See, this is what you can do when you have a championship. In the off season, you can play in the World Series of Poker, wear shades, big headphones, an awesome customized Inglewood hat with a shamrock and your number on the back, and your championship ring. "No big deal, I just happened to win the 2008 NBA Finals for the greatest NBA franchise around and was named MVP of the series. You guys playing poker? Sweet."
R. Kelly fails to pay mortgage for a year on $2.7 million house
US grammy-winning singer R. Kelly faces a $US2.9 million ($2.7 million) foreclosure on his suburban Chicago mansion.
JPMorgan Chase Bank filed the foreclosure lawsuit last month in Cook County Circuit Court. The complaint states that Kelly hasn't made monthly mortgage payments since June of last year.
Crain's Chicago Business publication reports that the Olympia Field home's appraised value fell 26 per cent in a year, to $US3.8 million in 2010. The original 1999 loan was for $US3.5 million
The principal due is more than $US2.9 million.
The R&B superstar's spokesman Allan Mayer declined to comment on the foreclosure. But he said Kelly isn't having financial trouble.
Mayer said the singer now lives in Chicago. Mayer said Kelly's recent tour and 2010 album, Love Letter, have been successful.
Something tells me that I couldn't go a year without paying my mortgage, just a wild guess. However, maybe I could make a video where I pee on a teenager and make some extra money to make the payments, you never know.
KC can attest to the fact that I came up with "Molesta" as a parody for R. Kelly's "Fiesta" way before anyone else. JAMN 94.5 stole my shit!
KC Jones note: Yes, Big Ran did, and he should be getting MAJOR royalties!
StarPulse.com - Gavin Rossdale is set to officially bring Bush back to life in September with the band's first album since it disbanded in 2002.
Rossdale reformed the group for the Epicenter festival in California last year, and the "Glycerine" hitmakers will perform at August's Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles - and this time they'll have something to promote.
The band's brand new album, "The Sea of Memories," will be released on September 13 through the group's very own Zuma Rock Records label.
Rossdale has also firmed up the members of the new-look Bush after former bandmates Dave Parsons and Nigel Pulsford declined an invitation to be a part of the reunion. They have been replaced by bassist Corey Britz and guitarist Chris Traynor.
September will be a big month for the Bush frontman - his daughter, model Daisy Lowe, will also strip off and grace the pages of men's magazine Playboy.
OK, there is a ton going on for a short article, so let's try to tackle these issues one at a time. First of all, this group went through several guitarists/bassists. They should have just been called Gavin Rossdale and the Bushes. They were big for a few years when there were terrible band names and even worse music. "Bush," really? However, with that said, I did like them and they had some good jams.
These dudes are old now. I mean, I would be old to have a rock band, but these dudes are really old. Look at that new album title, "Sea of Memories." Pardon my language, but that sounds fucking TERRIBLE. That's a Bett Midler album if I ever heard an album title.
See that last sentence, just thrown in there at the bottom? Rossdale's daughter is going to be in Playboy?! This is craziness, so here's more...
Wikipedia - Daisy Rebecca Lowe (born 27 January 1989) is an English fashion model who has modelled for editorial photo shoots and commercial advertising campaigns and has worked as a runway model. She is the daughter of Pearl Lowe, the singer/songwriter turned textile and fashion designer, and Gavin Rossdale, lead singer for Bush.
This is some wild stuff. Like I mentioned about someone else earlier today, if this chick wants to get naked, I'll look at it. She kind of looks like a cheeky, British version of Katie Holmes, minus the crazy husband (I think).
Also, in my internet research on this whole topic (yes, there are topless photos of Daisy, just use google), I ran across this about Gavin Rossdale...
Gavin Rossdale regrets admitting to 1980s gay affair with pop singer Marilyn in Details magazine
NY Daily News - Perhaps Gavin Rossdale should have listened to "Don't Speak," his wife Gwen Stefani's 1995 hit with her band, No Doubt, before he spoke to Details magazine.
A source close to the Bush front man tells us he's "seriously regretting" going on the record with the publication about his 1980s affair with gender-bending pop singer Marilyn (nee Peter Robinson) - in part, because he then had to come clean with his wife.
