Minnesota fires Tubby Smith after six seasons

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item nobyline" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">7:21p.m. EDT March 25, 2013</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="tubby-smith-3-25" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/03/25/ap-ncaa-minnesota-florida-basketball-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png?1362424877); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Eric Gay, AP)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 1;"><h3 class="hlts" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</h3><ul class="hlt" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png?1362424877); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Smith led Minnesota to the NCAA tournament three times in his six seasons</li><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png?1362424877); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">He won the 1998 national championship as the head coach at Kentucky</li><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png?1362424877); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Minnesota's athletic director said it was time for a "fresh set of eyes" on the program</li></ul></aside></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota fired Tubby Smith on Monday, cutting ties with the veteran coach one day after the Golden Gophers lost to Florida in the NCAA tournament.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Athletics director Norwood Teague announced the decision Monday and said it was time for a "fresh set of eyes" on the program.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Smith was 124-81 (.610) in six seasons at Minnesota, helping to bring the program back to respectability and ramping up expectations for a team hit hard by an academic cheating scandal.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>GOLDEN GOPHERS: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/tourney/2013/03/24/florida-gators-minnesota-gophers-mike-rosario-march-madness-ncaa-tournament/2016085/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/tourney/2013/03/24/florida-gators-minnesota-gophers-mike-rosario-march-madness-ncaa-tournament/2016085/">Knocked out by Florida</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>BRACKET: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/bracket/2013/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/bracket/2013/">Full NCAA tournament bracket</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Smith won 20 games five times. But he went just 46-62 in Big Ten play and never finished higher than sixth in the conference. The Gophers made three NCAA tournament appearances under Smith. They beat UCLA this year before losing on Sunday.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"Tubby has had a long and distinguished career and we feel it's time for a fresh set of eyes for our student-athletes and our program in general," Teague said. "We are grateful to Tubby and his entire staff for their hard work and dedication to this university, our students and the entire Minnesota community."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>ALSO FIRED: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/03/24/ucla-fires-coach-ben-howland-after-tumultuous-tenure/2014125/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/03/24/ucla-fires-coach-ben-howland-after-tumultuous-tenure/2014125/">UCLA breaks up with Ben Howland</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Smith, 61, was welcomed with wild enthusiasm when he left powerhouse Kentucky in 2007, hailed as the savior to a program that Dan Monson was never able to raise back out of the abyss created from a the academic fraud that ended up wiping out the team's Final Four appearance in 1997.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Smith won 20 games his first season and took the team to the NCAA tournament the following year, restoring some sense of pride to a team that at one time was the most popular draw in the Twin Cities.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">But the success seemed to level off after that. The Gophers made the tournament again in 2010, missed it in 2011 and settled for an NIT bid last year as fans started to grow impatient.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I want to thank the University of Minnesota and the people of Minnesota for giving me the opportunity to lead the Golden Gopher basketball program for six years," Smith said in a statement provided by the school. "Our staff did things the right way and will leave knowing that the program is in far better shape than when we arrived."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">This year's team started off 15-1 and rose as high as No. 8, with wins over Michigan State, Illinois and Memphis during that run. But they quickly came back down to earth, losing seven of 10 games in Big Ten play and squeaking into the tournament as a No. 11 seed thanks in large part to a late-season win over then-No. 1 Indiana at home.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Gophers handled UCLA in the second round of the tournament only to be thumped by Florida in the next round. A common refrain from fans was that the players, and the team, never seemed to improve as the season went on, instead either stagnating or regressing. The Gophers never finished with a Big Ten record above .500 and finished in seventh place or worse four times in his six seasons.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Undaunted, Smith always pointed to his reputation for running a clean program and the empty cupboard he inherited when he arrived. He has long been lobbying for a practice facility and improvements to historic, but outdated, Williams Arena and has said the lack of investment in the facilities have led to some setbacks in recruiting.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I don't apologize or I don't defend anything," Smith said last week. "We do the best we can. We do a good job. That's why we're NCAA bound."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The decision to part with a big-name coach after a rare tournament victory for the program is a bold one for Teague, who is in his second year on the job. It requires a cash-strapped athletic department to raise $2.5 million for Smith's buyout.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">With a bevy of highly touted recruits in the state, Teague is acting quickly partially to give a replacement time to forge relationships with high school players including Apple Valley point guard Tyus Jones, one of the most sought-after juniors in the country.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Teague and his top assistant, Mike Ellis, are considered to be plugged in to the college basketball world and are believed to have a strong list of candidates to replace Smith at the ready.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Teague came to Minnesota from Virginia Commonwealth, and it has been speculated almost since his arrival that he would eventually bring Shaka Smart with him. But Smart may have higher profile suitors waiting for him as well with openings already at UCLA and USC.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Other names that could come up are former Timberwolves coach and Golden Gopher alumnus Flip Saunders, Villanova's Jay Wright and Marquette's Buzz Williams.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>VIDEO: PREVIEWING SOUTH REGIONAL GAMES</b></div><aside class="video comp" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 304px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 60px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 540px; z-index: 1;"><img alt="" class="videoStill" height="304" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/v2/brightcove/videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2013/03/29906170001_2253060986001_video-still-for-video-2253032642001_r542_c540x304.jpg?436a289f03cde4e0ed45f12ec0d66270cf41bc9a" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; vertical-align: middle; z-index: 0;" width="540" /><em style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</em></aside></div></div>

Tubby Smith Minnesota fires Tubby Smith after six seasons

7:21p.m. EDT March 25, 2013 (Photo: Eric Gay, AP) STORY HIGHLIGHTS Smith led Minnesota to the NCAA tournament three times in his six seasons...

