What we know about 'Hateful Eight' so far

Hateful Eight

Back in 2012, writer/director Quentin Tarantino once again brought his incredible skills back to the big screen with Django Unchained. Telling the story of a freed slave who goes on a mission to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner, the movie was once again a huge success for the filmmaker, and he not only received very positive reviews, but also an Academy Award for his screenplay. Naturally, we’re only more excited for his next cinematic adventure, which will be coming soon in the form of the violent new post-Civil War drama The Hateful Eight. 

Seemingly mixing together elements of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained, and equipping the story with a brilliant ensemble cast, the film looks like it could be something really special. But what exactly is the story in the movie, and who are the characters we will be meeting? Well, for your benefit we’ve put together this handy guide, which puts everything we know about the flick in one easy-to-read feature. Read on to find out what we know about The Hateful Eight so far! 

Quentin Tarantino

Fittingly, The Hateful Eight will be the eighth feature film of writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s incredible career (counting the two Kill Bill halves as one), but it’s a project that almost didn’t happen. While the filmmaker was doing behind-the-scenes work on the film back in early 2014, a draft of the screenplay managed to leak online. Claiming that he was personally betrayed, Tarantino said that he was going to shelves his plans for the film, and would instead consider possibly just publishing it. 

During a long drawn out lawsuit with Gawker that was ultimately dismissed, Tarantino hosted a special one-night-only stage reading of The Hateful Eight in Los Angeles. At the time, it seemed like it would possibly be the only time a Quentin Tarantino-directed performance would be held, but that changed after the reading when it was reported that the writer/director was still working on the script. 

In the summer of 2014, it was revealed that the production was back on, and that Quentin Tarantino was starting to put pieces of his cast together. Filming began back in January, and The Hateful Eight is now in post-production. Sadly, The Weinstein Company, which is handling distribution on the project, has not yet announced a release date for the film. 

H8ful story

Based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino – just like all of the director’s other films – this new project is set in the years just after the Civil War, and begins with a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell) and his bounty (Jennifer Jason Leigh) making their way through Wyoming during winter on their way to a town called Red Rock. Along the road, they wind up meeting two strangers, but this is only the beginning of the story. Eventually, a blizzard forces the group off the road entirely and into an establishment called Minnie’s Haberdashery. This location is actually already filled with four other individuals taking shelter from the storm – some with darker tales than others. As the night goes on, tensions flare, and in true Tarantino fashion, blood will be spilt. 

John Ruth: "The Hangman"

As noted during the plot synopsis, Kurt Russell character is one of the first we meet in the narrative, and his name is John Ruth. As you probably could have guessed, he earns the nickname "The Hangman" because he’s a bounty hunter who’s pretty damn good at bringing people to justice. The Hateful Eight will actually be the second time that Russell has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino, as they previously collaborated on the Death Proof half of the double-feature Grindhouse. Russell was originally going to have a role in the writer/director’s Django Unchained, but wound up leaving the production. His part wound up being absorbed by Walton Goggins. Russell is a missed presence in any movie he’s not in, so it’s great to see him working with Tarantino once again. 

Daisy Domergue: "The Prisoner"

Throughout his career, Quentin Tarantino has made a habit of making surprising casting choices and getting them to pay off in major ways. When it comes to The Hateful Eight, one can pinpoint Jennifer Jason Leigh as the production’s most interesting castmember. There was a time when a rumor was swirling around that the part of Daisy Domergue was going to go to Jennifer Lawrence, but that was debunked when Leigh got the part in October of last year. She begins the film as John Ruth’s captured prisoner, heading to Red Rock to face punishment for the crime of murder. Whether or not she will actually get there is a very reasonable question. 

Major Marquis Warren: "The Bounty Hunter"

Major Marquis Warren is one of the two characters who John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering on their little misadventure, and he will be played by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson. The character has been described as being an infamous bounty hunter himself, though he also made a name for himself as a soldier fighting for the union. The Hateful Eight will be the fifth time that Jackson has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino as a director – and the truth is that they make magic every time out. From his Oscar nominated turn as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction to the detestable Stephen in Django Unchained, it’s been proven time and time again that the two men work incredibly well together 

Chris Mannix: "The Sheriff"

While it’s not entirely clear if John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering the aforementioned roadside strangers together or apart, but in addition to Major Marquis Warren, the duo will also be running into Chris Mannix – played by Walton Goggins. He’s a Southerner who has moved out to the west and claims to be the new sheriff in town… though whether or not he can be trusted is evidently debatable. As mentioned earlier in this guide, The Hateful Eight will be a reunion between Quentin Tarantino and Walton Goggins, as they previously had the chance to work together making Django Unchained. That, however, was a very small role, and hopefully this one will be a bit more significant. 

Fast And Furious 8: Everything We Know

Movies that earn more than $1 billion worldwide tend to produce sequels. As such, Furious 8 was a no-brainer. Yet, the ridiculously lucrative Furious 7, ended with real closure, and raised some burning questions. Can the series continue following the death of Paul Walker? Should the series tell more stories in the lives of these now iconic screen characters, or is it time to let the Fast & Furious crew drive off into the sunset on one of the highest notes in franchise history?

