Javier Colon: 5 Things to Know About The Voice Winner

After shedding tears of joy as the first winner of NBC's The Voice Wednesday night, Javier Colon hugged host Carson Daly, coach Adam Levine, fellow finalists Dia Frampton, Beverly McClellan and Vicci Martinez, and then, finally, his wife and two daughters.

"My oldest, who's 3½, said, 'Daddy! Daddy! We saw you win on TV!'" Colon told reporters proudly. "They were in a holding area and she said, 'We saw you win on TV, Daddy!' 'Yeah, baby, Daddy won.' "

Colon landed a recording contract with Universal Republic Records, $100,000 and a starring spot on the inaugural Voice tour, but remained humble, saying he had expected Team Blake's "amazing" Frampton to win.

"I have a tendency to always keep my expectations low," he admitted. "It's been my natural protection, I guess."

As Colon told PEOPLE on the eve of the finale, "I've been at this a long time, and it wears on you when you keep getting doors shut in your face, and you keep getting told you are not good enough to get another record deal and they decide not to, quote-unquote, waste their time on you. So this [opportunity] is amazing."

Here are a few more things to know about Colon:

1. He Found His Voice
Colon started in the business singing lead for funk band EmCQ, then found his rock roots with the Derek Trucks Band. He went solo on Capitol Records in 2003, scoring a Billboard Hot 100 single called "Crazy," but his follow-up efforts weren't as successful. Now, he says, Universal Republic Records "understand who I am … an opinionated guy. [And] it's going to be awesome."

2. He Seized His Last Chance
Back at home in Stratford, Conn., Colon released an EP but "in January, I had been rejected from yet another record label, and I really thought things were going to work out. I thought that might have been the dagger" to his music career, said Colon. With a young family to support, "It was time to put up or move on. I've got a degree in music education, and I would love to have been able to go into a school system and teach kids and inspire them as I was inspired as a kid to follow music."

3. He's Really a Family Man
Colon will use his cash prize to pay off school loans, put more payments in on his house, "and take my wife on a spa weekend because she so deserves it," he said, "for taking the care of the kids on and off for months without me while I was doing this." On one shopping outing for the finalists, Frampton recalled, "I … walked up to Javier and asked, 'What did you get?' 'Oh, I just got this,' and he pulled out a teeny little T-shirt with Cookie Monster on it. 'I got this for my kids because they love Cookie Monster.' He's always Skype-ing with his kids. He's awesome."

4. He's a Gifted Prankster
Although Frampton also called Colon "a saint," he's not without his prankster side. When he first met teammate Casey Weston, "he spoke to me in a British accent," she said, "and he made me believe he was English for about 20 minutes!" Once she met the true Colon, she said, "he has been the biggest inspiration, and I've learned so much from him, and I am blessed and excited for him to be on my team."

5. He Gets Teed Off
To relax, Colon plays golf. "I don't think people realize what an amazing golfer he is," contestant Nakia said. "When we were held up in the hotel, he would be in golf withdrawal. Wherever we're touring, they better have a spot every other day for him to play golf, because he's going to need it, a moment with just him and the golf clubs!"

And, finally, what's next? On the tour, Colon hopes to sing some Steve Perry or Peter Gabriel material, and duet with as many of the finalists as possible. Also, "Me and Adam are going to get in the studio and do some things," Colon said, "and even Cee Lo [Green] and I talked about doing some stuff as well. There's a lot of good things for me in the future."

Nauru signs UN refugee convention

NAURU has ratified the United Nations Refugee Convention, yesterday releasing a photograph of its president Marcus Stephen signing the document to prove the point.

This boosts Opposition leader Tony Abbott's attack on the federal government over its Malaysia refugee swap, because Malaysia is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.

Signatories commit to key human rights principles, including not returning refugees to countries from which they have fled.

Mr Abbott last Saturday toured Nauru to argue a processing centre located there would be a ''more humane'' option for boat arrivals. The Nauru government released a statement yesterday saying Mr Stephen has signed the instruments of accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

''We will then deposit the documents with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and 90 days after he receives them, we will become a party to the Convention and its Protocols,'' Nauru Secretary for Justice David Lambourne said.

