Monday night, reigning NBA Slam Dunk champion Blake Griffin rose up and Mozgov'd Kendrick Perkins.
Griffin's powerful slam over the surly starting center for the Thunder was so instantly reminiscent of Griffin's most famous in-game dunk over then-Knicks center Timofey Mozgov that Clippers announcer Michael Smith asked his broadcast partner Ralph Lawler, "Is it possible to top what he did last year?"
Lawler gushed in response, "[It's] almost a Mozgov!"
"It's better than a Mozgov! I didn't think it was possible to top him," shouted Smith.
Griffin quite literally did "top" Perkins, just as he did Mozgov. After setting a screen for Chris Paul and then taking a pass as he rolled to the rack, Griffin rose up. Seemingly too far from the rim to ever get there, he rose up and drew enough contact for the foul and then, somehow, managed to keep pushing toward the hoops and throw the ball through the rim for two points.
How do you define beauty? What are the factors that govern whether or not you find someone physically attractive? This question has plagued philosophers and artists for millennia. And now, modern scientists think they're close to finding that magical formula for physical beauty. Aside from the obvious cues,--youthfulness, smooth skin, bright eyes--it pretty much all comes down to math.
When it comes to sexual attraction, we've known for some time that men prefer a waist-to-hip ratio of around 70%. And although opinions about a woman's ideal weight have shifted throughout history, that 70% ratio has been a consistent measure of her beauty.
Another thing we've noticed is that across cultures (and even across species), animals are most attracted to mates that have highly symmetrical faces. Some think that asymmetry may be indicative of underlying genetic problems, so we tend to seek out symmetry to improve our evolutionary chances of survival.
A southern California plastic surgeon named Dr. Stephen Marquardt continued in the tradition of famed mathematician Pythagoras when he claimed to find the golden ratio phi, popping up all over the ideal human face. He found that pretty people's mouths were 1.618 times wider than their noses, and that the widest point on their noses was 1.618 times wider than the narrow tip. He even claimed that the width of a supermodel's front two teeth is precisely 1.618 times the height of each tooth.
Since then, other researchers have found golden ratios of their own, but not of the Pythagorean variety. Studies at UCSD and the University of Toronto found that female faces were judged most attractive when the distance between the eyes and the mouth was roughly 36% of the overall length of the face, and when the distance between the two eyes was around 46% of the face's width. See, these researchers claim that we cognitively average all of the faces we encounter on a day-to-day basis. So those people that represent the most average face possible--the 36 and 46 percenters--are the ones we gravitate toward.
Now get this: repeated studies have found that people are most attracted to people who look like themselves. What's worse, they often choose mates based on how much they look like--you ready for it?--their parents! Let's hope that's an unconscious phenomenon.
And you won't believe what researchers at Albright College have been up to. They claim to have found the biological basis for gaydar. Yeah, you heard me: gaydar. In their study, straight men's faces were found to be more symmetrical than those of self-identified gay men. Ultimately, they claim that symmetry is a greater predictor of heterosexuality than masculinity.
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
JEAN DUJARDIN, The Artist *
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
VIOLA DAVIS, The Help *
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Armie Hammer, J. Edgar
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, Beginners *
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
OCTAVIA SPENCER, The Help *
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Outstanding Performance by a Cast
Bridesmaids
The Artist
The Descendants
THE HELP *
Midnight in Paris
TV
Best Actress in a TV Series – Drama
Glenn Close, Damages
Kathy Bates, Harry's Law
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
JESSICA LANGE, American Horror Story *
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Best Actor in a TV Series – Drama
STEVE BUSCEMI, Boardwalk Empire *
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Patrick J. Adams, Suits
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Best Actress in a TV Series – Comedy
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
BETTY WHITE, Hot In Cleveland *
Best Actor in a TV Series – Comedy
ALEC BALDWIN, 30 Rock *
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Steve Carell, The Office
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE *
Breaking Bad
Dexter
The Good Wife
Game of Thrones
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock
Glee
The Big Bang Theory
MODERN FAMILY *
The Office
Saturday while trying to break into an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders to call attention to the needs of the world's poor. Separately, demonstrators from the Occupy movement marched to the edge of the gathering.
