- All-nighters seem fun at the time, but the fallout is a
bitch. Just ask one of the best men’s tennis players in the world, 12-time
major champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal went down in stunning, straight-set fashion in the semifinals of the Rio Open losing
1-6, 6-2, 7-5 on clay to Italian Fabio Fognini. It was the third time Nadal has
laced them up for a tournament this year and the third time he hasn’t won.
Furthermore, he was bounced in Rio, on his preferred clay surface, in a
tournament he won last year. He does have a good excuse though, and it has to
do with what kept him up until 3:18 a.m. that same morning. See, reaching the
semifinals meant playing until 3:18 in the morning before beating No. 6-seeded
Pablo Cuevas. He was back on court just 17 hours later and showed the effects,
even though he wasn’t complaining. "I have to be happy the way I played
that first set," Nadal said. "But I got tired too early today. ...
But these kinds of things can happen." If nothing else, the Rio outing was
a better result than losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and
getting clipped in the first round of the Qatar Open. He’s in action next in
Buenos Aires and has a lot of work to do to be ready for the clay court action
at the French Open in just three months. For a man who’s won nine of the past
10 titles at Roland Garros, playing so poorly in the second major of the year
would be unsightly. "I feel my tennis is close, closer than a month ago to
the level I want to arrive again," Nadal added. But hell, he did look
slimmer than one year ago, when he missed significant time due to illness and
injury………..
- In an ironic twist, something taken from Germany during
the Nazi era is being returned to Deutschland. Usually, it’s the other way
around, but today is the day that a 450-year-old German artifact that was
used to tell time and to make astronomical calculations is returned to a German
museum from which it was likely stolen, according to the Toledo Museum of Art. The
device, known as an astronomical compendium or astrolabe, went AWOL from the
Gotha Museum in Gotha, Germany, sometime in 1945. It would be fitting to chalk
it up to karma biting the Germans in the ass after year’s of Hitler and his
sycophants thieving valuable art and artifacts from around Europe, but the
Toledo museum is being nice about it. "This was a one-of-a-kind scientific
device," said Brian Kennedy, president and director of the Toledo museum.
"It's sad to see it go, but it's not ours." It seems that when Americans
occupied Gotha during the war, an item or two may have gone missing and some of
the Gotha Museum’s collections were moved in 1945 to the former Soviet Union
once authority over the area was transferred from United States. The
astronomical device somehow found its way into the hands of a New York art
dealer before it was sold for $6,500 in 1954. Then in 2013, the Gotha Museum
sent a letter to its counterparts in Toledo, explaining how it found out about
the piece and believed it was their lost item. The German museum sent
documentation and Kennedy and his crew reviewed the information and concluded
that the piece on display in Toledo was "most likely one and the
same." "We've recognized there's been a cultural shift in how museums
conduct themselves," he said. "There's much more scrutiny in how
museums obtain their objects and transparency now." In other words, you
just surrendered to the Germans and gave them their first ever war victory over
the United States. Way to be, wimp……….
- All of the middle-aged women with romance novel fantasies
found something new to do this weekend, it seems. “Fifty Shades of Grey” kept its
top spot on the earnings list, but saw its intake plummet 73 percent to $23.2
million, giving the adaptation of E.L. James’ housewife porn novel $130.1
million in two weeks of release. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” remained second
and banked another $17.5 million, giving the spy drams $67.1 million in two
weeks. The top three remained unchanged as “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water”
held its ground with $15.5 million, good for a three-week domestic haul of
$125.2 million. The first two newcomers of the top 10 were “McFarland, USA” in
fourth place at $11.3 million in its debut and “The DUFF,” slotting fifth with
$11 million in its first weekend. “American Sniper” kept up its record-breaking
run with $9.7 million and after nine outstanding weeks, it has racked up
an R-rated $319.6 million so far. The debut was a weak one for “Hot Tub
Time Machine,” which bowed to $5.8 million against a modest $14 million budget
and seventh place. Up next on the list was eighth-place finisher “Jupiter
Ascending,” thanks to $3.7 million in its third weekend and is the biggest bomb
of the year with $39.5 million against its whopping $176 million budget. Oscar
nominee “The Imitation Game” snagged another $2.5 million in its 13th weekend
and the World War II drama has accrued $83.9 million of domestic money. Round
out the top 10 was the animated “Paddington” at $2.3 million and $67.6 million
overall through its first six weeks. “The Wedding Ringer” (No. 12), “Seventh
Son” (No. 14) and “Project Almanac” (No. 15) all lost their top 10 spots from
one week ago…………
- Just dance…unless you’re in Saudi Arabia and you’re a dude
looking to have some fun at a birthday party. In that case, you’re going to want
to make sure your country’s über-ridiculous morality police aren't lurking
outside the door, ready to detain you for getting your groove on in some truly
harmless fun. The latest instance of outright intolerance came when the Commission
for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice raided a private
property in the city of Buraydah, arresting the men inside for "loud music
and inappropriate dancing." Loud music should usually merit a warning from
the cops and little more, but not in Buraydah, which is the provincial capital
of Saudi Arabia's Qassim province, home to some of the kingdom's most
conservative clerics who practice a strict interpretation of Islam known as
Wahhabism. In a bad case of “Footloose” taken to the extreme, the morality
police – clad in their judgment suits and piety helmets – raided the private
party and found the young men in "a comprising situation in their dance
and shameful movements." No word on whether those movement included doing
the Wobble, but there was also a cake and candles to celebrate one of the men's
birthdays. The morality cops also found that the young men's hairstyles and
dress were not traditional their parents were warned to monitor this kind of
behavior "because it can lead to immorality and even homosexuality."
Yes, dancing can make a person gay. It’s amazing – that in the 21st century,
such moronically antiquated thinking persists anywhere in the world. Social
media trolls seized on the fact that the men were not caught drinking alcohol
or partying with women -- both crimes in Saudi Arabia. Sadly, Wahhabi clerics
view Western music as sinful and birthday celebrations as un-Islamic and they
empower their morality police to enforce Islamic law as practiced in Saudi
Arabia……….
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