jdangson, YouTube

For some mysterious reason, February 23rd is known as International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. It seems likely that dogs managed to get a hold of a calendar somewhere and decided to mark this day, so to speak, in order to get more treats. Clever pups.

In celebration of this delicious day for dogs and the crafty canine who must have made it so, we found a selection of videos involving dogs and treats and what dogs will do for the love of biscuits.

Little Dog Steals Biscuits From Big Dog

This brave (and treat-crazed) Yorkie steals a biscuit from a rather large, but patient, pit bull. We don’t advise taking biscuits from a bigger dog, but we can understand why the little dog would do so. Look how much more he gets.

Impressive Eye Trick

This little guy will risk having his eyes stick that way for a biscuit. We’ve never seen a dog cross his eyes on command before, so this trick definitely deserves a treat. But, please, save his eyes and teach him to roll over too.

Find the Hidden Biscuit

Victor the German Shepherd has to use his powerful sense of smell to figure out where his favorite treat has been hidden. Dogs know that the best use of their nose is for finding their delicious biscuits, no matter where the humans hide them.

Synchronized Biscuit Eating

Time to double the treat fun with more German Shepherds. This pair of pups waits serenely for the command to toss the treats off their noses and catch them. They deserve many biscuits because they have coordinated their efforts in a virtual dog biscuit ballet.

Extreme Patience Wins a Biscuit

These two patient pooches endure a long and excruciating waiting period before they get their biscuits. Certainly, they must go to some very Zen, dog happy place to sit so still and wait so patiently for the command to eat their beloved biscuits.

Tricks With Biscuits For Biscuits

Last year, we showed you this talented dog who can balance a giant stack of treats on his nose with ease. Here he is again, lying on his back, balancing biscuits on his chin and paws. Knick knack paddywack, give this dog a bone.

Even Cats Like Dog Biscuits

This sneaky little thief proves that it’s not just dogs who love dog treats. And, his dark coloring gives him a stealthy advantage, although he seems to have been caught in the act this time.

Pooch With Amazing Balloon Popping Skills

Strangely enough, this dog appears to prefer balloons to biscuits. She even holds a Guinness Book of World Records title for popping 100 balloons in 44.49 seconds. Anastasia, you deserve a biscuit.

Give a Dog a Biscuit Over Twitter

To celebrate the day, you can give the lovely Sela a treat through the miracle of modern technology and the internet with this robotic instant message treat dispenser. We can’t tell if this is actually working right now, but you can follow @seladog on Twitter and give her a treat from there.

Not a Dog Biscuit, But a Dog, “Biscuit”

This dog named Biscuit is a skilled climber. She loves rock climbing with her owner and has gotten to new heights with her talent. We don’t see it here, but we do hope she gets a biscuit after a good climb.

Source: TheFW.com

At first, this young girl’s trick may not seem all that impressive. But try it yourself. It’s definitely not as easy as it looks. We got about halfway through before throwing in the towel.

How exactly does she pull off this amazing closed-mouth feat? Is she throwing her voice? Does she have a mini speaker hidden somewhere in her mouth? If anyone has an explanation for this odd (but impressive) trick, we’d like to hear it.

Source: TheFW.com

Here’s a look at this year’s nominees in the major categories. Let your voice be heard and tell us who you think will win!

‘Hugo’ leads the way with 11 nominations. Will it end the evening with the most wins? You tell us:

Paramount/DreamWorks/DreamWorks

Frazer Harrison/Kevin Winter/Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Kevin Winter/Carlos Alvarez/Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

Frazer Harrison/Jason Merritt/Jason Merritt, Getty Images

Jason Merritt/Frazer Harrison/Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

Gareth Cattermole/Valerie Macon/Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images

DreamWorks/DreamWorks/Blind Wink Productions

Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images

It’s good to be Madonna‘s daughter, and not just because you can launch a teen clothing line with her at Macy’s known as Material Girl. Madge has reportedly “hired” her 15-year-old daughter as a backup dancer on her upcoming world tour in support of ‘MDNA,’ which launches at the end of May.

Lourdes will accompany her mother on a 50-country world tour. Is that nepotism? Not really, since it’s Madge’s tour and she’ll do whatever the hell she wants. Judging from the fact that Mom-donna (or is that Ma-donna?) mercilessly proofreads Lourdes’ blogs, she isn’t giving her offspring a free ride or any special treatment. In fact, she’ll probably come down on her even harder than other dancers on the tour.

According to The Daily Mail, a source said, “It is the first time Lourdes will have appeared on stage with her mum. There are risqué dancers and some blatantly sexual dance routines – but Madonna is really excited about Lourdes making an appearance.”

