TOP 10 MOVIE RENTALS
If you’re going to rent movies this weekend, here’s what’s hot (according to RedBox.com).
1. The Hangover: Part II
2. Cowboys & Aliens
3. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
4. Colombiana
5. Moneyball
6. Don’t be Afraid of the Dark
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
8. The Help
9. The Debt
10. I Don’t Know How She Does It
AIR JORDAN SHOE COLLECTION WORTH $10G STOLEN
A North Carolina man’s collection of Air Jordan shoes — 30 pairs in all — were stolen during a burglary of his home in Charlotte. The collection of sought-after Nike sneakers was thought to be worth $10,000. Bryant Toala, 22, said he had been collecting Air Jordan shoes since he was in middle school, and he showed a Charlotte TV station the empty boxes left behind by the thieves who broke into his Mapleridge Drive home on Monday night. Along with the Air Jordan collection, the thieves took 30 matched baseball caps, another 10 pairs of Nike shoes and electronics, with the entire haul estimated to be worth $22,000. A re-release by Nike of Air Jordan XI late last year sparked a US-wide shopping frenzy which led to fights, vandalism and arrests as desperate shoppers scrambled to buy the limited edition shoes.
LATE FOR WORK? GET YOUR EXCUSE READY
If the trend holds, one in six of Americans this week will be telling their boss why they were late for work. But “my cat was hiccupping?” Really?! Yesterday, CareerBuilder released its annual “Most Outrageous Excuses for Coming in Late” survey. With 16 percent of all workers punching in late at least once a week, and 27 percent late once a month or more, it makes sense to have a good supply of plausible excuses at the ready. And don’t get lazy about it. The boss has already heard the standards – the golden oldies such as the traffic was horrendous, used by 31 percent of employees, lack of sleep (18 percent), bad weather (11 percent) or getting kids to school or daycare (8 percent). Ditto for blaming your tardiness on public transportation delays. So you’ve got to get innovative. Here are a few of the most over-the-top excuses CareerBuilder collected from hiring managers:
- My cat had the hiccups.
- I thought I won the lottery (but, alas, didn’t).
- I got distracted watching “The Today Show.”
- My roommate got mad at me and cut the cord to my phone charger, so it didn’t charge and my alarm didn’t go off.
- You mean my commute time doesn’t count toward my work hours?
- A fox stole my car keys.
- My leg got trapped between the subway car and the platform (OK, this one turned out to be true).
- Try the honest approach: I have no intention of getting to work before 9 a.m. (start time was 8 a.m.)
- Sorry I’m late, I had a job interview with another firm.
- I had to take a personal call from the state governor (Again, this one turned out to be true).
And you’d better make those excuses good: More than a third (34 percent) of employers say they’ve fired an employee for being late.
JANUARY IS THE MONTH WE TELL THE MOST LIES
Fibbing about New Year resolutions, exaggerating how we are doing on diets or detox means we each tell 217 fibs in January. Lying to take sick days from work as the grim winter takes hold is also a regular occurrence and four out of ten of us will make up excuses to get out of socializing. Money is one of the top things that people were likely to lie about with many admitting to hiding how much they spent over Christmas and how much debt there was on the credit card. But despite this, nearly half of those surveyed say they regularly get caught out because they are so bad at lying. A quarter of us have lied about how much we’ve have spent in the January sales. It was also revealed that people often exaggerate how much fun their Christmas and New Year celebrations were and how many presents they got. A fifth lied about what they actually got up to over New Year pretending they were at swanky parties when they were in fact stuck at home watching TV. Others reasons people gave for lying were that they were protecting someone’s feelings or that they didn’t want to let people down. Nearly half have broken New Year’s resolutions and lied about it. The findings were revealed by Twentieth Century Fox who commissioned a study to mark the release of season three of Lie to Me on DVD.
FACEBOOK MAKES US FEEL BAD ABOUT OUR LIVES
One quick way to feel better about your life: Delete your Facebook account. Or, at the very least, spend less time on it. A new study suggests that the more you use Facebook, the more likely you are to believe that your friends are happier and lead better lives than you. Also contributing: the number of Facebook “friends” you don’t actually know. The more of them clogging up your news feed, the more likely you are to think others are happier than you. “The more hours people spent on Facebook, the stronger was their agreement that others were happier,” the study found. Similarly, those who used Facebook more were less likely to agree with the statement, “Life is fair.” The author of the study thinks this is all due to “correspondence bias,” in which we assume others are happy based on the happy pictures and happy status updates they post—without taking into consideration that it may all be for show. But those who spent more time socializing with friends in real life were less likely to think others lead happier lives, indicating that real-life get-togethers can be a good reality check.
STRESSED? CALL MOM, RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE
Moms feed us, read to us, clap the loudest, cry the hardest, sit front row at recitals, write notes in our lunchboxes and promise that the hole in our hearts after a breakup won’t stay there forever. So maybe it just makes sense that the sound of our moms’ voices triggers a physical hormonal response that comforts and de-stresses. New research, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, found that conversations with Mom, over the phone or in person, were associated with a drop in cortisol, a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress. The mama chats also helped raise levels of oxytocin, a hormone linked to desire and gratification. But mom talks had no effect if they happened over text or instant messenger.
BEAUTY TIP OF THE DAY
REFRESH YOUR STYLING TOOLS
If your curling iron or flat iron isn’t working so effectively, try this simple trick: Make sure your iron is completely cool, then wipe it down with a cotton pad soaked in alcohol. This removes residue that can make the heat uneven, says hairstylist Michael Johnson. Once the alcohol is fully evaporated, reheat your styling tool and enjoy more effective results.
JERSEY SHORE HIT WITH 15TH LAWSUIT
“Jersey Shore” and its cast members have now racked up 15 lawsuits in two years. The latest: A woman celebrating her niece’s birthday at a bar in Seaside Heights, NJ, claims that drunk Jersey Shore cast members caused a brawl that eventually involved club security and show security. In the chaos, she was struck and hit her head, resulting in “severe and permanent injuries,” according to her lawsuit.
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