Two-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 road movie directed by Monte Hellman, starring singer-songwriter James Taylor, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird. Esquire magazine declared the film its movie of the year for 1971, and even published the entire screenplay in its April, 1971 issue, but the film was not a commercial success.The film has since become a cult classic.Brock Yates, organizer of the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (better known as the Cannonball Run) cites Two-Lane Blacktop as one source of inspiration for the creation of the race, and commented on it in his Car and Driver column announcing the first Cannonball.
Two-Lane Blacktop is notable as a time capsule film of U.S. Route 66 during the pre-Interstate Highway era, and for its stark footage and minimal dialogue. As such it has become popular with fans of Route 66. Two-Lane Blacktop has been compared to similar road movies with an existentialist message from the era, such as Vanishing Point, Easy Rider, and Electra Glide in Blue.
Plot
The premise involves two drag racers (played by Taylor and Wilson) who live on the road in their 1955 Chevy 150 (One-Fifty) and drift from town to town, making their only income challenging local residents to races. The movie follows them driving east on Route 66 from Needles, California. They pick up a hitchhiker in Flagstaff, Arizona (played by Bird). In New Mexico, they encounter another drag racing drifter (played by Oates, driving an “Orbit Orange” 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge) and challenge him to a cross-country race to Washington, D.C.”for pinks,” or legal ownership of the loser’s car. Characters are never identified by name in the movie; instead they are named “The Driver,” “The Mechanic,” “GTO,” and “The Girl”. The movie follows the group east through small towns in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. No character makes it to Washington D.C. within the scope of the film.
After sleeping with both the Driver and the Mechanic during the winding course of the journey, The Girl disappoints both the Driver and the Mechanic when she abruptly leaves with the GTO while they are competing at a local racetrack in Arkansas. The Driver pursues them intently, finding them at a diner where the Girl has just rejected the GTO’s idea to visit Chicago. The Driver proposes going to Columbus, Ohio to pick up some parts, but the Girl immediately rejects him. She hops on the back of a long-haired stranger’s motorcycle, dropping her bag in the parking lot. The three men abruptly depart from the diner in their respective cars. The driver of the GTO, who has told a different story about himself to each of the many hitchhikers he picked up, stops for two soldiers. He tells his passengers that he has won the car while driving a home-built ‘55 Chevy, emphasizing the circular theme of the film. The film ends during a drag race at an airstrip in East Tennessee. As the Driver speeds down the runway, first the sound drops out, then the film seems to slow until the actual frames of the film seem to catch in the projector’s gate, burning the film itself.
Production
Will Corry’s script was bought by producer Michael Laughlin and he asked Hellman to direct it. The filmmaker liked the basic idea but agreed to make the film only if another screenwriter was hired to rewrite the script. Laughlin agreed and they hired Rudy Wurlitzer.[1] Hellman and Wurlitzer worked closely on the script. Hellman saw a picture of James Taylor on a billboard on the Sunset Strip and asked the musician to come and do a screen test. Dennis Wilson was the last actor cast.[1]
This film was considered a low budget film at the time of its production. It only cost an estimated US$850 000 to complete. A Rolling Stone article written on location a full year before the film’s release proclaimed the film an “instant classic” about “road racers and their women, cross-country adventure, the Great God Speed.”[3] Coupled with Esquire magazine’s equally enthusiastic response, Universal Pictures was initially excited to promote the film. However, Lew Wasserman, then head of the studio, saw the film and hated it.He refused to promote it and when it opened in New York City on the July Fourth weekend, there was not one single newspaper ad promoting it.[1] In its initial release, it was expected to make the rounds through the then thriving Drive-in theater market, where low budget and B-movies found a thriving audience. Instead, the film was not successful at the box office.
Soundtrack
Unlike other Existential road movies of the time (such as “Easy Rider”, and “Vanishing Point”), Two-Lane Blacktop does not rely heavily on music, nor was a soundtrack album released. The music featured in the film covers many genres, including Rock, Folk, Blues, Country, Bluegrass, and R&B. Interestingly enough, the two stars of the film, James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, did not contribute any music.
However, there are some notable tracks featured in the film, including “Moonlight Drive” by The Doors, the traditional folk tune “Stealin’” performed by Arlo Guthrie, and the original version of “Me and Bobby McGee” performed by the song’s author Kris Kristofferson.
DVD
Anchor Bay Entertainment released a limited edition of the movie on October 24, 2000, with only 15 000 copies made. The disc was housed in a metal tin and extras included a 48-page booklet featuring behind-the-scenes photographs and liner notes about director Monte Hellman, a 5″ X 7″ theatrical poster replica, and a die-struck miniature car key chain. Anchor Bay released a regular edition on October 19, 1999, without the poster and key chain.
At a July 2007 screening of the film, Hellman revealed that the Criterion Collection was releasing a two-disc special edition DVD that featured a new documentary made by Hellman that included an interview with Kristofferson about how “Me and Bobby McGee” has become so closely associated with the film.[4] This DVD set was released on December 11, 2007.
