senator Kennedy.

The senior senator

Senator Kennedy has represented Massachusetts since his election to the Senate in 1962. He is the currently the second most senior member.

According to Kennedy’s website, he has fought for the people of Massachusetts and the nation on issues ranging from health care to education reform to strengthening civil rights.

Senator Kennedy is the youngest of 9 children and is the brother of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.

An aging Senate

Senator Kennedy is 76 years old and has served in the Senate for 43 years. Compared to Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), Kennedy is young. Byrd is 90 years old and has served in the Senate for 49 years since he was first elected in 1959. He is the longest serving Senator in the history of the legislature.

The average age of a US senator is 62. The ages of senators range from 90 to 43. Six senators are age 80 or older and thirty-five senators are between the ages of 65 and 79.

Of those senators vying for the presidency in the 2008 election, Senator McCain is 71, Senator Clinton is 60 and Senator Obama is 46.

The increasing age of US Senators fuels a debate surrounding the trade-off between age and ability to serve. A more senior senator will most likely bring more political and overall experience to the position. However, age also leaves a senator more vulnerable to health issues and fatigue from the demands of holding a national political position.

American history has its heroes. Washington. Lincoln. King.

Murrow.

If you don’t understand how important journalism is in a society, you need only read a biography of Edward R. Murrow and see what he did during World War II and then during the American anti-communism years.

Read the biography first. Then you can watch “Good Night and Good Luck.”

Murrow was born 100 years ago Friday. A heavy smoker, he died in 1965 at 57. Though he smoked three packs a day, he was one of the first journalists to report on the connection between cigarettes and cancer.

Though he was one of the founding fathers of television and remains perhaps the most influential broadcaster on any medium in history, he was prophetically aware of the dangers posed to an insulated citizenry.

What follows are excerpts from a speech Murrow gave in Chicago in 1958. It could have easily been given 50 years later and could be about not only television and radio but the Internet and computers. It is relevant during the rule of McCarthy, the rule of Nixon and the rule of Bush.

Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER.

For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must be faced if we are to survive. …

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles. The top management of the networks with a few notable exceptions, has been trained in advertising, research, sales or show business. But by the nature of the coporate structure, they also make the final and crucial decisions having to do with news and public affairs. Frequently they have neither the time nor the competence to do this. It is not easy for the same small group of men to decide whether to buy a new station for millions of dollars, build a new building, alter the rate card, buy a new Western, sell a soap opera, decide what defensive line to take in connection with the latest Congressional inquiry, how much money to spend on promoting a new program, what additions or deletions should be made in the existing covey or clutch of vice-presidents, and at the same time– frequently on the same long day–to give mature, thoughtful consideration to the manifold problems that confront those who are charged with the responsibility for news and public affairs. …

I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge, and retribution will not limp in catching up with us.

We are to a large extent an imitative society. If one or two or three corporations would undertake to devote just a small traction of their advertising appropriation along the lines that I have suggested, the procedure would grow by contagion; the economic burden would be bearable, and there might ensue a most exciting adventure–exposure to ideas and the bringing of reality into the homes of the nation.

To those who say people wouldn’t look; they wouldn’t be interested; they’re too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter’s opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.

NEW YORK — The concept of surrogacy is decried by conservative Christians, viewed as a form of prostitution by far-left feminists and debated by medical ethicists and lawmakers, but the practice is on the rise. For the April 7 Newsweek cover, “Womb For Rent” (on newsstands March 31), Senior Writer Lorraine Ali and Associate Editor Raina Kelley found more women than ever before are having babies for those who cannot. At the high end, industry experts estimate there were about 1,000 surrogate births in the U.S. last year, while the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology counted about 260 in 2006, a 30 percent increase over three years. But the number is surely much higher than this — in just five of the agencies Newsweek spoke to, there were 400 surrogate births in 2007. The discrepancy in the figures stems from the way these births are counted.

