Oh and Leo’s favorite player just happens to be Messi.

Soccer may not be a big deal here in the States but everywhere else it is huge and this kid is the equivalent of Lebron James. He is young and being sought out and purely raw talent. Who knows what will happen to this kid in the coming years but Real Madrid is placing their future in this young kid. All it takes is a slip and fall on a play ground somewhere for this kid to roll and ankle and never be the same. I surely hope not but this is a lot of pressure and responsibilities to put on a kid who is probably just learning to tie his cleats himself.

So keep an eye out for this boy on the world stage because in the upcoming years he could be the biggest thing since sliced bread.

Director Zach Snyder is looking to reboot the franchise after the Bryan Singer version, Superman Returns, failed at the box office.  Snyder has been at the helm for some of the biggest comic book movies such as 300 and Watchmen.  His style is perfect for the genre and he should do a great job with this Superman.

Christopher Nolan (director of the new Batman franchise as well as Inception) is also involved and will make sure this new series will follow in the steps of Batman and be more “realistic” with a few changes to make it more accepting to mainstream audiences and not just comic fans.

With this movie, the Batman franchise, Green Lantern movie and upcoming Flash movie the next logical step is for a Justice League movie that will follow.  Hopefully DC doesn’t fall too far behind of Marvel who already has their major hero group movie, The Avengers, coming out next year.

The official press release is here:

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have provided the first look at the new “Man of Steel,” revealing star Henry Cavill as Superman in the film from director Zack Snyder. The film also stars three-time Oscar® nominee Amy Adams (“The Fighter”) as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane, and Oscar® nominee Laurence Fishburne (“What’s Love Got to Do with It”) as her editor-in-chief, Perry White. Starring as Clark Kent’s adoptive parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent, are Oscar® nominee Diane Lane (“Unfaithful”) and Academy Award® winner Kevin Costner (“Dances with Wolves”).

Squaring off against the superhero are two other surviving Kryptonians, the villainous General Zod, played by Oscar® nominee Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”), and Faora, Zod’s evil partner, played by Antje Traue. Also from Superman’s native Krypton are Lara Lor-Van, Superman’s mother, played by Julia Ormond, and Superman’s father, Jor-El, portrayed by Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”).

Rounding out the cast are Harry Lennix as U.S. military man General Swanwick, as well as Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy.

“Man of Steel” is being produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, from a story by Goyer and Nolan, based upon Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

Currently in production, “Man of Steel” is slated for release on June 14, 2013 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

ADHD kids may look as they are capable of crossing solo, but even if they’re stopping and looking both ways they don’t seem to be as adept at judging how much time they need to cross safely.

“In our study, the outcome of crossing the street was much worse for kids with ADHD than for their peers without ADHD,” the study’s lead author, Despina Stavrinos, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Alabama, told HealthDay News. “Kids with ADHD left much less time to spare to cross, and there were several close calls,” she said.

Results of the study, published online July 25, will appear in the August print issue of Pediatrics.

The researchers chose to look at street crossing because it requires a lot of quick information processing and executive decision making, both places where ADHD suffers tend to be lacking.  Parents of ADHD kids may need to put extra emphasis on helping their children learn to make this kind of basic, but dangerous, life decision carefully and cautiously.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two

The films take crashed an impressive 72% in its second week from $169.2 million domestic to a mere $47.4 million.  The only other films to drop as heavily in the history of box office results have all grossed less than $20 million their first weekend.  Among films that have opened above $100 million dollars, only Twilight: New Moon is even close with a 70% drop.

Warner Brothers, the studio behind the mega popular franchise, is hardly concerned, however.  Deathly Hallows, Part Two has taken in more than half a billion dollars internationally and is up to $833.9 million as of Tuesday.  It’s well on it’s way to making more than a billion dollars in theaters alone.  So what’s with the big box office crash?  Our guess is, everyone had pretty much seen the film already!

Janis Winehouse, Amy’s mother, has admitted to The U.K. Daily Mail that she felt her daughter’s untimely death, “only a matter of time,” after spending the day with her just twenty four hours before the singer passed away.  It’s a parents worst nightmare, watching your child slip away, and Janis Winehouse is doing it on an international stage.

“She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn’t hit me,” she told The Mirror, another U.K. tabloid regarding her last day with her daughter.  She also shared that Amy said, ‘I love you mum’ at the end of their day together.

“They are the words I will always treasure,” Janis told the Mirror. “I’m glad I saw her when I did.”

