- Would
you believe that there is such a thing as the
Council of Europe? It sounds like some vague group that you'd make up for a spy
movie or novel, but it actually exists and this council is using whatever might
it may or may not have to plead with Hungary to investigate the scale of human
trafficking within the country, which it says is on the rise. That makes sense,
what with eastern Europe being something of a stark departure from the rest of
the continent and still a relatively poor and struggling place in some areas.
According to a report put together by the good people of the possibly made-up Group
of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, "internal
trafficking is a growing phenomenon," especially affecting Hungary's poor
northeast region. For anyone who has ever visited Europe, the fact that the
people often known simply as gypsies - i.e. Roma - may represent 40 percent of
the victims, who suffer sexual or labor exploitation or may be taken for forced
marriages. These men, women and children seem to have flooded every corner of
Europe and are often seen begging for money around popular tourist locations,
but in Hungary they face a much bigger ill than begging for cash, it seems. The
group that put the report together visited Hungary in 2014 and called on
authorities to increase the detection of possible victims of human trafficking
among the growing number of asylum seekers and migrants, to set up a support
framework for child victims and designate prosecutors specifically trained to
deal with human trafficking. Odds of that actually happening? Not so good……….
- Six
years after he played Marvel Comics anti-hero Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, Ryan
Reynolds has confirmed that production has now wrapped on a movie that will
give the character famed for his over-chatty personality and tendency to break
the fourth wall his own chance to shine. Reynolds first played the character in
2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
and now he will bring it back to life in a movie that has been in some form of
in-progress since 2010 under the direction of first-time film runner and
accomplished visual effects specialist Tim Miller. Miller put together he
opening sequence for 2013's "Thor:
The Dark World," but he's making his directorial debut from a
script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Filming began in late March in
Vancouver and according to Reynolds' Twitter feed, filming has officially
wrapped. Its success or failure will depend largely on a supporting case that
includes Gina Carano, former "Homeland"
actress Morena Baccarin and "Silicon
Valley" star T.J. Miller. Although production is officially done,
the movie won't officially hit theaters until February, but given the ravenous
following fanboys have for anything and everything in the superhero/comic book
realm, that wait shouldn’t dull the buzz around the project. Reynolds will
never be confused with a great thespian, but maybe there will be enough around him
to make up for it……….
- Hell
freaking yes. There are some things in this world you simply should not be able
to kill and SkyMall is one of them. It's an American institution and something
we all should treasure because where the hell else are you going to find stairs
for your dog to climb into your bed and affordable garden zombies at 25,000
feet? So a few months ago when it was reported that SkyMall was going away, it
felt like all of America was about to lose a piece of its soul, one it could
never get back. But those dreams of a 100-watt hand-held garment steamer with
travel pouch and accessories for the low, low price of $29.99 is alive and well
because SkyMall has been purchased by New Jersey-based company C&A
Marketing for under $2 million. That was followed by a wonderful, heartwarming tweet
from SkyMall that consumers can purchase products online at SkyMall.com and the
travel catalog is expected to be back on planes by the year's end. The tweet
noted that "we have new owners who are working on bringing it back,"
which is what we all hoped for when the The former parent company of the
airline catalog, Xhibit Corp., filed for bankruptcy in January, citing a
funding crisis. "There's a lot to
do with a well-recognized brand that has a certain DNA, a certain expectation
and a certain promise, Chaim Pikarski, C&A's executive vice president, said
in April. "It's just that the delivery and the catalogs were a little
stale and outdated, both in terms of people having other forms of entertainment
and the changing of the times." He has since confirmed that SkyMall will
be back on planes by the fourth quarter
of the year and that is something we can all get with………
- The
slightly discounted ride is over, Miami Heat. Arguably the best player in
franchise history has twice taken pay cuts to help his team sign other players
- albeit while still making eight figures annually - but Dwyane Wade says no
more. Wade took an $11 million pay cut last season in order to help the Miami
Heat cut deals with Chris Bosh and Luol Deng, but his deal came with an option
to choose out after this current season and he's apparently leaning toward
doing just that. Word on the street is that negotiations between the veteran guard
and the Heat have reportedly stalled out and Wade is potentially looking to
take his talents away from South Beach for the first time in his career. Wade
opted out of his $41-million contract last summer in order to give the team
more flexibility to re-sign LeBron James, which clearly didn’t happen and left
the team with the pu-pu platter of Bosh and Deng. Wade later re-signed on a two-year
deal with a player option and after James conspicuously left to return to
Cleveland and the Heat failed to make the playoffs, it seems that Wade started
pondering what he'd given up and what his limited remaining time in the
Association would look like with the
Heat. He's won three NBA titles and doesn’t need to sign somewhere on the cheap
just to chase a title, but the Heat also have to work on re-signing guard Goran
Dragic. Thought Wade has said over the years that he'd like to play out his
career with the Heat, the fact that he's making noise now about leaving
suggests that something has shifted and he's either agitating for more money or
seriously considering leaving, which makes little sense because he's not worth
as much to any other team as he is to Miami and conversely, he means a lot to
the franchise and it shouldn’t be eager to let him go……..
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