Hasta La Gadget!

It seems some popular Disney superheroes may have a new enemy on their hands: Amazon.com.

This week, Amazon customers found themselves out of luck when trying to pre-order certain Walt Disney Company movies on DVD or Blu-Ray. The films include “Muppets Most Wanted,” “Maleficent,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

For those first three films, fans were told they can “[s]ign up to be notified when this item becomes available.”

Marvel fans are also coming up empty. A search for the new “Captain America” installment, also owned by Disney, yielded absolutely no DVD or Blu-Ray listings. Customers are still able to pre-order digital versions of all fours films in advance from Amazon Instant Video.

Amazon’s been down this road before. Last May, it pulled pre-orders for the “The Lego Movie” and other Warner Bros. flicks before restocking them a few weeks later.

Though we don’t know exactly what the apparent dispute between Amazon and Disney is about, the technology blog Re/code reported that Amazon cut off Warner Bros. from its huge and loyal customer base in order to wrangle more favorable contract terms from the movie studio. In that case, Amazon won, as it usually does.

We reached out to Amazon and Disney for comment and will update if we receive it.

Meanwhile, disc copies of all four Disney movies could be purchased in advance on Best Buy’s website. All but “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which only hit theaters in the U.S. last weekend, were available for pre-order at Walmart.com.

The apparent tiff between Amazon and Disney was first reported by Home Media Magazine, a publication that closely follows the DVD business.

Amazon’s battle with book publisher Hachette is even more contentious, and hasn’t been resolved yet. For months, Amazon has disabled pre-orders for some Hachette titles, reportedly to force the book publisher to lower e-book prices.

Lately, Amazon and Hachette have been airing their dirty laundry in public. On Saturday, Amazon launched a website called ReadersUnited.com in an attempt to rally book lovers to take a stand against what it says are high prices for digital books. Meanwhile, over 900 authors have signed a petition against Amazon’s tactics, which appeared in huge, two-page ad in this Sunday’s New York Times.

“As writers — most of us not published by Hachette — we feel strongly that no bookseller should block the sale of books or otherwise prevent or discourage customers from ordering or receiving the books they want,” the letter reads. “It is not right for Amazon to single out a group of authors, who are not involved in the dispute, for selective retaliation.”

When I was in second grade, Duncan, the well-known yo-yo maker, came to my school with a cadre of talented teenagers in tow. They shot the moon, walked the dog, and cats cradled their way into my heart. Although I’m sure Duncan was just there to hawk some merchandise (in which they totally succeeded), the art of yo-yo is fascinating.

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When this device was first rumored it was believed that Verizon would have exclusivity but prior to its launch we heard that AT&T might offer it as well. While Verizon has already confirmed the launch of LG G Vista on its network AT&T has now come out of the woods to confirm that it too will be offering the G Vista. Starting August 22nd the device will be available for purchase through the carrier’s stores.

Even though it looks a bit like the LG G3 it doesn’t boast the same kind of specifications. The G Vista is truly a bonafide mid-range Android smartphone and if you’re in the market for one that it might suit your budget.

The G Vista has a 5.7-inch 1,280×800 pixel resolution display. Under the hood there’s a 1.2GHz quadcore Snapdragon 400 processor from Qualcomm coupled with 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, a microSD card slot, a removable 3,200mAh battery as well as an 8 megapixel rear camera. The G Vista is powered by Android 4.4.2.

AT&T is selling the LG G Vista for $355 off-contract. Those who don’t mind a two year agreement can plop $50 down. It will also be available on the AT&T Next installment plan for $14.80 a month on the Next 18 plan and $17.75 a month on the Next 12 plan. The device will be available through AT&T’s website and stores from August 22nd.

LG G Vista Lands On AT&T

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By Lori Garcia for YourTango.com

Could our story be any more cliché? Foreigner falls for American girl. He’s in a pickle, she wants to help. They marry before they’re ready but it’s cool because, you know, happily ever after and all that. Only this wasn’t a romantic comedy, this was my life.

