- Major League Baseball players as corporate billboards is a problem the sports powers that be are looking to head off before it becomes an issue. Now that MLB’s new labor agreement has been ratified, some of its particular nuances are coming to light and while many of them are favorable to the players, one is decidedly against their right to self-expression……for profit. A new rule will ban players getting tattoos with corporate logos. The agreement says "no player may have any visible markings or logos tattooed on his body" as part of the uniform regulations. "Just trying to head something off at the pass," said Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations. While the uniform Nazis in the NFL league office do have a rule against "unauthorized commercial identification," according to spokesman Greg Aiello, and the NBA has a rule banning corporate insignia, MLB is the first U.S. major pro league to specifically ban commercial tattoos. The ban does not apply to any other tattoos, only those with corporate logos for which a player might be paid. Of course, signing a contract to ink up for any company is something that would theoretically cost a ton of money for an advertiser because, you know, tattoos are permanent and all. The more player-friendly aspects of the new labor deal include expanded video replay to (theoretically) get more calls right, the chance for a longer All-Star break and the opportunity for players to secure a private room instead of a roommate during spring training. Weighing in at several hundred pages long, the new labor deal could also hit home for any player looking to pull a “LeBron” by changing his jersey number to something more marketable, er, that honors one of the game’s legends by no longer wearing his jersey number. Players who wish to change numbers without changing teams will have to give MLB eight months’ notice or agree to buy warehouses full of merchandise with their number on it. As per the agreement, a player cannot change his jersey number without changing teams unless "the player (or someone on his behalf) purchases the existing finished goods inventory of apparel containing the player's jersey number." That means every replica jersey, jacket, T-shirt, mug, keychain, mouse pad and any other item MLB has found a way to slam its logo on. A good way to pay for that? Until now, pimping out your own skin for a corporate tattoo would have been a great solution……….
- Fight back, Indonesian punk rockers. Yes, Indonesia has a punk rock culture and that culture now has even more reason to rage against the machine after police in Indonesia's most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans before shaving off their mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of a perceived threat to Islamic values. Officers also seized dog-collar necklaces and chains and threw the punks in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said Wednesday. Step back and soak in the sheer absurdity of this mental image and then imagine officers replacing their "disgusting" clothes with suitable ones and handing each a toothbrush with the terse instruction to "use it." Score one for zealotry, small-mindedness and intolerance, y’all. This indefensible scene is merely the last sad step in an asinine effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only in the secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws. There is still no defense for the actions by police, but their deeds do make more sense in a place where adultery is punishable by stoning to death, homosexuals are thrown in jail or lashed in public with rattan canes and women are forced to wear headscarves. No explanation was given as to why police chose to persecute punks, although pierced and tattooed individuals have complained for months about harassment. Raiding a punk rock concert, aside from further cementing the anti-establishment aura of punk, was the most out-of-line crackdown year. The small show was attended by around 100 people but came to an abrupt end when police barged in wielding batons and looking to dehumanize. Hasan unapologetically admitted that 59 men and five women were loaded into vans and taken to a police detention center 30 miles from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. There, they will be forced to spend 10 days being “rehabilitated” by taking military-style discipline and religious classes, including Quran recitation. After that, they will be sent home with their mandated new hairstyles and expected to comply……or hopefully find a new place to live where total ass hats are not in charge. Perhaps a few will be bold enough to stand up to The Man and continue fighting this battle………….
