Opening animation for the Puerto Rico Queer FilmFest

This animation was produced by Diamond Designs in Spain.





The first edition of the Puerto Rico Queer Filmfest opens from the 12 to the 18 of November 2009 in San Juan.

Thanks to my friend Rebecca Fraticelli and the staff of Cinemateria for the support!

The real cause of the Gulf / CAPECO depot fire!

We found out the real reason why the fire in gas depot started! Take a look!




I swear those two...

Via WTF Puerto Rico

Asterix and Obelix are 50 years old today!

Nous sommes en 50 avant Jèsus-Christ. Toute la Gaule est occupèe par les Romains…Toute? Non! Un village peuple d’irrèductibles Gaulois rèsiste encore et toujours à l’envahisseur. Et la vie n’est pas facile pour les garnisons de lègionnaires romains des camps retranchès de Babaorum, Aquarium, Laudanum et Petitbonum…

50 B.C. All Gaul is occupied by the Romans. All? No!…One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…

So it began the great saga of Asterix and Obelix. On October 29, 1959, Writer Rene Goscinny and artist Albert Uderzo, published the first cartoon strip of this great saga. Now 50 years later, these characters are better and more popular than ever. I came across them in the 1970's and again in the 1980's, when I began collecting their storys. Funny, witty and sometimes very irreverent, Asterix and Obelix still make me laugh.

Even Google has jumped in the bandwagon and modified their Opening logo in their webpage with A&O.

Happy Birthday Guys! 50 more years of fun!

Can curry cure cancer?

No! Not that Tim Curry!

An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have shown.

The chemical - curcumin - has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.

Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab.

Cancer experts said the findings in the British Journal of Cancer could help doctors find new treatments.

Dr Sharon McKenna and her team found that curcumin started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, after the curcumin triggered lethal cell death signals.

Dr McKenna said: "Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value."

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: "This is interesting research which opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in turmeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer.

"Rates of oesophageal cancer rates have gone up by more than a half since the 70s and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease so finding ways to prevent this disease is important too."

Very Interesting!

Via BBC

Hotel owner makes Hispanic workers to change their names!

In something out of the 1950's, this is happening in today, 2009, in New Mexico.

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.

Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.

The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.

His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.

"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.

Former workers, their relatives and some town residents picketed across the street from the hotel.

"I do feel he's a racist, but he's a racist out of ignorance. He doesn't know that what he's doing is wrong," says protester Juanito Burns Jr., who identified himself as prime minister of an activist group called Los Brown Berets de Nuevo Mexico.

The Virginia-born Whitten had spent 40 years in the hotel business, turning around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina, before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. He had visited Taos before, and liked its beauty. When Whitten saw that the Paragon Inn was up for sale, he jumped at it.

The hotel sits along narrow, two-lane Paseo del Pueblo, where souped-up lowriders radiate a just-waxed gleam in the soft sunshine as they cruise past centuries-old adobe buildings. One recent afternoon, a woman slowly rode her fat-tire bicycle along a cracked sidewalk, oversized purple butterfly wings on her back and a breeze blowing her long, blonde dreadlocks.

The community includes Taos Pueblo, an American Indian dwelling inhabited for over 1,000 years, and an adobe Catholic church made famous in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.

"Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish," Whitten says. "I've been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I've never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I've never had a reason to."

Some employees were fired, Whitten says, because they were hostile and insubordinate. He says they called him "a white (N-word)."

Fired hotel manager Kathy Archuleta says the workers initially tried to adjust to his style. "We had already gone through four or five owners before him, so we knew what to expect," Archuleta says. "I told (the workers) we needed to give him a chance."

Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.

"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says.

Martin Gutierrez, another fired employee, says he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He says he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Gutierrez says.

"I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he says. "I'm professional the way I am."

Hummm. Let's do this. Let's change this guys name to "El Pendejo". That sounds better tham Larry Whitten. And this guy was a Marine? What a disgrace to Corps!
Racism by any other name or guise, still smells as bad!

