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Movie Preview: Crossing Over

BuzzSugar — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:34:13 -0800

Despite some moments that seem a little overwrought, this trailer for Crossing Over (not to be confused with the TV show about talking to dead people) is one of the most riveting previews I've seen in a while. It looks a bit like Crash (several storylines weaving together in various ways), but with the subject matter being illegal immigration (and what it means to be an American and what's right and what's wrong, etc. etc.).

The other intriguing aspect of the trailer is the impressive cast: Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Summer Bishil (Towelhead) and Alice Eva.

Oh, did I forget to mention Jim Sturgess?

Crossing Over opens sometime in 2009. This trailer really sucked me in, so to watch for yourself, read more.

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me: Traveling With Kids Isn't For Wimps

babysugar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:00:00 -0700

There are two camps when it comes to traveling via air with kids. Those who feel your pain and those who believe you never should have brought your tots in the first place. Comments on a recent CNN.com story about air travel showcased this as honestly as I have ever seen.

As a proud new aunt, I quickly booked tickets for a cross-country trip when my first nephew was born last week. With my husband, preschooler, and infant in tow, we arrived at the airport for our daybreak flight with every supply known to man shoved into my diaper bag and accompanying totes. Armed with lollipops, baby bottles, quiet toys, books, blankets, a personal DVD player, and enough snacks to feed the entire back of the plane, we took off and landed six hours later with barely a peep out of my lil travelers. To say I was beaming as we deplaned would be an understatement. To see what happened, read more.

Aware of how smooth my first flight was, I arrived at the airport with a swagger in my step as we prepared for our return. I should have known the trip wouldn't go well when, as I stood at the end of a 50-person line at security, my infant proceeded to have a diaper blowout and then scream until I was able to change him 20 minutes later. Once on the plane (which didn't have a single empty seat), my husband and I spent the better half of the trip walking the kids up and down the aisles to keep them occupied but that did nothing to temper the minor meltdowns both had when the aircraft ended up circling the airport for an hour before landing. Once we actually began our descent, my older tyke proceeded to get sick all over his father (and the floor below him) and just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, we deplaned to find that the airline had jammed our stroller when we gate-checked it, leaving it unable to unfold properly. Not knowing whether we should laugh or cry, my husband glanced over to me and gave me a knowing smile that could only mean – never again!

Let's Get Lost: "Recon" Recap

BuzzSugar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:30:43 -0700

This week's Lost features the sideways life of one of my faves: Sawyer. The clever title is a nod to both the recon Sawyer does on the other island at the Hydra station, and a con-man reference to his alternate path in LA.

Naturally, there were a lot of big and little mind-blowers, so let's get to it when you read more.

Sawyer's sideways life is, I would say, the most different of anyone else's that we've seen so far. The ep opens with him seeming to be repeating his classic con, but surprise: it's all a setup and Sawyer is a cop! I absolutely, positively did not see that coming. In LA, he goes by James Ford, and (squeal) Miles is his partner and BFF, just like in the Dharma Initiative in the '70s (he also calls him "Jim" now, just like he did there, too). For some reason, Sawyer utters "LaFleur" to the woman he's just set up before the other cops burst in. Thoughts on that?
James Ford/Sawyer is still obsessed with finding Anthony Cooper, the original Sawyer who incited his parents' deaths. It seems to make sense, since Sawyer's father killed himself and his mother in 1976, whereas the explosion on the island happened in '77. It makes even more sense that he'd still be pursuing Cooper, because when Jacob touched him at his parents' funeral, he gave him the pen that would finish his infamous letter. Jacob enabled him, then, to keep trying to seek revenge. Why? And if Anthony Cooper is still a bad guy, then why did it seem Locke was on good terms with him in his sideways life?
In Flocke's group, Claire acts bizarrely toward Kate, holding her hand and being overly sweet - until she attacks Kate. She wants to cut her for taking Aaron, which she was only pretending to be OK with. Shockingly, Flocke literally slaps some sense into Claire, who eventually apologizes and thanks Kate for what she did for both her and her son. Let's rewind real quick, and discuss the first ever Claire-centric episode, "Raised by Another." When she was pregnant with Aaron, a psychic told her that she had to raise Aaron, and no one else could. So since Kate has been raising him, are we finally seeing what the psychic warned Claire about? It certainly seems so, because Flocke tells Kate that he had a crazy mother (read: look how he turned out), and adds cryptically that Aaron also has a crazy mother in Claire. Because of Flocke's concern for Aaron/Claire, I now think that Aaron is Flocke's "chosen one." And maybe Jacob, knowing this, sabotaged Claire's mental state by sending Christian Shepard to spirit her away - thus abandoning Aaron and plunging her into craziness. Phew, are you still with me?
Back in Sawyer's cop life, Miles sets him up with a gorgeous archaeologist: Charlotte. They have instant heat, but when she "accidentally" finds the Sawyer file, James tosses her out into the night in a bed sheet. Now, that seemed like more than a girl rifling through the stuff of the boy she likes to make sure he's a keeper - she was full-on snooping, right? She was born on the island and must have left sometime, so it all seems awfully fishy.
Sawyer is sent by Locke on a recon mission to the other island and the Hydra station, where he finds the Ajira plane, completely intact - and a pile of dead bodies. A sunburned survivor, Zoe, finds him and says she's the last one, but the con doesn't last on Sawyer, and he calls her out. Joke's on him - her gun-toting buddies snag him and take him to Widmore's sub. He makes a deal with Widmore to bring him Flocke in exchange for safe passage off the island, but reveals the plan to Flocke afterward.
Kate just keeps popping up in every timeline of this Sawyer-focused episode. First, he lingers on the cages where they hooked up long ago (past), then comforts her by the fire (present), and, finally, chases after her and tackles her (!) when she commits a hit-and-run (sideways). They just can't seem to escape each other . . .

