<![CDATA[Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith's Hybrid Page]]> <![CDATA[Comments from Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith]]> <![CDATA[ Jay Leno on His Late Show Super Bowl Promo: 'A Good Joke Is a Good Joke' ]]> You've read about the Cold War-level skulduggery that went into keeping that Letterman/Leno/Oprah Late Show promo secret in the days before the Super Bowl. Tonight, Jay Leno gave his side of the story on his show.

It was nothing that we didn't already know: Dave's producer called up Jay's producer and asked if Jay would want to be in the spot. Jay said yes and the two recorded the ad in a super-secret shoot with Oprah last week.

Some have wondered what Leno could possibly have to gain from appearing in a spot for his soon-to-be rival (again). Tonight, Leno spun the ad as a very public move to clear the air of any leftover fog of Late Night War in advance of his move back to The Tonight Show:

I walk in and I see Dave, and he puts out his hand and we shake hands. And you know, whatever happened for the last 18 years disappeared. It was great to see my old friend again. It was wonderful—he was very gracious, we talked about the old days, we told some jokes... you know, it was really good to see him.

But if the Late Night Wars spectacular ratings boost are any guide, Leno should be throwing darts at a picture of Dave's face right about now.

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<![CDATA[ Incoming! ]]> Granted, New York is way better prepared for this than DC. And, granted, it's only 6-12 inches. But still: SNOWMAGEDDON 2010: NYC EDITION! Forecasters are now predicting up to a foot of snow in the city on Wednesday. [CBS 2]

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<![CDATA[ Now Is The Time to Tune Into Venezuelan Radio ]]> You can always count on Venezuelan dictator-president Hugo Chavez to say something stupid. Last month, for example, he claimed a U.S. weapons test caused the Haiti earthquake. Now he's launching a radio program to be broadcast whenever he wants!

The AP reports that Chavez launched the programSuddenly, With Chavez—today on state-run Venezuelan National Radio. The show "doesn't have a schedule and can be aired at any moment." Which means you all should tune in right now so you don't miss any of the highly entertaining rhetoric that spills from Chavez's mouth all the time.

Here are some of our favorite funny things Hugo Chavez has said:

  • "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. "And it smells of sulfur still today." [CNN]

  • "Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right," [Reuters]

  • "Remember, little girl, I'm like the thorn tree that flowers on the plain. I waft my scent to passers-by and prick he who shakes me. Don't mess with me, Condoleezza. Don't mess with me, girl." [BBC]

  • "The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the US president has no limits. I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W Bush." [BBC]

  • Can't wait!

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<![CDATA[ Google One of Few Things in World That Can Still Scare Lindsay Lohan ]]> The Huffington Post looked for suckers in a target-rich environment; Lindsay Robertson offered a shocking new David Paterson rumor; and Lindsay Lohan is frightened by Google. The Twitterati hated the players and the game.

Lindsay Lohan tried to imagine a world in which she had no privacy, in which her every move was digitally recorded and transmitted to strangers, and in which everyone else knew she hadn't read the news since 2006. So scary.

The Huffington Post's tech editor wondered whether MacWorld Expo has attracted any technology bloggers eager to sacrifice their own time and money to help enrich an abusive, authoritarian leader who holds them in disdain. Not sure where he's going to find someone like that at an Apple event (*cough*).

New York's Lindsay Robertson decided to have fun with the "David Paterson innuendo" newsmeme. Now somebody just has to tie Furry David Paterson to the sheep-demon ad.

Pro tip for Perez Hilton: Try and find a ghostwriter who has some knowledge of celebrity gossip, and a working memory of some portions of the year 2008. Or maybe write your own tweets? LOL, kidding, LOVEYOUxoxox.

New York Times writer Brian Stelter thinks this might be a parody of "the NYT Coffee Guy" rather than the real thing. We think it might be a sporadic but comforting reminder that there is still some nice things about being a Times writer.



Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets - or send us more Twitter usernames.

