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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund’s Date Disaster

Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund (Getty Images)

Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund have been happily dating since they met on the set of “On the Road,” but a dating disaster early in their relationship could have sunk their romance. In a new interview with Details, the 28-year-old Minnesota born actor talks about how he tried to woo his co-star Dunst back in 2011, taking her out for a romantic canoe ride. But things didn’t go as planned – and the boat capsized. Even worse? It was 3 a.m. "It was not a stable canoe," Hedlund says in the February issue of the magazine. "We fell out and had to swim back in mucky, shy water, like golf-pond water." Although the experience left them drenched and dirty, it bonded them as a couple. When speaking about Dunst, 30, to Details, Hedlund affectionately refers to her as “my gal.”Hedlund in the February issue of Details Dunst – who tends to be tight-lipped about romance following her high-profile relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal from 2002 to 2004 – was “a little shy” when it came to talking about her squeeze at the December premiere of “On the Road,” Entertainment Tonight reported at time. However, she did gush about his performance in the flick, which is an adaptation of the Jack Kerouac classic. He plays the role of Dean Moriarty, who's based on real-life beat writer Neal Cassady, and she is Dean's wife Camille. "He's amazing in the film," Dunst smiled. "Yeah, of course he's talented. He's very good in this film. It's a very coveted [role], and [they're] difficult shoes to fill.” Could things between Hedlund and Dunst be getting serious? Well, she certainly has babies on the brain. In an interview with Lucky in 2011, she talked about turning 30, but being worried that guys her age wouldn’t be as ready to start a family as she is. "I thought when I reached 30 I'd have a lot more figured out," she told the magazine. "Until you have a kid, you're just looking for your partner. And guys have a Peter Pan vibe. They're 35, and they act like they're 25. ...That's what scares me about being in my 30s: not finding someone to have kids with."

The actress, who broke into the movie business at 12, even imagined what her family life would be like. "I can't wait to relive life in a little kid's way," she said. "I'm so ready for that lifestyle: Get a little place upstate [in New York] and have them go to school up there."

Sweet Sodas and Soft Drinks May Raise Your Risk of Depression, Study Finds

Related: Diet Soda May Be Making You Fat
Americans drink far more soda than people in other countries -- as much as 170 liters per person per year (no wonder New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned super-sized servings of the stuff). But the impact of this study isn't limited to the United States. "Sweetened beverages, coffee and tea are commonly consumed worldwide and have important physical-and may have important mental-health consequences," study author Dr. Honglei Chen, an investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a statement.
Related: Are the Health Risks of Soda Really That Bad?
The study, which was released on Tuesday and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in March, involved 263,925 people between the ages of 50 and 71. Researchers tracked their consumption of beverages like soda, tea, coffee, and other soft drinks from 1995 to 1996 and then, 10 years later, asked them if they had been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. More than 11,300 of them had.
Participants who drank more than four servings of soda per day were 30 percent more likely to develop depression than participants who did not drink soda at all. People who stuck with fruit punch had a 38 percent higher risk than people who didn't drink sweetened drinks.
And all that extra sugar isn't the actual problem: The research showed that low-calorie diet sodas, iced teas, and fruit punches were linked to an slightly higher risk of depression than the high-calorie stuff. Researchers say that the artificial sweetener aspartame may be to blame.
"Our findings are preliminary, and the underlying biological mechanisms are not known," said Chen. The study found an association but could not conclusively determine whether sodas and other sweet soft drinks cause depression, even after taking into account factors like age, gender, education, smoking, body mass index (BMI) and other issues. Still, the results "are intriguing and consistent with a small but growing body of evidence suggesting that artificially sweetened beverages may be associated with poor health outcomes."
But there's a bright side for those who can't do without the caffeinated jolt of their daily sodas. Adults who drank coffee had a 10 percent lower risk of depression compared to people who didn't drink any coffee, according to the study. That reinforces findings from a 2011 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which said that women who drink fully caffeinated coffee have a lower risk of depression than non-coffee drinkers.
"Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk," said Chen. "Coffee contains large amounts of caffeine, which is a well-known brain stimulant."
Chen cautions that, if you've been diagnosed with depression, cutting your soda intake isn't necessarily going to help. "More research is needed to confirm these findings," Chen said, "and people with depression should continue to take depression medications prescribed by their doctors."

