Versace Spring 2012 RTW - Fashion

via fashionetc.com

Cute Fridgeezoo Pets Make Sure You Don't Leave the Fridge Open Too Long

via lifehacker.com

Fridgeezoo, Japanese gadgets that look like milk cartons with polar bear faces, live in your fridge to bring you cheer every time you open the door...and scold you if you keep it open too long, so you don't waste energy.

If you or someone in your household (your roomate, perhaps?) has that bad habit of just staring blankly at your fridge shelves when trying to decide what to eat, you need one of these "pets." You can see it in action above. The Fridgeezoo is both a humorous and eco-friendly gift for $15.99 at ThinkGeek.

The Fug Girls: Nicki Minaj Bonds With Anna Wintour at Carolina Herrera

Nicki Minaj and Anna Wintour.Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

In Fashion Week, indeed as in life, sometimes the best things happen when the lights go down. Moments before Carolina Herrera’s show began on Monday morning, as the room began to dim, we spotted in the distance a glorious platinum bouffant that looked like someone had shampooed with glue and then rolled her head in the pastry section at a local bakery. It sailed in atop a breastplate of pom-poms and neon green leggings, and only then did we notice the face and realize we’d just been Minaj-ed — and in possibly the least likely venue for it, given Carolina’s classic Upper East Side aesthetic. Maybe they’re working on a wig line together, called Carolina Hairerra. Let’s stat that rumor. And let’s add another one to the pile: Nicki sat in a seat that had been reserved for her right next to Anna Wintour (which makes sense — Anna loves tennis; Nicki’s shirt was made of things that used to hang off the back of tennis socks), and they proceeded to chit-chat like old pals, leaving us with no choice but to daydream about what that Vogue cover might look like. Or, better, how tremendous their Odd Couple sitcom remake would be, with Anna cleaning up after Nicki’s chains of stuffed toys and Nicki trying to teach Anna how to use wig tape. Are you listening, NBC?

By contract, Corinne Bailey Rae was about as low-key as they come, popping out in a slightly baggy olive dress and then claiming her seat … in the eighth row. She didn't seem perturbed or even surprised by this development, and in fact gamely introduced herself to the women seated next to her. We spotted an empty front-row seat, so we can only theorize that Bailey Rae is doing research for a new album about what it's like to sit in the nosebleeds, which should be emotionally riveting.

Even the arrival of Renee Zellweger — a Herrera devotee — was relatively tame. She inched out from backstage, met Olivia Munn with a weird motionless handshake that they held for a photo op, as though they were actually at a Middle Eastern peace summit, and then took her seat with the Herrera family without much fuss, wearing the exact same facial expression you envisioned her wearing when you read the words Renee Zellweger just now.

Munn, however, despite her insomnia (“I only get like three or four hours of sleep a night — my mind never shuts off”), was in a chipper mood — doubtless because after the show she was headed backstage to try on dresses and then pick one for the Emmys on Sunday, which sounds like a pretty sweet deal to us. Munn said she hopes this year's awards will be a bit more relaxing for her than last year's were: “I had this gorgeous Zac Posen dress, but right as I was getting ready I had a friend come through and she brought kind of a tornado of drama. Everyone was so flustered that we ended up just throwing my hair in a ponytail and doing almost no makeup,” she recalled. “Which, it’s the Emmys, you know? You want to come fully done. But I was a freshman there last year, and this year, actually I’m still really a freshman, but I know now that I need to take my time.” She paused. “And put the chain on the door.” Words to live by.

See the Complete Carolina Herrera Spring 2012 Collection
See Backstage and Front Row Photos from Carolina Herrera

 

How To Open A Wine Bottle Without a Corkscrew

via jezebel.com

At the end of a long day (or the beginning of a short one), there's nothing like a nice, relaxing glass of wine to take the edge off. But drinker beware: between you and the Relax Juice is the dreaded cork of frustration, and , as any seasoned drinker knows, cork removal doesn't always go as planned. The cork can break off, take She-Hulk force to remove, or be stuck frustratingly in the neck of the bottle with no opener in sight. What's a thirsty lady to do? MacGyver her way into that bottle, that's what!

