Saturday, March 11, 2017

Ignoring Casey Affleck, escaping China on a new spaceship and multimillion-dollar L.A. makeup heists


- Amidst the drama over the Best Picture award at last month’s Oscars, not many people noticed that actress Brie Larson blatantly refused to applaud Casey Affleck after his win in the Best Actor category at the Academy Awards. The display was even more awkward because it was Larson who opened the envelope and announced that Affleck was the winner, so viewers around the world took notice when she didn’t clap or appear even fake happy about the result. Now, we know why. Larson, who won the Best Actress prize in 2016 for her portrayal of an abuse survivor in “Room,” was making a statement against a guy whose recent career path has been beset by a series of sexual harassment claims. The trail traces back to 2010, when Affleck was sued by producer Amanda White and cinematographer Magdalena Gorka, both of whom worked with him on Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary I’m Still Here.” It was White who laid the heavy lumber, accusing Ben Affleck’s little brother of numerous “uninvited and unwelcome sexual advances,” as well as grabbing her “violently,” while Gorka claimed that she endured “routine instances” of sexual harassment and that Affleck got into her bed while she slept at Phoenix’s house with his breath reeking of alcohol, although Affleck has denied the allegations and settled both lawsuits out of court. He addressed it as recently as November, when he made a very non-statement statement in which he pointed to the out-of-court settlement, claimed he was “hurt and upset” and called it “an unfortunate situation — mostly for the innocent bystanders of the families of those involved.” Not exactly a blanket denial, and clearly not convincing for Larson……


- If you live in China under its toxic skies, then the idea of escaping to outer space for a cleaner atmosphere has to sound mighty appealing. In that sense, it’s exciting that China is developing an advanced new spaceship capable of both flying in low-Earth orbit and landing on the moon - at least according to the noted liars in the Chinese government. If accurate, it would be yet another massive step forward for a space program that equaled the U.S. in number of rocket launches last year as NASA slowly reduces the amount of sh*t it’s launching into space each year. One of the spaceship engineers on the project, Zhang Bainian, claims that the new craft would be recoverable and have room for multiple astronauts. He compared the new craft to the Orion spacecraft being developed by NASA and the European Space Agency. The plan for Orion is to carry astronauts into space by 2023, but China is looking to blow right by that and replace its Shenzhou space capsule used on all six of its crewed mission. The Shenzhou craft is capable of carrying three astronauts in its re-entry module and represented China’s most recent push to catch up to the world after being late to the world of crewed space flight. The Communist regime of oppression launched its first man into space in 2003, but has progressed quickly over the past decade. Its most recent crewed mission saw two astronauts spend a month aboard a Chinese space station late last year and now, it’s onward and upward….through the smog-clogged air……..


- How many concussions is enough? Apparently the answer is four - that he knows of - for now-former NFL tight end Jordan Cameron, who’s pulling the rip cord after six seasons in the league, four with the Cleveland Browns and two with the Miami Dolphins. Ironically, his final concussion came in a Dolphins win over the Browns in September when he tried to make a tackle after an interception. That was his final play and after he came to, Cameron began weighing his football future. "I started thinking about concussions too much," Cameron said. "You can't play football like that." He knew it was time to retire, but admitted that if it wasn’t for the concussions, he would probably still be playing. That’s saying something given that, like virtually every other NFLer, concussions are far from the only injury concern. There’s busted up legs wracked with knee injuries that leave guys barely able to walk once they retire, neck and back problems that can make a normal life impossible and many other potential maladies, but concussions are the one sending more and more young NFLers voluntarily heading off the field and into their life after football. "It's one of those things,” Cameron said. “I can't risk my mental health in the future. I don't have any symptoms now. I'm perfectly fine. But they can't tell me with 100 percent certainty that if I keep playing and I get more concussions that I'm going to be OK.” Of course, he’s already banked millions of dollars, has a home in California and a family around him, so there’s a good base there from which to build a new life and clearly, this is a sharp guy who should be able to find his new direction…….


- Appearance is everything in Los Angeles. So if you’re going to steal millions of dollars of something, it may as well be a product that’s all about putting on the best possible public face and covering up blemishes…hence, Los Angeles police are looking to track down the thieves responsible for heisting $4.5 million worth of eye shadow from a cosmetics warehouse in the city. According to the LAPD, the theft occurred between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30 at a warehouse in Los Angeles, but beyond that, they’re not providing a ton of details. The warehouse holds Anastasia Beverly Hills products and the method of thievery appears to have been cutting a hole in the roof of the warehouse and making off with 100,000 packages of the beauty company's "Modern Renaissance" eye shadow. That is either a massive amount of eye shadow or some massively overpriced eye shadow, maybe bother. Either way, this was clearly a premeditated, coordinated hit that targeted the weakest spot in the warehouse’s defenses and exploiting it in what had to be the first step of a detailed plan that involved subsequently moving the makeup on the eye shadow black market, which has to be a decidedly shady (pun intended) place where beauty-conscious women of all ages go to find top-end product for bargain basement prices. More than a month after the theft, the crime remains unsolved and at this point, leads appear to be slim for the law……..

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