Friday, May 20, 2016

Friday Flicks: "The Meddler" "The Nice Guys" "Neighbors 2"


The Meddler Movie CLIP - Valentine"s Day (2016) - Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne Movie HD

By Alexandra Corradetti | acorradetti@wcia.com

Published 05/20 2016 10:33AM

Updated 05/20 2016 10:52AM

CHAMPAIGN

The Meddler

An aging widow (Susan Sarandon) from New Jersey follows her daughter (Rose Byrne) to Los Angeles in the hopes of starting a new life after her husband passes away. Filled with the best of intentions, Director Lorene Scafaria, based the film on her experiences after her father passed away. The result is a sometimes effective look at the blurring of boundaries between family members that may be born of the best of intentions but wind up being intrusive. In the end this is a hit-or-miss affair. 2 stars (Chuck Koplinski) Rated PG-13. 100 minutes.

The Nice Guys

A mismatched pair of private eyes (Russell Crowe & Ryan Gosling) investigate the apparent suicide of a fading p**n star in 1970"s Los Angeles. The humor and chemistry between Crowe and Gosling is an unexpected delight, while the film"s mystery and its solution prove intriguing and satisfying. Unfortunately, the presence of a young character who"s perpetually in danger breaks the spell the cast and Director Shane Black labor so hard to create, preventing the film from reaching its full potential. 2 stars (Chuck Koplinski) Rated R. 116 minutes.

Neighbors 2

After a sorority moves in next door, which is even more raucous than the fraternity before it, Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogan & Rose Byrne) have to ask for help from their former enemy, Teddy (Zac Efron). There"s nothing new here as this film. Much like its predecessor, is filled with great ideas that aren"t developed to their full potential. In the end, this is simply a lazy movie. 2 stars (Chuck Koplinski) Rated R. 92 minutes.

Copyright 2016 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.illinoishomepage.net/news/local-news/friday-flicks-the-meddler-the-nice-guys-neighbors-2

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Your daily music news: Billboard Music Awards, death of a Beastie Boys member and EODM gets pulled from French ...


John Berry, founding member of Beastie Boys, dead at 52

2. The passing of Beastie Boys Member

Guitarist John Berry, an original member of the Beastie Boys passed away in hospice in Massachusetts yesterday morning. Although he was only with the Beastie Boys from 1981-82, he is credited with giving the group its name. He played on the first EP Polly Wog Stew and was later replaced by Ad-Rock. He was 52.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/original-beastie-boys-member-john-berry-dead-at-52-20160519

3. Eagles of Death Metal pulled from festivals over terrorism comments

EODM has been dropped from two French music festivals after singer Jesse Hughes released comments suggesting his security staff were involved in theNovember 13 Paris attacks at Le Bataclan.In an interview with Takis Magazine, singer Jesse Hughes said, I saw Muslims celebrating in the street during the attack. I saw it with my own eyes. In real time! How did they know what was going on? There must have been coordination.

http://pitchfork.com/news/65613-eagles-of-death-metal-dropped-from-festivals-over-terrorism-comments/

Source: http://radiomilwaukee.org/discover-music/daily-music-news-billboard-music-awards-death-beastie-boys-member-dropping-eagles-death-metal-festivals-terrorism-comments/

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White House: Too early to say what caused crash


President Obama Speaks at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner

CAIRO - The White House says it"s too early to say definitively what caused an EgyptAir flight to crash into the Mediterranean Sea.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says investigators will consider all factors and possibilities. He says nothing has been ruled in or out. Earnest says the U.S. is ready to help with the investigation and that the U.S. Navy is working to deploy a P-3 Orion aircraft in the search.

The White House says President Barack Obama is getting multiple updates about the crash. Earnest says the president is sending his prayers to families of those on the place. Earnest says U.S. national security and aviation experts are in contact with their counterparts in France and Egypt to offer assistance.

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8:58 update: EgyptAir crash deemed "more likely" terror act than tech failure.

Greek official says that a search plane has located two orange items believed to be from the plane.

Law enforcement sources say the FBI will offer assistance to investigators in the EgyptAir incident.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------6:22 update: French and Egyptian officials say that EgyptAir flight 804 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek defense minister says that EgyptAir flight 804 made abrupt turns and suddenly lost altitude.

Officials say the plane fell 22,000 feet then spun sharply before it disappeared.

The flight left Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time and lost contact at 2:30 a.m.3:15 a.m. was the expected arrival into the Cairo airport.

