Elizabeth Reaser : The Ex List

The last time we saw Elizabeth Reaser, she was having a nervous breakdown on Grey's Anatomy, which had been preceded by a disfiguring accident, a bout of amnesia, facial reconstruction and, finally, a love affair gone awry.

The Ex List an adaptation of a hit Israeli show, it stars Elizabeth Reaser as Bella, a woman who gets two disturbing messages from a psychic: that if she doesn't marry in the next year, she never will; and that the man she is supposed to marry is someone she's already met and passed on. Bella's goal thus becomes working through her relationship history to find the guy she shouldn't have let get away. Like many new series, the premise seems a mite thin on its face, but Reaser is charming enough and that gives The Ex List a shot at catching on.

O.J. Simpson Found Guilty!

On Friday, Hall of Fame running back/murderer O.J. Simpson was found guilty of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges that could land him in jail for the rest of his life.

Last year, Simpson slashed his way into the headlines for his role in gathering up five men and leading an assault on a Las Vegas hotel room where they seized several pieces of memorabilia that Simpson claimed was stolen from him.

Prosecutors say that two of the men were armed with guns (not knives capable of decapitating a woman and a man). Simpson showed little emotion as he was handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom after the verdict was read. It was almost as though Simpson had been desensitized by some brutal, blood and utterly macabre spectacle at some point in his past.

For now, Simpson will sit on the razor's edge as he waits for his sentencing date on December 5th. And while some believe that the reading of the verdict cut deeply, it is safe to say that the sentencing process is going to go straight for the jugular.

Only time will tell if Simpson will cry bloody murder when the sentence is handed down or if tear will flow as if gushing from an artery.

The family of Nicole Brown Simpson, the murdered ex-wife of O.J. Simpson, issued a statement Saturday, a day after the former gridiron star was found guilty of 12 criminal charges related to a Sept. 2007 armed-robbery incident in a Las Vegas casino-hotel room.

"Our family would like to thank everyone across the country for their thoughts and prayers as we work through many mixed emotions," said the Brown family. "Our focus is on the children Sydney and Justin, whom we deeply love and cherish, and ask for the understanding of privacy at this time."

Daughter Sydney, 22, and son Justin, 20, are the children of O.J. and Nicole Simpson, who were married from 1985 to 1992.

In 1995 Simpson, now 61, was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Later, a civil jury held him liable for the killings in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Is Usher's "Trading Places" Video Disrespectful To His Wife?

A couple weeks ago, MediaTakeOut alleged that the love scenes in Usher's new video "Trading Places" were so steamy that some of his staffers were upset, claiming that the newly married man had taken it too far.

An unnamed source reportedly described Usher's kisses with the video vixen as "disrespectful" to Tameka Foster, the superstar's wife and mother of his baby boy. Foster is rumored to be pregnant with the couple's second child.

After watching the video directed by Chris Robinson, I'm now clear about what prompted the controversy.

The song lyrics advocate intimate role reversal. Usher is telling his woman that he wants her to take charge romantically.

The video offers endless examples.

Usher and the leading lady enjoy extended romps on a bed, leather sofa and stair case. There is so little clothing worn in the video that there was no need for a stylist or wardrobe budget.

Usher described the video as "very hot, very forward thinking." "This is kinda wishful thinking for all men," he told MTV, "to have a woman finally take control and compliment us the way we compliment them, whether it is taking us out to dinner or opening up the door."

I wonder if Tameka felt disrespected. I doubt it. I would expect that a woman married to a man whose career is based on the appeal of his six-pack would not be fazed by this part of the job.

This song and video will help bring some attention to Usher's Here I Stand, released in April. The album had been deemed a dud, despite making a solid debut with more than 400,000 album sales.

I bet when Usher performs this song on tour he'll bring a female fan on stage at each venue. His 15-date One Night Stand tour kicks off on November 2 in Atlantic City and wraps on November 25 in Dallas.

The adult subject matter will also give Usher a break from the comparisons to Chris Brown, the young new R&B teen pop dancing machine who stole Usher's formula.

Investing Mistakes to Avoid

Along the way, you may make a few investing mistakes, however there are big mistakes that you absolutely must avoid if you are to be a successful investor. For instance, the biggest investing mistake that you could ever make is to not invest at all, or to put off investing until later. Make your money work for you – even if all you can spare is $20 a week to invest!

While not investing at all or putting off investing until later are big mistakes, investing before you are in the financial position to do so is another big mistake. Get your current financial situation in order first, and then start investing. Get your credit cleaned up, pay off high interest loans and credit cards, and put at least three months of living expenses in savings. Once this is done, you are ready to start letting your money work for you.

Don’t invest to get rich quick. That is the riskiest type of investing that there is, and you will more than likely lose. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it! Instead, invest for the long term, and have the patience to weather the storms and allow your money to grow. Only invest for the short term when you know you will need the money in a short amount of time, and then stick with safe investments, such as certificates of deposit.

Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket. Scatter it around various types of investments for the best returns. Also, don’t move your money around too much. Let it ride. Pick your investments carefully, invest your money, and allow it to grow – don’t panic if the stock drops a few dollars. If the stock is a stable stock, it will go back up.

A common mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that their investments in collectibles will really pay off. Again, if this were true, everyone would do it. Don’t count on your Coke collection or your book collection to pay for your retirement years! Count on investments made with cold hard cash instead.

Investing Basics – What Are Your Investment Goals

When it comes to investing, many first time investors want to jump right in with both feet. Unfortunately, very few of those investors are successful. Investing in anything requires some degree of skill. It is important to remember that few investments are a sure thing – there is the risk of losing your money!

