WELCOME TO USA DAILY HOT SEARCHES

WE COLLECT DAILY HOT SEARCHES IN UNITED STATES

USA DAILY HOT SEARCHES

YOU WILL FIND HERE WHAT THE US SEARCHING FOR

Friday, December 6, 2013

Liam Hemsworth Slams Miley Cyrus With the Painful Truth

Liam Hemsworth Slams Miley Cyrus With the Painful Truth 



Been curious about how Liam Hemsworth is coping with his very public split? Well, wonder no more. The Catching Fire star revealed exactly how he feels about life after Miley Cyrus. And to say her threw a major burn her way is a serious understatement.

During an interview with the Associated Press,

These days I feel like I'm more centered and grounded than I've ever been.

Translation: My life was a complete shit show with Miley. He goes on to credit his costar Jennifer Lawrence for helping him through the messy breakup.

For a few years I went down a path where I forgot to be in the moment and enjoy the moment. But being around someone like Jen, who is so honest and laughs all day long, I am forced to be in the right now. I'm much happier.

Oh what a sad turn that relationship took. You may recall that the pair met on the 2010 set of the teen romance The Last Song. But let's be honest here, he really dodged a bullet by breaking up with Miley. It's clear that she has gone off the deep end. It seems in her desperate attempt to shed that cute Disney Hannah Montana image she may be taking things a bit too far.

More from The Stir: Miley Cyrus' Eyebrows Are Back & We Are Officially Confused 

Her trashy twerk-a-thon during the MTV Video Music Awards will go down as the most disturbing performance of all time. And to be clear, it wasn't the grinding alone that pushed it over the top. Her outfit. That tongue. Her attitude. Ugh. That kind of behavior didn't stop when she left the stage. If he wasn't "much happier" without her, that would mean he was as crazy as she is. It seems he's way too grounded for Miley's new world.

How do you think Miley will respond to Liam's diss?



Source : http://thestir.cafemom.com

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Trailer for Noah - Coming soon


Noah



(Paramount Pictures)Release Date: March 28, 2014

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman

 Plot: The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood. 

Genre: Drama, Fantasy

IMDb: tt1959490 

Website: www.noahmovie.com


Our hero! Batkid saves the day in San Francisc

Our hero! Batkid saves the day in San Francisc

SAN FRANCISCO — The day dawned blue and warm. Perfect weather for a robbery. Or so the Penguin thought.



Saving the day while raising the spirits of a major U.S. city was pint-sized Miles Scott, 5. Miles is in remission from leukemia, and, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, managed to turn his obsession with comic book heroes into the real thing. Well, almost. There was no way Penguin was going to get away with anything on Friday.

Thousands of San Franciscans responded to an avalanche of social media blasts, lining the streets wherever Miles and a full-sized Batman swooped into action. At Hyde and Green streets, there was a damsel in distress to rescue, and the bat duo arrived in a Lamborghini with Batman decals. At 550 Montgomery St., a burgled bank vault needed to be liberated. And at Union Square, there was a hamburger to down.

HOLY BIPARTISANSHIP, BATMAN: Obama, politicos root for Batkid to save the day

"This just restores your faith in humanity," said Carmen Kiew, 30, a sports blogger who sat on the steps of Union Square with a handmade sign that read "Gotham's Hero."

"I love that this city came together for a little kid who has been so brave," Kiew said. "Between the police and everyday citizens who felt it was important to show their support, it just makes you feel great."

Behind Kiew, thousands of citizens of Gotham-for-the-Day held up camera phones as they awaited the bat-eared duo's arrival. The bat pair took a lunch break inside Macy's before heading to AT&T Park to foil the Penguin once and for all, and then — of course — would show up at City Hall to get the key to the city from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

Every other T-shirt on Friday seemed to sport the famous Batman logo in support of Miles; some were simply hand-drawn with markers, while others were official Batkid tees, which were sold by uniformed police officers at $20 a pop, with all proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"That poor little kid," said Daniela Vilchis-Lent, 18, who came from Oakland with five relatives, some as young as 2, to cheer Batkid on. "If my taking a little time to be here helps him, then I'm glad to do it."

By all accounts, the groundswell of civic support even caught Make-A-Wish by surprise. When a local social marketing company reached out a few weeks ago, asking what the foundation's plan was to spread the word about Miles, "They honestly didn't have a plan and were happy for the help," says Stefania Pomponi, founder of the Clever Girls Collective.

Pomponi and her staff promptly contacted Twitter, which provided the @SFBatKid handle. Then things blew up, in the way that online viruses can.

"It wasn't long before we were getting e-mails and tweets from all over the world, people saying that they were so glad they could participate in this event thanks to social media," said Pomponi. "It's been amazing. It's truly developed a life of its own."

Miles, who lives in Tulelake in far Northern California, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 18 months old, ended treatments in June and is now in remission.

His father, Nick Scott, thanked the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation and the estimated 7,000 people who were helping make his son's wish come true.

"All the doctors, nurses and all the other parents that have to deal with the same thing we're going through. I hope they get a conclusion to their illnesses like we're getting," Nick Scott told KGO-TV.

Make-A-Wish has fulfilled similar wishes across the country. In Anaheim, a child became Batman's sidekick, Robin; and in Seattle a child was a secret agent, said Jen Wilson, a spokeswoman for the local organization.

By the time Batkid, wearing a movie-ready mini-Caped Crusader costume, showed up at City Hall after saving San Francisco Giants mascot Lou Seal from the clutches of his nemesis, the gathered masses could not contain their excitement. Thousands roared as Scott made his up onto a platform; his even smaller brother was, fittingly, dressed as Robin. Everywhere, nothing but a sea of people with arms raised, cell phones in hand.

"Today, November 15, 2013, is Batkid day forever," said Mayor Lee, as Scott chomped away on gum in front of a faux front page of the Gotham City Chronicle, whose headline blared, "Batkid Saves City". "You won our hearts with your story ... it's been a day of magic."

The mayor then cautioned Batkid that even though he'd soon be returning to his home, "we might need to have to signal for your help."

