Friday, September 30, 2011

Painting The Capital Red - Red State at the Mayfair - Part One


I’m loyal. That’s right, like a good dog who won’t leave your side even if you’re sinking in piranha infested quicksand surrounded by dozens of Ernest Borgnine clone cannibals waiting to rape you sideways should you manage to free yourself and all you got left on your iPod to listen to as you contemplate which demise is worse is Celine Dion’s horrible cover of Eric Carmen’s horrible All By Myself. Yup, that kind of loyal, beyotch. I don’t like tossing out shoes that have taken me on journeys, I still love me some Billy Joel even though he hasn’t released an album in a decade and I’m stilling hanging on to DVD. I’m also a loyal fan of Kevin Smith and a loyal visitor to Ottawa’s Mayfair theatre. Tonight the two become one and I don’t even need to double bag it!

Despite growing up closer to Ottawa then New Jersey, I discovered Kevin’s work first. My younger brother Al and I spent many nights watching movies, generally of the horror variety. We’d head on over to the nearing video store with our allowances earned for doing absolutely nothing (thanks ma’!) and walk out with Freddy and Jason and Michael Meyers and whatever the fuck those alien slug things were from Night of the Creeps.


Just before I entered film school Al asked me I had seen Clerks. “Clerks,” says I, “sounds like a stupid name for a horror movie but I’ll give it a go.” Based on Al’s suggestion, much trusted, I purchased it flat out, a blind buy as they say. I already had the plot mapped out in my head: The scene is a 7-11 located in the darkness on the edge of town. Suddenly the night lights up behind the store. The clerk goes out to investigate. There is nothing there. He returns to is humdrum job. This is when he notices all the bottles on the shelf have fallen, their contents spilled to the floor mingling with littered Doritos and M&Ms. He stares in horror as the junk food goop moves towards him, closer and closer until it finally engulfs him before he can scream. When the sludge clears the clerk stands, eyes red, grinning. He breaks the glass of the ice cream freezer, hold up a shared in his bloody hand and walks out into the night. Evil has a price and it will be paid to the…CLERKS!!!

Well, as you know, Clerks wasn’t a horror movie and whereas my plot has me blogging in stained underwear (what, I haven’t had time!), Smith’s launched him into what was indie-cool 90s. I admit, I was late to the ViewAskew party. This was 2000 and Smith already had three flicks under his belt. I, like many others before me and after me, watched Clerks with a single notion growing beneath the flesh, under the sinew and bone as the hilarious exploits of Dante and Randall played out on my tiny TV: “Fuck, I can do that!”

Inspired, I dived into my film school work and graduate with honours and, after languishing in Toronto film hell for a few years realized, “fuuuuck, maybe I can’t do that.” My great envisioned film career never got off the ground, like so many others, and I set off to find my way on other paths. Kev’s flicks stuck with me, though. I remember seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in theatres. I went twice. Sorry I couldn’t push it over that opening weekend high gross, Kev. No free poster for me. Whenever I was feeling low I’d stick in Dogma or Mallrats and laugh away some of the bullshit we allow the cloud our minds every now and again. When my mother passed away two years ago I drowned my sorrows in Evenings with Kevin Smith even seeing the dude live in Vancouver where he coerced a man to get naked on stage. Discovering S.I.R. shortly after it launched took my appreciation for Smith to another level. I couldn’t believe he was essentially giving the chat and wit that made up those Evening With DVDs for free. Hell and Mewes, Jason “fucking” Mewes was along for the ride…EVERY DAY! I felt, now, the want to give something back and the original bus news site was born. I figured, shit, these people provide so much free entertainment daily the least I could do was copy and past some bus stories from the web into a blog. Soon, inspired again by Kevin and Co., I started work on my own podcast with my friend Mike which eventually became the Unused Mewes News show all the while heading some important advice: “go where the puck is going to be”.

When I returned from the West coast after my mother’s passing I settled in Ottawa, closer to family. I discovered Ottawa’s Mayfair theatre from an advertisement saying members get free flicks every last Saturday of the month. Checking the theatre out online I discovered that the place played old horror movies cult flicks and cinema classics! I dropped my $10 on a membership that first midnight Saturday Sinema and watched a film about a giant alligator eating up Chicago. People were screaming at the screen, tossing barbs at bad dialogue and applauding the film. I’d never seen an audience applaud a movie screen before (this happens quite a bit, actually at the Mayfair). I was hooked!


The Mayfair is the oldest theatre in Ottawa. When you walk inside it kind of resembles The Muppet Theatre. It was opened in 1932 by Fred Robertson, a general store owner (dare I say clerk?). The original Mayfair included a cigarette shop, restaurant and even a barber shop. Oldottawasouth.ca states: “The exterior walls were brick, plush carpeting covered the floors and terrazzo tiles graced the entrance lobby. The projection equipment was the latest available and its vacuum tubes and photoelectric cells were touted by the local press. Entering the building is like a flashback to 1932, because so little about the decor has changed.”

This is true. When you walk into the Mayfair you are walking into the past. As the curtain pulls away from the screen you wonder just how many film greats have washed over that canvass all perpetuated by the flickering later from the projector above you. Back in the 30s you could see Brigitte Helm and Joseph Schildkraut in The Blue Danube for only 15 cents. Double bills began early on and remain a staple of the theatre to this day. The theatre fell into a bit of ill repute in the 1970s and became a porn theatre but, hell, the oldest porn theatre in old Ottawa South still ain’t too shabby.

In the early 80s the theatre edged away from blue movies under new ownership. The theatre reintroduced the cheap double bills and made headlines in 1983 when police threatened to shut the place down for showing Videodrome as the flick was labeled too obscene. The theatre was renovated in 1986 to include wider seats and was again changed ownership in the early 90s.

In 2008 the community and film fans were shocked to hear the theatre would be closing its doors after so many years in operation. They rallied to protect the building the city would go on to declare it a heritage site ensuring no wrecking balls would be coming to tear it down any time soon. The theatre would also be saved by, once again, new owners. This time it came from people with a vested interest in cinema: local filmmakers. Lee Demabre, director of the Canadian cult classic Jesus Christ Vampire along with Ian Driscoll and film conservationist Paul Gordon and film scholar John Yemen had signed a 10 year lease on the Mayfair and that the theatre would not close and continue playing second run screenings, cult movies and classics. Double bills would, of course, continue and midnight screenings of the more wacky fare were introduced. Family matinees, screenings where dogs were allowed in the theatre and even old silent movies with live bands playing new scores all would make the Mayfair the number one voted theatre in the city one year after it re-opened. Of course, you gotta’ toss in monthly screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the new cult phenomenon The Room. The theatre would actually bring in B-movie icons like George Hardy (Troll 2) and Tommy Wiseau.

With all the great that is this place of course I’d want to be part of it in more ways then just an audience member. I started submitting poster art advertising the month’s flicks to their Facebook page and soon found myself helping out with the guides, looking up images monthly to forward on over to the designer. The theatre become my second home and I am there many nights each month. I’ve seen crazy sex crazed dolls, killer tiers, done the Time Warp in drag, had a friend groped by Tommy Wiseau, watched Woody Allen and Hitchcock and Chaplin, death by bear and shark and, mostly, some of the worst movies ever put on celluiode and I kept coming back. You can tell Demabre loves film. He often gives speeches before a screening promoting the preservation. Knowledgeable staff hand out prizes, members watch the Oscars for free on the big screen, the crowds continue to be amazing (especially when intoxicated) and the theatre opens its doors to kids to give them a tour of the projection booth and actually see a piece of film, a medium that may be dying out, folks.

And so, in a few hours, some loyalties will merge. The Mayfair and Kevin Smith and horror movies! Please excuse me while I clean out my already stained underwear!


The BusDriver with today's Smorning Show guest Penn Jillette


Check out today's SMorning Show for the legend Penn Jilette. I was fortunate enough to catch the Penn and Teller show at the RIO last year. Did you know Penn plays jazz and, well, Teller talks? If you've seen the show Bullshit yet, folks, check it out. Thanks for the autograph, Penn!

Bus Stops - September 30


Bus Camera Confirms Accusations (WJTV) 

(A former Clinton school bus driver, charged with inappropriately touching a fifth grader, is out on bond tonight. His bond was set at 100-thousand dollars. We’re told 69-year-old Shepard Havens was in Hinds County court this morning facing four counts of gratification of lust and one count of sexual battery. Investigators say the girl’s parents contacted authorities Friday claiming that Havens had inappropriate sexual contact with their daughter. The district placed him on unpaid leave and he resigned Monday.)


