Certified Blogaholic

Two-time Oscar Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix announced Monday that he is retiring from acting. The actor claims he has been through it and is now done. His last performance will be in the movie “Two Lovers,” the upcoming romantic drama where he stars with Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. Apparently, the actor has discovered a new passion that he intends to pursue.

After playing the role of Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” the 34-year old actor learned to play the guitar and discovered music. Phoenix is currently working on an album with Tim Burgess, the frontman for the UK group, The Charlatans.

His alleged last movie, Two Lovers, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year to positive reviews. The movie is scheduled for release in February 2009. Phoenix would be a great loss to the industry considering his talent in acting. Hopefully, he will reconsider his decision and the retirement would just be a temporary break for him to pursue his newly-discovered love for music.

Angelina Jolie stars in the upcoming Changeling, a period thriller directed by Clint Eastwood. The story revolves around the true story of a woman in the late 1920s whose son was kidnapped. Los Angeles police publicize and return a boy which she claims is not her son. Along with Jolie, John Malkovich portrays the role of a reverend activist who helps Jolie in uncovering the corruption of police and city government officials in Los Angeles.

Jolie’s portrayal of Christine Collins, a mother in agony, received raves from critics. The role will show how a woman has the ability to bounce back from the worst adversity to fight the most difficult odds for her child. Jolie was initially reluctant to play the role as it made her uncomfortable because she had children herself. It is something I look forward to watching. There is nothing that I understand more than a mother desperately trying to protect her son from this world’s cruel realities.

Changeling premiered in May 2008 at the 61st Cannes Film Festival where it received good reviews. It is scheduled for general release on October 31, 2008.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series hours ago, beating the Tampa Bay Rays in game 5. Fifty hours after Game 5 started but was halted due to rain, Brad Lidge and the Phillies finally finished off the series winning 4-3.

After craving the title for so long, the Phillies finally won the title in a suspended game. This is their first championship since 1980 and the 2-day storm that suspended the game even added to their long wait. It was among the weirdest world series endings in baseball history — an end to a best-of-seven series which resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning tied 2-2.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter will hold a news conference Thursday at Citizens Bank Park to announce details of a parade to be held Friday which will start at noon at 20th and Market Streets. Phillies fans have been waiting for this day for 28 years. Congratulations Philadelphia!

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan Wednesday morning in Baluchistan which destroyed mud-walled homes and triggering landslides. Officials report that the epicenter was in the Ziarat district, one of the tourist attractions in Baluchistan.

Rescue operations were over with 170 bodies retrieved while 350 were injured in Ziarat. Approximately 20 aftershocks followed, causing more damage with the biggest at 6.2 magnitude. In Wam, the entire village was flattened, one of the worst-hit villages in the area. Another 5 people were killed in the nearby Pishin district.

The last earthquake in October 2005 with a 7.6 magnitude left 73,000 dead.

The invincible cheerleader from the hit TV series Heroes, Hayden Panettiere, is requesting public support for The Whaleman Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting dolphins, whales, and their ocean habitat. The 19-year old actress previously made headlines when she paddled to a cove in Taiji, Wakamaya, Japan, risking her life, to protest the hunting of dolphins. The incident raised public awareness about the plight of the sea creatures in the area.
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Julian King, Jennifer Hudson’s missing nephew, was confirmed dead after the stolen SUV was discovered in the the West Side of Chicago. Following the shooting of Hudson’s brother and mother Friday in their home, an amber alert was issued for the missing 7-year old Julian who was suspected to be abducted by the killer together with the family’s missing white SUV.
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Just a couple of hours ago, a shooting incident occurred at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) which left 2 students dead. Police arrived at the the scene within minutes but one student was already dead on the spot while the other died at Conway Regional Medical Center. A third person was reported to have had minor injuries and was released immediately after treatment.

According to UCA Campus Police, shots were fired around 9:19 pm, October 26, between the Snow Fine Arts Center and the Arkansas Hall. UCA Residence Halls and the UCA Student Center were immediately locked down, but the UCA campus itself is still open with UCAPD officers dispatched within the area. At the moment, entry to the campus is limited to residents and authorized personnel.

Police currently have a person of interest in custody but are allegedly looking for 3 suspects. Officials refuse to release the names of the victims until relatives have been properly notified.

Just weeks after Jennifer Hudson’s engagement to David Otunga, fate seems to have ways to evening out the odds for us. At a time when everything seems perfect for the Dreamgirl, her debut album her recent movie just released, tragedy strikes when least expected. Hudson’s brother Jason and her mom, Darnell Donerson, were found dead in her mother’s Chicago home Friday afternoon. Her sister, Julia, found their mother dead in the living room floor from a shotgun blast. When police arrived, they found Jason upstairs. Hudson’s 7-year old nephew, Julian King, was missing.

Police suspect that Julian was abducted by the murderer who took off with Jason’s vehicle. The suspect, William Balfour, was taken into police custody. Balfour is the estranged husband of Julia but is not the biological father of Julian. However, he refuses to cooperate and provide information to authorities.
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Friday morning trading in Wall Street was chaotic. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped by more than 330 points. If it drops by 1,100 points before 2 pm, the New York Stock Exchange will activate “circuit breakers” that will temporarily shutdown the market to minimize losses. This is something that hasn’t been done since 1997. Before it opened, Dow futures had dropped 550 points which already triggered a trading halt in stock futures contracts to slow the decline.

