Thursday, February 27, 2014

'Scandal' Behind the Scenes: Josh Malina introduces fans to 'Jazzy Snaps' - VIDEO | EW.com

Josh Cam, like scandal, is back!

After a winter break that left us all having to cope without Pope, ABC's crowned king of OMG TV is back. And to celebrate, we present you an all-new edition of EW's ongoing behind-the-scenes video series in which cast member Josh Malina gives us a sneak peek at the action on set.

In this week's edition, Malina introduces us to Mitchell Haddad, the man behind Scandal 's signature "jazzy snaps." (You'll know exactly what we're talking about when you click below.)

Have you missed an installment of Josh Cam? Don't freak out (save that for the new episode of Scandal): They're all below:

Scandal airs Thursdays at 10 pm ET on ABC.

New app cuts out coupon clipping, maximizes savings

Careful couponing can mean some serious savings, but who has time for all that work?

Consumer reporter Steve Noviello says a new smartphone app is all about cutting out the clipping while maximizing the money shoppers get back.

Shopper Sheila White is not the same shopper she was six months ago.

Saving money used to be limited to sales and price matching, but now, she's all about strategy.

Not only does she clip coupons, but she times their redemption so they match up with store sales.

"My food bill used to be $156 a week," she said. "It's now $67 a week."

But not everyone has time for that, which is where the smartphone app, Checkout 51, comes in.

The app is poised to make shoppers smarter by offering cash back on what you buy -- without clipping a single Printable Coupons.

It also features new offers about once a week.

FOX 4 asked White to help take the app for a test drive.

Immediately, she was rewarded with $2 cash back just for trying it out and found savings throughout the store.

White was instantly impressed at the variety of offers, which are brand specific.

The coupons aren't store specific, though, allowing you to shop where you like and save on everything from cereal to bananas.

The app allows you to stack its deals with the coupons you clip.

At the end of White's shopping trip, her grocery total was $37.17, and coupons saved her $2.50.

But at checkout time, by using Checkout 51 and the deals she wanted to redeem, her account was credited $9.50.

Add to that an additional in-store deal, and her total savings was $17 - almost half off.

So how do you cash out?

Each time you accumulate $20 back, Checkout 51 sends you a check.

The app is free and for both iPhone and Android.

For more information, visit http://www.checkout51.com/.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Famous Smoke Shop Releases New Cigar Promo Codes

Easton, PA (PRWEB) February 24, 2014

Famous Smoke Shop is an online distributor of discount premium cigars specializing in offering the web's widest cigar selection, best prices, and expert customer service. The company has just announced its release of new cigar promo codes they will offer. Each Best Buy is applicable to any order made through Famous-smoke.com or over the phone at 1-800-564-2486

Starting now, Famous Smoke Shop will be extending coupon offers to all of it's customers to take advantage of free products and instant cash back off their order. Some of the coupons available are $20 off any order over $200, free shipping, a bonus 6-pack sampler with an order of $125 or more, bonus box of Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente with $500 order or more, bonus ash tray with an order, and the list goes on. No matter what a customer wants to order, they are able to use a coupon on it to either save money or get free product.

Each order allows customers an opportunity to receive instant cash back or bonus items and every order may be able to include a coupon. This allows customers to customize their orders and get more for the money they spend.

Since the coupons were released, there has been a big splash at Famous Smoke Shop by customers rushing to take advantage of the deals. All of these deals and coupons are available not only on the web but through phone orders as well. People interested in learning more about the Outlet at Famous Smoke Shop can call 1-800-564-2486 or can log on to Famous-smoke.com. Customers should be advised that restrictions may apply on particular items. A full list of restricted items is available on the company's website.

About Famous Smoke Shop
Famous Smoke Shop is the nation's #1 discount retailer of premium cigars online, offering one of the largest selections of handmade cigars, machine-made cigars, cigar humidors and accessories. Famous offers the web's lowest prices on a wide selection of cigar brands including Acid, Davidoff, Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta, Ashton, Padron, Oliva and Perdomo cigars, and many more. Famous offers their customers the best prices on all premium cigars as well as friendly and knowledgeable customer service.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Growing Up Fisher: TV Review

The Bottom Line

A boy's parents are divorcing. His dad is a blind lawyer. His mom wants to be a cool teenager. The boy learns lots of lessons.

Airdate

Sunday night after the Olympics (NBC)

Created by

DJ Nash

Voiceover

Jason Bateman

Starring

J.K. Simmons, Jenna Elfman, Eli Baker, Ava Deluca-Verley

It's hard to figure out what NBC was thinking when it plotted out its Tuesday sitcoms. From 9 to 10 p.m. it's a pretty tough field already, at least quality-wise. Fox has New Girl and this season's hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. ABC counters with its own hit in The Goldbergs and the underappreciated Trophy Wife. NBC? Apparently it's launching the Saccharine Offensive.

