Sunday, March 29, 2015

Soccer is still soccer, A$AP Mob's no good week and Burger King's fragrance

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- Men, get an early jump on Mother’s Day and order now. It’s going to take a while for the perfect gift to get to your door, but express shipping options are available and this is the sort of situation where you need to take advantage of them. When else is a major international chain fast food eatery going to offer up a pungent, nostril-stinging scent modeled after its best-known slab of flame-grilled beef? Enter Burger King, which is going big on the international hamburger fragrance scene by debuting a limited-edition perfume themed after its famed Whopper. The timing of the speical offer is a bit dubious, as it will be offered for a mere 24 hours on April Fool's Day and that is the domain of amateurish, dumbass and just plain ass-hatted losers who think whoopee cushions and gluing coffee mugs to desks is hilarious just because the calendar reads April 1. If this offer it legit, Japanese shoppers will be able to buy the new Flame-Grilled Fragrance for 5,000 yen (about $41) and they’ll get a free Whopper in the process. It’s a similar stunt to the one Burger King pulled a few years back in the United States with the fragrance Flame, which was touted as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Yes, because when one thinks of sexiness and seduction, mental images of pimple-faced teenagers wearing grease-smattered aprons and non-slip kitchen shoes serving up fatty fast food on plastic trays is the first thing to come to mind. Act now because getting in on this offer from another country could be tricky………

- Italy is a popular destination, but not only for tourists. The Mediterranean nation is still a hotspot for international travelers looking to see the Cistine Chapel and Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it’s apparently also the trendy new place to go if you’re a displaced or mere disillusioned African resident who believes that fleeing across the sea on a makeshift vessel to a place where you don’t speak the language or understand anything about the culture is what you need to achieve the life of your dreams. Italy is now stumbling under the weight of a massive number of illegal immigrants and is also registering a record number of political asylum requests filed from migrant holding centers where would-be refugees are hoping that their cases are accepted. Refugees have long passed through Italy en route to northern European countries where more established migrant communities offer better job opportunities, but perhaps the warmer climates of southern Europe are looking more appealing these days. According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, the number of asylum requests submitted in Italy rose 148 percent in 2014 over the previous year, far surpassing Italy's previous all-time high in 2011 when some 40,000 people sought refugee status in fleeing the ravages of the Arab Spring. With those numbers, Italy shot up the chart to No. 5 in the rankings of countries for asylum requests after Germany, the U.S., Turkey and Sweden. Who are these border crashers Syrians and Eritreans are the most common nationalities of people arriving by boat on Italian shores, while the top asylum-seekers in Italy in 2014 were instead from Mali, with 9,800 requests, followed by Nigeria and Gambia. Keep dreaming, better-life seekers……….

- Seriously, soccer? Euro 2016 is supposed to choose Europe’s best teams to compete for one of the sport’s many, many wildly overrated and overhyped trophies on a continent that is maniacal about the sport, but so far its strongest trait has been its ability to bring out the hooliganism and ugliness that marks soccer’s stained reputation around the world. First, a match between Serbia and Albania was abandoned after a drone carrying a political banner was flown into the stadium and sparked a riot involving fans and players. Last week, the sport returned to the sort of direct, pyrotechnic-based assault that has become its hallmark in recent years when Russia's match at Montenegro was abandoned in the 67th minute after the referee stopped play following a second crowd disturbance. The first of two ugly incident came shortly after kickoff when Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev appeared to be struck by a lit road flare fired from the stands. Hurling burning sticks of sulfur from the stands is kind of soccer’s thing, but Akinfeev was taken to the local hospital in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, where he was seen on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace and his departure was just the first of a pair of incidents that reminded the rest of the world why soccer sucks. Sure, play resumed after about 35 minutes and in true soccer fashion is was scoreless in the 67th minute when Roman Shirokov's penalty was saved by Montenegro goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic, setting up a scene in which a Russian player was dotted by a thrown obejct when he wentto retrive the ball on the sideline. The player showed the object to referee Deniz Aytekin, who stopped the match a second time, this one for good. Europe’s governing body for soccer is investigating, but at least Akinfeev seems to have dodged any serious injuries from this crap. Police arrested the Montenegro fan who threw the flare, but with soccer there will always be another drunken hooligan waiting to take up the flare-throwing mantle……….


- Take a rowdy rap group, amped-up fans fueled by lots of overpriced alcohol and jam them into a crowded theater and sooner or later, sh*t is bound to happen. Maybe Tammy Nguyen should have known that before she attended a performance by A$AP Mob at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood back in 2013 and maybe she did know, but was so drunk she forgot, because she’s now looking to squeeze the hip-hop outfit for a crowd surfing incident that left her with serious injuries. What no one is disputing is that the evening’s festivities saw Mob members and fans crowd surfing throughout the event. What’s up for debate is that when A$AP Ferg leapt from the stage, he hit Nguyen, who also claims security did not help her exit the venue. She is therefore suing the group and Ferg, real name Darold Ferguson, Jr., asking for unspecified damages that probably account for much more than the medical bills she allegedly incurred as a result of her alleged injuries. This is all hitting a courtroom at a sad time for the group, which is wrestling with the news that the death of A$AP Mob founding member A$AP Yams was ruled to have been accidentally caused by an acute mixed drug intoxication. Yams, who was instrumental in the formation of the rap collective in 2007, passes away in January and was known to have major issues with drugs. He was found in his Brooklyn apartment by fellow A$AP members, laying in a vomit-covered bed. All in all, a tough week for a renegade crew and one they’d just as soon forget……….

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