Vows to compete again
Fanning vows to get back on his surf board despite the trauma of his recent shark attack:
Surfing has given myself and my family so much. It’s gotten me through the hardest times in my life. So to turn my back on surfing, it just wouldn’t feel right…I guess someone was looking out for me. To walk away from a shark attack with not a scratch on you, it’s a miracle really.
He sends a message to the shark:
Thanks for not eating me.
Call Trump a ‘jackass’
In an interview with CNN, Graham defends McCain and criticizes Trump:
John’s my friend. He’s not a perfect person. He was tortured for five and a half years. When you ask Trump, ‘Do you know what he went through in jail?’ ‘No, it doesn’t matter.’ Yeah, it does matter. It really does matter…I don’t care if he drops out. Stay in the race, just stop being a jackass…This is the beginning of the end of Donald Trump.
Post-attack interview
Fanning talks about his encounter:
I’m tripping…I’m happy to not even compete ever again. To walk away from that, I’m just so stoked.
Turned down MI2, got LOTR, X-Men
McKellen says he was only free to work on Lord of the Rings because he turned down a role in Mission Impossible II:
It’s ridiculous that I’ve gotten to play both Gandalf [in the Lord of the Rings films] and Magneto [in the X-Men films]. How did that come about? One would have been enough. But two? And [it] also nearly might not have happened. I got offered a part in Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise, but they wouldn’t let me see the whole script because I might have spilled the beans. I only got my scenes. I couldn’t judge from reading just those scenes what the script was like. So I said no, and my agent said, ‘You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!’ and I said, ‘I think I will.’ The next day, Bryan Singer asked me to play Magneto and then Peter Jackson asked me to play Gandalf, and I said yes to both. Meanwhile, Mission Impossible was put off, put off, put off. And if I had decided to do that, I wouldn’t have been in X-Men and I wouldn’t have been in Lord of the Rings. It’s all about luck – being there at the right time and ready for it.
Responds to media criticism
In an interview with King on On Larry King Now 50 Cent responds to media criticism:
I’ve seen so many things said about me in social networking at points. When you don’t anticipate it it lands a little harder on you. This I can telegraph, I can see what’s gonna come from people when they see this in advance. It’s a move that’s necessary for me to make at this point so I didn’t allow myself to create that big red/white bullseye on my back when I become the person that people consistently come to.
Paid 10% of similar male role
Seyfried says she was recently paid just ten per cent of a male co-star’s salary in a film. She does not disclose the movie — which could have been anything from Dear John with Channing Tatum to Les Miserables with Eddie Redmayne — but said that she and the actor were “pretty even in status” and should have received more equal salaries.
I think people think that just because I’m easy going and game to do things, I’ll just take as little as they offer. It’s not about how much you get, it’s about how fair it is.
Seyfried believes that every actress should fight for equal rights but that being willing to walk away from something is “an individual choice”.
Will return in GoT Season 6
Wright says he will be returning to Game of Thrones season 6 as Bran Stark.
I can’t say a lot, but I am back this season, and it’s going to get particularly interesting with Bran. He has some interesting visions.
He also talks about whether Jon Snow will come back;
I wish he would because I love Kit and because the character’s so cool. Who knows? We start filming series six at the end of this month [July] so we’ll see.
Media Briefing interview
Ingram is interviewed by The Media Briefing about the “vicious circle” that leads some publishers to chase huge audience figures at the expense of their identity.
Certainly some publishers that started out with a very targeted focus had to grow and expand the range of things they cover and write about. When you do that you become more and more like a mass media outlet like a newspaper, and the conventional wisdom is that’s not what people want any more. People don’t want something that is about everything. They want sites that are specifically about the things they’re interested in. That’s a very difficult game to play…It’s very hard to build a giant mass audience made up of highly targeted verticals.
