- Nothing quite like raising the ire of the kooks at People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals if you’re trying to build your prospective
audience for a niche film that seems to have little appeal outside those
looking for a wholesome, family-friendly flick they can drag their kids to and get
them out of the house on the weekend. Congrats to you, infinitely missable new
movie “A Dog’s Purpose,” steeped in syrupy sentimentality and cheesiness and
yet now being cast as a true villain by the howler monkey huggers of PETA, who
put sufficient pressure on the film’s producers and studio to prompt the
last-minute cancellation of its premiere amidst accusations of on-set animal
cruelty. The source of the outrage is a video showing a clearly distressed
German Shepherd dog being forced to perform in artificial rapids on the film’s
set, spurring PETA to call for moviegoers to boycott the movie. It wasn’t that
necessary because the odds of millions flocking to see this movie weren’t sky
high, but the campaign did manage to secure the cancellation of the scheduled
premiere in Los Angeles this weekend. The studio for the film, Amblin
Entertainment, is doing its best to stand behind its embattled release. “Because
Amblin’s review into the edited video released yesterday is still ongoing,
distributor Universal Pictures has decided it is in the best interest of A
Dog’s Purpose to cancel this weekend’s premiere and press junket,” the studio
said in a statement. “Since the emergence of the footage, Amblin has engaged
with many associated with the production of the film, including safety
personnel, trainers and stunt coordinators as part of their in-depth review.
While we are all disheartened by the appearance of an animal in distress,
everyone has assured us that Hercules the German Shepherd was not harmed
throughout the filmmaking.” Always good to know that no animals were harmed in
the making of this movie……..
- The new year has been a busy one for would-be border
crashers looking to invade Spain with their poor, dirty and huddled masses of
humanity. According to Spanish police, migrants have attempted close to 500
illegal border crossings in just one month by the creative means of attempting
to stow away on passenger and cargo boats landing on its southern coast.
Authorities say they’ve registered those 500 attempted entry efforts departing
from Spain's North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla thanks in large part
to a month-long police operation aimed at reducing the number of stowaway
migrants setting foot on mainland Spanish ports like Almeria, Malaga and Motril.
On the strength of increased patrols along both docks and boats, those 500
failed tries to hop across the border clandestinely were stopped, denying folks
trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar hidden inside trucks, cargo or garbage
containers set to be off-loaded into Spain. Possibly the most troubling aspect
of the situation is that many of those making the dangerous crossing in an
unsafe setting are minors, a lot of them traveling on their own in an attempt
to escape even more dangerous situations in their home countries. It might be a
new year, but it’s clear that Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis is only getting
worse and more dire for all involved as political and military troubles in countries
throughout Africa and Asia spur citizens to put their lives on the line in
search of a better life in a new, unfamiliar place………
- Minor league sports must do whatever they can to generate
publicity, even if it means scraping the absolute bottom of the societal barrel
in the name of attention. Minor league baseball goes heavy on the wacky, zany
promotional stunts and apparently, a new independent football league debuting
in April has its own approach to grabbing headlines. The league, which has no
affiliation with the NFL, is nonetheless trying to forge a link and pull fans
by trying to sign several high-profile NFL players who have boozed abused and
stupid-ed their way out of the league. Among those the unimaginatively named
Spring League has courted are booze hound/club addict Johnny Manziel, domestic
abuser Ray Rice and simply ineffective at his chosen profession Vince Young.
Spring League CEO Brian Woods says he’s chatted with representatives for Rice
and Young, but elected to reach out to Manziel the only way the disgraced
former Texas A&M star seems to communicate: through media, both social and
traditional. "If Johnny Manziel is
serious about a future in the NFL, the Spring League is willing to provide him
with a platform to prove he's still relevant," Woods said. It was a
shameless publicity grab for the league and it came after Manziel declared on
Twitter last week that he's trying to be "a good person" and said
he’s gotten sober and curbed his partying ways. His 2012 Heisman Trophy
couldn’t be further in the rear view mirror at this point and he still has
legal issues on his plate, but at least he’s useful to a fourth-rate
independent football league trying to make a name for itself during the NFL’s
offseason……….
- This is an interesting and disturbingly ironic twist on
the whole idea of women protecting themselves when out after dark by carrying some
sort of self-defense tool. Sure, it’s still good idea for the ladies to tote
some pepper spray, a whistle or a collapsible baton with them if they’re out in
a dangerous area once the sun goes down, but apparently a group of southern
Florida thieves are turning the tables on this concept by attacking women
throughout the region using pepper spray as a means of disabling their victims
before stealing their purses and valuables. There have been four reported attacks
so far in the city of Plantation, one in Dania Beach and a sixth in Fort
Lauderdale. Police say that several of the attacks have happened in Publix
shopping center parking lots, so the thieves are clearly fans of quality
groceries at reasonable prices - either that or they know that Publix doesn’t spend
big on store security, thereby making women in their parking lots easier
targets. In one attack, a 73-year-old woman was followed from a Publix to her
home where the assailants rear ended her vehicle before robbing and carjacking
her. Worse still, these elder-disrespecting thugs punched the woman in the head
three times before snatching her purse and so far, no suspects have been
identified in the string of thefts. In another attack at a Griffin Road Publix,
a woman was pepper sprayed and fought off her attackers, although they did
manage to thieve two phones from her. The only details known about the assailants
at this point is that they’ve been described as a thin black man accompanied by
one or two young black women, all of who flee the scene in a dark-colored
Nissan Altima……..
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