Trending on Wednesday - July 20, 2011

1.    Severus Snape Voted by Fans as the Greatest Harry Potter Character of All Time
2.    Caligula Statue Unveiled in Italy
3.    Carmageddon
4.    Anna Paquin
5.    Miracle of the Day - Life long migrane-headaches gone

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Severus Snape Voted by Fans as the Greatest Harry Potter Character of All Time

MTV News Harry Potter World Cup reveals the opinion of the fans, as the majority voted Severus Snape as the greatest Harry Potter character of all time. This was reported by entertainments sites, this month of July 2011.

In the story, Severus Snape, played by British actor Alan Rickman, is the potions master in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His character held mystery for quite a long time with regards to whether he is a villain or a hero. At the conclusion of the seven books and eight movies of the Harry Potter series, Snape emerged as the hero to most of the fans.

Further reports revealed by another separate movie.com readers’ poll that the Favorite Villain,  was won by Bellatrix Lestrange, a die-hard follower of Lord Voldemort. At second rank is Draco Malfoy, the long-time rival of Harry Potter at Hogwarts.

Reportedly, the most unforgettable moment in the Harry Potter series is the death of Professor Dumbledore, with 51 percent of the total votes, winning over the also popular kissing moment of Harry Potter and Cho Chang at the fifth installment of the series, Order of the Phoenix.

Fans think that the character that should get a spin-off is Neville Longbottom, a courageous student from Gryffindor and a good friend of Harry Potter. Luna Lovegood ranked second to Longbottom in this category.

Fans were also asked who they think will most be successful in the future. Forty-three percent voted Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley). At second rank was Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), who got 22 percent of the total votes, followed by Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) having 17 percent of the votes.

According to reports, the final movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2? grossed an amount of approximately $43.6 million in 26 territories outside the United States on its first day of showing in different countries last July 14, 2011, with Severus Snape leaving an indelible mark among millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide.




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Caligula Statue Unveiled in Italy
alian police unveiled a colossal marble statue believed to be a rare image of the incestuous and lunatic Roman emperor Caligula sitting on a throne.

The statue lay buried for nearly 2,000 years near Lake Nemi, south of Rome, where Rome’s third emperor Caligula, who ruled from 37 to 41 A.D., had two enormous “love boats.”

The statue was recovered last January, when finance police stopped tomb robbers trying to smuggle large, elaborately carved, marble pieces out of the country.  (Video of the recovery by  Italy’s finance police).

In order to find the statue's missing pieces, the archaeologists excavated the area where the tomb robbers conducted their illegal dig.
The remains of a large, semicircular nymphaeum, or fountain court, emerged. Originally enclosed by a series of 23-foot-tall columns, the fountain court boasted a niche  at its center in which Caligula’ statue once stood.
ndeed, the area contained more than one hundred fragments belonging to the statue, including the head.

Moreover, the archaeologists unearthed some other 150 objects, such as vases and pieces of jewelry.

"We even found a lead pipe with a stamp bearing the name of Caius Iulius Silanus, who most likely was the villa’s first owner," said Giuseppina Ghini, of the Archaeological Superintendency of Lazio.

Made from Greek marble of Paros, considered in antiquity the world’s best and most precious, the statue shows a young robed man, sitting under a pillow on a beautifully decorated throne as the god Zeus.
On the left foot, the statue is wearing the "caligae" military boot after which the notorious Roman emperor, whose real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, was nicknamed.

"It’s a unique sculpture, a piece of incredible beauty. Indeed, it shows a rare image of Caligula," Ghini said.

The capricious emperor, who is said to have made his favorite horse Incitatus a senator, used to sail his spectacular ships on Lake Nemi, not far from where his statue stood, indulging his sensual proclivities.

According to the Roman historian Suetonius, the vessels had "sterns studded with gems and ample space for baths, porticoes, and dining rooms, and a great variety of vines and fruit-bearing trees. Reclining on these ships all day long, he would sail amid choral dancing and singing."
The ships were scuttled in a "damnatio memoriae" (aimed at erasing someone from history) after the 29-year-old emperor was murdered in his palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome by his own guard.

They were recovered in 1927 during the rule of dictator Benito Mussolini.

Measuring 230 feet by 66 feet, the ships still feature details such as exquisite wolf heads adorning the end of the beams and decks covered with marble and mosaics.

A lakeside ship museum was built for the extraordinary finds, but German troops torched them during World War II.

Although the ships are lost forever, Caligula is set to return to Nemi. His colossal statue, cleaned of the earth that had covered it for two millennia and re-assembled, will be permanently displayed at the ship museum.


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Carmageddon
A 10-mile stretch of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles will be closed this weekend, leading to fears of massive gridlock.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pleads with Los Angeles residents to stay away from the 405 freeway on the weekend of July 16-17, during a news conference at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Beginning Friday evening, authorities will begin shutting down a 10-mile segment of the freeway for 53 hours so crews can demolish one side of the Mulholland Drive Bridge as part of a $1 billion highway improvement project.

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Anna Paquin Likes Hooking up With Her Husband on Screen

Oscar winner Anna Paquin has no problems filming sex scenes with her husband Stephen Moyer, who plays her boyfriend in the HBO hit series True Blood.

The 29-year-old star recently spoke to V magazine where she spoke about the True Blood series and sharing steamy scenes with Moyer.

"Maybe it should be weird, simulating sex with your husband in front of people," she said in the V magazine's The Transformation Issue. "But it's really not. When it's a love scene with someone you actually love, there's no feeling like, 'Can I touch him here? Can I touch him there?' You know what your boundaries are-or what they aren't, I suppose."
As if making out with your husband isn't hot enough, Paquin who came out as bisexual last year, can be seen in the magazine looking like a perfect replica of Marilyn Monroe with a blonde wig and a mustard-colored dress.








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Miracle of the Day - Life long migrane-headaches gone

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