Month: February 2019

A new museum in Milwaukee may well hold the largest collection of bobbleheads anyone has ever seen, displaying more than 6,500 figures of athletes, mascots, celebrities, animals, cartoon characters, politicians and more.

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum recently opened and was the brainchild of friends Phil Sklar and Brad Novak, who started collecting the figures 16 years ago.

“We’ve put everything into this,” Sklar said.

They decided on a museum and bobblehead-creating business about four years ago, after quitting their corporate finance [Sklar] and retail sales [Novak] jobs. Since then, they have been making bobbleheads to earn money, collecting bobbleheads from thrift stores and private donors, finding a location and all the other things that go with creating a museum.

They have collected more than 10,000 bobbleheads, including a life-size bobblehead; a Pat Hughes bobblehead calling the World Series title for the Cubs; bobbleheads of characters from “The Wizard of Oz” and the “Star Wars” franchise; and the first football and baseball bobbleheads from the early 1960s. They even have one of Donald Trump from “The Apprentice” that says “You’re fired” upon the push of a button.

Some of the figures will be on rotation or part of special exhibits — like, say, if a certain sports team is in town.

The museum also includes information about the making of bobbleheads and the people they represent. Admission is $5.

“I think that passion comes from the fun aspect and seeing the reaction people get when they see the bobbleheads,” Sklar said.

Sklar and Novak are in the process of having the collection certified as the world’s largest by the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record is 2,396 bobbleheads, held by Phil Darling, a 40-year-old hardware engineer from Richmond, Ontario. He’s acquired an additional 500 since the certification in 2015.

Darling said that while he will be disappointed not to hold the record anymore, he does hope to one day make it to Milwaukee to see the collection and meet Sklar and Novak.

“It’s on my bucket list” he said.

A smaller bobblehead museum exists at Marlins Park in Miami, but its more than 600 figurines are all baseball players, mascots and broadcasters.

Sklar said he hopes the museum will attract bobblehead fans as well as “people looking for something fun to do.”

“There are so many negative things going on … we need more places to escape and have a good time and also educate at the same time so hopefully we will be an asset to the community,” said Sklar.
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R. Kelly is planning an international tour, but an Australian lawmaker wants the country to bar him from performing there.

The embattled musician announced on social media Tuesday that he’ll be going to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

“See y’all soon” the post said, accompanied by a picture of Kelly and the declaration “The King of R&B.” No dates or venues were revealed.

Kelly’s career has been stifled since a #MuteRKelly campaign gained momentum last year to protest his alleged sexual abuse of women and girls, which Kelly denies. Lifetime’s documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” last month drew even more attention to the allegations, and his record label has reportedly dropped him.

Australia has denied entry to other foreigners on character grounds, among them troubled R&B singer Chris Brown, convicted classified document leaker Chelsea Manning, anti-vaxxer Kent Heckenlively and Gavin McInnes, founder of the all-male far-right group Proud Boys.

“If the Immigration Minister suspects that a non-citizen does not pass the character test, or there is a risk to the community while they are in Australia, he should use the powers he has under the Migration Act to deny or cancel their visa,” senior opposition lawmaker Shayne Neumann said in a statement.

Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it did not comment on individual cases. But the department said in a statement there were strong legal provisions to block entry to anyone “found not to be of good character.”

Kelly is a multiplatinum R&B star who has not only notched multiple hits for himself, but also many high-profile performers.

 
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R. Kelly is planning an international tour, but an Australian lawmaker wants the country to bar him from performing there.

The embattled musician announced on social media Tuesday that he’ll be going to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

“See y’all soon” the post said, accompanied by a picture of Kelly and the declaration “The King of R&B.” No dates or venues were revealed.

Kelly’s career has been stifled since a #MuteRKelly campaign gained momentum last year to protest his alleged sexual abuse of women and girls, which Kelly denies. Lifetime’s documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” last month drew even more attention to the allegations, and his record label has reportedly dropped him.

