Stephanie Gosk is the lady in this lady’s life and they are engaged. Yes, that’s the first confession to come out. And then in retrospect you do understand that they are of the same gender. To top it all up, they are expecting a child and the one who is carrying is Jenna Wolfe herself.

Too much to take for one day…!

But congratulations in order for all the confessions and good luck with the new bundle of joy is all I would like to say.

The most beautiful part of her coming out is that she stressed on the moment. Yes, the moment right now doesn’t need any secrecy and the world is ready for a family of three of the same gender. It is a wonderful time to be “Yourself.”

That’s the keyword of the day. Being you is no more taboo. You can be what you want and be with whom you want to be with.

That’s freedom to me.

That’s United States of America to me.

And that is how this country was envisioned. Freedom fueled America to where we are and there we will stand with our rights head held high.

Jenna Wolfe has conceived through artificial insemination and naturally the gossip was it was either Matt Lauer or Lester Holt, her colleagues at work. She categorically denied that it wasn’t either of them.

By the way, incidentally she has thrown some good light on artificial insemination too. This will boost the belief in this means of conceiving to those ladies who haven’t had their turn yet to motherhood. The best part is, Jenna Wolfe has done this all with a lot of style and class. No intentional leaks and publicity gimmicks, but straight to the point and from the heart. That said, all in all, this is one breaking news story that we can afford to smile about. Wouldn’t you say?

The storyline:

The movie is a prehistoric comedy genre and is about the world’s first family. Grug and his family are living happily is their cloistered nature-filled land. He is given a nasty shock when he is forced to leave his idyllic home when it is destroyed by an earth quake. The family embarks into an adventurous journey. The movie opens with a voice-over describing every member of the Croods family. Unlike modern animation features, the animation sequence is not overly done. The makers have kept the sequence to minimum.

The cast:

It is definitely a star studded animation feature. It looks like DreamWorks has pulled all the stops when their previous movie, Rise of the Guardians didn’t make as much as it was expected to. The voice for Grug is given by none other than Nicholas Cage. The other voice-overs include Emma Stone for Eep (Grug’s daughter), Ryan Reynolds for Guy, Catherine Keener for Ugga (Grug’s wife), and Cloris Leachman for the granny.

The Box Office Prediction:

Off late, animated features haven’t been opening to the levels of movies like, Lorax, which made $60 million and higher. Last year, Disney’s Wreck It Ralph debuted to $49 million while Sony’s Hotel Transylvania opened to $42.5 million last September. Both these films had great openings, thanks to Easter and spring holidays. Croods is expecting the same opening. This is the first film from DreamWorks that is distributed and marketed by 20^th Century Fox.

The other movies releasing this weekend are Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerald Butler, Tina Fey-Paul Rudd comedy Admission and Spring Breakers another comedy releasing this weekend. However, it looks like Croods might be the winner this weekend. The animation feature has already earned great reviews in America.

The other animation movies releasing this summer are Despicable Me 2, Monsters University, the Smurfs 2, Dorothy of Oz and more. The Croods is definitely going to give the other movies a run for their money.

The ‘Great Gatsby’ ready to open Cannes film festival

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is being adapted into a film by director Baz Luhrmann. And what is more interesting is that this year the organizers of Cannes have chosen to open the festival with this film. The film is releasing in 3D at the festival, two years after its completion.

Luhrmann’s landmark project ‘Moulin Rouge’ had opened the Cannes festival in 2001. It had gone on to win an Academy Award for the Best Picture that year. So Luhrmann is keeping his fingers crossed once more. Coincidentally the novel had been completed by the author on the French Riviera in 1923, which is also the venue for the Cannes Film Festival. This is the novel’s sixth adaptation into a film that has been set in the New York of 1920s. The narration in the film has been given by Toby Maguire.

The Warner Bros venture stars Leonardo di Caprio (Jay Gatsby), Toby Maguire (Nick Carraway) who narrates the story and is a friend and admirer of Gatsby. Carey Mulligan plays Daisy Buchanan, the love interest of Gatsby. Joel Edgerton plays Tom Buchanan who is Daisy Buchanan’s husband. Isla Fisher is Myrtle Wilson while Jason Clarke essays the role of George B Wilson, and Amitabh Bachchan appears in a cameo as Meyer Wolfsheim.

