- Benedict Cumberbatch is a busy man these
days. As one of the stars of the upcoming “Star Trek Into Darkness,” he is
front and center in the hearts and minds of sci-fi dorks everywhere. Playing
the prime villain in the latest “Star Wars” flick can have that effect, but
wait….there’s more. He will also star in Meryl Streep’s new movie, “August: Osage
County,” this summer, as well as “The Fifth
Estate,” in which he appears as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He is also
busy filming the third series of “Sherlock” with co-star Martin Freeman - but wait….there’s more. Not
content with all of the above, he’s also teaming up Norwegian electronic
rock duo Röyksopp on their new mix album. Röyksopp has agreed to follow the footsteps of
Arctic Monkeys, Flaming Lips, MGMT and others by assembling a mix album for the
“Late Night Tales' series.” Röyksopp has enlisted the
help of such artists as XTC, Vangelis and John Martyn, but somehow the idea of
a famous actor who isn’t really a musician at all came about. Cumberbatch isn't
going to do any singing – nor does anyone else on the average Röyksopp album – but will appear for a reading of the second half of a short story
called 'Flat Of Angles' by Australian author Simon Cleary. Cumberbatch read the
story's first half on a “Late Night Tales” compilation by Friendly Fires that
came out last November and Röyksopp was clearly
impressed by what they heard. Ever since “Sherlock” became an
international hit for the BBC, Cumberbatch has become much busier and seen his
popularity soar. Röyksopp's “Late Night Tales” mix album will be released on
June 16 and by then, Cumberbatch will likely have signed to star in at least
five other movies……
- It’s time to rise up, Bangladeshi blue-collar workers. The
power of the little guy is currently on display in the Asian nation, where the
country’s main textile association confirmed late Monday that many
textile factories in an area near the capital, Dhaka, have shut due to worker
unrest sparked by the collapse of the Rana Plaza. Mohammad Atiqul
Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters
Association. claimed factory owners made the decision on safety grounds. In
response to pressure to improve workers' conditions, the government says it
will lift trade union restrictions. So far, 1,127 bodies have been recovered
from the Rana Plaza building, although officials say the rescue operation is
drawing to a close. "The possibility of getting more bodies is thin,"
Brigadier General Mohammad Siddiqul Alam Shikder said. The Rana Plaza, located
on the outskirts of Dhaka, housed a number of textile factories and many of
those factories supplied prominent Western retailers. The deadly collapse is
the latest in a series of deadly incidents focusing global attention on safety
standards in Bangladesh's textile industry and workers have clearly had enough.
"Owners decided to close their factories on safety grounds after workers
went on a rampage almost every day after the collapse of Rana Plaza," Atiqul
Islam added. All of this is happening because 80 percent of workers at factories
in Ashulia staged a walkout demanding a salary increase and as a nice bonus,
the execution of the owner of the Rana Plaza. These workers made their presence
felt by taking to the streets, vandalizing vehicles and clashing with police. Western
retailers, H&M, C&A, Britain's Primark Stores and the owner of the Zara
chain, Inditex, are all under fire for their connection to the collapsed
building and perhaps this deadly incident will be a catalyst for real change……..