Australia has denied entry to other foreigners on character grounds, among them troubled R&B singer Chris Brown, convicted classified document leaker Chelsea Manning, anti-vaxxer Kent Heckenlively and Gavin McInnes, founder of the all-male far-right group Proud Boys.

“If the Immigration Minister suspects that a non-citizen does not pass the character test, or there is a risk to the community while they are in Australia, he should use the powers he has under the Migration Act to deny or cancel their visa,” senior opposition lawmaker Shayne Neumann said in a statement.

Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it did not comment on individual cases. But the department said in a statement there were strong legal provisions to block entry to anyone “found not to be of good character.”

Kelly is a multiplatinum R&B star who has not only notched multiple hits for himself, but also many high-profile performers.

 
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Brayan Jimenez, a former head of Guatemalan soccer’s governing body, was sentenced Tuesday to time served and fined $350,000 after pleading guilty for his role in the FIFA corruption scandal uncovered by U.S. prosecutors.

Judge Pamela K. Chen issued the sentence during a 70-minute hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Jimenez faced up to 40 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, and while Chen explained that federal guidelines called for a sentence of 41 to 51 months, she concluded Jimenez’s cooperation and remorse mitigated the situation.

Chen noted Jimenez had been held in custody for 50 days and spent four to five months under home detention and about three years in Miami living under a court-ordered curfew.

Jimenez is now subject to two years of supervised release. The sentence included a lifetime ban from holding any position in professional soccer — he previously was banned by FIFA.

His lawyer, Justine A. Harris, said Jimenez intends to leave the United States and return to Guatemala within 30 days. He already has paid $100,000 of the fine and will pay 10 percent of his monthly income after resuming his dental practice to cover the remainder. The $350,000 matches about what Jimenez received in bribes, assistant U.S. attorney M. Kristin Mace said.

Jimenez was president of the National Football Federation of Guatemala from December 2009 until May 2015.

‘Tormented’ by mistake

“There are no excuse and no justification for my actions,” he told the court, his words translated from Spanish. “My actions have brought shame to the world of football.”

Jimenez said that at the time of the crime, he had been a longtime alcoholic. He said he had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, undergoing counseling and had been sober for 1,118 days.

“Every day I’ve had to fight in order to not fall off a cliff,” he said.

His wife and three children watched from the front row, and a woman in his family delegation broke into tears and made the sign of a cross when Chen read the sentence.

Jimenez dabbed his eyes with a tissue and blew his nose while reading his statement.

“In accepting these payments, I violated my moral principles, my honesty and my honor,” he said. “I’ve been tormented by this great mistake I made.”

He was charged in November 2015 as part of the second wave of indictments in the Justice Department’s investigation into soccer corruption. He pleaded guilty in July 2016 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Each count carried a possible sentence of 20 years to be served either concurrently or consecutively. The other seven counts against him were dismissed Wednesday.

Jimenez’s sentence showed the benefit of cooperation with prosecutors.

‘Rampant’ corruption

Juan Angel Napout, a former president of Paraguay’s federation and the South American governing body CONMEBOL, was sentenced to nine years in prison last summer after being found guilty at trial. Jose Maria Marin, a former president of Brazil’s soccer federation, also was found guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison, ordered to forfeit $3.3 million and pay a $1.2 million fine.

Hector Trujillo, the former secretary of Guatemala’s federation, pleaded guilty and received an eight-month prison term in 2017 in the first sentence in the case.

Chen said there was a “rampant nature of bribery and corruption in FIFA” and its constituents.

Jimenez said he arranged to obtain bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and another federation official during negotiations with the Miami-based company Media World, later known as Imagina US. He said the money was wired from Media World in the U.S. to other people’s accounts in Guatemala, and his share was then distributed to him. Jimenez said the payments were in exchange for media rights for Guatemala’s home World Cup qualifiers in 2018 and ’22, and for giving two individuals the right to organize exhibition games involving Guatemala’s national team.

“This is a very serious crime or crimes,” Chen said, noting Jimenez had taken an extra $200,000 bribe that he kept secret from his co-conspirators.