Newsweek discovered that many women who have turned to surrogacy are military wives looking to supplement the family income while their husbands are serving overseas. Several agencies reported a significant increase in the number of wives of soldiers and naval personnel applying to be surrogates since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. These women can earn more with one pregnancy than their husbands’ annual base pay (which ranges for new enlistees from $16,080 to $28,900).

Military wife Gernisha Myers, 24, says she was looking through the local San Diego PennySaver circular for a job when she saw the listing: “Surrogate Mothers Wanted! Up to $20,000 Compensation!” The full-time mother of two thought it would be a great way to make money from home, and it would give her that sense of purpose she’d lacked since she left her job as an X-ray technician. She loved the feel of her belly with a baby inside, and that natural high that comes from “all those rushing hormones.” Despite some negative reactions from her family members, Myers says she is “OK with it because I know I am doing something good for somebody else. I am giving another couple what they could never have on their own — a family.”

IVF clinics and surrogate agencies in Texas and California say military spouses make up 50 percent of their carriers. “In the military, we have that mentality of going to extremes, fighting for your country, risking your life,” says Jennifer Hansen, 25, a paralegal who’s married to Army Sgt. Chase Hansen. They live in Lincoln, Neb., and have two young kids, and Chase has been deployed to Iraq for two of the last five years. “I think that being married to someone in the military embeds those values in you. I feel I’m taking a risk now, in less of a way than he is, but still a risk with my life and body to help someone.” Surrogate agencies target the population by dropping leaflets in the mailboxes of military housing complexes, such as those around San Diego’s Camp Pendleton, and placing ads in on-base publications such as the Military Times and Military Spouse.

Military wives are also attractive candidates because of their health insurance, Tricare, which has some of the most comprehensive coverage for surrogates in the industry, and agencies may offer a potential surrogate with this health plan an extra $5,000. Last year military officials asked for a provision in the 2008 defense authorization bill to cut off coverage for any medical procedures related to surrogate pregnancy. They were unsuccessful — there are no real data on how much the government spends on these cases. Tricare suggests that surrogate mothers who receive payment for their pregnancy should declare the amount they’re receiving, which can then be deducted from their coverage. But since paid carriers have no incentive to say anything, most don’t. The subject of Tricare surrogacy coverage is becoming a hot topic throughout the military world, and fiercely debated on Web sites such as militarySOS.com.

Another reason for the rise in surrogacies is that technology has made them safer and more likely to succeed. Clinics now boast a 70 to 90 percent pregnancy success rate — up 40 percent in the past decade. Rather than just putting an egg into a petri dish with thousands of sperm and hoping for a match, embryologists can inject a single sperm directly into the egg. The great majority of clinics can now test embryos for genetic diseases before implantation. It’s revolutionizing the way clinics treat patients. Ric Ross, lab director at LaJolla IVF in San Diego, says these advances have helped “drop IVF miscarriage rates by 85 percent.”

There is still a lot that is not understood about the world of the surrogate. The culture still stereotypes surrogates as either hicks or opportunists whose ethics could use some fine-tuning. Even pop culture has bought into the caricature. In the upcoming feature film “Baby Mama,” a single businesswoman (Tina Fey) is told by a doctor that she is infertile and hires a working-class gal (Amy Poehler) to be her surrogate. The client is a savvy, smart and well-to-do health-store-chain exec while Poehler is an unemployed, deceitful wild child who wants easy money.

To better understand them, Newsweek spoke with dozens of women across America who are, or have been, surrogates. What we found is surprising and defies stereotyping. The experiences of this vast group of women range from the wonderful and life-affirming to the heart-rending. One surrogate, Gina Scanlon, is the godmother of the twins she bore, while another still struggles because she has little contact with the baby she once carried. Some resent being told what to eat or drink; others feel more responsible bearing someone else’s child than they did with their own. Their motivations are varied: one upper-middle-class carrier in California said that as a child she watched a family member suffer with infertility and wished she could help. Another working-class surrogate from Idaho said it was the only way her family could afford things they never could before. But all were agreed that the grueling IVF treatments, morning sickness, bed rest, C-sections and stretch marks were worth it once they saw their intended parent hold the child, or children (multiples are common with IVF), for the first time. “Being a surrogate is like giving an organ transplant to someone,” says Jennifer Cantor, “only before you die, and you actually get to see their joy.”