And the box office champion this week is...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Low-budget fright film "Paranormal Activity" scored a kill over the sixth picture in the perennial "Saw" franchise, with a pre-Halloween weekend box office draw of $22 million.

Lionsgate's "Saw VI" took in $14.8 million. The results were the worst in the series' history -- the first five "Saw" films had an average opening weekend of $29.1 million, according to box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. The horror series features a killer who calls himself Jigsaw and puts his victims in deadly contraptions to torture them.

"Paranormal" went into wider release by Paramount after playing to sellout crowds at midnight-only screenings over the past few weekends in a handful of markets determined by online balloting.

Taking a page from the playbook of 1999's underground smash "The Blair Witch Project," the Viacom Inc unit is letting the fans do the marketing through such social-networking sites as Twitter. Its own marketing costs have been minimal.

Paramount bought the $15,000 movie last year at the Slamdance Film Festival, an indie rival of the concurrent Sundance festival in Utah.

Last weekend's top movie, "Where the Wild Things Are," which was adapted from the acclaimed Maurice Sendak children's book, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $14.4 million.

"Wild Things" was released by Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros Pictures.

Other new releases included Summit Entertainment's "Astro Boy," which came in No. 6 with $7.0 million and Universal's "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" at No. 8 with a take of $6.3 million.

Fox Searchlight's Amelia Earhart biopic "Amelia" crashed on take-off, debuting at No. 11 with a box office draw of just $4 million. The distributor is a unit of News Corp.

Police received threats before refinery explosion.

According to the Primera Hora newspaper, auxiliary police commisioner José Rosa Carrasquillo acknowledged in a radio interview this morning that the police department had received information that one or more fuel refineries in Puerto Rico will be the targets of sabotage. According to Rosa Carrasquillo, patrols were doubled in the last two weeks to try and curtail the situation.

These declarations clear the way for a criminal investigation of this sad matter.


Photo - Stephanie Channel Sobrino Hernandez

Gulf refinery goes up in flames! Situation is dire!

The Gulf Refinery in Buchanan sector in Cataño, exploded at around 12:25am this morning. There's 2 hurt. Here are some photos I took from the San Juan area.

More Soon!

New Kaisen 6 Promo!

Kaisen! The Best Con in PR!

Joseph Wiseman, Actor, Villain in "Doctor No" 1918-2009

Oh No!

NEW YORK – Joseph Wiseman, an actor who played the sinister scientist and title character of Dr. No in the first James Bond feature film, has died. He was 91.

Wiseman, who had been in declining health, died Monday at his home in Manhattan, his daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman, told The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

A screen and stage actor, Wiseman's film credits include "Detective Story" (1951) and "The Unforgiven" (1960). He also had guest roles on television shows "Law & Order," "The Streets of San Francisco," "The Twilight Zone" and "The Untouchables," according to The New York Times.

He is likely best known, however, for his villainous role in "Dr. No," the first in a long string of James Bond movies. The 1962 film introduced Sean Connery as James Bond and also starred Ursula Andress.

Wiseman was born in Montreal on May 15, 1918. He moved to the United States with his family when he was a boy.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Wiseman started acting when he was a teenager, getting his start in summer stock.

In 1938, he was given a small part in his first Broadway play, Robert E. Sherwood's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."

Wiseman's other Broadway credits include "Joan of Lorraine" (1946), "Antony and Cleopatra" (1947), "Detective Story" (1949); and most recently in the stage adaptation of Abby Mann's film "Judgment at Nuremberg" (2001).

"Stage acting was what he wanted to be remembered for," Wiseman's daughter told the Los Angeles newspaper.

Goodbye Mr. No!

Wii home shopping network Fail!!!

What can I say!

FAIL!!!!!

Neighbors mistake rotten corpse for Halloween decoration

Seriuosly, that's effe'd up!

A 75-year-old dead man sat decomposing on his Marina del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the body was part of a Halloween display and didn’t call police.

Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday with a single gunshot wound to one eye. He was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment on Bora Bora Way, said cameraman Austin Raishbrook, who owns RMG News and was on scene Thursday when authorities found the body.

Neighbors on the 13900 block of Bora Bora Way told Raishbrook that they noticed the body Monday “but didn’t bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy," he said.

"The body was in plain view of the entire apartment complex [and] they all didn’t do anything,” Raishbrook said. “It’s very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest.”

Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

Coroner’s officials were called to the complex at 6:42 p.m. Thursday, according to Capt. John Kades of the county coroner’s office. Physicians will examine the body today to determine the cause of death.

"Balloon Family" ready for jail!

The fakers are ready to face the music...or so they say.

A couple accused of faking the disappearance of their son in a weather balloon are ready to turn themselves in to police, their lawyer says.

David Lane said he expected police in Colorado to bring charges against his client, Richard Heene, by Wednesday.

"These folks are absolutely willing to turn themselves in, so I don't want to see a 'perp walk' done for media consumption," Mr Lane told NBC TV.

Mr Heene and wife Mayumi are accused of planning the hoax as a publicity stunt.

The disappearance of their son, six-year-old Falcon Heene, last Thursday became a media drama, but he was later found at home.

His parents appeared on several TV networks with Falcon and his two brothers to talk about the incident and insist it had not been staged.

Mr Lane told the Associated Press news agency that the Heenes should be presumed innocent of wrongdoing unless convicted.

"If [the prosecutors] can prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, that's one thing. If they can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's another," he said.

Official details of any charges the Heenes might face have not yet been made public.

However, Sheriff Jim Alderden said on Sunday that charges might include conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Some of the most serious charges each carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Sheriff Alderden said that at first the parents' acting abilities had made them appear credible to the police.

But it had become clear when the son referred to his hiding as part of "a show" during a television interview that they were not telling the truth.

Sheriff Alderden said the authorities were investigating whether anyone else may have been involved, including a media outlet that may have been in on the hoax.

"We certainly know that there's a conspiracy between the husband and wife, you've probably seen some of the e-mails and some of the things on the internet suggesting that there may be other conspirators," he told reporters.

Investigators have said they want to question Robert Thomas, an associate of Mr Heene's in Denver, who provided the website Gawker.com with e-mail exchanges from several months ago in which he and Mr Heene talk about a possible balloon stunt to promote a proposed reality TV show.

People will do anything for fame.

And the box office champion this week is...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "Where the Wild Things Are" topped the North American box office, according to studio estimates on Sunday, a strong start for a film that, like its little boy hero, sailed into somewhat uncharted waters.

The Spike Jonze-directed movie -- which was based on a classic children's book, but marketed largely to adults -- stomped over that hurdle to beat most predictions and take home $32.5 million in ticket sales.

"Tribute must be paid to Spike Jonze, who took a brilliant book and created brilliant film from it," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros Pictures, which released the movie.

Fellman said "Wild Things" notched the biggest opening weekend ever for an October release by Warner Bros, and dismissed critics who said it would prove too childish for adults and too dark or scary for kids.

"It looks like they were a little jealous," he said. "We knew exactly what we had. We spent 70 percent of our media buy toward adult audiences."

Finishing second for the weekend was Overture Films' vigilante movie "Law Abiding Citizen," starring Jamie Foxx, which also outperformed expectations to collect $21 million and become that studio's highest-grossing opening.

Third was the low-budget horror film "Paranormal Activity," which relied heavily on word of mouth promotion and scared up $20.2 million in tickets for Paramount Pictures.

"Wild Things" is based on Maurice Sendak's dark but beloved 1963 book, which uses just nine simple sentences to tell the story of a little boy named Max who dons his wolf suit and sails to a wilderness inhabited by fanged and furry monsters.

Jonze, who co-wrote the screenplay, spent five years making the film, which combines live action, puppetry and computer animation, and has said that he did not set out to make a traditional children's film.