Jimenez, a member of the FIFA committee for fair play and social responsibility, was banned from soccer for life in April 2017 after the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee said he violated the FIFA code of ethics’ articles on general rules of conduct; loyalty; duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting; conflicts of interest; and bribery and corruption.

Imagina US, majority owned by the Spanish company Imagina Media Audiovisual, pleaded guilty on July 18 to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the participation by two of its executives in more than $6.5 million in bribes to officials of the Caribbean Football Union and four Central American national federations. Imagina US agreed to forfeit $5,279,000 in proceeds, of which $790,000 was restitution to Guatemala’s federation. In addition, Imagina Media agreed to pay a fine of $12,883,320 on behalf of Imagina US as part of a non-prosecution agreement. 
…

Brayan Jimenez, a former head of Guatemalan soccer’s governing body, was sentenced Tuesday to time served and fined $350,000 after pleading guilty for his role in the FIFA corruption scandal uncovered by U.S. prosecutors.

Judge Pamela K. Chen issued the sentence during a 70-minute hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Jimenez faced up to 40 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, and while Chen explained that federal guidelines called for a sentence of 41 to 51 months, she concluded Jimenez’s cooperation and remorse mitigated the situation.

Chen noted Jimenez had been held in custody for 50 days and spent four to five months under home detention and about three years in Miami living under a court-ordered curfew.

Jimenez is now subject to two years of supervised release. The sentence included a lifetime ban from holding any position in professional soccer — he previously was banned by FIFA.

His lawyer, Justine A. Harris, said Jimenez intends to leave the United States and return to Guatemala within 30 days. He already has paid $100,000 of the fine and will pay 10 percent of his monthly income after resuming his dental practice to cover the remainder. The $350,000 matches about what Jimenez received in bribes, assistant U.S. attorney M. Kristin Mace said.

Jimenez was president of the National Football Federation of Guatemala from December 2009 until May 2015.

‘Tormented’ by mistake

“There are no excuse and no justification for my actions,” he told the court, his words translated from Spanish. “My actions have brought shame to the world of football.”

Jimenez said that at the time of the crime, he had been a longtime alcoholic. He said he had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, undergoing counseling and had been sober for 1,118 days.

“Every day I’ve had to fight in order to not fall off a cliff,” he said.

His wife and three children watched from the front row, and a woman in his family delegation broke into tears and made the sign of a cross when Chen read the sentence.

Jimenez dabbed his eyes with a tissue and blew his nose while reading his statement.

“In accepting these payments, I violated my moral principles, my honesty and my honor,” he said. “I’ve been tormented by this great mistake I made.”

He was charged in November 2015 as part of the second wave of indictments in the Justice Department’s investigation into soccer corruption. He pleaded guilty in July 2016 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Each count carried a possible sentence of 20 years to be served either concurrently or consecutively. The other seven counts against him were dismissed Wednesday.

Jimenez’s sentence showed the benefit of cooperation with prosecutors.

‘Rampant’ corruption

Juan Angel Napout, a former president of Paraguay’s federation and the South American governing body CONMEBOL, was sentenced to nine years in prison last summer after being found guilty at trial. Jose Maria Marin, a former president of Brazil’s soccer federation, also was found guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison, ordered to forfeit $3.3 million and pay a $1.2 million fine.

Hector Trujillo, the former secretary of Guatemala’s federation, pleaded guilty and received an eight-month prison term in 2017 in the first sentence in the case.

Chen said there was a “rampant nature of bribery and corruption in FIFA” and its constituents.

Jimenez said he arranged to obtain bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and another federation official during negotiations with the Miami-based company Media World, later known as Imagina US. He said the money was wired from Media World in the U.S. to other people’s accounts in Guatemala, and his share was then distributed to him. Jimenez said the payments were in exchange for media rights for Guatemala’s home World Cup qualifiers in 2018 and ’22, and for giving two individuals the right to organize exhibition games involving Guatemala’s national team.