Artist Creates Amazing 25-Foot-Tall Ice Castles

Don't let your eyes deceive you. This isn't Narnia, although many first comers to these beautiful ice castles can't help but think of it.
Artist Brent Christensen, 50, of Alpine, Utah, has spent the last four years perfecting the craft of intertwining icicles into solid, 20 to 25-foot-tall structures he calls ice castles.
The hobby first started in 2000, when Christensen's family moved from sunny California to chilly Utah, and were looking for fun outdoor activities to do during the winter.
For more pictures of Christensen's ice castles, click here.
"We started doing winter stuff in the yard, playing around with the kids, making igloos and ice forts and slides and stuff," Christensen told ABCNews.com. "And it just evolved. One year I stumbled upon the concept of doing icicles by spraying water.

"We made one with a big wooden frame under it, and when it melted in the spring, it was a huge mess with a pile of soaking wood. The following year I didn't want to use any wood so it would just cleanly melt away. During the course of that winter, I stumbled upon the concept of fusing icicles to make a lattice to spray water on and build upon."
Once he got really good at building the ice fortresses, he approached several nearby resorts to see if they'd be interested in having him build displays for their guests. There weren't any takers at first and Christensen began to give up on the idea. Then, several weeks later, he heard from the manager of a small local spa and resort.
"The manager was like, 'Yeah, sure, let's do it next year. That was the opening door that got us into the public level," said Christensen.
Since then, Christensen has become famous for his magnificent structures. He currently has two ice castles on display this year, one in Steamboat Springs, Colo., as well as a larger, more grandiose one he created in the parking lot of Mall of America near Minneapolis-St. Paul.
"People come and they pay an admission and spend about a half an hour usually taking pictures and exploring," he said. "The ice castle itself is probably about an acre and a half."
Christensen, along with his team of about 20 men, worked around the clock for two weeks prepping the Mall of America ice castle, which opened on New Year's Eve, making it perfect to open for the public.
"We're pushing 20 to 25 feet tall in some spots," he said. "The goal is to eventually to go 40 to 50 feet. We get to a point where it's something the public's going to enjoy, then we continue growing it."
It's an evolving process all throughout the winter months, with Christensen constantly adding, re-shaping, and building bigger and better icicles to complete the castle.
"Most people have never experienced anything like it because it's so different. For me and my guys now, even for us who've done it for a couple years now, after the water's been running at night, it's still fascinating."

There is no set "closing date" for the ice castles. Christensen said he just keeps his eye on the extended weather forecast, and when temperatures stay in the high 30s toward the end of February, he'll begin to dismantle the pieces of ice, move them into safe piles at one end of the parking lot, and let nature take its course, melting his ice kingdom away.

Inside the world's most high-design fast-food restaurants

now it's clear that high design can arrive in some pretty strange packages gingerbread houses and dog houses included so it shouldn't be such a surprise that fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King are keen to jump aboard the bandwagon, too.

By hiring design firms to revamp their stores, fast food brands refresh their image and get some press, while customers get a pretty place to eat some less-than-pretty food. It's a win-win if you ignore the whole obesity and diabetes thing.

Anyway, here's one example (pictured above): the Starbucks in Fukuoka, Japan, designed by architect Kengo Kuma. Kuma's timbered interiors and glass storefront make the whole place look a bit french-fry-like, which is odd considering it was designed for the worldwide peddler of coffee and free wi-fi. But, metaphors aside, the place has a trendy aesthetic.
[Related: Kengo Kuma designs the world's most peaceful Starbucks]

Perhaps inspired by the astringent land it was built on, PK Arkitektar designed this KFC in Keflavík, Iceland, to be a minimalist horizontal block punctuated by rows of muted skylights and a wall of glass.

When granddaddy of fast foods McDonald's teamed up with furniture designer Patrick Norguet, it was clear the burger eaters of France were destined to supersize in some snazzy interiors. The designer didn't disappoint with his first commission: The McDonald's in Villefranche-de-Lauragais incorporates Mondrian-style geometry, concrete walls and plywood ceilings.

Burger King commissioned design firm Outofstock to swankify a handful of restaurants in Southeast Asia. Above is the club-like atmosphere of Singapore's Burger King Garden Grill, which features lounge seating, wooden tabletops, cushy-looking ottomans, and walls color-blocked in earth tones.

Ever looking to disguise its corporate roots, Starbucks created a funky shipping-container coffee shop in Tukwila, Wash. The so-called Reclamation Drive-Thru is an attempt to show off a feat of sustainability.

Design firm Hufft Projects incorporated textbook midcentury modern features expansive glass panes and low-slung horizontals included into the design of this Andy's Frozen Custard, in Springfield, Mo.

This lovely, down-home-style McDonald's sits in a 19th-century Georgian mansion, thanks to a group of hell-raising preservationists who rallied to save the building in the 1980s, when McDonald's bought the property with intentions to tear it all down. In turn, McDonald's restored the place to its 1920s glory, circular veranda, gingerbread milieu, and all.

