Wednesday, 31 August 2016

David Berry joins 'Outlander'

Australian actor #DavidBerry has been roped in to play the role of Lord #JohnGrey in the popular TV drama series #Outlander.

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Grey is a former British soldier-turned-Ardsmuir Prison governor, who will build up dubious friendship with the incarcerated Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), in the upcoming third season of the show, reports ew.com.

The character is described as "a steadfast and honorable British subject, torn between a finely-honed sense of familial duty and a strong moral compass of right and wrong. He is boyishly handsome with an upper class rearing - the consummate gentleman. However, a scandal from his past has relegated Lord John to an undesirable position as governor of a desolate prison in Northern Scotland". 

'Zombieland' sequel initiated

The sequel to the popular 2009 horror comedy film #Zombieland is still happening as #PaulWernick and #RhettReese have revealed that they are currently writing the screenplay for the film.

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"That is breaking news that we're on 'Zombieland 2' right now," Wernick and Reese said on talk show "Geeking Out", reports aceshowbiz.com. 

They added that they will discuss the next step with actor Woody Harrelson.

"We're sitting with Woody tomorrow and are going to sort of walk him through some of the stuff we want to do. All the cast is pretty excited." 

RIP 'Ice Road Truckers' starrer Darrell Ward

#DarrellWard, star of popular reality series #IceRoadTruckers, was killed in a plane crash at the age of 52.

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The accident happened on Sunday, reports variety.com.

The death was announced in a press release via Ward's official Facebook page. According to the statement, Ward had just left the Great American Truck Show in Dallas and was heading to Missoula, Montana, to begin filming a new documentary series involving the recovery of plane crashes.

Missoula County Sheriff's Captain Bill Burt said the pilot attempted to regain control by landing on a small airstrip when "something went drastically wrong".

Irrfan Khan conferred CNBC award

Actor #IrrfanKhan was honoured with the Entertainer of the Year award by CNBC here on Tuesday. He was felicitated by Finance Minister #ArunJaitley.

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Irrfan said in a statement: "Honoured to be felicitated. For me, the last two years have been a tremendous journey... breaking and redefining entertainment. I am touched that a gamut of roles of different genres has been appreciated and loved by the audience equally. Thanks for all the love and support. May the journey continue."

The actor has been praised for his performance in movies like "Piku", "Jurassic World" and "Talvar" which released last year.

Chris Brown arrested

Singer #ChrisBrown was arrested on Tuesday after a woman claimed that he threatened her with a gun, police said.

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"Brown is going to be transported where he will be arrested for ADW - assault with a deadly weapon," Lt. Chris Ramirez of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) told reporters, NBC News reported. 

The unidentified woman reported the incident to police, saying 27-year-old Brown pointed the gun at her before she left his gated estate in the Los Angeles enclave of Tarzana, law enforcement sources told NBC News.

"The investigation is still ongoing," Ramirez said. 

Ramirez said he couldn't comment on whether any weapons were found at the home because the search was ongoing.

Dogs understand human words - intonation

Believe it or not, dogs have the ability to distinguish words and the intonation of human speech through brain regions similar to those that humans use, according to a new study.

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The findings suggest that vocabulary learning "does not appear to be a uniquely human capacity that follows from the emergence of language, but rather a more ancient function that can be exploited to link arbitrary sound sequences to meanings", said Attila Andics of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary.

Humans, the researchers said, are only unique in their ability to invent words.

Words are the basic building blocks of human languages, but they are hardly ever found in non-human vocal communications. 

Intonation is another way that information is conveyed through speech, where, for example, praises tend to be conveyed with a higher and more varying pitch. 

Understated tourist spot: Itanagar

"Why #Itanagar? Go to Tawang," suggested my friends. But the capital of #ArunachalPradesh, that borders #China, has a lot to offer -- peaceful places, fun nightclubs and good food.

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I was told that it would take only six hours to reach Arunachal Pradesh from Guwahati, Assam, by road. Little did they know about my material form of love -- food and photographs. Forget about six hours, at least for me, it was a 12-hour drive to the northeast Indian state's capital. Worth it? Absolutely.

Accompanied by a bunch of fellow journalists from Assam, the journey was all about food, selfies and songs -- whether they captured the spirit of travel or not -- by Assam's singing sensation Zubeen Garg.

Tuesday, 30 August 2016

India’s Tourist spot: Taj Mahal

The #TajMahal in India is among the 50 most beautiful places in Asia, according to #CondeNastTraveler (CNT) magazine.

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The 17th-century Taj, built entirely in marble by #Mughalemperor #Shahjahan in memory of his wife #Mumtaz, is located in Agra, about 200 km south of #NewDelhi. It is India's most visited #touristspot. 

Xinhua news agency quoted CNT as saying that among the other 50 most breathtaking sites in Asia were Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Wall of China and Lhasa in Tibet.

Tour destination Kerala 2016-17

A leading online review platform mytourreview.com has selected #Kerala as the place to visit in 2016-17.

