Inside the $70 Million+ house Jay Z & Beyonce got outbid on.

Ever wondered what a $70 Million+ house looks like? Step inside the Beverly Hills mansion Jay Z & Beyonce got out bid on by the owner of Minecraft who just sold out to Microsoft for $2.5Billion.

Spread over 23,000 square feet, this 8 bedroom, 15 bathroom, 16 car garage with infinity pool, wine cellar, 24 seat movie theatre, M&M's candy room and much much more.

87th Academy Awards Nominations

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), is scheduled to take place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The Academy gave Academy Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara and a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte in November 2014.

The nominees for the 2015 Academy Awards have been announced. See below an updated list of the nominees:

Best Picture
“American Sniper” Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
“Boyhood” Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
“The Imitation Game” Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
“Selma” Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
“The Theory of Everything” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
“Whiplash” Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster

Actor
Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”

Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall in “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”
Edward Norton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”

Actress
Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”

Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”
Laura Dern in “Wild”
Keira Knightley in “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”

Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6” Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
“The Boxtrolls” Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
“Song of the Sea” Tomm Moore and Paul Young
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Adapted Screenplay
“American Sniper” Written by Jason Hall
“The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore
“Inherent Vice” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Theory of Everything” Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
“Whiplash” Written by Damien Chazelle

Original Screenplay
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
“Boyhood” Written by Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
“Nightcrawler” Written by Dan Gilroy

Cinematography
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Emmanuel Lubezki
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Robert Yeoman
“Ida” Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
“Mr. Turner” Dick Pope
“Unbroken” Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Milena Canonero
“Inherent Vice” Mark Bridges
“Into the Woods” Colleen Atwood
“Maleficent” Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
“Mr. Turner” Jacqueline Durran

Director
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Boyhood” Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Bennett Miller
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson
“The Imitation Game” Morten Tyldum

Documentary Feature
“CitizenFour” Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
“Finding Vivian Maier” John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
“Last Days in Vietnam” Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
“The Salt of the Earth” Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
“Virunga” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
“Joanna” Aneta Kopacz
“Our Curse” Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
“The Reaper (La Parka)” Gabriel Serra Arguello
“White Earth” J. Christian Jensen

Film Editing
“American Sniper” Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
“Boyhood” Sandra Adair
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Barney Pilling
“The Imitation Game” William Goldenberg
“Whiplash” Tom Cross

Foreign Language Film
“Ida” Poland
“Leviathan” Russia
“Tangerines” Estonia
“Timbuktu” Mauritania
“Wild Tales” Argentina

Makeup and Hairstyling
“Foxcatcher” Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

Original Score
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Alexandre Desplat
“The Imitation Game” Alexandre Desplat
“Interstellar” Hans Zimmer
“Mr. Turner” Gary Yershon
“The Theory of Everything” Jóhann Jóhannsson

Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie”
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Glory” from “Selma”
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“The Imitation Game” Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
“Interstellar” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“Into the Woods” Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Mr. Turner” Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

Animated Short Film
“The Bigger Picture” Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
“The Dam Keeper” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
“Feast” Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
“Me and My Moulton” Torill Kove
“A Single Life” Joris Oprins

Live Action Short Film
“Aya” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
“Boogaloo and Graham” Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
“Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)” Hu Wei and Julien Féret
“Parvaneh” Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
“The Phone Call” Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

Sound Editing
“American Sniper” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
“Interstellar” Richard King
“Unbroken” Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

Sound Mixing
“American Sniper” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
“Interstellar” Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
“Unbroken” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
“Whiplash” Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

Visual Effects
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
“Interstellar” Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

Naked is the only way to make it (Kim Kardashian)

Big vote of thanks to Kim Kardashian, who this week finally cemented her lesson to women of the world about how all this time we have been doing it wrong. All totally and completely wrong.

To think women across the globe are fighting to be heard, for a right to be educated, for a right to equal pay and equal positions based on merit, and to be respected as the fantastic creature they are. But all along they just needed a naked butt.