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Uganda: Kazinda Holds PAC Report On OPM Scam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After interviewing over 100 witnesses including the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and First Lady Janet Museveni over the financial impropriety in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the Public Accounts Committee is uncertain on how to proceed without the testimony of the principal witness Geoffrey Kazinda.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the committee chairman Kassiano Wadri, the committee is still waiting for the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga's advice on how to proceed with the report.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In a letter to the Speaker, Kassiano complained that the committee's report to parliament will be incomplete if Kazinda does not testify and give his side of the story.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The course of interface with the witnesses, many pointed accusing fingers at the embattled principal accountant (Kazinda) now being prosecuted before court. Madam Speaker, it will be unfair for the committee to submit its report to parliament without giving him an opportunity to hear his side of the story as the last witness," Kassiano said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"This is therefore to seek your guidance on how the committee can access Mr. Kazinda and also seek your guidance on how to proceed without hearing from Kazinda," Kassiano added.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Several witnesses who have appeared before the committee claimed that Kazinda masterminded the scam in which up to sh50b was mismanaged.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kazinda, now facing fraud and embezzlement charges at the Anti- Corruption Court, has on several occasions been blocked from appearing before PAC following a request by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The DPP Richard Buteera asked the Speaker to stop Kazinda's appearance or that of witnesses lined to testify in court. He said their appearance would be prejudicial to ongoing criminal cases.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In December, when the Committee wrote to the Commissioner General of Prisons Johnson Byabashaija to bring Kazinda, OPM permanent secretary Pius Bigirimana also wrote to the Attorney General seeking his advice on the matter.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Attorney General then wrote to Parliament and Prisons service objecting the proposal to produce Kazinda before the probe saying the matter was already in Court.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It has since become a battle between parliament and Government to have Kazinda produced before the committee. Kadaga, at one time stopped the probe following the DPP's request, but later gave them a go ahead. By yesterday, she had not responded as she was reportedly out of the country.</div></div>

OPM Uganda: Kazinda Holds PAC Report On OPM Scam

After interviewing over 100 witnesses including the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and First Lady Janet Museveni over the financial impropriet...

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Jesse James marries racer Alexis DeJoria

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">11:31a.m. EDT March 25, 2013</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><h2 class="lead-in" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 27px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: -2px;">It's his fourth marriage.</h2><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="Jesse James" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/03/25/jessealexis-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png?1362424877); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, US Presswire)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">It has been almost three years since his split from Sandra Bullock. And two years since he broke off his engagement to Kat Von D.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Has Jesse James found true love this time?</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><i><a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20685016,00.html" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20685016,00.html">People</a></i>magazine is reporting that James, 43, and Alexis DeJoria married in Malibu on Sunday.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">With James' youngest daughter, Sunny, 9, and DeJoria's daughter Bella, 10, acting as flower girls, the custom motorcycle-builder exchanged vows with DeJoria, a pro-drag racer and daughter of Paul Mitchell hair company co-founder John Paul DeJoria, says <i>People</i>.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The couple, who got engaged late last year, married at the Malibu home of DeJoria's father.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">James has three children — a daughter and a son with his first wife, Karla, and a daughter with his second wife, Janine Lindemulder. He married Bullock in 2005; they divorced in 2010.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">James recently relaunched West Coast Choppers in Austin, where he lives with DeJoria. On Sunday he shared a photo of himself <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151592425529369&l=8d8423a950" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151592425529369&l=8d8423a950">holding hands</a> with DeJoria, looking casual. No mention of a marriage.</div></div></div>

Alexis DeJoria Jesse James marries racer Alexis DeJoria

Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY 11:31a.m. EDT March 25, 2013 It's his fourth marriage. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, US Presswire) It has been almos...

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Italian Supreme Court ruling on Amanda Knox retrial expected within hours

