Steve Austin podcast to air live on WWE Network with special guest Vince McMahon on Dec. 1, 2014

During tonight's Survivor Series pay-per-view, WWE officially announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast, The Steve Austin Show, will air live on the WWE Network immediately following Monday Night Raw on Dec. 1, 2014.

And Vince McMahon will be his special guest.

WWE partnering up with Austin always made sense and, frankly, I'm shocked it didn't happen sooner. Austin's podcast is wildly successful for Podcast One and the WWE Network is desperately in need of compelling, easy-to-produce content that appeals to the wrestling audience.

Airing an Austin podcast with Vince as special guest is the best of all worlds.

You tuning in?

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Brett Hundley totals 4 TDs as No. 9 UCLA wins 3rd straight over USC

PASADENA, Calif. -- Brett Hundley's first pass was intercepted by USC linebacker Anthony Sarao, who returned it up the UCLA sideline for a shocking touchdown. Red-clad fans rocked the predominantly blue Rose Bowl, hoping this rivalry was undergoing a seismic shift.
Hundley never wavered or wilted, and his Bruins spent the rest of a celebratory night educating USC about city dominance.

"UCLA runs L.A., if you guys didn't hear last year," Hundley said with a grin.
Hundley passed for 326 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another score, leading No. 9 UCLA past No. 19 USC 38-20 on Saturday night for the Bruins' third straight victory in the annual crosstown showdown.
Hundley stayed perfect in three starts against USC, throwing scoring passes to Devin Lucien, Thomas Duarte and Eldridge Massington as the Bruins (9-2, 6-2 Pac-12, No. 11 AP) confirmed their Los Angeles supremacy and closed in on the Pac-12 South title with a one-sided romp.
The Bruins scored all their points in less than 30 minutes, and their defense limited the Trojans to just 200 yards and seven points in the first three quarters. Hundley punctuated his final scoring drive with a 15-yard TD run straight up the middle midway through the third quarter, flexing both arms in celebration.
"It's hard to express how it feels to win three times in a row versus your rival," Hundley said. "Everything that goes into the game, each year it gets bigger and bigger, and this year was to top it off. This was the biggest -- the Pac-12 South [standings], everything was on the line. And to come in our house, have everybody there and to pull out a victory like that at home, it says a lot to this team."
Paul Perkins rushed for 93 yards and a score for UCLA, which hadn't won three straight over USC since 1998.
After five consecutive wins down the stretch of a slow-starting season, UCLA can advance to the Pac-12 title game with a victory over Stanford on Friday, staying in the national title hunt.
"No, we don't bask in moments," said UCLA coach Jim Mora, who has beaten three USC head coaches in three years by a combined 111-62. "We'll just move on to the next moment."
Cody Kessler passed for 214 yards for the Trojans (7-4, 6-3, No. 24 AP), who struggled mightily against UCLA's inspired defense.
"We got off to a bad start and failed from there," USC receiver George Farmer said. "It hurts a lot. It's a big rivalry, a lot of guys I grew up playing against, but I give all props to them. They played a hell of a game, came out very strong in the second half and deserved it."
Both teams looked sharp in their traditional home jerseys on a crisp night in Arroyo Seco, but not much went well for USC in its first rivalry game under new coach Steve Sarkisian after Sarao returned Hundley's only interception 17 yards for a score.
While the Trojans celebrated, Hundley calculated.
"After that happened, it was probably the calmest I was all game," Hundley said. "I was talking to [linebacker] Eric Kendricks, and we both said nobody was worried. We both said we were going to get the ball back, go score some touchdowns and call it a game. We didn't panic."
If Hundley heads to the NFL next year as planned, the quarterback who led Mora's revitalization of the program will have a perfect record against USC -- one of his stated goals since his freshman year. With Hundley at the controls, UCLA has scored at least 35 points in three straight rivalry games for the first time in series history.
The UCLA defense stopped the Trojans on the game's opening drive, and Sarao returned Hundley's terrible throw down the UCLA sideline just 3:07 in. The Trojans forced another punt, but their early momentum evaporated when Nelson Agholor fumbled the return inside the USC 10.
Lucien was left wide-open on Hundley's first TD throw. Just 39 seconds later, the quarterback threw down the middle to Duarte, who ran through USC's stumbling secondary for a 57-yard score.
USC evened it on Justin Davis' 2-yard TD catch, but Kendricks dived to intercept a tipped pass by Kessler moments later. The Bruins moved patiently for Massington's 13-yard TD catch 14 seconds before halftime, putting them up 24-14.
UCLA drove 84 yards for Perkins' 10-yard TD run right after halftime.
"It seemed like everybody was going to score tonight," Duarte said.
Josh Shaw made his season debut for USC, playing intermittently on defense and special teams. The senior defensive back and former team captain missed the first 10 games for lying about how he sprained his ankles in a preseason fall.

