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Drake Joins Kanye In 'Anchorman 2'

2013-05-18T23:17:27Z

Drake started from the bottom and now he's in "Anchorman 2." The Canadian rap star was spotted on the set of "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" on Saturday afternoon in New York.

Drake, who famously appeared on "Degrassi: The Next Generation," joins fellow hip-hop icon Kanye West in the cameo-heavy "Anchorman" sequel. West was photographed on the film's Atlanta set on May 10. Similar photographic evidence of Drake on the set of "Anchorman 2" below:

Drake wasn't the only "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" star filming in New York on Saturday afternoon: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd were seen walking the streets as well. The highly anticipated sequel is loaded with talent in addition to Drake, West, Ferrell, Rudd and Applegate: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Sacha Baron Cohen co-star in the film too.

Saturday was a busy day for "Anchorman" fans. Paramount released a new teaser trailer for the film, which is set to hit theaters on Dec. 20. Check out the New York Daily News for more pics of Ferrell and Applegate in costume.

Marissa Higgins: I Want to Be Safe in NYC But I Feel Like a Monster

2013-05-18T21:41:33Z

"Just keep walking," we mumble in unison and I feel her fingers drop from mine.

It's a practice well-learned, the art of coming together and slipping apart -- every corner starts not with a footstep but with a glance forward, every kiss begins and ends with darting eyes above a smile. Sometimes people smile -- women with strollers whose babies reach out and gurgle, old couples who nod slowly in silent recognition and acceptance.

Sometimes it's the long, long stare that goes right through my body. It starts at my neck as my skin turns red and my face folds into a scowl. It pushes through my clothes layer by layer, until it's sinking in me and it's the nausea in my stomach and it's the sweat behind my knees. The people look different -- some are young, some are old, some are white, some are brown, some are black, some are men, some are women, some are in groups in business suits and some are alone in running gear but the stare is the same -- hate, wonderment, and fear with the same morbid fascination of a child at the freak show. It's there as we approach whether we're laughing or talking or kissing or arguing, and it's there as we pass, and as we keep going a little faster than before and as we take the long way home or to our restaurant of choice because it's scarier being followed inside -- at least outside people might protect you.

We're lucky to live in New York City. Our marriage is legal here. There is an active GLBTQ presence in the city, from the gay bars, to the book clubs, to the parades and it is inspiring and welcoming and real. We live in a one-bedroom apartment in a safe area. Only one of us has faced discrimination in the work place.

We are lucky, but we are also afraid.

Several weeks ago my wife and I wanted a burger. We went into a chain restaurant in Chelsea, ordered, and got a booth. My wife helped a woman with the soda machine -- one of those big light up ones with all of the options. The woman smiled and thanked her. She and her daughter ended up at the booth next to ours -- at least until she saw us kiss on the lips.

It was a small peck, the well-learned art of coming together and slipping apart, but it was all it took. She said nothing, but moved herself and her daughter across the dining area. Her daughter stared at us from across the restaurant until they left soon after. When I walked by to get more ketchup her eyes followed me. I felt nervous and sad and quickened my step. When I turned she smiled a little and I smiled back. Her eyes were big and brown and sad. I'm not a monster, I wanted to say.

She was about 5-years-old.

The recent anti-gay hate crimes are terrifying and sad. The pain and violence should be experienced by no one and the victims have my deepest support. Many GLBTQ groups and communities are speculating on what we can do to make our city safer, to make it okay to hold hands outside again.

I don't have an answer for those questions, but I wish I did.

Over her french fries and diet Coke a 5-year-old girl saw me become a monster and learned what hate was. When my wife kisses me goodbye in front of my office in midtown, I feel that little girl's stare over and over, but aged 30 years. It's hateful, but it's also scared, and if I look hard enough I even see that little bit of awe.

When I hold my wife's hand I only want to feel her skin in my palm and our rings clink together. I only want to feel safe. We want to inspire but we hope that in time we'll be inspiring a lot more love and a lot less hate.

The First Word On 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

2013-05-18T19:53:37Z

Based on an early wave of rapturous tweets and reviews, it appears the 2013 Cannes Film Festival has its first truly great film: Joel and Ethan Coen's 1960s folk drama "Inside Llewyn Davis."

"The Coens have again taken a real time and place and freely made it their own, drawing on actual persons and events for inspiration, but binding themselves only to their own bountiful imaginations," wrote Scott Foundas of Variety in one of the film's first reviews posted online. "The result is a movie that neatly avoids the problems endemic to most period movies --and biopics in particular -- in favor of a playful, evocatively subjective reality."

