World of Cheap Thrills

What's scarier than a haunted house?  TWO HAUNTED HOUSES!

Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home.  He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks.  The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP.

He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo.  Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home.  And then the craziness starts.
I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up.  There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy.
I can't recall seeing a movie that relied as heavily on loud, dissonant piano notes on the sound track as much as Insidious.  Director James Wan (the first Saw movie and follow-up garbage he'd rather you not remember) either doesn't trust us or doesn't have the chops to allow creative framing or tense perspective shots to deliver the scares.  Either way, I found I did most of my crying-out not because anything truly frightening was happening on screen, but because something REALLY LOUD JUST CRASHED IN MY EAR.
I certainly wasn't involved in the plot in any way, which is a shame, because I think a comotose, house-bound child is fertile soil from which a genuine horror film can grow.  After Byrne sees enough weird visions she gets the family to relocate.  The scares keep coming in house two, making us all wonder what the hell kind of realtor they're using.
There's a twist, of course, and a too-late attempt at humor in the form of some goofy ghost hunters.  Once the "truth" is revealed, however, only the audience members willing to suspend their disbelief to the point they could wrap it around the circumference of Jupiter will keep from checking out.
So this is what's in store for you in Insidious: a real moronic supernatural horror film that exploitatively uses startling tactics to get in four or five decent jump scares.  If you are a high school kid on a date, go see Insidious.  If not, go take a run or finish that Dostoyevsky novel you keep putting off.

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Kebabs and other swill sold

Kebabs and other swill sold on the street around the world

 Who has never tasted a delicious barbecue skewer cat sold on the street? The smell and taste are delicious but have you thought about the origin of meat and how the seller prepares the barbecue? Honestly I never worried too much, you wonder if the care that the person has to prepare food that I never eat anything sold on the street, you simply have to have a bit of detachment of this kind of concern and eating believing that nothing will happen to your digestive system, you must have faith.Each country has its own culture and each culture has its own cuisine, in all countries can find food being prepared and sold on the street. See some photos of delicious snacks for sale in some countries:
We begin by China, which charmed the world with its exotic cuisine disgusting:
WHAT OUR DELÍCIA, I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN FOOT, HMMMMM ...
And to accompany the delicious chicken feet, what we have?

 FRIED DUCK HEAD!
Tip: Licking the hole of the eye out a delicious broth.

 They say some Chinese dishes are good for health, kabobs pig nose for example, are great for smell:
And for those who enjoy seafood such as these tasty kabobs starfish? Continue reading ...

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Cute Circassian Girl Dance With Swords

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FIFA WORLD CUP 2022

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DohaPort Stadium in Doha. To be built. Expected capacity: 44,950

And here's how the stadium, designed by Albert Speer Partner, will look from across the harbour

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Biggest Political Lies of 2010

Obama's Promises

Presidents and promises have been comrades since the birth of our nation. Sometimes, the vows have been bold: Lyndon B. Johnson pledged to eliminate poverty in his 1964 State of the Union Address. Obviously, that didn't happen. Other times, the promises have been mostly fulfilled, as when Roosevelt announced his historic New Deal. Throughout his campaign, President Obama made more than 500 promises to our nation, according to PolitiFact, a service from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times that assesses the truth behind politicians' statements. Here is how PoliFact says the president is doing.

Foreclosure prevention fund
'The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes.'
PolitiFact rating: Compromise

Repeal the Bush-era tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 (couple) or $200,000 (single)
'At a time when Americans are working harder than ever, we are taxing income from work at nearly twice the level that we're taxing gains for investors,' Obama said. 'We've lost the balance between work and wealth.'
PolitiFact rating: Stalled

Require health-insurance
coverage for all children
'Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that all children have health-care coverage … [and] expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage by allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.'
PolitiFact rating: Promise Kept

Build an electronic health
information system
'Barack Obama and Joe Biden will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health-care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health-information systems, including electronic health records. They will also phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal resources to make it happen.'
PolitiFact rating: In the Works

Assure that the Veterans Administration budget is prepared as 'must-pass' legislation
'Obama will meet early in the budgeting process each year with congressional leaders and the nation's leading Veterans' Service Organizations (VSOs) to ensure the VA budget is always given 'must-pass' status.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept

Begin drawing down combat
troops from Iraq
'Barack Obama will work with military commanders on the ground in Iraq and in consultation with the Iraqi government to end the war safely and responsibly within six months.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept

Deploy additional troops to Afghanistan
'As Obama removes our combat brigades from Iraq, he will send at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent. He will also provide our armed forces with the reset capability that they need. He will replace essential equipment, and he will ensure that our men and women in uniform get the care and support they have earned.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept

Close Guantanamo Bay
'As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo. He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can't be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries.'
PolitiFact Rating: Stalled

End the use of torture
'Barack Obama will end the use torture without exception. He also will eliminate the practice of extreme rendition, where we outsource our torture to other countries.'
PolitiFact Rating: In the Works

New rules barring paid lobbyists from serving as administration officials
'No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Broken

Require full disclosure and a waiting period for budget earmarks
'The Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all earmarks, disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate.'
PolitiFact Rating: Compromise

Create tough new financial regulations
'I'll put in place the common-sense regulations and rules of the road I've been calling for since March--rules that will keep our market free, fair and honest; rules that will restore accountability and responsibility in our corporate boardrooms.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept

Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
'Obama and Biden support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.'
PolitiFact Rating: Stalled

Create 5 million new 'green industry' jobs
'Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.'
Politifact Rating: In the Works

Create a cap-and-trade system to control global-warming emissions
'As president, I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming--an 80 percent reduction by 2050 … These reductions will start immediately, and we'll continue to follow the recommendations of top scientists to ensure that our targets are strong enough to meet the challenge we face.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Broken

Increase funding for national parks
and forests
'As president, he and Joe Biden will repair the damage done to our national parks by inadequate funding and emphasize the protection and restoration of our National Forests.'
PolitiFact Rating: Promise Kept

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