“This is a very serious crime or crimes,” Chen said, noting Jimenez had taken an extra $200,000 bribe that he kept secret from his co-conspirators.

Jimenez, a member of the FIFA committee for fair play and social responsibility, was banned from soccer for life in April 2017 after the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee said he violated the FIFA code of ethics’ articles on general rules of conduct; loyalty; duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting; conflicts of interest; and bribery and corruption.

Imagina US, majority owned by the Spanish company Imagina Media Audiovisual, pleaded guilty on July 18 to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the participation by two of its executives in more than $6.5 million in bribes to officials of the Caribbean Football Union and four Central American national federations. Imagina US agreed to forfeit $5,279,000 in proceeds, of which $790,000 was restitution to Guatemala’s federation. In addition, Imagina Media agreed to pay a fine of $12,883,320 on behalf of Imagina US as part of a non-prosecution agreement. 
…

This year’s Oscar ceremony will go ahead without an official host for only the second time in its history, an ABC television executive said Tuesday.

Speaking just three weeks before the highest honors in the movie industry are handed out, ABC entertainment president Karey Burke said the Feb. 24 event would forgo a host and “just have presenters host the Oscars.”

ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, televises the Oscars ceremony annually and is closely involved in planning the telecast.

Comedian Kevin Hart in December stepped down from hosting the Oscars after past homophobic tweets resurfaced. No replacement was announced but there had been no official statements on how the ceremony would proceed.

The Oscars ceremony has gone without a host only once before in its 91-year history, in 1989.

Burke said the decision was taken after what she called “the messiness” over the Hart withdrawal and an attempt to revive his chances.

“After that, it was pretty clear that we were going to stay the course and just have presenters host the Oscars. We all got on board with that idea pretty quickly,” Burke told reporters at the Television Critics Association meeting in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena.

She said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars, had promised ABC last year to keep the telecast to three hours — about 30 minutes shorter than in recent years.

“So the producers, I think, decided wisely to not have a host and to go back to having the presenters and the movies being the stars,” Burke said.

The Oscars host traditionally opens the ceremony with a comedic monologue focusing on celebrities, the state of the movie industry, and cultural and political issues.

Burke said she would hear details from the show producers later this week but said there were plans for “a pretty exciting opening” to the telecast.

She added that speculation over the shape of the ceremony was an encouraging sign that the Oscars were still relevant.

Audiences have dropped in recent years with the 2018 show attracting just 26.5 million viewers, the smallest number ever.

“I have found that the lack of clarity around the Oscars has kept the Oscars in the conversation and that the mystery has been really compelling. People really care,” she said.

Mexican drama Roma and British historical comedy The Favourite lead the Oscars nominations with 10 nods apiece.

Burke noted that three of the other best picture nominees — Disney’s Black Panther, Warner Bros A Star is Born and 21st Century Fox musical Bohemian Rhapsody — had each taken in more than $200 million at the North American box office alone.

“I think we are going to see a big turnout for this because these are big popular movies that have been nominated,” she said.
…

This year’s Oscar ceremony will go ahead without an official host for only the second time in its history, an ABC television executive said Tuesday.

Speaking just three weeks before the highest honors in the movie industry are handed out, ABC entertainment president Karey Burke said the Feb. 24 event would forgo a host and “just have presenters host the Oscars.”

ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, televises the Oscars ceremony annually and is closely involved in planning the telecast.

Comedian Kevin Hart in December stepped down from hosting the Oscars after past homophobic tweets resurfaced. No replacement was announced but there had been no official statements on how the ceremony would proceed.

The Oscars ceremony has gone without a host only once before in its 91-year history, in 1989.

Burke said the decision was taken after what she called “the messiness” over the Hart withdrawal and an attempt to revive his chances.

“After that, it was pretty clear that we were going to stay the course and just have presenters host the Oscars. We all got on board with that idea pretty quickly,” Burke told reporters at the Television Critics Association meeting in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena.