Starring Oscar Isaac as the title folk singer and a cast of recognizable stars (ranging from Carey Mulligan to Justin Timberlake to John Goodman to "Girls" favorite Adam Driver), "Inside Llewyn Davis" follows a down-on-his-luck musician and his attempts to break through to stardom.

"The one question some might be left with is, why are we watching the story of a loser instead of a winner?" Todd McCarthy wrote in his review of the film for THR. "But part of the point is that often there’s but a hair’s-breadth difference between the two."

"Inside Llewyn Davis" is set for release on Dec. 6 via CBS Films; "Davis" will expand wider on Dec. 20 and seems right on track to be one of the year's most-discussed Oscar contenders. Below, an assortment of tweets and retweets about the film from those critics and writers who attended the film's first screening at Cannes.

VITO TO RESIGN MONDAY

2013-05-18T19:53:12Z

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A New York assemblyman accused of sexually harassing young female staffers for years says he will resign before he's expelled from the Legislature.

Assemblyman Vito Lopez informed leaders on Saturday he will resign effective Monday morning.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had planned a rare expulsion proceeding against Lopez beginning Monday.

Lopez was once a powerful Brooklyn Democratic leader and has been in the Assembly's Democratic majority since 1984.

Two reports released last week detailed lurid accusations of sexual harassment of several women on his staff, but neither report found proof of a crime.

Silver was trying to expel Lopez on the basis of apparently violating Assembly policies against sexual harassment and retaliation.

The state ethics board has also accused Lopez civil violations of the Public Officer's Law.

New York Man Killed In Alleged Anti-Gay Hate Crime

2013-05-18T18:45:29Z

In what may be the latest in a disturbing series of crimes allegedly targeting New York's gay community, a man was fatally shot in the head May 18 while walking through the West Village.

As NBC is reporting, local law enforcement officials are investigating the case as a hate crime after learning the suspect, who was arrested just blocks from the scene, allegedly hurled a series of anti-gay insults at the 32-year-old victim before shooting him.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the Associated Press that the suspect referred to the victim, who has been identified in the media only as a Brooklyn resident, and his companion as "gay wrestlers" after encountering them on the street shortly after midnight.

The suspect then shot the victim, who was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, in the face.

“This fully looks to be a hate crime; a bias crime,” Kelly is quoted by CBS as saying. “There were no words that would aggravate the situation that were spoken by the victims. They did not know the confronter."

Meanwhile, the New York Post points to another bizarre detail. Roughly 20 minutes before the shooting, a bartender confronted the suspect, who had been caught urinating on the wall of a nearby bar. The suspect is said to have then threatened to shoot the bartender, noting, “Do you know about the shooting in Sandy Hook?”

Among those to decry the shooting was New York mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn, who told CBS she was "horrified" to learn of the case. "I stand with all New Yorkers in condemning this attack,” she noted.

The case follows an alleged attack on another gay man just outside of another popular New York hotspot. ABC 7 reports that the victim, who was not identified, was coming out of the West Village gay bar Pieces when he was attacked by two men who were yelling gay slurs. He was not seriously hurt.

On May 5, another gay Brooklyn couple was allegedly knocked to the ground by four men emerging from a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. The alleged culprits shouted anti-gay slurs at the pair in broad daylight, according to the report.

Two 21-year-old suspects, Asllan Berisha and Brian Ramirez, have since been arrested and charged with gang assault and assault as a hate crime in connection with yet another alleged anti-gay attack this month, according to the Post.

Singer Featured On Gay Anthem 'Same Love' Opens Up

2013-05-18T17:49:34Z

When Mary Lambert was 6 years old, she taught herself to play piano and performed in front of an audience of rapt Beanie Babies.

Often home by herself, Lambert told The Huffington Post she would practice bowing to her plush -- or imaginary -- audiences, and sit for phantom interview with talk show host Jay Leno.

"I grew up in a really traumatic, abusive household," Lambert said during a video chat, adding that performing in front of a (fake) crowd served as a form of escape.

About 17 years later, what started as a child's way of transcending her surroundings has become a full-blown career that has taken the 24-year-old across the country and even onto the set of Ellen DeGeneres.

