YouTube

It’s always good to see a rapper take videography seriously. Case in point: David Banner and Chris Brown‘s latest video for new song ‘Amazing.’ Instead of the usual rap video motif of booty-shaking girls and popping champagne in the club, the duo gets animated in this truly amazing clip.

In the stop-animated video, Banner and Brown’s noggins are PhotoShopped on top of action figures as they cruise around town in a convertible looking for plastic Barbie dolls. Sounds like real life, doesn’t it?

The dynamic duo spots two fly ladies driving in their car and Banner devises a scheme to get their attention. The rapper goes into the trunk, pulls out a vinyl record (remember those things?) and hurls it at the girls’ car tire to cause a flat. As the stranded women cry for assistance on the side of the road, in come Banner and Brown in their car to scoop up the chicks and give them a ride.

The video also features a cameo from the late Michael Jackson … as a doll, of course. Breezy challenges the King of Pop to a dance battle and judging by the two performances, it’s obvious who won that contest. Hee-hee! Shamone!

David Banner’s ‘Amazing’ video is fun to watch and shows that if artists put some thought into it, they too can produce a wildly-creative music video. Rappers please take note.

Watch David Banner, ‘Amazing’ Video Feat. Chris Brown

Article source: http://popcrush.com/david-banner-chris-brown-gets-animated-in-amazing-video/

The “Gossip Girl” star was in Cannes on Saturday to celebrate a new movie, “Romeo and Juliet,” at a champagne reception on the beach.

Filmed in Italy, the British actor sports shoulder-length hair as Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, in this movie production of William Shakespeare’s romantic play.

The role of Romeo goes to another Brit, Douglas Booth, while Oscar-nominee Hailee Steinfeld plays the famous heroine.

Written by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes, it’s directed by Carlo Carlei.

Westwick told AP he studied the tragedy at school and they shot at the historic Juliet balcony in Verona – although they had a stunt balcony built too.

He starts filming the final series of “Gossip Girl” in July.

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/19/ed-westwick-tv-romeo-turned-movie-star/

Pushing the envelope doesn’t attract him to projects. Reinventing the envelope? That’s more like it. “The Dictator,” out now in theaters, reunites the director with “Borat” star Sacha Baron Cohen. It’s the story of a horrible, clueless tyrant from a fictitious North African country who is forced by plot-twist circumstances to work at a New York food co-op run by a progressive activist (Anna Faris).

Although the content could be described as equal-opportunity offensive, there’s a method to the creative madness and every joke is carefully thought out, according to Charles. You might even find a message in there about the state of the world today.

“Hopefully it’s offensive in a good cause,” says Charles, speaking by phone last week about “The Dictator” and the comic geniuses he’s encountered through the years.

QUESTION: Is it fair to describe this movie as being about an appallingly bigoted, sexist fish out of water?

ANSWER: I would say that is a limited description of it. I think it’s a lot more than that. Those things may be accurate, but it also may be the funniest movie of the year. If you’ve seen “The Hunger Games” and “The Avengers” and you’re craving laughter about the absurdity of world events, this is a great movie.

Q: The title character, General Admiral Aladeen, brings to mind a lot of people, from Saddam Hussein to Moammar Gadhafi. Were there any other inspirations?

A: We certainly did not intend for people to see only the references to the Middle East dictators, although they’re clearly there. We were drawing on all kinds of dictators, from Kim Jong Il to Idi Amin to Pinochet in Chile. We were looking at the world history of dictators. That’s what we’re really making fun of. We’re not making fun of any ethnic group of any particular kind. We’re making fun of the personality disorder that leads to someone becoming a dictator. That transcends ethnic boundaries.

Q: What makes Sacha Baron Cohen so adorable even when he’s playing the worst tyrant imaginable?

A: One theory I have is he was the baby of his family and I think he was trying to get attention from his parents. Kids like that tend to have an adorable quality to them. He just inherently has a kind of a charm that, no matter who he’s playing, no matter what he’s doing, exudes through the persona of the character.

Q: He gets away with a lot through his connection with the audience.

A: It’s because we have a tremendous respect for our audience and appreciation for our audience. We want them to be with us. We don’t want that traditional separation between the audience and the movie. We want the audience to be part of it, in a way, and feel that we’re all together on this. That’s a special relationship we’ve established with our audience, which is very important to us.