And on the perils of using Facebook and Google as a platform:
To the extent that you use a platform to [grow to scale], you are empowering the platform. You’re not necessarily empowering you. To some extent those two things can work together, but in many ways you’re actually helping something that’s in many cases a competitor become stronger. Everyone’s focusing on the same things and the question becomes ‘what are you doing that’s any different’…Is it just about scale, is it just about having views, is it just about how many clicks? And if it is, Google and Facebook are the ones who win, not you.
Has nightmares about Finals loss
During an appearance on Bleacher Report Radio, James says he still feels the pain of his 2015 NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors:
I just don’t feel like you ever move on from losing in the Finals. You feel like you’re right there. You have a great opportunity to do something special … I guess there’s nightmares, now, about them, about situations throughout the games, and it’s always replaying in my head. You know, it was definitely difficult, and I’m getting better every day, but you know, it takes quite a while for me to get out of the funk.
Blames Obama for immigration
On Face the Nation, Boehner blames President Obama for Congress’ failure to reform immigration laws.
He’s stirred up the American people in such a way that it would almost be impossible to do immigration reform, given the environment that we’re dealing with. I want to do immigration reform and the president knows it. I asked the president about a year ago, gave him some ideas about things that should happen if he wanted to do immigration reform, and some things that he shouldn’t do. Well, the president didn’t take my advice. And he doubled down on the executive orders that, frankly, far exceeded his authority, and the courts have got him stopped. He’s really poisoned the well.
UFC 189: Backstage interview
McGregor is interviewed by Olivi backstage after the fight.
I’m overwhelmed. It was a lot of work to get here…it’s been a long road, a lot of hard work. A lot of dedication…He’s a phenomenal athlete. Takedown isn’t enough in this business. I knew he was tired. I was winning every exchange, so I knew he was breaking bit by bit. I figured it would happen like that, it would be up and down, but I wold be getting the better of the exchanges. And I put him down.
UFC 189: Octagon interview
McGregor and Mendez give post-fight interviews in the octagon. McGregor:
I’m absolutely blown away by the support…I’ve been hearing all the while that I’ve been protected from this style of opponent, that I’ve been gifted a title shot. So when my title shot went running and they gave me the challenge I was supposed to be protected from, I decided that I’m just going to prove to people that I’m a true fighter. It doesn’t matter who it is, I’ll show up and I’ll put a finish on any fighter.
Mendes:
First of all I want to thank Conor for accepting on two weeks…The guy’s tough. He’s got the talk to back it u. These Irish guys are crazy.
AMA
Huffman participates in a Reddit AMA (link). On bringing back controversial subreddits:
Unlikely. Creating a clear content policy is another of my immediate priorities. We will make it very clear what is and is not acceptable behavior on reddit. This is still a work in progress, but our thinking is along these lines: Nothing illegal. Nothing that undermines the integrity of reddit. Nothing that causes other individuals harm or to fear for their well-being. Banning content will be a last resort…I don’t want to ever ban content. Sometimes, however, I feel we have no choice because we want to protect reddit itself.
On growth:
Of course the board wants to see growth. I want to see growth, too. We’re not going to see much growth without serious product efforts, and we’re not going to get serious product efforts without more resources. Fortunately, I have the ability to get those resources, so that’s what I’ll do.
Ammoland interview
In an interview with Ammoland.com, Trump says he supports the right of individuals to own guns. He says he has a concealed weapon permit.
Gun control does not reduce crime. It has consistently failed to stop violence. Americans are entitled to protect their families, their property and themselves. In fact, in right-to-carry states the violent crime rate is 24% lower than the rest of the United States and the murder rate is 28% lower. This should not be up for debate.
He also says he will end gun-free zones on military bases.
As Commander-in-Chief, I would mandate that soldiers remain armed and on alert at our military bases…They will be able to defend themselves against terrorists. Our brave soldiers should not be at risk because of policy created by civilian leadership. Political correctness has no place in this debate…The 2nd Amendment is right, not a privilege. The small minority of anti-everything activists may be vocal, but we have facts, and the Constitution, on our side.
He also calls Karl Rove a “loser” for proposing a repeal of the Second Amendment.
