A spectacular new video for Lady GaGa’s new single “Bad Romance” released today. Like most GaGa performances, this one is definitely as histrionic as the last video for her #1 single “Paparazzi” and highlights her endless talent. The song is also fantastic, featuring the Lady GaGa pop-synth sound which has made her one of the most popular performers in popular music today. This is the first single from Lady GaGa’s forthcoming album The Fame Monster extending her original release The Fame with 8 additional newly recorded songs. “Bad Romance” is available at retailers nationwide and for digital download on iTunes now. The Fame Monster releases November 23rd from Interscope Records. Watch the video for “Bad Romance” below:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A Bad Romance for Lady GaGa
American Idiot Coming to Broadway
Playbill announced today the hit musical American Idiot, based on the Grammy-award winning multi-platinum Green Day album of the same name (with select songs from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown), will be making its way to Broadway. As with many covert shows making their way to the Great White Way, Playbill uncovered a casting notice for the Musical. The opening and theater are yet to be announced. American Idiot got its start at the Berkeley Preparatory Theater several months ago. The show received rave reviews from the critics and played to sold-out auditoriums, prompting three extensions of the engagement and breaking the theater’s record books for top-grossing show of all-time. According to Playbill “American Idiot follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day’s electrifying songs. This high-octane show includes every song from the album, as well as several new songs from 21st Century Breakdown.”
Pictured: Matt Caplan and ensemble in American Idiot at Berkeley Rep. Courtesy Mellopix.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
You’re Invited!
The UCF Colleges of Nursing and Health & Public Affairs invite you to our Homecoming Tailgate Party this Saturday starting at 8:30am on the Fairwinds Alumni Center area on Memory Mall. Come join us for some morning spirits and breakfast while we watch the Homecoming Parade and Festivities before heading into the stadium to cheer on our Knights against the #13 Houston Cougars. Contributions of food and drink always appreciated. See-you there…GO KNIGHTS!!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Knights Fall to #2 Texas with Eye on Houston
The UCF Knights (5-4; 3-2 C-USA), playing under the gun of their second string quarterback Rob Calabrese and without lead running back Brynn Harvey, fell to the #2 Texas Long Horns (9-0; 5-0 Big 12) on Saturday. Although UCF scored first, their 3 points were followed by 35 unanswered Texas points. UCF struggled offensively while Texas put together quick passing plays which racked-up the points. The official reason for not starting QB Brett Hodges and RB Brynn Harvey was bruised ribs and a strained ankle, respectively. UCF now moves back into Conference USA action, playing three remaining C-USA teams starting Saturday with #13 Houston. Kickoff is set for Noon and the game will be nationally-televised on CBS. The College of Nursing and Health & Public Affairs Tailgate Party will be in Memorial Mall, right next to the Fairwinds Alumni Center. The time is TBD. GO KNIGHTS!!! BEAT HOUSTON!!!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Republican Representative Threatening UAB Partner Benefits
Alabama Representative DuWayne Bridges is garnering support from fellow Republicans to pass state legislation to take away domestic partner benefits from employees at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). UAB recently added domestic partner benefits, including health insurance, to its benefits package, citing their inability to attract top candidates to become Faculty in their College of Medicine because the top Universities in the United States offer such benefits. “I don’t think the university should waste money by making a liberal or politically correct statement,” Bridges said. I wonder what kind of “conservative statement” will be made if the Republicans pass these laws, leaving hundreds of people without health insurance having to rely on taxpayers to foot the bill of their health expenses. Don’t you just love it? MORONISM at its best! Go Republicans–What a joke!!!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Knights Pull off a MAJOR Victory on National TV
The UCF Knights (5-3; 3-2 C-USA) pulled off a major and last-minute victory against the Thundering Herd of Marshall (5-4; 3-2 C-USA) Sunday night in-front of a national audience on ESPN. Without competition from the NFL, the Knights had the only football game of the evening. Even though it was a late game on a Sunday night, nearly 36,000 fans attended the game and those that stayed until the last 2 minutes saw one of the biggest comebacks in UCF Football history! The Herd led 20-14 in the last 2:40 of the 4th quarter and took over on downs. Marshall looked destined to run out the clock and claim its first victory over the Knights since moving to Conference USA. But UCF’s defense had different plans. Junior Bruce Miller and freshman cornerback Josh Robinson gave UCF one last fighting chance.
