Rob Lowe, Chapter 11 and a Super Bowl commercial

Good morning!

The biggest tweet of the young year turns out to be false.   In a page from the "What Were You Thinking?" book, actor Rob Lowe tried his hand at sports reporting by tweeting his sources said Peyton Manning was going to retire on Wednesday.  

 

Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow. #Colts

— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 18, 2012

 

The tweet, and subsequent follow-ups, set off a firestorm on Twitter and among real sports reporters trying to determine if Lowe had insider information that could land him on an NFL pre-game show.   Well, Lowe may still end up on an NFL pre-game show, but his information was wrong and once that became apparent, Twitter heated up with Rob Lowe jokes.   See what happens when the internet goes dark.

By the way, the online protest over the Stop Online Privacy Act and the Protect I.P. Act appears to have worked as phone calls and e-mail messages poured in to Congressional offices against the proposals.  One by one, prominent backers of the bills dropped off, including co-sponsor of the Senate bill, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who renounced the bill on Facebook. 

Chapter 11 is a trending topic on Twitter this morning after the Eastman Kodak Co. announced it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

(AP Photo/file)

The announcement is no surprise, but it is ironic that the company that invented the digital camera ends up pushed to the brink of becoming history because of it.  Chapter 11 does not mean Kodak will shutdown.  According to the company, the move is intended “bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines.”

Love gossip is swirling around… Gabrielle Union threw a 30th birthday party for her beau Dwayne Wade, toasting him with Dom Perignon at Miami's Setai Hotel…  US Weekly reports Rihanna has been secretly hooking up with Chris Brown, her former boyfriend who assaulted her three years ago on the eve of the Grammys.  "Rihanna loves to live dangerously, and talking to and hooking up with Chris is all part of that," a source told the magazine…

And numerous reports say the next Bachelorette is Emily Maynard, the sweet, Southern single mom who broke it off with Brad Womack after he proposed on his second time around on The Bachelor.  No comment from ABC.

The best pitcher in Japanese baseball is officially coming to the Big Leagues.   Yu Darvish has been dominating batters, teasing American baseball scouts and executives, for several years.  The Texas Rangers came to a $60-million, six-year deal with the 25-year-old icon on Wednesday, as a negotiating window was about to close.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco does not get a lot of respect as an NFL quarterback.  Even before last week's win over Houston, Flacco told reporters, "I'm sure if we win I'll have nothing to do with why we won, according to you guys."  Well, not just reporters,  but his own teammates did not think much of his performance.   Safety Ed Reed told NFL Radio that Flacco underperformed in the win.  "It just didn't look like he had a hold on the offense. I don't know how much of [that was] the play calling … but it just didn't look like he had a hold on the offense, you know, of times past … It was just kind of like they [were] telling him [what] to do -- throw the ball or get it here, you know, get it to certain guys." Reed said.   Not the kind of talk you want going into the AFC Championship against New England, but maybe it's tough love to get Flacco motivated for the big game.

Last year's Super Bowl featured a popular Star Wars commercial from Volkswagen that went viral.  The company is back with another Star Wars themed spot with a new cast of characters for the big game.  

 

I mentioned yesterday the day the internet went dark sounded like a Don McLean song, and sure enough it is!

 

A science experiment gone wrong is trending… In this case, a LN2 (liquid nitrogen) experiment by some students (we believe) went BANG right in the kid's hands.

 

If that startled you, check out this baby's reaction to a sound that it never heard before.

 

That's the trend!

Have a great day,

Bob

 

Comments

[Grace]

The Day The Internet Went Dark is a take-off on Don McLean's "American Pie", not Jim Croce. Just FYI.

[Bob]

Thanks Grace! Good catch. Whenever I think of that song, I think of Jim Croce.