They are studying, working, juggling commitments and managing family and career.Yeah… no. Kim says strip off for money instead. It’s easier. (If you don’t know what I am talking about Google Kim Kardashian)

Kim is special, obviously. Known for nothing, but famous for being famous. A creation of great PR and society’s need for increasingly vacuous TV and gossip. Kim Kardashian is the epitome of what not to do. And yet seemingly the poster girl for how to succeed.

So now, with wealth and fame at her command — without having to ever get her immaculately manicured paws dirty — it was obviously time for Ms Kardashian to show the rest of us business women what we have been doing wrong in trying to establish our careers.

Yep. Who needs a degree and career when you can just strip naked for a magazine? I mean… Hello. That would save a lot of grief, time and effort for so many of us! All this time we have been strategic in how we look. Working hard to stay fit and healthy and covering up enough to ensure we receive respect in a business setting

Thank you Kim for letting every aspiring business woman and young girl know that “naked is the only way to make it”

Let me go back in time and tell all the women who worked hard to create a future for us all to not bother because Kim Kardashian will show us how it’s done.

Thank you Kim for also being a poster girl for successful women in porn in the 21st century. An industry I’m sure young girls are now considering because of you.

Don’t worry yourself too much though Kim, the rest of us will take on the responsibility of ensuring the millions of women wanting to be respected for their brains that it is ok NOT to get naked to get noticed.

Oh, and we’re assuming you’ll be donating your designer clothes to charity now that you clearly have no need for them?

NOTE: If you haven’t seen the pictures. Google it. I won’t have it on this site.

4 Unexpected Innovation Lessons from the Film 'Interstellar'

The new film 'Interstellar' is being hailed for helping to bring theoretical physics into the mainstream. But, it also communicates unexpected lessons about innovation that are vitally important to executives, entrepreneurs, scientists and others.

The Film

This weekend, I took time to watch the new film Interstellar, which was directed by Christopher Nolan and executive produced by the well-regarded theoretical physicistKip Thorne. The film tells the tale of a group of astronauts tasked with finding a new home for humanity after a series of disasters renders the Earth uninhabitable. The explorers travel through a wormhole that allows them to examine a series of planets located in another galaxy, and in the vicinity of a Black Hole (featured in the image above).

I don't want to spoil the film too much for those who haven't seen it. But, I will say that Interstellar is a challenging and though-provoking movie. And, for a science nerd like me, an intellectual feast. While the movie's plot could have been improved, its visual exploration of established and speculative physics such as Einstein's Theory of Relativity and quantum gravity were first-rate and highly engaging.

4 Unexpected Innovation Lessons from Interstellar

I've thought a lot about the science presented in the film, with the help of Kip Thorne's excellent new book, The Science of Interstellar. But, as I turned the movie over in my mind, I came to realize that it unexpectedly communicates a number of essential lessons about what it takes to innovate successfully. I've described four of them below. Warning: I'll reveal a few plot details from the movie, but nothing you wouldn't learn from watching trailers or reading (spoiler-lite) reviews.

Innovation Requires Diversity

The world inhabited by physicists, computer scientists, researchers and technology innovators is very homogenous. It's tough for women, African Americans, Native Americans and people from other non-white male groups to break in and succeed in these arenas. But, it's been proven that diversity is an innovation booster. Bringing diverse (and highly-qualified) teams together to tackle tough problems has many benefits.

Interstellar is refreshing in that it highlights the accomplishments and brain power of a diverse group of engineers, mathematicians and others, as noted by the famed scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson. A female physicist does the hard work of solving an essential equation. An African American scientist is an essential member of the crew and provides much-needed insights that play a big role in the film.

If you want to innovate, it's essential seek out and incorporate diverse perspectives.

Innovation Requires Passion

The scientists and engineers in Interstellar are passionate because they know the results of their work will determine the fate of humanity. And, the film displays the fruits of their passion. Craft that can reach space without the aid of rockets, super smart, adaptive computers that can aid humans and save lives and many more innovations.

Passion. If you don't have it, innovation is almost impossible.