All you really need to break into a wine bottle is a hard object like a tree or a shoe, a towel, some pluck, and a diminished sense of shame. First, remove the foil or wrapping around the top, and wrap the bottle in a towel. Next, find a large tree with a relatively smooth patch of trunk. Get a firm grip on the neck and body of the bottle, and proceed to whack the bottom of the bottle on the tree trunk. There's obviously a right and wrong way to do this. The wrong way would be to swing it like a baseball bat and smash it against the trunk. That will open the bottle, sure, but the wine will be full of shattered glass and hardly drinkable. You may also get arrested for disorderly conduct. The part of the bottle that should be making contact with the tree is the flat part at the bottom (for extra guidance, take a look at this guy who looks kind of like Ethan from Lost). Keep firmly whacking at a controlled speed (this sentence is not about what to do with a penis) until pressure from the bottle builds up enough to displace the cork. At that point, you can grab and twist it out the rest of the way yourself. Voila! Alcohol and an arm workout!

If you don't want to use a tree or put on pants and go outside, you can open the bottle by hitting it on the bottom with a hard soled shoe or phone book. Place the bottle upside down between your knees, making sure it's securely in place, and firmly smack the bottom of the bottle with the sole of your shoe. You can also do what this French dude does and put it inside the shoe and bang both shoe and bottle against the wall, but I wouldn't do that unless your walls are more solid than mine. It might be hard to explain drywall damage caused by wine shoe banging to a landlord.

Stubborn bottles may be easier to open if you slightly heat the bottom of the bottle, as the heat will cause the air inside the bottle to expand, thus making it easier to push the cork out from within.

This trick is also effective for opening champagne, but bottle pounder beware — after partly displacing the cork, wait at least 10 minutes to pull it the rest of the way out, lest champagne explode all over your face, and not in a fun, sexy rap video style. In a alcohol in your eyes making your eyelashes all sticky style. Sticky goop stuck in eyelashes is difficult to remove. Trust me on this; I speak from (very unfortunate) experience.
Of course, not all of us have the arm strength or coordination to be trusted to hit a glass bottle on something hard several times in succession without breaking it. For those people, I recommend the screw and hammer method, which is exactly what it sounds like, unless you thought I meant that you "screw" someone in exchange for borrowing their "hammer." First, gather a long screw, a screwdriver, and hammer. Remove the foil from the top of the wine bottle. Twist the screw into the cork as far as you can while still leaving about an inch or so of screw sticking out of the top of the cork. Then, use the hammer to pry the cork out. At this point, it's important to note that this method, if employed incorrectly or overzealously, could result in a hammer to the face, which is both embarrassing an painful.

You can open the wine by pushing the cork into the bottle if you poke a hole all the way through the cork first. Then, grab a thin tool — a wooden or plastic stirring spoon or something similar, and push like the dickens. Imagine that you're giving birth to a hangover baby.

If your goofy wine opening methodology results in a broken cork, use the Push Down method to access your god-nectar. The end of a wooden spoon works, or any other long, thin tool (long, thin tools that probably won't work, like John Mayer). You can also apply a long screw to the cork and pry it out, again using a hammer. Pushing a broken cork into a bottle of wine will likely result in that wine becoming infused with cork sediment, which is generally though of as not tasty by the world's most discerning sommeliers. You're going to want to pour the wine through a cheesecloth or other filtering cloth and into a decanter or empty Big Gulp.

So what did we learn from this bottle opening adventure? First, corkscrews are like designated drivers- they're good to have around on nights you want to get hammered. But if you don't have a corkscrew around, there's no reason to freak out. Now, sit back with your glass of hard earned fermented grape juice and smile with the self satisfaction only attainable by the most serious of winos.