A little recuperation might be in order first. A planned interview with Batkid was scotched at the last minute, with a member of the Batkid retinue explaining that the five-year-old was hitting his wall. It seems even superheroes need a nap.


Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologises for oral-sex remarks

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologises for oral-sex remarks


Flanked by his wife, Renata, in a city hall news conference, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologised for his graphic remarks

roubled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has apologised for obscene comments he made on live TV while denying he had offered oral sex to a female staff member.

The Canadian politician used what he called "unforgivable language", in remarks to reporters.

He also threatened to take legal action against former employees who made claims about his drinking and drug use.

It is the latest scandal to engulf 44-year-old Mr Ford, who last week admitted smoking crack cocaine.

Police documents released on Wednesday quoted Ford associates as saying that the mayor had driven drunk, used racially abusive language, threatened staff, consorted with a woman suspected of being a prostitute and made a sexual proposition to a female staff member.

'Particularly disappointing'

On Thursday morning, he told reporters the allegations were "outright lies", although he conceded he might have driven after taking alcohol.

However, reporters were left gasping by his profane outburst as he denied having once offered oral sex to a former female employee.

The father of two young children said that he was "happily married" and crudely commented that he enjoyed enough oral sex at home.

Later on Thursday, Mr Ford was flanked by his wife, Renata, as he expressed regret for the "graphic" language, the latest in a string of apologies.

He said his integrity as a father and husband had been attacked, prompting him to "see red".

"I acted on complete impulse in my remarks," he said.

Mr Ford also announced he was getting help from healthcare professionals.

The erratic mayor was wearing a Toronto Argonauts jersey when he made the sexually charged comments.

The Canadian Football League team said in a statement: "These latest remarks, while wearing our team's jersey, are particularly disappointing."

'Stubborn, pig-headed'
Councillor Karen Stintz later said the city had suspended all school trips to city hall indefinitely because staff deemed it unsafe.

Meanwhile, many of the 44-member city council turned their backs on the mayor as he addressed political matters.

"This is one of the most stubborn, pig-headed people I think we have ever seen," said Councillor Janet Davis.

"He seems to have no self-awareness, no core of moral character. It is stunning."

In his initial remarks on Thursday, the mayor had vowed legal action against his former chief of staff and two other aides over allegations they made to police, detailed in legal papers released on Wednesday.

The police interviews were conducted to obtain a search warrant for Alexander Lisi, Mr Ford's friend and occasional driver, whom police accuse of marijuana possession and trafficking.

The mayor also threatened litigation against a waiter who said he believed Mr Ford and a woman had snorted cocaine in a private room at a restaurant on St Patrick's Day 2012.

On Wednesday, the city council voted 41-2 requesting he take leave, but they have no authority to remove him. Mr Ford has vowed to stay on and run for re-election in October 2014.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne suggested the provincial government could intervene, as she made a televised statement on Thursday.

"The things we are seeing and hearing about Mayor Rob Ford are truly disturbing," she said.

But it was not all bad news for the conservative mayor, who was elected in 2010 on a pledge to tackle wasteful spending at city hall.

It was announced that Mr Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, would get their own TV talk show next Monday, entitled Ford Nation.

The deal with Sun News Network follows last week's cancellation of the brothers' popular weekly radio show with a local broadcaster.


Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million





The African-American comedy could come much closer to "Thor: The Dark World" than expected.

Malcolm D. Lee's sequel The Best Man Holiday -- opening nearly 15 years after the first film -- could approach or cross $33 million in its North American debut, vastly exceeding expectations.

The Universal comedy is pacing to gross $13 million or more on Friday, possibly eclipsing Thor: The Dark World for the day, although Thor 2 is still tipped to stay at No. 1 in its second weekend with a gross north of $37 million.
Thor 2 could approach $450 million in global ticket sales by the end of the weekend -- catching up with the entire gross of the first Thor ($449.3 million) in another major victory for Disney and Marvel Studios' Avengers universe.
From Universal, Best Man Holiday -- projected to top out at $20 million -- sees Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Monica Calhoun and Melissa De Sousa reprising their roles. The first film, opening to $9 million in 1999, is credited with helping to usher in the era of aspirational African-American comedies.
Black films have been making strong gains at the North American box office, with Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniels' The Butler and 12 Years a Slave all overperforming. Those movies -- all dramas -- are drawing a mixed audience, while Best Man Holiday is expected to play primarily to African-Americans, similar to Tyler Perry's pics.
Universal spent a modest $17 million to make the sequel, which Lee produced with Sean Daniel.
This weekend was supposed to have seen the debut of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, but Paramount pushed the film to Christmas Day in order for Scorsese to trim the running time.
STORY: 'Best Man Holiday’ Cast Reveals Favorite Holiday Traditions at Premiere
High-profile openings at the specialty box office include Alexander Payne's awards entry Nebraska, starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte. Paramount is opening the critically acclaimed film festival darling in New York and Los Angeles.
Also debuting in select theaters is Charlie Countryman, starring Shia LaBeouf opposite Evan Rachel Wood. Millennium Films is distributing the movie domestically.
Fox 2000's The Book Thief, opening last weekend in New York and L.A., expands into an additional seven markets.
STORY: 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire': 5 Most Anticipated Scenes
Next weekend, the 2013 holiday season gets underway in earnest with the release of Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The sequel is poised to turn into an instant blockbuster, with bullish box-office observers saying it could open to a mammoth $170 million domestically (the first film debuted to $152.5 million in March 2012).
Catching Fire is rolling out early in Brazil, where it opens this weekend. It will open in most international markets next weekend, timed to its North American launch.


Source : http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

Friday, November 15, 2013

iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending Nov. 15

iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending Nov. 15
iPhone big screen or big screens, curvaceous, and pressured



Fortunately for the iOSphere, Bloomberg found a “person familiar with Apple’s plans” to spill the beans and provide a week’s worth of rumor cud-chewing over the iPhone 6 display.

While many iOSpherians are convinced that the iPhone 6 will have a bigger display and a curved display, there is Deep Uncertainty about how big, or which way the curve will, you know, curve.

But let’s not quibble. This one source, in a story written by two reporters, was also familiar with Apple’s plans to introduce not one but two Bigger Screened iPhone 6 handsets. Thanksgiving Day has come early this year.

