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Maybe they should have done “Gaslight” (and more random notes for September 25, 2012)

Tuesday, September 25th, 2012

Ben Sprecher is a theatrical producer. Most of his work has been off-Broadway, but he’s trying to put on a Broadway musical version of “Rebecca”. (I know what you’re thinking, but according to the NYT, this was done in Vienna in 2006, and played well.)

Anyway, Mr. Sprecher estimates that he needs $12 million for this. Mr. Sprecher had an investor – a man named Paul Abrams – who was putting up $4.5 million. That’s a lot of money for one person to invest in a Broadway show. But wait, it gets better!

Reports in August of his sudden death in Britain of malaria — yet no obituaries, no death notices. A representative for the Abrams estate surfaces, a person identifying himself only as “Wexler” who refuses to speak by phone and uses an e-mail address created just last month.

But wait, it gets even better: Mr. Sprecher never met or spoke to Mr. Abrams at all. There are questions as to whether Mr. Abrams ever even existed.

“I’ve never heard of a situation where you didn’t at least meet the person raising 30 percent of your show budget,” said Robert E. Wankel, president of the Shubert Organization, one of the big three Broadway landlords and a six-figure investor in “Rebecca” as well as the owner of its intended theater, the Broadhurst.

Mr. Sprecher is trying to raise money to fill the gap. But if he fails and the musical doesn’t open, he’s on the hook to his other investors.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, bat cave!

Obit watch: Edwin Wilson. Remember Edwin Wilson? Former CIA guy? Convicted of shipping plastic explosives to Libya? Spent 20 years in prison?

A federal judge threw out his conviction in 2003, ruling that prosecutors knowingly used false testimony to undermine his defense.

Yeah. That guy.

Debacle? That seems strong. But I didn’t watch the game. “Debacle” may not be strong enough.

Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do? Well, they can register domains. But Donuts, Inc. has close ties to Demand Media…

Industry watchdogs have long criticized Demand Media as a leading provider of services to spammers and a host to sites that commit “cybersquatting.”…
Garth Bruen of the industry watchdog group KnujOn said Demand Media has not replied to any of the many spam complaints he has submitted to the company.
“They are looking the other way,” he said. “I’ve sent them tons of information. They never respond. They have this one address, legal@enom.com, and you never get a person.”

The current theory on convicted sex offender and fugitive from justice Prakashanand Saraswati seems to be that he’s in India now, having been spirited out of the country by his followers. And the US Marshals don’t have an office in India.

Maybe they could send some BATF guys from Reno to India.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Guns, Law, NFL, Obits, Theatre | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: week 3, 2012.

Monday, September 24th, 2012

I really hate to say this, but I’m starting to think Cleveland has a good shot at going 0-16 this year. And they lost to the Bills, which makes it even more painful…

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Cleveland
New Orleans

The Astros are at 50-103, for a .327 winning percentage. This is projecting out to 109 losses. Put another way, they’d have to win three out of the last nine games, or go .333, to avoid 110 losses.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: September 18, 2012.

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

The time has come for TMQ to go after…well, not exactly a gnat, maybe an amoeba…with a sledgehammer.

Actually, we were thinking of something different, but we’ll take that one and run with it after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Cops, Law, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 2, 2012.

Monday, September 17th, 2012

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Cleveland
Kansas City
Jacksonville
New Orleans
Tennessee
Oakland

The Astros, believe or not, seem to be on a winning streak (having won their last two games) and are currently 48-99, for a .327 winning percentage. This projects out to 109 losses.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: September 11, 2012.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

First TMQ of the new season. What can we say: we’ve got high hopes.

After the jump, oops, there goes another rubber tree plant…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Neuroscience, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 1, 2012.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

We are back, baby! Like that toenail fungus you just can’t get rid of.

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

New York Football Giants
Indianapolis
Cleveland
St. Louis
Miami
Kansas City
Jacksonville
New Orleans
Buffalo
Tennessee
Carolina
Green Bay
Seattle
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Oakland

And as we draw ever closer to the end of the long national nightmare that is baseball season, the Houston Astros are 44-97, with a .312 winning percentage. This projects out to 111 losses.

(As best as I can tell, the Astros have been mathematically eliminated from any possibility of post-season play. The Chicago Cubs have an extremely long shot at a wild card slot, still. I don’t think this is going to happen, but they haven’t technically been mathematically eliminated, so I don’t have to pay off Lawrence. Yet.)

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 6, 2012.

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Art Modell, perhaps the single most hated man in Cleveland.

LAT. Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: September 4, 2012.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Once again, TMQ’s all-haiku predictions roll around. Let’s jump in and listen for the splash of water…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Sarcasm, Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: August 21, 2012.

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Joe Ely’s classic song “Fighting For My Life” contains the lyric:

I don’t mean to crash the cymbals, I don’t mean to beat the drum

I don’t want to waste your time, I’d rather save you some.