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<![CDATA[ Lindsay Lohan: Celebrity Hoarder, Part 3 ]]> Tonight, The Insider aired its third installment of helping Lindsay Lohan get clean from her latest addiction: Hoarding. While the show has been labeling her a "secret celebrity hoarder," tonight it was declared that she is not a hoarder.

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<![CDATA[ Total Recall ]]>

[New York, February 8. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

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<![CDATA[ It's Like The Graduate II ]]> ...if both families were really jazzed about it and Mrs. Robinson had slaughtered a flamingo. (Also: notice how he lost the yarmulke along with the old fiancee.) [Vintage_Ads]

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<![CDATA[ Cameron Hooks Up With A-Rod; MJ's Doctor Charged With Manslaughter ]]>

  • Cameron Diaz was spotted "grinding on" A-Rod at a pre-Super Bowl party in Miami on Saturday night and a source says they "have been totally hooking up."
  • A partygoer says Cameron was "fun and flirty," but also tipsy, so lets hope she saw the error of her ways once she sobered up. [OK!]
  • Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter and accused of acting "unlawfully and without malice" in giving Michael Jackson the Propofol that killed him. Several Jackson family members came to the court house after prosecutors made the announcement. [AP]
  • Dr. Conrad Murray pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could be sentenced to four years in prison. [NYT]
  • Dr. Conrad Murray was released on $75,000 bail. He can still practice medicine, but he cannot be in possession of or prescribe anesthetics. [TMZ]
  • Joe Jackson's lawyer said, "This charge is a slap on the wrist. There's great disappointment here. [Dr. Conrad Murray] should've been charged with a higher degree of responsibility. What he did was reckless. It was a disregard for human life." [People]
  • The full coroner's report on Michael Jackson has been released, and it makes it clear that the Propofol is what killed him. It also describes in detail what was found in Michael Jackson's house: tons of prescription meds, a green oxygen tank, medical supplies, a box of catheters, disposable needles, and a closed bottle of urine near the foot of the bed. [TMZ]
  • Charlie Sheen has been charged with felony menacing, misdemeanor third degree assault and misdemeanor criminal mischief for the Christmas incident with Brooke Mueller. Their protective order was relaxed so they can communicate with each other. At the end of the hearing, Brooke and Charlie hugged. [TMZ]
  • Gary Coleman pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge related to a domestic violence incident last April with his wife. He was sentenced to 31 and a half days in jail, but he'll only serve the time if he doesn't complete a domestic violence course and pay a fine. [AP]
  • Lindsay Lohan posted a picture of her unusually puffy lips on Twitter to prove that she hasn't had lip injections. "See! my lips are just as they've always been :) lol-it's nuts that i feel the need to give proof! what is this world coming to!!" she wrote. Linds also denied she has an injection scar writing, "Why are all of my friends asking me if I have a cut on my lip? Lol coz I don't," even though it is visible in the picture. [Us]
  • In the new issue of U.K. Cosmopolitan, Jessica Alba denies the rumor that her husband Cash Warren was making out with Lindsay Lohan. "Lindsay's had to deal with this for so long," says Alba. "Everyone has to live their life, and that's what people forget when you're in this business – she's really nice. We hang out and chat for hours about girl stuff." [People]
  • Megan Fox used a stunt hand for her Super Bowl commercial. Apparently Motorola didn't want to show someone with short thumbs operating the Blur smart phone. [ONTD]
  • Drew Barrymore got into a fender-bender today with a paparazzo. He rear-ended her car as she was leaving a salon. She screamed at him, then exchanged insurance information. [Radar]
  • Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are selling their Hollywood Hills mansion. Scarlett paid $7 million for the home in 2007, but they're asking $4.95 million. [Radar]
  • People are angry at Katy Perry for posting a picture of 17-year-old singer Sky Ferreira on Twitter with her legs apart and writing, "I like em right before they're famous... Fresh meat." [Daily Express]
  • Mischa Barton reportedly showed up to a L.A. store looking disheveled and started chatting with a friend in an aisle. When others shoppers said "excuse me" and tried to get by she just rolled her eyes and refused to move. [E!]
  • Britney Spears was "rushed to a Los Angeles area hospital" today, but her rep says she was just getting her annual physical. [Radar]
