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Each 30-second spot will cost a reported $4.5 million, and with that much money on the line, advertisers will put huge efforts into making sure their ad counts. And consider this: New research shows that ads can communicate their main message in less than 1 second.
Fartman himself has never farted in front of his wife.
Howard Stern’s wife Beth, who married the shock jock 2008, said in a HuffPost Live interview Thursday that her husband has not farted in front of her once during their 15-year relationship.
“We don’t do that in front of each other,” Beth told host Ricky Camilleri with a laugh. “The ‘Fartman’ has yet to fart in front of his wife … We don’t go to the bathroom in front of each other, we don’t do that. Some things are left for private.”
Anyone in a long-term relationship or marriage might find that hard to believe. But Stern, who sat down with Camilleri to talk about the upcoming Kitten Bowl that she’s hosting, maintained that while there might have been an unintentional fart here or there, none have been memorable or intentional.
“Maybe like an accidental one in the middle of the night,” she said. “But never deliberate.”
Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation here.
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“God Have Mercy on the Man Who Doubts What He’s Sure Of…” – Bruce Springsteen
There’s a lot going on in Boston during these long, dark days of January.
On the local crime blotter, one of the two morons who took it upon themselves to set off a couple homemade bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon is standing trial for his senseless but still alleged crimes which killed three and injured at least 264. Out in the Fall River area, a former NFL tight end named Aaron Hernandez is on trial for allegedly orchestrating a homicide. Meanwhile, on the international sports scene, Boston was recently chosen by the United States Olympic Committee to put forth a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, an idea that sounded preposterous just months ago but just might land “The Games” in the Hub, whether it be nine or 13 years in the future.
Yet, the lead story on the local and national nightly news last week was focusing on the pounds per square inch of pressure not properly pumped in or brazenly removed from a dozen footballs used in the AFC Championship game, one of the NFL’s two crown jewel semifinals contests which draw millions of eyeballs to HD, widescreen televisions tuned in to watch some American Football between hours of commercial ads for beer, car insurance and hero sandwiches. The attention was largely focused on Bill Belichick, the coach of the New England Patriots, and Tom Brady, the prince-like veteran quarterback of the team, each who were forced in front of hot lights and microphones to face the music from a legion of news reporters, most of whom would prefer to be asking questions about Super Bowl preparation rather than challenging the credibility of the two men and their so-called model franchise, once caught cheating and spying on their opponent.
While all the hell-a-ballou was taking place, there were frequent references to an NFL investigation and the Patriots’ full cooperation to aide that investigation. There were dozens of questions and, mostly, non-answers to those questions. There were reports, stated as fact, that the NFL found 11 of 12 game footballs to be under-inflated after being re-inspected during halftime of the game, which might have been made obvious when the third quarter was delayed as the referees scrambled to swap in a regulation ball into Brady’s mitts.
Four days later, the bumbling security unit of the NFL, proven to be grossly incompetent in their investigation of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case earlier this season, was exposed again when Brady let it slip during his media interrogation that the NFL had yet to even contact him in regard to the Patriots’ role in possibly dodging fair play, morality, if not merely the basic rules of the game. Stunningly, the NFL waited until Friday to issue a statement which intended to quell the growing public and media scrutiny of their product.
It all became sports talk radio nirvana and the insular New England faithful, once again, took an “Us Against the World” underdog approach. Understandably, they backed up their coach and quarterback, who, to the rest of the ESPN-watching world, seemingly walked away from the podium with their pants on fire.
Most notably, NFL quarterback turned sportscaster Mark Brunell was damn-near reduced to tears in the aftermath of emotion.
Tears. Yes, tears of emotion, frustration, sadness, disappointment or distrust welled in Brunell’s fiery eyes as his normally strong and sure voice cracked under the pressure of the tv lights. Similarly, the strong, assured and somewhat playful voice of Brady quivered at the start of his impromptu press availability which came after he had spoken to his teammates, and soon after he compared notes with his coach and public relations people. Later, Brady would be criticized by legions of fans, media, social media users and fellow players who noted the QB’s mild and meek defense in his trial of public opinion. That public opinion sought a sincere explanation, or someone who might have the guts to own the issue of the day rather than kick the ball down the road with no answers and, as Belichick so frequently put it, “No explanation for the situation.”
