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03 Dec 2010 18:45

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Culture, U.S.: Church pastor: Sure, we’re a hate group

  • I do hate homosexuals and if hating homosexuals makes our church a hate group, then that’s what we are.
  • Pastor Steven Anderson • Of the Faithful Word Baptist Church. The Tempe, Arizona church was recently classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group; this was the church’s response. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Dec 2010 11:53

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Culture: Weird Ronni Chasen case remains weird, won’t stop being weird

  • $6 million the amount of money Ronni Chasen was worth, according to her most recent will
  • $10 the amount she left for one of her nieces; she was very generous with about everyone else source
  • » Meanwhile: The case remains incredibly weird and interesting. John Walsh of “America’s Most Wanted” claims that a report on his show was the major coup needed to lead to the suspect. Police, however, are dubious about whether he was the guy. So are neighbors, who say that Harold Johnson (labeled as a professional hitman) didn’t own a car, rode a bike everywhere and was “paranoid.” All in all, more interesting than the Phil Spector case.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Dec 2010 10:06

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Culture: Ronni Chasen’s murder case gets significantly more interesting

  • So, let’s say that you’ve been pinpointed as a person of interest in a murder case. Not just any murder case, mind you, but that of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen, whose bizarre middle-of-the-night death a few weeks ago raised more than a few eyebrows. What do you do? Well, in the case that unfolded last night, the currently-unnamed person shot and killed himself while being chased by police. Which means that, even if he didn’t do it, everyone’s going to think he did. Good work, hoss. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Dec 2010 00:34

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Culture: Stephen Colbert chats with Reddit about being “Stephen Colbert”

  • Let me say that the President could not have been nicer, especially to my mother. I have some lovely pictures of her with him.
  • Stephen Colbert • Discussing his interactions with George W. Bush at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner, where he made a controversial 2006 appearance. Colbert was asked about the situation by a Redditor in a lengthy, out-of-character interview that he largely wrote in all-caps. Other interesting topics covered: A congressman tried to walk off the stage while he was shooting in DC (but they got him to stay), he always tells his interviewees that he’s in character (“I admire Sacha Baron Cohen, but I am not doing Ali G.”) and he claims that the dumber he sounds about a topic, the more he knows about it. Fun read. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2010 00:05

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Culture, World: Tons of new Picasso artwork found in some guy’s trunk

  • 271 previously unknown Picasso works unearthed in France source
  • » Picasso’s electrician just tore the art world a new one. Pierre Le Guennec used to install burglar alarms for Pablo Picasso. Last September, he approached the Picasso estate with an astonishing revelation: for the past several decades, he’d had been keeping 271 previously unreleased Picasso originals in a trunk in his house. He wanted Picasso’s relatives to authenticate the work; instead, the filed suit against him for illegal possession. Le Guennec claims they were a gift from the late artist; Picasso’s family thinks he stole them. No matter who prevails in court, art lovers are the real winners here. This is a huge find.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:14

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Culture: Spider-Man musical: Big budget, rocky production, rockier first show

  • $65
    million     the amount the “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” cost to produce – easily the biggest ever for a Broadway show
  • $4
    million     the cost of a two-week delay in getting things up and running; it finally got a performance in last night
  • five number of times the play had to stop during due to technical problems that still plagued it
  • 10′ number of feet Spidey was hanging above the stage after the shortened first act
  • one number of embarrassing catcalls the play had – during a break in the action in act two source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Nov 2010 23:28

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Culture: Leslie Nielsen: surely dead too soon (and don’t call me Shirley)

  • If Mel Brooks is the king of parody, Leslie Nielsen was the clown prince, playing it straight even as he was saying the most absurd things and found himself in the most absurd of situations. But Neilsen, who died today at 84, didn’t start out that way – a TV actor at the very dawn of the medium, he was known for his leading man roles until 1980, when a role in the low-budget farce “Airplane!” turned him into a major star and made him a funnyman du jour, something only reinforced by the multiple “Naked Gun” movies (and, oh yeah, the latter part of the “Scary Movie” series, the fifth of which will be his last role). We grew up with this guy. A lot of people did. Protip: If you haven’t seen the short-lived “Police Squad” TV series, you’re missing out.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Nov 2010 20:13

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Culture, U.S.: Depressing: Plurality against children for same-sex couples

  • 43% think same-sex parents are “bad for society” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Nov 2010 12:25

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Culture: Latest Harry Potter scores massive box-office opening

  • $125.1
    million     the amount that the not-in-3D-at-all “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” made in its first weekend
  • $102.7
    million     the amount that the next highest opener in the series, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” made in its first weekend in 2005 source
  • » One of the best openings of all-time: While it didn’t top 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” it did score the sixth-best opening of all-time and helped continue the series’ run as the most popular franchise in Hollywood history. What’s a Hogwart?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Nov 2010 11:28

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Culture: New Harry Potter movie casts spell on everyone except us

  • $24
    million     the amount “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” made in its midnight showings Thursday
  • $61.1
    million     the amount the film made in its first full day in theaters – the fifth biggest single-day gross ever source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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