Jenny From The Block had a house guest and didn't even know it.
John M. Dubis, 49, was arraigned on charges of burglary, criminal contempt, stalking and possession of burglar tools after making himself at home in Jennifer Lopez's pool house for one week.
The singer-actress was away when workers found him.
Lopez purchased the Water Mill mansion in the Hamptons for $9.995 million in May, the New York Post reported.
The 8,660-square-foot home was built in 2004, according to Zillow, and sits on three acres of property on Bay Lane with its own cul de sac, so it's incredibly private.
According to The Post, sources said Lopez liked that there was enough room to build a guest house or tennis court in the future.
But apparently, the pool house will do.
This is the Water Mill mansion Jennifer Lopez purchased for nearly $10 million in May.
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The Hamptons property sits on more than three acres of land, with the pool house tucked in the far corner.
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The pool house is fenced in by shrubbery and a gate.
A mystery patron has baffled servers in Ogden, Utah by leaving tips in excess of $1,000.
The Consumerist first drew our attention to the tipster, who reportedly frequented two bars in the town's historic district.
The person left a $5,000 tip on a $214.75 bar tab, reports local newspaper the Standard-Examiner. The next night, waiters received a $1,000 tip on a bill of $49.
The tips were so generous that the waiters checked with the customer to make sure he wasn't intoxicated.
Waiters from one bar told the Standard-Examiner that tips were split evenly among staff working that night.
There were rumors that the generous tipper also left an impression at the local golf course.
"“I guess they were golfing in Eden the day before and tipped the girl with the beer cart $1,000,” the waiter told the Standard-Examiner. “I heard she was crying.”
The storied New York Palace is currently undergoing a massive $140 million renovation that will completely change the look and feel of the hotel.
The renovation is meant to maintain the hotel's historic roots (it was constructed in 1882 as the Villard Mansion) while bringing it into the 21st century with a more modern aesthetic.
So far, only the rooms in the Towers, the more elite part of the hotel, have been completed — and they're looking great.
A hotel within a hotel, the Towers spans the 41st to 53rd floors, and has 176 guest rooms and suites. I recently stayed in a suite in the Towers and was impressed by the sheer size of the room and the luxurious feel of the space. With a full kitchen, separate dining and living area, and massive bathroom, my suite definitely felt more like a million-dollar apartment than a typical hotel suite.
Rooms in the Towers start from about $500 per night.
Disclosure: The New York Palace Hotel covered lodging costs for us to review the property.
The Towers has its own separate entrance within the Palace Hotel.
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The hotel-within-a-hotel also has its own reception area with concierge and check-in. It feels very exclusive.
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Upstairs, my suite had a grand entrance with a long hallway and sitting area.
There's a lot more to becoming a wine expert than tossing back a glass now and then.
You've got to know the vocab — tannin, bouquet, terroir, aroma — not to mention how to hold a glass, recognize flavors, and know when to drink it.
Luckily, London-based company Datadial developed a helpful infographic for their client WineInvestment that breaks down everything a budding wine enthusiast needs to know (first found at Visual.ly).
We broke apart the infographic into nine handy illustrations.
Let's start with the breakdown of the bottle. The name of the company that produces the wine will be at the top, followed by the variety of wine, the region and type of grapes used, and the year it was made. Alcohol content will be at the very bottom of the label:
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Different wines should be served at different temperatures. Red wine should be room temperature, or about 20-25 degrees C, whilepink or rosé wines should be served slightly chilled around 7-13 degrees C.
White wine and sparkling wine should both be cold — keep them in the fridge so that they're below 5°C, or 40°F.
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Different types of glasses are best for different types of wine. Of course, you don't need all the variety of glasses in your home, but when picking out glasses, choose ones that complement the type of wine you favor.
It's always a good idea to have champagne flutes and port glasses on hand, as well.
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To hold and swill wine like an expert, hold the glass by the stem. This is important especially with chilled wines since the heat from your hand will warm the bowl and alter the taste of the wine.
Then rotate your wrist so the wine gently swirls around the bowl. This allows the smell of the wine to fill the bowl, which is important for the flavor profile.