The Seattle-based singer, songwriter and poet rocketed onto the national stage with the 2012 release of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' moving single "Same Love," an instant anthem for gay rights and same-sex marriage advocates around the world.

The song went double platinum in Australia and rose to No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes. The lyrics are straightforward, yet powerful, and the chorus beautifully embodies the soul of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement:

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
I can't change
Even if I try
Even if I wanted to
My love

Lambert wrote the chorus' hook in two hours. At points tender, plaintive and unapologetic, the "Same Love" chorus draws on Lambert's experiences as a queer woman growing up in a tumultuous, Christian upbringing. The repeating line, "Not crying on Sundays," for example, echoes the way she felt after leaving Sunday services at the conservative Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

For years, Lambert apologized to God for her same-sex attractions, she told the Seattle Times.

“I fought it for a long time,” she told the outlet. “Then I fell in love with another girl and then I decided I would repent every day, because I knew I wasn’t going to change. But that was absurd.”

Tellingly, although "Same Love" is sung by a straight man (Macklemore, real name Ben Haggerty), Lambert's chorus references "her love."

"When I came out, I said, 'I'm going to be a proud gay artist," Lambert told HuffPost, adding that she doesn't mean she's only going to make "gay music."

"I'm not going to be Melissa Etheridge," Lambert said, laughing. "But she's a goddess!"

A beautiful woman with long, reddish-brown hair and dimples, Lambert said her looks still confuse people.

"It's an interesting thing about being a 'fem,'" she told HuffPost. "People automatically assume that I'm straight."

"Same Love," isn't about a best friend, she notes -- she wrote it about her longtime girlfriend, Rachel.

Being a queer singer/songwriter can still be difficult, especially for someone at the beginning of her career. Iconic, openly gay entertainers are still few and far between, and so many of the anthems associated with the LGBT movement have been sung by straight artists, such as Macklemore or Pink.

"There is a fear [you will] alienate your audience," she said. "I've struggled with this too. Do I want to say 'she?' What pronouns do I use when I want it to be about universal love? But at the same time you don't want to hide."

A talented writer and slam poet (she actually won Seattle Grand Slam poetry competition in 2011), Lambert's intimate style incorporates both vocal, instrumental and spoken word elements.

Her first EP, "Letters Don't Talk," showcases this experimental side with her single “I Know Girls (bodylove)” standing out as the best example of this hybrid artistic approach.

At times, Lambert's lyrics are so sharp, they hurt. With themes including self-mutilation, abuse and body image, the song “I Know Girls (bodylove)” has an aching poignancy that sticks with you long after the guitar chords have faded.

"I wrote 'Body Love' when I was 20," Lambert said. "It was in a time in my life when I was really reckless and destructive -- all those things were what I was thinking."

Four years later, Lambert said the piece is still a mantra she returns to, and it acts as a catharsis. People continue to come up to her after performances crying, she said. In an interview with Autostraddle, Lambert said she writes "songs to cry to." (Lambert, herself, cries a great deal, she said.)

Her shows are designed as safe spaces where crying is acceptable and even encouraged. Lambert said that when her mother comes to shows, she's always the loudest crier in the room.

"I think I've always operated with the idea that vulnerability is what connect us to humanity, and to other people in our communities," Lambert said. "When I do shows, I'm talking about my abuse and being bipolar, I'm talking about rape ... There's definitely a lot of darkness in my writing, and sadness and grief. But i think those are all important forms of expression."

Women might be starting to feel able to talk about these types of topics, but Lambert said there's still a stigma associated with being "emotionally vulnerable."

After taking some time off, Lambert is touring sparingly this spring -- she heads to New York City's SubCulture lounge May 21 -- and she's re-releasing her EP in Europe and meeting with labels to discuss the possible production of a full-length album. She also has a book out -- a poetry collection called "500 Tips For Fat Girls."

Lambert said that she wants to continue pushing forward with her songwriting. She gets emails throughout the week from women who say her music has helped them seek counseling for eating disorders or has helped them find the courage to come out of the closet.

"To be able to make art that affects them that way, and gives them power and strength and courage," she said, then hesitated, smiling. "It feels bold and egotistical to say that, but there are albums that I have listened to that do that, and maybe it's not absurd to think that I could do that, too."

Mary Lambert heads to New York City on Tuesday, May 21 for a 7:30 p.m. show at SubCulture on Bleecker Street. You can check out some of Lambert's music and read excerpts from her poetry at www.marylambertsings.com.

