Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Patriots Tight End gets in trouble for posing in picture with another (professional) Tight End
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski said he apologized to team owner Robert Kraft after pictures of him with an adult film star appeared on Twitter during the team's bye week."I didn't intend anything to hurt the reputation of anyone on the New England Patriots or on behalf of Robert Kraft," said Gronkowski. "That's all, just a simple picture, that's all. From here on out, I'm just here to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers and the big game this weekend."
Adult film star BiBi Jones posted photos of herself in Gronkowski's jersey standing with the tight end, who is shirtless.
She appeared on 98.5 the Sports Hub on Monday and said that the two of them share a mutual friend who played football with him at Arizona. Gronkowski was in Arizona at the time.
"I went into the room to take a picture with him and he said, 'Put on my jersey,'" Jones said to the radio station. "I asked him, 'Can I put these on my Twitter?' He was cool with it because I have more Twitter followers than him and he wanted me to get him more Twitter followers."
Jones added that nothing happened between the two of them, adding: "I wish something happened, but nothing happened."
Pressed on the matter Wednesday, Gronkowski tried to steer the conversation toward the Steelers. Asked if he had any regrets about the incident, Gronkowski reiterated his sentiment on the matter.
"[I was] not intending to hurt anyone or ruin the reputation of the New England Patriots in any way," he said. "[It's a] good organization here. ... I can't wait to get out to practice and focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's all I'm worried about. It's all I care about."
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was actually relieved when he heard about the controversy.
"I'm just glad I'm no longer the one that people are making fun of on my team on a daily basis," Brady said Tuesday on WEEI-AM. "Gronk has definitely pulled into the lead there."
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Six Minutes of 'Dark Knight Rises' Preceding Mission Impossible
Just as the Joker robbery prologue for The Dark Knight preceded I Am Legend, taunting the audience with a much better film than the Will Smith film they were about to see, so too shall a sequence from The Dark Knight Rises go out before the film of a prominent, grinning Scientology defender. As reported by a /Film source and since confirmed by others, a six-minute clip from Christopher Nolan's upcoming Batman film will be attached to prints of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, opening in IMAX on December 15.
Harry Potter films disappearing from stores soon after Dec. 29!
Harry Potter said his last goodbye this summer, with the release of the franchise’s final chapter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, and Warner Bros. seems determined to prove they really meant it. As of Dec. 29, no more Harry Potter theatrical film titles (including Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection) will be shipped to stores, initiating a profitable home entertainment model not unlike the one at Disney, which periodically re-releases its classics for home purchase. (Warner Bros.’ moratorium on Potter will not include digital — Electronic Sell-Through and VOD — or games.)
Since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in 2001, the Harry Potter franchise has grossed more than $12.1 billion for Warner Bros. Entertainment — $5.1 billion of which came from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It’s fair to say that figure will grow even larger this holiday season, as children and young adults who grew up with the books and movies feel the pressure to snap up the Complete 8-Film Collection — at around $60 — while they still can.
Maks Chmerkovskiy blows up at DWTS judges
Does Dancing with the Stars belong to Maksim Chmerkovskiy?
That seemed to be the pro’s perspective on Monday after he and Judge Len Goodman butted heads over the quality of his rumba with Hope Solo. (It earned a mere 20 out of 30). After Goodman called it their “worst dance of the season,” Chmerkovskiy lost his cool: First he suggested that “maybe it’s time” for Goodman to leave the business after the elder judge talked about being in it for 50 years, and then the hot pro got downright indignant when Carrie Ann Inaba chided him for being disrespectful. (Video embedded below.)
“With all due respect, this is my show,” Chmerkovskiy said to Brooke Charvet in the skybox. “I helped make it what it is. I love every aspect of it. I love every professional that has ever been here, and I love every celebrity that puts effort into it every week. Having said that, I’m a little tired that we are being judged, some on effort and some, being picked on (for) our heel leads.” (Among other things, Goodman also took issue with Solo’s choice of footwear).