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Wine are not only red, pink, or white. In fact, the shade and hue of the wine indicates its age and the type of wine — whether it's light- or full-bodied, or the different kinds of rosé.
And if a wine looks cloudy, that usually means there's something wrong with it. Ask for a different glass, or throw out the wine.
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The alcohol content in wine ranges from 11-14%. Lighter wines tend to have less alcohol, whereas bolder wines will have more.
Make sure to drink light wines 3 days after opening. Bolder wines can last up to 10 days.
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To sound cool in front of all your oenophile friends, it's important to know the aroma of your wine. Fruity, sweet, spicy, herbal, mineral, and floral are some of the more common aromas.
Experts can even taste the underlying flavor notes of the wine. Here are some of the common ones:
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Ah, tannins: One of the more confusing components when experts talk about wine. All you really have to know is that a tannin is a textural element of the wine that makes it taste dry.
Here's what you don't have to know, but might find interesting: Tannin is a naturally occurring polyphenol found in plants, seeds, bark, wood, leaves, and fruit skins. Tannins add bitterness, astringency, and a complex flavor to your wine.
Typically, tannins in wine either come from the grapes' skin, seeds, or stems. Tannins can also be from the wood of the barrel that the wine was aged in.
Wine tannins are most commonly found in red wine, although some white wines have tannins from being aged in wooden barrels.
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Terroir is a vocab word that only true wine connoisseurs are familiar with — or those who have been to the NYC wine bar by the same name.
Essentially, it's the set of special characteristics (including climate, soil type, topography, and other plants growing in the area) that influence grapes where they're grown.
The terroir affects the flavor of the grapes, and is what makes all wines unique.
The Mustang will turn 50 years old in April, and Ford is already getting ready to celebrate.
As a throwback, the automaker's press team has re-published the work of its predecessors: the press kit for the very first Mustang.
The 27-page document shows that when it comes to revealing new cars, not a whole lot has changed in the auto industry.
Journalists are still sent a pile of information about styling, engine specs, and optional features.
Car introductions are still accompanied by waves of advertising, though the newspaper and magazine ads of old have been mostly abandoned for social media campaigns.
While there's always a lot of hype around big new cars, the Mustang is one car that lived up to its promise, becoming one of the best American vehicles of all time.
It's fun to see how it all started: With three transmission choices, four available engines, two bucket seats, and "nylon-rayon deep-pile carpeting."
Anthony Marshall will be a free man after serving just 60 days of his one- to three-year sentence for defrauding his aging mother Brooke Astor of millions of dollars, The New York Times reports.
The 89-year-old Marshall was granted medical parole after his lawyers argued that he couldn't walk or even stand up by himself and had difficulty swallowing.
Marshall was convicted of defrauding his mother in December 2009, after a dramatic trial that a prosecutor called "Grand theft Astor," according to The Times. The most serious charge he was convicted of was giving himself a $1 million raise for managing his mother's estate.
Brooke Astor died at the 105 back in 2007.
Marshall's release comes after Attorney General Eric Holder called for "compassionate release" of elderly and sick convicts.
In an op-ed last week, Human Rights Watch adviser Jamie Fellner pointed out that Marshall was just one of 26,100 prisoners 65 or over incarcerated in the United States.
"Owing largely to decades of tough-on-crime policies — mandatory minimum sentences, 'three strikes' laws and the elimination of federal parole — these numbers are likely to increase as more and more prisoners remain incarcerated into their 70s and 80s, many until they die," Fellner wrote.
Maria Sharapova has been the talk of the U.S. Open and now she won't even be playing in it because of a shoulder injury.
But before she was sidelined, she flirted with the idea of changing her name to Maria Sugarpova to promote her candy company during the U.S. Open.
It was an absurd idea, but it highlights that fact that Sharapova — the highest-earning female athlete in the world — is a multi-million dollars brand.
That money has allowed her to live a globetrotting lifestyle with fancy clothes, expensive cars, and a young new boyfriend.
Canadian police have released video showing a speeding motorcyclist crashing into a young black bear as it ran across the highway, AFP reports.
The video release, meant to warn others about the dangers of distracted driving, shows the first-person view of the motorcyclist on Highway 7 in Hope, British Columbia, accelerating to nearly 90 mph in less than 20 seconds.
