- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Kosovo is doing work, yo, at
least when it comes to rising up and striking back against The Man. The latest
outrage in a land that has seen more than its share of strife in recent decades
came Sunday when Kosovo police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse
hundreds of ethnic Albanians angry because minority Serbs reinforced a
barricade separating parts of central Mitrovica. Serbia is a nation birthed and
grown in turmoil, so perhaps it’s only fitting that Mitrovica found itself in
the middle of an uprising in which at least seven police officers were injured
and five cars set ablaze by protesters. It was a solid display of dissident
force and once that was serious enough that NATO armored vehicles staked out a
downtown bridge. The alliance leads a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo
and the mere face that a country is in enough sh*t that NATO feels compelled to
send its can't-really-do-much-to-stop-violence peacekeeping forces says much
about where Serbia and its capital city are these days. According to NATO
forces, they were called up Sunday to support police efforts to contain the
crowd. The launch point for the problems was ethnic Serbs using trucks and
bulldozers to remove mounds of earth used to block ethnic Albanians from
crossing the bridge and placing large flower pots instead. Flower pots have not
launched that many revolutions and they might not be enough to spark one here,
but a foreigner can certainly hold out hope. For the record, Serbia still rejects
Kosovo's 2008 secession and backs the Serb minority's defiance of Pristina
authorities. However, most Kosovars are ethnic Albanians and that makes it a
complicated matter with no satisfactory answer………
- An all-around great actor he isn't, but Kevin Hart keeps
getting the job done. The comedian’s latest, “Think Like a Man Too,” claimed
the weekend earnings crown with a solid $30 million debut. It bounced reigning
box office king “22 Jump Street,” which stepped back one spot to second place
by a narrow margin. With $29 million, “Jump” has now banked $114.5 million in
two weeks and that number is equal parts sad and remarkable based on the actual
quality of the film. “How to Train Your Dragon 2” slotted third with $25.3
million in a close race to the top and yet, the animated flick is well south of
breaking even, having amassed $95.2 million in two weeks of release. “Jersey
Boys” became the second new movie in the top five, debuting to $13.5 million and
failing to give director Clint Eastwood the resounding win he was seeking.
“Maleficent” notched another $13 million in its fourth weekend and in the
process, edged past the lofty barrier of its $180 million budget at $185.9 million
in total domestic earnings. Sixth place went to the futuristic thriller “Edge
of Tomorrow,” which blasted its way to $10.4 million to up its overall domestic
haul to $74.5 million in three weeks in local multiplexes across America. “The
Fault in Our Stars” continued to be a commercial darling, adding $8.6 million
for the weekend to place seventh and elevate itself to the brink of the $100
million mark at $98.7 million against a meager $12 million budget. “X-Men: Days
of Future Past” kept chugging along, finishing in eighth place with $6.2
million. Its $216.7 million in five weeks is nice, but that $200 million budget
does dampen the enthusiasm a bit. “Chef” rose one spot to ninth with $1.9
million and in seven weeks of limited release, its earnings stand at $16.9
million. “Godzilla” rounded out the top 10 with $1.8 million, good for a
six-week bank roll of $194.9 million. “A Million Ways to Die in the West” (No.
11) and “Neighbors” (No. 12) both lost their spots from last weekend’s top
10……….
- He may be an entertainment icon, but Hawaiian
shirt-wearing rocker Jimmy Buffet is currently on a crusade to save a core
piece of Americana. Buffet is on a mission to save drive-in movie theaters and
his quest came to the small town of Vandergrift, Pa. last week, when he played
a small concert broadcast at the local drive-in. While he and his Parrotheads
will gather in their makeshift Margaritaville on July 23, Buffet played to the
people of Vandergrift in a show aired live from Texas. Locals who couldn’t find
a way to swing a trip to the big city for the July show happily shelled out a
fraction of the money to see Buffet beamed lived to their small town from a drive-in
theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, in front of an audience of 1,100. Airing a
concert from one drive-in to another is part of Buffett’s efforts to save
drive-in movie theatres from extinction. The setup was a welcome boost for
Vandergrift drive-in owner Todd Mament, who understands what an uphill battle establishments
such as his are fighting every day. “It’s on a decline because of the
conversion to digital projection,” Mament said. “A lot of older drive-in owners
have just decided to retire and close their theatres.” Marment is doing what he
can to hang onto relevance for now and recently invested $80,000 to change over
from a film projector to a digital one. Despite the chance to see a semi-live Buffet
concert, the Vandergrift drive-in was only about half full on Thursday night,
which is actually a fairly decent turnout on a weeknight. Buffet may need to
actually stage live shows at more drive-ins and make an entire tour out of it
to truly make a difference, but the thought is still a kind one………
- He may look ridiculous, but San Diego Padres reliever Alex Torres is a smart man. On Saturday
night, Torres became the first pitcher to wear a padded cap during Saturday's
night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. For all the talk about protecting
pitchers from the 115-mph missiles flying back at their heads when batter make
contact with a fastball and all the sights of unconscious pitchers on the
ground after such incidents, pitchers have been slow – i.e. they have universally
refused – to wear any of the multiple prototypes
of protective cap that provide some head protection Major League Baseball
tested, including the one MLB officials ultimately approved in January. The
testing came just over a year after Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy
was struck in the head by a line drive and suffered life-threatening brain
injuries, which is usually more than enough time for any one group to forget
about a potentially deadly danger facing it if no further instance of said
danger happen. Torres has more reason to be aware of the dangers of line drives
than most, as he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays last season, when then-teammate
Alex Cobb suffered a concussion on a line drive that struck his right ear.
Torres was in the bullpen at the time of the incident and still remembers how
he felt at the time. The fact that he is the padded cap pioneer is no
coincidence. "I'm just trying to protect myself, my life, and to see my
kids grow up," Torres said. "I don't want to wait for something to
happen." After ordering the cap last month, Torres began wearing it
sporadically while playing catch over the past week and it made its debut this
weekend. "I tried it before using it in the game, playing catch. It doesn't
feel really bad. It doesn't feel like how it looks on my head,” Torres
added……….
No comments:
Post a Comment