i will never mess with an american black woman again

[kp404]

300 become ill on cruise ship
By Leslie Holland, CNN
updated 9:50 PM EST, Sat January 25, 2014

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas cruise ship is picutred in a 2007 file photo.
website.

According to the statement, 281 of the 3,050 passengers and 22 of 1,165 crew members of Explorer of the Seas reported vomiting and diarrhea.

In a statement to CNN, Royal Caribbean International said those who fell sick have responded well to over-the-counter medication being administered on board the ship.

Janet Diaz, spokesperson for Royal Caribbean International, told CNN that the ship skipped a planned stop in Haiti on Saturday and sailed directly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it underwent an extensive sanitizing.

The agency said the cause of the illness was unknown.

Diaz told CNN the use of special cleaning products designed to kill norovirus will continue to be used throughout the voyage. All responses are being coordinated closely with the CDC, she said.

Noroviruses spread easily and are a common cause of gastroenteritis, which produces vomiting and diarrhea, according to the CDC.

A CDC health officer and epidemiologist will board the ship in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Sunday to conduct an investigation, a health assessment and evaluate the response, the CDC release said.

Explorer of the Seas left Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on January 21 and is scheduled to make stops in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

From CNN's Janet Digiacomo

 

[kp404]

Sundance Review: Gareth Evans' ‘The Raid 2’ Improves On The Action In A Follow-Up That’s Both Lesser And Longer
REVIEWS
BY JAMES ROCCHI
JANUARY 22, 2014 12:25 PM
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When “The Raid” started on the festival circuit in 2011 in Toronto, it was a bloody blast of fresh air, with incredible action sequences throughout an energetically and expressively shot film with amazing stunt work and bone-crushing fight scenes captured with fluid camerawork, long takes and a giddy sense of the new. Last night, the Sundance premiere of “The Raid 2” presented filmgoers with a mix of good news—indeed, great news—and bad in that the fights, action and stunt choreography in the sequel are all a quantum leap forward thanks to the tireless and exhausting work of writer-director-editor Gareth Evans and his leading man Iko Uwais, who also designed the fight choreography alongside Yaya Ruhian.

At the same time, though, with its spread-out timeline, who’s-betraying-who undercover cop plotting and tangled web of power plays and police corruption, “The Raid 2” lacks the compressed, concentrated one-bad-day-in-one-awful-place form and function of the first film. “The Raid” was 110 minutes of Oh-my-God action; “The Raid 2” has at least 110 minutes of Oh-my-God action … and also has around 30 minutes of bloat and blubber weighing down what could have been a sleeker sequel.

“The Raid 2” picks up so soon after “The Raid” that Jakarta cop Rama (Iko Uwais) is still bloodied and raw from the fight to survive in the first film. While Rama has done well, there’s still a rotten power-structure in the city where the most corrupt of cops coddle the most genteel of crime lords. Rama’s going to be erased from the police records as a dead man—and then put into prison with a false history so he can better befriend Ucok (Arfin Putra), whose father Bangun (Tio Pakusdewo) controls the city in an long-standing truce/arrangement with Japanese crimelord Goto (Kenichi Endo). Rama helps Ucok survive, and after a title-flash explains it's two years later, Rama leaves prison and goes straight to the heart of Bangun’s organization at Ucok’s side as his friend, confidant and protector …

And while the plot of “The Raid” was nothing new, it at least had the functional purpose of containing and directing all the kill-or-be-killed action so that constant waves of adrenaline left you with no time to think and washed away your nagging doubts. “The Raid 2” feels shaggy and shapeless, plumped up with filler that drags it down as a thriller. And while duplicating/re-tailoring the bottled-up action of the first film to a new sealed location—A mall! A boat! A hockey game!—wouldn’t have been an answer, some unifying and directing structure and purpose would be appreciated. Evans has added a series of new-character death-dealers and scene-stealers; Julie Estelle is the aptly-named Hammer Girl, a whirlwind of death, and Very Tri Yulisman gets some great action bits (and a great visual joke) as a killer whose combat weapons are a baseball bat and a ball. Even Yayan Ruhian—who played the late killer Mad Dog in “The Raid”—is back as another new long-haired assassin, Prakoso. And while Putra’s Ucok and a silky would-be crime lord played by Alex Abbad, Bejo, may not take part in the fight scenes, they give great performances full of natural charisma.