Plot

Di Caprio plays the role of a 32-year-old cryptic millionaire Gatsby who has several secret business connections and throws parties at his luxurious mansion. Nick Carraway played by Toby Maguire is enamored by his super-rich neighbor Gatsby. But the closer he gets to Gatsby’s lifestyle, the more Carraway discovers chinks in the millionaire’s armor, including his obsession with wealth and luxury. The movie, an adaption of the great novel, is symbolic of the era in America when glamor, celebrity glitz and gala parties on the French Riviera, ruled the country.

In a statement, director Baz Luhrmann said, ‘It is a great honor for all those who have worked on ‘The Great Gatsby’ to open the Cannes Film Festival. We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside Saint-Raphaël.’

On the show, Timberlake brought back the former hosts who form the ‘Five-Timers’ club of SNL: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Martin Short and other SNL legends.
The 32-year-old tweeted his joy upon being the fifth-time host of the show: ‘There are so many exciting things about hosting five times. You get to see old friends. You get to try new things. You get to inevitably let everyone down thanks to overly high expectations — thanks, Internet!’

In the show’s opening, Elton John (Timberlake dresses up like him) flies all the way from Venezuela to pay a tribute to Hugo Chavez. Then Elton sings his song ‘Candle in the Wind’, cleverly changing the lyrics for Chavez. Following the song, there was a nearly nine-minute monologue by Timberlake, introducing all the former hosts of the show. The cherry on the cake was the famous ‘Three Amigos salute’ by Martin Short, the revival of Chevy Chase who was banned for his verbal abuses many years ago, and the exciting ‘It’s a Date’ game show between ‘The Dick in a Box’ pair and the Festrunk brothers. In the game, all of them competed like bachelors, who hit on SNL’s cast Vanessa Bayer, wooing her to spend the night.

In a secret room, he met the ‘Five-Timers’ who presented him with a ‘5-Timer’ smoking jacket. He rocked the history of rap segment, he rapped with Jimmy Fallon to the tunes of ‘Ice, ice, Baby.’ The night ended with a musical treat by Timberlake who sang his latest single ‘Suit and Tie.’ While singing it, he unwittingly modified the lyrics, hitting out at his rival rapper Kanye West who had also done the same at his concert a couple of months earlier.

So it won’t be a surprise if SNL’s producers would want to make him a permanent guest host too!

The social media went on frenzy when the news spread like a wild fire. A video posted online shows the manager talking to the crowd. He said, “Justin got very light of breath, the whole show he’s been complaining. He’s backstage with the EMTs and the doctor. They’re telling him they want him to go and see somebody and find out what’s going on with his lungs, he’s just told me that in five minutes, if it’s OK with you guys, he’s going to come out and finish the show.”

To pacify the crowd, he further added, “So he might not be jumping around as much and everything else, you guys need to be patient with us, we’re not trying to be disrespectful, we’re not trying to get you guys home late, we’re truly trying to put on a show for the people who love him.”

Fans were tweeting Live from the show. The minute the singer left the stage, a fan tweeted “Biebers not well and has gone off stage!”

Later, the singer posted pictures of himself in the hospital after the doctors examined him. In his caption, he thanked his fans for supporting him. In the meanwhile, many have raised questions about his timing of illness. Many say it is just a part of publicity stunt to make people forget his late appearance on Monday for which many slammed him. The show started at 10 pm and many were reduced to tears as they were forced leave to reach home. The singer later apologized and blamed it on “technical” difficulties. It more looks like the teen singer out on a temper tantrum, something that he has been doing for a long time now!

Just a month back, papers splashed pictures of the pregnant royal in a bikini spending a holiday with Prince William. This is the first time people were given a glimpse of her baby bump. Though the Palace officials slammed the leaked pictures, there have been pretty much no steps taken towards the magazines that published the pictures.