Q: With the content of the movie, you don’t make fun of tragedies, but you touch on them on your route to comedy. Can you talk a little about the comic boundaries?

A: We’re not interested in exploiting tragedy. But we’re interested in taking those tragedies and talking about the perceptions of those tragedies, the reasons for those tragedies, the hypocrisy surrounding the coverage of those tragedies, and looking for a satiric point to make in these kind of very shocking, outrageous, politically incorrect situations and targets. We feel like that is a part of the challenge of a movie like this.

Part of the audacity of a movie like this is to take a subject that’s normally treated seriously, that’s almost grim at times, and actually find humor in it that winds up being a cathartic experience for the audience. They need that laughter. They know everything is absurd and crazy and random, but they need to feel as a group, in the audience together, that they can laugh at it finally and let go of some of that anxiety from it. That’s usually a very hearty, strong, memorable laugh.

Q: What was it like working with Sir Ben Kingsley, taking the Gandhi portrayer and putting him in comic situations?

A: Before I met him, I was very intimidated. I was told very specifically you must call him Sir Ben. Do not call him anything but Sir Ben. He is Sir Ben. I’d walk around for a day going, “Sir Ben, Sir Ben, Sir Ben,” to remember. I’m from Brooklyn. We don’t have knights in Brooklyn. Then when I met him, he was the most gracious, fun guy. He loves acting challenges. He loves doing something he hasn’t done before. He loves doing something he’s not sure he can do. He loves taking those leaps and risks. His gravitas and seriousness really added to the comedy.

Q: One of the big surprises is a speech about America by Aladeen near the end of the movie. Do you think that will make people laugh or think or be shocked?

A: Why limit it to one or the other? I hope that all three of those things and more things occur as a result of that. I think it would be great for people to laugh at. I think there will be a moment of people sort of recognizing what’s going on and relating to it and have it resonate with them. Hopefully, they’ll walk out later and quote the lines because they’re funny, but while they’re doing that, they’re also quoting these very pointed political barbs that we’re throwing out there as well.

Q: Those days are gone when you could move around rather anonymously as you and Cohen made “Borat.” What was it like when you were able to unleash this character on a rather unsuspecting public?

A: There was nothing like it. It was the most exhilarating experience, those two movies, “Borat” and “Brüno.” It was a filmmaking style that evolved and really has no precedent, in a sense. It’s synthesizing so many interesting, disparate elements that it became its own unique thing. We really captured lightning in a bottle. It was almost like … in the old movies, when they would go into the jungle to find King Kong or something. … We didn’t know what we had. And as soon as we opened the curtains and the audience started screaming and saying, “Oh, wow,” we know what we have. “Borat” was the kind of movie that people didn’t see coming, but once they saw it, they were like, “Where has this been all my life?”

Q: Looking over your work, from the movies with Cohen to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with Larry David and “Religulous” with Bill Maher, is there something about those guys that they have in common, that they don’t worry about pushing the envelope?

A: I think I’m attracted to these guys in the same way that I used to be attracted to crazy people in Brooklyn and wanted to be around them. I’m attracted to them because they’re comic geniuses. They’re savants essentially. They are comic savants who do what they do and would do what they do no matter what the circumstances were. It happens that they’ve all had tremendous success. But I can assure you that Bill Maher, Larry David, Sacha Baron Cohen, Bob Dylan also, they would all be doing the same thing in one form or another, whether they were sitting at a bus stop or in front of a camera. They need to do it. They have to do it. They have no choice but to do it. I really, really admire that.

Contact Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com

More Details: ‘The Dictator’

Now showing

Rated R; crude and sexual content, nudity, language, violent images

1 hour, 24 minutes

Review at www.freep.com

Article source: http://www.freep.com/article/20120520/ENT01/205200351/Chatting-with-Larry-Charles-director-of-The-Dictator-

Shameless and head-slappingly silly, this Navy-vs.-aliens epic delivers a few thrills and a few laughs. The space invaders arrive in big shape-shifting ships that they use to encase a corner of Hawaii and the Pacific in a shielded bubble. Only three guided-missile destroyers — two American, one Japanese — can halt the coming invasion. Poor actor-turned-director Peter Berg had the tough job of ignoring the holes in the plot (even a 10-year-old can spot them) while staging action that plays like the Hasbro board game on which the movie is based. Rated PG-13; violence, action, destruction, language. 2 hours, 8 minutes. By Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