I know it sounds like fault-finding or nit-picking to note the borrowed-bits plot here; one sequence echoes, strongly, the five families wipeout from “The Godfather,” while there are also nods to “Game of Death” and a general air of John Woo-esque loyalty-vs-law themes. But “The Raid 2” offers wave after wave of death, dismemberment and limb-disjointing action, and it’s also that rare action film precisely as beautiful as it is brutal, from the set design to the lighting to the way the film zooms between dirty back-alleys to gleaming penthouses. And while Uwais’ Rama is the protagonist, he’s also back-seated by the plotting and planning between Ucok and Bejo against Bangun and Goto—and a little under-written, frankly. Sure, Rama is a good man, tough cop, loving husband and caring father … but four adjectives and four nouns are no substitute for an actual character.

With its long takes, clear camera work, sublime set design and how-did-the-stuntmen-live? action-scene insanity, “The Raid 2” makes most American action films look like the over-edited stunt-doubled CGI-laden child’s play that they are. And yet, again, better fights can’t make up for a too-familiar and over-long script that lacks the snap, pop and purpose of the first film and skimps on character relationships and plotting so that it might better present a death-and-dismemberment toll comprised of hundreds of faceless minions. Yes, “The Raid 2” brings the noise, but length, repetition and too much space also make it a slightly reduced echo of its predecessor. [B+]

 

[kp404]

Sundance Review: 'Concerning Violence' An Intelligent, Bracing Look At The Dynamics Of Colonial Power
REVIEWS
BY KEVIN JAGERNAUTH
JANUARY 24, 2014 3:47 PM
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“And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms; colonization and decolonization a simply a question of relative strength.” ― Frantz Fanon, "The Wretched of the Earth"

When psychiatrist and writer Frantz Fanon published "The Wretched Of The Earth" in 1961, it was immediately banned in France, and given the provocative nature of the text perhaps it's not a surprise. The quote of above is just one of many viewpoints Fanon presents in his book without compromise, with the author taking the position that an oppressed and/or occupied people will eventually push back against their oppressors/occupiers, and that this isn't so much a decision as it is a (justifiable) inevitability. And this is just a small part of a text that examines the power structures of colonialism closely, digging into the way education, religion and labor can all be used to subjugate. It's a dense and academic book, and yet, powerful too. Using it as a basis for a documentary opens up the filmmaker to a minefield of potential missteps, but Göran Hugo Olsson avoids them all with "Concerning Violence," a resonant, intelligent exploration of Fanon's work through the lens of rebellious movements in Africa in the '60s and 70s.

Olsson's previous film was the excellent "The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975," which utilized vintage footage of Swedish journalists reporting on the black power movement, to shine a new light on that era. And once again, Olsson goes digging into the Swedish Television archives, and coming up with some rather astonishing, unfiltered material chronicling the anti-imperialist liberation actions in Africa. And letting that video speak for itself, Olsson chapters the film into 9 parts, hires Ms. Lauryn Hill to narrate, and uses Fanon's own words from "The Wretched Of The Earth" to give context to what we're seeing. And like he did for 'Mixtape,' this approach once again has us consider these revolutions in a whole new light.

Indeed, the structure Olsson utilizes has a twofold effect: one the one hand, it illustrates Fanon's concepts, providing real life examples of peoples across Africa and confirming his posit about the nature and practices of the colonized and colonists. Second, it demonstrates, in the disparate protests across the continent, a unifying pattern—one that is hard to dismiss and must be considered—that a "conquered" nation will submit to a system until action is required to re-balance the scales. And so, as "Concerning Violence" follows the MPLAin Angola, FRELIMO in Mozambique, striking mine workers in Liberia or the harsh words about Western aid from President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara, it's all within a greater picture of resistance and reclamation.

While Olsson's focus on the Fanon's ideas are admirable, "Concerning Violence" does occasionally become disorienting. Early chapters of the film are much shorter than later segments, which throws the pacing of the documentary off balance. Moreover, while the film does provide some (usually scant) background as it jumps from country to country, there are times when you wish there was just a little more information provided to set up the next stop in the film's continental journey. But this is really a minor issue, as the footage Olsson provides has an immediacy that is riveting and occasionally bracing. The unsung journalists (though the film is a quiet credit to their work) are unflinching in their reportage, capturing images that take viewers right to the ground, and with the people who are bravely standing against a power structure designed to crush them spiritually, emotionally and physically.