You read it here second.

“I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Apple is investigating curved displays… That doesn't mean, however, that just because Apple looked at something that they're going to release it.”

Avi Greengart, analyst, Current Analysis

“Analyst Debunks Curved Display On iPhone 6 Release Date”

Kristin Dian Mariano, International Business Times, with the iOSpherian translation of Greengart’s commonsense observation.

iPhone 6 will have two screen sizes, curved “glass,” and maybe pressure sensors

Talk about a cornucopia of Innovation, eh?  This abundance of information overflows from a Bloomberg story, “Apple Said Developing Curved iPhone Screens, New Sensors,” by Tim Culpan and Adam Satariano.

And where did it come from you ask? From “a person familiar with the plans.” Or, as experienced iOSpherians like to say, a PFWP.

Maybe they caught Tim Cook or Phil Schiller when he was in a chatty mood in an elevator. Or maybe they talked to the drycleaner of the next door neighbor of the best friend of a coworker who has a cousin who plays online games with an engineer who overheard an Apple designer talking to someone before the subway door closed. But somebody who’s not just anybody.

[IPHONEYS: The iPhone 6 edition]

“Two models planned for release in the second half of next year would feature larger displays with glass that curves downward at the edges, said the person, declining to be identified because the details aren’t public. Sensors that can distinguish heavy or light touches on the screen may be incorporated into subsequent models, the person said.

BGR’s Zach Epstein argues in his post on the Bloomberg story that the phrasing “with glass that curves downward at the edges” is not a reference to a curved displays “but rather that the glass covering the panels will be curved.” Which doesn’t clarify much: does he mean the display is flat but it’s covered with a convex glass cover? Or that the glass cover is flat but it curves down over the edge of the phone?

Curved screens – both convex and concave - have been an obsession with the iOSphere for months, even years, though with little analysis on how or why curving the screen, or the “glass,” actually improves the phone. The obsession has been intensified by Samsung’s Galaxy Round smartphone, which curves upward from the two sides, and the just-announced LG G Flex, which curves upward from the top and bottom.

The latter design at least has the sense to mimic traditional wired handset designs going back 70 years, as shown in this Wikipedia image of a rotary phone from the 1940s.

The Bloomberg reporters suggest that perhaps it’s a curved BIG screen that’s vital to Apple’s future, because the Galaxy Round is Samsung’s “latest phone in an array of sizes and price points that’s helping keep Samsung ahead of Apple in global market share.” The PFWP says the screens will measure 4.7 and 5.5 inches, which would make them, as Culpan and Satariano astutely point out, “Apple’s largest iPhones,” since the current 5S and 5C measure just 4.0 inches.

It “seems rather curious that Apple would introduce two new displays sizes at the same time,” posted a skeptical John Gruber at his DaringFireball blog.  “Apple has only introduced one new iPhone display size since 2007, but they’re going to introduce two at the same time next year? That smells fishy to me.”

Bloomberg’s PFWP didn’t have much to say about the new pressure sensors, which apparently are intended to detect how firmly someone is pressing on the screen and then do…well  something very cool and magical as a result.

The PFWP did add “that the company probably would release [the new phones] in the third quarter of next year.” A person familiar not only with plans but probabilities.

iPhone 6 won’t have a curved display

Or maybe it won’t not have one. It’s hard to tell from reading InternationalBusinessTimes.com.

The headline of Kristin Dian Mariano’s post is emphatically assertive: “Analyst Debunks Curved Display On iPhone 6 Release Date”

Yet the post’s first sentence changes that completely: “Apple may not show off a curved display on iPhone 6 release date, according to an analyst.”

The analyst is Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, who is simply making the utterly common sense observation that Apple, like other companies, creates a whole bunch of ideas, tests many of them out, throws most of them out, and finally eventually comes up with improved or new products.

“I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Apple is investigating curved displays and any other component coming on to the scenes. That's what Apple does. Apple tests things out internally to see if they make sense,” Greengart is quote in Mariano’s post. “That doesn't mean, however, that just because Apple looked at something that they're going to release it. They probably have watches, glasses, hover boards, and who knows what else just to see what it's like.”

In short, he’s admitting “I have no idea whether they’re planning to have a curved display on iPhone 6.” In Mariano’s skilled hands this becomes “analyst debunks curved display on iPhone 6.”


Source : http://www.networkworld.com/

Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic split stunt goes viral

Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic split stunt goes viral



Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme was featured in a Volvo Trucks ad where he performed an epic slipt between two trucks. VPC




"Epic" is the word being used to describe a new Jean-Claude Van Damme video.

"Mind-blowing" is another.

The action star does the splits between two Volvo trucks in a new ad that went up on YouTube on Wednesday and already has been viewed more than 6 million times.

"I've had my ups and downs. My fair share of bumpy roads and heavy winds. That's what made me what I am today," says Van Damme, 53, in a voice-over at the start of the video. "Now I stand here before you. What you see is a body crafted to perfection."

As the camera pulls back, Van Damme is seen standing on the rear-view mirrors of two side-by-side trucks. The trucks are moving backward on an empty chunk of highway.

Van Damme says he has "a pair of legs engineered to defy the laws of physics, and a mind-set to master the most epic of splits."

And then the two trucks slowly move apart as they travel in reverse, with Van Damme's legs spreading with them. This continues until Van Damme is in a complete split.

The film was designed to show the stability of Volvo steering, explains Jan-Inge Svensson, the engineer behind the development of the system's software at Volvo Trucks, on the Volvo website. "The stability and control are so good that you can reverse a truck over a long distance with very high precision, which is exactly what we've had to do in this film. It had to be perfect — right down to the last centimeter."


Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

Leonardo DiCaprio had a piece of Warrant's 'Cherry Pie' vixen Bobbie Brown: memoir

Leonardo DiCaprio had a piece of Warrant's 'Cherry Pie' vixen Bobbie Brown: memoir 


In a new tell-all book Brown recalled a tryst she had with DiCaprio when he was 19-years-old.



Leonardo DiCaprio is a hot topic in  Warrant's 'Cherry Pie' vixen Bobbie Brown: memoir.
Some intimate details of Leonardo DiCaprio's sex life has been revealed in a new memoir.