- Like any government agency in any city, state or other municipality around the United States, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation almost certainly has organizational fat that could be trimmed. There are employees on the payroll who aren't useful enough to justify having a desk and title and yet they linger because eliminating their job or firing them involves too much effort and/or bureaucratic red tape. This is a pertinent point because with all of that unnecessary manpower on hand, someone in the department should be competent enough (and have plenty of free time on his or her hands) to operate a dictionary - either in print form, from an app of some sort or online - or run a basic Internet search to ensure that signs the MDOT puts up along the state’s roadways actually spell the name of a road or town correctly. So either the whole department is comprised of grammatically stunted morons or everyone is too busy binging on Margot in account’s leftover birthday cake in the conference room, but whatever the reason, signs posted recently in and around the town of Haverhill effectively butcher the monikers of neighboring towns. One sign directs drivers toward Plastow, but there is no such place as Plastow, at least not in the area. Instead of pointing travelers north to Plaistow, the sign instead suggests they head to a nonexistent place where readin’ and writin’ really ain’t two important. What to do when you have a letter missing from a sign and no room to add it? Yup, you tape over it. MDOT crews placed green tape over the town’s name, but that was only half of the problem. A second sign points east to 'Merrimack', but there is no ‘K’ in the proper spelling of the town’s name. That faux paus was easier to fix, as a well-placed piece of tape over the letter ‘K’ took care of the problem. Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini admitted he didn’t even see the mistakes at first. “My wife did. She pointed it out to me and said ‘Look at that, two cities spelled wrong,’” Fiorentini said. The mayor conceded that he was a bit ashamed of the misspelling but had received assurances that the erroneous signs would be replaced by new ones and more money would be wasted in the process. We called them and they had it corrected within a day or two, so it was quick work on their part. A little embarrassing though,” Fiorentini remarked. Maybe do a little spell checking before the new ones are cranked out, though………….
- What’s worse than a “Bourne” film without Jason Bourne? The director of that film trying to convince everyone that the insufficient replacement he has lined up to replace Matt Damon is absolutely the right choice for the role. Director Troy Gilroy is making that claim and unfortunately, there is no chance of Damon riding to the rescue and saving the film. While promoting his new film, We Bought a Zoo, Damon was adamant that he had no association with the fourth Bourne movie and but didn’t sound like was closing the door on a possible return for any additional sequels. “"No, I'm not in that one. I haven't even read the script," Damon said of the project. When asked about his thoughts on the project as the actor who built the entire franchise, Damon did his best to offer insights and not simply dump on the movie in the fashion it deserves. "My understanding is that it's like if you think of 'X-Men' and then 'Wolverine,' the spin-off movie, just think of it in reverse," Damon offered. "There's the Bourne character, and then there's this whole world. It doesn't preclude [director] Paul Greengrass and I from doing another ['Bourne' movie]." The last part of that statement is key because the reason he isn't attached to the forthcoming film is that Greengrass was not signed to direct. Damon made it clear he would not return without Greengrass and willingly stepped aside as Jeremy Renner took over the lead role for the film. Damon said he and Renner spoke briefly, but didn’t discuss the movie itself all that much. . "We didn't really talk about the movie much. I'm just a huge fan of his," Damon said. One surprising revelation from Damon on the topic of Renner replacing him was that he and Greengrass apparently have had discussions about who could take over if he ever decided to move on and Renner’s name was one both men agreed on. The Bourne Legacy opens in August, at which time the idea of a Bourne-free Bourne movie will still be every bit as ridiculous as it has always been…………
- Have you seen very little of your gaming-obsessed love ones in the past couple of weeks? Even less than normal, that is. Granted, gamers tend to immerse themselves in all-night sessions online and have very little interaction with friends, family or society in general, but the recent release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ratcheted the intensity up several notches for the pale, pasty, basement-dwelling, controller-clutching dorks who thrive on launching virtual rockets and racking up the online kills. Their dedication to the game may have strained their few actual interpersonal relationships, but it has also helped Modern Warfare 3 to set an impressive record after a little more than two weeks on store shelves. The game is now officially the fastest ever to record $1 billion in sales, reaching the mark after 16 days. That broke the previous record of 17 days set by the Avatar game inspired by James Cameron’s massive, bloated blockbuster of the same name. Activision has certainly poured loads of money, time and energy into building the Call of Duty franchise up into an immensely popular franchise and it has now grown into a brand so all-encompassing that it’s set itself apart from the company’s other offerings. Reaching $1 billion in 16 days also speaks to just how big the gaming industry has become and according to industry data, game sales in November were up a solid 15 percent thanks to high-profile sequels like Modern Warfare 3, Elder Scroll V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Discounted hardware costs ultimately ate away almost all of the extra revenue from game sales, but gamers will undoubtedly stay faithful in pissing away their savings accounts to get the latest games and the future for the gaming industry remains extremely bright because of it…………
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