There is another school of thought on "Concerning Violence" that could have made this a more scholastic and careful picture. But thankfully, Olsson doesn't care for such niceties. His documentary is not only a searing look at Europe's painful involvement in participating, encouraging and backing regimes of oppression, but "Concerning Violence" makes it clear that not much has changed in the fifty years since Fanon's powerful words were first printed. This machinery is still at work in global politics and business, invested in the exploitation of Africa. "Concerning Violence" suggests that the lesson has yet to be learned, and it's only a matter a time until history repeats itself again, and action is taken. [A-]

 

[kp404]

Twenty-nine dead in clashes on anniversary of Egypt uprising
BY SAMEH BARDISI AND MAGGIE FICK

CAIRO Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:50pm EST

3 COMMENTS

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  1 OF 16. Supporters of Egypt's army and police gather at Tahrir square in Cairo, on the third anniversary of Egypt's uprising, January 25, 2014.
  
  CREDIT: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY
  
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  (Reuters) - Twenty-nine people were killed during anti-government marches on Saturday while thousands rallied in support of the army-led authorities, underlining Egypt's volatile political fissures three years after the fall of autocrat President Hosni Mubarak.
  
  Security forces lobbed teargas and some fired automatic weapons in the air to try to prevent demonstrators opposed to the government reaching Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled the former air force commander.
  
  As police tried to calm Cairo's politically-charged streets, a car bomb exploded near a police camp in the Egyptian city of Suez, security sources said.
  
  The blast, which was followed by a fierce exchange of gunfire, suggested the authorities could be locked in a long-term battle with Islamist insurgents who are gaining momentum.
  
  But the growing violence has not dented the popularity of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose ouster of Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first freely-elected president, plunged the country into turmoil.
  
  Instead of commemorating Mubarak's overthrow, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir to pledge their support for Sisi in an event stage-managed by the state.
  
  An army marching band played, while vendors sold t-shirts with the general's image for five Egyptian pounds ($0.72).
  
  Huge banners and posters displayed Sisi in his trademark dark sunglasses at Saturday's rally. Some women kissed posters.
  
  The core demands of the 2011 revolt - freedom and social justice - could only be heard in protests outside Tahrir, which were quickly muzzled by security forces.
  
  The Sisi mania underscored the prevailing desire for a decisive military man Egyptians can count on to stabilize Egypt.
  
  But an end to street violence seemed nowhere in sight. State television quoted a health ministry official as saying 29 people were killed in clashes during protests in Cairo and elsewhere.
  
  Not far from Tahrir, police in black uniforms clutching assault rifles fired tear gas canisters in a clampdown on anti-government protesters lasting for about two hours.
  
  Armored personnel carriers were deployed to try and keep order, and anyone entering Tahrir had to pass through metal detectors.
  
  The pressure prompted one alliance of liberals to call on their members to withdraw from the streets.
  
  But others gathered in central Cairo after nightfall to call for an end to the army-backed government. "Down with military rule," they chanted.
  
  Sisi toppled Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July after mass protests against what critics called his mismanagement and increasingly arbitrary rule, triggering a confrontation with the veteran Islamist movement that has hit investment hard.
  
  SISI TIPPED TO RUN FOR, WIN PRESIDENCY
  
  The general, who served as head of military intelligence under Mubarak, is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency soon and is likely to win by a landslide in elections, expected within six months.
  
  Several leading politicians have indicated they would not run for president if Sisi does, highlighting his dominance and the barren political landscape that has emerged since Mubarak's fall. The most vocal critics of the new order - the Brotherhood - have been largely driven underground.
  
  The army congratulated Egyptians on the anniversary of the 2011 uprising and said it would help people build on the gains of what it calls the June 30 Revolution, a reference to the street unrest that prompted the army to oust Mursi.
  
  Such messages have wide appeal for people like Shadia Mohamed Ahmed, a veiled middle-aged woman holding a poster of Sisi in Tahrir. She said "criminals" who commit violent acts against Egypt should be "executed in a public square."
  
