Boston Marathon Shootings Likely Linked to Terrorism (Reporter Rachel here)

In the initial hours following the two deadly bomb explosions that took place at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday afternoon, it was uncertain whether the explosions were acts of terrorism or otherwise. Although suspects have still not been definitively confirmed, CNN in conjunction with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, have reported that the FBI has taken charge of the investigation and is actively working to confirm whether the tragic event is linked to terrorism.  The FBI is bringing critical, substantial resources in to aid with the investigation.  They have labeled it a criminal investigation with potential as terrorist investigation on both a national and local level. Police identified two additional bombs in the area that did not go off and are continuing to monitor for further evidence.

CNN is also reporting that at the current time, officials have been told to be on the “lookout for a darker-skinned or black male with a possible foreign accent” carrying a black backpack in the Boston area.

President Obama spoke last evening on the national tragedy, at the time remaining cautious to confirm that the act was definitely one of terrorism, but stating in an official White House statement that “we will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable.” The tragedy has since been labeled as a potential act of terrorism. The President has assured the country that he will increase national security due to the attack, promising to protect the American people in the face of any potential threats. He stated that today “all Americans stand with the people of Boston.”

Three people have officially been declared dead with 17 currently in critical condition and more than 140 injured from the deadly bombings.

A third explosion that took place at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston was initially speculated to be related to the marathon. CNN reports that it has since been confirmed that explosion was related to mechanical problems. No one was killed or injured and all library patrons were safe post-blast. One tiny trace of light in a day of darkness.

http://thewire.sheknows.com/2013/04/16/deadly-boston-marathon-explosions-likely-linked-to-terrorism/

Check Out My First PUBLISHED Post...Justin's Barely Belieb-able Act Abroad

During a stop in Amsterdam this past weekend while on his European tour, 19-year-old Justin Bieber caused quite a ruckus. This is just another rung on his ladder of socially inappropriate public behavior. While in Amsterdam, Bieber visited the Anne Frank Museum… which would have been a kind, positive gesture if left at that. Before exiting the museum, however, he wrote a message in the public guestbook reading, “Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber.”

Not surprisingly, since then, the bubble-gum-turned-punky teen idol has received a fair share of criticism in the social sphere and the public at large. Anne Frank spent her last years starved and tortured in a Nazi concentration camp, ultimately dying at the hands of Nazis for her Jewish faith. Pop music was nowhere in the realm of her tragic life at any point, and Bieber’s suggestion that she would have “been a fan of his” has been touted as both self-centered and inappropriate. Pop culture and whimsical language should not be used anywhere in conjunction with a tragedy of mass proportions.

Some argue, however, that Bieber was not totally in the wrong with his “upbeat” guestbook entry. Caroline Frost of the Huffington Post said, “In her diary, there are dreams of Hollywood and all the film starts. I’m sure that she would have been absolutely that age, and we hope living a normal happy life, which for any 13-year-old, does involve knowing what Justin Bieber’s up to.” Perhaps if Anne Frank had indeed lived long enough to have the luxury of following pop idols and Hollywood goings-on, Bieber would not have received any criticism for his comments. The fact is, however, she did not. By bringing celebrity and at the core, himself, into a commemorative establishment, he demonstrated a lack of respect and an over-bearing sense of egocentrism.

Bieber has not yet commented on the act nor the public reaction.

Though controversial right now, there is no doubt that the true Justin Bieber fans will be able to overlook this momentary misstep and get back to whole-heartedly “Belieb-ing”.

http://thewire.sheknows.com/2013/04/15/justins-barely-belieb-able-act-abroad/

10 Reasons Taylor Swift Makes Me Want to Poke My Eyes Out

10. That "squeaky clean" thing isn't valid once your list of exes/hook-ups has surpassed ten. Sorry TSwizz.

9. Those bangs. Ick.

8. The lyrics to every single one of her songs resemble the speech patterns of my thirteen year old LA-inhabiting cousin. To be clear, that is not a compliment.

7. Her dance moves during awards season, particularly on the Grammy's when the cameras insisted on panning to her during actual quality songs, scarred me for life.

6.  The cool factor of Diet Coke just decreased dramatically.

5.  When she tries to make that pouty, I'm-seducing-the-camera-face that looks more like she's in serious pain or constipated.

4.  Why do her arms always seem to be limplessly hanging or flailing about in the air?

3.  The fact that, to my serious chagrin, the hummed sentence "we are never ever ever getting back together" inevitably enters my brain roughly once per day. Damn you, Pandora.

2. We get it, you were a nerd and are stilllll insecure. Yawn.

1.  Her favorite and ONLY topic she has to discuss is herself.

It's Edie Day!