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5 things we learned at SXSW Interactive

 

 Austin, Texas (CNN) -- Even when pared down to just its Interactive portion, South by Southwest can feel like a huge and amorphous thing -- sort of like, as director Hugh Forrest says, the Internet itself.

This tech-themed gathering has exploded in the years since the term "dotcom billionaire" became a career goal for any 20-something with a computer and an idea. The Interactive portion of the festival now draws more than 30,000 people each year, more than both the original Music portion of the festival and Interactive's older cousin, Film.

With that growth has come some meaningless noise. If you wanted to see a grown man in black fingernail polish swing on a wrecking ball like Miley Cyrus or hear a big-money venture capitalist attempt to rap onstage with Nas this week, you could.

But beneath the noise, there's still a lot of signal.

All-night parties and desperate sales pitches aside, South by Southwest is still where some of the digital world's smartest people come to talk about ideas that will guide agendas for years to come. It's where trends crystallize and where nascent startups take flight.

And even at a disparate festival whose offerings ranged from wrestling superstar John Cena extolling the virtues of the online WWE Network to a discussion about how virtual reality may become a life-saving medical tool, some themes did emerge.

Here are five of our takeaways from South by Southwest Interactive.

No new Twitter ... and that's OK

From a tech perspective, South by Southwest's "greatest hit" was Twitter, the social network that came to the show in 2007 with a small core of support and left on the back of a hype rocket that, 240 million users later, helped make it part of the public's consciousness.

In the years that followed, a handful of social startups like Foursquare and GroupMe earned more modest "SouthBy bumps." But, since then, the clamoring throngs of app creators in Austin have failed to produce a breakout. And, this week, it felt like fewer were even trying.

"I think that social media has become so baked into everything we do that the revolution has plateaued a little bit," said Forrest, the SXSWi director.

"Twitter was our big moment," he added. "But I also think, at this point, it's our biggest albatross. (Observers now always ask) 'Why isn't there a Twitter this year?' "

Yes, plenty of entrepreneurs were promoting their products at SXSW this week, and that's not going to stop. But the more expectations fade for a new tech superstar to emerge, the more folks can enjoy seeing innovations without having to wonder whether every single one of them is the "next big thing."

A crossroads for privacy

In 2014, many of us have adopted a perhaps oversimplified but nonetheless handy approach to online privacy: Assume you don't have any, and don't post anything you don't want the whole world to see.

Some tech titans, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, have argued that we live in a post-privacy age.

But online privacy, particularly from the all-seeing eye of the world's governments, still has its champions, and some of the world's most visible spoke at South by Southwest.

NSA leaker Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange both appeared remotely: Assange from an embassy in London and Snowden presumably from Russia, where he fled with state secrets he stole while working as a government contractor.

Both called on tech-savvy attendees in Austin to create products that help Web users hide their activity from prying eyes.

"South by Southwest and the tech community, the people in the room in Austin, they're the folks who can fix this," Snowden said. "There's a political response that needs to occur, but there's also a tech response that needs to occur."

Meanwhile, entrepreneurs and marketers at SXSW were discussing the best ways to make money off their users' data.

The tech community, like the world at large, is at an online-privacy crossroads. Which way the momentum will shift remains to be seen.

Gadgets galore

Until recently, Interactive week was about apps, websites and ideas. The shiny things that blink and buzz and flash belong at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas or the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, thank you very much.

But, this year, there was a visible uptick in the number of places Austin-style innovation was merging with cutting-edge hardware.

A drone used a Taser-like stun gun to knock some guy off of his feet. "Game of Thrones" fans used a virtual-reality headset, the Oculus Rift, to immerse themselves in a 3-D version of a scene from the fantasy series.

Rows of 3-D printers were everywhere you looked, and although they had more "gee whiz" appeal last year, it was interesting to see the technology continue to evolve. (One of our favorites? 3D-printed candy from a machine built in partnership with Hershey.)

There were developers showcasing wirelessly connected homes that memorize and accommodate your habits. The trend extended all the way to street teams hawking e-cigarettes, or "digital vapor cigarettes," as the new ones are being called, because "e-cigarette" is so 2013.

But nowhere did hardware and innovation merge more visibly at this year's festival than in ...

Wearable tech

This trendy gear was so front-and-center at SXSW this week that it deserves its own category.

Wearable technology -- gadgets on your body, such as fitness trackers -- was a standing-room-only event at SXSW's Startup Accelerator, where new companies pitch their products to investors in the hopes of attracting funding and press.

One startup demoed solar-paneled clothing that can recharge a phone in two hours. Another pitched Nymi, a wristband that authenticates users through their unique cardiac rhythm and eliminates the need to type passwords on a mobile device.

But the big winner was Skully, an augmented-reality motorcycle helmet. The helmet has a 180-degree rear-view camera that projects images to a headset display so the driver can see the road in every direction. The company's CEO, Marcus Weller, describes his product as "like Google Glass, except it can save your life."

And speaking of Glass, seeing people walk around Austin in Google's connected eyewear was so commonplace that no one even bothered to look twice -- a rarity outside the Bay Area.

