Latest news with #AnimalHouse
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lake Norman estate owners rile neighbors with proposed waterfront event venue
Lake Norman neighbors are protesting a Cornelius family's plan to add an event facility to their two-mansion waterfront property. Sunset Cove would host weddings and small corporate gatherings and feature a 6,000-square-foot permanent event center between the mansions, Cornelius senior planner Aaron Turk told the Cornelius Board of Commissioners on April 21. 'We'll cater to a higher-end clientele,' Mike Griffin, whose family members live in the mansions, told the board, according to a recording of the meeting posted by the town on social media. 'No 'Animal House'-type events.' 'Plus, we're the closest neighbors,' brother Larry Griffin Jr. said, meaning his family wouldn't tolerate a rowdy venue. The homes overlook the lake on 8.6 acres at 18311 and 18323 Nantz Road. Larry Griffin Jr. and his wife, Virginia, own one of the homes. His father, Larry Griffin Sr., and mother, Sheree, own the other mansion, Mecklenburg County public tax records show. On April 21, Cornelius commissioners heard a zoning change request for the properties from Mike Griffin and Larry Griffin Jr. The request includes 103 parking spaces. The Town Board also heard from five neighbors concerned about the proposal in their residential community, but commissioners didn't vote on the zoning request. First, the Cornelius Planning Board must make a recommendation at a meeting to be announced. The Board of Commissioners, which has final say, will then vote on the request at another of its regular meetings, also still to be scheduled. The proposed events venue 'really is just to preserve this land for generations of our families,' Mike Griffin said. 'It's our homestead preservation plan.' Nantz Road dead-ends at the lake. The road is off West Catawba Avenue, which leads from Interstate 77 Cornelius-Lake Norman exit 28. The Griffin properties border the forested southern end of county-owned Ramsey Creek Park and lie across a cove from the peninsula that includes the park's public swimming beach. A mansion owned and torn down by NBA great Michael Jordan, presumably to build a bigger home, also is across the cove from the Griffin mansions. 'We've had people spin around on our lawn,' Nantz Road resident Ken Miller said, referring to beach goers. 'The police have done a helluva job keeping things straight, but they can't keep up with it.' Neighbors worry the events venue would mean more congestion and wrecks and lower property values. Mike Griffin said the idea sprung from a family wedding on the properties. As the family becomes empty nesters and downsizes, 'we realized it's a wonderful place to share on a limited use with others that could have the same opportunity,' Mike Griffin said. Sunset Cove would host about 12 events a year and smaller corporate events, according to the family's zoning change request. 'It's a really unique property in that the sound buffering from the 43-acre park that's heavily forested is just a perfect site for this,' Mike Griffin told the commissioners. The venue would be similar to the one at Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte, which the Griffins own and manage, Mike Griffin said. The families would still live on the properties, he said. The family agreed with Cornelius planners to allow no more than 250 people and 125 cars at an event, according to Cornelius Planning Board documents. Built in 2008, Larry and Virginia Griffin's two-story, 9,362-square-foot home at 18311 Nantz Road has a 2025 assessed value of $4.1 million, according to county tax records. The home has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, stucco and hardcoat exterior walls, a $40,000 terrace, a $3,700 covered pier, $8,800 boat slip, $31,400 pool and $8,000 spa-tub, its tax listing shows. Built in 2001, Larry Sr. and Sheree Griffin's home at 18323 Nantz Road is valued at $4.3 million. The two-story, 9,619-square-foot home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a $19,100 pool, $15,800 deck and $10,200 spa-tub, tax records show. The home also has stucco-hardcoat exterior walls. The family's Charlotte-based Griffin Brothers Cos. started in 1961 when Larry Griffin Sr. opened the first Griffin Brothers Tire Sales store, according to the company website. The company later expanded into commercial and residential real estate development. Griffin Bros. developed such properties as the Harris-Teeter-anchored Waterside Crossing mixed-use community at N.C. 16 and N.C. 73 in eastern Lincoln County near Lake Norman and Mosaic Village in Charlotte, which includes housing for students at Johnson C. Smith University. Griffin Bros. also acquired and developed landfills in the Carolinas.
Daily Mail
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
'Nepo baby' whose father and uncle starred on iconic comedy show is now a singer... can you guess who she is?
