This weekend was a battle between nostalgia and what's new and now and, as always, new and now won out. Also this weekend, lots of people went to see Hop and Atlas Shrugged, so we should be ashamed of ourselves.
When this show returns to the air, there will be plenty to gossip about, but here is the dirt on the various cast members that producers don't want you to know—including one star's prostitution past. It appears she's always gotten paid to fake it.
The flash mob, once a novel and artistic construct used to make urban life that much more quirky and full of possibility, is now the subject of a Howie Mandel show. So it was only a matter of time before flash mobs degenerated into something ugly, violent, and antisocial. Yesterday, a shooting at Venice Beach sent crowds scattering. Why?
Democrats in Texas seem to be excited about this: They've convinced retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. Sanchez described himself to McClatchy over the phone, saying, "I decided that socially, I'm a progressive, a fiscal conservative and a strong supporter, obviously, of national defense." He added that, "America has a responsibility to its people."
A postal worker in Oregon has been suspended for taking a shit behind someone's trash cans after the neighbor, Don Derfler got all neighborhood watch shit patrol on him and took pictures (which, if you think about it is a little weird, too). So the guy is out on his route, presumably in some suburban hellhole, and the nearest public toilets are two blocks away he's got to go... and now the guy is suspended without pay and possibly going to be fired? People let their dogs shit all over the place — in yards, on city sidewalks, wherever the hell they want — so what's the big deal here? It's doubtful that there was something nefarious going on. Either way, shit is shit and it's all gross. Plus it's Oregon, and they're into sustainable mulching and all that. Get over it, Don Derfler.
When the government in the Australian state of Victoria asked for businesses to develop "a pleasant-tasting, attention-sustaining, low-priced drink that enables secondary school students to work safely and with sustained alertness all day," well, some old people got pretty upset! Education Minister Martin Dixon blamed the idea on kids, and told ABC Radio that no ministry funds had gone into the project, "but good on the kids for coming up with an innovative idea."
It's probably safe to say that occasionally racist British author Martin Amis won't be throwing a Royal Wedding party at his place, after his remarks in the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. He makes some good points, actually, about how such intense media scrutiny can ruin a young person's life, and shows sympathy towards William and Harry. And besides calling the royal family a bunch of "philistines," he also said:
The former editor in chief of Surgery News and, until yesterday, the president-elect of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Lazar Greenfield sure does have a way with words. In February, his editor's note in Surgery News basically said that contact with semen makes women happier and smarter. This made some people very angry. Here's a portion of his op-ed:
Remember a couple of months ago when an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease (Legionellosis) sickened over a hundred guests at the Playboy Mansion? L.A. County public health officials have traced the sometimes deadly disease to a "whirlpool spa," according to The Los Angeles Times. Makes sense, because Legionnaire's is "transmitted from contaminated aerosols generated in hot tubs if the disinfection and maintenance program is not done rigorously." Gross.
If you ever doubted that our politicians really know nothing about economics, you must watch this video from Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr (D-IL) who blasts Apple and Steve Jobs for killing American jobs with the iPad.
T.S. Eliot famously said that April is the cruelest month. He wasn't kidding. Here are the awful, torturous signs that the worst season—spring—has finally arrived.
We know. We know! Cutesy internet baby animal bullshit is just the worst. Worse even than email signatures with inspirational quotes! What are we, your aunt? And yet we are helpless in the face of this baby penguin being tickled. You watch it, and tell us that you wouldn't have posted it, too.
Don't worry, folks! The crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant should be "over by the end of the year," according to a timeline from plant operator Tepco. "Over," in this case, means that the reactors will be cooled. (Radiation leaks will be "reduced" in three months.) Once "cold shutdown" is achieved, the reactors will be entombed in concrete and contaminated soil will be cleaned up; right now, Tepco is taking readings at the damaged plant through the use of remote-controlled robots. [BBC]
An anonymous Ukranian buyer purchased the most expensive apartment in the United Kingdom in 2007, paying $221 million in cash through an offshore trust to buy the penthouse of the One Hyde Park apartment complex. What does $221 million get you?
Nic Cage can't find his house, or a willing tattoo artist. Dog the Bounty Hunter comes through in the clutch. Prince Harry gets a promotion (not to king, if that's what you're thinking). Sunday gossip gets ruined by uglies.
