he video and quotes, courtesy of CBS Sports' Eye on Basketball blog, are going to be interesting to Lakers fans, considering there have been numerous reports over the years that Bynum is all but untradeable -- showing a loyalty that might not go both ways. Bynum decided to give a more PR-friendly answer to Sager's next question, however, being a bit more definitive. "I definitely want to stay," he said. "You kind of asked an open-ended question. Obviously things are going to be different come next year. I'm going to be ready." It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason as Bynum's $16.1 team option might not look all that appeasing when considering Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are already being paid nearly $47 million for the 2012-13 season. For more on the Lakers, head over to Silver Screen And Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Thunder, head over to Welcome To Loud City.
atasha: In the words of contestant Doug, "The Bachelorette" just got real this week. In addition to the continued development of male egos, the week two also brought us two one-on-one dates, a group date and The Muppets. Greg: We also got a new catchphrase, courtesy of Doug, as he put trust-fund baby Kalon, a.k.a. Helicopter Guy in his place: "Just check it, bro." I plan to use this in everyday conversation as much as possible. Natasha: Who are you? Ice Cube? Before you "wreck yourself," let's talk about week two. THE COOKIE TEST Greg: Here's a summary of Emily's one-on-one date with Ryan: 1) Unload groceries. 2) Bake cookies in an apron. 3) Suffocate in a parked car while Little Ricki plays soccer. Natasha: Ryan thought he was going on a hot air balloon ride or in a plane, but no ...they went to her house to see if he could HANDLE HER LIFE AS A "SNACK MOM." Could you imagine, having to "run all my errands with me," to quote Emily? Greg: This date was my nightmare. It was more emasculating than having to switch over to "The Bachelorette" during an NBA playoff game (Go OKC!). "The cookie test," as Emily called it = worst test ever. Natasha: Ryan seemed okay with it, and I quote: "I feel like today we've definitely connected ... It's not just in your head, it's all out here in my head too and around us." Greg: Whoa there, Jack Handy. Either he's on a higher level of consciousness, or he has seven brain cells. Natasha: Emily rewarded Ryan's efforts by picking him up for dinner in an Aston Martin and letting him drive. Greg: Best part of the date. Natasha: And then they got to the deep stuff. Emily was worried about Ryan looking at the show as a game, and at her as the prize. Greg: Emily's biggest fear about relationships is that men play games... so she goes on a competition-based reality show to find true love? Also, Ryan, just so you know, there is a prize: Getting to carry her groceries when this is over. EVERYONE FEELS THE RAINBOW CONNECTION Greg: On the group date, the guys put on a show -- I use that term loosely -- for Emily's charity, with "The Muppets." If I paid to attend a charity event presented by these no-talent ass clowns, I would ask for my money back. Where is the bungee jumping? The helicopter rides? Natasha: Two wonderful things came out of this segment: First, the revelation that Miss Piggy would be an excellent Bachelorette. The second was Chris Harrison filling in for one of the grumpy Muppets. Classic. Greg: Stevie (the Party MC) was psyched. At one point, he exclaimed, "I can't believe I am actually dancing with a Muppet!" Now you know how your prom date felt. Natasha: Charlie showed his vulnerable side by opening up to Emily about his accident and his (very logical) fear of having to do impromptu stand-up comedy. I thought he was getting the date rose. But, no, Emily misguidedly gave it to Jef after he ignored her all day. Greg: Jef seemed SHOCKED that he got the rose. He knows that he is out of her league. Natasha: I think he's playing the mysterious angle. I don't get why Emily makes awkward comments like, "I feel like your annoying younger sister." Greg: When he said "This is probably the best talk anybody has had with her yet" was he referring to the super awkward conversation they had about being super awkward? Natasha: Yes. And thus began what seemed like this episode's refrain: "We just had the best connection ever." Emily should just pick Kermit. Greg: He was the funniest guy of the episode. Natasha: And he nearly got the first real kiss of the season. That says something. NICE GUYS FINISH (SIXTH TO) LAST Natasha: Unlike Ryan, Joe got to go in a private plane for his date. Emily took him to West Virginia to what looked like the East-Coast-rich-people equivalent of Disneyland. Emily said pretty early in the date that something was missing. More dooming phrases followed: "Joe is such a sweet guy," (which she must have said about 500,000 times), and "Joe makes me feel really comfortable." Then, she asked him where he sees himself in five years. Greg: Joe: "I want to be happy." Emily: "What does that