Coke, Pepsi slug it out at Thai boxer's home
BANGKOK - Soft drinks giants Coke and Pepsi are slugging it out for supremacy outside the home of Thai Olympic boxing hopeful Worapoj Phetkum, who faces his first fight of the Beijing Games Friday, the Bangkok Post said.
PepsiCo's local distributor made the first move, erecting promotional tents at the police sergeant's home in the southern province of Surat Thani, where hundreds of people are expected to gather for his bout against Italy's Vittorio Parrinello.
Coca-Cola's Thai agents quickly countered, offering the boxer's father, Thaweep, a deal -- on condition the Pepsi tents were removed.
In a typically Thai compromise, both companies have been allowed to stay, providing they behave themselves.
"If they make problems, both will have to leave," Thaweep said.
Worapoj is one of Thailand's strongest Olympic medal hopes, having won silver in the bantamweight category in Athens four years ago.
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Chinese learn to party at Olympics beach volleyball
BEIJING - While the beach volleyballers tough it out in the sand, Tom Blaumauer and Chris McGee have faced an Olympic challenge of their own: how to encourage the Chinese to throw a Californian beach party.
Rock music, go-go-girls and rowdy singing in the stands have become as integral a part of beach volleyball as bikinis and board shorts but before Beijing, the announcers were worried the conservative Chinese might not catch the bug.
"We didn't know if they would react to the Western-style music we play. If not, what do you use?" said Blaumauer, who has led the commentary and entertainment at world tour events since the trend started about 12 years ago.
"Chinese music is just not so rocky and poppy. We need people up there stamping their feet. If they're sitting down and swaying gently, it's not so great."
Blaumauer and McGee, the voices of the U.S. tour, worked with Chinese announcers and DJs to put together potential playlists and taught volunteers how to get the crowd up and dancing.
A week into the event and "We will rock you" and "Minnie the Moocher" (Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi) were working as well in the 12,200-seat Chaoyang Park stadium as anywhere in the world.
The Beach Boys and Robbie Williams, however, were struggling unless there was a quorum of international fans.
A lot was lost in translation the other way as well, as tourists were bemused by high-pitched Chinese ballads and the rousing nationalistic chorus "Ode to the Motherland" that has all the Chinese on their feet and singing at the top of their voices.
"We go by who's here and what's going to work," Blaumauer said as a mixed crowd launched in to "Put your hands up in the air." He reckoned a tenth of the music they played was Chinese.
CROWD FUN
On the sand, McGee and his Chinese counterpart try to teach the crowd the rules of the game and hand moves to celebrate certain points, like a double-armed wave to German rap refrain "Mein block" when a player blocks the ball at the net.
The international crowd love it. The Chinese are not so sure, although they are becoming dab hands at the Mexican wave.
Certain players also have their own tunes like "American Woman" for the U.S. women's teams, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" for the Australians and "Zorba the Greek" for, well, the Greeks.
Critics say the high-octane party atmosphere shows that beach volleyball is a lifestyle sport that has no place in the Olympics but given that events like weight lifting are now pumping up the music to keep people going, it seems they were on to something.
"You don't want people falling asleep in their seats," said Sinjin Smith, a former top player who has helped put together the entertainment program. "That's not going to happen here."
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Sweet Home Alabama...England?
LONDON - Council chiefs in Birmingham were left red-faced when they mistakenly used a picture of their U.S. namesake in Alabama on thousands of official leaflets.
Pamphlets about recycling in the West Midlands bore an image showing the skyline of the city in the Deep South.
Under the headline "Thank You Birmingham!," the picture showed office blocks in the U.S. city, rather than its own distinctive Rotunda tower and the curvy Selfridges store.
The council said it had made a mistake, but had no plans to recall the leaflets.
"We accept that the wrong photo was used but the text and detail contained in the leaflet is wholly correct which is the most important message as we strive to further improve our green credentials," the council said Thursday.