Students jostled in school bus mishap (Inside Halton) 

(Ten students from Milton’s Escarpment View Public School were taken to hospital, Wednesday afternoon, after their school bus was involved in a minor collision in Oakville. Police said the bus, which was carrying 42 Grade 3 and 4 students coming back from a cross-country meet in Burlington, was proceeding north on Bronte Road and was just south of the QEW when the vehicle in front of it stopped suddenly for a red light causing the bus to brake heavily and swerve to avoid a rear end collision.)


School bus searched after gun incident (Wood TV) 

(Police searched a Portage Public Schools bus Thursday morning after receiving a report of a possible armed student onboard. No gun was found, and the bus was cleared and took the students to their high school.)


School Buses Now Can Take Photos of Passing Cars (KIMA TV) 

(A new state law may make it easier to catch drivers who neglect school bus stop signs. The law allows school districts to voluntarily install automated camera systems on school buses. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is revising its School Bus Specifications Manual to include the new law.)




Fan Builds Six-by-Six Foot LEGO Model of Star Wars Scene (Oddity Central) 

(Jay Hoff, an American school teacher from Florida, has spent six months of his life building a large-scale LEGO model of a scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The first time Jay encountered LEGO was in 1973, when he found a biplane in a Burger King lunchbox, and he’s been fascinated with the little plastic bricks since then. He’s also a is fan of Star Wars and has collected a lot of the Star Wars LEGO kits that started coming out in the early 90s, but his personal creation is cooler than any standard kit ever launched. )


Dress made out of nipples! (Daily Bhaskar) 

(The fashion designers seem to have come of age and it’s not the cloth that catches their fancy anymore, but they are now experimenting with animal meat. And, recently a dress made from 3,000 cow and yak nipples has caused uproar among animal rights activists and politicians. Created from the patches ofcattle hide recovered from tanneries, the provocative piece called Nippleocalypse was revealed at the London Fashion Week spring/summer collection 2012 by British designer Rachel Freire.)


Montrealer walks around the world in 11 years (Yahoo) 

(A 56-year-old Montreal man looking to shake off a mid-life depression walked around the world in 11 years, returning this week to Canada, looking radiant after realizing a dream. A bit thinner and with a few more gray hairs, Jean Beliveau was pushing a three-wheel stroller that carried his sleeping bag, clothes and a first aid kit when AFP caught up with him 290 kilometers (180 miles) west of Montreal.)


Stella Noble, 10-Year-Old Girl, Climbs Longs Peak Mountain (Huffington Post) 

(Stella Noble is believed to be the youngest person to ever scale the 2,000 foot sharply cut vertical face on Longs Peak in Colorado. "I love to climb," Noble told the Colorado Daily. "So I thought it would be cool if I camped there overnight and got to climb in the morning.")


Woman tries to set self on fire after 5-car crash (CBC) 

(A woman tried to light herself on fire after fleeing a five-vehicle collision in north Toronto, police say. The woman, who was one of the drivers involved in the crash on Bayview Avenue north of Sheppard Avenue, wandered away from the scene of the wreck and into a stranger's home nearby. She then approached the oven and used gas burners and a lighter inside the home to try to set herself alight, investigators said.)


Mass. cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record (AP) 

(Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes — and lots of doubts about his future. Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being put to sleep because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving but has made it into the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.)


Shark severely injures man near Cape Town (CNN) 

(A British man was severely injured in an attack by a great white shark while swimming this week near Cape Town, South Africa. Michael Cohen, 43, lost his right leg and suffered injuries to his left foot in Wednesday's incident near Fish Hoek Beach. He was in critical condition and under heavy sedation in an intensive care unit on Thursday.)


Fargo brewery unveils its first beer: Wood Chipper (Twin Cities) 

(First there was Fargo, the movie. Now there's Fargo, the beer. Four native sons are hoping that the name recognition generated from the 15-year-old Coen brothers flick will help launch their fledgling brewing company in North Dakota's largest city. Their first beer is called Wood Chipper, a whimsical reference to the famous prop from the movie. "We probably won't go with that sort of tongue-in-cheek movie reference for all of our beers," said Chris Anderson, brew master of the Fargo Beer Co. "We just thought it was just a great way to start out.")


Virginia Girl Gets Alcohol Poisoning After Ingesting Hand Sanitizer at School (My Fox DC) 

(A young girl in Prince William County was rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer in her second grade classroom. The girl's father is outraged and says there are still questions about what exactly happened. It happened at Neabsco Elementary School in Dale City Tuesday afternoon at the end of the school day. A Prince William County Police Detective will investigate this incident.)


Baa, baa, woof? Barking sheep thinks he’s a dog (Yahoo) 

(A six-month-old sheep named Jack is becoming a bit of an online celebrity. Rescued by a farmer shortly after birth, he was raised alongside a springer spaniel. Jack tries to herd other sheep. He barks. He fetches sticks. He jumps on his hind legs. He even dons a collar and lead when going for walks with his nine-year-old canine friend Jesse and their owner at Adderley Wharf Farm in Shopshire, England.)


Shackleton Antarctic expedition biscuit sells for £1,250 (BBC) 

(A 104-year-old biscuit taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his Antarctic expedition in 1907 has sold for £1,250 at auction. The biscuit, among the supplies taken on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, was made by Huntley & Palmer's. The Reading-based company also provided energy biscuits to Captain Robert Scott for his Discovery expedition in 1901.)

(SUBMITTED BY @Fitzman73)

Face tattoos help ID suspect who fled during traffic stop (AZ Family) 

(A man was arrested after fleeing from police during a traffic stop. A Pinal County sheriff’s deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop on a 2003 Toyota vehicle for a traffic violation Monday morning in the area of First Street and Jimmie Kerr Boulevard. The driver pulled over but as the deputy approached the vehicle, the man sped off, prompting a police pursuit outside of Casa Grande.)


Naked man spotted at Bangor golf course (Bangor Daily News) 

(Bangor police were on the lookout for a man who was seen Wednesday evening running around naked at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course. The man, who fled the golf course shortly before 7 p.m. in a red four-door sedan with Massachusetts plates, then was spotted on Vine Street, where he reportedly struck a sign before turning onto Third Street. He last was seen speeding away, Bangor police Sgt. Larry Weber said Wednesday night, citing a police report.)


Lodi police chief orders officer to ticket his wife (North Jersey) 

(School committee member Ellen Killian says she had no idea what was about to happen when Chairman Russell W. Fitzgerald used her in a magic trick that made it look as if her bra had been removed with the pull of a handkerchief. “I was just as shocked as everybody else,” Killian said. “I just want to make it clear I had no prior knowledge how his trick was going to end.” The Abington Education Association, the teachers’ union, said it also wanted to “set the public record straight” that high school teacher Steven Shannon, who was asked to participate in the trick, was also caught off guard.)


Penis extension letter to dead Sunderland mum (Sunderland Echo) 

(A GRIEVING family today told of their distress after a letter offering a “penis extension” was sent to their dead mother. Annie Cairns, died last September, aged 87, and her bereaved children were horrified when, on first anniversary of losing their mum, the Regal Health advertisement dropped on to the doormat. The letter, addressed to Mrs Cairns, offered a penis enlargement “naturally, without surgery, pumps or exercise – guaranteed or your money back!”.)


Texas Congressman blasts N.Y. plan for shuttle (CHRON) 

(When New York made its pitch for one of NASA's decommissioned space shuttles, one of its selling points was location: a glistening berth on the Hudson River alongside the aircraft carrier that is home to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. But five months after the Intrepid was awarded the shuttle Enterprise - one of four shuttle that Houston vied for but did not get - museum officials have turned their attention from the end of the newly revamped pier to a parking lot on 12th Avenue, across the cacophonous West Side Highway. They envision converting the lot, which is surrounded by a bagel bakery, a car wash, storage warehouses and a strip club, into a space-themed museum that would serve as the home of the Enterprise and draw as many as 1 million visitors a year.)


Three Houston police officers accused of getting high on duty (ABC) 

(Three Houston police officers are under investigation after claims they got high while on duty. And the claim, made by a man accused of drug possession, are backed up with something undeniable -- the words of the officers themselves. It sort of jumps off the page. "'So high' spaced out: h i g h" defense attorney Daniel Cahill said. The words of a Houston police officer about an hour after arresting Nicholas Hill for marijuana possession.)


