Monday, June 26, 2017

St. Pete likes crude butts and it cannot lie, Netflix tackles anorexia and SEC court crashing


- The Southeastern Conference has rules about students storming the court after basketball games. Do those rules still apply in the offseason when the court-storming is done by a recent graduate who barrels onto the court in his passenger sedan as opposed to shirtless beside his frat bros after a big conference win? Maybe not, but University of Missouri police still have plenty to say after a December 2016 university graduate smashed through two gates and drove onto the court at Mizzou Arena over the weekend. This left-campus-but-still-hangin-around bro was arrested after his Volkswagen Passat was driven through a closed gate on the south side of the arena, after which this maniac drove through a garage door in the back dock area and damaged several golf carts before heading onto the court, where the car's tires left skid marks in several spots. According to Maj. Brian Weimer, the driver exited the central area of the arena through the same dock entrance, then smashing through a second gate near the stadium and fleeing. He left, but not before causing an estimated $100,000 in damage. Police arrested him a short time later on suspicion of four counts of first-degree property damage and second-degree burglary. No one told this poor guy that this is the sort of sh*t you’re supposed to do on an especially drunken Saturday night BEFORE you graduate, not after you get your diploma……..


- Dammit, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia, you all realize no one is ever going to think of you as cool if you keep doing square, lame sh*t like this. You might think you’re doing the right thing by burning an estimated $1 billion of narcotics to mark the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse, but staging such a public spectacle and sending the photos around the world is merely going to ensure that you never, ever get invited to the best parties. Everyone knows the cool kids roll up their dollar bills and snort the good stuff off bathroom mirrors, not burn an estimated $385 million worth of narcotics in three cities in Burma. The scene was even uglier in Thailand, where authorities torched around $589 million worth of mostly "yaba pills'" -- caffeine-laced methamphetamine -- and the more potent crystal methamphetamine. Somewhere, Walter White is silently weeping. Meanwhile, this drug-destroying threesome also saw Cambodian officials incinerate around $4 million worth of illegal drugs that have been seized in the past year, all three displays capping another year of record narcotic seizures from the borders of Burma, Laos, southern China and northern Thailand. Still, law enforcement agencies across the region insist that this is really just the early stage of a fight that will continue to intensify as producers ramp up production to meet high demand across Southeast Asia. Keep telling yourselves that, guys, because you’re going to need the consolation when you’re sitting at home while everyone else is having a really, really good time at the best party in town………..


- Netflix is getting plenty of attention for its latest film, but is it the kind of attention the ever-expanding streaming service wants? That can be determined in the days ahead, but right now, “To The Bone” is getting a lot of negative attention from mental health experts who say that it risks glamourizing and trivializing anorexia. The film will debut on the streaming service on July 14 and stars Lily Collins as “an unruly, 20-year-old young woman with anorexia” named Ellen and Keanu Reeves as her “non-traditional doctor.” Mental health experts are already lining up against the film because they feel the way Ellen is portrayed could slant younger, more impressionable viewers in a favorable direction when it comes to anorexia and some have asked Netflix to add a trigger warning and parental advisory to the movie. Other mental health experts have gone the other way, arguing that the film’s dark content may make it disturbing and even damaging to viewers and suggested that it might be wise to add an advisory prior to the trailer, the kind that warns people that what they’re about to see is graphic and may not be suitable for all viewers. However, there does seem to be a general, at-times grudging admission that films dealing with eating disorders in a real way is a necessary development in the film industry and at least a few of the haters are willing to concede that both the director and the lead actress have struggled with anorexia nervosa and created the production in collaboration with related organizations and therefore might be able to facilitate the conversation…….


- I like crude, hastily painted butts on public buildings and I cannot lie….or so someone in St. Petersburg, Florida says. The historic city is balls deep in butts, leaving police to figure out who has been tagging walls downtown with a drawing that looks a whole lot like a naked buttock. The graffiti butts are painted in black lines and they’ve left their mark on a series of spots throughout the city, mostly downtown - behind buildings, the bottoms of walls and the rears of restaurants. Banksy this artist ain’t, but at least this would be street Picasso offers some variety - his or her crude paintings feature between two and seven cheeks and have gotten a polarized reaction from those who have come across them or seen images of them on social media. Some are taking a more serious, uptight approach and think there is zero humor to be found in the graffiti, while others have gotten a good laugh out of it and kept on moving. So far, St. Petersburg police have documented at least 20 painted posteriors on walls, though unappreciative property owners have already removed most of them, rather than put a frame around them and use them as the drawing points they should be for their various establishments. It’s truly sad when our culture has gotten to a place where you can't enjoy a truly asinine piece of public art without viewing it as some sort of heinous crime that must be solved…….

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