Compared with chimpanzees and our extinct ancestors, modern humans have fragile, lightly-built skeletons. Recent research shows that these lightweight bones evolved late in our evolutionary history, and were likely the result of reduced mobility thanks to our shift from foraging to farming lifestyles. The pair of findings (here and here) were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.
Bjork learned early that few things are more calming than flutes, violins, soft story-telling and a piccolo, which is how she began slaying audiences back in 1976.
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For an entire week I splurged on cookies, ice cream, and bacon. My weight, of course, normally balloons on such a diet. But I did not put on a pound during this delicious week. These two simple strategies made all the difference: when I ate and the workouts I did prior to binging.
To be sure, there was a purpose to this seemingly hedonistic act of self-destruction. I wasn't just stressing the limits of my Obamacare insurance; I was testing out a cult bodybuilding theory that exercise and timing matter more in cultivating a swimsuit body than the total amount of food consumed. In other words, all calories are not equal.
The holiday season provided a perfect opportunity to test such a theory, as thousands of partygoers indulge in piles of sweets, lamenting the unsightly bulge that will inevitably result from their lapse in willpower. Thanks to this experiment, if I know I won't be able to control my hair-trigger impulse to chow down on gingerbread cookies at a party, I can change up my workout routine to buffer the damage.
This was not my idea. I was inspired by the world's great action stars.
"I used to go to The House of Pies and eat pies at night," recalls seven-time Mr. Universe winner and former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though he and his workout partner didn't understand the science at time, back in the 1970s, "Instinctively, we just felt like we needed the pie."
Bare chest-enthusiast and professional comic book hero Hugh Jackman is also a fan of calorie- and carb-heavy diets after a prolonged period of fasting. He told Oprah that to get in shape for Wolverine, he ate an astounding 6,000 calories per day. In another interview, he spoke at length about his 8:16 fasting regimen (8 hours of eating after 16 hours of fasting):
This is, in fact, the second time in two years I've successfully replicated a carb-heavy body-building routine. The first time could have been a fluke, so I decided to test a slightly different version during the holiday season. Even though I expected the positive result this time around, it's still kind of amazing to look in the mirror every day after stuffing fist-fulls of ice-cream sandwiches in your mouth and see no difference.
The so-called "Wolverine Diet", named after Hugh Jackman's on-screen X-Men character, is just a general prescription for fasted resistance training. Because I wanted some structure to the routine, I adapted the protocol of "Lean Gains," which developed a moderately size fan base for its thorough instructions.
There are four big elements of the strategy:
1) Intermittent fasting: 18 hours of fasting and 6 hours eating at night.
2) Olympic lifting every other day, followed by a low-fat, carb- and protein-heavy binge
3) On rest days, I eat a high-fat, low-carb diet
4) My training is heavy resistance training of low-rep work to failure (meaning I can't physically do the last rep). I chose mainly Crossfit-style resistance workouts, with Olympic barbells and weighted calisthenics.
For seven days, I fluctuated around 144 pounds and 17 percent body fat. Every night I'd gain about two pounds from stuffing my face, then burn it off by the next day's weigh-in.
During the Wolverine Diet, there was one day where I gained a bit of weight and fat. While I can't say for certain what made me gain fat, I suspect it was because I made the mistake of drinking a juice during my binge.
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OJ and other juices are deceitful mountains of sugar masquerading as health drinks. They cause a blood sugar spike unlike any other carb I eat. If I had to choose, I'd go with a milkshake over juices any day (on or off the Wolverine Diet).
Let's be clear: I have the metabolism of a catatonic gerbil. Normally, I get fat just looking at ice cream. In preparation for another diet I experimented this December, I allowed myself to eat the same foods, but without a complicated fitness protocol. My weight ballooned 14 pounds in two weeks.
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My days were split between workout days and rest days.
On workout days, I'd chowed down like a college stoner in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
After a full day of fasting, I'd head off to the gym around 6 pm. Right before, I'd dose 5 mg of branch-chain amino-acids (BCAAs), which are believed to spike hormones responsible for translating carbs into muscle. I'd do six bouts of high-intensity intervals in three sets. For two minutes, I'd go all-out in a sprint, jump rope, or rowing machine — 30 seconds of regular intensity and 30 seconds of 100 percent.
