Showing posts with label divorce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label divorce. Show all posts

Friday, May 7, 2010

Multiple M Weekend

Lots of exciting stuff happening this weekend. First, if you're a mom, you get props for popping a kiddle out - thanks, Mom! And if you're a geek, summer movie season starts with the second Iron Man flick. F1 comes to Spain after a few weeks off, which is exciting, and even without my Kings in the playoffs, there's still lots of action. But most prominent is MAGNA!

After many delays, the band is getting back into the studio, and it will close a very important chapter - the end of drum tracking! Technically, all the parts are already done, but our first pass at "
Vladimir Guerrero" before we really started this recording cycle was done without a click track, which for all the rest of the tunes has made them a little tighter. And once everything else was made that much better, we couldn't let an epic track not get it's due. After we kill the recording , we'll start to put the drums together for guitar and bass overdubs, and get album #2 closer to completion.



But before that happens, we're doing an encore at Rose City Rocks on May 21st. Like last year's festivities, we're playing at the Old Towne Pub hidden in Pasadena. Scartoe was swell enough to
give the exact coordinates so there won't be any trouble finding this gig (or you can look for 66 N. Fair Oaks Blvd on your own)! If you didn't get to Cannibal Flower, here's your chance to get some MAGNA. And as a bonus, I'll spill a big detail - the set is completely filled with songs from the upcoming record.

Best of the week: I'm fascinated with the behind-the-scenes aspects of Disneyland...it's like learning how a magician does a trick. The LA Times had this article about the night crews who spruce up the park and make sure it stays ageless:

When the last Jungle Cruise boat docks for the night and lights fade to black on Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the real work begins. At lush Pixie Hollow, gardeners don miner's headlamps as they begin uprooting stubborn weeds. On Main Street, custodians scrape chewing gum off the sidewalk. And over at Mickey's Toontown, painters sand and recoat chipped handrails. Few see it happen, except perhaps for the dozens of feral cats that emerge from their hiding places to prowl the park after hours, stalking rodents. Welcome to the dark side of Disneyland.

Gone are Mickey and his friends. In their place are about 600 custodians, painters, gardeners and decorators, working to ensure that the 85-acre park meets the squeaky-clean ideals that Walt Disney himself extolled even before he launched the park 55 years ago. During a recent overnight shift, Disneyland provided a rare glimpse into the work that goes into maintaining the world's second-most-popular theme park. Though park officials wouldn't divulge how much money is spent on Disneyland's overall upkeep, they said most is spent on the night shift. And although most guests will never witness the after-hours work, theme park experts credit the park's continued success to its cleanliness and tidy conditions.

"Disney and many other parks recognize that keeping it clean and refreshed, with all of those little details that you don't notice until they are missing, are important to the park's success," said Gene Jeffers, executive director of the Themed Entertainment Assn., a nonprofit organization of designers and builders of theme parks and attractions. It's one of the many reasons attendance at Disneyland jumped 8% last year despite the economic downturn, while the crowd numbers dropped at Southern California competitors like Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm, according to a recent estimate.

To keep the park in good order, it takes a crew that works 365 nights a year, toiling under portable floodlights. "It's a city that never sleeps," said David Caranci, the manager of resort enhancement and decorating. "There is something always happening." And for nearly every nighttime task, there is a specific worker. Three workers are responsible solely for repairing and replacing the 800 umbrellas, 25,000 chairs and about 7,000 tables in the restaurants and snack bars in Disneyland and neighboring California Adventure Park. Four certified divers collect submerged trash and make repairs on water attractions like Finding Nemo and the Jungle Cruise.

The work can often be tedious and occasionally bizarre. At the Enchanted Tiki Room, a 17-minute musical show features 225 robotic birds, plants and singing tikis. Patrick Pendleton, the show's primary mechanic, has seen it more times than he can count. To make sure the characters work properly, he plays the show repeatedly, watching each closely. "It's hard to catch everything in one show," he said. Sometimes, the jobs require ingenuity, even for some of the more distasteful chores. For example, the Indiana Jones Adventure ride relies on nearly 1,000 black lights that shine on painted mesh screens to create floating ghost images. But the effect is marred when guests sometimes spit at the ghosts, and the saliva ends up on the screens where it glows under black lights. Because typical cleaning products bleach the screens, David Graefen, the ride's service manager, said his crew created a special saliva-cleaning solution.

Park workers have also found a resourceful way to remove other unwanted guests — rodents. Years ago — no one seems to know when — feral cats began to sneak into the park, living among the park's trees and shrubs during the day. At night, they venture out, and an estimated 200 cats now prowl through Disneyland and neighboring California Adventure Park. But instead of evicting the cats, Disneyland's animal wranglers work to control the feline population by spaying and neutering the adult cats and finding homes for all kittens born in the resort. The cats eat at five permanent feeding stations installed throughout the two parks. "We are not trying to get rid of them," said Gina Mayberry, manager of Disneyland's Circle D ranch, where the park's animals are housed. "They keep the rodent population down."

Other nighttime visitors are not so welcome. Before maintenance crews take over, security workers sweep through the park to find guests hoping to spend the night. (Don't even try hiding on Tom Sawyer's Island — park security knows all the hiding places.) "If someone tried to hide, they would not stay hidden for long," said Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown. The primary goal of the after-hours crew is to pursue Disney's vision of an immaculate land, free of the litter and grime of the outside world.

Walt Disney himself led early efforts, insisting that attractions, gates and benches be repainted on schedule, even if a touch-up would suffice. He made sure light bulbs were replaced even before they burned out and trash cans were emptied before they were full. "When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, ‘But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty.' I told her that was just the point; mine wouldn't be," the founder said at the time. Longtime park fans say Disneyland hasn't always sparkled. In the mid-1990s, they say, park managers turned away from Disney's emphasis on cleanliness to save on maintenance costs. "For 10 years or so, it was horrible," said Al Lutz, founder of MiceAge, a fan website. "That wasn't Disneyland." But with the 50th anniversary of the park approaching in 2005, Disneyland officials renewed the push to operate a spotless park. And they turned, of course, to the night crew to make it happen.

Beginning after midnight, about 300 gardeners work to give the park its trademark manicured look. Spotting tiny pests like aphids and spider mites can be difficult for nighttime gardeners. But Disneyland horticulturalist Steve Fox said his biggest fear was tripping or falling in the dark. "We try not to hurry and try to do the work that is needed as best we can," he said. Meanwhile, the paint crews search for gates, fences, benches or buildings that have become faded, chipped or scratched. But they must use special paint that will dry before guests enter the park in the morning. Some areas such as Mickey's Toontown require special attention. To reverse the effects of thousands of climbing, scampering children, the crews run through gallons of paint a year on the brightly painted cartoonish village. "It's a pretty tough location," Caranci said.

Other overnight workers specialize on repairing damage caused by vandalism. Recently, park decorator Frank Franco worked for several hours at the Indiana Jones Adventure replacing rope that someone had pulled free from the ride's scenery. On a regular basis, Franco said, he finds that visitors have stolen or damaged fake skulls, lengths of bamboo, rope, nets and other props that create the ride's jungle ambiance. Armed with epoxy glue and screws, Franco tries to ensure that the props stay in place. "Every day is something different," he said.

