Friday, August 24, 2012

Ruining great art, concerts at -40 degrees and Republicans should stop talking

- Republicans might want to stop talking for a while, maybe sit the next few plays out….either that or administer sanity tests to their candidates before allowing them to run for elected office. Republican House of Representatives Todd Akin of Missouri kicked off the most recent round of verbal gaffes with his indefensible remark about pregnancy rarely resulting from “legitimate” rape. But as insane as Akin’s words were, they pale in comparison to the sheer kook-ery of Tom Head, a Republican county judge in Lubbock, Tex. who is reaching all the way back to 1860 for his poor reasoning and mixing in a healthy dose of apocalyptic nuttiness. Head has put the nation on notice that America could descend into civil war if President Barack Obama is reelected. Head conducted interviews for both radio and television this wek in which he called for a trained, well-equipped force to battle the United Nations troops that he said Obama would bring in if the civil war actually occurs. He explained that as the county's emergency management coordinator he has to "think about the very worst thing that can happen and prepare for that and hope and pray for the best." Head believes "in this political climate and financial climate, what is the worst thing that could happen right now? Obama back in the White House. No. God forbid." His insanity is based on unexplained "executive orders" and other documents that Obama and "his minions have filed” and the belief that "regardless of whether the Republicans take over the Senate, which I hope they do, he is going to make the United States Congress and he's going to make the Constitution irrelevant. He's got his czars in place that don't answer to anybody." Head worries Obama will cede the United States’ sovereignty to the United Nations and believes a popular uprising will result. “I'm talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator. OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens? He is going to call in the U.N. troops, personnel carriers, tanks and whatever,” Head ranted. He also referenced a conversation with Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe in which Rowe allegedly promised to back Head should this doomsday scenario unfold. Unfortunately, Rowe denied any such conversation ever took place. Democrats have predictably called for Head’s ouster and even Republicans are running the other direction from this crackpot………….


- Fightstar frontman and former Busted singer Charlie Simpson has low goals – really low. In fact, his aim is so low that he’s looking to enter the Guinness Book Of World Records later this year. Simpson, who released his debut solo album “Young Pilgrim” last summer, wants to set a record by playing the world's coldest gig. For that reason and in the hopes of joining the loon with the world’s longest fingernails and the loser with the world’s largest ball of aluminum foil, in November he will fly to the Russian town of Oymyakon in Siberia, which has a population of 472 and has no running water or electricity. People who would probably be happy to see a 10-year-old with a yo-yo perform for entertainment will watch him attempt to play a show in the town in temperatures of around -40 degrees. Oymyakon is so cold that mobile phones cannot function and boiling water can be turned to ice in under five seconds when exposed to the air, so Simpson will face plenty of challenges in getting any of his gear to function or stay unfrozen long enough for him to get it indoors. If he successfully carries out his mission, he has been assured that he will enter the Guinness Book Of World Records. "The gig is by far one of the biggest challenges of my career, but I’m really excited to get out there and see a part of our planet that very few people will ever get to visit. It’s not really an option to play my guitar wearing gloves, so I just hope my fingers don’t freeze," Simpson said. As he readies for his sub-zero show, Simpson has also been busy completing for the British comedy film “Everyone's Going To Die,” which is due for release later this year. Depending on how well his show in Oymyakon goes, he may just live up to the film’s title………


- Dear science: Please stop giving people more excuses not to exercise or to exercise less. What happens when you suggest to the world that 30 minutes of daily exercise provide an equally effective loss of weight and body mass as 60 minutes? Nothing good. Sure, the research team at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences may have meant well when they followed 60 heavy - but healthy - Danish men in their efforts to get into better shape. It seems like a solid concept and maybe some medical help would do the cherubic Danes some good. In the study, 30 of the men exercised for an hour a day, wearing a heart-rate monitor and calorie counter, while the second group worked out for just 30 minutes. The men who exercised 30 minutes a day lost a measly 8 pounds in three months, while those who exercised for a whole hour only lost an average of just under 6 pounds. The reduction in body mass was about 9 pounds for both groups, according to researcher and PhD student Mads Rosenkilde. Rosenkilde then stuck another dagger in the back of exercise discipline when he pointed out another “benefit” for the men who worked out for just 30 minutes a day. “Participants exercising 30 minutes per day burned more calories than they should relative to the training program we set for them. In fact we can see that exercising for a whole hour instead of a half does not provide any additional loss in either body weight or fat,” Rosenkilde said. “The men who exercised the most lost too little relative to the energy they burned by running, biking or rowing. Thirty minutes of concentrated exercise give equally good results on the scale.” His theory on the results is that 30 minutes of exercise is so doable that participants in the study had the desire and energy for even more physical activity after their daily exercise session. He also postulated that the study group that spent 60 minutes on the treadmill probably ate more, and therefore lost slightly less weight than anticipated. In other words, they figured that since they were working out more, they could eat more and still lose weight. Wrong idea, fatties. Not that this sort of nonsense about exercising less should be allowed to infect the mind of the obese worldwide, but the results have just been published in the American Journal of Physiology……….


