Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Emile Hirsch's rage, Cypress Hill: Professional pot farmers and soccer still tied to racism


- When looking to make a case for police brutality, it’s best not to cut out the middleman. So learned Lucerne, California resident Aleksander Robin Tomaszewski through a disappointing and unproductive encounter with Lane County Sheriff’s Department deputies. According to Lane County authorities, Tomaszewski was brought in for questioning on a case that's under investigation. This is clearly a man with some self-hate issues and possibly a mental illness or two because unlike most suspects trying to get over on the cops, he didn’t immediately lawyer up or even invoke his right against self-incrimination. No, this genius instead went Manny Pacquiao on himself, beating the hell out of himself in what turned out to be an ill-reasoned attempt to get over on police with a case of police brutality. According to police, Tomaszewski punched himself in the face and then signed an assault complaint against detectives, not realizing that when a person is sitting in an interrogation room and there’s that black box thingy high on the wall with what looks like a lens on the front of it, that tends to be what we know as a camera. The camera captured footage of Tomaszewski hitting himself, leaving two black eyes. When presented with the evidence that he was a self-abusing idiot and a pretty terrible con man, he told investigators he hoped filing a complaint would get him released. Instead, he was charged with initiating a false report and attempted coercion and after being convicted, he was sentenced to 20 days in jail and fined $500. Maybe while he’s behind bars he can find someone willing to assault him for real………


- Racism and soccer…they go together like rancid peanut butter and way-past-due grape jelly on a couple slices of moldy bread. Whether it’s bigoted fans chanting racial slurs at black players, hatemongers throwing objects on the field at players of a different race or ugly stereotypes being carried on ages past when they were laid down by every reasonably decent person in the world, soccer knows how to keep the hate alive like no other sports. It’s definitely alive and well in Italy, where coaching legend Arrigo Sacchi decided to enlighten the world to the real problem plaguing his country’s underperforming national team. As with all racists, he made sure he tried to preempt the guaranteed outrage over his bigoted views by insisting that he is not, in fact, a racist. "I'm certainly not racist and my history as a coach proves that, starting from [Frank] Rijkaard," Sacchi said at an awards ceremony. "But looking at the Viareggio tournament I feel like saying that there are too many black players, even in the youth teams.” Oh, you’re not a racist, you just think there should be fewer players of one particular race on the team because they’re making the team weaker. That’s not racist at all. "Italy has no dignity, no pride. It's not possible that our teams should have 15 foreign players in the squad,” Sacchi added. The tournament of which he speaks is a prestigious international youth competition held annually in Viareggio, Tuscany. Apparently, it would be a lot better if only Italians played in it. Of course, the former AC Milan coach tried to double back on his comments and hide behind the always popular “taken out of context” excuse. "I've been misinterpreted, you think I'm really racist? All I said was I saw a game featuring a team who fielded four colored players," Sacchi added. “My history speaks for itself. Sorry, Arrigo. No one who uses the words “colored players” in 2015 qualifies as a racist in any corner of the globe………


- There was just no way to see this one coming. For as long as they have existed, Southern California rappers Cypress Hill have been about good, clean fun and they’ve enjoyed rapping about such diverse topics as air travel and hot air balloon rides. Don’t believe it? How else do you explain their 1995 hit “I Wanna Get High (So High)” and its deep, soul-searching lyrics? If that song isn't about climbing into the gondola of a hot air balloon and soaring through a summer sky, then what is it about? That’s what makes it all the more perplexing that Cypress Hill member B-Real is set to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Orange County. Somehow, B-Real – real name Louis Freese – was one of six applicants out of 630 granted the right to open his own ganja business in the area. "I definitely want it to be eye candy, eye-popping, eye-catching, an experience. We want it to be a place where you can come get quality meds responsibly and all that stuff, but we want it to be an experience as well,” Freese said of his new business. As for the idea that he might use his celebrity and skills on the mic to draw in stoners, he was open to the notion. “If we could lay it out properly to where the city is okay with that, sure. Or if there's enough room within the complex that we're operating out of, yeah,” Freese said. “That's not something that would be foreign to us because we have the ability to put that on. We have the experience and we have the right people in place to make that happen." Perhaps with the most fortuitous timing ever, B-Real just happens to have a new album he dropped under the stage name Dr. Greenthumb and it will feature a guest spot from noted chron aficionado Snoop Dogg. A new Cypress Hill album is due out later this year and when the fellas need to score some quality herb to chill out and celebrate their newest release, they know where to find it………..


- What comes to mind when you think about the Sundance Film Festival? A bunch of wannabe Steven Spielbergs and Francis Ford Coppolas selling their indie film like nobody’s business, the occasional A-lister popping in and enjoying a lavish studio after party….and an accomplished actor channeling his inner Ray Rice on a female studio executive for reasons that remain unclear but probably involve massive quantities of alcohol. Enter Emile Hirsch, who went to Sundance for the premiere of "Ten Thousands Saints," in which he stars with Ethan Hawke, but left with an open invitation from local law enforcement to return on March 16 for his court appearance in an alleged assault on Paramount executive Daniele Bernfeld. Hirsh is staring down charges of felony aggravated assault and intoxication, prosecuting attorney Ryan Stack of the Summit County (Utah) Attorney's Office said. The incident in question allegedly occurred at TAO nightclub in Park City during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in January and took place in the early morning hours. Court documents have Hirsch reportedly locking Bernfeld into a chokehold so forceful that she "couldn't breathe," causing her to black out. A couple of fellow clubbers pulled Hirsch off of Bernfeld before police arrived and officers found some redness around Bernfeld's neck. The sh*t went sideways after Hirsch allegedly confronted Bernfeld, calling her a "rich kid" and questioning why she looked "so tough." He admitted to the altercation and told police he’d had three or four drinks that evening, which in lush language means six or seven. That seems to be Hirsch’s new story, as his attorney Robert Offer now claims his client consumed an "enormous amount of alcohol that night" and has since checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility. Oh, and Hirsh now claims to remember nothing about that night, which might actually be true given how hammered he seems to have been……….

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