Looks like its time to cue up the Congratulations for J. K. Rowlings!!
The Harry Potter Series is on deck to be the # 1 film series of all-time beating “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings”! And with the summer launch of ”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, we know it’s only a matter of time before her films surpass that milestone! Read below for detail (and to find out which series is currently #1) and also check below to see the Official Trailer for the new Harry Pottermovie!
The novels of J.K. Rowling were already a global sensation when the movie adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” hit screens in late 2001. Then the enormous success of the film franchise has turned her magical world into a full-fledged institution. Collectively, the five movies so far are the second most successful series worldwide in cinema history, beating “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings.” Only James Bond has earned more money (just over $5 billion, not adjusted for inflation), and with the upcoming release of “Half-Blood Prince,” Harry Potter ($4.5 billion) is sure to jump ahead into the top slot.
Let’s not forget, though, that the Harry Potter films aren’t just commercial successes. Every film has scored a “B” grade or higher with the critics on Yahoo! Movies along with a “Certified Fresh” rating from RottenTomatoes.com. Plus, the series has racked up six Academy Award nominations. Here is a breakdown of how each of the five movies performed at the box office, and how they were rated by both critics and fans. And we have a first look at new character banners and the latest theatrical trailer for movie number six, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
In their first interview together, First Lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, sit down in the White House to speak exclusively to ESSENCE Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray about retaining their family values, what it takes to raise good kids, and being role models for the Black community. Read on for excerpts from the interview.
Mrs. Michelle Obama on what being First Lady means to her: “It’s an honor and a privilege when you walk into the White House-at least I automatically felt a level of obligation. This is a big responsibility, a wonderful platform and I just want to make sure I take every advantage to serve as a role model, to provide good messages, to be a supportive mate to the President and to make sure that my girls are solid.”
Mrs. Marian Robinson on seeing her daughter step into this historic role:
“Well, to me, it’s overwhelming. I never doubted that she could do this. She is doing it with such grace and dignity. So I am just proud. I just hope she does what she wants to do. [Chuckles] Because the things that she wants to do are very important. They mean a lot to her.”
Mrs. Michelle Obama on finding balance:
“Unlike most women, I have a lot of resources: I have my mother living with me. The White House has a staff of people who are there to make my life easy. I don’t have a full-time job, although I work very hard in the role of First Lady. But I have a lot of resources. So I have been able to achieve the balance because I have the support I need.”
Mrs. Robinson on what her late husband, Fraser Robinson III, would say about this moment: “You would not be able to shut him up! He would not be able to stand this. He would be beaming until you would just want him to stop talking. He bragged about Michelle and her brother, Craig, before they had even done anything. He always encouraged them, and when he talked about Craig and Michelle, you could just see a smile on his face whether it was there or not. He just enjoyed these two people.” More . . .
In this article, the author makes a very simple suggestion – Why don’t you manage your home like you manage your organization? Then, he shows you how to apply core business principles to the management of your life.
About 11 years ago, two big things happened in my life: My wife and I started a family, and I launched a consulting firm. For years I was much more successful at running my company than managing our family — probably because I was taking specific steps to improve my business, then going home and winging it.
Well, a few years ago, it occurred to me that this made no sense, and that my family was in fact an organization, too — the most important one in my life.
That realization was probably provoked by an innocuous (or so I thought) comment to my wife: “You know, honey, if my clients ran their companies the way we run this family, they’d go out of business.”
I’ll spare you the gory details of her response and just tell you that we eventually decided to figure out whether the tools and concepts I applied with my clients might help our home run more smoothly. I’m here to report that they absolutely did and might help you, too. (Don’t worry: None involve persuading a 10-year-old to endure the agony of a performance review.) Real Simple: How to make good decisions
1. Identify your core values. Companies define their core values because they provide a great framework for making all kinds of decisions. To apply this idea to your family, think about what common traits each spouse admires in the other. One of the things I love about my wife is that she is unafraid to speak her mind or stand up for her beliefs.
