- Fox, Fox, Fox. Don’t you want to be original, unlike
everyone else? Don’t you want to get out of the business of recycling someone
else’s ideas and trying to pass them off as exciting new programming? The
answer, it seems, is a resounding hells to the no. Instead, Fox is remaking the hit
Emmy-nominated BBC series “Luther,” starring Idris Elba. The network is officially dipping its toe in toe
ratings waters by giving a commitment to a pilot of the show, a crime drama
from the United Kingdom that follows Detective John Luther (Elba). They have
the support of Neil Cross, the
show's creator, who has reportedly signed on to write and executive produce the
American version of the show. This will be a team effort, uniting 20th Century
Fox Television, Chernin Entertainment and BBC Worldwide Producers. Elba,
flexing his star muscle, has also gotten himself a designation…to executive
produce, but not to be on screen. Even though he’s won a Golden Globe for the
series, which ran for three seasons and 14 episodes, he won't reprise his
Emmy-nominated role. That’s a good idea because with the amount of shows that
bomb out in their first season of network TV in the U.S., he wants as little
visible connection to this possible train wreck as possible. Fans who want to
familiarize themselves with “Luther” before it makes it to air can check out
the original series on Netflix. Maybe this can be the bastard cousin of “The
Office,” which was infinitely less funny than the British version but still
cranked out solid ratings for NBC. Keep up the unoriginal thinking, Fox and
your network brethren because fresh ideas, ain’t nobody got time for that……..
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Haitians are poor, they live in
substandard conditions and they have as much reason as anyone to demand change.
Yes, there are no bad reasons to riot against The Man, but this uprising was
especially justified as thousands of haitin’ Haitians assembled in the capital
city of Port-au-Prince to rage against the machine. The angry assembly quickly
escalated from a peaceful march to something much more when the crowd grew to a few
thousand people in slums that are opposition strongholds. Demonstrators marched
through the Delmas 32 district, where they were met by supporters of President
Michel Martelly's administration and pro-government residents. The two sides
began hurling rocks at each other and while their battle was a crude one, the
contempt both sides had for another was thoroughly modern and extremely
inspiring. At some point in the melee, three people were struck by bullets,
including one who e was shot in the neck and appeared gravely wounded.
Widespread panic ensued and in the midst of the chaos, Haitian National Police
fired tear gas and most demonstrators dispersed. It’s not an official riot
until someone breaks out the tear gas, even if it brings an abrupt end to the
proceedings. Authorities issued no comment on the riot and the best part of the
story is that nearly 1,000 rioters boldly shrugged off the tear has and
attempted government opposition and continued their Tuesday march demanding
Martelly's resignation, among other things. It was a commendable effort from
people who know what they want and are willing to walk through a wall of tear
gas to get it………
- Texas Tech is a
bad college football team with a super good-looking head coach….and an alleged
narc of a former defensive coordinator. The handsome head coach, Kliff
“Football Ryan Gosling” Kingsbury, is the one dealing with said sieve-like
defense and his interim defensive coordinator, Mike Smith, is the one throwing
out accusations of football espionage against former Red Raiders defensive
coordinator Matt Wallerstedt. Wallerstedt was axed, er, resigned abruptly Sept.
18 because he allegedly showed up on campus under the influence of either
copious amounts of alcohol or some other substance, but his impact in Lubbock
remains strong – depending upon whose story you believe. As Smith tells it,
Wallerstedt was pouring copious amounts of booze down his throat and selling
his defense down the river by giving away the team's defensive signals to
opponents. "It's not right to me, it's not fair to the kids," Smith
said. "So if that's how that person wants to handle business, they can
handle business that way. I sure hope I don't run into him anytime soon." That
last line is the textbook example of popcorn muscles, of a man breathing out
threats of what will happen if he runs into another man in a dark alley
somewhere. Kingsbury replaced Wallerstedt with Smith, who had been coaching
linebackers, and Wallerstedt has moved on as a defensive consultant at
Louisiana-Lafayette. He disputes the claims of narc-ing out the Tech D and
sounded very political in doing so. "I have not shared with anyone the Red
Raiders defensive signals. I respect the players at Texas Tech and would
never do such a thing." Wallerstedt said in a statement. "It sounds
like something that's done in the political arena - blaming someone else for
what you now control. Coach Kingsbury and Smith would do well to simply execute
their own game plan instead of trying to blame others for what may be their own
shortcomings." Zing, my man. That is a snappy comeback and maybe Tech’s
122nd-ranked defense really is that bad……….
- Let them eat spuds. Marie Antoinette may not have been
thinking of Idaho when she coined her famed (and oft-misquoted) phrase, mostly
because Idaho didn’t exist back then, but it applies to the Potato State
according to a riveting new report released by the Pew Research Center. According to this gem of
statistical analysis, Idaho is one of the prime targets for illegal immigrants
looking for a taste of the American lifestyle. The report shows that Idaho was
among seven states where the number of unauthorized immigrants increased
between 2009 and 2012, while the number of unauthorized immigrants decreased in
14 states, including Oregon, in that time period. Nationally, the number of
unauthorized immigrants remained stable at 11.2 million between 2009 and 2012,
so maybe this is simply a reshuffling of the border crashers already lurking
around the United States. Why Idaho? Maybe because it’s a hell hole of a state,
most of which bears little resemblance to actual civilization, and that makes
it easy in which to hide. Hell, the government doesn’t even want to waste its
time driving out to far-flung places like Moscow or Nampa. The report shows
that Idaho’s illegal immigrant population grew from 35,000 unauthorized
immigrants in 2009 to 50,000 in 2012, an increase of 15,000 people on account
of "increases in unauthorized immigrants from countries other than
Mexico." Wait…impoverished illegals from the balmy Mexican climate don’t
have the means or desire to travel hundreds of miles to a frigid climate in a
state that defines middle of nowhere? Shocking. Equally unsurprising is the
fact that California had the greatest number, at 2.4 million, the report found.
The real question raised here is whether it’s time to throw down an ultimatum
for anyone who enters the U.S. illegally: You either live in Idaho or you are
deported immediately. Maybe that’s the way to get immigrants to embrace that
tried and tested Republican ideal of voluntary self-deportation……….
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