This is second in a regular Vox series on better living through technology and science. I, your humble guinea pig, subject myself to all sorts of experiments to discover what practical tips readers can apply to their lives immediately.
What makes this series different from traditional health writing is its emphasis on the techniques of "quantified self": the science of self-improvement. No single study can tell you, exactly, how a diet or exercise regimen will impact your particular body. When it comes to health, we're all individual snowflakes.
Between sets, I would do three of the following: weighted pull ups, Olympic barbell squats, weighted ring dips, Olympic barbell deadlifts, and weighted lunge. Every time, I'd end with a weighted ab exercise (my favorite is hanging feet-to-bar, but I've also done weighted crunches). All told, I'd spend about an hour at the gym.
After the workout, I'd hold a fat kid circus. I tried to keep my carb days free of fat. So, if I indulged in ice cream, I'd pair it with some (relatively) less fattening cookies. Normally, fat is great at dampening the damaging spike in blood sugar from carbs. But, in this case, I wanted a spike. Later on in the night, I'd make sure to get plenty of local seasonal veggies and lean meats.
I'd go nuts for about six hours, taking multiple trips to dessert places near my apartment, and pass out sometime at night after the binge.
Binge days were followed by a rest day. I still fasted during the day, but didn't work out. When I broke the fast on rest days, I'd go super-high fat: pig fat, cheese, or really fatty cuts of beef. Meatballs are positively divine. I even tried with some low-carb "raw" chocolate, made from coconut butter and stevia. I would dream peacefully of the coming binge fest to come the next day.
I'd like to say yes, but I wasn't successful with at-home workouts. I tried continuing the diet for a few days while traveling. I did short 15-minute Crossfit workouts in my hotel room. It did not work. I gained (a lot) of weight.
It might work, though, if you have access to heavy lifting equipment at home. John Kiefer, a fitness trainer who popularized the recent carb-backloading craze, seems to think that circuit-training style workouts don't provide the kind of hormonal changes necessary to change how the body converts carbs to fuel. It's gotta be low-rep resistance training and that means heavy weights.
Potentially, high-intensity interval training alone (like sprints) might work, but I didn't try it.
Holy cannoli, yes! Previously, when I did a Wolverine-style diet, my cholesterol jumped 31 percent. This is one major reason why I haven't experimented with the diet in two years. It took a while to get my cholesterol back to normal levels. This time around, I binged half as much for one third the time. So, when I checked my cholesterol a few weeks later, it was not unusually high. But, I still wouldn't do this on a regular basis, as the sugar is probably bad for cholesterol and damaging to my kidneys.
Jackman says he does a much cleaner version of the diet. In the future, I may try a Wolverine Diet with sweet potatoes and raw honey instead of cake and ice cream.
The body transfers energy from food, via insulin, into both muscle and fat. After a workout, especially a fasted workout with heavy weights, nutrients are more likely to be used for muscle.
"This is a pretty straightforward process. If you fast, or restrict calories, then also do bodybuilding training (typically glycogen depleting to a degree), you will then be in a glycogen-depleted state," said fitness researcher Eric Helms, who recently conducted an exhaustive review of bodybuilding studies. "Thus, when you eat, you will have a larger capacity to store energy as glycogen, and you will be less likely to store calories as fat. Of course, this also depends on the composition of what you eat."
The denser the carbs, like sugar without fat, the better for muscle growth. "The quality of the carbs still is fairly important. I would suggest some fast-acting carbs and also some lower-glycemic index carbs also with protein included too," wrote Kingsbury.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, unknowing proponent of the high-fat, intense-exercise dieting strategy (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
The scientific literature is less than conclusive. Brad Schoenfeld, assistant professor in exercise science at the City University of New York and a researcher on postexercise nutrient intake said, "No evidence I've seen shows alterations in body fat percentage from nutrient timing in any capacity — it is a function of energy balance."
Unfortunately, the studies haven't exactly looked at the Wolverine Diet. The typical study looks at a small protein shake after a workout, not the kind of super-intense fasted resistance training coupled with a large high-sugar energy spike.
I was most definitely eating more calories than I normally do — about 1,500 calories a day more. Jackman eats 6,000. It would be difficult for any professor to gain approval to run a normal population of participants through the daily routine of Jackman or Schwarzenegger.
Advocates of these diets point to preliminary academic research showing that fasted resistance training does have a measurable and predicted impact on muscle building and that fasted training burns up to 20 percent more body fat.
