‘Walking Dead’: In ‘What Lies Ahead,’ the kids aren’t all right
Carol (Melissa McBride) reacts to some upsetting news about daughter Sophia on the season two premiere of “Walking Dead.” (AP Photo/AMC, Gene Page) (Gene Page - AP)“The Walking Dead” returned to AMC Sunday night and immediately resumed its decidedly ooky zombie-killing business.
During the 90-minute premiere of season two, an episode dubbed “What Lies Ahead,” we witnessed flesh-deprived, shuffling zombies getting knifed in the back of the neck, stabbed in the eyeball with screwdrivers and taking arrows straight through their heads. And that doesn’t even count the undead dude whose stomach got sliced open so Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon could verify that he’d recently ingested a woodchuck.
But those gory details weren’t the most upsetting elements in this installment of “The Walking Dead,” an episode that made it clear that no character is safe in this post-apocalyptic journey that is now taking our heroes away from Atlanta and toward Fort Benning.
Seriously, no character is safe. Not even the children.
Warning: “What Lies Ahead” spoilers lie ahead.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Toni Vallen : Cant wait to watch ‘Walking Dead’: In ‘What Lies Ahead,’ the kids aren’t all right
Monday, October 10, 2011
Toni Vallen is now reading jenni epperson » Blog Archive » iAM Different
Here are some inspiring Steve Job quotes:
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
“We’ve gone through the operating system and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and make it more powerful at the same time.”
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
“I want to put a ding in the universe.”
“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”
“The Japanese have hit the shores like dead fish. They’re just like dead fish washing up on the shores.”
“Unfortunately, people are not rebelling against Microsoft. They don’t know any better.”
“Bill Gates‘d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.”
“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”
“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”
“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”
“Click. Boom. Amazing!”
“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
“Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview.
So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data.”“We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place – the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.”
“I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple.
My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.”“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.
We just want to make great products. (I think he means “insanely great products!“)”“So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.”
“When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of “ubiquitous evangelism” in companies)”“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
“Our DNA is as a consumer company – for that inpidual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.”
“That happens more than you think, because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.
I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.”
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Kristin Cavallari: 'Dancing With the Stars' boot kicks up fan ire - latimes.com
Kristin Cavallari: 'Dancing With the Stars' boot kicks up fan ire
Kristin Cavallari got the boot on "Dancing With the Stars" Tuesday night, but fans of the dance competition think that Chaz Bono was the one who deserved to go home.
On Monday, Cavallari nabbed a 24/30 score for her "Crazy In Love" samba with pro Mark Ballas while Bono earned a meager 18 points for his rumba set to his father Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me." But Tuesday's results sparked the ire of the audience and boos from the crowd when Cavallari and her partner were voted out of the competition because of low audience votes. Perhaps a tweet from Cher, Bono's mom, promising that she'd be in the audience if her son made it to week four might have tipped the scales?
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said Bono "looked really distracted ... not quite focused in the dance." Len Goodman said it was his best performance though he still had much work to do and Bruno Tonioli said he looked "a little bit lost" during the performance. Nonetheless, viewers kept the competition's first transgender contestant on for another week. Watch the dances below and judge for yourself.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Dr. Foster's 30 Laws of Decision Making - Rich's posterous
October 24, 2010Dr. Foster's 30 Laws of Decision Making
#FFP05: Harry Browne's Freedom Principles.]#1: Focus on the most important thing (Are you giving full weight to the most important issue?)
#2: Don't decide until you're ready (Why not give yourself more time?)
#3: Look for all the good things that can happen (What's the best outcome you can expect?)
#4: Choose it or lose it (What big decision are you not making now?)
#5: Base your decision on self-acceptance (Does your decision fit the real you?)
#6: Look ahead (How will your decision play out over time?)
#7: Turn big decisions into a series of little decisions (What small step can you take toward a decision?)
#8: You always havebetter options (What are better options beyond those you've checked out?)
#9: Get what you need to feel safe (What are you doing to take care of your safety needs?)
#10: Do what you really want (Are you sure you've let your heart's desire hold sway?)
#11: If it ain't simple, it ain't gonna work (Are you making things more complicated than they need to be?)
#12: Have a hopeful heart and a cautious head (Have you balanced hoping for the best with protecting yourself from the worst?)
#13: Tune in to what you're saying to yourself (Have you remembered to really listen to yuorself?)
#14: Never let a lower priority outweigh a higher priority (Are your priorities all out of whack?)
#15: No matter what, don't get trapped (Are you protecting yourself from getting stuck?) [For more examples of important traps, see
#16: Know your Achilles' heel (What are the top ten bad habits in making decisions?)#17: Always take your own best advice (Would you tell your best friend to do this?)
- (1) Biting off more than you can chew
- (2) Detail mania
- (3) Fear
- (4) Losing touch with you
- (5) The green-eyed monster [envy]
- (6) Keeping on keeping on [persistence with what can't work]
- (7) Acting without thinking
- (8) Dithering
- (9) Taking the path of least resistance
- (10) Not believing that things can be better than they are.
