Year: 2014

Categories
Beauty Fashion

New nail salon for guys offers free beer and a man cave

When you’re in your local nail salon getting a manicure and a guy walks in for a treatment, do you judge him? Do you give him the side-eye because you don’t want any–eww–males in your serene space? Well, even if you don’t do either of these things, guys who go to nail salons feel like you do. That’s why one LA entrepreneur is opening an all-male nail salon, called Hammer & Nails.

Screenwriter Michael Elliot (he wrote Just Wright, a romantic comedy starring Common and Queen Latifah) had an “a-ha” moment when he went to a nail salon in LA and struck up a conversation with the only other dude in the place. “It was just clear that we both felt uncomfortable, and we talked about how uncomfortable this is. I asked a lot of my other guy friends about their experiences and realized I wasn’t alone,” Elliot told me. “I have always hated going to get a mani just because of that feeling of walking in the door and it seems like all the women kind of look at you like, ‘What are you doing here?’ and it’s just awful.”

Hammer & Nails, which opens on Melrose Avenue in LA on November 9, is designed to look like a man-cave. The chairs are oversize leather, there’s a vintage punching bag from the 1940′s, and everyone gets his own TV and headphones, complete with a selection of premium sports channels. (I guess guys aren’t into engaging in nail salon gossip.) There will also be a selection of free beverages. Elliot doesn’t have a liquor license yet, but the goal is to offer complimentary beer and scotch.

The menu includes a standard manicure for $25 and a pedicure for $30. He acknowledges that his prices are about 20% higher than an average salon–he says he’s going for a more luxury vibe, and it’s difficult to stay as competitive as the more traditional salons do.

And the manicures won’t necessarily all involve just a buff or clear polish. “I do plan to offer [colored polishes] here. It wasn’t my original plan until I read an article in the New York Timesvery recently about this growing popularity of colors for guys,” Elliot said. “So I want to make that available here as well.”

Elliot’s goal is to get red-blooded American males to engage in regular nail care. “There’s this misconception that only metrosexual men would get a mani or pedi, or only gay men,” Elliot said. “I want to make nail care as common as getting a haircut and I feel like creating the right environment is key to that.” He thinks that there’s an untapped market out there of men who have never had a manicure because the typical nail salon is too intimidating, but who want to try one.

T&A won’t be a part of the draw at the salon, though. I asked him about hiring Hooters-style nail techs and he said, “Absolutely not. In fact the very first nail tech I hired has been doing men’s manicures for 38 years.” Elliot’s goal is to hire techs who enjoy working on men’s nails and who have a lot of experience doing so.

While some of Elliot’s friends think he’s nuts (the whole business venture is self-funded), he’s confident he has a winning concept. He hopes to open another Hammer & Nails LA outpost within 12 months, and to start franchising in 2014. He says he’s already received inquiries about franchise opportunities.

I actually think this whole concept makes a lot of sense. And I think you’d have more luck getting your boyfriend into a place like this to get his disgusting feet taken care of than into your standard girly salon.

h/t – stylelist
Categories
News

Lawyer Falls To Death Onto Scaffolding Near City Hall


(Stjepan Pavich / Gothamist)

[UPDATE BELOW] A 45-year-old man fell to his death onto scaffolding outside of a building near City Hall this morning. Thus far no criminality is suspected by the NYPD, but officials would not confirm that the man jumped. Paramedics accessed the scaffolding outside of 225 Broadway to reach the body after receiving a call at 7:25 this morning; police tell us the man worked in the building.

Graphic photos sent in by a tipster show blood on sidewalk below the scaffolding where the body landed.


Courtesy @yonkeltron

In an email, one witness says:

“When I got there I saw at least one cruiser and two emergency response vans. They had cones beyond the police tape and were restricting traffic slightly more than the choke point heading toward the WTC construction site. Two uniformed officers were going through that pile of trash and possibly bagging things but had moved on when I went to take pictures. The cops were replaced around the perimeter by the downtown ambassadors in the red.”

The identity of the deceased has not been released pending the notification of his family. The Post reports that the man was an attorney whose office is on the 12th floor.

