Act of Valor Movie Poster

Act of Valor
The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.

Synopsis: A Navy Seal squad goes on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent, and, in the process, takes down a complex web of terrorist cells determined to strike America at all costs.

In Movie Theaters:    February 24, 2012 Nationwide

Act of Valor Movie Stills

Movie Trailer

Going anywhere nice for your holidays? You could be. At Natural Retreats we pride ourselves on offering a holiday experience that is a little bit different. Self catering in the UK has definitely improved over the years and with so many of us choosing a UK ‘staycation’ rather than dealing with the potential headaches of venturing abroad, the choice of holiday accommodation available to stay-at-home holiday makers is huge. Cornwall has long been a popular holiday destination so the range of self catering accommodation in Cornwall may seem a little overwhelming.

It can also be tricky if you’re looking for holiday accommodation to appeal to the whole family. Fear not! When it comes to family breaks in Cornwall, Natural Retreats know exactly what you need to ensure the whole family has fun. Beautiful luxury self catering accommodation overlooking stunning sandy beaches, the sound of the surf and plenty of popular tourist attractions, activities, bars and restaurants within easy reach – we’ve got it all covered. So, if you’re a little dubious about the thought of keeping the kids entertained and your family breaks tend to fall short of expectations, the time has come to experience Cornwall holidays in the Natural Retreats style. When you’re booking holiday accommodation in Cornwall you need somewhere that is well placed for the whole family to enjoy their time off. Natural Retreats luxury self catering residences are perfect whether you want to ride the waves, explore the picturesque countryside, have a day out to a sea life, wildlife or adventure park, take a boat trip, travel on a steam railway, investigate a mine or visit a stately home. And that’s not an exhaustive list! We’re sure your family will have their own ideas about what they’d like to, so at Natural Retreats we provide a concierge service to plan and help make your stay even more enjoyable.

If you think you need to travel to the med for surfing, sand and sun, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Family breaks in Cornwall can be just as memorable (in fact – without the prospect of airport delays and mosquito bites, we hope your Cornish holiday will be memorable for all the right reasons!) With its stunning Cornish coastline and beautiful beaches, surfing is a major activity, but if your idea of a holiday involves nothing more strenuous than relaxing on the beach with a picnic, then you’re spoilt for choice with the beaches in Cornwall. And if you’re a family of foodies, you must’ve heard all about Rick Stein’s seafood place and Jamie Oliver’s renowned Fifteen? You won’t struggle for a decent meal if you feel like a night off from the self catering.

Sunny Leone

Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds is all set to enter the Bigg Boss 5 house on Wednesday.

This is the first time that an international cricketer will enter the reality show.

Even though a language barrier stands between him and his ability to win the hearts of the viewers, Andrew is certain that it will not prove to be a problem, given that he is already a household name.

He tells Rajul Hegde why he decided to enter the show.
What made you take up Bigg Boss?

I decided to take up Bigg Boss as a challenge. India has been good to me and I have been traveling to India for over 20 years.
I have not seen any of the previous episodes because I don’t want to enter with a biased opinion of the housemates. I hope to have a lot of fun inside the house and learn more about Indian culture that I find very fascinating.

I am also looking at this as an opportunity to showcase the Australian culture which involves fun activities like barbecues and throwing people into the pool! While playing cricket, we have to be serious about the game but in the house, I will be relaxed.

Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone Photo Gallery

Cast:
Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Shammi Kapoor, Aditi Rao Hydari, Kumud Mishra, Piyush Mishra, Shernaz Patel, Moufid Aziz

Rockstar Poster

This film says that depression, apart from making one horny, ignites the artist in one. But our lead, Janardhan Jakhar/JJ (Ranbir Kapoor) was neither adopted, nor abused as a child to feel down enough to become like his idol, Jim Morrison. So, to pursue pain, JJ flirts with college hottie and serial heart-breaker, Heer Kaul (Nargis Fakhri). He hopes to be dumped, shattered and consequently become a musical genius. But following several awkward proposals, JJ and Heer actually bond over doing wild things, which they trigger off by saying, ‘gandh machaate hain!’

While Heer is scheduled for a Kashmir marriage that would jet her off to Prague, JJ crashes her wedding but avoids clichéd Bollywood tactics of charming her parents or making a swift getaway as they’re not in love. The wedding leads to Heer’s departure, closely followed by logic departing from this feeble rock-u-drama like a ball smashed from Sachin Tendulkar’s bat.