(Read the cover story at http://www.newsweek.com/)

“I’m a big fan of blush. This right here is my secret,” the young man says, pulling out a small, circular tin from a cosmetics tray. “A little bit of this, just dab it on, it really adds a lot,” he says, running a large powder brush across the top of his hand.

In a tidy pinstriped suit, bright-blue shirt and golden geometric tie, this 24-year-old with long hair and light chin fuzz could be a grandson of the older woman resting inside the casket. But Tyler Pray is actually a young funeral director, the one who arranged this small service on behalf of an estranged sister who wanted to bury her broken relationship as soon as possible.

With the collar popped on his black trench coat, Tyler grasps a silver bar affixed along the side of a gray container. His father and grandfather help march it out a back door, balancing the weight within.

The three generations of Pray men stand in as pallbearers and family for the petite woman who spent her last few years in a wheelchair. Under soft, pink lighting, she appears asleep in such an unnatural position — hands crossed in front and glasses shielding her closed eyes. An assistant cranks the casket closed and the woman’s body slowly tilts back into place, her stiff, clasped hands freeze in the air as if reaching for one last handshake. The men lift her closed casket into a black hearse. Only 10 people show for the funeral. Two attend the burial.

Still, Tyler makes sure she looks great. He sets her hair in neat curls, dresses her in a stylish leopard-print blouse and brings her pale skin back to its natural glow. It’s a chance to do something for her that she can no longer do for herself.

“It doesn’t do anything to my skin, really, but something that’s really pale, like, look at our hands. They’re red. They’re fleshy. It just makes it look like there’s blood flowing through there again. Not that they’re alive, but just a more natural appearance.”

He flips the blush case over. “Oh god. This is so cheesy,” he says. “This is called Sparkling Wine.”

Reputation is important, not only in the bereavement business, but in this small community. The Pray family handles roughly 150 deaths each year in Charlotte, a town of 8,300 near Michigan’s capital of Lansing. Blunders in this small place don’t go unnoticed.

“I don’t want to put too much red on somebody … if they didn’t wear red lipstick,” Tyler says. “Same as with a man. I want to put color on his lips but look at my lips. They’re a pretty red. And I’m a guy not wearing any makeup.

“When I first introduce people to their person in the casket, a lot of times I’ll kind of read and listen to them, ask them if everything’s OK. And people say, “God she looks terrible. There’s too much red on her.’”

Families suffer the most intense episodes when they enter the home and see their deceased for the first time, he says. They hug and cry uncontrollably; some collapse. But that’s how they deal. And sometimes, the Prays are all that families have. Tyler is most proud when someone says their dead relative — not breathing, laughing, smiling like they once did — looks good.

“People who don’t get a chance to have this final moment always seem to be disconnected with what’s really happening,” he says. “Like it’s not true. Like they’re going to come home tomorrow. But they’re not.”

Tyler walks all of 60 feet to work through a back alley from an old, gray colonial, one of three houses the family owns. It’s a prime location for a job with no set schedule. And he’s made it a hub for his creativity. He stands at the kitchen table flipping through some poetry publications that arrived in the mail today. In another room, a guitar stands upright on display and an old typewriter rests on his desk, both ways for Tyler to turn out inspiration. He’s particular about his feng shui, too, demonstrating how the mounted flat panel TV looks cleaner when the DVD rack isn’t directly underneath. He says the spacious apartment is a peaceful getaway from the extreme hours next door.

This Tuesday, after 932 days of searching, prosecutors closed investigations on the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Ann Holloway. They still believe three young men were involved in her death but cannot prove this due to their failed search for a body.

Last month authorities in Aruba discovered online chat sessions between the three main suspects of the case and re-arrested them hoping they could solve the case. However, with no body or new information form the suspects authorities decided to close the notorious case.