That conversation is ongoing, but at least we have a definitive answer. Vin Diesel took to the stage of CinemaCon recently and confirmed that Fast & Furious 8 is happening, and will reach theaters on April 14, 2017. It’s definitely happening! But there remain a ton of questions about who will be involved both in front of and behind the camera. Let’s dig in to all that we already know about the upcoming Fast & Furious sequel: 

The Kurt Russell Connection

It bears repeating that Furious 7 always was going to be the start of a new trilogy of Fast films, though that plan was changed once Paul Walker died. James Wan confirmed that the original ending of Furious 7 would have led to new stories. But the first real hint we got about Fast & Furious 8 came when Vin Diesel appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show and revealed that supreme badass Kurt Russell was added to part seven as a tease for what the crew wanted to do in part eight. And Vin spoke in the present tense, saying that Russell’s covert character, Mr. Nobody, would be a catalyst for events that would follow through in Fast & Furious 8. Now, Walker likely was going to be part of that adventure, and now will not be. But that doesn’t mean the show can’t go on.

The New York Setting

In the same clip, Vin Diesel dropped the interesting nugget that the crew would shift their mission for (or against) Mr. Nobody to the streets of New York City. Which, in my opinion, is fantastic. The Fast & Furious movies always have been an L.A.-based franchise, and Diesel delivered on his promise to return the series to Southern California with Furious 7. But a series that has stopped in so many amazing global cities has yet to invade the Big Apple, and I want to see Toretto’s crew try to stay fast in midtown Manhattan traffic. (The "furious" part won’t be difficult. New Yorkers are always mad about something.) In a recent conversation, The Rock told the media that they wanted to give Furious 7 time to breathe, and to succeed, but that they were "up for the challenge" of doing Furious 8. And Diesel chimed in that F8 sounds like "Fate," something he said Walker always believed. 

Justin Lin’s Return

James Wan was an unusual choice to helm Furious 7 after Justin Lin decided not to come back after directing multiple Fast films. Wan primarily was known as a horror guy, and his lone foray into "action" – the Kevin Bacon drama Death Sentence -- went largely unseen. It’s very possible that Wan could come back to direct a Fast & Furious 8, especially given the success of Furious 7. But a few months back, a story broke on Deadline that Lin would return to the series to direct a multi-part finale. Wan even said in a recent interview that Justin Lin would be the perfect choice to bring the series to a close. This plan still could be in place, though Lin is about to board the U.S.S. Enterprise as the director of Star Trek 3, so Universal might have to put their red-hot series on ice for a bit if they want to wait or Lin’s services. Would that be a good idea?

Lucas Black’s Contract

Those paying attention to the Fast & Furious timeline synch couldn’t have been that surprised to see Lucas’ Black’s Tokyo Drift hero, Sean Boswell, return to the screen. Furious 6 revealed that Han was killed by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), so Dom pitstopped to Tokyo to meet with Sean, get information on this new threat, and bring Han’s body back to Los Angeles for a proper burial. At the time, Black revealed that he had signed up for Fast & Furious parts 7, 8 and 9. Again, plans for the series seem fluid, but if Black was a part of the future story before, I see no reason to think he couldn’t be part of the next two chapters, at least. Drift on!

The Eva Mendes Rumor

So far, the Fast & Furious films have made a habit out of bringing familiar faces back into the fold. Michelle Rodriguez was believed to be dead before returning for Fast & Furious 6. We just mentioned Lucas Black, and his presence in Furious 7. So with the timeline realigned now, it makes sense that a recent rumor suggests the return of Eva Mendes’s character, U.S. Customs Agent Monica Fuentes, be brought back into the story. As we learned in Furious 7, Dom and his crew now runs in criminal circles that involve the federal government – or, shadow arms of the government operated by the likes of Mr. Nobody. This could open up several doors for the Furious crew to either have to help Fuentes… or avoid her. Maybe the God’s Eye MacGuffin from the latest movie will put Toretto on Fuentes’ radar? Maybe Mr. Nobody has a new job for Dom? I think Fast & Furious 8 will happen, particularly after Furious 7 just broke the bank. Do you? 

The Only Thing That Can Beat Superman, According To Henry Cavill

Man of steel - one year later

When you’re a Kryptonian that gains amazing abilities while under Earth’s yellow sun, there’s not a lot of things capable of hurting you. That said, there are still a few things that can hurt Superman, chief among them Kryptonite (which has become a pop culture reference for a person’s specific weakness) and magic in the comics. But if you ask current Superman actor Henry Cavill, there’s only one thing truly capable of beating the Man of Steel: himself. 

In an interview with The Guardian, Cavill pointed out that Superman’s moral code drives the decisions he makes, and this can result in his "noggin" messing with him while fighting adversaries, which makes for good storytelling. Or as Cavill put it simply:

The only thing that can really beat Superman is Superman.

Keep in mind that Cavill’s statement shouldn’t be taken too literally. Obviously Superman shouldn’t get too close to Kryptonite if he can help it. Still, the actor has a point. Superman’s various abilities make him more powerful than any normal human on Earth (there are a few demigods and metahumans that could give him a run for his money), but as far as intelligence goes, Superman is just like every one else on the planet. He struggles with the decisions he makes, and because he wants to use his powers for good, there’s more of a burden on him to always make the right choices. That’s a lot for anybody to handle.

We first saw Superman face moral quandaries in the DC Cinematic Universe in Man of Steel fighting Zod. Sure the Kryptonian general was a physical threat, but in order to stop him from killing more innocents, Superman was forced to take Zod’s life, something which devastated him. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will, of course, dedicate a significant amount of time to his conflict with Batman. Cavill has already mentioned that Superman will try to avoid a direct fight with Gotham City’s Dark Knight at first, but part of me wonders if when they are fighting, Kal-El will underestimate Bruce Wayne simply because he doesn’t have powers. Then there’s Lex Luthor and possibly Doomsday on his plate as well, both of whom may get the better of him as well.




