- That Los Angeles has been the center of an overwhelming chunk of the drama in the NBA this season is fitting. The SoCal lifestyle, Hollywood being close by and a litany of other factors were already in place. When the upstart Clippers added stud point guard Chris Paul (after commissioner David Stern jammed the Lakers by rejecting their rade for Paul from New Orleans) to the mix and instantly sparked title hopes and talk that they were about to blow right by the Lakers, the season took on a different slant. Two teams that share the same building and feuded over what could be the missing piece for a championship run set a testy tone for the year. For the first half of the season, the Clippers seemed like they might actually live up to the hype. Lately they have come back to earth, losing 8 of 13 as rumors of a locker room mutiny against coach Vinny Del Negro surfaced. Last Thursday, the drama went up another notch when New Orleans center Jason Smith delivered an all-time dirty body block to Clippers forward Blake Griffin that could have ended Griffin’s season and nearly sparked a brawl. Perhaps seeing the Clippers grab too many headlines, the Lakers and their improved play of late decided to throw a curveball and succeeded in doing so Sunday in a 102-96 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Not only did the Lakers lose at home to a struggling Memphis team, but they did so with Kobe Bryant being benched in the fourth quarter. Coach Mike Brown sat Bryant down the stretch against the Grizzlies and the future hall of famer was none too happy about it. "Of course I was," Bryant fumed when asked if he was angry. "It's his decision to make. He makes the decision. He's the coach. If you guys are looking for a story, I'm not going to give you one. I can't sit here and criticize his decisions. In leading this ballclub, that's something I can't afford to do.” The benching came when the Lakers called timeout midway through the fourth quarter after falling down by double digits. Bryant struck a chair on the bench and was subbed out of the game in favor of Metta World Peace. He remained out of the game until 1:51 remaining and reentered with his team trailing by nine. Brown didn’t offer much of an explanation for benching his star. "I just felt like I needed to make a sub at the time, so I did," Brown said. "It's not one particular thing.” He said he didn’t plan to discuss the situation with Bryant and didn’t feel it would be an issue moving forward………
- Keeping Communism alive is a key pursuit in China. Nothing illustrates this point more clearly than Chongqing Satellite Television, which is available across mainland China. The station was the standard bearer for Communist Party ideals, airing shows with insanely absurd titles such as "Everyday Red Songs," "Liberation" and "Moving Ahead for New China." Other classics like "Sounds of Gunshots on the Plains" filled the days on CST, which was vital because commercials were banned and all prime-time serials were canceled. Unfortunately, the station is reported to have lost $48 million during the country’s "Red" drive back toward its Communist ideals and because of its financial woes, the martial music and Communist propaganda shows have been scrapped and sitcoms and variety shows have returned with commercials to boot. Questions remain about the programming change, but most observers believe it is not because of poor ratings, but rather more likely a casualty of the murky world of Chinese politics. Local Communist Party Chief Bo Xilai was the mastermind behind the "Red" TV shows and he has been steadfastly pushing for a revival of Communist ideals from his base in the southwestern city of Chongqing, know as China's Chicago. Along with an insurgence of Communist Party programming, he also supported the party by sending officials to work on farms and pushing workers to sing revolutionary tunes, which went out of style years ago. Bo seemed intent not only on pumping life into Communism, but in elevating his own national profile as well. Some believe he is angling for a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee. His quest took a major hit when his former friend, the local police chief in Chongqing, reportedly sought to defect by entering the local U.S. Consulate a few days after Bo fired him. Unfortunately for the police chief, his asylum attempt was rejected, but footage of him exiting the building surrounded by police cars became a national story. Bo was ousted by China's leadership and his run of bad luck continued when a British businessman described as a friend of his died from apparent alcohol poisoning. The British are pushing for an investigation and all the while, no one knows the full story of Bo’s demise. As the son of one of China's most-revered Communist revolutionary figures and a one-time rising star in the party, his downfall has been stunning. Maybe hitching the ol’ wagon of fortune to Communism isn't the wisest play…………
