- Rounding up the next wave of famous faces to staff a
coming season of HBO’s hit series “True Detective” takes time and is never
easy, so rumors that Mahershala Ali is in early talks to play a starring role
in the upcoming third season of the show are promising, but not a sign of an
imminent agreement. Earlier this year, Ali won an Oscar for his supporting role
in 2016’s “Moonlight” and coming on the heels of his celebrated efforts in Netflix’s
“House of Cards” and “Luke Cage,” his star is definitely rising high…but that doesn’t
mean he’ll join “True Detective.” After all, the show’s third season has not
yet been officially green-lit by the network, although back in January HBO president
of programming Casey Bloys said he was “hopeful” about Season 3 happening,
adding that creator Nic Pizzolatto was “closing in on an idea that he is excited
about.” The odds for the third season are good given that “Deadwood” creator
David Milch has been brought in to work with Pizzolatto, but the so-so second
season of the show has somewhat stalled momentum for the series. Last year,
Bloys’ successor, Michael Lombardo, said he “takes the blame” for Season 2 of
the show and the underwhelming reaction it received from fans despite having an
A-list cast that includes heavy hitters such as Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn.
Rebounding with a solid third season could extend the show’s lifespan, but
another flop could spell its untimely demise……..
- Life just keeps getting better in Brazil. With President
Michel Temer facing a new round of corruption charges, his country is rallying
behind its embattled leader and…oh wait, no it’s not. Instead, a general strike
disrupted major cities across Brazil as union workers protested the president's
proposal to loosen labor rules and trim pension benefits. The scene was
sizzling in Sao Paulo, where protesters blocked some of the city's main roads
and highways and hindered access to Guarulhos Airport, the biggest in the
country. To cap the day, thousands more marched toward the city hall and access
to Rio de Janeiro's downtown was blocked early in the day, with traffic jams
stretching 9 miles out from lines of strikers and rows of burning tires. Tire
fires are a solid addition to any movement and people like Iran de Paula, a
lawyer who belongs to the Movement for Roofless Workers hammered home the
message that workers must defeat the labor and pension reforms because they
represent is the return of slavery, claiming it will mean workers have to toil
many more years without being able to retire. Then there were university
teachers, demanding the government pay back wages owed them. Yes, thousands of
state workers haven't been paid in months because of an acute budget crisis and
that’s why you had the day ending with about 6,000 people gathering in downtown
Rio de Janeiro with banners denouncing Brazil's government and demanding the
ouster of Temer and of Rio Gov. Luiz Fernando Pezao, who are both from the same
party. Police responded with a typical show of excessive force, firing tear gas
and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstration after a few protesters started
burning piles of garbage. All in all, another banner day for all of Brazil……..
- No one likes the umpires at a Major League Baseball game
and no one is there to see them perform, but maybe we can still refrain from assaulting
them with projectiles, eh America? That goes out specifically to fans in
Milwaukee, where the first of a three-game series between the Brewers and Miami
Marlins was briefly delayed in the bottom of the fourth inning after first base
umpire Joe West was hit in the head by a baseball thrown from the stands. Replays
showed the ball bouncing off the back of West's head as he faced home plate,
after which the 40-year MLB veteran called timeout and huddled with the rest of
the crew and a member of the Miller Park security team. He appeared to be fine
and returned to his position, with play resuming shortly thereafter. The
incident caught the attention of Marlins pitcher Brad Ziegler, who is on the
disabled list with a back strain and tweeted: "I hope they file assault
charges for whoever just hit Joe West with the baseball. Absolutely
ridiculous.'' West, nicknamed "Cowboy'' Joe, worked his 5,000th career
regular-season game last week, becoming the third umpire to work at least 5,000
games, joining Hall of Famer Bill Klem (5,375) and Bruce Froemming (5,163). He
debuted in MLB as a 23-year-old on Sept. 14, 1976, joined the National League
staff full time in 1978 and his umpired more MLB season than any umpire,
including two All-Star Games, 123 postseason games and six World Series.
Clearly, the ass hat who had a beer or six too many and hurled a ball at him
didn’t care about any of that, so hopefully that fan doesn’t care about the
lifetime Miller Park ban the Brewers drop on him or her when the culprit is
identified……..
- Maybe Chris Christie needs to spend less time being a Donald
Trump sycophant and more time making sure his state isn't shuttering many of
its services due to a state government shutdown. Residents saw the impact this
weekend with the closure of parks and other public sites and the disruption of
ferry service to Liberty and Ellis islands. The shutdowns even slammed a park
door in the face of a group of Cub Scouts who forced to leave a state park
campsite and impacted people trying to obtain or renew documents from the state
motor vehicle commission, among the agencies closed by the shutdown. Republican
Gov. Chris Christie and the Democrat-led legislature are working to end the
shutdown, the state's first since 2006 and the first under Christie, but it
went into effect after leaders failed to reach an agreement on a new budget by
Friday night's deadline. That left Cub Scout Pack 124 of Tinton Falls with a
forced exit from Cheesequake State Park, where the group of roughly 45 --
including about 25 children -- had planned to camp all weekend. Meanwhile, police
turned away vehicles and bicyclists at Island Beach state park in Ocean County
and a sign posted at the park entrance featured a photo of Democratic Assembly
Speaker Vincent Prieto and the phone number of his district office in Secaucus,
along with the caption: "This facility is CLOSED because of this
man." Christie fanned the flames with that sign, which the governor’s
spokesman said was because the state’s executive leader wanted to make sure
people knew why the site was shuttered……..
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