After the show, Chermerkovskiy had yet to cool off. “It just kind of came to the point where I kind of had enough,” he told reporters. “It’s like give us a bad score, don’t call us out. Say it wasn’t my cup of tea…we’ll take the criticism. Don’t tell me it was your worst dance of the season because you’re an idiot, you know it’s not true. I’ve also danced for 27 years and I’ve won more titles than Len ever even participated in. That’s not to disrespect his opinion because we’ve all been here for 13 seasons. I’m just not going to sit back and let my partner get disrespected.”
Dancing With the Stars: Get the latest news, photos, and more
As for that comment about DWTS being “his” show, Chmerkovskiy first tried to deny saying it before explaining, “I feel like it’s my show and together with other pros I’ve dedicated six years of my life to this show and I’ve helped make it what it is. But I never took it away from everybody else who participated.”
At least one of his fellow pros supported his outburst. Lacey Schwimmer – who was upset with Judge Bruno Tonioli for calling a tuxedo-clad Chaz Bono a “cute little penguin” on Monday — said she’d like to occasionally talk back to the judges but just doesn’t have the guts. “Regardless of what Maks said or if he hurt people’s feelings, he had the courage to stand up for him and his partner and I think that is amazing,” she said. “A lot of us wish we would say stuff, but we never do. We’re afraid of it.”
As for Tonioli’s comment about her partner, “It’s hard to hear your friend bullied by three people we are supposed to respect and called names like animals. It’s unnecessary, it’s rude. I feel embarrassed to be standing there when he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. I actually lost it backstage. I was crying because I was so hurt. It’s awful.”
Not everybody took the row between Chmerkovskiy and Goodman so seriously. “I have so much to say, but I’m not going to say anything,” said Pro Derek Hough. “As a seasoned professional, you should know not to do that, I think. There’s sort of an amount of self control…”
As for Chmerkovksiy saying it was “his” show, Hough quipped, “We’ve all had a laugh about that.”
Monday, October 24, 2011
New Zealand wins Rugby World Cup
But all I really care about is the Haka dance. North American sports really need this.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Drake - Make Me Proud ft. Nicki Minaj
"Last name, Ever, first name, Greatest." If Drake didn't have enought street cred for playing Jimmy on "Degrassi" for six years, then we would have thought he was being cocky. But how can we hate on Jimmy? Seriously, though, Drake's new promo for his anticipated sophomore album, "Take Care," wants us to know one thing: Drake is the greatest young MC in the game.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Trailer: When Harry Left Hogwarts
A four-minute teaser has hit the Web for When Harry Left Hogwarts, Morgan Matthews’ behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Woman has $200,000 phone bill
A higher than usual phone bill can leave anyone stunned. And when Celina Aarons got a jaw-dropper for more than $200,000, it was no mistake.
The Florida woman has a plan that usually costs her $175 a month. She includes two of her brothers on it, who are deaf and mute, and use smart phones extensively for texting and communicating more easily.
"He's a sweetheart, and he goes to college and I would do anything for him," she told WSVN television of her brother Shamir.
The problem was that Shamir went to Canada on vacation, and did not turn off his data roaming.
The bad news for big sister: a bill for $201,005.44.
"I was freaking out. I was shaking, crying, I couldn't even talk that much on the phone. I was like my life is over!" she told WSVN.
She said she thought "it's never going to get paid... I can't pay that. That's like paying a nice house right now based on what houses are going for."
Though T-Mobile did not have to reduce her bill, it wrote down her charges to $2,500.
"The case of Ms Aarons was extraordinary, even if the amount was correct. T-Mobile cut her bill to $2,500 and gave her six months to pay," a T-Mobile spokeswoman said.
The Florida woman has a plan that usually costs her $175 a month. She includes two of her brothers on it, who are deaf and mute, and use smart phones extensively for texting and communicating more easily.
"He's a sweetheart, and he goes to college and I would do anything for him," she told WSVN television of her brother Shamir.
The problem was that Shamir went to Canada on vacation, and did not turn off his data roaming.
The bad news for big sister: a bill for $201,005.44.
"I was freaking out. I was shaking, crying, I couldn't even talk that much on the phone. I was like my life is over!" she told WSVN.
She said she thought "it's never going to get paid... I can't pay that. That's like paying a nice house right now based on what houses are going for."