French President Francois Hollande says that "No hypothesis ruled out" on plane"s disappearance and crash.

Officials say no Americans were on board. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EgyptAir says an Airbus A320 carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members has disappeared from radar.

The airline says Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo vanished 2:45 a.m. Thursday, Egypt time, 10 miles after it entered Egyptian air space.

A spokesman for the Egyptian civil aviation agency tells SkyNews Arabia that the plane most likely crashed into the sea.

Source: http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/WhiteHouse-says-too-early-to-say-what-caused-crashed-380069281-380239521.html

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Fresh Air Remembers "60 Minutes" Correspondent Morley Safer


Morley Safer"s 2001 CNN interview (Larry King Live official Interview)

In his 1990 interview with Terry Gross, Safer discussed his groundbreaking coverage of the war in Vietnam. He died Thursday at 84.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. Morley Safer, the CBS correspondent known for decades of work on the Sunday news magazine "60 Minutes" died of pneumonia yesterday at his home in New York. He was 84. Safer won a host of awards, including Emmys, Peabodys and a George Polk Award. Terry interviewed him in 1990.

Safer"s reporting ranged far beyond "60 Minutes." He covered wars in the Middle East, the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Cultural Revolution in China, the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia and most significantly the war in Vietnam. He was known for his compelling stories from Vietnam of American troops in combat and the impact of the war on civilians.

Safer"s report of Marines burning Vietnamese huts while weeping villagers begged them to stop so infuriated President Johnson that he wanted Safer fired and had him investigated as a potential communist. Let"s start with an excerpt of that 1965 report from Vietnam.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MORLEY SAFER: If there were Viet Cong in the hamlets, they were long gone, alerted by the roar of the amphibious tractors and the heavy barrage of rocket fire laid down before the troops moved in. The women and the old men who remained will never forget that August afternoon.

Today"s operation is the frustration of Vietnam in miniature. There"s little doubt that American firepower can win a military victory here. But to a Vietnamese peasant whose home is a - means a lifetime of backbreaking labor, it will take more than presidential promises to convince him that we are on his side.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TERRY GROSS, BYLINE: Can you describe what the mission was?

SAFER: The mission was not an extraordinary one. I had been up in Danang, which was the - where the headquarters of the Marines were. The Marines were responsible in Vietnam for something called I Corps. It"s the military way of saying first corps. And I had arrived back up in Danang - I used to go up there every couple of weeks - and went out from the press center and checked in with various battalions to find out whether they had operations going on.

And one group said they had an operation going on the next morning. Would I like to come? And I said, yes, I would. And the cameraman, Ha Thuc Can, and I and a young man named Tin (ph), who was a soundman, arrived at - oh, I don"t know - 5:30, 6 in the morning. And off we went in some amphibious track vehicles.

And along the way, a young officer told me they were going to in effect burn out a group of hamlets called Cam Ne, and I said why? And he said because the head honcho, the head Vietnamese honcho who was, I guess, the - would"ve been the district chief - had ordered. And I found this hard to believe because as brutal as search and destroy operations often were, at least in theory, they were not designed to level a place. I mean, if you receive fire, if there was fighting, that might"ve been the end result.

But we moved into this village. There was - they laid down a full array of what they call prepping it - rockets and some artillery and very heavy small arms fire - with very little return fire seemed to be coming out of the place. And then the Marines moved in and proceeded to burn the village down with everything from flamethrowers to cigarette lighters. And this wasn"t an atrocity. You can"t make any comparison with anything that happened in Germany or something like My Lai. This is quite a different kind of thing. But nevertheless, people were in shock to have seen on their television screens this kind of action by their boys.

GROSS: After your report from Cam Ne, you laid awake all night with a gun - a loaded gun. What were you afraid of? What were you expecting?

SAFER: Well, after sending that piece in, we left and went back to Saigon. And the following day - you must remember, Terry, I was younger - the following day I got a call from the Marines in Danang saying if I ever showed my face there again, they would not be responsible for what happened to me. And I said, well, you"ve never been responsible for what happens to me. What do you mean by that? Is this a threat? We just want to tell you show your face around here and something is going to happen. So I went to Ha Thuc Can, and I said, listen, I"m not going to tell you you got to come up -back up there, but I"m going up. Do you want to come to see this thing through? So Can and I went back to

GROSS: This is your cameraman.