Cubs Lose 3-2 To Mets At Home

2013-05-18T17:06:30Z

CHICAGO -- David DeJesus singled sharply to right field in the eighth inning and Darwin Barney sprinted from second base.

Third base coach David Bell sent him home with the potential tying run.

Whoops!

Marlon Byrd threw on the fly to catcher John Buck, and the ball beat Barney by about 15 feet. Barney didn't even bother to slide and slowed down as Buck applied the tag, preserving the lead in the New York Mets' 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

"Turned out it wasn't a very close play," Bell said. "It's disappointing, it was the wrong decision. I just watched the replay again, and it wasn't close. As a third base coach, you want to make the right decision, and that wasn't the right decision."

Edwin Jackson (1-6), coming off a victory at Washington on May 11, gave up three runs and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings for Chicago.

"I think it's just been a mechanical thing, I've been feeling pretty good mechanically," Jackson said. "I've been able to go out and get in a rhythm early. Regardless how I feel, regardless how I look, regardless how I pitch, the objective is to come out and win the game. We battled today, but we came up short."

Matt Harvey, the Mets' 24-year-old right-hander, got to show off his bat as well as his arm. He won his fifth straight decision, allowing two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, and singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh after Rick Ankiel's double.

"This guy is different. He's not your run-of-the-mill young pitcher," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "This guy has got some savvy. He's got great confidence."

Daniel Murphy and David Wright homered for the Mets, who won consecutive games for the first time since May 1 and 3.

Harvey (5-0) won his first four starts of the year, then failed to get a decision in his next four outings.

"I think today, the big thing was the curveball," Harvey said after his 19th major league start. "I had that working well and was able to throw that for a strike when I needed to."

Collins said earlier this year he would have hit for Harvey when the pitcher's spot came up following Ankiel's seventh-inning double. But with the Mets' offense struggling, Collins is thinking more about pitching and defense.

Harvey went up to the plate and singled to break a 2-2 tie.

"That was awesome," Harvey said. "That was huge for me."

Chicago took a 2-1 lead in the first with three hits off Harvey, who had allowed just three first-inning hits this year.

Starlin Castro singled, Anthony Rizzo doubled and Alfonso Soriano hit an RBI single to shortstop Ruben Tejada, who ranged behind second and bounced a catchable one-hop throw past first baseman Ike Davis for a throwing error as Rizzo came home.

Nate Schierholtz lined to center, starting a streak in which Harvey retired 20 of 21 batters around Castro's one-out single in the third.

"All of the sudden, he got it going," Collins said. "He had such a rough first inning. You worry about it late in the game. Then all the sudden he started cruising. He started getting a feel for it. I tell you, he is a horse, no doubt about it."

Wright drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left in the first inning for his sixth homer. Murphy's opposite-field home run to left leading off the fourth tied it at 2.

Harvey struck out six and walked none, with his ERA going from 1.45 to 1.55. Scott Rice, Gregg Burke and Bobby Parnell combined for one-hit relief, with Parnell pitching a perfect ninth for his fifth save in seven chances.

"After that first inning, it was kind of the Matt Harvey show," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "He's obviously the real deal."

NOTES: Sveum would not put a date on the return of RHP Matt Garza to the starting rotation. Garza threw 75 pitches in six innings Thursday for Triple-A Iowa. Garza strained a lat muscle in training camp and has not pitched for the Cubs this season. "He did what we asked him to do," Sveum said. ... Davis ended an 0-for-24 slide with a sixth-inning single.

3 People Still In Critical Condition From Train Crash

2013-05-18T15:50:46Z

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Officials in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's office say the governor will meet with representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board and Connecticut's two U.S. senators at the site of a Metro-North Railroad crash that injured 70 people.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and other Connecticut officials will also participate in the tour, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT Saturday near Bridgeport. The delegation will update journalists with the latest details of the crash after surveying the area.

Three people remain in critical condition following the rush-hour crash Friday between two commuter trains that serve the northern suburbs of New York City.

New Film Celebrates Street Ball

2013-05-18T14:45:18Z

NEW YORK — Half-moon hoops, double rims, chain-linked fences for out-of-bounds lines and no net that anyone can recall.

Such is the imperfect urban landscape of playground basketball, what many consider the truest expression of the sport. It's basketball without referees, coaches or sneaker deals. Anyone can play, so long as they call "Next."