Come on, it’s not like Lourdes has been shielded from her mother’s sexed up past. There’s this thing called the Internet where she could have done her research and seen how her mother clawed her way to the top, based on her sexualized style. Madge isn’t the apologize-for-my-past type, either, so it’s not a case of “bad” parenting. Lourdes is growing up and this is a great chance for her to do her thang.

Will there be some mother-daughter competition? Who knows!

Source: PopCrush.com

ABC

Mariah Carey, was on ‘Good Morning America’ recently and opened up about the loss of  Whitney Houston and hospitalized husband Nick Cannon when he went into kidney failure last month.

If you missed the interview, it’s definitely worth a watch!

Watch Mariah Carey on ‘GMA’

Mike Coppola, Frazier Harrison, Tim Musenfelder, Getty Images

American Idol, The Voice and X Factor winners all competing together in one competition, I’ve thought about the scenario a few times, and apparently so has Simon Cowell of the X Factor!

Simon Cowell tweeted last week:

Maybe the winner of [The X Factor] this yr should compete with winner of The Voice & Idol in a super final. Just a thought. I’d be up for it.”

You’d be pitting the winner of each of the singing shows together to compete for the super title! I think it would be interesting because there has been some good talent produced from each of the shows, but why not find out which one America thinks is the best?

American Idol’s producer, Nigel Lythgoe, took a playful stab at Simon with a reply via his Twitter account:

@simoncowell suggests the IDOL winner should take on the voice and x-factor winners. The problem is the Idol winner will be a star by then.”

So if the show were to be put together now and featured the current winners, who do you think would win?

YouTube

Taylor Swift and Zac Efron recently appeared on ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show’ to promote their new Dr. Seuss movie ‘The Lorax,’ and when Degeneres wasn’t asking them about their film project, she was grilling them about relationship rumors. Degeneres asked Swift and Efron what they did for Valentine’s Day, but apparently there are no actual romantic sparks flying between the singer and actor.

Swift explained that she had quite the low-key, anti-love Valentine’s Day celebration with her girlfriends. “I actually had a pathetic single girls party,” Swift told Degeneres. “I’m not saying that like being single is pathetic — we’ve talked about it and I think it’s awesome. But I had all my single girlfriends over and we ate junk food and just ate whatever we wanted and danced and we made these little profile cards about why we’re single.”

While Swift, 22, celebrated her single status on Feb. 14, Efron, 24, actually wooed an anonymous young lady (“a friend” as he put it) with a home-cooked meal. He also responded to Swift’s Valentine’s Day single girls party with a laugh, saying, “That’s so different from what single guys do.”

Later on, Degeneres gifted ‘The Lorax’ co-stars with helpful T-shirts adorned with specific relationship statuses for every situation, including one that read “We’re just friends,” and another that read, “We only hooked up once.” Despite the fact that they Efron and Swift would most likely rock the “We’re just friends” shirts, they have been getting personal on a musical level. Swift has actually been teaching Efron how to play guitar, and they performed a snippet of Foster the People‘s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ on the show. Check out the clip below!

Watch Taylor Swift + Zac Efron Address the Dating Rumors on ‘Ellen’

Watch Taylor Swift + Zac Efron Duet to ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ on ‘Ellen’

Source: PopCrush.com

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Bruce Springsteen new album ‘Wrecking Ball hits stores in two weeks (March 6), but we don’t have to wait that long to hear it! You can listen to his new song ‘Shackled and Drawn’ after the jump.

The cool thing is we can hear one new track a day from ‘Wrecking Ball’. They are streaming on a different U.S. website daily. Today’s stream is on RollingStone.com. All of the 11 ‘Wrecking Ball’ tracks will be streamed over the next few days. Tell us what you think of the new song from the Boss?

Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s “Shackled and Drawn”

(photo from: youtube)

Girls, have you been watching ‘The Bachelor‘? Tonight it’s the hometown dates and I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed “the right one” goes home tonight! You know who I’m talking about!  Yes,  Courtney. Why is it that every season there is a girl that will make us want to punch her lights out! We (the viewers) aren’t the only ones!  She continues to make every girl in the house spit fire and want to beat her up because how of how differently she acts when she’s around Ben as opposed to with the girls.

A friend brought this video to my attention and I love it!!! Ben WAKE UP !!!!

Check out the great video!!

Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images

While Aretha Franklin was too ill to attend goddaughter Whitney Houston‘s funeral, she did perform two moving tributes to the fallen singer at Radio City Music Hall.

“This honors one of the greatest singers that ever stood in front of a microphone,” Franklin said, even her speaking voice musical in its lilt. “I’m speaking of none other than Whitney Elizabeth Houston.” “May you always remember her kindness, her grace, her smile and her dynamic performances,” Franklin said. “She has moved on up just a little bit higher. We don’t wonder where she is. One of the last songs that she sung was ‘Yes, Jesus Loves Me.’ When God for is you, who can be against you? That’s all that really matters.”

