- First,
the next “Star Wars” film, now the sure-to-be-massively-bloated sequel to James
Cameron’s walking, talking LSD trip known as “Avatar” is being pushed back?
It’s almost as if you can't rely on Hollywood at all anymore. The news that James
Cameron's “Avatar” sequel has been pushed back again is disappointing for those
eagerly awaiting the three successors to the 2009 blockbuster - the
highest-grossing film of all time - but the development has a bit of a ripple
effect because Cameron is planning to release them one a year for three
consecutive years. That trio of releases was supposed to begin this year, but
last year the director announced that it wouldn’t happen until December 2017.
That revised date lasted all of a few months, as “Avatar 2” has now been yanked
from 20th Century Fox's 2017 release slate and the studio has yet to confirm
when the sequel is to hit theaters. Maybe, just maybe the postponement has to
do with the fact that the sequel won’t have to compete with the delayed next “Star
Wars film,” which is now due to drop next December. There isn't much need to
say anything new about the second push back for the next “Avatar” movie, since Fox
CEO Jim Gianopulos said it so well the first time this happened. "Jim
Cameron has his own pace," Gianopulos said of the first delay. Should this
new date stick, it will be more than eight years between the original movie and
the first sequel, making it a bit tougher to cash in on the momentum that made “Avatar”
the highest-grossing film ever with nearly $2.8 billion in global earnings.
Both the original and the sequels will all be shot in New Zealand thanks to a
cushy tax deal with the country's government………
- Social
media isn't for everyone. Some aren't fans of sharing everything about their
lives, others just don’t understand technology and then there are those engaged
in completely illegal activities who probably shouldn’t be shining the bright
lights of Twitter, Instagram or Facebook on their endeavors. Florida resident
Alton Trowell probably should have known better than to use the ‘Book as an
online marketplace for his moonshine business, but as so often happens with
criminals at the lower end of the intelligence spectrum, he was arrested by
sheriff’s deputies in central Florida after they launched an undercover
operation that began after a tipster alleged that Trowell was selling the
moonshine on his Facebook page. Using what probably didn’t need to be their
best investigative techniques, officers contacted Trowell through Facebook and
ended up speaking to his girlfriend, Christie Comkowycz. A deal was struck and
according to deputies, Comkowycz met an undercover officer in a parking lot
where she sold him 12 pint-sized mason jars of the illegal liquor for $20 a
jar. She informed detectives that she was selling the moonshine to bail her
boyfriend out of jail following his arrest the previous day on unrelated drug
charges, a truly ironic twist given where she was headed. Deputies soon
searched Trowell’s home and located a five-gallon container of moonshine,
leading to the arrest of both Comkowycz and a man she identified as her
supplier……..
- Not
showing up for work and doing so deliberately is one of the biggest eff-you
moves an employee can make toward their boss. Doing so when you make millions
of dollars to play a sport for a living is decidedly more d-baggish still and
that’s why Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin finds himself suspended
without pay. Drouin refused to report for a game between the Syracuse Crunch,
the team's American Hockey League affiliate, and the Toronto Marlies, the
latest step in a dispute centered on him being on the verge of being traded. According
to Drouin's agent, Allan Walsh, the Lightning had told Drouin they were nearing
a trade involving him. Walsh claimed that Drouin asked to sit out games to
avoid an injury that could derail the trade and his mind was pretty set on not
playing because when the team refused his request, so Drouin opted to not
report. The team is keeping quiet about the situation outside of a statement
announcing the suspension, but Walsh is not. "In light of the latest
developments, it is clearly in both sides' best interests that the Tampa Bay
Lightning trade Jonathan as there is no reason for Jonathan to continue with
the Tampa Bay Lightning organization in any capacity," Walsh said. All of
this reeks of immaturity and a deteriorating relationship for the No. 3 pick in
the 2013 draft and the team that burned a high draft pick on him and received just
six career goals in 89 NHL games from that high draft pick. Walsh kicked off
the drama back in November when he asked for a trade and this demotion yielded
the public demand by Drouin and his agent to be moved. It’s quite a mess for
both sides, so here’s hoping Drouin gets shipped to some frigid place like
Buffalo or Minnesota so he can realize how good he had it playing in
Florida……..
- The
party’s over, Tunisia. At least it’s over much earlier than normal after the
Tunisian government imposed a nationwide overnight curfew in response to
growing unrest as protests over unemployment across the country descended into
violence in some cities. The ban on late-night fun came after a week of
increasingly violent demonstrations sparked by a man who lost out on a
government job, showed why perhaps he wasn’t selected for the gig by suicidally
climbing a transmission tower in protest and was promptly electrocuted. The
suicide came more than five years after similar unrest lit the fuse for a
popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia's longtime ruler and eventually gave
rise to the "Arab Spring" uprisings across North Africa. A cynic
might say that the current government is a bit insecure and paranoid in
enacting the ban, yet they should feel pretty good because Tunisia built the
only democracy to survive that movement, which spawned chaos elsewhere in the
region. The complicating factor is a faltering economy that has one in three
young people without work. Rather than, you know, deal with the problem and
come up with a smart solution for it, the government has declared a curfew from
8 p.m. until 5 a.m. because the attacks on public and private property
"represent a danger to the country and its citizens," the Interior Ministry
said. The government is actually a larger threat than just about anything, so
trying to send everyone home just because police stations came under attack and
security officers used tear gas to repel protesters armed with stones and
Molotov cocktails is simply lame. You don’t like people pillaging a bank and
looting stores and warehouses in housing projects on the outskirts of the
capital, Tunis, then give them a reason to stop rioting. Prime Minister Habib
Essid at least cut short a visit to France to deal with the protests, but he
hasn’t done much to solve the crisis yet, so rushing back across the
Mediterranean Sea to tackle this latest flare-up isn’t inspiring much
confidence. Here’s hoping the rioters keep on raging, lighting their own
country on fire and trying to burn that mo-fo to the ground……….
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