Bobbie Brown, who is best known for starring in Warrant's racy “Cherry Pie” music video in 1990, said she got up close and personal with the A-list actor when he was 19-years-old.

Leonardo DiCaprio, pictured here1993 supposedly had a tryst with Brown in the early 90s.
ROSE HARTMAN/GETTY IMAGES


Leonardo DiCaprio, pictured here1993 supposedly had a tryst with Brown in the early 90s.

"I unbuttoned his jeans and tugged down on his boxers. (What) I saw made me gasp. It made no sense. The kid put Tommy Lee to shame," the model wrote in her book "Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on the Sunset Strip" (via the Daily Mail).

RELATED: LEONARDO DICAPRIO, VICTORIA'S SECRET MODEL TONI GARRN VISIT VERSAILLES



Bobbie Brown in Warrant's video for 'Cherry Pie.'
WARRANTVEVO

Bobbie Brown in Warrant's video for 'Cherry Pie.'

After DiCaprio met Brown at the VIP lounge of the Grand Ville club in Hollywood in the early 90s the pair supposedly went back to her house, put on TLC's hit song "Waterfalls" and began to get undressed.

Brown, who was in her mid-twenties at the time shared that DiCaprio asked her if she had been tested for sexually transmitted diseases.



Bobbie Brown rose to fame after she was in Warrant's video for 'Cherry Pie.'
WARRANTVEVO

Bobbie Brown rose to fame after she was in Warrant's video for 'Cherry Pie.'

"So Bobbie, do you have any diseases? Also what about gonorrhea? Have you been tested for that?" she shared.

RELATED: GEORGE CLOONEY TAKES JABS AT RUSSELL CROWE, LEONARDO DICAPRIO



The cover for 'Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on the Sunset Strip' by Bobbie Brown.
GALLERY BOOKS

The cover for 'Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on the Sunset Strip' by Bobbie Brown.

“Waves of satisfaction rippled through my body. If only Tommy Lee could see me now," she continued in the tell-all referring to her famous ex that reportedely left her for Pamela Anderson.

"He was a unicorn. Rare, innocent, and horny. Me, on the other hand, I'd been engaged, married and had given birth. I needed a man, not a man-child."

Brown, who had been married to Warrant lead singer Jani Lane for three years, said she cut her tryst with “The Great Gatsby” star short and did not sleep with him.

She claimed the reason was because he made her feel uncomfortable that she was older than him.

The now 44-year-old blond’s book is filled with pages discussing her battle with drugs and several accounts of the many men in Hollywood that she dated.



Source : http://www.nydailynews.com

After discovery, mystery of McStay family's disappearance deepens

After discovery, mystery of McStay family's disappearance deepens




After the family vanished in 2010, investigators had no answers. Now they hope the family's remains will tell them what happened.



Nearly four years ago, the McStays left their snug home in suburban San Diego County on a chilly February evening. Piling into their Isuzu Trooper, parents Joseph and Summer and young sons Gianni and Joseph Jr. left behind two dogs, two bowls of popcorn and, soon, a mystery.

Their car turned up four days later in the parking lot of a mini-mall near the Mexican border, with a few birthday toys for one of the boys tossed in back. But there was no sign of the McStays.

Some 1,374 days later and about 100 miles to the north, San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies uncovered the skeletal remains of the parents and two small bodies believed to be their boys, authorities said Friday. An off-road motorcyclist had noticed a few scattered bones four days earlier, near what turned out to be a pair of shallow graves on the edge of the desert outside Victorville.

After years of false leads and purported sightings from around the nation and into Mexico, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon put part of the mystery to rest when he announced that the four McStays were homicide victims. But the sheriff said it would take more investigation before detectives would have any hope of saying how or why the family died.

"It's not really the outcome we were looking for," Joseph McStay's brother, Michael, said, pausing at the podium of a San Bernardino news conference as he began to cry. "But it gives us courage to know they're together and they're in a better place."

The brother described the "tough road" his family has endured and asked the media to give them space for grieving. A half dozen relatives sat nearby, holding back tears, several wearing dark glasses.

From the time the family disappeared in February 2010, detectives in San Diego County said they were baffled by the case. The 40-year-old husband and his wife, 43, appeared to have no enemies. Joseph McStay appeared to have plenty of work at his business, Earth Inspired Products, which installed water fountains.

The lead investigator in the case, Troy DuGal, said he found no signs of forced entry or a struggle at the McStays' home on a cul-de-sac in Fallbrook. A surveillance camera from a nearby home indicated the parents and their two boys, 3 and 4 years old, had left on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, at 7:47 p.m.

No one reported a trace of them until the following Monday, when security guards at the small shopping center in San Ysidro found the SUV. They had the car towed, seemingly just another one belonging to the visitors who illegally parked in the lot before taking the pedestrian overcrossing into Mexico.

The Isuzu yielded no significant clues. Investigators wondered if the McStays had simply walked over the border. That theory gained some traction when video from a surveillance camera at the border revealed pictures of a man and woman, each holding the hand of a small boy.

Family members looked at the video. The woman wore clothing that looked like it could be Summer's — a white, fur-lined jacket and Ugg boots. But the man seemed too tall and slender to be Joseph.

An FBI forensic lab had picked through the family computers and found other possible hints of an impending trip to Mexico. Someone had searched: "What documents do children need for traveling to Mexico?" Another search indicated a possible interest in Spanish lessons.

But others close to the family said the McStays had talked about how the drug wars in Mexico made travel there too dangerous. They were sure the parents never would have gone voluntarily, especially with their boys.

"My son didn't walk away," Joseph's father, Patrick McStay, said Thursday. "They didn't walk into Mexico. They would never do that."

The disappearance of an entire family is a rare event. Of the 1 million people reported missing each year, 95% turn up within 24 hours. But the chances of being found decline with each passing day.

The case attracted big media attention. Each time another TV program aired pictures of the McStays, tips would flow in. Someone thought they spotted Summer at an Ikea in Burbank. Another report put the family at a restaurant in Mexico.