“Remembering again a young lady who was kind. She was so gracious and elegant … Remembering Nippy,” Franklin said of her goddaughter. She then launched into Houston’s breakout hit, ‘The Greatest Love Of All.’

Just before breaking into Houston’s signature song, Franklin offered soothing words once more. ”Remember the hits. Forget the misses. I will always look back and remember her singing, ‘I Will Always Love You.’”

Watch Aretha Franklin Perform ‘I Will Always Love You’

Watch Aretha Franklin Perform ‘The Greatest Love Of All’

Source: PopCrush.com

(photo from: youtube)

As if juggling wasn’t hard enough, have you heard of Combat Juggling? This sport is for experienced jugglers only!

Basically, a group of jugglers start juggling, then attempt to interfere with other jugglers. Some are saying it’s the nerdiest sport ever. I think not! It’s pretty cool to watch! Check out the video below.

Vh1

It appears as if this is the song that could end up being the wedding song of the summer! The latest song from Jason Mraz, “I Won’t Give Up”, is from his new album Love Is A Four Letter Word which is due out April 17th. Jason debuted the video for the song yesterday afternoon on Vh1.

The video features Jason Mraz changing his look, he’s grown his hair out and now supports a beard. So when you see the video looking for the clean cut guy, you’ll know you’re actually looking at a new Jason Mraz!

The video features quite a few different people staring into the camera looking very sad and they seem to be contemplating some big decision.

Check out the video below and let me know what you think of the song and the video.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Just 2 days ago I was having a conversation with a record rep from Columbia Records and she was talking about John Mayer and that he’s been working on a new album and that it will be out sometime this spring. However, she hadn’t heard any of the songs from the album but was looking forward to it though.

Well, yesterday afternoon John Mayer posted a clip of a new song on his Tumblr page.

John writes,

Here’s a clip of the first single off Born and Raised, called “Shadow Days.” I’m excited to share the first bit of sound from the album… Been looking forward to a post like this since October 14, 2010, the first day I started writing this group of songs. Enjoy.”

John has been working on the new album for quite some time now. It was scheduled to come out last year but was delayed because he had to undergo vocal cord surgery (much like Adele had to do), but now is doing just fine.

We also talked about John Mayer’s upcoming tour dates. He’ll play the WinStar Hotel & Casino March 15th & 16th in Thackerville, OK and then be in Austin for SXSW playing at Stubb’s BBQ on March 17th then wrap up his mini-tour at the New Orleans Jazz Festival on April 29th.

There’s been no release date set for the new album, which is titled Born and Raised, just yet. So in the mean time check out the minute long snippet of the song and let me know what you think about it!

The Jeff Dunham Party Bus tickets are now available at the radio station, 1216 South 1st St. in Lufkin.

The $125 ticket includes a ride to and from the event, food provided by Bryan’s Smokehouse, drinks provided by Lufkin Coca-Cola as well as the ticket to the show! (cash only please)

Presented by Maid Pro.

Check out some of his popular material here:

Andreas Rentz, Getty Images

Whitney Houston was being considered as a new judge for ‘X Factor,’ but after her unexpected death, Janet Jackson is reportedly in preliminary talks to join the hit FOX show.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, the talk show host asked the iconic pop star about whether she’s currently involved in the series. At first, the 45-year-old singer said no, but acted coy about it later. “Oh my God,” she said with a laugh. “No, I’m not a judge on ‘The X Factor.’”

“You’re not currently a judge on The X Factor,” Cooper replied. “No, I am not,” Jackson said. “But that’s all I really think I should say.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Cowell is having meetings with various judge candidates this week. A source tells THR that Jackson is not the only contender on the list — Pink and Katy Perry are also being considered as possible replacements for former judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger.

“She’d be fun, because she is … hot … in a good way,” Cowell recently said of the newly single ‘Teenage Dream’ singer. “And she is feisty.”

On Thursday (Feb. 16), Fox announced that auditions for Season 2 of ‘X Factor’ will begin online March 1. Open-call auditions will kick off on March 14 in Kansas City.

Source: PopCrush.com

The late Phil Hartman portraying Ronald Reagan

Do you remember this one? Dana Carvey does George Bush Sr. then the Real George Bush Sr. wants to talk!

I love this! Bill Clinton on the Presidential Election 2000. He said we’d miss him, and we do!

Going back a few years to Dan Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter. I hate to say…I remember this one, although I was very young!

And Chevy Chase as President Gerarld Ford!