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="American college student <a href='http://topics.cnn.com/topics/amanda_knox'>Amanda Knox</a> spent four years in jail because of murder charges in the death of her roommate Meredith Kercher while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. She and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 to 25 years in prison (Sollecito got 26 years). The conviction was overturned in 2011. Here's a look at the characters in Knox's trial:" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325124258-amanda-knox-looking-down-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><br /><img alt="Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found dead with her throat slit in an apartment she shared with Knox on November 2, 2007. The police initially brought Knox, her former boyfriend and another man into custody for questioning." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325102838-01-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" />v<img alt="When Knox was detained for questioning in 2007, she implicated Patrick Lumumba, the owner of a bar where Knox worked. Lumumba was taken into custody and released after two weeks in prison when his alibi is corroborated. He later won a libel suit against Knox." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325110621-07-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="<a href='http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-28/world/world_europe_italy-raffaele-sollecito-profile_1_rudy-guede-bra-clasp-amanda-knox?_s=PM:EUROPE'>Raffaele Sollecito</a>, Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder, was convicted in December 2009 with Knox and released when their cases were overturned. Prosecutors testified that police scientists found Sollecito's genetic material on a bra clasp of Kercher's found in her room, while his defense claimed there wasn't enough DNA for a positive ID. " src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325102835-02-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast native raised in Perugia, was convicted separately from Knox and Sollecito and is now serving 16 years. Guede admitted to being with Kercher on the night she died but said he didn't kill her. Both Knox and Sollecito argued that he was the killer, and Guede suggested the couple took Kercher's life." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325102833-03-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="Meredith Kercher's family lawyer Francesco Maresca, left, argued in court in 2011 that the multiple stab wounds implied that there was more than one aggressor who killed Kercher. Pictured from left are Maresca, Kercher's father John, sister Stephanie, brother Lyle and brother John at a press conference in 2008." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325112645-09-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="Carlo Dalla Vedova, one lawyer on Knox's defense team, argued in court that "the only possible decision to take is that of absolving Amanda Knox" in his closing argument for her appeal hearing." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325112423-08-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="<a href='http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/world/europe/italy-knox-appeal'>Carlo Pacelli</a> represented Patrick Lumumba in his civil suit case. He called Knox two-faced and a "she-devil." " src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325102828-05-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><img alt="Giulia Bongiorno, the lead lawyer on Raffaele Sollecito's defense team, compared Knox to Jessica Rabbit on the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Knox is not bad, just "drawn that way," Bongiorno said in her closing statements in the 2011 trial." src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130325102825-06-knox-trial-characters-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 166px;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></div><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 9px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">A decision on retrying Amanda Knox is expected soon</li><li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">HLN analyst: Even if the Italian court orders a retrial, the U.S. could refuse to extradite Knox</li><li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were cleared of murdering a British student</li><li style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/global/red_bull.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 7px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sollecito's father says his son has been trying to rebuild a normal life</li></ul></div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rome (CNN)</strong> -- Italian Supreme Court judges have heard the arguments, now they must decide whether to order American Amanda Knox to stand trial for a second time in the death of her former roommate.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The judges concluded a hearing into the question early Monday afternoon, and were expected to announce their decision soon.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox spent four years in jail before an appellate court overturned her murder conviction in the 2007 death of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/29/world/europe/kercher-profile/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Meredith Kercher</a>. She returned to the United States in 2011. Prosecutors say that despite the appellate decision, they still believe Knox and her former boyfriend, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/world/europe/italy-raffaele-sollecito-profile/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Raffaele Sollecito</a>, are responsible for the death.</div><a href="" name="em1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand14" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111013022137-knox-tv-interview-poll-1013-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Prosecution plans to appeal Knox case</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand24" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120920022214-ac-knox-boyfriend-interview-00000000-story-top.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox's ex: We're like brother, sister</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand34" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120106112341-sr-amanda-knox-new-life-00021411-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">2012: Knox's life as a free woman</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand44" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111005121508-mxp-drew-knox-tears-00002001-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox: It's 'like everything isn't real'</span></cite></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We are still convinced that they are the co-authors of Meredith's homicide," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Perugia, Italy, prosecutor Giovanni Galati as saying.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox, who is not in Italy for the hearing, is confident in the Italian legal system and hopes one day to return to Italy as a free woman, her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said Monday.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the acquittal is overturned, the case will go back to an appellate court and Knox might have to return to Italy. If she refuses, the Italian government could appeal to the U.S. government for her extradition.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But even if it does, Knox still not might end up before an Italian court.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">U.S. officials might reject such a request because it violates the U.S. legal principle that a criminal defendant can't be tried twice on the same allegation, said Joey Jackson, a contributor for HLN's "In Session."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Italy lacks the absolute prohibition present in U.S. law preventing authorities from retrying a criminal defendant who has been acquitted of a charge.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We have principles that are well-founded within our Constitution, one of which is double jeopardy," he said. "So as a result of that, I think it would be highly objectionable for the United States to surrender someone to another country for which justice has already been administered and meted out. So I don't think or anticipate that that would happen."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/15/world/europe/italy-amanda-knox/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2011: Amanda Knox judge explains murder acquittal</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The case began in 2007, after Knox moved to Perugia to study at the University for Foreigners of Perugia for one year</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox, then 20, shared a room with British student Kercher, 21.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">That November, Kercher's semi-naked body was found at the home, with her throat slashed.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police arrested Knox and Sollecito, who was her boyfriend at the time.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/04/was-italy-fair-to-amanda-knox/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2011: Was Italy fair to Amanda Knox?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Two years later they were convicted of murder, but were cleared when they appealed the verdicts in 2011.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Another man, Ivorian drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted separately of Kercher's killing.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Guede admitted having sexual relations with Kercher but denied killing her.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In legal paperwork published in December 2011, the judge in the case wrote that the jury had cleared the pair of murder for lack of evidence proving they were guilty.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox's family said last year the appeal was unwelcome, but no cause for concern.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The appeal of Amanda's acquittal by the prosecution was not unexpected as they had indicated from the day of the verdict that they would appeal," a family statement in February 2012 said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/us/knox-seattle/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2011: Knox makes emotional return to Seattle</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knox has spent the last year and a half trying to resume a normal life, studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, her hometown.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">She has written a book on her ordeal, titled "<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/17/us/us-italy-knox-book-deal/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Waiting to be Heard</a>," which will be published next month.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Francesco Sollecito, father of Raffaele, told CNN in a phone interview last year that the family was "not happy about the decision (to appeal). My son is trying to get back to normal life."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We can do very little in this situation," he said, but as Italian citizens, they would have to accept the court's decision.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We hope that the high court will finally put the words 'the end' to this story."</div></div>