Miller stripped the ball from Marshall Quarterback Brian Anderson and Robinson recovered on the Herd 30-yard line. UCF QB Brett Hodges dodged pressure on the ensuing series and took UCF all the way down to the 1-yard line with a 19-yard pass to Kamar Aiken. Hodges dropped back one more time, connecting with senior Rocky Ross for a 1-yard touchdown. Nick Cattoi hit the extra point and UCF pulled ahead of Marshall 21-20 with 23 seconds left in the game. Marshall started their final drive on their 48 yard line; but 3 incomplete passes and a sack sealed their fate and a UCF Knights victory! UCF moves up to 2nd place in Conference USA East and will venture into Austin, TX to take on the #2 Longhorns (8-0; 5-0 Big 12) at Noon on Saturday. The game will be nationally-televised on Fox Sports Network. WAY TO GO KNIGHTS!!! BEAT THE LONGHORNS!!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
President Obama Sees Return of Fallen Soldiers
President Barack Obama made a quiet trip to Dover, Delaware late last evening to pay his respects to soldiers who died in battle in Afghanistan. The media also followed behind quietly filming Obama as he met the plane on the tarmac and stood at attention while the coffins of the deceased soldiers were unloaded. Our former President, George Bush never in his 8 years in office, paid respect for fallen soldiers by greeting the return of their bodies on the tarmac. See the video of President Obama seeing the return of our fallen heroes below:
CBS Picks-Up UCF vs. Houston Homecoming Showdown
CBS announced today it has picked-up the broadcast rights of the UCF Knights’ Homecoming Game against the #15-ranked Houston Cougars on Saturday, November 14th. The broadcast will mark the 4th nationally-televised game for the Knights this football season! UCF’s game against the Miami Hurricanes was nationally broadcasted on October 17th on CBS, this Sunday’s game against Marshall will have a national broadcast on ESPN beginning @ 8:15pm, and next Saturday’s game against the Texas Longhorns will be shown nationwide on Fox Sports Network at Noon. UCF is now the 3rd largest university in the United States and it’s nice to see some national media coverage of the Knights’ games! GO KNIGHTS!!!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Chimps Mourn the Loss of a Friend
A touching article from the forthcoming November issue of National Geographic:
The November issue of National Geographic magazine features a moving photograph of chimpanzees watching as one of their own is wheeled to her burial. Since it was published, the picture and story have gone viral, turning up on websites and TV shows and in newspapers around the world. For readers whod like to know more, heres what I learned as I interviewed the photographer, Monica Szczupider. On September 23, 2008, Dorothy, a female chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of congestive heart failure. A maternal and beloved figure, Dorothy had spent eight years at Cameroons Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, which houses and rehabilitates chimps victimized by habitat loss and the illegal African bushmeat trade.
After a hunter killed her mother, Dorothy was sold as a mascot to an amusement park in Cameroon. For the next 25 years she was tethered to the ground by a chain around her neck, taunted, teased, and taught to drink beer and smoke cigarettes for sport. In May 2000 Dorothyobese from poor diet and lack of exercisewas rescued and relocated along with ten other primates. As her health improved, her deep kindness surfaced. She mothered an orphaned chimp named Bouboule and became a close friend to many others, including Jacky, the groups alpha male, and Nama, another amusement-park refugee.
Szczupider, who had been a volunteer at the center, told me: Her presence, and loss, was palpable, and resonated throughout the group. The management at Sanaga-Yong opted to let Dorothy’s chimpanzee family witness her burial, so that perhaps they would understand, in their own capacity, that Dorothy would not return. Some chimps displayed aggression while others barked in frustration. But perhaps the most stunning reaction was a recurring, almost tangible silence. If one knows chimpanzees, then one knows that [they] are not [usually] silent creatures.”
President Obama Signs Federal Hate Crimes Legislation
After over a decade of fierce resistance from Bush and his fellow Republicans, today President Obama signed the first ever federal legislation mandating the inclusion of sexual orientation in all hate crimes statutes. Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson in a bar. McKinney and Henderson offered Shepard a ride in their car. Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area in Laramie, Wyoming, and left to die. Still tied to the fence, Shepard was discovered 18 hours later by Aaron Kreifels, who initially mistook Shepard for a scarecrow. At the time of discovery, Shepard was still alive, but in a coma.Shepard suffered fractures to the back of his head and in front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body’s ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital functions. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for surgeons to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. He was pronounced dead at 12:53 A.M. on October 12, 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim’s shoes and wallet in their truck.
Championed by Shepard’s surviving mother and father, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act has been debated within the Congress, Senate, and Presidency for over a decade. Even though thousands of gay men and women are victims of violence because of their sexual orientation every year, Republicans denounced the bill and implied the Act gave gay and lesbian victims of hate crimes “special rights.” I personally wrote letters to my then Republican Congressman Tom Feeney begging him to pass this important legislation. Each time, I received a reply thanking me for sending my letter but he would not be supporting “special rights” for gays and lesbians. To show just how much has changed, in a resounding defeat, Democratic Congresswomen Suzanne Kosmas replaced the corrupt Republican. The reply I received from her said she resoundingly supported the legislation and believed strongly that when any class of persons is targeted with violence, the response should be swift and provide the most severe punishment permitted by law. It’s a refreshing change to see intelligence, empathy, and understanding slowly begin to erode the ignorance, stupidity, and idiocy we’ve all had to endure for the past several years. Thank-you President Obama. We are all grateful that you have signed this vital bill into law. The thousands of gay men and women who have been victims of hate crimes can now have the justice they have been sorely missing.