NBC wants Gervais back for the Golden Globes

 
Back in January, Ricky Gervais made headlines when he hosted the Golden Globes, and proceeded to take shots at many of the Hollywood stars in attendance, not to mention the awards themselves.

Gervais went on record as saying that this second time hosting would be his last, but that doesn't mean he's not wanted by the network that put on the show.

Gervais told E! that NBC is interested in having him back for a third time as host, but he said, "I think the Hollywood Foreign Press would need an awful lot of persuading."

Indeed. The Foreign Press, who put on the Globes every year, responded back in February to Gervais suggesting that they were interested in having him back, by telling CNN, "There is no truth to this rumor. We have not asked him to come back. Nice try, Ricky."

On a personal level, Gervais is still hesitant to host the show again, saying that he's not sure a third time could improve on the second: "Never say never, though.

The doctor is out' on 'Pretty Little Liars'

 
 The liars made a lot of progress this week. They finally stuck up for themselves – confiding in Dr. Sullivan about A and everything he/she/they (who knows) has/have been up to.

But before you breathe a sigh of relief, this is “Pretty Little Liars” we’re talking about.

Every step forward ultimately results in two steps back.

As this week’s episode begins, Emily lays in bed awake, tossing and turning. Insomnia seems like a natural reaction to everything the girl has been through this season – one trip to the hospital, one massage gone awry and so on.

Around dawn, Emily sneaks out of Hanna’s house to go for a run in the woods, leaving her cell phone behind. (Can’t you clear your head in a more populated area, Em?)

Realizing she’s gone, the girls check her cell phone, only to find a picture message from A. It's a note that reads, “Clue Ella in and I’ll let you out,” along with the photo of Aria and Fitz canoodling.

By the time Em jogs over to Dr. Sullivan’s office, her friends are already there and ready to dish.

Later, at school, Sullivan leads a lecture about bullying, and how only a coward would hide behind the anonymity of a text message. As she drones on, the girls squirm in their seats. The camera focuses in on a smirking Jenna, a bored out of her mind Mona, Noel and every other student who might have something to do with A. Foreshadowing, perhaps?

Sullivan’s loaded speech makes some of the girls nervous, but it only empowers Emily, who sticks up to Jenna after she says, “It’s a shame Sullivan wasn’t around when your friend Alison was ruling these halls.”

That night, Sullivan gets a call from A. It’s a recording of part of her conversation with the girls. Now positive that her office is bugged, she called the police to come check it out. Lucky her, Garrett shows up to investigate. He insists she give him the names of the clients she was speaking with, but she refuses. (Not that he needs her to tell him. I’ve got a feeling Garrett already knows all about her pretty little patients.)

Meanwhile, things are still rough at Aria’s house with Mike’s weird behavior. When Ella notices him talking to a stranger online, she goes to confiscate his computer. Their tug of war results in Ella hurting her wrist, which eventually causes Mike to check back into reality.

During a hot and heavy make out session in the truck Spencer bought for Toby - which is parked outside Jason’s house for some reason - the pair spot two shadows in Jason’s window. Fed up, Spencer heads to the house, only to meet her father at the front door.

After a terrifying temper tantrum, Spencer’s dad calms down to tell her about his deal with the DiLaurentis family. He says he illegally changed the date on Ali’s grandma’s will so it would include Jason. Ali’s family was worried he would look guilty had it shown that he had recently been written out.

Hanna’s grandmother, played by Betty Buckley, came to town to put an end to her son’s wedding, or so we thought. It wasn’t until we saw just how awesome she is - putting Kate in her place after she sabotaged Hanna at their parents’ dinner - that we realized her real purpose on the show. In a flashback, Ali asks Hanna’s grandma what it would take for her to disown one of her children.

Ali tells Hanna’s grandma she’s writing a story about someone who sold a family heirloom. Translation: Ali went to Georgia to tell her grandmother something about Jason that would cause her to erase him from her will. (Look! Someone else with a motive to kill Alison.) And it all makes sense.

The episode ends with Sullivan looking through her patients’ files for clues as to who A might be. She spots paperwork displaying the phrase “nosy bitches,” which is the same thing she found painted on her wall after her office was vandalized. She contacts the girls to tell them she knows who A is, but, by the time they get to her office, all that’s waiting for them is a text from A: “The doctor is out.”

What did you think of last night’s episode? Are you glad Maya is back in Rosewood? Why is Ashley Benson - who plays Hanna - so amazing at acting drunk? (Seriously, best imitation of a drunken teenager I’ve ever seen.)