We met at a coffee shop through mutual friends and exchanged clumsy hellos while our friends did the flirting. I was wearing borrowed clothes that day, so I didn’t exactly own up to the belly shirt and low-rise jeans I was wearing. I had never been comfortable around boys, so I scrambled to hide my shy midsection while he pretended not to notice. Just as I began to console myself with the thought that love would probably find me in college, I mustered just enough confidence to glance in his direction –- and that was when he smiled. Oh my god, that smile. It was energy and passion and electricity and magic and in that moment I felt strangely drawn to him. Stranger still was the suspicion that things would never be the same again.

We fell quickly and easily for each other. Whispery late night phone calls, make-out sessions in my Toyota, and a new appreciation for sappy love songs sustained us that summer. He was kind to me, attentive, and even though he was guarded and even careful at times not to reveal too much, that mystery only drew me closer. Beautiful days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months, I secretly hoped, would turn to forever.

Little did I know as this 17-year-old girl enjoying her last summer before college, that I’d go on to marry this beautiful 18-year-old boy who housed a very personal secret.

A few weeks into my freshman year, with no signs of our romance slowing down, my boyfriend revealed he was living in the United States illegally on an expired visa. To be honest, I didn’t really understand what that meant. The only “visa” I ever knew about was a credit card and I didn’t even have one of those. He told me he’d traveled to the States from the Philippines with his family in his early teens and only recently discovered his expired legal status upon applying to college. I suppose I should have been shocked, but I wasn’t. For the first time, his guarded nature started to make sense. So that’s why he didn’t have a driver’s license. So that’s why he wasn’t going to school.

Unable to work, drive, or seek higher education without proper documentation, he attempted to find odd jobs, self-educate, and find a solution. “How could this happen?” I’d ask over and over. “What does this mean?” my parents worried. The answer was always the same: he didn’t know –- and uncovering answers to even the simplest immigration questions wasn’t easy. His father was a proud and private man, offering only the occasional “I’m working on it” when pressed.

A year later and no closer to a solution, I suggested we meet with his father’s immigration attorney. “You have two choices,” the lawyer said, “Go back to the Philippines and re-apply for a visa that you’ll probably never get, or get married.”

On our drive home from the meeting, he said what we’d both been thinking. “Maybe it’s time I go home. This isn’t fair to you.” He was right, but there was also this little matter to consider: we were in love.

For a hot second I considered taking route 60 to I-15. In four hours we could be in Vegas. I was 18, he was 19; it could work! I imagined standing in a chapel, me in my Levi’s, he in his worn Doc Martens. We’d commit to forever in one breath and blame the bravado of young love in the next.

But there would be no Vegas, for being foolish in love was different than being foolish with love. Sure, a quickie marriage could have solved one big problem, but it was almost guaranteed to create about a million more. First, there were my parents: would they forgive me? Would they forgive HIM? Perhaps in time, but things might never be the same following a stunt like that. Then there were logistics: how would we support ourselves? How would we pay for an immigration lawyer? As an 18-year-old college sophomore living at home, I’d be forced to quit school to attempt to support us. And on top of all that, immigration was a lengthy process. Who knew how long it would be before he was granted authorization to work? The idea of our well-intentioned “I do” had a big, fat “DON’T” written all over it –- even for him. “It’s not supposed to be this way.” he said, “You deserve to have a wedding with your parents there and you really need to finish school first. We can’t do this right now, not this way.” He was right, so for the next three years I devoted my life to two singular things: loving him and finishing college as quickly as possible. Only then would he agree to marry me.

So at 22 years old, newly graduated and all waited out, I married my boyfriend for a green card, yes, but also for love and a little more than a hunch that his circumstances didn’t define him.

Of course, there were raised eyebrows. “Do you ever worry he only married you for a green card?” folks would oh-so-carefully ask. But I didn’t worry, because even in his most desperate moments, when depression threatened to destroy the few hopes he ever had, he never pushed me. Then again, only a life newly unstuck from pause would tell.

Our honeymoon phase began with attorney appointments and immigration notices. As his shifting immigration status began to allow for more freedoms, I unwittingly assumed the role of parent, teaching him how to drive, apply for a job, register for college, and open his very first bank account. (It was as romantic as it sounds.)