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Woman accused of beating fiance at prenup party
POULSBO, Wash. - A Poulsbo woman was jailed after being accused of beating up her fiance at their prenuptial party. Kitsap County sheriff's deputies said the woman's 12-year-old son told her he saw her fiance kissing one of her women friends early Thursday morning.
Deputies said the woman, 31, gave her friends the boot, told her fiance to leave, too, and then started hitting him in the face.
When he left the house, they say, she tackled him football-style, punched him some more, threw his watch into the bushes and broke his glasses.
Responding to a 911 call from her son, deputies arrested the woman for investigation of fourth-degree assault.
Sheriff's Lt. Kathy Collings said the woman was released from jail later Thursday.
There's no word on whether the marriage took place.
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King penguin receives Norwegian knighthood
LONDON - Nils Olav already has medals for good conduct and long service. He made honorary colonel-in-chief of the elite Norwegian King's Guard in 2005. And on Friday he was knighted. Not bad for a 3-foot tall penguin — actually, three of them.
A resident of Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, the original Nils Olav was made an honorary member of the King's Guard in 1972 after being picked out as the guard's mascot by lieutenant Nils Egelien. The guards adopted him because they often toured the zoo during their visits to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an annual military music festival, according to zoo spokeswoman Maxine Finlay.
The king penguin was named after Egelien and Norway's then-King Olav V. When the penguin died — Finlay said no one at the zoo knew exactly when — he was replaced by a second penguin, who inherited Nils Olav's name and rank.
The current Nils Olav, the third penguin to serve as the guards' mascot, was promoted from honorable regimental sergeant major to honorary colonel-in-chief in 2005, Finlay said.
The knighthood ceremony began Friday morning with speeches and a fanfare before Nils arrived, under escort with the King's Guard Color Detachment. Nils then reviewed the troops lined up outside the penguin enclosure at the zoo, waddling down the row of uniformed soldiers, occasionally stopping to crane his neck and peer inquisitively at their crisp uniforms before being guided forward by his handler.
Nils was then knighted by British Maj. Gen. Euan Loudon on behalf of Norway's King Harald V. Loudon dropped the king's sword on both sides of Nils's black-and-white frame, and the penguin's colonel-in-chief badge, tied to his flipper, was swapped for one symbolizing his knighthood.
"He'll be a "sir" now," Finlay said.
Nils Olav, an Edinburgh Zoo penguin and Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King's Guard, an elite unit tasked with protecting the Norwegian royal family, inspects soldiers of his regiment as they visit him in Edinburgh, Scotland, Friday Aug. 15, 2008, where he was presented with a medal. The original Nils Olav first became an honorary member of the regiment in 1972, when a young lieutenant called Nils Egelien visited the penguins at the zoo, but died in the 1980s, and was replaced by the current Nils Olav.
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Man banned from girlfriend's home after noisy sex
LONDON - A British man has been banned from visiting his girlfriend's home after neighbors complained about noisy sex, a local official said Thursday.
A court barred Adam Hinton, 32, from being within 110 yards of his 29-year-old girlfriend Kerry Norris' apartment, Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman Mike Taggart said.
Residents of Norris's publicly owned home had been complaining since 2006 about thumping music, banging headboards and screamed obscenities, Taggart said.
Neighbors also complained about Norris sunbathing naked in her yard, and were upset that a 6-year-old child in the building had been "subjected to the sort of obscenities you wouldn't want a 6-year-old to hear," the spokesman said.
"She is a classic nightmare neighbor," Taggart said, insisting the case was not about sex. "It's about allowing your neighbors to have a normal decent life without being disturbed."
The court granted the city council's request for an injunction banning Hinton from the apartment because Norris had ignored a previous court order demanding that she be more quiet, Taggart said.
Norris last week was forced to pay $560 in fines and court costs for breaking the "noise abatement order," Taggart said.
Neither Norris or Hinton could be immediately located for comment. Brighton and Hove is located in southern England.
This is TheOldGuy reporting from
© Copyright 2008
5 comments
I love the penguin! Thanks Steve!