A statement form the Public Prosecutor’s Office acknowledged that if the suspects were put on trial they would have been acquitted due to lack of evidence. Moving to cold-case files was hard for them and her parents but all resources have been tried.

“The public prosecutor’s office and the police have gone the extra mile and have exhausted all their powers and techniques in order to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the girl,” said the statement.

Holloway, an Alabama high school student, disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a graduating class trip to Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar with the three main suspects, Joran van der Sloot, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

Quickly after her disappearance her divorced parents made every effort to find their daughter, using the media to broaden the reach of the search. Holloway’s mother, Beth Twitty, is “terribly disappointed” with Tuesday’s decision, her spokeswoman said.

“She was very hopeful the last couple of weeks and she went down there and met with the prosecutor,” Sunny Tillman told The Associated Press. “He told her face-to-face that he had new and incriminating evidence, and that made her hopeful.”

Unfortunately the prosecutor’s on-line chat findings were not incriminating enough. Prosecutors said the case could still be reopened if “serious” new evidence emerges. The statute of limitations is six years for involuntary manslaughter and 12 for homicide.

After extended searches, vigils and worldwide interest on the case Tillman said Holloway’s family is planning a deep-water search by a private group, but many don’t think the search will turn up anything.

Paula Hian is getting a lot of recognition these days, and largely thanks to one little dress.

The soft-spoken fashion designer has been quietly working in a Pennsylvania warehouse for the past 15 years, creating garments for Philadelphia socialites including Governor Ed Rendell’s wife, Midge and actresses Brooke Shields, Julie Anne Emery, Hilary Swank and some that were worn by the stars of “Friends.”

“But we couldn’t get any credit,” she said, meandering about her showroom in the Philadelphia suburb of Manayunk.

That made it difficult to use celebrity status to skyrocket a career. While some big-name houses could sway the loyalties of celebrities with free dinners, gifts and clothing, Hian was just trying to get noticed.

But that changed this year with a short, cr¨me taffeta number with hand-embroidered gold chain detail, dubbed the “It” dress of the season.

“For some reason, I don’t know why, so many people asked for that dress,” said Hian.

The bubble-skirted dress struck a chord in the industry, and requests came pouring in to borrow the sample for photo shoots. Hian’s team created an extra sample so the piece could meet the demand. Songstress Carrie Underwood even sported the dress for a TV appearance and photo shoot in Entertainment Weekly.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I turned on the TV and, in a blink, saw Carrie Underwood wearing my dress,” said Hian.

Soon, the garment got a larger-than-life billing on actress Taylor Momsen, plastering billboards, buses and buildings in New York City in an ad for the new drama Gossip Girl.

The high-profile dress was also selected for an upcoming L’Oreal marketing campaign, and has been a hot seller in boutiques that sell Hian’s designs. “It just keeps sort of continuing,” she said. “We’ve received endless calls and e-mails.”

Each “It” dress can take up to 70 hours to create, from shaping the pattern, to cutting the fabric, stitching the seams and applying the meticulous hand-embroidered gold chain to the bodice, which can take about six hours alone.

An exclusive store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, even purchased a few copies, but with the stipulation that their samples had to be long. “They’re very stylish, maybe more than we are,” Hian said of the famously conservative culture. “But whatever it is, it’s long.”

Chatting from her studio recently, Hian was dressed comfortably in a black and cr¨me top from the latest line, a leather jacket crisscrossed with zippers from 2001, and jeans, which could be a future endeavor.

“I love this jacket,” she says, zipping and unzipping a sleeve as she speaks. “I could practically sleep in it.”

Metallic accents have long been a favored choice for Hian’s work, as well as the soft curves and flowing geometric shapes that are present in many of her creations. For their soft fluidity, Hian favors silk and jersey above all other fabrics. Texture is also an important aspect of Hian’s designs, adding her own distinctive flair to classic silhouettes with soft, curved lines, geometric shapes and embellishing pieces with handcrafted cording, embroidery or hand-sewn gold chain.