As dawn breaks near Disneyland's Main Street, two custodians complete the final job of the night: scraping dried chewing gum from the pavement with metal blades attached to long poles. Gum is not sold in the park, but the sticky leftovers often end up on sidewalks, benches and tables. Nearby, a crowd has gathered at the park's entrance, waiting to pass through the turnstiles. Park greeter Bob Daisey stands just inside the park and raises his arms to get the visitors' attention. "We are about to open the original and most famous theme park in the world," he calls out, igniting cheers from throngs of fidgeting children. Meanwhile, night custodian Steve Tomatis cleans up the last of the chewing gum on Main Street. It's dirty work, but he knows it's essential to preserving Walt Disney's ideals. "We take care of this when everything else is done," he says. "It's a constant, ongoing problem, but it has to be done."

Plus: Most organs that are removed from bodies for transplants can last only four to eight hours before they become useless. But Harvard researchers have developed what they call “Somah” — a chemical mix that can preserve organs. This video shows a pig heart being revived using this process a day after it was removed from the pig. I'm guessing the rest of it may have ended up bacon.

The researchers harvested hearts from female pigs, stored them in one of the two solutions, then biopsied them at several points over the next four hours. They observed the function of the cardiomyocyte and endothelial cells–both of which must be preserved in order for the transplanted heart to survive over the long term. By measuring key proteins, they determined that the rate of cell death was significantly slower in the Somah-preserved hearts than it was in those stored with Celsior. Their experiments in pigs suggest that Somah keeps hearts and livers viable for at least 10 days. By contrast, solutions such as Celsior can only be counted on to preserve hearts and livers for about four and 12 hours, respectively.

So does this mean your next organ transplant may have a little Somah soaked in? Better than than pig juice.

Also: This is from Puck Daddy, and though it is about our divisional foes, it's still a very interesting read:

Game 2 of the San Jose Sharks' Western Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Red Wings featured one of the most peculiar hockey celebrations in years: a shark with an octopus stitched into its mouth, thrown on the HP Pavilion ice after Joe Pavelski's first-period goal in what was a 4-3 Sharks victory.

That game was played on Sunday, May 2. Back on May 2, 2007, a shark also hit the ice during a San Jose/Detroit playoff game, as a response to the Wings fans' long-standing tradition of throwing octopi on the ice for their team. The same men behind that defiant celebration returned to the Shark Tank to do it again three years later. How did they pull it off then? How did they pull it off now? It's a tale that is equal parts heist movie and sports comedy, from security shakedowns to toxic fish to carefully orchestrated smuggling maneuvers to a large dead shark in a sporting arena. And now it's the stuff of hockey legend.


"Alfonso Bedoya," 63, was the man who tossed the shark. (He requested we go with the pseudonym here, although the posse was exposed in coverage of their 2007 exploits.) He has been playing hockey all his life. His father, an Edmonton native, helped get youth hockey going in the Bay Area. They attended California Golden Seals games together with their Charlie Finley ownership whimsy (green and gold skates) and allegedly served as the cradle of "The Wave." Alfonso said that's where his affinity for hockey absurdity began.

"My dad is 94. He was watching [Game 2] and he's calling me and asking if we're going to [throw the shark]," he said. In 1994, goalie Arturs Irbe helped the
San Jose Sharks upset the Detroit Red Wings in a No. 1 vs. No. 8 series; "ecstasy" for hockey fans in the Bay Area, Alfonso said. The following season took it from ecstasy to tragedy: The Red Wings swept the Sharks, and Alfonso focused his frustrations on the octopi Wings fans would toss on the ice. "It just bugged me," said Alfonso. "And then we didn't play them again for quite a while [in the playoffs]. When we finally did, I called up my cousin and told him we have to respond to the octopus. "We need to throw a shark on the ice. He said, 'I'm in.'"

The 2007 Shark Toss
The 2007 shark toss had its problems and its triumphs. "That wasn't very well-organized. And the shark was too big. It was horrendous," said Alfonso. The conspirators ducked under a freeway overpass and strapped the fish to Alfonso. The shark, stuffed in a garbage bag, was literally tied to his back under a huge down coat. The weight of the thing necessitated a second rope be used to secure it, wrapped around its tail and tied to Alfonso's belt. Alfonso, his nephew and his cousin all had tickets and went to the gate
for Game 4 of the Sharks' series against Detroit. His cousin asked a question of the ticket taker, offering a moment of distraction so Alfonso could slip by with nary a query about the gigantic jacket he was wearing on an 85-degree day.

The first shark toss back in 2007 occurred in the middle of the first period. After it, Alfonso had left for an icy adult beverage when arena security personnel showed up at their seats, where his cousin and his nephew were sitting. Security kept telling those in the section that it was an informational investigation: No one was getting kicked out of the playoff game; they just wanted to know what protocols were breached to allow an adult shark through the turnstiles. His cousin, hearing their intentions, admitted he was part of the operation. They ejected him. They lied to him," said Alfonso. "Then they asked him how he got the shark in, and he said 'You're kicking me out and you think I'm gonna tell ya?' They also told him they had to bring in the hazmat team. He's like, 'IT'S A FISH.'"

Fifteen minutes later, another arena security detail sat next to Alfonso and began asking informal questions about how the shark was smuggled into the game. Alfonso, knowing what any admission of guilt would portend, told him the shark had been "growing under the ice" all that time. Ten minutes after that, Alfonso's cell phone rang and a voice told him to look across the ice at the luxury boxes. It was his cousin, waving at him. A random Sharks fan had to leave in an emergency and bumped into him after he was ejected. Informed that this was the shark-tossing guy, he gave him a pass to the suite. Karma rules.

Lessons Learned
The reaction to the shark toss was positive, as fans buzzed about it in the arena and around the Web afterward. But it wasn't all positive: Some fans didn't understand why they'd throw a dead version of the team's mascot on the ice. Was it symbolic of playoff fate or something, considering the Sharks lost that game in 2007? "This year, we decided to put an octopus in the shark's mouth. People will get that," said Alfonso, who located several mollusks at a Chinese market in San Francisco.

The 2007 experience gave them a base of knowledge heading into their 2010 attempt. For example, finding the shark proved difficult three years ago, so Alfonso and gang got on that task earlier this round: By calling a biological supply company in North Carolina, ordering three sharks that would have been used for dissection and medical examination. When they arrived, the top fins were sliced off, as were the tails. "And there were six pages of Hazmat [expletive] about the formaldehyde stuff," he said, acknowledging that this option wasn't a workable one.

They frantically called all the fish shops in the Bay Area with little luck, as it isn't shark-fishing season. So they went to the docks again and started handing out a cell phone number to fishermen, offering $50 for a shark. About 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, they got the call: There was a 3-foot Leopard shark waiting for them, freshly caught. They had three tickets to the game, all in the upper deck, so they purchased two downstairs, on the blue line, for a large price tag online. Got the tickets. Got the shark, with the previously frozen octopus literally sewn into its jaws by using a large carpet needle. The shark was then stuffed into a garbage bag. Now, how did they get it inside?