We wanted to pass that trait on to our four sons, so we made it a core value. (Our others are creativity and passion.) Then, when one of the boys was sent to the principal’s office for defending a classmate who was being bullied, we made it clear that he should be proud that he had stood up for a friend.
2. Establish a single top priority. If everything is important, nothing is. Too many companies fail because they spread their time and energies too thin. Answer this question: “In addition to our day-to-day responsibilities, if we accomplish one big thing as a family in the next few months, what should it be?” And then work on it. It could be anything from “Help Dad get healthy” to “Spend more time together as a family at home.” Real Simple: 14 shortcuts for everyday tasks
3. Keep your values and top priority visible. You don’t need an engraved plaque to remind you of what’s important. But it’s good to have a ready reference. My wife and I were out on a date around the time we were coming up with our family’s list of values and top priority. She borrowed a waiter’s pen and wrote them on the paper tablecloth. After dinner she neatly tore off that section and stuck it to our oven, where we could see it every day. More . . .
If you’re looking for some great (and healthy) recipes to serve this weekend, take a look at what one of our faves – Cooking Light – has cooked up! They are currently offering Easter Menus that feature:
Love her or hate her, Dr. Laura Schlessinger knows how to command an audience. Her radio show is heard on over 250 stations internationally, and she’s authored 10 best-selling books. This week, she releases her 16th book, “In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms,” in which she unapologetically urges mothers to remain at home instead of juggle a career and motherhood.Dr. Schlessinger, 62, recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal for a telephone interview.
The Wall Street Journal: When did you get the idea to write about this topic?
Dr. Schlessinger: Probably about 25 years ago. I’m very open about this issue because I’ve been on both sides of this choice. For a long time, I was a career woman and that was it. I didn’t want to have a baby. But I kept feeling as if something was not there. Then one day, I was watching PBS Nova, and a one-hour program they showed on the creation of a life. I just broke down. At that time, I was 35 and had already had my tubes tied. But in that moment, I realized what was missing: this womanly part of me. So I got married, struggled a bit to get pregnant and finally made it happen after a surgery. The feeling of your baby taking nourishment from your body for the first time is amazing, and it remains the most touching moment of my life. So that was the genesis of the book — my transition into motherhood.
WSJ: You’re very insistent that mothers should stay at home as full-time moms for the sake of the child. But given our current economic crisis, is that feasible for couples who may require two salaries to make ends meet?
Dr. Schlessinger: Of course this is a huge concern right now with money issues being so tight. But what I have discerned is that people of modest means have been able to handle what’s going on far better than people who are used to having a lot of stuff; it’s the people who put their life’s worth into products, and not people, that are probably the most shell-shocked.
One thing I’ve been happy as peach pie about — because I’m all about the children and the happiness of a woman because that makes the happiness of the home — is that nannies, day cares and babysitters are all collapsing, which is forcing moms and dads to raise their children at home. I’ve gotten a huge surge of mail and calls from people who didn’t make the choice to be at home with their kids, but are just now realizing how wonderful and beautiful it can be. A home should be more than just a place to park yourself after a frenzied day of too much work. So even though there’s less cash, people seem to be happier. More . . .
As seen on Fox & Friends. An 8 year-old girl and her friend raised $24,000 for breast cancer research in one weekend by selling pink lemonade.
Click on the picture below to see the interview with Victoria Petrucelly and Jesse Theobald. FYI – It also looks like we’re going to have to issue a cuteness alert on this one! Their cuteness factor is through the roof!
Job well done ladies!
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Jesse Theobald and Victoria Petrocelly. Click on picture to see Fox & Friends interview.
Girl’s lemonade stand raises thousands for cancer
Associated Press
ORLANDO, FL (AP) — A central Florida third-grader whose mother died last month of breast cancer raised nearly $24,000 selling pink lemonade for the cancer center that treated her mom.