In the article, which posted on Details' website on Monday (and will be available on newsstands Oct. 19), Rossdale admits to the long-rumored affair after writer Jonah Weiner asks him if the relationship, which took place when Rossdale was 17 years old, was a case of "one-time experimentation."
The rocker responded, "Yeah. That was it." But our source tells us (and another confirms) that after the interview, Rossdale approached the publication's editors and "pleaded with them" not to print the admission. Details chose to run with its scoop.
We hear this has left Rossdale with some 'splainin' to do, as far as his superstar wife is concerned.
According to our source, although Stefani has been aware of the rumors, "Gwen didn't know that Gavin and Marilyn were actually involved. Gavin always said before that they were just friends and that's what she believed, until Gavin had to tell her" because of the interview in Details.
Boy George first wrote about Rossdale and Marilyn in his 1995 book, "Take It Like a Man." At the time, both men denied the relationship, but last year, Marilyn told In Touch magazine that he and Rossdale had been involved for five years.
Marilyn also said that because Rossdale's band, Bush, was "just becoming successful in America" at the time Boy George's allegations were hitting the press. "I agreed to lie against every grain of my being."
Details magazine declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Rossdale didn't get back to us by deadline.
In no way am I judging here, I just want everyone to know how much hot fire I am bringing to you today. Also, fucking look at Rossdale in that photo! I just researched the shit out of this. Rossdale and Gwen Stefani are still married (I couldn't remember), and he is an avid tennis player.
Giant Boner-Inducing Spider Rampages in Supermarket
Maureen O'Connor — A five-inch Brazilian Wandering Spider—the most venomous spider in the world, which "can also cause priapism in humans"—stowed away in a box of bananas and leaped out in a German grocery store, running through the aisles and causing pandemonium on Friday.
After shutting down the store down for three days, a team of 30 wildlife experts failed to find the spider. They did, however, spray so many pesticides on the premises that they're pretty sure it's dead by now, unless it left the supermarket and is roaming the German countryside as we speak. No injuries have been reported.
Brazilian Wandering Spiders have previously stowed away in bananas destined for Tulsa andChatham. The "aggressive" spider's venom can cause excruciating pain, paralysis, asphyxiation, and painful erections that last many hours and can lead to impotence in humans.
So if you find a corpse with a giant boner and two tiny fang marks in southwestern Germany, know that it is the zombie spider of Bexbach, and it is coming for you next.
For those of you scoring at home, priapism is when a dude is at full mast for four hours or longer, or so Cialis and Viagra commercials tell me. On a side note, what's up with the people in bath tubs in the Cialis commercials. They are always middle aged to old people sitting in separate bath tubs overlooking a farm or something. I don't understand how that is sensual or boner-inducing in the least.
Hope Solo. This is obviously topical right now since the US Women's World Cup team just pulled out a miracle, last-second win against Brazil and will be facing France in the semi finals tomorrow (I knew all that off the top of my head, how about that?). Hope is the talk of the World Cup around not only because she's the goalie, but a very good one, and possibly quite attractive.
I'll be honest here; sometimes her eyebrows and jaw scare me. She's got some aggressive eyebrows, but that's OK, it matches her style of play. I think she could be hit or miss for some people, depending on their taste. So, while she's not necessarily my type, and she is a bit jacked, I am going with yes, she is good looking. If she got naked in a magazine, I'd look at it and that has to be worth something, right? I just won't play her in PlayStation if she has a sleeveless shirt on.
So this weekend I turn the TV on and on Comcast they have a simulcast of a baseball radio show that is on WEEI. A bunch of old fuckers are talking about baseball and bitching and moaning about whether or not Ortiz should have charged the mound the previous night. One argument is that David Ortiz often stands to admire his home runs rather than just run the bases with his head down. All these old farts were referring to it as "pimping." I guess they had been doing this the whole show, but I didn't know that when that call summary was on the screen.
KC, don't you know a Lisa from Manchester, CT? Is that her.