After a complicated journey to reach the heavily guarded Swiss resort town of Davos, the Ukrainians arrived at the entrance to the complex where the World Economic Forum takes place every year.
With temperatures around freezing in the snow-filled town, they took off their tops and tried to climb a fence before being detained. "Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso, while others held banners that said "Poor, because of you" and "Gangsters party in Davos."
Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told that they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later Saturday.
The activists are from the group Femen, which has become popular in Ukraine for staging small, half-naked protests to highlight a range of issues including oppression of political opposition. They have also conducted protests in some other countries.
"We came here to Switzerland to Davos to explain the position of all poor people of the world, to explain that we are poor because of these rich people who now sit in the building," said Inna Schewcenko.
Protesters from the Occupy movement that started with opposition to practices on Wall Street held a separate demonstration in Davos on Saturday. A small group of protesters are camped in igloos in Davos to call for more help for the needy.
About 40 Occupy protesters gathered in front of the town hall. Some held placards with slogans such as "If voting would change anything, it would be illegal" and "Don't let them decide for you, Occupy WEF."
Kentucky's governor said Friday there will be an immediate review of ways to restore an aging traffic bridge in the western part of the state after a five-story-high cargo boat carrying space rocket parts for NASA and the Air Force slammed into it, leaving a 300-foot-wide gap in the structure.
Gov. Steve Beshear promised speedy work to replace the damaged bridge at US 68 and Kentucky 80 that was struck Thursday night. The 1930's-era bridge already was in the process of being replaced and preconstruction work began months ago, state transportation officials said.
The two-lane bridge, which connects Trigg and Marshall counties at the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, handles about 2,800 vehicles daily. Drivers now face a detour of dozens of miles while it is out.
Coast Guard officials also closed a portion of the river on either side of the bridge, formerly known as Eggner's Ferrry Bridge, until it's determined to be safe for travel.
The 312-foot, 8,400-ton Delta Mariner hauls rocket parts for the Delta and Atlas systems to launch stations in Florida and California, according to a statement from United Launch Alliance, which builds the rocket parts in Alabama. The cargo was not damaged in the collision with the bridge, the company said.
The rockets are used by the Air Force, NASA and private companies to send satellites into space, said Jessica Rye, a spokeswoman with United Launch Alliance.
The ship's typical route to Florida takes it along the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, then onto the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and on to Florida's east coast, Sacco said.
Sacco said he didn't believe that the Delta Mariner has had any major incidents before the collision. In 2001, the ship was stuck in a sandbar on the Tennessee River during a trip to Decatur, but was later freed by a river tug after about an hour.
Jan Brewer traded words with President Obama after she greeted him at a Phoenix airport Wednesday.
Brewer and Obama "spoke intensely for a few minutes" after he landed at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, according to a White House pool report. At one point, the GOP governor shook her finger at the president.
"He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told a reporter after the incident, referring to her political memoir, "Scorpions for Breakfast." In the book, Brewer depicted Obama as "patronizing" during an earlier meeting.
"I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president," Brewer said. "The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt. So."
Brewer said Obama told her "that he didn't feel I had treated him cordially."
"I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn't get my sentence finished," Brewer said. "Anyway, we're glad he's here. I'll regroup."
The last time Obama met with Brewer was June 2010, when the Arizona governor visited the Oval Office for a private, 30-minute encounter the White House called a "good meeting." At the time, Brewer said the meeting was "very cordial," but in her book she said Obama had been "condescending."
During Wednesday's encounter, Brewer handed Obama a handwritten letter asking him to sit down with her to discuss the "Arizona comeback."
"I thought we probably would've talked about the things that were important to him and important to me, helping one another," Brewer said of a potential meeting with the president. "Our country is upside down. Arizona was upside down. But we have turned it around. I know again that he loves this country and I love this country."