mean?" Joe explained that he would go anywhere she wanted him to. Emily is disappointed that Joe is actually nice and into her. Natasha: She just tried to find everything wrong with this answer. Then, she started crying and said that she didn't see how he could fit into her life. Goodbye, Joe. Greg: THIS is why she ended up with Brad last season. Natasha: Ah ha! So you were paying attention! THE STRATEGIES EMERGE Natasha: The cocktail hour showcased Ryan and Kalon working two very different angles to win Emily's heart. First, Ryan had a very special present for Emily -- a seven-page love letter. Greg: When you give a girl a love letter, you shouldn't creepily present it like, "I made something for you. Are you excited!? It's like Christmas!" Natasha: What made this whole thing weirder, and I didn't know that you get weirder than giving a girl a pages-long note and making her read it to you out loud, was the fact that Tony walked in right as Ryan gave Emily this "present." He didn't want to be rude and interrupt, so he just stood there and watched. Greg: Tony made a good segue after he finally got time with Emily, saying, "I told him to write all of that." But then derailed and just started talking about his love for "The Muppets." Natasha: He thought that he and Emily had a rainbow connection. Which I think was better than Kalon's lack of connection. He tried to woo Emily by saying that he "can't relate" to girls his age. Which is code for "I'm a pretentious douchebag." Greg: Kalon, here is some free advice: If you want to get a girl to like you, don't say you are like an old man trapped in a young man's body. Twenty-six-year-old women don't want to think of old men... or their bodies. EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES -- BUT ONLY FOR 16 OF YOU Natasha: In the end, the following men got roses: Kalon, Arie, Michael (who Emily didn't talk to once), Nate, Sean, Chris, Doug, Travis (he's still here?), Tony, John, Alessandro, Charlie, Alejandro and Stevie (yes, the Party MC made the cut). Greg: Aaron got cut but he nailed his exit interview Kevin Durant-style with some post-NBA-game nerd glasses. Natasha: And then there was some other guy, Kyle, I think. Greg: Who? Get pumped for next week's episode, which will apparently include creepy circus rides, Dolly Parton, extreme sports, some terrible country band, and rope climbing. Natasha: Looks like Tony is the first guy to cry on camera and Emily smashes an egg. Could it be that of a -- gasp! -- ostrich? Cue ominous lighting sound effects and close-up shots of stock-photo roses! Natasha and Greg will be documenting all of "The Bachelorette" romance, drama and inevitable awkward moments, so check back every Tuesday for their recaps. Below, they've put together some of the best quotes from the latest episode. Vote for the one that you think is the most ridiculous. Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
The film is set to be released in October. When reached by TheWrap, a spokeswoman for Cruise had no immediate comment. A spokesman for the Church of Scientology told TheWrap they had not seen the film and could not comment on it. The Church of Scientology, which vigorously defends itself from outside critics, has many followers among Hollywood stars, including actor John Travolta. One of the individuals close to the movie told TheWrap that the Weinstein Company also intended to show the film to Travolta. The movie has not yet been screened, so its full plot and tone is not yet known. Weinstein released the trailer from the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. The church, long criticized for some of its practices, was the subject of an investigative article in the New Yorker last year that accused some leaders of physically abusing adolescent members and beating adults. The article included interviews with director Paul Haggis, a former Scientologist who has come out as one of the religion's fiercest critics. Anderson, who is still completing the film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, wrote and directed the story about a charismatic leader Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) – referred to as The Master – who creates a cult-like movement called The Cause. The similarities to Hubbard include the post-World War II time frame and Dodd’s taking a trip on a boat during which he arrives at a new philosophy and creates a faith-based movement. Phoenix plays a troubled drifter seeking a path who becomes Dodd’s right-hand man. Both the director and movie distributor, the Weinstein Company, are debating how to approach the similarities with Scientology – whether to acknowledge them openly or keep the matter at arm's length. The reaction of the group’s most prominent members will likely be a part of that decision. The $42 million budget film was fully financed by producer Megan Ellison, daughter of Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, who took on the project after she learned that Anderson could not get financing anywhere.