   

Well, folks, the day has arrived. It's a rainy Friday, the majority of my morning was spent soggy and rain-combined-with-subway-filth soaked, and I found an apartment I loved, only to learn it was taken. But none of that matters because...it's Edie Falco day! Since the day I purchased tickets to see Edie Falco live on Broadway (well, technically off-Broadway if we're being precise) in The Madrid, the countdown has been on. And now in just a few short hours, I will be sitting in a cozy little theater a mere 4 blocks away watching a brunette Carmela and/or Jackie, whichever you choose, on stage. The New York Times gave both Edie and The Madrid a ravishing review and I have no doubt so will the Bunnylogue. Be sure to check back for a detailed review of the show at a later point this weekend. Until then, y'all, have a wonderful weekend. Be good! ;)

A Writer's Worst Nightmare

Rick Pitino's Shining Week

March Madness came to quite an exciting close Monday evening, particularly for Rick Pitino, head coach of this year’s NCAA champions the Louisville Cardinals. After a season rife with plentiful surprises, game-changers, and buzzer-beaters, the University of Louisville’s basketball team ultimately came out on top, beating the University of Michigan Wolverines 82-76. The game was a magical one to watch from the start. The first half saw Michigan, for the most part, in the lead…and the second dominated by Louisville. If at first Louisville appeared lackluster, it is because they were saving their slick quickness for the end to bring it home.  A strategy that almost always results in success. And they have their fiercely loyal coach to thank. Pitino trained his team to be seasoned pros and on Monday night, it showed. Pitino has held the position of head basketball coach at Louisville since 2001 after formerly coaching Boston, Providence and University of Kentucky and brief stint in the NBA with the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. Throughout his career, Pitino has been known for his passion, but 2013 marks the first year in twelve that he led the Cardinals to earn the national championship title. Previously, he also led the University of Kentucky to the national championship in 1996, making him the first male college basketball coach in the NCAA to lead two teams to the championship.

The win for Louisville would have been an incredible victory in and of itself. Earning the distinction of only coach with two NCAA championships under his reign would have been doubly victorious. But these two accomplishments merely capped off Pitino’s glorious week. Five days prior to his emotion-filled acceptance of the championship medal, Pitino won another merit worthy of tears. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. “It’s a pretty special distraction,” Pitino reported at the Hall of Fame announcement in Atlanta, prior to watching his Cardinals clinch the win.*  And boy, was it ever special. On Wednesday, a hall of fame induction, Monday night a national championship title, and Tuesday, a $425,000 bonus. Not a bad way to start off a Tuesday. Pitino has absolutely earned his keep this year, and if there ever was one shining moment for Rick Pitino, there is no doubt this is it.

*Quote reported by New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/sports/basketball/rick-pitino-and-bernard-king-among-7-elected-to-hall-of-fame.html

#reliefinaction

  After many months of uncertainly, changes in direction, meetings about meetings on tweaks to tweaks, the Advil #reliefinaction campaign finally kicked off at the Barclays Center last night in Brooklyn. Nets vs Bulls, branded in Blue and Yellow. Aziz Ansari (although I'm admittedly not much of a Parks & Rec fan) private stand-up show for 100 volunteers who  have helped their communities. Happy agencies and happy clients. Relief in Action has been a labor of love for so many people for so many months and last night kicked it off in style and grace.

  There is no one outside of the proverbial target consumer for Advil so I urge all of you to join the cause on Instagram and Twitter. Upload your own picture of how you demonstrate active volunteerism, how you rise above your own pain to help relieve the pain of others. Or anything else that so inspires you in the spirit of the campaign.   It's @reliefinaction, #reliefinaction. Go there. Join the conversation. Upload. Be inspired. Get involved.

 For a detailed professionally-written press release on the campaign, please refer below:

http://www.4-traders.com/PFIZER-INC-4821/news/Pfizer-Inc-Advil%AE-Launches-Advil%AE-Relief-in-Action-Campaign-Celebrating-Active-Volunteers-Who-Do-16605819/

Male vs Female Social Networking Observations

I have been keenly aware of some distinct differences in the habits of male versus female social networking as of late. Now clearly these are vast generalizations and are not intended to convey that all guys and girls exhibit the exact behaviors. It's 2013, there's all different types of gender roles yadda yadda. I know. Having caveated that, here we go:

- Girls engage in rigorous Instagram-esque photo editing prior to uploading. This is particularly the case with the ever-annoying widespread selfie. Guys' photos are misaligned, on a diagonal, and filled with red eyes.

- As it relates to engagement-related posts, girls post sparkly hands. Guys use the simple status change - XYZ has gone from being in a "relationship" to "engaged". Can't knock the straight-forwardness though.

- Roughly 50% of guys' updates in my feed are sports-team-related. Roughly 50% of girls' tout how awesomely fit they are, # of miles run, or how annoying their gym experience was. (Maybe that's just me actually). At least both genders see the value to being physically fit.

- Girls change their profile pictures on a consistent basis. Read, every time they post a new event album. Because surely there must be a more flattering picture this week than last. Much better outfit. Much better hair. All the profile pics of guys in my network are at least 2 years old.

- Girls shamelessly promote (yeah I know, me included). So do guys.

Guess the ultimate goal for all of us is to make our lives look super awesome...in the best ways we know how. That will be all for today's observation du jour.

9 Reasons I Heart SJP

9. Her kids are freaking adorbs. I love the whole girly little boy son of a celeb thing.

8. She's just a midwestern girl at heart.

7. She has the requisite "I've been in a movie with Bette Midler" notch on her belt. Excuse me. Two movies with Bette Midler.