  The crowd around her called for the execution of Brotherhood members.
  
  Tensions have been smoldering anew since a wave of deadly bombings killed six people in Cairo on Friday. An al Qaeda-inspired group, based in the lawless Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring organization.
  
  In an audio message posted on militant websites, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Egyptian Muslims to focus on fighting what he called "an Americanized coup" staged by Sisi instead of battling the country's minority Christians.
  
  The leader of the Coptic Christian church backed Sisi's military takeover.
  
  Early on Saturday a bomb exploded near a Cairo police academy. No one was hurt, said the Interior Ministry.
  
  TEAR GAS AND BIRDSHOT
  
  Some didn't have the chance to express their views. Police fired live rounds in the air to disperse about 1,000 anti-government protesters in Cairo's Mohandiseen district and at two other marches in downtown.
  
  Hisham Sadiq, a university student, said he was protesting against "military rule and the thugs of the Interior Ministry".
  
  At one rally, the crowd yelled "the people want the downfall of the regime!" - a common chant during the 18-day revolt that ousted Mubarak - before running from tear gas.
  
  Dozens of anti-government protesters were arrested in Egypt's second city Alexandria, security sources said.
  
  When he removed Mursi, Sisi promised a political roadmap that would lead to free and fair elections.
  
  But the Muslim Brotherhood says Sisi and his allies in the government have blood on their hands and accuse them of undermining democratic gains made since Mubarak's downfall.
  
  Security forces have killed up to 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood supporters and put the movement's top leaders in jail. The Brotherhood, which renounced violence in the 1970s, has been declared a terrorist group.
  
  But the tough measures have failed to pacify Egypt, which is of great strategic importance because of its peace treaty with Israel and control over the Suez Canal.
  
  Sinai-based Islamist militants have stepped up attacks against security forces since Sisi toppled Mursi. Hundreds have been killed.
  
  The security crackdown has been extended to secular-minded liberals, including ones who played a key role in the 2011 uprising. Human rights groups have accused the Egyptian authorities of quashing dissent and using excessive force, calling state violence since Mursi's ouster unprecedented.
  
  Egypt's most prominent rights groups criticized the government for using the "purported aim of 'countering terrorism' as justification to commit arbitrary arrests and restrict freedoms."
  
  Although the Brotherhood has been nearly crushed by the state, the group has a history of rebounding.
  
  "Their soft, non-ideological support from Egyptian society has collapsed but their most energized core remains more zealous than ever," said Michael Hanna of the Century Foundation in New York.
  
  "The Brotherhood and its supporters are not something that can be swept aside easily they have a substantial and resilient core."
  
  ($1 = 6.9619 Egyptian pounds)
  
  (Additional reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sophie Hares)
  

 

[Ooh Marty]

lol

thats not funny

 

[kp404]

Exclusive: Bank of America's trading practices have been probed, filing shows
BY KAREN BRETTELL AND ARUNA VISWANATHA

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:14am EST

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A Bank of America sign is shown on a building in downtown Los Angeles, California January 15, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE










(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have both held investigations into whether Bank of America (BAC.N) engaged in improper trading by doing its own futures trades ahead of executing large orders for clients, according to a regulatory filing.

The June 2013 disclosure, which Reuters recently reviewed on a website run by the securities industry regulator FINRA, sheds light on the basis for a warning by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on January 8.

The warning, in the form of an intelligence bulletin to regulators and security officers at financial services firms, said that the FBI suspected swaps traders at an unnamed U.S. bank and an unnamed Canadian bank may have been involved in market manipulation and front running of orders from U.S. government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae(FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

Reuters has since learned that Bank of America's trading practices regarding Fannie and Freddie are the subject of probes, and that the investigations are ongoing.

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin declined comment when asked abut the investigations.

The disclosure on the FINRA site doesn't specifically accuse Bank of America of any wrongdoing.

It says: "We understand that the (U.S. Attorney's Office) is investigating whether it was proper for the swaps desk to execute futures trades prior to the desk's execution of block future trades on behalf of counterparties."

The filing, which identifies the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Bank of America is based, adds: "We also understand that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is conducting a parallel investigation into the trading issue."

The filing cites the bank as the source of the information.

