- Do prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, David Cameron and
Enda Kenny, really think their bureaucratic asses will make any difference in
helping to strike an accord to sustain Northern Ireland's fraying unity
government? These two suits may have fooled themselves into thinking it
possible for them to push the process ahead and increase the odds of forging an
agreement and on some level, the pending arrival of the two leaders does
indicate increased concern that the 7½-year-old coalition of British Protestants
and Irish Catholics, a key peacemaking achievement, could collapse without a
new compromise pact. In other words, there is a sense of urgency there, but
there is also the fact that the two sides in this debate hate each other and
would just as soon blow one another up with a car bomb as give one another a
hug. The two principal parties in Northern Ireland's five-party coalition, the
Irish nationalists of Sinn Fein and the British unionists of the Democratic
Unionist Party, are on polar opposite ends of the spectrum on a litany of security,
economic and cultural matters and years of hate, malice and dispute aren’t
likely to go away just because there is a looming, informal Christmas Eve
deadline. Failure to compromise could mean early elections or the renewal of
direct British rule, which might be the one thing both sides in the debate hate
nearly as much as they hate each other. The irony of a government based in the
city that gave birth to the Titanic sinking fast and doing nothing to stop it
can’t be lost on anyone here………
- Aaron Rodgers isn't exactly Katt Williams, Chris Rock or
Jerry Seinfeld. He doesn’t typically show up in front of a microphone laying
the heavy verbal lumber to one of his peers, despite his numerous television
commercials and generally chatty public demeanor. But during the most recent
edition of his local radio show in Milwaukee, the Green Bay Packers quarterback
took a direct shot at Detroit Lions
linebacker Stephen Tulloch, who doesn’t really need anyone piling on at this
point. After the Lions defeated the Packers early in the season, they had the
upper hand on Rodgers and his crew. But Tulloch gave back any upper hand he had
in Week 3 when he mocked Rodgers’ championship-belt celebration for rushing
touchdowns and tore his ACL during that triumph. Rodgers could have let the
insult slip because karma had already paid Tulloch back, but he elected to go
with the unusual move of breaking out his simulated title belt after his
10-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson in Monday night's win over the Atlanta
Falcons. When the topic came up during his show, Rodgers put Tulloch squarely
in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger. "I just wanted to remind people
you can do that celebration and not hurt yourself," Rodgers said. "It
wasn't even really a big one. It was just a little one." The gesture has
become known as the discount double check after his State Farm commercials and
Rodgers rarely breaks it out after his TD passes - that might be excessive
given the 35 he has on the season - but it was part of an energetic Monday
night in which he was more animated and physical than normal. "Sometimes
you just want to feel like a football player," Rodgers said. "(General
manager) Ted (Thompson) probably didn't appreciate it, and he usually will tell
me at some point this week, I'm sure, that sliding is always a good option.”
The Packers and Lions, by the way, meet again in Week 17……..
- Who invited a sheep to their ugly Christmas sweater party
and forgot to give the woolly fella a ride home, Omaha? Someone dropped the
ball on that one because in recent days, Nebraska’s biggest city - i.e. the
tallest midget - has been wondering who a sheep wearing a festive red-and-green sweater belongs to after the
animal was found wandering around the city. The Nebraska Humane Society is
caring for the sheep while it tries to find its owner and learn the animal's
name, which unfortunately was not scrawled on the tag of the sweater in
permanent marker. The sheep was found Sunday night wandering around an Omaha
neighborhood and thank God it wasn’t the wrong ‘hood, or else that sheep would
have been sheared and pistol-whipped in a heartbeat. According to Humane
Society spokeswoman Pam Wiese, the sheep will be held for at least three days
before being put up for adoption. It appears healthy and ready for any future
ugly sweater party invites that may come its way in the next few weeks. Perhaps
it ran away because, as Wiese speculated, it was someone’s 4-H project and
didn’t feel like being anyone’s project or having a joke played on it by some
tool who thought putting a sweater on a sheep wasn’t twisted or devious at all.
The animal is clearly domesticated, as it is used to walking on a leash and
doesn't seem to mind that the hideous holiday apparel it is rocking. The sweater
looks to be designed for a dog, which is just as ridiculous, but not quite as
absurd as a vagabond sheep in its holiday finest with nowhere to call home.
These are the sorts of things that only happen in the thriving metropolis that
is Omaha……….
- How big has the tidal wave of superhero movies gotten? Big
enough that a 74-year-old, award-winning actor with a litany of blockbusters to
his name wants in on the payday, er, mayhem. Al Pacino, who has starred in
“Heat,” “Scent of a Woman” and earned eight Oscar nominations in the process,
isn’t exactly making his best movies these days and maybe that’s why he is
considering taking a role in an upcoming Marvel film. Marvel, of course, is at
the epicenter of the superhero film craze and Pacino revealed that he has had a meeting with
Marvel's president, Kevin Feige. That revelation fueled speculation that he
might take a role in one of the stuido’s upcoming films. Pacino fanned those
flames by talking about he enjoyed Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which was
a commercial success on a grand level. "It was inventive, funny, strong in
sound and music, the production of it, the ingenuity of it… I was really
impressed,” Pacino said. Speaking about his meeting with Feige, Pacino added, "I
would imagine either there’s something he feels is right for me.” Given the
remaining value in Pacino’s name and the eyeballs he brings to the screen in
any project he fronts, Marvel would be smart to consider adding Pacino to a film,
even if its superhero offerings are typically strong enough on their own to
bring in major money without needing the biggest A-lister they can find. The
good news for Pacino is that he can do his trademark LOUD VOLUME DIALOGUE FOR
NO APPARENT REASON and be right at home in such a movie……..
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