- There are so, so many reasons to despise Madonna. Her awful, gimmicky music is one. The fact that she seeks to skank things up as much as possible to distract folks from her lack of musical talent is another. The disastrous halftime show she turned in at Super Bowl XLVI could be a factor as well. But for Deadmau5, one of the world's most famous DJs, there is an even better option. After the Material Skank took the stage at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami over the weekend and greeted the crowd by cracking a joke about ecstasy use, Deadmau5 wasted no time cracking the MS for her ignorance. "How many people in this crowd have seen molly?" she asked the crowd of musically clueless sycophants. "Molly" is a slang term for MDMA, one of the key ingredients in ecstasy, a drug many of her fans were probably peaking on because X is huge among techno, dance and electronic pop music fans – i.e. Madonna fans. Ironically enough, her new album drops this week and is titled “MDNA.” The crowd responded raucously to the prompt, but Deadmau5 was not impressed and took to Facebook to light the Material Skank up. "Very classy there madonna. 'HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???' such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra," he wrote. "Quite the f'n philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! f*cking cant smack my head hard enough right now." While Deadmau5 doesn’t have a ton of credibility musically, it is noteworthy that a DJ who makes a living spinning the very sorts of tunes X users love would crack someone for promoting the one drug that makes that sort of garbage music remotely listenable…………
- Who’s down for a good rape analogy with their vodka ad? Belvedere Vodka understands this well and that’s why it smartly posted an ad online that showed a smiling man grabbing a woman, who appeared to be in fear, from behind. "Unlike some people, Belvedere always goes down smoothly," the ad's caption read. It was a brilliant link between the smooth flavor of its vodka and the abrupt, painful experience of sexual assault and there was no way it could miss, right? Right? Sadly, not everyone understood or appreciated the humor. As a matter of fact, the ad drew hundreds of negative comments after it appeared Friday on the company's Facebook page and Belvedere Vodka marketing Senior Vice President Jason Lundy posted an apology on the page Friday afternoon, shortly after the ad appeared. Recognizing that many page visitors believed the image appeared to depict a rape, Lundy wrote that the ad also offended "the people who work here at Belvedere." Why it offended them after it was posted but not before, Lundy did not say. "The post is absolutely inconsistent with our values and beliefs and in addition to removing the offensive post we are committed to making sure that something like this doesn't happen again," Lundy said. The gaffe was significant enough that company president Charles Gibb also chimed in with an apology Saturday. "It should never have happened," Gibb said. "I am currently investigating the matter to determine how this happened and to be sure it never does so again. The content is contrary to our values and we deeply regret this lapse." To further convince everyone that it understood the error of its ways after gaining the very attention from the ad it was seeking in the first place, the company also made a donation to RAINN -- the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network -- "as an expression of our regret," Gibb said. RAINN posted a message on its Facebook page accepting the apology. That should keep the relationship copasetic until Belvedere’s next ad showing a woman getting roofied at a bar with a witty caption underneath…………
- For once, Congress is tackling an issue that is both timely and extremely relevant. With a growing number of reports that companies are either asking for job candidates' Facebook passwords or watching as candidates login to their accounts and click through photos, wall posts, comments and other items, the offices of Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have announced that they have called for an official probe. Wait a minute…….employers asking for the Facebook passwords of job applicants is against the law? What a shocker. “Shoulder surfing” or extorting an applicant for their social media password is about as offensive an act and as egregious a violation of a person’s privacy as can possibly happen. Asking someone about their sex life or net worth is less offensive than asking them to surrender their Facebook password. Even Facebook has taken an official stance on the practice, calling it a violation of privacy and pointing out that it could also open up employers to accusations of discrimination, as well as other liabilities. "This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user's friends," Facebook's chief privacy officer, Erin Egan wrote in a blog post. "It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability." According to Facebook, the practice is a direct violation of its legal terms, which states that "you will not share your password… let anyone else access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account." Joining Facebook and Congress on the right side of the battle is none other than the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also publically condemned password requests following revelations that the Maryland Department of Corrections (DOC) was using "shoulder surfing" to screen candidates. Blumenthal and Schumer plan to determine whether the practice breaches the Stored Communications Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which bans intentional access to digital information without permission and the second prohibits intentional access to a computer without authorization to gain information. "In an age where more and more of our personal information – and our private social interactions – are online, it is vital that all individuals be allowed to determined for themselves what personal information they want to make public and protect personal information from their would-be employers," Schumer said in a statement. Well said, Chuck………..
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