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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jun 4, 2014
June 4, 2014
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Taking everything much too seriously:
There was a huge celebration in Detroit yesterday (Tuesday). After all, it was RoboCop Day!!!
In fact, the City of Detroit erected a 10-foot RoboCop statue to mark the release of the DVD and Blu-ray yesterday. Detroit Mayor DAVE BING said, "Philadelphia has a statue of ROCKY and RoboCop would kick Rocky's butt. He's a great ambassador for Detroit." The statue was made possible by a Kickstarter crowd-finding campaign that raised nearly $70-thousand dollars.
Other festivities last night included RoboCop throwing out the first pitch at Comerica Park as the Detroit Tigers hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. (Still)
PS: The Blue Jays went on to beat the Tigers, 5-3, however.Idle gossip & unconfirmed rumors:
BRADLEY COOPER gained 40 pounds for his latest role in "American Sniper" and looks nothing like his former self! MIKE WALKER of the National Enquirer reports the actor was all set to have dinner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, but the staff didn't recognize him under all that muscle and refused to serve him until he ponied up some ID. (Lee)
On, off and way-off Broadway:
Meanwhile, BRADLEY COOPER will star in "The Elephant Man." The revival will start performances at Broadway's Booth Theatre on Oct 18 and officially open on Nov 13. The limited run will end Jan 18. "The Elephant Man" won a Best Play Tony in 1979, as well as a Best Actor nomination for its lead actor. The play was revived in 2002 and starred BILLY CRUDUP. The 1980 film version starred JOHN HURT.
Off the beaten path:
A court in India is being asked to determine whether a famous guru is dead or just in a deep state of meditation.
Yes, you heard that correctly: His Holiness SHRI ASHUTOSH MAHARAJ, founder of the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan religious order, died in January according to his wife and son. His disciples, however, have refused to let his family take the body to be cremated because they believe he is merely in a state of deep meditation. (So currently, he's located in a commercial freezer so that he'll be safe when he wakes up.)
It's worth it to note that the guru, who was or is in his late seventies, has an estate valued at about 167-million dollars. Although police originally confirmed his death, the Punjab High Court later dismissed it's statement on the basis that his followers cannot be forced to believe he is dead.
According to one follower who wished to remain anonymous, "Maharaj has been in deep meditation. He has spent many years meditating in sub-zero temperatures in the Himalayas, there is nothing unusual in it. He will return to life as soon as he feels and we will ensure his body is preserved until then."
In the mean time, Maharaj's son, DILIP JHA, says that his father's followers are refusing to release his body as a means of keeping control of his financial empire. (AB)Tampering with Mother Nature:
Taking a sabbatical from your cell phone and other devices might help you lose weight. New York magazine's The Science of Us blog says there's increasing evidence that the more time we spend in front of our devices --especially after dark-- the more dysregulated our metabolisms become. It goes beyond the "sedentary lifestyle" argument. Devices stimulate and agitate us, affecting our hormones, which in turn affect sleep. When we're sleep-deprived, we reach for comfort foods.
One study from Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute found that spending two hours in front of any "back-lit electronic gadget --especially gadgets emitting blue light-- suppressed the production of melatonin by 22 percent. That's the hormone that regulates your sleep rhythms. And last year, the International Journal of Obesity looked at 632 British teens and found a strong correlation between evening technology use and increased Body Mass Index. (Bartha) -
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