Before you jump right in, it is better to not only find out more about investing and how it all works, but also to determine what your goals are. What do you hope to achieve with your investments? Will you be funding a college education? Buying a home? Retiring? Before you invest a single penny, really think about what you hope to achieve with that investment. Knowing what your goal is will help you make smarter investment decisions along the way!

Too often, people invest money with dreams of becoming rich overnight. This is possible – but it is also rare. It is usually a very bad idea to start investing with hopes of becoming rich overnight. It is safer to invest your money in such a way that it will grow slowly over time, and be used for retirement or a child’s education. However, if your investment goal is to get rich quick, you should learn as much about high-yield, short term investing as you possibly can before you invest.

You should strongly consider talking to a financial planner before making any investments. Your financial planner can help you determine what type of investing you must do to reach the financial goals that you have set. He or she can give you realistic information as to what kind of returns you can expect and how long it will take to reach your specific goals.

Again, remember that investing requires more than calling a broker and telling them that you want to buy stocks or bonds. It takes a certain amount of research and knowledge about the market if you hope to invest successfully.

How to Ask Someone Out on a Date

No more hesitations, this is the moment you have been dreaming of and only you could push it to reality. But, how could you have that dream date? Of course, you have to start from the top. And, that is to ask the person you are interested out on a date. Well, how could you invite a person out? Do you need to be aggressive? Do you need to play safe? Tips to ask someone out would surely be a great help for you.

The following are simple but very essential tips you could lean on in times that you seem to find it hard asking a person for a date. For men, these tips are really great help for you invite that person in your mind.

• Know the right reason or reasons for asking a person out. When you know your purpose, it would surely have the idea of how to express it in a medium that you are most comfortable with.
• What if the person says no? Save that part of you and prepare to whatever the answer of the other person is. Do not take the “no” so heavily. Learn the beauty of grace in such times.
• In order to say well the words you want to express, you may try to do some practicing in order for you to get conditioned of how to say such lines you needed to tell the person you want to be with.
• Be sure that you have the most important details you have for the date in mind. The person might say “yes” and you just do not know where to go, that would be a real “turn off”. As much as possible, be ready with ideas.
• See to it that you know how to answer whenever the person asks you why you are asking her out. You do not have to be a very huge flatterer but you have to make sure that you make the person feel good. This way of showing how much thoughtful you are.
• Never pressure a person to go out with you. This is not healthy and it would even branch out to negative outcomes. Remember not to pressure a person to tell you why it is a “no”.
• Do not stand people up. This means that when you ask a person out, you mean it and you do not leave her just expecting for nothing at all.
• If the person says no, do not be bitter about it. You just have to move on and never treat the person unwell.
• Having some beer just to boost your confidence is a no. It may just push you to worse situations. You have to be naturally confident.
• The more, the merrier but not for a first date. When you are out to ask a person for a date, do not do it when she is with a circle of friends.

These are really useful tips and you have to take note of them, they would surely help you out in maximizing the time you spend with that special person.

A Guide To Skydiving

Skydiving, as the word implies, is an activity in which you’ll be literally diving down from the sky with some safety measures, of course. It’s done from an airplane or a helicopter which takes off from a drop zone, which is like a small airbase.

A Bird’s Eye View Of Skydiving

If you’re planning to do this breathtaking activity, then you should be prepared to know that skydivers would usually exit their airplane at the height of 4000 metres or 13,000 feet. After doing so, you would have to do a freefall for a period of time and then you could open your parachute to slow down your descent until you reach a safe and slow landing speed.

Generally, the chute should be fully inflated by the height of around 2,500 ft. In fact it is part of the law that skydivers should jump with two chutes. One would be the main chute and the other would be the reserve, just in case the main parachute would fail.

Once your parachute is in its full inflation, you now have the ability to control your speed and direction using your chute’s steering lines. With that, technical manoeuvres could be executed by experienced skydivers giving them the ability to land with great accuracy. In fact, there are even some competitions held on being able to land in a specific spot with the most precision and style.

Other than bundling yourself out of the plane, opening a parachute and floating your way down to Earth, skydiving also have some specialization areas, and here are some of them.

Formation Skydiving: Creating Art While You Fall

During the freefall period of the jump, some experienced skydivers would combine to create and hold different formations before they breaking off and open up their parachutes and float down to earth as normal skydiving does. In fact, the world record for this kind of skydiving is actually a 400 man dive. The formation was maintained for 4.25 seconds from the altitude of 25,000 ft. in Udon Thai, Thailand.

Freestyle Skydiving: A Solo Performance

This kind of diving can be a very entertaining one. It is where the skydiver would perform some acrobatic manoeuvres and stunts, such as rolls, tumbles and graceful formations by himself throughout the freefall period and before he opens his parachute. Freestyle dives would also need the participation of another skydiver.

The second diver on the other hand would not do any kind of stunts. However, he would be the one to film his partners’ performance through a camera that is mounted on his helmet. This kind of dive is actually a registered competitive sport that was declared in 1996 by the FAI.

Free Flying: Do It Your Way

This is considered to be the art of controlling your body and having the ability to move through different static positions while you are in the freefall period of your jump, before you open your parachute. If you’ll be doing dives like this, you would have to do some manoeuvres like Sit Flying, Back Flying, and Head Down. These would allow you to have more control on your speed and trajectory. You also have to do some exit rolls or tumbles at the end of your freefall stage so that you can safely deploy your parachute by the time you reach the right altitude.