- Not everyone is a fan of the pre-packaged pop music
sweetheart currently taking over the pop culture world. Taylor Swift is
literally everywhere these days on the Internet and news magazine shows, but
she could have been even more places if not for a true rock icon. Joni
Mitchell, who released her final studio album “Shine” in 2007 and dropped a
cash grab/remastered
greatest hits collection featuring 53 songs from her highly acclaimed career on
Nov. 17, has revealed as part of a shameless attempt to build interest in her
hits collection that she brought a potential biopic of her life with Swift as
the star to a screeching halt back in 2012. Long before Swift was looking to
shake it off, she was apparently in line to play the part of Mitchell in “Girls
Like Us,” a film adaptation of Sheila Weller's book examining the impact
Mitchell and 1970s peers Carole King and Carly Simon had on the industry. The
project quietly went away and there was never much of an explanation offered –
until now. “"I squelched that. I said to the producer, 'All you've got is
a girl with high cheekbones,’” Mitchell said. “It's just a lot of gossip, you
don't have the great scenes." Wow….that’s a very disrespectful statement
about a girl who hasn’t proven that she has a lot to offer beyond a
well-manufactured persona, a willingness to play her life’s drama out through
her pop songs and high cheekbones. Part of Mitchell’s anger seems to be directed more at various
beliefs and speculations about who she is, speculations she believes are way
off base. "There's a lot of nonsense about me in books," Mitchell
added, "assumptions, assumptions, assumptions." Glad you could set
those straight, J……….
- Swiss neutrality and unwillingness to take a firm stand on
much of anything truly know no bounds. For example, you might think a nation
would want no part of a long-hidden art bequeathed to one of its museums by a
collector with Nazi ties. You would be wrong, at least in the case of Switzerland's
Kunstmuseum Bern, which agreed on Monday to accept a priceless collection of it
by German collector Cornelius Gurlitt. Museum officials said they would work
with German officials to ensure any pieces looted by the Nazis from Jewish
owners are returned, but that might be a bit difficult. Back in 2012, German
authorities seized 1,280 pieces from Gurlitt's apartment while investigating a
tax case, including works by Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. Gurlitt shuffled
off this mortal coil in May and oddly enough, designated the museum as his sole
heir. That’s a strong indication he lacked any real friends or loved ones and
yet, the museum wasn’t sure it would accept what had been bequeathed to it. The
museum's president, Christoph Schaeublin, explained that Kunstmuseum Bern had
decided to accept the collection after long, difficult deliberations. "The
ultimate aim was to clarify how the Kunstmuseum Bern could meet the
responsibilities imposed upon them by the bequest," Schaeublin said. Late
in his life, Gurlitt seemed to develop something of a soul and struck a deal with
the German government to check whether hundreds of the works were looted from
Jewish owners by the Nazis. Because that deal is binding on any heirs, there
will be an extensive effort to determine to whom each work belongs before it
goes to the museum. A task force will handle the search and if no owner can be
found for a looted piece, the agreement calls for the work to be exhibited in
Germany with an explanation of its origins so the "rightful owners will
have the opportunity to submit their claims." Still, stolen Nazi
art in Switzerland has a rather ironic ring to it, eh……….
- Congratulations, Xavier Henry. You’ve cashed in a winning
lottery ticket and you don’t even fully realize it yet. Yes, this sounds like
an inherently contradictory statement. Sure, Henry suffered a season-ending
Achilles’ tendon rupture Monday, becoming the third Los Angeles Lakers player
to be lost for the season. That would seem like a bad thing, but step back and
reconsider the picture. Henry may well have played his final game for a team
that is 3-11 and destined for one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
The Lakers are a smoldering tire fire of a team that will bring shame to all
the franchise has ever been and they have a great look at 65 or more losses
this season. So does Henry want to continue grinding away, trying to regain his
past explosion after fighting through knee injuries over the past two seasons
when the ultimate prize is a bench spot in what will go down as one of the most
embarrassing campaigns ever in the Association? Or does he want to get paid to
rehab his wounded stick, not be on the court for any of the 50-plus losses to
come and not have the stink of those losses sinking into every fiber of his
clothing and through every pore in his body? Option B sounds pretty solid and
now he can hang out in the training room with fellow injured Lakers Steve Nash
and Julius Randle for the season. According to the Lakers, Henry was taking
part in non-contact, three-on-three drills in practice when the tendon snapped.
He underwent an MRI to confirm the injury and in his stead, the Lakers were
granted a disabled-player exception of $1.5 million to acquire a player before
March 10. So really, everybody wins here, except for the Lakers on the court,
because wins aren't really in the forecast for them this season………..
- Strippers have hearts too. They may not have hearts of
gold like Julia Roberts as a hooker in “Pretty Woman,” but they care…about more
than feeding their burgeoning coke habits and whether or not the brass pole is
properly secured to the stage. If there’s going to be any place where that sort
of oddity actually takes place, it has to be the bizarro world of Portland,
Oregon. That’s precisely where a group of strippers, er, uh, exotic dancers is
working to help out some of the city’s homeless and needy are bundled up this
holiday season. Last year, the strippers began a grassroots charity effort they
brilliantly dubbed Nude For The Needy. NFTN did well enough in its first year to bring it
back again and it’s already producing positive results in the most ironic way.
Women who take it off for a living have already collected enough clothing for
22 people. Nude For The Needy creator Soren High, who holds the esteemed title
of Portland Stripper of the Year for 2012 but has retired from the business because,
um, who knows why, still works with active strippers to make the charity
happen. “I was homeless for two years, lived under Hawthorne Bridge,” she said.
“I remember people came by with blankets and sandwiches. You want to feel cared
for around the holidays.” Today, volunteers for the clothing drive will take
what has been collected and distribute it around town to those in need. Then,
they can get back to the club and get back to disrobing for money……..
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