It was shot near Melbourne, Australia, and features sand dunes, sea shores and fire-ravaged woods instead of the green forest that magically grows in Max's bedroom in the book.

The director reportedly came under pressure from Warner Bros, who were expecting a more family-friendly treatment, and media reports last year said the studio delayed the release for a year, asking for more work on the production.

Warner Bros Pictures is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Overture Films is a unit of Liberty Media Corp.

Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc.

Charges to be filed in the "Balloon Boy" Hoax.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Deputies searched the home of a couple caught up in Colorado's "balloon boy" saga Saturday night after the sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in a case that at first sparked fear for the child, then relief he was okay, then suspicions of a hoax.

The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether he perpetrated a publicity stunt when his 6-year-old son Falcon vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

But Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be. His deputies later showed up at the Heene's Fort Collins home with a search warrant and at least three of them began a search. Sgt. Ian Stewart declined so say what they were after.

Investigators were seen leaving the home just after midnight carrying several boxes and a computer.

Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.

"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."

Suspicion that the balloon saga was a hoax arose almost immediately after Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box. Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers had said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.

Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview Thursday night and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place.

Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews Friday when asked again why he hid.

After the sheriff spoke to reporters, Richard Heene and his wife walked out of his office after meeting with officials for several hours. As reporters yelled questions, all Heene said was, "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now." He then walked to his car with his wife and a friend, and they drove away.

It wasn't clear where the family was late Saturday night. By 9 p.m., an AP reporter at the family home said the couple hadn't returned after leaving the sheriff's office. Their three sons were believed to have been at home being watched by sheriff's officials earlier in the day, but their whereabouts also weren't known to reporters in the evening.

The day began with Richard Heene knocking on the windows of journalists camped outside his home and promising a "big announcement." A few hours later, he did an about-face when he told reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.

As Heene walked away, a reporter shouted, "Can you tell us once and for all if this is a hoax?"

"Absolutely no hoax. I want your questions in the box," Heene said, waving a cardboard container before going back into his home.

A circus-like atmosphere formed outside, including men holding signs and occasionally yelling "balloon boy." One sign read, "Put balloon boy on TV: America's Most Wanted."

Other gawkers carried aluminum-foil stovetop popcorn makers that resembled the a flying saucer-like helium balloon launched from the family's backyard Thursday, with 6-year-old Falcon Heene believed to be onboard.

The Heenes have said the balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air.

"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.

Falcon's brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.

Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.

He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.

Despite his attempts to get on TV, Heene insisted Saturday that he didn't know what kinds of questions were being asked about him because he didn't have cable.

"I'm going to place the box out front. Please write your questions down, because friends are telling me they're saying this and that. I have no idea what the news is saying," Heene said.

Are the media whores afraid now!

Balloon Boy stunt launches criminal investigation!

The Larimer County Sheriff's Department will conduct interviews with Balloon Boy and his family, which may lead to a criminal investigation due to filing a false report.

According to a Sheriff's official, the interviews will begin tomorrow because "their physical and emotional state as of this morning is not well."

Considering the on-camera barfing and back-to-back shameless interviews, they could probably use a breather before they're taken for all they're worth!

As always, The Simpsons did it first and much better!

Feast on this blast from the past from season 16.



Photo - Getty Images/AP

Was the Balloon Boy adventure a hoax?

When news broke yesterday that a six-year-old boy from Colorado had been swept away in a flyaway balloon, it captured the world's attention in a way not seen since the media last found a character it could summarise in a snappy sobriquet (see Canoe Man, Octomom).

Balloon Boy was born. Sensing an opportunity to unite the country in a collective moment, American TV networks streamed live coverage of the nail-biting search for Falcon Heene. Before long, the New York Times had started a minute-by-minute blog, and Americans were glued to their televisions. Was a small boy really inside that homemade helium balloon, whizzing past clouds at a frightening rate? They stayed tuned to find out.