Trivia
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* Two of the ‘55 Chevys used in the filming of Two-Lane Blacktop were later used in the filming of American Graffiti. In the early 2000s, Chevy High Performance magazine ran an article about the 1955 Chevrolets used in the film, where a third car exists (this is the car seen at the gas station) – the builder of the car (Richard Ruth) confirmed that the third car (once located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) does exist. Current owner Walt Bailey searched for years to find it when it turned up in Canada. Walt had Richard help restore the car to its movie condition. The ‘55 sports a tunnel-rammed 454, a four speed and an Olds rear end. The fiberglass tilt front end, doors, and decklid are all movie correct.
* The camera car from Two-Lane Blacktop was also used in a later movie (Smokey and the Bandit) but it was only heard and not seen. The director of Smokey and the Bandit felt that the Trans-Am used in the movie didn’t have the sound he wanted, so he had the sound of the ‘55 Chevy’s engine dubbed over the sound of the Trans Am’s engine.
* In 2003 Plain Recordings released a Two-Lane Blacktop tribute album entitled You Can Never Go Fast Enough featuring Will Oldham, Calexico, Mark Eitzel, Giant Sand, Leadbelly, Sonic Youth, Cat Power and others.
* Rob Zombie wrote a song called “Two-Lane Blacktop,” available on his 2003 Past, Present & Future collection. The song loosely covers the plot of the movie. It also appears in the video game Need for Speed Underground as one of many soundtracks.
* Filmed from August to October 1970. Dennis Wilson was forced to miss several concert appearances including the Big Sur Folk Festival at the Monterey Fairgrounds due to his commitment to the film.
* Despite starring in the film, Taylor has admitted that he has never viewed the finished product.
“Crossroads” (Parts 1 and 2) are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. Neither episode begins with a survivor count.
Plot (including cut scenes)
Part I
President Roslin and Athena share the same vision of chasing Hera Agathon through the ancient opera house on Kobol, where they also encounter Caprica Six. At Joe’s Bar, Colonel Tigh and Samuel Anders share a different form of vision, ethereal music that only the two of them are able to hear.
Just before Baltar’s trial is set to begin, Cassidy refuses Roslin’s request that Baltar be tried for conspiring with the Cylons, unwilling to act on Roslin’s visions as evidence. Meanwhile, Baltar is visited in the brig by a woman who asks him to bless her child. He refuses, but she reaffirms her belief in him nonetheless.
Although the fleet is nearing the Ionian Nebula, and has not encountered the Cylons for weeks, Adama is unconvinced that the fleet has truly outrun them. His suspicions are confirmed when Racetrack’s trailing Raptor narrowly dodges an attack by a massive Cylon fleet. When Tigh questions Caprica Six, she informs him that the Cylons had found a way to track the fleet’s Refinery Ship. The interrogation turns to blows when Six takes her imaginary Baltar’s suggestion to bring up Tigh’s wife. Shaken, Tigh has Six shackled.
At the beginning of the trial, Cassidy’s opening arguments rest on Baltar having been a failed leader and the devastating loss of 5,197 people on New Caprica. Defense attorney Romo Lampkin opens by condemning Baltar in the harshest terms, finally obtaining an unruly shout from a member of the gallery. Lampkin uses the outburst to turn his arguments abruptly into the notion that Baltar is being railroaded to execution and that the trial is being held as a formality over top of the carnal desire to punish Baltar beyond any blame he deserved. Lampkin also takes advantage Roslin’s arrival at the courtroom to suggest that she would have pursued confrontation with the Cylons, and gotten more people killed than Baltar had by unconditional surrender.
The trial moves further into Baltar’s favor when Colonel Tigh takes the witness stand and admits to masterminding a suicide bombing plot which killed dozens of colonial members of the New Caprica Police force. Tigh adds that another purpose of the attack was to assassinate Baltar, and shows no remorse for any of the results. After Cassidy opens up the subject by suggesting that Ellen is another victim of Baltar, Lampkin pushes him into eventually confessing to killing Ellen. Romo Lampkin also coaxes Tigh into admitting he has been drinking, and Tigh further degrades his own position when he again hears the ethereal music and angrily yells for it to be turned off. He is effectively barred as a witness after repeatedly admitting that he would do or say anything to see Baltar executed.
When Roslin herself takes the witness stand, she confirms for Lee Adama that Baltar helped save her life during her bout with cancer a year beforehand, and later also confirms, over the objections of Adama, that she had resumed taking medication because her cancer had returned. As the chamalla has hallucenogenic side effects, Roslin’s credibility is seriously damaged.
During a recess in the trial, Romo Lampkin asks Lee Adama to consider that his role in the trial may get him expelled from the “aristocracy” of the Adama family in the fleet. Soon afterwards, Lee argues with his father, Admiral Adama over the principle of trying Baltar. Admiral Adama confirms that the trial is a formality and that he already feels Baltar is guilty. He also condemns Lee for the damage done to Saul, though Lee had no knowledge of Ellen Tigh’s death, much less that Saul murdered her. In disgust, Lee resigns his commission, and Adama almost happily accepts it. Later, in their quarters, Lee’s wife Dualla takes his role in the trial as the final straw to break their troubled marriage, packs her things and leaves over his pleas that she stay.