Winehouse has taken a place in the so called “27 Club” – a long list of talented musicians who have succumbed to drug and alcohol problems in their twenty seventh year.  She’s in unfortunately good company on a list that includes Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Jim ­Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

As parents, this is a great moment to discuss drugs an alcohol with teens.  Answering any questions your teens might have about Winehouse, and what’s happened to her, should provide some openings to help them see how dangerous substance abuse can be.

A young Arizona Diamondbacks’ fan, Ian, was at a game where a player threw the ball into the stands after an inning was over.  The ball went directly to an even younger fan, Nicholas, who ended up dropping the ball.  The ball then was given to Ian who ran up the stairs with his prize.  But once he noticed Nicholas, he recognized the situation and did the absolute right thing; he gave up the ball.

Watch the heart warming exchange and see what a true act of kindness looks like. 

Ian was not left empty handed though.  Not at all.

The Diamondbacks recognized his excellence by awarding him with a visit to the announcer’s booth where he got to be on TV and everything.  He was given autographed memorabilia as well as future game tickets.  A nice reward for doing the right thing.

You may notice that Ian is directed by an usher to give up the ball but that doesn’t mean much to me.  He does it without hesitation and doesn’t give it a second thought.  The usher has no real power and can’t force him to give up the ball.  Ian did what he had to do because it was the right thing.

I tip my cap to you Ian.

• Beavis and Butthead will return to television and MTV has released the first peek at America’s favorite idiots.

• New footage for the new Batman game, Arkham City, has been revealed and it should get your kids very excited.  This is the follow up to 2010’s Arkham Asylum which was one of the best video games ever.
• Lucasfilm has shown a teaser for some of the deleted scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy that will be available on the Blu-Ray box set coming out later this year.
• LEGO has announced that they will be making DC and Marvel Superhero playsetsand figures.  Now kids can build LEGO machinery for their favorite super heroes and villains.

As you can see in the video they are just skating along when they are frantically asked to help and they all spring into action.  They try breaking windows with their boards but to no avail.  Then one of them picks up what looks like a parking post and uses it as a battering ram, eventually breaking the window. 

The mom is able to secure her kids and cool them off.   She got really lucky that these kids were close by and they were able to do what they did. 

It’s nice to see some young people springing to action to help others.  They often get a bad rap for their behavior but this is one group that certainly did their good deed for the day.

Captain America

By all accounts, Captain America is earnest, straightforward and likable.  It knows what it is and it’s not trying to pretend to be anything fancier.  Scott sums up what he likes about the movie like this:

“…though there are plenty of the usual digital enhancements and overscaled effects, the pseudo-operatic grandiosity that has become a staple of the genre is mostly missing. Instead “Captain America,” like its unapologetically corny hero, is propelled by unpretentious and plucky ingenuity.”

Don’t expect, however, that Captain America will be the next innovation in action movies.  The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt points out: “‘Captain America’ lacks the deft touch, appealing character interaction, and sophisticated storytelling skills of Marvel Comics’ ‘X-Men: First Class.’ And let’s not even bother to compare this to Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’ series.”

And indeed, why would you even think to compare Captain America to Batman Begins?  Other than the fact that both of their heroes wear masks, they aren’t particularly related stories, or worlds. Enjoy Captain America for the simple, easy to digest fun it is, rather than wishing it was an Oscar worthy opus, and it seems sure to deliver on expectations.

She knew of the failed test on July 16 but then for some reason decided to get high again the very next day AND EVEN TOOK PICTURES.   She has absolutely no respect for her new responsibilities in life and the fact that she needs to raise her kid right now and not be smoking it up.

Check out all the pics here, coutesy of TMZ.

We can all thank MTV for making these girls stars and giving them a sense of entitlement because they are on TV.  I don’t care about the girl, what I do care about is her kid who is going to be thrown into all of this and will be able to read all about this in the years to come.  It is unfair that that child should have this thrown at him before he has a chance to even talk.

“She’s brought so much joy, and I love her to pieces,” Richards, 40, told Us Weekly. “She is a cuddle bug. She loves being hugged and held. She’s such a beautiful little baby and little soul.”

Though she’s “been with her since the day she was born,” Richards confided to Us that the adoption progress was long and difficult. “Some people think if a celebrity wants a baby, they get one the next day. The adoption took two years, and there were times I felt discouraged, times when I got close to adopting a baby and it fell through. But I knew the right baby would find us.”