Foreign flavor

It was impossible to grab a bite or a beer in downtown Austin this week without hearing animated conversations in languages other than English.

More than ever, the festival is becoming an international affair, reaffirming how the digital revolution has spread far beyond Silicon Valley.

People from a record 74 countries attended South by Southwest Interactive this week, up from 55 last year. Forrest said the influx of international visitors reflects the growth of the global startup scene.

More than 70 businesses were represented at German Haus, a gathering space sponsored by Germany's business community. Enterprise Ireland brought 20 more. India, England, Sweden, France ... those are just a handful of the other countries that had a SXSW presence, official or otherwise.

Facebook's recent $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp, the messaging service, heralds what's likely to be a recurring theme. As digital markets mature in the United States, the tech world will be increasingly looking at services, like WhatsApp, that have huge numbers of overseas users.

As usual, SXSW is a nice condensed look at the bigger trend.

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Omar Epps, Stars in New ABC Series, ‘Resurrection’

Omar Epps is back on TV, and he plays a very different role from the one he played as a doctor on House. In Sunday night’s premiere of Resurrection, Epps’s character–U.S. immigration officer J. Martin “Marty” Bellamy–returns an 8-year-old boy who drowned 32 years prior to his family in Arcadia, Missouri, after he is found in a rice paddy in rural China. When another of the townspeople returns from the dead, Bellamy sticks around to lead the investigation into what is going on.

So begins a new series that certainly sounds like it will pull at all the appropriate emotional viewer strings needed to thrust it into ratings contention, with the exception of one glaring caveat. It is airing opposite AMC’s The Walking Dead, which just happens to be prime time’s number one TV show. It certainly sounds, however, as though its appeal will rein in those viewers who can’t bring themselves to watch undead zombies in various states of decomposition–right before they go to bed. Resurrection isn’t grotesque as The Walking Dead can be. It appeals instead to those yearning for mystery, a bit of science fiction and the possibility of a God versus Satan scenario. Plus it pulls at the heartstrings of those who have lost loved ones.

Omar Epps’s character is determined to stick around in Arcadia to find out exactly what is going on–and similarly to his character on House, he exudes a combination of compassion and no-nonsense composure. Check out a longer preview of the series.

 

But what might happen at the end of this season? Have the producers thought that far ahead to the “endgame or even how to sustain this show for more than a season?”
If something can’t be done to move Resurrection to a new time slot it may never need to worry about being resurrected for a second season–in fact, it might not even make it through it’s first season’s run. But in the meantime, House fans can revel in the fun of seeing Omar Epps back on TV–even if only for a little while.
You’ve no doubt seen the previews for Resurrection. Will you tune in or are you a diehard fan of The Walking Dead instead?

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Malaysia Airlines Plane With 239 Passengers Goes Missing

BREAKING NEWS A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew lost contact with air traffic controllers early on Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the airline said in a statement. 

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their search-and-rescue teams to locate the aircraft," it said. Flight MH 370, operating a Boeing B777-200 aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.21 am. (1621 GMT Friday) and had been expected to land in the Chinese capital at 6.30 am. (2230 GMT) the same day.
The airline said the flight had lost contact with Malaysian air traffic controllers at 2.40 am, just over two hours into the flight. China's CCTV said 160 Chinese nationals were onboard the flight, according to microblogging website Weibo. Chinese state TV also reported there had not been any reports received yet about any aircraft crashed in Chinese waters. 

State news agency Xinhua reported radar contact with the flight was lost while it was in Vietnamese airspace. If the plane is found to have crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year, after an unblemished safety record since the jet entered service in 1995. 

Last summer, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers. Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane was missing and was monitoring the situation but had no further comment.

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Marketing & Politics - A Unique Combination Of 'Marriage'!

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE

 Should a political 'brand' communicate the same, clear message as brands in business? Just as a marketing organisation needs a clear picture of its target, Indian political parties need to recognise the changing realities in the political market place.

In the wildest of Dream, the founding father of Marketing would not have imagined such an innovative, creative, out of the box application of Marketing concept!! Yes, the readers of this blog are thinking right it is a unique marriage between Marketing and Politics. 

Ever since politics has become synonymous with the power, marketing has been used widely by politician for own advantage. In fact, now a days political pundit is hiring multitude of professionals to work for their cause in fact marketing has been used increasingly in politics.
The election to largest democracy has become one of the most expensive, and comprehensive marketing exercise. The 2009 general election was one of the most expensive ever Election fought in India election history. Both Congress and BJP spend hugely and major chunk of this sum was invariably on the marketing.

Marketing in general is very similar to the marketing in politics in particular. Voters choosing a product are akin to consumer selecting a brand. Candidate express themselves as a product, widely publicize their policy, stand on various issues, manifesto, decide way and means to advertise themselves, decide on the promotional mix and conduct market research. Thus, there exists a plethora of opportunity to apply marketing concept in this new interesting domain i.e. politics.