The 2010 Shark Toss
The coat thing wasn't going to work, as Sunday was even warmer than that fateful day in 2007. So they used Foster, a lanky 6-foot-3 lacrosse player, as their smuggler: Rubber-banding the shark to his leg, securing it with duct tape and then having him wear a large, baggy pair of sweatpants over it. He shuffled along through security, which once again were distracted by the co-conspirators.

When was the shark released from the leg? During introductions, when the arena goes black and -- oh, the delicious symmetry -- a humungous shark head descends from the rafters as the players skate out. By the end of the introductions, the shark was under the seats, folded neatly in its bag and ready for launch. Because it was freshly caught, there was no odor, no fishy smell at all. They decided they would throw the shark after the first San Jose goal of the night. Did they ever consider that Wings goalie Jimmy Howard might pitch a shutout in Game 2? "Yeah," Alfonso said, "and we would have been [expletive]."

At 9:01 of the first period, with Detroit up 1-0, Joe Pavelski scored on the power play for San Jose. This was it. Foster, the lacrosse guy, reached down and handed Alfonso the shark. (The octopus, at this point, was literally dripping out of its mouth.) He left his seats and ran down through several rows of euphoric fans, stopping just about even at the top of the glass so he wouldn't have to put too much arc on the toss. "As soon as people saw it, as I was carrying it, they were like 'YEAH!'" he recalled. And then he chucked it onto the ice, watching it slide out across the blue line, where Pavelski nearly turned it into sushi with his skate blade. By that time, Alfonso was already headed back up the stairs.

He arrived at the seats and took off his teal shirt and black hat, giving them to another conspirator a few rows away. He donned a grey T-shirt, fading into the menagerie of fans, and then left for the bathroom, high-fiving an usher on the way. How did they avoid another investigation like in 2007? Thought of that one, too: Alfonso switched tickets with one of the upper deckers, who sat down in the lower-bowl seats formerly occupied by Alfonso and the shark with an octopus in its mouth. The arena officials visited between periods, but couldn't develop any leads on the shark-hurler.

Postgame
After the Sharks' victory, the conspirators met to share a laugh and congratulate each other, like the scene at the Bellagio fountains at the end "Ocean's 11," only in a hockey arena parking lot. And with no fountains. Or Brad Pitt. Alfonso began to see and hear the reaction to the exploit in the next 24 hours. He was surprised, for example, that no television cameras caught the shark -- surprised and suspicious, actually, that perhaps it was an intentional omission. Will there be another chance to film a flying shark eating an octopus in Game 5 (if necessary)? "We're retired," he said, with a laugh. "The plan went great, we didn't get thrown out, it went on the ice, it had the octopus, and nobody got caught." Did he hope the success of this plan would inspire others? "That was certainly our hope the first time," he said. "I'd love for it to be a real tradition. But it's damn hard to do."

And: A New Jersey family that lost one daughter rock-climbing four years ago lost a second daughter last week to a vacation tragedy.

Art student Lauren Failla (25) was attacked and killed by a crocodile on April 29 while snorkeling at a tropical island resort in India, authorities said. Failla was was swimming with a friend in the waters off Radhanagar Beach on Havelock Island in Andaman when the croc suddenly struck, according to reports. Her companion reportedly videotaped the attack as the crocodile clamped the victim in its jaws and pulled her to her death. Her body was found on a nearby beach the next day.

Her older sister, Emily, a 24-year-old teacher, fell to her death while rock-climbing in Washington state in July 2006. It's too bad for the family, but if they'd had lower impact hobbies I'm guessing they'd still be alive. The only people to die from stamp collecting were in relation to boredom.

Best picture of the week:

you finally made it big in Hollywood!

Best bonus links:

Christian Right Leader George Rekers Takes Vacation With Rent Boy - Everybody should have the balls to say their gay tryst is just a hired porter because you have a bad back.

The LA Mulholland - These shoes are gorgeous. Big John Fluevog fan, even over the ladies footwear.

Congress, Where 44% Are Millionaires, Freezes Pay - Screw those 56% of losers who don't make the cut. The rich are going to keep them down!

US Capital Okays Medical Marijuana - I okay it too, and I don't even live in D.C. Famous sister is my proxy.

Make Your Own Homemade Pop Tarts - Very helpful if you live in D.C.

Grenada Man Hauls Bucket Of Human Heads To Police - That's not going to start a trend. Next time, bring your firearms to the Guns For Toys exchange.

Health: "We Are Water" - Eric Wareheim makes another oddball video, complete with bloody genitals.

The Greatest, Nerdiest We're Expecting Announcement You Will See All Day - You need to watch if for no other reason then to see something launched into an exhaust port "baby hole".

Musicians Lose Millions In Gear In Nashville Flood - Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Vince Gill, LeAnn Rimes and others can't make music now. Hooray!

Saw II Director Explains How He Lied His Way Into Hollywood - There's nothing better than someone beating the system

Bedbound By Boobs - This week's automatic entry. I wish I could be bedbound by boobs. Like half a dozen pairs.

Politician Outed By Opponent ... As Straight - Though that picture is compelling evidence to the contrary.

Robert Rodriguez' Illegal Machete Trailer Message To Arizona On Cinco De Mayo - That header is almost as long as the trailer itself. Nevertheless, they still messed with the wrong Mexican.

If You Expect To See Well, You Will - Suck it, optometry! And I'll spare you the carrot story where I ate so many I turned orange.

Sex Degrees Of Charlie Sheen - Me and three other people are the only ones not to have slept with him.

The Dead Fly Artwork Of Magnus Muhr - Not as controversial as his dead kitten phase, but way less mainstream resistance.

Hey, Race Cars Aren’t Supposed To Fly - But sometimes, they can! And it's magical!

Worst of the week: A Brazilian archbishop said adolescents are "spontaneously homosexual" and in need of guidance, while society at large is pedophile. And that's winner of this week's "The Catholic Church is full of crazy idiots" segment!

Archbishop Dadeus Grings — a (quite) conservative priest, took a few momwnts out of a Brazilian bishops conference to say that society's woes are being reflected in the sex abuse scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic Church. "Society today is pedophile, that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign". It's not the priest's at fault for molesting kids - society did it!

That interesting considering that's not exactly in line with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 official at the Vatican, who said that the sex scandals were linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests. Perhaps it's a clever tactic to defect attention. There have been several cases of priests allegedly abusing children that have surfaced in Brazil in recent months. Naturally, Grings denounced the abuse within the church, but he said internal punishment of priests guilty of abuse was sufficient and that police should not be involved. Right - so that the secret stays hidden for another generation.

The archbishop also said it was important to help children avoid homosexuality. "We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual. Boys play with boys, girls play with girls," he said. "If there is no proper guidance, this sticks. The question is — how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?" Grings also said the acceptance of homosexuality in society could pave the way for the acceptance of pedophilia. "When sexuality is trivialized, it's clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. Before, the homosexual wasn't spoken of. He was discriminated against. When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of pedophiles," he said. The only pedophiles and homosexuals in this equation are on the Church side, so what kind of case are you making exactly?