Update 2:03 p.m.:: Police have identified the deceased man as Leonard Morton, an attorney who ran his own practice in the building. The police have yet to determine a cause of death for the Upper West Side resident. In addition to his practice, Morton was an adjunct professor at Hunter College.

h/t – gothamist

Categories
dead News

Woman’s auto-payments hid her Death for Six Years

Woman found dead years later in garage

(CNN) — For years, the payments went out of the woman’s bank account.

Nobody batted an eyelid. Bills were paid. And life went on as normal in the quiet neighborhood of Pontiac, Michigan.

Neighbors didn’t notice anything unusual. The woman traveled a lot, they said, and kept to herself. One of them mowed her grass to keep things looking tidy.

At some point, her bank account ran dry. The bills stopped being paid.

After its warnings went unanswered, the bank holding the mortgage foreclosed on the house, a common occurrence in a region hit hard by economic woes.

Still, nobody noticed what had happened inside the house. Nobody wondered out loud what had become of the owner.

Not until this week, when a worker sent by the bank to repair a hole in the roof made a grisly discovery.

The woman’s mummified body was sitting in the backseat of her car, parked in the garage. The key was halfway in the ignition.

Authorities say they believe the woman died at least six years ago. They’re still trying to figure out what happened.

“I’ve been doing this 37 years. Never seen anything like this before,” said Undersheriff Mike McCabe of Oakland County, Michigan, just outside Detroit.

Rarely heard from

The woman, who authorities aren’t identifying until they’ve informed her family, paid her bills from her bank account through auto-pay, according to McCabe.

Neighbors said they didn’t know much about the dead woman, describing her as in her 40s and of German descent.

“She really kept to herself. We never really heard anything from her,” neighbor Caitlyn Talbot told CNN affiliate WXYZ.

Talbot said she wasn’t aware of anyone having seen the woman, who traveled a lot, in about six years.

“She was probably there for a couple of days, then she’d leave for a week, then she’d come back. Then she’d leave for a month and come back,” Talbot said.

McCabe says neighbors chalked up the woman’s absences to her returning to Germany for long periods of time.

Despite years without a living owner, the house was never broken into, he said.

Authorities told WXYZ that the house appears to have black mold inside it, and that detectives entered the building Thursday wearing hazardous material suits.

Another neighbor, Darryl Tillery, told the Detroit Free Press that mail never piled up at the house and the lawn never grew out of order. McCabe said one of the neighbors cut the grass for years.

Cause of death undetermined

Police were dispatched to the house for a welfare check in 2007 after a neighbor reported not having seen the owner in a while. After seeing no signs of anything amiss, police went on their way, McCabe said.

Authorities are still waiting for a toxicology report, which will take four to six weeks, before determining the cause of death. The medical examiner found no signs of trauma to the body, McCabe said.

Dr. Bernardino Pacris, the county deputy medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, told the Detroit Free Press that the woman’s skin was still intact, but that the internal organs had decomposed.

Pacris told the newspaper that during the mummification process, skin develops a parchment-like consistency and leathery texture. Finding a body in such a condition is unusual, he said, but “once in a while, we see this.”

Attempts by CNN to reach Dr. Pacris late Thursday were unsuccessful.

 

h/t – cnn

Categories
Paul Ryan Politics

Paul Ryan’s CPAC Speech Based on Fictional Events

It’s about a sad little boy who didn’t want a school lunch. He wanted his lunch in a brown paper bag just like all the other boys and girls who got that brown paper bag of love from their parents.

“The left is making a big mistake here. What they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She serves in the cabinet of my buddy, Governor Scott Walker. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn’t want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand.”

The problem? This never happened. Its from a 2011 book called The Invisible Thread. So, Ryan gets four Pinocchios.

In this case, apparently, the story was too good to check. We appreciate [Ryan] is regretful now. But a simple inquiry would have determined that the person telling the story actually is an advocate for the federal programs that Ryan now claims leaves people with “a full stomach and an empty soul.” So he also earns Four Pinocchios.