In Fact if we look at the larger picture, marketing as a whole determine the fate of the country for the next 4-5 year. Political party as well as candidate need to micro and macro market themselves in orger to gain edge over the rivals. The technique which political party now a days adopt are

• Political advertising;
• Cyber-democracy;
• Propaganda in politics;
• Campaigns from around the world;
• Women in politics;
• Direct marketing;
• E-government;
• Marketing research and polling;
• Strategic corporate lobbying.

Frequently used concept of marketing in politics.

Social network: with the rapid proliferation of social networking sites, politician have started taking advantage of it. The vote of an individual does not make any difference but the vote of a group does make a difference hence came the concept of application of politics in social media. In fact in the coeval world every political party be it- BJP, Congress, SP, BSP all have a presence in social media. In fact most of the leaders of political parties have their Facebook, twitter account to spread their ideas, opinion, views on various national and international issues.

Brand Image: as with the product Brand plays a vital role because it is the brand which is in the mind of the customer, while purchasing any product of that brand. Same is with politics, most people vote not only on the basis of the candidate but also from which party he belongs to. This has happened many times in India election history e.g in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th lok sabha election. Also vice versa is also true in many instances. Thus building brand image and party image both are important.

Money: it is one of the important factors in winning particular in India where most voters reside in rural areas who are  simpleton and can be easily molded by the money, wine etc. In Fact it is the power of money before and after the election, which determine the future of candidate success in the political arena. In fact Money is politics and politics is money as no activity can be brought to its logical conclusion without money.

Political advertising: political party through advertising express their opinion on the recent socioeconomic situation of the country. In fact political advertising is one of the best way to reach to the largest number of voters. Political advertising can be through radio, newspaper, TV, Internet. They are designed by advertising agencies for political party.  If we remember  in 2009 The famous political advertising war was between Jai Ho and Bhai HO, In 2004 it was India Shining. Earlier it used to be only traditional media but now its war at all front.

Practically speaking, application of marketing in politics involves googol of concepts and theories, which have been traditionally used for goods, commodities, services in profit and non-profit organization. In the coeval world it is imperative to give marketing orientation to politics not only for immediate success but for success in future also. In fact if we look around the world, many leaders like President Barrack Obama, PM David Cameroon, Chancellor Angelia Merkel have extensively used marketing to build their brand image. 

In India C.M Narendra Modi, L. K. Advani, CM Akhilesh Yadav, CM Nitish Kumar, MP Sachin Pilot, MP Varun Gandhi, MP Rahul Gandhi etc.  have extensively used marketing to build their image, send across their message to the public at large. In fact in contemporary world marketing has become necessary and sufficient condition to stand at the vantage position in the election. In fact mostly the candidate who portrays him better himself through the use of marketing concepts like Social marketing, advertising, brand image, spreading ideas etc. wins the election.

Politics As A Branch Of Marketing
It is a fact that any society is divided into groups and classes, and it is by recognising and cultivating them that the smaller political parties built up bases for themselves, usually at the expense of the mainstream parties that attempt to appeal to broad aggregates rather than to segments.

The best example of such a mainstream party is the Congress, and its recent electoral history is proof that, just as in marketing the concept of 'niche' is driving away strategies based on broad-spectrum markets, in politics the age of the 'niche' electoral segment has finally arrived. In other words, political parties will now need to abandon catch-all strategies in favour of more focused messages.

The danger that these marketers face, however, comes not from mainstream parties, but from smaller parties whose sectional messages are even sharper and more narrowly focussed than their own.

Does this mean that Indian democracy is fated to witness a kaleidoscope of small parties combining and splitting away from each other? It need not, provided that, in place of attempting to impose a kind of universality over a political party, the political leaders favouring a return to the mainstream see a party not as a homogeneous entity, but as a group of disparate elements that combine in the manner of a many stranded rope.

Each broad-based political party would have a core set of beliefs, allegiance to which would be a necessary condition of remaining within it. Thus, for example, belief in secularism would be essential to any member of the Congress or the Janata Dal, while a belief in a uniform civil code would be necessary for any member of the BJP. However, outside such 'core' areas, there is scope for freedom of ideological and organisational choice.

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Snap Judgments on Winter's New TV Show Trailers

I don't know about you, but I've been slightly underwhelmed by the first batch of shows that premiered during this TV season. The Blacklist is fine—James Spader is more or less watchable in anything—but for me, it's not must-see TV, Sleepy Hollow is a surprise hit, but only time will tell if it has what it takes to go the distance, Dads is horrible at depicting women. The point is that even the shows that are doing well don't quite have me jumping up and down out of my set. Thankfully, winter is just around the corner—which means there's a new crop of A-list talent dipping their toes in the TV pool. Let's take a look at a few trailers for these upcoming series, and I'll give you my take.
 