TMQ’s favorite Batman film is “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm“. You can now skip the first 335 words of this week’s column. And if that’s all you were looking for, you can skip everything after the jump, too.

(more…)

Posted in Movies, Neuroscience, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: August 14, 2012.

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

We were expecting TMQ to start up again soonish, and actually noticed that the first TMQ of the season went up last Tuesday. Unfortunately, some personal issues kept us from getting back into the swing of things until now. Future TMQ Watches will be posted on the same Tuesday as the TMQ, barring unusual and unforeseen circumstances.

And with that, let’s fill the chainsaw’s gas tank with two-stroke mix, pull the starter cord, and get going. Winter will be here sooner than we think.

(more…)

Posted in Movies, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Banana republicans watch: August 1, 2012.

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

Tyrone Freeman used to be the president of Local 6434 of the Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU).

Then things started happening. The LAT did a series of reports on Freeman’s spending as head of the local. The federal Department of Labor, the FBI, and the IRS started investigating.

Last month, his wife, Pilar Planells, pleaded guilty to an income tax charge in connection with more than $540,000 she received in consulting payments from the union. She is expected to be sentenced to three years’ probation and must pay about $130,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties, according to court records.

And now Freeman has been indicted on 15 counts:

Freeman was indicted on federal charges of stealing from those workers to enrich himself — even billing the union for costs from his Hawaiian wedding. The 15-count indictment, which also contains allegations that he violated tax laws and gave false information to a mortgage lender, carries combined maximum prison sentences of more than 200 years.

Oddly enough, I see no mention of strippers. Freeman was apparently big on cigars and cognac.

Still pending in state court is a civil lawsuit the union filed against Freeman and Planells over more than $1.1 million they allegedly pilfered. The suit contends that the money financed Freeman’s lifestyle of $175 glasses of cognac, $250 bottles of wine and a $3,400 trip to the NFL Pro Bowl.

Yeah, Hawaii is nice and all. But, dude, the Pro Bowl? Seriously?

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, NFL | Comments Closed

Random notes: May 3, 2012.

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Obit watch: Junior Seau, former linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots.

And the Kennedy assassination conspiracy has claimed another victim: Earl Rose, the Dallas County medical examiner who wanted to autopsy Kennedy but was overruled. Dr. Rose also did the autopsies on J.D. Tippit (the police officer Oswald shot), on Oswald himself, and on Jack Ruby.

I am aware of the rumors that I was the winning bidder on Munch’s “The Scream”. At this time, I have no comment.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law, NFL, Obits, Sarcasm | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: May 1, 2012.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Yes, we know we are a little late with this week’s TMQ Watch. ESPN has made it incredibly difficult to find TMQ, and we’ve been somewhat overwhelmed with plans for an upcoming party and work-related issues. Let’s jump right into it, shall we?

But not before noting that by publishing on Tuesday, TMQ missed two of the biggest NFL stories so far this year. Of course, he knew what he was getting into when he bought the tickets. We say let him crash.

(more…)

Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Working for the crackdown.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

The NFL has announced disciplinary actions against four players for the New Orleans Saints for their roles in the bounty scandal.

  • Jonathan Vilma: out for the entire 2012 season.
  • Anthony Hargrove (now with Green Bay): suspended for eight games.
  • Will Smith: four game suspension.
  • Scott Fujita (now with Cleveland): three game suspension.

It looks like the the Vilma and Hargrove penalties were harshest because of their level of involvement. Vilma was the defensive captain at the time and allegedly assisted Gregg Williams with the bounty program, as well as offering “$10,000 to any Saints teammate who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC championship game.”

Hargrove apparently obstructed the investigation and lied to investigators; his punishment may have been mitigated somewhat because he flipped later on, submitting “a signed declaration that established not only the existence of the program at the Saints, but also that he knew about and participated in it.”

According to Pro Football Talk, all four players plan to appeal. This could turn into an interesting legal battle.

I’m trying to think of harsher player suspensions in the NFL, and I’m not coming up with much; Vick got an “indefinite” suspension that basically worked out to two years (most of which he spent in prison). Albert Haynesworth got five games for stomping on a guy. Plaxico Burress got four games for shooting himself. Roethlisberger got a six-game hit which was reduced to four games. And apparently a few players (Dexter Manley being the most famous) have gotten lifetime bans for multiple failed drug tests.

Posted in Clippings, NFL | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: April 24, 2012.

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

TMQ is back temporarily, for the first of his two yearly draft columns. We were actually kind of wondering about this; ESPN dropped “Page 2” a couple of weeks ago, and we were unsure if TMQ would stay or go.

Anyway, we are glad to see Easterbrook back, and, after the jump, we will mock his mockery…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Food, NFL, Schadenfreude, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

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