When, at around 6pm last night local time, the boy was found alive and well and hiding in the attic (where he apparently went after being scolded by his dad earlier in the day), there wasn't much time for elation before the tide turned and the great American public directed suspicion and then anger at the Heene family.

It was a live interview with CNN that set tongues wagging that this heartwarming story wasn't quite what it seemed. The anchor asked Falcon whether he was aware of the hoo-ha going on outside as he hid. There was a pause as the boy faltered and said he had heard them shouting. Why didn't you come out, then? asked his father, Richard. "Umm," said Falcon, "you guys said we did this for the show."

The show? What show? Journalists did some Googling and it emerged Falcon's parents had appeared on the tv show Wife Swap – twice. Could Falcon's adventure have really been little more than an attempt by his fame-hungry mum and dad to get on tv for a third time?

Richard Heene said later he was "appalled" by intimations the family did all this for publicity but it was too late. The backlash was in full flow. Soon an online poll was asking internet users to vote whether it was all a publicity stunt, a petition had been set up demanding the parents be charged, and T-shirts bearing the legend "Go Falcon, Go!" were on sale. The most cynical minds pointed out similarities between the story and the plot of Disney's latest animation, Up, in which a 78-year-old man ties balloons to his house and flies away, with an eight-year-old stowaway.

This morning, "balloon boy" was the second most trending topic on Twitter (with many wags demanding he be rechristened Attic Boy), and the inevitable jokes had begun. The best so far comes from a Twitter user: Naughty Balloon Boy has let himself down, he's let his parents down …

A hoax by any other name, will still smell as bad!

Photo - John Moore/Getty Images

Kid found safe and sound, was never on the balloon!

Whew!

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A 6-year-old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box in his family's garage attic Thursday after being feared aboard a homemade helium balloon that hurtled 50 miles through the sky on live television.

The discovery marked a bizarre end to a saga that started when the giant silvery balloon floated away from the family's yard Thursday morning, sparking a frantic rescue operation that involved military helicopters and briefly shut down Denver International Airport.

But Sheriff Jim Alderden turned to reporters during a news conference and gave a thumbs up and said 6-year-old Falcon Heene is "at the house." "Apparently he's been there the whole time," he said.

The boy's father, Richard Heene, said the family was tinkering with the balloon Thursday and that he scolded Falcon for getting inside a compartment on the craft. He said Falcon's brother had seen him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched.

But the boy fled to the attic at some point after the scolding and was never in the balloon during its two-hour, 50-mile journey through two counties. "I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Heene said as he hugged his son during a news conference.

"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."

Richard Heene adamantly denied the notion that the whole thing was a big publicity stunt. "That's horrible after the crap we just went through. No."

The flying saucer-like craft tipped precariously at times before gliding to the ground in a field. With the child nowhere in sight, investigators searched the balloon's path. Several people reported seeing something fall from the craft while it was in the air, and yellow crime-scene tape was placed around the home.

But in the end, the boy apparently was in the garage the whole time, even as investigators scoured the house and neighborhood for any sign of him.

Neighbor Bob Licko, 65, said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard of the family. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother.

"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.

Licko said the boy's mother seemed distraught and that the boy's father was running around the house. The Poudre School District in Fort Collins, where the boys attend, did not have classes for elementary schools Thursday because of a teacher work day.

That was close!

Image UPI

Balloon lands on a field! Kid is missing!

A runaway balloon has touched down in Colorado after a 6-year-old boy untied it from his family home in Fort Collins.
The dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, Larimer County Sheriff's Office says.

The dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, Larimer County Sheriff's Office says.

The boy was not inside the helium aircraft when it landed, CNN affiliate KMGH reported.

A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said.

Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw Falcon Heene climb into the basket before the balloon took off from his parents' Fort Collins, Colorado home.

Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, it's possible the boy had fallen out, Martinez said.

The balloon appeared to be a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon, similar to a party balloon. The craft was drifting eastward, authorities said. The helium balloon was tethered to the boy's family home, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said. The boy got into the craft Thursday morning and undid the rope anchoring it.