On Colonial One, Roslin is badgered with questions from reporters about the resurgence of her cancer. Tory Foster, suffering from constantly hearing the music in the same way as Colonel Tigh, angrily tells the reporters to stop prying into Roslin’s personal affairs. On Galactica’s bridge, Felix Gaeta and Helo review a plan to use the refinery ship as a decoy to lure the Cylons off course, and brood over a gathering storm.
Part II
As Anders and Tory continue to hear the strange music and begin making love, Chief Tyrol is awakened by the music. Both he and Colonel Tigh begin their own searches for its source, but neither can find it. On the hangar deck, Anders realizes that Tyrol is humming the strange music, and the two agree that it sounds like something from childhood.
After receiving an injection for her cancer treatments in sickbay, Roslin has another vision of the opera house on Kobol. Also in sickbay, Sharon enters the same vision while holding Hera in her arms and both women wake up screaming. Sharon confirms having shared the experience and likens it to the Cylon ability of “projection.” They proceed to question Caprica Six in her cell aboard Galactica, and immediately discover that she too had participated in the vision. Caprica talks of feeling compelled to protect Hera.
The trial resumes and Gaeta takes the witness stand. He perjures himself by saying that Baltar willingly signed the death order to have Roslin, Zarek, and others executed. Rather than attempting to prove this during cross-examination, however, Lampkin acts on Lee Adama’s suggestion and moves for mistrial, based on predjudicial statements Admiral Adama had made to Lee concerning Baltar’s guilt and the predetermined course of the trial. Lee then takes the witness stand, but refuses to testify against his father, instead returning to Lampkin’s original line of argument that Baltar, for all his failings, could not be faulted for the tragedy on New Caprica.
By a vote of 3 to 2, the tribunal overseeing Baltar’s trial finds him not guilty and the courtroom erupts in furor. His service having been completed, Lampkin abandons Baltar. Reflecting on the trial, Baltar wonders how he will survive. On the bridge, Admiral Adama adds to Roslin’s dissatisfaction by informing her that he had in fact found Baltar “not guilty”.
When the fleet makes the final jump into the Ionian Nebula, Roslin feels faint and a few seconds later all of the ships suffer a power outage and drift. The Galactica crew struggles to restore power. Moving through the darkness and trying to hide his face, Baltar is suddenly surrounded by three people, including the woman who had asked him to bless her child. They take him to what they tell him is “[his] new life.”
Caprica Six returns again to the opera house. The vision progresses further this time and Caprica Six sees herself, Baltar and Hera looking up at the glowing, robed apparitions of the Final Five Cylons looking down on them from a balcony above. Compelled by their own shared auditory hallucination, Tory, Colonel Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders converge on a secluded room on Galactica, where they all hum the melody together and come to the distressing conclusion that they are all Cylons. When power is restored, DRADIS identifies four Cylon basestars bearing down on the fleet and Admiral Adama orders general quarters. All of the newly discovered Cylons return to their posts but are wary of what they might do. As the other pilots scramble to their ships, Lee returns to his locker to grab his flight gear, despite having been removed from flight status.
As Lee launches in his Viper, the song that Tigh, Tory, Anders, and Tyrol have been hearing is played clearly as music for the scene: it is Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”. After launch, Apollo separates from the other alert Vipers to chase a blip on his DRADIS. In the nebula, he sees Starbuck in a Mark II Viper like the one she had been flying when he saw her crash. She pensively says “Hi Lee. Don’t freak out, it’s really me. It’s going to be OK. I’ve been to Earth, I know where it is, and I’m going to take us there.” The episode ends with a massive zoom out from the two Vipers, past the Colonial fleet and closing basestars and out of the galaxy, then a zoom back that ends with a view of Earth, specifically North America, from space.
Notes
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2007)
* The song and lyrics that Tory, Tigh, Tyrol and Anders hear is Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, as adapted by veteran series composer Bear McCreary. The vocals for this version are performed by McCreary’s brother Brendan McCreary, aka Bt4, with former Oingo Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek playing various guitars and sitars.[1] There is no explanation given in the show as to why this particular song is heard, nor where it comes from. According to a conversation McCreary had with Ronald D. Moore, the version heard in the episode is meant to have been recorded by a Colonial artist rather than by Bob Dylan himself.
* During this episode several of the lines of the song ‘All Along the Watchtower’ appear in the dialogue. An example of this is when Tyrol says the words, “There must be some kind of way out of here.”
* Ronald D. Moore has confirmed that Tigh, Tyrol, Tory and Anders really are Cylons, albeit “fundamentally different” ones.[2]
* The line “Butterfingers!”, which Baltar shouts to Gaeta, was improvised by actor James Callis.
* In Ronald Moore’s “Frak Party Q&A” pod-cast, Moore is asked why the final shot of Earth showed North America in particular. Moore’s comment was that Battlestar Galactica is an American show, and jokes that if another continent were shown, for example Africa, some viewers probably wouldn’t recognize it as Earth.[3]
* From Ronald Moore’s Episode Podcast he stated that Sci-Fi offered to purchase the rights to the Jimi Hendrix version of “All Along the Watchtower”, but he turned it down saying that he couldn’t justify the Battlestar Universe having that version of the song.