The leads came to nothing, but DuGal soon had four binders filled with evidence, each 4 inches thick. Still, family and friends could not come up with an explanation, or a motive that made any sense.

Jesi Silveria, a friend of Summer McStay's, recalled their conversations in the days leading up to the disappearance. The family had moved into the Fallbrook home just a few months earlier. The friends talked about remodeling and a new garden.

"There was a lot of happiness for them," Silveria said Friday. "There was this larger space for their children and their animals to grow into.... We are all heartbroken over what has happened."

It was about 10 a.m. Monday when sheriff's deputies got the report from the off-road biker. He didn't know if the bones he found were animal or human, but he felt compelled to report them.

Investigating a tumbleweed-strewn patch of desert near Quarry Road, within sight of Interstate 15, the deputies found two graves, about 2 feet deep and 20 feet apart. It appeared the remains had been there for "an extended period of time" and that animals had scattered some of the bones while leaving most of the skeletons intact.

Dental records helped identify the bodies of Joseph and Summer. The Department of Justice will conduct DNA analysis to confirm that the other bodies are Gianni and Joseph Jr.

Investigators also found clothing with the remains, though they declined to describe it or to say much else. McMahon would say only that there was "evidence at the scene that will help complete the investigation."

Patrick McStay has long complained that San Diego investigators should have done more, saying he was "livid" at the "inept" investigation. But he also acknowledged that his fury had bolstered his spirit: "By being mad, by going after, by trying to find out what happened to my family -- trying to get people to listen -- that's what keeps me going."

Friends began sending him links to stories about the discovery on Thursday. He had a hunch early on. "I got a cold chill," McStay said, "and I knew it was them."

Times staff writer Scott Kraft contributed to this report.




Source : http://www.latimes.com/

Neurological tests led Dario Franchitti to retire

Neurological tests led Dario Franchitti to retire



"A repeat of that kind of concussion could be serious," team owner says.


INDIANAPOLIS — Dario Franchitti couldn't risk another head injury, his IndyCar Series team owner said Friday.

"A repeat of that kind of concussion could be serious," Chip Ganassi said in a conference call.

Franchitti suffered a concussion in his Oct. 6 crash in Houston, and while specifics of his injury haven't been revealed, Ganassi said recent neurological tests in Miami led doctors to advise retirement.

Franchitti, who is in Scotland, has not been reached for comment. But he said in a press release Thursday that head and spinal injuries suffered in the crash — in which his car went airborne into a catchfence on the last lap and landed back on the track -- forced him to stop racing.

FRANCHITTI: Shocks motor sports world with retirement

INDYCAR: Suffers blow with Franchitti's retirement

Ganassi said Franchitti was "heartbroken" to give the news, saying that the telephone call he received from the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time IndyCar Series champion sounded different than all other conversations he's had with him.

"His voice was different, his demeanor was different," Ganassi said. "He was certainly heartbroken. He's a bit of a realist about it, too. I went through all the obvious questions. He said, 'Look, I don't want to go forward. I'd never want to go forward and risk hurting somebody else or risk further injury, much less hurt somebody else.' He wouldn't dare risk giving a black eye to the sport or something by trying some sort of end around. That was out of the question. He respects professionals."

Franchitti had two surgeries on his broken ankle, one in Houston and one in Indianapolis, before traveling in the last two weeks to Miami to see IndyCar consultant Steve Olvey. The 40-year-old Franchitti then returned home to Scotland to continue his recovery.

He was in Scotland when he was advised to stop. Olvey, the associate professor of Clinical Neurology/Neurosurgery at the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine, told RACER.com that Franchitti has suffered three concussions since 2002 and the one at Houston "was a big one, a significant concussion.

"He's got a higher risk for future concussions with less energy involved in a crash," Olvey told RACER. "And, as we've seen in pro football, repeated concussions can lead to early dementia, so he's got to think of his future. It's just too great a risk to take."

Ganassi said Franchitti will heal.

"Medically he has been told he'll make a 100 percent recovery, we've been told that from day one," Ganassi said. "These are all injuries that are recoverable. I don't want anybody thinking he's maimed for life."



11-15-2013 dario franchitti walker
In this photo provided by Team Chip Ganassi Racing, IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti, poses with his dogs, Shug and Buttermilk, in a photo taken by his brother, Marino Franchitti, at Memorial Hermann-
Texas Medical Center in Houston, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013.(Photo: Marino Franchitti, AP)

Continuing against the recommendation of experts "is not even close to his style," Ganassi said.

NASCAR: Mandates baseline concussion testing in '14

REPORT: Calls for action on concussions among kids

Baseline testing in NASCAR

Franchitti's retirement was still reverberating through the sport. Jimmie Johnson, who goes for his sixth NASCAR championship Sunday, said he feels horrible for his good friend.

"In one light, it shows just how bad his crash was. I'm just happy he is in good health," Johnson said. "My heart goes out to him from the perspective of having racing taken from him before it was time. That's got to be so tough to deal with. Everyone wants to walk away on their terms."

Franchitti's mentor, Jackie Stewart, said the four-time IndyCar champion is exiting on top and will be an asset outside of the car.

"There's not much more he could achieve in American motor racing," Stewart said at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin. "I think he's one of the real players in the business. He's got a strong future in front of him because of the success he's achieved in racing. Sad for motor racing because he's a great asset to us: A great looking guy, very eloquent and he's very fast."

Franchitti could also be the unofficial face of the importance of baseline concussion testing in racing.

NASCAR is mandating the testing beginning next season, in part because of the two concussions Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered last year. Earnhardt Jr. missed two races while recovering.

NASCAR will use the ImPACT test to measure verbal and visual memory, processing speed and reaction time, and determine if a driver is medically able to race following a concussion.

NASCAR President Mike Helton did not say Friday that Franchitti's injury validated NASCAR's decision to implement the testing. But he acknowledged the industry takes note when a champion driver has to get out of the car. Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart has been out since August with a broken leg, and Denny Hamlin missed several races earlier this year with a fractured vertebra.

"I think it has a huge effect on all of the motorsports industry when a caliber of driver like Dario says he's not going to get back in the car," Helton said.

Defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski has been outspoken in his opposition of the testing, which has long been required in IndyCar.

