Nikoleta Lozanova

Nikoleta Lozanova

Soccer, Acid, Ferraris, Playmates & the Mafia: Mario Puzo couldn’t make this up

If there is one thing I love equally as sports is mob movies. The Godfather 1 & 2, Goodfellas and Donnie Brasco are all cornerstones of the mob movie genre. However just as we learned from Maurice Clarett, sports and the mafia just don’t mix.

Bulgarian goaltender Nikolay Mihailov lost his Playmate model girlfriend to a notorious mob boss and quite frankly that must have hurt, but what would hurt even more is being attacked by that mob boss.

Mihailov was dating Nikoleta Lozanova but she dumped him for local godfather Georgi “The Head” Stoilov. Mihailov found a new lady friend (also a Bulgarian Playmate amazingly enough) that he stupidly compared to his old girlfriend. Talk about making a huge mistake.

Mihailov allegedly joked to local media that if his new girlfriend was a Ferrari, Nikoleta must be a broken down Trabant from the old East Germany.

The next day, Mihailov woke to find that his Ferrari had suffered £17,000 worth of damage following an acid attack that had destroyed the car’s paintwork.

At first I thought this article was completely made up. Two women in Bulgaria who could pose for Playboy? Have they relaxed the mustache restrictions? Then I saw one of the women.

I’m betting it’s all a coincidence. (At least neither Mihailov or the new girlfriend were attached with acid.) Mihailov, is also the son of Bulgaria’s greatest soccer “legend”, is now in hiding, presumably to avoid ending up like Jimmy Hoffa.

Acid is like a woman, a good one will eat through your pants. Zing!

Tata Nano Car

Tata Nano Car

The Indian Car Promise

India is no China when it comes to cars, but then again, it's almost time for the $2,000 Nano.

What's the potential car market in India? Many of us were tied to the past. We thought of India, and we saw sacred cows, elephants, jammed streets, slums, beggars and millions of people dressed like Gunga Din. Then we saw Slumdog Millionaire, and we saw skyscrapers and luxury homes and cars. So what's the story? Is India another China when it comes to cars?

In fact, the car market in India is still largely a promise. Car sales have grown, yes, but they are still a fraction of China's vigorous market. This year's sales may push past 1.6 million cars and light commercial trucks. That's double the 800,000 of 2002--but it still isn't that many. And Western companies are extremely small in India, unlike in China, which might be the world's No. 1 vehicle manufacturer this year.

To make this clear, look at four-month sales through April: 649,000 cars and light trucks in India compared with 3.7 million in China. And China's sales are still climbing, while India is flat. Mind you, flat isn't bad this year, unless compared with China.

Who sells there? A Suzuki ( SZKMF.PK - news - people ) partnership called Marudi Suzuki is the dominant player, with 43% of the market. Next is the Korean Hyundai Group with 14%. But our big players are minor actors in India. Honda ( HMC - news - people ) accounted for only 22,000 car sales in the first quarter, General Motors' ( GMGMQ.PK - news - people ) Chevrolet (also from Korea) 19,000, Toyota ( TM - news - people ) 13,000 and Ford Motor ( F - news - people ) 10,000.

Check the first four months' car production. These production figures come from J.D. Power, which does a thorough job of collecting numbers from India and China.

Maruti Suzuki: 294,000
Hyundai Group: 162,000
Mahindra: 76,000
Tata: 52,000
Honda: 18,000
GM: 18,000
Ford: 11,000
Toyota: 11,000

Harry Potter Prince

Harry Potter Prince

‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Gets Limited July 15 IMAX Opening

Harry Potter fans had reason to hate Transformers earlier this month when they learned the IMAX release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” would be delayed because of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” That robo-blockbuster sequel has the majority of IMAX screens booked solid for a whole month, meaning that when “Half-Blood Prince” opens on July 15 the Autobots and Decepticons will still be battling on the bigger screens, leaving us with only normal-sized Potter for a couple weeks.