‘A Deniable Death’ confirms Gerald Seymour’s esteemed place in spy fiction - The Washington Post

via washingtonpost.com

Improvised Explosive Devices. IEDs. For almost a decade we’ve hated what these hidden bombs have done to our men and women in Iraq, but many of us know little about their origins or full military significance. Now the veteran British spy novelist Gerald Seymour has written an extraordinary work of fiction with these cruel weapons at its center.

To be precise, the novel’s focus is an Iranian, known as “the Engineer,” who has designed the makeshift bombs used in Iraq and continually updated them to make them more lethal and difficult to detect. Iranian leaders hail him as “the father of the bomb in the road.” One declares, “You are, to us, our Nobel or our Kalashnikov, even our Oppenheimer.”

 

To Western soldiers and strategists, of course, the Engineer is the devil incarnate. One British military leader calls these bombs “the weapon that has snatched victory from the coalition and replaced it with a very fair imitation of defeat.” He adds that the Pentagon has spent in excess of $30 billion to combat this weapon, the main components of which can be bought anywhere for $5 or $10. “A Deniable Death” is the story of a joint U.S., British and Israeli attempt to kill the Engineer.

He lives with his wife and children outside an Iranian military base near the Iraqi border. He might live in greater safety within the base, but his strong-willed wife loves their house on a large marsh that attracts rare birds. After a long search, British intelligence learns his whereabouts, even as the Engineer faces a personal crisis. His wife has a brain tumor that Iranian doctors call inoperable, but which the Engineer hopes can be treated by European doctors with more sophisticated equipment. His government grants the couple permission to go there to seek treatment.

It is then that two British surveillance experts, known by the nicknames Badger and Foxy, make their way within 200 yards of the Engineer’s home, where they hide in the marsh’s mud and reeds with powerful microphones. Their goal is to learn where the couple are going. Given that information, an Israeli assassin is poised to follow the couple to Europe.

Complications arise, of course. Foxy, 51, and Badger, 28, soon loathe each other, even as they coexist for days in a shallow hole in the ground, tormented by flies, mosquitoes, 110-degree heat, wild boars, spiders, snakes, rats, ticks and diarrhea. Waiting across the border in Iraq to extract them is a team that consists of Abigail Jones, a British intelligence officer, and four well-armed security guards. Abigail combines the determination of the heroine of “Zero Dark Thirty” with the sexiness of the heroine of “Homeland.”

The Engineer and his wife fly to Germany, where she will be examined by an Iranian-born surgeon who cannot refuse a demand by the government he both hates and fears. We come to know him and his social-climbing German wife, as well as the businesslike Israeli assassin and his wife, who was blinded while fighting for her country in Lebanon. We know, too, the once-disgraced British intelligence officer who hopes that this secret, deniable mission will redeem his career. We endure what is possibly the most agonizing torture scene ever put on paper. Seymour even conveys the heartbreak in England when young IED victims are brought home for burial.

Can Foxy and Badger, hiding within sight of the Engineer’s well-guarded home, escape detection and terrible deaths? Can Abigail and her guardians hold off the growing mob of hostile Iranians that threatens them? Can the surgeon treat the Engineer’s admirable wife — she works to clear minefields in her country — or must she die? Will the Engineer himself somehow escape the assassin’s bullets? The suspense becomes all but unbearable because of Seymour’s remarkable characterizations: We care deeply about these people and their fates.

This is Seymour’s 21st novel, and critics on both sides of the Atlantic have for years compared him to John le Carre, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and other masters of spy fiction, but his reputation has never quite equaled theirs. No matter. Serious readers will find in “A Deniable Death” not only suspense, strong characters and a realistic look at the world of espionage, but a majesty that is rare in fiction. At a certain point, the novel rises to a mythic level, portraying courage and loyalty and sacrifice almost beyond understanding.

Anderson regularly reviews mysteries and thrillers for The Washington Post.

 

Rihanna Hurts Herself When She Tripped Wearing Sunglasses at Night!

Rihanna kicked off London Fashion Week with the launch of her highly-anticipated collaborative clothing line with high fashion retailer River Island. But RiRi’s week in the British capital hit a rough patch after an unidentified man threw a bottle of Lucozade at her, causing her to topple over and injure her knee.

