The third election night since Gawker's inception is upon us. Read through this dusty collection of aged Gawker posts, beginning with the election in 2004, and delve into a simpler, sweeter time. A time when there was hope and change and Nate Silver was nothing more than a baseball stats obsessive. And now there's this.
When I tell people my father is a black Republican, many of them look at me curiously, as if I've just told them I was raised by mermaids. I assume they're surprised not only because much of my personal politics sit decidedly left of center, but also because black Republicans, who made up only 2 percent of the delegation at this year's Republican National Convention, have become somewhat of an urban legend, a phenomenon you might hear about on the news from time to time but will never encounter yourself in real life. On top of their rarity, America's black Republicans must also contend with the fact that some of their most notable comrades come off as either unserious or downright unhinged. For every levelheaded Colin Powell in the public eye, there is a man like Herman Cain, whose bid for the GOP's presidential nomination earlier this year was more circus sideshow than political campaign.
Was your main beef with Britney and Lynne Spears' 2001 novel A Mother's Gift that it eventually drew to a close, rather than continuing on for an infinite number of pages, seemingly writing itself even as you read on, forever adding new chapters to the lives of musically gifted teenager Holly Lovell and her birthmarked mother, Wanda, whose "ugly red scar on the side of her face...makes people who don't know her turn away"?
This is the kind of story a natural disaster makes you forget is important: a couple Saturdays ago, Katie Holmes and her daughter Suri had dinner at Mr. Chow next to a group of fellow diners dressed up as Katie and Suri Freedom Fighters for Halloween. Also present: a guy dressed as Tom Cruise's character from Top Gun.
In a moment of recollection ripped right out of the tenderest bit of fan fiction, Kirstie Alley has revealed in a new book that she and actor Patrick Swayze had an affair...of The Heart...while both were married to other people.
We've heard a fair bit of anecdotal evidence (meaning "from multiple sources that work in our office") that some people who requested absentee ballots did not receive them. Did you order an absentee ballot? Did you get it? If not, have you asked why? Today is the election, for Chrissake!
It's Election Day in America! What could possibly go wrong?
Because you were focused on other things last week, it's possible you missed some crazy news coming out of NBC, involving a total retooling of Up All Night, a sitcom about Maya Rudolph sharing screen time with other people, including a baby.
The cast members of Jersey Shore are putting aside their hair products and spray-on tan to give something back to the town that gave them everything.
New research published in The Lancet today estimates that "rising unemployment may account for around a quarter of the excess suicides [above expected levels] observed in the US since 2007"—nearly 400 extra deaths per year. Our unemployment crisis is far from over. Each week, we're bringing you true stories from the unemployed. Teachers, cops, freelancers, you, me, us: this is what's happening out there.
Not long after Bloomberg's news conference this afternoon, during which he announced that ConEd could have power restored in most of Manhattan by midnight, did the cries of joy begin eruptnig across Twitter.
This frivolous weather thing the hippies keep harping about just devastated the biggest, most densely populated, city in the country. The city that never sleeps shut down completely. The structural damage and loss in revenue are unprecedented. Even before Sandy, our weather-related fatalities far exceed the Americans who've died from terrorist attacks. Since September 11, 2001 there have been roughly 30 Americans killed by terrorism (depending on how you do the numbers). Meanwhile, extreme weather deaths in the same time period have totaled 6,408 as of 2011, according to the National Weather Service.
I'm bringing the sound of real music back…I think Adele does a great job - they are catchy pop songs, but it's real music and there are instruments. I want to bring a lot of that back.
In order to keep readers updated on Frankenstorm safety bulletins, the New York Times has temporarily lifted its paywall for online articles. It has also temporarily lifted its policy of not posting absurd shit.
While her motive still remains unclear, new details have emerged about the life of alleged "killer nanny" Yoselyn Ortega, who is accused of stabbing two children, 2-year-old Leo and 6-year-old Lucia Krim, to death in a horrific crime on Manhattan's Upper West Side. According to a report in the New York Times, Ortega had become increasingly stressed and unstable in recent weeks.
Owen Wilson will never say words out loud in this town again: The Hollywood Reporter writes that Sony Picture Classics is being sued by the owners of the rights to William Faulkner's literary works over two sentences the actor uttered in Woody Allen's 2011 film Midnight in Paris. The suit claims the lines violate copyright.
