Thursday, June 11, 2015

Jaden Smith's next gig, Minnesota pepper fights and FIFA's harsh new reality


- Are chimps the cool kids of the animal kingdom? You bet your sweet ass they are and if you doubted it for a second, you clearly don’t know the chimpanzee population of West Africa, where primates get their buzz on with massive, frequent boozing sessions  featuring the fermented sap of palm trees — normally used to make palm wine - and detailed in  a new study published Wednesday. The revolutionary thinkers who put out the journal Royal Society Open Science focused on primates living in Guinea, which use palm fronds to soak up the fermented sap of raffia palms that can contain up to 6.9 percent alcohol. Your average IPA doesn’t match that alcohol content and it seems like the chimps in Guinea know how to get down.   "The habitual and voluntary consumption of ethanol has been documented until now, only in humans," apart from anecdotal observations in wild apes, said Kimberley Hockings of Oxford Brookes University, one of the report's co-authors. Big ups to these chimps because while baboons in other areas of Africa are pulling lame sh*t like stealing fermenting grapes from vineyards and monkeys are slumming it in an attempt to snag an occasional cocktail from unsuspecting resort tourists, the chimpanzees in Boussou are getting liquored up without any assistance from humans. Some of the chimps "consumed significant quantities of ethanol and displayed behavioral signs of inebriation," the study found. The ringleader, or fraternity president as he is known among the chimps, is a beast who had a hand in nearly a third of the keggers these animals hosted. "One adult male in particular accounted for 14 of 15 events," the researchers wrote. The only question to ask now, it seems, it whether these chimps need a proper beer bong………..


- You take all the time you need, FIFA. It’s totally understandable that you’ve suspended the 2026 World Cup bidding process amid a widening corruption scandal tainting previous bid contests. No one should dare judge FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke when he says it would be "nonsense" to begin the process now because he couldn’t be more right. When FIFA contacts its 209 member federations this week to explain the bidding timetable and rules, the underlying message should be, “Take all the time you need, it’s OK.” Why so much understanding for a thoroughly corrupt governing body that has spent years taking bribes and handing out bids based not on merit, but on who has the most suitcases full of cash? Precisely because FIFA is a thoroughly corrupt governing body that has spent years taking bribes and handing out bids based not on merit, but on who has the most suitcases full of cash. See, the rotten and dishonest souls who comprise FIFA simply don’t know how to do things any differently. The only way they’ve ever known has been ripped by them thanks to an investigation by the United States government that took down 14 disgraced FIFA leaders and forced the long-overdue resignation of Chief Corruption Officer Sepp Blatter. Asking the 209 member nations to choose the 2026 host at their May 2017 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia without having the luxury of knowing who to vote for simply based on the size of bribes received is just unfair and borderline cruel. Hell, FIFA is still mulling what to do with the 2018 and 2022 Cups it unjustly awarded to Russia and Qatar, respectively. Right now, the plan seems to be allowing Vlad Putin to keep the 2018 World Cup and eventually rip Qatar’s right to host because, well, Qatar has no soccer tradition, 120-degree temperatures and stadiums being built by slave laborers dying at an alarming rate. But take your time adjusting to your stunning new reality, FIFA. We’ll wait……….


- Fisticuffs are about to fly in Minnesota and pepper is the reason. On one side of the battle is a small Minnesota producer, Watkins Inc., and on the other side is giant spice maker McCormick & Co. Watkins picked this fight against its much larger foe because it claims McCormick misled consumers by secretly cutting the amount of pepper in its tins by 25 percent without reducing the price or size of the container. It sounds like the short of crap companies pull all the time without anyone noticing, but someone at Watkins was paying attention and now the dispute has landed in federal court in Minneapolis in the form of a federal lawsuit on account of a 147-year-old company which has been trying to expand its spice business in recent years and seems to have settled on grasping for publicity via lawsuit against a much larger rival as a good route.  In the lawsuit, Watkins claims McCormick has violated federal and state laws regarding deceptive trade practices and has mislead consumers and food retailers by cutting the amount of pepper in its spice tins by half to 2 ounces. McCormick "gave the false impression that nothing had changed," Watkins claimed in its lawsuit. The company's pepper tins "are now 25 percent empty, which constitutes nonfunctional 'slack-fill.'" As opposed to every potato chip bag ever, which are all 80 percent empty? McCormick has long been viewed as a gold standard for the seasoning business, according to the lawsuit, and prompted competing brands to use similarly sized tins, Watkins argues. "McCormick intentionally maintained the price of its standard tins, notwithstanding the significant reduction in the amount of ground black pepper contained in the traditional tin, which had the effect of further adding to the perception that nothing had changed,” Watkins’ attorneys argued in the suit. As McCormick spokeswoman Lori Robinson tells it,  the company has reduced the net weight of its black pepper and has been forthright about the changes. Nice try, L. No one looks good in this dispute, except those who like their food plain………


- “The Get Down” is virtually guaranteed to be better than Jaden Smith’s last major film. In “After Earth,” he and his father held down an inherently unwatchable and imminently forgettable post-apocalyptic non-thriller than left the few people unfortunate enough to see it yawning and reaching for their smartphone to find some entertainment. But Will Smith’s son has bounced back by joining the cast of “The Get Down,” Netflix's forthcoming music-driven drama series from “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo + Juliet” director Baz Luhrmann. The project will be set in 1970s New York and over the course of 13 episodes, it will follow a mismatched group of  teenagers from the underprivileged South Bronx district as they become involved in the city's innovative new hip-hop, punk and disco scenes. Smith will have a recurring role as a talented young graffiti artist named Marcus 'Dizzee' Kipling and Luhrmann released a statement announcing his addition to the cast. "We as an audience have known Jaden since he was very young. Recently, Jaden has been seeking diverse and challenging roles and this is a testament to his passion to grow in the craft,” Luhrmann said. “We’re all very happy with the casting of Jaden in the role of 'Dizzee' Kipling." The cast has former “NYPD Blue” star Jimmy Smits, alongside young actors Herizen Guardiola, Justice Smith, Shameik Moore, Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Mamoudou Athie.  Luhrman, interestingly, will only direct the first two episodes and the final episode, as well as serving as an executive producer. His wife, four-time Oscar winner Catherine Martin, will also serve as an executive producer as well as costume and production designer. “The Get Down” will make its Netflix debut in 2016 and it will be Luhrmann's first TV project following five movies………

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