- Convicted criminals are awesome. Most of the time, they
are the only ones with enough testicular fortitude to fashion a makeshift rope out
of prison clothes and bed sheets, rappel nearly 20 stories down the side of a
building to escape from a high-rise Chicago lockup and then, after being
recaptured by police, deny that he did all of the above. Convicted bank robber Kenneth
Conley is just such a man and just over one month ago, he and cellmate Jose
Banks carried out their elaborate escape plan. The scheme miraculously worked,
but Banks was caught two days later. Conley proved much more difficult to
locate and he managed to elude capture until Jan. 4, when police stopped him
outside a suburban apartment complex disguised as an old man and carrying a
cane. Now back in custody and facing both a maximum 20-year prison term for
bank robbery and a maximum 5-year sentence for his (alleged) escape, the former
strip club worker has pleaded not guilty to an escape charge. Conley’s attorney
entered the plea at a Wednesday arraignment while Conley, dressed in orange
jail clothing, sat in a wheelchair because of a leg injury he suffered in the
escape that apparently did not take place. Attorneys are renowned for their
ability to lie or to tiptoe around the truth without admitting crimes that
actually happened, but one of the more famous prison escapes in recent memory
is going to awfully difficult to ignore because on Dec. 17, Conley was verified
as being incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center
and on Jan. 4, he was apprehended outside that apartment building, a location
that does not seem to be a part of the Metropolitan Correctional Center or the Illinois
correctional system. Well played, Conley, well played.………
- So long, all-you-can-eat buffets. Hello, rope courses and
box jumps. Arguably the biggest (both literally and figuratively) draft bust in
NFL history is on the comeback trail – panting, wheezing, soaked in sweat and
doubled over with his hands on his knees, but JaMarcus Russell is on that
trail. Russell, who hasn't played in
the NFL since 2009, is the former No. 1 overall pick of the Oakland
Raiders in 2007 and he literally ate his way out of the NFL. He ballooned to
more than 320 pounds and also struggled with an addiction to codeine syrup.
Eventually, the Raiders gave up on him even though the late Al Davis was loathe
to give up on any player his team drafted. Russell dropped completely off the
map, but he has reemerged and declared that he doesn't want to be remembered as
a bust. Standing 6-foot-6, Russell reportedly weighed 320 pounds in the fall
but is now working out at the TEST Football Academy, which has worked with
several prominent NFL players. Russell is reportedly down to a slim and trim
308 pounds and is being mentored by former NFL receiver and fellow LSU
alumnus Michael Clayton. He is also receiving tutoring from former NFL
quarterback Jeff Garcia on technique and Hall of Fame running back Marshall
Faulk on reading defenses. Russell insists that he isn't coming back for the
money or because he misses the celebrity and lifestyle of being a professional
athlete, but because his is infuriated by hearing people talk about what an unmitigated
disaster he was as a top pick. "The last few years, the things going
through my life, football is my job, and it is how it feeds my family. People
would say [that] I didn't love the game, but that pisses me off," Russell
said. People are always saying that I'm a bust. I want to show them I'm not.
I'm committed to this now." The key word in that quote is “now.” When
Russell was in the NFL and had banked $39 million in three years, he reportedly
did not bother to learn the playbook, work on his conditioning or attempt to be
a leader. As a result, he went 7-18 as a starter, completed just 52.1 percent
of his passes and recorded 18 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and 15 lost fumbles.