And find them she did!

Miley was spotted at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday with her newest fuzzball, who is apparently named Floyd.  She introduced her new friend officially on Twitter on Friday.

“I’m so in love with him it is ridiculous,” Cyrus, 18, wrote. “His name is Floyd.”

Floyd joins Mate, a german shepard, and Lila, a morkie, in keeping Cyrus company on tour, and pretty much everywhere else.  Of course, it’s easier to take them along when they’re little, like Floyd.  As Cyrus pointed out when she first introduced Mate to the world, puppies make easier tag-a-longs than full grown dogs.

“It’s so great that Mate is a puppy so I can take him everywhere,” she wrote in her official blog at the time. “But it won’t be long until he’s his full size!”

Floyd looks like he may be a husky or an Alaskan klee kai, so he’s likely to be just as difficult to tote around when full grown as one hundred plus pound Mate, now a grown up shepard.

This trailer was leaked to the Internet on Tuesday, a few days before it was set to be released along with the Capt. America movie (another Marvel Studios movie staring Chris Evans).  So Marvel decided to just go ahead and allow it to be released and start the buzz already.

Check it out and see what the new Spider-Man is going to be like.

Story Synopsis:

Orphaned at an early age, Peter Parker lived in Queens, New York with his beloved Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Peter leads the life of a normal high school student, but after being bitten by a genetically altered/radioactive spider, Peter Parker’s life becomes complicated. Able to cling to any surface, shoot webbing from his wrists, and the with the proportional strength of a spider, Peter devotes himself to fighting crime as Spider-Man–his guiding principle, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”

How great will family car rides be when you can interact with the windows and the environment around you.  This is only the tip of the technology too.  I would imagine games and applications will be developed and then eventually it will all be connected to WiFi and you’ll basically have a computer screen on your window.

Kids can be kepts entertained and parents would get some peace and quiet (perhaps) during those long highway miles.  I would imagine movies will eventually be able to play on the windows as well.  Plus this also paves the way for completely clear computer monitors.  Technology is amazing.

My favorite thing is how the drawings move across the window as if they were stationary.  Something about that is just so cool.

What could you do with this sort of technology?  What sort of fun games would you want for your car window?

“YAY!!! I MET GREAT people at a casting. & im going to be in the New Charlie Angels movie! Good luck to the other amazing Casties ,” she tweeted.

Of course the show, which will star Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh as the famous all girl team of detectives who work for the mysterious Charlie, who will be voiced by Robert Wagner, is not a movie.  It’s a TV show.  And ABC will not confirm whether or not Abraham actually got the job she thinks she’s got.

It seems likely, however, that if she does get the job, there will be more than one camera crew shooting on the set of Charlie’s Angels show while Farrah is working there as an extra, because this seems like an opportunity too good for Teen Mom’s producers to give up!

Leno asked the very pregnant Fischer if her parents were excited to have their first grandchild on the way.

“This is the second grandchild,” Fischer, star of The Office, replied, “but first grandson.”

That, of course, let the cat out of the bag.  Leno caught the word, “grandson” immediately and demanded confirmation.

“This is the exclusive, Jay,” says Fischer, 37, told him. “When I went to my movie premiere the other day a reporter asked me if I knew what I was having, and I said I do, but I’m not sharing that yet because I’m [going to] have Jay be the first to know.”

She added another little secret to her big reveal – she’s due in in the fall!

“September we’re in what they call the home stretch,” she told Leno.

Fischer’s pregnancy has been worked into the plot of The Office this year, so expect Pam and Jim to have another little one on the way as well.

“Pam and Jim snuck away last season on Valentine’s Day, and they had sex,” Fischer told People Magazine. “The story is that they conceived this baby at that time and were keeping it a secret until we come back from the summer.”

Apparently the plot twist was not planned because of Fischer’s pregnancy, it’s just a fortunate coincidence.

“When we started shooting that episode, I thought to myself, ‘If everything goes well, this is going to be a very, very convenient coincidence,’” she told People. “I think I found out I was pregnant when we were shooting that episode.”

Justin Bieber, always a fan of hijinks and pranks, happened across a wedding in Malibu a few days ago and gave the newlyweds, and their family, the surprise of their lives.  Justin and his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, wedding crashed the beach side reception and joined the fun for some karaoke.  The video is up on YouTube, because, what else do you do with video of Justin Bieber unexpectedly showing up at your wedding?  The description of the video reveals exactly how Bieber ended up there:

“Last night at my cousin Jeanine’s wedding reception, out of nowhere, Justin Bieber shows up while one of his songs was being karaoked by one of the wedding guests.  He stated that he was driving by the reception in Malibu and heard a party and his song being sung, so he decided to check out the event and ended up making a celebrity appearance.”

