- Fish sandwiches are back at your local Wendy’s, so you know what that means. It’s Lent and Lent also means the return of the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter that is considered a sacred time for members of the Catholic faith, especially when it comes to the practice of confession, a key part of the church’s system of belief. But in our modern world with all its trappings and enticements where it is easy to get caught up in a fast-paced, hectic lifestyle with no time to stop by the local Catholic church to confess your sins to the priest, how is a faith to grab the attention of its followers? The Archdiocese of Miami believes it has an answer and that answer is the magic of television. The archdiocese is launching a television campaign to encourage people to confess their sins this Lent. “Confession is for Catholics the way to have the sins that they have committed after Baptism to be forgiven,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Saint Martha’s Church in Miami. “The sacrament of penance is more about knowing we are loved, that our god is merciful, and that he forgives us.” Wenski came up with the idea for the commercial to remind Catholics of the meaning behind confession. The basic idea of the commercial is to eliminate anxiety attached to the sacrament of confession, i.e. a guilt trip laid on them by the priest because they haven’t dropped in for confession since Dawson’s Creek was still heating up the airwaves for the WB. “I don’t want to hear [people say] that when I went to confession I got yelled at by a priest. Don’t believe all the jokes all the comedians talk about. Confession truly is a conversation with God,” said Mary Ross Agosta, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Miami. Along with Wenski’s 30-second TV spot in which he addresses the importance of confession, the archdiocese is also hitting it hard with literature advertising Reconciliation Weekend, which is April 15-16 and offering tips on how to go to confession. During Reconciliation Weekend, the archdiocese’s 40 parishes will offer extended hours for confessions. Why the archdiocese didn’t find a way to work Facebook and Twitter into the mix, I’m still not sure…………
- No again, Los Angeles Lakers fans, front office personnel and players. Phil Jackson may actually be serious about retiring and remaining retired this time, but don’t think that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is any more likely to take the job than he was the last time Phil Jackson retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004. At that time, the Lakers made a strong push to lure Krzyzewski away from Duke and he admitted to seriously considering the move before eventually turning the Lakers down. With Jackson adamant about retiring at the end of the current season, Krzyzewski was asked Wednesday if he would consider another offer from the Lakers. He quickly shot the idea down, saying his answer would be the same if Jackson goes through with his plan to retire after the season and the Lakers decided to call him again. "I've never thought of ever leaving Duke for another school but there were three serious times where I almost left to go to the pros," Krzyzewski said. "One was when Dave Gavitt took over the Celtics [in 1990], another was with the Trailblazers [in 1994] and the one that I took to a really far level was the Lakers situation. They were great with me. I just could not give up what I've done and gotten at Duke. It just wasn't worth it." Those words are not at all surprising for a coach who has won four national titles at Duke and is one of the most respected coaches in college basketball. Even if the Lakers bettered the five-year, $40 million deal after general manager Mitch Kupchak reportedly offered around the time of the 2004 NBA draft, leaving Duke at this point in his career would be stunning for Krzyzewski. He said as much back in 2004, stating, "Your heart has to be in whatever you lead. It became apparent that this decision was somewhat easier to make because you have to follow your heart and lead with it and Duke has always taken up my whole heart." Despite forming a close relationship with Bryant and Lamar Odom as the head coach of Team USA, even those two guys had to know that there was no way Krzyzewski would be coaching them anywhere other than the international level…………
- The next competitor on the digital music market is currently rumbling down the runway and could be set for takeoff soon. Care to guess who might be behind this enterprising endeavor? How about the tech giant bent on world domination on every conceivable front, Google? The company has reportedly begun testing Google Music internally and allowing its employees the first crack at he much-anticipated service that is nearly ready to launch, according to music industry sources. Google Music differs from Apple’s iTunes in that its primary focus is a streaming service that users would be able to access from Internet-connected devices as opposed to a solely digital music store. The hang-up for Google Music is a lack of content, which would definitely be a big hurdle for a service that, well, is all about content. But Google officials were telling executives at the top four record companies last year that the target launch for the service