One of the great things about growing up down South is the unending, pathological celebration of the Civil War. Wait, not "great"; bizarre and disturbing. The 150th anniversary of secession is just weeks away. Party time! Right? Yea!

He already has a famous boyfriend, now he just has to get divorced. This actress just had her first lesbian affair, and the ensemble on this TV show is falling apart. Do gays have something to do with that, too?

If you thought mellifluous tones and metal didn't mix, you were right. But that doesn't stop Van Canto from trying. Here's their video for "Wishmaster." Click through to see a band rock "didelee-didelee-didelee" with straight faces. Rock on.

On January 1, the estate tax is scheduled to go from 0% to 55% overnight. The gift tax is scheduled to rise significantly next year, also. What this means for you: grandma should give you your inheritance now. Now! [Reuters]

Yes, we saw cats playing patty cake. Wouldn't you like to know what they were saying? Here's two guys' rendition of that conversation.

When Carlos Flores bravely leapt onto the 103rd St. tracks Sunday morning to pull a fallen old man to safety, he became at least the fifth official NYC Subway Hero in the past few years. But who's the most heroic?

How did Gawker.TV do this week? We're up to 6,786 Twitter followers (up 1.10%), 1,919 Tumblr followers (up 0.79%) and 9,853 Facebook fans (up 3.31%)! For this week's hot topics and our favorite comments, click through!

Can you guess what movie this image comes from? Check back for the answer at 4pm today.

Digital superhero Julian Assange has struggled to find a place to live. Sweden denied him, then issued an arrest warrant for rape. But he's found a friend in Ecuador — the country offered Assange residency "without any conditions." How sweet!

[A swan watches a man dive into the freezing waters of the Serpentine Lido in London's Hyde Park today, amid nasty winter weather across Britain. Image via AP]

Convicted murderer Stephen Michael West was due to be executed tomorrow in Tennessee by lethal injection, but the state's Supreme Court put it on hold until a lower court figures out if authorities are killing prisoners the right way.

Indonesia's volatile Mount Merapi is still spewing "knee-high black sludge" at about 60 mph.

Who: Pete Peterson is the co-founder of the giant private equity firm the Blackstone Group. He's the less ostentatious half of its founding duo (Steve Schwarzman being the other half) as well as a philanthropist, author, and outspoken economic conservative.

When a group of Dutch Embassy guys allegedly tried to leave Arthur's Tavern in Greenwich Village without paying a $315 tab, NYPD officers intervened and a brawl ensued, resulting in a chipped tooth, a broken finger and bruises. And arrests!

Actor Jim Carrey was filming Mr. Popper's Penguins on the roof of 480 Park Ave on Monday when a tipster in a neighboring building snapped this shot. Seen someone interesting? Email it to stalker@gawker.com or post it yourself to #stalker.

Musician Bob Dylan's handwritten sheet of lyrics to "The Times They Are a-Changin'" is expected to fetch $200,000 to $300,000 at auction. Guess it's time for me to admit that the waters around me have grown, because, really?

Stephen Solarz, the former Democratic congressman who made public the vastness of Imelda Marcos' shoe colleciton, has died of esophageal cancer.

On Saturday, The Washington Post ran an item on a college class about HBO's The Wire. "There is nothing that makes me more optimistic about the future of the country," Wire creator David Simon reportedly said. Which is almost right.

[Singer Justin Bieber signs copies of his new album at El Corte Ingles in Madrid. Photo via Getty.]

The Spanish government has decided that it's spending too much money cleaning chewing gum off the pavement. So, effective immediately, gum-droppers will be shot on sight. Kidding! No, the actual solution is to make gum less sticky.