Amanda Knox Italian Supreme Court ruling on Amanda Knox retrial expected within hours

v STORY HIGHLIGHTS A decision on retrying Amanda Knox is expected soon HLN analyst: Even if the Italian court orders a retrial, the U.S. cou...

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BioShock’s Latest: Civil War in a City in the Sky

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/25/arts/bioshock/bioshock-articleLarge.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="articleSpanImage" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 600px;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/25/arts/bioshock/bioshock-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><div class="caption" itemprop="description" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">An image from BioShock Infinite, by Irrational Games.</div></span></div><nyt_byline style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 2px 0px;">By <span itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">CHRIS SUELLENTROP</span></h6></nyt_byline><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;">Published: March 25, 2013</h6><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;"><div class="articleBody" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><nyt_text><div data-key="DtlDtl" data-num="0" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="DtlDtl" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[DtlDtl]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 1st paragraph">¶</a></span>During the long development of BioShock Infinite — the first release by the Massachusetts studio <a href="http://irrationalgames.com/" style="color: #666699;" title="Studio Web site">Irrational Games</a> since the original BioShock transfixed players more than five years ago — there were open fears on blogs, in discussion forums and in conversations among video game journalists that the new BioShock game just wouldn’t be any good.</div></nyt_text></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="clear: left; color: #333333; display: inline; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 6px 15px 10px 0px !important; width: 190px;"><div class="columnGroup doubleRule" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-width: 0px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; padding-top: 12px; width: auto !important;"><h3 class="sectionHeader" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">Related</h3><ul class="headlinesOnly multiline flush" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><li style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/arts/video-games/the-nerd-as-auteur-in-bioshock-infinite.html?ref=video-games" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">The Nerd as Auteur in BioShock Infinite</a> (March 24, 2013)</h6></li><li style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/bioshock-infinite-ken-levine-talks-about-his-new-video-game/?ref=video-games" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">ArtsBeat: Ken Levine Talks About His New Video Game</a>(March 21, 2013)</h6></li></ul></div><div class="doubleRule" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); 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text-decoration: none;">A sortable calendar</a> of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics.</div><ul class="refer" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; list-style: none; margin: 2px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.182em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/events/index.html" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Go to Event Listings »</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><div data-key="StwSpe" data-num="1" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="StwSpe" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[StwSpe]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 2nd paragraph">¶</a></span>Surely that was why it was taking so long to make it, why its release was twice delayed, why the studio seemed to be bleeding personnel. Some people even asked themselves if <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/arts/video-games/the-nerd-as-auteur-in-bioshock-infinite.html" style="color: #666699;" title="Times profile of Mr. Levine">the impeccable reputation of Ken Levine</a>, the mercurial creative director at Irrational, was perhaps undeserved, given that it was largely dependent on only two games, System Shock 2 (1999) and BioShock (2007), made almost a decade apart.</div><div data-key="EcsTem" data-num="2" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="EcsTem" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[EcsTem]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 3rd paragraph">¶</a></span>Everyone can stop worrying. With <a href="http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/home" style="color: #666699;" title="The Web site">BioShock Infinite</a>, which goes on sale on Tuesday, Mr. Levine and his colleagues at Irrational have produced yet another video game that is a model of what the medium can achieve. This world — an alternate history with a dollop of science fiction that is set in the United States of 1912 — is dense, fascinating and inventive. The combat is exhilarating. The ending manages to be both mind-bending and moving.</div><div data-key="TgbCht" data-num="3" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="TgbCht" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[TgbCht]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 4th paragraph">¶</a></span>The game begins at a lighthouse off the coast of Maine but quickly moves to Columbia, a utopian — or dystopian — city in the sky built by Zachary Hale Comstock, who calls himself an American prophet. Comstock has transformed this country’s secular religion of Constitutionalism into a theocratic system of white supremacy that worships the founders as gods.</div><div data-key="BDtBaE" data-num="4" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="BDtBaE" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[BDtBaE]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 5th paragraph">¶</a></span>Booker DeWitt, the playable character, is a former Pinkerton agent turned private investigator who was sent to Columbia to find a girl named Elizabeth and bring her to New York City. Booker and Elizabeth are caught in the middle of a civil war between Comstock and the Vox Populi, a violent leftist group modeled partly on the socialists and anarchists of the period.</div><div data-key="PatIae" data-num="5" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="PatIae" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[PatIae]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 6th paragraph">¶</a></span>Putting aside the obviously fictional element of an airborne religious community that has seceded from the American union, in many ways BioShock Infinite tries to provide an accurate portrait of the period. In particular, the signs in Columbia are saturated with crude racial and ethnic caricatures. In an early scene a mixed-race couple is threatened with violence by a city-sanctioned mob.