The disclosure is in a FINRA "BrokerCheck" report on Eric Beckwith, a former managing director at Bank of America's Merrill Lynch broker-dealer division in New York. BrokerCheck is an online system that allows investors to check the backgrounds of brokers for any regulatory issues or malpractice.

Representatives from the CFTC, and the U.S. Attorney's office in Charlotte declined comment.

The filing said investigators are also looking into whether Beckwith gave accurate information to the CME Group's Chicago Mercantile Exchange in connection with an investigation by the exchange into the trading.

Halldin said Beckwith left the firm in July.

Beckwith could not be reached for comment. The CME declined to comment.

Front running occurs when someone with advance knowledge of another market participant's plan to make a sizable transaction puts an order in first, often profiting from a market move that can occur once the big trade has gone through. It is a concern for many regulators as it pushes up the cost of trades entered into by investors, including pension funds and governments.

In the bulletin, the FBI warned of "unsophisticated tradecraft" such as hand signals or special ring tones that traders were using to deliver information about impending orders in the interest-rate swaps market.

The document also said that the inspector general's office of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB), is looking into the matter.

Representatives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined to comment.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell in New York and Aruna Viswanatha in Washington, Editing by Karey Van Hall and Martin Howell)

 

[kp404]

Jimmy Graham not thrilled with Saints’ threat to use franchise tag on him

By Frank Schwab6 hours agoShutdown Corner



Jimmy Graham wants, but he might have to settle for the franchise tag instead. And he's not too happy about it.

General manager Mickey Loomis said the Saints will give Graham the franchise tag if a long-term deal can't be reached. That shouldn't be a shock, but it still disappointed Graham, who is at the Pro Bowl.

"That's real unfortunate," Graham told NFL.com.

"I'm not keen on the franchise tag, that would be really unfortunate, but that is really all I have to say about that one."

Graham's displeasure to NFL.com was inevitable. And Graham's situation will be even more uncomfortable than most of these player/team battles over the franchise tag.

Graham isn't a traditional tight end, but will he be treated as a tight end or receiver for franchise tag purposes? There's a huge difference. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune the franchise numbers for 2014 are projected to be about $6.7 million for a tight end and $11.5 million for a receiver. That's a $4.8 million difference and the Saints are already digging in.

"This business about what position he is? I think he's a tight end," Loomis told the New Orleans Times-Picayune this week. "That's where we drafted him, that's where we play him.

"In our view he's a tight end. That's what makes him valuable."

This might get ugly. Graham is one of the Saints' best players, an elite pass-catcher no matter what his position designation is. The Saints wouldn't be the same without Graham, who had 1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns last year.

Perhaps the two sides can agree on a long-term deal. Percy Harvin signed a five-year deal worth $67 million with Seattle last offseason and Mike Wallace signed a five-year, $60 million deal. Graham is more valuable than either and his deal would have to go well beyond those. And if that doesn't happen, the Saints will tag him, likely for $6.7 million.

No wonder the acrimony has already begun.

 

[Dwolf]

 

[kp404]

Mary J. Blige's father stabbed by ex-girlfriend
Compiled by Tony Hicks

Contra Costa Times

POSTED: 01/24/2014 08:11:21 AM PST
UPDATED: 01/24/2014 08:34:12 AM PST


Mary J. Blige's father was in critical condition Friday after being stabbed early Thursday.

According to WOOD TV 8, an ex-girlfriend stabbed 63-year-old Thomas Blige in the neck during a domestic dispute at a southside apartment complex in Battle Creek, Mich. Blige reportedly accused the woman of slashing his tires.

Police found Blige with three stab wounds, including one in the neck. The Battle Creek Enquirer reported Blige underwent surgery at a hospital in nearby Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Enquirer reported police arrested the woman, who was wearing blood-splattered clothing, at her apartment Thursday. She was treated at a local hospital for a cut was in jail, awaiting her arraignment in Calhoun County.


Singer Mary J. Blige accepts her award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" onstage at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on February 11, 2007 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The Huffington Post said there have been at least seven domestic violence between Blige and the unnamed woman, who reportedly was sentenced to six months of probation after entering a no-contest plea to charges of aggravated domestic violence against him in October.

