- One of the most common complaints about the new “The
Lone Ranger” film is that it’s not true to the history of the franchise. Specifically,
haters have lamented the fact that Johnny Depp’s Tonto character, long a
sidekick to the Long Ranger, is the real star of the movie. Given that Depp is
a much bigger name than the actor playing the Ranger – Armie Hammer – that
dynamic was nothing if not predictable. According to Depp, Tonto’s sudden rise
to prominence in the hero-sidekick relationship was not a coincidence. Depp
said he strived
to ensure his portrayal of Tonto
in the made him seem like more than a sidekick. He also had the kahones to
suggest that it was not to stroke his own ego, but rather to change the way
Native Americans have been portrayed in movies. "Since cinema has been
around, Native Americans have been treated very poorly by Hollywood,” Depp
explained. “What I wanted to do was play Tonto not as a sidekick - like 'Go
fetch a soda for me, boy!' - but as a warrior with integrity and dignity. It's
my small sliver of a contribution to try to right the wrongs of the past.”
Tonto does have his own fame separate from the Lone Ranger, having first
appeared in a 1930s radio show and inspired his own novels, comic books and TV
series. This movie is Depp's latest collaboration with Gore Verbinski, director of the first three “Pirates of The
Caribbean” films, and Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of all four of the
“Pirates” movies. Along with Depp, the cast of “The Lone Ranger” includes Helena
Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson and former “24” cast member James Badge Dale. Jack
White was to score the film and add some more star power to the project, but he
backed out in December due to a scheduling conflict and was replaced by
prominent composer Hans Zimmer. The movie debuts Fourth of July weekend and
will undoubtedly rake in boatloads of money……
- If anyone visiting Portland, Ore. Saturday night had one
too many Irish car bombs at the pub and stumbled out into the street just
before midnight to what they thought was a bunch of naked people riding bikes
around the city, they were not hallucinating. No, thousands of Portlanders really did go all naked cyclists
Saturday night for the World Naked Bike Ride. The ride pulled out from the
South Park Blocks at 10 p.m. and organizers kept details about the seven-mile
route secret until the festivities officially got underway. The event has grown
steadily over the years and in 2012, 4,200 naked bike riders took over city
streets in southeast and southwest neighborhoods like Richmond, Sunnyside,
Laurelhurst, Buckman and downtown. The best part of the ride – if there can be
one when a whole lot of people who have no business ever being half- or fully
naked in public take it all off anyhow – is that there is no need to register.
Anyone can show up with their bike and without their clothes and head out for
the ride. City officials know about the ride and with Portland’s liberal laws
on public nudity, event organizers were able to secure a permit. Police merely asked
riders to at least wear a helmet and shoes in order to avoid injuries and
recommending the use of helmets. They did remind participants about the city
code regarding indecent exposure, which states: “It is unlawful for any
person to expose his or her genitalia while in a public place or place visible
from a public place, if the public place is open or available to persons of the
opposite sex.” In spite of that
rule, officers elected to exercise "tremendous discretion" as long as riders remained
on the course………
- The JaMarcus
Russell comeback train is picking up steam, but it hasn’t found a destination
yet. The former Oakland Raiders No. 1 overall pick is working hard to get back
to the NFL for the first time since he was released following the 209 season.
After eating his way out of the league and hastening that departure by refusing
to learn the playbook or visit the weight room, he has spent the past few
months working out with former NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia at TEST Academy in
San Diego. After beginning his
comeback at 315 pounds, Russell showed up for a tryout for the Chicago Bears on
Friday at Halas Hall weighing a reported 265 pounds and displaying a "big
arm" and "good, positive demeanor." Sources who saw the workout
said Russell did struggle with the timing and accuracy of throws, which was to
be expected for a guy who hasn’t played in a game in X years. The mere fact
that his physical conditioning showed that he has worked diligently in recent
months to get back to his playing weight of approximately 265 pounds is a
positive sign, even though the Bears are unlikely to sign him. He was joined by
two other quarterbacks, Jordan Palmer and Trent Edwards, during the workout and
the Bears already have three quarterbacks on their roster. Initially, the Bears
showed no interest in Russell and neither did any other team given his
lineman-like weight when he first began working out. Losing 50 pounds seems to
have changed that thinking and some of his erratic performance could be
attributable to working with a group of receivers with whom he was unfamiliar
at the workout. If he doesn’t sign with the Bears, Russell is believed to be
interested in signing with a team on which he can learn under a veteran
quarterback. Should he not sign with an NFL team within the next 30 to 45 days,
he also would be open to signing with a CFL team. That’s a good sign because it
indicates he’s humbled and willing to do whatever is necessary to prove he can
still play. If and when he does get back on the field, he is still the guy who won
just seven of 25 starts during his career at Oakland and was charged felony
possession of a controlled substance, a drink containing codeine cough syrup,
after officers raided his home in July 2010. He has some demons, but may
finally be working past them……..