The archbishop has made stupid, controversial comments in the past. In 2003, he argued that only 1 million Jews died in the Holocaust, though a few years later he recanted. Last year, he outraged Jewish groups in Brazil by telling a magazine that "more Catholics than Jews died in the Holocaust, but this isn't known because the Jews control the world's media."

For pennance, say one"fuck the Church" and three "shut your goddamn lying mouth".

Plus: This is video of a SWAT raid on a family in Missouri. The officers found a small amount of cannabis, and so they arrested the parents on a charge of child endangerment. But did it require the overkill as seen in the clip?

Poster Radly Balko (that's your name? really?)said, "It's horrifying, but I'd urge you to watch it, and to send it to the drug warriors in your life. This is the blunt-end result of all the war imagery and militaristic rhetoric politicians have been spewing for the last 30 years -- cops dressed like soldiers, barreling through the front door middle of the night, slaughtering the family pets, filling the house with bullets in the presence of children, then having the audacity to charge the parents with endangering their own kid. There are 100-150 of these raids every day in America, the vast, vast majority like this one, to serve a warrant for a consensual crime."

Okay hippie, take it easy. We get the point though - it's not cool to live in a police state.

Also: A Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner has ordered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to pay his estranged wife, Jamie, $637,159 a month in temporary spousal support, plus lawyers' fees pending their divorce. Thanks, commissioner dickbag!

The amount falls short of the $988,845 that Jamie McCourt requested, and more than half that requested amount ($568,829), her lawyers said, is needed to pay the costs, including mortgages, of seven homes and an eighth piece of property in Mexico that are listed in her name. And who's to say eight houses in this economy is too many? Her lawyers argued that spousal support should include those costs since her estranged husband used to contribute funds to the housing. The commissioner specified that $412,159 of the monthly total should go to payment of costs associated with the properties, but ordered the property in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to be sold. No, not the beach house!

In the months since she made her ridiculous request, Jamie McCourt has been vilified in the court of public opinion and in the courtroom -- where her husband's attorney likened her to Marie Antoinette. I don't know what they said, but if there's anything related to cutting her head off then I agree. Both sides concur in court that the couple has lived lavishly but they have bitterly disagreed over how Jamie McCourt should sustain that lifestyle during the divorce proceedings.

Her lawyers argued that Frank McCourt has access to $18 million annually and should not withhold from his wife the funds she needs to maintain the lifestyle that they created together. I live on less than 1/100th of that just fine, so put that begging hand away, lady. "They were their houses and the title was just in her name," her civil attorney said of the properties. "Jamie didn't go out and buy two houses in Holmby Hills and two houses in Malibu.... They bought two houses in Holmby Hills and two houses in Malibu." So then she didn't buy them and isn't entitled to them.

The court filings on spousal support has also invited curiousity, from the descriptions of their houses and their stays in the finest hotels to the personal hairstylists for both husband and wife. But the spousal support fight is just a small part of the couple's disagreement. The bigger source of conflict -- which could have major consequences outside their marriage -- is over ownership of the Dodgers. Frank McCourt argues that he alone owns the baseball team. Jamie McCourt says they share ownership. The trial on that issue is scheduled to begin in late August.

And: A chef has died after an eel was put up his ass. No, this didn't happen in West Hollywood.

Shocked doctors in Sichuan, China, found the sea creature in the 59-year-old man's rectum after his death. The Asian swamp eel was allegedly inserted into the unnamed man's bottom, after he passed out drunk, by pals playing a prank on him. Medics said the eel had devoured his bowels. Pranks are fun, but let's look at some of the facts here:

1) somebody had to not only come up with the idea of shoving an eel up this guy's ass, but also had to say that out - "hey, let's shove an eel up his ass"

2) everybody else agreed it was a good idea to shove an eel up a guy's ass

3) one of them located an eel, with the express purpose of shoving it up a guy's ass

4) somebody pulled this guy's pants down and exposed his ass so that an eel could be shoved in it

5) at least one person had to shove an eel in a guy's ass

6) after shoving the eel up a guy's ass, none of them reconsidered if shoving an eel up a guy's ass was a bad idea

So I guess it was a pretty good prank after all.

Worst picture of the week:

when Assy Pig Tank met 12 Year Old Lesbian

Worst bonus links:

'Bones' Star David Boreanaz Admits To Infidelity - I knew Hollywood was full of douches who can't keep their dicks in their pants, but this clown was married to a former Playboy playmate. Dude, if you're not good tagging playmate ass, just fuck off.

World's Oldest Person Dies A Week Short Of 115th Birthday - Bummer you're not going to get to see Iron Man 2. They've got an extra scene at the end of the movie!

Spanish Face Transplant Patient Goes Public - Too soon! Too soon! The pictures all look like the before, not the after.

Leno’s Crappy Jokes Were Recycled - Doing a cherry gig for the president, and you can't even get fresh material. Lazy chin.

Sully Could Have Made it Back to the Airport - Not such a hero now, are you captain? Serves you right for making a split second decision that doesn't jibe with the hindsight of tested flight simulators!

Massachusetts Woman With No Arms Preparing For Black Belt - We can all be thrilled for having indomitable spirit, but this is just a joke, right? I'm pretty sure I could kick her armless ass, and all the training I ever had was being a sparring dummy for Herr Doctor in 9th grade. this is wht worst thing to happen to martial arts since the black Karate Kid remake.

L.A. Orders 439 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries To Close - I order them to wait until I finish placing my order!

Post-Boob Job Kate Hudson Feels Like a Princess - Her boobs feel like a princess? She's the only actress to get fake tits who doesn't look like they got implants at all.

Duh, TV Makes Kids Fat and Stupid - Um, well...duh!

Off-Duty LAPD Officer Was Legally Drunk When She Died In Car Crash - Looks like some of the uniforms need to pay more attention to the D.A.R.E. training.

23-Year-Old Wins $1M Playing Baseball Video Game - He's probably not going to mind when he only gets $3 selling it back to GameStop. But that is too much money to win for playing any video game. Ever.

The Drug Cartel's Diamond-Studded Gun Cache - What happened to the good old days where too much moeny in the drug trade meant imported sports cars, exotic prostitutes, and lots of drugs?

Study: Older, Unmarried, Educated Moms On Rise - If you are older and unmarried with a child, 'educated' must be used fairly loosely.

One Chinese Baby Born With Syphilis Every Hour - Finally, they found a way to harm the children faster than using their toxic food, toys, and medicine!

World's Biggest Beaver Dam Discovered In Northern Canada - It would have made the other link group until I realized what they were talking about. And did somebody really measure it and compare it to the previous record holder?

Adriana Lima: It Was Easy Losing My Baby Weight - That's not a very PC way to discuss having an abortion, you boastful bitch.

Naked Scanner Reveals Airport Screener's Tiny Penis, Sparks Fist Fight With Fellow Officers - That's our TSA...harrassing each either over tiny dicks when they should be focused on bigger dicks trying to blow up our planes.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Ass-Kicking Weekend

So even if Mark Millar is having a little hissy fit about his print work, he's got to be all smiles about Kick-Ass debuting - as am I. Ever since they announced the comic would be turned into a flick - which was after only one issue, I've been reading it with anticipation. Yeah, knowing how it will end could be considered a drawback, but that only makes me want to see how it translates to film.