“It’s really hard sometimes to find what you see in your head,” Hian said, but dying fabrics and hand embroidering designs helps make the finished product as close as possible to her original idea.

As a child, Hian didn’t harbor other career aspirations. The Philadelphia-born daughter of a fashion photographer and classical musician knew by the time she was five years-old that she loved thinking up outfits and sketching them on paper. Some of her earliest works, a child’s scribbling in greens and purples, still adorn a wall in her showroom.

The rest of the space is filled with racks of her latest designs, some of which can also be found in Hian’s personal closet. With each new piece, Hian strives to create an emotionally-charged garment, and a graphic depiction of Hian’s personality.

At her studio, Hian’s office is in slight disarray as she rifles through bags of small fabric squares, working on ideas for next year’s fall collection. New ideas begin life as quickly-jotted sketches on scraps of paper. They seem to pop into Hian’s head at all hours, sometimes forming while she sleeps; her career is, undoubtedly, a 24/7 job.

“I’m a working person. I love to work, ‘cause it’s not like work,” she says.

“My French was so-so, not great,” said Hian. “They only seem to know ‘bye-bye’ and ‘Hollywood star,’” she joked. “It’s not easy, but I really like it.”

Hian’s next move will likely be to New York City, where she hopes to open a shop by 2008. Expanding her collection is also on Hian’s to-do list, with aspirations for active wear, accessories, jeans and a men’s line.

“Being a designer, you want to design everything,” she said.

Norman Mailer, arguably the most critical and influential literary figure of the 20th century, died today of renal failure. He was 84.

Throughout the course of his illustrious career, Mailer was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and won the National Book Award. His flair and demeanor cemented him as one of the most celebrated authors in America.

Norman Kingsley Mailer was born on January 31, 1923 in Long Branch, NJ and was raised in Brooklyn, NY. He attended the Boys’ School. Mr. Mailer graduated from Harvard in 1943 at the age of 20 and was soon drafted by the U.S. Army. Serving in the Philippines he would use his wartime experiences later in his writings.

Cocky and defiant, but equally talented, Mr. Mailer rose to prominence as part of the Greatest Generation, having graduated a prestigious institution and thrust full-force into the Pacific during the Second World War. Culling details and emotions from his time there, Mr. Mailer wrote his first–and some would say his finest–novel based on the events. The Naked and the Dead was published in 1948, and almost immediately shot the 25-year-old to literary stardom.

After a brief, mostly unsuccessful stint as a Hollywood screenwriter, Mr. Mailer returned to New York City. During the 1950s, he continued writing novels, although he didn’t immediately see the same success that his first novel had gained.

One of his subsequent novels, The Deer Park, was based on his writing experiences on the West Coast. It was repeatedly rejected by numerous publishers because of its extremely sexual content.

Apart from his literary success, Mr. Mailer saw the same problems that had plagued many writers during his time and from generations past. During his rise to celebrity status, Mr. Mailer discovered the power of alcohol, a mechanism that would, throughout the rest of his life, either bless him with a sort of inebriated, humorous charm, or curse him with tumultuous relationships and painful events.

One night in 1960, after a night of partying, Mr. Mailer stabbed his then-wife, Adele Morales, with a penknife. Although she fully recovered and refused to press charges, this incident would haunt him the rest of his life and would result in many plaguing him as a misogynist.

Mr. Mailer will be undoubtedly be remembered as a a literary icon for generations to come. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of his legacy is that he had played just as much a part in crafting his towering identity as did his novels and critics. Shortly after the release of The Naked and the Dead, Mr. Mailer had claimed that he was going to be one of the preeminent authors of his time, and that he was going to pen “the big one”- the great American novel. Through the subsequent commercial failures that followed Mailer into the 1960s, he firmly maintained his belief that he was an icon.

The kind of success that Mr. Mailer had once predicted seemed to have found him in the late 60s; his nonfiction account of the October 1967 anti-war march on the Pentigon, The Armies of the Night, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1968. In it, Mailer documented the events of that fall with creativity and precision, often glamorizing the march and, to no surprise, his own “heroic” contributions as a novelist and a historian.