</div><div data-key="AtsItB" data-num="6" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="AtsItB" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[AtsItB]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 7th paragraph">¶</a></span>At the same time strange anachronisms — especially musical ones — emerge as Booker and Elizabeth make their way through Columbia. A quartet sings a barbershop cover of “God Only Knows,” by the Beach Boys. A woman in a shantytown delivers Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” as a spiritual. A calliope plays Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” There’s a soulful ragtime version of “Tainted Love.” (If the BioShock Infinite soundtrack is not for sale, it should be.)</div><div data-key="WtoTsm" data-num="7" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="WtoTsm" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[WtoTsm]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 8th paragraph">¶</a></span>Why these odd intrusions from the future are occurring becomes clear — mostly — by the game’s end. An early clue comes when Booker first finds Elizabeth, and she tries to hit him with a book titled “The Principles of Quantum Mechanics.” Elizabeth has the ability to see windows — she calls them “tears” — into other worlds. To say much more would spoil the pleasure of the surprise.</div><div data-key="EtaBhw" data-num="8" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="EtaBhw" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[EtaBhw]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 9th paragraph">¶</a></span>Elizabeth’s tears (as in rips, not boo-hoos) are handy during combat, when Booker can call on her to bring forth helpful objects: a structure to hide behind, a box of healing bandages, an automated turret and the like. Booker himself wields a relatively standard arsenal of first-person shooter weapons (this being, after all, a first-person shooter game, even if it is an unusually brainy and smartly written one).</div><div data-key="HcaTeh" data-num="9" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="HcaTeh" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[HcaTeh]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 10th paragraph">¶</a></span>He can also deploy magical powers that the game calls “vigors”: After drinking surprisingly effective snake-oil potions, he can hurl lightning bolts or flames or a flock of murderous crows, among other tricks. The enemies he fights include ordinary human soldiers, as well as mechanical sentries — most notably the Motorized Patriot, a robot George Washington that is best described as something out of a Hall of Presidents run by the National Rifle Association rather than Disney.</div><div data-key="TmeIas" data-num="10" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="TmeIas" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[TmeIas]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 11th paragraph">¶</a></span>The most exciting aspect of the shooting and killing in BioShock Infinite is the Skyline, a roller-coaster-like system for moving freight in Columbia that Booker and others traverse by using hand-held hooks. When Booker leaps and attaches himself to a Skyline rail, the act adds an element of speed and altitude to the fight that is absent from most shooters. Riding it is a thrilling change of pace from the many current games that emphasize (much more realistically) the importance of hiding behind cover during firefights. It’s a shame that Mr. Levine and Irrational couldn’t develop a multiplayer component of BioShock Infinite that satisfied them: just hanging out online and shooting your friends — or strangers — in these spaces would be joyous.</div><div data-key="NeiWdB" data-num="11" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="NeiWdB" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[NeiWdB]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 12th paragraph">¶</a></span>Not everything in the game is perfect. The world and the characters are so well drawn that small, video gamy things feel infelicitous. Why does Booker spend so much of his time rather creepily rifling through the pockets of freshly dead corpses, looking for ammunition and spare change? Why do some bodies turn into searchable lockboxes upon death? Why are there vending machines that sell weapons for coins (thus requiring Booker to spend so much of his time corpse robbing)?</div><div data-key="TbfBIi" data-num="12" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="TbfBIi" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[TbfBIi]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 13th paragraph">¶</a></span>To be fair, in a less ambitious game — and a less fully realized one — these absurd fictions wouldn’t be so objectionable. BioShock Infinite is confirmation that in the hands of the right creators, video games are the most sophisticated form of not just interactive entertainment, but of multimedia storytelling as well.</div><div data-key="BayBay" data-num="13" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="BayBay" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[BayBay]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 14th paragraph">¶</a></span>Beyond allowing you to shepherd a protagonist and his companion through a captivating world at your own pace, the game tells its story by deftly mixing text (mostly in the form of graffiti and propaganda posters), audio diaries (using a sort of portable phonograph) and moving pictures (through period-appropriate Kinetoscopes).</div><div data-key="AglYjh" data-num="14" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: transparent !important; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="AglYjh" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[AglYjh]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 15th paragraph">¶</a></span>A game like this, which demands a deep and focused investment of player time and attention, is powerful evidence that narrative for people with long attention spans is thriving. You just have to know where to look.</div><div class="emActive emReady" data-key="BIdIir" data-num="15" data-sentences="1" itemprop="reviewBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span class="emInfo" style="background-color: #f2f4f5; font-size: 10px; margin: -1px 0px 0px -8px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;"><a class="emAnchor" data-key="BIdIir" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/arts/video-games/bioshock-infinite-irrationals-new-video-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#p[BIdIir]" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to 16th paragraph">¶</a></span><span data-num="1" style="background-color: #f2f4f5;"><em>BioShock Infinite, developed by Irrational Games, is available for personal computers, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is rated M (Mature, for players 17 and older) for intense violence.</em></span></div></div></h6></div>

BioShock Infinite BioShock’s Latest: Civil War in a City in the Sky

An image from BioShock Infinite, by Irrational Games. By  CHRIS SUELLENTROP Published: March 25, 2013 ¶ During the long development of BioSh...

