In order to salvage a tanking economy, Greece is expected to pass a package of severe budget cuts — and many citizens are not taking it well. As Parliament prepared to vote on the new plan, which would cut 3.3 billion euro from people's wages and pensions, protesters began rising up, starting a series of fires using homemade explosives.
Whitney Houston's sudden death on Saturday has had producers of the Grammys scrambling to include a fitting last-minute tribute. Fellow diva (as christened by VH1) Jennifer Hudson will be performing "I Will Always Love You" at tonight's ceremony, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, she is having a trouble holding herself together.
The small New York town of LeRoy has had its fair share of news coverage lately following the unexplained "twitching disorder" of several residents. Since October, 16 people — 14 of them teenage girls — have been struck with uncontrollable physical and verbal tics. And no, it's not Tourette's, which isn't contagious. There are two major conflicting opinions: either the patients' twitching is psychosomatic, or it's the result of environmental factors.
Everyone's favorite pundit and reality star Sarah Palin has yet to endorse a Republican presidential candidate. (But Sarah, there are so many great options to choose from.) The Washington Times has an article about Palin's appearance on Fox News Sunday, where she (predictably) pondered the question of Romney's conservatism.
Can we chalk this one up to the grieving process affecting his judgment? In the wake of Whitney Houston's death, Tony Bennett performed in tribute to her at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy gala. And while I believe his heart was in the right place, he had some baffling things to say about the way we treat drugs in this country.
The standout sketch of tonight's Saturday Night Live was the three part parody of Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl spot for Chrysler.
Well, this isn't exactly surprising. Under pressure from the religious right, Barack Obama made a concession about birth-control insurance coverage — while religious employers will not have to offer free contraceptives to workers, the insurers themselves will have to. It's a compromise he shouldn't have had to make in the first place, and Catholic Church officials (along with prominent Republic leaders) are being dicks about it, anyway.
Can we always call him "feisty Ron Paul" the way Steve Peoples of the Associated Press does? In an AP article republished by MSNBC, Paul reflects on his chances in Maine, which he believes are good. Romney can probably stand to lose another one of these caucuses, right? And a Paul win would bring his name back into the discussion, as we cycle between the final four unelectable Republican presidential candidates.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— There was a line winding out the door of the Marriott Ballroom at CPAC for the bulk of the afternoon today, and it consisted mostly of bright-faced college kids. They were wearing dinner jackets and pencil skirts and toting bags full of free pens and pamphlets and souvenir T-shirts. Sarah Palin will speak at 4:30 today, and they wanted to make sure to get a seat.
I know, I know, you're tired of talking about the Super Bowl and the halftime show. We already got Madonna's reaction to M.I.A.'s middle finger — what more do we need? Well, we could always plan next year. Alternative comedy fans and polka enthusiasts are at the forefront of a movement to get "Weird Al" Yankovic to perform at Super Bowl halftime next year. To some, this might seem like a lost cause, but let's not forget the power of the internet to effect great change. Remember when we ended SOPA?
Plastic surgery is on the rise — and so is the economy, maybe. USA Today's Healthy Perspective blog has a story about an increase in breast implants, tummy tucks, face lifts, and the like. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates 1.6 million cosmetic surgeries in 2011. This is good news for the nippers and tuckers, who were once concerned the crappy economy was making plastic surgery a thing of the past. So things are looking up for all of us, right?
While I can't speak to the quality of 3D conversion, I can recount The Hollywood Reporter's weekend box office update. They might be freaking out about the "overperformance" of The Vow and Safe House, but I'm more interested in the re-release of arguably the most hated installment of the Star Wars franchise. You could make a claim for the Star Wars Holiday Special, but that didn't have Jake Lloyd or Jar Jar.)
Hey, nothing to worry about, but remember John Wayne Gacy, that serial killer who dressed like a clown and performed at kids' birthdays? Two Chicago lawyers are now saying he might have had three accomplices — two of whom are still alive. No word on whether or not these men also wore clown makeup, but for the sake of my sanity, I'll assume that was just Gacy's thing.
Have you heard that video is a big thing over at Gawker Media? It's true, we watch and post a lot of videos each week. Here are some of the best videos of week, culled from an array of Gawker Media sites.
Today Phantom of the Opera makes musical theater history with its 10,000th performance. That's 10,000 soprano near-murders, 10,000 disfigured face reveals, and 10,000 performances of a love song with seriously nonconsensual undertones.