- Talks for a new arena in California’s capital city have not gone well for the Sacramento Kings. A few months ago, the team and the city seemed to have settled on the parameters of a deal and Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star himself, presided over a celebration complete with chants from fans and high-fiving in the streets. That was in March, but August is a different story and as summer begins to wind down, the new tale is one of Kings ownership and officials from Comcast and concert promoter Live Nation traveling to Virginia Beach, Va. On Tuesday to discuss a new stadium and relocation of the NBA franchise. So far, the trip is only a rumor and one the Kings were eager to dismiss. "We haven't talked to Virginia Beach," co-owner Joe Maloof said. It was he, along with co-owners Gavin and George Maloof, who pulled out of the plan to help finance an arena in Sacramento earlier this year, saying it didn't make financial sense for the franchise. Anaheim had been mentioned as a logical spot for the franchise to move without having to relocate too far, but if Virginia Beach is in play, the scope of the search has clearly expanded. What the Kings are not denying at this point is their quest to find a new place to play. "The Kings have been approached by numerous cities interested (in) buying the team and relocating it," Kings spokesman Eric Rose said. "We are not going to discuss which cities have approached the team and are not going to comment on every rumor. I can tell you that the Kings are 100 percent focused on putting a winning team on the court." The latter part is reassuring because it’s sad to imagine how a team that finished 22-44 last season would have fared if it weren’t 100 percent focused on putting a winning team on the court. Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms confirmed meetings with Comcast, Live Nation and Global Spectrum next week, but did not respond to a request for comment on the Kings…………


- Restoring an historical work of art is an incredibly delicate task. Whether the art is a painting, sculpture or mural, reversing the hands of time and taking it back to its original form is a job best left to an expert. Cecilia Giménez, a parishioner at the Sanctuary of Mercy at Borja near Zaragoza, Spain, is not an expert and probably shouldn’t be anywhere near a work of art for any reason. Giménez offered her services to restore a 120-year-old fresco on a column inside the church after the painting, titled Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), was donated to the Center for Borja Studies from one of artist Elias Garcia Martinez, who crafted the depiction of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns in the late 19th century. It was painted on a wall of the Sanctuary of Mercy at Borja and after being notified of the donation, members of the center’s staff went to the church to photograph the fresco. They realized it was in bad shape and Giménez was reportedly asked by the church to “fix things up.” Why she was asked is unclear, but she insisted the church knew exactly what she was doing. “The priest was aware … he knew,” she said. “Of course I did it because I was told to do it." From theere, the artistic sh*t hit the fan. Giménez went to work and the result was so ugly and hideous that many who saw it actually wondered if she had drawn inspiration from the 1997 Rowan Atkinson film "Bean." In the movie, Atkinson’s titular character accidentally sneezes on the masterpiece "Whistler's Mother" and attempts a crude repair that is little more than a line drawing. Giménez’s renovation looks more like a crude concept sketch for a costume in the next “Planet of the Apes” movie and Garcia's granddaughter, Teresa Garcia, is livid. "Everybody that came into the church saw me. I never tried to hide,” she is quoted as saying. "Clearly, she has destroyed the painting," Garcia said. The center addressed the controversy on its blog and didn’t exactly have Giménez’s back, expressing "astonishment" that "an intervention was done" on the painting. Officials are uncertain if the "restoration" can be fixed, but Giménez said her work was done in the open and nobody tried to stop her………

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