Show: Being Mary Jane
Synopsis: Follows the life of a 30-something career woman as she juggles dating, her hectic life as a TV show host, and her dysfunctional family.
Premiere Date: January 7 on BET

Snap Judgment: Let's be honest here: BET is super questionable when it comes the quality of their programming. For every funny series like Real Husbands of Hollywood, there's something craptastic like Don't Sleep! Hosted by TJ Holmes, which was supposed to be the urban version of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, except it was just awkward. But I will say that based on the movie premiere that aired last year, the show has a lot of promise. Gabrielle Union plays the title character with much aplomb, and there is enough comedy in it to not make this show seem like another story about a successful woman who can't find a man. Women will like the show because they can identify with her, and guys will like the show because...hello, bathtub! Union is stunning.

Show: Ground Floor
Synopsis: A workplace comedy with a dash of romance as a banker falls for a woman who works in the maintenance department of his office.
Premiere Date: November 14 on TBS

Snap Judgment: Hmm, I'm kind of on the fence. I've reached my limit with will they/won't they story lines; however, executive producer Bill Lawrence has a streak of creating hilarious workplace comedies such as Spin City, Scrubs, and Cougar Town. I would be shocked if all of a sudden he made a show that wasn't highly entertaining, so I'm willing to give this one a chance.

Show: Rake
Synopsis: A lawyer who is brilliant (of course), yet, he's not smart enough to keep his personal life from being a hot mess.
Premiere Date: January 19 on Fox

Snap Judgment: TV is really OD'ing on the whole white guy who is brilliant and charms the pants off everyone, even though he's a complete jerk, so that turns me off to this show. However, Rake is a remake of an Australian show, and American remakes tend to do very well over here. Plus, Greg Kinnear portrays the lead character, Keegan Deane, and I like Kinnear in just about everything he does. So I'm going to see what the critical buzz is on this before diving in.

Show: Surviving Jack
Synopsis: Set in the 1990s: Jack decides to become a stay-at-home dad so his wife can go to law school. Hilarity ensues as he learns how to be a father to his two teenage children.
Premiere Date: TBD on Fox

Snap Judgment: I love me some Christopher Meloni, y'all, so I'm intrigued by this show even though it seems to be a standard-issue sitcom. The fact that I laughed a couple of times during the trailer is promising, and because it is scheduled after the American Idol results show, I'm more inclined to stick around to at least check out a couple of episodes.

Show: The Spoils of Babylon
Synopsis: A parody of sweeping TV mini-series starring Tobey Maguire, Kristen Wiig, Haley Joel Osmont, Tim Robbins, and Val Kilmer.
Premiere Date: January 9 on IFC

Snap Judgment: I'm in. Completely. This looks awesome.

Show: True Detective
Synopsis: Hot piece Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play two detectives whose lives are taken over by a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana.
Premiere Date: January 12 on HBO

Snap Judgment: It looks like your standard-issue moody police drama, but HBO rarely makes a misstep and always seems to find a way to make tried-and-true story lines interesting. I'm definitely checking out this one out.

Show: Enlisted
Synopsis: Sgt. Pete Hill returns back to a military base in Florida to lead his brothers' dysfunctional crew.
Premiere Date: January 10 on Fox

Snap Judgment: I generally enjoy loveable losers, and it seems like even though this is a comedy, it's still going to be respectful toward the military.

Show: Getting On
Synopsis: Set in a geriatric wing of a rundown hospital, this show follows around the nurses, doctors, and administrators who struggle to get through the day.
Premiere Date: November 24 on HBO

Synopsis: It's a dark comedy, features funny women, and seems to have heart as well. So excited for this one.

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5 Inspiring Quotes From the Women A.R.E. Summit

What do you get when you cross 300 of the country's most driven women with a stage, a few microphones, and the common goal of advancing women's roles? An awe-inspiring first Women A.R.E. (Aspire. Respond. Engage) Summit. Thrown by Women A.R.E. founders Angella Nazarian and Beth Friedman, the one-day event in Los Angeles united trailblazers in the fields of art, entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and philanthropy in a series of panels featuring speakers such as Sharon Stone, Kathy Freston, Chelsea Handler, and Catherine Opie. With so many inspiring women in one room, it's no surprise that I left with some nuggets of wisdom. Here are my five favorite gems from the day.

"Women don't have to be jealous of other women." —Chelsea Handler
"I didn't want to be an actress; they're not fun to be around," said Handler, who discovered the competitive and jealous side of the entertainment world when she first began auditioning in Hollywood at age 19. "When you do stand-up, you're the center of your universe," she said. Handler went on to forge her own path, becoming the first female late-night television host, best-selling author, and one of 2011's Glamour Women of the Year to boot. Currently, Handler employs a 500-person staff across multiple shows, and 300 of those staff members are women. Her motto? "[Women] should lift each other up."

"Love others and lighten up!" —Marianne Williamson
Williamson, who just announced her first run for Congress in California, has impacted countless lives with her spiritual advice, 10 books, and the founding of Project Angel Food, which delivers meals in Los Angeles to homebound people affected by AIDS. And then she said this: "Being the best person you know how to be, living as heart-centered a life as possible is the key to success in work and everything else."