Other fun stuff:

The books on Sawyer's nightstand were Lancelot (about the famous knight of the Round Table), A Wrinkle in Time (deals with time travel), and Watership Down (an allegorical tale that references the end of the world and the same book Sawyer read on the island after stealing it from Boone). PS, that's quite a change from the reading material Sawyer brought on the plane, which Ben commented on last week.
Who else random crosses Sawyer's path in his alternate life? Charlie's brother Liam! He's come to check on his brother, who'd been arrested on the flight. With so many crossovers in Sawyer's life, I was shocked to not see Ana Lucia, who had also been a cop with the LAPD.
I have kind of a major math question: Originally, Sawyer has always said he was 8 when his parents died, but in the sideways reality he tells Miles he was 9. Goof? Or did this timeline shift, and Sawyer lost his parents to Cooper's con in '77, the year of the explosion, rather than in '76?

Final questions: Who killed all the other Ajira passengers and then dragged them to a mass grave? And how did it manage to land perfectly? Who gave sideways Sawyer the lead in Australia about Cooper? Is Charlotte working on island recon in the sideways world? Tell me your own thoughts and theories about this week below!

Harley Gives Us an Inside Peek at His Celebrity Clients

FitSugar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:00:19 -0700

Harley Pasternak is a busy guy. In about the span of a week, he left his training duties on the Lady Gaga tour in Europe, headed home to LA to see 10 clients, and then crossed the Pacific to Hawaii for two more. When I finally caught up with him in Tampa, he was already planning his departure to Toronto, his childhood home.

Harley - whose client list reads like a who’s who of Hollywood - never expected that he’d become THE go-to trainer for the stars. "I was studying to be in medicine," says Harley. "Personal training was something I did; it was a side business that grew and grew and next thing you knew I had three studios and 12 trainers and I was like, 'OK, I guess this is my career.'"

He describes his work as "the coolest thing in the world," and it’s easy to understand why. Not many people can say they shoot hoops with Kanye West and Common or hang backstage with Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, and Lady Gaga. Working with musicians seems to be his current thing right now, "They’re very creative people, they have more control over their own destiny to the extent that they tend to be a little more stable," says Harley. "I enjoy working with actors too but actors are more project-to-project where musicians have an ongoing thing."

Harley pulled back the curtain a little bit and shared with me what it was like to work with these amazing artists. To see what he had to say about each one of them, read more.

Lady Gaga. In the kitchen, Lady Gaga, or Gaga as he - and everyone else - calls her, is a bit of a chef, even helping him develop recipes for his 5 Factor World Diet book. "As I presented the recipes for the 10 healthiest countries in the world, she suggested mixing and matching the ingredients from different countries," Harley says. "She would make a salad or a stir fry and bring elements of Italy and Japan together into one recipe, which was really helpful to me."
Kanye West. Through several world tours Harley has grown pretty close to Kanye. "Everyone gives him a hard time for the things he says and does, but all the bad things you see in the public, those are all the bad things about him. Every bad thing about Kanye you know." The Kanye that Harley knows is "interesting, inspiring, passionate, and creative." Says Harley, "No one has more energy than him, training him is amazing."
Common. After four years of working together, Harley says that Common has become a close, personal friend. Not only is he one of Harley's favorite clients, he also one of the "hardest workers" he knows. "Common has a movie coming out called Just Right and he is the lead. When people see his body they are going to be talking about it for a year."
Katy Perry and Alicia Keys. Harley says one of the biggest perks from his job comes from working with clients that he's also a fan of, like Alicia and Katy. "I'm just a huge fan of them both," says Harley. "It’s just amazing to work with really creative people who are doing wonderful things that I get to enjoy their craft as well."