Innovation Requires Imagination

In the Interstellar trailer, Matthew McConaughey's character complains that humankind has lost its spark, it's willingness to imagine life beyond the planet's surface. And, in a scene I found shocking and disturbing, it was revealed that the government had published textbooks filled with lies and half truths about major scientific accomplishments. (Unfortunately, this really happens. Ugh.)

Yet, although most people in the film had long given up on imagining a better world and future, a few at a secretive and underfunded NASA never stopped looking out at the stars.

Without imagination (and hope), innovation is much harder to achieve.

Innovation Requires Luck

One can look at Interstellar in two ways:

• The events of the movie were always going to happen (hint: the film's plot is a giant time loop)
• Humanity got really, really lucky

I'm going to go with the second option because without a whole lot of luck (and skill), the wormhole that allows for interstellar travel would have never been discovered, for example.*

Anyone who has successfully built anything will tell you that without a little luck, they would have never made it. We can't control everything. Whether it's fair or not, good fortune plays a role in whether we're able to achieve what we set out to do.

If you're interested in innovation, science, the relationship between humans and technology and more, I highly recommend that you watch (and re-watch) this film. I'm sure you'll learn as much as I did.

The Fault in Our Stars film review

Director: Josh Boone
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern

“The world is not a wish-granting factory” doesn’t have quite the resonance of “What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died?”. However, that’s not for the lack of trying. Forty-four years after that opening of Love Story and the ailing woman at the centre of it surged the book and movie to a monster success, here’s another film trying to make the best of a bestseller that was saved from being mawkishly exploitative only because of the spunky, raw and brutally honest notes it managed to strike at regular intervals.

But even John Greene’s book The Fault in Our Stars was transparent in its almost obsessive philosophising, realising that in the well-endowed market of young adult fiction, cancer isn’t enough to get romance love. However, where Greene brought in ethical theories, Venn Diagram, maths, metaphors and a very unlikable author with an equally verbose bent of thought, he also let his teens be teens in a world where few saw beyond her cannula plus oxygen tank and his prosthetic leg, including overindulging in video games.

Despite a readymade audience that comes with such gigantic bestseller, translating all of the above from the romance and the loving to the disease and the dying was never going to be easy. If Boone even gets halfway there, it is on account of Woodley (last seen in Divergent), who truly gets the unlikely Hazel Grace Lancaster that’s at the centre of this story.

Diagnosed with cancer when she was 13 and a death experience later, Hazel is now 17, breathing with the help of a nose cannula, quiet, more tired than cynical about her circumstances, and quite adult in her reactions. That’s clear from even the book she swears by, An Imperial Affliction, about a girl dying from cancer, which ended mid-sentence. The only subject that gets Hazel animated is a reflection on what happens later, after the girl, Anna’s, death.

When an impossibly charming 18-year-old Augustus Waters appears to take a liking to her, at a mutual cancer support group, and equally to the book – which is way out of his normal zombie reading – their fates are but sealed together. Augustus lost his leg to osteosarcoma but now appears on the bend.

To anyone familiar with the book, the film is faithful to a fault from the dialogues to the clothes, the setting and the food, even while skipping over some of the unpleasant details including what would have been an awkward sex scene. It also throws in a limousine for apparently no reason at all.

However, while these dilute the film of some of its essence, the more unpardonable flaw is how insipid all the other characters are, particularly Augustus who exists merely to fulfill Hazel’s dreams unlike the contrast-ridden dreamboat he was in the book.

The film also labours to underline the connection between Hazel’s search for an afterlife for Anna’s story and her concern for her own parents after her death – unlike how it flowed quite naturally in the book. And that’s nothing compared to how it uses Anne Frank’s story to illustrate Hazel’s struggle.

That Woodley even walks away from that last scene — struggling for breath and hauling her oxygen tank up impossible flights of stairs in the Amsterdam house Anne Frank took refuge in, ending it with her first kiss with Augustus and an applause – unharmed, is to her credit. She makes it all seem plausible, pulling along a mostly overwhelmed Elgort with her.

“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities” is another favourite line of The Fault in Our Stars – the point being about time being what you make of it. The film may not stand that test of time but, something tells us, the line will. That may be infinite enough.