With About a Boy (which had an excellent pilot) getting a sneak peak on Saturday night after the Olympics, now Growing Up Fisher comes out as the Olympics close. Will that help launch it? Only if people really, really love those overly sentimental Olympic features. No, desperately, weepily love them. And the second episode of About a Boy is extremely sugary on the emotional end. Watching these two shows together is like going into a sugar coma.

PHOTOS: NBC's 2013-14 Season

Growing Up Fisher is about a boy coming of age with a blind father. Well, the father has always been blind - just hiding it from the rest of the world until he and his wife separate. In any case, that's not entirely important or all that the show is about. It's the kid. And the coming of age. OK, and the blind thing. And a dog named Elvis. And the soft goo of life lessons (really obvious ones) encasing you like a caramel hug.

The series is narrated by Jason Bateman ( Arrested Development), who provides the grown-up voice of Henry (he's also executive producer).

Created by DJ Nash ( Up All Night, Bent) and inspired by his own life story, Growing Up Fisher is about 12-year-old Henry ( Eli Baker) and his two parents: blind father Mel ( J.K. Simmons, The Closer), who's an attorney; and Joyce ( Jenna Elfman, 1600 Penn, Dharma & Greg), who is something I can't recall because I was flossing so I wouldn't get a cavity. Or three. Well, she's a mom for sure. Although she kind of wants to be best friends with her daughter, Katie ( Ava Deluca-Verley).

When we meet Henry, he's like a "wingman" to his dad. Once the separation/divorce news hits, dad has to get a dog named Elvis and Henry feels useless. This allows for 22 minutes of story about how Henry really isn't useless, but Elvis will help his dad through this new phase and everybody will be happy. I'm not sure that's what I took from it, but I did watch the second episode as well. And what I took from that was that I'd never watch the third one. You might. I mean, these kinds of soft, sentimental comedies with little learning lessons are all the rage (well, sure, they used to be ... now, like The Goldbergs, they come with more palatable doses of snark to leaven the sweetness and whole lot more laughs).

Deal Now/a-boy-review-new-nbc-681595">TV REVIEW: About a Boy

But as a strategy, I get what NBC is trying to do. Both About a Boy and Growing Up Fisher are feel-good comedies. Compared with what Fox and ABC are offering, maybe the thinking is people need less sarcasm and negativity in their lives. It's like a candy-gram bit of counterprogramming.

Actually, that can't be completely true because About a Boy, when it's good - meaning when it's not trying to be super fuzzy sweater - has its caustic elements. And, to its credit, there are funny jokes in the three I watched (whereas I didn't laugh once in two episodes of Growing Up Fisher). But I'm also very wary of About a Boy, given that the second episode is from the same Fisher DNA. If that tendency is increased, you've definitely got a huggy pair of sitcoms on your hands.

Simmons does his usual solid work in this role, and he's got all the physical comedy in the playing blind (and faking sight) bits. Elfman makes another solid statement that she should be in something much better (this coming off her fine work in 1600 Penn; she hasn't lost any comedy chops). Together they're just undermined by, well, syrup.

If you like very obvious, very simple lessons in your family comedies - that was once a trend in TV - then by all means embrace Growing Up Fisher and its BFF, About a Boy. No doubt they will hug you back, earnestly.

E-mail: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Editorial: Make sure taxpayers get the best deal for prison plan

The Republican majority of the Utah House - including many members who make all or part of their living by buying, selling and developing real estate - really wants to move the state prison off all that yummy land in Draper and turn it over to the private sector. Really, really.

The good news is that they want the prison site so badly that they are at least promising to give the people of Utah something very valuable indeed in return. And that is not just a shiny new prison, which will probably sit somewhere to the west of the Wasatch Front, but what sounds like a comprehensive reform of the whole Utah correctional system.

That's the Amazon Deal deal the taxpayers are likely to get. But we should make sure to hold our brokers, er, representatives accountable for following through on their offer.

The House Republican caucus gave its blessing Thursday to House Joint Resolution 19. That's the measure that ratifies the conclusions of the state's Prison Relocation and Development Authority - the initials of which are also the brand name of a very expensive purse - in finding that the prison that sits on some 700 acres near the Point of the Mountain should find a new location and the current site be turned over to the market forces that have already transformed the area into a sea of bricks, glass and concrete.

The vision, of course, is that the land will go back on the local tax rolls and create a boon in economic activity.

The dark side of that view, of course, is that we might think we are just moving a storage yard. But we're moving a prison, with custody of a few thousand souls who must not simply be housed and fed, but treated, educated and prepared for a re-entry into society with, hopefully, the skills they will need to survive inside the law.