The trailers have also showed that Superman will be dealing with the conflicting opinions people have of him, varying from watchful savior to escalating threat. Not that he should care what anyone thinks about him, but even so, he’s still just a man… metaphorically speaking, that is. He’s just trying to make his way in the world like everyone else, and expectations can weigh heavily.

You can see Superman back in action when Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters on March 25, 2016. 

Jared Leto's Still Sending Bizarre Gifts To His Suicide Squad Co-Stars

Every actor has their own process for preparing for a role. In Jared Leto’s case, one of the ways he got in character as The Joker for Suicide Squad was sending creepy gifts to his villainous co-stars. At first it sounded like this was just something he decided to do earlier in the film’s production, but with Suicide Squad nearing the end of filming, Leto still isn’t done giving bizarre items to his fellow actors.

My dear friend The Joker gave me a gift...inside is a glimpse into the mind of a mad man. #putasmileonthatface

A photo posted by @jayhernandez001 on Aug 21, 2015 at 2:30am PDT

Jay Hernandez, who plays pyromaniac El Diablo in Suicide Squad, posted this photo on Instagram of gifts Leto… sorry, his friend The Joker, sent him, giving everyone "a glimpse into the mind of a mad man." From left to right, we have a deck of cards with a joker card on top of the box, a mysterious object wrapped in newspaper and an envelope with "diablo" written in childish scrawl. No doubt the envelope contains a letter of Joker’s insane ramblings (with a death threat included for good measure), but frankly, I can’t even imagine what is in the wrapped package. If it were a gift from the real Joker, it would probably be a severed appendage.

Jared Leto began this bout of giving back in June, and the gifts he sent out included bullets for Will Smith (Deadshot) and a live rat for Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn). The 30 Seconds to Mars singer also recorded a video for the entire cast that featured a dead hog, which no doubt resulted in nightmares. His goal for Suicide Squad is to make the character his own and give audiences a Clown Prince of Crime they’ve never seen before, and so far it appears he’s succeeding. Appearance-wise, his Joker is a mix of old and new, having retained the white skin, green hair and ruby lips, but also rocking unusual tattoos and bejeweled teeth. More important, however, is his dedication to the role, as his co-star Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang) apparently hadn’t seen him out of character during filming. 

Joker’s exact role in Suicide Squad is still a mystery outside of reports he’ll spend the majority of the film behind bars. However, we do know for sure that we’ll see him in several scenes with Harley Quinn (including possibly explaining how he drove her insane) and a car chase sequence with Batman. There is also a rumor that Joker will first appear in March’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice in a flashback scene showing the murder of Jason Todd, so audiences could get a peek at Leto’s psychopathic performance earlier than expected.




Weird gifts aside, it sounds like Leto and the other Suicide Squad cast members had fun with each other, and we’ll seem them together when the film hits theaters on August 5, 2016. 

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 Is Bringing Back A Key Collaborator

Guardians of the galaxy vol. 2

Although Marvel’s movies are commercially and (for the most part) critically successful, there’s not always 100% consistency in the creative process. Actors may be recast, directors and writers may leave, and while the following movie may end up being a great product on its own, there are parts that won’t feel the same as the preceding story. Fortunately it doesn’t appear that will be the case with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as nearly all of the major creative talent from the first installment are coming back for the sequel, including the man who put the music together…no, I don’t mean director James Gunn and Awesome Mix Vol. 1. 

Collider has learned that Tyler Bates will return to score Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Although the tunes chosen by Gunn for Peter Quill’s mixtape stole the show for many people, Bates’ score was memorable in its own way. While composers like Brian Tyler and Alan Silvestri have scored multiple Marvel movies, Bates is only the second composer that’s returned for an MCU direct sequel, following Henry Jackman, who scored Captain America: The Winter Soldier and will score Captain America: Civil War. 

Rather than score Guardians of the Galaxy after the cast and crew finished shooting, Gunn had Bates write some of the score ahead of time so he could shoot scenes set to that music. It’s possible Bates may go through a similar process in the sequel. Bates’ previous collaborations with Gunn include Slither and Super. His more recent projects include scoring last year’s John Wick and The Darkest Hour, as well as the TV shows Californication and Kingdom. His work can currently be heard in the WGN series Salem. 

In addition to Bates, Gunn and the five main actors (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will also see the return of Michael Rooker’s Yondu and Karen Gillan’s Nebula. Gunn announced back in June that he finished the first draft for the sequel, followed by the title announcement several weeks later. Plot details are scarce on what to expect from the Guardians’ next theatrical romp, but it will involve exploring the relationship between Peter Quill and his mysterious father. The film will also introduce a new Guardian and James Gunn’s favorite superhero, who for all we know may end up being the same person. Gunn has also chosen the songs for Awesome Mix Vol. 2, so the audience will almost certainly get great orchestral music and tunes from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. 

We’ll hear Bates’ new soundtrack when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which begins filming in February, hits theaters on May 5, 2017. 

Learn how any newbie marketer can make $500k

I certainly wasn’t THE dumbest person on earth… but when it came to the subject of Internet Marketing prior to 2013, I certainly felt like I was.

I knew NOTHING Internet Marketing… literally nothing, except that other people were killing it and living lavish leveraged lifestyles, while I continued doing things the hard way.

A few of those Internet rock stars were friends of mine, and offered to teach me a thing or two. But I was always content to be envious of them — never thinking that a non-technical person like me could reproduce even a shred of their results in the seemingly uber-technical world of the Interwebs.

