Link-Off

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Wednesday Link-Off: Bursting the Bubble

jessica-lowndes-btsports13-04It’s the middle of the week which means it’s time for the links. It also means I’m going to pay a visit to my local comic book establishment today. Every week, we have the new release list over on et geekera if you’re looking to buy some comics. Anyway, let’s start with Canadian actress Jessica Lowndes.

It seems like a cliché to say that people who knew a murder never saw it coming but many people who knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev never saw it coming. (New York Times)

If you weren’t paying attention to the NRA convention, you missed some weird things. (The Guardian)

It’s only fitting to jump from one area of the Republican bubble to another. A NASA-headed study shows that weather patterns are getting more extreme as a result of climate change. That would explain the ridiculous amounts of snow I got this winter. (LA Times)

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Sunday Link-Off: (Sports) Media Matters

valerie-van-der-graaf-beachbunny13-04You know, it’s tough to have weekend plans completely ruined by the incompetence of a parcel service. You promise delivery on a Thursday but rather than fly the parcel from Mississauga  UPS drove it from there to Northern Ontario. Yeah, why use the convenient airport that’s right there.

Anyway, today is a Sunday which means that it’s time for the end of the week links. Let’s start with Dutch model Valerie van der Graaf.

Bad news for people claiming that the “tax and spend liberals” are crippling America’s economy, they need to do a little fact-checking. The federal deficit is actually shrinking. (NPR)

In professional wrestling, Hulk Hogan could use his political clout to influence the outcome of matches. Now, he’s trying to do the same to the First Amendment. (Mugshots)

Are blogs dying or just evolving from their classic form? (The Dish)

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Entertainment Link-Off: You Won’t See Me Coming!

rebecca hallWell there is little competition in theatres this weekend as Iron Man 3 is finally released in North America. To kick off the Entertainment Link-Off this week, I am not going to start off with Gwyneth Paltrow, who just happened to be named “most beautiful” by People’s magazine. Instead, I’ll go with the other leading lady Rebecca Hall. 

After the jump, Damon Lindelof talks about the struggles of World War Z, threequels galore, special Iron Man 3 China edition isn’t so special after all, the world’s smallest movie premieres, watch a disturbing sci-fi short film, a few new movie trailers to check out and JJ Abrams chats with Simon Pegg about Star Wars. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Where’s the Money?

anne-v-gqmexico13-03Sorry about the week starting off a little slow on posts. A lot of time went into last week so we’re a bit behind on this week. There are a couple of good gaming posts to close the week that I’m sure you’ll like. For now, here’s the most featured woman in SI Swimsuit history, Anne V.

The big story of the week is NBA player Jason Collins coming out of the closet to make him the first player in an American team sports league to “come out of the closet” as gay. (Sports Illustrated)

President Obama is having trouble getting his agenda through Congress. Compromising isn’t getting him far. He may just have to use his charisma to get his policy proposals through. (Washington Post)

The Harper Conservatives swept to power promising fiscal responsibility. Good luck running the on that when you’ve just lost $3.1 billion that was supposed to go to an anti-terror program. (CBC News)

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Sunday Link-Off: Taking Control

nina-agdal-nicholasroutzen13-02It’s the end of the week. It’s been a busy one at Lowdown HQ too with all the work we did for Canadian Gaming Week. Maybe we’ll do that again in the future but for now we’ll resume normal programming. So let’s start today’s links with Nina Agdal.

The week before last was about two things: Terrorism and gun control. At first, those were two separate issues. Now, you can actually link the two as bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on an FBI watch list but was still able to buy high-powered firearms. (Bloomberg)

Midterm elections in the US Congress is still a ways away but gun control could be the biggest issue in 2014. (The New Republic)

Australia banned all semi-automatic and automatic firearms despite concerns over the effect it might have over people’s safety. Almost 20 years later, Australia is one of the safest places in the world to live. To be honest, I felt safer in Australia than I did in Toronto or Ottawa. (Uproxx)

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Entertainment Link-Off: Pain and Gain

megan fox sharper image 1It’s testosterone galore at the theatres this weekend with Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain hitting the screens. Meanwhile over in Australia, you get to check out Iron Man 3 instead! Not a bad weekend at all. Anyway, don’t really know who to start off this week’s ELO with, so here’s one of Michael Bay’s former favourite, Megan Fox.

