Tuesday, April 05, 2016

A "Shining" sequel, a crazy mayor's Cuban raft trip and Abby Wambach DUI hate


- Does Mariano Rajoy have any idea what the hell he’s doing? He might be Spain’s prime minister, but he’s also public enemy number one if he actually expects to do the unthinkable and rip his people’s three-hour midday nap from their schedule. Rajoy has shown some major kahones by proposing the elimination of the country’s three-hour midday lunch and nap breaks to bring Spain into the 21st century. Yes, this century is about 1/6th over, but it’s never too late to join the party, especially for a country that isn't on time unless it shows up to any even an hour and a half late. Spain operates on a unique system in which rather than working a 9-to-5 day, Spaniards typically arrive at their jobs at 10 a.m., leave around 2 p.m. to eat lunch and take a siesta, or a post-lunch nap, and then resume working until around 8 p.m. Despite having to work late, many employees around the world have long envied that schedule, yet it means Spaniards actually work more total hours than similar workers in other countries while actually being less productive. That led Rajoy to hold a news conference in which he pledged to work with Spain’s various political parties, unions and business to cut out siestas and end the work day at 6 p.m. He’s seizing on a recent wave of concerns about Spain’s slow economy and citizens’ quality of life, but it’s important to understand the origins of the siesta before making any decisions. Napping it out during the day became popular back when Spain’s economy was primarily agricultural and snoozing during the hottest part of the day allowed workers to avoid heat climbing to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The world is a different place now, one that may force workers to find hidden spots to nap it out at their place of business, striving to avoid the prying eyes of their boss just like the rest of the planet……….


- Abby Wambach opened the door - and not just the one to the liquor cabinet - and two members of the United States men's national team drove their luxury team bus right through it. In the aftermath of Wambach, now a retired U.S. women's team star, getting arrested early Sunday morning in Portland, Oregon, and charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of intoxicants, it took about five seconds for USMNT players Alejandro Bedoya and Jozy Altidore to seize on the chance to light her up on Twitter. Bedoya and Altidore were harboring some resentment from back in December, when a newly retired Wambach criticized U.S. men's coach Jurgen Klinsmann for bringing in "a bunch of these foreign guys” for the USMNT. When those comments first surfaced, men’s team member Mix Diskerud, who was raised in Norway, ripped Wambach for trying to "disenfranchise" U.S. players who were not raised in the United States. Two of his teammates laid low for a while, then waited for Wambach to get all liquored up and get behind the wheel before opening fire. Bedoya tweeted that the arrest “must've been a foreign American player's fault,” while Altidore referenced an earlier incident in which U.S. women’s team member Hope Solo’s husband was arrested for driving drunk while in a USWNT van by tweeting, “should've used one of the team vans.” It was a rare show of offensive force for members of the men’s team, who may want to focus on the fact that they’re still struggling to qualify for the next World Cup rather than mocking a retired women’s player who made moronic comments about their team. And American soccer fans wonder why the world thinks so little of us within this boring, Capri Sun-fueled sport………


- Damn logic, damn common sense and damn staying in your city and doing the job you were elected to do, right DeBary (Fla.) Mayor Clint Johnson? Johnson is the mayor of an obscure town in the most insane state in America and that means if he’s going to stand out and draw attention to himself and his place of residence, he’s going to have to be even more bat-sh*t crazy than the people he governs. That can mean one and only one thing and it’s not offering to help Donald Trump extend his 50-foot border wall out into the Gulf of Mexico and all the way to the southern reaches of the Sunshine State. No, Johnson is going even more nutty than that, planning to make his way back from a visit to Cuba alone in a makeshift raft. This madman of a mayor is detailing his crazy scheme on social media and tweeted, "Ocean test run complete! ... #Cuba next!" after spending a night out on the Atlantic Ocean on a raft. According to a GPS tracking app the mayor used for his trial run, he began at a Ponce Inlet ramp, went around the jetty and traveled about 12 miles north to Daytona Beach Shores. It’s hardly the epic trek from Cuba back to Florida that he plans to make soon, but the mayor is undeterred by the daunting nature of this undertaking or by the haters - including the U.S. Coast Guard - who have urged him to scrap his plan. "Educational, enlightening, and an awesome experience. #Cuba next!" Johnson tweeted after surviving his trial run. He plans to cross the Florida Straits in a couple weeks without a motor because he wants to understand what Cuban migrants experience, which hopefully means the Coast Guard will eventually scoop him up and deport him before he can even set foot on U.S. soil. You know, so he has an authentic experience………


- If there’s the potential for a sequel in any way, shape or form, Hollywood is going to make it happen. That’s especially true when you have a cult classic film that was released nearly four decades ago and has suddenly sprung back to life with the recent release of a literary successor to the tome that spawned the original movie. Enter the 2013 sequel to Stephen King's classic novel 'The Shining,” a project that will now become a feature film. Titled “Doctor Sleep,” which means it should star former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, follows Danny Torrance years after he survived the trauma of his father's descent into madness at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado. The second book became a best seller upon its release in 2013 and now, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who won an Oscar in 2001 for the screenplay for 'A Beautiful Mind,' will adapt it into a movie and attempt to do what Stanley Kubrick's feted 1980 adaptation of 'The Shining' did. In that movie, Jack Nicholson staked another claim to A-list fame by playing Danny’s father, yet King is on the record as saying that he’s not totally fond of the late British director's interpretation of his 1977 novel. He decried the film as misogynistic for Shelley Duvall's performance as Wendy Torrance, a character he believed was portrayed as “a screaming dishrag.” It’s unclear what the hell that means, but here’s hoping that whoever directs this new project receives a much more favorable review from the man who authored the original story……….

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