Unless you're training for an action movie, the Wolverine Diet probably isn't advisable. But it is instructive to think about what it means for dieting.
If the conventional wisdom about calories were true, I should have had to buy a wider pair of jeans after this experiment. But, calories are simply a form of energy and the body converts energy differently depending on how its being stressed.
I used to eat to "lose weight." Now, I eat to accomplish my goals, whether it's to sleep more deeply, lift heavier weights, focus better at work, or run faster. Seeing food as functional has brought sanity to the once antagonistic relationship I had with eating.
Cards Against Humanity bought a special gift for the 250,000 people who signed up for its holiday promotion this year: a piece of a private island in Maine, the company announced yesterday.
In 2013, Cards Against Humanity launched a new kind of year-end promotion, "12 Days of Holiday Bullshit," in which 100,000 people paid $12 for 12 gifts. The company expanded the program to 250,000 people this year with "Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa," offering 10 gifts for $15. For the 10th and final gift, Cards Against Humanity turned an old joke into a reality.
"A couple years ago, we made a joke that with the money we donated to the Wikimedia Foundation, we could have bought a small private island," begins Cards Against Humanity's letter to 10...
Who knew that growing a Venus flytrap at home can be so much fun?
Youtuber Kluna Tik creates amusing miniclips featuring her Venus flytrap plant Charlie The Carnivore. In each clip Charlie does something surprising: smokes a cigarette, blows a bubblegum or eats a pickle. In the most recent one Charlie The Carnivore puts on a Santa’s Beard, wishing everyone merry Christmas.
In case you didn’t know, Venus flytrap is a carnivore plant which catches its prey when the tiny hairs on their surface are triggered. Seems a bit frightening? Not when you look at Charlie!
More info: Facebook | Youtube (h/t: neatorama)
nicknames/mottos (a more truthful version): countries
As a Scottish person I can confirm that this is 100% accurate
As an English person I can confirm that this is 100% accurate
As an American i can also confirm that this is 100% accurate
Iceland is babe
Two groups of self-described hackers have been fighting for nearly a month over a threat to take down the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on Christmas Day.
On Tuesday, Redditor Duxa posted this video with the title “I finally have proof of how much of an asshole my cat is.”
Finally? Duxa, have you ever met a cat before? Cats are assholes every minute of every day. It took you this long to collect “evidence?” As if you probably don’t have plenty of “evidence” in the form of cat barf in your shoes, on your freshly laundered duvet or in your laundry bag?
“Sometimes, for no reason, cats are just assholes.” Duxa wrote on the YouTube page.
When it comes to cats, video evidence is the best kind. Here we see the little tuxedo cat in question refusing to let the Maine Coone enjoy its nap in the sun. Instead, the little guy thought he should startle his fluffy friend into a sneezing fit.
The soundtrack is pretty inspired, we have to admit. Way to add that gravitas.
The verdict is in:
[h/t Happyplace]
It seems that even our Sun is helping spread the festive joy, bearing resemblance to a flaming Christmas pudding in this stunning new image from NASA.
Kanye West‘s “Yeezus” was one of the most caustic, biting, angry records of 2013. But perhaps it’s a testament to how catchy it was at the same time that you can strip it of all the fiery lyrics and reimagine it as a Christmas album and it’s still downright addictive.
The group Local Business Comedy got the idea for “Kreezus,” the “Yeezus” Christmas album, and worked with a damn convincing Kanye impersonator to rewrite the entire album. “On Sight” becomes “Long Night.” “New Slaves” becomes “New Sleighs,” “I Am a God” becomes “I Am a Claus”—you get it.
“Red dude all up in your chimney then/ Real Kringle all up in your house again,” raps “Kanye” on “Long Night.” See below for the only Christmas album you’ll need this year.
[h/t CoS]
Bridgetwe're all going to die
UPDATE at 2:40 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 23: The full statement from Sony's CEO is below.[ Read more ]
Fashion street photographers usually look for styles that are one of a kind. Hans Eijkelboom doesn’t. For over twenty years, the Dutch ‘anti-sartorial’ photographer has roamed the streets of major cities around the world in search for the common — people showing similar tastes in clothing, accessories, or behavior.
The result is a monumental project called “Photo Notes“, which comprises grids of photos grouped together by a common theme.