That is, unless you’re lucky enough to live in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Those are the only three cities in which a giant-sized boy wizard can be seen as early as opening day, including now-standard midnight screenings the night before.

Collider has discovered the three specific locations: NYC’s AMC Loews Lincoln Square, Chicago’s Henry Crown Space Center at the Museum of Science and Industry (which is also currently displaying a Harry Potter exhibit) and LA’s Century City IMAX, which I hear is one of those smaller IMAX screens.

The latter two theaters appear to be selling tickets for the film already, so if you’re in their respective cities, or you have the means to get there (and you’re a big enough Potter fan), you’ll want to purchase yours immediately. Judging by past major IMAX release, those shows will likely sell out in advance. Then you’ll have to wait until “Potter”’s July 29 wide IMAX opening for your giant-sized wizarding action.

Being so patient will be hard if you’re a true fan. After all, the first 12 minutes of “Half-Blood Prince” have been converted for the larger format, and many capable IMAX screens will also be showing that stretch in 3D. You’ve already had to wait an extra seven months for this sequel after Warner Bros. delayed the film’s opening last November. Then again, maybe you’ve gotten better at holding out after the delay and could actually stand to wait another month. Or you could just go see “Potter” on a normal-sized screen on July 15. Just saying….

Will you be one of the lucky few to see “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in IMAX on opening weekend? How far will you Potter fans travel to see this version? Will you settle to see the movie in normal size first and then see it in IMAX, or could you stand waiting until July 29?

The Transformers 2

The Transformers 2

Robots in the Box Office: Transformers 2 grosses over 200 million

There was nothing subtle about the robots in disguise, as the second Transformers movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, collected a whopping 201 million dollars domestically in its first 5 days at the box office. This year’s first “mega” summer blockbuster surprised most critics, considering that most of the feedback for the movie had been downright harsh before its premiere on Wednesday. Critics have since held their opinions for fear of large-foot-in-mouth syndrome.

Michael Bay, director of both Transformers movies, was deep under fire for making a sequel that was deemed “unnecessary.” But Bay insisted that the movie was “all about the fans, and not about pleasing the critics.” Whether Ebert and Roeper are raising their thumbs, Dreamworks’ Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had made history by becoming the second biggest opening in box office history, falling short by only 2 million to Warner Bros. The Dark Knight.

Spoiler Warning: Not only was the movie embedded with robot-fighting sequences (no training was needed, I assure you) and jaw-dropping explosives that only Michael Bay can bring to a film, but the movie’s overall plot and “follow” factor was beyond commendable. Traveling to the desert to find the Ancient Primes in a race against time, and literally the world, is definitely a storyline that surpassed the first Transformers movie—which is an absolute must for a sequel.

Shia LaBeouf’s character had transitioned smoothly into the second movie, giving him the “you-pulled-through-and-didn’t-screw-up-the-sequel” award; an award that Christian Bale did not receive for The Dark Knight. But the X-factor award goes to the hilarious exchange between John Turturro and newcomer Ramon Rodriguez. With LaBeouf having to worry about the demise of the human race, it was up to these two to pull off the hysterical scenes that every great action-packed film needs.

Even though the movie’s formula has guaranteed its overall success, the ending of Transformers 2 is in serious need of a re-write.

Okay, so I was on board with Transformers on Earth before the Common Era, and I was willing to look away when the Autobots group revived a Smithsonian transformer, but the ending was intolerable to say the least; Two resurrections, one blown-up destroyer machine, and a dead super-villain? It seems that the writers didn’t know where to put the climax and instead just put as many as they could fit in a 2-hour movie. And the one climax that actually seemed “climatic”—when Optimus Prime destroys its evil ancestor—was done at the blink of an eye.

