Monday, April 18, 2016

Idria Elba as a Stark Trek bad guy, guns at family barbecues and the NCAA gets it wrong by getting it right


- Evo Morales done done it again, y’all. The bizarre Bolivian president with his wacky ways has a knack for gibing out weird gifts and saying bat-sh*t in sane things made everyone do a double take and groan in embarrassment late last week when he presented an unusual gift to the visiting Pope Francis: books about the health benefits of coca leaves. The pope was welcoming various dignitaries - and Bernie Sanders - to a Vatican conference on social and economic justice and during his audience with the dude in the giant funny hat,  Morales presented Francis with three books: "Coca, a bio-bank," ''Coca, citogenic diet" and "Coca, the anti-obesity factor." Morales seems incapable of interacting with the pope and not embarrassing himself, as he sparked a minor diplomatic incident during Francis' 2015 visit to Bolivia by giving the pope a crucifix fashioned as a communist-style hammer and sickle. Ever the cool customer and a guy who seems to not be upset by much of anything, the pope insisted he wasn’t offended and by now, he’s probably started a pile in one of the Vatican’s spare rooms labeled, “Weird junk from Evo Morales.” As for the books, the coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, is widely chewed in the Andes to fight against altitude sickness and as a mild stimulant. Hailing from Argentina, the pope was likely well aware of the medicinal value of the coca leaf and odds are that as a man of God, he’s probably not going to make use of the leaf’s more sinister purposes……..


- Leave it to the NCAA to do the right thing and still get it all wrong. The governing body for major college athletics has banned the creation of new bowl games until 2019 at the earliest, which seems great on the surface. Not allowing new bowl games after three sub-.500 teams made bowls last season is smart, but the fact remains that Division I football still allows 80 bowl eligible teams and that’s 63 percent of the teams in the FBS. It can't really be a reward for the best of the best if nearly two-thirds of teams get to play in one, especially when you consider than 19 years ago,  35 percent of college football’s programs were bowl eligible. Yet if the NCAA really wanted to get it right, it would have not only banned the addition of any new bowls for three years, but cut several of its existing ones. Having 40 bowls should have become having 30 bowls and delivering a swift kick in the ass to cities like  Austin; Charleston, South Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which had all hoped to add bowl games either in the near future would have been even more satisfying if it were coupled with telling the Beef O’Brady’s and Little Caesar’s bowls to take a hike. The reason 2019 was chosen is because most bowl contracts will be up for renewal that year and that’s when we’ll find out which bowls live and which ones are axed. A similar ban went into place in 2011, yet that period expired and in came six new, wholly unnecessary bowls. Factor in an NCAA working group currently examining whether to make bowl eligibility more stringent by changing the threshold from 6-6 to 7-5 and it’s at least a small step in a good direction………


- If you feel like you need to take your loaded 9mm pistol to a family barbecue, then maybe it’s a family barbecue you shouldn’t be going to. That would have been helpful information for the unidentified man whose piece went off and accidentally shot a 15-year-old girl at a family barbecue over the weekend in Houston. Instead, a teenage girl was rushed to a local hospital and listed in stable condition as she recovered from a gunshot would that happened after a water fight in which the gun’s owner had his clothes soaked. He took the logical step of going inside the dry his clothes off, but when he did, the gun he had in those clothes came loose. The man reportedly took hold of the gun and because he clearly wants to be a cowboy, this ass hat spun the gun on his finger and because he’s instead a moron, he pulled the trigger and accidentally shot the girl near the collarbone. According to police, people at the barbecue were playing with water guns when the girl was shot and the one saving grace for the would-be Wyatt Earp is that the shooting appears to have been accidental.  Houston Police Lt. Daniel Garza said the shooter was taken into custody and could be charged with deadly conduct. No one has yet answered the question of why it’s necessary to pack heat at a family barbecue, but word on the street is that it could have something to do with uncle Terry always taking the last bratwurst from the grill without putting any more over the open flame………


- It’s nice that Idris Elba isn't too hood for outer space….eh, James Bond novels author Anthony Horowitz? Horowitz once famously said that the British actor, who happens to be black, was too hood to play the iconic Bond role on screen, but the producers of the new Star Trek movie seem to feel that Elba’s tremendous acting talent and on-screen persona were enough to snag him a role as a new, "predatory" villain named Krall. The movie is due out in July and it stars Elba alongside Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg. “Star Trek Beyond” has Elba playing the film's primary antagonist, but details have been closely guarded until now. Elba explained that Krall is a "new species in the Star Trek universe," a detail that could endear him to fans or make him hated the way Jar Jar Binks is in the Star Wars universe. "What's interesting about him is that he has a real beef with what the Enterprise stands for. Krall's a character who's deeply steeped in hatred — in my opinion, a well-earned hatred — for the Federation. It felt quite political,” Elba said of his character. “There's a relatability to what's happening in our world. Not everybody's happy with what everybody calls the good guys. Krall is predatory. He's not one for big speeches. He is one for going to get what he wants. If that means having to do it himself, outside of his army, he is not afraid to do that." The fact that the film was delayed two weeks from its originally scheduled release date simply means that dorks, er, fan boys will have two additional weeks to geek out and to continue not interacting with the oppositie sex as they plan the best setup to camp out awaiting the next chapter of their favorite sci-fi franchise. Having Elba as a member of the cast along with a lot of other quality actors has hope for the film very high and J.J. Abrams did fairly well in his first turn helming Star Trek, so this should be interesting……..

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