The photos were captured everywhere from Amsterdam to New York and Paris to Shanghai. After selecting a busy pedestrian area in the city, Eijkelboom would spend up to hours at a time observing passers-by and focusing on a certain thing:
[It’s] normally based on a garment, sometimes a behaviour: people in band T-shirts, fur caps or beige trench coats; young couples walking arm-in-arm; women in suit dresses; men with gelled hair or pushing shopping trolleys.
Eijkelboom’s snapshots would be silent and secretive, captured with a camera around his neck triggered by a remote shutter release kept in his pocket. Once back in his studio, Eijkelboom arranged the images into grids.
Here are some of the grids in his collection:
Amsterdam, Netherlands. April 15, 2005.
Shanghai, China. October 12, 2005
New York City, United States. August 24th, 1997.
Rotterdam, Netherlands. November 22th, 2004.
Arnhem, Netherlands. June 22, 1995.
Amsterdam, Netherlands. December 10th, 2011
Paris, France. September 9th, 2006.
More recently, Eijkelboom’s Photo Notes grids have been published in a new book titled “People of the Twenty-First Century.” As its title suggests, the book provides “a cumulative portrait of the people of the 21st century” through over 6,000 photographs across 512 pages.
You can find more of Eijkelboom’s work on the Photo Notes website.
Image credits: Photographs by Hans Eijkelboom/Phaidon and used with permission
Paramedics in Taguatinga, Brazil, picked up a homeless youth suffering from a seizure when they noticed a little dog chasing after them in the ambulance.
As you can see from the video, the dog was in such hot pursuit that the driver pulled over and let the little guy hop on. Once inside the vehicle, the young patient began interacting with the little dog and they emergency workers learned that its name is Spike.
“We were touched and concerned about the safety of the animal, who could be run over,” paramedic Celiosmar Ferreira told the newspaper Correio Braziliense. “When we stopped the car at an intersection, he came to stand in front of the ambulance. It was then that we decided to pick him up … In 19 years of this profession I have never witnessed such a scene.”
Spike accompanied his owner into the ER where he stayed nearby, comforting the young man.
The ending to this story is bittersweet. Fortunately for the youth, his condition wasn’t serious and he left the hospital soon after being treated. Unfortunately, he and Spike were returning to life on the streets of Brazil.
[The Dodo]
On Saturday, protesters gathered inside the Mall of America to draw attention to police violence, just like many groups of people have, in many different cities, to increasingly alarming levels of backlash and resistance. The Mall of America is a public space big enough to hold Yankee Stadium seven times over, but it is also private property, and the peaceful protesters were warned that they would be violating property rights.
[Update: After this article was originally posted, Bryan Hollon answered some questions about the incident for L.A. Weekly via email. You can read his comments at the end of the article.][ Read more ]
It's not often I walk away from a movie and talk about how great the sound design was. But that's because I'm easily wowed and blinded by impressive visuals and crafty storytelling and great acting and so forth. But after watching this CineFix top 10 list of movies with great sound, I think I should pay more attention with my ears.
Bridgetwild things ftw
The original meaning of a “femme fatale” is at least as old as humanity itself. The symbol of a seductive, immoral female figure first emerged in the initial story of Adam and Eve. The femme fatale motif runs like a red thread in various literary works such a Heinrich Heine’s Loreley or the dancing daughter of Herodias in Oscar Wilde’s Salome, as well as in musical pieces like Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale“ from 1966 to the conscious, vivid personification in a number of film works.
Femme fatale has its cinematic origin already in the silent film era from the early 1920s. Actresses like Theda Bara, Gloria Swanson and Marlene Dietrich served as cinematic mothers who broke with the conventional stereotypes of one-dimensional, needy women dependent on the man, and showed more depth and sophistication.
The peak of the personification of a strong woman was then reached in the film noir era from the 1940s, in which the term “femme fatale” was officially recognized as the epitome of a manipulative, cold-blooded and sexual self-determining attitude. Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity from 1944 is still regarded as a classic of that time. Probably at no other time in Hollywood have more profound women’s roles ever been created.
However, with the modernization of the film business, the image of women has also changed increasingly. After another revival of neo-noir film, the femme fatale persona has altered as well. Over the years she has become more and more independent, cold-blooded and does not use her intrigues to primarily gain wealth or power, but rather she uses her calculus as a kind of pleasure to place herself in a position of power.
