- So….maybe it wasn’t a good idea for Atlanta Falcons
receiver Roddy White to run his mouth and suggest that his team had the "pedigree" to finish
16-0. It also seems unwise, in retrospect, that the Falcons blatantly provided
motivational fuel for their opponent Sunday by (allegedly) talking ridiculous
smack to New Orleans Saints linebacker and former Falcon Curtis Lofton prior to
the game. Lofton provoked the trash talk to some extent by suggesting that
there was no rivalry between the teams because the Saints had won 11 of the
last 13 matchups. "They were talking (expletive) to our guy Curtis
Lofton," Saints linebacker Scott Shanle said. "I couldn't even
understand them. They were just walking all over our drills trying to mess with
him. (Jonathan) Vilma went and told their coach it was classless, and they
didn't even say anything. It set the tone for the day. It was classless, and
they got what they deserved." Adding up all of the motivation the Falcons
handed to the Saints and mixing in New Orleans trying to rally from an 0-4
start to get back into playoff contention and the Saints’ 31-27 win to end
Atlanta’s unbeaten start to the season isn't surprising. Drew Brees threw four
touchdown passes to lead his team and anyone who watched the game knows the
Saints earned the win. Everyone except White, apparently. Even after his team
was dealt its first loss by a team that outplayed it, White stubbornly refused
to give New Orleans credit. "It's not like they came out here and won a
game," White insisted. "I think we kind of gave it to them. We play
them in three weeks, and we'll be ready." Fine, but why weren’t you ready
the first time around? Players insisting their opponents didn’t “win” games
because their team “gave” the game away is one of the worst trends in the NFL
right now. Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Mathews tried the same excuse in
talking about last season’s NFC playoff loss to the New York Giants and the San
Francisco 49ers ran out that same tired rationale to explain their own loss to
the Giants in the NFC championship game. Next time an NFLer believes his team
was beaten by an inferior opponent, would that NFLer please pause and look up
at the scoreboard before speaking………
- Pepsi isn't in the business of producing healthy
beverages, but the world is changing and people are becoming more
health-conscious when it comes to what they put into their bodies – for the
most part. With a shifting global health climate, even soft drink makers may
need to change their direction and what better place to experiment with a new
health-oriented soda than a place that is not the United States? Pepsi is going
Asian with its newest product, a fiber-infused drink it has dubbed the “Pepsi
Special.” What makes this beverage so special? It contains dextrin, a fiber that
distributor Suntory claims helps reduce fat levels in the body. Yes, a
fat-reducing soda, for real. Because it wants to appeal to the key demographic
that is young, health-conscious men, Pepsi is pushing this curious cola with
ads such as the one on its website in which a businessman comically attempts to
chose between a woman dressed in a pizza costume and another in a burger
outfit. What the hell is the message in that spot? That if you don’t want to
give up either of those two unhealthy food choices, then you should drink Pepsi
Special and than it will all be good. Japan has a very different soft drink
market than the United States and in Japan odd-flavored drinks are more common
as companies attempt to rip a slice of the country’s $48-billion-a-year soft
drink business. Pepsi has tried bizarre flavors such as strawberry and milk,
salty watermelon, and yogurt in Japan so far, so why not weight-loss cola? If
the flavor succeeds in Japan, it could be a hit in
obese-but-want-to-lose-weight-without-exercising-or-dieting America………
- Not all art thieves are art experts. The geniuses who robbed the
Pretoria Art Museum of five paintings worth more than $2 million prove that
point emphatically. Whoever these criminals are, they walked away from their
South African endeavor with significantly less of a payday than they could have
earned. Maybe their plot went awry and they weren't able to carry all six works
of art they had ripped off the museum walls, but the painting they left behind
was the most valuable of the lot. According to museum management, the robbers
pretended to be museum visitors before they pulled out guns and a “shopping
list” of paintings which they forced an employee to help them find. The
five works they stole were all by prominent South African artists, including
works by Irma Stern and Gerard Sekoto, each worth about $1 million. “All the
artists they took are artists who are doing brilliantly in South Africa and
internationally,” said Imre Lamprecht, head of the art department at South
African art auction house Stephan Welz & Co. However, it is the one
painting on the list the thieves left lying on the ground that could have made
them the most money on the black market. Stern’s “Two Malay Musicians,” worth
about $1.4 million, was simply tossed on the ground outside the museum,
theoretically because it did not fit into their getaway car. How these would-be
Mensas came up with a detailed plan but failed to calculate the amount of space
they would need to pack and transport their bounty is mind-boggling, but in
underscores the point that the most brilliant people walking the Earth typically
do not end up committing crimes for a living. Perhaps some good can come from
this incident, as the notoriously lax security at South African public museums
could use a boost. Having five prominent works stolen could be the impetus to
make that happen……….
- Does anyone want to direct the newly announced "Star Wars:
Episode VII," a movie sure to have immense hype and a massive budget?
Disney has purchased the franchise from creator and dork demigod George Lucas and
is looking to breathe new life into the iconic outer-space series….if it can
find a director. Steven Spielberg has made it clear he has no interest in the
project and now top choice J.J. Abrams has also said no to the endeavor. "Look,
Star Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time," Abrams, who helmed a
“Star Trek” sequel and would seem to be qualified for “Star Wars,” replied. "I
frankly feel that -- I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for
whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that
kind of iconic movie and series. I am looking forward more [than] anyone to the
next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying
moviegoer.” Abrams was reportedly at the top of the wish list for Disney, along
with "Iron Man" director
Jon Favreau and "Safety Not Guaranteed" filmmaker Colin Trevorrow.
What the seventh “Star Wars” does have is a writer, with "Toy Story 3" and "Little
Miss Sunshine" screenwriter Michael Arndt on board. Favreau seemed more open to the
opportunity when asked about it and spoke highly of the potential for the film
for whoever is chosen, but so far no official offers have been made or
accepted, so the legions of dorks in their Storm Trooper or Wookie costumes
awaiting the identity of their next cinematic overlord will have to wait a
little longer………
- Well, this should definitely help the town of Wellesley,
Mass. eliminate the unsavory phenomenon of kooks dress in ratty old clothes and
diving into dumpsters and other piles of garbage in search of discarded
treasure. An unidentified Brazilian immigrant living in nearby Marlboro made
the find of a lifetime while sifting through piles of rubble at the Wellesley dump. The man, who
works as a handyman and visits the dump twice a week to find magazines he cuts
up and uses to create art, was going through his normal routine during a visit
last month when he stumbled upon an old book stuffed to the brim with money. He
opened the book and found tens of thousands of dollars inside. “When I opened
like this and I saw the money, I closed the book and I run to my car,” he
recalled. “I look if I can see a name in the book, someone put their name in
the front page, you know how people write their names in the book? I was quite
surprised.” There was no name in the book, but there was an estimated
$20,000-$30,000 inside. Given the place where the money was found and the
circumstances under which it was discovered, some finders might take the cash
directly to the bank and not ask questions. Rather than claim the small fortune
as his own, the man has decided to wait and see if the rightful owner will come
forward. He wonders if the money wasn’t being set aside for something
important, like a down payment on a house, and said he would want the chance to
claim the money if he were the one who lost it. So far, dozens of emails have
come in and many have encouraged him to keep the money. He has set a six-month
time limit for claiming the money and if no one comes forward to identify the
exact amount of cash, describe how the money was placed in the book and name
the other two items in the book, the fortune will be his……….
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