Friday, March 29, 2013

South Korea's sexiness crackdown, lamenting NFL nanny states and upgrading Find My Friends


- The original was a movie spanning nearly three hours and transporting viewers back to mid-to-late 19th century New York and the world of rival gangs vying for control of the city. Now, Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic is moving in the opposite direction as most entertainment franchises these days. While a litany of current or former TV shows are making their way from the small screen to the silver screen, “Gangs of New York” is downsizing from a feature film to a series that doesn’t yet have a cast or a network, but is in the development process. Miramax announced the development on Thursday, saying the show will reach beyond New York City and include organized crime in cities like New Orleans and Chicago at the turn of the century. As interminable as it seemed at times, the three-hour extravaganza of vintage crime and chicanery that was “Gangs of New York” didn’t have time to expand its scope beyond Manhattan and instead devoted plenty of screen time to Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis. Scorsese clearly feels there is more story left to tell. “This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two hour film," the award-winning director said in a statement. "A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life." Scorsese will also have help from Graham King, who co-executive-produced "Gangs of New York," in converting the movie to the episodic format of broadcast television. There is no official launch date yet and no cast announcements have been made so far…….


- The price of gas is up, the price of food is through the roof and there isn’t a product, good or service on any market that doesn’t cost more than it once did.  Go ahead and count cows as a part of that trend because if a cow is selling to anyone, anywhere for more than many people pay for their first home, than bovine prices have gotten out of control as well. Karlie the Jersey cow is proof of this reality, as the New York-born cow became the most expensive Jersey cow ever sold at auction this week when Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, Conn. purchased her for a record-breaking $172,000 at a show cow auction in Syracuse on Monday. That staggering amount was almost twice the previous record high for a cow and while paying that kind of cash for an animal that is going to have to crank out a heck of a lot of milk to justify the cost, Matt Senecal of Arethusa Farm said his farm was willing to pay such a high price because Karlie has the potential to be a great cow for breeding. Additionally, she is only 2 years old and the farm hopes to have some of her daughters to show. Arethusa Farm is both a breeding and showing operation with a worldwide reputation and the walls of its barns are decorated with awards. "It does sound like a lot of money," Senecal said. “But she actually sold as a package. She already has three pregnancies in surrogates coming in September and we also have more calves coming in December." Karlie sounds like a real breeding machine and she commanded a high price because Senecal was impressed by her udder, her body structure and how much rib she has. "When you start getting into these types of cattle you can really tell which ones go right to the top, and she's one of those cows that people love to look at," Senecal said. Finding a cow that people enjoy looking at truly is what makes the world go ‘round……..


- Finding your friends using your iPhone should become a little easier courtesy of an update released this week by Apple for its Find My Friends app for the iPhone. While calling or texting your friends to see where they’re at or checking to see if they’ve tweeted, uploaded an Instagram photo from their current location or updated their Facebook status in the past five minutes remain viable options Find My Friends is Apple's own location-based app and service for seeing where your friends and family are and it shoots users a notification when those people are nearby. The version 1.2 update allows individuals to be more specific in their use of the app by setting exact locations for notifications, as well as distances from those locations, which comes in handy when you’re creeping/stalking, er, want to know when someone arrives at or leaves a specific location such as work or school. That could be a definite benefit for overprotective parents who want to make sure their child is where they say they are or an overly suspicious and distrusting boyfriend or girlfriend who wants to make sure that their significant other really is going to work or making a run to the grocery story and not having a covert rendezvous with that hot blonde they may or may not be fooling around with. If only Apple can be as on-point and accurate with its location notifications from Find My Friends as it has been with its oft-maligned mapping service that leaves people staring at the end of dead-end streets or lost in the middle of nowhere when they’re supposed to be right in the middle of a large city, then there is no doubt that this app is going to be extremely beneficial for one and all……


- Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has a beef with the powers that be in the NFL. After NFL owners passed a new rule against delivering forcible blows with the crown of the helmet outside the tackle box, a move that should – in theory anyhow – appease defensive players, Polamalu was neither appeased nor pleased. He believes that if the league plans on continuing to pass new rules on an annual basis with the aim of making football safer, players should have a chance to vote on those rules.  "There's rule changes every year," Polamalu said. "I do wish, however, that the NFL did have a voice from the players' side, whether it's our players' union president, or team captains, or our executive committee on the players' side. Because we're the guys that realize the risk, we're the guys on the field." In (mild) defense of the NFL, its competition committee did ask for player input on that rule before presenting the change to the owners, even if that input has no chance of preventing the rule from being approved by a vote of 31-1. Like other big hitters playing on both sides of the ball, Polamalu knows he has no choice but to adjust to the new rule or face penalties, fines and suspensions for noncompliance. Still, he echoed the sentiments of players such as Tennessee Titans safety Bernard Pollard in worrying that the game is changing too much. "We're professional athletes, so we can adjust, but we grow up understanding instinctively how to play the game of football, and it's really hard to say, 'OK, eventually I'm not going to be able to use my head, or wrap with my arms' or whatever it may be," Polamalu said. "I think you can only do so much to the game before you really start to change the essence of our sport. In other words, the NFL is walking the fine line between making the game safer and making it soft. Pollard is convinced that these changes will continue to the point that the NFL doesn’t even exist 30 years from now, an extreme Polamalu hasn’t reached quite yet………


- Time to class it up, South Korea. It may not be to a point of K-Pop girl groups being forced to abandon their microshorts or The Man lurking outside clubs in Gangnam with rulers to ensure that miniskirts aren't too mini, but the times are definitely a-changin’ on the non-Communist end of the Korean Peninsula, where a revised "overexposure law" went into effect this week. President Park Geun-hye's regime approved the new law during its first Cabinet meeting earlier this month, imposing a fine of 50,000 KRW (US$45) on those deemed to be "overexposed" in public. In the wake of the new legislation being announced, many South Koreans thought it meant restrictions on revealing outfits that are prevalent on the streets of Seoul and other South Korean cities. The "no pants" look has become commonplace, with women eschewing pants and skirts for leggings, stockings or über-tiny microshorts. Women are on board with the look and most men are likely behind it as well (only partially for the view), plus the aforementioned affinity for the look displayed by K-Pop artists. The South Korean government has even hit a few music videos with 19-and-over-only viewing restrictions. After the new “dress code” was announced, South Korean sex symbols (yes, they do exist) expressed concern over what it might mean for them. "Is the overexposure fine for real? I'm so dead," tweeted Lee Hyori, the country's most famous sex symbol. Critics have likened the new law to to similar restrictions imposed by Park Chung-hee (the current President Park's late father), who ruled the country from 1963 to 1979. Those rules led to a dark period in the 1970s when skirts that ended 20 centimeters above the knee or higher were prohibited in South Korea. Critics have derided the law as an infringement on freedom of expression. "Why does the state interfere with how citizens dress?" Democratic United Party member Ki Sik Kim tweeted. "Park Geun-hye's government gives cause for concern that we are returning to the era when hair length and skirt length were regulated." Police have argued that the overexposure fine doesn't pertain to skirt length or revealing outfits in general, but rather involving public nudity and public indecency. Authorities plan to make an effort to increase awareness of the amendment's true purpose, but the entire concept does seem decidedly shady on some level………

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