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Shakira, Usher Debut on an Emotional Premiere of The Voice

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="The Voice: Shakira, Usher Debut on an Emotional Premiere" src="http://img2-1.timeinc.net/people/i/2013/news/130408/the-voice-300.jpg" /><br /><a class="tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/tvwatch/category/0,,20488604,00.html" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Voice</em></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> is back! And there are new celebrity coaches. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/shakira" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Shakira</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, who </span><a class="tracklink3" href="http://celebritybabies.people.com/2013/01/22/shakira-gerard-pique-welcome-son-milan/" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">welcomed a son, Milan</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, in January, and </span><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/usher" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Usher</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> officially took over for Cee Lo Green and </span><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/christina_aguilera" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Christina Aguilera</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Monday night, joining </span><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/blake_shelton" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Blake Shelton</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> and Adam Levine on the show's two-hour season 4 premiere. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The quartet kicked off the show with a group performance of the Beatles' "Come Together," with Levine on drums and Shakira playing a harmonica while Shelton and Usher traded licks on guitars. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But it was the emotional backstories of several contestants that stole the show. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br /><div class="relatedtext" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px -15px; padding: 0px;">Stay in the know about Shakira <a class="tracklink3" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3db1/3/0/%2a/z%3B269344061%3B0-0%3B1%3B51388462%3B4802-600/30%3B51007265/50977613/1%3B%3B~okv%3D%3Brsseg%3Dj10012%3Brsseg%3Dj10005%3Brsseg%3D10028%3Brsseg%3D11190%3Brsseg%3D11203%3Brsseg%3D11184%3Brsseg%3D10259%3Brsseg%3D71156%3Brsseg%3D73515%3Brsseg%3D73516%3B~aopt%3D2/1/41/0%3B~sscs%3D%3fhttps%3a%2f%2fsubscription.people.com/storefront/subscribe-to-people/link/1012898.html" style="background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: red; font-style: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">by subscribing now</a>.</div><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Kris Thomas, a pastor's son who signed a record deal and lost it after college, recounted a story of nearly driving his car into a house while intoxicated. His gender-bending falsetto on Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" shocked the judges who didn't realize a man was on stage until they turned their chairs to face the R&B singer. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"In my four seasons, I've never heard anything like that," Levine said with surprise. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"You're a gem," said Shakira, who claimed him for her team. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Danielle Bradbery, 16, of Cypress, Texas, wowed the judges with her performance of</span><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/taylor_swift" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Taylor Swift</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">'s "Mean." Later, Usher attempted to bribe her with </span><a class="celebdb tracklink3" href="http://www.people.com/people/justin_bieber" style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; color: #067ab4; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Justin Bieber</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> tickets but Danielle ended up with Shelton. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"What the hell? This is crazy," he said when she told him it had been her first big performance. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In the end, however, it was Judith Hill of Pasadena, Calif., who wowed </span><em style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Voice</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">'s coaches and audience the most. Levine and Usher turned around in their chairs before Hill finished the first few lines of Aguilera's "What a Girl Wants." </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Her soulful rendition of the song left Shakira with her mouth gaping open and Levine standing atop his chair cheering. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"You are the first person who has ever come on this show and done a Christina song as well as Christina Aguilera," Levine said. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"I'm going to light myself on fire," Levine continued as he begged to be her coach. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"It's like a star just hatched out of a shell up there," Shelton said. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"My heart is beating fast right now because I really feel I am in front of a star," Shakira said as the judges fought for Hill. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Eventually, she picked Levine. </span><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Blind auditions continue Tuesday on </span><em style="background-color: white; background-position: 0px 50%; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Voice</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">.</span></div>

Shakira Shakira, Usher Debut on an Emotional Premiere of The Voice

The Voice  is back! And there are new celebrity coaches.  Shakira , who  welcomed a son, Milan , in January, and  Usher  officially took ove...

