- Certain situations can bring about no positive results. One of the world’s most despotic dictators/communist leaders visiting another communist haven portends evil for all and when North Korea’s state-run media is confirming said visit, that adds a touch of unease to the proceedings. The despot in question is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who arrived Saturday via armored train in Russia, where he is to discuss economic projects and meet with President Dmitry Medvedev. Russia confirmed the visit in an official statement labeling the meeting between the leaders as the “main event” during Kim’s trip to the Far East and Siberian regions. The visit could be part of a ploy to curry favor with a major world power as North Korea faces mounting international pressure to resume nuclear talks, suspended since early 2009. South Korean media reported that Kim would meet with Medvedev on Tuesday in Ulan Ude, a Siberian town several hundred miles northwest of Vladivostok. If the thought of a heinous dictator and a the leader of a communist world power meeting in Siberia doesn’t send chills down one’s spine, then it is time to question whether one has a spine to begin with. K.J. Il, as he is known in the hip-hop world, has traveled to Russia since coming to power, traveling exclusively by train because the big, bad dictator has a notorious fear of flying. He is, however, a big fan of visiting fellow communist nations and has made three trips to China since May 2003. This time it was Medvedev who extended the invitation to visit in light of Russia’s government making a push in recent weeks for North Korea to cooperate on plans to connect a railway and a gas pipeline that would run from Russia through the divided Korean Peninsula. Such a project would be extremely unusual in North Korea, which has remained largely a no-go zone for massive foreign projects and allows outside economic investment allowed only in special development zones. The pipeline project would have Russian exporter Gazprom will annually sending 10 billion cubic meters of gas to South Korea for three decades and pay heavy handling fees to the North. In other words, free money for no actual work. Making another friend besides China would also be beneficial for K.J. Il and crew, given the dictator’s propensity for sparking major international incidents and crises. Either that or K.J. Il visiting Russia will take the world one step further toward China, Russia and North Korea v. the world in World War III……….
- The second weekend proved to be the money weekend for the critically acclaimed The Help, which won at the box office by overcoming a weak crop of new films and several holdovers from the previous weekend. After finishing as a runner-up last weekend to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Help outdid the apes with $20.5 million to boost its two-week domestic total to $71.8 million. Apes slid to second with $16.3 million and has made $133.7 million through three weeks in proving that movies need be neither original nor good to make a lot of money. The top new film on a weekend with an exceedingly punchless collection of them was Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, which somehow could not finish higher than third despite the always-winning inclusion of an international-crime-fighting baby in its absurd plot. A $12 million opening weekend was all Spy Kids could muster, but that was enough to best the exceedingly disappointing Conan the Barbarian, which flopped to the tune of a scant $10 million in domestic earnings against the backdrop of a $90 million budget. The last of the top five was The Smurfs, which hauled in another $8 million and has scored a solid $117.7 million domestically in its first month of release. The latter half of the top 10 had a couple of new films as well and broke down thusly: Fright Night ($7.9 million in its debut weekend), Final Destination 5 (not faring well at No. 7, down four spots from one week ago and with just $7.7 million to add to its cumulative total of $32.3 million), 30 Minutes or Less (No. 8 after making $6.3 million and with a two-week tally of $25.7 million), newcomer One Day (No. 9 with $5.1 million in limited release) and Crazy, Stupid, Love.(No. 10 with $4.9 million and $64.4 through four weeks). Dropping out of the top 10 from the previous weekend were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (No. 11), Cowboys & Aliens (No. 12), Captain America: The First Avenger (No. 13) and mega-flop The Change-Up (No. 14)………….
- In case you missed it, Google’s quest for global (Internet) domination recently came to include YouTube. With the Internet’s most popular video site under its corporate umbrella, it only made sense for Google to roll YouTube into the mix for its new Google+ social networking service. Now, underneath every video on YouTube, members of Google+ can click an icon to start a ‘hangout.’ Users must click the share button under a video, which then reveals a little icon with a sign next to it saying: “Watch with your friends. Start a Google+ Hangout.” Tech observers have characterized the addition as a move to boost the new social network’s numbers and interaction levels. At present, Google+ is only available to users invited by Google and friends those invitees have in turned invited. Embedding the tool should make it easier to watch videos on YouTube with friends. Brian Glick, Google+’s product manager, announced the addition, fittingly enough, via his profile on the social network. Glick explained that the eventual plan is to allow Google+ members to activate hangouts around content which is being live streamed on the site. Of course, social media competitor Facebook felt compelled to comment on the new Google+ idea and of course, those words were critical. “Google has emulated aspects of our system, which is what they have the right to do. We just need to be better," said Sean Ryan, Facebook’s director of game partnerships. Hmm, nice backhanded compliment there, Sean-O. They copied our system and now we must find ways to improve. But Ryan wasn’t done. He also blasted Google’s supposed edge in revenue sharing arrangements with game developers. Face book currently takes 30 percent, while Google+ takes just five percent. “Google is at 5 per cent because they don't have any users," Ryan scoffed. He went on to lambaste Google by comparing its tactics to McDonalds copying Starbucks by selling coffee. Maybe a short history lesson would be beneficial for Mr. Ryan, a reminder that Google+ has already accrued 25 million users in a few short months as compared to the 10 months it took Facebook to reach 1 million users back in 2004………….