Ms Gillard last year said the government wouldn't deal with Nauru because it wasn't a signatory. She said this week the government wouldn't send asylum seekers to Nauru because this wouldn't break the people smuggler's business model.

Mr Abbott said yesterday: ''Now that the last of her so-called obstacles has been removed, Julia Gillard should swallow her political pride and drop her floundering 'anywhere but Nauru' policy.''

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said: ''The Coalition left people to rot on Nauru for long periods, and then the great majority settled in Australia anyway.''

Mr Bowen yesterday responded to a High Court challenge to the Malaysia deal, saying ''we believe the arrangements with Malaysia are on very, very strong legal grounds''.

The deal is yet to be signed, and is being scrutinised by the UNHCR in Geneva.

First Gabrielle Giffords Pics Since Shooting Released on Facebook

You’d never know by looking at these photos that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had suffered a gunshot wound to the head five months ago. Two pictures of her were released on Facebook by her staff on Sunday, showing her with shorter, darker hair with a big smile in both photos, taken on May 17.
Giffords spokeswoman Pia Carusone says the Congresswoman has come a long way since she survived a gunshot to the left side of her forehead in an assassination attempt in which six people were killed and 13 wounded on January 8. While Giffords’ recovery has been called “miraculous,” Carusone told the Arizona Republic that Giffords is still dealing with speech difficulties:

“She is borrowing upon other ways of communicating. Her words are back more and more now, but she’s still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing. Add it all together, and she’s able to express the basics of what she wants or needs. But, when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that’s where she’s had the trouble.”

Her doctors are pleased with her progress, and are said to be optimistic about her chances of making “a tremendously good recovery.” According to Carusone, Giffords’ doctors say she’s about halfway through the most important time for recovery from an injury such as this, where most progress is made in the first 12 to 14 months.
Join us in wishing the Congresswoman all the best.

U.S. News Diet Ranking Brews Controversy

Yesterday, U.S. News and World Report released its diet rankings, a review of 20 diet plans evaluated by a panel of twenty-two diet and nutrition experts. The government-endorsed DASH Diet was deemed the best, although it is, by comparison, one of the lesser-known diets in use today.

The review covered seven categories: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, ease of use, nutritional completeness, safety, ability to prevent or manage diabetes, and ability to prevent or manage heart disease. Over the course of six months, data was crunched, profiles created, and rankings (from 1 to 5) were assigned to each of the 20 diets. The expert panel also provided commentary on each of the diets, including information on “what they think people considering the diet should know.”

The DASH diet ranked #1 as Best Overall Diet and the Best Diabetes Diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and it is has actually been shown to reduce high blood pressure, and prevent heart attacks and strokes. It emphasizes hearty portions of fruits, vegetables, grains, and plant proteins from legumes and nuts; along with more moderate servings of low- or non-fat dairy products, and small servings of meat, poultry, and fish. The total package is a low saturated fat diet that is also low in cholesterol, and high in dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and moderately high in total protein, though low in animal protein.

The Best Weight Loss Diet and Best Commercial Diet Plan was Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers is one of the old-time standby diet programs, with over forty years in the business and an estimated 1 million followers across the globe at any given time. One of the reasons this weight loss plan has continued success is the focus on overall health: mental, emotional and physical.

For Best Heart-Healthy Diet, and Best Low-Fat Diet, the Ornish Diet was the top ranked. The Ornish Diet, developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, is a diet and lifestyle program that has been proven scientifically to reverse heart disease and help control cholesterol. It uses a combination of diet and exercise that allows the body's fat-burning mechanism to work most effectively. Emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, it also limits the amount of fat and animal products, as well as the number of calories, that are consumed.

Atkins won out as Best Low-Carb Diet. The Atkins Diet weight loss (and weight maintenance) program is based on the theory that your body needs more protein and less carbs. It is rooted in the science of eating fewer refined carbohydrates and refined sugars – what we refer to as ‘bad carbs.’