And at a time when I should have been celebrating the culmination of everything we’d spent the last five years hoping, praying, and paying for, I couldn’t bring myself to share in the joy. Everything was changing too quickly, including him. He immediately threw himself into working, going to school, and attempting to make all that time wasted worth something. Best and worst of all, he was doing it all without me.

Don’t get me wrong, I was proud of him — so proud — but at the same time I couldn’t shake the insecurities all his newfound independence brought. Since the beginning of our relationship, his dependence had been MY purpose. I thrived on helping him as only I could (co-dependent much?) and it made me feel needed and important, and now suddenly, that need was gone. I wasn’t practiced in the art of being one of his many priorities; up to this point, I’d been the only one! I wasn’t used to sharing his time, receiving his help, or trusting him in all the healthy ways partners do. So yes, readers, at the tender age of 23, I found myself unraveling as though I was an empty nester — and it was scary as hell.

Maybe we loved too hard too fast, I thought. Maybe this love was an “eff you” to insurmountable odds and shitty circumstances. Sure, idyllic young love made us soldiers to the cause and slaves to the passion, but was it enough to keep us together now that his newfound independence threatened to drive us apart? I didn’t know. And as fear began to cast a shadow over my heart, I chose to do the only thing I could: I held tight to uncertain love.

Only then, by trusting our love, could I begin the quiet and gentle process of falling in love all over again, this time in reverse roles. Now that I was one who needed hand-holding, my husband took it upon himself to court me in all the ways he’d never been able. We dated like young lovers, taking long drives to nowhere as I rode as a passenger in his car. He showered me with thoughtful gifts he was proud to purchase from money he earned. We took our time learning each other all over again — he as a strong, independent man and me as a trusting partner and loving equal.

From our first attorney appointment to our wedding day, our green card interview to the birth of our two beautiful sons, love had always been the answer. It was braver than we could ever be, bolder than our deepest unspoken fears, and always, always bigger than the two of us.

Lori and her husband, now a naturalized citizen, have been married for 15 years.

This article originally appeared on YourTango.com

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7 Amazing Ways Love Transforms Your Brain
8 Relationship Tricks Happy Couples Use
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WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) insisted Sunday that Congress has no appetite to escalate U.S. involvement in Iraq.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host David Gregory asked Durbin what would happen if the limited airstrikes Obama has authorized fail to stop the advance of the militant group Islamic State, which has terrorized people in the country as it seeks to establish a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

“I can tell you this: Escalating it is not in the cards,” he insisted. “Neither the American people nor Congress are in the business of wanting to escalate this conflict beyond where it is today. I think the president has made it clear this is a limited strike. He has, I believe, most congressional support for that at this moment. To go beyond is really a challenge.”

Since announcing that he had authorized airstrikes in Iraq on Thursday, Obama has repeatedly stated that U.S. involvement in the country will be limited and will not involve ground troops, reflecting deep reluctance on the part of the public to get bogged down in the country again. In a letter to Congress on Friday, Obama said military operations would be “limited in their scope and duration as necessary to protect American personnel.”

Still, on Saturday, the president admitted to reporters that involvement may not be over anytime soon.

“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks,” he said. “This is going to be a long-term project.”

The U.S. airstrikes come as the Islamic State is threatening the Kurdish capital of Irbil, where American officials and forces are located. The group has also recently driven thousands of Iraqis belonging to the minority Yazidi sect onto a barren mountain.

In a “Meet the Press” interview immediately following Durbin, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) disagreed with the senator’s call for limited engagement, warning of another attack on the U.S. homeland if more is not done.

“They are more powerful now than al Qaeda was on 9/11,” he said, referring to the Islamic State, adding, “I lost hundreds of constituents on 9/11. I never want to do that again. We see this coming. For the president to say we’re doing airstrikes, we’re not doing anything else. We’re not going to use American combat troops, not going to do this, not going to do that. What kind of leadership is that? You should never let the enemy know what you’re going to do.”