- [Personally, I would add the following to the above list:
- (11) Poor diet/unhealthy lifestyle
- (12) Allowing your Self 1 to interfere with your decisions
- (13) Living your life as a "passive passenger" -- obedience or "following the crowd" -- let others decide for you -- automatic acceptance or rejection of information
- (14) Irresponsibility -- blaming others or factors outside yourself
- (15) Dishonesty
- (16) Coercion -- initiating force, threat of force, or fraud in order to impose your will upon others -- see Why You Must Recognize and Understand Coercion
- (17) "Thinking" with your sexual organs rather than your brain -- see #TL05AA: The Breeding Motivation: What You Can Do About It
- (18) Unrealistic expectations
- (19) Not considering the hidden bad side of people -- see #TL15A: The Good and the Bad
- (20) Unwillingness to make drastic changes
- (21) Ignoring or neglecting absolute essentials
- (22) Denial (of personal disadvantages)
- (23) Procrastination and failure to follow through (lack of persistence)
- (24) Failure to be a life-long learner and keep abreast of new developments
- (25) Failure to distinguish between what you can and can't control
- (26) Overconfidence.]
#18: Appreciate the newness of each situation (Are you in danger of applying old learning to s new decision?)
#19: Make yourself proud (Which decision will give you self-respect?)
#20: Pay attention to the big, fat, obvious issues (What are you overlooking?)
#21: Never forget why you made your decision (Are you judging yourself with different criteria from what you first used?)
#22: Know what's real (What realities will affect your decision?)
#23: Get what you need to make your decision a success (Are you equipped to carry out this decision?)
#24: Find and follow an expert (Are you making sure you're relying on smart advisers?)
#25: Keep an open mind (Are you caught in attitudes that keep you from seeing what's best for you?)
#26: Take care of the basics (Will your decision address your basic needs?)
#27: Some things you "know" are wrong (Have you checked your facts?)
#28: You don't have to run from risk (Do you know what the risks are and how to protect yourself?)
#29: Following through makes decisions great (Will you do a great job carrying out your decisions?)
#30: Make decisions to make things wonderful (Will you get something that's wonderful?)
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Mayweather vs Ortiz: Aging star faces brash champ - CBS News
(AP)LAS VEGAS - His family disputes make interesting reality television. His legal issues could land him in jail. Worse yet for Floyd Mayweather Jr. is that he's getting older by the fight and Manny Pacquiao keeps stealing his spotlight.
One place he doesn't expect to have any problems, however, is in the ring Saturday night against Victor Ortiz.
"I believe in my skills. I believe in my talent," Mayweather said. "This fight will not go the distance."
Mayweather returns to the ring for the first time in 16 months in an intriguing matchup against a young slugger who vows to give him his first loss. He'll make millions to fight Ortiz on pay-per-view television, largely because he's found a way to sell himself as must-see TV on the HBO channel.
Oddsmakers don't figure he'll have trouble against Ortiz, and neither do most boxing observers. But Mayweather is 34 now and he hasn't fought in such a long time that the predictions may be little more than guesses.
Ortiz says he has nothing to lose and nothing to fear in the biggest fight of his life. But other fighters have said that, and Mayweather remains 41-0, a fighter who may not be great but has a record that makes him look close to it.
"I'm going to finish you off," Mayweather told Ortiz at Wednesday's final prefight news conference at the MGM Grand hotel.
Mayweather said he was already at the 147-pound weight limit for the welterweight title that Ortiz won by upsetting Andre Berto in his last fight, which is not surprising since Mayweather is never out of shape. But there are questions even inside his own camp about the length of his layoff and the advance of age that eventually claims every fighter.
TOni Vallen hopes she will be able to watch this awesome fight.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Brad Pitt suggests life with Jen was boring
Brad Pitt has opened up about his time with Jennifer Aniston, saying he was bored and trying to "pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't".
The actor, who now has six children with partner Angelina Jolie, said he had an epiphany in the 1990s, realising he wanted to play characters with an interesting life because he found his own life boring.
"I think my marriage [Jennifer Aniston] had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't," the 47-year-old star said in an interview with Parade magazine, which goes on sale in the US this weekend.
Pitt said he spent most of the 90s trying to get away from the celebrity lifestyle but found he spent all his time sitting on a couch smoking marijuana, saying it made him feel "pathetic".
Pitt married Friends actor Aniston in 2000 and the pair divorced five years later amid rumours he was seeing his co-star in Mr & Mrs Smith, Jolie.
One month after the divorce paparazzi photographed Pitt with Jolie and her adopted son Maddox on a beach in Kenya.
Jolie confirmed she was pregnant with Pitt's child Shiloh in January 2006 and the couple went on to have twins, Vivienne and Knox two years later.
They also have three adopted children, Maddox, Zahara and Pax.
"Not cool, Brad" says Toni Vallen.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Miss Universe Awards to Beautiful Women From Around the World | Suite101.com
Top winners at the 60th Miss Universe pageant in San Paolo, Brazil were Miss Angola Leila Lopes, Miss Ukraine Olesia Stefanko and Miss Panama Sheldry Saez.The 60th Miss Universe pageant, held in San Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011, was televised live on NBC. The annual pageant was an international event that gathered beautiful women from around the world to compete for the title of Miss Universe.
Miss Universe Top Titles
Miss Universe Angola Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011. The first runner up, who takes the responsibilities in the event that something happens to the titleholder was Miss Ukraine Olesia Stefanko. The Best National Costume award went to Miss Panama Sheldry Saez, for her feathery creation. Miss Congeniality was Miss Montenegro Nikolina Lomar. The Most Photogenic Award went to Miss Sweden Ronnia Fornstedt.
Miss Universe in the top title of the pageant, which is currently run by NBC and Donald Trump, but there were also winners for Miss Congeniality, Most Photogenic and Best National Costume. Just being in the pageant is an accomplishment, as the contestants have to compete in local and national pageants to win the opportunity to represent their country at the global pageant.
The contest was enjoyed by millions. Toni Vallen particularly thought Ms Philippines had a good chance at the top spot.