Awards
Mary McDonnell and Jamie Bamber submitted this episode for consideration in the categories of “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” and “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series” on their respective behalves for the 2007 Emmy Awards. Similarly, Mark Sheppard also submitted this episode for consideration of his work in the category of “Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series”.,
Marcus Schrenker (born November 22, 1970)[2] is (was) a financial manager known for attempting to fake his own death and the multi-state three day manhunt that followed.[3][4][5] Schrenker worked in Fishers, Indiana, and lived in McCordsville, Indiana.
Background
Schrenker was an investment advisor, managing pension funds worth millions of dollars. He owned two private airplanes and a $1.7 million home on Geist Lake near Fishers, Indiana.[7][8] On October 15, 2005, Schrenker purchased a 6,260-square-foot (582 m2) home in Acworth, Georgia, for $1.65 million.[citation needed] Schrenker and his family lived in the neighborhood of Governors Towne Club in Acworth, Georgia, until the fall of 2007,[citation needed] after which they moved back to their previous neighborhood in Indiana.[citation needed] He owned three financial companies: Heritage Wealth Management, Heritage Insurance Services and Icon Wealth Management.
Schrenker married Michelle Daley in the mid-1990s, and they had three children together.
Fraud charges
In January 2008, The Indiana Department of Insurance filed a complaint against Schrenker on behalf of seven investors who claim he neglected to inform them that they would face high fees if they switched annuities, which subsequently cost them roughly $250,000.On December 31, 2008, Schrenker’s Indiana state financial adviser’s license expired and authorities raided his home in search of evidence of securities violations. On January 6, 2009, Schrenker was charged in Hamilton County, Indiana with unlawful acts by a compensated adviser and unlawful transaction by an investment adviser, and his bail was set at $4 million.On January 9, he lost $533,500 in a federal court ruling in Maryland against one of his companies.
In addition to Schrenker’s mounting business problems, Schrenker’s wife of 13 years, Michelle, filed for divorce on December 30, 2008.[11] The following day, she told the authorities searching their home that her husband had been having an affair.[13] A press release from her lawyers claims that she had no idea about Marcus’ financial dealings, and their split was solely a result of his infidelities.
In all, at least eight lawsuits were filed against Schrenker in the ten years leading up to his arrest, including slander, interfering with a business relationship, and failing to pay a contractor who worked on one of his homes. There is speculation that Schrenker’s accumulated personal and business problems may have caused his attempt to fake his own death.
Plane crash and manhunt
On January 10, Schrenker traveled to Harpersville, Alabama, in a pickup truck carrying a red Yamaha motorcycle with saddlebags containing money and supplies.He returned to Indiana after placing the motorcycle in a storage facility, telling the owner he would return and retrieve the motorcycle the following Monday.
On January 11, 2009, Schrenker departed in his single-engine Piper Meridian from an airfield in Anderson, Indiana, scheduled to fly to Destin, Florida.[19] Near Birmingham, Alabama, he made a distress call, telling air traffic controllers that his windshield had imploded and he was “bleeding profusely.” He then set the plane to autopilot and parachuted out. The plane flew on, crossing Alabama before ultimately crashing in Santa Rosa County, Florida. Military jets that had been dispatched to intercept Schrenker’s plane discovered it in flight, with its door open and cockpit empty. They followed the plane until it crashed just north of Milton, Florida at about 9:20pm. The plane had flown 200 miles (320 km) on autopilot and crashed 50 to 75 yards from a residential area. Upon inspecting the crash site, police discovered a United States atlas and a national campground directory, both of which had the Florida and Alabama sections torn out.
After parachuting to the ground, Schrenker made his way to a private residence in Childersburg, Alabama, arriving around 2:30am on January 12. Appearing wet from the knees down,he told the resident he had been in a canoeing accident. He received a ride into town, where he made contact with the local police station. Not yet linking Schrenker to the crash, the police brought him to a hotel in Harpersville, where he checked in under a false name and paid for his room with cash. When police returned later that morning, he had fled on foot into nearby woods. Schrenker then traveled to the storage facility where he had earlier located his motorcycle, and then rode the vehicle to a KOA Campground in Quincy, Florida. Without offering his name, he told the owners of the grounds that he was traveling cross country with friends, using cash to purchase a one-night tent site, firewood, and a six pack of Bud Light Lime. He was also given access to the campground’s wireless internet.
On January 12, Schrenker emailed neighbor and friend Tom Britt, stating the crash was “a misunderstanding” and that he had checked into the motel because he was “embarrassed and scared” of returning home.He also said that he would likely “be gone” by the time Britt read the email.The same day, a Hamilton County Superior Court judge froze the assets of both Schrenker and his estranged wife.
Capture
At about 10pm on January 13, officials captured Schrenker in a pup tent at the Quincy campground.The ground’s owners, Troy and Caroline Hastings, grew suspicious when the man had failed to check out by 5pm.Upon approaching Schrenker’s site, Troy Hasting noticed a large red stain on the outer flap of his tent.The couple were soon contacted by the local sheriff, who asked if anything unusual had happened recently at the camp. Mr. Hastings told the officer about the suspicious camper; shortly thereafter, authorities swarmed the campground.