The Bajan beauty — with model pal Cara Delevingne in tow — was targeted in a seemingly unprovoked attack by a man while leaving an afterparty at exclusive London nightclub The Box on Saturday night. The force of the glass caused Rihanna to fall and cut open her knee, a tipster tells MediaTakeOut.com.
Rihanna’s bodyguard also suffered minor injuries to his leg as he attempted to catch her attacker, who witnesses say had been ranting about the star’s on-again, off-again beau Chris Brown just before the assault. The assailant remains at large.

“The bottle caused Rihanna to stumble into a metal grate — and slice open her leg. Rihanna’s bodyguard immediately went after the crazed fan but hurt his leg going after the subject. Rih’s guard was taken to a London hospital for treatment and the mad man is still on the loose.”

Written by Castina on February 17th, 2013 | Tagged as: Rihanna

via popcrunch.com

Nadal wins 1st title since return from injury

via sports.inquirer.net

SAO PAULO – The last time Rafael Nadal won in Brazil, it was at the very start of the most dominant clay-court career tennis has ever seen.

Eight years later, Nadal hopes his second title here will mark the restart.

Nadal beat David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Brazil Open on Sunday, his first trophy since returning from a seven-month layoff to treat his left knee.

While this indoor clay-court tournament is much smaller than those he has grown used to winning, Nadal thrust his arms into the air and pumped his fist after Nalbandian sent a shot long to give the Spaniard his 51st singles title.

His second also came in this event in 2005, when he was still relatively unknown, and he went on to win the first of his seven French Open titles months later.

“Brazil will always be in my heart,” Nadal said. “Big things started to happen after I won here in 2005 and hopefully this is the start of something good again.”

Nadal needed the lengthy layoff to treat a partially torn and inflamed tendon in his knee, and his comeback was then further postponed by an illness. He returned to play in Chile last week, losing in the final of both the singles and doubles tournaments.

So lifting a trophy again felt extra good this time.

“I’ll definitely enjoy this one because of all the problems that I’ve gone through with the knee,” Nadal said. “When I won for the first time here I was just starting and hopefully this will mark a new beginning.”

It was Nadal’s first title since winning the French Open for the seventh time last June. Thirty-seven of his titles have been on clay.

Nadal struggled to find a rhythm in the beginning but was still able to break Nalbandian’s serve twice to take the first set, then rallied from 3-0 down in the second to win six straight games and close out and match in 1 hour, 18 minutes.

Seeking his 12th title, the 93rd-ranked Nalbandian was playing in a final for the first time since he was disqualified for kicking an advertisement board and injuring a line judge at Queen’s Club last June. The former world No. 3 hasn’t won a title since 2010 in Washington.

Nadal said his knee felt better on Sunday and it made all the difference.

“When the knee is feeling better like today I feel like that I can do more of the things that I used to do my entire life,” he said. “If the pain is bearable like it was today, then it’s fine.”

He had complained of soreness in his knee after Friday’s semifinal, which marked his second three-set match at the tournament.

Nadal still looked far from his best on Sunday, though, and didn’t seem to be moving well. The knee visibly bothered him at times and he left many balls unchallenged throughout the match.

But with the support from the local fans and with former Brazil star striker Ronaldo and mixed martial arts champion Anderson Silva in the crowd, Nadal took control of the match in the second set to secure the victory.

Nadal converted five of his eight break points against Nalbandian and was broken twice by the Argentine.

Nadal took the lead for the first time with a break in the sixth game, then broke Nalbandian again in the final game to close out the set. The Argentine came out strong in the second set and broke Nadal twice in a row to go up 3-0, but the Spaniard quickly rebounded with two breaks and then cruised to close out the match without losing another game in front of nearly 10,000 people packing the Ibirapuera arena.

“I didn’t play my best match today, Rafa was much better,” Nalbandian said. “I was ahead in the second set but I couldn’t take advantage of it.”

