- Everyone celebrates Halloween differently, depending on
many factors, including whether or not they believe it’s a fake holiday with no
actual purpose other than wearing skanky costumes and accumulating copious
amounts of candy. For example, pop singer Kate Nash elected to spend her night recreating the
musical episode of ‘90s teen drama “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” at a
special show at London's Hackney Picturehouse. Nash was joined by Emmy The
Great and a cast of friends to cover the tracks from the 2001 episode, titled,
“Once More, With Feeling,” from what has become something of a cult favorite
show. In the episode, protagonist Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends
are possessed by a Broadway-loving demon who compels them to reveal their
deepest secrets through song. Nash dressed as Buffy and Emmy The Great plated
Buffy’s pal Willow and the pair took lead vocals on each of the original songs
from the episode, including “Going Through the Motions” and “Where Do We Go
From Here” before finishing the show with their rendition of the “Buffy” theme
song. There was even an encore and once it was over, Nash actually Nash
described the show as "the best day of my life," and explained that
it was the culmination of a long-standing dream for her. "Me and Emmy were
spending loads of time together over the summer having an emotional time and we
used to just drink bottles of wine and watch Buffy and watch movies with Cher
in and tweet Cher quite a lot,” Nash said. “We used to say that our two dreams
were for Cher to tweet us back and for us to cover all of the Buffy songs from Once
More, With Feeling and do a Buffy show. And suddenly we’re doing it and
doing rehearsals and now it’s like the biggest dream of my life coming
true." Clearly, some people do not dream on as grand a scale as others……….
- Welcome to the world occupied by the Miami Heat circa
the 2010-11 season, 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers. Fans, opposing teams and anyone
else who doesn’t bleed Lakers purple and gold will be rooting against the
new-look Lakers this year after the off-season acquisitions of All-Stars Dwight
Howard and Steve Nash, plus the addition of veteran scorer Antawn Jamison to
come off the bench. L.A. is loaded with talent and after Oklahoma City
indefensibly traded James Harden to Houston on Monday, the Lakers are even more
of a favorite in the Western Conference. Those facts mean the hate will be
hurled their way all year long and it actually started prior to their first
game of the new season Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas owner
Mark Cuban was asked about the new über-Lakers and reminded the world that L.A.
failed to win a title the last time it reloaded with a couple of sure-fire
Hall of Famers. He pointed out that adding aging stars like Karl Malone and
Gary Payton to a core of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal didn’t work and that
the Lakers lost in the NBA Finals. "I don't know, I don't care, I just
hope they suck," Cuban said Tuesday night. "You know, like any other
team." These are not new sentiments for Cuban, who was vocal this summer
in questioning whether all of L.A.'s high-profile pieces would be able to
congeal quickly enough for a title run. "Obviously, Nash is great. He's
phenomenal, Dwight's phenomenal, Kobe ... but it takes a team," Cuban
added. "They've got to come together and play as a team. Hopefully, they
won't figure it out tonight." The Lakers definitely didn’t figure it out
against Dallas, losing 99-91 on their way to an 0-2 (and counting) start to the
regular season following their worst preseason ever at 0-8. Turns out the
haters may be getting exactly what they want……..
- For now, a group of 170 Indians have won the fight to
stay on a plot in southwestern Brazil they say is ancestral land. The Guarani-Kaiowa
Indians first occupied the 2.5-acre plot about 10 years ago and have remained
there even as developers and the federal government have attempted to evict
them. The legal process dragged on interminably and the Indians seemed to have
lost the fight last month when a local judge ruled that they had to abandon the
land so that it could be returned to farmers who had been raising cattle and
growing soybeans there. In response to that edict from the court, Indian
leaders sent a letter to government officials vowing to "fight for our
land down to our last warrior." That letter sparked a panicked response by
the government, which sent police officers to the area to prevent conflicts
between the Indians and hired gunmen. No bloodbaths have occurred since that
point, but the Indians kept the court fight alive and gained a small victory
Thursday when federal judge Cecilia Mello suspended the eviction order and
ruled that the Indians can remain on the land until authorities decide if they
or ranchers are the rightful owners. Judging from how they have handled
their business up to this point, don’t expect the Guarani-Kaiowa Indians to
accept no for an answer. They may have only claimed the land as their own a
decade ago, but they are clearly of the opinion that it has long and powerful
ties to their people and there is not a snowball in the Amazon’s chance that
they are allowing anyone to plant soybeans or graze cattle on it……….
- There ain’t no stopping the Droid’s roll, yo. According to
Google, there are now about 700,000 applications available for downloading
onto mobile devices that run the Android operating system, meaning the Droid is
narrowing the gap on Apple for the lead in the race for software tools. Apple
announced last week that its App Store has more than 700,000 apps, meaning it
may still have the edge, but only slightly. If Google is telling the truth, its
collection of games, productivity tools and other programs that are usable on
handheld electronics has reached impressive heights and in the process, proved
that its strategy of luring software developers to its Android platform is
working. The strategy is aimed and deconstructing a key selling point Apple has
used for the iPhone and iPad, namely that its apps are better and more
plentiful. Apps are a huge point of contention in the quest to control the
$219.1 billion smartphone market and also play a big role in the tablet world
as well. This week, Google unveiled a tablet with a 10-inch screen and costing
$399 to rival the iPad and both companies recently released tablets with
smaller screens. Apple continues to hail its iOS operating system as a reason
its products are superior and while that argument works in the world of desktop
and laptop computers, Google is proving much peskier and more competitive when
smartphones and tablets are the battleground. To understand just how important
it is for each side to win, look no further than Apple revealing last week that
it has paid $6.5 billion to developers since the App Store was introduced in
2008………
- Congratulations, authorities in Shelby County, Texas. It
is always a cause for celebration when a county where a drug enforcement program was allegedly used to shake down black
and Latino highway travelers finally gets around to returning the money its
corrupt law enforcement officers stole. Shelby County authorities have done
their due diligence and sifted through multiple lawsuits and criminal
investigations, ultimately reaching a settlement that will make all of their
headaches go away – hopefully. District Attorney Kenneth Florence says Shelby
County has dismissed all pending forfeiture cases and plan to return more than
$100,000 taken during the traffic stops. The stops in Tenaha near the Louisiana
border all went the same way: a black or Latino driver pulled over even if he
or she were driving at or below the speed limit, not passing on any double
yellows and neither bobbing nor weaving as if they were intoxicated or driving
while trying to fire off a few text messages. Officers then shook down the
drivers for whatever cash they had and didn’t actually charge them with any
traffic offenses lest they leave a written record of their scum-baggery. All
cases involving these stops, even those without a connection to Tenaha, were
dismissed and Florence explained that the dismissals were necessary in order to
move on after an agreement was reached in August to settle a class action
lawsuit. The terms of the settlement, which has yet to receive a judge's
approval, comes with steep terms attached. The county will be forced to eliminate
racial profiling from law enforcement, which is obviously a cornerstone and
foundational principle of what Shelby County is all about………
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