- The sight of Bono strumming a guitar at a U2 concert has
become increasingly rare over the years. As the world’s biggest rock band has
grown in prominence, the man in the designer shades has held down the frontman
gig with aplomb, spending shows prancing, skipping, gyrating and exhorting the
audience has he moves around the massive stages U2 calls home on the road. He
doesn’t play guitar much these days, but his November bike crash in Central Park that has
kept him off stage in recent weeks may keep him from ever playing again for any
reason. In a lengthy post on the band's website, Bono suggested that he might
never be physically able to play guitar again. "[I] have no memory of how
I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my
leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go," he wrote. "I
have cancelled every public appearance and decided this missive is all the
communication I can manage for the first half of 2015, beyond muttering and
singing to myself of course.” How very Bono of him, riding a bike around
Central Park while wearing a leather jacket. Breaking one’s left shoulder in three
places, shattering one’s left upper arm and breaking a bone in the orbit of one’s
left eye is a harrowing experience for sure and five hours of surgery marked by
three metal plates and 18 screws to fix what was broken would have many
rethinking their future plans on multiple levels. "Recovery has been more
difficult than I thought... As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever
play guitar again," Bono added. Somewhere, the U2 haters of the world are
deriving far too much enjoyment from all of this………
- Metal detector-wielding kooks of the world, Poland needs
your help. The eastern European nation plans to send out two teams to search
this year for the Polish submarine ORP Orzel, which disappeared in the North
Sea in May 1940 during a mission with the Allies in World War II. Yes, the Culture
Ministry and the Maritime Museum in the Baltic port of Gdansk has plenty of
qualified individuals to look for this massive relic, but extra hands can be
beneficial even in this situation. Knobs who spend money on metal detectors and
scour beaches while turning up tin cans and shards of junk have free time on
their hands and now that free time can be put to good use in search of a sub
built in the Netherlands and which started service in 1939, including fighting German
ships after Hitler's army invaded Poland Sept. 1, 1940. ORP Orzel was held that
month in Tallinn by then-neutral Estonia, but escaped and went on to play a
major part in the war by taking part in patrol and escort missions for the
British navy. It was last seeing leaving Rosyth, Scotland on May 23, 1940 and
no one has been able to track it down since then. Multiple searches for the
vessel have taken place since 2008, but every potential lead has vaporized into
thin air and the submarine has remained part of Polish lore. Enlisting a bunch
of wannabe Indiana Joneses to search for it is fine and well, even if a nation
that isn't exactly swimming in cash could use the money it will spend on the
search to tackle more important and pressing matters………
- Steve Nash is having a season that virtually any NBA fan
or even random person on the street would dream about. He doesn’t have to work
and isn't on the court for one of the worst teams in the Association and he’s
collecting $9.7 million for his
(lack of) efforts. He doesn’t have to be around the team, won't be playing at
all after the season ends and can do whatever the hell he wants with his time
while the Lakers stumble toward a spot in the draft lottery. But there he was,
making a surprise visit to the team he’s left behind as they boarded their
charter flight on Christmas Eve to play the Chicago Bulls the next day. Nash
hadn't been around since Oct. 23, when it was announced that he would be
sidelined for the season with a back injury. The Lakers have maintained the
stance that the door is open for the future Hall of Famer to remain with the
team in some capacity, but team officials remain hopeful that reality will
chance. "I think so," Lakers coach Byron Scott of Nash’s possible
return to the team’s orbit. That sounds like more than a little wishful
thinking for a coach who didn’t speak with an injured player for nearly a month
after Nash was declared out for the season. Not having Nash on the court is
both a plus and a minus for the Lakers; at the age of 40, he’s slow and hobbled
and can't defend a soul, making him perfect to help a bad team lose games and
keep a draft pick that is protected only if it lands in the top five. On the
other hand, he’s a respected veteran who could bring leadership to the team. The
Lakers were granted a $4.85 million disabled player exception by the NBA for
Nash, so they can replace him with another player on the active roster
if they choose, but given their incentive to be terrible, there isn't a huge
likelihood that they’re going hard after anyone who can make a real dent in the
win column…………
- Many people have been hitting the gym like never before
over these past few days, trying for a short time to make good on their New
Year’s resolution to get healthier and ditch the excess pounds they’ve been
carrying around. Very few among that group had their efforts to get their
workout on go as badly as Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Reid, who has run
marathons and was a boxer as a young man, broke several ribs and facial bones
when a piece of exercise equipment (allegedly) malfunctioned on the first day
of the new year. Reid’s office issued a statement in which it said the
75-year-old senator was hospitalized overnight at University Medical Center in
Las Vegas as a precaution. Reid’s security detail took him to St. Rose
Dominican Hospital near his home in Henderson, Nevada after the machine-on-man
assault in which an elastic exercise band (allegedly) broke, striking Reid in
the face and causing him to fall, said spokesman Adam Jentleson. The resulting
fall sent the senator tumbling into a nearby piece of exercise equipment, breaking
multiple bones near his right eye. The final indignity came when Reid hit
the floor and broke several ribs in the process, Jentleson said. Tests showed
no internal bleeding, Jentleson said, and Reid is not expected to have any
vision problems because of his injuries. He has since been released from the
hospital and while severe facial bruises aren't very becoming of a senator, he
can step out of the spotlight next week when he hands over the top job in the
Senate next week to Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky after Democrats lost
their majority in November's midterm elections. Maybe this incident can make
Reid a more sympathetic figure when he fights for re-election in 2016……….
No comments:
Post a Comment