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IWS Radio: The Florida Gulf Coast University of Internet Radio!!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hJM8-3mDF7a0-TJw0jCecrLEu_K-RvA9g1x1SSLirG4sAYPMrlUURg2kqb_EkTt3-EOdba_1WwNTwt4iXRpiHoV1qgdrs2vcOctzpRjAZPBYo9OyOItqcA-koPMrbKC6YEvSl3VaHT0/s1600/FGCU+Over+Georgetown.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hJM8-3mDF7a0-TJw0jCecrLEu_K-RvA9g1x1SSLirG4sAYPMrlUURg2kqb_EkTt3-EOdba_1WwNTwt4iXRpiHoV1qgdrs2vcOctzpRjAZPBYo9OyOItqcA-koPMrbKC6YEvSl3VaHT0/s400/FGCU+Over+Georgetown.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Cheeeeeeers Chuckleheads!!<br /><br />I have only been casually following the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year, but like many, I have been intrigued by the unexpected and Cinderfella-type trek of the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles into the Sweet 16 of said tourney.<br /><br />Upon seeing clips of FGCU’s convincing beat downs of the mighty and much higher seeded Georgetown Hoyas and San Diego State Aztecs, two thoughts came to mind.<br /><br />Number one…Evidently FGCU’s basketball team has a thing against teams who use nicknames that reflect stone walls and people who want to climb over stone walls, and number two…<br /><br />I thought about how IWS Radio and our parent company, news-these-days.com, are very similar to the FGCU Eagles basketball program.<br /><br />Jay and I started our radio show some 2 plus years ago, and FGCU?  They have been in Division I basketball for about the same amount of time.<br /><br />IKR?  Such a coincidence…or is it?<br /><br />You know what else?  It seems that FGCU baller, Christophe Varidel came to America from Switzerland, and Chris refuses to lift weights and/or exercise, other than swimming around in a pool.<br /><br />Jay and I?  We don’t exercise either, and while not a Swiss guy, we do have a European correspondent in Dutchman, Guy Ahnyurdyck.  Uh-huh…see the correlation and equilibriumish universe that is developing?  Damn right.<br /><br />Chase Fieler, who had a maddening dunk against Georgetown said that when he came to FGCU, he didn’t know how to jump, let alone dunk with a two foot hop.<br /><br />Jay and I?<br /><br />We don’t jump.  We never jump.  It takes too much energy.  The only time Jay jumps is when he sees a plate of liver, and the only time I jump, is when I see brussel sprouts.<br /><br />Sherwood Brown, who was the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year this past season was not a scholarship guy; he was a walk-on.<br /><br />Jay and I?<br /><br />Blog Talk Radio didn't come looking for us…Jay and I walked onto the court of Internet Radio and took it by storm, annnnnnd…we have been slam dunking it just like the man of lack of hops, Sherwood Brown.<br /><br />Another thing we have in common with FGCU?<br /><br />We have a coach, or rather in our case, a patron.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8f-_UW5rfFoEvJ1jTnUNAJw0sv0SlXoTp16n_5qsgIEctOQjxWOVYDpkmdZW6kO5mnP1OgbCJCnpWXcqtGfmhD-G6PuYhArlzl_bFRRs8dtj9L1yljB_JcQogrow89_esSHy2HIb9x54/s1600/Andy+Enfield+FGCU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8f-_UW5rfFoEvJ1jTnUNAJw0sv0SlXoTp16n_5qsgIEctOQjxWOVYDpkmdZW6kO5mnP1OgbCJCnpWXcqtGfmhD-G6PuYhArlzl_bFRRs8dtj9L1yljB_JcQogrow89_esSHy2HIb9x54/s400/Andy+Enfield+FGCU.jpg" width="400" /></a>Our friend Big Dick, decided that we weren’t reaching our full potential as radio hosts, so he bought us a Premium status on BTR so we could get our audio file creativity and two hour show freak on.<br /><br />See?  Our Big Dick is just like FGCU head coach, Andy Enfield.<br /><br /><br />Coach Enfield has taken a rag tag bunch of characters and turned them into a Sweet Sixteen basketball team.  The mighty and nascent Eagles are a team to be reckoned with, and…<br /><br />So is IWS Radio…<br /><br />Jay and Matt…Two less than moronic bum-fucks from Arkansas and Ohio have turned the brackets of BTR Radio on their heads…Oh yeah, no matter the fate of FGCU from here on out, we are following their playbook.<br /><br />We are the little train that could.  We <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/03/24/palm-funday"><span style="color: blue;">are the little radio show that will</span></a>…be Number One.<br /><br /><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><br />Matt-Man<br /><br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS"><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_iws</span></a></div>

IWS Radio: The Florida Gulf Coast University of Internet Radio!!

Cheeeeeeers Chuckleheads!! I have only been casually following the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year, but like many, I have been in...