The final in Brazil was only his eighth singles match since his return. He withdrew from the doubles in Sao Paulo after winning the first match with Nalbandian as his partner. Nadal said he wanted to rest his knee for the singles tournament.

The 11-time Grand Slam champion admitted that the level of the competition in Brazil was not as high as in other tournaments but said that it wasn’t bad either, giving him the perfect opportunity to give his knee a good test. The Spaniard will play another clay-court tournament in Mexico in two weeks.

“Right now I’m just thinking about celebrating this title, it means a lot to me,” Nadal said. “I still need time, so I’m thinking day-to-day, week-to-week.”

Nadal had won four of his six career matches against Nalbandian, the last one a three-set victory in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells last year. Nalbandian’s last victory over Nadal was in 2007 in the final of a Master Series tournament in Paris.

The 31-year-old Argentine made his season debut in singles at the Brazil Open. He was out of action for several months last season because of an abdominal injury.

 

 

 

Pink Dazzles Staples Center Crowd With Stagecraft and Attitude

Pink isn’t easily contained on a normal concert stage, regardless of its size. She hungers to be airborne, kicking and bouncing and twisting high into the air on bungee cord and cable, or tossed and spun from one dance partner to another, as she was last night at Staples Center in Los Angeles. On the third stop of her 2013 tour, she flew as much as anyone from The Avengers.
The singer’s two-hour performance was as dazzlingly physical as it was musical, beginning with the danceable pop of "True Love" while she was lifted high above the arena floor upside-down by a trio of male dancers. Madonna and her pop pretenders have always delivered dependably energetic shows, sweating out endless dance routines, but this was more Cirque du Soleil than the usual concert choreography. "I haven’t worked this hard since I worked at Pizza Hut," Pink joked after one dance number, but more challenging stunts were still ahead.
Marriage, Motherhood and Wild Rage: Inside Pink's New Album
"Who is a good dancer in here? Who is a terrible dancer?" the singer asked, raising her hand. She soon had the crowd and her full troupe of male and female dancers in motion to a playful "Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)," with its indecisive romantic refrain of "Go away, come back!"

Pink's stage at the Staples Center on Saturday February 16th, 2013 in Los Angeles California.

Erik Voake

On Pink's right wrist is a fresh tattoo reading "true love," echoing the theme of her new album, The Truth About Love. The words flashed in big lights above the stage, and the star returned to the message throughout the night, singing with humor, pain, rage and attitude. She began "How Come You’re Not Here" by joking, "My husband loves this one," and was depicted on a big heart-shaped screen as an 8-bit cartoon character from an Eighties videogame, wielding a knife in the kitchen, tumbling down chasms and challenged by various hurdles and villains. More painful was "Family Portrait," sung from a child’s perspective of a troubled home and "growin' up in World War III."
It was a grown-up, sophisticated show, and Pink was relaxed and chatty between songs. She arrived beneath a wedge of platinum blonde hair and wore a series of bare-midriff tops that showed just how fit and ripped she’s become since giving birth to a daughter less than two years ago. At one point in the show, she joked that she had been informed that she’d played Staples Center once before, but had a dislocated shoulder then: "I took a Percocet, so I’m not sure I was here."
At the center of Pink's seven-person band was guitarist Justin Derrico, who cracked open a big rock riff for "Walk of Shame" and a series of fiery solos that allowed the singer to exit for multiple costume changes during the night. Later, he picked out the dreamy melody of Chris Isaak’s "Wicked Game" as Pink stood like a torch singer behind the microphone. Onstage was a carpet of fog as male dancers in glittery bondage gear lifted, tilted and spun her once more.
There was a stripper pole for her dancers, and a silhouette of lap dancing on the big screen, during the new album’s rocking, unapologetically sex-hungry "Slut Like You." There was also an occasional appearance by a crazed emcee who was part-ringmaster, part Beetlejuice, as he taunted the crowd with intentionally bad jokes and sexual innuendo. For an acoustic take on the forceful lament "Who Knew" (from 2006’s I’m Not Dead), Pink and Derrico gathered around a pair of stools on the catwalk deeper into the crowd . Pink got schmaltzier on the new album’s love duet "Just Give Me a Reason," with a recorded image of Nate Ruess of Fun. up on the big screen as the crowd swayed and swooned.
By the time Pink was soaring gracefully through the air on cables stretched across the arena to perform "So What," the singer had demonstrated an epic workout of vocals, stagecraft and stunt-work without missing a note. The night’s best special effect was Pink herself.
Earlier, tour support act the Hives filled up the same big arena with churning garage rock riffs during a bruising eight-song set, kicking off with the one-minute call to action "Come On!" from last year’s Lex Hives album. Dressed in crisp black-and-white tuxes and top hats (soon shed or soaked with sweat to various degrees), the Swedish rock quintet delivered a quick sampling of songs from their last dozen years.
New material ("Take Back the Toys," "Go Right Ahead") kept pace with their signature punk-fueled rockers such as "Hate to Say I Told You So," as frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist kicked the air and teased their audience of Pink fans, many experiencing the Hives whirlwind for the first time.

