We have many things to get to in this, the first "End of the Week" for November 2011, so there's no time to waste. As always, here are my choices for the top people, stories and moments from the past seven days of existence:
Death of the Week: Former "60 Minutes" Contributor Andy Rooney
The man made being a cranky old man look like an art form in his time as the popular newsmagazine program's closer from 1978 to his retirement just last month. Hopefully, he's in a better place now, where nothing is confusing and everything it to his satisfaction. He, and his rants (including the ones shown below) will be greatly missed.
Baby Drama of the Week: Woman Claims Justin Bieber Fathered Her Child
Ahh, the good ole' fake pregnancy allegation from a woman that might just be doing it to get attention. Looks like this little pop star has finally grown up!
Video of the Week: "YouTube Challenge- I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy"
Just fantastic from beginning to end. Most of the kids ended up crying and saying angry things except for the two boys at the end, who acted with a mix of frustration and dignity (in other words, they were awesome). And the best part of it all? Each of the kids were justified in their response.
This Week in OCCUPY: By far, the biggest news story that happened this past week in America's largest protest against anything since New Coke, were the latest developments happening over at the Bay Area, where the folks taking part in Occupy Oakland (last seen being evacuated a week ago by police before returning days later) have apparently decided that if there's any protest that should just abandon the non-violent approach and turn it into the fall version of July's London protests, it might as well be them.
On Wednesday, a general strike was held that became memorable after a bunch of anarchists vandalized an entire Whole Foods store (spray painting a big "STRIKE" sign by the front doors, smashing a window, and barricading the 75 shoppers that were inside when the incident took place) after false rumors emerged saying that the store would fire anyone who took part in the protests. As if that were not enough, events continued to escalate soon after. First, thousands of protesters occupied an entire Travelers Aid building while also shutting down the entire Port of Oakland, disrupting traffic and call kinds of plans in that area indefinitely. Then, later that night, some guy driving a Mercedes-Benz was charged with deliberately running over a couple of protesters after some people threw food at their vehicle (because apparently any sign of prosperity these days is a sign of the evil "1%" according to them). And then came early Thursday morning, when police arrived at the scene in a brand new evacuation attempt, throwing tear gas and other projectiles while arresting about 60 of the demonstrators present and injuring a second Iraq War veteran. In other words, if Occupy Wall Street is the big brother that started everything, Occupy Oakland is the jealous younger brother damaging shit to gain attention. Many people, including Jon Stewart, were not impressed.
But enough about that pesky Occupy Oakland. Let's get to the other 'Occupy' news, shall we? Over at the original Occupy Wall Street movement in New York's Zuchotti Park, which is still officially without any power by the way, approximately 16 protesters were arrested over by the Goldman Sachs building on Thursday after marching down along with 300 others to the building following a mock trial of CEO Lloyd Blackfein (whom, surprise, they found him guilty!). Among those arrested included author Chris Hedges and graffiti artist Reverend Billy. A couple of major milestone of sorts were also set when the very first set of arrested protesters made their way to Manhattan awaiting trials related to their arrests, while the protesters that still remain at OWS are set to receive their first three portable restrooms two blocks from Zuchotti in an effort to improve the site's poor hygiene.In addition, the movement also saw two hilarious appearances by some of late night comedy's top personalities, first that of Stephen Colbert (who appeared in some sort of Che Guivera disguise), and then by Triumph the Comic Dog during Conan O'Brien's special New York week. The videos are just below this sentence.
Elsewhere, it looks as if Oakland wasn't the only site of the 'Occupy' movements that got ugly. Over the weekend, for instance, 'Occupy' protests being held in cities like Portland, Austin and Denver got interrupted by the police, riot gear and all (although the protesters still ended up returning soon after). Over thirty people were arrested in Portland's Jamison Square after refusing to leave, while police Denver actually had to use rubber bullets and pepper spray to get the remaining agitators outside of Colorado's Capitol building. Meanwhile, in Boston, undercover police arrested three people charged with drug possession at the protests, a moment that those associated with encampment are saying has severely damaged the movement's mission. You know which place hasn't had any troubles lately, though? Nashville, as a judge on Monday ordered every Tennessee state official to stop arresting protesters effective immediately in winning effort by the ACLU to stop politicians from setting up curfews for the demonstrations.
Of course, none of this would be complete without a mention of Wednesday's all-new episode of "South Park." Titled "1%," the episode (which was also about Eric Cartman losing his dolls in the show's usual surreal manner) spent a lot of time satirizing the many sides of the spectrum. Not only did they make fun of the so-called "1%" and their beliefs (using Cartman as the perfect symbol), they also made fun of "the 53%," the media's coverage of the protests, and, of course, "the 99%" (with a Red Robin location taking the place of Zuchotti Park). Overall, I felt that it was a pretty strong episode. Not the best episode of the season, and not as good as some of the other new stories in the past that they've parodied ("Best Friends Forever" comes to mind), but still very funny. Clink on this link to see the episode for yourselves.
Eight weeks in, and this thing continues to go strong, folks. And until it ends, "End of the Week" will continue to bring you a recap of the latest.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week: At Least Three Woman Accuse Herman Cain of Sexual Harassment
"Amateur."- John F. Kennedy
-The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: Ohio Woman Claims Ghosts Are Having Sex In Her House
I hate to see what happens to the house when the ghosts climax. I bet it's like coming into a room after Randy Marsh watches Internet porn on "South Park."
Divorce of the Week: Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries Divorce After 72 Days of Marriage
Meanwhile, in the battle against gay marriage...
Internet Meme of the Week: "X>Tebow" (Or "Occupy Tebow")
It started out as a simple little joke, and has since turned into a website's funnest hate party. On Sunday, ESPN.com's Bill Williamson published a column calling for the Broncos to start planning for a post-Tebow Denver, and for a while the comments on the article (like most at the website) were nothing special. But around early Halloween morning, a new meme emerged, one that involved a bunch of people writing "X>Tebow" comments, with "X" being, well, just about everything you can think of, whether it's previously bad football players, awful movies and TV shows, unpleasant situtations, etc. Around Wednesday, though, the sports blog Deadspin took note of the situation, which cause an even greater number of people to post comments on the article to the point that it's been six days and the comments section of the article is still being plagued with "X>Tebow" comments from the world over, even after the website's moderators did everything they could to stop all them (they ended up giving in after a day). Sure, this doesn't entirely make up for the many offensive and lowest common denominator comments that make up the majority of the site, but at least it's been a helluva entertaining thing to read.
Persons of the Week: Humans, Everyone One of Them
Three words: 7 billion people. Sure, this will have some pretty interesting ramifications to come, but for now I'm just gonna say that if there isn't a sign of how far we've come agriculturally, technologically and medically as a species, then I don't know what is.
And that's the way it was ! Thanks for reading! Now, go on and enjoy the rest of your weekend, I insist.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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