JJ is clobbered and thrown out of his house for attending Heer’s wedding (a crime because?) and a reason even sillier than that. Broken and hungry, JJ takes refuge at a ‘darga’ which also doubles as ‘school of Sufi music for the lesser privileged’. After two months, he also spends some time, making a living babbling bhajans (to be fair that all religions offer a chance to hone one’s musical bone?).

One montage leads to another and JJ becomes Jordan, a revolutionary solo artist, headed to Prague for a recording. Song and dance numbers to amuse the country’s tourism board follow as Jordan and Heer finally get intimate (just when we thought they’d hook up in the sequel). If Heer’s married state wasn’t rarifying enough, she also suffers from psychiatric issues and is finally diagnosed with a form of terminal bone marrow. Oh, yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Finally, an orgasm of sadness results in compositions like ‘Nadaan Parindey Ghar Aaja’, possibly dedicated to the script writers of ‘Rockstar’ who never returned to the sets.

Ranbir is committed in his disturbed desi rocker avatar and his abstention from any intoxicants makes him an idol who wouldn’t corrupt his worshipers. Nargis blends divine beauty with lips that jive like she’s in the movie, ‘Finding Nemo’.

Although the ‘Rockstar’ soundtrack is being crowned universally, Rahman’s work has become formatted. It’s like, be it a horror or an animated children’s film, Rahman will insert a minimalistic yet soulful Sufi number (*Kun Faaya Kun), one Masakali equivalent- (*Sheher Mein), one high-pitched Dil Se-esque number (*Nadaan Parindey) and a soft soothing love song (Tum Ho). Shamelessly ignoring the rock theme, only ‘Saadda Haq’ comes close to the head banging genre. Also note that Mohit Chauhan is a trained professional and do not try singing ‘Oh, yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’ at home or outdoors, unless you want to risk being certified as an imbecile.

The film’s crisp post-production and beautiful cinematography makes the screen light up to dreamy sights and the enumerable chopper shots allow a great vantage point to take in the stunning landscapes of this eastern European country.

Watching ‘Rockstar’ once is like watching it many times over, thanks to the repeated montages that sporadically recap the film. If you thought being stabbed once was bad, here’s what a knife set can do.

The film drives home an unscientific hypothesis that people who’ve endured sufferings/ heart break/ loose motions etc will reach their creative best. By this logic, each person in the audience will be blessed with superhuman creativity as they step out after watching ‘Rockstar’. Oh, yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

A volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6 miles (10 km) into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, and prompted the government to evacuate several thousand residents, authorities said. See more:

AFP PHOTO / Chilean Air Force

The skies turned black across southern Chile and Argentina as one of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanoes belched out a heavy blanket of ash, the first eruption in half a century.

Nestled in the Andes mountains 540 miles south of the Chilean capital Santiago, the volcano erupted on Saturday, producing a six-mile tower of gas and causing 3,500 people to flee their homes.

Winds sent the ash as far as the Patagonian ski resort of San Carlos de Bariloche, 62 miles from the volcano, where a snowstorm of soot carpeted the town in grey. The city’s airport was closed and local residents wore gas masks to protect them from the ash and stifle the strong stench of sulphur.

The thick cover of ash meant it was not immediately clear which of the Puyehye-Codron Caulle chain’s four volcanoes had erupted. Witnesses reported seeing the volcano spitting molten rock, but no lava flow.

Authorities were on alert from early Saturday morning after a flurry of earthquakes, and the eruption began in the afternoon. The National Emergency Office said it recorded an average of 230 tremors an hour.

The eruption prompted officials to close the border crossing between Chile and Argentina, and warned residents to stay indoors.

Chile has some 2,000 volcanoes in the world’s second largest volcanic chain after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 have had recorded eruptions, and 500 are potentially active.

Chile’s Llaima volcano is one of South America’s most active, and erupted in 2008 and 2009.

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India celebrates their World Cup win

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck a dramatic six to bring the World Cup to India on Saturday after Sri Lanka had threatened to ruin their party.

Dhoni finished with 91 not out as India, chasing a target of 275, won by six wickets with 10 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium to become the first host country to win the World Cup.

They are also only the third side to win batting second, a feat that seemed beyond them when Lasith Malinga dismissed both openers in his first four overs.

