- Frank Ocean: music’s next voluntary one-hit wonder? Ocean,
whose album “Channel Orange” has been extremely successful commercially since
its release in July, may be Ocean’s one and only venture into the recording
industry, at least as an artist. He appears to have other interests driving him
right now and suggested recently that he is considering whether to quit making music and write a
novel instead.
"Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more
on story. I focus on both sonics and story,” Ocean explained. But
storytelling's a different thing. It's the more interesting part about making
music for me, or making albums and songs and stuff. So much so that I might not
make another album. I might just write a novel next. I don't know." Ocean
said he finds storytelling the most interesting part about creating music,
which explains why he’s kicking around the same aspiration as millions of
aspiring writers around the globe as they try to get some traction toward
writing that epic first novel they’ve had a great idea about for years. There
is something to be said for a person who doesn’t continue in a job, career or
endeavor simply because it’s making them famous and making them a lot of money.
Being willing to reassess one’s life on the fly and make adjustments even
though the sky isn't falling takes strength and Ocean either has a lot of it or
he’s merely being a typical flaky musician. "The idea of recognizing your
strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me,” he
said. “I
don't ever want to be caught up in a system of thinking I can do one thing cos
that's just…that's just telling yourself a lie. This isn't a faux retirement.
It's no bullsh*it.” If Ocean does finish his novel quickly, he could also move
on to his next dream, which apparently is designing an arena in Stockholm in
2014………
- Being a drug mule is all about staying one step – or one
surgical procedure – ahead of The Man. That can mean swallowing narcotics in
plastic baggies and crapping them out once you land in a new country, having
them hidden inside a prosthetic limb or in extreme cases, surgically implanted
in your body somewhere. Go ahead and add inside your surgically enhanced rack
to the collection of places on that “somewhere” list after an unidentified
Panamanian woman who flew in to Barcelona's Prat airport was found to
have cocaine hidden in her breast implants. This carved-up drug mule arrived on
a suspicious flight, did not have a plausible story for customs officials when
asked about the nature of her trip and then there was the always-telling blood under
her breasts. At that point, airport security officers were curious and when
they did some investigating, the end result was a trip to an operating table
for the passenger, who was found to have packets of cocaine hidden in her
breast implants. Her flight was under heavier scrutiny because she was on a
so-called "hot flight," one that came from a destination known for
drug trafficking -- in this case Bogota, Colombia. When her vague answers
didn’t add up, officers picked up on other suspicious behaviors and when a
female officer patted her down, she found bloodied bandage material under the
passenger's breasts. That gauze just happened to be covering incisions and the
breasts were hiding "a white foreign material." The passenger
explained that the implants were new and simply had not healed correctly, but
that excuse didn’t fly. The next stop was a local hospital, where “a medical
team extracted a bag-shaped prosthesis from each breast containing a white
pasty substance," the Spanish interior ministry said. Cocaine. Nearly 3
lbs. of pure cocaine were found and at $35,000 a pound, that was a $105,000 new
rack………
- In order for a team to be successful, it’s vital for its
members to believe in themselves. For a team that’s easily among the worst in
the NBA, belief is less of a requirement and more of a luxury. The Toronto
Raptors are 5-19 and before their procured their fifth win of the season Friday
night, forward-center
Andrea Bargnani offered a blunt assessment his team’s place on the NBA
landscape. Bargnani said during an interview with an Italian news organization
that his squad is "pretty much the worst team in the NBA." Those are
generally not the words an organization wants to hear from a player it made the
first overall pick in the 2006 draft, especially not when that player is
sidelined because of a torn ligament in his elbow and a strained right wrist. Bargnani was injured when he fell
awkwardly on a dunk attempt during Monday night's loss at Portland and isn't
expected back until at least early January. His assessment seems fairly
accurate, given that before defeating Dallas on Friday night, Toronto had lost six
straight and 12 of 13 and was ahead of only Washington (3-16) in the NBA
standings. Bargnani also said that Toronto's start was "tragic" and
"a desperate situation." Both descriptions seem excessive and Raptors
coach Dwane Casey said Friday he intended speak to Bargnani about his remarks,
but went on the reach for the weak excuse that it would be “no surprise” if the
comments had been "lost in translation." Whatever you want to believe,
coach…….