"Doctors don't understand our sport. They never have. Doctors aren't risk takers. We are," Keselowski has said. "That's what makes our sport what it is. When you get doctors involved, you water down our sport."

While not asked specifically about Keselowski, Ganassi referenced his stance while supporting the testing.

"Let's just say I'm probably 180 degrees different than the current NASCAR champion feels about having doctors around, their input," he said. "That statement comes from experiences that I've had personally. To break a bone is one thing, or to have a surgical procedure is another.

"But when it comes to your head, I think it's important that everybody understands that's probably the least known area of expertise by any doctor, and certainly there's a lot of expertise out there. They're just in the last four or five years understanding what injuries and implications of those injuries are."

Who will replace Franchitti at TGR?

As for Franchitti's replacement in the Target-sponsored No. 10 car, Ganassi conceded that Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan, who was signed to the team before Franchitti's accident, will be a candidate. The team is committed to fielding four cars, he said, with IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon driving the No. 9 car and Charlie Kimball the No. 83.

Ganassi said hiring a young driver is something team officials will consider in the coming weeks, but he seemed more likely to follow the advice of longtime friend and former staff member Morris Nunn, who often said, "You need to take the best driver available and don't think about anything else."

"I would love the opportunity to give a young guy a chance," Ganassi said. "I think there are better places for young people to come into the sport than into that 10 car.

"Whoever fills that seat not only has obviously big shoes, if not the biggest shoes to fill in the sport, but you're also somebody that has to be a huge teammate and able to help Scott Dixon, as well, and Kanaan and Charlie.

One former IndyCar champion who has said he is not interested in replacing Franchitti is Sam Hornish Jr.

Hornish, who won IndyCar championships in 2001, '02 and '06, said Target Chip Ganassi Racing reached out to his representatives this week but he is committed to remaining in NASCAR. Hornish will battle Austin Dillon for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I expressed I was very grateful even for the call," Hornish said Friday. "A door opens and the reason still stands to not do it. It's just any time I've had a thought or thought about that at all, it's been like very minimal.

"I've said it a million times: I did everything over there that I wanted to do, and way more. The only goal I had when I started racing was to go to the Indianapolis 500. I look at that as a chapter in my life."

This story was compiled from Curt Cavin, who writes for the Indianapolis Star, and the Associated Press.


Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

PS4 launch review roundup: How are the console and the games?

PS4 launch review roundup: How are the console and the games?




The Playstation 4 has landed, the midnight releases are over, games are being played, and now the hype turns to critical review. All of the pre-release marketing, as persuasive as it may have been, ends up meaning nothing if the console doesn't please the Playstation faithful and persuade others to buy the console. So is the PS4 worth your $399?

As with many next-generation consoles, reviewers seem to agree that the PS4’s technical capabilities are sound -- though the system still has plenty of hurdles left ahead if Sony wants to re-create the massive success of the earlier PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

Los Angeles Times games critic Todd Martens praised the console’s appearance, its efforts to integrate social functions, such as recording and sharing gameplay footage with friends, and its ease of installation. But a glaring problem remains.

"Whereas the PS4 was fast and relatively painless to hook up -- the system went from out-of-the-box to operational in about 20 minutes, -- the system lacks must-have content, therefore an initial 'wow' moment," Martens wrote.

PHOTOS: PlayStation 4 launch, midnight mania

Others have similar praise, and concerns.

“The PS4 is packed with gaming-focused features and brimming with future-looking, community-driven possibilities,” Entertainment Weekly's Matt Cabral said.

“The Playstation 4 has an excellent controller, decently powerful hardware, some intriguing, well-executed new features and an interface that shows belated acknowledgment of some of Sony’s most user-unfriendly past designs,” Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland wrote.

But at the end of the day, it comes down to games, and the PS4’s launch lineup, particularly its exclusives, isn’t exactly wowing critics.

Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo expressed excitement about the console’s potential, but as he wrote in his ongoing review: “I just wish the launch games were better.”

Flagship first-person shooter “Killzone: Shadow Fall” has been featured prominently in pre-release promotions, and the game has been widely praised for its visual leap forward. But critics are finding, underneath the sheen, significant problems.

“For all the next-gen bluster of its visuals and the repeated blunt-force attempts to ram a message home, [developer] Guerilla’s first shot on the PS4 retreads shooter cliches, and poorly,” wrote Polygon’s Arthur Gies.

“Knack,” a game geared toward younger audiences, has met with even harsher criticism.

“Whether you’re 5 or 25, Knack is boring throughout its 10-hour duration,” GameTrailers said in its review.

REVIEW: Is the PS4 worth your money?

The PS4’s launch lineup is rife with other high-profile installments in the “Call of Duty,” “Battlefield” and “Assassin’s Creed” series -- but those same titles, barring some graphical differences, are already available, or soon will be, on the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PCs.

The lack of must-play titles is common with new consoles, though some shake off that problem sooner than others. Sony, whose Playstation 3 was plagued by the “PS3 has no games” meme early on in the last generation, appears aware that much of its upcoming fight with Microsoft will be decided by whether it can follow through with top-notch titles.

After all, as Martens wrote: "Followers of the PS3 know that the system’s best games were not among the initial wave, and Sony cemented its deserved game-first reputation in 2013."

During its launch event Thursday night, Sony teased several titles, some of which will be exclusive to the PS4, including new installments in the popular “Uncharted” and “inFAMOUS” series and exclusive content from “Destiny.”

Watch the trailers below and see if those titles are enough to persuade you to be an early adopter, or wait a year or two for the PS4 library to grow.


Source : http://www.latimes.com/

Thursday, November 14, 2013

4 Marines killed in Camp Pendleton accident

4 Marines killed in Camp Pendleton accident




Marine Corps says accident took place during range maintenance operation on the base.


Four Marines were killed Wednesday in what the military described as a range accident at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The Marine Corps said the accident took place during a range maintenance operation around 11 a.m. on the base along the Pacific Coast north of San Diego.

Lt. Ryan Finnegan, a base spokesman, said the accident came during regularly scheduled maintenance of the Zulu impact area, where artillery, mortar and aerial bombs strike during training exercises. Area Zulu is near the center of the sprawling, 125,000-acre base.