Stay tuned for eating and exercise tips from Harley coming to you later this week.

She's Out of My League: Has a Dirty Mind and a Heart of Gold

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:45:58 -0800

A movie like She's Out of My League comes along every few years: average-looking guy scores a major babe and has no idea why. His friends don't know why either, and somehow the fact that the woman may not be as shallow as they are never crosses their minds.

The average guy here is Jay Baruchel as Kirk, and his ravishing conquest is Molly, played by British stunner Alice Eve. When Molly leaves her phone at airport security and TSA officer Kirk bends over backward to return it to her, they begin an awkward, funny, cute, and at times horrifying courtship. The film is marketed as a romantic comedy between these two opposites, but it's also very much a buddy comedy that gives an unexpected amount of significance to the conversations male friends have about their love lives.

I was expecting to sit through a cliched gross-out comedy, but She's Out of My League surprised me. It's plenty raunchy, but it's very sweet too, and not just about the relationship. To hear why, just read more.

While I genuinely believe both guys and girls will enjoy the movie, that desire to please everyone hinders it a bit. Mercifully, there are enough good, benign gags to help balance out the gross-out scenes that seem forced in just to appease the male audience.

My next issue is that Baruchel is really quite adorable, so it almost feels like he's miscast at first. The undeserving loser his peers see surely can't be the cute, dark-haired guy I see. But it soon becomes clear: the reason why his friends and family are confused about Molly liking Kirk lies with them; they're the unsupportive antagonists. It's actually pretty realistic - Kirk's not some paunchy dope, he's just insecure from being told he's not good enough for someone amazing.

Besides appreciating the truth of the situation, there's one aspect I really loved: the gang of four guys. Kirk's besties Stainer, Devon, and Jack (T.J. Miller, Nate Torrence, and Mike Vogel) anchor the movie. Their dialogue crackles with chemistry, crass truths, and gut-busting humor.

In point of fact, it's his friends that rescue Kirk from drowning in bad self-esteem and losing his dream girl. There's no self-realization on Kirk's part; the confidence comes from his buddies, who reverse their negativity and instead start supporting him. It's really a testament to the guys' friendship and a welcome sentiment in a movie like this.

Some may dismiss She's Out of My League, but I liked it for the reason that Molly falls for Kirk: it made me laugh.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Gear Review: New Balance WX710 Cross-Trainer Shoes

FitSugar — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:50:26 -0800

When it comes to working out, I like to be outside. For outdoor runs I wear my Lunar Glides, and when I'm trekking in the mountains I stick to my Nike Wildedge approach shoes. Unfortunately, getting an outdoor workout isn't always in the cards, in which case, I hit the gym near my office. Since I don't like lugging around a lot of stuff and I'm pretty non-committal about what piece of gym equipment I use, I wanted a light and versatile pair of gym sneakers. It also made sense that they shouldn't be too pricey since they weren't going to be my primary kicks. So when New Balance sent me a pair of its WX710 cross-trainers ($60), I was stoked to try them out.

These shoes are light, way light. At 7.6 ounces per shoe, they weigh less than any sneaker I've owned and I barely even feel them in my bag. Apparently, the cushions of the shoes are made with a patented foam that's 12 percent lighter than other foams on the market. Weight seems like a small point to make, but when you're lugging around workout clothes, a laptop, and stuff from the office, every ounce you can shave off counts. And with all the caps on baggage allowances these days, I'm definitely making these sneakers my go-to fitness shoes for traveling.

To see what I liked and didn't like about these shoes, read more.

I'm not going to lie, these are not the cutest looking shoes. I've never been a fan of white sneakers and these have that sort of generic '90s gym shoe look that I hate. But I'm not at the gym to look good so I got over how bright they were pretty quickly. They fit well and provide support in all the right places without feeling too cushiony or soft, which is a plus. I definitely am the type of person who likes to still feel my foot working inside of my shoes. Also, the lightness of the shoe really came into play while working out on the stationary bike because I didn't have a heavy foot weighing down the pedals. They have good traction too - there was one day in particular that I rode the bike without pedal buckles and my feet didn't slip off once. On top of that, the mesh is pretty breathable so my feet stayed nice and cool during my workouts.