A former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate was sentenced Monday to just 30 days in jail — a punishment that disappointed some activists but came as a relief to others who feared he would be made a scapegoat for his fellow freshman's suicide. A week before Dharun Ravi was sentenced to jail for using a webcam to spy on a gay college roommate who later killed himself, supporters rallied behind him, arguing that New Jersey laws should be changed so that someone in his situation could not be found guilty of a hate crime. In sentencing Ravi to 30 days in jail when he could have gotten years, the judge said he does not consider the case a hate crime, even though the most serious charge, bias intimidation, is the legal name for what most people — and legislators who have endorsed laws on the issue — call a hate crime. "I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi," Judge Glen Berman said Monday. "He had no reason to, but I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity." The dramatic and emotional saga reignited, in practical terms, some questions where philosophy eclipses law: What is hate, and how can it be a crime? In this case, Clementi and Ravi were assigned at random to be roommates in their first year at Rutgers, New Jersey's flagship public university, in the fall of 2010. By all evidence, they hardly talked. But Ravi told friends his roommate was gay — and he wasn't happy about it. On Sept. 19, Clementi asked Ravi to leave the room to make space for a guest. Ravi went to a friend's dorm room and accessed the webcam on his own computer to see Clementi and his guest — identified in court only by the initials M.B. — kissing. He and his friend shut down the screen after a few seconds that time but told others about what they had seen. Two days later, when Clementi asked for privacy again, Ravi told his Twitter followers how to see what was going on in the room that night. The night after that, Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. Jurors learned that Clementi had checked his roommate's Twitter feed repeatedly in the days before his suicide. The case almost immediately touched a nerve among gay-rights and anti-bullying activists as an example of the harassment and challenges that young people, and young gays and lesbians in particular, can face. Among those speaking out in the aftermath were President Barack Obama and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. Prosecutors hit Ravi with 15 criminal counts, including invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence. The two most serious counts, bias intimidation, could have gotten him 10 years in prison, though prosecutors had said the maximum penalty was not necessary. Ravi's lawyer, Steven Altman, said that his client was "demonized by the gay community" and that the case was "treated as if it's a murder case." Ravi himself did not speak in court on Monday. His silence got him chastised by the judge, who wanted to hear an apology. In an interview with The Star-Ledger that happened before the sentencing but was published afterward, Ravi said he didn't apologize because it "would sound rehearsed and empty." "When politicians give public apologies, to me, it always sounds so insincere and false," he said. "No matter what I say, people will take it that way." Indeed, Clementi's brother, James, who spoke at the sentencing, said that there was a time when an apology would have mattered to him. But he didn't want to hear one so late. Critics of the bias-intimidation charge have argued it's what lawmakers had in mind when they crafted "hate crime" laws to mete out extra punishment to those who act out of bias against the victim's race, gender, sexual orientation, religions, national orientation or disability. In New Jersey, a major push to adopt such laws came more than 20 years ago amid a string of attacks on Indian-Americans. The state's bias intimidation law dates to 2001 — one of many similar laws adopted around the time after Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was beaten and left tied to a desolate fence post. He later died. In 2009, Congress expanded federal hate-crimes legislation to cover crimes motivated by bias against gays, lesbians and transgender people. The bill is known as the Matthew Shepard Act. Thursday evening, as they appeared on a panel after a screening of a documentary about the Shepard killing, Clementi's parents noted parallels with their son's case. "While the circumstances were different, the effect was the same," Joe Clementi said. Critics of the laws say they are troublesome because they require juries to consider the motive of the suspects — not just their actions. And in New Jersey, along with some other states, a conviction can come because the victim reasonably believes he or she is being targeted out of bias. The whole concept bothers Bill Dobbs, a New York City gay rights activist. "Law and order cannot solve social problems," he said. Dr. Sanjay Nath, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and the Director of the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology at Widener University in Chester, Pa., said he believes the sentence takes seriously what Ravi did and provides a reminder that people should think about the effects on others before they act. But he has trouble seeing what happened to Clementi as