“Darling Companion” *

Director and former Michigander Lawrence Kasdan’s first film in nine years is an effort that falls miles shy of his earlier ensemble pieces like “The Big Chill” and “Grand Canyon.” It involves Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline, who play a frustrated married couple; a missing dog, and an impressive supporting cast that includes Richard Jenkins, Dianne Wiest and Elisabeth Moss. A story built around a lost dog is naturally sentimental, but Kasdan generally avoids that trap. Instead, his film just feels utterly neutered and in need of some wit. Rated PG-13; sexual content, language. 1 hour, 43 minutes. By Jake Coyle, Associated Press.

“The Dictator” * *

Sacha Baron Cohen plays General Admiral Aladeen, dictator-for-life of the North African nation of Wadiya. (Any resemblance to Libya is purely intentional.) Dissidents from his country set out to kill him while he’s visiting the United States, but they botch the job and manage only to remove his beard. That leads everyone to believe that his dumb double (Cohen, in a slightly funnier guise) is the real Aladeen and sets up the movie’s so-so funny story. The chaos of Cohen’s improvised gotcha mockumentaries like “Borat” and Bruno” is missing here, and the humor is fitful. In addition, Cohen takes pains to avoid any hint of offending Islam, which begs the question: Would Borat have muzzled himself like that? Rated R; crude and sexual content, nudity, language, violent images. 1 hour, 24, minutes. By Roger Moore.

“First Position” * * *

Documentary follows a group of young dancers during preparations for the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. The competitor who makes the strongest impression is gifted 11-year-old Aran Bell, who lives with his American military family in Italy. Not rated. 1 hour, 30 minutes. By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times.

“Mansome” * *

This halfhearted effort from documentarian Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”) and producers Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Judd Apatow raises questions about the body-image issues 21st-Century males confront, but rarely answers them. Body hair or manscaping? Facial fur or clean shaven? Abs or flab? All are potentially interesting topics, but “Mansome” mostly settles for some guy talk from Hollywood types and a handful of oddball characters (a pro wrestler, the Old Spice guy, a guy who makes custom hairpieces). Worst of all is the film’s lack of humor. Rated PG-13; language, crude content. 1 hour, 24 minutes. By Cary Darling, McClatchy Newspapers.

“Sound of My Voice” * * *

What begins as a tense tale of a couple of amateur documentary filmmakers infiltrating a mysterious cult veers off in an unexpected and unsettling direction in this mesmerizing low-budget tale produced by Britt Marling, who also stars as Maggie, the high priestess of the cult. Is she a controlling crackpot who wants to mess with people’s minds? Or is she, as she claims, a time traveler? Rated R; language, sexual references, drug use. 1 hour, 25 minutes. By Claudia Puig, USA Today.

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting” * *

Director Kirk Jones’ film uses a familiar nonfiction title only as a leaping-off point to explore various intertwined relationships. Cameron Diaz plays a fitness expert who didn’t expect to be expecting. Jennifer Lopez is a photographer who’s been trying to conceive for years. Elizabeth Banks is the owner of a breastfeeding boutique who finds her militant mommy stances hard to maintain once she becomes pregnant herself. The film really comes alives only when it focuses on the dads. Within seconds of watching Chris Rock riff on what it’s like to be a parent, you realize how good this might have been. Rated PG-13; crude and sexual content, mature themes, language. 1 hour, 50 minutes. By Christy Lemire, Associated Press.

Article source: http://www.freep.com/article/20120520/ENT01/205200308/Movie-scoreboard

The battleship, fired upon relentlessly, slowly disappears into the ocean. Liam Neeson — in all his scene-chewing, gruff glory — stares out the window of his ship and mercilessly spews out the key line, “You sunk my battleship!”

Four words, along with “Hit” and “Miss,” that effortlessly associate themselves with the childhood board game of placing pegs on coordinates and trying to “sink” another player’s plastic fleet of ships.

These are also four words that never appear in the movie. My aforementioned scene description is more of a wish unfulfilled — an absolute waste of both Neeson’s appearance and screenwriting opportunity, and I hope it haunts these writers forever.