Bieber then posed for pictures with the Bride and Groom while Gomez waited to one side.

“WEDDING CRASHERS last night,” Bieber tweeted about the incident. “hahaha. too funny. crazy story.”

This Sunday both David and Victoria Beckham tweeted pictures of their spouse with their newest little one.  First David, tweeting a beautiful picture of his wife and daughter sleeping together with the caption, “I took this picture of my two girls sleeping…”

Then Victoria tweeted an absolutely adorable picture of her hubby rubbing noses with his daughter with the caption, “Daddy’s little girl!”

Both Beckhams are clearly taken with their new munchkin.  David wore pink and white cleats in her honor at his match this week, which were embroidered with the names of all four of his children.  He spoke of how much he’s enjoyed having a daughter in a video on his website:

“To have another girl in the family is really incredible. We’ve got three beautiful healthy boys already and we’re so lucky to have that and now to have a beautiful little girl. Having a daughter is a whole new thing. Having pink in the house, having lilac in the house… and you have to be a lot more delicate with girls than boys and I’m not used to that so it’s a whole new experience.”

Beckham also clarified where Harper’s name came from: “A lot of thought goes into our children’s names and Harper was a name that we’ve loved for a long time for a couple of reasons. One reason is Harper’s an old English name which we loved and one of the other reasons was Victoria’s favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird and the author was Harper Lee. It’s a very strong, passionate book. That’s where Harper came from.”

Here we go again.  Rebecca Black, the tween whose vanity music video turned out so incredibly badly that it became a comedy internet phenomenon, has come back for more.  Her mother paid $4,000 for Friday to be released on ARK Music Factory vanity label.  When it hit the internet, it was dubbed, “the worst song ever” by critics and rewarded for its ridiculousness with 160,000 million hits on YouTube.

So is Black’s follow up awful enough to get the same kind of attention?  Not really.  Watching her new video, My Moment, mostly makes you feel sorry for the semi-talented song writer who wrote the song for her.  It’s catchy, but Black is a fourteen year old girl without a ton of training or natural charisma.  The video could have, and probably should have, been shot by one of her friends with a handheld.  If Black had gone out and made this video with her friends it would have been more fun, and probably had more energy and been more natural than this force fed production.  But as is, it feels a bit like watching a little girl playing dress up who doesn’t quite understand the game.

If nothing else, these videos are solid proof that you can’t artificially replicate the Justin Bieber effect – it happens or it doesn’t.  If you try to construct that “discovered on the internet” feeling, you end up with nothing but a joke.

“This morning [Jared] and I welcomed a beautiful and healthy little baby girl into the world,” Trump, 29, shared with her Twitter followers. “We feel incredibly grateful and blessed. Thank you all for your support and well wishes!”

The little girl, born to Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, was born on Sunday, July 17th, in New York City.  Trump and Kushner, who owns the New York Observer, married in October 2009.  Ivanka, the daughter of famously wealthy Donald Trump, admitted to People Magazine, “We have our work cut out for us to ensure that our daughter is grounded and not spoiled.”

Regardless, Ivanka is thrilled to have her little girl.  She tweeted on Monday: “Jared and I are having so much fun playing with our daughter! Arabella Rose is beyond adorable. She’s truly a blessing.”

It was little Arabella’s grandpa who first announced her name, and he went a more traditional route than Twitter.  He shared the baby’s name on Fox & Friends Monday morning.

“I just left the hospital and the baby is beautiful. [Ivanka's] doing great,” Trump told Fox & Frineds. “Arabella Rose is the baby’s name — I just found that out by the way.”

Christian was the lucky guy who snagged New York Yankee Derek Jeter’s homerun ball which also happened to be Jeter’s 3,000 major league hit; a major milestone and has been accomplished less than 30 times.  After the 1998 season when Mark McGwire’s homerun balls were going for hundreds of thousands of dollars, it was estimated that this baseball would be worth at least $200,000.  So when Christian ended up with the ball everybody assumed he would make a mint.

