If Movies Were Realistic
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Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
If Movies Were Realistic
UFO Flying Over Ural Mountains
Osama bin Laden dead
Osama bin Laden dead
A CIA-led team killed Osama Bin Laden at a compound inside Pakistan Sunday and recovered his body, bringing a close to the world's highest-profile manhunt after a decade-long search, President Obama announced to the world Sunday night.
"Justice has been done," the President said solemnly in a hastily-arranged late night TV address from the East Room of the White House. Bin Laden, he said, "murdered thousands of innocent men, women and children" and his death was "the most significant achievement to date" in the U.S. war against the al Qaeda, terrorist network that bin Laden founded, led and inspired.
As described by the President and top administration officials, the successful effort to track down bin Laden centered on a man whom the officials described as a trusted courier for al Qaeda, a protégé of Khalid Sheik Muhammed, the operational mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Obama said that after he entered the White House in 2009, he had ordered CIA director Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of Bin Laden the "top priority of our war against al Qaeda." Then, in August, he was briefed on "a possible lead" to the elusive terrorist's hiding place. "It took many months to run this thread to ground," he said.
By Friday, a senior White House official said, the evidence had become sufficiently certain that Obama was able to give the go-ahead for the operation.
After years of rumors that the world's most-wanted man was hiding in the caves and rugged redoubts of the Pakistan- Afghanistan border region, the CIA ultimately found him hiding in what officials described as a comfortable mansion surrounded by a high wall in a small town near Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.
On Sunday, a "small team" of Americans raided the compound. After a firefight, the president said, they killed Bin Laden. No Americans were injured in the raid.
Other officials said DNA tests had confirmed Bin Laden's identity.
Obama praised the joint efforts of U.S. and Pakistani intelligence, and appealed to Muslims around the globe to support the U.S. action.
"Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader," he said. "He was a mass murderer of Muslims."
Vice President Biden and CIA director Leon Panetta had called members of Congress and leaders around the world earlier Sunday night to break the long-awaited news.
As the first word of Bin Laden's death leaked out, a jubilant and fast-growing crowd gathered outside the White House. The throng waved flags, chanted "USA! USA!," and sang the "Star Spangled Banner."
The news came months before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which were orchestrated by Al Qaeda. More than 3,000 people were killed
The horrifying attacks set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq. As the nation girded for more attacks, America's entire intelligence system was overhauled to counter the threat of terrorist bombs or other attacks at home.
Al Qaeda also was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled. It has generated local organizations in hot spots from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Panetta, the CIA director, said as recently as last summer that the United States had not obtained reliable intelligence about bin Laden's location for almost a decade.
Bin Laden first drew attention in the 1980s, when he drew on his family's vast fortune to build hospitals, mosques and other facilities to help support Afghans then fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The CIA considered him a financier, not a terrorist leader.
In 1991, Bin Laden bitterly opposed the introduction of U.S. troops onto bases in Saudi Arabia during the run-up to the first Persian Gulf War, which ousted Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
His fiery sermons demonized the Saudi rulers, and infidel Westerners, and soon attracted like-minded extremists to Al Qaeda.
The CIA has been on bin Laden's trail since the mid-1990s, when it set up a separate intelligence unit to penetrate his organization and track his whereabouts.
After the embassy bombings in 1998, the Clinton administration undertook several intelligence and military operations aimed at killing him, including one in which cruise missile attacks were ordered against al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. All failed.
Al Qaeda's ranks have been badly depleted in recent years and Bin Laden's death deprives the organization of its most charismatic and important leader. It leaves Ayman al Zawahri, an Egyptian physician and Islamist ideologue, as the putative leader.
Analysts said the result is likely to accelerate the fracturing of militant groups loosely associated with al Qaeda, especially in the Middle East, that have taken their inspiration from bin Laden's call for attacks on the U.S. and its allies for the more than a decade.
It was Bin Laden's fervent call for attacks on the U.S.--which he referred to as the "far enemy"--and al Qaeda's ability to recruit and train operatives from its sanctuary in Afghanistan that led to some of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks.