SAFER: Yeah. Back to Danang and we had a little - the Marines ran something called a press center. It was like a motel there, and each of the networks and a couple of the papers had permanent rooms there. It"s the only time I carried a gun. And I went into the sort of bar dining room and had my dinner alone with Ha Thuc Can. Nobody would join us except for the Air Force officer who hated the Marines because he was in the Air Force.

And at about 8 or 9 o"clock, I got up, and there were a lot of cracks coming from the bar and pretty rough stuff. And I pointed to my bag, and I said there"s a gun in here. Anybody comes through that door, I"m just going to blow them away. I"m not going to ask any questions. You know, tough guy.

(LAUGHTER)

SAFER: I"ve seen too many movies or something. And I was scared stiff and kind of - I went back, and we got into our bunks. And I locked the door, and I sat there trying to - lay in bed trying to read. And I had this pistol on the night table, and I had the safety on and then I had the safety off. And I thought better leave the safety on because I roll over in the middle of the night, and I shoot my foot off or something. So I put the safety on. And I lay awake all night scared as h**l that somebody might actually come through the door.

And I knew I wouldn"t do anything. I just don"t think I could fire a pistol at someone - or at something for that matter. Anyway, it was - tempers cooled - I"ll put it that way. And my relationship with the Marine Corps now is very good.

DAVIES: Morley Safer speaking with Terry Gross in 1990. Safer died yesterday in New York. He was 84.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: On Monday"s show, Rabbi Susan Silverman, sister of comedian Sarah Silverman. After giving birth to two daughters, she and her husband adopted two boys from Ethiopia. She"s become an advocate for international adoption which has been in decline, and she"s the author of the new book "Casting Lots: Creating A Family In A Beautiful, Broken World." I hope you can join us.

Copyright 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2016/05/20/478841773/fresh-air-remembers-60-minutes-correspondent-morley-safer

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UK bookmaker suspends betting on Tom Hiddleston to be Bond


Samuel L Jackson and Tom Hiddleston Lose it Over Their Fan Art - The Graham Norton Show

LONDON (AP) - A British bookmaker has suspended betting on British actor Tom Hiddleston to be the next James Bond.

Coral says a flurry of bets in recent days made "The Night Manager" star the 2-1 favorite to replace Daniel Craig to be the next 007. But after a particularly large wager, the odds plummeted and betting was suspended.

The bets came after Hiddleston had been reportedly spotted meeting with Bond movie director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli.

Coral says Luther star Idris Elba and Homeland actor Damian Lewis had been Bond front runners in previous months. But Coral spokeswoman Nicola McGeady, says while earlier in the year "there was a gamble" on those two, nothing has "come close to the recent gamble on Hiddleston."

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wfsb.com/story/31976546/uk-bookmaker-suspends-betting-on-tom-hiddleston-to-be-bond

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WWE"s Shawn Michaels will attend Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lighting bout


Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning. 2016 NHL Playoffs. ECF. Game 3. 05.18.2016. (HD)

PITTSBURGH, May 20 (UPI) -- HBK will watch HBK while watching the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Tampa Bay Lighting Sunday in Game 5 of the NHL Eastern Conference finals.

Shawn Michaels, aka HBK, shares the namesake of the Penguins" line of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel. The trio"s initials spell out HBK.

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Michaels tweeted Thursday that he was invited by the Penguins to attend the game.

"I"m very excited about this Sunday as the Pittsburgh Penguins were nice enough to invite me to Game 5 of the Playoffs!! #HBKLine ---->," Michaels tweeted.

The Penguins lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Friday in Tampa.

"Yes @ShawnMichaels! Awesome you are coming to game 5 to see our great city, fans & @penguins! I have to warn you I get rowdy at the games," former Pittsburgh Steelers great Brett Keisel tweeted.

"No prob, no way Security can take both of us!!!," Michaels responded.

Pittsburgh"s Primanti Bros. also announced a sandwich with the HBK namesake this week. The ham, bacon and kielbasa sandwich goes on sale Friday.

"I"m blown away," Michaels told "The Fan Morning Show." "None of this has to do with me. This is 100 percent on the fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins...they"ve driven all of this."

"Sports can always be, especially on social media and stuff, pretty divisive," Michaels said. "But, everyone"s been really nice and respectful...the thing that"s impressed me the most is just the respectful manner and the really genuine good fun everybody"s had with this, and that"s made it a ton more enjoyable for me...the Pens fans have been fantastic."

