- So yeah, about that record-breaking glass bridge over one
of our country’s largest canyons, the one we built in large part to be a
spectacle for all the world to gawk at, we kinda didn’t expect everyone to pay
attention to it. China just opened the world’s longest and highest glass bottom
bridge above the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, in the central Hunan province, to
much fanfare. It was part functional work of engineering and part tourist
attraction, yet the bridge has been shut down after being open for just a few
weeks. Why? Because according to officials in Zhangjiajie, that bridge had 10
times the amount of its load capacity of only 8,000 people per day. “We’re
overwhelmed by the volume of visitors,” a spokesman said of the onslaught of
humanity. According to the government, the bridge will now undergo an “internal
system upgrade”, to update “software and hardware” related to managing
visitors. It’s amazing that anyone could have failed to see how many visitors
would want to come witness such a massive monument to human excess, one that
stretches 1,410 feet long, measures 20 feet wide, and towers 984 feet above the
ground below. It dwarfs the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona, which is just 69
feet long and hovers about 718 feet above the canyon floor. There were already
lots of visitors coming to the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in Hunan’s Zhangjiajie
National Park, which is believed to have inspired visuals for James Cameron's
epic 2009 film "Avatar,” with its foggy sweeping vistas and craggy green
peaks. Next time, do a little more math and a little less underestimating,
Chinese officials………
- There will never be an end to boxing movies. Even though
the sport itself is on the decline as MMA blows right by it and takes most
combat sports fans with it, Hollywood has an affinity for pugilist-centric
films and keeps churning them out. White actors star in them, black actors star
in them, Hispanic actors star in them…men star in them and women star in them.
They are constant and they are all overly wrought with emotion and sappiness,
meaning another one should be rolling down the track right about….oh hey, Paddy
Considine, what’s that you say? You’re working on a new film about a boxer
which you will both direct and star in? Tell us all about it. The film, it
seems, is called “Journeyman” and it’s due out next year, telling the tale of a
world champion boxer who suffers a serious brain injury that drastically changes
his life. “It's not an archetypal boxing film where there is a fight at the
end,” Considine said. “This guy is defending his title and it is his last
fight. But he gets a serious brain injury and he has to learn to speak and walk
again. He has to piece his life back together to get whole again.” Considine
has earned plenty of praise for his gritty roles in “Dead Man's Shoes” and
Season 3 of “Peaky Blinders,” but according to him, he never has to “get into
character” in order to pull off those performances. "I find it easy to switch off (from them
characters),” he said. “Method actors they stay in character for a month. I
can't do it. When they say action I'm there. When it goes off I'm not there.”
Something that’s always “there” of course, would be boxing movies……
- The Walmart Bandits are finally in custody. A crew police
in Vacaville, California have been tracking for months for repeatedly targeting
in Vacaville, Fairfield and Suisun, stealing thousands of dollars of
merchandise, was taken down in the act to kick off the week. Angel Morgan and
Breanna Thomas were caught mid-theft as they tried to rob the Vacaville Walmart
near the city’s outlet stores. Credit for breking the case goes to a keen-eyed
officer who spotted a U-Haul in the Walmart parking lot and decided to call it
in. "He ran the plate and it came
back stolen, embezzled out,” said Lt. Chris Polen. The method of operation for
the thieves was simple, according to Polen, as they filled carts with items
while inside various Walmarts and walk right out the front door. "We were
aware of this crew, we were just trying to find enough evidence to detain
them,” Polen added. Wow, that’s quite the operation you have, Morgan and
Thomas. Just walk out the freaking door with stolen merch with one of you
waiting behind the wheel for the getaway. In this case, the officer who made
the arrest found Morgan behind the wheel of the U-Haul with $1,200 worth of
stolen items in the back. Oh, and the best part of all of this just might be
the fact that when police arrested Thomas - who was still inside the store -
she had her young son in the cart of to-be-stolen items she was preparing to
tote out the door. Nothing like piling $200 worth of merch you plan to steal
into the cart for little Andre to witness and then having him get that memory
of mommy being cuffed and tossed into the squad car emblazoned in his memory.
Police believe the crew has been operating since January, with as many as six
or seven members going into stores three or four times a week, at a rate of
three times a day, to make the heists. The amazing part, given the operation’s
stupid simplicity, is how this went on unchecked by law enforcement for so damn
long……..
- Welcome back Torts. No one makes the sports fan’s life a
better place more consistently than Columbus Blue Jackets coach John
Tortorella, a man who will verbally nuke anyone, anywhere at any time for
provoking him for any reason. He’s obliterated media members, opposing players,
rival coaches and many more with his acid tongue, so it was decidedly good news
for everyone when he was asked about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin
Kaepernick's decision to sit or kneel during the playing of the national anthem
as a form of silent protest against racial injustice in America. Torts was at
Team USA's training camp for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and with the U.S.
team in Columbus, Ohio, ahead of the tournament this week, he was asked about
Kaepernick and how he might respond if one of his players decided to make a
similar statement. "If any of my players sit on the bench for the national
anthem, they will sit there the rest of the game," Tortorella said in a
voice that made it clear he wasn’t joking or exaggerating one damn bit. His
comments came because the World Cup features a lot of NHL players representing
their country, but the odds that any of them are going to turn an international
event into a forum to continue Kaepernick's crusade are low, and now lower
still based on the words of their head coach. Anyone who has played for or
against or coached with or against Torts during his stints with Tampa Bay Lightning,
New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks or Blue Jackets is 0 percent surprised by
all of this………
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