- The
next Marvel stand-alone hero movie is on its way, even if the plans are still
taking shape. Marvel president Kevin Feige has
confirmed that the studio is committed to making a stand-alone film for Black
Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson in multiple previous films by the studio. Johansson
has portrayed the ass-kicking femme fatale 2010's “Iron Man 2,” 2012's “The
Avengers,” 2014's “Captain
America: The Winter Soldier,” last year's “The Avengers: Age Of Ultron and “Captain America: Civil War,” which is out now. Her role as
Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, has been scrutinized by critics who have
questioned whether she’s been minimalized in terms of her relevance to the
story line, and those same critics have pointed out that despite being one of
Hollywood's biggest actresses, Marvel had yet to give Johansson a Black Widow-fronted
film. According to Feige, the studio is "creatively and emotionally"
committed to making such a project happen. "We’ve announced the next nine
movies, 10 counting Civil War, through the end of 2019,” Feige said of the
superhero series. “. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll
focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then. Of the
characters… I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we
are most committing to doing is Black Widow." Given Marvel’s impressive track
record for handing out feature films to every remotely relevant member of the
its fictional universe, the Widow is unlikely to be the only one getting such
treatment in the near future……..
- Riot
Watch! Riot Watch! Athens has been a frequent site for the enraged masses over
the past couple years and most of the drama has stemmed from the country’s
ongoing, catastrophic economic collapse and the government’s disjointed,
ineffective response to it. It was more of the same over the weekend as a
riled-up mob of more than 20,000 slogan-chanting,
pro-communist protesters took to the streets of Athens to protest against the
left-led government's pension and tax reform bill, which is being debated in
Parliament. Credit a union affiliated with the Greek Communist Party with
organizing the uprising, but don’t give them too much credit because their
rather uninspired effort ultimately ended peacefully in front of the Greek
Parliament. The numbers look better for the communists than they otherwise
would have because their gathering was joined by several farmers who have been
protesting the planned reforms for months. Protests filled the weekend as the reform bill went to a vote and continued
the ongoing tensions between the governing Radical Left Coalition, known by its
acronym Syriza, and the Communist Party, especially since many Syriza leaders,
including Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, bolted from the Communist Party in the
early 1990s. This drama is playing out in a country with migrant issues,
economic woes and social strife, all of which has to be mighty appealing to the
hordes of tourists who were already dubious about visiting Europe this summer
on account of safety and terrorism concerns……..
- Australian
men’s tennis hasn’t exactly been burnishing its reputation as a classy outfit
in recent days. Most recently, Bernard Tomic’s behavior at a tournament in
Madrid this week shone an unflattering spotlight on the Aussies. Tomic
deliberately gave up a match point -- with the handle of his racket facing
forward -- and later said he didn't care because at the age of 23, he was
already worth $10 million. "It goes against every ... value that all the
Olympians live by, it goes against everything that we've been trying to build
in this team," Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller said of Tomic’s
actions. "I would not want to see any of our Olympic team members behave
in that way." That statement includes Kyrgios, who has routinely verbally abused
umpires, opponents and spectators, yet is one of the country’s two best
players. World No. 21 Kyrgios and No. 22 Tomic are the best the country has to
offer, but Chiller noted that "there's a few athletes that are on watch
and those two names are among them." She said the AOC had been watching
Kyrgios’ pattern of behavior and hinted that the federation will use all of the
time it has - until late June - to nominate its team for Rio and see how these
two serve-and-volley troublemakers behave between now and then. "It's
their responsibility to determine whether it's appropriate to nominate them,"
Chiller said. "If any athlete from any sport is nominated, we look at
everything ... including behavior, including the disrepute clause.” For a
country that probably won't win any tennis medals at the games or receive any headlines
at all in Rio for its prowess in the sport, maybe the AOC wants to put this
dynamic duo on the team and enjoy the show………
- It’s
going to be an interesting next few years for young Rosabella
Dahu, her family any anyone else tasked with keeping this young mischief maker
in check. Dahu is a 7-year-old Houston girl who decided, as kids often do, that
something she was supposed to do was lame. She wanted no part of an
after-school program she was to attend and rather than meekly go along with
what the adults in her life decided for her, Rosabella rose up and did
something about her plight. She channeled her inner forger and penned a fake
excuse note asking school officials to excuse her from the program, ostensibly
in keeping with her parents’ wishes. "I want Rosabella to go too dus 131
today,” the note read in large print that to most would look clearly like the
handwriting of a child. In spite of the obvious fake nature of the note, Rosabella
was able to take a bus home, rather than participating the after-school
program. Sadly, her 7-year-old mind didn’t think the whole plan through and
when she got home, she couldn't get into her house. Left with a sudden surplus
of free time, the girl spent part of the afternoon outside until, like every 7
year old does every 10 minutes, she had to go to the bathroom and asked a
neighbor to use the facilities. The neighbor kept Rosabella until her father
was located and now, the geniuses at the Sheldon Independent School District
who allowed themselves to be outwitted by a 7 year old are under investigation.
If outright incompetence is a reason to fire or suspend someone, then hopefully
justice will be served here……..
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