Categories
Politics Unemployment

Report – 175,000 Jobs Added in February

After two months of reporting weak job growth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that, seasonally adjusted, 162,000 new private jobs were created in February. Government at all levels hired 13,000. The official unemployment rate—which BLS calls U3 and calculates in a separate survey—rose to 6.7 percent.

The bureau revised its previously reported results for December from 75,000 to 84,000, and in January from 113,000 to 129,000. That brought the three-month average to 129,000. At that rate, it would take until September 2023 to return us to the pre-recession employment situation while absorbing the people who enter the labor force each month. At 175,000 a month, it would take until January 2020.

In the previous three years (2011-2013), seasonally adjusted job growth for the December-January period averaged a monthly 103,000, 261,000 and 230,000 respectively.

Categories
Featured Racism

Today in Racism – Florida Man Flys KKK Flag on His Front Lawn


Some neighbors in a western Boca Raton neighborhood who have to see a Ku Klux Klan symbol raised each day are raising their voices in protest. One resident has chosen to fly a KKK flag in his front yard, as well as display ‘Members Wanted’ sign and a noose.

“They never said anything to my face and they’re entitled to their own free speech as well as I am,” said the man, who identified himself as Mr. K. Hayes.

His flag – and its symbolism – have some neighbors outraged and offended.

“It’s reminding me of back in the old days,” said Margaret Martin, who recently moved in across the street on Sandalfoot Boulevard. “I didn’t think that was still going on anymore. This is 2014.”

On his business card, Hayes refers to himself as a recruiter for the Knights Party of the Ku Klux Klan. Some neighbors say Hayes has tried to influence local children with conversations, literature and his displays.

“Don’t sit there and try to put it off on other people, especially the entire neighborhood like you’re doing,” said Daniel Randy, who lives nearby.

Other residents have made efforts to have the flag removed.

“I called code enforcement and they said it’s perfectly legal to put up any kind of flag you want,” said Nick Scalice, President of a nearby homeowners association that does not include Hayes’ home.

Categories
Politics

Meet the Women of the Administration: Claudia Gordon

Deaf Jamaican-born lawyer gets White House job

THE White House has appointed Jamaican immigrant Claudia Gordon to oversee its efforts on disability issues.

Gordon, a deaf lawyer, moves over from the Department of Labour where she dealt with potential discrimination by federal contractors to now work between the Obama administration and the disability community as the White House’s disability liaison. Her new title is associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Categories
Politics

Senator Bernie Sanders – “I am prepared to run for president of the United States”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the populist independent from Vermont, told The Nation that he is “prepared to run” for the White House. That doesn’t mean the two-term senator is raising money, building a campaign organization or any of that kind of stuff, but he says he’s talking to people around the country and preparing to hit the road.

Here’s the key quote from Sanders’ interview, which posted online Thursday:

I am prepared to run for president of the United States. I don’t believe that I am the only person out there who can fight this fight, but I am certainly prepared to look seriously at that race.
Sanders is the only self-described Socialist in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sanders recently authored a bill aimed at expanding health care, education and other benefits that was defeated over concerns about costs.

In the interview, he assails the Democratic Party as being too dependent on “big-money interests.” (But Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, also said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has treated him with “enormous respect.” )

Categories
Celebrities child Entertainment michael jackson

Michael Jackson’s Alleged Son – POSITIVE DNA Match … Or So They Say MJ’S

There’s a 99.9% chance a 31-year-old man is Michael Jackson’s illegitimate son … at least that’s the claim after an alleged DNA test turned up a match.

According to the test results — obtained by Alki David and his company, FilmOn.com — Brandon Howard is almost certainly Michael’s son.  David told TMZ Live he got MJ’s dental impression from a Beverly Hills doctor that he got at an auction.  The impression is 30 years old but David says its filled with DNA.

Brandon — who now goes by B Howard and looks and acts very much like Michael — was not present for the unveiling, but David says he had Howard’s DNA and it matched up.

David would not say which lab performed the DNA test, but says it showed a clear match.