Amazing Works of Art Painted Only with Beer (Oddity Central) 

(Artist Karen Eland paints all kinds of portraits and paintings using nothing but beer. The first time we featured Karen Eland on Oddity Central was when she took the art world by storm with her beautiful coffee paintings. She started her artistic career doing portraits with water color and colored pencils, but quickly moved on to painting with coffee, which really helped her make a name for herself. Now, after 14 years of creating art with the world’s favorite breakfast drink, Karen realized there are a lot of other drinks and foods she could experiment with, so she tried tea, beer, liquor, and lots of other stuff, but beer eventually proved the most successful.)


Peruvian Smoothie Stand Sells “Delicious” Frog Juice (Oddity Central) 

(A counter-top restaurant in Lima, Peru has been selling fresh frog juice for the last 15 years, and some locals drink it every day because they say it gives them strength. There’s nothing like a glass of fresh juice in the morning, right? Peruvian restaurant owner Carmen Gonzales would agree with this 100%, only she has a different kind of juice in mind – frog juice, For the last 15 years she and various other juice stand owners have been serving her Jugo de Rana to locals and tourists brave enough to try it, and business is better than ever. She sells about 80 frog-based drinks every day, and some of her clients have them as breakfast drinks, early in the morning, because it gives them energy for the entire day.)


Insurance broker launches pizza parlor policy (Reuters) 

(In the specialized world of insurance, this one takes the cake -- or perhaps the pie -- a new policy called "SLICE" specifically designed to protect the owners of pizza parlors. California insurance brokerage EPIC Programs Group said late Wednesday the "Safety, Loss Control, Insurance, Coverage, Expertise" program would address liabilities pizza parlor owners face from their delivery drivers.)


Abington school official apologizes for bra trick played on woman (Enterprise News) 

(School committee member Ellen Killian says she had no idea what was about to happen when Chairman Russell W. Fitzgerald used her in a magic trick that made it look as if her bra had been removed with the pull of a handkerchief.
“I was just as shocked as everybody else,” Killian said. “I just want to make it clear I had no prior knowledge how his trick was going to end.” The Abington Education Association, the teachers’ union, said it also wanted to “set the public record straight” that high school teacher Steven Shannon, who was asked to participate in the trick, was also caught off guard.)


US woman injured in exploding toilet accident (News Lite) 

(School committee member Ellen Killian says she had no idea what was about to happen when Chairman Russell W. Fitzgerald used her in a magic trick that made it look as if her bra had been removed with the pull of a handkerchief. “I was just as shocked as everybody else,” Killian said. “I just want to make it clear I had no prior knowledge how his trick was going to end.” The Abington Education Association, the teachers’ union, said it also wanted to “set the public record straight” that high school teacher Steven Shannon, who was asked to participate in the trick, was also caught off guard.)


Dad drops daughter to catch baseball foul ball (News Lite) 

(A baseball fan in Taiwan was so desperate to catch a foul ball that he accidentally dropped his young daughter in the process. Oops. Embarrassingly, not only did he not get the ball -- but the moment of dubious parenting was caught on camera, as this footage shows.)


(Welcome to “Scientology High,” where students imagine they’re in a Harry Potter book, make lots of clay models, look up “the” in the dictionary and learn the ethical principles of L. Ron Hubbard — all while paying more than $42,000 a year in tuition and fees. The administration of the secretive and secluded Delphian boarding school recruits students with the suggestion that it is a real-world Hogwarts — an enchanted place for teens, deep in the bucolic mountains of western Oregon.)


(A San Fernando Valley doctor and evangelical minister who federal prosecutors said used bogus herbal medications to offer false hope to dozens of people suffering from diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's was found guilty Tuesday of nearly a dozen federal charges. Twenty-eight victims or family members of victims who died while taking the products testified against Christine Daniel, 57, who was found guilty Tuesday on four counts of mail and wire fraud, six counts of tax evasion related to income tax filings as well as one count of witness tampering.)




(Kevin Smith, whose homemade 1994 flick Clerks was part of a resurgence of US indie cinema, is back with a film that mocks Christian fundamentalism. In the end he had to self-distribute, he tells TARA BRADY , as he mourns the passing of the Weinstein wave. KEVIN SMITH is going out in a hail of bullets (both literal and metaphorical). Red State , the big man’s latest work, is a politically charged grindhouse film that takes pot shots at the nastiest manifestations of the US’s Christian right.)


(For his tenth film Kevin Smith has made a very promising debut. Most of Smith's career has been spent doing a cross between comedy genius and just messing around with his friends and a camera. After a false start with last year's Cop Out, Smith has finally jumped into big boy movies. To really appreciate Red State you almost have to completely disregard everything Smith has done before, excellent though that previous work may be. Red State represents something completely new for Smith, and it's not without its flaws, but he shows a promising career ahead of him.)


(In January 2011 the Sundance Film Festival was abuzz with the standard indie scene murmurs. That was until Kevin Smith decided to set his own headlines with his new film, Red State. Subverting the Hollywood machine, the rotund raconteur announced that he would be by-passing distributors and releasing the movie himself. The indie director, comic book writer and SModcast chat maestro, best known for capturing the defining voice of the 90s generation with his black and white micro-budget debut Clerks and his acerbic romantic comedy Chasing Amy, was finally breaking away from Silent Bob and New Jersey to embrace horror — and the Church.)


(Writer and director Kevin Smith prides himself on being a genuinely cool guy, even more than being a filmmaker. Through interviews, Q and As and the endless stream of podcasts he releases through his website, he’s proven that his primary interest is talking about his life, dishing about his geeky interests and relating to any fan who cares to hear. That’s why he’s managed to retain a devoted audience despite spending the last decade struggling to move past the films that earned him a following in the first place.)


(Kevin Smith's new film shows flashes of a bizarre sort of genius, particularly its apocalyptic finale, featuring some heavy duty military hardware. Evidently inspired by the 1993 Waco siege, the movie is about an extremist, homophobic, Christian hate-cult which lures curious teens to sex sessions with older women via Craigslist-type web postings. Melissa Leo is the bait, and having persuaded three horndog young guys to drink spiked beers in her trailer she is to reveal that the pleasures of the flesh are very much not in store for them. Michael Parks is very good as the sinister, charismatic preacher Abin Cooper and John Goodman plays it straight as the ATF officer Joe Keenan, leading his troops into an earsplitting showdown.)


(With Red State out on tomorrow in the UK, we provide a run-down of the running gags and inside jokes in Kevin Smith’s earlier films…)




(A fake Batman has marched into Christchurch central police station demanding to know what emergency had triggered the 'bat signal' - white light beaming through the sky. The caped crusader, dressed in full superhero garb of mask, cape and tights, was insisting that the White Lights of Hope, which commemorate the earthquake anniversary, bear an uncanny resemblance to the bat emblem that flashes through the night sky.)




(A night of heavy drinking can lead to a morning of heavy excuses. One common favorite? "It was the booze." But health blog the Body Odd points out a new study from that University of Missouri College of Arts and Sciences that suggests that you're actually quite aware of your alcohol-infused decisions, so booze might not be able to legitimately take the blame anymore.)


(Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Psilocybin, or "magic mushrooms," can make people more open in their feelings and aesthetic sensibilities, conferring on them a lasting personality change, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers. People who had mystic experiences while taking the mushrooms were more likely to show increases in a personality trait dubbed "openness," which is related to creativity, artistic appreciation and curiosity, according to the study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.)


(A new research report appearing in the October 2011 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that resveratrol, the "healthy" ingredient in red wine, stops breast cancer cells from growing by blocking the growth effects of estrogen. This discovery, made by a team of American and Italian scientists, suggests for the first time that resveratrol is able to counteract the malignant progression since it inhibits the proliferation of hormone resistant breast cancer cells. This has important implications for the treatment of women with breast cancer whose tumors eventually develop resistance to hormonal therapy.)


(Analysis of data collected by a NASA infrared space telescope shows there are fewer near-Earth asteroids than previously believed, scientists said today. But the majority of the nearly 20,000 bodies between 330 and 3,300 feet wide have not yet been detected and it's not yet clear whether a reduced population also means a reduced number of midsize asteroids in orbits that could pose a threat to Earth.)




