Every day, celebrities across the world are followed and photographed by the omnipresent paparazzi, often to entertaining results. From Oprah Winfrey in Idaho to Angelina Jolie in Malta to Mariah Carey in New York, here are some of the more amusing shots from the past week.
A "butchered torso" was found at a recycling plant in Seattle over the weekend, apparently just "rolling by on a conveyer belt." It's unclear where the body had been separated from its other parts, but it was apparently "mixed in with materials from a construction site." We appreciate that everyone, including murderers, is "going green," but be aware that human bodies are not, in fact, recyclable. (They can be composted.) [Seattle Post-Intelligencer via NYDN]
Thanks to America's stupid "child labor laws," you can't force your kids to work at your law firm this summer. That means: Summer camp. But which camp to choose? You don't want just any old collection of log cabins around a lake filled with children's bodies. No: You need a place with evidence-based instruction and measurable skill-development!
Since 1997, immigrants hailing from North Africa and the Middle East have met at a Starbucks in Falls Church, Virginia to mix, mingle, and help each other adjust to This American Life. In late June, however, the outdoor tables and chairs where they've liked to hang all disappeared.
Congratulations are in order! Victoria Beckham, former Spice Girl and clothing person, gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday, just a day after actress Kate Hudson gave birth to a baby boy. (The fathers are soccer star David Beckham and Muse frontman Matthew Bellamy, respectively.) Both mothers gave birth in Los Angeles, so maybe, just maybe, there was some kind of mix-up and the Hudson kid will turn out to be a fantastic soccer player and the Beckham kid will look exactly like Goldie Hawn and they'll meet in their 20s and fall in love after a series of mishaps? (Neither kid has been given its obligatory weird celebrity name yet, by the way! The Beckhams are world-champion weird kid-namers, but Hudson's other son is called "Ryder" so she could be a dark horse here.) [AP, People]
For the past 11 years, Paul Harman has happily hummed around his council flat without incident. Recently, however, a new neighbor moved into his South London building and complained to the council that Harman hums too much. Now he faces eviction.
If you ever need to escape from the Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas, this is the video you want to watch. Trent Archie managed to fight his way out—his fellow inmate, Davis McLeskey, wasn't quite so lucky—by telling officers he needed to use the phone and then attacking an officer and forcing his way through the door. (Archie's since been re-arrested.) It's a bit less involved than Prison Break, but at least it doesn't take 22 goddamn episodes. [ABC]
Scientists—like, actual scientists, with real degrees and a belief in the scientific method—agree that people do not choose their sexual orientation. Someone should tell Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty! Because he seems to think that "the science in that regard is in dispute."
Rihanna's concert in Dallas burst into flames! David Letterman's set was broken in to by a vandal! Some women didn't recognize Kellan Lutz! The Royals met Jack Black! Sunday gossip is filled with stories of doom and disaster!
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch touched down in London on the day his Sunday tabloid News of the World published its final issue, preparing "to face the growing phone-hacking scandal that prompted the paper's closure," and, we presume, to personally burn some of the incriminating evidence. Of which there appears to be a lot! The Guardian writes that new memos obtained by the police "appear to show that phone hacking was more widespread... than previously thought," and we've heard a rumor that even more papers—including some that aren't Murdoch properties—will be implicated in similar phone hacking schemes soon. That's the man himself above, of course, checking out the News' final page three girl in his Range Rover as he swings by the offices of News International, News Corp's U.K. subsidiary. Rupe! Do the crossword! [image via AP]
Sandra Rawline's had gray hair since she was in her 20s, because of genes 'n' things. For years, her employer didn't seem to mind. But when her company decided to move to fancier digs, Rawline's boss told her to dye her hair to look more "upscale."
Hello, cities facing a budget crisis! If you would like to spend less money, might we suggest not taking small-time marijuana busts to court? Philadelphia did it last year, and the city saved $2 million. Plus, think of all the money you can make if you tax Snoballs!
It hasn't hit newsstands yet, but journalists have taken a couple photos of the last copy of News of the World, which is shutting down following revelations that private investigators in its employ had hacked the voicemail of murder and abduction victims and their families.
Finally, after over a century of debate, scientists seem to have answered the thorny question of sex, and, specifically, why.
Last Fourth of July, carnivorous dock worker Nolan Koewler got a bit more independence than he bargained for when his employer, Dillard's department store, fired him for eating two hot dogs left over from an employee picnic. Then Dillard's tried to deny him unemployment!
Attention, residents of Strongville, Ohio! A possibly-violent banana (-costumed person) is on the loose, having assaulted a man wearing a gorilla costume outside a cell phone store. "I noticed a kid in the bushes. Then he just emerged, dressed up as a banana, and sprinted as fast as he could at our gorilla," manager Brandon Parham, told WJW-TV. "He just looked like a Spartan from that movie 300, except he was a banana." How does such a thing happen? Who is responsible? When will WJW reporter Melissa Reid get an award for this sentence: "Police say the person dressed up as a banana split and headed south on Pearl Road"? We may never know. Police, we are told, "believe it was a prank." [WJW-TV]