She said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars, had promised ABC last year to keep the telecast to three hours — about 30 minutes shorter than in recent years.

“So the producers, I think, decided wisely to not have a host and to go back to having the presenters and the movies being the stars,” Burke said.

The Oscars host traditionally opens the ceremony with a comedic monologue focusing on celebrities, the state of the movie industry, and cultural and political issues.

Burke said she would hear details from the show producers later this week but said there were plans for “a pretty exciting opening” to the telecast.

She added that speculation over the shape of the ceremony was an encouraging sign that the Oscars were still relevant.

Audiences have dropped in recent years with the 2018 show attracting just 26.5 million viewers, the smallest number ever.

“I have found that the lack of clarity around the Oscars has kept the Oscars in the conversation and that the mystery has been really compelling. People really care,” she said.

Mexican drama Roma and British historical comedy The Favourite lead the Oscars nominations with 10 nods apiece.

Burke noted that three of the other best picture nominees — Disney’s Black Panther, Warner Bros A Star is Born and 21st Century Fox musical Bohemian Rhapsody — had each taken in more than $200 million at the North American box office alone.

“I think we are going to see a big turnout for this because these are big popular movies that have been nominated,” she said.
…

Thais of Chinese descent largely ignored Bangkok’s call for restraint in burning of incense and “spirit money” to mark the Lunar New Year as the city fights choking pollution.

Most people celebrating the Year of the Pig, which began Tuesday, shrugged off health concerns as they burnt offerings to ancestors at shrines, many wearing anti-pollution masks.

“It’s impossible to completely stop burning incense,” said Romnalin Wangteeranon, 61, from behind a mask. “It’s a festival that we descendants cannot do without.”

Air quality in Bangkok has been hovering at unhealthy levels as the amount of hazardous dust particles known as PM 2.5 exceeded the safe level in several districts where face masks have sold out at most drug stores.

PM 2.5 is a mixture of liquid droplets and solid particles that can include dust, soot and smoke, one of the main measures of the Air Quality Index (AQI).

Tuesday’s AQI was 110 in the afternoon, according to airvisual.com, which measures levels in cities worldwide, placing Bangkok among the world’s most polluted cities.

Bangkok’s index has improved from last week due to a change in wind direction. But measures taken by the government, including seeding rain clouds, regulating truck traffic and hosing down streets, have helped little.

There was only slightly less incense burning this year compared to 2018, which was not enough to make a difference, said an official at the Poh Teck Tung Foundation, which runs the Tai Hong Kong Shrine in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

“Since we could only ask for cooperation, not impose a ban, most people are still doing it,” the official said.
…

Thais of Chinese descent largely ignored Bangkok’s call for restraint in burning of incense and “spirit money” to mark the Lunar New Year as the city fights choking pollution.

Most people celebrating the Year of the Pig, which began Tuesday, shrugged off health concerns as they burnt offerings to ancestors at shrines, many wearing anti-pollution masks.

“It’s impossible to completely stop burning incense,” said Romnalin Wangteeranon, 61, from behind a mask. “It’s a festival that we descendants cannot do without.”

Air quality in Bangkok has been hovering at unhealthy levels as the amount of hazardous dust particles known as PM 2.5 exceeded the safe level in several districts where face masks have sold out at most drug stores.

PM 2.5 is a mixture of liquid droplets and solid particles that can include dust, soot and smoke, one of the main measures of the Air Quality Index (AQI).

Tuesday’s AQI was 110 in the afternoon, according to airvisual.com, which measures levels in cities worldwide, placing Bangkok among the world’s most polluted cities.

Bangkok’s index has improved from last week due to a change in wind direction. But measures taken by the government, including seeding rain clouds, regulating truck traffic and hosing down streets, have helped little.

There was only slightly less incense burning this year compared to 2018, which was not enough to make a difference, said an official at the Poh Teck Tung Foundation, which runs the Tai Hong Kong Shrine in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

“Since we could only ask for cooperation, not impose a ban, most people are still doing it,” the official said.
…