a hate crime "Whether it's a hate crime, that part I can't wrap my mind around," he said. "When someone beats someone up and says, 'You're a fag,' it's a hate crime." Judge Berman, whose sentence for Ravi was far short of the 10-year maximum, said he looked at the bias intimidation laws in 39 states and found that New Jersey's was broader than most. The majority are used to increase sentences for those convicted of violent crimes. In Ravi's case, the underlying crime was invasion of privacy. And whether he was hateful came up again and again. Evidence provided by prosecutors included instant messages and tweets by Ravi that could be construed as youthful teasing, including, "I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." During the trial, Ravi's lawyers called just seven witnesses. The main question for all of them was: Did he hate gays? All of them said they did not know him to. Last week, several hundred protesters gathered at the New Jersey State House to show support for Ravi and decry what they saw as injustices in New Jersey's hate-crime laws. At his sentencing, his mother, Sabitha Ravi, tearfully pleaded with a judge not to send her son to prison. Dharun Ravi, she said, "doesn't have any hatred in his heart toward anybody." Clementi's mother, Jane Clementi, also in tears, told the judge Ravi did deserve incarceration because, she said, Ravi was hateful toward her son. "Why was he so arrogant, mean-spirited and evil?" she asked. Clementi and her family did not comment after the sentencing. But the Middlesex County prosecutor's office made its position clear by announcing it planned to appeal the sentence.
CBS/AP) "House" aired its series finale Monday night after eight seasons and, as the show's star Hugh Laurie teased viewers, is House "gonna step forward or step back? Is it life or is it death?" Viewers were rewarded with a satisfying answer in the show's one-hour finale. SPOILER ALERT The episode began with a typical example of House's bedside manner. Patient: "I was in a car accident last month." House: "I won a swimming trophy in high school. Your turn." But this hospital encounter gave way to a House hallucination. He appeared to be in a bleak, abandoned factory loft with fire lashing around him and with that same patient, now dead, lying nearby. It was a typical example of "House" surrealism, as, intermittently through much of the hour, House debated whether to live or die while being interrogated by characters from his past. House's challenge as the episode began was how to stay out of jail. A prank he pulled on last week's episode threatened to put him in the slammer for a six-month sentence -- a month longer than his best friend, Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), was expected to live with his terminal cancer. House was desperate to be with Wilson in those final weeks. House also strove to solve the puzzle of existence on the finale. "Every patient I've had, 70 years from now, will all be as dead as Wilson," House grumbled in his hallucination. "Everybody dies. It's meaningless." By then, House had dropped out of sight. Wilson and other colleagues at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital feared the worst: that the tormented House had killed himself. Indeed, a fire raged at the real-life warehouse, where House, along with his patient, a heroin addict, had retreated to get high. House appeared to die in the raging inferno. His body was recovered and identified. A funeral was held. "He was a healer," said Wilson in a eulogy that quickly grew bitter: "House was an ass. ... He claimed to be on some heroic quest for the truth. But the truth is, he was a bitter jerk who liked making people miserable. And he proved that by dying selfishly, numbed by narcotics, without a thought of anyone." But then Wilson was interrupted by a cellphone text message: "SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT." Wilson found House sitting on a building stoop, alive and -- by House's standards -- well. He explained he had escaped from the back of the building, and traded dental records with the patient who had overdosed, whose body was recovered. "How do you want to spend your last five months?" House told his shocked friend. The two were last seen out in the countryside on their motorcycles. "When the cancer starts getting really bad --" Wilson began, but House cut him off. "Cancer's boring," House said and flashed a little grin. They rode off. For House, boring had always been life's least tolerable state. The finale -- the series' 177th episode -- served well as a reminder: "House" seldom was.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Organizers of the national air racing championships in Reno plan to change the race course for the fastest planes to keep them farther from spectators after last year's mass casualty crash near a grandstand. Reno Air Racing Association Director Mike Houghton said Tuesday they will ask federal regulators for permission to soften some curves and move the largest course away from the crowd. He made the announcement as a blue ribbon panel unveiled its list of safety recommendations, including formalizing plane inspection procedures. The panel also advised further study of possible age limits for pilots. Jimmy Leeward was 74 when his World War II-era airplane crashed Sept. 16, killing himself and 10 spectators and injuring more than 70 others. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. A blue ribbon panel of experts reviewing the deadly crash at last year's National Championship Air Races in Reno is making a number of recommendations to make the event safer but none would prevent the competition from continuing as scheduled in September, officials told The Associated Press. Several of the recommendations call for changes that the Reno Air Racing Association already has initiated, including appointing a safety director with the independent authority to halt the competition if necessary in the case of a safety concern, according to two officials who have seen the panel's final report. None of the recommendations run contrary to earlier preliminary suggestions from the National Transportation Safety Board in April, said the officials who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity late Monday because they were not authorized to speak publicly prior to a formal announcement scheduled for Tuesday. Four or five of the recommendations are similar to the NTSB's recommendations ideas, they said, including developing formal protocols to ensure the engineering integrity of planes that have been modified for the races, like the World War II-era P-51 Mustang that plunged into the box seats in front of the grandstand, killing pilot Jimmy Leeward and 10 spectators, and injuring more than 70 others on Sept. 16. NTSB officials said earlier that Leeward's plane, the "Galloping Ghost," was heavily modified and had never been flown as fast as he was racing it that day on that course. To ramp up the aircraft's speed, the plane's wingspan had been shortened from about 37 feet to about 29 feet, and flight controls were changed. The Reno Air Racing Association announced the appointment of the four-member panel in January to provide a review of the crash and the event's safety independent of the one being conducted by the NTSB, which may or may not complete its formal probe before this year's championships begin Sept. 12. The panel's other members were Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board; Nick Sabatini, former associate administrator of aviation safety for the Federal Aviation Administration; Jon Sharp, an aeronautical engineer and the winningest pilot in the event's history; and Steven Hinton, a champion pilot and top stunt pilot in the film industry. The blue ribbon panel's report being released Tuesday may be notable for what it does not do. It does not directly address mechanics of the plane that crashed or the cause of the crash. It also did not address the proper distance between competing planes and spectators, or the possibility of requiring pilots to wear special flight suits intended to reduce the impacts of gravitational force at extremely high speeds, the officials said. The association's event at Reno Stead Airport is the only event of its kind, where planes fly wing-tip-to-wing-tip around an oval, aerial pylon track, sometimes just 50 feet off the ground and at speeds that can top 500 mph. The association's board of directors created the position of safety director in February and filled the job with Michael Stollings, a former supervisor of flying for the U.S. Air Force with nearly 40 years of aviation experience. Last week, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority's board of trustees voted unanimously to renew the necessary special use permit for at least another year as long as organizers follow all federal safety rules and secure $100 million in insurance. Organizers said they expect to secure the insurance this
WASHINGTON (AP) — Anxious to show voters he's working to create jobs, President Barack Obama is putting tax credits to boost clean energy in the spotlight this week as he heads to the political battleground state of Iowa. The president will visit TPI Composites, a wind manufacturer in Newton, on Thursday to highlight his push for tax credits to encourage investments in clean energy technologies. The trip is part of Obama's ongoing effort to prod Congress to act on a "to-do list" he says is necessary to make sure the economy doesn't lose steam. Specifically, Obama wants Congress to renew the federal Production Tax Credit for the wind industry, which is set to expire at the end of the year, and expand the 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit, which supports American-made clean energy manufacturing. The president's "to-do list" includes a series of economic initiatives he has been pushing for months, none of which have gained traction in Congress. Obama has been trying to blame congressional Republicans for blocking his ideas for creating jobs. And, by extension, he argues that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney could be expected to follow their approach if elected. Polls show the economy is the top issue for voters, and Americans are split over which candidate can best handle it. Advocates say renewal of the production tax credit could save thousands of jobs and bring financial certainty to the wind industry, which has been vulnerable to boom-and-bust cycles. A study commissioned by the American Wind Energy Association, an industry group, said failure to extend the tax credit could mean the loss of as many as 37,000 U.S. jobs. Iowa is the second-leading state in the U.S. for wind power, after Texas.