"Do what you are passionate about, and the dollars will follow." —Jane Wurwand
"You have to have fun," said Wurwand, founder of skin care line Dermalogica. Julie Clark, who launched Baby Einstein—and later sold it to Disney—shared similar sentiments as well as her own wisdom, also drawn from experience. "When you are passionate, you are afraid, because you are putting yourself on the line. It's difficult to take the first step, but that's what draws the good juju to you."

"You get to make this whole thing up as you go along." —Abigail Disney
"I wish I had known that anything is possible," said filmmaker and grassroots activist Abigail Disney of what she wishes she knew at the beginning of her career. "I thought there were lines, like in a coloring book, and I had to stay in them. There are no borders, and there are no limits. You get to make this whole thing up as you go along." And the proof is in the pudding: The pioneering women's rights documentarian is currently at work on her next project, highlighting the Arab Spring and its effect on women in the Middle East.

"Give of yourself whatever you can give, but don't put a judgment on it." —Wallis Annenberg
"Never explain to anybody, 'I can only afford this,'" said keynote speaker Annenberg, who recently bestowed the city of Beverly Hills with the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. In her speech, Annenberg emphasized being true to yourself and experimenting to find what you enjoy. A passionate philanthropist, Annenberg continues to reap the rewards of her work in culture and for her community. "You can't get that in a Neiman Marcus catalogue," she reminded the audience.

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Nia Long Dishes About The Best Man Holiday With Us

Fans of the 1999 hit movie The Best Man have long been looking forward to the sequel, The Best Man Holiday, which finally hits theaters today. One of the film's stars Nia Long, who plays sexy-smart Jordan Armstrong, stopped by Glamour HQ to talk about why the original film resonates with so many and what to expect from the much-anticipated sequel.

Tell us about the movie!
Nia: The film is basically about a group of friends that reunite after 15 years, real time. They reunite for the holidays. My character, Jordan, is a television producer. She’s now kind of running a network. Her challenge is that she’s not quite sure how to balance love and career. There’s a bunch of other characters, but Jordan is one of the characters from the original film. The movie is really about a group of friends getting together for the holiday and any and everything that could possibly happen happens. The good stuff, the bad stuff, you need tissues, there’s a lot of laughter, there’s beautiful women, sexy guys—there’s a little bit of everything. And it kind of kicks off the holiday spirit.

What do you think this film is going to mean to 20 year olds who may have not seen the original film,The Best Man?

Nia: Well, you know what’s interesting? I feel like the audience that knew us 14 years ago are now all the professional women who were just starting out in their careers. So it’s like, oh wow, my trajectory is good. And the women who are just starting out their careers are going to look at these characters and go, “OK, that’s where I want to go. That’s where I want to be.” Because each character has a really good profession. They're very contemporary characters. I think it‘s always great when you can go to a film and see something that you see in yourself or see in a friend, you know, something in common with the characters on film is always a great thing. And I think the younger audience is going to appreciate it just as much, and I don’t think you need to see the first one to get the second one.

Is the chemistry sort of still the same between your character and Taye Diggs’ character?
Nia: Well, it’s different now because obviously he’s married—he got proposed to in the last one. So he’s married, but I feel like there’s still those beats of, “Is he the one that got away?” You know how you have that one guy where you’re like, “Did I make the right move and the right choice?” Or maybe he’s thinking that about you? I still feel like we have that report with one another in the film, for sure.

Have you stayed in touch with everyone over the years?
Nia: We’re all friends. It’s kind of scary. I’m flying home with Terrence Howard tonight, which I’m really looking forward to. I just have to tell the flight attendant when to stop the liquor because I could see it getting real fun up in there! We’re all really good friends, and most of us have actually worked together before. Like, Morris Chestnut and I were in Boys in the Hood together, Terrence Howard and I were in Big Momma’s Housetogether, Sanaa Lathan and Taye did Brown Sugar together, and then Melissa De Sousa and Harold Perrineau actually went to college together and danced for Alvin Ailey together. There’s a scene in the film where the guys do Air Band and perform a song from New Edition, and you can tell the real dancers from actors because the real dancers are in your face and dramatic, and the actors are like, what? They’re good, but you can see the difference! It was nice because the ladies actually got to sit back and watch the men. You know, usually it’s us, the women, who are put on display. So we got to do a little objectifying ourselves by watching the boys perform. It was good.

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Take a Road Trip in Australia

Travel Writer Fiona Harper explains why jumping in the car and taking a road trip in Australia makes for a fantastic holiday - and shares her favourite Aussie drives. 

Do you remember Jack Nicolson in the movie As Good as it Gets? Playing eccentric, obsessive-compulsive Melvin, he was rather nervous about an impromptu road trip with Carol whom he rather fancied and Simon whom he didn’t. He had prepared a carefully labelled playlist tagged to ‘get things going’ or for use as ‘icebreakers’ as the three of them settled into leather seats and drove out of New York bound for good times and noodle salad. I can’t watch that movie without wishing I too was heading off on an extended road trip.