A Hollywood ' nepo baby ' who hails from a beloved comedy dynasty has entered show business with a career of her own. The 25-year-old's father and uncle both starred on a series that has emerged as one of the most iconic TV programs in American history. Her uncle was also the leading man of multiple legendary comedy movies, including one that has become an enduring classic about the college experience. Last year, she herself featured on a beloved US soap opera, one that has been airing continuously on CBS for nearly four decades. She is now also a singer-songwriter, who this Monday night could be seen playing a glamorous cancer benefit in Beverly Hills. Can you guess who she is? She is Jamison Belushi, the daughter of Jim Belushi and the niece of the late John Belushi, both of whom were among the early stars of Saturday Night Live. John was part of the seven-member original cast of Lorne Michaels' sketch show when it aired its first season on NBC in 1975. During a brief but dazzling career cut short by his galloping drug problem, John established himself as a reigning comedy star of the late 20th century. His movies included the 1978 college romp National Lampoon's Animal House, in which he stole the show as a fraternity brother called Bluto with a bottomless appetite for drink. He and his comedy partner Dan Aykroyd won the hearts of fans around the world with their 1980 musical comedy The Blues Brothers. After several turbulent years of rampaging substance abuse, John died of a cocaine and heroin overdose in 1982 at the age of just 33. The following year, his little brother Jim joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, having broken into movies with the 1981 film Thief starring James Caan and Willie Nelson. His movies include the 1983 comedy Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, as well as the 1986 war drama Salvador directed by Oliver Stone. John was part of the seven-member original cast of Lorne Michaels' sketch show when it aired its first season on NBC in 1975; pictured on the opening sketch of the premiere episode In his more recent career, he has acted in such films as the 2010 Roman Polanski feature The Ghost Writer with Pierce Brosnan and Kim Cattrall, as well as the 2017 Woody Allen picture Wonder Wheel with Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake. Perhaps his greatest success came with his hit sitcom According To Jim, in which he played the patriarch of a suburban family. The series ran eight seasons from 2001 until 2009 - during which time it gave little Jamison her acting debut in 2005, the year she turned six. Jamison is Jim's daughter by his third wife Jennifer Sloan, whom he married in 1998 and split from in 2021b when they both filed for divorce. As an adult, Jamison continued her acting career with the 2019 film The Last Summer, and since last year has been on six episodes of the long-running soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful as a hospital lab technician called April. She is also a singer-songwriter, and has relocated to the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her ambitions. However she was back in the Los Angeles area this week, playing the An Unforgettable Evening benefit for the Women's Cancer Research Fund, held at the ritzy Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Last year, her singing career allowed her to pay a tribute to the legacy of her late uncle - that summer, she played the Blues Brothers Con at the Old Joliet Prison in Illinois that was featured in the movie.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
Petland Indian Ringneck bird thief has history of animal theft charges
A College Hill man accused of stealing three rare exotic birds from multiple Cincinnati-area Petland stores has a history of stealing animals, court documents show. Dontas McCoy, 44, pleaded guilty April 10 in Fairfield Municipal Court to stealing two of the birds, a court official said. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 100 of those days suspended. He also was ordered to stay away from Petland and Jungle Jim's properties, according to court records. On March 31, officials say McCoy stole an Indian Ringneck bird from the Petland near Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. Two days later, on April 2, McCoy stole a second Indian Ringneck from the Petland in Mason. The birds can cost up to $1,000 each. Then on April 4, according to Hamilton County court documents, McCoy stole a third Indian Ringneck from the Petland in Symmes Township. He was arrested the same day. McCoy's criminal history dates back to the 1990s and includes animal abuse and theft charges, including a 2014 conviction for stealing a chihuahua from Animal House, a pet store in Mount Healthy. In 2016, court documents say McCoy stole a bird feeder from the Meijer in Colerain Township. McCoy is serving his sentence at the Butler County Jail. The Hamilton County case involving the theft from the Petland in Symmes Township is still pending. In a news release, Petland stated that the birds have all been returned to their stores, and although "stressed from the ordeal" they are healthy and being cared for by staff members. 'They are in good physical shape going back and forth from food to perch, but staff has noticed they are a bit skittish around people,' said Petland Communications Director Maria Smith. 'Previously they had been more comfortable with people, and the staff is working with them to rebuild that trust," Smith said. "All in all, they are doing well and will do well when they eventually go home with their forever families.' This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Petland Indian Ringneck bird thief has history of animal theft charges
