- Let’s consider this one a draw, world. Sure, Simon Cowell has a new dance music TV talent show that will launch next
pring, but just consider the fact that one of his original reality TV
monstrosities is coming to a close and chalk it up to being a zero-sum game. “Ultimate DJ” is also much further from the cultural
mainstream than “American Karaoke,” so there should theoretically be less of
Cowell in our lives very soon. The “DJ” debut was announced by
co-producer and Ultra Music founder Patrick Moxey at a festival in the
club-hopping capital of Ibiza and Moxey said the show would "give a massive
global platform for new and emerging artists. When you think about the
underground music that Ultra started with 20 years ago, and how it's now become
a global lifestyle phenomenon today, to me, this is the next step in the
evolution of this phenomenon." Whatever you say, tweaker. If you say your
Ecstasy-fueled excuse for a show will "take contestants, people with
fantastic talent, and put them out to a mass audience,” so be it. Moxey will team
up with Simon Cowell, Yahoo and Hamish Hamilton, who he characterized as “probably
the top entertainment director in Hollywood at the moment." To provide
some EDM star power, DJ Steve Aoki
will reportedly act as a judge on the show, which will be broadcast online via
Yahoo's live streaming service, Yahoo Live. To review, we’re moving from “American
Karaoke” terrorizing all that is good about music on network television
to a show streamed on some afterthought of an online service. Who gives a damn
if the winning
DJ will get a headline spot at a major electronic music festival and will be
offered a record contract with Ultra Records and Sony Music? This show is going
to be forgotten faster than a cheap glow stick fades out and with Cowell
involved, that’s the best you can hope for………..
- If you discover oil, be ready for a brawl. Hope Guyana is
up for a massive international rock fight after Exxon Mobil Corp.
released information about what it calls a "significant" oil
discovery in a disputed area off the coast of the South American nation.
According to Exxon, it encountered more than 295 feet of high-quality
oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in the drilling site known as the Stabroek
Block, which is about 120 miles off Guyana and is claimed by neighboring
Venezuela as part of a long-running border dispute. Dangling that fresh piece
of economic meat in front of two hungry nations is a recipe for a brawl and
Venezuela isn't likely to just be chill after Exxon Mobil and the government of
Guyana said May 7 that the drilling was showing promise but did not provide
details, then released a statement saying that the oil giant was still
evaluating the commercial viability of the site. If you ask ExxonMobil Exploration Co. President Stephen
Greenlee, he is encouraged by the results of the first well in the 6.6 million
acre block and the prospect of billions of dollars on oil revenue is too much
for any country to pass up. Hell, if multiple nations are willing to go to war
– not literally, just yet - for
possible oil reserves identified in frigid, Arctic-like settings in far-flung
corners of the globe, then just imagine how heated the fight will be if two
aspiring South American powers realize there is black gold in a region they
both claim to be their own. If only the late despot Hugo Chavez were here to
fan these flames with some of his patented rhetoric……..
- New York Giants left tackle Will Beatty and Gym Guy have a lot in
common right now. Both like to hit the gym, throw ridiculous amounts of weight
on the bar with adrenaline-juicing music blasting through the speakers and max
out with their bros on hand to give them a spot for that brutally tough final
rep. Also, both know what it feels like to have one too many plates on the bar,
feel a pec pop and end up rushing to the emergency room in excruciating pain.
Unlike Gym Guy, whose muscle shirts, Godsmack-heavy playlist and two-gallon
jugs of water carried around like most people rock a Dasani bottle, Beatty will
still be making a sh*t-ton of money over the next six months while he recovers
from a torn pectoral muscle sustained lifting weights during the team's
offseason conditioning program. Beatty already underwent surgery to repair the
injury and his recovery is estimated at five to six months, which means he's
likely to miss at least the first half of the 2015 season. That’s a problem
because Beatty has started 46 games in a row for the Giants dating back to 2012
and even battled back after breaking his leg in the final game of the 2013
season and started all 16 games in 2014. He was expected to be one of the few
reliable pieces on the Giants' offensive line but now, the team will have to
scramble for a fill-in. Justin Pugh, who's been the starting right tackle for
the past two years, could fill the spot, or it could be Miami tackle Ereck
Flowers, who the Giants selected with the No. 9 overall pick in the draft three
weeks ago. Whoever the Giants choose, they have to count on that person to protect
Eli Manning's blind side for the first half of the season while Beatty
recovers. Maybe Gym Guy is available………
- Feel the rage and resentment of thousands of underpaid,
grease-stain-on-your-apron workers and be afraid, McDonald’s. This is not a new
battle, but the dissent is fresh, real and raw from thousands of McDonald's workers
seeking a minimum wage of $15 per hour. One might argue that paying such wages
to people who often do not have a college degree and aren't qualified for more
skilled jobs is out of order and that those who put in the time and grinded out
a college degree should be the ones getting raises, but Ronald McDonald’s
minions swarmed the fast-food giant's headquarters for the first of two days of
protests to coincide with the fast-food chain's annual meeting and they're not
backing down. Uprisings by low-wage fast-food and retail workers have sparked a
national debate about pay levels and large corporations like McDonald’s
and Walmart have responded by raising starting pay. That hasn’t
placated people like Chicago resident Tyree Johnson, who raged against the Big
Mac(hine) outside McDonald's headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. "They
keep telling me they value me but they don't give me more money," Johnson said.
On one hand, you can admire a man who lives in a men's hotel because he can't
afford an apartment on his wage of $8.55 per hour, but on the other hand, this
dude has worked in McDonald's restaurants since 1992 – 23 years of cleaning out
the fry filter, hauling trash and grilling second-rate beef. "We respect
their right to peacefully protest," McDonald's spokeswoman Heidi Barker Sa
Shekhem said, lying by adding that the world's largest restaurant chain
regularly looks at the wage issue. Well, that might not be fair. McDonald’s
executives probably do look at the issue, then laugh and go back to drinking
from their gold-rimmed chalices. Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's new chief
executive, last month announced that starting pay at company-operated
restaurants would be set at $1 above the locally mandated minimum wage,
but for a company that is already struggling with shrinking market share and
other issues, that’s plugging the hole with Bubble Yum……….
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