And on the other side of the universe from geek pursuits is game two of the Kings / Canucks playoff series on Saturday. The first one came down to OT and was a loss, but the Kings will play their asses off to make sure they don't come back to town down by two. There's also the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren have all taken the top of the podium, so will there be a repeat winner finally or does Mercedes have the goods to claim legitimacy as one of the Big Four teams in the race world?

Best of the week: Finding an NHL jersey craze in West Africa is like that scene from Tropic Thunder, in which Ben Stiller discovers a remote village worships his character's box office bomb Simple Jack because it's one of the only VHS tapes it owns. Necessity can facilitate some strange cultural mash-ups.

National Post writer Bonnie Allen found Liberians wearing Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and other NHL jerseys being bought, sold and worn by the citizenry. Sure, they added teams in Florida, but this isn't the next stage of expansion.

"We don't know the game," one man admitted. "But the jerseys are very fine. Very high quality."

The booming and controversial used-clothes business in Africa means hockey jerseys can be found sprinkled throughout this war-torn West African nation. Bizarrely, the authentic hockey jersey has become a status symbol among the poor for its "premium-grade" rating and high price tag ($4 CDN!). "It is tough, tough material," a street vendor raved. "If you buy it, you can wear it for 20 years."

That the jerseys are donated by churches and charities in North America, and the popularity is a bit surprising, given the widespread belief by many Africans that these "used clothes have been stripped from the body of a dead person." Perhaps not, but some of those teams have barely had a pulse all season.

Check out
the Post's gallery of Liberians in NHL sweaters, as they attempted to find all 30 teams. Puck Daddy (who posted the links) added, "No word if the village enforcers all wear Philadelphia Flyers jerseys, or if feuding communities are naturally drawn to Flames and Oilers jerseys. Clearly, this West African nation is on the cusp of NHL fandom. You know, once they work past the whole 'no national electricity grid and televisions are for the rich' thing."

Plus: Folks are slowly realizing what happened to them on April Fool's day. The online game store Gamestation.co.uk added language to its click through license that asked customers to surrender their immortal souls, though it offered a checkbox to opt out if you wanted to keep yours. 7,500 customers did not check the box.

By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions....we reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction."

A small minority of the customers probably didn't check the box because they knew it was all a gag, the majority likely didn't check it off because they didn't read the agreement. No one reads the agreements. Famous Sister deals with stuff like that for a giant software corporation, to which Herr Docktor comically noted that her hard work is negated by people who don't read them or skip them entirely. And realistically, they aren't agreements anyway. The legal fiction that you can create agreement merely by throwing tens of thousands of words' worth of legalese at a customer is not as bound in stone as you'd think. I'd be willing to bet your soul on it.

And: Directed by the notorious Banksy himself, Exit Through The Gift Shop takes viewers through the illicit world of street art. Looking behind the scenes of the movement, the film follows the transformation of French shopkeeper Thierry Guetta — who’s obsessed with documenting street art, but unable to make a good film — into Mr. Brainwash, a megalomaniacal artist set on conquering the graffiti-art scene. Narrated by Rhys Ifans, the film also features music by Roni Size and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow set to footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and other street-art heroes.

You can visit the
Exit Through the Gift Shop website, read an interview with Banksy, catch photos of celebrities tagging a limo at the Hollywood premiere, and watch a video of Banksy’s phenomenal exhibition in Bristol...or act as though dogs playing poker is actual art.

Best picture of the week:


flights all over Europe may be screwed, but it's still an awesome eruption


Best bonus links:

Hugh Hefner Says Tiger And Jesse James Are Creeps - If an 84-year-old pussy-monger with decades of sexual affairs with multiple girlfriends thinks you're a scumbag, I think the odds are he's right.

Japanese Toilet Horror - I automatically have to post anything that has a combination of the words 'toilet', 'Japanese', and 'horror'.

F1 Keen On Russia, New York - Who knows how they'll pull off a street circuit in the Big Crapple, but that'll be easier to get to than Montreal (no customs agents searching my shampoo for narcotics).

HBO's New Drama 'Treme' Renewed For 2nd Season - That's how good it is after airing only one show. Guess I need to start watching it...after I finish five seasons of The Wire.

Lethal Injection Or Firing Squad: Death Row Inmate In A Bind - what a shitty pair of choices. Wonder what Bing has to say on that...it is billed as a decision making engine.

Judge: National Day Of Prayer Is Unconstitutional - Fortunately, National Day Of Pizza is still legal. Hooray!

Former NYT Reporter Sleeps On Street, Eats Out Of Garbage Cans - It's all part of his new series of reports titled "I fucked my life up and will be dying like a pauper soon".

The Diarrhea Defense - If you're claiming diarrhea as a defense for anything, you get a link here.

Site Posts Pics Of Chicken-Eating Times Reviewer - And no, it does not have anything to do with either of the above links.

JWoww Wishes She Could Get Implants Every Year - As do I.

Bishop Convicted For Denying Holocaust - Amazing how church members can pretend something that effected millions never happened. Oh wait, they can...

Evander Kane KO's Cooke, Becomes Beloved In Boston - Even if you don't know the back story, it's an awesome clip to watch.

Escaped Inmates Dress As Sheep - Suck on that, Shawshank Redemption!

Copying Is Not Theft, Now With Studio-Recorded Audio! - This may or may not be legally sound in court, but it's unflappable logic to me.

Foes Of Tea Party Movement To Infiltrate Rallies - A nice take on keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Though making them look like bigger asses than they already are will be hard.

Man Dies While Waiting In Line To Buy World Cup Tickets - And normally that would suggest it was a long line. But as a consolation, the seats he would have had were not that good anyway.

Important Breaking News: Big Tits Zombie 3D - That is important! It's like the perfect storm of all that is hot in film and culture today. It will probably bring about the end of the universe.

Worst of the week: Clearly Mike Huckabee is not seriously considering a presidential bid for the Republicans in 2012. Why else would you say the effort to allow gays and lesbians to marry is comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy and drug use. He also told college journalists last week that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt. "Children are not puppies," he said. Jesus, you prick - gays can't even have pets?

The former Arkansas governor visited the obscure College of New Jersey in Ewing to speak to the Student Government Association. He also was interviewed by a campus news magazine, The Perspective, which published an article two days later. Dumbfuckabee, which he will be henceforth referred to as, told the interviewer that not every group's interests deserve to be accommodated, if their lifestyle is outside of what he called "the ideal."

"That would be like saying, well there's there are a lot of people who like to use drugs so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want to use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, should we accommodate them?" he said, according to a transcript of the interview. Guess he'll be left of Mitt Romney's Xmas list.

"Why do you get to choose that two men are OK but one man and three women aren't OK?" he asked. Uh, the answer is that polygamy is illegal, and people en masse are not trying to change that law, whereas folks nationwide have voted to legalise gay marriage. You ought to know that if you're really thinking about being a leader.