Surely, a man accused of brazenly breaking the rules of the game, someone accused of cheating, someone having his character and his credibility questioned to the highest degree in sports would’ve taken a more aggressive approach at the press conferences — totally denying and unequivocally stating to have no role in tampered with the game balls at anytime in the pregame or actual game time during Sunday’s AFC Championship. Instead, both Belichick and Brady parsed their words, wavered under pressure and showed no signs — verbally or body language — to defending their professional reputations.
The DeflateGate story dominated the news this week, from the late night Sunday sports shows to Monday morning sports radio all the way to the aftermath of the ill-conceived press sessions with two men choosing their words ever so carefully, but not under oath. Sadly, the world paid more attention to the pounds of pressure in a football rather than the much more important stories resulting from alleged acts of terrorism and murder.
In case you missed it, last week a man by the name of Stephen D. Pasceri walked into Brigham and Women’s Hospital and sought out Dr. Michael J. Davidson, a skilled surgeon in the cardiovascular unit of one of the best hospitals in the world. Pasceri, distraught over the recent death of his mother, sought answers to questions about his mother’s treatment and medication regiment, diagnosed in the 1980s as severe emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Not satisfied with the answers, Pasceri brandished a concealed firearm he owned and fired three fatal shots, two into Dr. Davidson and one for himself.
Whether it be two men awkwardly defending their professional credibility, a senseless criminal act in the name of jihad, a selfish athlete of entitlement apparently thinking he had authority over the basic human right to live, or a deranged and delusional son seeking his own warped justice for the inevitable death of his mother, it’s painfully obvious we must rearrange our priorities and values.
And, we better do it before the big game is over.
By Hope Racine
Hello, my sisters in snark, my colleagues in curtness, my friends who are frank and my associates in assertiveness: Today we salute you.
You, who so boldly and decisively refuse to stand for bullshit. You, who do not cower; you who do not yield. You, who most likely suffer from moderate to severe resting b*tch face.
Like you, I have been told at times that I have a bad attitude problem.
Maybe I’m alone in my definition of a good attitude. I’m not mean or cold or dismissive to people. I’m genial and friendly. I take criticism well and thank people for holding doors and in general do not say mean or offensive things (to people’s faces). But I don’t swallow bullshit.
I don’t know when society decided that the proper response for other’s incompetence and personal problems was a big smile and weary acceptance. Do you want me to do a dance for you and give you a cookie for continually failing to follow directions? Hold that thought, though, because I need to go plan a party to congratulate you for that one time you actually did the job you were hired to do.
And why, pray tell, am I somehow required to give a f*ck about your personal problems?
I know that part of my “attitude problem” stems from my gender. My male friends and coworkers get to sharply extract themselves from conversations and have no problem being direct and to the point. As long as they aren’t openly hostile, they avoid the classification of “d*ck” and get the softer “grouch” or even better, “driven”.
I just get called a b*tch because I have “a tone“.
I have a conspiracy theory that the world of good feelings and hugs and oversharing was created in order to keep people like you and I down. Think about it: Somehow it seems like a vast majority of the people I encounter in positions of authority are either utterly unqualified for that position, or take themselves way too seriously. Self-indulgence and overestimation seem to be the name of the game, and the entire system banks on passive aggressive politeness.
If you call out incompetence, it’s rude. It’s mean. It’s arrogant.
But don’t you think that sometimes people need to be knocked down a peg? I think it’s important to have frank, brutally honest people around you. You’re never going to learn or better yourself if you’re constantly shielded from the fact that you suck.
In my perfect universe, I would love to have the position of negative life coach. Instead of empty platitudes and positive thinking, I would just like to sit down and make lists of how people have f*cked up and caused their own mistakes. It would be a really invigorating session, and therapeutic for all parties. At the end, instead of emotional oversharing, the person would quickly leave the room so there would be no uncomfortable crying in public. Then they would go home, drown some sorrows in Chipotle, and emerge the next day with a game plan on how to live their life.
I would kill to have a life coach like that.
I don’t exaggerate when I say that some of the most productive, life-changing conversations I have ever had revolved around the theme of my failure. It’s refreshing to ask someone a genuine question and get a 100-percent honest answer. You need someone in life to be frank and honest and drop the overly polite pretense and cut through the shit. People like that are valuable — so treasure them. And cut them some slack.
Originally posted on Literally, Darling an online magazine by and for twenty-something women, which features the personal, provocative, awkward, pop-filled and pressing issues of our gender and generation. This is an exact representation of our exaggerated selves.