("I never forget a face," goes the Marx Brothers one-liner, "but in your case, I'll be glad to make an exception." Unlike Groucho Marx, unfortunately, the cloud never forgets. That's the logic behind a new application developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and Google that's designed to take a photograph of a total stranger and, using the facial recognition software PittPatt, track down their real identity in a matter of minutes. Facial recognition isn't that new -- the rudimentary technology has been around since the late 1960s -- but this system is faster, more efficient, and more thorough than any other system ever used. Why? Because it's powered by the cloud.)


(Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) today announced the action comedy series Aim High will debut on Facebook. Produced by Warner Premiere and Dolphin Entertainment, the company is calling it “the first-ever social series from a Hollywood studio.” The Facebook aspect will allow you to include your profile information (photos, text, and friends) by installing the Facebook app on the show’s page. If you chose to do this, you will get a personalized viewing mode that will allow you to see yourself or your friends integrated into select scenes throughout the series. For example, your photo can appear on a student body election poster, or your name may be seen as graffiti on the bathroom wall.)




(Saudi King Abdullah has overturned a court ruling sentencing a Saudi woman to be lashed 10 times for defying the kingdom's ban on female drivers, a government official said Wednesday. The official declined to elaborate on the monarch's decision, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.)


(Our financial state is pretty scary right now, and we’re all watching our spending pretty closely. So what’s the one thing Americans are willing to shell out for in this economy? Costumes, decorations and entertainment designed to scare us even more. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans plan to spend $6.9 billion this year for Halloween. To put that number into context, the same NRF survey found that Americans planned to spend $3.3 billion as recently as 2005.)


(If your Twitter feed is lighting up with reports of "screams and gunfire" at the Capitol building, breathe easy. It's The Onion. The satirical newspaper began a series of tweets at 10:33 A.M. EDT on Thursday, which gave regular updates about a group of congressmen taking a group of children hostage. Subsequent tweets noted that two chaperones were also taken hostage and that one representative tried to shoot down a police helicopter. Yet another noted that Rep. Eric Cantor had purchased 6 handguns last month. The Onion's Twitter account used the hashtag #CongressHostage on their tweets, and updates were also posted on The Onion's Facebook page.)




(A week after her psychological treatment began, Casey Anthony is doing "well," according to a source close to her, who adds, "She hopes she will someday redeem herself and live a productive life." The public, meanwhile, may get to see another side of the infamous Florida resident. In court on Wednesday, a media organization argued for the release of a jailhouse video of Casey watching TV news reports saying police found remains, which turned out to be her missing daughter, 2-year-old Caylee.)


(Officials of one Georgia city says cracking down on sagging pants has earned nearly $4,000 in fines in less than a year. Albany, Ga. City Attorney Nathan Davis said that 187 citations have been issued and fines collected of $3,916 since the ordinance went into effect Nov. 23.)


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bus Stops - September 29


Stripper bus at Lions game flagged by cops (CBS) 

(Police may put the brakes on a party bus that was apparently operating as a Sunday strip club for reveling Lions fans at a popular tailgating spot in Detroit. Investigators believe fans tailgating before a recent Lions home game were allowed onboard the "Booty Lounge," a large red and black bus replete with two stages, steel dancing poles, tinted windows and even a smoke machine, after forking over a $10 donation to its operators, Detroit Police spokeswoman Eren Stephens said Thursday.)


Violation of rules led to fatal bus crash (Dawn) 

(The ill-fated bus which met with an accident near Kallar Kahar leaving at least 31 students and four adults dead, had no permit for the Islamabad route. And the Motorway Police, always praised for its efficiency, failed to check the heavily overloaded vehicle carrying students of the Millat Grammar School, Faisalabad, for a picnic in the Salt range.)


Tenn. mom charged after bus bullying of deaf son (CHRON) 

(A mom who was arrested after confronting students on a school bus about bullying her deaf son said she was responding to his telephone call telling her that he had been punched in the face again. Christa Green was arraigned Wednesday in Marion County on 13 counts of assault and one count of burglary, even though she didn't touch anyone, according to WRCB-TV in Chattanooga.)




Man Rescues Injured Great White Shark Near Venice Pier (CBS) 

(A man lifeguards call the “Animal Whisperer” rescued what is believed to be a young great white shark over the weekend. The baby shark washed ashore near the Venice Pier, a popular fishing spot, Sunday afternoon with a fish hook in its mouth. Elisa Van Es, a bystander, caught the rescue on tape.)


7-Eleven stores in Taiwan pull vampire Hitler stickers (CNN) 

(In Taiwan, 7-Eleven stores have pulled products featuring a cartoon vampire that bears a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler after receiving complaints from the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO) for selling the items, according to several media reports.)


Florida Teen Murder Suspect Says She's a Vampire (NBC) 

(An 18-year-old Florida girl accused of helping lure a 16-year-old boy into a fatal trap says she's a vampire who has drunk the blood of her boyfriend. Stephanie Pistey confirmed assertions by police in Parker, Fla., that the people involved in the July murder of 16-year-old Jacob Hendershot were in a vampire cult. Pistey, who was arrested last Monday and charged with accessory to murder, said she sees herself as a modern day Dracula.)


Desperate cross-dressing dad nearly dies trying to chop off his own penis with a Stanley knife (Daily Record) 

(A cross-dressing dad nearly died after trying to chop off his penis in a DIY sex change op. Kirsty Cass got drunk and took a Stanley knife to his manhood after life as a male became unbearable. Doctors managed to save his life by reattaching his penis and now he is living as a woman and preparing for gender reassignment surgery.)


Sex Bid Rebuffed, Woman Hits Man, Is Nailed By Cops (Smoking Gun) 

(“All I want is a piece of ass, is that too much to ask for?” That’s what Melissa Minarsich said to police last night when they arrived at her Iowa City home in response to a call of a “female out of control.” As detailed by Minarsich, 28, she got into an altercation with her boyfriend “because he would not have sex with her.”)


DONKEY ENTERS ELECTIONS IN BULGARIA (Stylist) 

(A donkey named Marko has entered the race for mayoral elections in Bulgaria. Marko is representing a marginal political party - the Society for New Bulgaria - for the vote in the Black Sea city of Varna (picture 2 above) on 23 October. The party believes Marko stands a better chance of representing the city than incumbent mayor Kiril Yordanov, who has reportedly refused to share a platform with the animal.)


Hubby claims wife raped by 'invisible man' (Asia One) 

(A man has claimed that his wife was raped by an "invisible man", Sin Chew Daily reported. The youth, in his 20s, said his wife would remove her clothing, touch her own body and moan while sleeping at night, since a month ago.
He sought help from a medium, who then told him that someone had used black magic to take away the wife's "soul" and rape her.)


Kittery man allegedly drunk during court appearance for drunken driving (Bangor Daily News) 

(Authorities say a man facing a drunken driving charge showed up for his court hearing intoxicated. Police say that Robert Will of Kittery, Maine, was given a portable breath test when he arrived at court in Portsmouth, N.H., on Tuesday to answer to charges including driving while intoxicated and driving with an open container of alcohol. Based on his blood alcohol concentration, the probable cause hearing was rescheduled.)


Sheboygan man charged after wielding spears during standoff (Sheboygan Press) 

(A 22-year-old Sheboygan man was charged today after police ended a four-hour standoff by shooting him with a beanbag round as the man wielded a knife and bamboo spears, officials said. Patric J. Olson, who has a history of mental health issues, threatened to kill officers and shouted incoherently throughout his contact with police, court records show. The incident in downtown Sheboygan began Tuesday afternoon and culminated with the police takedown shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday.)


Canada unveils larger, graphic anti-smoking labels (Reuters) 

(Canada unveiled some of the world's largest and most graphic anti-smoking labels on Tuesday on the grounds that smokers were starting to ignore existing warnings on cigarette packs. The new labels have to cover 75 percent of the front and back of each pack of cigarettes and small cigars, and will be mandatory by the middle of next year. Existing anti-smoking labels cover 50 percent of a pack. The 16 labels include pictures of a woman dying of lung cancer in a hospital bed, a man with a hole in this throat after surgery for smoking-related larynx cancer, and a close-up shot of a diseased and cancerous tongue.)


Thieves try to dip from Wishing Well (Sanmarcos Record) 

(Police say someone apparently intent on stealing coins broke into a San Marcos cave late Sunday or early Monday. The area of Wonder Cave is known as the “Wishing Well.”)


