The Nooner | Chicago news and beyond | September 9, 2011

The Nooner: Chicago news and beyond
Today we have zebras, Mel Gibson, McFly kicks and Schweddy Balls

Black and white and run all over
Some say being a journalist is all about partying with celebs, starting Twitter wars and being an opinionated. smug jerk. I wouldn't argue any differently, except that sometimes journos get hurt on the job. Example: Seloko Mmolawa, a Botswana Television (Btv) cameraman was run over by a pair of zebras while on assignment. Don't worry, he's okay.

We must go to L.A. and stop him
Mel Gibson, known for drunken, anti-semitic rants in recent years, wants to make a biopic about the hero of Hanukah Judah Maccabee, which is weird enough in itself. Except that a major studio is bankrolling it. Wasn't Gibson's career kaput and didn't we like it that way? The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg asks Gibson what the hell is going on and reveals that Christopher Hitchens actually asked him (Goldberg) to go to Hollywood and stop Gibson from making this movie. Yet another reason to love Hitch.

Schweddy Balls for the inbox
Ben & Jerry's new Schweddy Balls ice cream is Fair Trade vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum, loaded with fudge covered rum and chocolate malt balls. It's the kind of thing you might think "Oh my god, do I want to eat that right now," but might not want to speak of out loud. The B&J flavor named for a SNL sketch has given us the power to make a Schweddy Balls greeting card on Facebook. Wouldn't your love one like one right now?

McNike to the Future
I started getting viral Nike videos in my inbox a day or two ago about the Nike Mag, Marty McFly's futuristic shoe from Back to the Future. It seems that the shoe is real (and being auctioned on eBay for a Michael J. Fox-associated Parkinson's research charity) and that there are so many cross-promotional tie-ins happening here, you'd need an intern to unpack them all. Kevin Durant, it should be noted, could absolutely not give a shit despite starring in the Mag mini-movie.

Be true to your school, never mind the hookers
University of Miami president (and middle school pal with my mom) Donna Shalala has been on the ropes after revelations that her student-athlete footballers were being provided with booze and hookers. She responded with a video with stats about her school's graduation rate and academic progress rate for athletes. Politifact finds the stats she cited accurate, but not particularly valid for comparisons with highly-regarded programs at Stanford and Notre Dame. Sorry, Donna, you're still looking at fourth and twenty to get out of this one.

High alert on East Coast
Washington, D.C. and New York City are on high alert this weekend—just as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 arrives. Officials say the threat comes from what's left of a weak Al Qaeda and if it comes, may likely come in the form of a car bomb.