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Bondsman, review: Kevin Bacon is perfectly cast in Amazon's schlocky gore-fest
If Kevin Bacon pushing over a fridge to crush a demon's head like a watermelon is your thing; if Kevin Bacon driving a chainsaw through another demon's skull like a demented Elon Musk (or Elon Musk) is your jam, then The Bondsman (Amazon Prime Video) is your TV show. This freewheeling, hyper-violent genre mash-up tells the story of Hub Halloran (Bacon), a wizened bounty hunter who is killed, comes back to life and then recruited by the devil to hunt down demons who have escaped from hell. I mean it happens. Given that Hub is the kind of chain-smokin', truck-drivin', country-music lovin' hillbilly who, lest we forget, is already dead, he takes to the work with relish. And much the same could be said for the show's creators Grainger David and producer Erik Oleson (Carnival Row, Marvel's Daredevil), who have a complete blast throughout. The Bondsman is a rampant gothic gore-fest, the camera lingering lovingly on every severed windpipe and gratuitous disembowelment. It is heavy guitar music and ravens on gravestones. It is neither subtle nor in any way edifying, but then it is not intended to be. Bacon, who is looking more and more like Richard Bacon with every passing EE ad, comes with just the right level of irony for this kind of thing. The premise is daft, his character is dafter and he can barely conceal the smirk that says he knows as much. But Bacon, who lest we forget has been acting in everything from Animal House to Mystic River for nearly 50 years, can do this. And anyway, everything about The Bondsman says that if you don't like it, you can leave. It is unrepentant schlock horror played for genre fans who know what they like. It may be the first example of MAGA scripted television. In an age when TV has become a very serious business – with billions riding on new streamer launches that themselves rely on overblown, po-faced franchises with names like The Wings of the House of Time – it is refreshing to find a series that doesn't take itself too seriously. You know as much because – massive spoiler alert – a few episodes down the line Bacon puts on a trucker cap and picks up a guitar. Everybody cut loose. The Bondsman is also refreshingly brief, served up in rootin', tootin' half-hours that make their mark and then leave, like all the best guests. There is a smattering of Appalachian lore, a barely-bothered with throughline about condemned souls and redemption, some quite good jokes and an awful lot of Bacon killing things. Something for everyone, then – if quite a lot for no one too. The Bondsman is on Amazon Prime Video from Thursday 3 April
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bill Murray says Bob Woodward's Nixon reporting ‘soiled' because of ‘inaccurate' book on John Belushi
Iconic comedian Bill Murray joked that famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward could have "framed" former President Richard Nixon because his book about John Belushi was "completely inaccurate." Woodward, who shared a Pulitzer Prize with Carl Bernstein for the Washington Post's coverage of the Watergate scandal that helped uncover details that resulted in Nixon's resignation, also penned the 1986 book, "Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi," which Murray does not approve of. "I read like five pages of 'Wired,' and I went, 'Oh my God. They framed Nixon,'" Murray said on "The Joe Rogan Experience." 'Animal House' Star John Belushi 'Didn't Have A Prayer', Couldn't Escape Drugs: Co-star Murray had a years-long friendship with Belushi, who was found dead of a drug overdose in 1982. Woodward's book explored the comedian's life and drug addiction years after his reporting helped push Nixon out of office. "If this is what he writes about my friend that I've known, you know, for half of my adult life, which is completely inaccurate, talking to like, the people of the outer, outer circle, getting the story – what the hell did that could they have done to Nixon? I just felt like if he did this to my friend like this, and I acknowledge I only read five pages, but the five pages I read made me want to set fire to the whole thing," Murray said. Read On The Fox News App "I went, 'If he did this to Belushi, what he did in Nixon's is probably soiled for me, too.' I can't, I can't take it," he continued. "And I know you say, well, 'You could have two sources and everything like that,' but the two sources that he had, if he had them for the 'Wired' book, were so far outside the inner circle that it was, it was criminal." Nixon Foundation Demands Correction From '60 Minutes' After Segment Says He 'Sought To Destroy' Wh Tapes Fox News Digital has reached out to Woodward's team for comment but has yet to receive a response. Nixon resigned from office on August 8, 1974. He left the highest office in the land in the face of likely impeachment amid the Watergate scandal, which involved his administration's cover-up of spying activities on the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the 1972 election. Woodward was played by iconic actor Robert Redford in the 1976 film, "All the President's Men," which was based on the book he co-authored with Bernstein about their Watergate reporting. He has written at least 21 books, including bestsellers on the last 10 presidents. Former Presidents Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and President Trump have all been covered by Woodward. Fox News Digital's Christine Rousselle contributed to this report. Original article source: Bill Murray says Bob Woodward's Nixon reporting 'soiled' because of 'inaccurate' book on John Belushi