Infrogmation, Flickr

The king cake is a traditional Mardi Gras food. It is usually a ring-shaped pastry, sometimes filled with cheese or jelly and sprinkled with the colors of Mardi Gras. It began as an Epiphany treat, celebrating the arrival of the Three Wise Men to the stable where Jesus was born. Oh, and it’s delicious.

The king cake tradition was brought to New Orleans by French and Spanish settlers who associated it with the Mardi Gras carnival. A dessert synonymous with celebrations definitely belonged with Mardi Gras and has been shared during the festive season ever since.

The secret of the king cake is that there is always a small trinket, often a plastic baby representing the Baby Jesus, baked inside that one lucky eater is bound to bite into. Of course, the lucky person who gets the baby in the cake gets special privileges, but is also usually responsible for bringing the next cake.

To get into the spirit of the impending Mardi Gras celebration, and to make your mouth water a bit, here are some delicious looking king cakes we found.

The Drizzled King Cake

niseag03, Flickr

The Beaded King Cake

all of olive, Flickr

The Discus King Cake

syvwlc, Flickr

The Mickey Mouse King Cake

Loren Javier, Flickr

The Go Big or Go Home King Cake

Aldon, Flickr

The King Cupcake

kristen_a (Meringue Bake Shop), Flickr

Double King Cake All the Way

HorizonsSC, Flickr

The Doing It Wrong King Cake

lesteph, Flickr

The Baby in the King Cake

mikebdoss, Flickr

The Eaten King Cake

mikebdoss, Flickr

An Amazing Rap About King Cakes

Want to Make One? Here’s How

Source: TheFW.com

Victor1558, Flickr

Jobs interviews are stressful for everyone, but a new study reveals that while women are generally more on edge before meeting with a prospective employer, their interviews went better than those of their male counterparts — mainly because the ladies coped with the stress better.

After conducting a couple studies, Justin Feeney from the University of Western Ontario said that he and the rest of the research team “found that even though women experienced more interview anxiety than men, it didn’t affect their performance as much as it did for men. We were curious of why that was.”

To further explore gender differences in interviews, they then did simulated interviews with 400 university students to see what kind of coping mechanisms they used to handle their jitters.

“What we found was women adapted more proactively than did men,” Feeney said, explaining they sought support from loved ones, friends and colleagues, and even did practice interviews.

“Men, on the other hand, reacted with more maladaptive coping strategies,” he said. “They would pretend it was not happening, ignore it, watch TV and do things that relieved stress, but hindered performance later.”

Because of this, Feeney said, companies looking for employees shouldn’t consider interviews as the ultimate predictor of future success or failure. “You will actually end up making poor hiring decisions as a result of anxiety,” he said. “Businesses may have a payoff for teaching applicants how to deal with anxiety. That will end up leading to better hiring decisions, which will in turn end up saving them money.”

He also had some advice for job-seekers: “Practice mock interviews and read books on interviews so you can increase your self-efficacy. Talk to friends and family about the interview and how to deal with the anxiety.”

[LiveScience]

Samir Hussein, Getty Images

All things considered, it’s highly unlikely that you received an invitation to Whitney Houston‘s funeral. However, you can still pay your respects when she’s laid to rest on Saturday, Feb. 18, and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your chair. According to the Associated Press, Houston’s funeral service will be streamed live over the Internet via the AP’s official website. 

At the funeral, scheduled to take place in Newark, N.J., gospel legend Marvin Winans will preside, with Houston’s godmother Aretha Franklin also reportedly slated to perform at the proceedings. Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown was rumored to have been banned from attending, but he has denied those reports.

As MTV notes, New Jersey governor Chris Christie caught flak for ordering stage flags to be flown at half mast following the announcement of Houston’s death on Saturday. Responding to those who argued that Houston’s struggles with addiction shouldn’t be honored with state ceremony, Christie said, “I am disturbed by people who believe that because her ultimate demise — and we don’t know what is the cause of her death yet — but because of her history of substance abuse that somehow she’s forfeited the good things that she did in her life. I just reject that on a human level.”

Artists We’ve Lost in 2011

Source: PopCrush.com

20th Century Fox / Columbia Pictures

There are only two new movies in wide release this weekend, but they both feature marquis names.

Reese Witherspoon stars in ‘This Means War,’ the story of two of the world’s deadliest CIA operatives who are inseparable partners and best friends — until they discover that they’ve fallen in love with the same woman.

And Nicolas Cage reprises the role of Johnny Blaze in the sequel ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,’ in which the former stuntman and bounty hunter of rogue demons helps protect a mother and son being pursued by the devil.

Here’s a sneak peek:

This Means War

Directed by: McG
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Til Schweiger, Chelsea Handler
Get Tickets & Showtimes

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Directed by: Mark Neveldine
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba, Johnny Whitworth, Fergus Riordan
Get Tickets & Showtimes