Blige has reportedly described her father as a jazz musician and Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome. According toBiography.com, Thomas Blige abused her mother. "He left us when I was 4, but he'd come back from time to time and abuse her some more," she reportedly said.

In her song, "Father In You," Blige sang, "When I was a little girl, I didn't have a father / And that's why I'm leaning on you."

 

[ScoopNScore]

FREEPOST

Spoiler

 

[shopthatwrecks]

i was ripping and roaring in Melbourne and met some ganga black c*nt from the states. she looked well and dagger and i would stab her but dealing with her for more than 10 minutes showed she was a true c*nt.....dry as a dead dingos donger and id rather roo a huntsmen.

the only blacks i can deal with if that are from Africa, mostly southern...if i lived in america i would definitly own a gun after watching that c*nt OG Bobby Johnson video

 

[kp404]

Midseason grades for all 30 NBA teams
BEN GOLLIVER

BY BEN GOLLIVER

Of the 30 teams, seven earned A’s at the midseason point, while two brought home F’s. (Getty Images)

The midway point of the season is here. How has your favorite team fared? Below are grades for all 30 teams.

Note: Grades are primarily determined by first-half performance relative to preseason expectations. The letter grade also takes into account health-related issues, signings and trades made since the start of the season, as well as the impact of major offseason moves. Significant injuries to star players, especially those with multi-year implications, will be reflected in the letter grade and detailed in the accompanying explanations.

(All stats and records are through Jan. 23.)


Atlanta Hawks: B-plus
22-19, No. 3 in the East

Remember when the Monopoly Community Chest would hit you with the “You have won second prize in a beauty contest, collect $10″ card and you didn’t know whether to excitedly cash it in or take offense at what could be interpreted as a subliminal dig at your appearances from an inanimate board game? Congrats to the Hawks, the third-best team in a two-team conference, the NBA’s ultimate beauty-contest runner-up.

Cynics will point out that Atlanta is barely above .500, has lost franchise big man Al Horford for the season and — barring a a terrible catastrophic injury to an opposing superstar — has zero shot of reaching the conference finals, rendering its No. 3 seed pretty worthless. Optimists will note that the Hawks were expected to be a sixth-seed type and have outperformed the likes of Brooklyn, New York and Chicago during what was supposed to be a retooling year as general manager Danny Ferry continued to get his roster house in order.

Both sides have merit, but I tend to side with the latter group because of the Hawks’ money management. Judge, let’s enter this player comparison as Exhibit A:

Josh Smith: 15.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 40.8 percent shooting, 23.9 percent three-point shooting, 14.4 PER, 102.5 offensive rating, 105.1 defensive rating, four years and $54 million
Paul Millsap: 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 46.8 percent shooting, 38.1 percent three-point shooting, 20.1 PER, 103.8 offensive rating, 102.3 defensive rating, two years and $19 million

The “Millsap over Smith” decision looked intelligent at the time and it looks genius now. Ferry got the better scorer, the better rebounder, the better shooter, the better three-point shooter, the smarter shot-taker and the more efficient overall player — and he paid 70 percent of the annual price and 35 percent of the total price to get it done. He ditched a player with historically awful shot selection for a strong All-Star candidate. In short, that decision has already paid dividends and it will continue to pay dividends next summer, and it’s worth bumping up this grade a notch from an otherwise bland “B,” even if the Hawks’ Horford-less postseason reality looks pretty hopeless.

GOLLIVER: The All-Gridiron Team — NBA players who would dominate in the NFL

Boston Celtics: C-minus
15-29, No. 12 in the East

There was a brief stay atop the putrid Atlantic Division and a few scattered patches of hope early in the season, but the Celtics have crash-landed to a predictably dismal resting place. The Celtics are just 1-12 since New Year’s Eve, their offense is an eyesore, their front line couldn’t keep Muggsy Bogues off the offensive glass and Keith Bogans apparently couldn’t take it any more. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

There’s only so much you can say about a team whose first-half highlight was either blowing out New York so badly in a noon game that Knicks coach Mike Woodson decided to impose a curfew for their next early tip; giving a touching tribute to former coach Doc Rivers on the JumboTron;floating the concept of an insanely complicated draft lottery wheel; or trading Jordan Crawford for a shot at a future first-round pick.

