Thursday, January 29, 2015

Matt Barnes is an angry asshole, Italy strikes at the mob and Elton John has an HBO drama


- The soror-stitutes at the University of Virginia have a choice to make. Are they going to live up to their name and stay true to the reason they came to college in the first place, or are they going to get an early start on their post-college life of bowing to the conservative whims of The Man? Of course, the university recently lifted a suspension of Greek social activities after fraternities and sororities agreed to stricter regulations in the wake of a November Rolling Stone article that detailed an apparent gang rape at a U.Va. fraternity. Even though much of that article has since been thoroughly discredited, the resulting stink that engulfed the university’s Greek system has sadly remained. So with the ban officially lifted and the spring semester underway, the fine, upstanding and service-minded ladies of the many sororities that surround the Charlottesville campus have been ordered to stay away from fraternity recruitment events scheduled Saturday. That’s an obvious problem because the way many fraternities pull the best recruits is by partnering with sister sororities and having their, um, talent on hand at their parties. Sure, Kip and the rest of the Lambda Sigs can simply convince attractive chicks from other parts of campus life to take the place of their normal sorority party partners, but that’s a lot of work in between hauling kegs and setting up beer pong tables. The National Panhellenic Conference oversees the sororities and conference spokeswoman Michelle Bower explained that the mandate came from the sororities' national presidents. Inter-Fraternity Council President Ben Gorman confirmed the sad news that sororities were told to avoid any social gathering with fraternity members on Boys' Bid Night. Dammit all, where has the free-spirited binge drinking evening of fun gone on college campuses……….


- HBO has more than a few hit dramas in recent years and therefore some credibility in producing original television fodder, but it’s taking a bit of a leap here. The premium cable network has ordered a pilot episode of “Virtuoso,” a musical drama from Elton John and “True Blood” creator Alan Ball. With John involved, you know the project will be toned-down and über-tasteful, in no way involving comically oversized sunglasses or brightly colored feather boas. It will be Ball who writes and directs the 60-minute drama, which follows a class of musical prodigies at an Academy of Musical Excellence in 18th century Vienna. Meanwhile. Actually, the entire project is well on its way and has a cast and everything. Its star will be Peter Macdissi, who played recurring character Olivier Castro-Staal on Ball's earlier HBO drama “Six Feet Under.” Macdissi will also serve as yet another executive producer and will also play Salieri, a composer and conductor is who is hired by Austria's dying Emperor to found the Academy in his honor. A period piece about classical music seems risky, but then again, the odds of this one being all about the music are about as high as the same being true of any single episode of “Glee.” The cast will also include Alex Lawther, recently seen playing the young Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game,” and former “Skins” star Nico Mirallegro. Despite the show being set in Austria, filming is scheduled to begin this spring in Budapest, which as European geography aficionados know, is technically not located anywhere within the beautiful borders of Austria……….


- Italy man be a nation on the brink of perpetual financial crisis, but its fiscal inefficacy doesn’t mean it can’t step up and take control in other areas of its existence. For example Italian authorities have executed about 170 arrest warrants in a major crackdown on the 'ndrangheta, dealing a significant blow to the grammatically stunted organized crime syndicate in southern Italy which officials say has become deeply rooted in the business world in the north. Italy's chief anti-mafia prosecutor, Franco Roberti, moved quickly to get out in front of this one and trumpeted it as an "historic" step in the fight against the mob during a news conference Wednesday in Bologna. Holding major events in cities named after popular lunch meats is a bold move, even if you have to explain to the world that only some of those named in the warrants were arrested, while others are already incarcerated on other charges or in the process of being detained. Maybe you want to wait until you have all of them in custody before puffing out the chest holding up your finely tailored Italian shirt and suit coat, Franco. One of his prosecutorial peers, Roberto Alfonso, said the operation showed a new side of the 'ndrangheta, which has already shown itself to have infiltrated northern Italy's economic and political fiber. Combined with Pope Francis’ stated mission of scrubbing the mafia’s ties to the Catholic Church and its influence in the church’s business, it’s safe to say that it’s a hard knocks life for Italy’s most notorious crime figures……….


- Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes is a combustible dude. He’s beefed with teammates, opponents, referees and even fans at various points and while he’s not quite the badass gangsta that his near-full-body tattoos would suggest, his rage issues remain late into his career. Just ask whoever was the intended target of his violent verbal outburst with 4:28 remaining in the second quarter of the Clippers' 120-100 win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at US Airways Center. The Clippers were b*tch-slapping the homestanding Suns when Barnes went off on someone seated courtside. It appeared that he was dropping four-letter bombs on a fan and when the league dinged him $25,000 for his tirade, it would have been easy to chalk the incident up to another case of one of the Association’s most outspoken players losing his cool. But Barnes insists that he wasn’t cursing out a fan at all, but rather riffing on the junk that Suns owner Robert Sarver had been talking to him. “Another 25k! The part of the story the nba hasn't told you was my language wasnt directed at a fan, I was talkn to the owner of the Suns....,” Barnes tweeted. “Who was sitting on the baseline & I only said something to him AFTER he cussed at me, BUT because I didn't SNITCH I get fined!! #thecode.” Barnes added that he has now been “fined 50k in the last mnth for kicking a "PAPER"Gatorade cup that had alil bit of water in it that didn't even hit anyone &....Responding to an OWNER who cussed at me first.. 50,000 dollars for that?? Come on now!” The league disagreed, saying that the interaction in question did not involve Sarver and therefore, its $25,000 fine stood………..

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