was late 2010, so the project appears headed in the wrong direction at this point. A revised estimate of demonstrating the service earlier this month at the SXSW conference came and went and once again, the launch of Google Music was pushed back. Google has saved face in some sense because it has never set an official launch date, but that does not necessarily mean that those involved in the project won't get frustrated as it is delayed over and over. The company is still in talks with some of the top publishers and four largest record labels about providing content for Google Music and negotiations are progressing slowly because Google is negotiating for cloud music rights and not just the authorization to distribute the songs themselves. In other words, the search giant wants to be able to store users' existing music libraries on the company's servers. Apple is in similar talks for its own music services, but to this point labels have never given out licensing rights for digital music catalogs. One would think that the recording industry would be eager for Google Music to launch because its presence as a viable competitor to iTunes would mean that Apple’s chokehold on the industry could be relaxed. But hopes or no hopes, Google Music has yet to get off the ground and has no official launch date. The most likely option would be the Google I/O 2011, which is taking place in May. If not then…………
- Visitors to Cape Town, South Africa, you can now travel to a truly amazing place without the fear that an angry, starving baboon will attack your vehicle and attempt to rob you. For months and months, visitors to Cape Town had to live in mortal fear of a baboon, named Fred, known for raiding cars and attacking tourists in Cape Town. With some 400 baboons roaming Cape Town's outskirts, particularly the popular scenic route to the Cape of Good Hope, along with a steady stream of tourists, it was only a matter of time before a problem arose. Although baboons are a protected species in South Africa, when these primates cross the line in their pursuit of food, problems are sure to ensue. City officials blamed Fred's violence on "misguided efforts" by tourists to try to befriend and feed the animal, which is typical dumb tourist behavior 101. Just as one does not feed the animals at the zoo, do not feed them in the wild either. If you do, they will come to expect food from every human they see and when those humans do not have food, wild animals do not have the intellectual capacity to comprehend that they should simply allow that person to pass without attempting to rip their non-existent food supply from them. Fred became violent and forced local officials into a "difficult decision" to euthanize him. "The decision to have him (Fred) euthanised was not taken lightly and not without extensive discussions between all role-players involved," Cape Town's Baboon Operational Group said in a statement. "This baboon's aggression levels had recently escalated to the point where the safety of tourists, motorists and other travellers along the road past Smitswinkel Bay was being threatened.” When animal protection groups are admitting that an animal needs to be put down, you know the situation has become dangerous. Fred’s attacks reached a crescendo in 2010, when he attacked and injured three people as he searched for food in the city. All of this because some vapid tourists just had to give human food to that cute baboon by the side of the road…………
- Having never had the urge to travel to Las Vegas, I can confidently state that never have I been happier NOT to be in Sin City than Friday night, when not one, but two of the more cancerous influences on pop culture in the past decade were in the same place at the same time in what can only be described as an entertainment apocalypse. The first celebri-tool in the house at Rain nightclub inside the Palms Casino and Resort was new resident DJ Pauly D of "Jersey Shore" notoriety. He was doing the job that the Maloof brothers, owners of the Palms, are unfortunately paying him big money to do. After Pauly D blasted through a set of indistinguishably identical dance/techno songs, a video montage of Britney Spears' best video moments played. How one picks the best moments from a career that has had none of them and instead produced a steady string of increasingly unlistenable pop drivel, I’m not sure, but the montage ran and once the videos wrapped, the crowd was “treated” to (or tortured by) a live performance by Spears. She rambled onstage wearing a sequined bodysuit and performed her first song of the night, "Hold It Against Me," the lead single from her new album. Lest people focus on the total lack of vocal talent and songwriting ability she brings to the table, Spears was flocked by a quartet of scantily clad male dancers and threw in some hair-tossing and a wind machine to pump the crowd up. She chased that abysmal first song with the will.i.am-produced track (Combining Spears and the Hack Eyed Pears? Can anyone say “biggest musical abortion ever?”) "Big Fat Bass." For that disaster, Spears donned a body-hugging latex bodysuit and her mancers hit the stage in bright yellow. Yes, it’s safe to say that music was set back several eons by this train wreck………
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