Huckabee added that his goal isn't to tell others how to live, but that the burden of proving that a gay marriage can be successful rests with the activists in favor of changing the law. "I don't have to prove that marriage is a man and a woman in a relationship for life," he said. "They have to prove that two men can have an equally definable relationship called marriage, and somehow that that can mean the same thing." And once again, I'll have to refer him to the previous statements and voting records of places like Connecticut, Washington DC, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, California, and Nevada.

Dumbfuckabee's archaic point of view is equally old. In response to a 1992 questionnaire from The Associated Press, the then Senatorial candidate spelled out his opposition to homosexuality, saying it was crucial that the country not "legitimize immorality". "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle," he wrote, in response to a question about gays in the military. He also advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, saying it was necessary to confine "carriers of this plague."

I haven't seen this kind of political suicide since
R. Budd Dwyer...

Plus: Kathy Griffin is going to be promoting pap smears, which is fine...except she's going to be doing it poolside at the Palomar Hotel, just down the street here from me in Los Angeles. And worse than seeing her 46-year old crotchhole is the info that she's getting her vagina vagazzled. Cue the blockquoted press release.

On Friday, April 16th, she will receive this important test in hopes that every woman will see how easy it is to get this done. She will receive this test poolside at the Palomar Hotel, by a veteran medical physician at 12pm. This is will be taped for her hit reality show "My Life On The D- List." Kathy feels that this cause is so important that she has bedazzled her "va-jay-jay," so it can be as 'va-beautiful' as it 'va-can.'

Kathy's goal is to get the word out about women's health. She wants to say "Suck it to Cancer" and educate women all across the world about keeping their bodies healthy and of course inform them about when they should be getting their check-ups.

I'm all for preventing cancer, but Kathy Griffin's live pap smear is not the solution. Especially as fodder for her crappy show. The only way I'd ever want to look at her vagina is if it was vagazzled with Isla Fisher's vagina.

Also: Perspective future bachelors - you don't get to keep your assets just because you file for divorce first.

Larry King filed his paperwork shortly before his seventh wife also sought to end the couple's nearly 13-year-old marriage. The 76-year-old host of his namesake CNN program made the move hours before Shawn King filed her own petition. Both cited "irreconcilable differences." The couple were married in a hospital room in 1997 three days before Larry King underwent surgery to clear a clogged blood vessel. They have two sons, ages 11 and 9. The petitions differ in that Larry King is seeking joint custody, while his 50-year-old wife wants physical custody.

But the kicker is that Larry King is also asking a judge not to award his wife any spousal support and to invalidate an agreement in which he transferred property to her. And this matters because Larry never signed a prenup. And in California, earnings accumulated during a marriage are split 50/50, and King’s net worth is reportedly estimated at $144 million.

As teh story goes, several years ago Shawn accused Larry of having an affair with her sister, Shannon Engemann. Shawn threatened to leak the story to the media unless Larry signed a document giving up his interest in their Beverly Hills estate, along with two other homes in Utah. Larry took the document to his attorney, who ordered him not to sign it. Larry then went to Shawn’s lawyer, and that attorney eventually gave Larry the green light to sign the agreement. Well of course her attorney did!

Having been married all those other times, I think he should have figured it out. But now he deserves the shithole he's dug himself. With the other exes and payments he's making, he'll need to work another 54 years before he can retire.

And: Children's author K.P. Bath has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. His name even sounds creepy, but wait until you get a look at his
picture.

The 51-year-old author of "The Secret of Castle Cant" is expected to spend six or seven years in prison. I'm sure he'll have some wonderful secrets from that adventure! The Portland resident was arrested last April after federal agents discovered thousands of sexually graphic images and more than 125 videos on Bath's computer and thumb drives. I understand politicians being liars, and Wall Street bankers being fradulent, but children's authors as pedophiles just crosses a line.

Worst picture of the week:


the only thing I like less than baseball are whores doing self promotion through baseball (Holly Madison = vomit)

Worst bonus links:

A Mysterious Powder And A Miscarriage Prompt Investigation Of Restaurateur - It's not like he put something in the food at his eatery. He just rubbed a substance on his girlfriend to abort his unwanted pregnancy.

Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee Apologizes To Sandra Bullock, Says She 'Would Do It Again' - Newsflash there, tattoohead...that's not an apology, because an intrinsic part of an apology is remorse. Nevermind, you can't teach an old Nazi new tricks.

Zac Efron Headed For Life Of Crime In 'Snabba Cash' - It just sounds gay when you have Efron in the same sentence as 'Snabba' - whatever the fuck that is.

Green Men Of Vancouver, Your Current Playoff MVPs - Perverting my beloved It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, especially against the Kings, makes me sad.

Heidi Montag Is Writing a Bourne-Meets-Barbie Action Flick - It will be the first treatment done entirely in crayon. She's too stupid to function properly, sho whow is she going to pull this off?

John Tesh Confirms: Oprah And I Dated - How did that giant head filled with nougat become the nubian queen of bland white dudes? First Roger Ebert and now Teshy? There wasn't any Hallie Berry back then, but what about Dihann Caroll or Shari Bellafonte or Rae Dawn Chong? It's further proof that her relationship with Stedman Graham is bogus - she isn't into black men (where are the one's who dated her?), and the only black action she likes is Gayle King.

Twilight's Kellan Lutz: 'I'm A God' - No, you're a douche. You're in Twilight, and your name is Kellan Lutz. Kellan? Lutz? Uberdouche.

Study: Cats And Dogs Are Household Hazards - Right up there with knives, outlets, and ill-constructed closet shelving. And none of those eat their own feces and then lick your face.

Consumer Reports Calls Lexus GX 460 Unsafe - But it is the most luxurious and sleek sport SUV that you'll ever have the pleasure to possibly roll. And isn't that a risk of status you're willing to take?

Demi Moore: 'Laughter And Smiling Are The Best Antidotes to Aging' - I thought last week we had this covered? You had more work done than the LA freeway system (and may actually be a better ride). Shut the fuck up!

A 2nd Garbage Patch: Plastic Soup Seen In Atlantic - I thought there were more Garbage Pail Kids until I read a little closer. Now I'm not so jazzed...

Charlie Sheen's Rep Denies Cheating, Explains Fake Mustache - I would take Sheen in a dead pool above Linsday Lohan if only he could be killed. He's like a drug and sex fueled Terminator. Though if the two of them hooked up...

Police: NJ Teen Told Blacks To Leave Whole Foods - I thought trends started at upscale places like Whole Foods and then trickled down to Wal-Mart, not the other way around.

Jenny McCarthy Blasts Steven Seagal - Take the attention off your break-up and your ill-imformed crusade against science to chime in on Steven Seagal's sleaziness. I hope it's just pre-fight hype for when they square off in an Akido match. I'm looking forward to his throat punch takedown of her.

The People Demand A Ricky Martin Sex Tape - Which fucking people? Oh, the gay pron industry. Have they really run out of Latin men? Maybe Menudo can save the day.

Tea Party Group Offers Refunds For Hannity No-Show - When blowhard Sean Hannity won't even show up for your extremist group rally, you may want to look at what you're doing. It came down to rebates to keep these fringe activists happy.

