- Neil
Armstrong is about to get a hell of a lot more handsome. The man who remains
one of the true icons of the rapidly shrinking American space program after
becoming the first man to walk on the moon on July
21, 1969 will soon be the subject of a biopic sharing his life story of growing
up in Ohio and going on to utter the famed words, "That's one small step
for man, one giant leap for mankind." When that movie finally hits
theaters, it could very well see its titular character played by none other
than Ryan Gosling, who is reportedly the top target for producers of “First Man: A Life Of Neil A. Armstrong.”
The project will be helmed by “Whiplash” director Damien Chazelle and based on a script by “The Fifth Estate” screenwriter Josh Singer. Technically, the
film will be based on James Hansen's biography of the legendary astronaut, who died
in August 2012 at the age of 82 from complications arising after coronary
artery bypass surgery. Chazelle is reportedly very high on Gosling for
the lead role and given the actor’s devoted following among the ladies and the
fact that a biopic could be a bit bland or boring if not star-studded and
heavily produced, it’s a sensible choice. However, getting Gosling to sign on
the line that is dotted may not be so easy. Gosling recently confirmed that he is set to star in
the long-planned sequel to “Blade Runner.”
“There's a chip in me and if I say anything more, I'll explode,” Gosling joked
when asked about his role in the wholly unnecessary sequel. Yes, but what
better way to follow up such a project than playing a true American hero who
may or may not have walked on the moon/a sound stage in Los Angeles heavily
doctored to make it appear to be the moon…………
- When
you’re a well-trained fighting machine, even a pillow is a lethal weapon. Because
of that disturbing fact, U.S. Military Academy
officials say they will ban cadet pillow fights in order to prevent future
disasters like the bloody one that left 30 injured this summer. The annual
pillow fight is a fun “get to beat the hell out of you” event organized annually
by first-year students, known as "plebes," who put the pillow fight
together as a way to build camaraderie after a grueling summer of training. However,
the pillow fight went to a full-on pillow assault on Aug. 20, ending with multiple
injuries, including a broken nose and 24 diagnosed concussions. That led the
powers that be to both ban future pillow fights and pursue action against many
of those involved. Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, West Point's superintendent, said in
a written release that this fun, dangerous and high-thread count event has
"no place in the future" in an academy developing Army officers.
Caslen is wrong because clearly, staring down a guy with a loaded pillowcase is
an excellent way to get yourself ready mentally for enemy combatants in a war
when those enemy combatants are looking to kill you with bullets, IEDs or
bombs. Sadly, Caslen claimed an investigation showed "ineffective
communication" between cadet leadership and senior military personnel
before the pillow fight. Yes, a possible pillow fight planning meeting sounds
mildly ridiculous for the men and women tasked with defending this nation from
all threats of violence, but meetings can save lives, avert disaster AND put
people to sleep with their mind-numbing boredom……….
- Jed
Lowrie has been re-gifted. Like the Nurti Ninja blender that has been passed
around your family for years at holiday gift exchanges and birthday parties,
the veteran infielder is being swapped back and forth between the Oakland
Athletics and Houston Astros for a second time. Lowrie is returning to Oakland
after a one-year stay in Houston after he was acquired for minor league
right-hander Brendan McCurry less than a year after leaving Oakland to sign a
three-year deal with Houston. "Jed is a very good player," A's
general manager David Forst said. "He was very good here; he had a good
year in Houston. It was a good opportunity for us." Lowrie smacked nine homers and had 30 RBIs in
69 games for Houston this year, but was sidelined for more than three months by
a torn ligament in his right thumb. His exit from Oakland was lucrative one, as
he inked a $23 million, three-year
contract with the Astros that called for salaries of $8 million in 2015, $7.5
million in 2016 and $6.5 million in 2017. What’s interesting about this trade
is that it marks the second time Lowrie was part of a deal with these two
teams, having been sent from Houston to Oakland before the 2013 season in a
deal that sent slugger Chris Carter to the Astros. The A’s wanted Lowrie back because
he helped them make the playoffs in two straight seasons, batting .271 with 21
homers and 125 RBIs in 290 games. He played mostly shortstop during his time in
Oakland, but is versatile enough to play almost any infield position. "We
acquired Jed to play," Forst said. "Exactly where, we have some time
to figure that out. He's too good an offensive player not to be in there
somewhere." The real question is whether Oakland will find a way to swap
him back to Houston during the season so he can be the gift that keeps on being
given………
- Is
abusing and assaulting its own people no longer enough for Egypt? Clearly not,
at least if you believe Sudanese officials who have
accused Egyptian authorities of unlawfully detaining and beating 16 Sudanese
over the past six weeks. The Sudanese Embassy in Cairo has levied those serious
charges, which were subsequently denied by Egypt. Embassy spokesman Mohamed
Gebara said Wednesday that the 16 were also "psychologically
tortured," although he was a bit cryptic in refusing to provide any actual
detail on the nature of said psychological torture. Perhaps the torture
consisted of being forced to listen to the newest Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus
albums on an infinite loop, which would definitely be cruel and unusual
punishment. The claims came as Gebara expanded on an earlier report by the
Sudanese state-run news agency SUNA, which quoted Khartoum's foreign minister,
Ibrahim Ghandour, as saying he had proof of unspecified abuses. It took Egypt’s
Foreign Ministry all of five seconds to issue a rote and wholly unbelievable
denial of the charges, though to Gebara’s credit, he did a creditable job of pretending
to be surprised by Cairo's denial. He went on to claim that the two countries
previously agreed to investigate the matter, which came weeks after 20 Sudanese
migrants were shot dead in separate incidents this month along the Egyptian
border as they tried to cross into Israel during shootouts between Egyptian
forces and smugglers. It’s a wholly ugly situation and bizarre in that anyone
is trying to get into Egypt given that the country was at the heart of some of
the worst and most deadly violence in the era of the Arab Spring uprisings. If
Egypt is willing to literally and figuratively trample the rights - and bodies
- of its own people, then of course it will be more than willing to stomp a mud
hole in foreigners and walk it dry as the desert sands……….
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