After the jump, the future of Iron Man is up in the air, first look at Thor: The Dark World, Kickstarter has another big project, an interesting America’s Got Talent audition gone wrong and watch Patton Oswalt channel his inner Penguin. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Investigation

elyse-taylor-victoriassecret13-01It’s the middle of the week but more importantly, it’s the middle of Canadian Gaming Week here on the blog. Hope you guys have enjoyed yourselves so far. There are still reviews, columns, news and more coming your way this week. However, the plug got pulled on our review of Star Trek: The Video Game but I’m hoping to have a different Canadian game that came out this week reviewed this week.

For now, it’s time for our traditional set of Wednesday links. Let’s kick this off with Australian model Elyse Taylor.

Catching the Boston Marathon bombing suspects wasn’t just a case of police detective work but a combination of police work, citizen tips and modern technology. (The Washington Post)

The NRA’s domain over gun lobbying impacted the Boston bombing investigation because they’ve impeded technology that can trace gunpowder which would have helped the investigation. (The National Memo)

You’re just as likely to be killed by your furniture as you are by a terrorist attack in America. So why does America make a big deal about terrorism when an average of 18 people are killed each day by guns? (The Guardian)

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Sunday Link-Off: Be Right, Not First

alison-brie-esquire13-03Tomorrow is the start of Canadian Gaming Week on The Lowdown Blog. We’ve got some reviews, columns and other features on Canadian games and the people who make them. I’m hoping that it’ll be a lot of fun and that we can do something like this again.

Anyway, it’s Sunday so it’s time for the end of the week links. For the third straight week, the Sunday links feature a star of Mad Men. This week, it’s Alison Brie.

For people trying to keep up with the news story of the Boston bombing, there was a massive problem. Some media organizations consistently kept screwing up the story by trying to be first rather than trying to be right. CNN might have been the worst. (BuzzFeed)

On the print side, the New York Post was consistently wrong. If there was a fact in this case, the Post got it wrong. (Capital New York)

And then the Post slandered a couple of high-school runners by claiming they were the bombers. Just a bit wrong there. (Gawker)

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Entertainment Link-Off: Never Gets Old

sarah shahiNothing too noteworthy out this weekend, so I’m not too sure what to lead off with. Well, the folks here in Aussieland finally get a look at Sly’s latest Bullet to the Head, so let’s start off with Sarah Shahi, who plays his daughter in the flick.

After the jump, Michael Bay and Guillermo del Toro not getting along, Transformers is looking for more Chinese actors, some Pitch Perfect stuff, Patton Oswalt shares his vision of Star Wars, the cast of This is the End celebrates 4/20 with you, Harrison Ford still won’t answer your Star Wars questions and a taste of K-pop that has nothing to do with Psy. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: The How-to’s of Business

chrissy-teigen-beachbunny13-14If it’s the middle of the week, it must be time for some links. Let’s start today’s post with Chrissy Teigen.

Filing tax returns is probably everyone’s least favourite activity. Even less so than going to the dentist. Naturally, TurboTax, a company that profits from allowing people to do their own tax returns, doesn’t want filing your taxes to be any easier. They even lobbied to keep from getting tax filing any easier. (ProPublica)

Meanwhile, Samsung has gotten to the top spot in the smartphone market through more legitimate means. (Businessweek)

There might be some political career threatening rumours over Marco Rubio’s head. The only problem is that some outlets aren’t willing to say what the rumours are because they probably aren’t true. That begs the question: Why are you mentioning that these rumours exist if you know they aren’t true. (Gawker)

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