Brandon’s mom — Miki Howard — is a famous gospel singer who Michael knew.   She went by the name “Billy” back in 1982.  Interestingly … a year later Michael released “Billie Jean,” which included the lyrics, “Billie Jean’s not my lover” and “The kid is not my son.”

For B Howard’s part — he’s distancing himself from the whole spectacle, insisting he had nothing to do with it.

h/t TMZ

Categories
Featured Mitch McConnell

Policies Are Too Advanced For Republicans, So McConnell Brought a Gun to CPAC

Lol… This is too funny. Mitch McConnell just proved that the only way to reach a conservative is not through policies, apparently a policy discussion is too advance for this group. Walk on the CPAC stage with a rifle in your hand and that’s all you need.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday morning by walking on stage carrying a rifle.

McConnell waved it around and handed it over to Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. This moment was the only time the audience cheered for McConnell during his five minutes on stage, according to the National Journal.

The gun was reportedly a parting gift from the GOP to Coburn, who will be leaving the Senate due to health issue at the end of his term.

“Liberals absolutely hate it when Tom Coburn steps onto the Senate floor. He’s one of the smartest, most principled, most decent men I’ve ever served with. He reminds all of us every day of why it is we decided to run for office in the first place,” McConnell told the crowd.

The Senate Minority Leader and five-term senator is facing a Tea Party challenger in his home state later this year.

“If I’m given an opportunity to lead the U.S. Senate next year, I will not let you down,” he said.

Categories
Politics Ronald Reagan

Behold! Vladimir Putin and Ronald Reagan Together in a 1988 Photo

I knew there was a reason Republicans love the Russian dictator president so much.

With Vladimir Putin back in the news so prominently, now may be a good time to look back at a photo that got some attention in 2009: a photo of Ronald Reagan in Russia, a photo taken by the man who currently fills the same official role for President Obama, and a photo that appears to feature Putin himself dressed up like a tourist.

Pete Souza is the White House photographer for President Obama, but he also worked in the same capacity under Reagan, and he snapped that photo in 1988 of Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev greeting tourists. And Souza claimed back in 2009 (and said this information was confirmed to him) that the man on the very left, the tourist-y looking fellow with the camera around his neck, is in fact Vladimir Putin, who was a KGB agent at the time and was undercover.
Moscow officials, however, very much doubt it’s actually Putin, though it does look quite like the Russian leader…

h/t Mediaite

Categories
Politics Tax

In a Perfect Republican World, You’ll Have No Free Speech – Your Mic Turned Off!

A United States Senator,  along with all the members of his party and the millions of Americans they represent, got his most basic freedom of speech taken away yesterday in a hearing of the House Oversight Committee ,  chaired by Republican Darrell Issa.

Issa, trying to give Fox News some material for their brainless base and an apparent effort to prop up his Mister Macho credentials, called the hearing to once again question an IRS official on the non-story, Republican manufactured scandal concerning the 501c4.

Although multiple hearings and millions of tax dollars have already been wasted on this non-story, Republicans need to keep this so-called tax scandal alive until the November elections, so the IRS official was called to do what she’s done in the past, invoke her Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.

Issa called the witness – Lois Lerner – and shot off ten questions at her already knowing what her answer would be. He then tried to end the proceedings without accepting questions or any input whatsoever from the other members of the committee. But Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), would have none of it and insisted on taking part in the hearing. What nerve! Didn’t he know this hearing was just a charade for Fox News?

“Can I ask a question?” Mr Cummings is heard saying.

“This hearing is adjourned,” Issa shot back, and stood up to walk away.

Still insisting on doing his job and taking part in the hearing, Rep Cummings continued talking, but the Republican dictator Chairman would have non of it and proceeded to turn off Mr Cummings’ microphone.

Cummings exploded. “If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings insisted. “I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America!”

“I am tired of this,” Cummings continued. “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.”

“We had a hearing. It was adjourned,” Issa said. “I gave you an opportunity to ask your questions. You had no questions.”

“I do have questions,” Cummings replied. “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

Watch the unbelievable events unfold below.

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