A new documentary, "Doin' it in the Park," is a loving ode to the blacktop world of New York City pickup. With more than 700 courts, it's the mecca of pick-up basketball, featuring places like Rucker Park in Harlem and the West 4th St. court, a kind of fish bowl of nonstop basketball on view for West Village commuters and tourists. Basketball is woven into the asphalt fabric of New York.

"Every court has a story," says "Doin' it in the Park" co-director Bobbito Garcia, who made the film with Kevin Couliau, a French photographer of outdoor basketball.

When Garcia was found on a recent sunny spring day at a Village court off Hudson Street, he was calmly knocking down shot after shot: "You take it, `cause I won't miss," he says, offering the ball less with arrogance than matter-of-fact politeness.

Garcia, 46, is not your average documentarian. A New York native and former basketball pro in Puerto Rico, he's carved out a career as a DJ, as an author of a book on shoes, as a New York Knicks sideline reporter and through countless other basketball-promoting activities.

"I have no aspirations to make another film," he says. "It's not like I got enchanted by a subject and dove into it for two years to create a film and now I'm to my next project. This is it. I just want to play ball."

He and Couliau made "Doin' it in the Park" by visiting 180 courts across all five boroughs over the course of the 2010 summer. They often traveled between courts on bike, Couliau's backpack full of film equipment, Garcia's with just a basketball. Couliau crashed on Garcia's couch in Harlem.

They tried to capture the culture of New York basketball, one dented backboard at a time. Their urban odyssey took them from rough Coney Island courts (the point guard hotbed that produced Stephan Marbury and Sebastian Telfair) to the daily prisoner games of Rikers Island.

The movie is something of a cultural guide to the world of New York playground basketball (Garcia disdains the demeaning "street ball" name), cataloguing its courts, its legends, its local characters and its peculiar customs.

The film takes the viewer through the sometimes fraught process of getting into the most competitive runs; examines the fierce competitiveness that makes the playground an incubator of talent; and presents the peculiarities of the game "21," (in which three or more players play individually against each other).

Kenny Smith, the former NBA guard and current TNT analyst, recalls growing up on the courts in Queens. The day he made it into a game on "the big boy court" in his neighborhood as a 15-year-old, Smith says, remains his most cherished basketball memory. (He's a two-time NBA champion.)

Richard "Pee Wee" Kirkland, the Rucker Park legend and top scorer, calls pick-up "the essence of basketball," in the film.

"One time I played at Tompkins Square Park and there was a priest on the court, a woman who had played college ball, me, a Wall Street banker and two homeless dudes – we didn't have enough," Garcia says. "Where are you going to find that mix of people engaged in a physical activity? It's not going to happen in the club where it's members only. It's not going to happen indoors. It's going to happen in the park. It's going to happen outdoors."

Often, the filmmakers would (not reluctantly) be pulled into the games they were filming.

"We weren't just witnesses," says Couliau, by phone from Paris. "We were also taking part of the movement on the playgrounds. We aren't like filmmakers trying to understand a culture. We just wanted to capture it and show it to the world."

Often, Couliau would have to lure Garcia away from a game, reminding him that he "couldn't be in every shot." Sometimes, he would simply put the camera on a tripod and let it roll. The two engaged in a one-on-one battle throughout the making of the documentary.

Most groups happily received the pair, but some were protective of their territory. In Brooklyn, Garcia says, they had to get permission to shoot from the local guy who runs the park.

"Everywhere else we were received with open arms," says Garcia. "But in Brooklyn, it was like, `Yo, what are you all doin'? You cops?'"

To release "Doin' it in the Park," Garcia and Couliau have taken a DIY approach in line with their subject. Earlier in May, they released it themselves on the film's website for $9.99 a download. They've booked theatrical runs themselves at theaters (it opens in a New York theater May 22, and follows in other cities) and they've organized community screenings. Nike is sponsoring them on a world tour through August that will bring the film to many different – but also similar – international cultures of pick-up basketball.

"President Obama, Lebron James, the 65-year-old dude right here and the scrub out of junior high school behind us – they all play pick-up," says Garcia, gesturing at the courts around him. "Everybody plays pick-up."

Leaning back on a park bench, Garcia smiles broadly, basking in the cacophony of balls bouncing around him. One court nearby is teaming with 10 kids, none older than 9.

"It's alive," he says, pointing to the kids. "I can't make this up."