- All of the dudes who had been planning to buy a couple
of kegs, fire up the grill and have a few of their bros over to watch this
year’s Miss World pageant may want to skip the festivities. The best part of
the competition – at least from a guy’s point of view – won't be quite as awesome
this year. Contestants won't be strutting down the runway in high heels and
bikinis in a time-honored tradition of objectification because the event will
be held in
the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia. Beauty queens will still
vie for the pageant's crown in September, but they will do so in much more
conservative beach attire. According to Miss World organizers, the 137 women in
the competition will instead wear one-piece swimwear, some of which will also
have sarongs over the top. They will do so to avoid causing offense in their
host country and pageant officials are actually trying to convince everyone
that it’s no big deal. "This is perfectly reasonable in a country that
prefers one-piece swimwear," London-based Miss World Organization
Chairwoman Julia Morley said. Clearly willing to slap on a fake smile and
pretend everything is copasetic, Morley rebuffed suggestions the decision to
ditch bikinis was made in response to local complaints about the contest. That contradicts
local reports that a number of conservative groups had taken issue with the
staging of the contest and specifically the presence of bikini-clad hotties. "Some
people in Indonesia still consider it taboo for women to wear bikinis and
outfits that expose body parts," said deputy tourism minister Sapta
Nirwandar. Indonesia has a long history of clashing with musicians and others
who show up for concerts or pageants and wear revealing attire, so ruining the
Miss World pageant by forcing contestants to don 1950s-style swimsuits and
journey back to the world of Archie Bunker and “Leave It to Beaver” should
surprise no one……..
- So….what’s up with those previously unmapped wildfires in the
Amazon rainforest? NASA believes it knows. Thanks to an innovative satellite
technique, NASA scientists have determined a very specific type of blaze is
responsible for destroying several times more forest than has been lost through
deforestation in recent years. These fires below the forest treetops, or
"understory fires," in the southern Amazon rainforest have been
hidden from view from NASA satellites that detect actively burning fires. With
a new method, NASA is now able to estimate of understory fire damages across
the southern Amazon.
"Amazon forests are quite vulnerable to fire, given
the frequency of ignitions for deforestation and land management at the forest
frontier, but we've never known the regional extent or frequency of these
understory fires," said Doug Morton of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md., and the study's lead author. In years with a higher number
of fires, the area of forest affected by understory fires was several times
greater than the area of deforestation for expansion of agriculture, according
to Morton. He and his colleagues blame climate conditions as a more important
factor in determining fire risk in the Amazon at a regional scale than
deforestation. Understory fires on this particular frontier typically only
reach a few feet high, but may burn for weeks at a time, spreading only a few
feet per minute. Because Amazon trees are not adapted to fire, the damage can
be extensive. The most damaging of the fires can kill anywhere from 10 to 50
percent of the burn area's trees. To better identify understory fires, Morton
and colleagues used observations from early in the dry season, from June to
August, collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or
MODIS, instrument on NASA's Terra satellite. By tracking the timing of fire
damage and recovery, they were able to create a fingerprint of understory fire
damages in Amazon forests. Between 1999 and 2010, understory forest fires
burned more than 33,000 square miles, or 2.8 percent of the forest. There was
no definitive link between understory fires and deforestation. The study’s
findings could play an important role not only in combating fires in the
rainforest, but also for estimates of carbon emissions from disturbed forests.
"We
don't yet have a robust estimate of what the net carbon emissions are from
understory fires, but widespread damages suggest that they are important source
of emissions that we need to consider," Morton said. All of this because
it’s not the roof that’s one fire, but the (forest) floor……..
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