Vatican To Bishops: Follow Law, Report Sex Abuse - Who says the Catholic Church isn't progressive? That's 21st century thinking right there! Because common sense can finally have it's place amongst dogma.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Zombie Jesus Three Day Weekend

It's nice to have an extra day off because our staff in big ups into Jesus Christo, and though I've already done my religious duties for the week, I will make my Friday good by going to a matinee of Hot Tub Time Machine. Between that and the Malaysian Grand Prix Sunday, there will still be plenty of time for hunting eggs, which is a fundamental part of bringing demigods back from the dead.

Best of the week: From
mockbuster studio The Asylum and the writer of Snakes On A Train (yes, they're on a train), comes SyFy original movie Mega Piranha. The movie airs April 10th, but in the meantime you can satisfy your need for mega piranhas and former child stars (a double whammy of shitty awesomeness) with this clip.

In Mega Piranha, a mutant strain of giant ferocious piranha escape from the Amazon and eat their way toward Florida. As shown in that clip, a kick to the head is pretty much the only way to stop them. The tagline for the movie says: “They were created to save mankind. Something went wrong.” Yes, like thinking giant piranhas in some way could save mankind. So awful it's got to be good.

Plus: The Republican National Committee has fired a staffer who helped organize a $1,946 visit last month to a sex-themed Hollywood club, and the GOP says it will recoup the money from a donor who also participated. Ooops, you got caught!

The episode is the latest in a string of questionable spending by the RNC as Republicans prepare for a costly election season in which they hope to take dozens of House and Senate seats from Democrats. An RNC memo says the January 31 outing to Voyeur West Hollywood involved several members of the "Young Eagles" GOP group who had been in Los Angeles for a meeting. An unnamed staffer, who had been warned that such activities did not qualify for reimbursement, has been fired, said the memo from RNC chief of staff Ken McKay.

The club featured topless dancers and bondage outfits. An RNC spokesman said the committee would be reimbursed by Erik Brown, the donor-vendor who billed the GOP for the club visit on behalf of the attendees. Since November, the RNC has paid Brown's company, Dynamic Marketing Inc., about $19,000 for printing and direct-mail services, campaign spending reports show. He has contributed several thousand dollars to the party.

The most recent financial disclosure report said the RNC spent more than $17,000 for private planes in February and nearly $13,000 for car services. Much of the most lavish spending by the major political parties is associated with fundraisers, which often target wealthy people. The RNC spent $144,549 for rooms at the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2009. On March 19, 2009, it spent $31,980 for catering by the Breakers Palm Beach in Florida. The RNC paid $18,361 over the past several months to the "Tiny Jewel Box" in Washington for "office supplies," which may have included trinkets or gifts for big donors. It spent $13,622 at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York City.

Some Republican officials and donors have complained about Steele's spending decisions, saying the party should devote every available dollar to trying to win House and Senate races this fall. He held this year's four-day winter meeting at a beachfront hotel in Hawaii, although it often takes place in Washington. Donors also grumbled when Steele spent more than $18,000 to redecorate his office. Or in other words, business as usual for the RNC.

Also: Revelation of the day -
Mark Pellegrino, who’s most recognizable these days as Jacob on “Lost,” also played the Blond Treehorn Thug in The Big Lebowski. So if you’re a Hollywood casting agent and you need an actor who can forcibly dunk a guy in water, Pellegrino’s your man.

And: The small gang of Somali pirates fired on an approaching ship, hoping their midnight attack would bring them millions in ransom. And then they realized it was a U.S. warship.

The USS Nicholas, a guided missile frigate, was tracking the pirates when they opened fire in Indian Ocean waters, the U.S. military said. The Nicholas, which saw combat in the first Gulf War, returned fire and disabled the skiff. Navy personnel later boarded and detained three suspects. The Americans found two more bandits on a nearby mothership and later sank the skiff. It was not the first attack against a Navy ship, but it underscored the fact that most pirates aren't terribly sophisticated.

International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate trade. The attack took place between the coast of Kenya and the island nation of Seychelles, and came just shy of a year since pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama and took American Richard Phillips hostage. Phillips was rescued five days later when Navy SEAL snipers shot three pirates in a lifeboat.

The U.S. Africa Command said the five pirates would remain in U.S. custody on board the frigate for now.

Best picture of the week:


Best bonus links:

Raising The Dead Was One Of Electricity's Earliest Goals - And when that failed, they decided that mood lighting was the next best thing. Thank corpses for your recessed illumination.

Kings Rout Canucks Behind Brown's Hat Trick - A sweet game where everything went right for LA and nothing did for Vancouver. I was happy to lose my hat in this 8-3 beating. Hopefully a sign of playoff things to come.

Google CEO's Compensation For 2009 Falls 52 Pct - At least some of the rich are not getting richer.

Ban Lifted: Pilots Can Take Antidepressants On Job - I guess that's a good thing. You do not want your pilot to be depressed when you're coming in for a landing.

Association With Jesse James Worries Neo-Nazis - It takes a lot to give the fourth reich a bad name.

California's Foreign-Born Population Has Peaked - But second generation children of foreign born people is still going!

True Blood's Anna Paquin: 'I'm Bisexual' - And now I'm watching True Blood.

This Guy Could Kill You With A Business Card - Though he is still unemployed because this is his only talent. There's irony in there somewhere.

Tourist Falls Into Active Volcano Crater On Bali - A vacation that became a slaycation. Now volcanic exploration is ruined for the rest of us.

Hem Your Pants Prison Style - Next up, how to make a shank in under 20 minutes and safe showering techniques.

TV Hospitals Not Real - What? And I totally thought this was standard practice at hospitals. Yes, a dog ate Dan's heart.

Firefly Reboots, And Other April Fools’ Headlines We Wish Were Real / Top Shelf Announces 'League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1988' - Awww, if these really were true, it would rule.

Lakers Sign Bryant To 3-Year Extension - I don't follow basketball, but I'm happy to see my home team keep their franchise intact.

Make Me A Sandwich, Adobe - Because that's pretty much what the new Photoshop CS can do.

Mumblecore For Hobos - I dare you to not want to watch after this synopses: Volleyball brought them together. A rape re-enactment tore them apart. Gayle Wells stars as a 60-year-old woman who had her ear bit off by a pony when she was a child, so now she wears a plastic elf ear to cover up the damage. Her lover died of alcohol poisoning on a volleyball court. Now she talks to her plants and tells them to cut down on their drinking. She meets and falls in love with the cop who found her lover rotting by the net, and then with her dead lover’s father. Unable to choose between them, she flips a coin…

A Guide To Recognizing Your Fanboys: Periodic Table Of Nerdery – This ought to sort them out. And nothing is more embarassing than mixing up Stargate and Star Trek.

Cops Worried About Lindsay Lohan - Though she's clearly not worried about the cops, as evidenced by her behavior over the last few years.

Worst of the week: Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his estranged wife squared off in court in their bitter divorce case, where there's too much money being spent and demanded.

The court hearing centered on whether Jamie McCourt should be awarded nearly $1 million a month in temporary spousal support. Fuck and no. The attorney for Frank McCourt, offered her $150,000 in monthly assistance and argued his client can't tap credit lines to maintain Jamie McCourt's lavish lifestyle despite Frank McCourt's $5 million annual salary. Well, that's simple math - 12 million > 5 million.

