22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps is engaged to marry girlfriend and former Miss California Nicole Johnson, the couple announced on social media last night.
"Former Miss California Nicole Johnson," Phelps presumably asked after dropping to one giant knee, "will you make me the happiest merman in the world?"
She said yes😁😁😁 @missnicolej http://t.co/MF5hNTwAuJ
— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) February 22, 2015
Congratulations to the happy couple of goofballs.
[Image via Instagram]
On Sunday, Baltimore police announced on Twitter there had been an officer-involved shooting on the city's west side. According to The Baltimore Sun's Yvonne Wenger, the shooting took place in front of a mural remembering slain teen Trayvon Martin.
Can you see this? Officer-involved shooting in front of Trayvon Martin mural. @baltimoresun pic.twitter.com/mCWge9KQth
— Yvonne Wenger (@yvonnewenger) February 22, 2015
Other photos taken at the scene confirm the incident's eerie setting.
The ghost of Trayvon Martin haunts the scene of Baltimore's latest police involved shooting. pic.twitter.com/T9p92jboav
— Agitator In Chief (@BaltoSpectator) February 22, 2015
Mural of #trayvonmartin looms above officer involved shooting in Baltimore @FOXBaltimore pic.twitter.com/RokoB0vIN7
— Christine Lien (@Christine_Lien) February 22, 2015
Few details about the shooting are currently available, but police say the suspect was taken to an area hospital. The officer involved was reportedly not injured.
UPDATE - 3:20 p.m.: According to independent reporter James MacArthur, police said at a press briefing this afternoon that the shooting occurred during a traffic stop. BPD says officers first tased the suspect before shooting him. Police did not say if the suspect, who is now in critical condition, was armed.
UPDATE - 5:00 p.m.: Col. Garnell Green told The Baltimore Sun that the police investigation is still in its early stages, but offered this information:
"One of our officers initiated a car stop. During that car stop, the suspect got out of his vehicle," Green said. "What happens after that is still under investigation. What I can tell you right now is this: One of our officers did tase the suspect and another officer shot the suspect."
[Image via Twitter/Yvonne Wenger//h/t Breaking 911]
Disgraceful—though not yet disgraced—Fox News loudmouth Bill O'Reilly's reputation-burnishing lies
O'Reilly denied to media watchdog Dylan Byers that he had ever claimed to be on the Falkland Islands at all—something he wrote about, with words, in a book about things that are supposed to be true (i.e. his memoir)—before redirecting attention to a violent protest he'd covered in Buenos Aires: "I was not on the Falkland Islands and I never said I was. I was in Buenos Aires... In Buenos Aires we were in a combat situation after the Argentines surrendered."
Further details on that "combat situation" in Buenos Aires from O'Reilly's No Spin Zone in block quotes:
A major riot ensued and many were killed. I was right in the middle of it and nearly died of a heart attack when a soldier, standing about ten feet away, pointed his automatic weapon directly at my head.
"There were certainly no dead people," Jim Forrest, who was a sound engineer for CBS in Buenos Aires at the time, told CNN of O'Reilly's claim that people were killed. "Had there been dead people, they would have sent more camera crews."
One of the cameramen, however, got trampled, and all of us got banged up in the panic. Many, including me, were teargassed.
"Nobody remembers this happening," Manny Alvarez, a cameraman, said. "If somebody got hurt, we all would have known."
This was major violence up close and personal, and it was an important international story.
"It was not a war zone or even close," Eric Engberg, another correspondent for CBS working from Buenos Aires, wrote on Facebook. "It was an 'expense account zone.'"
[Photo credit: AP Images]
Fresh from his blockbuster performance at the Grammys
I say latest game project because Mr. West is no stranger to the rigors of game design. In 2009, discussing the origins of his first beats, he described a game he'd been working on at the age of twelve
My game was very sexual. The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas. Mind you, I'm 12 years old, and this is stuff 30-year-olds are programming. You'd have to draw in and program every little step-it literally took me all night to do a step, 'cause the penis, y'know, had little feet and eyes.
In an interview earlier this week with The Breakfast Club radio show (via NeoGAF), Kanye revealed his latest game was a tribute to his deceased mother based on the song "Only One," a groundbreaking collaboration that launched the career of Paul McCartney
"So right now I'm working on a video game for 'Only One.' The idea is, it's my mother going through the gates of heaven and you have to bring her to the highest gates of heaven by holding her to the light. We've been working on it for like six months."
Kanye's mother, Donda West, tragically passed in November of 2007 due to coronary artery disease, an existing condition complicated by plastic surgery. The controversy surrounding the nature of her death led to then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing the Donda West Law in 2009, requiring patients receive medical clearance before undergoing elective cosmetic surgery.