After the much-needed holiday, Kate Middleton has been spotted out more often. She debuted her baby bump in a short grey dress. Recently, she visited Grimsby where the Duchess of Cambridge may have accidentally ‘slipped’ the gender of the baby! She received an assortment of gifts when she reached Grimsby. One of them was a teddy bear which was present to her by one of the children. After she had received the gift, the pregnant Duchess has apparently said, “Thank you, I’ll take that for my d…,” and cut off immediately! Well, she could have meant her dog Lupo. But if it is not, Kate might actually have spilled the beans on the royal baby’s gender.

Sandra Cook, a 67 year old woman was standing next to the Duchess when she made the apparent slip. She asked the Duchess, “You were going to say daughter, weren’t you?” Kate had denied saying, “No, I don’t know.” When Cook had insisted the royal mother-to-be has said, “We’re not telling.”

Is Kate really expecting a baby girl? Or was it just a tactic to deviate the public? Who knows? It might be a son! Anyway, we will know once the baby pops-up this July. Till then us mortals can go on playing the guessing game. What do you think? Will Kate Middleton give birth to a future King or Queen?

X-Men: Days of Future Past isn’t going to be like any of the other installments till date. The time around the plot hints that we may see a collaboration of past X-Men characters, with the latest ones.

The only details that we have so far on the story states that in the latest movie, the current X-Men will be required to travel back in time in order to save the human, and mutant, race of the present. So far, from the news we’ve gathered till date, Singer seems to already have most of the cast in place, with a couple of new faces this time around.

Actor Peter Dinklage has recently been signed up for the movie, for an unspecified character. Rumors state that he may play the role of Puck from the Alpha Flight team, or the villainous MODOK, although Singer has declined to confirm it.

Another new face in the sequel may be that of French Actor Omar Sy, whose role has yet to be determined.

Apart from them, other cast members include some of the more familiar ones, like from the sequel, we have

• Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier
• Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Anna Paquin as Rogue
• Shawn Ashmore as Iceman
• Ellen Page as Shadowcat

From the prequel, X-Men: First Class, we have

• James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier
• Michael Fassbender as Magneto
• Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique
• Nicholas Hoult as Beast

Jackman, who is in the middle of finishing up his movie The Wolverine (set for a June release this year) had confirmed his role by stating,

“I first heard about it around October or November [2012]. I was literally finishing The Wolverine and dreaming about lasagna, and about three weeks before the end, they told me. There was no way I was not going to be part of that.”

Halle Berry is the latest to join the cast. She’ll resume her earlier role as Storm, from the sequel. Berry seemed ecstatic by stating,

“I’m going to be there. I don’t know how [much] of the old cast will be there, but I think we’re pretty official.
I loved her and the people love Storm … so I’m happy to come back. And I love working with Hugh Jackman. Bryan Singer is back directing … so it’ll be good. Ian McKellen is back and Patrick Stewart is back, so it’s good.”

So, all you X-Men fans are bound to be in for a treat next year. One can’t wait to see who else will make an appearance. James Marsden, perhaps?

Who didn’t see that coming?

The delay in converting the tale into a movie is actually quite surprising, considering how it has all the makings of true love story.

We have the naive, hapless protagonist whose miserable state could provide the heartbreaking element to the movie. There’s the evil step-mother, and the 2 dim-witted step-sisters, for everyone to despise. For romance we have a Prince whose only chance at one-true-love comes in the form of a missing slipper. Lastly, to provide the air of mystery, there’s his (initially) fruitless search for the mysterious woman.

The story is one that practically everyone is familiar with. Since it was first created back in 1697, it has helped motivate many unfortunate idealists cling onto hopes of a better life, and numerous girls dream of a Prince sweeping them off their feet some day. In other words, it painted many beautiful dreams…till reality kicked in, of course.

Now, director Kenneth Branagh (who is better known as the vain Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), hopes to create the same impact, with the movie adaptation of the story.

The movie has yet to begin filming, with the casting process underway at the moment. Cate Blanchett is said to have been chosen for the role of the evil step-mother, while another Harry Potter actor is being considered for the role of Cinderella.

Emma Watson (or Hermione, as the world better knows her as), is now being considered to play Cinderella herself, although a confirmation is still in order.

Earlier the movie was set to be directed by Mark Romanek, who had considered actors Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Alicia Vikander (Till det som är vackert), and Imogen Poots (V for Vendetta), for the role. However, due to monetary issues and differences in terms of his creative vision for the movie, Mark decided to call it quits, and was later replaced by Kenneth.