I just love that all these old dudes that probably railed against using the word "pimp" a few years back because it was a profession that degraded women, are all about using it now. They're trying to be cool with all the hippity hoppers, I guess.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Anchorage police say a city van used to pick up drunken people was taken on a joyride by a man suspected of drunken driving.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that 35-year-old Donny H. Weston was arrested late Thursday after police say he got into a Community Service Patrol van parked with the keys in the engine.
Police say social workers were attending inebriated people when Weston got into the van.
Police say Weston drove the van for a significant distance, including driving against traffic, and he eventually crashed the van into a bus and ditched it.
The van is part of a city program that picks up inebriated people and shuttles them to sleeping center.
Police say the inebriated men in the back of the van didn't notice the joyride.
First the disclaimer: obviously, driving drunk is wrong. With that said, do you think this guy slapped a "Irony is My Co-pilot" bumper sticker before he took off? Is driving drunk people around the best or worst job ever? I would guess it really varies. My guess is that in Anchorage, AK you're getting a lot of drunk fisherman and hunters, probably not the easiest crowd to subdue.
When I was in college, a friend and I had a school van because we had to move some AV equipment before and after a hockey game. After the game, it was about 10 PM, prime going out time. So, what did we do? We took the school van, drove around campus picking hammered people up and dropping them off at bars. IT WAS AMAZING. Doing this for a part time job would be amusing for a while, especially if you are a dude and only have to pick up drunk girls.
Since I am on the topic of joy rides, has anyone recently driven a golf cart that wasn't on a golf course? This, also, is amazing. I had one for work in the spring because we were hosting a conference and you honestly feel like such a boss. I was wearing a suit, probably had a clip board or something and was just buzzing around the place. Picking people up, bringing them to wherever they needed it be, it was great. It was like "The Transporter 6: Bankrupt and Desperate."
The best part of this article? The last line: "Police say the inebriated men in the back of the van didn't notice the joyride."
Hey everyone, have a great weekend and make sure you take your boner pills, just like Warren G tells you to do. Make sure to regulate. Is this real life?
A friend suggested this one while we were out ripping beers last night. I'm impressed I actually remembered this because I thought to text or e-mail KC about it, but was to lazy to actually do that.
Carlos Santana
Moammar Gadhafi
I know you have to use your imagination a little bit, but if Carlos Santana had a few rough years, maybe did some hard drugs and didn't take any vitamins, you could see it, right? Also, Moammar could look like Santana if Santana died and no one found his body for a few days.
-Big Ran
PS: Maybe this isn't the best Look-a-like ever, but take note of that description after the first set of pictures. Pure Gold.
Is that how you spell shenanigans? Not sure. I'm not getting a squiggly red line under it, so it must be good. Anyway, on Monday, CBS went all Michael Bay on us and showed fireworks exploding behind famous Boston landmarks even though it was geographically impossible. See, this never would have happened if Lionel Richie was performing, you wouldn't need all the CGI crap. Instead, you had a country singer and needed to dumb it down for all the back woods hicks that tuned in and wanted to see pretty fireworks behind Fenway. Check out this article and tell me this KarlClodfelter character, a "research scientist from Brighton," doesn't live in his Mom's basement in Brighton and his research science is burning ants with a magnifying glass.
Boston.com - Those who watched Boston’s revered Fourth of July celebration Monday night onCBSwere treated to spectacular views of fireworks exploding behind the State House, Quincy Market, and home plate at Fenway Park, among other places - great views, until you consider that they were physically impossible.
As viewers began to point out yesterday, it would not have been geographically possible to see the fireworks above and behind the landmarks in question, since the display was launched from a barge in the Charles River and in directions awayfrom those places.
“According to CBS, you can see the fireworks from the right side of Quincy Market, even though Beacon Hill is in the way,’’ wrote “Kaz,’’ whose real name is Karl Clodfelter, a commenter on the Boston blog UniversalHub.com. “Also, they come up behind the State House when you’re standing across the road . . . which means the barge must have been parked on the Zakim this year,’’ wrote Clodfelter, a research scientist from Brighton.
David Mugar, the Boston-area businessman and philanthropist who has executive produced the show for nine years, confirmed yesterday that the footage was altered. He said this was the first year such alterations were made.