Then I went broke AGAIN, hit the rockiest rock bottom of my life, and almost lost everything.

When I say everything, I’m not just talking about a place to live, my car, and personal belongings. My wife could no longer handle the financial roller coaster ride I had put my family on for the past 10+ years, and and understandably so… it was sickening.

Faced with being literally homeless, she and the kids flew back to Seattle to stay with her parents, without a return flight.

This is where I found the lowest lows of my life.

Within a couple months, I moved into a tiny rat-hole one-bedroom apartment in Austin, but things weren’t getting better, really.

I was broken.

I HAD to get my crap together fast, and it had to be REAL this time… not some flash in the pan that fell apart in 12 months.

The problem was that I was easily confused. I could learn money making methods until my face turned blue, but if I didn’t know where to apply them — or how to start, step by step, I would get overstimulated and give up before starting.

If I could identify just one thing about myself that I can trust 100%, it is my ability to put my head down and follow the “rules” — or follow step-by-step instructions without deviating.

And so the search began. If I could just find a system that works, I could execute it tirelessly — I’ve always been that way.

Lightning struck, and if you’ve been following me at all, you’ll know that I got my start in Internet Marketing through a program called Empower Network (EN).

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend EN today, it was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life. A clear, step-by-step, ABC123 set of instructions that was resulting in massive incomes for the people who followed it perfectly at that time.

Which I knew I could do! So I put the blinders on followed their system. Relentlessly.

I wanted my family back. I wanted to sleep in a bed again. I wanted my bank account to have more than 3 digits in it.

It worked, and I succeeded at all of the above. Within months I was earning a significant chunk of change, over $500k in 2013! I earned my wife’s trust back, and put my life together again — stronger than ever.

Luckily, the videos and systems I was following to make money with EN were all focused on Internet Marketing tactics, most of which were general enough to be applicable outside of the program.

In the end, EN was the bootcamp introduction to Internet Marketing that helped propel me to where I am today.

“OK, Kristian” you say, “what’s the point? Where do I begin since you don’t recommend EN anymore?”

Good question. Here’s the answer.

Fast forward to today… I’ve now learned a LOT about Internet Marketing. I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet, spend time, and become friends with some of the greatest minds and earners in the space.

We all have one singular thing in common: people beat down our doors and burn up our phone lines constantly, asking for our advice on how to make money in our world.

So I recently invited a handful of the most successful marketers in my Rolodex (remember those?!) to a private mastermind weekend in Miami to figure out how to give that advice to more people, more often, without having to be on the phone or Skype 24/7.

We refused to leave the hotel until we were happy with the solution. And boy are we ever.

The result of this mastermind will be baked into our new project, called Home Business Labs (HBL).

The idea for HBL is simple. We’re providing anyone, even the world’s dumbest person (like I was!), with the absolute best instructions and tools to get them started making money online.

No confusion. No BS.

Just ultra-quality, step-by-step, ABC123 videos, tutorials, and advanced tools, straight from some of the most successful folks on the web today.

While I’m personally coming off the best year of my life in 2014, I can’t imagine how much further along I’d be right now if I had a resource like the one we’re creating with HBL.

Of course, this is all shameless self-promotion, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t give it to you straight.

There ARE other ways to learn Internet Marketing and make great money on the web. There are forums, membership sites, books, and more information than you can ever imagine on the topic. And a ton of it is free!

You just have to be good at wading through it all and finding your way.

The reason for HBL is to systemize it all and show you the way.

To provide a simple blueprint for those of us who have an easier time following proven instructions than finding our own way, myself included!

Plus we have some cutting edge tools and information going into HBL that are completely exclusive and won’t be found anywhere else.

Check it out and get started. It’s growing daily.

No matter what though… DON’T wait to hit rock bottom like I did. This would be a great place to start your 90 Day Push!

Tigers' Daniel Norris leaves game with apparent injury

CHICAGO (AP) - Detroit’s Daniel Norris has become just the 19th pitcher to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.

Norris lined a two-run drive off Jon Lester in his first career plate appearance during the second inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

According to STATS, that made him the 19th pitcher to go deep in his first major league at-bat. No one had done it since Tommy Milone homered for the Washington Nationals against the New York Mets on Sept. 3, 2011.

Copyright © 2015 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Josh Duggar Unwittingly Reveals List Of Adulterous Turn-Ons

josh duggar

The Ashley Madison info dump happened yesterday, exposing accounts of 32 million seekers of extramarital affairs to the whims of the internet. The first celeb to be outed as a philandering affront to Jesus is Josh Duggar, everyone’s favorite super-Christian and sister enthusiast.

Josh maintained not one, but two accounts between 2013 and 2015. While Duggar was actively trying to prevent gay people from getting married, he was protecting the sanctity of his own by hunting strange on the web. I’m not one to shame him for being a lecherous cheat-beast. That’s between him and his wife. The one he betrayed and probably didn’t ask to get dragged into another big media circus revolving around her husband’s penis misuse.

The leaked data included Josh’s wish list of things to do while Anna is home taking care of and gestating more baby Duggars.

“Conventional Sex, Experimenting with Sex Toys, One-Night Stands, Open to Experimentation, Gentleness, Good With Your Hands, Sensual Massage, Extended Foreplay/Teasing, Bubble Bath for 2, Likes to Give Oral Sex, Likes to Receive Oral Sex, Someone I Can Teach, Someone Who Can Teach Me, Kissing, Cuddling & Hugging, Sharing Fantasies, Sex Talk.

