- Most Americans seem to have no idea what the World Cup of
Hockey is, that it’s going on or where it’s happening. Team USA coach John
Tortorella would probably like to keep it that way given that his squad handily
lost its first two games of the tournament by a combined 7-2 margin to be
eliminated from contention to move on to the next round. Thus, Torts is not
enthused that former U.S. players -- including Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil
Kessel -- are lighting up the current team for its failure to advance. “Just
sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing
something important, but couldn't put my finger on it,” Kessel tweeted after a
4-2 loss to Team Canada that dropped the U.S. to 0-2 and kept them from
advancing out of the three-game preliminary round. Kessel was on both the
silver-medal U.S. team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the team that didn't
medal at 2014 Games, so anyone looking to fire back at him would have plenty of
ammo against a guy who just looks bitter that he was left off the roster for
the World Cup of Hockey. Needless to say, Torts had a thought or two. "To
me, it's a little self-serving, and quite honestly, it doesn't make USA Hockey
look any better either," Tortorella said of the criticism. "It's
self-serving, and I think the people that are doing it, it really doesn't help
them either. I just wish he didn't say anything because it makes him look bad."
True, and right now USA Hockey doesn’t need anyone else associated with the
team in any way, past or present, making themselves look any worse than they
do……..
- Never say that rich people don’t give of themselves to
help the common man through highly publicized charitable efforts that make them
look good in the process. For example, when you hear that Rome's iconic Spanish
Steps have officially reopened to the public after a cleaning and repair job,
you might think it’s great that luxury jeweler Bulgari financed the effort. Of
course, Bulgari being a luxury jeweler, it had some elitist demands that had
draped the reopening in controversy, namely its insistence that the city better
protect the newly pristine monument from drunks, tourists and others by fencing
off the staircase at night. That seemed like an awfully exclusionary approach
to take for what is a very public space and Mayor Virginia Raggi responded by
saying she didn't think a fence was needed and that the city would make sure
the steps aren't abused. She tagged those comments by saying that it is
"fundamental to let people use cultural heritage sites" but
responsibly and noted that Bulgari's flagship store is on the glitzy street
that leads to the Piazza di Spagna. The company’s argument in favor of a fence
that could be put up and taken down each night - because that would be a really
sturdy and imposing deterrent - was damage to the steps and the piazza's
fountain by visiting soccer hooligans. Of course, if Europe shut down major monuments
and historical sites every time they were in danger from soccer hooligans, then
none of them would ever open to begin with……..
- If there’s any way to make money off the Star Wars
franchise that Disney doesn’t eventually exploit, it will be a truly stunning
moment. The principal revival of the franchise began with “The Force Awakens”
last year and will continue with Episode VIII in December 2017, but numerous
other projects for various characters in the Star Wars universe are also in the
works. The first of them is “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which will be
released on December 16, but there are two other confirmed projects in the
works. After the as-yet-untitled Han Solo film in 2018, Disney chief executive
Bob Iger has confirmed, thee will be a third film in the stand-alone
"anthology" of Star Wars films released in 2020. Speaking at a
Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference, Iger confirmed that he'd hired a writer
for the film, which is in its infancy. Iger has already tried to downplay
expectations for “Rogue One,” saying it likely won't match the box office sales
generated by “The Force Awakens” last year. He added that "interest [in
the film] is high. We love what we've seen [because] it doesn't fit neatly into
the Skywalker saga,” which is basically him saying that Star Wars dorks will go
see anything tagged with the Star Wars name and the studio loves making money.
Don’t expect the stand-alone films to end with these three, because clearly
there are still hundreds of millions of dollars to be made……….
- Perverts about. It’s just rare that someone catches them
in the act and confronts them before they can escape. The rare exception
happened earlier this week in Simpsonville, South Carolina, where good
Samaritan Mark Morgan was shopping at the Goodwill on South Street when he saw
a scene that just didn’t look right. “I
came across this isle and I noticed this gentleman with his arm stretched out
taking a picture, up this lady’s dress… and I was like oh my God,” Morgan said.
“Oh my God, could this be happening? Cause there’s kids and there’s people
everywhere.” Morgan was shopping for a dresser with his mother when the man
noticed him and moved to another part of the store. He asked the woman of whom
he believed the creeper to have been taking pictures if she realized what had
happened and she said she had no idea. At that point, he pursued the perv,
yelling at the man to come back. He caused quite a scene, confronting the man
and asking why he was snapping shots up under a stranger’s dress. The man denied
it, but Morgan told him the store had his evil act on security camera. The good
news is that police were able to identify the suspected photographer as Jose
Anastacio Ontiveros-Aguila and issue an arrest warrant stating that “the
defendant did for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire
photograph a female underneath her dress using a cell phone without her consent
and knowledge of the victim while the victim had a reasonable expectation of
privacy.” The bad news is that Ontiveros-Aguila left the store and vanished
before police could arrive and arrest him, so he remains at large and could be
lurking out there in some other discount clothing outlet looking to creep on
other unsuspecting women with his phone and total lack of character…….
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