13 May Dan Abrams’ Web Properties Today
From Mediaite: A big and anticipated announcement from Barbara Walters: she’ll be retiring in 2014. Mediaite reports: “At the top of the show on Monday, The View co-host Barbara Walters announced she’ll be retiring in the summer of 2014. Reflecting on her long career, Walters thanked those who have joined her for the ride — and hoped she may have inspired other young women to pursue a television career. Walters began her announcement with a trip down memory lane, via a video, narrated by Walters herself, chronicling her start, her many years in the industry, and some of her particularly notable interviews — ranging from world leaders to celebrities.” Read on here.
From Gossip Cop: An injury on Dancing with the Stars! Gossip Cop writes, “Karina Smirnoff was reportedly rushed to the hospital on Sunday after suffering an injury during a ‘Dancing with the Stars’ rehearsal. The season 13 winner is said to have been practicing a flip with partner Jacoby Jones when she twisted her neck and hit her face. She is being examined for a possibly dislocated jaw and whiplash, reports People. It is not yet known whether she’ll be able to participate in Monday night’s semi-finals. Gossip Cop has reached out to reps for Smirnoff and “DWTS” for more information. We’ll have updates.” Check them out here.
From Geekosystem: Texting and driving may be the new drinking and driving among teens, reports Geekosystem: “At this point, it really shouldn’t take another study to show us that texting and driving is not safe. But another study showing that is exactly what we have this week, with a paper published today in the journal Pediatrics showing that texting and driving is now responsible for more car accidents — and more fatalities — among teen drivers than drunk driving. The study by Cohen Children’s Medical Center found that texting and driving was responsible for more than 3,000 fatalities among teenagers last year, while drinking and driving claimed the lives of 2,700 teens. Granted, this is skewed by the fact that texting is way easier and more common for a teenager to do than getting hammered. But it also shows that this common behavior is lethal.” Read the story here.
From Styleite: A recent factory collapse in Bangladesh has brought attention to poor working conditions around the world. Now, one fashion outlet is getting involved. Writes Styleite, “H&M, the largest producer of apparel in Bangladesh, has pledged to sign an accord mandating safe working conditions and other provisions for the country’s garment workers, following the horrific collapse of Rana Plaza and the deaths of over 1,100 people. WWD reports that the retail behemoth has agreed to sign a binding agreement with labor unions, stipulating that companies like themselves will pay for renovation and repairs so that the factories where their merchandise is produced are safe for those who work there.” Read on here.
From SportsGrid: O.J. Simpson is back in court. SportsGrid reports, “O.J. Simpson is back in court. This time, not for murder! ‘O.J. Simpson will head to a Las Vegas courtroom Monday in a bid to have his conviction on armed robbery and kidnapping charges thrown out on the grounds that he did not receive proper legal representation at his 2008 trial.’ …Football player (I guess I have to throw “allegedly” in here) murders person, receives freedom in more unlikely result than Doug Flutie Hail Mairy. Commits other really dumb, yet less heinous act, throws legal Hail Mary, may again receive freedom. The man is even better at finding loopholes in our legal system than he was finding holes in opposing defenses.” Read all the details here.
From The Mary Sue: Not a great day for women in film: it was discovered that less than 30% of speaking roles in blockbuster films went to women last year. Writes The Mary Sue, “And before you think ‘Well, sure, that’s less than half of what would really be ideal representation, but maybe it’s a sign of progress,’ this is the lowest level of gender equity in roles in five years. According to a report released today by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, in the 100 top grossing movies of 2012, only 28.4% of characters who spoke a line of dialogue were women, down from 32.8% three years ago… Movies with a better gender representation and with less objectified female characters tended to be the ones who appeared in movies written or directed by women.” Read more here.
From The Jane Dough: Every Monday, The Jane Dough the question ‘Who had the worst day at work on Mad Men last night?’ Today, they weigh in on the seventh episode of season 6 of the critically acclaimed drama. Writes the site, “Was it Joan, who once again had to serve as Head Secretary/HBIC since even though she’s a partner, no one else at the firm knows how to run an office like she does? We saw the first day of the SCDP/CCG merger, which included a lot of layoffs, a lot of sizing up and a lot of moving of offices. On top of all that, Joan had to leave work to deal with a cyst on her ovary that was making her extremely sick.” OR “Was it Ted, who foolishly thought that merging creative teams meant that he and Don were on the same side?” Find out here!
From The Braiser: There’s a new project for the ever-busy Giada de Laurentiis, writes The Braiser: “When she’s not slinging cookbooks like so many plates of chicken tetrazzini, spicing up daytime TV with some Lannister-level sibling bickering, or, say, appearing in a Counting Crows video, she’s off executive producing the Cooking Channel’s next summer show. Tripping Out with Alie & Georgia will premiere Friday, June 21, and spend the summer tracking Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark as the Classy Ladies combine two things that should make for comedy gold: drinking and driving. Okay, that might be simplifying the show just a bit, but according to the network’s announcement this morning, the real life BFFs will be traveling to interesting destinations across the country, and creating original cocktails based on their experiences along the way.” Read the story here.