___

Online:

http://buy.doinitinthepark.com/

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

7 Ways To Make Your Backyard Awesome This Weekend

2013-05-18T13:21:39Z

Outdoor parties are a must for warm spring weather. If the weatherman's forecast is correct, this weekend is a great time to host one. Round up your friends, but cover your bases first, including building an outdoor bar area.

So go on and scroll through our list of DIYs and get ready for party season.

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Do you have a home story idea or tip? Email us at homesubmissions@huffingtonpost.com. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.)

Police Investigate Student Shooting Death

2013-05-18T13:09:50Z

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — A wanted man with a criminal history dating back nearly 15 years was identified by police Saturday as the masked home invader involved in the death of a Hofstra University student early Friday morning.

Dalton Smith, who was wanted on a parole violation related to a first-degree robbery conviction, attempted to rob the off-campus home where he and Hofstra junior Andrea Rebello were fatally shot, Nassau County police said.

Authorities said police were involved in the shooting although it isn't clear who fired the shots that killed Rebello and Smith around 2:30 a.m. Friday. Police said they are still investigating.

Smith was identified using fingerprints just hours after funeral arrangement were made for Rebello, 21, a popular public relations major who was with her twin sister Jessica and several other students in an off-campus house at the time of the break-in. The other students were unharmed.

Smith, of Hempstead, Long Island, had what police described as "an extensive criminal history," which included arrests for robbery in the first degree in 1999, promoting prison contraband in the second degree in 2000, robbery in the first degree in 2003, assault in the second degree in 2003 and robbery in the second degree in 2003.

Nassau County Chief of the Homicide squad Lt. John Azzata said in a statement that a warrant was issued for Smith on April 25 for absconding from parole.

The shooting, which took place just steps from campus, cast a pall over the university community as it geared up for commencement on Sunday.

"Today is the last day of finals and this should be a happy day on campus; but it's not," said Hofstra freshman Scott Aharoni of Great Neck, as he passed through the area rife with yellow crime-scene tape Friday. "It's really sad."

Rebello's father, Fernando, was too distraught to discuss the incident in detail outside the family's Tarrytown, N.Y., home Friday.

"It's my daughter, my baby daughter," he told the Journal News through tears. "She was so beautiful. I'm so confused.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

The Journal News reported that Wednesday's funeral Mass for Rebello at Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., will be in Portuguese.

Hofstra's commencement ceremonies will go on as planned on Sunday despite the tragedy. University spokeswoman Karla Schuster said she expects school President Stuart Rabinowitz to acknowledge the shooting in his remarks.

The two sisters, another woman and another man were inside the two-story rental house when the gunman, wearing a ski mask, forced his way in, according to Nassau County Inspector Kenneth Lack. The intruder allowed the third unidentified woman to leave, and she called 911.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press the woman called 911 from near an ATM. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Victoria Dehel, who lives four houses away, said she heard what sounded like fighting. At first she ignored it, figuring it was from rowdy students coming home from a bar.

Suddenly, "this girl was shrieking," followed by loud bangs just seconds later.

"It didn't sound good at all," Dehel said. "I turned to my boyfriend and I said, `I think someone just got murdered.' It was awful."

Rebello and her sister were 2010 graduates of Sleepy Hollow High School, according to principal Carol Conklin-Spillane.

"They were smart happy beautiful young women," Conklin-Spillane said. "I speak about them together because they were very much a matched pair. They were best friends by choice."

Andrea Rebello quoted Benjamin Franklin and Bob Marley in a yearbook photo from the school.

"Believe some of what you hear and only half of what you see" was attributed to the founding father and "Love the life you live, live the life you love" was the citation for the reggae legend.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Fitzgerald in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., contributed to this report.

WATCH: Why You Shouldn't Go To IKEA With A Loved One

2013-05-18T12:45:03Z

In this classic scene from "30 Rock," Liz Lemon puts her relationship to the ultimate test: IKEA. We find that the scene isn't so far from the truth. We've seen those fights. And maybe even have been part of those fights.

We really couldn't think of a better way to salute Tina Fey on her 43rd birthday.

What's worse than IKEA? Moving. Here are our worst stories.

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Do you have a home story idea or tip? Email us at homesubmissions@huffingtonpost.com. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.)

Kulture of Kute

2013-05-18T07:45:55Z

Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara is best know for his depictions of adorable -- if not ever so slightly maniacal -- children. These quirky characters have made their way into almost every inch of his sculptures, paintings, and works on paper, baring their cute, round faces and large, devilish eyes in galleries and museums across the world since Nara's early career.