Victoria Petrucelly hoped to raise $50 when she first started raising money for M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando. Her mother, Angela, died on Valentine’s Day from an agressive form of breast cancer.
Petrucelly, friend Jesse Theobald and their third grade classmates sold more than 65 gallons of lemonade this weekend. More . . .
Okay people!! We have found it!! We have found the BEST user’s guide to Twitter, and we have to say that it is the people on Twitter that let us know about it. It covers everything from how to sign-up, to how to customize your background, to how to get more followers , to how to use it to market your business, etc!! Thanks Twitterites!!
And most importantly, thanks to the team at The Webdesigner Depot for putting it together!
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The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter
Twitter isn’t just a cute way for keeping in instant touch with friends on mobile phones anymore. It has ramped up quickly to be the search engine of choice for some with its human driven results.
Applications galore allow you to find friends all over the world with similar interests and keep up with them in real time.
Businesses can form instant direct relationships with their customer bases simply by signing up and using the service regularly, and according to the models Twitter is trying out, they will soon be able to advertise to the Twitter community as well. It has grown into a behemoth that is hard to get your hands around, which is why we’ve put this article together for you.
We’ve compiled an alphabetized glossary here for you so that you can just scan down the list and find the term that you are looking for, as well as a list of popular Twitter applications and instructions for incorporating Twitter into your website and blogs.
Twitter Basics
If you had no idea what Twitter was walking into this article, we’re going to start you off at the very beginning. To sign up for Twitter, go to twitter.com and click on “Get Started – Join!”. Fill out the information and voila – you have your own Twitter account. I set up two accounts; one on my personal name, and one for my business. It’s important to grab your names before someone else does, even if you don’t plan on using the account for a while. More . . .
You may be cooking more these days. But is your cooking healthier?
In this economic climate, it’s no surprise that more and more people are making their own meals from scratch. Food & Wine magazine says home cooking is the hottest food trend of 2009, and the market-research firm Information Resources says supermarket shoppers are cooking more from scratch and spending more on basic cooking ingredients than on convenient but costly frozen and refrigerated foods.
Home-cooked meals are typically more healthful than those prepared at restaurants. But just how much more healthful depends on who’s doing the cooking, where the recipe comes from, and even the dishes in which the food is served.
Studies show that the biggest influence on family eating habits is the person who buys and prepares the food. These “nutritional gatekeepers,” as researchers call them, influence more than 70 percent of the foods we eat, according to a 2006 report in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association — not just home meals but children’s lunches, snacks eaten outside the home, and even what family members order at restaurants.
Public health researchers first identified the role of nutritional gatekeeper during World War II, when meat shipments to the troops threatened to create a protein crisis at home. The goal was to educate families about alternatives to meat, but it wasn’t clear at whom to direct the information campaign.
At the time, many people believed that husbands and children strongly influenced the foods served in the home. But research led by the anthropologist Margaret Mead found that the wives and mothers who bought and prepared the food had far more influence than anyone realized, including the women themselves.
These days, the family gatekeeper may be a mother or a father, a grandparent, a housekeeper or a nanny. And Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell, says these people need to be aware of their importance to family nutrition.
A gatekeeper who struggles with unhealthy habits and eating choices will typically pass those problems on to family members. By the same token, gatekeepers who improve their habits can improve the health of the whole family.
To learn more about gatekeepers, the Cornell researchers More . . .
Found out about a new Cooking Website from our friends over at Pink Magazine. They call it “No- Brainer, No-Shop Cooking.”
It’s a very cool concept – you tell them what you have and they show you what to make!
More specifically, you go to the website and enter in the food that you have in your refrigerator, pantry, etc. and the website generates recipes that you can make.
Peanut butter sales are down even though the recall was for products made with peanut paste such as cookies, crackers and other products. Here’s a look at how Peanut Butter companies are trying to regain consumer confidence.