Jamie McCourt's attorney said his client is entitled to the lifestyle she had during her marriage. He also said she has to spend about $568,000 every month on mortgages and related expenses for six homes and one condominium — more than half of what she is asking from her husband. When asked if Jamie McCourt would accept her husband's $150,000 offer, the figure wouldn't even cover the mortgage for one of the homes. He added the mortgages had been paid through February, but his client is behind on her attorney fees by $800,000. Wasser estimated her legal bills could reach as high as $9 million. Tough shit. Nobody needs seven residences.

Jamie McCourt estimated she has about $4 million in savings and roughly $450,000 in cash that will quickly run out due to the monthly mortgage payments. She believes she shouldn't have to "invade" her savings to pay for her living expenses. The assertion is Frank McCourt continues to live in luxury despite claims the economic downturn has hurt his businesses. He recently attended the Super Bowl and recently spent as much as $80,000 on a Caribbean vacation. She also cites a long list of other expenses she and her husband had during their marriage such as trips to Paris and Vietnam, country club memberships and dining at expensive restaurants. She said she enjoys wearing designer clothing and has a hair stylist and makeup artist.

Court documents she filed show that the couple's worth is more than $1.2 billion. Damn, that's a lot of money at stake, especially when accidents can happen so easily.

Plus: Nine alleged members of a Christian militia group that was girding for battle with the Antichrist were charged with plotting to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral — all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the U.S. government.

Seven men and one woman believed to be part of the Michigan-based Hutaree were arrested over the weekend in raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, and another was still being sought. FBI agents moved quickly against Hutaree because its members were planning an attack sometime in April, prosecutors said. Authorities seized guns in the raids but would not say whether they found any explosives.

Prosecutors said the group began military-style training in the Michigan woods in 2008, learning how to shoot guns and make and set off bombs. FBI and police surrounded a rural area about 30 miles from the site of raid in Michigan and were using a nearby church as a staging area. Hutaree says on its website its name means "Christian warrior" and describes the word as part of a secret language that few are privileged to know. Sure. The group quotes several Bible passages and declares: "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. ... Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment." Thanks, Jesus!

Also: A Lebanese man charged with sorcery and sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be beheaded at the end of the week. The Middle East has their shit together!

May El Khansa, the attorney for Ali Hussain Sibat, told CNN that she and Sibat's family were informed about the upcoming execution. She said she heard from a source in Saudi Arabia with knowledge of the case and the proceedings that Saudi authorities "will carry out the execution." The Saudi Ministry of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter, presumably because they were planning for the execution.

El Khansa said she has appealed to Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, and president, Michel Suleiman, to stop the execution. Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to block it as well. Sibat is the former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Beirut-based satellite TV channel "Sheherazade." According to his lawyer, Sibat would predict the future on his show and give out advice to his audience.

El Khansa told CNN her client was arrested by Saudi Arabia's religious police (known as the Mutawa'een) and charged with sorcery while visiting the country in May 2008. Sibat was in Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic religious pilgrimage known as Umra. Sibat was then put on trial, and in November 2009, a court in the Saudi city of Medina found him guilty and sentenced him to death. According to El Khansa, Sibat appealed the verdict. The case was taken up by the Court of Appeal in the Saudi city of Mecca on the grounds that the initial verdict was "premature."

El Khansa tells CNN that the Mecca appeals court then sent the case back to the original court for reconsideration, stipulating that all charges made against Sibat needed to be verified and that he should be given a chance to repent. On March 10, judges in Medina upheld their initial verdict, meaning Sibat is once again sentenced to be executed. "The Medina court refused the sentence of the appeals court," said El Khansa, adding her client will appeal the verdict once more.

Give it another 20 years, and once that part of the world runs out of oil, this kind of silly shit will come to an end. But until then, no sorcery!

UPDATE: He's been given a
stay of execution...for now.

And: In the latest media whore news, useless couple Heidi and Spencer Pratt added 10 seconds onto the fame meter by giving themselves Indian names Solely for attention, the decided to adopt "true native-American names" in an effort to become more spiritual. So goodbye Heidi and Spencer, hello White Wolf and Running Bear. They mean absolutely nothing, and of course, the natives are restless. “Continued stereotyping such as this by people ignorant of our traditional ways is very disrespectful and only hurts our efforts to curtail these stereotypes,” said a rep from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. That, and the fact that they don't want to be associated with those assclowns.

Worst picture of the week:

always ruining everything

Worst bonus links:

Which Of Your Lamborghinis Would You Like To Have In Your Living Room Today? - Does it really matter, you fucking jerk?

Remains Found In Cambodia May Be Errol Flynn's Son - Finally, the mystery nobody cared about may be solved. You all remember who Errol Flynn was too, right?

Levi Johnston: My Reality Show Will Be Better Than Palin's - Debating the merits of which shit smells worse is pointless. Let's jsut pray both are off the air quckly.

Why Would Anyone Turn Down A Million Bucks? Ask This Guy - If that answer really matters. Some guy rejecting a payday doesn't require you to know why, just that he's $1 million less rich. A better question is about his grooming habits.

Turn Any Food Into Gold - Because whatever you're eating can't be made better by spraying some golden compound on it.

Chaz Bono Asks Judge To Change Name, Gender - If the judge didn't that would be awesome. Maybe they could force it to change back to whatever it was before...

Medical Waste Shipments Turn Up Heads, Torsos - It's not like hot dogs, where you use those parts. That is waste, so let's not be surprised. Unless there's a puppet show looking for pieces.

Katy Perry’s Wedding Dress To Show Her Abs - The pro is she's got a smokin' body. The con is having a wedding dress show your abs is something that only a retard would do.

Elton John Stage At Mexico Ruins Partly Collapses - Not even the stage wanted Elton John to perform. And I like that the stage is in ruins at ruins.

Vatican Offers 3 Reasons It's Not Liable For Abuse - They could offer 1000 and none of there would be any good. But they'll still keep shirking responsibility.

Drunk Man Tried To Resuscitate Roadkill With CPR - How drunk do you have to be to go mouth to mouth with a possum? And if you drink that much, you should get a pass for DUI.

April Fools! DWTS' Brooke Burke Is Not Pregnant - Hahaha, she's not really pregnant! Take that joke, barren women!

Guyana Cops Look Into Teen's Death After Exorcism - The authorities need to get to the bottom of that exorcism and find out why it went wrong. But not why they're allowing exorcisms.

Apple's First-Week iPad Supply Sells Out - Whoopie, another unnecessary new product for geeks to cream over, and pay far out the ass to have just to say they were the first. Yawn.

Palin, Fox News, LL Cool J Tangle Over Phantom Interview - Sorry, you don't get to use a two year old interview and repurpose it for your propaganda without ruffling some feathers.

Glam Slam Gorgeous 'Glee' Glow - This is a post about the application of make up that an actress wore. And they take it through step by boring step.

Lady Gaga: “I Can Actually Mentally Give Myself An Orgasm” - Whereas she mentally gives me a headache. I call bullshit on this, not only because she's doesn't have a psychic connection to her coochie, but also it reeks of stupid sensationalism and attention-getting.