In Amsterdam, Starbucks crafted a cafe that, uh, drips with an upcycled, Restoration Hardware-esque vibe—complete with wall coverings fashioned from inner tubes and bicycle tires and lots of salvaged oak. It's lovely, for sure, but what's even cooler is knowing that it was once a vault in a historic Dutch bank.

This McDonald's in Melbourne, Australia, was once the United Kingdom Hotel, a Art Deco design conceptualized by James Hastie Wardrop and built in 1937. The curvy balconies, bands of colored brick, and verticality of the facade is enough for the Art Deco Buildings blog to dub it "The Most Beautiful McDonald's in the World."

Final ‘Twilight’ sweeps the 2013 Razzies with a nomination in every category

Well, look at it this way, Twi-hards: It's not like a "Twilight" movie will ever feel the wrath of the Razzies ever again.
It wouldn't be Awards Season without everyone's favorite anti-awards organization, the Golden Raspberries, and this year they've somewhat predictably (and rather unfairly) targeted "Breaking Dawn - Part 2" for every single possible category.
Some film critics in the Twitter-verse have already come to the defense of the film, which is considered by many to be the best (relatively, anyway) installment in the series. It is a bit of a lazy (and unfair) stunt to pull; at this point, it's become somewhat tiresome to trash on "Twilight," especially after it's made its final bow.
There are other rather dubious nominations this year. A Worst Actress nom for Milla Jovovich? Sure, she's not going to win any "normal" awards for her performance, but she's the only reason we even still watch the damn "Resident Evil" movies. Also, David Hasselhoff's turn as a funhouse-mirror version of himself in "Piranha 3-DD" took meta-performance to a whole new level with its rather gonzo mix of macho arrogance and extreme self-loathing -- certainly not Worst Supporting Actor material, by any stretch.
Wretched trash like "That's My Boy," which earned seven nominations, deserves every bit of lashing the world can muster. But why hate on harmless dum-dum summer fare like "Battleship," which earned six nominations (including a completely ridiculous Worst Supporting Actor nod for Liam Neeson), and poor Tyler Perry, who earned nominations for his work in no less than three projects ("Good Deeds," "Madea's Witness Protection" and "Alex Cross")? The Razzies are coming across not so much as mean-spirited but simply nonsensical.
And really, a Worst Actress nomination for Barbra Streisand in "The Guilt Trip"? Sigh.
The complete list of Razzie nominations can be found below. The 33rd Annual Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 23.
Worst Picture:
"Battleship"
"The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure"
"That's My Boy"
"A Thousand Words"
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Worst Director:
Sean Anders, "That's My Boy"
Peter Berg, "Battleship"
Bill Condon, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Tyler Perry, "Good Deeds" / "Madea's Witness Protection"
John Putch, "Atlas Shrugged Part II"
Worst Actress:
Katherine Heigl, "One For the Money"
Milla Jovovich, "Resident Evil: Retribution"
Tyler Perry, "Madea's Witness Protection"
Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" / "Snow White and the Huntsman"
Barbra Streisand, "The Guilt Trip"
Worst Actor:
Nicolas Cage, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" / "Seeking Justice"
Eddie Murphy, "A Thousand Words"
Robert Pattinson, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Tyler Perry, "Alex Cross" / "Good Deeds"
Adam Sandler, "That's My Boy"
Worst Supporting Actress:
Jessica Biel, "Playing For Keeps" / "Total Recall"
Brooklyn Decker, "Battleship" / "What to Expect When You're Expecting"
Ashley Greene, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Jennifer Lopez, "What to Expect When You're Expecting"
Rihanna, "Battleship"
Worst Supporting Actor:
David Hasselhoff, "Pirannha 3-DD"
Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Liam Neeson, "Battleship" / "Wrath of the Titans"
Nick Swardson, "That's My Boy"
Vanilla Ice, "That's My Boy"
Worst Screen Ensemble:
"Battleship"
"The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure"
"That's My Boy"
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
"Madea's Witness Protection"
Worst Screenplay:
"Atlas Shrugged Part II"
"Battleship"
"That's My Boy"
"A Thousand Words"
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Worst Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel:
"Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance"
"Piranha 3-DD"
"Red Dawn"
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
"Madea's Witness Protection"
Worst Screen Couple:
Any two cast members from "Jersey Shore" in "The Three Stooges"
Mackenzie Foy and Taylor Lautner in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"
Tyler Perry and his drag in "Madea's Witness Protection"
Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg, Leighton Meester, or Susan Sarandon in "That's My Boy"