A Professional/Well Groomed, Stylish/Classy, Casual Jeans/T-shirt Type, Muscular/Fit Body, Petite Figure, Tall Height, Short Height, Long Hair, Short Hair, Girl Next Door, Naughty Girl, Sense of Humor, Imagination, Creative and Adventurous, Relaxed and Easy Going, Aggressive/Take Charge Nature, Confidence, Discretion/Secrecy, A Good Listener, Good Personal Hygiene, Average Sex Drive, High Sex Drive, Dislikes Routine, Has a Secret Love Nest, Disease Free, Drug Free, and Natural Breasts. “

Am I the only one that is disappointed that he wasn’t looking for a girl in clown makeup to sit on cakes and wipe the frosting on mewling kittens? For someone who started his career as an out-of-control sex fiend over a decade ago, he’s looking for some pretty tame action from a lady that isn’t the mother of his children.

Deez Nuts is top-polling independent candidate in decades

It may be Donald Trump who has raised this presidential campaign to new levels of frivolity, but in a poll that is arguably frivolous by nature one “candidate” has managed to go viral – and it turns out he’s a 15-year-old from Iowa.

Unlike his competitors in the race to be president in 2016 – people like Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, or Trump – Deez Nuts has no public profile. He will likely never appear in any televised debates; he has never held public office.

Wednesday was a big day for Deez Nuts. First he won 9% of the vote as an independent in a Public Policy Polling poll of voters in North Carolina - which, on top of recent results of 8% in Minnesota and 7% in Iowa from previous polls, makes him what experts confirmed is the most successful independent candidate for president in two decades.

It was also the day of his high school sophomore orientation.

The candidate is in reality 15-year-old Brady Olson, a high school student from Wallingford, Iowa.

“My name is not Deez Nuts,” he said in an email interview. “I am a 15-year-old who filled out a form, had the campaign catch on fire, and am now putting up the best third-party numbers since Ross Perot.”

The Guardian has also seen Olson’s passport and spoken to him briefly on the phone.

“I’ve told my family and some of my friends from school,” he said. “They still think it’s hilarious.”

There are 585 registered candidates for president in 2016, including Sydneys Voluptuous Buttocks (independent), President Emperor Caesar (Democrat), Buddy The Cat (Democrat), Crawfish Crawfish (other), Bailey D Dog (independent), Buddy The Elf (write-in) and Lindsey Graham (Republican), none of whom – unlike Deez Nuts – received any support whatsoever in PPP’s North Carolina poll.

The poll stood out even in a campaign season that has seen frivolity reach new heights. And PPP is known for occasionally frivolous polling, with questions on whether hipsters should be subject to a special tax or the approval rating of God – but the group said it would continue to include Nuts in future polling.

And while Trump was the headline figure – at 24% in the Republican primary race, double digits clear of his next rival, Ben Carson, at 14% – Nuts’s showing as an independent was the real surprise. Asked the question “If the candidates for President next year were Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump, and independent Deez Nuts, who would you vote for?” respondents in North Carolina voted Trump 40%, Clinton 38%, and Nuts 9%.

He has been endorsed by the punk/hardcore band of the same name, according to his campaign’s Facebook page. And Darrell West, vice-president and director of governance at the Brookings Institution, confirmed that with these numbers, Deez Nuts is indeed at the crest of the most successful independent campaign since Perot in 1996.

It was with “a mix of astonishment and happiness” that Olson saw his poll results come in on Wednesday, he said. “I never thought it would go this far and now it has.

“It’s amazing how this campaign caught on. Right now it’s mainly just the name recognition, but hopefully as we go down the stretch people will actually take the time to look at my campaign website and look at my platform.”

Jim Williams, a polling analyst at PPP, who conducted the North Carolina poll, said that he thought the success of Deez Nuts represented a hunger for voters looking for an alternative to the two main parties. “You could call [the third party candidate] anything,” he said, “and they would get their 7% or 8%.”

He said that PPP had included Nuts in their polling questions at first “for our own amusement and interest”.

Deez Nuts’s platform is fairly serious. In his manifesto he expresses support for the work John Kerry and the state department have done with the Iran nuclear deal. “Everyone wants a better deal, but that’s the whole point of negotiating. Look at your wants, then their wants, and meet in the middle.”

He is no fan of Fox News:

How come Fox news challenged Obama's birth certificate but not Ted Cruz. Maybe it's because they just hate Democrats or they are just dumb.

— Deez Nuts for Prez (@DeezNutsforPrez) August 16, 2015

And a Deez Nuts White House, according to his manifesto, would also halve congressional salaries until the federal budget is balanced, and cut subsidies to oil companies in favour of tax incentives on renewable energy sources.

Asked whether his candidacy was a political statement or a joke that had snowballed, Olson said it was “a little bit of both I guess”. He said he watched the 2012 election closely and he was a supporter of Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson, whom he said was “robbed” in the gubernatorial race in 2014.

“Then I saw the slop bucket that we call the GOP field, the one-woman show on the Democratic side, and the lack of any third party candidate and thought ‘Man, Deez Nuts would be better than any of these guys,’” Olson continued. “So after that I just ran with it.”

Contacted by the Guardian, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission said that officials did not actively check the age or identity of the candidates who registered to run for president, adding that it was all done “at state level”.

Olson, for his part, said he had been “shocked by the responses at first, but then remembered this is American media and they find everything”.

“It’s been really fun so far,” he added. “I just hope that we can actually do something memorable in 2016 that we all could remember forever.”