I'm a firm believer in the power of the video game as memorial, and I imagine the game design process is quite cathartic for an artist who was obviously deeply affected by his mother's passing. Let's just hope his design sensibilities have matured in the past 25 years.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
A young girl detonated a suicide bomb at a security checkpoint outside a market in Potiskum, Nigeria on Sunday, Reuters reports. Five people were killed and dozens more wounded.
According to Reuters, two witnesses described the bomber as a "small girl" and estimated that she was not more than eight years old.
"(She) refused to be checked at the gate to the market and an argument ensued," one witness, Ibrahim Maishago, told Reuters. "She let off the bomb, killing herself and five others, while many were injured."
"So far, five people were killed with the girl while 19 others have been taken to hospital for injuries," local vigilante leader Buba Lawan told Agence France-Press. AFP confirmed the toll with a hospital worker.
"We sent her back four times, because given her age, she did not have anything to do in the market," Lawan said. "When we were screening people, she bent and tried to pass under the ropes, some distance from our view. That was when the explosives went off."
This is the latest in a series of suicide attacks in which children have been used, AFP reports. Previous bombings were blamed on Boko Haram. According to Reuters, however, no one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.
[Photo credit: AP Images]
A former financial aid officer was arrested in Idaho this week after police say he solicited college students for sex through Craigslist, promising them grant money in return, The Spokesman-Review reports.
According to police, they first became aware of the scheme after the FBI alerted them to a Craigslist "casual encounters" post aimed at students attending North Idaho College. From KHQ:
FBI Agents and Spokane Detectives working internet crimes responded to ads that said "Hello, I have a proposition for NIC students." The message detectives received was "I have some grant money that I can get applied to your account. I just look for some fun in return."
With the approval of NIC President Joe Dunlap Coeur d' Alene officers created a fake student account and responded to the NIC ads again. The response officers got back was the same as before, "I have some extra grant money to allocate. Just looking for some potential fun on the side." Officers asked what they would have to do and were told, "I'm completely open. Sex, oral, etc...watching."
33-year-old Joseph M. Bekken ultimately deposited a total of $587 in grants into the student account before being detained at a meet-up arranged by police, KXLY reports.
The former NIC Financial Aid Director now faces charges of attempted misuse of public funds, attempted procurement of prostitution, burglary, using a computer in a scheme to defraud and bribery.
[Image via Kootenai County Jail//ht/ Raw Story]
Last week, Women's Day Australia reported that Emma Watson and Prince Harry had totally hung out and were going on "secret dates.
WORLD ♥ Remember that little talk we had about not believing everything written in the media?!
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) February 22, 2015
She could be talking about something else....Maybe? Please? C'mon Watson, a royal named Harry? Do you know how many weekend posts I could milk that for? (Two and counting).
Image via AP.
A 14-year-old girl in Orangeburg County, S.C. was charged with criminal sexual misconduct with a minor after she posted a video to Facebook of a toddler performing a sex act on her, The State reports.
"Multiple law enforcement agencies in the county were swamped with calls Thursday when a video was shared on Facebook," Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell told The State.
"Our officers responded to a concerned citizen who provided information about the juvenile and the incident location. Our investigation indicates the teen recorded the video and sent it to a male friend," Ravenell said.
The 14-year-old girl has been detained. WLTX-TV reports that the teenager told officials she was drunk when she filmed the video and didn't remember making it.
According to The State, the Department of Social Services has taken two other children in the home into custody as well.
[Image via Shutterstock]
Via Marcia Herold, here's an interview at the Knicks game with Jill Martin and an out-of-it Justin Bartha. (You know, the guy who didn't do anything in The Hangover.) Martin tries to talk about movies, but Bartha takes things his own way.
At about 1:25, Bartha suggests doing something with Martin, and also maybe Bradley Cooper. Huh.
This video of an octopus leaping out of water to snatch up a delicious crab and wrestling with it for a bit on dry land before dragging it to its death back in some dark, submarine nook comes from Western Australia, where the elements blend together and chaos reigns.
"I don't know why I started filming it, but I always have a camera in front of my face," camerawoman Porsche Indrisie told WA Today. Indrisie is a seafood assistant at a restaurant, Burswood Seafood. (That's not a joke.) "It really was just a random moment."
"I was just so surprised the octopus could leap out of the water like that," Indrisie said.
Settle in for the night, my friend, for the Academy Awards are finally here. Come talk winners, losers, gowns, and gaffes with team Defamer. http://defamer.gawker.com/here-are-your-...