Medifast came in tops for Best Low Calorie Diet. The Medifast program, founded in 1980, set out to break the popular myths about dieting by helping the prospective dieter understand the true pitfalls and how to avoid them, and providing the tools and prepared meals to achieve weight loss. Rather than promoting a crash diet, weight loss is targeted at up to 20 pounds per month. With almost thirty years in existence, the Medifast program has been recommended by over 20,000 doctors and helped more than 1 million people.
A Bit of Controversy

Atkins Nutritionals, while “pleased” to be included on the list, stated in a press release that “the Atkins Diet has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness for diabetes and heart health management, as evidenced by a host of key peer-reviewed scientific studies.” In fact, over 60 peer-reviewed studies have been conducted to support the “efficacy and safety of the Atkins Diet for both short- and long-term weight loss.”

In addition, there is some criticism over the use the federal government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 as one criteria for the U.S. News diet evaluation. For diets like Atkins and South Beach, the dietary guidelines are contrary to their methodology. The Dietary Guidelines promote a low-fat diet and include carbohydrates, something both diets eschew. Rankings would naturally be lower for low-carb diets, when the standard is otherwise.

By both ignoring scientific research and the different approaches, some diets were slighted in certain categories. While Atkins did come out on top of the low-carb diet plans, its overall ranking wasn’t as high as it might have liked.

There was also news in the report that so-called yo-yo dieting was better than no diet at all. Previously conducted research has shown that gaining and losing weight over a long period of time can be harmful to health. New research may point to the contrary, but needs to be substantiated in further studies. 

Maurice Sendak Turns 83: “Where The Wild Things Are”

Acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak turns 83 on June 10th. Best known for his controversial picture book “Where the Wild Things Are” published in 1963, Sendak worked for many years as an illustrator of children’s books before turning his hand to writing. He was the artist behind the charming series of “Little Bear” books by Else Holmelund Minarik and also illustrated the Newbery medal winner “Zlateh the Goat” by Isaac Bashevis Singer.


One of the strongest influences on his early work was the Disney film Fantasia which Sendak first saw when he was 12 years old, but Sendak has also drawn inspiration from Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and Mozart.

Although educators and parents have often found his books to be disturbing, over the decades, generations of children have begged for just one more reading of “Where the Wild Things Are”. Please, Mr. Sendak, please!

Celebrity Death: Gunsmoke actor James Arness dead in LA celebrity home?

Celebrity Death!
Gunsmoke actor James Arness dead in LA celebrity home?
[Jun. 3]

Immortalized in Toby Keith’s song, Should’ve Been a Cowboy, Legendary actor James Arness, passed away quietly Friday, June 3, in his Los Angeles celebrity home. Known most for his role as Marshall Dillon on Gunsmoke  from 1955 to 1975, he was the epitome of a Hollywood cowboy, and also starred in dozens of movies, some as recent as 1994. Arness (brother of late Mission Impossible actor, Peter Graves), died of natural causes at age 88. During Arness’s career, he shared screen time with numerous famous actors, including Alec Baldwin, John Wayne, Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Weaver, and Charles Bronson. The Minnesota-born actor fit the ideal stereotype for a cowboy, with his quiet demeanor and massive (for the time) 6-foot, 6-inch stature. The cultural icon has a star on the walk of fame, three Emmy Award nominations, a TVLand Nomination and is a 1967 Western Heritage and 1986 Golden Boot award recipient.

Arness landed the Gunsmoke role when John Wayne turned it down and recommended him for the slot. The longest-running television drama, focused on 1873 Dodge City, Kansas, and its lawmen and criminals. At one time during production, there were 30 competitive ‘cowboy’ television shows, and Gunsmoke outlasted them all, with episodes still playing on TVLand. The show was set during a timeframe in which our nation thrived on a green lifestyle, with very little industry and renewable energy coming from the efforts of humans and animals. It was a time in which vegetable gardens and organic methods were the norm for families on the frontier, and virtually every tool and resource was renewed or recycled. The show itself included horses as a staple in its scenes. There are no records of any negative treatment of animals on the show, and the stars seemed to treat them similar to true pioneers of the Old West: as reliable sidekicks.