Why young Christians aren't waiting anymore (CNN) 

(True love doesn’t wait after all. That’s the implication in the upcoming October issue of an evangelical magazine that claims that young, unmarried Christians are having premarital sex almost as much as their non-Christian peers. The article in Relevant magazine, entitled “(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It,” cited several studies examining the sexual activity of single Christians. One of the biggest surprises was a December 2009 study, conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which included information on sexual activity.)


Facing down my eighth-grade tormentor (Salon) 

(Sean Lynden and I grew up together in the dumpy end of Palo Alto, a quiet college town that has since become the heart of Silicon Valley. We played soccer together as kids. We weren't friends, exactly, but we were friendly. And then one morning, in our eighth-grade metal shop, he simply stopped speaking to me. He began, instead, a concerted campaign to humiliate me. At first, this took the form of neglect. But pretty soon he was mocking me to his friends, and then they were mocking me, and before long one of them was threatening to kick my ass.)


Male porn star sues government for $100M (CNEWS) 

(Tony Marcu claims he’s a porn loser. Marcu, who goes by the stage name of “Craig”, has just filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Canadian government alleging their negligence ruined his chances of becoming a millionaire adult film actor and producer in his native Romania.)


Man thinks his friend is a bear, shoots him (National Post) 

(A 22-year-old man is recovering in Victoria General Hospital after his friend shot him in the face, mistaking him for a bear. The two were camping near Vancouver Island’s Nitinat River early Saturday when one of the men was woken up by what he thought was a black bear trying to get into their tent, Const. Grant Desmet of Lake Cowichan RCMP said.)


Georgia Tech seeks to stop 'T' thefts (UPI) 

(The Georgia Institute of Technology said it has spent more than $100,000 replacing the letter "T" on various signs after repeated thefts. Undergraduate President Elle Creel said stealing the "T" from Tech Tower is a tradition stretching back to the 1960s, but it has recently spread to taking the "T" from signs all over campus, including stadium signs and library book return boxes, WAGA-TV, Atlanta, reported Wednesday.)




Red State takes Kevin Smith outside comfort zone (BBC) 

(Kevin Smith steps outside his comfort zone with his new film about religious extremism - Red State. Having taken the movie on a road show tour across N America, is the 41-year-old film-maker really planning to retire? No-one does film publicity quite like Kevin Smith.)


Kevin Smith: my new film's debt to Tarantino and the Coen Brothers (Herald Scotland) 

(Director Kevin Smith burst on to the indie film-making scene in 1994 with his micro-budget slacker comedy, Clerks, and spent the next decade dabbling in that world with moderate success. His biggest budgeted film to date, the Bruce Willis action comedy Cop Out, was released last year to mediocre box office and a critical panning, leading him to make a return to his modest cinematic roots with his latest film, the action thriller Red State.)


Red State Review (The Art Desk) 

(It takes an ultra-liberal Catholic like Kevin Smith to tear into Christian fundamentalism with Red State’s ferocious accuracy. The writer-director’s tenth is being sold as a horror film, but the only demons to be seen are those of church and state.)


Best Seat in the House: Different scripts for finding top spot at theatres (Calgary Herald) 

(A few weeks ago at the Uptown Stage and Screen, maverick filmmaker Kevin Smith chose to sit in the very back row as Calgary audiences caught the first glimpse of his horror film Red State. This, apparently, was not the seat that had been carefully chosen for him.)


Red State Review (What Culture) 

(Two months ago I was primed to watch a screening of Red State only for it to be cancelled at the last minute with the director ‘That Kevin Smith’ (his twitter name) citing the reason for his cancelation as him not wanting people who weren’t true fans of his and those who wouldn’t appreciate his movie seeing it for free. This was a press screening.)


Kevin Smith Talks Red State (This Is Fake DIY) 

(Kevin Smith has returned in a blaze of glory after last year's underwhelming "comedy" Cop Out. The cult director of the likes of Clerks, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back makes his first foray into the horror genre with Red State. Starring Michael Angarano, John Goodman and the Oscar-winning Melissa Leo, his script sees three teenage boys answer an advert from a seductive older woman. They end up kidnapped by Michael Parks' twisted pastor, leader of an extreme Christian church, before the film turns into a shocking siege.)


Red State Review (The Film Pilgrim) 

(By his own admission Kevin Smith is the Forrest Gump of American independent cinema. Smith was working in a convenience store when he saw Richard Linklater’s Slackers (1991) and decided “hey! I could become a filmmaker!” With a budget of $27,575 he turned his camera on his own place of work and created the seminal Clerks (1994) and took the Sundance Film Festival by storm. His career has had its ups and downs; the smart rom-com Chasing Amy (1997) and the controversial Dogma (1999) countered by the lacklustre Jersey Girl (2004) and the detritus of Cop Out (2010). Things really took a turn with Cop Out, his first effort as a director-for-hire funded by Warner Bros that saw Smith spar with lead Bruce Willis and launch an attack on the film critics who brutalised it. Yet, like a phoenix from the ashes, Smith has emerged from this career threatening pounding with Red State and, like he did in 1994, is revolutionising on a micro-budget.)




It costs women £500 after getting dumped (News Lite) 

(The average woman splashes out £500 reinventing herself after being dumped, research has revealed. A recent study of 2,000 dumped women asked them what they'd done post-relationship to get their lives back on track. More than half of those polled said they'd responded by 'reinventing themselves' and completely revamped their appearance.)





Rat cyborg gets digital cerebellum (New Scientist) 

(AN ARTIFICIAL cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality. Such implants could eventually be used to replace areas of brain tissue damaged by stroke and other conditions, or even to enhance healthy brain function and restore learning processes that decline with age.)


Amazon's Kindle Fire just nuked the tablet market: Winners and losers (ZDNET) 

(Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took the stage Wednesday to unveil an arsenal of devices that are going to disrupt rivals like Barnes & Noble as well as Android tablet makers. By rolling out the Kindle Touch (starting at $99), a regular Kindle ($79) and a Kindle Fire tablet ($199), Amazon introduced a subsidized model that only Apple can really match (statement). In a nutshell, we’re entering a near disposable e-reader/tablet era that will split the market between Amazon (consumption based profits) and Apple (high end brand profits). Every technology company caught in the middle is going to have some serious problems.)





Surprising Siblings: Black and White Brothers Are Actually Twins (TIME) 

(Two brothers, both alike in heritage, but as different as black and white. Ebony and ivory. Night and day. You get it. If one thing's clear about 18-year-old British twins James and Daniel Kelly, it's that they never get confused for one another.)


Mass. Man Arrested for Pentagon Terror Plot (TIME) 

(A Massachusetts man was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting an assault on the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled aircraft armed with explosives — the latest of several terrorism cases to spring from federal sting operations. Rezwan Ferdaus was arrested in Framingham after undercover federal agents delivered materials he had allegedly requested, including grenades, six machine guns and what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive. Federal officials said the public was never in danger from the explosives, which it said were always under control and closely monitored.)




B.C. man was trying to protect friend, not push homeless woman under bus: lawyer (Canada.com) 

(Christopher Groves is an innocent man who was just trying to keep his friend George Westwood safe, the defence argued Wednesday during closing submissions at Groves' manslaughter trial for the death of a homeless woman who fell under a bus. "Christopher Groves was in a position that any one of us, or our children, could be in when friends make bad choices," said defence lawyer Bob Claus. "Mr. Groves tried to keep his friend safe. If he'd abandoned the grossly intoxicated Mr. Wellwood, he would not be in court.")


Batman baby dies after PKK attack, civilian death toll rises to three (Todays Zaman) 

(A pre-term baby who survived a deadly terrorist attack in the southeastern province of Batman on Monday after being delivered by caesarean section and whose mother was killed in a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack died early on Wednesday, the Anatolia news agency reported. The terrorist PKK, which has recently been targeting civilians in its attacks, killed Mizgin Doru (35), who was eight months pregnant, and her 6-year-old daughter, Sultan Doru. Immediately after the attack doctors were able to save Doru's unborn baby, who was being kept in an incubator at a private hospital in Batman.)



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Support the Smods of Anarchy Fundraiser. 
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Bus Stops - September 28


Accused says he didn't push B.C. homeless woman under bus (Times Colonist) 

(Christopher Michael Groves told a B.C. Supreme Court jury Monday that he didn't push 20-year-old Ariana Simpson and never saw the bus that crushed her, killing her in February 2009. Groves, 23, is charged with manslaughter in the death of the Victoria woman, who was homeless.)


