Actor James Gandolfinin has died. He was 51-years-old.
Gandolfini was reportedly in Italy for a film festival when he suffered a massive heart attack. The actor is best known for playing mob boss Tony Soprano in the hit HBO series, The Sopranos. For his role as the mafia boss who tried to balance family life with his role as the head of a crime family.
Since The Sopranos, Gandolfini portrayed the director of the CIA in “Zero Dark Thirty” and the gruff blue-collar father of a wannabe rock star in “Not Fade Away” last year.
Gandolfini is survived by his wife, Deborah Lin, and their daughter, who
was born last October. He has a son with his ex-wife, Marcy Wudarski.
Click below to see the late, great James Gandolfini in his role of a lifetime, Tony Soprano. We raise a glass to you.
Maintaining healthy skin, especially with those hot summer days upon us, is no easy feat. Cetaphil, the #1 dermatologist recommended brand of cleansers and moisturizers just launched a brand new SkinCARE survey to unveil how American’s feel about their skin and the common misconceptions people have that can affect the condition of their skin.
Samples of the findings include:
· When shopping for a new skincare product, 62% notice the product label vs. the ingredient list.
· 34% would give up coffee if it meant they could have “perfect skin” for a year.
· 49% have used household items as skincare products to exfoliate or cleanse the skin. The top items used are cucumbers (22%), oatmeal (20%) and toothpaste (18%).
Readers, what do you think? What would you do for great skin?
It's clean teeth for a cause! Consumers are invited to join Colgate and Stacy Keibler on Tuesday, June 25th in Times Square to
“swish” for a difference! The goal: To attempt to break a Guinness World Records record
for the “most people using mouthwash simultaneously.” For every participant in
attendance, Colgate will donate $1.00 to Make-A-Wish, the non-profit that grants a wish to a child suffering from a life-threatening medical condition. Colgate will also donate $1.00 for every
“post-swish” smile uploaded to the Colgate Facebook page up to $10,000, for a maximum donation of $60,000.
In addition to
helping raising money for Make-A-Wish, consumers will enjoy music
and participate in games and raffles for a chance to win awesome prizes
ranging from iPads to $100 Walgreens gift cards. So help be a part of history and swish for success!
Mom! I Want to Be a Star is the ultimate showbiz how to
guide for aspiring kids and their parents written by Hollywood’s #1 Kid talent
Expert & Disney/ABC/The WB Executive Producer Irene Dreayer (The Dray). As
a thirty-year veteran of discovering kid stars and producing hit TV shows such
as Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life on Deck,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”
and several TV movies, Irene Dreayer has seen hundreds of kids try to make it
in show business. Most parents and kids don’t understand the steps or how to
navigate the ins and outs of the industry. Most make critical mistakes. As
Hollywood’s only trusted career coach for kid talent, Dreayer developed The
Dray Way as her proven method for guiding showbiz kids and their parents on how
to audition correctly, handle the business side and deal with issues such as
image and rejection. The Dray Way is her method for working with kids and
training parents on how to pursue the business in a strategic manner, the right
way.
This book is designed as a workbook for parents and kids to
do together. Every chapter explains, informs and delivers the honest truth
about specific aspects of the entertainment business and outlines the crucial
information kids and parents need to learn as a family.
Mom! I Want To Be a Star is entertaining, fun to read, and
a wonderful opportunity for families to explore together their child’s dream
and desire to become a star ($4.99, amazon.com).
Kids In The House launched today to meet the
growing needs and challenges of modern parents, offering a free comprehensive,
online resource for parents and caregivers nationwide. Kids
In The House
respects the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to parenting, by
offering a functional platform that allows users to weigh the advice and
thoughts of health experts, educators, industry researchers, TV/Film
personalities, other parents and many more.
With
over 450 experts from a myriad of
specialties, Kids In The House offers:
A
library of over 8,000 easy to digest parenting videos in “parent-friendly”
one-to-two minute segments
Experts
from areas including healthcare, education, leading research institutes,
non-profit organizations, other parents and more
A
parent-to-parent social networking community for parents to bookmark key
videos, create playlists and share them with family and friends
A
plethora of hot topics ranging anywhere from pregnancy to getting into college
Dance your way to a magical adventure with Barbie as Kristyn, a
ballerina with big dreams! When she tries on a pair of sparkling pink
shoes, she and her best friend, Hailey, are whisked away to a
fantastical ballet world. There, Kristyn discovers she must dance in her
favorite ballets in order to defeat an evil Snow Queen. With
performances to the legendary Giselle and Swan Lake ballets, it's a
wonderful journey where if you dance with your heart, dreams come true! ($14.98, amazon.com)
Shopping for
children’s books in a store and online doesn’t have to be an
overwhelming experience—even if you’re unsure of what you’re looking
for. This illustrated guide willhelp you choose books that are
appropriate for children of all ages, whether for your own family’s
library or as gifts for others. And you can be sure that every book
that’s recommended has been carefully vetted.
Organized by age, reading levels,
and formats, the easy-to-browse chapters are filled with thoughtful
reviews of the "best of the best" books within the following categories:
• Newborn to two years
• Picture books
• Beginning readers
• Chapter book series
• Middle grade readers
• Innovative formats
• Fairy tales, folktales and anthologies
• Poetry
• Growing up experiences and new transitions/milestones
My microwave is possessed by the devil. No, it really is.