And if that doesn’t do that trick, the entire script for “Battleship” might — or rather, the entire, disheveled product that comes as a result. Messy, loud, annoying, stupid and remarkably nonsensical, “Battleship” is that awfully destructive movie that comes around in various disguises each summer to give me a headache and make me second-guess the career I have chosen.

For many years, this has come in the form of Michael Bay’s painfully torturous “Transformers” sequels — an influence to which “Battleship” never strays too far from, merely replacing explosions with splashes. I’m sorry, but surrounding these characters with an ocean doesn’t change the fact that I want each and every single one of them to perish — it just changes the cause of death.

And I was just about ready to reach into the screen and drown these characters myself. Mindless creations that are only used to advance story arcs, look pretty, or shoot at CGI aliens, these characters are poorly scripted burdens played by actors better suited to television (Taylor Kitsch, who was grand on “Friday Night Lights” but bland in this and “John Carter,” the leading-man experiment has notably failed) and those better suited to careers that don’t involve acting in front of a camera, i.e. model Brooklyn Decker and singer Rihanna.

But does a movie like this really care about its performances? When the movie doesn’t even use Liam Neeson to his full potential — especially considering the actor looks like he was only on set for a day — how can it be expected to worry about the remainder of its particularly dull cast? Instead, it just lets them be dull, placing reliability on the relentless action to fill the voids of character development and basic plot structure.

But all it becomes is a fiery heap of dog dung I feel like I stepped in as soon as the opening credits started, following an actually promising introduction where Taylor Kitsch steals Brooklyn Decker a chicken burrito in order to impress her. And while Neeson has mildly amusing early moments as Decker’s authoritative Admiral father, the movie is constantly writing premature checks it can not cash.

The action, the movie’s main anchor of entertainment, is so generic that once it arrives it barely even feels present. Guns get fired. Ships explode. Basically every shot from every action movie ever made is recreated poorly. As for me … well, I spent most of the time playing with my hat and waiting for the blasted thing to end. Hit, “Battleship.” You sunk my spirits.

Greg Vellante is the film critic for The Eagle-Tribune, currently attending Emerson College. He has been reviewing and writing about movies for The Eagle-Tribune since 2007.

Article source: http://www.eagletribune.com/lifestyle/x1968164488/Battleship-rehashes-all-past-action-movies-poorly

Daniel Cormier beat Josh Barnett to the punch on the feet and beat him up on the ground to win the Strikeforce World Grand Prix on Saturday and solidify his place among the top tier of heavyweights in mixed martial arts.

Cormier captured all five rounds on two judges’ scorecards and four rounds on the third to earn a unanimous decision victory in the main event of Strikeforce’s show in San Jose. With the victory, Cormier won the promotion’s heavyweight tournament.

“This means the world to me,” Cormier said. “I want to focus on the fact that I just beat Josh Barnett. This is something that I thought a year ago I could never do.”

Throughout the fight, Cormier used his speed to close the distance and land punches on the taller, rangier Barnett. Cormier landed a greater number of strikes each of the first three rounds.

PHOTOS:  Strikeforce results

“He basically controlled the pace of the fight,” said Bob Cook, Cormier’s lead trainer. “He was able to control the stand-up. Daniel’s deceptively fast for a heavyweight. He’s got really quick reaction, so it allows him to do a lot of things that might not otherwise work or happen, because he’s able to get in and out so quick and duck and and counter.”

A two-time Olympic wrestler, Cormier also had the advantage when they grappled. He took down Barnett in each of the last four rounds, doing the most damage in the second with elbows that opened cuts on his opponent’s face.

“I was very surprised at how easy it was to stay in his guard,” Cormier said. “I made an adjustment in the fight when I realized he was going to allow me to control him on the bottom. … It changed a lot in the second round.”

Cormier also gave him a dose of his own medicine during the third round by scooping him into the air with a high-crotch lift and executing the type of highlight-reel slam often associated with Barnett in the past.

“It has nothing to do with strength,” Cormier said. “It’s all technique. Once you get to a certain point, there’s really nothing a guy can do.”