The Hives perform at the Staples Center on Saturday February 16th, 2013 in Los Angeles California.

Erik Voake

Bringing the hyperactive openers on the road was an interesting challenge from Pink to her listeners, maybe not so different from Madonna taking the little-known Beastie Boys on her Virgin Tour in 1985. By the end of their 45-minute set, Almqvist was certain the band had won each one of them over to "the international rock & roll sensation the Hives," declaring ecstatically: "I love all you people, you know why? Because you love us!"

Related

• Pink Gives Love a 'Try'
• Album Reviews: Pink, 'The Truth About Love'

via rollingstone.com

Owie: RiRi Scraped Her Knee....and It's Chris Brown's Fault

RiRi was in London last night for the launch of her fashion line, which is perfect for the Tampa Bay-area beach hooker who wants to look like she bought all of her ho shit uniforms at The Salvation Army in the early 90s, and while going to the after-party for her show, she scraped her knee. ESCANDALO, I know.
America's foremost literary journal of all things true Media Takeout (via HL, TMZ, DM and everywhere else) says that when RiRi and model Cara Delevingne were walking into The Box, some batshit crazy fan started screaming some stuff about Chris Brown while throwing a glass bottle of Lucozade at her. The bottle didn't hit RiRi, but all the chaos made her fall into a metal grate and the grate cut her knee right open. MTO says that RiRi's knee SLICED open, but I'm sure most of us have had razor cuts on our assholes that were deeper than that cut.
After the crazed fan tried to hit RiRi with a bottle, her bodyguard went after the bottle hurler and hurt his leg while doing so. The fan got away and RiRi's bodyguard had to go to the hospital for treatment.
There are thousands of pictures of RiRi going into and coming out of The Box last night and I couldn't find one picture of the crazed fan or a picture of a bottle flying at her head. So either it didn't happen or the crazed fan is a pap-proof ninja ghost. If that's the case, can't the crazed fan use their ninja-like powers to go after The Difficult Brown next time? Speaking of The Difficult Brown, England better pull in the welcome mat, lock the doors and turn off all the nights, because I have a feeling that Chris Brown is going to land on their shores after smelling RiRi's blood.
For even more RiRi fuckery, click here to see what happened when The Sunday Times Magazine lost their minds and put a whole lot of WRONG on their cover.
And more importantly, why is Cara Delevingne dressed like the sluttiest member of JJ Fad?

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Splash

Posted by: Michael K

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Girlfriend Please  •  Rihanna  •  Yeah Okay

via dlisted.com

Rihanna Hits The London Streets To Celebrate Her Fashion Line Debut

Spread Pictures

She knows how to paint the town red!

Rihanna and British model Cara Delevingne as the two ladies hit up a late night party at The Box nightclub in London, England on Saturday night.

The ladies, who were also joined by RiRi's BFF Melissa Forde, went out to celebrate after the successful debut of her new River Island clothing line during fashion week.