Investigators told the press that he had slashed his left wrist, had an additional self-inflicted wound near his elbow, and was barely conscious. US Marshal Assistant Chief Deputy Frank Chiumento said that Schrenker “wasn’t able to speak very clearly. A lot of the words that he was speaking were unintelligible, but he mentioned ‘die’ at least two times as we were providing medical treatment to him.”[20] He was in a “very incoherent state” and had lost massive amounts of blood by the time authorities first arrived, but paramedics were able to control his bleeding and he was Life-Flighted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.Among the items found at the campground with him were knives, a laptop computer, toiletries, clothes and maps.
Trials
Because Schrenker’s crimes spanned a number of states, including one coastal state, and because the incident involved an aircraft, he may be prosecuted by the United States Coast Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as Indiana, Alabama, and Florida law enforcement.
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He is scheduled to go before a Florida federal judge in Pensacola on January 22, 2009,where he faces two charges: “knowingly and willfully” causing the U.S. Coast Guard to attempt to save his life and property “when no help was needed,” and illegal destruction of an aircraft.He could face 26 years in prison if convicted on both accounts.At the hearing on January 29, Schrenker’s lawyer, Thomas Keith, has claimed his client is mentally incompetent and requested to the judge that he undergo a mental evaluation.Schrenker remains in custody pending an April 13 trial date ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson.
On February 5, 2009, an Alabama circuit court judge granted a $12 million judgment against Schrenker for the 2002 sale of a defective airplane to a man in Dothan, Alabama.
Indiana prosecutors hope to begin his trial in their state as early as April.
On March 6 2009, a letter Marcus Schrenker wrote to the Indiana Attorney General and Indiana Secretary of State was published by the news media. In the letter, Mr. Schernker attempted to proclaim his innocence and unfreeze assets stated to belong to his wife. The unredacted pages of the letter can be found here.
Siena College is an independent Catholic Liberal Arts College located in Colonie, New York. Siena is a four-year, coeducational, independent college in the Franciscan tradition, founded by the Franciscan Friars in 1937. It presently has 3,000 full-time students and offers undergraduate degrees in business, liberal arts, and sciences.
Location
While clearly in the town of Colonie, it is unclear as to which hamlet the college falls within. While the college has a Loudonville, NY ZIP code, there are those who feel Siena actually lies in the hamlet of Newtonville. The college’s mailing address is:
515 Loudon Road Loudonville, NY 12211-1462
Notable alumni
Notable Siena alumni include:
* Charles R. Boutin
* Matt Brady
* Jack Cashill
* Tim Christman
* George Deukmejian
* Michael C. Finnegan
* Harry Flynn
* Roberto González Nieves
* Billy Harrell
* Kathleen M. Jimino
* William J. Kennedy
* Steven Lamy
* Jack Quinn (politician)
* Gerald B. H. Solomon
* Charlie Taaffe
* Ron Vawter
* and the fictional Olivia Benson, a character on the TV drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Olivia Munn (born July 2, 1982 as Lisa Olivia Munn) is an American actress, model and television personality.
She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. However, since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn professionally. Also since 2006, Munn has been one of the faces of the cable network G4, hosting a number of shows for the network, the most prominent being Attack of the Show!, with co-host Kevin Pereira.
Early life
Lisa Olivia Munn was born in Oklahoma to mother Kim Munn and father Sam Munn. She is of Chinese descent on her mother’s side and of Caucasian descent on her father’s.When Munn was two, her mother re-married to a man in the Air Force.Although the family relocated many times, Munn was predominantly raised in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan,where the military assigned her stepfather. During this time, she had appeared in a number of local theater productions, and later became a model within the Japanese fashion industry. She also attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in journalism and minoring in Japanese and dramatic arts.
Munn moved back to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. In 2004, she interned at Fox Sports Net and worked as a sideline reporter for college football and women’s basketball. She has gone on to say that she disliked the experience, explaining “I was trying to be something I wasn’t, and that made me really uncomfortable on live TV.”Munn had also gained a small role in the straight to video horror film Scarecrow Gone Wild. She also stars in the music video Hello Tomorrow by the band Zebrahead.
In late 2005, Munn began her portrayal of Milly Acuna, a teen surfer, over two seasons of the TV drama Beyond the Break[6] on The N network. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport.[7] She originally auditioned for the part of Kai, but the producers wanted a “local girl”.She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.
Attack of the Show!
In 2006, Munn moved on to the G4 network, where she began co-hosting Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on April 10. She was replacement for host Sarah Lane, who left the show along with Brendan Moran to get married. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her “weak point”, she was confident in her technical knowledge.On the show, Munn is featured with journalist Anna David in a segment of the program called “In Your Pants”, which deals with sex and relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, Munn hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net (formerly known as The Daily Nut), for G4.
Munn is a successful model and has booked campaigns for Nike, Pepsi and Neutrogena. She appeared on the Fall 2006 cover of Foam magazine in September, in Men’s Edge magazine in August, and was featured in a pictorial in Complex in November 2006. In February 2007, she appeared as “Babe of the Month” in a non-nude pictorial in Playboy magazine.[10] Munn also appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Men’s Health. In September 2007, she was featured in the Italian Vanity Fair for their “Hot Young Hollywood” Issue.