Instead, Christian did the right thing and simply wanted to give the ball back to Derek.  This gesture absolutely floored sports fans and the Yankee organization who was ready to hand over a big check.  After all was said and done Christian walked away with numerous autographed memorabilia and game tickets for the rest of the season in a luxury suite.  He didn’t ask for any of that but the Yankees gave it to him in appreciation.  Christian got to meet Derek and get an unprecedented look in the Yankee clubhouse and front office.  It would be every Yankee fan’s dream to not only get all that stuff but to forever be remembered in Yankee history.

But then the punishment loomed its ugly head.

The IRS stepped up and said that Christian (who was already deep in student loan debt) would be responsible for the taxes on the items.  They estimated the total to be anywhere from $4,000 – 14,000.  Again, Christian went against the grain and simply said that the IRS is doing their job and he would find a way to pay the taxes.  He didn’t complain or seek help, he just took it.

Well now other companies are stepping up and rewarding Christian for everything.  Miller High Life is going to pay any taxes that may come up.  Mitchell Modell, CEO of Modell’s Sporting Goods (a company that sponsors the Yankees) is giving Christian his 2009 World Series ring.  Then along with his friend Brandon Steiner, CEO of Steiner Sports, guaranteed Lopez at least $25,000 each towards his student loans.  Steiner is setting up auctions now to help raise even more money for Christian.  The baseball card company Topps has also stated that they will issue a limited edition baseball card of Christian.  How cool is that!?  He gets his own baseball card.

So this time a good deed was punished but then a mob of public support saved it from turning bad.  This whole thing has been a perfect display of humanity at some of its better moments.  People doing the right thing and then others doing the right thing by helping him out of the jam.  Thank you America.  Sometimes good will can defeat greed.

The Mini Stars measure three inches in diameter and are made of opaque plastic. Each star has six circular knobs protruding from a ring-shaped center. Edushape only makes Mini Stars in red, green, yellow or blue colors which are included in this recall. The Mini Stars do not have any markings, codes or logos stamped into the plastic. They were sold in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 pieces.

These products were sold at stores nationwide including Toysrus.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com

Anyone who purchased one of these products should stop using immediately and keep out of reach from children.  Contact Edushape at 800-404-4744 for a free replacement set or credit towards a future Edushape product.  You may also reach them at their website.

Indiana is taking the first steps towards what I believe will be a nationwide movement in removing cursive writing from its teaching curriculum.  This Fall they will no longer be teaching the long hand form and will instead focus on keyboard typing skills.  They are the first state to actually take the teaching out of their curriculum although 41 states have declared that cursive writing is no longer a “core standard”.

I beleive this is long over due.  States should have started doing these things years ago when it was clear that the Internet was no passing fad and that the only time people ever use cursive is when signing their names.

Now I know there will be plenty of people out there (most likely over the age of 40) that will find this outlandish and against tradition.  Well…..deal with it.  The world is moving on and pencil and paper just no longer cut it.  Teachers don’t want to have to translate scribbles written on paper made to look like actual words.  They want to clearly be able to read a paper and typing is the easiest way for that to happen.

Cursive writing is going to go the way of caligraphy.  It will be an elective class in high school and used very minimally until it is simply forgotten.  This is how things work.  We have eveolved into this technological society and this is just another step.

What do you think about the movement away from cursive writing?  Will you want your children to learn cursive?  Why do you think we should keep it?

It’s always nice to remember that teenagers are still teenagers, even when they’re famous pop stars.  Selena Gomez, TV, music and movie starlette and girlfriend to one of the most famous teen idols of the moment, Justin Bieber, proved it recently when she met had a fan girl moment over meeting Shia LaBoeuf backstage when both were visiting the same TV studio.

Apparently, dating a famous guy doesn’t mean you don’t have celebrity crushes of your own!  Eighteen year old Gomez was so flustered at meeting her celeb crush that she half ran away, excited and flustered just like you’d think your own teenage daughter would be if she randomly ran into Shia LaBoeuf and was caught off guard.  LaBoeuf very kindly followed her and gave her a hug, saying ”Hey, it’s nice to meet you, thanks for being so sweet to me.”

After getting her picture taken with LaBoeuf, Gomez allowed herself to have a full blown geek out, “Oh my gosh, he’s so handsome! I’m so embarrassed!” She also called her handlers out in a cute, joking way, ”You guys suck, you used my fans as bait! Now he thinks I’m crazy–tell him I’m sorry.”

I already liked Gomez a lot – she’s adorable, talented and seems to be a genuinely good kid.  This just makes me like her more!