Saturday, October 4, 2008

Finnish theatrical hard rock band Lordi – who are known for their ‘monster’ personas – have released a music video for the single Bite It Like a Bulldog. The song rose to number one on the Finnish single chart.

The song is the lead single from Deadache, Lordi’s new album, which is due for release later this month. The album’s musical style is described as similar to the band’s previous work in that it is melodic hard rock, but with a ‘rougher’ quality to it and stronger horror themes. The band’s keyboardist previously compared some of the music to that of Rob Zombie.

The band have also introduced new incarnations of their costumes, as they do for the release of each album. According to the group’s frontman, part of the aim for the video was to showcase these to the world for the first time. “The modern horror film classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and Hostel were the starting points and the influence for the visual look,” he told MTV.

He also explained that the intention was to produce something different with the video. “We wanted to achieve something that breaks the tradition of Lordi videos… The idea was to have a video with a not-so-simple and easily understandable storyline. We wanted the clip to focus on the feeling of the song and the new, more grotesque look of the band.” The video was directed by Limppu Lindberg, who has worked on graphic design with Lordi and directed videos for Finnish metal bands such as Children of Bodom and Norther.

The video’s United States TV debut will be made tonight at 11pm on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Gilbert Arenas, a star player in the American National Basketball Association’s Washington Wizards, now faces up to six months in prison after pleading guilty to felony gun possession charges today in a Washington, D.C. court. This plea was part of a plea bargain that he agreed to which would shorten his jail term if he cooperated with authorities.

Arenas, 28, was charged with the crime after he allegedly pulled an unloaded gun on a teammate in the team’s locker room on December 21, which he says was a joke on the teammate. Arenas was later found to have been keeping firearms in his locker after an investigation by police and the NBA.

Meanwhile, Arenas has been suspended for an indefinite time by NBA commissioner David Stern without pay. This action has also gained support among the Washington Wizards and its players, according to the team.

According to Arenas, he stored four guns in the locker room, all of them being unloaded. When asked for his reasoning, he cited that he had young children and did not want the guns in his home around them. He also said that he did not know that keeping the guns in the locker room was a violation of Washington D.C.’s gun laws, which have grown very strict recently.

On December 19, two days before the incident, Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton got into a heated argument about gambling debts on the team’s private jet. Crittenton, on whom Arenas pulled the gun, is not known whether to be carrying a gun at the time of the incident, or if he pulled the gun on Arenas. A police raid of his home yielded no results, and Crittenton has not been charged in the matter.

Antawn Jamison, another star Wizard player and friend of Arenas, has not spoken with Arenas since he was charged. “Hopefully he’s doing better than what I’d be doing in the situation or better than I expect. But one thing about Gilbert, he’s a tough-minded individual,” Jamison commented on the situation.

“I’m a goof ball and that’s what I am,” says Arenas about the situation, “So, even doing something like this, I’m going to make fun of it and that’s how I am,” he added.

Arenas, 28, has been selected to three NBA-All-Star teams. He recently scored his 10,000th career point in November. Arenas also holds the NBA record for most points scored in a single overtime period, with 16.

Monday, January 31, 2005

Metlife announced on 01/31/05 that they were going to acquire Travelers Life and Annuity from Citigroup. Travelers Life and Annuity is an insurance underwriter. MetLife is a large life insurance and annuities underwriter. MetLife will have to borrow a lot of money to pay for the company, so rating agencies like S&P warn that the AA credit rating of MetLife might be lowered. This would cause the interest rates at which all of MetLife’s debt must be repaid to increase.

Citigroup committed to continue distributing Travelers life insurance and annuities through its Smith Barney stock brokers, Primerica agents, and Citibank branches.

Citigroup was previously known as Travelers Insurance before it bought Citicorp. First the Property and Casualty business of Travelers was spun off, and now the life insurance division has been sold off. This is primarily because insurance underwriters get a lower price to earnings multiple from the stock market because of the cycles and uncertainty associated with the insurance business. Also, having an insurance underwriter and a bank together does not usually create “cross-sell” opportunities, because consumers and businesses almost always buy life insurance and annuities through brokers who have a duty to give them other options. Citigroup will continue to sell insurance through its brokers as before.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, a division of Finland’s national police, has ten suspects currently, in its recent investigation into alleged dog fighting in the south of the country.

All the suspects are male Finns residing in southern Finland. The new developments are the result of an investigation into four to six alleged dog fights. Dog fighting is a breach of animal cruelty laws in Finland, and the case will be considered for prosecution in October. They are being investigated under suspicion of breaching the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Chief Inspector Olli Töyräs of the Keskusrikospoliisin told reporters, “I would not like to speculate on the motives for the arranging of these dog fights. At least thus far there has been no evidence of illegal gambling on the outcome of fights. There also does not seem to be any large-scale organisation behind the incidents or connections with organised crime groupings. It would appear to be the pastime of a group of individuals.” Despite this, the group is known to have links throughout Scandinavia, as well as possible links to Russia.

He added that about a dozen pit bulls from America were involved in the incidents.

Key evidence includes video footage and testimony from veterinary surgeons, who were present when police raided several locations suspected to be involved. “Statements by veterinary surgeons are a significant part of the investigation. They play the same role here as forensic pathologists would in a normal violent crime investigation,” Inspector Töyräs said.

The investigation was begun as a result of an investigation into dog fighting in the United Kingdom by the state-run British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). A BBC journalist teamed up with a man with military experience to infiltrate a notorious dog fighting ring from Ulster, Ireland, known as The Farmer Boys. This uncovered links to a group involved in comparable activity in Finland. The documentary, which is part of the Panorama series, was broadcast in Finland yesterday by YLE.

The BBC had contacted Finland regarding it’s discoveries in April. The BBC itself had begun it’s investigation after Gerard Cavlan, a football player from Northern Ireland, was convicted on charges related to dog fighting.

The programme included graphic scenes of a dog fight in Finland, filmed using hidden cameras. The show’s team also purchased a pit bull from a dealer in Finland with false documents showing it to be another breed (pit bulls are illegal in Britain) and successfully transported it back without detection via Germany and Ireland, taking a ferry into England from Northern Ireland.

The dog breeder is a member of SATHY, an organisation which describes itself as “a Finnish club devoted to dog breeds not recognized by FCI related associations (such as the Finnish Kennel Club, and some others). [The] Most important breeds for us are the American Bulldog, American Pit Bull Terrier, Toy Fox Terrier, American Hairless Terrier and Olde English Bulldog.”

SATHY has issued a statement via their website to the affect that they felt the programme was misleading, and that Finnish dog breeders have initiated legal proceedings against the British journalist responsible for the programme. One of the dog breeders shown during the programme denied any criminal activity when approached by the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat news service.

Privacy laws in Finland required the faces of those believed to be involved to be pixelated during the Finnish version of the broadcast, although this was not mirrored in the UK screening – which, in an unprecedented move, coincided exactly with the showing in Finland. The show was widely discussed on the internet, with large volumes of material requiring deleted by site administrators as breaching Finnish privacy legislation.

The investigation is the only one ever conducted into dog fighting in Finland. Töyräs explained the problem to journalists: ”We have only had vague unconnected hints of this sort of activity in the past, and on the basis of these it was not possible to mount an earlier investigation.”