Review this year's nominees
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Achievement in Costume Design: Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida (Poland)
Best Live Action Short Film: The Phone Call
Best Documentary Short Subject: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Achievement in Sound Mixing: Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley, Whiplash
Achievement in Sound Editing: Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Achievement in Visual Effects: Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher, Interstellar
Best Animated Short: Feast
Best Animated Feature: Big Hero 6
Achievement in Production Design: Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), The Grand Budapest Hotel
Achievement in Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Achievement in Film Editing: Tom Cross, Whiplash
Best Documentary Feature: Citizenfour
Best Original Song: "Glory," Selma
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Original Screenplay: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo, Birdman
Best Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Best Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Picture: Birdman
[Image via ABC]
Eleven students at Wesleyan University in Connecticut are being treated after overdosing on the drug MDMA, or "Molly," Reuters reports. One student, a sophomore, is in critical condition.
Four students went directly to hospitals, a Wesleyan spokeswoman Lauren Rubenstein told Reuters. Seven others were transported separately. The sophomore in critical condition was taken to a hospital early Sunday morning.
"Several [students] are in serious condition but I can confirm that none have passed," Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Whaley wrote in an email to The Wesleyan Argus.
Dakota Johnson brought her mom Melanie Griffith to the Oscars tonight, and Jaysusss was she embarrassing. It turns out that Mel hasn't seen Fifty Shades of Grey, and she doesn't really plan on seeing Fifty Shades of Grey, because she doesn't have to see "that" to know Dakota is a great actress. Moommm.
You can watch the touching mother-daughter moment below.
ATTN Dakota Johnson's mom: Dakota will be in her room for the rest of the night and she does not feel like talking to you, do not even knock.
After the very beautiful and very boring Polish movie Ida won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, director Pawel Pawlikowski spoke for about 30 seconds before the orchestra began playing him off, just as he was thanking his late wife. As the music swelled so did Pawlikowski's voice, until the show's producers finally admitted defeat and cut off the orchestra. His steadfastness inspires us all.
Patricia Arquette's acceptance speech is the one to beat, and no one believes this more than her fellow nominee Meryl Streep. Accepting the trophy for her supporting role in Boyhood, Arquette made things political in the most plainspoken way possible:
To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.
Fuck yeah, that's how you use your platform to actually say something. Check out Arqutte's face as she walks away from the podium in the clip below. She's proud, as she should be. She nailed it. Meryl knows it, I know it, we all know it.
As many as 2,800 prisoners being held at a federal detention facility in Raymondville, Texas will need to be moved to a new facility after demonstrations that began there on Friday, Reuters reports. Officials said that the prison had been rendered "uninhabitable."
According to Reuters, the prison is run by Management & Training Corp, a private contractor, and is primarily used to hold immigrants who have entered the United States illegally. The disturbance began on Friday, the Associated Press reports, "when inmates refused to eat breakfast and complained about medical services at the facility."
"Correctional officers used non-lethal force, tear gas, to attempt to control the unruly offenders," Management & Training Corp spokesman Issa Arnita said in the statement.
Reuters reports that inmates broke out of the housing structures—huge kevlar domes, also called "tents"—and set them on fire.
[Photo credit: AP Images]
While doing that thing where people come out and talk about nominees for Best Picture (in this case: Whiplash, The Imitation Game, and Selma), Terrence Howard almost started crying. When he did this, I thought he was leading into an introduction of the notoriously snubbed Civil Rights drama Selma. He was not leading into that, but into The Imitation Game, the Alan Turing biopic. OK, then. I guess he really likes Alan Turing?
"I'm blown away right now, myself," he said while tearing up, thinking about the Oscarbait. I think we all are.
Howard also paused awkwardly when he described Whiplash as "a thrilling symphony that's both...it's mindblowing." He knocked into the mic stand a few times, per the amplified muffled knocking that sounded during an audience reaction shot.
Oprah seemed worried.
John Travolta and Idina Menzel presented Best Orignal Song tonight with a bit that referenced Travolta's pronunciation screw up at last year's Academy Awards
Travolta has been weirdly handsy tonight for whatever reason.
Well, here’s a weird picture of Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta at the #Oscars: http://t.co/uv6KXxyIcn pic.twitter.com/jFlDSJ3Kko
— Vulture (@vulture) February 23, 2015
In his defense, he's more subtle if you meet him in his natural habitat
John Legend and Common came together tonight for a stirring performance of "Glory," the song they wrote for civil rights film Selma. Because the Oscars have thus far been lackluster, uncomfortable, and flat (as they tend to be), watching the two perform "Glory" on an Edmund Pettus Bridge was tonight's standout and the night ain't even over.
Legend and Common won the award for Best Original Song for "Glory," which they then accepted in a very beautiful and commanding acceptance speech. So if the Oscars aren't your thing, at least you have these two clips to feel like you've got something worth watching tonight:
Many viewers were moved to tears while watching John Legend and Common's show-stopping performance of ''Glory'' at the Academy Awards, including David Oyelowo—who portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the film Selma—and also The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement star Chris Pine.