Neckties and wine. Croatia may be better known for its long coast along the sparkling green Adriatic and its tumultuous, 1,000-year-long history, but, when I think of Croatia, I think of neckties and wine. This gorgeous, complicated country is the birthplace of both the necktie and the Zinfandel grape, two facts that reveal a lot about Croatia. First, it has great weather. The Zinfandel grape requires a climate not too hot and not too cold. Croatia’s mild winters and sunny summers make for perfect Zinfandel grape-growing.
Second, Croats are the trendsetters credited with introducing today’s tie to the fashion world. The Croat contingency of the French service wore their traditional knotted handkerchiefs during the Thirty Year’s War (1618 to 1648). The Parisians took a fancy to them and called them “cravat” — a cross between the Croatian and French words for Croat (Hrvati and Croates). So began a cravat fashion frenzy. In the 17th century, these kerchiefs became so intricate that they were held in place by strings and worn in bows that took forever to arrange.
Croatia is tucked into southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Slovenia. It’s near the coast, Vienna, Venice, Budapest, skiing in Austria, and golf in Slovenia. It’s been more than 20 years since the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was dissolved. Its six republics — Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia — are all very much their own countries today. Croatia is wearing its new skin comfortably, as it should. The Kingdom of Croatia was, in fact, its own entity starting in 925AD. It joined Hungary in 1102 but maintained a Croat culture with hopes for independence. Although it was titled a free royal town in 1242, it took about 800 years before Croatia was independent again, this time from Austria-Hungary in 1918. That freedom, too, was short-lived, however. Croatia became a member of Yugoslavia after World War II and didn’t stand on its own again until 1992.
A Croatian friend told me a story about his family once. “My father lived to be more than 100 years old,” Lovorko explained. “He lived his whole life in Croatia, here in Istria. Not only in the same town where he’d been born but in the same house. And, in his lifetime, he lived in nine different countries.”
You have two strong touring options in Croatia, the coast and the Istrian peninsula. The Adriatic waters offshore from Croatia are a sailor’s paradise. Inland, in Istria, is a wonderland of another kind, with vineyards and olive groves. If you’ve any romance in your soul, I defy you not to fall in love with this country. The ancient Romans called it Terra Magica, the Magic Land. Perhaps the best part is that, unlike Tuscany, the region of Italy Istria is most often compared with (with good reason, as the geography and the history of these two regions have much in common), the average traveler can afford to indulge fully in Istria.
Beach is one thing Croatia has in spades. This country’s long Adriatic coastline is magnificent. What’s more, Croatia enjoys more days of sunshine annually than any country in Continental Europe. When Europeans on the Continent set out on their beach holidays, Croatia is one of the destinations they target. Touring this country’s coasts, you’ll see license plates from Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Italy… The Italians have sunny beaches of their own, of course, but, again, those in Croatia can be far more affordable.
In season, the big hotels purpose-built to accommodate the influx of European sun-seekers fill with German, Hungarian, Italian, and other holiday-makers, who set out early each day, barely clad, with their beach mats and sun umbrellas. You can join them…or you can head up into the hills.
Far less touristed is this country’s mountainous Istrian Peninsula, which serves up some of the most delightful scenery on this planet. The land seems to rise up to embrace you. Everywhere you look, something nice is growing — olives, grapes, figs, tomatoes, pumpkins, blackberries, wildflowers. Even the buildings seem to be of the earth, built of its white stone and red clay. In some parts of the world, Nature outdoes herself. In others, that which man has built is impressive. In Istria, Nature and mankind have worked together over centuries, starting with the Romans, to create a land of delights you have to see to appreciate.
In Croatia recently, traveling around with the help of the GPS that came with our rental car, we couldn’t help but notice that Croatia has the opposite problem of Costa Rica, a country we know well. In Costa Rica, maps were made for years showing a beach road that didn’t exist. It had been promised for so long that map-makers, I guess, figured it must have been built and started including it. In Croatia, on the other hand, we encountered many roads that didn’t appear on our GPS map. GPS map-makers can’t keep up with the rate of new road construction in this country. Once the warring finished in the region, Croatia embarked on an aggressive reconstruction and expansion program that continues today, making this beautiful country with such a long and sunny coastline easier to get to know all the time.
(Photo by Jessica Lehrman)
It was with his first mixtape 1999 that Brooklyn’s Joey Bada$$ (Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott) emerged as a rapper birthed from the golden age of hip-hop. He was only 17 years old at the time of his debut mixtape, which includes tracks produced by MF Doom and Chuck Strangers, and yet fused within the musical DNA of the young artist were the same lyrical hues of an age ruled by the likes of Wyclef Jean and Buckshot.
