Lifestyle

After spending the better part of a decade in disaster mode, the American economy has used the past four years to gradually bounce back to a relatively stable state, according to recent reports. In fact, millions of Americans are now back to work. But of course, with these numbers come a bit of good news and a bit of bad news. The good news? A bolstered economy means an enlivened workforce, with nearly 4 million jobs being created in the past few years. The bad news? The overwhelming majority of these employment opportunities have come at places like McDonald's, Taco Bell and retail shops in strip malls. In a grander sense, the economy's bounce-back has yielded far more low-paying jobs than better-paid ones. But who cares, as long as there are jobs at all, right? The housing market, ...

There can be a few small downsides to fame -- something Buddy Valastro Jr., better known as the "Cake Boss" of reality TV, knows well enough. Carlo's Bakery, home of the Cake Boss, has been greenlighted for opening its first shop in Greenwich, Connecticut. The agreement with the town is not without stipulations, however. The Planning and Zoning board gave a firm "no" when it came to filming any episodes at the local store, and officials also wanted assurances that special events, such as cake-decorating classes and birthday parties, would occur during non-school hours so as not to aggravate parking and traffic problems. Several zoning officials are worried that cars full of "Cake Boss" fans could create a troublesome bottleneck in an area that is already fairly congested. The bakery's or...

While the millions of One Direction fans around the world were likely ecstatic to watch the group's latest music video upon its April 18 release, one Australian video production company was less than pleased. Oh Yeah Wow, the production company in question, has accused the British boy band of plagiarizing in its video for "You And I,"according to an April 24 NME article. Oh Yeah Wow claims that One Direction and "You And I" director Ben Winston "regurgitated" a video the company had shot for Clubfeet's song "Everything You Wanted" in January 2013. According to Oh Yeah Wow, the third act of the "You And I" video, in which the band members jump into freeze-frame shots of themselves, directly copies the Clubfeet video. On its blog, Oh Yeah Wow expresses anger that "some affluent y...