Circus Lion Freed From Cage Feels Earth Beneath His Paws For The First Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1Eeab76Rw

Footage shared this week by the Rancho dos Gnomos Santuário in Brazil shows the thrilling moment a lion named Will experiences, for the first time, the feeling of soil and grass beneath his feet. Prior to being rescued and taken to the sanctuary, Will had been forced to perform with a traveling circus. For 13 long years, the lion had been confined to a cramped cage and denied any semblance of a normal existence. Within seconds of his release, Will can be seen eagerly running his paws through the soft soil

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Bag of Randomness for Monday, May 18, 2015

Anna-Kendrick-indiana-jones-article

  • I sure hope the Letterman finale is better than the ‘Mad Men’ finale.  Actually, there’s nothing Dave could do to make it worst than the ‘Mad Men’ finale.  The final season was chopped up into to years for that?!
  • I may be required to turn in my man card after not watching the Avengers sequel on opening day but watching Pitch Perfect 2 on its opening day.  But I don’t care, my wife enjoyed it and I did as well.
  • WifeGeeding spotted a turtle in the middle of a four lane street and made me stop so she could rescue the little fella.  The kids thought she was a hero.
  • There’s a large street block around my neighborhood that I’ve always wanted to jog around, even though I abhor jogging, but after months of pushing myself hard on the elliptical I decided to give it a try on Saturday.  According to RunningMap.com, the total distance is approximately 1.12 miles, and I finished it in 11 minutes and 53 seconds, the most punishing 11 minutes and 53 seconds of this decade thus far for me.
  • I’m beginning to think the only way will see David Letterman and Jay Leno together is if they share the stage with Oprah hosting the two.
  • On Friday, I mentioned that George Clooney handcuffed himself to David Letterman for the duration of the show, joking that it was his attempt to keep the talk show host from leaving.  Well, for the Friday show, which is actually the second of two shows filmed on Thursdays, Clooney was still handcuffed to Dave as he was introduced during the opening credits.  I have to hand it to Clooney for sticking around long enough for the taping of the second show for a good laugh.  Dave and George were finally free right before the start of the monolog when Paul Shaffer used the bolt cutters.
  • Norm MacDonald’s first television appearance was on Dave’s old NBC show.  He was one of Dave’s guests on Friday and actually choked up and cried when telling Dave that he loved him.  Immediately, you saw Dave turn into “dad mode” and just wrapped the teary-eyed man in a hug.  Back in Norm’s SNL days, he used to impersonate Dave, but Dave didn’t seem to mind.
  • Dave gave Jane Pauley and ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ a poignant interview, which I think is the last interview overall, and the only one on video before it’s all said and done on Wednesday.  In it he mentions how he goes around different parts of the theater and try to memorize how everything looks, scale and all, and how he won’t be emotionally strong enough to return to the building.  That reminded me of when I moved Mom out of my childhood home about a decade ago, and before boxing everything, how I just walked around taking things in, scents and all.  Eventually I took a camera around and started to snap pics, and for about eight years I couldn’t find the strength in me to even drive back to my hometown because I would have to drive down my street and force myself to see other people living in “our” house we lived in for over 30 years.  Eventually, I did find the strength and it brought closure, though if I were to have done that earlier after the move it wouldn’t have meant the same.
  • One thing I love about Dave’s Top Ten List is that the funniest one is usually number two and the last one is kinda lame.
  • I’ll often sit with one foot underneath my knee when I’m in my office chair.
  • Crazy footage of passengers exiting a bus right before it gets hit by a train.
  • A super detailed LEGO cross section model of the Millennium Falcon.
  • Elm Farm Ollie was the first cow to fly in an airplane, and the first to be milked in the air.
  • Red Nose Day Reboot: Indianna Jones with Anna Kendrick
  • I thought ‘Game of Thrones’ was a bit of a let down last night.
  • ‘The Amazing Race’ finale thoughts since it was filmed in Dallas
    • The first place they had to travel to was AT&T Stadium and dress up in Dallas Cowboys away jerseys that didn’t have any identifiable logos on them.  They had to use some type of automated zip line to the top of the Jerrytron to get further instructions, which lead to some football type challenges.
    • The second place they had to travel was P2 Ranch.  The cabbies didn’t have a clue where it was and WifeGeeding and I were clueless as well as we never heard of it  Usually, a show would just use the stereotypical Southfork Ranch, but perhaps it was too far away as they kept most of the finale challenges somewhat close to downtown.
    • I’m surprised they actually used cabs instead of giving them a sponsored car as they’ve done in other locations.  You kind of felt for those cabbies as English wasn’t their first language and they had a contestants barking commands at them saying they needed to travel faster so they could win a million bucks.
    • The third location was Reunion Tower where they had to repel down while looking around the landscape to find a clue to send them to their next challenge,  Man, what’s up with that finale and heights?  I would have crapped my pants, or at least tinkled them.
    • The next challenge was a nearby field, close to the Trinity River,  for a monster truck challenge and a problem-solving event to find out where the finish line was located.