Mugar said the added images were above board because the show was entertainment and not news. He said it was no different than TV drama producer David E. Kelley using scenes from his native Boston in his show “Boston Legal’’ but shooting the bulk of each episode on a studio set in Hollywood.
“Absolutely, we’re proud to show scenes from our city,’’ Mugar said. “It’s often only shown in film or in sporting matches. We were able to highlight great places in Boston, historical places with direct ties to the Fourth. So we think it was a good thing.’’
A CBS Television spokesman declined comment about whether the network was aware of, or approved of, the fireworks show being digitally altered.
The footage of the landmarks was shot several weeks ago. According to Mugar, camera crews from Boston 4 Productions, the production wing of Boston 4 Celebrations Foundation, the fireworks show’s parent, crisscrossed Boston and Suffolk County shooting video of famous landmarks one evening in May.
“I’d say we shot from about 8 p.m. till 4 or 5 the next morning,’’ Mugar said. “Among other places, we got video of the Old North Church, the State House, Quincy Market, the statue of Paul Revere, Fenway Park, with the full cooperation of the Red Sox, who let us in and turned on certain lights for our shoot. And we did it all with the intention of superimposing the fireworks over the images. The technical process is called matting.’’
Entertainment or not, some viewers were not amused to learn that the footage was altered.
T.J. Jeffers, decked out in a Celtics T-shirt and Red Sox cap, stood outside the JFK/UMassT stop yesterday and, with a toothy grin, declared his love for Boston and the Independence Day celebrations.
“It’s one of the biggest times of year here,’’ an animated Jeffers said. “Man, it’s huge. The fireworks, the crowds. It takes you back to your childhood. . . . But I’m shocked they changed stuff on TV, because they didn’t need to. The fireworks don’t need dressing up. They’re fireworks.’’
At a Shaw’s grocery store in Dorchester, Penny Thompson, who described herself as “a lifer, born and raised in the Boston area,’’ expressed disappointment, but not over the quality of the fireworks display.
“I thought it looked fine,’’ Thompson said. “I just don’t like knowing it wasn’t real. I mean I know the fireworks were real, but I’m saying not real like they changed stuff. That’s not cool.’’
Eric Deggans, a Florida-based media critic and regular panelist on CNN’s media critique show “Reliable Sources,’’ said the altered video presents a potential credibility problem for CBS.
“It is an ethical issue, and to say it’s not because the show was aired through CBS Entertainment is to imply that the entertainment side of CBS has no ethics,’’ Deggans said. “I think - especially in today’s media environment - the most important commandment for media is to not mislead the viewer. . . . If you’re a viewer who doesn’t know Boston, you’re getting a picture of the layout of the city that doesn’t exist.’’
David A. Perry, a Massachusetts native who watches the televised fireworks each year from his home in Delaware, Ohio, and who first alerted the Globe to the altered video, had a similar, if more tempered, reaction.
“I was already just dismayed with the coverage,’’ said Perry, a 45-year-old computer programmer who left New England five years ago to relocate to his new wife’s hometown. “They didn’t pan out enough to show what was probably a crowd of half a million. They made it seem like just 2,000 people were there. But then I started seeing some of the angles. And let me tell you, I’ve been to plenty of Sox games. So I knew the angles and the backgrounds weren’t right.
“The shame is I’ve always thought the fireworks were among the best in the country. So there was no need to add anything. The fireworks by themselves would have been good enough. Why?’’
Asked about Mugar’s argument that the show was entertainment so the usual rules did not apply, Clodfelter, the commenter from Brighton, said if that’s the case “why not superimpose Neil Armstrong on the moon?’’
-Big Ran
PS: I went out for beers with co-workers last night and got home at like midnight, then alternated with my wife taking our new puppy out every couple of hours. You all are not getting my A-game today. I could literally sleep at my desk right now. However, you never know, maybe you get some amazing material because I'm not thinking about it, just doing it.
PPS: That reminds me of a great quote from when I was in college. I went to Providence, so basketball was the big thing there. One of my buddies had a Theology class with the starting point guard, who came out with this gem during class: "Man, when I'm with a chick, there ain't no huggin', no kissin', no holdin' hands, WE JUST DO IT." How friggin' awesome is that?