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Star Looks Review

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>*Star Looks Review *</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxR7UA8k2OV7rHtIxLk7Wv6Jg6C56fsnz_1alzqq9B4K_7jqrT0tBg7_pWnp_K3grXFrc7LFgZeuT8MNe4Zr2p2dOHByJchCRXR3dUjA_0-E4P86SzsdewlVcgH6FlA8F833b-cose0YE/s1600/starlooks+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxR7UA8k2OV7rHtIxLk7Wv6Jg6C56fsnz_1alzqq9B4K_7jqrT0tBg7_pWnp_K3grXFrc7LFgZeuT8MNe4Zr2p2dOHByJchCRXR3dUjA_0-E4P86SzsdewlVcgH6FlA8F833b-cose0YE/s320/starlooks+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey makeup lovers, did you know that you can get makeup delivered straight to you're door?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can sign up for these lovely boxes each month!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually don't wear any makeup at all, So I tend to go the natural way.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I do decide to wear makeup I usually wear a little bit of cover up, mascara, eye shadow and a lip gloss or chap stick.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess I just don't know which colors to wear sometimes because they are too dark for my skin tone and it won't look right.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when I came across <a href="http://starlooks.com/">Starlooks makeup</a> and saw the beautiful colors that they use I just knew I had to try their products!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was overjoyed with excitement when I got the email that I was going to be reviewing their products to share with my readers.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was just counting down the days for the box to arrive wondering what I was going to be reviewing. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Arrival:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Star Looks box arrived today!!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received the March Star Box.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVYlmQnm7UdidSoNJprKw8sS1O3ihIBLa8eqhpy2lErkqdqlCv1U1I53YlqZsxR8K_3qvg1Reo-TkQHOanavp7_AxNkF7KyAz6q-rolfoQGp3hIzSddGlmIiT_XfaMMejj1iRS6yfDLI/s1600/Star+Looks+inside+the+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVYlmQnm7UdidSoNJprKw8sS1O3ihIBLa8eqhpy2lErkqdqlCv1U1I53YlqZsxR8K_3qvg1Reo-TkQHOanavp7_AxNkF7KyAz6q-rolfoQGp3hIzSddGlmIiT_XfaMMejj1iRS6yfDLI/s320/Star+Looks+inside+the+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I couldn't wait to open it and see what was inside.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The box alone was like unwrapping a present, it had a gold band tied around the box in a tiny bow.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved how the box was presented as well inside.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The box contained 4 full sized samples and they were wrapped in a pretty blue tissue paper.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can tell that this company puts a lot of thought into their boxing of the products!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The products in my box:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lip Sugar:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A sugary scrub for you're lips adding a shine to those luscious lips, so pucker up baby!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No joke, it seriously smelled like butter cream frosting!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eye Shadow:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yjJvsxgqWQte-YVCa3TKJ07r0UgtsCdwuAAtBVeh99D5QW5e9qttrFlju4hQHioEBy9KRrTg7LXJSvjdDgbD_yLgZhOP38oD43lD5VRGFloxsCeBiy2n-dviaJeK1JHC9sWrUm9TwPE/s1600/Smoky+star+looks+eye+shadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_yjJvsxgqWQte-YVCa3TKJ07r0UgtsCdwuAAtBVeh99D5QW5e9qttrFlju4hQHioEBy9KRrTg7LXJSvjdDgbD_yLgZhOP38oD43lD5VRGFloxsCeBiy2n-dviaJeK1JHC9sWrUm9TwPE/s320/Smoky+star+looks+eye+shadow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've tried a fair share of eye shadows through out my life and other brands can't even compare to Star Looks brand at all!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The colors are amazing and the one I received looked great on me, it wasn't too dark and that's just the way I like it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Really brought out my eyes adding a smoky color to my eye lashes.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lipstick:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNMIQw2q7e7AIHXbJj9Pianya3ZIAeiy-yZjkkPPyfuXhGw-eNwTjncRGuPAkxYECYSWn_yY2etEoDyW9Ky6qNs_9sSbkK-Rpr1-uhpWBI_x5KcsZi0EI9tTD7BjkO9A9Msfk8aaFrAM/s1600/Star+Looks+lipstick+color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNMIQw2q7e7AIHXbJj9Pianya3ZIAeiy-yZjkkPPyfuXhGw-eNwTjncRGuPAkxYECYSWn_yY2etEoDyW9Ky6qNs_9sSbkK-Rpr1-uhpWBI_x5KcsZi0EI9tTD7BjkO9A9Msfk8aaFrAM/s320/Star+Looks+lipstick+color.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I loved about this lip stick was that it wasn't too dark for me, as in it didn't look like I rubbed hot chocolate sauce on my lips! Laugh out loud.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looked fantastic on me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mascara: </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZbTtZudN7vsbNyYyH3l57jGZhwaatersJcNY5HQ8_oWbJD0bWwSVm8R5w1oRtkQrX4I5OG8wEbSr_aC1S4gP7v35ydrC5xxyAm3frzxmd_QbrOVdC7wjiyBQd5sV6xxrqlI-XXARTkM/s1600/Star+looks+end+result.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZbTtZudN7vsbNyYyH3l57jGZhwaatersJcNY5HQ8_oWbJD0bWwSVm8R5w1oRtkQrX4I5OG8wEbSr_aC1S4gP7v35ydrC5xxyAm3frzxmd_QbrOVdC7wjiyBQd5sV6xxrqlI-XXARTkM/s320/Star+looks+end+result.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I put this mascara on I noticed that my eye brows looked longer and fuller, also that my eyes didn't itch and water like they usually do from mascara.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I absolutely love this brand and will continue using Star Looks!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check them out online!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Face Book:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/starlooksmd">https://www.facebook.com/starlooksmd</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/starlooksmd">https://twitter.com/starlooksmd</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pinterest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://pinterest.com/starlooks/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://pinterest.com/starlooks/</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You Tube:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/starlooksmd"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.youtube.com/starlooksmd</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Star Looks sent me a makeup box for the month of March in exchange for a product review. However, All the opinions expressed here are my own.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>

Star Looks Review

*Star Looks Review * Hey makeup lovers, did you know that you can get makeup delivered straight to you're door? You can sign up for thes...

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