Jail interview
In a jail interview Lopez admits he shot Steinle, but says the weapon — which he said he found lying on the ground wrapped in a T-shirt — went off by accident when he picked it up. At another points he says he could not recall details of the shooting because he’d taken sleeping medication. When asked where he got the gun:
In the ground. When the… when the… over there in the bench, um, um, I put my leg and I see the one T-shirt and then see over there something like that…Then suddenly I heard that boom boom, three times.
He says he returned to the United States after he was deported to find work in restaurants, or roofing, landscaping, and construction, and that he has worked on ranches in Arizona and helped stock stores in Portland, Oregon. He says he came to San Francisco because there were more opportunities and because officials there would not deport him. He also says he does not have a lawyer and plans to say he is guilty in court.
I want the courts to punish me as is deserved and for this to end as soon as possible.
Didn’t expect severity of backlash
In an interview with Fox News, Trump says he didn’t expect the strength of the backlash against his comments to be quite as severe:
I knew it was going to be bad because I was told this. All my life I have been told this: If you are successful, you don’t run for office.I didn’t know it was going to be quite this severe, but I really knew it was going to be bad…It seems like I’m sort of the whipping post because I bring it up. And I don’t understand whether you are liberal or whether you are conservative or whether you are Republican, Democrat — why wouldn’t you talk about a problem? The crime is raging. It’s violent, and people don’t want to even talk about it. If you talk about it, you are a racist. I don’t understand it.
For the people who say I’m doing it for my brand – this isn’t good for my brand. I think it’s bad for my brand…You know, maybe I’m leading in polls, but this is certainly not good. I lose customers, I lose people. I had one of the top shows on television, The Apprentice, and I decided not to do it because I wanted to do this. I give up hundreds of millions of dollars of deals where I’m doing this. Then you hear about NASCAR, and you hear about NBC, and you hear about, you know, different people that drop Trump because Trump wants safety in the United States. If you think of it, what am I doing? I say let’s make our country safe, and people are offended. It’s incredible to me.
‘Who is doing the raping?’
In an CNN interview with lemon, Trump says his comments on illegal immigrationa are backed up by this article on Fusion.com:
Well if you look at the statistics of people coming, you look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything coming in illegally into this country it’s mind-boggling! If you go to Fusion, you will see a story: About 80% of the women coming in, you know who owns Fusion? Univision! Go to Fusion and pick up the stories on rape. It’s unbelievable when you look at what’s going on. So all I’m doing is telling the truth.
When Lemon says that the press stories are about women being raped, but not about criminals coming across the border, Trump responds:
Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don! I mean somebody’s doing it! Who’s doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping? How can you say such a thing.
He also tells Lemon he is surprised he’s trailing Jeb Bush:
I don’t get it. He’s in favor of Common Core, extremely weak on immigration. He thinks people come over for love. I don’t understand why he’s in first place. Maybe it’s the Bush name. Last thing we need is another Bush. But I will tell you, I’m a little surprised he’s in the position he’s in.
Fireside chat
Graham talks with Cloudant’s Miller about the new role developers play in society:
Programmers are becoming more powerful. It used to be that programmers had their tools chosen for them by managers. Now increasingly the can pick their tools and the managers have no choice but to go on with it. Everybody knows this phrase BYOD –Bring Your Own Device. But there’s another phenomenon happening, where you bring your own tools — BYOT.
Says victims should have defended themselves
Chumley says the victims should have been able to defend themselves:
These people sit in there and waited their turn to be shot…That’s sad…that somebody in there with the means of self-defense could have stopped this. And we’d have less funerals than we’re having…Why didn’t somebody just do something? You got one skinny person shooting a gun. We need to do what we can…I know it’s really horrible for nine people to be shot. And I understand he reloaded his gun during in the process. That’s upsetting.
Wants more diverse ISS
The European Space Agency says that the International Space Station should be opened up to astronauts from India and China.
We need to get away from the principle of being a closed club.