U.S. Navy SEAL unit that killed Osama bin Laden parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed.
President Barack Obama authorized the mission by SEAL Team 6 two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.
The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, a Dane, were "on their way to be reunited with their families."
Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when gunmen kidnapped the two in October.
The raiders came in quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were "taken away."
2012 Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, and as expected, films about films led the way.
"The Artist," the silent, black and white tribute to old Hollywood, earned a nod for Best Picture, and, after a series of recent critics and guild award wins, is considered the favorite. Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius received nominations for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Jean Dujardin was handed a bid for Best Actor for his turn as George Valentin, a silent film star who refuses to move into the era of the talkies; he earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy earlier this month. Bérénice Bejo, for her role as starlet Peppy Miller, earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
"Hugo," Martin Scorsese's 3D family homage to film preservation, earned 11 nominations.
"The Descendants," the Alexander Payne-directed dramedy considered the other top awards contender, was also nominated for Best Picture; Payne earned a nod for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, the latter of which he shares with writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. George Clooney, who stars as a beleaguered father, soon-to-be-widower and trustee of sacred family land in Hawaii, earned a nomination for Best Actor; he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama earlier in January.
"The Help," the tale of domestic workers in segregated Mississippi at the beginning of the Civil Rights era, also earned a Best Picture nod, as well as a nomination for Viola Davis for Best Actress and nods for Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress.
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," the polarizing film about a boy in search of a secret from the father he lost on 9/11, earned a surprise nod for Best Picture, while Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" also slipped in. "Bridesmaids" earned a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, while Melissa McCarthy got a nod for Best Supporting Actress.
Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"
Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource
"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams
Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Best Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"
Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"
Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."
Best Documentary Feature
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"
Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"
Best Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"
Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
21-year-old Palestinian woman has told authorities she was locked in a bathroom for the past decade by her father, who let her out only in the dead of night so she could clean their house.
"People are monsters," Baraa Melhem said her father would tell her, according to a social worker dealing with the case.
Palestinian police said on Monday they freed Melhem from the small bathroom of a home in the West Bank city of Qalqilya on Saturday after an anonymous tip.
Her father, who holds Israeli citizenship, was arrested and handed over to Israeli authorities. He is due to appear in an Israeli court on Wednesday, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Melhem told Voice of Palestine radio that when she was 11, her father confined her to the toilet and did not allow her to go to school or see her mother, whom he had divorced.
She was beaten with a baton and metal wires and given only one blanket to keep her warm, said the social worker, Hala Shreim.
"The bathroom was only 1-1/2 meters big, it was like a cell," Shreim said.
According to a statement issued by Palestinian police, the father, citing a "family dispute", admitted to locking up his daughter and feeding her mainly bread.
Melhem told Voice of Palestine that her father used to shave her hair and her eyebrows, and allowed her to shower only once a month. He would let her out of the bathroom every night at 1 a.m. to clean the house until 4 a.m., she added.
Melhem's father, the social worker said, often encouraged his daughter to commit suicide.
Monday night's presidential debate -- the first in the crucial state of Florida -- may have come before any candidate actually took the stage.
Prior to the camera rolling, NBC, the debate's host, told audience members to hold their applause. It was not an agreed-to rule among the candidates themselves. In fact, none of the campaigns said they had even requested it. But it created a type of no-thrills vibe that clearly benefited one over the other.
Mitt Romney, by most estimates, emerged better off Monday night. He peppered his answers with attacks on Newt Gingrich that his own top advisers freely called "aggressive." Most of the action came within the debate's first half-hour, when the focus was on the former speaker's role as a consultant/lobbyist for Freddie Mac, his propensity for bombast and his serial unreliability.
'I don't think we can possibly retake the White House if our nominee was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac," Romney declared at one point.
After the fact, the campaigns spun the debate in typical fashion. But each adviser kept coming back to the same keystone: the prohibition on applause.
