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01 Jun 2011 20:50

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Offbeat: For sale: One balloon. Once used in infamous hoax. Boy not included.

  • The money from the winning bid goes to Japan. Buy it outright for $1 million. Want to help the people of Japan and own an insane piece of swag in one fell swoop? Get a hold of our boy Richard Heene, who is selling the balloon he falsely claimed his son Falcon was flying from. Now that the hoax is long-forgotten, the Heene family apparently wants to help out the people of Japan — so all net proceeds go to that. In case you’re wondering if this is a scam, the site where said balloon is being sold claims otherwise: “The winning bidder’s funds will go directly into the Trust Account of Attorney Perry H. Rausher of Calabasas, California. Mr. Rausher will then write a check to a selected charitable organization that is helping the Japanese cause. The Heene family will not receive anything from the sale.” Alright, who wants to start a Kickstarter project to turn this thing into a killer Flaming Lips stage prop? (via Cheat Sheet) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Oct 2010 09:43

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Offbeat: Balloon Boy’s dad, in retrospect: “He was a crackpot”

  • I can’t help but feel I was responsible for stirring the thirst for fame inside of him that led to last year’s hoax. It’s something I have to live with, and sometimes it makes me feel like I want to climb into a box and hide.
  • AOL News contributor David Moye • Explaining how his dealings with Richard Heene may have contributed to the “Balloon Boy” incident a year ago this week. See, Moye worked as senior editor for a service called FlashNews, which provided odd, offbeat news to radio stations and newspaper columnists. And Heene, see, is a crackpot. So Moye covered him more than once. The first time, he referred to Heene as the “Bob Vila of Cardboard Boxes,” after Heene made a video for kids featuring a cardboard puppet named “Boxter.” Dude loves his boxes. Moye also did stories with Heene playing  wacky storm-chaser in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “After all,” he writes, “he was a crackpot and my audience — wacky morning disc jockeys — would eat this stuff up.” All of this, by the way, was before he got pseudo-famous on “Wife Swap.” Great work, David. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jan 2010 22:30

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Culture: YES! It’s time for the Richard Heene Larry King interview!

  • He claims he pleaded guilty so his wife wasn’t deported. Oh Larry, we knew you wouldn’t let us down! In an interview to run on CNN Friday, the Balloon Boy’s father, Richard Heene, explains that he isn’t guilty but in fact was trying to protect his wife. Because he’s a douchebag. “Quite honestly,” said Larimer County, Colorado, Sheriff Jim Alderden, “I’m shocked that he would make such statements.” So are we. But he’s a reality TV wannabe. This is how he survives. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Dec 2009 13:16

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Culture: Twitter’s self-satisfied with itself regarding Balloon Boy

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Dec 2009 13:11

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Culture: The Balloon Boy’s parents are headed to jail. Hooray!

  • 90 days for Richard Heene – 60 of those in work release during the day
  • 20 days for Mayumi Heene – her sentence starts after his
  • zip, zilch the amount of profit the couple can make on the story source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2009 09:47

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Culture: Good luck with that: Reality TV’s trying to improve its image

  • Vetting processes are going to get a lot stricter. The background checks are becoming more and more rigorous. Clearly, each time there’s a slip-up, the bar goes higher.
  • Former VH1 exec (and current Ish Entertainment owner) Michael Hirschorn • Describing the state of the reality TV industry at the moment. After the triple-whammy of the Ryan Jenkins case (which directly affected his former network), Balloon Boy and White House gate crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi, TV producers are trying their best to improve their vetting processes. The Jenkins case in particular – which wasn’t a media stunt but a brutal murder that led to a suicide – has increased background checks by 25%. Still, it may not be enough. “People will go to pretty extreme measures to make themselves stars,” Hischorn said. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Nov 2009 11:27

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Culture: It’s official; the Balloon Boy parents plead guilty

  • No word on if they’ll be sentenced to a tomato-thowing at the town square. Richard and Mayumi Heene made things easy on the American public by pleading guilty today – Richard on a felony charge and Mayumi on a misdemeanor. Hopefully the court can legally prevent them from profiting off their non-story so we can ignore them for once and for all. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Nov 2009 09:55

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Culture: For the kids: Balloon Boy’s parents are gonna plea guilty

  • It is supremely ironic that law enforcement has expressed such grave concern over the welfare of the children, but it was ultimately the threat of taking the children’s mother from the family and deporting her to Japan which fueled this deal.
  • A statement by Richard Heene’s attorney • Describing why the couple behind one of the stupidest hoaxes in recent memory has chosen not to subject the American public to a long, drawn-out trial. Simply put, Mayumi Heene is a Japanese citizen, and if she had not taken the plea, she would’ve been deported. But we will say this much: The sniping in this attorney’s statement? Not necessary, )@!hole attorney. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2009 18:31

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Politics: Why reality TV-courting families shouldn’t lose their kids

  • The impulse to remove innocent children from their stupid parents simply because their parents are stupid is a strong one. But it sweeps broadly and often irrevocably.
  • Slate columnist Dahlia Lithwick • Describing reasons why stupid parents, such as Octomom and the Balloon Boy-birthing Heenes, should be able to keep their kids. Lithwick argues that this is an extreme case, and the best solution lies somewhere in-between. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Oct 2009 23:22

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Culture: Lifetime stays classy, pulls the Balloon Boy “Wife Swap” episode

  • A while ago, Lifetime scheduled an episode of “Wife Swap,” featuring a wacky storm-chasing family, to air on Thursday. source
  • Since then, the Heene family has been on TV around the clock after perpetrating the “Balloon Boy” hoax last week. source
  • Rather than give them even more time on TV, Lifetime pulled the episode. Good job. This family needs no more press. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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