New Trailer For The Martian Makes Contact

The Martian

The initial trailer for Ridley Scott’s The Martian touched down online back in June. Here comes the second, which adds a little more detail, but do beware spoilers if you haven't read the book. 

Matt Damon stars as NASA astronaut Mark Watney, seriously injured and thought dead by his crewmates on Mars during a huge storm that forced them to evacuate. But Watney is very much alive, and intends to stay that way, putting his botanical skills and astronaut survival training to good use, figuring out ways to live with limited supplies. Fortunately, he’s also got a wry sense of humour to keep him sane. 

Back on Earth, meanwhile, NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) and some of his team (Chiwetel Ejiofor’s mission overseer, Kristen Wiig’s media relations expert, Mackenzie Davis’ tech and Sean Bean’s crew supervisor) have to decide what to do, especially when they discover Watney’s non-dead status. And then there are his crewmates, headed back to Earth on the Hermes ship, and seemingly kept in the dark about Mark’s status. How will Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), tech expert Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), pilot Rick Martinez (Michael Pena), flight surgeon Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan), and German astronaut Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie) respond when they, too, learn that there is life on Mars, and he’s busy growing food?

Ridley Scott and Matt Damon, along with representatives from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California recently brought 49 minutes of footage to show at a cinema near the scientific establishment, and Scott in particular talked about what inspired him to make the film given that this isn’t exactly his first cinematic trip away from Terra firma. “Sci-fi is mostly fantasy, and what was attractive about this is the reality of the situation. I always liked The Right Stuff, which got into the early days of the astronauts, and this, while not the same at all, offered the reality of the situation, the challenges an astronaut may have in 15-20 years,” he said. “In essence, this film is about a guy who controls all the feelings about what a terrible situation he's in, and where he is and therefore will look for that internally inside himself and pull out the elements that might make things humorous. He has to do that hour by hour, day by day, so don't be surprised if you find yourself laughing with him, you're allowed to laugh!” 

Damon also found himself drawn to Mark’s sarcastic, scientific nature. “I think a lot of people, including myself really responded to the character in the book that Andy wrote, and Drew (Goddard, the screenwriter) did a great job of capturing that. So it's like being a chef and getting a really good piece of meat to cook; you don't want to overthink it and mess it up too much and bronze the gold medal. I just wanted to keep alive what Andy created,” he said. “I think mere mortals like us are captivated by how people like this can do this sort of thing and maintain the preternatural calm in these incredible high stress situations. And that was really attractive about the character, how he kept his sense of humour and this incredible, logical, practical, problem-solving type of thinking, and it's what the real astronauts can actually do.”

The Martian will be on our screens on September 30.

Did Shaun King Mislead Oprah Winfrey About His Race?

An investigative blogger has accused Shaun King, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement, of misleading media icon Oprah Winfrey by pretending to be biracial in order to qualify for an “Oprah scholarship” to historically black Morehouse College. The blogger says King is white and has been lying about his ethnicity for years.

King is a high-profile campaigner against “police brutality” and “justice correspondent” for the liberal Daily Kos website who told Rebel magazine in 2012 that he was biracial, with the magazine reporting that he is the “son of a Caucasian mother and an African-American father.” He has also described himself as “mixed with a black family” on Twitter.

King has been lionised by the press, praised as hero of civil rights and social activism. He has written extensively about a childhood in which he was terrorised by “decades old racial tensions.” He claims to have been “the focus of constant abuse of the resident rednecks of my school.”

Yet, in recent weeks, rumours have been circulating about his ethnicity. A 1995 police incident report lists Shaun King’s ethnicity as white. And blogger Vicki Pate, who has been assembling forensic accounts of Shaun King’s background and family tree on her blog, “Re-NewsIt!,” has published her findings.

She claims that King is entirely white and says a birth certificate, which Breitbart has since independently acquired from the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, names a white man as his father.

King’s case echoes that of Rachel Dolezal, a civil rights activist from Washington who claimed to be biracial while in fact being of caucasian origin. Dolezal continues to insist she “identifies as black,” despite her parents revealing that she is entirely white.

If Pate is right, Shaun King, who often uses black and white photographs of himself online rather than colour images, may have misled African-American hero Winfrey by applying for and accepting an Oprah Scholarship to the historically black Morehouse College. Oprah Scholarships are given exclusively to black men.


In his Daily Kos diary, King refers to himself as a “brother,” writing: “Oprah Winfrey paid my way through Morehouse. The leadership scholarship that I received from her is why I have a college degree today. Five hundred other brothers have the exact same story.”

Shaun King’s biography has attracted the attention of bloggers and journalists thanks to several bizarre inconsistencies in his public claims. He often struggles when asked to recall basic facts about his own life. For instance, in August 2014, King wrote on Twitter that he was father to three “black girls,” while, six months earlier, he claimed to be father to four.

It is of course possible that a family tragedy is responsible for the inconsistency, but the unexplained change in biographical details is not a one-off. In October 2009, King claimed to have endured four spinal surgeries. By February 2010, the number of surgeries had shrunk to three. There is also some confusion about when an alleged car crash may or may not have happened.

Kelvin Benjamin of Panthers Carted Off With Leg Injury

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — The Panthers star wide receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, was carted off the field with an apparent left leg injury on Wednesday morning.

Continue reading the main story

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The injury occurred during the first day of scrimmages with the Miami Dolphins at Wofford College. Benjamin appeared to slip as he made a cut while running a crossing route. He sat up afterward holding his left leg.

After Benjamin went to the ground, several players from both teams took a knee around him.