Though the U.S. had made plans to hold and interrogate bin Laden if he was captured, most U.S. officials assumed that he would never be taken alive.
"You're talking about a hypothetical that will never occur," said Attorney General Eric H. Holder when asked in early 2010 if bin Laden would enjoy constitutional protections. "The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom."
Source:Latimes
Evolution of the Royal Wedding Dress
Evolution of the Royal Wedding Dress
These Historic Gowns Weren't Just Fashion Statements
Royal Wedding Dress as Symbol
Until Friday morning, probably the biggest mystery surrounding the latest British royal wedding was who designed Kate Middleton's wedding dress.
But when the future Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) walked down the aisle in London's Westminster Abbey in 1947, her wedding dress was more than a fashion statement: It represented the hopes of a nation, according to royal wedding gown curator Joanna Marschner.
With food and clothing still being rationed in postwar Britain, royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell sought to convey a message of national renewal, instead of focusing on opulent materials. He did this in part by embroidering the gown with garlands of spring flowers.
"It is a dress with a message for that particular moment in time," said Marschner, of Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity that acts as caretaker for five British royal buildings.
"I think you can say that about all the royal wedding dresses—they have become amazing documents that can say a lot about the year when they were worn."
Thoroughly Modern Middleton?
Only time will tell what Kate Middleton's wedding dress—pictured during her Friday wedding to Prince William—really says about its time and place. But, despite its modern design, the dress clearly sounds themes of some historic British royal wedding gowns.
Like her new mother-in-law's 1947 wedding dress, Middleton's blooms with flora, including embroidered roses, thistles, daffodils, and shamrocks—which might be seen as signs of spring for Britain's stagnant economy. Some U.K. leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who's called the wedding "unadulterated good news," have voiced hopes that the nuptials will provide an extended influx of tourist dollars, according to the Reuters news service.
And like Queen Victoria's 1840 gown, Middleton's does its bit to boost British industry. The handmade lace hails from the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace, for example. And the new Duchess of Cambridge chose a British fashion house, Alexander McQueen, to design the dress—in part because of the brand's "craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing," according to a statement on the official wedding website.
Springtime for Britain and Royalty?
The royal wedding dress of the future Queen Elizabeth II, worn during her marriage to Philip Mountbatten in 1947, is an important document of postwar Britain, according to royal wedding dress curator Marschner.
With the country still suffering from the human and economic costs of World War II, "the idea behind the dress is all important, because it's a dress for promise for the future, for better times to come," she said.
With that in mind, royal wedding dress designer Hartnell took as his inspiration the Botticelli painting "Allegory of Spring"—despite the wedding's November date.
Once More Into the Bleach
Worn for her wedding to the future King George V in 1893, Princess Mary of Teck's royal wedding dress belongs to a collection of royal wedding gowns kept at Kensington Palace in London.
During the 19th century British royal brides switched from opulent wedding dresses made with gold and silver textiles—almost advertisements of Britain's wealth and power—to simpler, more common white bridal outfits.
Pale or white wedding dresses had long been worn by wealthier commoners, royal wedding dress curator Marschner explained.
"The lower down the social system you were, the darker color you would wear, because it was harder to keep—or employ someone else to keep—your dress clean," she said.
The white-wedding trend among royals was started by King George's grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose decision to adopt the example of her subjects "marked a watershed in royal bridal fashion," Marschner said.
Royal Wedding as Public Pageant
Queen Victoria's newlywed daughter, Princess Beatrice, poses for a wedding snapshot with Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885.
In earlier centuries royal weddings were largely private, governmental matters arranged among the Europe's royal families. But in the 19th century, the growth of print media and photography helped fuel public interest in the royal wedding dresses.
Reports of Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840 "went to all the colonial regions of the British Empire. Within … a month it was in the all the U.S. newspapers," commented Paula Richter, a curator at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.
"She married as the age of photography was beginning—there are quite a number of royal portraits done of the ceremony or of her wearing her garments … many people had a visual sense of that wedding," Richter said.
Nice Century for a White Wedding
When Queen Victoria tied the knot with Prince Albert in 1840, as shown in a period illustration, her choice of dress showed she approached her wedding day very differently to previous royal brides.