Nonetheless, the movie still managed to raise the bar that much higher for a third movie. Michael Bay has been reported saying that he wouldn’t mind directing a third installment, but Transformers fans may need to wait a while for its release. In the meantime, summer moviegoers can check out the next highly anticipated blockbusters, Public Enemies, premiering July 1st, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which premieres July 15th.

Wimbledon 2009

Wimbledon 2009

Williams sisters, Safina, Dementieva in Wimbledon 2009 semifinals

Semifinal pairs are set at Wimbledon: twice defending champion Venus Williams will play top seed Dinara Safina, while last year’s finalist Serena Williams will face Elena Dementieva.

Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams wasted little time in defeating 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Williams raced to a 5-0 lead in 18 minutes and won the first set in just 27 minutes. Radwanska was coping better at the start of the second set and even got to 0-40 in game two, before converting her first chance to break. However, the third-seeded Williams wasn’t really threatened and broke two times in a row to get to 5-2 and soon after she sealed a 6-1 6-2 victory.

World number one Dinara Safina, who is not a fan of grass and has never before went further than the third round at Wimbledon, came back from a set down to overcome unseeded Sabine Lisicki 6-7(5) 6-4 6-1, the winner over ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round. Safina remained on course for a first Grand Slam title, despite her unconvincing game and 15 double faults.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva crushed Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-2 and advanced to the Wimbledon semifinal for the second year in a row. The last to join the semifinalist was second seed Serena Williams who beat eighth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2 6-3.

It's the first time since 2006 that all four top seeded players reached the semifinals.

Farrah Fawcett Died

Farrah Fawcett Died

Private Funeral for Farrah Fawcett Today

LA Times confirmed this morning that the funeral for actress Farrah Fawcett will be held in downtown Los Angeles today after mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Although her death seems to have been overshadowed by Michael Jackson’s death (quite similar to the death of Mother Theresa and Princess Diana), she is still one of Hollywood’s icons.

Reports said that the Superior Court allowed her son, 24-year old Redmond O’ Neal, to attend the funeral. He will even be allowed to wear civilian clothes.

News Billy Mays

News Billy Mays

South Bend, Ind. - It's almost impossible to go a full day without hearing the words "Hi, Billy Mays here" at least once. For over a decade, Billy Mays pitched everything from laundry detergents to Mighty Putty, Hercules Hooks to health insurance, to the television-viewing public. He was neither an inventor-salesman like Ron Popeil nor a celebrity endorser like Suzanne Somers; instead, he used his talent for working a crowd and an infinite capacity for shouting (he insisted that it was "projecting") in order to become the best-known and by far the loudest practitioner of the old-school hard sell.

He succeeded in spite of the cookie-cutter ads and the questionably useful devices and chemicals he peddled, simply because he understood how to turn an infomercial into something more visceral, almost subliminal. Before Mr. Mays, no one worried too much about their inability to cook minihamburgers four at a time or mount artwork to walls without a hammer and nails. But after a few seconds of watching housewives struggle with these esoteric problems in black and white, there he was to save us from our own ignorance, with a product guaranteed to change our life, available now through this exclusive TV offer for only $19.95. But if you call in the next five minutes...

He was a sort of real-life Al Borland from "Home Improvement," and although his uniform was blue denim and khaki, he still existed mainly to give us sincere advice about problems we didn't even know we had. He spoke to us from sets that featured plain bathroom fixtures and plastic laminate countertops, generic enough to be middle-class and never flashy enough to inspire jealousy (you'd never see him behind a gas stove, for example). In other words, Mays offered not just a product but an entire life of do-it-yourself, business-casual, suburban ease. For two minutes at a time, he all but dared us to pass up the promise of social mobility embodied in a little plastic gadget or a tub of chemicals.

But the aw-shucks, nice-guy persona, all smiles and shouts, hid a cunning businessman who was fully aware that his persona was every bit a fetish as the trinkets he sold. He bragged that he could sell products even with a completely nonsensical pitch. He had no qualms about the fact that his infomercials air constantly on children's networks, but he did regret that he didn't get paid enough for one of his first major promotions. And even though he appeared in every major TV market in the United States and in nearly 60 countries worldwide at hundreds of exposures a week, he said he was "just beginning" and pledged to take his business "to another level."