Munn made her debut in a large Hollywood film in the Rob Schneider movie Big Stan. She plays Schneider’s character’s receptionist Maria. Munn also has a significant role in the 2008 horror film Insanitarium, in which she plays a nurse at an insane asylum.
Personal
She appeared in rock band Zebrahead’s video for their song ‘Hello Tomorrow’ as the love interest of the lead singer Justin Mauriello.
She is a columnist for Complex.
She appeared in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Men’s Health Living.
References
1. ^ a b “Biography for Olivia Munn”. imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1601397/bio. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
2. ^ Tokyo Dance Trooper with G4TV’s Olivia Munn from ZimBio.com
3. ^ a b Olivia Munn. Interview with sjohnson. Just Who is Olivia Munn?. April 7, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
4. ^ “Olivia Munn”. askmen.com. http://www.askmen.com/women/models_300/395c_olivia_munn.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
5. ^ About Olivia Munn, from her website
6. ^ Stephen A. Johnson (April 15, 2006). “AOTS hosts Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn”. g4tv.com. http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/features/53663/AOTS_hosts_Kevin_Pereira_and_Olivia_Munn.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
7. ^ Matt Bean. “Adventure as Aphrodisiac”. menshealth.com. http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=sex.relationships&category=couples&conitem=70f3dce9c5443110VgnVCM20000012281eac____&page=1. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
8. ^ Olivia Munn (November 30, 2006). “Hello TV Land!!”. tvguide.com. http://community.tvguide.com/blog/Celebrity-Blogs/Olivia-Attacks-Blog/700011216. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
9. ^ “Playboy after hours – babe of the month” (February 2007) Playboy, as seen in: “Olivia Munn in Playboy!”. g4tv.com. January 18, 2007. http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/blog/post/672882/Olivia_Munn_in_Playboy.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. .
10. ^ Olivia Munn (January 31, 2007). “Hello TV Land!!”. tvguide.com. http://community.tvguide.com/blog/Celebrity-Blogs/Olivia-Attacks-Blog/700011216. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
11. ^ “Olivia Munn in Zebrahead Music Video”. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epe2dfFwSVo. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
12. ^ “Complex’s New Columnist: Olivia Munn”. Complex. http://www.complex.com/CELEBRITIES/Profiles/Olivia-Munn. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
13. ^ “Olivia Munn in Men’s Health Living”. Men’s Health Living. http://www.menshealthliving.com/learn/My-Bedroom-Olivia-Munn.php. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
As unemployment soared in January, four states’ jobless rates climbed higher than 10%, according to federal data released Wednesday.
In January, 49 states and the District of Columbia recorded month-over-month unemployment rate increases, the Labor Department reported. All 50 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates than the previous year.
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Nonfarm job totals fell in 42 states, increased in 7 states and the District of Columbia, and were unchanged in Vermont.
Only Louisiana’s jobless rate decreased. It fell to 5.1%, 0.4 percentage point lower than the previous month.
The report also included information for Puerto Rico. The U.S. commonwealth’s jobless rate fell 0.5 percentage point from last month, but still stands at a whopping 13%.
The state-by-state unemployment report for January came after the government reported Friday that employers slashed 651,000 jobs across the nation in February and a revised 655,000 jobs in January.
That brought job losses over the last six months to more than 3.3 million. The nation’s unemployment rate in February stood at 8.1%, its highest level in 25 years and up from 7.6% in January.
Wednesday’s report shows jobless rates in several states soared in January, with four surging through the double-digit percentage level. Michigan, South Carolina, Rhode Island and California led U.S. jobless rates.
Leading states: The jobless rate in Michigan led the pack, soaring 1.4 percentage points to 11.6%. The state lost 69,000 jobs.
The auto industry downturn has hammered Detroit – the state’s manufacturing sector accounted for 53,000 of these jobs lost.
Michigan’s current unemployment rate is the highest since May 1984, during another rough time for automakers, said Rick Waclawek, a director at the state’s labor department.
The state with the second-highest rate was South Carolina, where the jobless rate jumped 1.6 percentage points to 10.4%. South Carolina tied with North Carolina and Oregon for the largest month-over-month rate increase.
South Carolina also tied with North Carolina for the largest jobless rate increases from the previous year, at 4.7 percentage points.
The state with the third-highest unemployment rate, Rhode Island, capped a full year of consecutive job losses for the state. Its unemployment rate climbed 0.9 percentage point to 10.3%.
The unemployment rate in California, the nation’s most populous state, was the fourth highest. It climbed 1.4 percentage points to 10.1%.
Lowest rates: Wyoming had the lowest unemployment rate, at 3.7%. That’s a 0.5 percentage point increase from December.
North Dakota’s jobless rate was second lowest. It climbed 0.9 percentage point to 4.2%.
State budget issues: The job losses have weighed on state budgets. When people lose their jobs, they pay less in personal state income tax, they spend less money, and rely more on public-funded programs.
It’s a bitter cocktail for the states. At least 46 of them face shortfalls this year or next, according to Nick Johnson, director of the state fiscal project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
States are leaning on the $140 billion included for them in President Obama’s $787 billion package, which is meant to stimulate the economy and promote job growth.
But that’s only about 40% of states’ combined budget gaps for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the next two years, Johnson said.
Chad Stone, chief economist, said the Center is “pretty confident” the stimulus package will start to have an impact over 2009.