"All her advisers were suggesting red velvet robes and ermine and all the grand things of that earlier tradition," royal wedding dress curator Marschner said.
But Victoria, who wanted her marriage to be a personal event, not a political one, rejected royal protocol and opted instead for a simple—by royal standards of the era—ivory satin dress.
"It was the kind of dress well-brought-up girls up and down the country would wear," Marschner said.
"It may not be the first white wedding dress, but it is the first royal example," she added. "It made royal wedding fashions achievable for the general public."
Richter, of the Peabody Essex Museum, added the Queen Victoria's wedding "was as influential as Princess Diana's wedding in the early 1980s," in part due to Victoria's more accessible take on the royal wedding.
Made in Britain
Queen Victoria "saw it as her business to promote things British," and her wedding dress (sleeve pictured) was a perfect opportunity, royal wedding dress curator Marschner said.
Exploiting the worldwide media attention her wedding received, Victoria had the dress made from silk woven in East London and decorated with lace produced in southwestern England.
"Victoria on her wedding day was shouting loud about things that Britain was really good at," Marschner said.
Currently undergoing conservation work, Queen Victoria's wedding dress will go on display in 2012 in London's Kensington Palace—the potential future home of Prince William and Kate Middleton after their Friday wedding.
Last in a Royal Line
Shot through with silver thread, the wedding dress worn in 1816 by Princess Charlotte—only child of the future King George IV—is the last in a centuries-old line of royal wedding gowns made of precious materials.
"It's the last of the great big, expensive, showy dresses that survived in its entirety," said Marschner, the royal wedding dress curator.
Sadly, Princess Charlotte died in childbirth the year following her marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.
Royal Wedding Dress as Symbol
Until Friday morning, probably the biggest mystery surrounding the latest British royal wedding was who designed Kate Middleton's wedding dress.
But when the future Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) walked down the aisle in London's Westminster Abbey in 1947, her wedding dress was more than a fashion statement: It represented the hopes of a nation, according to royal wedding gown curator Joanna Marschner.
With food and clothing still being rationed in postwar Britain, royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell sought to convey a message of national renewal, instead of focusing on opulent materials. He did this in part by embroidering the gown with garlands of spring flowers.
"It is a dress with a message for that particular moment in time," said Marschner, of Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity that acts as caretaker for five British royal buildings.
"I think you can say that about all the royal wedding dresses—they have become amazing documents that can say a lot about the year when they were worn."
Only time will tell what Kate Middleton's wedding dress—pictured during her Friday wedding to Prince William—really says about its time and place. But, despite its modern design, the dress clearly sounds themes of some historic British royal wedding gowns.
Like her new mother-in-law's 1947 wedding dress, Middleton's blooms with flora, including embroidered roses, thistles, daffodils, and shamrocks—which might be seen as signs of spring for Britain's stagnant economy. Some U.K. leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who's called the wedding "unadulterated good news," have voiced hopes that the nuptials will provide an extended influx of tourist dollars, according to the Reuters news service.
And like Queen Victoria's 1840 gown, Middleton's does its bit to boost British industry. The handmade lace hails from the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace, for example. And the new Duchess of Cambridge chose a British fashion house, Alexander McQueen, to design the dress—in part because of the brand's "craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing," according to a statement on the official wedding website.
The royal wedding dress of the future Queen Elizabeth II, worn during her marriage to Philip Mountbatten in 1947, is an important document of postwar Britain, according to royal wedding dress curator Marschner.
With the country still suffering from the human and economic costs of World War II, "the idea behind the dress is all important, because it's a dress for promise for the future, for better times to come," she said.
With that in mind, royal wedding dress designer Hartnell took as his inspiration the Botticelli painting "Allegory of Spring"—despite the wedding's November date.
Worn for her wedding to the future King George V in 1893, Princess Mary of Teck's royal wedding dress belongs to a collection of royal wedding gowns kept at Kensington Palace in London.
During the 19th century British royal brides switched from opulent wedding dresses made with gold and silver textiles—almost advertisements of Britain's wealth and power—to simpler, more common white bridal outfits.