  • Even though Kevin Federline says his marriage to Britney Spears made him depressed and fueled his overeating, making him "borderline obese," he do it all over again. "Anything is possible," said K-Fed. "Would I get married again? Definitely." [People]
  • David Arquette said he and Courteney Cox, who underwent IVF to have their daughter Coco, are thinking about having another child. "I don't know. I mean, it takes a lot for us to do it, so maybe adoption," said Arquette. "Listen, I like practicing as much as possible! But it's hard... I'm exhausted!" [Us]
  • Donald Trump has spent several weekends alone at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, but he says that doesn't mean his wife Melania has kicked him out. "This is so ridiculous," said Trump. "There was a report in the Palm Beach Daily News that Melania and I are having problems, and it is 100-percent false, as I told them." He says Melania can't come down to Palm Beach because their 5-year-old son is in school. [People]
  • As mentioned earlier, Star is reporting that Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon split because he was having an affair with Meg Ryan. [Perez]
  • BREAKING: Paris Hilton was spotted reading Bridal Guide magazine. [The Sun]
  • Snooki's new boyfriend Emilio Antonio posted pictures of her on his Facebook page. Are you surprised that he's tan and built? [Perez]
  • "Industry Insiders" believe Conan O'Brien may start negotiating a deal with Fox with "a matter of days or weeks" because the network wants to get his new show on the air by January. [The Wrap]
  • Ugh. Today Howard Stern confirmed the rumor that he may leave radio to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol. "There's not a better job on the planet than judging that fucking karaoke contest," Stern said. "It might be possible, we'll see... They'd have to pay me a ton of dough because I already make a ton of dough." [The Wrap]
  • Kendra Wilkinson was photographed holding her son and crying after her husband Hank Baskett (and the Colts) lost the Super Bowl. [Us]
  • Unsolicited Uterus Update: Rachel Bilson is not pregnant. [Us]
  • Heather Mills is working on a new reality show in which celebrities will live with a disability for a week. "We might put celebrities in that position and see how they cope - if it's Gordan Ramsay, shove him in a kitchen and see if he can cook for the restaurant if he's blind folded, and have him live like that for a week," she said. [The Mirror]
  • Kate Gosselin and her hair extensions are releasing a new book called I Just Want You to Know: Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith and Family on April 13. [People]
  • Alex Reid is trying to annul his Vegas wedding to Katie Price. A friend says he didn't know he was flying to Vegas to get married and, "I am told he had a few beforehand, which could have clouded his thoughts." [Digital Spy]
  • Andrew McCarthy went to Ethiopia to report for the travel magazine Afar, and wound up being escorted at gunpoint out of a historic underground church because he didn't have documentation. He was shaken, but unharmed. [People]
  • Mickey Rourke, who is working on the film Passion Play with Megan Fox, says, "(She) is the best young actress I've ever worked with. I don't know if a lot of her films have showcased her acting ability more than, say, being action-oriented, but she really stepped up (to) the plate with this one and was very consistent and professional, beyond her years. At 23, I couldn't do half of what she's doing." [Daily Express]
  • After Sarah Silverman broke up with Jimmy Kimmel in March she started dating for the first time since becoming famous. "It felt a little isolating," she says. "Part of the fun of meeting someone is having them discover you. You're doing your little tap dance, like, 'This is me!' And then [the person has] all these preconceived notions, things that are partially true and partially not." [People]
  • Portia de Rossi says she had a hard time working on Ally McBeal because she's a "staunch feminist." "It was a very difficult dichotomy to live in," she says. "Oh, I'm Portia. I'm fresh and new to Hollywood. I just found myself in Ally McBeal. Now I'm in my underwear and sleeping with my boss even though I don't want to portray women in the workplace that way. All of these things were tearing me apart. Plus - I was gay, did I mention?" [Advocate]
  • Anne Hathaway, whose brother is gay, says, "The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?" She added that she doesn't feel at home in the Episocopal Church either, "So I'm ... nothing [no denomination]. Fuck it, I'm forming. I'm a work in progress." [Advocate]
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<![CDATA[ 'Unintentional' Daily Beast Plagiarist Did It Four Other Times ]]> The Daily Beast writer who confessed Friday to "unintentionally" lifting several sentences from a Miami Herald article also copied passages on four other occasions, as far back as July 2009. And now he's taking a "time out" from the Beast.