With his first full length album B4.Da.$$ (Before the Money), Joey does not simply conjure the spirit of 1990s hip-hop, but finds that balance between those who came before him and those shaping the future of rap. During a time when so much of hip-hop is saturated with blatant sexual references, we have Joey whose album dropped on what is hard to believe is only his 20th birthday. The album permeates with an introspection and lyricism found in someone much older than Joey’s 20 years. From the first beat, the album courses through the evolution of Joey’s musical landscape, weaving across sounds evocative of those from the 90s to addressing issues such as class, race, wealth, childhood, and surviving America’s current cultural state as a young black man. The track “Like Me” posthumously produced by J-Dilla is a smooth and lyrical track where Joey’s masterful hold on words takes shape and reveals cynicism and contemplation: “It’s like every step bring me close to destiny/ and every breath I get closer to the death of me/I’m just trying to carry out my own legacy/but the place I call home ain’t letting me.” The 17 tracks on the album reveal a multi-textured work that expands beyond the golden age as Joey births a new era of hip-hop.
J.L. Sirisuk: I’m sure you’ve had a long day.
Joey Bada$$: A very, very long day.
Sirisuk: What time did your day start?
Bada$$: When I woke up [laughs].
Sirisuk: You definitely were a product of the golden age of hip hop. Do you remember one of the very first records that caught your attention and that you just couldn’t stop listening to?
Bada$$: Early B.I.G. records, early Tupac joints. Like “Juicy,” “Hypnotized,” Tupac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “Dear Mama.”
Sirisuk: When did you start writing songs? Do you remember one of the first songs you ever wrote?
Bada$$: Yeah, I do but I don’t want to share it with everyone [laughs].
Sirisuk: How old were you?
Bada$$: Probably about 6 or 7. I’ve been writing for over 10 years now.
Sirisuk: You just seem like an older soul. Like I said, it’s as if that golden age birthed you.
Bada$$: Word. I mean this is like my third life [laughs].
Sirisuk: Do you have any idea what your other lives were like?
Bada$$: No,I have no idea but I’m very, very sure that this is my third time around.
Sirisuk: The third time’s a charm, too.
Bada$$: Word up. Indeed it is.
Sirisuk: Since a lot of your lyrics are like poetry, who are some of the writers you’ve been reading?
Bada$$: It ranges. I’m getting more into different authors but I just pick up different books that attract me, period. I’ve read like two Deepak Chopras, I’ve read Rhonda Byrne’s “The Secret.” I’m not really too fond of the authors but the literature is a different story.
Sirisuk: What about philosophers? You recently mentioned you’re reading philosophy.
Bada$$: I like Socrates and Sri Chinmoy Ghose, the Dalai Lama, and Ghandi.
Sirisuk: I really like how you think music should be inspirational in terms of the way it affects people. I want to talk about your new album. It really does show the sonic evolution you’ve taken.
Bada$$: I want my listeners to feel just like I did. I want them to feel the same way I did when I started growing up, when I decided I wanted to chase my dreams. You know that feeling, it’s almost a feeling of invincibility, it’s just like your confidence is so strong and you get the feeling of believing in yourself so much and so hard that you feel that you can do anything. For me, what the whole project is, it’s a mind state. Ultimately, it’s a mind state and it’s that mind state of unlocking your infinite potential and realizing that you can do anything your heart desires. It’s in that exact moment when you feel that hunger for it, to become a better person, to make change, that’s what it represents. The music that’s embodying it is the motivation. Ultimately, my goal is to get people up and start making changes and living life and following your dreams. Just get up and go get it no matter what it is.
Sirisuk: That’s powerful, and I can feel that in the album. Also, I saw you on 4/20 at the smoker’s club tour here in Brooklyn and I remember when you were on stage. You totally brought that energy. Do you ever get nervous before going on stage?
Bada$$: I don’t ever get nervous. My form of getting nervous is actually taking a shit [laughs].
Sirisuk: [laughs].
Bada$$: Every time before I go on stage, if there’s an ounce of nervousness in me, then it starts bubbling in my guts and I have to go to the restroom [laughs].
Sirisuk: You look completely happy when you’re up there, you know. How do you feel when you’re in front of everyone?