That requires more than even the newest bricks, beds and security cameras. It requires programs, experts, volunteers, medical care and a minimum of separation from families and other support systems that are always crucial in helping inmates make it on the outside.

The good news is that HJR19 makes careful and explicit note of all that. It sets out that the planning for a new prison include consideration of all those factors, including that every effort should be made to reduce, or at least slow the growth, of the number of people Utah incarcerates.

That, plus a demand that the sale and development process for both the new prison and the old site be as transparent as possible, could still make this a good idea.

But the people of Utah need to stand guard to make sure that happens.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Amazon UK sales growth slows as competition step up their game

Analysts said Britain's biggest online retailer was feeling the squeeze as traditional players such as John Lewis and Dixons raised their game - particularly with "click and collect" services.

Accounts filed by the US parent company show On Sales's UK sales were $7.29 billion (£4.46 billion) - a rise of around $800 million on a year earlier. British revenues rose by $1 billion to $6.48 billion in 2012 and by $1.4 billion to $5.35 billion in 2011.

Taking into account changes to the dollar-sterling exchange rate, UK growth is estimated at 14 per cent last year on a like-for-like basis - down from 22 per cent in 2012 and 31 per cent in 2011.

"The competition is a bit stronger for them in electricals," said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb, pointing to Dixons' decision to match Amazon on price and John Lewis's move to offer "click-and-collect" at its Waitrose food stores.

"What has been a drag is the books and entertainment market is pretty mature," added Bubb, who reckoned falling CD sales and other traditional entertainment products - once at the heart of Amazon's business - have pushed down on revenues.

Amazon remains Britain's biggest online retailer, but Bubb said "mathematically, arithmetically, it gets harder to keep growing" at double-digit rates.

The web giant has come under fire for tax avoidance because it processes sales in Luxembourg but there in no sign the row has hit the UK. Amazon had a foreign tax bill last year of just $173 million on $30 billion of international sales.

Amazon declined to comment.

Monday, February 3, 2014

BusinessWest

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Amherst's 'Biddy' Martin Puts the Focus on Inclusion It's called the 'Committee of Six.' That's the name attached to an elected - and quite powerful - group of professors at [...]

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Riverfront Club's Mission Blends Fitness, Teamwork, Access to a 'Jewel' Jonathon Moss says he found the item on eBay. It's a framed copy of an engraving and short story in [...]

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Holyoke's Leaders Take a Broad View of Economic Growth Alex Morse has a message for Holyoke's residents and businesses: keep your eyes open. Over the past two years, said the [...]

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Planned United, Rockville Merger Has the Industry's Attention They're called MOEs, or mergers of equals. And while neither the phrase nor the acronym is new to the banking industry, they [...]

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Integrity and Accountability Are Central to Barr & Barr's Business Philosophy Stephen Killian was asked to put the Great Recession and its many - and still-lingering - consequences into perspective, [...]

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Switch to Santander Banner Brings Some Change, but Also Stability When the Sovereign Bank signs suddenly came down across Massachusetts last fall, replaced by the Santander Bank name, it was [...]

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North Brookfield Savings, FamilyFirst Ink Merger Agreement Two area mutual banks that serve local customers and small businesses - and are active in their communities - are joining together to [...]

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Asset Allocation Is Key to Making Sure Your Goals Are Met The most important investing decision for individual investors is how much to save from your paycheck. The second most [...]

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University Without Walls Offers Alternative Options for Adult Students When Orlando Ramos of Springfield sits down to do his homework at the kitchen table, he's often joined by another student [...]

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HCS Head Start Strives to Get Preschoolers on the Right Track Fifty years is a long time in any field. Soit's no surprise, Nicole Blais said, that early-childhood education has [...]

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Expert in Eco-friendly Construction Offers 10 Trends to Watch in 2014 What are the major trends likely to affect the green-building industry and markets in the U.S. in 2014? Jerry [...]

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A listing of available commercial properties Click here to download the PDF

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REB's New Director Wants to Build on Recent Momentum Dave Cruise's desk - or, more specifically, what sits on it - speaks volumes about his work with the Regional Employment [...]

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Opinion

The Race to Pick MGM's Pockets As the process for awarding the only Western Mass. casino license moves into its final, critical stages, there is an interesting subplot emerging - [...]

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Tackling the Innovation Deficit By L. RAFAEL REIF The long-term future of congressional support for research and development is being shaped right now, and the stakes are high. Those of [...]

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Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Morning Download: Microsoft CEO Search Nearing End

<chinese free new year cardsp>Good morning. Microsoft Corp. is said to be close to picking Satya Nadella as its new CEO. Mr. Nadella, who currently runs its cloud and enterprise business, would provide CIOs the assurance of continuity, particularly with regard to the direction of the company's cloud strategy. Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, says in this case, "CIOs will not likely need to worry about new leadership of that [cloud] division or a change in direction."