Though T-Mobile did not have to reduce her bill, it wrote down her charges to $2,500.
"The case of Ms Aarons was extraordinary, even if the amount was correct. T-Mobile cut her bill to $2,500 and gave her six months to pay," a T-Mobile spokeswoman said.
LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS – ESCAPED!
A grizzly bear, mountain lion and a monkey are still on the loose in Ohio after authorities hunted down as many as 51 ferocious animals who were set free by the owner of an animal preserve before killing himself.Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told reporters he can't be 100 percent sure that those three animals are the only ones unaccounted for.
Lutz and ABC News' wildlife expert Jack Hanna, who will take the living animals at the preserve to the Columbus Zoo, urged the public to remain cautious.
"If you see these animals you do not run," said Hanna, who added he is most concerned about the mountain lion, since those animals have "great leaping ability."
The sheriff said that when his men arrived at the animal preserve in Zanesville, they found bears, lions, Bengal tigers, black bears, leopards roaming the area. Since it was about to get dark, he feared the animals would escape into the night.
He said his deputies had to kill animals at close range with their sidearms. One animal that got away was hit by a car on a highway some distance away, he said.
The animals' cages were opened up by Terry Thompson, who owned an animal preserve in Zanesville. Thompson killed himself after freeing his menagerie, Lutz said.
Hanna and his vets visited the farm today, calling conditions deplorable. He plans to take all five living animals to the Columbus Zoo.
The man who is believed to have set the animals free, Thompson, 61, was recently released from prison after serving one year on federal weapons charges. According to investigators he has been cited in the past for animal abuse and neglect.
Lutz said at a news conference that residents should stay inside until the animals, which escaped around 6 p.m. Tuesday, are rounded up. Several schools across the area have canceled classes for Wednesday.
Police, who have been ordered to shoot to kill, describe the loose animals as "mature, very big and aggressive."
Lutz said that several aggressive animals were shot by deputies when they were discovered near Thompson's body at his preserve. Thompson's preserve was surrounded by a fence, and not all animals on the property fled through the open gates.
"These are wild animals, wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa," Lutz said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Last night, as many as 51 wild animals, including cheetahs, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, lions, a white Siberian tiger, camels and giraffes were running free in Zanesville, which has a population of about 25,000 residents. Police said that orangutans and chimps were found in Thompson's home, but they were still in their cages.
"This is a bad situation," Mutz said. "It's been a bad situation for a long time and the last thing we want to do is have any of our public hurt."
Deputies are working with the animals' caregiver, who says the animals were fed on Monday.
They're putting food in the animals' pens in the hopes they might return, where they can then be secured.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has cordoned off seven square miles near Interstate 70 and officers are using infrared devices to find the animals.
On "GMA" Wednesday Hanna said that in controlling this situation human life and animal life must both be considered, as does timing of capture.
"Human life has to come first but that's what we have to look for. We have to take care of our animal life. You cannot tranquilize an animal at night. It's hard enough during the daytime," Hanna said.
Danielle White, one of Thompson's neighbors, said that she saw a loose lion in the area in 2006.
"It's always been a fear of mine knowing [the preserve's owner] had all those animals," she said. "I have kids. I've heard a male lion roar all night."
Thompson has been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year. He was arrested in April of 2005 for cruelty and torture of cattle and bison he had on his property, according to the website pet-abuse.com. He was charged with one count of having an animal at large, two counts of rendering animal waste and one count of cruelty to animals.
Fire in the sky!
This is an image sequence containing 70 lightning shots, taken on Ikaría island, Greece, during a severe thunderstorm that took place June 16, 2011. In order to make the sequence, I set the camera to a tripod taking 20-second shots. After 83 minutes I ended up with this wall of lightning!View the full photo collection at nationalgeographic.com
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Motorola RAZR is back, reinvented with Android
Mobile phones have come a long way in the last decade, moving from a mix of modest clamshell and candy-bar designs to widescreen smartphone powerhouses. And while huge lists of advanced features are all the rage these days, many still look back on the phones of yore with fond eyes. One of the most popular handsets of yesteryear was the Motorola RAZR, and now, 5 years since the company ceased production of the iconic flip phone, they are reviving the name. The new Android-powered device is called the Droid RAZR, and while it's nearly unrecognizable compared to its older brother, it just may be what smartphone fans are looking for.The svelte new smartphone sports a dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p video recording, and 4G LTE support. The RAZR's massive 4.3" Super AMOLED touchscreen looks dazzling, and is encased in Gorilla Glass for added protection. The device is splash resistant, with Motorola promising that even the phone's internals are meant to survive a bit of water.