Growing up in country West Australia, family holidays always included a road trip: we rarely flew anywhere. Three kids on the back seat, plus the dog (sometimes a hitchhiker too). Border collie crossbreed Poochie was always first in the car whenever it looked like Team Harper was hitting the road and was never left behind. Except for that one time, in Whyalla I think it was after crossing the Nullarbor Plain, when Dad somehow managed to drive off without her, creating buckets of hysterical tears from the back seat when we realised. We went back though and thankfully found her, welcoming her return into our back seat bunker with delirious delight.

Usually we’d have a caravan hitched behind us, which back then were all bubble-like curves with oversized windows. Actually the windows were so large I managed to roll right out of one, landing with a thud on the dirt one night while asleep on the top bunk. But that’s a story Mum would rather I not tell (sorry Mum, I have). Later, our family moved to the Pilbara and road trips became more adventurous as we ventured off road, billowing clouds of fine ochre dust coating us, the camper trailer and everything packed inside it. Poochie was still with us, her white coat tinted as red as our feet, swimming alongside us in freshwater streams, clamouring up cliffs, chasing lizards or sleeping exhausted beside the campfire while Mum prepared dinner on the camp stove.

Fast forward 30 years and despite open skies and low cost airlines encouraging us to fly hither and thither, I still love the thrill of hitting the road. Whether that road is paved with asphalt, dirt, gravel or bulldust, it’s the lure of the unknown that is so enticing. No matter whether the verge is bordered by architecturally miserable roadhouses or primeval rainforest, once in the car it’s kind of like having your own private ticket to ride, destination unknown. Sure maps, apps and guidebooks have quashed some of the mystery but they’ve also made driving off into the unknown a whole lot more fun (and safe) too.

So where are my favourite Australian drives? The Great Ocean Road in Victoria remains a firm favourite, so too Queensland’s Captain Cook Highway flanked by reef and rainforest between Cairns and Port Douglas. The Gold Coast Hinterland has the Scenic Rim, all craggy dormant volcanic peaks clad with rainforest, while further north and inland from the Sunshine Coast Steve Irwin Way winds through the Glasshouse Mountains. Out west the Cape to Cape route rambles through award winning vineyards, karri forest and small towns, hugging the coast in parts, rolling through farmland in others. In Tasmania, just about every outing is worthy of ‘road trip’ status the whole state is so damn pretty, but I am rather fond of the Huon Trail south of Hobart that meets up with the car-carrying barge to Bruny Island.

We’re awfully fortunate in Australia to have such splendid road infrastructure. Hitting the road, whether for a few weeks or a few hours really is as good as it gets.

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Family Friendly Paradise in Fiji

Travel writer Fiona Harper discovers one of her all-time favourite hotel rooms and more at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort in Fiji. 

“Sorry I’m late, I fell asleep on the massage table.” It’s not a bad excuse is it? Slick with scented Pure Fijian body oil and looking slightly unkempt thanks to ‘spa hair’, I’ve kept my fellow passengers waiting for our jaunt to Nakawaga rainforest and waterfall.

Lulled to sleep post massage, in true ‘Fiji time’ therapist Selai allowed me to slumber on for 35 minutes before I woke myself embarrassingly by snoring. It’s usual for the masseuse to give a gentle yet firm shake a few minutes after a massage is complete. But not today. Which sort of sums up the attitude of many Fijians whose mantra seems to be ‘take your time’, reflecting their warm generous nature, where nothing is rushed, knowing that everything happens eventually.

This attitude is in abundance, in the nicest possible way, at Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, a few minutes from downtown Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu. A serious contender for one of the finest family friendly resorts on the planet, every child is allocated their own private nanny upon arrival. Predominantly women (though I’m sure a male nanny would be available if requested – nothing is too much trouble at JMC), their orange and blue shirts are spotted everywhere. Each has a young child in their arms, riding their backs, walking hand in hand or poking around the shallows on the beach. It’s hands on, interactive child minding with a subtle environmental educational approach, that enables parents to share adult time with eachother, rekindling romance or allowing time to talk uninterrupted, knowing their kids are in the very best hands.

While many Kids Clubs are tacked on as an afterthought at JMC, the Bula Club is one of its main features, taking up a good portion of the vast landscaped grounds. With its own commercial kitchen, swimming pool, waterslide, tree house (which looks like so much fun I’m tempted to climb into it myself), miniature tennis court, table tennis table, crèche, quiet areas and noisy areas, it’s the key to extraordinary repeat guest numbers. Indeed, some families have been spending annual holidays here for years. Beyond the kid’s facilities, the attraction for adults is equally enticing, combining luxurious bures, fine food, child-free serenity zones, activities aplenty or peaceful daybeds for doing absolutely nothing. Designed on a traditional Fijian village, it’s a winning combination that ensures JMC appears on ‘best of’ lists worldwide.