On Friday, it looked like writer Gerald Posner had his minor plagiarism scandal under control. Slate's Jack Shafer busted him for one case of copying, but Posner claimed it was accidental and his editors said he would keep working. Now Shafer has three more examples of Posner stealing from the Herald, plus one involving Texas Lawyer, and Posner writes he's been suspended. He blogged: "I now realize that a method of compiling information that I have used successfully since 1984... obviously does not work... at the warp speed of the Net." Or under the bright light of Google.

(Pic: Posner's Facebook)

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<![CDATA[ Federal Charges Could Reveal Roeder Accomplices ]]> Scott Roeder has been convicted in a Kansas court, but some are still pushing for federal charges. The reason: a federal investigation could turn up accomplices in other states, and a conviction could keep Roeder from receiving parole. [UPI.com]

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<![CDATA[ Stick Flick ]]>

[Vancouver, February 7. Image via Getty]

A young boy high sticks his friend as they play hockey on a rink beside the Canada Hockey Place stadium, which is host to the Winter Olympic Ice hockey events, in downtown Vancouver on February 7, 2010. With over 15,000 highly-trained security personnel, backed by a lethal arsenal of military hardware, Vancouver is about to be wrapped in a billion-dollar security blanket for the Winter Olympics. To battle potential threats from terrorism, crime and violent protests at the February 12-28 Games, 15,500 police, military and private security guards have converged on this western Canadian city. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
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<![CDATA[ Nicole Richie Loves A Fart Joke ]]> Today in Tweet Beat, Nicole Richie has scents of humor, Jason Reitman is a little bit brag-y, and celebs like Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson tweet about the Super Bowl.






















































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<![CDATA[ Stella & Thandie: Black Is The New Black ]]>

[London, February 8. Image via AP.]

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<![CDATA[ True Romance ]]> Relationship expert Jenni Trent Hughes: "We may no longer be knights in shining armour or damsels in distress, but we still want and need romance - it is part of our emotional DNA." [Independent]

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<![CDATA[ "It Is, I Hope, A Good Horror Story": Comic Series Stars Vengeful Fetus ]]> The words of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and New York magazine may seem unlikely authorities on abortion's moral dubiousness, but then, this is a writer explaining to Awl readers why his comic features an undead fetus. Gotta speak their language.

After acknowledging the profound ambiguities in the abortion debate, Matthew Lickona gets into the substance of his self-published work. That would be pretty far outside of the realm of "safe, legal, and rare," where a fetus is both a monster and something, it is suggested, one should not destroy:

My comic series Alphonse...imagines a fetus whose personhood is so manifest that he has the faculties of a fully developed adult. A fetus who is consumed with rage after suffering betrayal at the most fundamental level, and who vows revenge on those who sought to take his life. Alphonse is literally a monster-"a fetus or an infant that is grotesquely abnormal and usually not viable"-one I hope bears some of the perversely prophetic character of the freaks who populate Flannery O'Connor's short stories. (Think of the Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," or the club-footed boy in "The Lame Shall Enter First.") He is my attempt at what O'Connor would call a "large and startling figure," whose grotesque character upsets the ordinary way of the world.

There is much that puzzles about his own explanation of his intentions, but I couldn't get past this:

My 12-year-old son was sitting on the living room couch, reading a magazine put out by a pro-life organization....

