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Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Booze RPM and Redline Sports Grill Are Apparently Closed
Posted by Dan Gibson on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 8:32 PM
No confirmation from the ownership yet, but word is that Luke Cusack's Redline Sports Grill and accompanying nightclub RPM closed yesterday. There was drama last year between Cusack and Lindy Reilly (of Lindy's on Fourth fame) and then a giant Buffalo Wild Wings location opened right next to Redline late last year, likely hacking away at the Grill's income, but seemingly the nightclub portion of the business was doing well, with TAMMIES runner-up Kidd Kutz (and my former co-worker at Clear Channel, for what its worth) moving there on Friday and Saturday nights in November. For what it's worth, one post by a local club promoter mentions that the business is moving in the next three months.
We'll update the post if news emerges, but as it stands now, it seems like the controversial Cusack (just read any comment section on a story mentioning him on our site) might be leaving another failed business in his wake.
Books You Should Read This Excerpt From a New Book on Scientology
Posted by Dan Gibson on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 5:00 PM
In 2011, Lawrence Wright profiled former-Scientologist Paul Haggis for the New Yorker and now he's taken that research a step further, looking into the celebrity culture and inner workings of the Church of Scientology in his new book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. The Hollywood Reporter is running two excerpts in the next issue, one from the section on John Travolta and one, from which the passage below can be found, regarding Tom Cruise:
Cruise poured millions of dollars into the Church — $3 million in 2004. He was not simply a figurehead; he was an activist with an international following. He could take the Church to places it had never been before. Whenever Cruise traveled abroad to promote his movies, he used the opportunity to lobby foreign leaders and American ambassadors to promote Scientology....In 2003, he met with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, to express the Church's concerns over its treatment in Germany. Cruise had access to practically anyone in the world.
That same year, Cruise and Davis lobbied Rod Paige, the secretary of education during the first term of President George W. Bush, to endorse Hubbard's "study tech" educational methods. Paige had been impressed. For months, Cruise kept in contact with Paige's office, urging that Scientology techniques be folded into the president's No Child Left Behind program.
One day, Cruise flew his little red-and-white-striped Pitts Special biplane, designed for aerobatics, to Hemet, along with his Scientologist chief of staff, Michael Doven. Miscavige and Rathbun picked them up and drove them to Gold Base. Rathbun was in the back seat and recalls Cruise boasting to COB about his talks with the secretary.
"Bush may be an idiot," Miscavige observed, "but I wouldn't mind his being our Constantine," referring to the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity.
Cruise agreed. "If f—ing Arnold can be governor, I could be president."
Miscavige responded, "Well, absolutely, Tom."
TV Apparently, Even the Deleted Scenes From the New 'Arrested Development' Episodes Are Hilarious
Posted by Dan Gibson on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Ending the day with a clip DELETED from the show, filled with pitch-perfect physical comedy, was a good way of re-exciting me. #tca13
— Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) January 9, 2013
I give up. I tried to pretend to be cool and indifferent about the 14 new episodes of Arrested Development coming to Netflix. After this tweet (and many others) from the Television Critics Association gathering, I give up.
News In Case You Missed It: Diane Sawyer's Interview with Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords
Posted by Dan Gibson on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 3:00 PM
Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly appeared on World News with Diane Sawyer last night to discuss life two years after the January 8th shooting and their plans to try to curb gun violence.
News NRA Plans to Sue Tucson Police Department Over Destroying Bought-Back Guns
Posted by David Mendez on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 2:15 PM
Well, here's something I didn't expect to hear about: NRA board member and lobbyist Todd Rathner claims that the end result of yesterday's gun buyback in midtown Tucson—the planned destruction of the guns bought by the Tucson Police Department for $50 in gift cards—is illegal according to Arizona State Law.
From NPR:
Rathner says Arizona state law forces local governments to sell seized or abandoned property to the highest bidder."If property has been abandoned to the police, then they are required by ARS 12-945 to sell it to a federally licensed firearms dealer, and that's exactly what they should do," he says.
That way, Rathner says, the guns can be put back in circulation or given away.
The Tucson city attorney calls that a misreading of the law.
Councilman Kozachik says the guns aren't being abandoned; they're being turned in voluntarily.
"This is about giving somebody the chance to say, 'Look I'm not comfortable having this weapon, here's an opportunity for me to just get rid of it in a proper manner,' " Kozachik says.