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The website will now promote Kerala among global tour operators and #travellers.

Kerala #Tourism Director #UVJose said 'God's Own Country' has always benefitted from positive word-of-mouth reviews from international travellers.

Jose said: "Online platforms are an influential and fair tool that tourists use to spread the word about Kerala, which has again topped as a must visit destination." 

Stopping exercise 10 days result decreases brain blood flow

Stopping exercise for just 10 days can lead to significant decrease in blood flow to several regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, new research has found.

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"We know that the hippocampus plays an important role in learning and memory and is one of the first brain regions to shrink in people with Alzheimer's disease," said lead author of the study J. Carson Smith, Associate Professor at University of Maryland School of Public Health in the US.

It is already known that stopping exercise can result in loss of cardiovascular endurance and the researchers wanted to find out what impact does the cessation of exercise have on our brains.

MJ bleached skin erase abusive father's memories

Late pop icon #MichaelJackson bleached his skin to erase the memory of his abusive father, according to the singer's physician doctor #ConradMurray.

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Michael, who lightened his skin and underwent a number of surgeries to look like a "northern athlete", is believed to have undergone the transformations to try to escape the traumatic recollections of his childhood and the constant reminders of Joe Jackson, who treated him badly because of his African American facial features, and to distance himself from his parentage, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Talking about the reason behind Michael's cosmetic surgery, Murray told BANG Showbiz: "In the book we talked about him running away from his memory. I used the word morphological changing and basically of course he was morphing himself, it doesn't matter that his skin was bleached or whether his structural face is good or whether his nose it like a northern athlete. That may have been a mixture of things.

'The Dark Tower' film completed: Idris Elba

Actor #IdrisElba, who will be seen as Roland Deschain in #TheDarkTower, has finished shooting for the fantasy film.

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Elba took to Twitter to share that he has finished his part in the film, which is now in post-production stage, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"I'm done filming. Spoke to the director the other day and he said the edit is coming along really well," Elba tweeted.

In "The Dark Tower", Elba stars opposite Matthew McConaughey, who portrays the villainous Walter Padick, also known as the #ManinBlack, and Jackie Earle Haley, who plays the vampire leader Richard Sayre. 

MTV VMAs big winner: Beyonce

Singer #BeyonceKnowles was the big winner at the 2016 #MTVVideoMusicAwards clinching seven trophies, including the prestigious prize for Video of the Year for the song "Formation".

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The award show took place at the Madison Square Garden here on Sunday night.

Apart from the Video of the Year award, Beyonce also took home trophies in categories like Best Female Video, Breakthrough Long Form Video, Best Choreography, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Direction, reports variety.com.

Held annually, the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards reward musicians for their visual efforts. 

Joe - Nick Jonas find matching tattoos

Singers #Joe and #NickJonas of The Jonas Brothers band fame got matching arrow #tattoos before the 2016 #MTVVideoMusicAwards.

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The siblings hit the stage at the ceremony, held at Madison Square Garden here, separately on Sunday, but they were determined to get something done as a duo just before their solo moments, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Taking to his Snapchat account ahead of the star-studded event in the Big Apple, Nick recorded his older brother getting an arrow tattooed into his hand by a body artist before his turn.

Nick got his design on his left bicep, pointing out, while his brother got the same on the right.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil teaser highlights relationship complexities

The long wait to get a first glimpse of much-talked about film #AeDilHaiMushkil came to an end on Tuesday with the release of its teaser. The first few visuals show stars #AnushkaSharma, #AishwaryaRaiBachchan, #FawadKhan and #RanbirKapoor locked together in a complicated relationship.

ae-dil-hai-mushkil-teaser-highlights-relationship-complexitiesThere is love, heartache, joy and sorrow all tied together in the teaser, which makes it clear that the film delves upon complexities of unrequited love. 

The film traces journey of Ranbir's character as an aspiring singer and his relationships at different points of time. 

The over one-minute video starts with Ranbir singing the title track, and goes on to narrate the bond that Ranbir's character shares with Anushka and Aishwarya. 

Karan Johar is returning to direction after a hiatus of four years. And the director, who picks his camera to frame different emotions be it love, admiration or betrayal into his films, seems to have panned his camera to capture the emotional story of one-side lovers. 

Pakistani actor Fawad adds drama to the teaser with his brief appearance. He sports a grungy and disheveled look, and is seen getting into an intense fight with Ranbir (probably over one of his love interests). 

Dhanush producing Rajinikanth's upcoming film

Actor #Dhanush on Monday announced that superstar #Rajinikanth's next outing after Tamil science-fiction actioner "2.o" will be in his production.

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"I'm so proud and honoured to announce our production's next film," Dhanush wrote on his Twitter page.

He attached a video with his tweet, indicating that he is collaborating with #Rajinikanth and #Kabali director Pa. Ranjith.

Currently busy shooting for magnum opus "2.o", Rajinikanth is expected to start working on this project next year.