"Dad," he called to me, "Can you give me some pro-choice literature?"

"Yes, I can," I said. "Why do you ask?"

He held up the magazine. "I want them to read this. And it would be hypocritical of me to ask them to read it if I didn't read their stuff."

I was proud of him.

Who is "them"? Whose stuff is "theirs"? And most importantly, magazines and literature? Who's going to tell this twelve-year-old about Google?

Why I Did It: How I Came To Write A Comic Book About An Aborted Fetus [Awl]

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<![CDATA[ TweetDeck Updates with YouTube and Flickr Support, Improved Column Navigation ]]> Windows/Mac/Linux (with Adobe Air): TweetDeck—most popular Twitter client among Lifehacker readers—just released an update to version 0.33, bringing with it more support for viewing media inline without opening a page in your browser (including YouTube videos and Flickr images) and a nice new column navigation tool. Sound good? Check out the video above for more details or just grab the latest here. [TweetDeck Blog via Mashable]

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<![CDATA[ Comments of the Day: New Ways to Ignore Things ]]> Mondays are the worst. Everyone hates them and you hate everyone when it is Monday. Luckily we have you, our loyal and would-totally-kill-for-us-if-we-asked-you-nicely commentariat. Here, recognition junkies: Two of our favorite comments from this terrible, terrible Monday.

Steve Jobs is so angry about Twitter and iPads and things. Commenter grubish1 is sort of angry at Steve Jobs:

Apple is completely revolutionizing the way Americans ignore tablet computers.

You know what else everyone hates? Valemtime's Deigh. Except now we're not allowed to hate it anymore. So if we have to do it, at least we can have dirty relations, right BeenGay?

So that's that! Hope you're all happy. See you Tuesday! Which is tomorrow. Sigh.

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<![CDATA[ Should You Think Twice About Being Mr. Rogers' Neighbor? ]]> So what if Mr. Rogers hides behind furniture, sings about marrying his mom, and declares "I'm a man who likes to talk and sing with children," in this montage? He's probably still a better neighbor than DJ Lance. [N.Y. Magazine]

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<![CDATA[ Great Scott ]]>

[Miami, February 7. Image via Getty]

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - FEBRUARY 07: Scott Fujita #55 of the New Orleans Saints and family celebrate after defeating the Indianapolis Colts during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
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<![CDATA[ Jersey Shore Fail At New Jersey Trivia ]]> Today Jersey Shore's The Situation, Pauly D, and Snooki appeared on Ellen, where the host asked them trivia questions based on New Jersey. What was learned: Snooki thinks Canada was one of the original 13 colonies.

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<![CDATA[ Launch Party ]]> [People gather in Florida early this morning to catch a glimpse of the space shuttle Endeavor taking off in NASA's last planned night launch. Image via NASA]

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<![CDATA[ Shifting Into Neutral ]]>

[New York, February 8. Image via Bauer-Griffin.]

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<![CDATA[ Google's Chief of Fabulous Opens a Disco — In His Penthouse ]]> We couldn't persuade Orkut Büyükkökten to invite us to his opulent birthday-and-housewarmingparty Saturday, but we won't hold it against him. After all, Google's ambassador to the gay party scene had to fit several billionaires between his new dance poles.

Orkut, in case you've forgotten, is by far the most interesting person to work for the Mountain View, California internet company, where the technical skills are valued over all else, resulting in a (mostly) boring army of engineer droids. Orkut's the fun exception.

Sure, the Turkish programmer built Google's also-ran social network, Orkut, a.k.a. "The Facebook of Brazil." But more importantly, the San Francisco partyboy also hired strippers for his previous too-hot-for-the-Web birthday party; been gay-married by his Vogue-errific best friend Marissa Mayer; attended the opening of the local Prada; wore a fabulous sheening suit to the ballet; and is good at making everyone get dressed up and disco.

