Al Gore will not be prosecuted over allegations that he made unwanted advances to a massage therapist in Portland, Oregon in 2006. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office made the announcement on Friday. According to the Oregonian, the DA cited a “lack of credible evidence.”
Charlene Wittstock joined Prince Albert of Monaco last night at her very first Monte Carlo Red Cross Ball as the prince’s wife presumptive, if that’s the right title. Let’s go to the Charlene Wittstock photos:
In his 1944 essay “The Saint,” Maugham describes a mostly silent meeting
with the swami, who was “of a dark honey color with close-cropped white
hair and a close-cropped white beard” and wore only a loincloth. When
Maugham said he felt sick and weak, Sri Ramana replied, “Silence is also
conversation.” This and many of the details of his visit found their
way into “The Razor’s Edge.”
That’s Mark Knopfler, performing at the Plaza De Toros De Las Ventas (“place of the sale of the bulls
According to the U.K.’s Telegraph, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has a quirky collection of things he dislikes. They provide this list as evidence, from ponytails to Paul the Octopus.
America in Color From 1939-43, from the Denver Post, is a collection of photos from the U.S. Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. The color images come from small towns during the Great Depression and were part of a 2006 exhibit from the Library of Congress.
“After the Kennedys, she may be the closest thing we have to an American royal.”Really, Boston Globe? Chelsea Clinton?
Barack Obama is “charming as usual” on his pre-taped appearance on The View this morning. That’s according to Joy Behar — or so says CNN. “The president was at ease, Behar said, and did not appear nervous during the taping.”That’s a relief.
This Abbey Road Studios piano used by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and others in the 1960s now up for auction. It goes under the hammer at
Cartoon wabbit Bugs Bunny turns 70 today, give or take a few years.
Harvard revisits three dropouts from its class of 1969.(Hat tip: Mr. Duffy)
The mysteries of finance: Earlier this year Who2 took out a modest line of credit to do some hedge-trimming and technical roto-tilling around the website. US Bank, for reasons known only to itself and God, routed the approval through some part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It was never quite clear why.
Barbra Streisand sent me an email today with the headline “‘What’s Up, Doc?’ Coming Soon on Blu-ray.” (The inside headline is all enthusiasm: “What’s Up, Doc? Available in Two Weeks! First Streisand Movie on Blu-ray!”)
Helen Mirren is 65 today. But here’s hoping she doesn’t retire: she’s too good. And she can still wear the clothes.
Mr. Schorr and [CNN founder Ted Turner] eventually fell out over a CNN plan to team John Connally, the former Texas governor and Nixon Treasury secretary, with Mr. Schorr as commentators at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas.
Willamette Week is reporting that cartoonist John Callahan has died at age 60.His personal site confirms his death (if not the age), with the photo below captioned “1951-2010.” Wikipedia also says John Callahan was born 5 February 1951, which would make him 59. Willamette Week says that Callahan had been in ill health for a year.
“I’m at her bedside waiting for her to respond,” said her husband, Frederic von Anhalt. “She doesn’t talk to us, she can’t tell us what hurts and what’s wrong, so …..
Alex Trebek, host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, turns 70 today. (Born the same year as Bugs Bunny and Bruce Lee, it turns out.)We wish him the happiest possible birthday. He was 44 when he started hosting the show.
“The original Horse Boy, a man in a purple jumper and a rubber horse’s head mask, was spotted on Google Street View on Hardgate in Aberdeen.
Kinda crazy.
To be fair, it IS hard to look cheery when you’re handcuffed.Here’s Lindsay Lohan shortly beforehand, heading through the metal detectors at the Beverly Hills Courthouse as she turns herself in.
So Dick Cheney had a pump implanted in his heart last week. The prognosis is uncertain: it may be the prelude to heart transplant surgery, or it may be a semi-reliable solution that could endure for years.
According to this story from National Public Radio, a 1914 film called A Thief Catcher has been discovered at an antiques sale in Michigan, and film legend Charlie Chaplin appears on screen for a few minutes as a bumbling policeman.
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of artist Edgar Degas. He was born in Paris in 1834.
Anyone interested in the work of Degas should read this (rather long) piece by Gary Arseneau, titled All Degas Bronze Sculptures Are Fake.
Early this year, the print edition of The Post had this great headline on a story about Conan O’Brien’s decision to quit rather than accept a later time slot: “Better never than late.” Online, it was changed to “Conan O’Brien won’t give up ‘Tonight Show’ time slot to make room for Jay Leno.”
That’s pretty cold, making a dumb headline out of a 93-year-old woman’s hip replacement surgery. We’re just trying to sell some papers here.