- Charles Ramsey has become something of a cult hero in
the past week. The man who helped kidnap victim Amanda Berry escape from the Cleveland
where she had been held captive for a decade, then delivered a kick-ass television
interview in which he explained how he went from eating some McDonald’s food to
helping rescue a kidnap victim. His lively retelling of the story went viral in
no time and now his fame has taken the next step: ink. Yes, the man who went
hero in the
rescue of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight is coming to a
selected body part near you and it could be a free piece of body art. Cleveland
tattoo artist Rodney Rose, who works at an establishment called 252 Tattoo, was
so inspired by Ramsey’s actions that he offered to ink the man’s likeness for
free on anyone who would get the tat. “He’s kind of like that public figure in
Cleveland right now, kind of the voice and face of it,” Rose said. “He’s such
an expressive guy, I figured it’d make a great tattoo.” Rose put the offer on
his Facebook page, explaining that if someone was willing to get a Ramsey
tattoo, he would do it for free. Who would be nutty enough to take him up on
that kind of deal? Fellow 252 Tattoos artist Stephen Munhollon, that’s who. “I
think Rodney and I were caught up in the ridiculousness of it,” Munhollon
explained. “You could ask the question, did I want to get Charles Ramsey
tattooed on my leg, and the obvious answer is no. The real question is, was I
willing to get Charles Ramsey tattooed on my leg, and the answer was yes.” That
may make no sense at all, but logic matters not because Munhollon now has
Ramsey’s mug inked on the back of his knee cap after five hours under the
needle. He insists it is not without meaning. “In society, a lot of times
people choose not to get involved in situations,” he said. “I think what’s
really grabbed people in regards to Mr. Ramsey, is he’s an average, everyday
guy. He’s an ordinary person, he was put in an extraordinary situation that he could
have walked away from. But he chose to do something.” Well said, Steve-O………
- Google is consolidating, which isn't normal for the tech
giant. Known more for expanding its empire than scaling back, the search titan
is actually streamlining its operations by combining cloud storage for three of Google's more
popular services – well, two of its more popular services and then Google+ - in
an effort to give users more control over how they want to use the storage
space. The storage for Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ is being combined,
allowing Google to offer users access to 15 gigabytes of storage for free that
they can use for their emails, Google documents and photos on the Google+
social network. Before now, users had 10 GB that they could use for Gmail and
an additional 5 GB for Google Drive and Google+ photos. Anyone who wants more
storage can always fork over some extra cash, but that just seems foolish when
most folks don’t use the chunk of the cloud they already get for free. "Maybe
you’re a heavy Gmail user but light on photos, or perhaps you were bumping up
against your Drive storage limit but were only using 2 GB in Gmail,"
Google wrote in a blog post. "Now it doesn’t matter, because you can use
your storage the way you want." Better still, Google wants you to know
that you can check the Google Drive storage Web page to see a visualization of
how you are using your online storage space. This lovely, multi-colored pie
chart will show users how their storage breaks down between the three services.
All of these changes will roll out over the next few weeks and when they’re
done, still no one will be using Google+ for any reason……..
- Michigan football
coach Brady Hoke is pissed. No, it’s not because his team was b*tch-slapped by
South Carolina in the Outback Bowl last season and finished a so-so 8-5. He’s
also not angry because his team’s most dynamic offensive player graduated and
must be replaced. No, Hoke is ticked because of the way Notre Dame pulled out
of its annual football rivalry game with the Wolverines. Hoke was speaking to a
crowd at the West Michigan Sports Commission luncheon in Grand Rapids and
minced no words when addressing the topic. He proclaimed that the Irish were
"chickening out" of their series with the Wolverines. "We have
unbelievable rivalry games at Michigan," Hoke said. "The Notre Dame,
that rivalry, which they're chickening out of ... they're still going to play
Michigan State, they'll play Purdue, they don't want to play Michigan.” Notre
Dame was forced to give Michigan three years’ notice of ending their series due
to stipulations in the contract between the schools, with notice being given before
kickoff of the game between the schools that year. The Fighting Irish delivered
that notice of termination of the deal on the night of Sept. 22, 2012 -- just
before the teams played. That announcement conveniently came 10 days after
Notre Dame announced its move to the ACC, and with it, an agreement to play
five games against schools in that conference each season. "The decision
to cancel games in 2015-17 was Notre Dame's and not ours," Wolverines
athletic director Dave Brandon said in a release in September. "We value
our annual rivalry with Notre Dame, but will have to see what the future holds
for any continuation of the series." The two sides have two games
remaining before their current deal ends and play what should be two very
interesting games on Sept. 7 of this year and then the final game of the series
on Sept. 6, 2014, at Notre Dame………
No comments:
Post a Comment