In a crowded field of would be contenders there’s a plethora of resorts laying claim to offering the very best hotel rooms, service and facilities. But what qualifies as ‘best’? And who is qualified to make this claim anyway? Sure there are strict criteria when it comes to hotel star ratings that determine whether a property rates (and retains) its coveted five stars or is relegated lesser status. But a star rating is not necessarily the best indicator.

So, while any ‘best’ assessment or list is subjective, I’m prepared to risk the wrath of more worldly travellers and place The Villa (or simply Bure 25) at Jean Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji in my list of Best Hotel Rooms. Why?

Firstly, for the rather unsexy reasons of an abundance of natural light and ventilation – an absolute essential in the tropics. I have a love/hate relationship with air conditioning, preferring the sensation and aromas of tropic-infused air wafting over warm bare skin. Feeling cold is not a sensation I embrace whilst in the tropics. Banks of timber louvers fitted with insect screens keep the bugs out and the breeze in. A shower with double overhead roses has a glass sliding wall opening onto another one outdoors (there are actually four showers in The Villa, because one is rarely enough right?). The bathroom is palatial with a glass wall beyond the stone hot tub that looks into a high-walled garden courtyard with waterfall.

Secondly, space. There’s plenty of it. A master bedroom is dominated by a muslin curtained four poster bed. Slide back the louver doors to welcome the south easterly trade winds and enjoy the view across the deck, raised day bed and horizon edge private plunge pool which in turn flows onto grass, a beach and the ocean beyond. So much space.

Other reasons I rate The Villa highly include a pavilion living room with mini kitchen, linked to the bedroom by undercover dining area, which doubles as another bedroom with its own bathroom. There’s a full sized fridge to store fresh fruit snaffled from the organic garden nearby.

Did I mention the swimming pool? Located on the point, and therefore some distance from the main pool and restaurant area, The Villa is the only bure with its own private pool.

If your budget is a little more modest, ocean front bures, both one and two bedroom are spacious, beautifully appointed and oh so romantic. I particularly like Bure 24’s layout and island view, though another repeat offender swears by Bure 5. Limited to 25 bures, there are actually no bad ones.

But the main reason I rate JMC so highly is for the intangibles. With a strong environmental focus, a team of warm, hospitable staff and an ethos of sustainable tourism that supports the local community, JMC offers a holiday with heart. The place just has a good soul – you can feel it. Much like Fiji itself.

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Tonio Steez Ft – Aztec – High Rollah

Tonio Steez releases some new music this time he recruits Aztec to jump on (TheUnbeatables) produced track titled High Rollah. Listen & Download Below.
 

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50 CENT CONFRONTS STEVE STOUTE

Although 50 Cent has made peace with Fat Joe and The Lox, he’s isn’t extending an olive branch to everyone. During half time at yesterday’s Knicks game,

50 confronted former business partner, Steve Stoute. Earlier this week, Stoute assailed Fifty during his interviews with Angie Martinez and The Breakfast Club. Better watch what you say.

Follow @50Cent

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Rick Ross Says He “Never Had A Jezzy

Rick Ross, whose album Mastermind is available for streaming, recently spoke with Time about his longtime feud with Jeezy, which the two eventually patched up.
“It was me and Jeezy running into each other,” Ross says of what prompted their reconciliation. “It was one of those moments when his crew was on one side of the door and mine was on the other side of the door. I don’t want to disclose that location yet. I wasn’t expecting it, but when we saw each other, we clarified all the misunderstandings and miscommunications. At the end of the day, I never had a problem with him and it was vice versa. We never lost money together. Nobody ever got hurt. It was just a lot of talk. We said, ‘Let’s do it for the game. The culture is bigger than us.’”

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Doc Brown & Tony Hawk Introduce the World to Real Hoverboards

While Tinker Hatfield set the Internet ablaze with confirmation that Power Laces would be a reality in 2015, further Back to the Future-esque dreams continue to become a reality. Or maybe not? Dubbed the HUVr, a team claims to have cracked the hover technology and enlisted a number of personalities include the aforementioned Hawk, Moby, and ScHoolboy Q to take them for a spin during an event in Los Angeles.
What began as a summer project in 2010 at the MIT Physics Graduate Program has evolved into one of the most exciting independent products to be developed out of MIT since the high-powered lithium-ion batteries developed by Yet-Ming Chiang in 2001. Our team consists of materials science, electricity & magnetism experts who’ve solved an important part of one of science’s mysteries: the key to antigravity.
The HUVr Board team ultimately aims to improve the efficiency, speed and sustainability of mass transportation. Yet rather than spend several more years closed off from the world while investing in research and development, the team and our world-class investors have worked to change the economics R&D by marketing this exciting consumer product in order to fund ongoing R&D.
While it’s relatively clear that we’re dealing with a promotional stunt, it remains to be seen if there’s any truth to HUVr’s aspirations or if there is a brand behind the anti-gravity shenanigans.

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