It’s the Lizzie Borden sesquicentennial! The accused — but acquitted — killer was born on this day in 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts.The “acquitted” part is what everyone forgets, which just proves the power of rhyme:Lizzie Borden took an axeAnd gave her mother forty whacks.When
she saw what she had doneShe gave her father forty-one.
“She was watching her favorite show, ‘Jeopardy,’ when the phone rang. She reached over to pick it up and fell.”
His weight has dropped to 195 pounds, and his drink of choice is Diet Coke. His says the thing he misses most is whole milk, which his stomach can’t handle any more either. “I used to drink a half gal of that a day,” he said. “When you were as hungover as I used to be, it was great. Got rid of everything.”
Obama and Oprah are on it; Al Gore isn’t.
Robert Wadlow died 70 years old today, in 1940, aged 22 and heighted 8 feet and 11.1 inches tall.
Poor Nikola Tesla. That’s pretty much how the genius inventor is depicted these days — Poor Nikola Tesla. Take this little video, for example:
George Steinbrenner, the feisty owner and boss-man of the New York Yankees, has died at age 80. He’d been in failing health for years after some strokes, but a “massive heart attack” is what got him.
Book review: “Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory”By Ben Macintyre401 pages
Cyrus is the new film that stars John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei.It’s directed by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, so-called “indie” filmmakers who directed 2005’s The Puffy Chair, an arthouse favorite for reasons I can’t understand (beyond “at least it’s not Hollywood”).
Pop star Shakira holds the official Jabulani ball before the final match of World Cup 2010 yesterday. (Spain beat the Netherlands, 1-0.)A few days earlier, Shakira showed off her startlingly football-player-like abdominal muscles at the Glastonbury Music Festival.
Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the United States, say Swiss authorities.The “measures of restriction on his liberty have been lifted.” That is to say, he’s been freed from house arrest.
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“Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining” — that’s the famous catch-phrase of TV’s Judge Judy. (She even made it into a book title.)
The LeBron-O-Meter is on empty. LeBron James is joining the Miami Heat.
Here’s a new video from Sarah Palin, called “Mama Grizzlies.”
Not because a mother grizzly bear raises her offspring without the help of the father, who is off roaming the wilds of Alaska in search of another mate. And certainly not because a grizzly’s diet is 90% vegetarian. No, “Mama Grizzlies” because mother bears are protective of their cubs, and according to former governor and part-time biologist Sarah Palin, “‘cuz moms just kinda know when somethin’ is wrong.”
Life in London as a Jonas Brother.
According to this report from TMZ.com, actress and fungible tabloid celebrity Lindsay Lohan has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating court orders going back to a 2007 arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Basketball fans — especially those in Cleveland — are waiting for word on where free agent LeBron James will end up playing next season.
Sports analysts on TV and radio have been guessing for months because James’s contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expired this year. Will “King James” stay in Cleveland and finally bring them a championship? Will he go to New York where the lights are brighter? Will he go to New Jersey, where he can see New York’s brighter lights? Will he announce his decision on The View or Oprah?
Merv Griffin and Bill Haley were both born on this very day in 1925. Haley was born in Michigan, Griffin in California.Bill Haley gained super-fame earlier, thanks to “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and especially “Rock Around the Clock” in the 1950s. He was super-famous all over again in the 1970s, when “Rock Around the Clock” became the official anthem of 1950s nostalgia.
When Andrade was born in Salto, Uruguay’s second city, in 1901, his father was said to be 98 years old, an expert in African magic who had escaped from slavery in Brazil. In the team photograph of the first winners of the World Cup in 1930, José stands out: his is the only black face.A peek at Uruguay’s surprising World Cup history.
United States chess champion and all-around oddball Bobby Fischer died in Iceland in January of 2008. Yesterday his body was exhumed, some DNA samples were taken and he was reinterred.
Rafael Nadal has won Wimbledon 2010 in straight sets over Tomas Berdych, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
Serena Williams whipped Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 today to win her second Wimbledon in a row and fourth overall.
Beryl Bainbridge, author of An Awfully Big Adventure and many other dark-ish novels, has died at age 75. Cancer was the cause.She was a fascinating gal, but didn’t like being called “eccentric”:
In my collection I have a book called Movie Stars in Bathtubs, by Jack Scagnetti, from 1975.
The recent deal between the Home Shopping Network and Liza Minnelli has gone viral, in the form of this YouTube clip, in which Liza trots out her jewelry and clothing lines:
“I researched the genetic makeup of the city on the Internet… we like small towns, with Italian and German lineage, with people that live and work in the field and villages. This helps keep the genetic makeup more concentrated.”
As you can see from their subheadline, the Los Angeles Times wasn’t very excited about the new fantasy thriller from film director M. Night Shyamalan.
The arrow on the kid’s head represents the direction of Shyamalan’s career.