Source: http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/NHL/2016/05/20/WWEs-Shawn-Michaels-will-attend-Pittsburgh-Penguins-Tampa-Bay-Lighting-bout/3691463780487/

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The Cavs Are Obliterating The Eastern Conference


Cavs Celebrate with Fancy Handshakes | Raptors vs Cavaliers | Game 2 | May 19, 2016 | NBA Playoffs

Another Cleveland playoff game, another hopelessly one-sided rout. With a 108-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night, LeBron James and the Cavaliers kept their perfect 2016 playoff record intact, piling up a 10th consecutive win, and it looks like nothing will stand in Clevelands path to the NBA Finals. Where does this run rank among historical playoff starts?

Its near the top. The Cavs 10-game streak is tied for the third-longest to start the playoffs.1 One way to quantify the impressiveness of those streaks is to use Elo ratings to judge the competition. The Cavs opponents have had an average rating of 1572 lower than that of comparable teams like the 1989 Los Angeles Lakers (who were swept in the NBA Finals) and the 2012 San Antonio Spurs (who went on to lose four straight games to the Oklahoma City Thunder). And it leaves them far short of the 2001 Lakers, who went 15-1 en route to the championship.

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YEARTEAMWINNING STREAKAVG. OPPONENT ELO2001Lakers1116531989Lakers1115732012Spurs1016022016Cavaliers1015721982Lakers915582010Magic815781950Lakers815502005Heat815182009Cavaliers81499Longest playoff-opening winning streaks in NBA history

Source: Basketball-Reference.com

But you can only beat the teams you play, and the Cavs havent just beaten them 10 straight times theyve made the Eastern Conference look like a high school tournament, embarrassing opponents in huge blowouts.

In the playoffs thus far, Cleveland is winning by an average margin of 13.4 points per game, fourth-highest among conference finalists since 1984 (through two games of the third round). And they rise even higher after adjusting for strength of schedule and the championship leverage of each game. Because the Cavs have beaten better teams by more points in the games that have mattered most to the extent any game can really be considered pressure-packed when you sweep every series Clevelands adjusted margin of victory in these playoffs is 19.8 points, giving them the most dominant start to the playoffs since 1984.

POINTS PER GAME MARGINYEARTEAMWINSLOSSESRAWADJUSTED2016Cavaliers100+13.4+19.82014Spurs104+9.5+18.32001Lakers90+11.3+17.91986Celtics91+13.2+17.11996Bulls91+14.3+16.92009Nuggets93+13.4+15.61992Trail Blazers92+10.6+15.22000Trail Blazers83+7.0+14.72010Celtics103+6.2+14.42008Lakers102+8.8+14.2Most dominant playoff starts since 1984 (through first two games of conference finals)

Adjustments are for schedule strength and championship leverage

Source: Basketball-Reference.com

The next-best performance by this measure came in 2014, when the Spurs eventually beat LeBron in the NBA Finals. Perhaps those Spurs also illustrate a shortcoming in this metric they did lose four games by the time they were two games into the conference finals but they got three of the losses out of the way early in the playoffs, when the games have comparatively less effect on the championship. And they won by an average of 18 points a game from Game 7 of the first round on through our cutoff.

Either way, between the two measures, we can strike a balance between only crediting a teams wins and giving it a bonus for the margins by which it crushed opponents. And by that standard, the current Cavs run is only rivaled by the hot start of those fabled 2001 Lakers.

So can the Cavs keep it going? Well, theyre still a long shot to go undefeated in the playoffs and cap off the long-unattainable Fo Fo Fo Fo. Our model gives the Cavs just a 29 percent chance of winning the next two games and sweeping the Raptors (which would be the first Fo Fo Fo ever, since the first round only went to seven-game series in 2003) and a 1-in-80 chance of going 16-0. Still, thats up from about 1-in-5,000 before the playoffs started; the Cavs title chances have also risen from 8 percent before the playoffs to 30 percent now.

Those daunting championship odds owe a lot to Clevelands potential NBA Finals opponents. Unlike the 01 Lakers, who got to face the relatively weak Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland will have to power through either Golden State or Oklahoma City, whichever of the two wins the most stacked conference final in recent history. As dominant as the Cavs have been, the real work is yet to come.

Carl Bialik contributed to this article.

Check out our latest NBA predictions.

Source: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-cavs-are-obliterating-the-eastern-conference/

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