Mr. Mailer won another Pulitzer prize in 1979 for The Executioner’s song, another mostly nonfiction account of the imprisonment and execution of convicted Utah murderer Gary Gilmore.

Among his most notable contributions to the literary community, apart from his novels, was his co-founding of The Village Voice, perhaps the most widely recognized alternative newspaper in the country. Mr. Mailer’s dabbling in journalism (he regularly contribued to The Voice, among other New York-based publications), along with his famous nonfiction-plus-some-creativity novels, put him at the forefront of what some called the “new journalism” movement, with the likes of Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson.

Mr. Mailer had undergone lung surgery recently at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, NY.

Our buds at Details say the women you date should behave — and look — like grown-ups, not characters from High School Musical.

By Simon Dumenco

Recently, I found myself at a party in Manhattan, casting sidelong glances at a woman. Her look (baby-doll dress, kinderwhore lip gloss) and behavior (exclaiming “Oh my god, totally!” and text-ing obsessively) screamed tweenager. You know, that hybrid archetype—the one who worships at the altar of Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Everything about the woman telegraphed jailbait—except, that is, for the crow’s feet, which suggested that this wannabe tween was pushing 35.

Look around. The 35-going-on-12 woman is everywhere. Man-child Syndrome—the affliction that causes thirty-something guys to cling to adolescence—may be rampant, but lately it’s women who are taking the lead in regressing. Call it the Big Girl Epidemic: women selling versions of themselves that, when you get down to it, are pretty creepy. It’s not so much a Lolita thing—the Big Girl isn’t trying to be a dewy seductress—but more of a daffy, tweenage thing.

Is this the sort of girl you clawed your way into manhood to date? Think back to what your big brother’s girlfriend seemed like when you were a kid: A woman. A w-o-m-a-n woman. Not someone who speaks in acronyms and carries a glitter-covered Sidekick.

“I get the feeling that a lot of women are dressing and acting that way because they think that that’s what guys want,” says Jean Twenge, associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of Generation Me, a book about American youth culture. “It’s the same thing as older women getting plastic surgery. The idea is that what men want is a woman who looks 18. Although they don’t usually want a woman who acts 18.” Twenge laughs, then adds, “And that’s where the problem comes in.”

And it is a problem—especially if you’re a man who happens to find tween impersonations not only unbecoming but more than a little sad. Unfortunately, as long as our culture reinforces the Big Girl’s worst inclinations, the epidemic will persist.

“I’ve been meditating on the question of why women in their twenties and thirties seem to be obsessed with all things teen—fashion, slang, gossip, et cetera,” says Anastasia Goodstein, publisher of ypulse.com, a marketing website. “The reality is that teen culture has come to define pop culture.” As the usual markers of American adulthood—marriage, career, kids—get more and more delayed, the simpleminded distractions of adolescence have extended their grip on the adult brain. Man-children may drag their old skateboards and video games with them into their thirties, but Big Girls needn’t bother to cling to the pop culture of their youth. “Adult” pop culture has been conveniently colonized by a teen sensibility. Consider Gossip Girls or The Hills. Both shows are endlessly blogged about and compulsively parsed by teenage girls—but they’re also cornerstones of thirtysomething women’s party conversation. The audiences have converged.

Meanwhile, the female-oriented tabloids—Us Weekly, In Touch, and Star—read like Tiger Beat redux, chronicling the dysfunction of the Lindsays, Britneys, Nicoles, Heidis, and Laurens who have come to dominate the celebrity landscape at the expense of more seasoned female celebrities. And you only need look at the teen/tween style bible Teen Vogue to discover where Big Girls are taking their fashion cues from. According to the demographic stats it supplies to advertisers, nearly 2.8 million readers (almost half the total) of Vogue’s little sister are adults.