Pale or white wedding dresses had long been worn by wealthier commoners, royal wedding dress curator Marschner explained.
"The lower down the social system you were, the darker color you would wear, because it was harder to keep—or employ someone else to keep—your dress clean," she said.
The white-wedding trend among royals was started by King George's grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose decision to adopt the example of her subjects "marked a watershed in royal bridal fashion," Marschner said.
Queen Victoria's newlywed daughter, Princess Beatrice, poses for a wedding snapshot with Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885.
In earlier centuries royal weddings were largely private, governmental matters arranged among the Europe's royal families. But in the 19th century, the growth of print media and photography helped fuel public interest in the royal wedding dresses.
Reports of Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840 "went to all the colonial regions of the British Empire. Within … a month it was in the all the U.S. newspapers," commented Paula Richter, a curator at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.
"She married as the age of photography was beginning—there are quite a number of royal portraits done of the ceremony or of her wearing her garments … many people had a visual sense of that wedding," Richter said.
When Queen Victoria tied the knot with Prince Albert in 1840, as shown in a period illustration, her choice of dress showed she approached her wedding day very differently to previous royal brides.
"All her advisers were suggesting red velvet robes and ermine and all the grand things of that earlier tradition," royal wedding dress curator Marschner said.
But Victoria, who wanted her marriage to be a personal event, not a political one, rejected royal protocol and opted instead for a simple—by royal standards of the era—ivory satin dress.
"It was the kind of dress well-brought-up girls up and down the country would wear," Marschner said.
"It may not be the first white wedding dress, but it is the first royal example," she added. "It made royal wedding fashions achievable for the general public."
Richter, of the Peabody Essex Museum, added the Queen Victoria's wedding "was as influential as Princess Diana's wedding in the early 1980s," in part due to Victoria's more accessible take on the royal wedding.
Queen Victoria "saw it as her business to promote things British," and her wedding dress (sleeve pictured) was a perfect opportunity, royal wedding dress curator Marschner said.
Exploiting the worldwide media attention her wedding received, Victoria had the dress made from silk woven in East London and decorated with lace produced in southwestern England.
"Victoria on her wedding day was shouting loud about things that Britain was really good at," Marschner said.
Currently undergoing conservation work, Queen Victoria's wedding dress will go on display in 2012 in London's Kensington Palace—the potential future home of Prince William and Kate Middleton after their Friday wedding.
Shot through with silver thread, the wedding dress worn in 1816 by Princess Charlotte—only child of the future King George IV—is the last in a centuries-old line of royal wedding gowns made of precious materials.
"It's the last of the great big, expensive, showy dresses that survived in its entirety," said Marschner, the royal wedding dress curator.
Sadly, Princess Charlotte died in childbirth the year following her marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.
Power Couple
While Prince William and Kate Middleton—who met about ten years ago in college—have had plenty of time to get to know each other before their wedding, Queen Mary I of England and Prince Philip of Spain (pictured) married two days after they'd met in 1554.
From medieval times to the 19th century, royal marriages were political unions, not fairy tale romances, and royal brides dressed accordingly, said royal wedding dress curator Marschner.
"They wore dresses made of precious gold and silver textiles to represent the status and the dignity of their nation," she said.
"Wearing something that was really precious, really striking, was important," Marschner added. "They were playing their part in the great game of international politics."
Celebrity beefs
Celebrity beefs
The reality show star recently appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone (see the photo), causing Ne-Yo to question the choice on Twitter Snooki didn’t appreciate the dis, (What did she say back?) claiming she deleted all of his songs from her iPod, also via Twitter.
Apparently, Beyoncé said this about Gaga, and then Gaga called Beyoncé a “hater.” Are the gossip mags correct about this Diva beef? Time will tell.
Charlie Sheen seems to have a beef with everyone, and he had some choice words for his former sitcom’s co-star. But Jon Cryer had the last laugh.
Another day. Another Twitter feud. Rihanna felt dissed by Ciara’s comments on E! Fashion Police (Watch what she said) and the two traded barbs via Tweet, eventually making up.it’s not the first beef for these two singers.