    • The finish line was right next to new fancy looking Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.  Well, actually, the finish line was on the Continental Avenue Bridge, which isn’t used for cars.  It’s basically a large park and walkway.  I mention that because one of the cab drivers was driving to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge while a contestant was telling him he was going to the wrong bridge, but you actually have to travel over Large Marge to get to the Continental Avenue Bridge which basically puts them in the Trinity Groves parking area.
    • It would have been great if they had to find a clue or for the finish line to be at the grassy knoll.
  • ‘Mad Men’ finale thoughts:
    • When I first started to watch this show, AMC wasn’t even available in HD on DirecTV.  And I dedicated to it, finale season made in two, for that ending?!?!  As WifeGeeding put it, “I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want that.”
    • Maybe the opening credits of Don falling from the top of a building happens because it’s what he does after finding out how the show ends.
    • A writer for Vox came up with a really close guess for the ending last week.  Someone from Uproxx earlier than that.  Actually, I think many writers saw this coming.
    • That opening scene was a surprise, and I think that was that the first we saw Don in jeans?
    • So I was wrong that was the last we’d see of Joan and Pete.  I wasn’t happy about the cocaine route.  Personally,  don’t think it’s wise to talk marriage after the first use of cocaine.
    • Man, that was a tough phone call between Betty and Don.  Her “I know” was very Han Solo of her.  I’m gonna say that call was tougher than the one he had with Peggy, but with the Peggy call, he started to accept everything and it became real.
    • Joan was adjusting the vertical hold on her television.  I haven’t thought of doing that in years.  There was actually a lot of television on in the background in this episode.
    • My first thought of Don going to a retreat was, I don’t want this whole thing to end with Don going to a hippy retreat.
    • I like how Don used that line of “you can get past this you have to put it behind you” on his California female friend, Stephanie.  And I like how it didn’t work, yet it was great how effective it was on Peggy from way, way back when.
    • Stan may be the wisest of them all, “There’s more to life than work.”
    • It’s been interesting watching Elizabeth Moss grow up in both ‘The West Wing’ and ‘Mad Men’.  I think that means I’ll be loyal to her in her next television series.
    • What did Don mean when he said he “scandalized his child”?
    • It was have been nice to see Peggy and Joan start that company together, but I guess that would have been too good.
    • So I guess we’re to assume:
      • Don went back to McCann and pitched that Coke commercial idea.
      • Don doesn’t get possession of his kids.
      • Peggy’s dreams come true.
      • Roger dies in Canada, married.
    • Jon Hamm once said in an interview he predicted that Don Draper would end up in politics working the Reagan campaign.  I would have preferred that ending.
    • Don Draper’s last line of dialog, “Om…..”  And that left a lot of fans saying, “Ummmmmm?”.
    • The only thing that helps me have some solace with the ending is that Don always chased Coke like it was the white whale or Everest.  It was only when he finally reached a point of acceptance of himself that he could harpoon that whale or climb that mountain and make perhaps the most iconic ad of all time.  So you think he found inner peace, but he ends up stroking his ego with materialism again.  But then again, I one is left to wonder when he cracked that last smile, did he find inner peace or did the idea for that Coke ad hit him?
    • @ditzkoff – “What a refreshing and satisfying way to end a show.” – Coca Cola executives
    • Actually, the more I think and write about it, and knowing that McCann Erickson is a real ad firm that did indeed create that Coke ad in 1971, I think I’m OK with it.  The actual creator of the commercial was a man that also had an alliterative name like Don Draper, Bill Backer, and the idea came to him flying into London through thick fog but rerouted to Ireland.  You can see in that link that he’s no Don Draper in the looks department.  I wonder how his family feels about this?  But he does seem happily retired raising thoroughbred horses and “blooded” Angus cattle.
    • The photo on the left is from the episode; on the right, a still from the Coke commercial.

xG6sg11

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Bono Inside the Big Screen

I earlier mentioned that I didn’t want to ruin the show for anyone, but stuff about the concert has been everywhere.  The visuals they use for the show look amazing and I like how they have incorporated them in their act.  They are also using a new sound system with speakers hanging from the ceiling, so the sound is supposed to be amazing.  My fingers are crossed there will be another leg of the tour that will go through Dallas, but I may have already spent some time checking out airline fares for other cities.

And as a bonus, here’s ‘Song for Someone’.  Everytime I hear this I want to propose to my wife again.

 

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David Letterman’s Last Carson Appearance

This was Dave’s first appearance after it was announced that Leno would be Johnny’s successor.

I can easily remember this date because it occurred on my birthday (not the same year, obviously), and oddly enough, his first CBS show was on my birthday as well.

You just got to love how Johnny just throw’s out, “Just how pissed off are you?”  And to Dave’s credit, he took the high road.

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