So he became a strange hybrid – half reality television star, half professional huckster. On the one hand, he depended on us for our silent validation, for his own celebrity status, without which he would just be some random salesman. On the other, he promised that acquiring superfluous junk could be a ticket to a better life, even at a time when that life seems to be slipping further and further out of reach for so many of us.

In the end, his single-minded devotion to salesmanship made Mays endearing despite the bellowing and the emphatic gestures, and despite the distasteful sides of his advertising career. He gave himself so completely to the world of infomercials that it's hard to picture his life without his uniform, without his voice, without a product in hand, but most of all, without the attention of his audience.

It's strange that Billy Mays the man is gone at the height of his career, especially since Billy Mays the salesman is yelling at me from the television right now. After all, his success story, his work ethic, and his larger- and louder-than-life persona all seemed quintessentially American, for all the good and bad that implies.

Micheal Jackson Died

Micheal Jackson Died

When Micheal Jackson died last Thursday, I must have been the only one to not give a damn. I’m not denying the fact that he was a musically gifted individual, but the moment he died, my disdain for Hollywood’s ability to trivialize real world events immediately flared up again. Real news just ceased to exist the moment he died. The contested Iranian election wasn’t front page news anymore, nor was Swine Flu / H1N1 virus. Even the Toronto city union workers strike, which affects more people than some superstar celebrity people have never met, was not the first issue to be broadcasted on local news.

And it seems like when an infamous celebrity dies, they are absolved of any wrongdoings they have committed in the past – like Jackson’s many cases of child molestation. People talk about about what a great musician he was but very few members of the public ever reflect on his interview with Martin Basher. What irked me the most was on June 26, NBC Nightly News, a 30-minute national news program that is supposed to cover international news, spent about 22 minutes talking about Jackson. When it came time to finally discuss the “other news of the day”, 30-second segments were run about them. If I wanted to hear idle speculation about private doctors administering painkillers for an addiction that may or may not have existed, I would have watched Entertainment Tonight.

Micheal Jackson was just one man. He was a musician and a damn good one at that; he was an entertainer and a star that changed the entertainment industry in ways few ever could. But at the end of the day, he was just a man; he was a troubled man with mental problems. I’m sick of people elevating him to the status of a god. All those people lined up to “pay their respects”, don’t they have something better to do?

In other news since Jackson died on June 25, no one learned anything more about what happened in Baharestan Square in Iran on June 24 because it was no longer important news. With more pro-opposition protests happening in Tehran, an apparent massacre occurred apparently on the level of China’s Tiananmen Square. The word “apparently” is used far too much for my liking but details were sketchy at best because Iran’s government has done such an admirable job at cracking down on outside communication. What really happened in Baharestan Square? We can only idly speculate now…

Denmark found a case of Swine Flu that’s resistant to Tamiflu, one of the two drugs used to treat Swine Flu. It’s not a big deal because it was less effective than Relenza to begin with, but there goes one of the two treatments. Though Swine Flu isn’t the second coming of the aporkalypse people were first panicking about, it still has managed to infect over 75,000 people, killing over 300. Then again, how much do we really know of the Swine Flu? How much do we rely on the news organizations that are reporting on Micheal Jackson’s death to inform us? To put things in perspective, Bird Flu, that ever-present flu virus that people don’t really think twice about now, in fact kills half the people it infects. Bet you didn’t know that. And with countries both dealing with Bird Flu and Swine Flu, the chance of cross-transmittance / mutation is possible, leaving one leading virologist to say he would “retire immediately and lock myself in the P3 lab” if they were to combine. “Even if you inject yourself with a vaccine, it may be too late. Maybe in just a couple hours it takes your life.”

Oh, but Micheal Jackson died.