His choice of Emma as Cinderella may be the key to take the movie to great heights, as the actress is still basking in the glory for her astounding performance in her last movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

She may have established herself as an actress brimming with talent, after her success as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, but the actress has proved that she’s definitely not a one hit wonder. With many other commendable movies to her name, and several yet to come, Emma is all set to create a niche for herself. Hope to see her in Cinderella next…if the Glass Slipper fits that is.

The earlier movie revolved around a Reverend who’d lost his faith, and had instead switched to a career of performing fake exorcisms. He later decided to help create a documentary that would expose it for the fraudulent act that it was. So on receiving a request from a farmer who claimed his daughter, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) had been possessed, the Reverend chooses her to be his subject.

However, after meeting Nell and a series of events later, his belief that demons don’t possess humans, is slightly shaken, leading him to embark on obtaining further details on her case. They later discover that Nell is pregnant despite being a virgin.

Eventually, they are forced to believe that Nell is simply mentally disturbed, at which point the crew and the Reverend head back home, after leaving her in the care of her local Pastor. On the way back, they discover evidence that suggest that their diagnosis may have been incorrect. They rush back only to find Nell and her father in the woods nearby, bound and held captive by a cult lead by the Pastor himself.

There she gives birth to an inhuman child, who is immediately tossed into a roaring flame. In an attempt to put an end to the atrocious events, the Reverend rushes to thwart them, and the rest of the crew is killed by the cultists, ending the movie on an abrupt note.

The sudden end led many to ponder over Nell’s fate. Was she cured? Did she meet her end too? Was the demon for real?

The second part may just answer all those questions, as it continues from where the movie left-off. Nell is found in the woods, filthy, petrified, puzzled and all by herself. The horrific events are all a blur to her, and she can’t seem to remember what happened, apart from the fact that her whole family had died.

On returning to civilization, Nell is put into a half-way house where she tries to start a new life, but is made impossible when the demon returns with a vengeance. She’s forced to face the horrors once again, but this time, the demon seems to have other plans to torture her.

The sequel promises to provide all that’s necessary to spook the living daylights out of the audience, and may not be advisable for those faint hearted few (like yours truly)…especially considering having to witness more of that eerie backbend.

It’s scheduled to release on the 1st of March.

Catering to millions of customers worldwide, MasterCard is the smartest tool to shopping and business. Taking the whole world with their Credit and debit cards, MasterCard has spread happiness all around. With that, the company is deciding to bring the brand new strategy to make payments and enjoy the delight of shopping.

What is MasterPass?

“MasterPass” is primarily a mobile application that eases activities of shopping and billing. You can download it on your android enabled devices or tablets. The application lets you shop at maximum comfort, where you don’t have to swipe the credit card to pay. It just creates an online slip or a bill for what you have shopped.

The system also lets you to pay within a single mouse over where the payments can be made swiftly without any delay.

How is PayPass Different from MasterPass?

“PayPass”is the foremost effort by MasterCard to enter the world of mobile transactions. PayPass let users to pay through their cards where they had to scan their cards at a detector to have the payments done.

But MasterPass brings in the use of advanced techniques, where the use of the card is literally absent. The digital slip does all the work.

Functions of MasterPass

It could be called a “Digital Wallet” where many operations are done on the same ground. The blending of multiple ideas has hatched this wonderful idea. From the usual shopping & manual payments to transacting through cards has presented this feature.

The elementary idea of the application is to store the customer’s information in a safer environment. The passwords, confidential details are all kept safe through cloud technology. The feature will also act as an interface to use credit cards of peers. In this interactive platform, the customers & the sellers can converse with each other to generate required leads. Leading Banks like Citi, commonwealth & popular financial institutions are also a part of this sharing their private data.

An important advantage of the application is that it does not depend on any other manual methods for calculations. Many diverse fields look forward to using this wonderful feature.

Other Initiatives

E-Bay had previously advertised an application through PayPal establishing an access in the mobile phones where the vendor will let the purchaser to record his face in the software to transact. There is a “check in” option available in mobile devices.

The feature is expected to be released the coming spring.