Dating one of these Big Girls doesn’t mean just putting up with jailbait fashion and IMs that say OMG, totally! It means potentially enduring the worst sort of navel-gazing drama. As Twenge points out, arrested development goes hand in hand with self-absorption: Narcissism “is a very adolescent personality trait. Obviously it means you focus on yourself and what’s good for you.” It used to be that men had the ego market cornered, but now, Twenge says, “there’s virtually no difference between the sexes with regard to narcissism. Most of the change has taken place in girls and women.” Basically, women have caught up to men by sinking to comparable levels of adolescent self-absorption.

Which makes the idea of actually dating a Big Girl even more unappealing.

Not that, in this postfeminist age, you have to hold out for “I am woman, hear me roar.” But “I am girl, hear me giggle”? Uh, no. Totes no.

In 1989 when Deborah Howard, President of Howard Communications, noticed the cramped and unsanitary conditions at the Docktor Pet Center, a pet store in the Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, she became enraged.

A tiny Yellow Labrador Retriever puppy had its leg pressed against its cramped metal cage. It was cut and bleeding badly. She asked to see the puppy immediately, and as it clung to her she knew this wasn’t the first time this animal had felt pain.

Many people are simply unaware that many pet store animals come from “puppy mills,” high-volume, sub-standard dog breeding operations.

Unfortunately this is a story that is repeated time after time at pet stores across the United States. According to the Humane Society of the United States, an estimated 6-8 million pets enter shelters each year. With so many animals in need one wonders why there is a need for Pet Stores at all.

Howard went about contacting several animal rights groups in the Atlanta area to address the pet store issue with little success. Steadfast and tenacious, she heard of a young gentleman who had taken a job at one of the Docktor Pet Centers merely to help the animals. She met him, rented a video camera and documented many sick and dying puppies.

Footage in hand, Howard partnered with animal abuse investigator Robert Baker. Their efforts led to a series of exposes on ABC’s 20/20 as well as People and Life Magazine in which the Docktor Pet Stores were named directly. They also showed the horrors of puppy mills.

Docktor Pet Centers filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 1993. The company had more than 300 franchises at the time. Howard and Baker went on to start the Companion Animal Protection Society in Cohasset, Mass. It is the only national nonprofit dedicated exclusively to protecting companion animals.

Since that time Howard has worked with Dateline NBC, CNN, Hard Copy, and Numerous Newspapers around the country, as well as an HBO documentary that will air the end of 2008.

The Companion Animal protection society will be holding their first ever “Claws and Paws Shop” online auction to raise funds and awareness for their critical mission from November 5-30. Items include trips to Australia, Bermuda and signed memorabilia from the Boston Red Sox. There are also a ton of Pet items! Visit www.caps-web.org for more information.

Courtesy of Image Unlimited Communications. Blast Magazine edits commentaries for style only, and they do not necessarily represent the opinions of Blast Magazine, its editors or its publisher.

Layla Love may be categorized as an up and coming artist for her photography, but to those who know her past, she better seen as a warrior. Using her camera as therapy after her tumultuous upbringing during which Love has been raped, beaten and diagnosed with a neurological movement disorder, her art is understatedly hard-fought.

Love’s mother, an Irish gypsy, was a bastard child forced to work as a farmhouse worker after being separated from her mother in Northern Ireland. She got pregnant on a trip to America, giving the artist no specific cultural roots like her mother. She moved and lived in more than 30 countries before turning 18. While still an older teen, she decided to leave home to travel across America and Europe. Struggling for money and stability, Love took refuge in art at age 12 trying to channel her emotions to create something hoping to make people think and grow. Photography became the means for her creative exposure. Her first photo expedition was on her 21st birthday in Darfur.

"I was with an anthologist who had been following a group of women who self-mutilated as a form of protection, a practice which begun with colonial slave trade and still continues today," Love said.

Her expedition into Sudan and Chad influenced her desire to keep traveling and exposing people’s stories from across the globe. She has traveled to Africa and the
Middle East. She has gone to all parts of Asia, reaching Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Her residences on her voyages have ranged from orphanages to churches and even jails at times. Love has called Australia, London and New York home and has collected thousands of pictures from her travels.