Trainers attended to Benjamin and quickly called for the cart to take him into the locker room. Quarterback and close friend Cam Newton helped Benjamin into the cart.

Benjamin is coming off a stellar rookie season, catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. He is the one wide receiver the team probably cannot afford to lose.

Kelvin Benjamin Injury: Updates on Panthers WR's Knee and Return

Kelvin Benjamin

SPARTANBURG, S.C -- Panthers star wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin has been carted off the field with an apparent left leg injury.

Bringing cart for Benjamin. #Panthers pic.twitter.com/j8KmoWac52

— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) August 19, 2015

Steve Reed of the Associated Press passed along a photo of Benjamin on a cart during Wednesday's training-camp scrimmage with the Miami Dolphins:

Kelvin Benjamin being carted off the field. Appeared to injure his left leg. pic.twitter.com/kQ5CYWGqIh

— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) August 19, 2015

The injury occurred during the first day of scrimmages Wednesday with the Miami Dolphins at Wofford College. Benjamin appeared to slip as he made a cut while running a crossing route. He sat up afterward holding his left leg.

After Benjamin went to the ground, several players from both teams took a knee around him.

Trainers attended to Benjamin and quickly called for the cart to take him into the locker room. Quarterback and close friend Cam Newton helped Benjamin into the cart.

No update on Kelvin Benjamin (knee). If it is serious it is a huge blow to #Panthers.

— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) August 19, 2015

Benjamin is coming off a stellar rookie season, catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. He's the one wide receiver the team can't afford to lose.

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

Addyi: 'Female Viagra' approved for US use in world first

Female Viagra

The world's first prescription drug designed to boost sexual desire in women has been approved by regulators in the United States.

The move by the Food and Drug Administration has been hailed as a milestone long sought by a pharmaceutical industry eager to replicate the blockbuster success of impotence drugs for men.

However, despite Addyi being dubbed the 'female Viagra' in some quarters, it is unlikely to achieve anything like the sales figures of its little blue counterpart, thanks to stringent safety measures.

The drug's label will bear a boxed warning - the most serious type - alerting doctors and patients to the risks of dangerously low blood pressure and fainting, especially when the pill is combined with alcohol.

The same problems can occur when taking the drug with other commonly prescribed medications, including antifungals used to treat yeast infections.

"Patients and prescribers should fully understand the risks associated with the use of Addyi before considering treatment," said Dr Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's drug centre.

Under an FDA-imposed safety plan, doctors will only be able to prescribe Addyi after completing an online certification process that requires counselling patients about Addyi's risks.

Pharmacists will also need certification and will be required to remind patients not to drink alcohol while taking the drug.

Opponents of the drug say it is not worth the side effects, which also include nausea, drowsiness and dizziness. They point out that the FDA rejected the drug twice, in 2010 and 2013, because of these these risks.

Dez Bryant got punched in the face, talked smack and retrieved his diamond earring

Dez Bryant

The Cowboys and Rams got in a massive brawl Tuesday night, and Pro Bowl wideout Dez Bryant got clocked.

@DezBryant takes a shot from #Rams FB Zach Laskey during the brawl. Video credit @arnoldpayne #WFAACowboys pic.twitter.com/L3qPVgWqp2

— Joe Trahan (@JoeTrahan) August 19, 2015

Bryant was hit in the face by Rams cornerback Imoan Claiborne. Surely, Dallas coaches and front office members don't like seeing their star wideout being punched in the face, especially when he was such a willing participant.

88. When you are talking to Jerry Jones but needed in a fight pic.twitter.com/7uckuhEKKU

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 19, 2015

After the video of Bryant getting hit made its way around the Internet, the Cowboys receiver couldn't help but comment on it. He hopped on Twitter and sent out a tweet that read, "I wish I would have cheap shot his ass then all of y'all would have seen the difference ... You can't even put that s— on world star lol."

He deleted the tweet about 10 minutes after he put it up, but this is the Internet. The moment was captured.

Dez Bryant tweet

After taking the hit, Bryant apparently lost his diamond earring.

Security guard found @DezBryant's diamond earring, which he lost during the fight (via @VictorNBC5)... Wow. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/Kb5VfEAZNL

— Pat Doney (@PatDoneyNBC5) August 19, 2015

Dez Bryant ear ring has been found on practice field following today's on field brawls. pic.twitter.com/PKDyeJhHUf

— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) August 19, 2015

Red Sox hire Dave Dombrowski as president; Ben Cherington out as GM

Dave Dombrowski

The Boston Red Sox have hired former Detroit Tigers president and General Manager Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations, the team announced Tuesday night on Twitter.

In addition, the team said GM Ben Cherington “declined the opportunity to continue as [general manager] but has agreed to assist Dombrowski during the transition.”

“I have known Dave very well for a long time,” Red Sox principal owner John Henry (who also owns Boston.com) said in a statement released by the team. “[Chairman] Tom [Werner] and I have no doubts that Dave is the right person to strengthen our baseball operations group going forward. He is one of the most highly regarded executives in all of baseball, and had options to go with other Clubs. We feel very fortunate that he wanted to come to Boston, and wanted to further his career — now with the Red Sox — as one of the great architects of winning baseball clubs.”

The Tigers fired Dombrowski earlier this month. The team went to two World Series — in 2006 and 2012 — during his 14-year tenure.

“I’ve decided to release Dave from his contract in order to afford him the time to pursue other career opportunities,” Tigers owner Mike Ilitch said in a statement at the time.