School District Responds to Bus Driver Arrest (Windham Patch) 

(In the fallout from yesterday's DWI arrest of a Windham Middle School bus driver, members of the school district are ensuring that the primary concern is for the students who were involved. Adam Steel, business administrator for the district, wants to make sure there is no lasting effect in terms of being upset from the experience.)


Bus cameras to fight child abuse (The Australian) 

(INCOMING South Australian premier Jay Weatherill is under pressure from the disability sector to immediately install cameras in all school buses in the wake of fresh claims that the Catholic Church sought to cover up a police inquiry into the abuse of children at one its Adelaide education centres. Mr Weatherill, the Education Minister and a former minister for disability, is also facing demands for extra security on buses from parents whose disabled children were allegedly sexually abused in a separate case at a southern suburbs government school.)


Man pushed out of bus for Rs 7 fare, dies (Times of India) 

(Tempers on the road have been soaring over trivial issues. A 19-year-old man was thrown out of a speeding bus in Greater Noida by the conductor when he was not able to pay the fare of Rs 7 on Monday night. The victim sustained critical head injuries and finally succumbed to them. SP (rural) RK Jolly said that the incident took place when the deceased, Shailender Singh, an employee in a private company in Noida Phase-II, was returning to his residence in a private bus along with a friend.)


Bus stop blues? There's an app for that (Independant) 

(COMMUTERS will be able to avoid standing around in the cold waiting for a bus by using a new internet, smartphone and text message service. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has promised Dublin Bus users up-to-the-minute information on when their bus will arrive at any one of 5,000 stops across the city, avoiding the need to wait at bus stops. But there were teething problems with the new 'real time passenger information' (RTPI) service yesterday, with the text service proving less than reliable. The Irish Independent tested the service on O'Connell Street, but buses were consistently later than advertised -- up to nine minutes in some cases.)





Shark Drags Man In Kayak For Half A Mile (Sky News) 

(A man fishing from a kayak was dragged for half a mile after hooking a 6ft shark in a scene "just like Jaws". Rupert Kirkwood had been deep-sea fishing for hours without a bite when he felt a "great tug" on the line about a mile off the Devon coast.)


Chris Christie axes Jersey Shore tax credit (CNN) 

(Hey Snooki, you're not welcome on the Jersey Shore. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie cut $420,000 in tax credits Monday that would have gone to 495 Productions, the company responsible for bringing the escapades of "Pauly D" and "The Situation" to the masses via MTV.)


Man selling his own thumb to save haunted train museum (io9) 

(Since 1976, John Baker has run the Bakers Junction Railroad Museum in Smithville, Indiana. The museum — which operates a haunted house in old railcars — has fallen on tough financial times, so Baker's turned to an unusual source of fundraising capital. That is, his own severed thumb.)


High school football game postponed by fire ants on field; visitors win delayed game (Washington Post) 

(Football games have been postponed by heavy rains, lightning, power outages: and now, fire ants. A game in South Carolina was postponed Friday after the referee decided the field was unplayable because of fire ants. Referee Steve Hook says he found 15 to 20 large active fire ant mounds shortly before the game.)


Animal group claims it set fire to Idaho fur store (Reuters) 

(Animal rights activists claimed responsibility on Monday for a fire that caused $100,000 in damage to a Boise-area store that sells fur coats and fireworks, authorities said. No one was injured in the early morning blaze at Rocky Mountain Fur & Fireworks, a retailer in Caldwell, Idaho, about 30 miles northwest of the state capital.)


Restaurant Imposes Ethnic Tips Suit (New York Post) 

(This Indian dinner allegedly came with an extra-large helping of discrimin-ation and a side of assault.
Two patrons filed suit against the Baluchi’s restaurant chain yesterday over claims that their bill was illegally padded with an “automatic” 18 percent gratuity reserved for South Asian customers. Abe Shah and Hema Virani also charge that they were physically attacked by a worker after leaving Baluchi’s eatery in Forest Hills, Queens, without paying the alleged ethnic surcharge.)


Ice Cream Cone Mistaken for a KKK Member (Gawker) 

(An ice cream shop in Ocala, Florida thought it would be a clever marketing tactic to have an employee dress up as an ice cream cone and stand out in the parking lot with a sign advertising their goods. Little did they know! Managers and staffers at the two-month-old Ice Cream Family Corner and Sandwiches say that many townsfolk have avoided their shop because of the ice cream cone man, whom they've mistaken for a Ku Klux Klan protester.)


Gunman entered Que. school to warn kids about bullying, court hears (Gawker) 

(The gunman who entered a Quebec elementary school northeast of Ottawa and threatened to kill everyone last April was carrying a sawed-off .22 rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition and a hunting knife. A court heard Monday how Rock Dagenais, now 26, told teachers at Ecole Saint-Laurent in Buckingham, Que., that he didn't mind shooting children, and would kill everyone if they called police.)


Community council chief seeks to correct 'misleading' claims about Falkland drinking ban (The Courier) 

(A staunch defence of controversial proposals to ban booze in one of Fife's most tranquil towns has been launched. Earlier this month we revealed that a planned byelaw to establish an alcohol-free zone in Falkland had created bitter divisions, with hundreds signing a petition opposing the development.)


A dozen clothes dryers stolen from SC apartments (Boston Globe) 

(Police say more than a dozen coin-operated clothes dryers have been stolen from apartment complexes in southeastern South Carolina in recent weeks. Police say the machines are valued between $400 and $1,500 each. Summerville Police Capt. Jon Rogers says investigators think the thieves are after the money in the coin-operated machines.)


A sword and a snake land a Manhattan man in jail (KSNT) 

(A 45-year-old Manhattan man faces charges for an incident involving a snake and a sword. Riley County police were called to a home last Friday where they found the man throwing a boa constrictor to the ground repeatedly.)


Woman left with 'uniboob' after botched surgery leaves her breasts joined together (Daily Mail) 

(A 40 year old woman has gone public with her 'botched' breast enhancement operation in a bid to warn other women about the dangers of using an unqualified plastic surgeons. Dinora Rodriguez, from Los Angeles, California, was left with a 'uniboob' after her breasts were conjoined by skin.)


Police say man accidentally shoots self (WV Gazette) 

(A 53-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the hand early Sunday after threatening himself with a gun. Sgt. Eric Hodges of the Charleston Police Department said the man went to his ex-girlfriend's house on Charleston's West Side at about 2 a.m. Sunday, distraught over the couple's recent breakup. The girlfriend told police he put a .380-caliber handgun to his head and threatened to shoot himself if she didn't take him back.)


Man brings baby to bar fight (Bay News 9) 

(Hillsborough County deputies say Kristopher Mills brought a 9-month-old baby to a bar on U.S. 41 and started two fights Sunday evening. The 32-year-old Ruskin man faces battery, child neglect and assault charges. Deputies say he went to Shenaniganz Bar at 5813 Highway 41 North with the child and pulled a man's hair, starting a physical fight. The Office said Mills then went to another man and started striking him with his fists.)


Woman Reports Robbery Via Facebook (Chattnoogan) 

(A woman who was robbed in her home Sunday night had to report the crime via Facebook. Police said 20-year-old Rolanda Hill reported that she was in her apartment when she heard a knock at the door. When she looked through the peephole, she did not see anyone. When she went to open the door, a gunman stuck a gun through the door and forced his way in.)


Allegheny County Jail Inmates Get New Flat Screen TVs (CBS) 

(They’re top of the line flat screen TVs and right now, inmates at the Allegheny County Jail are likely watching them. The County Jail Oversight Board recently approved the purchase of 40 Sony Bravia televisions for viewing in the jail common areas.)


'Voodoo curse' teacher struck off over pupil drowning threats (Telegraph) 

(A teacher who threatened to place a special needs pupil under a voodoo curse as a form of punishment and called another "Pepsi Max" has been banned from the classroom.)


This Woman Had a Live Fragmentation Grenade Stuck Inside Her Face (Gizmodo) 

(Karla Flores was peacefully selling seafood on the street when she heard an explosion. An object hit her face, knocking her down. When she woke up she was in a hospital with a live fragmentation grenade stuck inside her face. Eight hours later, Karla had an operation that took out the deadly device that could have killed her and everyone else within a 32-foot radius. This is how it all happened.)


