Author: Randy Slovacek

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Colbert Report – production suspended due to family emergency

Reuters: Comedy Central has suspended production of the Colbert Report for at least two days, an unexplained development that ignited widespread speculation about the popular satirical news show on Twitter and other social networks.

Comedy Central said the show aired a repeat episode on Wednesday and would again on Thursday due to “unforeseen circumstances,” but did not elaborate. A spokesman for the cable network, owned by Viacom Inc., was not immediately available to comment.

UPDATE: Production on The Colbert Report was shut down on Wednesday due to an emergency with Stephen Colbert’s family, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog. Comedy Central expects the show to resume production next week.

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Music: New love and heartbreak

Facebook knows when you’ve met someone and it knows when you break up. We tell Facebook these things.

For some, a relationship doesn’t officially start until it’s reflected in the “Relationship” field on Facebook, and it’s not really over until Facebook says it is.

The data team at Facebook can see this data for hundreds of millions of people, and as of late last year, it started letting people share their listening activity through the social network.

Mashing these concepts together (relationships and music), the Facebook data team was able to track which songs people in new relationships are most likely to play, as well as the songs they cue up following a breakup.

The song most associated with new relationships was “Don’t Wanna Go Home” by Jason Derulo. On the other hand, the #1 song breakers-up tended to listen to “The Cave,” by Daniel Ek fave Mumford & Sons.

Here are the complete lists of the most popular music amongst the freshly love-struck or lovelorn created by Facebook’s data team – let me know what you think:

Love-Struck Songs
Songs people listen to when entering into a relationship (listen on Spotify):

“Don’t Wanna Go Home” by Jason Derulo
“Love on Top” by Beyoncé
“How to Love” by Lil Wayne
“Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars
“Good Feeling” by Flo Rida
“It Girl” by Jason Derulo
“Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
“Criminal” by Britney Spears
“No Sleep” by Wiz Khalifa
“Free Fallin’” by John Mayer

Breakup Tunes
Songs played by people after ending a relationship (listen on Spotify):

“The Cave” by Mumford and Sons
“Crew Love” by Drake
“All of the Lights” by Kanye West
“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele
“Take Care” by Drake
“It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars
“We Found Love” by Rihanna & Calvin Harris
“Call It What You Want” by Foster the People
“Love You Like a Love Song” by Selena Gomez and the Scene
“Without You” by David Guetta featuring Usher

(source)

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Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney in Michigan

From NBC News: A poll out today shows Santorum leading in Michigan.

This one conducted for the Detroit News/local NBC affiliate WDIV shows Santorum leading Romney 34%-30%, with Gingrich at 12%, Paul 9%. (Poll was conducted by the Glengariff Group – margin of error of +/-4.4%)

A Public Policy Polling survey found Santorum leading Romney, 39 to 24 percent, among likely GOP voters in Michigan — the state where Romney was born and where his father served as governor.

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Encore airing of “The Candi & Randy Valentines Show” tonight

Dave Koz, Elaine Paige, Donny Osmond and Billy Jeffrey

By popular demand, we are airing our very special Valentine’s Day edition of “The Candi & Randy Show” tonight!

Join us and our very special guests smooth jazz superstar Dave Koz, Broadway & West End theater legend Elaine Paige, the fabulous Donny Osmond and Billy Jeffrey from ABCs “True Beauty” and the Chippendales. They’ll be talking favorite Valentine’s Day memories plus we have great romantic music.

9pmEST/6pmPST – click here to listen in

If you miss the show – and why would you? – you can go to the same link to hear/download the archived show anytime.

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Poll: Things slowly looking up for President Obama

From the most recent CBS/New York Times poll: Things are slowly looking better not only for the economy but for President Obama.  Click the pic above to enlarge.

The breakdown basically is:

• 50% of Americans approve of President Obama job performance versus 43% disapprove
• 34% of Americans feel the economy getting better versus 22% who feel it’s getting worse
• President Obama’s approval numbers on job creation are going up, while the disapproval numbers are going down

Looking ahead to November, the CNN/ORC poll indicates that the president’s re-election chances are on the rise.

His approval rating is at 50% in this poll as well.

And in hypothetical matchups among registered voters, Obama holds a 51%-46% margin over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, leads both former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas by the same 52%-45% advantage, and beats former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 55%-42%.

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Washington Gov. Gregoire writes NJ Gov. Christie about same-sex marriage

NJ Gov. Chris Christie has yet to respond to a letter from fellow Governor Chris Gregoire (D-WA) offering the New Jersey governor advise on the issue of marriage equality.

In the letter, dated Jan. 31, 2012, Gregoire wrote, “I have been on a personal journey, because while I am a Governor, I am also a Catholic.” “If you would like to talk, please give me a call.”

The correspondence also contained a copy of Gregoire’s remarks upon announcing her support for marriage equality.

Gregoire has received “no response to date,” her office confirms.

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98 Degrees Star Jeff Timmons Congratulates Jake Pavelka on Joining the Chippendales

Jake Pavelka and Jeff Timmons

From IN Touch: Jake Pavelka, the former star of The Bachelor, will be honing his emcee skills as a celebrity guest host for a month as Chippendales celebrates its 10th anniversary at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas beginning on February 23.

While the sexy reality star will not be stripping to his skivvies, Jeff Timmons, formerly of the über-popular boy band 98 Degrees, has shown his perfect pecs on the Chippendales stage and has some words of advice for Jake.

“Jake is gonna have a blast!” Jeff tells In Touch exclusively. “The Chipps are wild and crazy, but at the same time, first-class! The girls get a little bananas, so we’ll see if he can handle it.”

Jeff’s limited one-month run was such a sold-out smash last year that it was extended for a whole summer.