Category Takes a Hit Despite No Relation to Recent Recall
Emily Bryson York, Advertising Age Picture Newscom
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Peanut-butter sales volume plunged 13% during the four weeks ended Feb. 21, according to Nielsen, even though peanut butter was not involved in the recent recall involving several package foods. That’s the lowest level since the company began tracking sales at U.S. food, drug and mass outlets three years ago, and the figure includes sales at consumer-foods behemoth Walmart.
The drop comes even though the much-publicized recall was for cookies, crackers and other products made with peanut paste, not peanut butter itself. It also came despite that several peanut-butter marketers took pains on their websites and communications to stress that peanut butter was not affected. More . . .
Pizza Hut isn’t just focused on pizza anymore, they want to drive growth by providing home meal replacement solutions such as pasta, lasagna and buffalo wings. Here’s a look at what they’re up to.
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Q&A: How Pizza Hut is Going After the Over-35 Crowd
“Times are tough for the pizza industry. Not surprisingly, the largest player in the category, Pizza Hut, has been affected.
It saw same-store sales drop 1 percent in the fourth quarter. Parent company Yum! Brands attributed the decline to a slowdown in the number of consumers eating out. Additionally, the pizza chain is off to a slower start this year than expected, as pizza falls under the “higher-ticket dinner occasion,” as Yum! Brands CEO David Novak said in a recent earnings call.
Still, Pizza Hut CMO Brian Niccol attests that consumer demand for newer menu items such as lasagna and the WingStreet brand of wings are holding strong.
These options, along with its pizza, make the chain a top source for “home meal replacement solutions,” he said. Niccol also discussed how the chain is driving value in a down economy and how it’s taking its WingStreet brand of buffalo wings national. Here’s what he had to say: ” More . . .
Brusque is a digital newspaper that focuses on women who rock.
Here we celebrate the excellence of women and examine the issues that we face as we try to move the universe forward. Our primary focus will be on women in business. More specifically, we will focus on women as corporate leaders, and women as entrepreneurs.
The primary focus on business is because that is what we know best. (Go Blue!!!)
But as you (and we) know, women are advancing in many fields (sports, law, medicine, politics, science, etc.), so we will highlight the ascent, the successes and the key issues that pertain to women in other areas as well.
We will also focus on presenting articles that highlight issues pertaining to women in the workplace and work-life-balance.
In addition, we will take a look at how the business world is addressing and responding to the needs of women through marketing and product design; and periodically, we will highlight products that we believe will be of use to women that are also interested in the above topics.
Also note, we love gadgets, we love to cook, we love to travel, we love to shop, we love to read, we love to . . . okay you get the point, we love to have fun. So you’ll also see posts on technology and other stuff we love (cooking, shoes, biking, travel, sports, etc.) as well.
The short version is this, our goal is to create an estrogen-fueled digital newspaper that celebrates the successes of women around the globe with a focus on women in business. Again, we are big on business, entrepreneurship and marketing around here; so if you notice a bias, please excuse it, but at least you’ll know where it comes from.
Also, please note, we are new to blogging so forgive us in advance if we make a few mistakes. Feel free to let us know what you think.
Also, some people have asked “Why the name ‘Brusque’?” To put it simply - Because that’s our style (short, blunt, and straight to the point) - ESPECIALLY when we’re having pre-caffeine moments!
In this economic climate, it’s no surprise that more and more people are making their own meals from scratch. Food & Wine magazine says home cooking is the hottest food trend of 2009, and the market-research firm Information Resources says supermarket shoppers are cooking more from scratch and spending more on basic cooking ingredients than on convenient but costly frozen and refrigerated foods.
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Remembering Madeleine and why we loved her!
Peanut butter sales are down even though the recall was for products made with peanut paste such as cookies, crackers and other products. Here’s a look at how Peanut Butter companies are trying to regain consumer confidence.
digital newspaper that celebrates the successes of women around the globe with a focus on women in business. Again, we are big on business, entrepreneurship and marketing around here; so if you notice a bias, please excuse it, but at least you’ll know where it comes from.
