Monday is D-Day for the stadium (Star Tribune)

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Sizzling Cinema! The Hottest Summer Movies of 2012

From Spider-Man to Robert Pattinson's big-screen return in Bel Ami, check out our picks for the season's biggest films!

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Video: Political marriage of the century? Obama and Clinton

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Creative Ways to Increase Web Traffic | Internet Marketing News ...

30/04/12 7:51 PM

Virtually everyone who owns a website is in a never-ending quest to increase web traffic. They post their links in their email signatures, they include them on email lists and message boards, and even print them on their business cards. With Web 2.0, there are many other ways to increase web traffic. Here are four that many people overlook:

1. Social bookmaking sites ? Tag your web pages with social bookmarks (like digg and del.icio.us) to take advantage of the bookmarking sites? search visibility. The tags can help your pages get indexed and help you rise in search engine rankings.

2. Another great place to post a link is on sites like Flickr, where people can share their photos online. Write a post when you post your pictures, and add a note with your URL. Once it?s saved, it will turn into a hyperlink that can be clicked. When people view your pictures, they may just click on the link and be transported to your website.

3. You can also increase your web traffic by commenting on other people?s blogs and including your URL. But, make sure that you?re interested in the subject and have something meaningful to say. If you can contribute to the discussion, there?s a greater chance that your comment (and your link) will be left intact. Otherwise, the blogger will perceive your comment as spam and delete it without a second thought.

4. Links can also be posted on a website that is specific to your industry. Again, it must not be an obvious spam post or else it will be deleted. But if the post is tastefully done, it will help you increase web traffic to your site.

These are just a few creative ways to increase web traffic. Always use your imagination, and take advantage of the trends in Internet use. When you stay ahead of the curve, your efforts will be much more effective.

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'Avengers' Version Of Hulk 'More Accessible,' Mark Ruffalo Says

'He's got a wry sense of humor about himself,' actor tells MTV News at Tribeca Film Festival.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Mark Ruffalo at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of "Avengers"
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images

Of all the actors coming together to form the Avengers, Mark Ruffalo decidedly had the most to prove. After two previous Hulk films left fans largely unsatisfied, a new actor in the role could either lead to another letdown or, finally, to a version that felt true to the comics.

Fortunately for Ruffalo, early reviews of "The Avengers" overwhelming point to his version of Bruce Banner as one of the highlights of the film. MTV News caught up with Ruffalo at the closing-night ceremonies for the Tribeca Film Festival to get his take on the Hulk's positive reception and to find out what was different this time around.

Ruffalo felt the pressure that came with the role of the Hulk as soon as he signed on to be the third actor in as many films. "It was very daunting. I've never had a part so harshly reviewed before I even shot a single frame of film," he said. "The fanboys had a lot to say about it — granted, they had a great deal of care about this part and a lot of sentimentality as well, as do I, growing up on it."

The actor said that the latest technology gave him the biggest advantage over the first two iterations of the character. "There have been other great performances as Banner. The only real edge that I had was that the technology had changed so much since that last movie that I actually got to play the Hulk," Ruffalo said.

This latest version of the Hulk takes a different approach to the character, giving him a dry sense of humor about his condition, but Ruffalo gave credit to both Eric Bana and Edward Norton for helping lay the foundation in the first two films.

"I just think it's a natural progression of the other performances. When you find the guy at this point, he's tired of running. He's got a wry sense of humor about himself," Ruffalo said. "He's ready to turn and face the world. He's got a charming world-weariness that's kind of knocked the edges off of him and made him slightly more accessible."

Check out everything we've got on "The Avengers."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit .

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UFC VP says Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey helped bolster MMA?s hopes in New York

If, as it should be, mixed martial arts is ever legalized in New York, don't forget to give Strikeforce bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey her share of credit.

On April 18 in Albany, N.Y., the New York state senate voted 43-14 to approve a bill that would legalize and regulate MMA in the state. It still needs the pass the assembly and then be signed by Gov. Cuomo in order to become law.

The bill has passed the state senate before, but this time around, said Marc Ratner, the UFC's vice president for governmental and regulatory affairs, the job was made much easier with Rousey's testimony.

"She got up there and she really made a great presentation and I think she had a significant impact," Ratner said. "We [as executives] can talk all we want to them about the positives of MMA, but to hear it from someone like her, a fighter, someone who is very articulate [and] who made her points very passionately, it definitely made a huge impact."

Rousey, who defeated Miesha Tate by, what else, an arm bar submission to win the title on March 3 in Columbus, was particularly effective when she spoke about what MMA has done for her. She won a bronze medal in judo in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but said she would be struggling financially had she remained in that sport. She said she'd be losing money if she were a professional judoka.

Several senators approached her, she said, and told her her presentation changed their minds and caused them to vote in favor of the bill.

"MMA has a bad rap among some people," Rousey told Cagewriter. "It's marketed sometimes in a way that is not what the sport is. You hear the marketing, 'Two men enter. One man leaves,' but that's ridiculous. It's not what this sport is. They just do it to sound dramatic. It's like a movie preview. The whole movie isn't just running around and screaming and explosions, but they make it seem like that [in the trailer] so people go to the movie. There's a lot of quiet time and dialogue and there is a plot. What they're doing is like they're comparing a commercial for 'The Bourne Identity' to actually sitting there and watching it for two hours."

She spent time explaining the nuances of her specialty, the arm bar. She pointed out that she'd be arm barred "more times than I can count," and pointed out that she wasn't out snapping bones. She said she doesn't think she's ever broken an opponent's arm.

That, too, worked.

"I explained everything behind it and after I did, they were like, 'OK, that's no problem, it's not barbaric,' " Rousey said.

Her best point, though, may have been when she told the senators that there was actually already MMA going on in the state. She made them aware that there is a robust amateur scene there, but it isn't as safe for the fighters and the fighters aren't able to make a living, like they do when they're professionals and compete where the sport is regulated.

That point struck home with many of the lawmakers.

"In New York, you could fight and have people do MMA," she said. "But they have to do it without the proper medical checks. They have to do it without getting paid. They have to do it without any kind of regulation or oversight. [Amateur MMA in New York] is unsafe the way it is now, because they're missing all the things we have in pro MMA.

"We're not asking them to bring in a bunch of people and tell them to kill each other. That's not what's going on. That's how it was being presented. I wanted to point out that amateur MMA is here already, but we want to get it regulated so it's safe and there is regulation and it is safe and everyone gets paid for what they do. I want to be able to work in any state in my own country. Can you imagine, we're in 2012 and I still legally can't do my job anywhere I want in my country?"

The tens of millions of dollars poured into the legalization effort by UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and president Dana White will be primarily responsible for MMA's passage in New York, if and when it occurs.

But Rousey's day on the hill shouldn't be forgotten. On that day, the lady was a champ when it came to wooing the legislators.

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A Professional Recording Studio in an Unbelievably Tiny Room [Where The Magic Happens]

Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and The Foo Fighters have something in common with Brooklyn-based musician Neil Shah—they all made great music in a basic home studio. McCartney and Springsteen had a four-track cassette deck, and Dave Grohl used a garage. But Shah's setup is even more limited—his whole studio measures all of 66 square feet. Here's how he made it work. More »

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