Camp spokesman Cpl. Michael Iams said there were no other injuries. NBC News reported that the accident involved the detonation of unexploded ordnance.

The names of the dead and the units they were assigned to were not immediately announced pending notification of families.

"We offer our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the families of the Marines lost today in this tragic accident," said Brig. Gen. John Bullard, commanding general, Marine Corps Installations West-Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. "Our first priority is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time.''

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Jim Michaels in Washington; Gary Strauss in McLean, Va.


Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

Officials say 4 Marines killed in accident at Camp Pendleton

Officials say 4 Marines killed in accident at Camp Pendleton


Four U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday during a range maintenance operation at Camp Pendleton in California, the base said in a press release.

The base did not provide any other details on what it called a “fatal incident,” but said it would release the names of those killed after their families were notified. 

The Marines were clearing the range of unexploded ordnance, and it was not a live firing range, a Marine official said. No further details were released.

"We offer our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the families of the Marines lost today in this tragic accident. Our first priority is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time," said Brig. Gen. John W. Bullard, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

The base said the cause of the accident is under investigation, and more information will be released as it becomes available.

The deaths come about eight months after a mortar explosion killed seven Marines during a live-fire training exercise in Nevada.

A military investigation determined human error was to blame for that accident. According to the probe's findings, a Marine operating a 60 mm mortar tube and ammunition did not follow correct procedures, resulting in the detonation of a high explosive round at the mortar position.

The investigation also determined that the mortar team involved in the accident had not conducted "appropriate preparatory training."


Source :http://www.foxnews.com

Andy Kaufman still alive, claims 'daughter'

Andy Kaufman still alive, claims 'daughter'




Comedian Andy Kaufman, who died nearly 30 years ago, is still alive – that's according to a 24-year-old woman claiming to be his daughter.

She says her father faked his own death in 1984 to be a stay-at-home dad.

More a performance artist than a comedian, Kaufman wanted his audiences to question reality.

The entertainer died suddenly from cancer in 1984, but ever since there have been rumours that his death was an elaborate hoax.


At the annual Kaufman Awards this week  his brother Michael brought along a young woman, who told the crowds she was Andy Kaufman's daughter and that her father is still alive.

It's not the first time someone has claimed Kaufman as their father.

One story was that his long-lost son tracked him down in Albuquerque and posted a video online after Kaufman shunned him.  Whoever posted the video claims the footage shows Kaufman walking through a parking lot in New Mexico.

But the latest claims by the woman calling herself Andy Kaufman's daughter are by far the strongest.

She even said he had considered going to the awards that night - but backed out at the last minute.


Source : http://www.3news.co.nz

HackPrinceton site What Would I Say passes 1 million hits, gains national attention

HackPrinceton site What Would I Say passes 1 million hits, gains national attention



“We lured a girl into the Large Hadron Collider.”

“Herman Cain has already received a carefully groomed mustache.”

“We tried to eat our spectacular students.”

These are just three examples of the randomly generated non sequiturs produced by What Would I Say, a website developed by seven Princeton graduate students during last weekend’s HackPrinceton event. The website, which generates fake, semi-coherent Facebook statuses based on a user’s prior Facebook activity, has gone viral, receiving over 1 million hits from 300,000 unique visitors. The site was featured in The New Yorker and Business Insider.

Pawel Przytycki GS, Ugne Klibaite GS, Vicky Yao GS, Edward Young GS, Bolong Cheng GS, Daniel Jiang GS and Alex Furger GS collaborated to create the website, which was entirely designed and built during HackPrinceton’s 48-hour timeframe. The team, which said it never expected the site to become as big as it has, noted that its sudden popularity has brought unforeseen problems.

“I think it’s funny to note that the site is actually losing money right now,” Young said. “So we have no ads right now, and we are paying for server costs out of pocket. And server costs are cheap until you start getting like 600,000 hits.”

The team has discussed putting up advertisements to cover the costs but isn’t sure how it will proceed.

“We thought server costs would be minimal,” Furger said, “but once you hit like one million page views, it’s like, ‘Oh, god.’ We don’t want to have ads, but we might need to do something small or an ad on our Facebook page.”

“We don’t care about making any money,” Furger added. “We just don’t want to lose money.”

The idea for the site originated at HackPrinceton, as the team sat down to discuss ideas for its 48-hour project.

“It happened really organically,” Przytycki said. “We were just throwing around ideas at the hackathon, and I said, ‘Oh, this is something I’ve always wanted to try out.’ People had already been building bots that would chat with you based on responding to what you would say, and … we figured that Facebook was a great source of information.”

Furger and Klibaite said they were also motivated to create the site by a prize that Facebook was offering for the HackPrinceton project that best used Facebook information. What Would I Say takes information from a user’s previous statuses, posts on his or her own wall and captions on his or her photos.

“We talked about making the bot, and then we were trying to decide where we would find the data,” Furger said. “Since Facebook was offering a prize for the best integration of their website …”

“We wanted swag,” Klibaite interrupted, referring to the Facebook gear the company gave away at the event. The team received four laptop bags and two Facebook hats, and it will receive hoodies, they said.

The team members said they met a Facebook employee at HackPrinceton who is currently in communication with them about improving What Would I Say and its Facebook integration. HackPrinceton was integral to the website’s creation for the creative atmosphere it provided and the connections they were able to build from it, Young said.

“HackPrinceton was amazing,” Young said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without HackPrinceton. Ultimately, we would have spent our weekend dicking around watching football or something.”

While the idea emerged organically, the creation of the website involved a lot of testing and hard work, the group said. The website is based off of a Markov chain, a famous mathematical system that can generate real-looking random text given a sample document. Markov chains are often used to generate fake text that seems to make sense. They provide the mathematical background for a number of Internet applications, most notably Google’s PageRank algorithm that determines the order in which websites appear on Google searches.

“We did a lot of tuning to make sure it was random enough that it was funny or amusing,” Young said, “but not so much that it was just random phrases. We also had the problem where it would just print out an old status. That’s no fun. Balancing those two and trying to make the fake statuses have that right feel was our main focus.”