The Silicon Valley tech scene needs more of this sort of acting out, and the Valley scenesters would seem to agree: We hear Orkut's Saturday party was packed with what techies (inaccurately) call "A Listers," including billionaire Google founder Sergey Brin and very very rich person Mayer (who threw a party of her own the following day, of the Superbowl sort). Here's how one attendee put it:




According to public records of Orkut's holdings, that ten-story-high apartment building would be a posh renovated warehouse at 410 Jessie Street, on San Francisco's newly-remade Mint Plaza. That's directly across the street from the San Francisco Chronicle, the newspaper whose misfortunes some have blamed on none other than... Google.

But Orkut's guests didn't come to dance on graves. The disco-lover installed a raised dance floor, complete with poles and special lights, in his two-level penthouse, according to a source with knowledge of the place. There's also some sort of indoor waterfall, we hear. (Orkut declined to discuss his apartment or party on the phone and never sent a promised email reply.)

Pictures from the latest shindig are, alas, few and far between. Despite his direct financial interest in social networking and the free flow of information online, Orkut banned any network distribution of images from his party. we're told. Irony, that. Anyway, in the photo gallery we've mixed in pictures from an apparent pre-party in January as well as of a similar party at a different location last year. Do send us more pics if you have them. We're happy to disseminate the information Googlers refuse to spread themselves.


Apparently from Saturday's event, via friend Jen Liu's Facebook album "house warming & birthday party," uploaded 16 hours ago.


One of the dance poles going up, from a January picture of "orkut's party," again via Liu.


The dance floor again? Again from Liu's "orkut's party" album, January.


Liu and Orkut, ibid.


Orkut at a party in Jan. 2009. Via Facebook.


Orkut, center, with boyfriend Derek Holbrook, right, at a Jan. 2009 party.


Orkut at a Jan. 2009 party.


Quick trip to Brazil via private jet, anyone?


At Burning Man 2009.

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<![CDATA[ Linda Hamilton Is Still Not Very Pleased With Ex-Husband James Cameron ]]> Hamilton's kindest words for Cameron: "He used to say to me: 'Anybody can be a father or a husband. There are only five people in the world who can do what I do, and I'm going for that.'" [Daily Mail]

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<![CDATA[ What's in #tips Today? ]]> Today on the #tips page: A philosophical quandary over sexy avatar pics, Stephen Fry talks about the Catholic Church, and Drudge headlines to make you go "ugh." On #crosstalk: everyone's got Paterson bombshell fever.

You can leave us tips, links, news, story ideas, pictures, whatever on the #tips page by using the "Share" box on the front page and including the hashtag #tips. If you'd prefer, you can also send a confidential email to tips@gawker.com or call our tipline at 646-214-8138.

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<![CDATA[ Carnival Queen Prompts Debate On Sexualizing Kids • Man "Waterboards" 4-Year-Old Daughter ]]> • The role of the "queen" of the Rio de Janeiro carnival is usually played by a model or soap star, but this year 7-year-old Julia Lira will be the drum corps queen. Children's services groups are none too happy.