A decorated World War II veteran, Arness was awarded the Bronze Star; the Purple Heart (wounded at Anzio); the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze campaign stars; the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge. After the war, he started his career as a radio announcer in Minnesota in 1945. Then in the 1950’s, he signed a contract with John Wayne’s production company.

The family has asked that fans honor his memory with donations to United Cerebral Palsy in his name, a cause for which he was passionate

GREEN CELEBRITY STATS: JAMES ARNESS

James Arness is a green celebrity. This humanitarian was an avid supporter of UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY, and donated hundreds of acres to the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, which develops “fresh ways of thinking about Jews and gender worldwide”.

Anthony Weiner tries to move on from Twitter incident

After spending the weekend answering questions about the lewd photograph released through his Twitter account, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) says it's now time to move on.

Approached by reporters today, Weiner refused to answer a series of questions about the incident, raising more questions than answers even as some of high-profile Democratic colleagues today expressed their confidence Weiner had nothing to do with it.

On Friday night, a close-up picture of a man's underwear was tweeted from Weiner's account. The picture, addressed to a Seattle college student's Twitter handle @GennetteC, was visible to all of the congressman's followers.

Weiner's office said Monday he hired a lawyer to possibly pursue civil or criminal charges after his spokesman said the incident could be chalked up to a mischievous hacker.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, concurred today that the lewd picture was likely the result of a hacker.

"Somebody hacked into his Twitter account and projected material -- which can happen, I guess, to anybody -- which was not generated by Mr. Weiner," Hoyer told reporters. "It's unfortunate... My understanding is that's illegal activity and the proper authorities ought to pursue it. So I don't think it's going to hurt the party. I don't think it's going to hurt Mr. Weiner, either."

Hoyer said Weiner is working with authorities to see if it can be determined who hacked into the account.

When approached by CBS News and other media today, Weiner would not say why he chose to hire a lawyer rather than just let law enforcement handle the case. Nor would he say why he was following a college student on Twitter, or whether or not the picture was of him. Weiner said he had spent the weekend giving answers and wanted to put the matter to rest.

"I'm not going to talk about this anymore," he said. "I think that if I was giving a speech to 45,000 people and someone stood up and heckled in the back, I wouldn't spend three days talking to him. I'm going to get back to the conversation I care about."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, another N.Y. Democrat, told the New York Daily News, "I don't know the details. But I know [Weiner] to be a person of integrity, and I am virtually certain he had nothing to do with this."

Meanwhile, the incident has generated new interest in Weiner's Twitter account, bringing his following up to more than 48,000. The congressman continued tweeting this morning -- about policy issues: "Lets remember that the debt limit vote is to continue to pay the BUSH debt. #TaxCutsForBillionaires."

Polian says Manning's neck is not a concern for the Colts

Peyton Manning has had two procedures on his neck in the past 16 months.

 

Kirby Lee/US Presswire

So I wondered aloud last week, in a few forums, whether the Indianapolis Colts might have some second thoughts about a long-term deal with free-agent quarterback Peyton Manning, given the fact that he's 35 and has had two neck procedures in the past 16 months. I called Colts president Bill Polian last week, and didn't hear back, and I just figured the Colts were laying low on a sensitive subject.

Not so. Polian called Monday afternoon ... from Italy. It's his vacation, the first time he's been to Italy, and he'd just visited the Colisseum. Today he's off to Vatican City. (Gave him my favorite little nugget to look for -- the lapis-blue skies at the Sistine Chapel, done so perfectly by Michaelangelo because he went on a nine-month quest to find the perfect blue stones to crush and mix in with white paint to make the right color for the skies.)
I did ask him about whether the Colts have some trepidation about signing Manning, given the two neck surgeries.

"We've got little or no worry,'' said Polian. "This was just a minor procedure to relieve a little pressure on the nerve [in Manning's neck]. I told them [Colts officials] to call me if there were any further problems, and no one's called.''