"Audiences, I think are there to watch," said Stuart Stevens, Romney's top adviser. "They are not there to be, sort of, an 11th man on the team. And look, we have done fantastically in these debates. The audiences have been very good for Mitt Romney. I just think, personally, that the audiences should not be, it is not the LSU-Alabama game."
"We are picking the president of the United States here," Stevens added. "It is not a game show."
If that didn't give off the indication that the Romney campaign felt it benefited from a dryer, quieter format, the reaction from the Gingrich camp certainly did.
"I also think the prohibition for no clapping was kind of un-American. What if you went to a baseball game and they were like, 'No cheering after a big play,'" asked Gingrich's top spokesman R.C. Hammond.
"I'm going to [file a complaint] right now," Hammond added, tongue in cheek. "R.C. is lodging a complaint."
For the campaigns to put such tremendous stock in the debate rules may seem like an effort in finding a superficial explanation for a candidate's performance. But the rest of Monday night's hour and 45-minute forum was, truly, a dull affair. The candidates found themselves agreeing on several substantive matters: whether it be a limited version of the Dream Act (a path to citizenship for military service) or English as an official language. Former Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul, the other two candidates, weren't called on until 10-plus minutes in. And, far more often than in the past, they were used as strategic allies by the two frontrunners
Tracy Morgan fell unconscious during an awards ceremony at Sundance in Park City, Utah, Sunday evening.
The "30 Rock" star collapsed outside of the building shortly after being honored at the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards, where he "seemed out of control, yelling and falling onto the ground," the Hollywood Reporter reports. The actor, 43, was escorted out of the building after giving his speech, then was rushed to the hospital.
Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the child sex abuse scandal that brought his career to a stunning end, died Sunday at age 85.
His death came just over two months after his son Scott announced on Nov. 18 that his father had been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer. The cancer was found during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks later, Paterno broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.
Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation after what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with The Washington Post. Paterno was described as frail then, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted at his bedside.
His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."
"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Paterno built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor," and he found both. The man known as "JoePa" won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011
[ Man City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspurs ]
56' [1 - 0] S. Nasri
59' [2 - 0] J. Lescott
61' [2 - 1] J. Defoe
65' [2 - 2] G. Bale
90' [3 - 2] M. Balotelli (pen.)
Heidi Klum is filing for divorce from Seal, her husband of almost 7 years, TMZ reports.
Klum will reportedly file in Los Angeles next week, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Klum, 38, and Seal, 48, married in 2005 on a beach in Mexico. They have three biological children together, in addition to Heidi's daughter Leni from a previous relationship.
The stylish couple was widely known for their lavish Halloween parties (and equally outlandish couple costumes). They also renewed their vows every year in elaborate ceremonies.
Heidi famously said she fell for Seal after checking out his, uh, merchandise in a pair of bicycle shorts. She legally changed her last name to Seal's, becoming Heidi Samuel, in 2010.
Klum's first marriage to stylist Ric Pipino ended in divorce in 2002.
Newt Gingrich, whose candidacy was left for dead in June and then again earlier this month, scored a stunning victory over Mitt Romney here that has reshaped the Republican presidential primary and called into question Romney's ability to win the nomination.
As soon as the polls closed in South Carolina at 7 p.m., the major TV networks called the race for Gingrich. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Gingrich was at 40.3 percent to Romney's 27.9 percent, with former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) at 17 percent and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at 13 percent, the Associated Press reported.
"Thank you South Carolina! Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida," Gingrich tweeted soon after the race was called, directing people to where they could give money to his campaign.
Later Gingrich used his 23-minute victory speech to build on the themes that drove his popularity through the roof in this Southern state: deep resentment among conservatives of the influence of liberals in the press and other cultural institutions.
"The American people feel that they have elites who have been trying for a half century to force us to quit being American," Gingrich said.
"The elites in Washington and New York have no understanding, no care, no concern, no reliability, and in fact, do not represent them at all," he said.
Gingrich did not mention Romney by name and referred to him only twice, once to praise him as "a good example of America," and a second time to point out that Romney has a much better financed campaign.