As "queen," Lira will wear a revealing, sparkly outfit (but nothing worse that what we see on Toddlers and Tiaras). Some argue that allowing her to play the traditionally sexualized role would "increase the treatment of children as sexual objects in Brazilian society." Lira's father disagrees. • A soldier based in Tacoma has been accused of "waterboarding" his 4-year-old daughter because he was angry she didn't know the alphabet (although it sounds like he was not actually waterboarding his daughter but submerging her head underwater). Joshua Tabor was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him walking around in a military helmet and threatening to break windows. Tabor's girlfriend told police about the incident, and his daughter has since been taken into care. •  A new Department of Defense policy will require all military health facilities around the world to stock Plan B. The morning-after pill will now be considered one of the "core formularies" even in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. •  A pastor from a California church claims that Jaycee Dugard is having financial problems. Dugard has not made much money in the wake of her ordeal, and members of the church have generously paid for her last four months of rent. • Boys born through IVF may have trouble conceiving children later in life, according to a new study. IVF-boys are more likely to have short index fingers (equal length with their ring fingers), a trait that has already been linked to male infertility. However, since IVF has only been widely used since the 1990s, this is the first such study performed on the children. •  The UN has called for renewed efforts to help end the genital mutilation of women and girls. On Saturday the UN released a statement which read: "The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change." •  A 26-year-old man from Buffalo has been accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and keeping her in his apartment for six months, where he raped her more than 100 times and forced her to babysit his 1-month-old son. Michael Abdallah has been charged with second-degree rape, unlawful imprisonment and custodial interference. •  Statistics show that white women over the age of 55 are having the best luck finding jobs, partially because of job growth in "positions traditionally held by women," including temporary retail work. Unfortunately, black women are not experiencing the same boost in hiring, and had unemployment rate of 13.3 percent in January. • On Sunday, Laura Chinchilla became the first female president in Costa Rica's history. She garnered 46.8% of the vote, with second-place candidate Otton Solis coming in with 25.1%. Her victory was met with celebration and excitement throughout the nation. • A new study has found that kids raised by lesbian parents are just as happy and well-adjusted as those raised by straight parents. The children of gay couples did just as well in school and were no more likely to participate in delinquent behavior than their peers. • A group of 50 clergy members have written a letter to the Church of England warning that allowing women to be bishops would be "a mistake." They argue that the church would see a drop in the number of men working toward priesthood, and the issue is a matter of "simple integrity." •  Four members of the Ukrainian feminist group Femen were detained and charged with violating laws on public protests after they charged into a polling station and held a topless protest. The women held signs that read "Help! Rape!" and asked voters to stop "raping our democracy." • This Saturday Danica Patrick will drive for the first time in NASCAR's second-tier circuit, the Nationwide Series. "I'm not ready for my first Daytona Speedweeks to end just yet," she said in a statement. •  According to a recent poll, 75% of Americans are either very or somewhat angry with the "current policies of the federal government." 60% said they thought that neither Republican nor Democratic leaders had a good idea of what is needed. •  "There is very, very little information about what the war has meant for women. The whole idea that we liberated Iraq and now Iraqi women are free is very popular, but there is very little understanding of how much freedom - not political freedom, but social freedom - they had under Saddam and how much they had to sacrifice as result of the war," explains Anna Badkhen as part of a series on the plight of women in Iraq. The full video is available here. •  There is not a lot known about the troubles faced by female veterans, but the growing number of women coming home from war makes it all the more important that the traditionally male-oriented VA start including more services designed for women. Preliminary statistics show that women are experiencing higher rates of physical and emotional problems than their male counterparts, not to mention female vets have a much higher divorce rate. •

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<![CDATA[ The Teabaggers Are Just College Protesters with More Tricorner Hats ]]> With the Tea Party convention having just ended and with organizers already planning another one for this summer (in Vegas maybe!), it is time to cast judgment on the movement: these guys are old right-wing college activists.

Like remember when a bunch of NYU kids locked themselves in the food court to protest NYU's financial chicanery and also the Israeli occupation of Gaza? And then some more established campus activist groups basically said they didn't have any idea this shit was going to happen and lots of other people who sympathized with them politically found them terribly embarrassing?

That is basically the Teabagger Movement. First they were theoretically against bank bailouts, but now they are opposed to Kenyan Socialists who Hate America. They are not just taking back NYU, they are taking back all of America!