Rajon Rondo’s return — and the possibility for trade-deadline fireworks — casts a different light over the second half of the season. The worst-case scenario is that they tank their way through March and April, which also happens to be their best-case scenario. Dragging through a lost year is never an enjoyable experience, but at least first-year coach Brad Stevens has had some flashes as he makes the transition from the college game.

GIVE AND GO: Scoping the comeback trails of Rondo, Oden and more

Brooklyn Nets: D
18-22, No. 7 in the East

An 8-1 run through January kept this from being an abject failure, but don’t think for one second that anyone has forgotten just how low things got before the new year. “Hit me.” The painful Jason Kidd/Lawrence Frank divorce. Two solid months of flat play. A $100 million roster, whose future picks are mortgaged to the hilt, dropping games to the Cavaliers, Magic, Kings, Bobcats, Pistons, you name it. The embarrassing early exit during a blowout loss to the Spurs. An unfortunate season-ending injury to franchise center Brook Lopez. Another disappointing, injury-plagued season for Deron Williams. A truly rough start to Kevin Garnett’s post-Celtics era.

It must be mentioned — particularly for veteran-laden teams with established talent — that things could always be worse in the East. Brooklyn is within 2½ games of the Atlantic Division lead and 3½ games of the No. 3 seed, and it’s almost impossible to imagine that the second half of the season will come with as much adversity as what Kidd and company have already endured. Big picture: The Heat and Pacers aren’t going to fear the Nets in the playoffs, but a division title would at least help the franchise save a little face as it plots its next (sure-to-be-exorbitantly-expensive) move.

MAHONEY: Examining the future of USA Basketball

Will newcomer Al Jefferson lead the Bobcats to a playoff trip? (Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

Charlotte Bobcats: B+
19-25, No. 8 in the East

[Rubs eyes] What’s this? A bona fide overachiever in the Eastern Conference? Michael Jordan’s Bobcats have been a source of guffaws for years, but their play through the first half deserves applause. First-year coach Steve Clifford has transformed the league’s worst defense from last season into a the seventh-ranked unit — better than … wait for it … the two-time defending champion Heat! Undeterred by multiple rotation-impacting injuries, Clifford has duct-taped together a roster filled with anonymous cast-offs and kept the Bobcats in the playoff picture into January, foreign land for the franchise since the Gerald Wallace trade in 2011.

The arrival of Al Jefferson hasn’t provided much of a boost to the offense, which stills sits in the league’s bottom five, and Charlotte’s résumé of quality wins is thin. But the Bobcats have almost matched last year’s win total (21) already. Toss in the awesome Hornets rebrand and the increasing likelihood that Charlotte will have three 2014 first-round picks, and the last few months have bordered on a boom time.

CODY ZELLER: Rookie diary: Life in the NBA can snowball on you

 

[JuvenileHell]

The Raid

 

[Fatboi1]

It’s a hard knock life for Bohemia Interactive. First their alpha testing version of zombie survival multiplayer game DayZ sells only over a million copies at $30 apiece in the first month. Then they win the award for Best Hybrid MMO and snag the IGN’s People’s Choice Award. Adding to their 99 problems was one Jay-Z trying to change the game. (I promise that’s the last of the music puns.)


Jay-Z had his lawyers contact Bohemia Interactive about changing DayZ‘s name to ZDay. According to DayZ developer Dean Hall, “We declined. But it did make me laugh.” Hall revealed the anecdote in his Reddit AMA, in which he talked about his plans for the game and, of course, mentioned that he climbed Mount Everest. Well la dee da, your majesty, with your “leaving the house” and “achieving goals”. Some of us have important video games to play.

Anyway, the lawsuit threat from Jay-Z was by far the most interesting part of the AMA, although PC Gamer did a good roundup of the game-related answers here.

To summarize, Hall thinks the game will be out of alpha testing in six months, and they plan to add the ability to build bases and incorporate cars and small aircraft, although he says the aircraft should be “very complex to maintain”. One thing which may set DayZ apart is that it’s genuinely difficult to stay alive, so much so that teams of players have even banded together to enslave new players as scouts. No church in the wild. (I lied about being done with the puns.)


Read more: http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2014/01/jay-z-dayz-name-change-dean-hall-reddit-ama/#ixzz2rTUEOboc
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[FBGPlank]