- He is the NFL’s reigning iron man now that Brett Favre has retired, but Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning may have his own consecutive games started streak ended if he can't make a semi-miraculous recovery by the team the Colts begin their regular season on Sept. 11. Manning, who underwent neck surgery in May to repair a nerve, has been on the Colts' physically unable to perform list since the start of training camp. The Colts have already said Manning will not play in any preseason games and coach Jim Caldwell said he isn't sure when his signal caller will return to the practice field. Owner Jim Irsay went a step further, tweeting, "We r evaluating the QB sitch,#18 healing but we must 2 b prepared 4 early season possibility without him,defense has 2 pick it up,big time!" Early season being the regular season, of course. Manning himself said he will use the final two weeks of the preseason to try to get healthy, but that timeline that could put his streak of 227 consecutive starts in jeopardy. "I certainly want to be out there, and it's hard to keep track of the hours I've spent in rehab," he said. "I was short-changed a little bit by the lockout and I'm going to need every bit of the next two weeks, and then I can give you more of an update with where I am." Any team would struggle if it had the only four-time MVP in NFL history and he was unable to play at the start of a new season, but the Colts would be in especially dire straits. Manning is the maestro of the Indianapolis offense, making play calls on the field and changing plays at the line in a way that makes him the de facto offensive coordinator during games. Because of his durability, backup quarterback Curtis Painter has spent his entire career with the Colts and never started a single regular season game. That durability lead the Colts to award Manning a five-year, $90 million contract in July after the league’s 4½-month lockout ended. Colts president Bill Polian painted the most graphic picture of just how dicey Manning’s health situation is, saying, "Once the nerves regenerate properly, he'll be ready. When that happens, he'll be ready to ramp up immediately. It's impossible to predict." Any time nerves and neck surgeries are involved, that would qualify as an extremely serious situation. Colts fans haven't had to worry about who would be under center in games that matter since Manning was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft. From that point on, he has started all 208 regular-season games and 19 more in the playoffs, the second-longest streak for a quarterback in league history behind only Favre. Two neck surgeries in 15 months could end that streak and if he misses more than one or two regular season games, the Colts’ playoff hopes could also be terminated…………
- It is a big, big weekend for stoners in the Pacific Northwest (although most weekends could be classified as big for potheads in this corner of the world) where Hempfest Seattle is taking place for the 20th year at Myrtle Edwards Park. Starting Friday and continuing all week, the festival is a gathering place for dreadlocked, showering-averse, hackey-sack-loving fans of the ganja who get together for a political protest rally seeking to change America's pot laws and to educate the public on the many uses of the cannabis plant," according to the event’s website. "Hempfest is first and foremost But this year's festival promises to stoke even more conversation, with Washington's medical marijuana laws undergoing a transformation over the summer. It is no longer legal to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in the state,” the site explains. The reference to the state of Washington’s new marijuana laws of course alludes to the allowance for "collective gardens" wherein 10 licensed patients can grow up to 40 medical marijuana plants for their use. Unfortunately, several very square Washingtonian cities, including Kirkland and Tacoma, have enacted a temporary moratorium on the gardens to more closely examine the law. "Of course Hempfest is about cannabis," reads the website, "industrial hemp, medical marijuana and recreational use by otherwise law abiding, responsible adults..." Way to be honest, stoners. Don’t try to sell us on you being all about hemp rope and hemp necklaces and hemp bags because we all know better. Oddly enough, The Man will be making an appearance at this year’s Hempfest in the form of former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D, Ohio) and state representatives Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle) and Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland). Kucinich has a certain amount of stoner cred because he publicly supports legalizing marijuana across the U.S. If only he could get that message through to the rest of Congress………….
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