That's important. But what's key is Rathner's next quote, where he basically says that if the law doesn't work in the NRA's favor, the NRA will get lawmakers to make it work:
Rathner says the NRA will ask for an accounting of every weapon turned in and then go to court to stop the firearms from being destroyed. If that doesn't work, Rathner says they'll change the law."We just go back and we tweak it and tune it up, and we work with our friends in the Legislature and fix it so they can't do it," Rathner adds.
My question is, does the trade of a gun for a gift card constitute a sale through bartering? Does TPD destroy firearms that are deemed unfit for service?
These are a few things worth looking into over the next few days.
Cinema The Worst of the Worst: 2013 Razzie Nominations Announced
Posted by Kate Newton on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 1:30 PM
The Razzies have once again beaten the Academy Awards to the punch of reflecting back on the films of the year—but for this awards show, the picture isn’t so pretty.
The Golden Raspberry Awards have dishonored Hollywood’s most shamelessly awful films annually since 1981; the ceremony unfolds the day before the Academy Awards and is rarely attended by any of the nominees (it’s a little known fact that celebrities - especially comedians - seldom possess an actual sense of humor when the joke’s on them).
Adam Sandler, who hasn’t appeared in a decent movie since he made pursuing Razzie MVP a full-time career, will fall short of his 10 wins for last year’s Jack and Jill after receiving only nine nominations for That’s My Boy. Better luck next year, Adam.
Comics Talking Comics: Deathmatch #1
Posted by Eric M. Esquivel on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 12:15 PM
News At Least 643 Americans Have Been Killed By Guns Since Newtown
Posted by David Mendez on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 11:13 AM
Since last year's mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., the anonymous Twitter account @GunDeaths has posted a tweet for every news story they could find of a person who has been killed by a gun in North America, "regardless of cause and without comment."
After the shooting in Newtown, Slate partnered with @GunDeaths to create an interactive map tabulating the locations of each such death—while admitting that the map is "necessarily incomplete."
What they've found, to date, is that at least 643 people in America have been killed by guns since Dec. 14.
We can get pedantic and argumentative about it, as I'm sure some of the folks reading this will: that guns didn't kill people, the bullets killed them, or the person holding the gun killed them. If there were more guns, the victims could have protected themselves. If there were fewer guns, the attacks wouldn't have even happened.
Whatever. The arguments are irrelevant, because 643 people are dead.
Whether or not you blame the gun or the person behind it, the fact remains that firearms were the tools that manufactured those deaths.
Politics / News Waging Nonviolence: 'Lessons in Organization and Dignity From the Zapatistas'
Posted by Mari Herreras on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 9:30 AM
Waging Nonviolence's Marta Molina provides a full report on the Dec. 21 Zapatista action, what she describes as a lesson in organization and discipline.
Big recommend you read the entire post at wagingnonviolence.org. Here's a snippet:
Compared to the sometimes-chaotic mobilizations that occurred on the streets of Mexico City on December 1, the day that the controversial President Enrique Peña Nieto was inaugurated, the EZLN’s silent marches stand out as examples of organization and dignity. Although it rarely rains in Chiapas during the winter season, December 21 began and ended with an incessant downpour, and the sound of the raindrops became the only noise accompanying the march. Despite the weather, in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas alone at least 20,000 Zapatistas marched that morning — disciplined and orderly — from the town of San Juan Chamula to the plaza at the center of the city....
Many in mainstream media later reported that the march represented the Zapatista “resurgence.” In reality, the public appearance was designed to remind the world that the movement had never gone away. The children who marched on December 21 had been born in Zapatista communities; they are already living in this other world as the dominant one crumbles. The dignified silence of the Zapatistas resounded as they spoke with their feet and charted a path that showed onlookers the distance that is left to travel. For the rest of the world — struck by their dignified presence and the vigilance of the “Enough!” that they have been proclaiming since 1994 — December 21 was a lesson in dignity, organizing and discipline.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Snapshot Steel for Cash: A Look at the Jan. 8 Gun Buybacks
Posted by Noelle Haro-Gomez on Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 5:49 PM
- Noelle Haro-Gomez
- Guns collected from the gun buyback event at the Midtown Tucson Police Department on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 in Tucson, Ariz. TPD collected 206 guns.
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