Cocaine worth $1.25M washes ashore at Cape Canaveral Air Station (Florida Today) 

(Twenty-five packages of cocaine found Monday on a military beach could have fetched more than $1.25 million on Brevard County’s streets, according to sheriff’s officials. The 1-kilogram “bricks” washed up on the north side of the inlet to Port Canaveral, just south of the launch pads used for Delta II rockets. Someone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station stumbled across the 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, of dope, and local deputies were asked to dispose of it.)


Tokyo Dental Salon Specializes in Giving Girls Crooked Teeth (Oddity Central) 

(A dental salon in Tokyo’s Ginza district has become very popular with girls after it advertised a cosmetic procedure that lengthens and sharpens canines to enhance a feature Japanese call “yaeba”. Crooked teeth are seen as imperfections in many western countries, and particularly in America, where braces are practically a God-given gift to man, but in Japan, a country where almost everything is different, they are considered cute, even adorable. Yaeba means double tooth in Japanese, but it doesn’t describe major dental deformities, but rather the vampire-like look obtained when the two molars crowd the canines pushing them forward to create a fang effect. According to some sources, yaeba gives girls a feline look which is apparently makes them even more attractive, while others say it’s this little imperfection that makes pretty girls look more approachable as opposed to the flawless magazine cover models of the western world. There are many Japanese celebrities with yaeba, but instead of having it fixed with braces, they just show it off to the camera, and that only makes them more popular.)


Was the Associated Press transcription of Obama’s CBC speech ‘racist’? (CBC) 

(By most accounts, President Obama gave a fiery speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, telling blacks to "quit crying and complaining" and support him in the fight for jobs, according to the Associated Press. But was the AP transcription of Obama's remarks racist? That's the subject currently being debated after the issue was raised on Chris Hayes' MSNBC show on Sunday.)


Woman Huffed Aerosols Before Bizarre Crash (WJAC TV) 

(Huntingdon resident Julie Dick-Carson is facing charges of reckless driving, driving under the influence and endangering the life of her infant son, who was in the backseat when she lost control of her car, crossed five lanes of traffic and crashed into an embankment. The accident happened on East College Ave. near the Nittany Mall on July 26.)


Doritos to be Scattered at Graveside During Chip Creator's Dallas Funeral (My Fox NY) 

(When Arch West, the man credited with inventing Doritos, is buried on Saturday, his Dallas funeral ceremony will feature an unconventional tribute to one of America's most popular snacks. His family will sprinkle Doritos at his graveside service, to be held at 10:30am local time in Restland Memorial Park, his daughter told the Dallas Morning News.)


Grim Reaper Cheesehead Sacks Health Benefits of Food (MY FOX DC) 

(The dairy state likes its cheese - and for good reason. Wisconsin turns out more cheese than any other state and fans eat it up. Now anti-cheese advocates are offering up the Grim Reaper wearing a cheese hat and the warning - cheese can sack your health.)


Is this the weirdest hotel room in the world? The £380-a-night suite... 500ft below ground! (Daily Mail) 

(Forget the penthouse suite, one unusual hotel is sending its most important guests 500ft below ground to sleep. The Sala Silvermine Hotel, in Vdstmanland County, Sweden, has created a room so far beneath the earth's surface that it can only be accessed through a mine lift shaft - which sends guests 509ft into the ground in a matter of seconds. The bizarre bedroom, which costs £380 a night, comes complete with a luxurious double bed, silver furnishings and champagne platter.)


World’s Only Dog Chapel Faces Shutdown Due to Unpaid Debts (Oddity Central) 

(Created by artist Stephen Huneck as a place where people of all religions could celebrate the spiritual connection they have with their dogs, the famous Dog Chapel of Vermont is now in danger of being closed down due to unpaid property taxes.)


Employee steals Base Exchange watch, wears it to work (NWF Daily News) 

(A Base Exchange stocker was suspected of stealing when an employee noticed the watch he wore to work was an exact match to one that had been stolen from the store. According to an arrest report from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) dated Aug. 27, loss prevention officers kept Otis Belicario Keene, 34, under surveillance and witnessed him discarding the packaging for ear buds.)


A cupcake sellout at 'inherently racist' bake sale by UC Berkeley Republicans (CNN) 

( A provocative bake sale designed to satirize affirmative action resulted in no fisticuffs Tuesday, but it did prompt a sellout of 300 cupcakes and some heated debate at the University of California at Berkeley, the bake sale organizer said. "The biggest thing is that no violence broke out. There was no physical situation, which is really great," Berkeley College Republicans President Shawn Lewis said Tuesday afternoon, as the bake sale was nearing an end.)


Bangor farmer tells superstar Rihanna to 'cover up' (BBC) 

(A farmer who allowed one of the world's best-selling pop stars to film in his grain field told her to cover up after she stripped down for a video.)




RED STATE – CHASING KEVIN (Little White Lies) 

(A darling of Sundance and the micro-budget film subculture (‘thank or hate Richard [Linklater]… for making me become a filmmaker’ says Smith in the introduction to his collected screenplays) Kevin Smith’s relationship with the mainstream has been a giddy journey of peaks and troughs. 1994′s Clerks remains a scuzzy gem, full of memorable dialogue, zero budget enforced AV blemishes and Gen-X terminology. Like his counterparts Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, Smith would be given a vastly increased budget for his second feature, Mallrats, a playful but coarse homage to John Hughes produced by a big studio. It tanked, taking two-thirds of Clerks’ three million dollar gross on a six mil budget.)


Red State Review (This Is Fake DIY) 

(Courting controversy with this project like Katie Price courts publicity, the usually comedic Kevin Smith tries his hand at horror with this unsettling tale of religious zealotry. Michael Parks heads up the uniformly excellent cast with a bravura performance as the leader of an uber Christian church, Pastor Abin Cooper. So extreme are his views that even the neo-Nazis distance themselves from him. Michael Arangano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun - sporting the greatest mullet this side of 1983 - play three horny teens out to meet an older woman willing to service the three of them. It doesn’t take a genius to see where this is going, as the “date” turns into a kidnap by Cooper and his sinister church members. In a brave move Smith spends a good 15 minutes or so on Cooper delivering a sermon of hate to his congregation of family members while the terrified Gallner can only sit in fear and listen to what is to become of him and his friends.)


EPIX Presents Kevin Smith Live In Austin (The Street) 

(EPIX will be taping Kevin Smith as he takes the stage at Austin’s Paramount Theater tonight for his latest one man show, announced today by the cross platform entertainment service available on television, on demand, online and on Internet connected devices.)


Kevin Smith - Kevin Smith Wants To Direct Unsellable Movies (Contact Music) 

(Kevin Smith says his film distribution company will only take on movies that other studios have turned down. Kevin Smith will only take on movies that other studios have turned down. The director is planning to quit filmmaking following the release of his next project 'Hit Somebody', but will instead distribute movies through his Smodcast Pictures company - but is only accepting submissions from "mistfit toys".)


So... Who's Seen Kevin Smith's Red State? (Portland Mercury) 

(Red State is 180 degrees from anything [Smith] has ever done; his filmography to date has been firmly comedic, with occasional seasonings of fantasy, romance, and action. Red State is deadly serious… and seriously disturbing. It is easily his finest film to date, but most moviegoers will remain completely unaware of it, because Smith has undercut its success at every turn with his own hubris, greed, or ignorance. Or, perhaps, all three.)




OPEN CASTING CALL IN NEW YORK CITY FOR THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Daily Blam) 

(Grant Wilfley Casting, Inc. is casting extras for the new Warner Bros. film Magnus Rex. Producers state: “Take part in the urban action adventure coming to the streets of New York City.” Shoots Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 2011 in NYC. Seeking—Extras: male and female, 18+, all ethnicities, no experience necessary, to play law enforcement within a city besieged by crime and corruption, specific roles include Guards, Soldiers, and Police Officers, seeking physically fit athletes, people with military and/or law enforcement training/experience, weapons training, and/or martial arts training.)


Wingsuit batman flies through Chinese mountain (CNET) 

(I can't imagine that there are too many people around who have flown through a mountain, but U.S. BASE jumper Jeb Corliss can add that to his resume after recently soaring through a peak in China. Wearing a wingsuit, a parachute, and GoPro Hero cameras strapped to his body, Corliss managed to fly through a hole in Tianmen mountain, Hunan Province.
The famous Tianmen Hole in the limestone peak is about 360 feet tall, 96 feet wide, and 260 feet deep.)