“Given the momentum of the downturn, this money will merely slow the decline rather than turn it around,” Stone said. “It’s going to be hard to see the effect even if it’s working well.”
By Simon Evans
MIAMI, March 12 (Reuters) – Swede Henrik Stenson briefly took the limelight from Tiger Woods when he stripped down to his underwear to play a shot at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral on Thursday.
Stenson’s wayward drive on the third hole landed in muddy terrain near a water hazard and he decided to get down to basics rather than play the rest of his round in muddy clothes.
“I was only wearing two things when I hit the shot, my jocks and my golf glove,” he told reporters.
“Shirt, trousers, socks, shoes, hat, the lot was off.”
“Obviously, playing in Florida I didn’t have any rain gear in the bag, so that option went out of the window and I felt that if I could hack it out, I could secure a five and that is what I did,” said Stenson.
“Because of the mud I couldn’t really afford to play in any of my clothes as they would have been a real mess down the last six or so holes so I had no option.
Stenson said he had no regrets about his unorthodox approach.
“I felt that I would definitely save a shot by actually playing the ball. If you are saving a shot, that has to be worth taking your shirt and trousers off,” he said.
But the 32-year-old said he was expecting some ribbing.
“I’m sure I’ll hear a few comments and once the pictures get out I’ll hear a few more no doubt.
“I’ll probably take that to the grave with me. I don’t think I scared too many spectators off the course…I hope,” he said.
“You never know, I might have a new endorsement with Playgirl or something like that”.
BARNEGAT LIGHT, N.J. – Sure, housing prices are falling. But how’s this for a bargain for a Long Island, N.Y. couple: An iconic beach house, designed by a world famous architect, for just $1.
The catch? They have to pay at least $100,000 to move it on a barge from the Jersey shore to their home.
But that’s just fine with Robert Gotkin and Deborah Sarnoff, who run a husband-and-wife dermatology and plastic surgery practice in New York. They already live in one house designed by architect Robert Venturi, and plan to use the newest addition as a guest cottage.
The house set sail from a marina in Barnegat Light, on Long Beach Island, just before 8 p.m. Thursday and is expected to arrive in Glen Cove, N.Y., Friday afternoon after a 95-mile waterborne trip.
“We’re really excited about this,” said Sarnoff, who began researching Venturi and his work after she and her husband moved into a boat-shaped Venturi home on Long Island. “It became an obsession. He really shook things up and broke a lot of conventional ideas.”
The house Venturi built in Barnegat Light in 1967 is best known for the huge number 9 on its front, and the sailboat-shaped window on one side.
But new owners recently bought the land it sat on, and planned to tear it down to make way for something newer and bigger. They told the architect’s son, Jim Venturi, he could have it for free if he could get it off the land soon.
The Venturis turned to Gotkin and Sarnoff, with whom they had become friendly. They quickly struck a deal and made plans for the voyage.
“This is a wonderful opportunity, that we can get it of the site safely,” said Denise Scott Brown, Venturi’s wife who designed it with him. “It became a campaign for a wonderful house that was designed with lots of love. It’s very unusual; it looks like a little radio rather than a house.”
Robert Venturi said he was concerned that the house might be demolished, but prepared for that possibility.
“Architecture is the most fragile of mediums,” he said. “You don’t repaint a painting or change sculpture, but architecture often is demolished. I’m just glad it worked out.”
The house, which was removed from its original location several weeks ago and stored in a bay-side marina, was jacked up and lifted onto a huge marine barge Thursday morning. Work crews had hoped to have it on its way by 9 a.m., but they delayed the departure to take advantage of more favorable tides on Long Island on Friday.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit plunged in January to the lowest level in six years as a deepening recession cut demand for imported goods at an even faster rate than for exports.
The Commerce Department said Friday the trade imbalance dropped to $36 billion in January, a decline of 9.7 percent from December and the lowest level since October 2002.
The improvement was better than the $38 billion deficit that economists had expected and reflected the fact that crude oil imports dropped to the lowest point in three years and demand for a wide variety of other foreign goods from autos to heavy machinery and household appliances declined.
The import declines helped offset a continued slide in U.S. exports which fell to their lowest level since September 2006, a drop that has contributed to the severe recession in U.S. manufacturing.
For January, exports of goods and services fell 5.7 percent to $124.9 billion. Demand for a wide variety of U.S.-made products from farm goods to autos to civilian aircraft all dropped in January.
Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. are among a number of major U.S. exporting companies that have announced layoffs due to falling demand for their products in key overseas markets.
Imports fell even more sharply in January, declining by 6.7 percent to $160.9 billion, the lowest level for imported goods since March 2005. The decline in imports was led by a 25.2 percent drop in imported crude oil, which fell to $11.9 billion in January, the lowest level since February 2005. The average price for a barrel of crude dropped to $39.81, also the lowest point since February 2005.
America’s deficit with many of its trading partners declined sharply although the politically sensitive imbalance with China bucked the downward trend, rising by 3.5 percent to $20.6 billion. U.S. exports to China plunged by 19.7 percent, a much bigger drop than the 1.3 percent decline in Chinese goods shipped to the United States.