The women clashed on this reality show, and Leakes has said this about Star Jones. Star had this to say about NeNe, and the feuding continues in the press and on the show.
Rosie took aim first, disagreeing with the way the Donald handled a situation with this beauty queen. What did she say? How did Trump respond
It doesn’t get any more blatant than Lil’ Kim depicting a beheaded Nicki Minaj on a mix tape called Black Friday.This feud has mainly been one-way, until Minaj finally responded in music
Was the beef between the late night hosts or was it between NBC & Conan? It was NBC who gave Leno his job back after his 10 p.m. experiment failed. The two traded jabs, but the media made it into a beef.
It was the beef heard around the world. Kanye steals the spotlight from yet another award winner. Taylor handled it with grace, choosing to fire back in song.
Perez Hilton & will.i.am
Blogger to the stars Hilton claimed he was assaulted by will.i.am’s posse, and when will.i.am denied the incident, Hilton fired back with harsh words and a video that appears to prove him right. But, all seems to be resolved now.
2 Hot 2 Handle
Mariska Hargitay, Hotties
"Law & Order: SVU" hottie Mariska Hargitay was the epitome of elegance at the Museum of the Moving Image's salute to Alec Baldwin in an embroidered Carolina Herrera gown and metallic cuff.
Also spotted looking exceptionally regal ... Kerry Washington, who oozed glamour in a breathtaking Zac Posen gown and turquoise bracelet at a NAACP Image Awards post party hosted by Tyler Perry.
Also spotted looking exceptionally regal ... Kerry Washington, who oozed glamour in a breathtaking Zac Posen gown and turquoise bracelet at a NAACP Image Awards post party hosted by Tyler Perry.
Last but not least ... former "Hills" star Audrina Patridge, who sparkled in a shimmering sheath at the opening of the Badgley Mischka flagship store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
Back in Los Angeles, Vanessa Hudgens hit the red carpet for the debut of her new flick, "Beastly." The former "High School Musical" hottie worked the arrivals line in a beachy, strapless Julien Macdonald stunner, bright blue peep-toes, and her signature smile.
Although she landed a spot in gallery last week, Michelle Rodriguez redeemed herself thanks to the glamorous black gown she donned for the "Battle: Los Angeles" premiere
Actress Malin Akerman stole the spotlight at a recent Cinema Society-hosted screening of "happythankyoumoreplease" in a strapless Tommy Hilfiger number and nude peep-toes.
Amanda Seyfried showed off her stems upon arriving at the Los Angeles premiere of her new thriller, "Red Riding Hood," in a perfectly pleated Lanvin mini and strappy leather platform pumps. A layered Tom Binns necklace and loose updo completed her lovely look.
Another fan of pleats ... socialite/entrepreneur Paris Hilton, who popped a pose in a pale blue mini, minutes before chatting with "Extra" host Mario Lopez on the outdoor set of the tabloid talk show.
Jennifer Hudson, Hotties 
Meanwhile in Paris, at the Michael Kors 30th anniversary celebratory dinner, fashionista Jennifer Hudson flaunted her fab new frame in a navy, curve-hugging gown and diamond baubles.
Emma Roberts was also looking stylish in the City of Light during Paris Fashion Week, where she stepped out at the Chanel show in a light blue tweed-and-feather mini dress, which she paired with shiny, silver Chanel pumps.
Back in New York -- at a Chanel-hosted dinner party honoring Blake Lively -- the "Gossip Girl" star was spotted sporting a swan-like ensemble, consisting of a chiffon Chanel cocktail frock, Christian Louboutin heels, and emerald earrings courtesy of jeweler Lorraine Schwartz.
Blake's "Gossip Girl" co-star, Michelle Trachtenberg, looked better than ever (minus the jelly bracelets) at the L.A. premiere of "Take Me Home Tonight." The 25-year old turned heads in a Marchesa mini, which featured cascading ruffles and various embellishments.
"Black Swan" beauty Mila Kunis kept it simple yet incredibly chic -- at Cosmopolitan's Fearless Men of 2011 NYC-set fete -- in a sharp Boca Negra suit and semi-sheer blouse.
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