The Unexpectedly Index

posted at 1:12 pm on August 30, 2011 by Karl
printer-friendly

ZeroHedge’s “Tyler Durden” understandably led with the depressing news that year-over-year real GDP growth now stands at 1.5%. Apparently, since 1948, every time YoY real GDP has fallen below 2%, the economy has fallen into recession. Manufacturing is likely to look bad on Friday, too.

But the amusing-if-it-wasn’t-sad part of Durden’s report is an apparently unprecedented deterioration in global growth based on a proprietary realtime model I would rename the “Unexpectedly Index”:
Few pictures sum up this collapse in output better than the chart below which plots the three month change in the “Global Surprise Model” (GSM). I created the GSM in the late 1990’s as a means of tracking how the most important (as measured by timeliness and market response) economic statistics were being reported relative to estimates. Although Goldman, and later Citigroup, created comparable models in the early 2000’s, it remains a very useful tool for tracking the change in economic growth (2nd derivative) relative to consensus forecasts.

As shown, the current three month change is the largest in the history of the model. In other words, the collapse in real-time economic data (such as ISM, German IFO, etc.) over the past three months is the sharpest of the last two decades for which data is available.
The accompanying chart at the link is not pretty. I suppose the silver lining is learning Goldman and Citigroup take note of how badly their government-style economic forecasting models fail. Admitting you have a problem is always the first step. It is at least a step ahead of the Obama administration and the establishment media. The establishment media seems more wedded to the idea of reporting “unexpectedly” bad economic news without ever reporting on the limits of macroeconomics as a science. That phenomenon is probably related to the cult of experts to which most of the media and the Obama administration belong. What results is a virtuous circle for progressives and a vicious cycle for everyone else. To quote Arnold Kling:
[E]lected officials want results. They turn to experts who promise results. The experts cannot deliver. So the experts must ask for more power.

Shweta Menon New Hot Stills, Shweta Menon Spicy Photos From Thaaram Tamil Movie

Shweta Menon,Shweta Menon spicy stills, Shweta Menon hot photos, Shweta Menon hot stills, Shweta Menon masala pics, Shweta Menon hot videos, Shweta Menon movie stills, Shweta Menon in saree stills,pics

What are Forex Currency Prices?

mainly for the exchange of goods and services. There are several different currencies used all around the world. All the countries in the world have their own currencies. There are currencies as strong as US dollar and as weak as Zimbabwean dollar. The value of a currency is necessary for forex trading.
Change in World Economy
Balancing Money and the Earth
[kawashima_umika_05_01-731756.jpg]


Previously the currencies of the world were valued on the basis of their comparison to the price of gold. The price of gold in the international market was a determinant factor in deciding the price of the currency. To maintain the price of their currency states were bound to keep reserves in the form of gold. To make it simple we can say that in the past the more gold reserves a state had the higher the price of its currency would gain.
What Laid the Foundations of Forex

With the passage of time world economy has witnessed many changes. The end of Barton Wood system changed world’s reserve system. The growth of economy required the change in world’s reserve system.

The reserved system which lied previously on gold was replaced with US dollar. Some countries are using Euro as their reserves. However most of the states have a dollar based reserve system.
The Currency Prices

The prices of foreign currencies are referred to as forex or FX in international market. The currency exchange is also known as foreign exchange. These currencies are compared mainly in pairs. The aim is to determine which currency has more value as compare to the other currency. The major pairs are US dollar against the Japanese yen, and/or the British pound against the European euro. US, Britain, Japan, Europe and some other states fall into the category of great economic zones. The currencies of great economic zones are needed worldwide for trade. The Australian dollar, Swiss franc, and Canadian dollar also fall in the category currencies of great economic zones. Hence, the forex currencies of these states are traded in the international banks.
Why Forex is Necessary

What are Forex Currency Prices

The forex is vital for many reasons. The forex currencies are necessary for international trade and commerce. Several banks and other financial institutions trade these currencies for their own benefits.

Not all the currency pairs are as strong as the pair of US dollar and Japanese yen. There weak currency pairs also exist. The pairs of US dollar and Polish zloty and Japanese yen and Thai baht are examples of weak pairs.
Currency Pairs

There is another category of currency pair, which is not used in forex as much as the strong pairs or to some extant the weak pairs. These currency pairs are known as exotic pairs. The currency pairs discussed so far are traded widely. The currencies of rest of the countries are traded for some specific purpose.

Tourists or businessmen, who need these currencies, either get them in exchange of their own currencies or trade them vis-à-vis dollar. In this method of exchange a currency is valued in dollar, and the buyer gets the currency of his need according to its value in dollar.