One of the biggest selling points of the original RAZR was its thin form factor. The Droid RAZR continues that trend, measuring a laughably-narrow 7.1mm — making it the world's thinnest smartphone. By comparison, the recently-released Droid Bionic measures 10.9mm, and the iPhone 4S checks in at 9.3mm. The back of the new phone is made of woven Kevlar, in case it ever gets caught in a Hollywood-style shootout. It will run Android version 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.
The original Motorola RAZR debuted in 2003 and in just three short years it racked up over 50 million units sold, largely due to its super-thin profile and flashy appearance. But as smartphones began to grow in popularity, the modest features of the RAZR sent it straight to the bargain bin. But with that kind of name recognition, the new RAZR — which boasts a much more powerful OS and huge list of features — may be able to capture some of the old phone's magic, which is something many Android devices seem to be lacking as of late.
The Droid RAZR will be release in November as a Verizon exclusive and will cost $299 with a new 2-year contract. A suite of accessories will also be poised for a launch-day release, including keyboard and laptop docks that will expand the phone's capabilities to a larger screen. If you want to experience the rebirth of the RAZR line, you can pre-order the device starting on October 27.
Finding One-Eyed Nemo
In this world of Photoshop and online scams, it pays to have a hearty dose of skepticism at reports of something strange — including an albino fetal shark with one eye smack in the middle of its nose like a Cyclops.But the Cyclops shark, sliced from the belly of a pregnant mama dusky shark caught by a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California earlier this summer, is by all reports the real thing. Shark researchers have examined the preserved creature and found that its single eye is made of functional optical tissue, they said last week. It's unlikely, however, that the malformed creature would have survived outside the womb.
"This is extremely rare," shark expert Felipe Galvan Magana of Mexico's Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias del Mar told the Pisces Fleet Sportfishing blog in July. "As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded."
Pisces Fleet, a sportfishing company, rocketed the Cyclops shark to viral status online this summer with their photos of the creepy-cute creature. But this isn't the first time that reports of a mythical-seeming creature have spurred media sensations — last week alone, Russian officials announced "proof" of a Yeti, and paleontologists spun a theory about an ancient Kraken-like squid. Few reports of mythical beasts, however, come with proof.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
This might be Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis' last year on 'SNL'
If there’s any truth to today’s rumors, then Saturday Night Live may soon be short two of its biggest a-holes stars. As is customary for SNL standouts who have successfully transitioned to the big screen, Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis are reportedly leaving the show at the end of the season to focus on their film careers. This news certainly doesn’t come as a shock, but it’s probably still pretty unsettling if you’re a die-hard SNL fan. Vicky St. Elmo and DJ Supersoak are quality standouts on the show, and two of the biggest names on its dwindling roster. Whether Wiig or Sukeikis leave next year or in two or three, it’s going to be a huge loss.
Simpsons to End... WTF...
Whether the stars take a salary cut or not, there won't be many more new adventures in the town of Springfield.Fox executives told The Wrap on Wednesday that even if the voice actors behind the iconic animated show "The Simpsons" take a massive pay cut, the show is now longer profitable as a first-run series and will end after next season. If the actors don't agree to a cut, this season, the show's 23rd, will be its final batch of new episodes.
The Daily Beast reported Monday that the actors were facing a 45% cut from their $440,000 per episode salary, which would take them down from $8 million to just over $4 million; they countered with an offer of a 30% cut but with a small slice of the show's backend, which includes merchandise, syndication and DVD sales. The executive told The Wrap that any agreement would only be for one more season.