Despite the server costs, the team said it was delighted at the website’s success and the publicity it has attracted.

“We immediately got in the same room as soon as we heard from The New Yorker,” Furger said. “We were all like, ‘This is incredibly cool.’ ”

Klibaite said her parents were perplexed by the website.

“I forwarded it [the article in The New Yorker] to my mom and my dad, and my parents were like, ‘Why would anyone do this?’ ” Klibaite said.

Natalie Villasana, a freshman at Oberlin College, discovered What Would I Say Tuesday afternoon. Villasana said she felt like the site was a “throwback” because most of her statuses were from a few years ago.

“It’s kind of addictive,” Villasana said. “There’s definitely an element of narcissism that appeals to people because they feel like they created the fake status. And, in a way, they did.”


Source : http://dailyprincetonian.com

At $142.4 Million, Triptych Is the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at an Auction

At $142.4 Million, Triptych Is the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at an Auction


2013 Estate of Francis Bacon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London
Auction Highlights From Christie’s: Some of the notable works at the Christie’s sale of postwar and contemporary art on Tuesday night.

It took seven superrich bidders to propel a 1969 Francis Bacon triptych to $142.4 million at Christie’s on Tuesday night, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. William Acquavella, the New York dealer, is thought to have bought the painting on behalf of an unidentified client, from one of Christie’s skyboxes overlooking the auction.

The price for the painting, which depicts Lucian Freud, Bacon’s friend and rival, perched on a wooden chair, was more than the $85 million Christie’s had estimated. It also toppled the previous record set in May 2012 when Edvard Munch’s fabled pastel of “The Scream” sold at Sotheby’s for $119.9 million and broke the previous record for the artist at auction set at the peak of the market in May 2008, when Sotheby’s sold a triptych from 1976 to the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich for $86.2 million.

When the bidding for “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” finally stopped, after more than 10 fraught minutes, the overflowing crowd in the salesroom burst into applause. Two disappointed bidders could be seen leaving the room. “I went to $101 million but it hardly mattered,” said Larry Gagosian, the super-dealer who was trying to buy the painting on behalf of a client. Another contender was Hong Gyu Shin, the director of the Shin Gallery on Grand Street in Manhattan, who said he was bidding for himself.

“I was expecting it to go for around $87 million,” Mr. Shin said. Although he explained that he collects mostly Japanese woodblock prints and old master paintings, he found the triptych by the Irish-born painter, who died in 1992, irresistible. “I loved that painting and I couldn’t control myself,” he said. “Maybe someday I’ll have another chance.”

¶ For more than a month now, Christie’s has been billing the sale as a landmark event with a greater number of paintings and sculptures estimated to sell for over $20 million than it has ever had before. The hard sell apparently worked. Nearly 10,000 visitors flocked to its galleries to preview the auction. The sale totaled $691.5 million, far above Christie’s $670.4 million high estimate, becoming the most expensive auction ever. It outstripped the $495 million total set at Christie’s in May.

¶ Of the 69 works on offer, only six failed to sell. All told, 10 world record prices were achieved for artists who, besides Bacon, included Christopher Wool, Ad Reinhardt, Donald Judd and Willem de Kooning.

¶ The sale was also a place to see and be seen. Christie’s Rockefeller Center salesroom was standing room only, with collectors including Michael Ovitz, the Los Angeles talent agent; Aby Rosen, the New York real estate developer; Martin Margulies, from Miami; Donald B. Marron, the New York financier; and Daniel S. Loeb, the activist investor and hedge fund manager.

¶ The Bacon triptych was not the only highflier. A 10-foot-tall mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture that resembled a child’s party favor, Jeff Koons’s “Balloon Dog (Orange)” sold to another telephone bidder for $58.4 million, above its high $55 million estimate, becoming the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction. The pooch was being sold by Peter M. Brant, the newsprint magnate who auctioned the canine to raise money to endow his Greenwich, Conn., foundation. In the 1990s, Mr. Koons had created the sculpture in an edition of five, each in a different color. Four celebrated collectors own the others: Steven A. Cohen, the hedge-fund billionaire, has a yellow one; Eli Broad, the Los Angeles financier, owns a blue one; François Pinault, the French luxury goods magnate and owner of Christie’s, has the magenta version; and Dakis Joannou, the Greek industrialist, has his in red. Christie’s had estimated Mr. Brant’s sculpture would fetch $35 million to $55 million.

¶ (Final prices include the buyer’s premium: 25 percent of the first $100,000; 20 percent of the next $100,000 to $2 million; and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.)

¶ Another strong price was set for a classic image in contemporary art history — Andy Warhol’s “Coca Cola [3],” one of only four paintings of a single Coca-Cola bottle that the artist made in 1961 and 1962. Jose Mugrabi, the New York dealer, bought the painting from S. I. Newhouse Jr. in 1986 and he was said to be selling it on Tuesday night. That painting made $57.2 million. It had been estimated to sell for $40 million to $60 million.

¶ Three bidders went for Rothko’s “No. 11 (Untitled),” one of the artist’s abstract canvases, this one in an orange palette and created in 1957. It was being sold by the estate of Bruce J. Wasserstein, the financier who died in 2009. Christophe van de Weghe, a Manhattan dealer, bought the painting for $46 million, above its high $35 million estimate. Mr. van de Weghe also bought “Apocalypse Now,” a seminal painting by Mr. Wool, whose work is currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. Bidding on behalf of a client, he paid $26.4 million for the painting. Created in 1988, the white canvas is filled with the words “Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids,” a line from the Francis Ford Coppola movie of the same title. The painting belonged to David Ganek, the former New York hedge fund manager and Guggenheim board member. Mr. Ganek has since resigned from the board.

¶ After the sale, Jussi Pylkkänen, chairman of Christie’s Europe and the evening’s auctioneer, noted how international the bidding was. Besides a healthy showing of American bidders, there were also a lot of potential buyers from Asia and Europe trying to get into the action. “There were more players from the New World than ever before,” he said, “and more people spending over $20 million.

¶ “But,” he warned, in order to have such a successful sale, “you have to have the material.”



Source : http://www.nytimes.com