6. Most. Amazing. Hair. Love a fellow non-straight-hair-gal.

5.  She's married to a nice Jewish boy.

4.  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

3.   Even though she insists she's not Carrie, she looks just as fashion-forward fabulous in every photograph as Carrie undoubtedly would have.

2.  Um, she spent every single day with Chris Noth for years on end. And a lot more. Or actually, maybe I hate her for that.

1.  She made writing look so fucking cool. Thanks Carrie.

A Premium Worth the Premium

     To commence, I have realized in recent weeks that I should probably stop calling myself a non-TV gal since, as you have probably ascertained from the B-logue as well, I have actually grown to be quite the premium cable addict. As it was happening, I was not consciously aware of my blossoming affinity for premium cable original series. (Read, Showtime and HBO shows inclusive but not limited to Homeland and Nurse Jackie. Detailed accounts to be discussed shortly.). I believe the rationale for touting myself as a minimal TV viewer in the past was actually rooted not in my TV viewing overall but in my network TV habits. And even to those who don't spend their days evaluating the merits and falls of network prime, cable, cable prime and the likes, believe me when I say this. There is an enormous differential between network shows, cable shows, and my clear biased preferred genre of the bunch, premium cable shows. The differences are noticeable and they are vast -- the acting and actors are of higher caliber, the plotlines generally stronger (and right from the onset), and the characters richer. There is definite eye rolling taking place right now from the Modern Family/How I Met Your Mother/Criminal Minds (and others of the sort) fans. I sense it all the way over here. But I digress.
     I would say my network prime viewership started its progressive decline just about ten years ago. In pondering, this timing is actually anything but coincidental. It was approximately a decade ago when I graduated  from my I'm-in-college-I-have-no-money-for-a-cable-subscription days and like any cultured "grown up" girl would do, moved to Manhattan.  Not that I had any more money then but I did have priorities. And I felt it my rightful obligation and duty to subscribe to as many premium channels as I could. After all, I did work in media, right? So October 2003 marked a monumental month in the timeline of my life: it marked the first time I had my very own TV in my own room with my very own premium cable subscription. And how lovely it was. That momentous occasion commenced my evolution away from every-man TV shows to premium-only.
     My freshman premium cable favorite was, cliche I know, Sex and the City. Instead of going to my parental-funded-friends-with-cable's apartments to occasionally watch in college, I now had the luxury of watching the gals on Sunday nights in my own shoebox, er, room. It was a sad day when Carrie and crew left me with no fabulous company on Sunday nights. But I got the DVD's. From there, my next obsessive addiction was In Treatment. No psychological pun intended there for my beloved therapist-meets-patient program. Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest and their vast array of emotionally disturbed patients had a steady fixture for roughly three years on HBO and in my life. In Treatment is for me, to this day, one of the highest quality thirty minute dramas to grace the small screen. The characters were real, they had no seeming pretenses, and, from an adoring psychology lover/major, the most genuine look at therapy outside of a real doctor's office I have seen. But of course the day came when HBO pulled the plug on that, too. *Tear rolling down cheek*. Thirdly, and clearly no less importantly, in my premium cable chronology...The Sopranos. Jersey mafia meets Real Housewives meets In Treatment. Starring Edie Falco and Lorraine Bracco. Enough said. I watched Girls out of some cultural sense of obligation and to my surprise, grew to quite enjoy the fucked-up-twenty-something chick dramedy. That whole Lena Q-tip thing was a little unnecessary and Marnie got a little too skinny to be believable in her role but overall...pretty solid.
     If HBO was my premium cable infant, Showtime was my adult. (For those that get this, that line is pretty amusing). I am certain that I skipped a few along the way but I would like to move onto Showtime. I think one single word is sufficient here: Homeland. Since this is getting pretty long as it is, I will bypass going into my feelings of adoration on this hour long love-infused CIA seat gripper. Unrivaled, unpredictable, flawlessly-acted. Carrie and Brody had me at hello. And now to the present. In typical fashion, I was a little behind the times with this one when I started Season 1 of Nurse Jackie just last month. But allow me to indulge this for just a moment -- the wait was worth it.  I recognize I've previously gone into great depth on the extraordinary caliber of this show but I will say it again. Nurse Jackie is undoubtedly the best character study I have witnessed on the small screen. And not just as a hospital show -- overall. Edie Falco's stunning portrayal of prescription-painkiller-addicted Jackie is nothing short of mesmerizing. Clearly she mesmerized me: I watched four straight seasons of the show in a week's time.
     My current endeavor is Showtime's Shameless. I am trying to get full-fledged into it as I have with my aforementioned premium loves. I haven't quite gotten there yet; I'm still in the "it's okay I'm willing to give it another episode" stage. It remains to be seen whether a drunk William H. Macy and trying-to-be-trashy Emmy Rossum will reel me in. I'll be sure to report back on that one. In the meanwhile and in conclusion, I urge all of you out there who assert that "premium cable isn't worth the premium" to change your tune. Trust me, if this primetime sitcom bashing gal can be swayed, so can you. Do it - take the premium plunge.