Nicki Minaj promised more of character Roman Zolanski on her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Yet, as the video for the album’s latest single, “Stupid Hoe,” indicates, her sophomore disc isn’t solely an ode to Roman. Rather, her Barbie character, of pink wigs and a pastel universe, is back.
The legendary "At Last" singer died from complications from leukemia; she also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C.
James died at Riverside Community Hospital, with her husband and sons at her side, De Leon said.
Boldness was as much a trademark of James, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as her platinum-dyed mane.
She scored her first hit when she was just a teenager with the suggestive "Roll With Me, Henry," which had to be changed to "The Wallflower" in order to get airplay. Over the years, she'd notch many more, carving a niche for herself with her husky, soulful voice and her sassy attitude, which permeated her songs.
But it was her jazz-inflected rendition of "At Last" that would come to define her and make her legendary. The song, which starts with sumptuous strings before James begins to sing, was a remake of a 1941 standard. James made it her own, and her version became the new standard.
Over the decades, countless brides have used it as their song down the aisle, and it has been featured in car commercials and films like "American Pie," But perhaps most famously, U.S. President Barack Obama and the first lady danced to a version of "At Last" at his inauguration ball.
But the tender, sweet song belied the turmoil that James – born Jamesette Hawkins in Los Angeles – would endure for much of her life. Her mother – whom she described in her 1995 autobiography "Rage to Survive" as a scam artist, a substance abuser and unstable – was a fleeting presence in her life during her youth.
She never knew her father, although she had been told that he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. When she was older, she met him and asked about the rumor. He wouldn't confirm or deny it: as James recalled, he simply told her: "I don't remember everything. I wish I did, but I don't."
Her mother would come in and out of her life, so she was raised by Lula and Jesse Rogers, who owned the rooming house her mother once lived in. The pair brought up James in the Christian faith, and even as a young girl, her voice stood out in the church choir. James would soon get solos and became so well known, she said that Hollywood stars would come to see her perform.
But she wouldn't stay a gospel singer for long. Rhythm and blues soon lured her away from the church, and she found herself drawn to the grittiness of the music.
"My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy," she recalled in her book.
She was doing just that when bandleader Johnny Otis found her singing on San Francisco street corners with a couple of girlfriends in the early 1950s.
"At the time, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters had a hit with `Work With Me, Annie,' and we decided to do an answer. We didn't think we would get in show business, we were just running around making up answers to songs," James told The Associated Press in 1987.
Thursday during the very first question. The charges, however, were not directed between the candidates, but between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and debate moderator John King.
King asked Gingrich to respond to allegations by his ex-wife that in 1999, Gingrich asked her to have an open marriage with him.
"Would you like to take some time to respond to that?" asked King.
"No, but I will," responded Gingrich, receiving loud, sustained applause from the audience.
"I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," he said.
Sarah Burke was an X Games star with a grass-roots mentality – a daredevil superpipe skier who understood the risks inherent to her sport and the debt she owed to it for her success on the slopes.
The pioneering Canadian freestyler, who helped get superpipe accepted into the Olympics, died Thursday after a Jan. 10 crash during a training run in Park City, Utah.
Burke, who lived near Whistler, in British Columbia, was 29.
"Sarah was the one who, in a very positive way, stood in the face of adversity and asked, `Why not?'" said Peter Judge, the CEO of Canada's freestyle team. "What she would have wanted was for her teammates and others in her sport to stand up and also say, `Why not?' To benefit from the significant opportunities available to them, being able to compete in the Olympics and the X Games. Those were the things she wanted and cherished and fought for."
A four-time Winter X Games champion, Burke crashed on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic brain injury during a training accident on Dec. 31, 2009.
Tests revealed she sustained "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest," according to a statement released by her publicist, Nicole Wool, on behalf of the family.
She said Burke's organs and tissues were donated, as the skier had requested before the accident.