While I wouldn't recommend these shoes for running - I think your feet will feel too vulnerable in them - they make a good all-around gym, strength training, or walking shoe. If white is not your thing, don't worry, they come in silver and black too.

Geek Tip: Get Things Done With Doris

GeekSugar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:45:05 -0800

There's no shortage of apps and programs to help you stay organized, from apps that aid in to-do list creation to timer programs to help you stay on task. My latest find: Doris, a clean and simple "productivity tool" that organizes to-dos, deadlines, appointments, and priorities.

You can create categories like "long-term projects" or "tomorrow" to organize your to-dos into sub-categories, and drag items up or down in each list to prioritize. Then, check and cross off items from your list as you complete them. The best part: you can access your list history including the exact time you checked each item off the to-do list, which is great for looking over a week's work. And, because the application is so simply designed, you can use it for anything from keeping a list of New Year's resolutions to making sure you don't leave anything off your grocery list.

There's also a free iPhone app that will sync with your online list, so you can keep your to-dos with you - and check them off as "done" - wherever you go.

Sally Hershberger Is Off to HSN Today

BellaSugar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:00:41 -0800

Beauty buffs, set your TiVos: hairstylist extraordinaire (and major Bella crush) Sally Hershberger is appearing on HSN tonight at 10pm. She's known for creating cool, stylish-but-not-overly-coiffed hair for stars such as Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Kate Moss, and Cindy Crawford. Now, after launching her first haircare collection, Supreme Head, she's back with a new line of salon-quality styling products. Developed after months of testing formulas in her bicoastal salons, the five-piece collection provides fantastic hold, texture, and shine - yet it's incredibly lightweight. (Cross my heart, I've received at least a dozen random compliments on my hair since using Salon Shape Up Spray.) Will I be watching? You know it.

White Hot: The BlackBerry Bold 9000

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:47:04 -0800

Although I'm obviously an iPhone kind of girl, after playing with the White BlackBerry Bold 9000 for a few days, I was considering a switch. It would take some getting used to - using the trackball instead of my fingers to navigate, and re-learning the interface - but the thought did cross my mind. Not to mention, I'd be in good company along with Diane Kruger, Paris Hilton, and The City's Whitney Port, who all use the crisp white Bold. It's not a coincidence that business-types, celebs, and geek chic gals like myself would want to tote this version of the BlackBerry Bold family - it's fast, easy to use, and oh-so-pretty!

To hear the rest of my thoughts, and to see more photos, just read more.

As far as the exterior goes, the White BlackBerry Bold 9000 has this iridescent sheen to it that is so appealing. It's not a boring matte white, nor is it too shiny and flashy - it's just right. Really. Plus, the back comes in white leather (which you know I love), and the stock case has the same pleasing iridescence so you can keep the theme going, while still protecting your phone.

Inside, the Bold 9000 comes with 624 MHz processor, mobile streaming, multitasking, Media Sync (to sync up your music and photos from Windows Media Player or iTunes), WiFi, GPS, and ready for AT&T's Navigator app so you can get where you need to go. Additionally, the Bold's WordToGo and SlideshowToGo software allows you to edit your Word or PowerPoint documents on the fly. Take pictures on the 2MP camera, and shoot and store video on an expandable microSD card to view later. But the real looker here is the display. The bright and crisp half VGA backlit LCD screen displays over 65,000 colors and looks truly amazing.

Under the hood, this BlackBerry is exactly like the other BlackBerry Bold 9000s you'd find in stores, but what sets it apart is its beauty. The White BlackBerry Bold 9000 is available now exclusively at AT&T for $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

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Exclusive Sneak Peek at Amanda Seyfried in Letters to Juliet!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:30:57 -0800

This morning I shared some albums I'm looking forward to this Spring, but a new season also means a new batch of movies to get excited about. Amanda Seyfried's Letters to Juliet fits the Spring romance bill - just check out how cute and carefree she looks amongst those sunflowers in this exclusive new movie poster.

As we learned from the trailer, the movie follows an American tourist (Seyfried) to Verona, where she becomes intrigued when she finds letters asking for help from Shakespeare's Juliet from star-crossed lovers all over the world.

After the underwhelming Dear John, I'm willing to give Amanda another shot at big-screen romance - especially when it includes the lovely combination of an Italian setting and costar Gael Garcia Bernal. Letters to Juliet opens on May 14, but for now take a look at a few photos and let me know if you're getting Spring fever too.

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Photos courtesy of Summit Entertainment