Polian was briefed on the surgery before leaving Indiana, and he said he was told this was the kind of procedure that for non-athletes might require traction. But Manning needed to accelerate the process and ensure he'd be ready for football, whenever that happens. So it doesn't sound as though this will be a major factor in negotiations for a new contract or Manning.

But I still would be wary about what this means for Manning's future, and if I were Polian and his son, GM Chris Polian, I'd be focused on finding a quarterback of the long-term future in the 2012 draft.

***
Terrelle Pryor update. In light of the Ohio State scandal, we may be about to see how much of an NFL prospect quarterback Terrelle Pryor is. Pryor is currently under a five-game suspension at the start of the Ohio State season, but he's scheduled to be able to return for the meat of the Buckeye schedule. However, if the NCAA investigation ensnares him further, the NFL may have to make a decision on Pryor faster than the league thought it would.

"I don't think Terrelle Pryor will play for Ohio State again,'' said Sports Illustrated's George Dohrmann, who wrote the Jim Tressel piece in this week's magazine. The reason: Dohrmann reports that a source told the magazine that Pryor "might have driven as many as eight cars'' during his three years at Ohio State.
Get your Pryor scouting reports ready, Mr. Kiper.

***
MMQB vacation update. Guest columnists you want for my four vacation Monday Morning Quarterbacks, according to your Tweets and emails:
-Cris Collinsworth.
-Drew Brees.
-Nnamdi Asomugha. (I think you all liked him last year.)
-Army Sgt. Mike McGuire. (On the column for Monday, the Fourth of July.)
-Joe Posnanski.
-Steve Sabol, or, in his absence while he deals with his brain tumor, another smart guy like Ron Jaworski or Greg Cosell from NFL Films.
-Bill Simmons.
-Chester Pitts.

Most of you are dead-set against rehashing the labor dispute, but I may leave open the possibility of dueling player-NFL columns on a week when or if some significant progress happens in the labor talks. I'm still open to your nominations, and I've got a few lines out to people to see if they can and will do it. Best to send me your wishes on Twitter. Thanks.

***
Now onto your email:
I THINK THAT DEPENDS ON HOW GOOD THE PLAYER IS. "Did you see Drew Brees' comments in Jim Trotter's article? It got me thinking about the long-term ramifications for the most outspoken players during the lockout. Will Brees and others be at risk for some level of black-balling by owners down the road? If I were a player, this would be a real concern.''
--Jim, Galveston, Texas

If the comments by Brees were made by Chase Daniel, I would say the comments might (might) have some bearing on his future employment. But players aren't going to be affected by what they say now, unless they're marginal. And Drew Brees is not marginal.

I THINK THE DEAL WOULD BE NEARLY DONE. "Could you estimate any difference between where we are in the lockout today and where the lockout would be if the players had chosen Troy Vincent as the NFLPA executive director?''
--Cary, Swedesboro, N.J. 

Interesting question. Vincent campaigned as a deal-maker, so I'd assume he'd have a deal very close by now, if not done. But that's one of the reasons he didn't get the job in the first place. Some players saw him as too buddy-buddy with the owners -- who he now works for as vice president of the NFL Player Engagement Organization.

WORK OUT AT YOUR OWN RISK. "With all of the player-led workouts, what happens if someone gets hurt? I assume it is on them, correct? While not exactly the same, I'm thinking of Robert Edwards getting hurt playing flag football at the Pro Bowl a couple of years ago.''
--Dave Lamb, Downingtown, Pa.

Good point. Players who work out now are totally on their own as far as medical risk.

NOW THAT'S A GREAT IDEA TOO. "As far as guest MMQB columnists during your vacation, I'd be curious to hear from Plaxico Burress. He could cover a lot of ground -- on his anticipation of returning to the NFL, his fall from grace, what he envisions being different in the league and what he expects from fans upon his return.''
--Adam, New City, N.Y.

We'll put it in the hopper. I like that idea a lot.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/05/31/mail/index.html#ixzz1NwytMuMy