Producers for the show have already taken a pay cut to keep the show going. Fox released a statement about the show's tenuous financial situation on Monday.
23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.
The stars re-upped their contracts in 2008, receiving significant raises; it was reported that they went from $360,000 to $500,000 an episode
Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen in Snow White
"Relativity's Untitled Snow White," which will certainly get a name change before its March 2012 release, stars Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, and Armie Hammer. It's directed by Tarsem Singh, who was behind the video for REM's "Losing My Religion" video, "The Cell," and the upcoming movie "Immortals." The director is famous for his visually striking style, and, as you can see in this first photo -- available exclusively at Yahoo! Movies -- Singh didn't scrimp on sumptuousness for this film, either.Decked out in an eye-popping, fire-engine-red dress with an arched hoopskirt and peacock-feather embroidery, Julia Roberts cuts quite the figure as the Evil Queen -- though it makes you wonder how anyone could walk around in that. Co-star Lily Collins found the Oscar-winning actor to be a commanding presence in costume.
"[Roberts] is so absolutely breathtaking and majestic that you can't take your eyes off of her, and her portrayal of the queen's evil nature is utterly mesmerizing that you almost feel a kind of pleasure and guilt for staring too long," Collins said.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
iOS 5: The Top 10 New Features
The new iOS 5 will go live October 12. It brings revamped notifications and more than 200 new features for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. These are the top ten, and then some more.
Some of these features you already had in your iPhone or iPad. They just came in third-party apps.
If you used apps like the must-have WhatsApp, which allows you to message in an extremely easy way with all kinds of phones for free, you already were enjoying something like iMessage (even while iMessage adds important services, like device-wide conversation synchronization). If you had the awesome Instapaper, you already had some of the features of the new Safari. Or if you had something like Remember the Milk, you already had a great reminders service.
However, there are features that weren't available before; either because they are completely new or because they are system-wide. And there are real jewels too.
Things that may sound silly, like using the volume + button as a shutter in the Camera app. Or more important stuff, like well thought Notifications and the ability to run your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad without having a PC. Your iDevices are now completely autonomous.
All these features put iOS on par again with some of the features that you could already find in Android, Palm or Windows Phone 7. Some of their implementations, surpass those platforms. But even while none of these new features are extraordinary per se, all of them together are quite impressive.
iOS 5: The Top 10 New Features
1. Notifications
The first big feature is notifications. At last, Apple will get rid of the annoying popups that break your flow. And with "annoying popups" I really meant "stupid dumb boxes that makes me want to smash my f*cking iPhone against the wall when I'm playing a game or chatting with strangers in the night".
They have replaced those with a new app called Notification Center. It's very similar to Mobile Notifier, the iOS notification app—which makes sense, since Apple hired its developer a while back. It not only includes app notification, but mini-widgets that show live information from apps like Weather and apps.
The notifications extend to the lock screen too, so you can see more stuff right away without unlocking your phone. Sliding your finger on it will automatically lead you to the app that generated that notification.
Notifications are clearly and by far the best part of iOS5—particularly coming from the stone age pop-up mess of previous versions. Everyone on staff who's used iOS5 is in love, and the upgrade is the must have feature.
2. iMessage
Another new useful feature, which will hurt Blackberry and the telecommunications companies wanting to sell you stupid SMS and MMS contracts: Apple has implemented a new messaging system called iMessage.
It works between all iOS 5 devices, allowing you to leave conversations on your iPhone and continue them in your iPad (again, I will not be surprised to see this integrated into Lion at a later date). It comes with delivery notification as well. However, unlike WhatsApp, it doesn't work with other non-iOS devices. Maybe Apple thinks your Android and Blackberry friends are not worth talking to for free.
3. New Camera app and photos
The new Camera up gets two of the most-requested features in the history of iOS. The first is a shortcut in the lock screen to access the camera right away, so you don't have to unlock and then click on the Camera icon, which often makes you lose the moment.
The other one, which is something we have whined about endlessly, is using one of the volume button as the shutter button. Just press + and that's it: CLICK! This is a very welcome addition.