"The family expresses their heartfelt gratitude for the international outpouring of support they have received from all the people Sarah touched," the statement said.
Judge said the accident did not come on a risky trick, but rather, a simple 540-degree jump that Burke usually landed routinely.
That was the point that professional tennis player Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus reached during his Australian Open match against Stanislas Wawrinka on Wednesday.
After losing the second set against, Baghdatis decided to take out his frustration on his racquet.
But one apparently wasn't enough. Baghdatis felt the need to also smash the innocent racquets that weren't even involved in his struggles, two of which hadn't even been removed from their plastic yet.
Baghdatis smashed four racquets total and would ultimately go on to lose in four sets. The loss knocked the world's 44th ranked men's tennis player out of the Australian Open and likely out of the running for quite a few tennis equipment endorsements for the forseeable future.
North Carolina pastor has sparked an outcry after claiming that gay men "have to wear a diaper" because of "what happens to the male anus" after anal sex.
Pastor Patrick Wooden made the offending statement in a discussion with Americans For Truth About Homosexuality's (AFTAH) Peter LaBarbera, who organized this week's protest of the Southern Poverty Law Center after they designated AFTAH as an "anti-gay hate group."
"The God of the Bible made the human sperm, the God of the Bible designed it and it was not designed to be emptied into an area that is filled with feces," Wooden said, noting that gay sex would "most certainly mean the extinction of the human race.
17-year-old from Chicago was brutally beaten by a pack of six attackers while an accomplice recorded the pummeling that's been posted online.
Police say they're investigating the attack that ends with the victim bleeding from the lip and running shoeless down a snowy street in the city's Bridgeport neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, The Chicago Tribune reports.
The footage, which has appeared on YouTube, begins with the attack already underway. For more than three minutes, the victim is punched in the face and kicked repeatedly. At times he is hit in the head with a sneaker and dragged across the ground.
Many of the gang's faces are concealed by hooded sweatshirts, but those that are visible appear to be young white males. They utter the N-word repeatedly as they taunt and strike the victim, who appears to be Asian.
The reality star stunned as she walked the red carpet at two different award show after parties.
According to Celebuzz, the 31-year-old hit both the Weinstein Company and the Warner Bros. and InStyle parties to celebrate the evening of accolades. Kardashian posed on the step-and-repeat in a plunging neckline, lace cap-sleeve gown that hugged her in all the right places.
And although Kardashian may have looked like a million bucks, that didn't stop Golden Globes host, Ricky Gervais, from taking a few cheap swipes at the TV star.
The singer was photographed rolling what appears to be a blunt and smoking outside while relaxing in Hawaii Sunday. For those questioning just what exactly she's inhaling, we'll let her own tweet speak for itself:
"Kush rolled, glass full...I prefer the better things!" she wrote, quoting lyrics from Drake's "Up All Night."
Hey, maybe she's smoking some hand-rolled tobacco. Or maybe it's Blue Ivy. We guess we'll never really know for sure.
2012 Golden Globes, the mishap came care of Sarah Hyland, the adorable "Modern Family" actress.
Hyland's little accident came to light, of course, by the super-sleuths that are the E! correspondents. "I'm laughing," Giuliana said, "because I saw your zipper break on the red carpet! And I was like, 'E! Send a camera right over there!' "
But of course the impossibly charming Hyland took it in stride. "I kind of just felt an explosion in my back," she said, and her dress started to fall. But luckily she kept her simple zipper malfunction from turning into a much-feared nip slip. "I grabbed [my dress] before it was too late."
Sunday night's Golden Globes, but managed dredge up her husband's past while chatting with Giuliana Rancic on E!'s pre-show coverage.
The "Ringer" star, who is married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr., downplayed the fact that her hubby wasn't there -- he was watching football instead -- but reminded everyone that Prinze once served as the official "Mr. Golden Globes" quite a few years ago.
It's true -- a clip from the 1996 Golden Globes awards features the one and only Freddie Prinze Jr., along with "Miss Golden Globes" Jaime Nicole Dund.