AFP has more:
Police said in a statement that the driver was focused on his speedometer as part of a stunt and failed to see the bear until the last minute.
He ended up with non-life-threatening injuries while the bear walked away.
Beginning on August 26th, the US Open will need to feed over 700,000 people over the course of just 15 days.
It's the world's highest-attended annual sporting event, and it's also one of the most high-brow. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens will be filled to the brim with spectators and guests, all of whom are expecting to eat well.
US Open Executive Chef Jim Abbey and his expert 250-person culinary team will be joined by Celebrity Chefs Masaharu Morimoto, Tony Mantuano, and David Burke, all of whom will bring their best offerings to this year's menu. Guests will be able to choose from a number of options at any of the 5 restaurants, 60 concession stands, and 100 suites on the grounds.
The USTA held a food tasting preview, where each of the chefs spoke about the importance of crafting healthful and flavorful menu options using locally-sourced ingredients with an emphasis on fresh produce. You can see photos of some of the food after the jump.
The Grey Goose Honey Deuce (complete with honeydew melon "tennis" balls) is the signature cocktail of the US open. Made with Grey Goose vodka, lemonade, and splash of raspberry liqueur, it's light and fruity without being overwhelmingly sweet.
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Left to right: Chefs Tony Mantuano, David Burke, Masaharu Morimoto and US Open Executive Chef Jim Abbey will be joined by a culinary team of 250+ people.
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Players will be able to dine in the Balance Kitchen, which will feature gluten-free sandwiches as well as a juice, smoothie, and chocolate milk bar.
After about five hours of driving, we were nowhere near the city, so Jaguar Land Rover chartered us a flight back into town, on a De Havilland Otter Seaplane.
Oktoberfest, Germany's annual beer-centric extravaganza, will take place in Munich next month, and millions of people are expected to descend on the city for beer, music, and merriment.
To prepare, the city is frantically constructing massive beer tents and other temporary constructions like roller coasters to entertain and accommodate the crowds.
Oktoberfest will start on Sept. 21st.
The tents may be temporary constructions, but they're not flimsy. When constructed, these beer tents can hold up to 10,000 people.
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There will be over a dozen massive tents which will be sponsored by German beer companies, like Hofbraeu beer.
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The tents are fully functional constructions, wired with electricity, plumbing, and more.
The price of textbooks that students will use for a few months and undoubtedly never touch again has risen 82% over the last decade alone.
We're here to help.
With the growing popularity of e-books to online swap meets, there's absolutely no reason to plop down big money for glossy hardbacks when you could be saving that cash for student loans down the road.
You can rent e-books as long as you need them (30 days is the minimum) and save up to 80% off the cover price. The best part about this service is that all your highlights and notes will still be available via their Cloud service even after you've returned your book. E-book lovers can download books to just about any device, including the iPadKindle, Macs and PCs.
Ready to sell? Amazon's seller marketplace is seamless to use.
This site promises savings up to 85% off the cover price of textbooks. It claims to have the largest textbook inventory on the market and also allows you to sell or buy books new.
CEO Chuck Jones says they aren't offering e-books at the moment but since they don't charge customers for shipping costs, there's not much of a savings there anyway. And if you're really into highlighting the margins, Jones promises they're far more lenient in that regard.
This site has a huge inventory of books for rent and it recently launched an e-book rental service as well. You can download books to your account and access them anytime on the Web.
The only drawback is they're only available as streaming files, so you have to have an Internet connection to access them and they can't be downloaded.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Twelve miles outside of Paris, there's a pastoral and picturesque village known as Goussainville.
Almost no one lives there.
In 1972, the Charles de Gaulle Airport was built right next door in the town of Roissy. The farming village of Goussainville was directly in the flight path.
With the constant noise of planes flying overhead, the village's 144 homes were slowly abandoned as families moved away, many of them without bothering to sell their property.
Nowadays, only a few families remain living in what is now virtually a ghost town.
But even with all the decrepit buildings, the French village remains gorgeous.
From the classified historic monument Eglise St. Pierre et St. Paul Church to the still-standing 19th-century manor homes, Reuters photographer Charles Platiau shows there's still beauty despite the city's neglect.