‘Batman’: Scott Snyder on Bruce Wayne’s new nemesis (LA Times) 

(Scott Snyder, the creative force behind the ongoing series “American Vampire,” has been handed the keys to two revered titles under the new DC re-launch: “Batman” and “Swamp Thing.” Hero Complex contributor Travis Walecka caught up with Snyder to chat about his plans for both series.)




People learn while they sleep, study suggests (Xenophilius) 

(Kimberly Fenn – People may be learning while they’re sleeping – an unconscious form of memory that is still not well understood, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers. The findings are highlighted in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. “We speculate that we may be investigating a separate form of memory, distinct from traditional memory systems,” said Kimberly Fenn, assistant professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project. “There is substantial evidence that during sleep, your brain is processing information without your awareness and this ability may contribute to memory in a waking state.”)


What You Wear Can Influence How People Perceive Your Race (WSJ) 

(What you wear can influence how others view you — specifically what they perceive your race to be, a new study finds. The findings show how stereotypes and prejudices play a powerful role in how we mentally categorize people, says Jon Freeman, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in psychology at Tufts University.)


Northern Alberta hadrosaur called a new species (CBC) 

(Scientists have confirmed that a dinosaur skeleton unearthed in northern Alberta 22 years ago is a new species. The skeleton of a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, was found in 1989 near the Red Willow River in the Peace Country. It was excavated over a number of years by the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta., and then sat in storage for nearly a decade.)


More activity likely as solar storm continues (TG Daily) 

(The Earth is enveloped in a strong-to-severe magnetic storm, following a large solar eruption yesterday morning. At 8:15am EDT yesterday, a coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from sunspot 1302, sending charged particles streaming in our direction.)




Has the iPod made us anti-social? (BBC) 

(It's 10 years since the iPod was unveiled, but has the MP3 player turned us all into headphone-wearing, anti-social people? It sounds like a dystopian vision. Half of humankind wired up to a parallel universe that leaves them oblivious to their surroundings and fellow man.)


ITV documentary can’t tell the difference between gaming and reality; mistakes Arma 2 for secret IRA film (PC Gamer) 

(Here’s an upload of a video from a recent ITV documentary into Colonel Gaddhafi’s support of the IRA. It contains shocking footage of a helicopter being shot down using weapons allegedly supplied by that baddie. Except. Umm. It’s actually ArmA 2.)

(SUBMITTED BY: @steboost)

NASA Ringtones Available for Your Phone (My Fox NY) 

(You can now hear man's first steps on the moon; Sputnik's eerie galactic beeps; or the roar of a space shuttle launch with each call to your mobile phone. For wannabe astronauts and space buffs, NASA has made available a variety of ringtones that can be downloaded to your smartphone or computer.)




New Jersey Fugitive, On the Run for 41 Years, Arrested in Portugal (TIME) 

(He escaped from prison and hijacked a plane. But he's finally back behind bars – more than four decades years later. When George Wright went on the lam in 1970, Richard Nixon was in the White House and gas cost 36 cents a gallon. But time caught up with him, and the authorities, well, they never forget. Wright, surely less spry and daring than he was as a 27-year-old fugitive, was arrested Monday in the Portugal resort town of Sintra, 20 miles outside of Lisbon.)


Lewis & Clark Stolen Canoe Finally Returned to Tribe (TIME) 

(Returning stolen property gets tough when you don't have that property any more. So decedents of William Clark — of Lewis and Clark fame — did the next best thing: they had a replica canoe constructed and returned to the Chinook Indian Nation. Sure, the theft dates back to 1806, but don't let over 200 years stand in the way of trying to do the right thing. Which is what happened when a group got together to have the 36-foot-long oceangoing canoe custom-built in Veneta, Ore., and presented to the tribe during a special ceremony in Long Beach, Wash.)


Convict Finds Freedom Overwhelming, Starts a Fire and Heads Back to Jail (TIME) 

(What's scarier than being locked up in a Texas prison for 26 years? Returning to a world you no longer recognize. For Randall Lee Church, 96 days of being back in society was quite enough, so he sent himself right on back to jail. Overwhelmed by his new world, on July 10, Church set an abandoned house on his friend's property on fire, the San Antonio Express-News reports.)


Burglars Now Using Twitter, Facebook Against You (TIME) 

(Next time you leave your home for any appreciable length of time, whatever you do, don't tell the Internet. A new study has revealed that an unsettling 78% of burglars use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare to choose just where they're going to break in next. That's not the only way that burglars have started using the Internet; 74% of those polled by British home security firm Friedland also admitted to casing their joint of choice using Google Street View wherever possible.)


Coffee May Lower Women's Risk of Depression (TIME) 

(Many of us rely on a cup of coffee to kick-start our day (you're welcome, Starbucks), and now new research suggests that our morning caffeine infusion may also help ward off depression over the long term, especially for women. The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that women who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee a day were 15% less likely to develop depression over the 10-year study period, compared with women who consumed one cup or less per day. Women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a 20% lower risk. Women who drank decaf didn't show a similar reduction in depression rates.)


Is It Weird to Breast-Feed a 3-Year-Old? Mayim Bialik Doesn't Think So (TIME) 

(Breast is best, experts agree, but what about for kids who are old enough to walk, talk and attend preschool — like Fred, the 3-year-old son of actress Mayim Bialik, who blogged earlier this month about the process of gradually weaning him? I stopped nursing my youngest daughter just last year, two months before her third birthday, so I figured little could surprise me when it came to extended breast-feeding. If anything, I'm an advocate for breast-feeding babies who are no longer technically babies.)




Teen’s parents: After suicide, he’s still being bullied (MSNBC) 

(Even after a teen-ager tragically committed suicide in suburban Buffalo this month in the wake of constant harassment, the bullying allegedly did not stop with his death. The parents of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, who was found dead at their home on Sept. 18, indicated in an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry on Tuesday that their daughter endured further taunts at a school function immediately after Jamey’s wake. At a homecoming dance she attended shortly after her brother’s death, a potentially poignant moment turned ugly after a song by Lady Gaga, Jamey’s favorite artist, who recently dedicated a song at a concert in his memory.)


Japanese teenage girl killed in 'exorcism' (RIANOVOSTI) 

(A 13-year-old Japanese girl suffocated after she was tied up and had water poured over her by her father and a monk who were trying to expel an "evil spirit", Japanese media said on Tuesday. Atsushi Maishigi, 50, turned to the monk to help cure his daughter Tomomi's mental and health problems. The monk, who belongs to a religious group deriving from a Buddhist sect, said the youngster was possessed by an evil spirit, TBS TV channel said.)


Typhoon leaves 16 dead in Philippines (Boston Globe) 

(City residents waded through waist-deep flood waters and dodged flying debris yesterday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls. Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat’s arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 miles per hour. Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.)




Washington Monument closed indefinitely (Washington Post) 

(The National Park Service said Monday that the Washington Monument will be closed indefinitely and that the 5.8-magnitude earthquake in August had done more damage to it than had been previously disclosed. Officials said a “debris field,” made up mostly of mortar that had fallen during the quake, had been found at the base and that more substantial pieces of stone had fallen loose inside the monument.)


Nathan Fillion And Tim Daly Join The Justice League For Doom (Pop Culture Zoo) 

(The late, great Dwayne McDuffie’s final script, Justice League: Doom, gets some added star-power to the already star-studded voice cast with the addition of Nathan Fillion and Tim Daly. Check out all the details in the press release from Warner Bros. Home Video below. All-Star Superman and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, also by McDuffie, are pretty phenomenal, so you definitely don’t want to miss this one. Also, for those of you not necessarily enamored of the live-action Green Lantern flick, the Fillion-starring Green Lantern: Emerald Knights animated film is the definitive Green Lantern movie. I suggest checking out all of these films ASAP. Look for Justice League: Doom in 2012.)


Nancy Grace Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction on DWTS (Gawker) 

(From Tit Mom to Nip Mom! After proudly debuting her giant boobs on last week's Dancing with the Stars premiere, Nancy Grace took things to a whole new level on tonight's live program when one of the "three-year-old twins" came out to play at the conclusion of her quickstep routine. Click the link for the slightly NSFW video.)