Unfortunately for the 24-year-old entertainer and entrepreneur, the night hit a major speed bump as she was allegedly assaulted by an irate London man upset over her reunion with much maligned singer Chris Brown.

According to the NY Daily News, an eyewitness claimed to have seen a man yelling disapproving remarks to Rihanna about reuniting with Brown and threw a bottle of Lucozade, a British soft drink. The Pour It Up singer then fell and cut her knee on a metal object in the midst of the ruckus.

Luckily it was only a little cut for Ri!

 

Do you think Rihanna needs more security from crazed fans?

via x17online.com

 

Using Logic, Man Attacks Rihanna Out of Hatred for Chris Brown

via gawker.com

While clubbing in London last night, Rihanna was injured when a man "enraged" by her reunion with King Scumbag Chris Brown threw a bottle of Lucozade (think British Gatorade) at her. She fell to the ground and cut her leg, but was otherwise unhurt.

The assailant wasn't identified. Rihanna's choice to get back together with her dickwad ex may be difficult to swallow, but (duh) that doesn't make this guy any less of an asshole.

Angry that a survivor of domestic violence is returning to her abuser? How 'bout we just throw a little more violence her way, see how that goes?

Excite News - CBS 4Q results fall short of expectations

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Broadcaster CBS Corp. said Thursday that revenue and earnings grew modestly in the final quarter of the year, helped by the U.S. presidential election and a growing economy.

While the results came up short of Wall Street forecasts, analysts said sales of its TV shows to overseas markets and to Web video services would continue to help make the company more resilient to economic swings.

Shares dipped 1.2 percent, to $42.43 in after-hours trading after the results were released.

Advertising revenue grew 3 percent in the three months through December. The gains were partly offset because last year's licensing revenue bump from the sale of CW network shows to Netflix and Hulu wasn't repeated.

Local broadcasting revenue grew less than expected and the Simon & Schuster book publishing business declined faster than analysts were bracing for. The company said, however that rising sales of digital books helped the publisher be more profitable.

Net income rose to $393 million, or 60 cents per share, from $370 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding discontinued operations, adjusted earnings came to 64 cents per share. That was below the 69 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue grew 2 percent to $3.7 billion, below the $3.83 billion analysts were expecting.

Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, said the quarterly ups and downs were "a wash." The main factor driving CBS' revenue higher is increasing sales of TV shows to overseas entities and to online video providers, he said.

"The underlying trends driving their cash-flow-generating capacity are no different now than they were a day ago," he said.

CBS also said Thursday that it would double its share buyback program by $1 billion in 2013.

CBS is preparing to spin off its outdoor billboard business in North America into a real estate investment trust, which should return a high proportion of its cash flow to investors. It is also planning to sell its European outdoor operations.

Chief Financial Officer Joe Ianniello said the planned conversion of the Americas outdoor business into a REIT was on track for 2014, but said the company would also entertain offers to buy it outright.

Excluding the European operations, the outdoor billboard segment's revenue fell, which CBS blamed on the non-renewal of a contract in Toronto.

Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen said two factors were behind the CBS's quarterly miss: A temporary pullback in ad spending among retailers at local TV stations, and the fact that some analysts had not yet adjusted their estimates to reflect that CBS' no longer counts its European outdoor billboard business earnings as part of its results.

"Some of the items that hurt them in the fourth quarter look like they are not anything more than one-offs," he said. "The growth story in the first quarter still looks very good."

via apnews.excite.com

Eve -- Backtracks Poorly from Britney Spears Slam

via tmz.com

Eve is trying to distance herself from the comments she made about Britney Spears on the new will.i.am song, but her argument just doesn't make any sense.

Eve was a guest on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" last week ... where she questioned whether Britney really provided the British-accented voice on "Scream & Shout." Britney's people called Eve's claim "absolute BS."

Today in DC, our photog asked Eve about her comments, to which she replied, "I didn't say anything about her singing. I said something about her British accent. We know it's Britney Spears singing the song. I never said anything."

