- Anything but Boston. That should be the motto when it
comes to bids to host the 2024 Olympics. Hamburg, Germany, and Boston are the
only declared candidates for the Summer Games and with Boston arguably the
worst fit imaginable given its cramped infrastructure and transportation
concerns even before throwing thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of
visitors into the mix for three weeks, anything that lessens the city’s chances
of actually being chosen is worthy of applause. Maybe we can all get behind Rome
Mayor Ignazio Marino’s proposal that medal ceremonies be held at the Colosseum
if the Italian capital wins the bid. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced
Rome's cost-conscious Olympic bid in December, a mere two years after Italy
bailed on bidding for the 2020 Games because of financial concerns. Marino had
a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach and bid committee officials, as well
as Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and he channeled his inner Martin
Luther King Jr. to win the group over. "I have a dream: If we manage to
have the Olympics in Rome, I would like the medal ceremonies to take place at
the Colosseum," Marino said. "We want to rebuild the arena of the
Colosseum so that the athletes can be lifted in like the gladiators in the
Roman times." Bach tried to yuk it up when he cracked that the idea is
fine "as long as the lions don't then arrive." Italy’s bid committee
is also exploring the possibility of having the finals of various sports at
other historic locations, including the Circus Maximus. Rome last hosted the
Olympics in 1960 and with . Paris and Budapest, Hungary, expected to enter the
race soon, it’s looking good for Boston – and the United States – to dodge this
hosting bullet………..
- Memo to Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek: When
talking about budgetary concerns for a country that has a very recent – i.e.
ongoing – history of unrest, uprisings and backlash against the government, try
to avoid dismissive, offensive terminology like calling government spending of
$1.3 billion on luxury cars and other vehicles for officials
"peanuts." Simsek said the sum was "peanuts" compared to
Turkey's budget, which was probably not the best way to attempt to justify a
move by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised to provide an armored
Mercedes to the country's top Muslim cleric. The promise came after that very
same cleric earlier returned such a vehicle, following public uproar over the
extravagance. But hey, if the public is incensed over a massive and wholly
unnecessary expense, just wait a bit and try it again. People never get even
angrier if you try to sneak it by them a second time. At election rallies ahead
of Turkey's June 7 elections, enraged opposition party leaders said Sunday the
money could have been spent to improve pensions or to aid Palestinians. Yeah,
but….. an armored Mercedes is awesome, right? So what did Simseak do in
response? He tried to defend his legume-based explanation for spending ten
figures on luxury whips even as Erdogan faces increased heat for moving into a
1,150-room palace that opponents say was constructed despite a court
injunction. Yes, it’s a foolproof strategy that you have to be an absolute fool
to use and this situation is proof of that………..
- It is, quite simply, the way of Hollywood. A new movie is
set to hit theaters and before it can even make its red carpet premiere in New
York or Los Angeles, studio executives are already pushing behind the scenes
for a sequel. That typically happens with known commodities like “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” a blockbuster fifth
installment of the iconic action franchise that is set to arrive in cinemas in
July. The movies have gotten steadily worse as the series has dragged on, but
movies being what they are, the actual quality of a film has little
correspondence to the amount of money it takes in and therefore, how successful
it is judged to be within the industry. For example, 2011's “Ghost Protocol”
was the highest-grossing film in the series so far and Cruise’s highest-grossing
film ever with nearly $700 million worldwide, yet it was terrible and bordered
on unwatchable at times. Yet here we are, less than two months from the debut
of “Rogue Nation” and word on the street is that a sixth Mission Impossible
movie is already coming down the pipeline, with Tom Cruise on board as producer
and J.J. Abrams attached as well. Cruise is reportedly not set to star in the
movie – not yet, anyhow – but this project is so early in the process that it’s
tough to tell exactly how it will look. There will clearly be massive
explosions, all manner of car and vehicle chases, aerial theatrics and horrible
dialogue, but beyond that it’s up in the air. Nothing is official just yet and
should “Rogue Nation” unexpected bomb out in theaters, that could deal a
setback to the prospects of any potential sequels. Then again, it’s difficult
to imagine Hollywood permanently turning its back on this sort of
money-printing machine………..
- How clichéd and common are car chases in southern
California? Common enough that your average SoCal resident is sick and tired of
them to the point of actively trying to stop them so they can go the hell on
with their day and not be hassled any further. Check out what happened over the
weekend when a motorist evading California police
in a slow-speed chase was stopped not by a spike strip or road block, but by a
pedestrian who strolled out in front of the slow-moving vehicle and caused the
inebriated driver to stop so police could apprehend and handcuff him. Police
also cuffed the man who stopped him after the driver took them on a car crawl
that saw his black Mustang convertible lead three police vehicles down a long
stretch of Ventura Boulevard, one of Los Angeles' major thoroughfares. The
whole bizarre scenario began when police received a call about a possible DUI.
They stopped the inslopsticated driver, but he tapped on the gas pedal and
eased away from them in a car with its doors decorated with hand-drawn signs in
red, white and blue, and decorated with stars, one reading, "VicTorY, war over
we win." It’s unclear who “we” are and what we’ve won, but this devious
driver motored along at a leisurely pace, flashing "V" signs at
pedestrians and rolling along with his hazard lights flashing. Ever the
considerate driver, he stopped at intersections for red lights and as he crawled
through his last intersection, he encountered a pedestrian who had seen just
about enough of some liquored-up a-hole causing an annoyance to his day and his
‘hood. That pedestrian moved from lane to lane in an effort to block the
Mustang’s path and the inebriated driver couldn’t shake him. The driver
stopped, got out of the car and put his hands in the air. The would-be hero
pedestrian took him by the scruff of his shirt and walked him over to a police
cruiser, pressing him onto the hood. Three officers took the driver to the
pavement and cuffed him, while a fourth officer walked the pedestrian away by
the arms and put him in cuffs, too. Stay weird, SoCal……….
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