Left-hander Gautam Gambhir stayed calm among the storm to score a masterly 97, sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 109 from 118 balls with man-of-the-match Dhoni. Yuvraj Singh, who was named man-of-the-tournament, finished on 21 not out.

Muttiah Muralitharan, playing his last international match, was accurate but rarely threatening and was clearly feeling the effects of a hamstring and knee injury. The world record holder for test and one-day wickets did not increase his tally.

After Mahela Jayawardene had scored an unbeaten 103 in Sri Lanka’s challenging 274 for six, Malinga reduced an exuberant crowd to a shocked silence.

His second ball in the opening over skidded through low to Virender Sehwag who, playing across the line, was out lbw without scoring.

Sachin Tendulkar looked in masterly touch, off-driving and square-cutting boundaries off Nuwan Kulasekara’s second over.

Kumar Sangakkara persisted with Malinga and was rewarded when Tendulkar (18) fended uncertainly outside the off-stump and edged a catch to the captain behind the stumps. Malinga raced the length of the pitch to receive the congratulations of his ecstatic team mates.

Tendulkar, 37, who was playing in what looks certain to be his last World Cup, still needs one more century to become the first man to score 100 international centuries.

Gambhir and Virat Kohli began the rescue operation and received a huge slice of luck when the former was dropped at long-off by Kulasekara off off-spinner Suraj Randiv on 30 with the total on 68.

MAGNIFICENT CATCH

Kohli batted enterprisingly to reach 35 when Tillakaratne Dilshan, took a magnificent one-handed catch off his own bowling flinging himself to his right with his arm fully extended.

Gambhir was within three runs of a century when medium-pacer Thisara Perera knocked back his middle stump. He threw back his head in disgust but his 122-ball innings with nine boundaries had gone a long way to winning the World Cup for his country for the second time.

Once Dhoni had finished off proceedings by blasting a six over long on, his team mates ran on to the field and hoisted Tendulkar on to their shoulders for a lap of honour in front of 33,000 hollering fans.

“He’s carried the burden of the nation for 21 years so it’s time we carried him on our shoulders,” Kohli summed up the feelings of a billion Indians.

A grinning Tendulkar, who won the Cup on his sixth attempt, added: “It’s the proudest moment of my life. It’s never too late.

“It’s terrific to be part of this team, a great honour.”

After a brilliant opening spell from Zaheer Khan, who took one for six from his opening five overs in the Sri Lanka innings after starting with three maidens, Jayawardene guided the ball deftly into the gaps and ran swiftly between the wickets.

Sangakkara (48), who had negotiated his early overs carefully, appeared set to play a substantial innings when he attempted a cut against Yuvraj’s left-arm spin and edged the ball straight to Dhoni who threw the ball gleefully into the air.

Jayawardene kept the scoreboard ticking over before Sri Lanka took the batting powerplay in the 46th over and the whole tempo of the game changed.

Kulasekara swung across the line to smash Zaheer into the stands for the first six of the match. Jaywardene danced outside his leg-stump to slash Zaheer for four and bring up his second century of the tournament from 84 balls with 13 boundaries.

Kulasekara was run out for 32 giving Perera the opportunity to crack 22 not out from nine balls with three fours and a six. Sixty-three runs came from the batting powerplay, Sri Lanka’s best of the competition.

Winning Moments of Final ICC World Cup 2011 Photo Gallery

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Munaf

India extended its unbeaten streak in World Cups over Pakistan to five matches as MS Dhoni’s team defeated Shahid Afridi’s boys by 29 runs in the second semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali tonight to set up a final clash with Sri Lanka on April 2.

Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.

Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan’s run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan’s openers had got 44 runs on the board.

Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn’t look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren’t for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez’s part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan’s openers gifted away their wickets.

The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India’s way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.

Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.

The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi’s team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India’s bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn’t get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India’s total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.

Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.

Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn’t really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper’s younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.

Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan’s spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag’s breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel’s decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.

Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India’s in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.

Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn’t a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar’s 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.

Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh’s wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead’s failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan’s bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.

But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.

O'Brien inflicted one of the most humiliating defeats in England's history

Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien hit the fastest hundred in World Cup history to sentence shell-shocked England to an astounding three-wicket defeat at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium tonight.