Since then, he has been charged with felony possession of a controlled substance
for a drink containing codeine syrup and has also clearly been close personal
friends with hot fudge sundaes, Little Debbie snack cakes and chili cheese
burritos………
- BlackBerry has been in a free fall for several years. The
iPhone and Droid have blown right by its devices and all but the most hardcore
BlacyBerry devotees who use their phones for business have abandoned what was
one the go-to device in the cell phone world. There probably is no way to
reclaim that market share, but BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) is
still trying and ahead of its BlackBerry 10 launch later this month for its new
line of smartphones, the company announced on Wednesday the latest version of
its mobile management solution for businesses. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10
is now available for download. It will run on BlackBerry 10 smartphones and is
compatible with Android and iOS devices and its success is widely viewed as an
important indicator of how BlackBerry 10 will be publicly received. That also
means it could factor heavily into the long-term health and survival of the
struggling company. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is currently available to
government agencies and corporate clients and its key functions include a
separation of work and personal applications on individual devices, as well as
data, to make it easy for people to compartmentalize when using their phone for
both business and personal reasons. To make the service (and its phones by
association) more appealing, RIM has promised to provide better support for
work email, content and secure connectivity to “behind the firewall”
applications and data. As part of the package, users will also receive
BlackBerry World for Work, the new corporate app storefront for BlackBerry 10
smartphones that allows organizations to set up their own app stores for
employees. “BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 empowers employees to be more
productive and better equipped to serve customers while it provides business
and IT leaders with the confidence that corporate data is protected and
manageable in the same way they have long enjoyed with BlackBerry,” said Peter
Devenyi, senior vice president of enterprise software at Research In Motion, in
a statement. If anyone is still listening to BlackBerry-related news, they may
be intrigued by that………
- Get the hell out of New Zealand, cats, because you’re not
wanted. Specifically, one man who believes the domestic cat should be eradicated from New
Zealand because it is a “natural born killer” that is wiping out native
wildlife does not want you around. That Kiwi is prominent economist Gareth Morgan, whose
blog also describes him as a businessman, philanthropist and “motorcycle
adventurer.” Morgan has launched the “Cats to Go” campaign, urging people to
“make this cat your last.” He has also created a website to promote the
campaign and on that site, Morgan proclaimed that cats were killing native
birds “faster than they can possibly breed” in New Zealand’s cities. Without
citing any actual, specific evidence, Morgan alleged that cats had contributed
to the extinction of nine native bird species and were affecting 33 endangered
bird species. “If we are serious about conservation, protecting and enhancing
New Zealand’s native fauna, even supporting a predator free New Zealand, then
we must overcome our denial and acknowledge that we are harboring a natural
born killer,” he wrote. Because he’s a cat oppositionist and not a monster,
Morgan doesn’t want any mass cat exterminations taking place. He simply wants
cat owners to put a bell on their pet because g “they may be less than 50
percent effective but every bit counts,” have their cats neutered, keep them
inside and not replace them when they die. He also wants to create a cat
registry by passing new laws requiring cats to be registered and micro-chipped.
“Your cat does a lot of damage. If you want to love your cat, that’s fine, keep
him in your house,” Morgan explained. “(Cats) just love killing things – and
that’s your cat we’re talking about.” As part of his plan, Morgan wants
property owners to have the right to trap and dispose of any stray cat that may
wander onto their property. Sadly, 72 percent of respondents to a poll on
Morgan’s website asking "Will
you make your current cat the last one you own?" said no. Bob Kerridge,
chief executive of the country’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, also opposes the plan and said the idea of getting rid of cats was “a
bit radical, over the top and completely wrong.” Is it wrong, or might it
simply be revolutionary……….
- Movies about the lives of porn stars: Next big trend in
Hollywood or a one-time shot? Hopefully the answer is the latter, but there is
no doubt that the new film “Lovelace” has found its mark after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival last night.
The project, which stars Amanda Seyfried as the famous adult film star of the
1972 box-office phenomenon “Deep Throat,” tells the story of adult film
star Linda Lovelace. It details her strict upbringing, her introduction to the
porn business and her abusive relationship with her husband Chuck Trayner,
played by Peter Sarsgaard. “Lovelace” debuted at Sundance Tuesday night and
within hours, the film’s producers had reportedly closed a reported $3
million deal with RADiUS – TWC for its U.S. distribution rights. “I’ve always
been drawn to complex, real life characters and Linda Lovelace is just that,”
said Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company. “Amanda leads an
exceptional cast in a tour de force performance that will leave audiences
speechless. We very much look forward to working with our good friends
Avi Lerner and Mark Gill at Millennium on this highly seductive and triumphant
film.” Yes, he just called a movie about a porn star triumphant and in a sense,
it just might be. Lovelace later wrote a book chronicling her ordeal and became
an outspoken advocate against pornography. Seyfried stars alongside Hank
Azaria, Adam Brody, James Franco, Chris Noth, Sharon Stone and Chloe Sevigny in
the movie………
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