How did I come to realize this? Well, it started off one
night like in a really, really poorly written horror movie. We had just moved
into our new home, so everything was so new to us. We were still trying to
figure out what all the light switches did (Ah, this turns on the ceiling fan!
Wow, this one turns on the motion sensors outside!)
A couple of months after moving in, my husband had to work
overnight at the hospital. Being the bad ass momma that I am, I did what anyone
would do when alone with two sleeping kids in a big dark house surrounded by
woods.
I hid on the couch.
With the phone and a frying pan next to me. I figured if I
had to wallop anyone, the frying pan has a greater surface area, and I was sure
to clobber some part of the person’s body.
So it’s about 2:30 AM, and after watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for the
third time in a row, my eyelids are heavy and I’m snoozing. All of a sudden, I
hear beeping. Again, since the house is so new, I don’t know what the sound is
or where it’s coming from. So I jump up, and start wandering around the house,
playing a poor man’s version of Marco Polo. I go into the kitchen, and there it
is. The microwave is on.
Um, I didn’t turn it on.
Not only is it on, but numbers are appearing on the screen.
And not any ‘ol numbers, either.
Yup, you guessed it.
At first, I looked at it, confused. My first instinct is to
pshah it off, like this must be some sort of an error code. But the numbers
keep coming up, all nice and slow, too.
6
6
6
And then I full-on freakin’ panic. I run back and grab my
frying pan, and for good measure, I grab the pot I usually make rice in, double-fisted,
ready to start swinging. I fly upstairs to check on the kids, to make sure, you
know, that they aren’t possessed and crawling along the ceiling, as children in
horror movies are wont to do.
Thank God, they’re sleeping.
I check their heads just in case.
I debate whether to wake up the sleeping kids, tell them
wild-eyed that the microwave is telling me that there is evil afoot and we must
vacate the premises ASAP or just let them sleep. I decide on the latter—they’ll
just slow me down if I have to run.
I investigate the rest of the house. It’s alarmed, and there
are no doors or windows open. Good, I think, but then I realize, duh, evil
spirits don’t need to knock first.
So I sit down and debate with myself. What do all the stupid
people do in the horror movies right before they get killed? Well, I figured, I
would do the opposite of that. And since
I am a compulsive list-maker, I start to make a list. Hey, some people drink to
calm their nerves. I write down my to-do’s. Don’t judge.
1- They call 911 for help.
I’m not going to call the nice policemen in our
little town and let them know that the new family from NYC is seeing the sign
of the devil in a Kitchen Aid microwave. Not a good way to make friends with
the other moms in the PTO.
2- They wander around the house looking for clues.
Oops, too late for that.
3- They run into the woods!
I figure I have a greater chance of hitting a deer (or ten)
on my way to the highway, so I stay put on the couch. And I do what any scared out of her mind
person would do.
I start talking/praying to myself. LOUDLY. And swinging. I look
something like this.
I swing and talk to myself for three hours straight until
the sun comes up. I rationalize that everyone is scared of a crazy person, even
spirits. I don’t even think to call my husband. Why? Well, when you call for
help, the phone always goes dead and the boogeyman is ALWAYS behind you. That’s
Horror Movies 101 for you.
After the kids are in school, I’m sore from all the swinging
but decide to start Googling why the microwave would do this. I can’t find any
info, so I call the 800 #. The pleasant customer service lady who answers the
phone starts to change her tone quickly as I rattle off the evening’s events.
She wants me off the phone—fast. I tell her that I’m not crazy (but really, no
crazy person ever thinks they’re crazy), and that my microwave is showing 666.
I can tell that if we were standing together she’d be pushing the panic button
like crazy. So I start laughing thinking about this, which again, is what crazy
people do in the middle of a heated rant. She tells me to call a local service
repairman and then promptly hangs up on me. I feel momentarily rejected, but am
determined to solve this problem.
After further investigation, it turns out that this is quite
a common occurrence with this microwave. Apparently, a wire has gotten loose
and this can cause the mechanism to turn on and random numbers to appear.
Mine just happens to have a sick sense of humor.
So our happy ending is this: We bought a new microwave. But
if this one ever starts to show Biblical numbers, I’m ready for it with my
frying pan, my rice pot, some holy water…and a baseball bat.
George is so excited about Spring that he wants Hundley to have Spring
Fever too. But even blooming flowers, baby animals and canoe rides
cannot make Hundley love Spring. Even worse, Hundley gets lost in the
country. Searching for his lost friend, George accidentally launches the
hot air balloon rally and sails over the countryside. Luckily he
manages to grab Hundley from a hilltop along the way. Together they
return triumphantly to the city. The Man with the Yellow Hat, the
Doorman and Lydia stage a daring rooftop balloon rescue. Not only are
George and Hundley saved, but they manage to win the coveted Spring
Building Prize! Finally, to George's delight, now Hundley has Spring
Fever too! ($14.99, amazon.com)
It’s game time! Barney and his friends demonstrate all the
benefits of play with their signature style of imagination, music and laughs!
Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff get practice being leaders and trying new sports, like
baseball and basketball, and everyone learns that taking turns, following the
rules, practicing and cleaning up makes every game more fun…especially when you
do it with friends! So join the team and have a ball with Barney and friends!
($14.98, retailers nationwide)