From July 31 to August 4, Love had the chance to debut her work in a solo exhibition of 100 pieces from her extensive portfolio, showcased at the World Culture Open Center in New York City. The exhibition, “Representing Woman – Unbreakable Surrealism,” documents the combination of chaos and order within human life. Photographing the masses and the esteemed alike, including Gloria Steinem, Ani DiFranco, and the Dalai Lama, Love creates a fusion between a photojournalistic approach and the capturing of fantasy.

"In my life, thus far the only thing that remains constant is my obsession with recording life as honestly and openly as I can," she said. "I only hope that in sharing my work people will stay open to make their own voice real." Although peaceful in nature and more than willing to chat, one may wonder if a difficult background is the only reason why this woman has a ‘flower child’ personality. But as she explains, there should be no stereotypes of prejudices because they may shock those who employ them.

When growing up Love was exposed to rich and poor environments alike. Her father, of Russian descent, has a stable life and economic means. This gave Love chance to mingle with diplomats and models, learning how to act in any situation with comfort. In the midst of her disjointed upbringing, Love was also diagnosed with crippling Dystonia, a neurological movement disorder in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures.

Adding to the turmoil of dealing with a movement disorder that affects a quarter-million Americans, Love has also been raped and beaten. After the incident, the first thing she reached for was her camera. She chose to videotape herself while making calls on her phone, trying to get help, as it was the best way she could process. Eventually, Love was able to create with what she lived through.

"I have always lived in chaos, knowing I was loved. Love and chaos…if you want to trace me to my roots, that’s what you will find," she added.

Her photographs are as direct as she is in explaining her history. Featuring young and old, in portraits or nudes, each photo tells a story. Whether it is a child looking intently at the camera or a beautiful sunset by the ocean, art aficionados saw a variety of pieces from fine art to surrealism in her New York exhibit. Featured in the exhibit was the work of Allison Kramer, whose photo-essayist approach documenting Love’s life and career reflect their mutual passion to produce art. Kramer covers the progressive stages of Love’s illness, vulnerability, and most intimate relationships. In regards to relationships, Love admits that marriage and single-hood are only labels.

A self-described passionate woman she is torn between wanting ‘the other half’ and enjoying her independence. While still learning about Love, the woman, who does not acknowledge age in her life, admits that she will continue to meet possible soul mates.

"In every country [I visit] I make sure to do three things: visit the holy places, read the papers, and have friends and lovers who are locals," she said.

What the future may bring for this survivor could be as unexpected as her life has been. Although she is a college graduate, with a bachelor’s in journalism and visual communication from the University of California at Santa Cruz, she wants to continue to educate herself, relying on her instinctive character. Other projects are also in the works with four books ready to be printed, but waiting for a publisher. Most importantly, she wants to excel and help others know life is, after all, beautiful. "I am ready to share…I draw my inspiration from God, by a higher power. I am looking for gallery walls to fill, for people to work with [and] I am an unrelenting optimist," Love said. Love is a member of the arts collaborative Red Monsoon, where artists embrace a shared spirit and create works that bridge on their experiences. To see Love’s art visit www.lovephotography.org.

CNN and the Associated press have reported that embattled NFL star, Michael Vick will plead guilty federal charges related to illegal dogfighting, closing one of the chapters in a top sports scandal story.

Vick will plead guilty to felony conspiracy next Monday, defense attorney Lawrence Woodward told the Virginian-Pilot, of Norfolk, Virginia.

Vick could spend up to five years in prison and face thousands in fines.

“After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him,” lead defense attorney Billy Martin said in a statement. “Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter.”

Further federal charges with additional penalties were expected, and it is believed that this plea deal will belay these additional sanctions.

Three co-defendants had previously come forward to accept plea deals in exchange for their testimony against Vick at trial. It seems that no such trial will take place now.

The Associated Press reported that Vick faces the additional issue of a possible lifetime ban from the National Football League.