- Now THAT is rock and roll. British indie rockers Arctic Monkeys
aren’t always the edgiest or roughest band, but their street cred is up
substantially now that drummer Matt Helders has come clean about how he broke a
bone in his hand during the recording of the band’s new album. While recording
“AM,” Helders said, he injured his right hand when he punched a wall while
drunk. Because of Helders’ absence, Arctic Monkeys were forced to use Elvis
Costello drummer Pete Thomas for sessions. Helders was unable to play as he
recovered from a surgery that involved a metal plate being inserted in his
right hand. "It wasn't a fist fight with a person, no," Helders said.
"I didn't hurt anybody, except for myself. It was... a bizarre incident...
with a wall... that was harder than I expected... The next day I did (feel like
a fool)... It was just me being stupid.” Stupid, maybe. Still, drunken
stupidity is just about the most rock and roll thing ever and to hear Helders
tell it, the experience has been an enlightening one for him. “They (his
bandmates) weren't even that angry, because I'm not an angry person. I was just
messing about, drunk. Everyone I've told said, 'We've all done it.' I just
managed to hit the wrong wall. The bone popped out - not out of the skin but it
was stuck up. I went to my girlfriend, 'I think we need to go to hospital,'” he
recalled. Busted-up hands or not, Arctic Monkeys are currently one of the
favorites to win the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, after the nominations were
announced earlier this month and their album continues to be one of the most
well-received rock releases of the year. Now, bring on the fishnet-clad
groupies and rails of coke on the bathroom mirror……..
- It’s been painful and uncomfortable knowing ya, Charles
Taylor. The despotic warlord turned president of Liberia will be spending his remaining
years in a British prison after failing to overturn a 50-year sentence for war
crimes against the people of neighboring Sierra Leone. Clad in an expensive
dark suit and gold-rimmed sunglasses, Taylor stood nonplussed as his sentence was
confirmed by Justice George Gelaga King, the president of the United Nations
appeals chamber. The decision was long overdue after Taylor, 65, was found
guilty last year of 11 counts of war crimes, including murder, rape, torture
and the enslavement of child soldiers. His brutal guerrilla army terrorized
Sierra Leone under the moniker the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). These
mercenaries receiver guns, training and recruits from Taylor in return for diamonds.
The court ruled him guilty of “aiding and abetting” these atrocities and so
Taylor will be jailed in Britain for 50 years. It was fitting that King is a
native of Sierra Leone and had the chance to deliver the decision to Taylor.
The judgment was so lengthy that it took one hour and 15 minutes to read out. "The
sentence is fair in the light of the totality of the crimes committed," King
said. "The defense failed to demonstrate any discernable errors in the
trial chamber's sentencing." Taylor will be classified as a “category A”
inmate fit only for a maximum-security prison. Housing and policing him will
cost British taxpayers a nice, round £80,000 per year. "Charles Taylor is
the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an
international criminal tribunal since Nuremburg in 1946," said Brenda
Hollis, the UN prosecutor. "This sentence makes it clear that those
responsible for criminal conduct will be severely punished. No sentence less
than 50 years would have been enough to achieve retribution and
deterrence." Next stop for Taylor will be Belmarsh Prison, followed by a maximum
security jail later this fall…….
- A few key species are on the comeback trail, according to
a new report
released Thursday by the Zoological Society of London, BirdLife
International and the European Bird Census Council (EBCC). The consortium
reported that 18 mammal and 19
bird species that have made comebacks in Europe since about 1960. They’re
looking to see which conservation efforts are working and which ones need
tweaking. “Wildlife will fairly quickly bounce back if we allow it to – this
report shows that,” said Frans Schepers, managing director of Rewilding Europe.
As part of the report, its authors claimed that Europe’s biodiversity is
decreasing. Still, they believe that their findings represent a productive step
in future conservation efforts. At the top of the list is the beaver, which is
rallying like nobody’s business. The buck-toothed rodent has bounced back from
just 1,200 individuals as of about 1900 to about 337,500 this year, according
to the report. This matters because the Eurasian beaver, the second largest
rodent in the world (after the capybara), builds the all-important natural dams
that keep the continent’s water ecosystems in good health. On its heels is the
bison, Europe’s largest herbivore. The bison population has increased in number
almost 3,000 percent since 1960, after it was hunted almost to extinction about
100 years earlier. Researchers credited captive breeding programs, beginning in
1952, for the revival. Further down the list are the grey seal, the Pyrenean
ibex and the brown bear. Birds have plenty of success stories as well, with the
pink-footed goose, the white-headed duck and the Spanish imperial eagle all on
the rise. The report’s authors identified translocations and reintroductions as
the most beneficial strategies for boosting animal populations and perhaps one
or both of those methods could help the only species in the study that saw its
population decline: the Iberian lynx…….
- Don’t pin this one on noted attention whore Miley
Cryus…not entirely, anyhow. She can own part of this, but morons have been
pulling stupid sh*t for a long time all in the name of getting their name in
the Guinness Book of World Records. Kooks, ass hats and fools love growing the
longest fingernails ever, accumulating the biggest ball of yarn known to man or
standing on their head longer than anyone ever has. Combine the Cyrus factor
and the Guinness envy and you begin to understand why hundreds of tools gathered in Herald Square
Wednesday to set the Guinness World Record for the most people twerking at the
same time for two minutes. Ignoring the fact that this record is completely
worthless and being a part of it is an embarrassment to that person and their
family, 358 people between gathered Wednesday to twerk for two minutes straight
in a giant orgy of dance stupidity organized by the music channel Fuse and New
Orleans musician Big Freedia. Organizers reported that the participants ranged
in age from 8 to 80 and with a Guinness official on hand to certify the event,
the record was secured. Actually, only 250 folks were needed to set the record
for twerking, a dance move that is basically people grinding on a real or
imagined partner or object like the world’s filthiest stripper on coke. Oh, you
can also chip off a slice of the blame for the Oxford English Dictionary, which
added the word “twerk” just last month, terming it it as to “dance to popular
music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a
low, squatting stance.” Hopefully, everyone involved is sufficiently shamed……….
- Big Ten
commissioner Jim Delany sounds crabby. Being a total fraud who is part of the
machine that profits in massive ways off the efforts of unpaid college athletes
should make a person happy, but Delany was downright bitter this week when he
suggested that Division I football and basketball might be better served by
following Major League Baseball's model, in that players are allowed to sign
professionally right out of high school. Delany theorized that college
athletics are becoming little more than a minor league system for the pros. "Maybe
in football and basketball, it would work better if more kids had a chance to
go directly into the professional ranks," Delany said. "If they're
not comfortable and want to monetize, let the minor leagues flourish. Train at
IMG, get agents to invest in your body, get agents to invest in your likeness
and establish it on your own. But don't come here and say, 'We want to be paid
$25,000 or $50,000.' Go to the D-League and get it, go to the NBA and get it,
go to the NFL and get it. Don't ask us what we've been doing.” Wow, someone
asks Delany to share a piece of his massive pie and suddenly he’s swinging on
people and invoking the names of John Havlicek and Michael Jordan. The commish
went on to say that a restructuring plan in college sports must be in place by
next spring to create better balance educationally and more options. He is open
to increasing the value of athletic scholarships, but balked at the idea of
paying college athletes. At the same time Delany was whining about people
suggesting he and his brethren cease and desist with their gravy-training enterprise,
the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the IA
Athletic Directors Association wrapped up their meetings in Dallas. The group discussed
topics ranging from NCAA governance and enforcement to the rejection of
"pay-for-play” concepts. Way to be forward-thinking, all……..
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