U.S. manufacturing companies who have been battered by what they view as unfair competition from China said that the continued high deficit with China, the largest U.S. trade gap with any nation, pointed to the need for the Obama administration to take a tougher line than the Bush administraiton with China.
“The United States will not be able to jumpstart its economy unless it stops trade cheats like China from decimating U.S. manufacturing,” said Auggie Tantillo, the executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, a group which is pushing the new administration to impose trade sanctions on China.
The overall January deficit of $36 billion, if it continued for the entire year, would result in a deficit of $432 billion for 2010, a drop of 36.5 percent from the $681.1 billion deficit recorded in 2008. That deficit represented a 2.7 percent drop from 2007, the first year that the trade gap had narrowed after setting records for five straight years.
Many economists believe the improvement for this year will be sizable as the country’s most severe recession in decades trims Americans’ appetite for foreign goods.
U.S. exports are also falling as the recession that began in the United States spreads worldwide. However, so far, the drop in imports is larger than the fall in exports, reflecting in large part the fact that oil prices have plummeted from the record levels they hit last year.
The trade deficit has now declined for a record sixth straight month, beating the prior record for declines of five straight drops set in 2007.
By country, the U.S. deficit with Canada, America’s biggest trading partner, dropped by 10.7 percent to $2.5 billion, the lowest imbalance since May 1999. The deficit with Japan fell 18.4 percent to $4.3 billion, the lowest trade gap with that country since January 1998. The deficit with the 27-nation European Union plunged 50.1 percent to $3.5 billion.
Many economists are worried that the spreading global economic weakness could prompt countries to resort to raising trade barriers in an effort to protect their domestic industries.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was meeting in Britain on Friday with finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries, which include the world’s wealthiest economies and major developing countries such as China, Brazil and India. President Barack Obama is pushing the G-20 nations to adopt sizable economic stimulus programs to jump-start their stalled economies. The U.S. Congress recently passed a $787 billion stimulus package that had been championed by Obama.
Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, tapped by Obama to be the nation’s top trade official, told the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing on Monday that his main objective as U.S. trade representative would be to enforce existing law and insist that U.S. trade partners play by the rules.
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The nation owes not only gratitude but tangible assistance to the nation’s military and their families, and she’ll make that a focus of her time in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama says.
Underscoring her commitment to the plight of America’s military families, Mrs. Obama used a trip to Fort Bragg as a stage for her first television interviews since the inauguration. One, with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” aired Friday morning.
In the interview she said she wanted military families to know they have a friend in the White House.
“It hurts. It hurts,” Mrs. Obama said of hearing about military families on food stamps. “These are people who are willing to send their loved ones off to, perhaps, give their lives – the ultimate sacrifice. But yet, they’re living back at home on food stamps. It’s not right, and it’s not where we should be as a nation.”
“I think that’s one of my jobs, is to try and shed some light on some of these issues,” she told ABC, “to not just be in that conversation with military spouses and hear those stories, but to take that information back to the administration to share it with the nation, so that we can think again about how we can better support these families.”
At another point in the interview, Mrs. Obama said she feels optimistic about the economy, notwithstanding the virtual daily grind of bad news.
“We’re at a time when we’re going to have to try a lot of things,” she said. But Mrs. Obama also said she has faith that things will get better and that “our current commander in chief will see us through.”
She called her husband a “focused” and “clear-thinking” man.
On Thursday, soldiers warmly welcomed the first lady to Fort Bragg, a sprawling military base in North Carolina named for a Carolinian, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. The crowd greeted her with applause and cheers and hugs and took pictures with the wife of President Barack Obama. She mingled in a cafeteria and then met privately with military spouses. Later, she read “The Cat in the Hat” to a group of preeschoolers.
But while much of the substantive discussion about policy and the struggles facing military families took place behind closed doors, she used a brief speech in nearby Fayetteville to implore Americans to support the military members in their community.
“Our soldiers and their families have done their duty – and they do it without complaint,” Mrs. Obama said. “And we as a grateful nation must do ours – do everything in our power to honor them by supporting them.”
Though she praised the Fayetteville community for providing a base for soldiers at Fort Bragg, she also noted that soldiers aren’t confined to the nation’s military installations. She asked civilians to seek out the National Guard and Army Reserve personnel in their communities to offer support.
“I encourage everyone out there, within the sound of my voice, to reach out on your own – through schools, PTA, little leagues, churches, workplaces – and find out if there’s a soldier or a soldier’s family right there in the community who needs a little extra support,” she said in her speech. “They’re there. Something as simple as offering help with car pool duty can make the world of difference to a parent who’s trying to hold the family together during a very stressful time.”
Sgt. 1st Class Ashlyn Lewis, 31, of Indianapolis, said it was a remarkable experience to see the first lady in the cafeteria at Fort Bragg. She said the Obamas have a lot of work ahead of them to shore up deficiencies in the military’s medical system.
“Right now the biggest concern would be taking care of the vets, making sure that the people that are coming home are getting the proper medical care – not just for the Iraqi or Afghanistan vets, but also, there are a lot of Vietnam vets who haven’t been receiving the proper care,” Lewis said. “I believe (the Obamas) are headed in the right direction, but it’s going to be a lot of work.”
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