This list specifically deals with the alteration of the film business, the social emancipation and the motives of those cunning power games.
14. Body Heat (1981) – Mrs. Matty Walker
During an unbearable heat wave in Florida, the unscrupulous lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) meets the married Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) and becomes entangled in a passionate affair. They decide to kill Matty’s rich husband Edmund (Richard Crenna) in order to get possession of his wealth. After Ned tries to disguise the murder as an accident, he arouses considerable suspicion for the police.
The smooth, mysterious jazz music accentuates the sultry severity of the themed heat wave in the entire film. But the music also matches the inscrutable figure of Matty Walker. At first glance, with her elegance and aloofness, she reminds one of a young Lauren Bacall, the chain-smoking femme fatale who exudes boldness and coolness.
As Ned Racine is characterized by a strong passion for the fair sex and has a certain reputation as a womanizer, he is irretrievably fooled and entraps himself in her unobtrusive, latent seduction methods, her obvious femininity and her manipulation, which animates for murder.
13. Brick (2005) – Ms. Laura Dannon
The Brain (Matt O’Leary) is the only friend that loner Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has at his high school. Both team up to investigate some mysterious events. Brendan’s ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) sounds desperate on the phone and wants to meet him. However, she disappears shortly afterwards without a trace. With the help of his buddy, Brendan starts his investigation and slides at once into a strange world.
Emily has slipped into the underground of the high school scene and has ended tragically. Brendan meets his classmate Laura Dannon (Nora Zehetner), who seems to know more than she wants to admit. After some revelatory information, Brendan finds Emily’s body under an underpass and then he works against those responsible for the local drug scene because he suspects to find the culprit there. After some brutal attacks, he meets the underworld boss “The Pin” (Lukas Haas) and brings himself into life- threatening danger.
Although one would not expect a film noir scenery in a high school environment, the film Brick fulfills all the classic features of a neo-noir film. Laura is a classic femme fatale role, although she appears in a contemporary American environment. She plays a double game, but she doesn’t show this obviously, since she apparently supports Brendan’s investigations. However, her appearance simply does not match the classic appearance of a femme fatale, since she appears very girly with her ‘60s pixie look.
12. Wild Things (1997) – Suzie Toller / Kelly Van Ryan
Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is a handsome and likeable school psychologist who has a good connection to his students, but one day a scandal occurs: the millionaire’s daughter Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards) claims that the popular teacher abused his authority and raped her. It comes to a scandalous trial, in which Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), a problematic girl from the school, who is living in a trailer park, also takes part in the trial and accuses Sam of sexual abuse.
However, Lombardo’s attorney Kenneth Bowden (Bill Murray) can quickly demonstrate that the accusations are false and prove Lombardo’s innocence. In order to avoid a defamation suit, the family Van Ryan pays Lombardo damages in the amount of 8 million dollars. However, the investigating cop Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) begins to have doubts about the plausibility of the case.
Quite unusual for this film is the fact that there is not only one femme fatale, but two of them, who increase the suspense twice as much. Initially unnoticed by the viewer, the intrigues begin to occur from the first minute. The two women apply different manipulation methods.
Kelly, the spoiled upper class girl with a razor-sharp appearance, uses her femininity to weaken her victims with pure sexual seduction, while Suzie, a nondescript white trash girl with intelligence above 200 points, succeeds to deceive everyone and finally goes out as a winner of the game, even though the cards are constantly being shuffled.
11. Cruel Intentions (1999) – Kathryn Merteuil
The step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) live in the luxury of the New York upper class. Unattended, they are being financed by their mostly absent parents. Sebastian is a young man who is adept at taking advantage of women.
By contrast, Kathryn presents herself as a flawless elite college student with an activity as a Head Girl. However, she conceals even deeper human abysses of calculation and wounded vanity than her brother. Bored with her existence, she offers Sebastian a perfidious bet to revenge herself upon her ex-lover in a very discreet manner. Sebastian wagers his 1956 Jaguar XK120 for the prospect of sex with the unattainable stepsister.
The role of the self-proclaimed Casanova is the seduction of the pious virgin exemplary student Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon). The persons involved entangle themselves in an increasingly dense web of intrigue, and Sebastian reluctantly falls in love with Annette and risks far more than just his car.