Bada$$: You have to understand that for us musicians, at least for the amount of us that really do this from our heart, that the ultimate dream is performing it. So when we finally get that chance to present and showcase our talent, it’s like a dream come true and it’s a very blissful moment for us. It’s a whole adrenaline rush. I could crack my ankle, and then if I go on stage it will be painless. Like I won’t feel anything until I come off it again.
Sirisuk: It’s like you’re reaching a state of mind when you’re up there too. Did you write most of the album in different locations?
Bada$$: I mean most of it was definitely written in once place but it brings influences and energy from all over the world because in the midst of making this album I’ve been doing my traveling, I’ve been exploring things, finding different places and I bring that energy back home. I put it into the music, so definitely composed in one place in the city but the energy it brings is from London, from Australia to California to all over the world, you know.
Sirisuk: Who were you excited to work with on this album?
Bada$$: I was really excited to work with Hit-Boy. I was excited to work with everyone on the album. I purposely kept the amount of rappers that were featured low because there’s not many people who I see on my level that I wanted to share this moment with.
Sirisuk: Within your life, who are some of the fundamental influences you’ve had?
Bada$$: Probably my mom. My mom influences me a lot. She’s very smart so she pretty much molded who I am today. She didn’t pretty much do it, she did just that [laughs].
Sirisuk: After you’re away for so long and then come back to Brooklyn, what’s one of the first things you like to do?
Bada$$: One of the first things I like to do is take a walk in the city. Just take a walk by myself listening to music, headphones on blast.
B4.Da.$$ is currently out via Cinematic Music Group. For more information on Joey, visit his Facebook page.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday afternoon to approve a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline over the presidential approval process, capping off weeks of debate over amendments.
Following the vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) praised the passage, calling it a victory “for jobs in this country, for energy security, for good trade relationships with our neighbor in Canada.”
“For all the right reasons, it was important that we pass this legislation in front of us here today,” said Murkowski.
The bill passed by a vote of 62 to 36. All Republicans and nine Democrats voted in favor. The House approved similar legislation earlier this month. It’s unclear at this point whether the two chambers will need to conference on a bill, or whether the House will pass the Senate bill as amended.
But the bill is destined for a veto either way, as the White House has said President Barack Obama will not sign it into law. Press Secretary Josh Earnest reiterated that veto threat in a press conference Thursday afternoon. So while Thursday marked the end of a sprint on Keystone in the Senate, it’s not likely a conclusion to the marathon debates over the controversial pipeline. The vote indicates there are not enough supporters in the Senate to override a presidential veto at this time.
Because the pipeline crosses an international border, the permitting decision is supposed to lie with the executive branch. But the decision-making process has been beset with delays, prompting congressional Republicans and some Democrats to force approval for the pipeline legislatively.
The White House has given other federal agencies until Feb. 2 to submit their comments on the pipeline. After those are reviewed, the Obama administration is expected to issue its decision.
The Senate has voted on 41 amendments over the last two weeks, but only a handful won enough votes for passage. The Senate approved a measure from John Cornyn (R-Texas) affirming constitutional protections for landowners against the use of eminent domain. It also approved a measure from Murkowski putting the Senate on record stating that the oil industry should have to pay the same per-barrel tax into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for bitumen, a type of crude oil from the tar sands, as it pays for other types of oil. Bitumen is currently excluded from that tax.
Also attached to the legislation were amendments acknowledging that climate change is “real and not a hoax”; approving a scaled-back version of bipartisan energy efficiency legislation; and promoting energy efficiency retrofits for schools.
Democratic leaders were critical of the majority for making Keystone the first order of business this Congress, and for rejecting Democratic amendments that would have required the oil to stay in the United States and the pipeline to be constructed of American-made steel. In a press conference Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described the pipeline as a “giant straw that goes from Canada across the United States to Port Arthur, Texas, and sucks out” the oil.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) described the bill as a “special hug and special kiss to a foreign oil company,” one that she argued was unprecedented in the history of the Senate.
“The fact is, Keystone would create only 35 permanent jobs — a drop in the bucket,” said Schumer. “A fried chicken franchise creates about as many jobs.”
Nine Democrats joined Republicans in approving the bill: Michael Bennet (D-Colo.); Bob Casey (D-Pa.); Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.); Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.); Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.); Jon Tester (D-Mont.); Mark Warner (D-Va.); and Tom Carper (D-Del.).
But Schumer said he was “pretty pleased with how our caucus held together” to keep the amendment process going on the bill, after Republican leaders moved to close off debate on Monday evening.
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