O’Brien (113) came to the crease when damage limitation seemed the best his team could hope for, after they lost three wickets for eight runs to falter to 111 for five in apparently vain pursuit of 327 for eight.

But he responded with an innings of immense power, smashing six sixes and 13 fours in a 50-ball hundred and dominating a stand of 162 in 17 overs with Alex Cusack (47).

No one in the England attack was safe, with Graeme Swann (three for 47) the lucky one that he managed to complete his full 10-over allocation before O’Brien began his assault in earnest.

England did not help themselves, dropping five catches in all, including O’Brien and Cusack once each.

In the end even O’Brien’s run-out, trying to scamper a second run at the start of the 49th over, could not stop Ireland getting home with five balls to spare.

After O’Brien had very nearly finished England off, John Mooney clipped the winning four to midwicket in company with Trent Johnston.

Jonathan Trott (92) and Ian Bell (81) had been England’s main batting contributors, the former also bagging a place in cricket history as the joint-quickest batsman to 1,000 one-day international runs.

But he was relegated from headline to footnote by O’Brien’s unexpected heroics.

Ireland’s prospects of pulling off a tournament record chase under lights appeared decidedly slim, and all the more so after they lost captain Will Porterfield to the first ball of their reply under lights.

They needed a good start yet got the polar opposite when Porterfield inside-edged an attempted cover-drive at a wide ball from James Anderson back on to his stumps.

Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce gave England, and Stuart Broad in particular, something to think about in a second-wicket stand of 62.

But Stirling got underneath a pull at Broad’s replacement Tim Bresnan and was caught at deep square-leg in the 10th over.

Joyce then mis-pulled successive Bresnan deliveries and could easily have gone to either, on 21. But first of all, Anderson’s lunge in from midwicket was not quick enough – and then wicketkeeper Matt Prior spilled a high, swirling chance.

New batsman Niall O’Brien was dropped on five at long-off, where Anderson parried a big hit at Swann for six.

The consolation for England seemed to be that a repeat of the fielding mishaps they endured in their first match against Holland would surely not matter too much tonight.

So it still seemed when Niall O’Brien missed a slog-sweep at Swann, who had a second wicket when Joyce went up the pitch and was easily stumped after failing to cover the spin.

Swann was in business again when Gary Wilson was trapped lbw sweeping.

But that merely brought O’Brien and Cusack together for what turned out to be the match-turning partnership.

Many huge blows had already been inflicted by the time Andrew Strauss dropped a tough skier, running back behind the bowler from extra-cover after O’Brien brutalised a ball from Paul Collingwood skywards on 91.

Cusack then escaped a tough caught-and-bowled chance to Mike Yardy on 32.

England finally got the breakthrough when Cusack failed to regain his ground after a mix-up over a single. But O’Brien knew he had done all the hard work, and was in no mood to give England a route back into a match they had once appeared to be coasting.

Trott had earlier passed his 1,000 ODI runs in only his 21st innings, apparently serving his team well with an exact run-a-ball tempo. He shared a third-wicket stand of 167 with Bell, after Kevin Pietersen (59) and Strauss had predictably got England off to a blistering start.

Strauss, who won the toss, and Pietersen immediately set about the opposition’s new-ball pair Boyd Rankin and Johnston.

The in-form captain was first to go, after a stand of 91 in less than 14 overs, when he tried to paddle-pull slow left-armer George Dockrell off his stumps and was bowled round his legs.

It was an odd shot, and Pietersen also went tamely – soon after reaching his first half-century as an ODI opener, from only 41 balls, when he attempted to reverse-sweep off-spinner Stirling but somehow presented a simple catch to wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien.

Trott and Bell therefore had to start again, yet lost little noticeable momentum doing so.

Neither gave a chance, Trott profiting again from his risk-free accumulation to help keep England above six-an-over almost throughout.

He survived Bell, who chipped a full toss low to a tumbling Stirling at straight midwicket off Mooney.

There were still 55 runs in powerplay. But after Trott also went short of his hundred, bowled aiming a big hit at Mooney (four for 63), England faltered and could manage only an under-par 70 in the last 10 overs.

Former Ireland captain Johnston kept tight lines to bowl Prior and Yardy and become the first bowler to take 50 ODI wickets for his country.

England had ended their innings with a whimper, but it seemed highly unlikely to cost them – until O’Brien’s muscular and mesmeric intervention.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Teams & Groups

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