On the one hand, Kathryn is a femme fatale who takes pleasure in sadism and manipulation. On the other hand, it is a way to compensate her inner emptiness and sorrow of a hedonistically educated upper class child that needs to present herself to the outside world as well-mannered, educated and pious.
The film is based on the literary classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Although the plot of the book takes place in France in the 18th century, the modern version is moved to New York in the presence, but all existing social structures are maintained.
10. Golden Eye (1995) – Xenia Onatopp
Double-zero agent James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is given an order by his principal, the intelligence chief M (Judi Dench), to regain the access codes for the potential super-weapon “Golden Eye,” an electromagnetic radiation satellite that could destroy all life on Earth.
The codes were taken into possession by the military organization “Janus,” and the Russian General Orumov (Gottfried John) attempts to come to power in his chaotic country following the collapse of the Soviet Union. James Bond sets off on the hunt together with Natalya Simonova (Isabella Scorupco), a computer specialist. He meets the Russian spy Xenia, who acts as a deadly sex bomb. James Bond doesn’t guess that the enemy is within his own ranks.
Xenia Onatopp is the epitome of a diabolical Bond villain. She loves fast cars, is adept at gambling and smokes cigarettes with an unimpressed air. Xenia is danger on two legs. She is military trained, cold-blooded and ruthless, and masters lethal close combat techniques, which she applies during sexual acts. She is a cobra-like killing machine, who crushes her victim with her legs.
9. Fatal Attraction (1987) – Alex Forrest
The New York lawyer Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) leads an orderly and routine family life. He is professionally very successful, has a very pretty wife and a lovely daughter. One day he meets colleague Alex (Glenn Close) and becomes entangled in a thoughtless and reckless weekend affair. Although Dan interprets the adventure as a one-time thing, Alex cannot accept his limit. Alex puts Dan increasingly under pressure in a very perfidious manner, so that Dan cannot withstand it much longer.
Alex Forrest is an obvious femme fatale, since the first sexual impulse is influenced by her. Although in the beginning she presents herself as an independent and tough woman, the facade begins to crumble in no time and her true self comes to the fore. She skillfully covers up her unstable and pathological personality, which mounts in attachment, aggression and hysteria. Obviously she suffers from bipolar disorder, coupled with suicidal tendencies.
Alex Forrest becomes an unscrupulous perpetrator, as she has problems with being alone and acts out her deficits through a compulsive behavior, such as switching the light on and off in an incessant manner. If she is ignored, her feelings escalate and she would rather destroy the object of desire than not possess it.
8. Original Sin (2001) – Julia Russell / Bonnie Castle
In Cuba at the turn of the century, the wealthy plantation owner Luis Antonio Vargas (Antonio Banderas) is in search of a potential wife and gets to know her by mail contact. He waits excitedly for the ship with his future wife Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie), an American, who he has previously only known from a portrait. But as he stands in front of Julia Russell, he is surprised: she is much prettier than the woman in the photo.
This planned marriage of convenience evolves into a passionate love relationship, even if Luis cannot penetrate all the secrets behind Julia. When one day a private investigator (Thomas Jane) shows up and claims that he is looking for the real Julia Russell, Julia disappears without a trace with all his assets. However, even his disappointment, anger and revengefulness cannot kill his love for Julia. Luis decides to look for Julia himself and to find out more about her fictitious past.
Julia Russell, aka Bonnie Castle, is a born liar. It’s no surprise that she has worked as an actress for many years and has mastered her role. She is a woman with little ladylike past. Growing up without parents, she had to learn rip-off skills in order to survive on the street. Therefore, she knows all the gambling tricks and ensnares wealthy men with her breathtaking femininity.
Bonnie is ruthless, since she eliminates everything that interferes in her life. She has a sadistic streak that makes it easy for her not to cringe even when killing an animal (bird). However, a crucial aspect separates her from the usual femme fatale image: In a moment of weakness, she falls in love with her husband Luis and breaks with the past, conducting an orderly life in chaos.
When I first heard about the Bulletproof Diet — the "revolutionary" plan for weight loss — I tried to turn a blind eye. I really did.
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But then, there were rumblings around the newsroom. "My Silicon Valley Facebook friends are posting about it a lot," said one colleague. Another wanted to know whether there was any science to the claims that butter-laden coffee could actually help achieve a new level of mental clarity. When the "cult" turned up in the New York Times, my editor said we should be writing about it, too.