The new app also includes basic photo editing. It includes quick enhance—which basically sharpens your image, making shadows and highlights more detailed, and correct color automagically. It also include red eye reduction and cropping, both welcome additions to those who don't have the Camera Plus already.
4. Newsstand
Apple has built a virtual newsstand right onto iOS 5, very similar to the iBooks app but exclusively for magazines and periodicals. It looks like a cross between iBooks and a folder view, actually.
5. Twitter integration everywhere
iOS 5 will have Twitter integration everywhere. Apps like camera will be able to directly post the image to Twitter. The YouTube App, Safari or even Maps will support direct sharing in Twitter. It also adds a new Twitter address field to your Contacts application.
6. A new Safari
Safari has been revamped with new features. Reader will allow you to reformat a site on the fly, taking out ads and reformatting text so it looks better on your iPad or iPhone screen.
This feature flows into Reading List, which is a way to save those pages for later offline viewing, keeping them synchronized between all your iOS devices and Lion. Presumably via iCloud.
Apple's web browser also adds tabs in this version. Your open pages will line up right below your address bar. According to Apple, switching between pages is "lightning fast," so perhaps they have made some magic with the memory management to reduce the reload of pages in older devices.
7. New Reminders app
The new Reminders app makes it easy to make to-do lists. The interface is very simple and it's synchronized between iOS 5 devices and your Mac OS X desktop or notebook.
The really cool thing about Reminders is that it's location aware. Imagine you add that you need to buy milk, but then you forget about it. When you pass by the grocery store, the app will tell you that you need to buy milk.
8. New Mail app
Mail includes a barrage of enhancements
• Rich Text Formatting, which will allow you to annoy the hell out of everyone bolding every sentence in your mails.
• Indentation control, which allows you to control the level of indentation of your quotes from other messages.
• Draggable email addresses, which allows to drag and drop email addresses into to, cc and bcc fields.
• Message flagging to call your attention over a particular mail later.
• Swipe to Inbox, which makes it very easy to access the list of message in portrait mode on the iPad, instead of clicking on a button for a weird pop-up dialog.
9. No PC required
At long last, the most important feature of them all: You will not need iTunes and PC anymore to use your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Apple has caught up with Android and Windows Phone 7. The new iOS 5 will allow you to set up your new device easily: Turn your new gadget on and a Welcome screen will appear. All software updates will happen over the air.
All the applications will now be completely autonomous. You will not have to go to iCal or some other desktop app to create a calendar, for example. There is no need for a desktop or laptop anymore, for anything.
10. New Game Center
The have enhanced Game Center too. Unfortunately, they have not renewed its awful casino interface, which looks as dated as always. But they have added much needed concepts from Xbox Live and other gaming systems:
• Achievement points.
• Access friends of friends, so you can compare and play with a wider range of people.
• Photos in your profile, so you can flirt with other nerds pretending to be women online.
• Game discovery, to play with whoever wants to play with you at any given time.
• Game downloads within Game Center.
• Support for turn-based games like Words for Friends and Scrabble.
All the others
• Cards: Lets you create digital cards directly from your iPod Touch or iPhone and send them to your contacts
• Dictionary everywhere: This is something that many people have asked for because they like it in the iBooks app. Now, every application will have Dictionary built-in.
• iTunes synchronization over Wi-Fi
• Advanced gestures: It will allow you to pass from app to app on the iPad by using a simple swipe gesture, without having to use the home button. This was a feature has been in testing for a long time and, trust me, once you try it you will not be able to live without it.
Brady cuts his hair... the world has an opinion
Via Grantland: For some men, throwing an uncharacteristic four interceptions in one game would necessitate a real gut-check moment. They'd review film, talk to their receivers, go to Jesus. They'd ask, "What's wrong with me?" Tom Brady knew what was wrong. He threw four interceptions, then HE cut his hair. Anyone who noticed sang "Hallelujah." People wrote obituaries and burned scrunchies. Last Wednesday was a great day for people who hate ostentation, uniqueness, or style, for people who believe Brady had become too fancy for serious football. Lots of athletes get their hair cut in a salon. Brady's crime was that he looked like he did. Last Wednesday, those people — people who love Tom Brady the quarterback, but bristle at Tom Brady the spokesmodel — celebrated an early Christmas.