Stock markets worldwide already plummeted Friday with oil prices taking a nose dive to the lowest levels in more than a year. Even the more stable gold prices fell sharply. Amid fears that worldwide financial markets are declining, many fear that governments and banks are not capable of resolving the deepening global recession.

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The T-Mobile G1 just shipped and some are actually excited about it. It’s the touchscreen competitor of the IPhone which is touted to be the IPhone Killer. Really now? Based on the initial look of the cellphone, I don’t feel so hot about it. I will try to summarize most of its salient features in comparison to Apple’s IPhone.

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After being part of a heated discussion between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in the last debate, “Joe the Plumber” has become a household name.  The real “Joe the Plumber,” Sam Wurzelbacher, is now on the spotlight, subject of several TV interviews and his videos all over the net.  However, another “Joe the Plumber” seems to be reaping the harvest.  Joe Francis owns www.joetheplumber.com and web traffic in his site surged unexpectedly the last few days as more people tried to find out about “Joe the Plumber.”

Joe Francis is known as “The Friendliest Plumber in Town.”  Not only did his website receive so much traffic, but his office was also flooded with calls.  He was on a hunting trip when he found out that a bidding war had started over his domain.  He may soon be a rich plumber if he takes the $800,000 bid one man offered for his domain.  People even want shirts bearing his company logo.  He is one lucky businessman.  The real Joe the Plumber is set to appear in numerous talk shows in the coming days as more and more people are interested about his income tax discussion with Barack Obama.  As the election draws closer, it is certain that Joe the Plumber will continue to be the hottest sensation in town.  Choosing your domain really can be a stroke of fate.

Despite the $700 billion bail-out plan by the government, the financial crisis is still not showing signs of slowing down. Many people are still losing jobs, the stock market has been unstable, and everyone is still jittery. But most people don’t just leave everything to fate. Do something about it.

Cyberspace has become my best resource for extra income. And it has yet to fail me. Now, I discovered another online opportunity that I am taking advantage of. Ciao was recently acquired by Microsoft — an online community supported by multi-million members who review millions of products over the web. Members review products and rate reviews to determine how helpful the review will be to consumers. Aside from doing reviews, members are likewise given an opportunity to showcase their creative writing skills and other tips they can share with other members.

Ciao pays its members for each published review and provides bonuses whenever another member reads and provides a positive rating for the review. They also pay for every review that you read and rate. For a limited time, Ciao is giving $1 for each new standard product review, 1 Cent for each reading of the review by other members, and 3 Cents for every positive rating given by other members. You may think this is a small amount. But considering how easy it is to make a review of a product you are familiar with, it’s very easy to make 50 reviews in a week. There are members who have already made hundreds of dollars in Ciao. Unlike other get-paid-to (GPT) sites, you don’t have to grab opportunities, compete with other members, or wait all day to make money. I already made $10 in 2 days with just a few hours dedicated to the site. You also make a dollar for each member that you refer and a 50% commission on your referral’s earning for the first 6 months of his membership. Your earnings are sent through PayPal a few weeks after a requested cash out.

Join Ciao and find out how you can make money and augment your income now.

Rumors that Jennifer Aniston is pregnant are once again cropping up. After the recent break-up with John Mayer, another tabloid claims the two are back together when they were seen in New York and Boston back in each other’s arms. According to sources, Aniston decided to give the playboy musician another chance because she is pregnant with his child.

For this chance, Mayer allegedly will cut back on his drinking habits and try to be faithful this time. Considering that Aniston has been rumored to be pregnant every time she has a new love interest, it is possible this is another false alarm.  If she does want to have her own child, I hope the rumors are true.  But I don’t see John Mayer being a father figure — he seems to need a little more growing up to do.

One of the reasons that Certified Blogaholic changed to another web host before the previous one expired was because of downtime. A few days before we transferred, the blog was down and access was difficult. It was then that we decided to find another web host before the contract was up. I’ve read so many disasters from bloggers with unreliable web hosts. There were those who even lost years of database because of bad hosting. Even if the blog has only been around for a year, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize a year of hard work.

For those who plan to go into blogging, remember that the foundation of a good blog is a reliable web host. No matter how good a blog is, it is worth nothing with frequent downtime. With the numerous web hosting services available, make sure to consult the experts when it comes to finding your web host. A web hosting blog would be a good resource to get feedback on web hosting services. WebHostingGeeks.com has a blog that features articles that can help any blogger make an informed decision in hosting services. It has tips on determining the criteria you can use to measure a web host and even mistakes to avoid when choosing one. You will even learn a little more about the technical side of blogging such as content management systems, cPanels, or data centers. And it’s all written clearly that even a newbie will understand.

Any progress in blogging needs information that WebHostingGeeks can offer. Visit the blog now and find out before plunging into blogging.

For those who have been going on a diet, you all know that the most difficult part to trim down is the belly. We all dream of having a flat belly. But it seems to be the most stubborn part of our body and is usually the last part to lose fat. Aside from avoiding food with high carbs and sugar, exercise is a necessary part of the regimen. However, I find doing numerous crunches and other exercises a big strain.

Yoga and Pilates, on the other hand, has been known to have exercises or poses that help a lot in trimming the abs. Here are some yoga poses that concentrates on strengthening the abs and trimming down excess fat. I will add more in futures posts, including pilates workouts that will give you a flat belly.

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