On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department released the Notorious B.I.G.'s autopsy report, more than 15 years after the rapper's murder. But, in keeping with their thus far stellar work on the case, they failed to first notify Biggie's family. Now, of course, they've apologized for the incident, blaming an administrative mistake.
On Friday, two University of Colorado Boulder students brought brownies to one of their classes as part of something called "Bring Food Friday." They shared the snacks with their fellow classmates and their professor. Normal enough, right? Well, it turns out the brownies were laced with pot and everyone who ate them freaked out, necessitating multiple trips to the hospital.
According to various reports, a very fashionably dressed monkey was found wandering around an Ikea in Toronto. Apparently, the monkey, who was wearing a shearling coat and a diaper, was brought to the store by his owners and left in the car while they went inside. But, as you might have guessed from his coat, this wasn't your regular, run-of-the-mill monkey, content to stay in the car while his owners had all the shopping fun. As the Globe and Mail reports:
The Boston Globe has interviewed Barney Frank, along with some of his friends and fellow representatives, as he prepares to leave office and take up private life, where he will hopefully find a way to capitalize on his increasing resemblance to the late Buddy Hackett. There are a lot of wonderful takeaways in this article, assuming you choose not to focus on the recent redistricting or the current state of the House of Representatives but instead on the fun stuff.
In 2012, it's very possible for a rapper to get signed to a major label after the success of just one viral hit song — for evidence of that, one needs only to look at artists like Azealia Banks or Kreayshawn. But a new rapper, Trinidad James, has burst on to the scene in the last few weeks armed with a single that has some catchy lines about "molly" and "sweating."
Buried within the Movie section of this weekend's New York Times is an interview with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen, who are promoting their upcoming project The Guilt Trip, a movie about which I have no opinion. Between the title ("It's a road trip with a physical destination, yes, but it's also an emotional trip, you know?") and the awful winking posters plastered everywhere, it seems safe to say it will not be good, but nothing is certain. That said, this interview is full of absolute treasures, every single one of which falls from Barbra Streisand's lips. Seth Rogen said things too, but they are of no interest for our purposes (he likes working but also being at home, he seems smart and unobjectionable and I have nothing else to say on the matter).
This has been a truly excellent weekend for expedition-related news. If Paul Salopek's seven-year Out of Eden trek wasn't enough for you, perhaps British adventurer and official "greatest living explorer" Ranulph Fiennes' The Coldest Journey will suffice (it's worth clicking through for the pictures of the ice-clustered, bristling set of eyebrows on Ranulph alone).
The New York Times' list of most emailed stories is the Times' favorite barometer for what's buzzing on the web. Certain things always seem to float to the top of the list, no matter if the content in the articles is actually good or not: all of Maureen Dowd's columns, stuff about summer camp, and anything that has to do with being Jewish.
When Random House employees gather around the Christmas goose this year, they will all join hands with their families, and say a little thank you prayer to the kinky housewives of America. Because the Twilight fan fiction posing as beginner erotica sold so well this year, all of the publishing house's employees are getting a big holiday bonus — $5,000, in fact.
Corey Curtis, a Wisconsin man, was about $85,000 behind in child support payments for two of his nine children (more on his super sperm in a minute). After pleading no-contest to one charge of felony bail jumping and one charge of failing to pay his child support, he received an uncommon punishment as part of his probation sentencing.
The New York Times Magazine has created a terrifying "video gallery of dreams and transformations" of thirteen different actresses "whose performances defined the year in film." Here you will see talents like Naomi Watts and Marion Cotillard doing all of the things we love to see our bravest, most creative actresses do: lying down, blinking, opening their mouths and leaving them open for minutes at a time, looking, smiling quietly to themselves, clenching their fists, weeping silently at the sky, and twirling - always twirling. That said, it also shows us what Rebel Wilson would look like as a mermaid, which is tremendous and a gift and well worth seeing.
Tonight, of course, marks the first night of Hanukkah and Jewish children everywhere are getting ready to receive their first pairs of socks.
After the quite-good Comedy Issue of Vanity Fair (guest edited by Judd Apatow) was released this week, I was a little surprised to learn that it was only the third single-subject guest-edited issue in the magazine's history. Bono's "Africa" Issue (which focused on just...all of Africa, I suppose) seemed more in keeping with the magazine's general approach of describing lavish fundraisers and celebrity chandeliers than excellent Freaks and Geeks retrospectives and Tig Notaro interviews.