- Pigeons are filthy, irritating creatures who swarm
helpless folks merely trying to eat their lunch or snack in the park. They poop
on public property and they are essentially the rats of the avian world. Chicago Alderman
James Cappelman (46th district) understands this all too well and that’s why
he’s striking back at these winged menaces. Cappelman wants to make it a crime
to feed pigeons and given that these bothersome birds are everywhere, his idea
of generating feedback from all around the Windy City. Cappelman would outlaw
the practice of feeding pigeons at places such as the Christkindlmarket at
Daley Plaza – where dozens of pigeons gather every day, keeping warm by the
eternal flame. To this end, the alderman has introduced an ordinance that would
significantly increase the penalties for feeding pigeons – making it a crime
punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Those may
sound like extreme fines for throwing stale bread crumbs on the ground, but
harsh justice may be the only way to get would-be bird feeders to stop. This
brilliant politician wisely told his fellow aldermen that he is tired of
encountering a scene from a Hitchcock movie every time he walks to the Wilson
station on the CTA Red Line. Those objecting to the stronger law are apparently
ignorant of the fact that it is already a city code violation to feed pigeons –
as signs around town indicate - punishable by a fine of up to $500. So far
these signs seem to be having little effect and perhaps doubling the maximum
fine and adding the possibility of up to six months in jail will get everyone’s
attention. Cappelman’s connection to the issue is a direct and visceral one, as
he was assaulted by a woman in Uptown in May he started sweeping away the
breadcrumbs she had spread on the ground for pigeons near Broadway and Wilson
Avenue. Yes, one of the crazy bird ladies in a filthy coat and who talks to
herself and the birds like they are all her human friends was mentally unstable
enough to attack someone for sweeping away stale bread crumbs on the ground. Here’s
hoping the good people of Chicago see the light and rally behind this inspired
idea………
- Texting while driving is the subject of numerous campaigns
around the United States as law enforcement agencies and concerned citizens
seek to stop the practice of thumbing out text messages from behind the wheel.
Why is no one trying to combat the scourge of TWW (texting while walking)? According
to a new
study by the British Medical Journal's Injury Prevention group,
TWW is
becoming every bit as much of a problem as distracted driving and demands
similarly strong countermeasures. According to these researchers, almost one in
three pedestrians is distracted by a mobile device while crossing busy streets.
Sure, a YouTube video of someone walking into a pole or falling flat on their
face because they step into a hole in the sidewalk they failed to see because their
nose was buried in their iPhone is funny, but the journal’s researchers pegged
the danger of distracted walking at nearly the same level as distracted
driving. "Texting while crossing the road is the most distracting, and
potentially most dangerous, activity," the researchers wrote in their
report. They based their findings on the behavior of more than 1,000
pedestrians crossing 20 busy junctions at various times of the day in Seattle
during the summer of 2012 and found a full 24 percent of people distracted by
talking, texting or listening to music on their mobile device. These distracted
walkers took significantly longer to cross the road compared with pedestrians
focused on walking— 0.75 to 1.29 seconds longer, to be exact. Furthermore,
texters took almost two seconds longer to cross three to four lanes than
non-distracted walkers, and were a full four times as likely to ignore lights, cross
at the middle of the junction or step off the curb without looking both ways. The
study focused on the 8 a.m.-9 a.m. rush hour period most of those monitored were
between the ages of 25 and 44, the study said. "Crashes involving vehicles
and pedestrians injure 60,000 people and kill 4,000 every year in the U.S. And
just like distracted driving, distracted walking is potentially
dangerous," the report stated. Look for that anti-texting-while-walking
public address spot to appear on a television near you right around never………
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