Welcome to Goussainville, the abandoned French town 12 miles north of Paris.
Parts of the town still look gorgeous and pastoral, like this 19th century manor, making it obvious why families chose to live here in the first place.
I am a big Mumford & Sons fan. I even went to see them a few months ago when the group played the Barclays center.
I am also a member of the Soho House, so when the club sent out an email earlier this week stating that the group would be performing on their rooftop two days later as part of a 10-year anniversary celebration, I cleared my calendar.
Only problem is that the roof can't accommodate every single NYC member, so the club held a lottery.
Spoiler alert: I didn't win.
But a lot of other people did get the golden ticket and so I had to live vicariously through them on social media:
The Mumford dudes & their Sons. Do I have that right? ;-) Top o' Soho House on a beauty of a night in NYC. pic.twitter.com/zTciCU8b50
J. Crew's President and Creative Director Jenna Lyons watched from a swan in the pool.
Watch video of the band playing below:
And then John Legend came out:
Here are a few other celebs who were in attendance. They clearly did not have to enter a lottery:
J. Crew President and Creative Director, Jenna Lyons.
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Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany.
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Victoria's Secret model Erin Heatherton.
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Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.
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“We are supposed to stop playing now but we are just gonna go on,” Marcus Mumford reportedly told the crowd. “Don’t do this half-ass New York thing; we need some fat people in the pool, like myself and we will all be united.”
For most travelers in the 21st century, flying is a dreary experience, full of inconvenience, indignity, and discomfort.
That wasn't the case in the late 1930s, when those with the money to afford trans-oceanic flight got to take the Boeing Model 314, better known as the Clipper.
Even Franklin Roosevelt used the plane, celebrating his 61st birthday on board.
Between 1938 and 1941, Boeing built 12 of the jumbo planes for Pan American World Airways.
The 314 offered a range of 3,500 miles — enough to cross either the Atlantic or Pacific —and room for 74 passengers onboard.
Of course, modern aviation offers an amazing first class experience (and it's a whole lot safer), but nothing in the air today matches the romanticism of crossing the ocean in the famed Clipper.
Thanks to the Pan Am Historical Foundation for sharing its photos. The foundation is currently working on a documentary about Pan American World Airways and the adventure of the flying boat age. Find out more here.
The Model 314's nickname Clipper came from an especially fast type of sailing ship, used in the 19th century.
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The ship analogy was appropriate, as the Clipper landed on the water, not runways.
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Here's a diagram of the different areas of the plane.
The most expensive neighborhood in New York City isn't TriBeCa or the West Village. It's Rikers Island.
The city spent an average of $167,000 per inmate on its jail system in 2012, according to a new report from the city's Independent Budget Office. That's nearly three times the cost of New York State's prison system and five times as much as the national average, according to data from the Vera Center for Justice and the Pew Center on the States.
Doug Turetsky, communications director for the IBO, said the agency has not looked in detail at why the city's jails are so expensive. But the New York Times reports that 83% of jail costs go to employee wages and benefits, and that New York City has unusually high staffing ratios in its jails.
There is a silver lining: the city's jail population has declined massively over the last two decades. New Yorkers are significantly less likely to be incarcerated than the national average.
That's the idea behind UK-based photographer Craig Gibson's photo series — first found over at My Modern Met— that mashes together pictures of young men and their fathers' faces.
Gibson overlaps the images to reveal how strikingly similar the facial features are between the generations, which isn't as noticeable in the individual portraits.
Aptly titled "Boys And Their Fathers," the final merged composite photographs are truly mesmerizing. Check out Gibson's work below:
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“I’ve always seen cars as art—moving art,” explains designer and car aficionado Ralph Lauren. “My Lamborghini Reventón reminds me of an incredibly sleek sculpture, or the explosive architecture of a modern master like Frank Gehry."
"Others collect art, but for me owning a rare and magnificently designed car offers a different kind of experience. Like a painting, you can look at it, enjoy its visual aesthetic, but unlike a painting you can get inside of it, drive it, listen to the way it sounds and feels underway. In the end you can enjoy both the beauty of the machine and the journey it takes you on.”
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