But that hair — The Hair — was an exciting moment for the National Football League. When Brady arrived at training camp two summers ago, he came with a haircut that matched his risky approach to football: He was taking a chance. It was hair that said to men, "Guys, I'm not sure where this is headed, but let's just see where it goes." And so we took a journey that, more than a year later, ended unceremoniously. For a man who really doesn't say a lot, the haircut said everything. It said, "I'm sorry." It said, "You were right." It said, "Gisele uses both blow dryers." Brady asked the world to read nothing into it, which then allowed the world to read further while grumbling that he should also run for office.
You can see Brady's point. Really, the new hair is just the old hair: a 3 on top, 2 on the sides; a Supercut. But it's the hair of three Super Bowl rings and numerous Sports Illustrated covers. It's the haircut of the Man Who Got Gisele. Brady was equally blasé in deciding to grow it out. During the preseason, he told reporters it was more or less an accident. "We've had two-a-days for the last three weeks. … This is what happens,'' he said. "I passed that uncomfortable stage with it. Now, I'm just like, 'Screw it, let's just keep going.'" But it was always a little uncomfortable. Some days its fullness made him look like a cross between a Redgrave and Mrs. Doubtfire. Eventually, the pop star Justin Bieber went on the attack, all but crying copyright infringement.
The hair had volume. It had charisma. There were reasons to feel it deserved an agent. But it was never popular and frequently misunderstood. In a few men it had aroused traumatic discomfort. This is the hair that smacked your tray onto the cafeteria floor. It was the hair into whose locker your girlfriend not-that-secretly slipped "I like you" notes. How many hearts had that hair broken? How many wedgies had it given? How many times had you tried to have that hair only to wind up looking like a Santa Monica pot dealer or Shaggy after too many Scooby Snacks? The hair, in that sense, was an affront. How you felt about it also depended on the lens through which it was viewed. On the one hand, you could perceive Gisele's influence. She had turned an All-American quarterback into a Brazilian beach bum, from Tom Brady to Gustavo Kuerten. On the other hand, as time went on, Brady's hair had become loosely commonplace. On a bad day it was a poor man's Clay Matthews or an elegant one's Jeremy Shockey.
In deciding to grow it at all, there might have been a degree of calculation. Two years ago Mark Sanchez arrived in the league, and America began passing out. Even before he'd thrown his first football, he was the most drooled-over player in the NFL. Sanchez has a breathtaking handsomeness that's both antique and of-the-moment — part 1930s movie star, part Bachelor Season 17 — and he has real, confident style. You couldn't help but feel for guys who wanted a piece of Sanchez's action. Perhaps without quite fully realizing what he'd done, Brady had entered the fray of grooming and personal style. For instance, he and a slicked-back incarnation of the hair are currently starring in ads for UGG for Men, a move that, however momentarily, manages to unite those who despise the Madison Avenue sideshow of American sports and those who despise the UGG Australia brand. But the company is determined to make inroads with American dudes, and choosing Brady to help blaze that trail is shrewd. Of course, Wednesday feels a bit like rejection of that Tom Brady.
It was increasingly unclear what exactly it was Brady wanted that hair to do, what he wanted it to say. It was statement hair, and the message, the adventure, the fun had all gotten away from him. Sports people whispered it wasn't a leader's haircut. Complaints that it was unmanly allegedly came from Randy Moss, whose cornrows turn into a Pam Grier Afro with impossible ease. That blown-lead loss against the Bills might not have been the reason Brady had his hair cut. Yet that he did at least suggests that the last year might have been frivolous — even the ferociousness he occasionally unleashed during the regular season now feels somehow experimental. In cutting his hair, he cut away the UGG campaign, the Bieber jokes, the insulting, paranoid idea that his wife is some kind of reverse Delilah. Sunday, against the Oakland Raiders, was his first game with the new hair, and Brady gave a routinely clean performance. He might not like us to talk about any corollaries. But this is back-to-business hair that denies us the right to speculate that Brady's business is anything other than football. "Go long" can now apply only to his passing game.
Monday, October 3, 2011
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