Here's the thing though ... if you listen to the song -- which unfortunately we did -- 90% of Britney's appearance on the song is the British accent. She only "sings" for a few seconds at best.

Kim Kardashian Sells Mansion; Includes Furniture, All Memories of Kris Humphries - The Hollywood Gossip

Kim Kardashian will need to wait until her divorce trial in May to rid herself of Kris Humphries.

But the reality star moved quickly and quietly this week to separate herself from the mansion she once shared with the NBA power forward.

Not only did Kim sell the 4,000-square foot mansion in Beverly Hills for $5 million TMZ confirms, she allowed the buyer to keep pretty much all its contents.

From couches to coffee tables to custom-made furniture, it's all staying with the home.

Kardashian, of course, can afford plenty of new items and will have plenty of room for them in her new digs: she and Kanye West are moving into a 11,000-square foot home some time this year.

via thehollywoodgossip.com

 

Lea Michele, Kirsten Dunst & More Celebrities Suffering When The Double Chin Strikes! [PHOTOS]

 

Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund have some fun at Sundance. 22 Photos »

There is nothing pleasant about a double chin.

In fact, the double chin is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. Especially a celebrity who spends all of his or her time parading around on the red carpet.

While no one likes a double chin, the sad truth about them is that they are often unavoidable. Even the thinnest of folks–looking at you, Kirsten Dunst–can fall victim to the dreaded double chin! So what have we done to help alleviate the stress of the double chin? 

Why! We’ve created an entire gallery with some of your favorite celebrities in their natural, chin habitat. Lea Michele‘s is pretty intense! That like, more than just a double chin. Gotta say, I’m also a fan of Courtney Love‘s. You’ll see why in the gallery.

Speaking of the gallery! Launch it to check out all the best double chin photos! What are your tricks for avoiding the dreaded issue? Share them in the comments!

By Sabba Rahbar

via socialitelife.com

 

Taylor Swift in Rodarte for NYFW: too doily, too precious, too much?

via celebitchy.com

These are some newish photos of Taylor Swift walking to the Rodarte runway show yesterday, during NYFW. Swifty‘s dress is Rodarte, obviously. Now… some have claimed that I am prepared to go to war against lace and crochet. They might be right. It’s not that I just flat-out hate lace and crochet, always and forever. I just think that:

1. Head-to-toe lace is always going to be a bad idea. Always. No exceptions.
2. Head-to-toe crochet is always going to be a bad idea. Always. No exceptions.
3. Beware of too much white/cream lace/crochet, because The Doily Effect occurs.
4. Lace is very “precious” and “girly” and a little bit goes a long way on adult women.
5. Crochet is very “grandmother” and a little bit goes a long way on women younger than, say, 70 years old.
6. Beware of The Lingerie Effect - lace details can often look like your panties are showing.
7. Lace and crochet rarely photograph well, so while it might look lovely and pretty in person, the effect will probably be lost on camera.

So, with all of my lace rules/suggestions in place, what do you think of Taylor Swift’s ensemble? Doily Effect. Too precious. Too old. Too much, all over. Plus, the odd “antiqued” look to the crochet is throwing me off. This goes beyond The Doily Effecct and it looks like Swifty just draped her grandmother’s giant, ratty, old, hand-knitted crochet blanket on herself.

Habitually Chic®: An Intimate View into Versailles

via habituallychic.blogspot.com

Discover Your Clutter Problem

via oprah.com

More Stuff Than Space
If your closets, drawers, cabinets and shelves are all packed full—and you still have lots of surface piles—you've got more stuff than storage space.
Solution: You've got two options: (1) Lighten your load, or (2) Add more storage space. Make sure you're using the space you do have as efficiently as possible. Find hidden pockets of storage between cabinet shelves spaced too far apart, under the hanging clothes in your closet, on the insides of closet doors. Maximize vertical wall space and look for dual function furniture (end tables, coffee tables and ottomans) items that feature storage.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/home/Discover-Your-Clutter-Problem/3#ixzz1a74GPK4h