Cherington, who started with the Sox in 1999, was named general manager after the 2011 season. He was at the helm when the club won the 2013 World Series. However, the Sox have also finished in last place in the American League East twice in the last three seasons and are on pace to do so again.

“Although we have achieved tremendous success over the last fourteen seasons, we had reached a clear internal consensus that we needed to enhance our baseball operation,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said in the team statement. “ In nearly four decades in the game, Dave is a proven winner and he can restore winning ways to Yawkey Way and help to fulfill the Red Sox goal, every year, to be playing meaningful games into October.”

The makeover of the Red Sox’s front office began earlier this month when Larry Lucchino announced that he would be stepping down as the franchise’s president and CEO at the end of the season. Lucchino’s historic 14-year tenure with the Red Sox included three World Series championships — and the hiring of Cherington as GM.

“Ben Cherington is one of the finest individuals I have ever worked with, possessing a maturity and integrity second to none,” Henry said. “Over seventeen years with the Red Sox and in the four years as our General Manager, he always put the best interests of our organization first and foremost, winning a World Series Championship in 2013.”

They Didn’t Want Their Child To Sit Near Him, But They Are Shocked When They Learn Who He Is

When this family walks into the waiting room of a doctor's office, it is clear that they don't want anything to do with the man who is already sitting there. However, when the doctor..

This video for ANTI-RACIST SHORT FILM "JAFAR" (by Nancy Spetsioti) is really one of the best inspirational videos I have ever seen.


CAST

NATALIA DRAGOUMI - VLADIMIROS KIRIAKIDIS - NIKOS PSARRAS
CHARA TSIONGA - WASEEM AKTAR - GEORGIA KATSIKONOURI


PRODUCER: DIMITRIS GALANOPOULOS

DIRECTOR: NANCY SPETSIOTI - SCRIPT: KATERINA KOUTSOMITI

CINEMATOGRAPHY: MICHALIS GERANIOS - EDITING: YIANNIS PARASKEVOPOULOS - MUSIC: CONSTANTINOS ZACHAROPOULOS - SOUND: DIMITRIS IOSIFELIS - COSTUMES: TASOS DIMAS, SOFIA KOTSIKOU, CATERINA CHALIOTI - MAKE-UP: SOFIA MICHA - PRODUCTION MANAGER: IOANNA PAKA

PRODUCTION: www.iconastudioathens.gr

Hackers Finally Post Stolen Ashley Madison Data!

The other shoe just dropped. The hackers who breached the cheating site AshleyMadison.com appeared to make good on their threat to expose customer data on Tuesday, dumping the stolen information online.

The post Hackers Finally Post Stolen Ashley Madison Data appeared first on WIRED.

15 Jobs We Hope George Zimmerman DOESN'T Get

George Zimmerman

It’s not summer if George Zimmerman isn’t making news, and if George Zimmerman is making news, it’s not good news. Today we learned that Zimmerman is selling Confederate Flag paintings with the owner of a “Muslim-free” gun shop. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s an actual job description, and it’s pretty darn appalling, to put it lightly.

From Zimmerman’s perspective, however, this seems like a pretty good gig. From what I gather, he can make his own hours, meet all kinds of “interesting” people, and profit from explicit racism. Come to think of it, this could be Zimmerman’s dream job.

Now from our perspective, this could actually be a big positive as well. How so? There are so many things that Zimmerman could be doing that would cause far more damage and heartache in this world. Here are 15 jobs we truly hope George Zimmerman never gets:

1. Guidance Counselor

2. President of the United States

3. Anger Management Therapist

4. Children’s Clown

5. Police Officer

6.NAACP Official

7. Father

8. Couples’ Counselor

9. Human Rights Advocate

10. History Teacher

11. Gun Control Expert

12. Host of “The Daily Show”

13. Superhero

14. Social Worker

15. Husband

George Zimmerman appears to be on a mission to offend everybody

George Zimmerman

ORLANDO — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, is raffling off a painting he made of a Confederate flag to raise money for a Florida gunshop owner who declared his store a Muslim-free zone.

On the other hand, Zimmerman, who gained notoriety during his trial for killing Trayvon Martin in 2012, is selling the painting on a website for the Tampa-area store, Florida Gun Supply, owned by Andrew Hallinan.

While Last year Zimmerman sold a painting depicting the American flag on eBay for more than $100,000. The store’s website suggests his latest painting could fetch as much.

The raffle brings together three controversies raging through America.

The Trayvon Martin case highlighted the issue of racial profiling of young black men and the dangers they face when viewed as potential criminals.

The Confederate battle flag, seen by many as a symbol of white supremacy, has emerged as a flashpoint in US race relations since the June massacre at an African-American church in South Carolina by a white man who had posed with the banner.

The case also touches on the issue of discrimination against Muslim-Americans, which has intensified since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamist militants in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Zimmerman, 31, and Hallinan will split the proceeds from the raffle and use the money for living and legal expenses. The proceeds will help advance “their mission to change the country,” the website states.

An unspecified percentage will go as a donation to Boys and Girls Clubs of America, according to the website.

The Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations sued the gunshop last month, complaining that the Muslim ban violated the federal public accommodations law and asking for an injunction to stop it.

The group has also called on the Justice Department to investigate the ban.

Hallinan, Zimmerman and Zimmerman’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. Boys and Girls Clubs of America did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

The website offers prints of the painting for $50. Purchasers are automatically entered in the drawing for the original painting, according to the website.

Hallinan declared his store to be Muslim-free after five US servicemen were shot and killed in Tennessee last month by a suspect the FBI said was a Muslim extremist.