After the bout, both fighters said they broke hands in the first round. Barnett said he suffered the injury hitting Cormier with a left hook. Cormier said he re-injured the right hand that was broken during his tourney semifinal victory in September.

Cormier let his hand heal the first time without an operation. This time he expects to undergo surgery.

Barnett praised Cormier’s performance on Saturday.

“Today Daniel was better,” Barnett said. “He’s a great athlete and I always knew he was going to be a hell of an opponent.”

There were moments when Barnett presented threats. He connected on a right hand in the first round that created a welt near Cormier’s left eye, and later landed a couple of knee strikes solidly during exchanges.

The best chance for Barnett came in the fourth round, when he grabbed for a leglock during a scramble on the ground. But Cormier slipped away before Barnett could lock in a kneebar or heel hook.

“Fortunately they were slippery, and those are all positions that Daniel went over, so he was somewhat familiar with them,” Cook said. “We drilled all that quite a bit. That was a position he’d been in many, many a time.”

Cormier will have one more fight in Strikeforce before moving to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Saturday’s result continues a remarkable ascent for Cormier, who started fighting professionally less than three years ago. He wasn’t in the original eight-man line-up for the tournament, but entered as an alternate in September after former champion Alistair Overeem withdrew.

“If you look at that heavyweight group that fought in this tournament, that (winning the whole thing) is something that Daniel should be very proud of,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said. “He didn’t have it easy.”

Also Saturday:

• The third installment between Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and ex-titleholder Josh Thomson met the standard set by the second. It also matched the result.

Melendez eked out a split decision victory on Saturday against Thomson to retain the 155-pound title in the co-main event of Strikeforce’s show in San Jose. Two judges scored the fight 48-47 for Melendez. One judge had the same for Thomson.

After a cautious opening round, both fighters started flurrying aggressively. Melendez appeared to take the second round with several solid strikes during close-range exchanges. He also scored a takedown.

Thomson started to pour it on in a close third round as Melendez’s right eye started to close. Thomson was particularly dominant in the fourth round, when he landed more power strikes than Melendez before securing back mount and threatening with chokes from behind.

But Thomson’s late surge wasn’t enough to overcome the lead Melendez built in the judges’ eyes during in the first 15 minutes.

It was the rubber match in their trilogy. Their second meeting, in December 2009, was a Fight of the Year candidate that ended with a decision victory and vindication for Melendez, who lost their first fight the previous year.

• Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez eked out a split decision victory against longtime rival Josh Thomson to retain the 155-pound title in the co-main event of Strikeforce’s show in San Jose. Two judges scored the fight 48-47 for Melendez. One judge had the same for Thomson.

It was the third bout of their trilogy. The crowd in Thomson’s hometown of San Jose booed the decision.

• Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante sent light-heavyweight Mike Kyle reeling with a knee strike, rocked him with punches and locked on a standing guillotine choke to get the submission win just 33 seconds into their bout. A former champion, Cavalcante hopes to fight next for Strikeforce’s vacant 205-pound title.

“If Strikeforce gives me a chance, I want the belt,” Cavalcante said.

• Chris Spang knocked down Nah-Shon Burrell with a left hand and finished him off standing with a storm of knees and uppercuts to win their welterweight fight with a technical knockout in the first round.

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2012-05-19/strikeforce-barnett-cormier-main-card-results/697250/1

Johnson then easily led the final 10 laps of the event, beating third-segment winner Brad Keselowski to capture the $1 million winner’s prize. Kenseth finished third, followed by Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the fourth segment.

• RESULTS: Sprint All-Star Race

• PHOTOS: Jimmie Johnson’s career in photos

“Yeah! We’re going to go big tonight,” Johnson radioed his crew before giving owner Rick Hendrick a ride to victory lane.

Johnson capped a stirring eight-day stretch that started with Hendrick’s 200th win last weekend at Darlington Raceway.

He started sixth and won the first 20-lap segment after passing Busch, the pole-sitter, for the lead on the 15th lap. For the next three segments, he lagged back to avoid trouble and conserve his car. He pitted for fresh tires the last time on a caution midway through the fourth segment.

“We had a strategy. We knew what we would be best for our team,” Johnson said. “We weren’t sure we could get there starting sixth. But this race car was so amazing.”

Johnson wasn’t the only one who was sandbagging after segment wins. Kenseth did the same after capturing the second segment, and Keselowski joined them for the fourth 20-lap segment.

