- The
race to have the world’s biggest, most conspicuous state of the Son of God
never ends. Everyone wants to build the most badass version of Jesus and the
instant someone unveils their record-setting take on the trend, someone else is
already halfway done on their own upgrade. It was just 2010 when the Christ the King Art Deco statue of Jesus was unveiled in
Świebodzin, western Poland, standing 100 feet tall. That took direct aim at the
famous “Christ the Redeemer” statue of Jesus that stands atop Corcovado
mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro, which was built in the 1920s and
constructed of reinforced concrete and soapstone at a size of 98 feet tall and
600 tons. The next “next big thing” in the world of decorative,
attention-grabbing attempts to cash in on the savior’s image is "Jesus de
Greatest," a 40-ton marble statue of Jesus erected to begin the New Year
in the religiously embattled nation of Nigeria. It’s the work of a wealthy
businessman who hopes the Prince of Peace’s message can make him famous, er,
help his country overcome sectarian strife. This one won’t set any records, but
30-foot-high likeness of Christ towers above the St. Aloysius Catholic Church
in the mainly Christian village of Abajah. That’s a mere 300 miles south of
Lagos in Nigeria's state of Imo and smack dab in the middle of a country split
roughly 50-50 between Christians and Muslims. Nigeria has been beset by
violence from the radical Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which operates in
the north. "We think religions can exist side by side," said Obinna
Onuoha, the oil and gas magnate who underwrote the statue. It is nice to see a
story from Nigeria that doesn’t involve a deposed prince who just needs you to
reply to his very legit email and send him $5,000 to unlock his massive
inheritance and pay you back handsomely on your investment, but it all seems a
bit tacky in the end……….
- It’s
January, so no one really gives a damn about professional tennis right now. Really,
very few people care about professional tennis at any point in the year, but
when it’s barely two weeks into winter and every major on the circuit is still
months away, good luck getting anyone to discuss a single thing happening on
either the men’s or women’s tour. Viewing things through that prism, let’s give
some major credit to Naomi Broady and Jelena Ostapenko for at least doing
something to generate some buzz for their sport. The two of them were facing
off in an early round match at the ASB Classic in New Zealand and their battle
would have come and gone with no discussion had Broady not fired a verbal scud
by accusing Ostapenko of deliberately throwing her racket and hitting a ball
boy. The drama began when Ostapenko was running for a shot during the
second-set tiebreaker and her racket flew out of her hand, hit the back wall
and then hit a ball boy on the shoulder. Broady demanded that chair umpire
Blaze Trifunobski disqualify Ostapenko, but instead the ball boy was summoned
and questioned by the umpire as the British player protested to Trifunobski,
then to tour supervisor Tony Cho. Ostapenko insisted that it was all one big
accident and the Latvian avoided disqualification but was issued with a code
violation. Broady went on to win in
three sets and after shaking hands at the end of the match, they started
talking junk again and had to be separated by the umpire before leaving the
court. “It was quite clear that she threw her racket and it hit a ball kid,
which should be disqualification," Broady said. Good job on getting people
to care about your sport for a moment in the middle of January, ladies……….
- Getting
accepted into law school is a big deal. It’s a moment a person works years to
reach and when that acceptance letter comes, it’s a jubilant occasion marked by
jumping, cheering, hugging and in the case of numerous
prospective students accepted to a law school on Long Island, reason to stop
and ask, “What the hell?” That will happen when you receive a wrongly-addressed
congratulatory email from the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
informing you that you’ve just taken the next big step toward becoming a
successful practitioner of the legal arts. “Congratulations on your acceptance
and welcome to the profession!” the note began. The message came from Dean
Patricia Salkin and not long after it was sent out, the college realized what
it had done. “It was noticed in minutes and the correction email was sent out
within three hours,” Director of Communications Patti Desrochers said. “Earlier
tonight you received an email in error from Touro Law Center,” the corrective
email began. “Please disregard the message caused by a malfunction. We are
investigating the genesis of the error and apologize for any inconvenience.” How
did all of this happen? Whoever sent the email with Salkin’s name on it drew from
a database of prospective students, but clearly they were not all students who
had actually been accepted. This being the 21st century, no physical acceptance
packages were mailed in error, but it’s good to know what a professional, polish
school Touro College is and one can only assume that if it’s this on point with
its law school admission process, it must churn out some extremely good
attorneys………
- Filling
the top-heavy one-piece bathing suit of a television beach icon like C.J.
Parker is no easy task. Parker, Pamela Anderson's
character in the cult classic “drama” of exploiting women with big racks and
dudes with shaved chests and well-defined pecs known as “Baywatch,” is one of
those who will be back on the screen for the movie remake of the TV series.
Anderson, while not really doing anything that would prevent her from appearing
in the film, is a bit too old to play the part and so the part has gone to model
Kelly Rohrbach. Rohrbach has the look that made Anderson famous and as a model
who isn't exactly Helen Mirren reincarnated when it comes to acting chops, she
also has just the right thespian skill level to play Parker. The movie also
stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron, with Johnson also serving as one
of the project’s producers. The Rock has described the movie as "great
fun, and Rated R,” and he recently posted an Instagram video showing himself
and Rohrbach running down the beach, slow-mo style, before he gives her a
gentle shove that sends her tumbling to the sand below while he grins. One
person who probably isn't laughing at that video is the spurned Anderson, who
recently snarked when asked about the film that "no one appreciates a
remake." Clearly Anderson hasn’t paid any attention to Hollywood in the
past decade because remakes are pretty much all that people appreciate. Maybe
she doesn’t like the fact that this film is expected to take a comic approach to what
was theoretically a drama in its first incarnation, but the truth is that no
one took it seriously even back then………
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