Let's Move On!, 2012, acrylic on wood board, 77" x 74-3/4" x 3-1/2" (195.6 cm x 189.9 cm x 8.9 cm)

His works are so menacingly delightful, in fact, that they've attracted the attention of synth god David Byrne. "On the surface, [Nara's works are] pretty damn cute. But Nara has stepped outside that world in a big way," Byrne wrote in the catalogue essay for Nara's newest exhibition in New York. "The kids and dogs in his pictures and bronzes are defiant, angry, annoyed, and pissed off. They have rebelled against their roots, and their big eyes are cold."

The exhibit, on view now at Pace Gallery, is a solo survey of Nara's unique brand of "Kute Kultre," combining pieces of Western punk culture with the ever-cute details of manga and anime. Unlike the clean lines of Takashi Murakami, however, Nara's chunky bronze sculptures and and jagged sketches leave hints of the labor and effort that went into crafting his naughty cartoons.

Scroll through the slideshow below for a preview of Nara's works. Let us know what you think of his bold imps in the comments.

Major Commuter Train Crash

2013-05-17T23:24:31Z

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

About 700 people were on board the Metro-North trains when one heading east from New York City's Grand Central Station to New Haven derailed about 6:10 p.m. just outside Bridgeport, MTA and Bridgeport officials said.

The train was hit by a train heading west from New Haven to Grand Central on an adjacent track, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.

Amtrak, which uses the same rails, suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.

Lola Oliver, 49, of Bridgeport, was riding one of the trains when the crash threw her from her seat.

"All I know was I was in the air, hitting seats, bouncing around, flying down the aisle and finally I came to a stop on one seat. And I just gripped it because I felt the train sliding," Oliver told The Associated Press. "It happened so fast I had no idea what was going on. All I know is we crashed."

Oliver, a cardiology technician at Stamford Hospital, was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises and released.

Investigators Friday night did not know what caused the first train to derail. Malloy said there was no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to investigate.

"We're most concerned about the injured and ultimately reopening the system," Malloy said from the scene about three hours after the crash.

The governor said that most people were not seriously hurt. Among those critically injured, he said, one's injuries were "very critical."

Passenger Bradley Agar of Westport, Conn., said he was in the first car of the westbound train when he heard screaming and the window smash behind him.

"I saw the first hit, the bump, bump, bump all the way down," he said.

Agar had returned to work this week for the first time since breaking his shoulder in January. And since he was still healing, he thought it would be safer to take the train than drive.

The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter line serving the northern suburbs, described it as a "major derailment." Photos showed a train car askew on the rails, with its end smashed up and brushing against another train.

Malloy said there was extensive damage to the train cars and the track, and it could take until Monday for normal service to be restored. He said the accident will have a "big impact on the Northeast Corridor."

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said extra buses will be deployed, but the disruption caused by the train accident could cost the region's economy millions of dollars.

"A lot of people rely on this, and we've got to get this reconnected as soon as possible," Finch said.

The area where the accident happened was already down to two tracks because of repair work, Malloy said. Crews have been working for a long time on the electric lines above the tracks, the power source for the trains. He said Connecticut has an old system and no other alternate tracks.

By late evening, Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said everybody who needed treatment had been attended to, and authorities were beginning to turn their attention to investigating the cause.

"Everybody seemed pretty calm," he said. "Everybody was thankful they didn't get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the Metro-North Railroad, the second-largest commuter railroad in the nation. The Metro-North main lines – the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven – run northward from New York City's Grand Central Terminal into suburban New York and Connecticut.

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Associated Press writer Michael Melia contributed to this report from Hartford, Conn.

Jamie Krauss Hess: The 5 Biggest Changes You'll Find in Fire Island Pines This Summer

2013-05-17T22:46:43Z

It's that time of year again: time to buff up, bare all and hit the beach. Any good gay knows that Fire Island, specifically the Pines region, is one of the most beautiful, historic and hedonistic summer destinations in the world. You may also know that the Pines had it rough over the past couple of years. A devastating fire leveled the beloved Pavilion nightclub in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy took its toll in 2012. But much like the resilient population that inhabits its shores, the Pines won't be quieted. In the face of adversity, it rises up stronger than before. And how could it not? This year marks the Pines' 60th anniversary. Here are five things that will make summer 2013 in the Pines the best one ever... and why you'll want to be there to experience it.