“It sounds silly, but I think the goal was to run as slow as you can and stay on the lead lap,” Kenseth said. “It’s kind of strange to ride around back. We’re programmed to go as fast as you can, be up on that edge as far as you can without wrecking it. It’s really hard to run slow like that to save it.”

At one point in the penultimate segment, Kenseth, Johnson and Keselowski raced nearly three abreast behind the field by about half the distance of the 1.5-mile oval.

Keselowski finished the fourth segment 28.8 seconds behind Earnhardt but started the final segment in third by virtue of a new rule. The four segment winners were guaranteed to lead the field into the pits before the final segment, and all went with a stop-and-go to exit swiftly.

“I’ll race whatever rules you have,” said Keselowski, who then joked, “Dale Jr. got to win a segment because of it. That was great, right? We’re just trying to help out Dale. That was our contribution, right?”

Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman.

In a race that was slowed by six caution flags (four for segment breaks and two for engine failures) and epitomized the 2012 season’s long stretches of green-flag racing, the final segment delivered no fireworks.

Johnson restarted in the inside lane and pulled away quickly, with only Keselowski even in striking distance for the 10-lap shootout.

“I wish I could have gotten to Jimmie and done something with him, but he was just lightning quick,” Keselowski said.

“I thought I could do something with him in the first few laps. I thought we might have been just a touch faster. But it wasn’t meant to be.”

Earnhardt showed he could have a competitive Chevrolet for next weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, one of NASCAR’s crown jewels and the season’s longest race, by also winning the Sprint Showdown warmup event to earn one of two transfer spots. A.J. Allmendinger finished second for the other spot. Bobby Labonte made the race by winning the fan vote.

The Roush Fenway Racing Fords of Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, the defending All-Star champion, each caused a yellow with an engine problem.

“We were running really well the first segment, and I knew something wasn’t right,” said Edwards, who jumped into Speed’s TV booth after dropping out after 25 of 90 laps. “I’m just glad someone didn’t run me over.”

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/story/2012-05-19/Sprint-All-Star-Race-at-Charlotte/55082936/1

Deputy National Security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with President Obama on Saturday night that negotiations are ongoing and expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved, but not necessarily quickly.

“We’re not anticipating necessarily closing out those negotiations this weekend,” Rhodes said. ” A lot of it is happening, frankly, at the working level between our governments.”

The Pakistanis closed the U.S. military supply routes into Afghanistan as retribution after a cross-border strike by NATO last November left 24 of their soldiers dead. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari accepted an invitation last week to attend the summit, raising speculation that a deal might be in the works. But as of Saturday night, there were no plans for the two leaders to meet for a bilateral meeting during the summit. Rhodes downplayed the absence of an Obama-Zardari meeting on the schedule in Chicago, noting that the supply route impasse did not prevent Obama from meeting Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul in March.

The Obama administration, however, has reportedly chaffed at Pakistan’s call for the U.S. to pay $5,000 per truck that the U.S. military wants to send through Pakistani land into Afghanistan. It’s a steep price, but the Pakistanis have argued that it’s cheaper than continuing the practice of NATO using alternative, longer routes through Central Asia.

Obama arrived on Saturday evening and was greeted at the airport by his old chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who is now serving as mayor in President Obama’s hometown.

The city is under tight security for this weekend’s summit that is expected to draw leaders from 28 member countries as well as other invitees. Just hours before Obama arrived, the Chicago Police announced the arrest of three men accused of making Molotov cocktails that they had been planning to use to attack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Emanuel’s home and other targets during this weekend’s NATO summit, prosecutors said Saturday.

The three were charged with providing material support for terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and possession of explosives.

Rhodes said he was not aware if Obama had been briefed on the arrests.

“We’re very confident in the ability of Chicago together with the United States government to put on a very successful event in the next few days.”

Afghanistan will be the central topic at this weekend’s summit. The president flew to Afghanistan earlier this month to announce the end of the U.S. combat mission in 2014 and to sign a strategic agreement with President Hamid Karzai that would assure the Afghans assistance in training their military until 2024.

The president will be looking to shore up financial commitments — particularly for training Afghan security forces — from alliance members as NATO gets set to withdraw all of its combat troops from the country in 2014.

