- Big things are cookin’ for 2013’s highest-grossing actor.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s movies banked the most money last year and the
chiseled former wrestler and current action hero is using that success as a
springboard to bigger aspirations in 2014. Johnson rang in the new year by
dropping a heavy hint that he will work on a DC Comics project this year. Johnson, who has
injected some energy into the “Fast & Furious” franchise, was asked by a
fan if he'd ever been approached by either Marvel or DC Comics about appearing
in a superhero film. The query made sense given his proclivity for
aggression-heavy roles and his WWE physique and Johnson responded with a tweet
that gave fans a reason for optimism about his superhero future. “We just had a
big meeting w/ Warner Bros CEO re: @DCComics 2014 we will partner up and create
the cool bad assery. #RockTalk @ActionTilson,” Johnson tweeted. He did not
offer any hints as to what project he would be a part of, but last month
Johnson tweeted a picture of himself with Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara and
promised that they'd do some "big cool things" together. In the past,
various casting rumors have lined Johnson to roles such as Black Adam and Lobo,
but neither of those projects have any real possibility of making it to the big
screen. At present, “Batman vs. Superman” is the only DC Comics movie Warner
Bros. is planning for the year ahead. The roles of Lex Luthor and Doomsday are
open and Johnson’s imposing presence would be well-suited for the latter, with
Doomsday best known as the beast who once killed Superman and fought the whole
Justice League on his own. If Johnson doesn’t land there, he could also play
the Martian Manhunter in the “Justice League” movie scheduled to follow
the Superman sequel in 2015………
- Score one for excessive and excessively symbolic rich
people persecution in France. France's controversial
"millionaire tax" is set to become law after the measure was approved
by France's constitutional council. The vote was necessary after an earlier
version was deemed unconstitutional last year, but now the government has the
green light to levy a 75 percent tax on companies that pay salaries in excess
of €1 million. President François Hollande touted the tax as a means to force
the rich to help France shrink its massive budget deficit and support its
sagging economy. The original tax was on individuals, but it morphed into one
on the companies who pay the massive salaries that make rich people rich. The constitutional
council decreed that employers must pay the levy on salaries exceeding €1
million ($1.4 million) a year – but the tax will only apply for the 2013 and
2014 fiscal years and will not be allowed the surpass 5 percent of a company's
annual revenue. Even Hollande admitted that the new tax is "symbolic"
and designed to make a political statement about economic fairness. No one
expects it to bring in a lot of money or actually impact the country’s bottom
line in a meaningful way, even though it will affect roughly 470 companies. The
tax stems from a promise Hollande made during the 2012 presidential campaign
and despite its temporary status, the process of approving and implementing it
has prompted a severe backlash from high-profile business people, movie stars
and soccer clubs. French actor Gerard Depardieu took the rather absurd step of
taking up Russian citizenship to protest against the tax. Yes, two years of
über-minimal suffering is clearly too much to ask of the wealthy………
- Wednesday’s snowy NHL Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium
was a resounding success despite constant flakes falling and forcing regular
shoveling of the playing surface and next year’s version of the contest is
shaping up. According to sources close to the situation, the 2015 game will
likely be played at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The league announced in
September that next year's Jan. 1
outdoor game would be hosted by the Washington Capitals, but did not specify a
venue. Given the scale of the event, options are limited to football and
baseball stadiums and in the Washington, D.C. area, that means either Nationals
Park or FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. The NHL is holding out on
making a final decision because of possible scheduling issues with the Redskins
at FedEx Field, but is reportedly close to choosing Nationals Park because it is
a relatively new venue and would be a suitable location. The abandoned former
home of the Redskins, RFK Stadium, is another possibility but it is the
antithesis of Nationals Park in terms of being sleek and modern and would
likely be the ultimate last resort if it were ultimately chosen. What remains
up in the air and will be until the league settles on its schedule for the
2014-15 season is the Washington Capitals’ opponent for the game, but in
previous Winter Classics, the NHL has done its best to select matchups with a
national appeal and some sort of built-in rivalry to add a level of specialness
to the game. Having arguably the league’s best offensive weapon, Caps forward
Alexander Ovechkin, as a part of the game will help as well regardless of where
the game is played or who the opponent is……
- Crop circles are a great barometer of social idiocy in any
year. Some kook with far too much free time and cash to burn wastes plenty of
both cutting a geometric pattern into some random cornfield and then gets their
ego inflated as the sheep-like masses fuss and fawn over the result, wondering
aloud if it’s a hoax (it is) or if it’s a sign from aliens. The latest case
study in this phenomenon came in a field of barley two hours south of San Francisco
and unfolded over the early portion of the week. Photographer Julie Belanger and
her husband were flying over the area and wondered aloud what the image etched
into the field below might be. Belanger admitted she was skeptical that the
crop circle was evidence of something otherworldly even though she is open to
the possibility that aliens exist. "I believe it's possible that aliens
exist, but I don't know if they would bother making a crop circle to give us a
message," she said. News of the field’s odd design spread quickly and it
caught owner Scott Anthony by surprise as he and his family returned home from
vacation to their 2,000-acre farm
outside the tiny town of Chualar, 10 miles southeast of Salinas. An employee
called Anthony to share the news and when he got home, he went out to see the elaborate
design sculpted into one to two acres of his barley field: a crop circle – or
rather, a lot of squares and rectangles within a large circle. "To me, it
looks like a computer chip, or something like that," Anthony said. He
added that he has no idea how it came about and said the downed plants appeared
to have been pushed over rather than burned. In a predictable scene, news vans
and hordes of curious losers showed up to see the non-remarkable scene. Stories
of 20 to 30 people with ladders in the field in the days before the design was
discovered began to circulate and YouTube videos filled with claims of alien
visits popped up. Skeptics have noted that such designs can be made by simply
dragging a rope attached to a board over the grass, which is the best
explanation and yet, one that doesn’t satisfy fools and misfits………
- Leaked photos of new technology are fun. The leaks are often
staged and yet they offer an advance look at new gear that may change the world
as we know it or end up as a colossal flop that gets a lot of people fired.
That distinction is still to be made for the LG Lifeband Touch fitness tracker, but a leaked
image to end 2013 portends a possible 2014 release for the wearable bracelet,
possibly at the upcoming 2014 International CES in January or at the Mobile
World Congress (MWC) event in February. Both events are major technology
showcases where new products are often debuted or launched and both media and
tech lovers flock to them every year in the hopes of becoming an early adopter
for the next big thing in the tech world. A rendering of the Lifeband Touch
shows it to be extremely similar to the LG Smart Activity Tracker that the
company displayed at last year's CES. At the show, LG said the device would hit
the market in 2013. That promise fell through and perhaps the pressure to
deliver a suitable challenger for other devices in its category such as the Nike+
FuelBand SE forced LG to double clutch and rework its design in the hopes of
getting the finished product just right. The South Korean company is also
reported to be developing other wearable devices, including a smartwatch called
G Arch and a health and fitness wristband named G Health. Both are thought to
be complementary pieces to its primary smartphone offering, the LG G3. The Nike+
Fuelband SE went on sale in November with a price tag of $149 and it tracks a
person’s workout routine, sleep schedule and more…….
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