...And other random shit. I selected a bunch of news & entertainment stories that I found interesting. Among them:
- Budweiser isn't "The Kaiser of Beers" in Deutschland.
- Some movie previews that look interesting. The teaser & trailer for Spider-Man 3, A Scanner Darkly & Snakes On A Plane.
- The first pic of what a Transformer will look like in the upcoming movie.
- The latest news on who will be the "new" Captain Kirk in Star Trek XI.
- Giving in to lawyers & hack sociologists, more & more schools are taking away tag, dodgeball, soccer, and touch football. Common-sense surrenders.
- Paris Hilton may have one of the top singles in the country. And the Sun became as black as sackcloth & moon became as blood...
Budweiser Not Welcome At The World Cup?
Fark had the best headline about this: "Germans snub Budweiser at World Cup, claim it's like having sex in a canoe". According to CBS News, Germans don't like that they're being forced to drink Budweiser at World Cup events in Germany. Anheuser-Busch is 1 of 7 sponsors of the World Cup, and secured "pouring rights" at 12 stadiums across the country...
Simply put, Germans hate Budweiser. Weeks before the inaugural games kicked off the Cup, Germans were furious at the prospect of having to drink what they refer to as "dishwater" at stadiums. Germans even set up a Web site with an image of an American Eagle vomiting beer to lampoon the American brewer and express their disgust.
"Human dignity is inviolable," reads the Web site, quoting the German constitution. The Web site goes on to call Budweiser "an insult to all true beer lovers" and an "insult to your tongue."
However, FIFA is protecting its sponsor...
Soccer's governing body -- the Federation Internationale de Football, or FIFA -- did little to improve Budweiser's standing when it forced thousands of Dutch fans to watch the first round Holland-Ivory Coast game in their underwear. Close to a quarter million Dutch fans have purchased orange-colored shorts to support their team, shorts that carry the logo of the Dutch beer, Bavaria.
In a contentious move to protect Budweiser's rights, FIFA officials forced Dutch supporters to remove their shorts.
"It's ridiculous," said Sjoerd Schreurs, a Dutch fan quoted by The Guardian in London. "I took my trousers off. I managed to chuck them over the fence to some friends. But another official spotted them and took them away."
Movie Previews
If anyone has seen Superman Returns, I would like to know whether its worth the $9 & lives up to the reviews, or if I should wait for the DVD? As for the movie trailers, up first is Spider-Man 3...
You can watch Spider Man 3's teaser-trailer by clicking above. Among the story elements: the "Black" Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy & Eddie Brock will be introduced for the 1st time, and a first look at what Sandman looks like.
A Scanner Darkly is based on Phillip K. Dick's book of the same name. It is about an America that is under siege from a drug called Substance D, a powerful psychoactive that can cause delusions and splits in consciousness & personality. The government has taken the present domestic spying to the nth degree to combat this. The story follows Bob Arctor, who is & isn't an undercover agent assigned to spy on drug addicts.
Snakes On A Plane is one of those movies that you hope is so bad that it's actually good. You can watch a little tease of it in all of its glory by clicking above. The title gives you most of the plot...
Nelville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) and Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips), FBI agents, escort John Saunders (Mark Houghton), a former Mafia member, to testify in a highly publicized case. In the course of a flight between Hawaii and California, an assassin pays airport security to sneak a time-release crate of 400 snakes of various sizes on board in the hope of killing the witness.
Now how that gets greenlit at a major Hollywood studio, I'll never know...
Bumblebee Revealed?
I did a diary a couple weeks back about how Transformers translates to modern-day politics, and also the furor fans we're having over changing the nature of some of the charachters. Autobot Bumblebee is being changed from a yellow VW Bug to a 2008 Chevrolet Camaro. Megatron will not be a gun either.
Aint It Cool News released a on-set pic of a full-size mockup of what people think is Bumblebee. A short time later they had to pull it after Dreamworks contacted them. So here's something you can see on Kos but not on Aint It Cool...
The "New" Captain of the Enterprise?
Ever since J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Mission Impossible III) became producer & probable director of the next Trek movie, big names seem to be rumored as attached to the project. Currently, people are wondering whether it is going to be a "reimagining" of Trek (similar to what was done with Battlestar Galactica), or what is rumored to be a movie about the younger days of Kirk & crew.
According to reports, Matt Damon may take over the role as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek XI. There had been rumors that Ben Afleck was being considered. There are even rumors that Philip Seymour Hoffman's may be cast as Doctor McCoy...
Will MATT DAMON get beamed up? Could happen. I'm told J.J. ABRAMS is very interested in casting the Oscar-winning Damon as a young Captain Kirk in the upcoming 'Star Trek' movie that he's directing and producing. He's so interested that he's apparently already sought support from the original Kirk, WILLIAM SHATNER. "Shatner gave his blessing," my source says. "J.J. got his approval." Damon first popped up in Trekkie circles as soon as the Abrams-'Star Trek' deal was announced. Rumor had it that the new movie would center on Kirk and Spock's early days at a space academy. "J.J. wants Damon as Capt. Kirk," my source reports. "He really loves the idea."
Kids Can't Play Tag?
I remember when I first heard about school districts that had sports events where no one loses, and everyone gets a trophy. Isn't that just making it harder for children when they become young adults & actually experience failure & trouble? Well, in the continuing crusade to rid all danger from children's lives, school districts are now taking away sports & other activities at recess...
Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., banned tag at recess this year. Others, including a suburban Charleston, S.C., school, dumped contact sports such as soccer and touch football. In other cities, including Wichita; San Jose, Calif.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Rancho Santa Fe., Calif., schools took similar actions earlier...
...several experts, including Donna Thompson of the National Program for Playground Safety, verify the trend. Dodge ball has been out at some schools for years, but banning games such as tag and soccer is a newer development.
"It's happening more," Thompson says. Educators worry about "kids running into one another" and getting hurt, she says. In January, Freedom Elementary School in Cheyenne prohibited tag at recess because it "progresses easily into slapping and hitting and pushing instead of just touching," Principal Cindy Farwell says. Contact sports were banned from recess at Charles Pinckney Elementary early this year, says Charleston County schools spokeswoman Mary Girault, because children suffered broken arms and dislocated fingers playing touch football and soccer.
What are the kids supposed to do at recess? Graze around like cattle & look at each other?
"Stars Are Blind"
According to some news reports Paris Hilton's single, "Stars Are Blind", might make it into the Billboard Top 10. You can judge for yourself by watching the video above...