Karzai and Obama are scheduled to meet on Sunday.

Article source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/white-house-pakistan-supply-route-negotiations/1

Another Thunder comeback, another Lakers meltdown.

Just when you thought the Lakers were ready to reassert themselves and make things complicated for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are trying to make the Western Conference finals for the second year in a row, OKC took another step toward elite status.

Game 4 of the West semifinals turned on a dime Saturday night as the Thunder roared back from a 13-point deficit in the last eight minutes for a 103-100 win and a 3-1 series lead.

The Thunder can close out the Lakers Monday night.

In the fourth quarter of the second of back-to-back games, it was the younger, fresher-looking Thunder who had the answers on both ends of the court. And it was the older Lakers who couldn’t get a stop and whose offense went stagnant.

It was Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant who made most of the big plays with the game on the line, and Kobe Bryant who came up short.

And now, the Lakers, whose postseason record is only 5-6 with five losses in their last seven games, have to hit the road staring at elimination.

Combined with the San Antonio Spurs’ big afternoon rally for a win against the Clippers in the same building, it was a bad day for L.A. How did the Spurs put the Clippers in this big hole? A man by the name of Gregg Popovich.

So, Saturday’s winners are one victory each from a Western Conference finals matchup that looks like one of the most intriguing in years.

Winners:

Kevin Durant – 31 points, 13 rebounds, and huge steal of a Pau Gasol pass that led to the game’s biggest shot: a tie-breaking three-pointer with 13.7 seconds remaining that might have put the dagger in the Lakers’ season.

Russell Westbrook — Overcame a nasty-looking slip at the end of the first half that caused him to get treatment on his hip and finished with 37 points and five assists in 43 minutes. And when the final buzzer went off, he looked like he was ready to keep going.

Tim Duncan: He finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots while sparking the key Spurs rally. Sports Illustrated reporter Chris Ballard wrote in a feature story last week for the magazine, “Duncan hates Kevin Garnett. Hates him the way liberals hate Sean Hannity.” Garnett, the Boston Celtics’ 36-year-old, future Hall-of-Fame power forward, had been a star of the second round prior to posting a dud Friday. Has Duncan ever had a bad game? Advantage: the guy with four rings, not one. As always.

Blake Griffin: The Clippers forward had 14 points and five rebounds while shooting 7-for-8 in the first quarter. He finished with 28 and 15 on 13-for-24 shooting. Griffin’s been playing with a sprained left knee, but he appeared to return to his dominant form for that first quarter. He was spinning, dunking, shooting and displaying the post moves that endeared him enough to fans that he was picked an All-Star Game starter in his second season. He even http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrY43k_yx-w

target=”_blank”>threw down on Duncan in the second quarter. He disappeared at times, but so did every Clipper. Griffin was the best player in white and red.

Tony Parker: Two days after his 30th birthday, the Spurs point guard had his highest-scoring game of this series, posting 23 points and 10 assists.

Staples Center crew: Two games, one day. Think about that. Even the floor has to change.

Losers:

Kobe Bryant — He finished with 38 points but shot 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter, which, for him, was filled with questionable shot selection.

Andrew Bynum – After watching the Lakers center go to town in the first half, the Thunder started fronting him. He got only four second-half field goal attempts, and the Lakers started taking jumpers instead. The lead soon disappeared.

Chris Paul: Playing with a strained hip flexor, the Clippers point guard has fumbled all season. He had eight assists in the first quarter but finished with 11 with 12 points on 5-for-17 shooting. He only got to the free-throw line twice. On one play, he drove to the basket, got an open look but appeared glued to the floor. He hesitated with two Spurs behind him, then tried a layup but was blocked.

Nick Young: First, he wore this. Then he shot 1-for-5 on three-pointers. He’s a streaky shooter, but the Clippers need him to contribute off the bench.

The Spurs’ bench: A lot of that first half can be pinned on Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal and Matt Bonner. Manu Ginobili was in for some of the comeback, but most of the work can be attributed to the starters. It’s possible that Popovich saw what was happening and gave his starters a rest. But the group is generally better than that.

Contributing: Adi Joseph

Article source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2012/05/another-thunder-comeback-another-lakers-meltdown/1