is there anything lance armstrong can’t do?

[business week]

• three x-rays of marilyn monroe’s chest from a 1954 hospital stay netted $45,000
• earrings worn by kate winslet in the blockbuster titanic movie sold for $25,000
• one of michael jackson’s infamous crystal-studded gloves bought in $190,000
• a lock of elvis presley’s hair went for $20,000
• prince’s purple rain lyrics, handwritten, at $55,000

to be fair, the auctions took place at planet hollywood in las vegas where one good turn at the tables can buy you madonna’s bra ($10,000).

[bbc news]

during the testimony, costner called out regulators and oil industry peeps for being bureacrats and eejits.* he said the regulators were caught int he never ending circular cycle that forbids untested machines at oil spill sites he reminded regulators that machines meant to clean up oils spills need to be tested at….oil spills.  and he called out oil industry peeps because they were too clueless to even imagine that a spill could happen so they wouldn’t therefore invest in the tool.

costner was pretty honest that he was shilling his own product but it’s interesting to consider his motives.  maybe he saw the urgency of saving the earth after the recent birth of his daughter grace on june 3. maybe he wanted everyone to remember that cameron (a.k.a. mr. titanic/ monsieur avatar) isn’t the only academy award winning director with an idea. maybe he thought that saving the oceans would make people forget that stinker waterworld.

* a shout out to  friends in ireland who use this word so well

[nytimes, huffington post]

[huffington post]

the often-quoted statistic that 50% of marriages end in divorce is not really true, according to some new research, in fact, marriage stats seem to be improving with time.  it seems since the 70s, when women started getting edumacated and delaying marriage until a later age, marriage stability has increased. a second factor influencing marriage stability seems to be education, in addition to age, “a full 81% of college graduates who got hitched in that decade at age 26 or older were still married 20 years later. Only 65% of college grads who said I do before their 26th birthday made it that far…just 49% of those who married young and did so without a degree lasted 20 years.” the article it didn’t say anything about rich, uneducated people like the people pictured here.  of the four couples pictured for this story:

• michael douglas married the first time at 33 and graduated from college; his spouse catherine zeta-jones married in her 30s (we don’t know how old she really is) and went to an arts college/school for 3 years.
• will smith married the first time before 26 and married the second time at 30– he didn’t go to college but he was accepted to m.i.t.; his spouse jada pinkett-smith didn’t got to college but married at 26.
• ryan reynolds got married at 32 and he dropped out of college; he married scarlett johansson who was 24 at the time –she hasn’t been to college.
• joel madden and nicole richie aren’t married yet but when they get married, they’ll be closer to, if not 30. neither of them went to college.

they’re all filthy stinkin’ rich. but you know what the beatles say about money and love.

when olatunji got the cards, he went on an online dating and itunes shopping spree and was finally caught when the united states postal service sent one of its few remaining employees over to his apartment to find out what was up.  olatunji was indicted for forgery, mail fraud, theft, aggravated identity theft, computer fraud and other felony charges.

there was no information as to whether olaunji, born in nigeria, has any ties to this crime syndicate. there was also no word if any cards were ordered under the names “the situation”, “pauly d”, or “j woww”.

you may remember that al fayed is the father of dodi al fayed, the boyfriend of princess diana at the time they were killed in the paris car crash.  after dodi and di’s death, al fayed spent a lot of time pushing for an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding their death–he claimed that the royal family had the pair killed because of dodi’s ‘undersirable’ background and because dodi would be a stepfather to princes william and henry.

of the sale, the report said “After 25 years as chairman of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed has decided to retire and to spend more time with his children and grand-children…Qatar Holding was specifically chosen by the trust as they had both the vision and financial capacity to support the long term successful growth of Harrods.” there is no word about whether the memorial to dodi and di in harrods and pictured in this story will remain as-is.

photo courtesy of anosmia

here’s some pure unadulterated fun out of afghanistan lady gaga-style. nice to know that these dudes had some plain old fun.

if it were anyone else, the public would probably be a little suspicious. not only does she come out of the scandal more loved than before (if that were possible) but now she’s a single mother with a newborn. you know if it were tom cruise, we’d all be wondering how he managed to find someone to sell him a newborn on such short notice.

*just the other day, tito ortiz, ultimate fighting champ and celebrity apprentice from the first season was arrested for domestic violence (his girlfriend is ex-porn star jenna jameson). jesse james was on celebrity apprentice season 2. bret michaels from celebrity apprentice 3 is currently in critical health due to a brain hemorrhage. one has to start to wonder if there’s some sort of celebrity apprentice curse.

they also have trailers for a reality tv show called “running” that follows rookie candidates; a comedy show called “right2laugh” that features comedians with conservative point of view; and a show called “politics and poker” and a video that explains the tea party.

i’m excited to see programming that designs content for mobile devices right out of the gate. here’s the launch announcement featuring grammar.

* i’d like to ask kelsey if giggling while waving a flag is wrong.