This is a problem with our limited, mediated, comic strip version of "history:" people have decided that the way to seize control of your own life and this crazy world is to go all 1960s, like you have seen in a movie. Many of these Tea Party people are actually old enough to have lived through the '60s, but they weren't on the fun side. Ben McGrath's New Yorker story on the movement had this fascinating little moment with a local Kentucky teabagger:

Don Seely invited me to his house for coffee the day after the rally at the Kentucky fairgrounds, and showed me his Air Force Commendation Medal, awarded for meritorious service from 1967 to 1971. "At this age, I was so ignorant," he said. "Every once in a while, you'd catch a glimpse on TV of Martin Luther King-all that kind of stuff was going on. I graduated college in December of '66. About a year after I left, that's when all the riots happened. I'm thinking, What is going on?" Seely had always wanted to be a pilot, but, because of poor eyesight, he ended up an engineer in a satellite-control facility. The medal was accompanied by a photograph of Seely in his captain's uniform, and he said that Amber, after looking at the image, had proclaimed that he was the only person she knew who'd kept the same hair style for nearly fifty years: short, straight, and parted neatly on the far right.

Yeesh. And guess what: his daughter goes to the New School. The New School!

It is totally fun to be a part of a big movement, and to convince yourself that this big movement you are a part of is not only morally right, but also secretly incredibly popular. You have to be attacked and beset on all sides by shadowy powerful interests—Soros, corporations, the political elite, ACORN—but that just makes you feel even cooler.

And when you're showered with attention for your work, you start to believe your own hype. The ratio of media to tea party convention attendees was like 1 to 3. 200 members of the media arrived to cover a convention half the size of Daily Kos' first convention in 2006. The steep cost of attending made the conventioneers richer, and thus calmer, than the angry folks who showed up for the protests with the crazy signs that we all remember so well.

While some in the movement acknowledge the debt they owe to true '60s radicals (the only reason you hear so much about Obama's supposed affinity for Alinsky on the right is because the activist arm of the movement is explicitly copying his tactics), the majority of the new populist conservstives adopt a '60s protest strategy while claiming to be Tea Partiers (and comparing themselves to the Founders when they are, in fact, a bit more like those white populist Jacksonians)—like a campus activist might compare himself to a Freedom Rider rather than just another sad rich kid.

The great irony is that entitled young Campus Activists tend to "grow up" and get jobs supporting the post-industrial capitalist superstructure, while these are people who've turned to juvenile attention-craving '60s-aping dress-up parties as putative adults.

But let them have their fun! Student protests are always destroyed by forces both outside and, more often, internal. This white populist movement has received far more coverage than its actual size merits (60,000 people on the Mall is, what, the Halloween parade?), and as whatever grassroots, populist elements of the movement that remain are fully co-opted by the actual Republican Party (and the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation's most influential political party) they'll find themselves just as disillusioned with the process as a sophomore who just go this first taste of tear gas.

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<![CDATA[ Debate Over Vanity Fair Cover Takes Uglier Turn ]]> Sources at Yahoo! Shine tell The Times's David Carr that "an arrest has been made" in connection with racist threats against Joanna Douglas, among several to critique the cover. [NYT, Earlier]

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<![CDATA[ Kari Ferrell in the Belly of the Beast ]]> Now-free Hipster Grifter Kari Ferrell has evolved from dispensing sex advice from jail to dispensing advice about how to masturbate in jail. (With a toothbrush and a sock). Baby steps. [Animal NY]

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<![CDATA[ Yale Sorority Girls Are Pretty, Smart, and, Most Importantly, Pretty ]]> Gaining a reputation for producing silly and misguided student videos, Yale has released another smash hit! This one is for the sorority Pi Phi, which attracts potential rushers with promises of fun activities, intellectual rigor, and people thinking you're pretty.

Update: Aw nuts. They made the video private. But we'll see if we can track it down anywhere else...


The best section of the video begins at 2:50, with two Rumpus editors — nerdy non-sorority types — discussing the beauty of Pi Phi girlz, who are often featured in the humor magazine's 50 Most Beautiful Elis issue. You'll likely scratch your head in confusion at this, having just watched a girl with a Rhys Ifans wig and raccoon eyes gab about her various extra-curriculars in the previous scene. Ah well. Hey Yale! Stop making videos. Any ivy-covered mystique you may have once had is very quickly eroding away to reveal your dorky and not-terribly-attractive insides. Actually, scratch that. Keep making videos.

[via GoaG]

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