The department said the dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high.

"The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won't withstand any kind of a crash at all," said Erik Nilsson, Larimer County emergency manager, according to CNN affiliate KMGH.

Photo KMGH

6 year old floats away in a home made balloon!

A 6-year-old boy has floated away today in a homemade balloon in northeastern Colorado!!!

The balloon is saucer-shaped and covered with foil. The compartment where the boy is located sits below the balloon filled with helium and it is made of thin plywood. Apparently it was a project between the boy and his dad.

The balloon is currently about 8,000 feet in the air and projected to rise to 10,000 feet!

The Fort Collins police are among the authorities tracking the aircraft and it could wander into the Denver International Airport's air traffic control corridors.

Photo KMGH

Lotto hoax causes a riot in Ohio

Again, the weirdness strikes back!

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A woman being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax.

Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said.

Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police Sgt. Lt. Michael Deakins said. Brown walked to a cash register and loudly announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person's merchandise up to $500, he said.

“Well, of course, people like to hear that,” Deakins said. “Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come.”

People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase, but Brown had not yet paid the bill, Deakins said. At least 500 people filled the aisles and another 1,000 were outside trying to get in, he said.

“She was telling people she won $1.5 million,” Deakins said. “But it ends up she didn't win anything. She had no money to pay for anything.”

About an hour later, Brown had the limousine driver take her to a bank to withdraw money, but she returned empty-handed, police Detective Steven Nace said. By then, store employees had called in two dozen police officers to handle the crowds.

Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Brown she didn't need clothes, she needed help paying her rent.

“And she said, 'How much is it?'” Jordan told WBNS-TV. “And she promptly wrote out a check.”

By the time employees realized Brown didn't have any cash to pay, police said, she already had taken off in the limo.

That's when angry customers, realizing they weren't getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said.
(2 of 2)

“Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot,” he said. “It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store.”

Police said they have no way of tracking down the customers who stole items and fled, but they're reviewing surveillance video.

When the limousine driver realized he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Brown owed him for the day's rental, he turned her in to police, Deakins said.

Brown, 44, was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms. She was jailed late Wednesday, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.

Police said they didn't know if Brown had a lawyer. No telephone number was listed under her name, and no one answered repeated phone calls at the Franklin County Jail.

A spokeswoman for Burlington Coat Factory, which is based in Burlington, N.J., and has more than 300 stores across the country, said late Wednesday she couldn't comment on the incident.

“Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot,” he said. “It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store.”

Police said they have no way of tracking down the customers who stole items and fled, but they're reviewing surveillance video.

When the limousine driver realized he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Brown owed him for the day's rental, he turned her in to police, Deakins said.

Brown, 44, was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms. She was jailed late Wednesday, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.

Police said they didn't know if Brown had a lawyer. No telephone number was listed under her name, and no one answered repeated phone calls at the Franklin County Jail.

A spokeswoman for Burlington Coat Factory, which is based in Burlington, N.J., and has more than 300 stores across the country, said late Wednesday she couldn't comment on the incident.

My question is, What was the point of the whole hoax? Creating chaos and nothing more? I think she's nuts!

Capt. Lou Albano, Wrestler, 1933-2009

Pro wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 76.

Lou was admitted for hospice care earlier in the week following a hospital stay. The wrestler had struggled with his poor health in recent years, suffering a heart attack in 2005.

Albano, a former wrestler for the WWF, was most popularly known to the non-wrestling world as Cyndi Lauper's father in the video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

He became an iconic figure in the Eighties and relaunched his fading career and the almost dead WWF.

You will be dearly missed, Captain Lou.

MJ's new song, not so new!

Oh my...Dead Man plagiarizing!

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson didn't do it his way after all.

Hours after the pop singer's first posthumous single "This Is It" was released amid great hype on Monday, it emerged that the tune had been recorded 18 years ago by an obscure Puerto Rican singer.

Moreover the co-author of that tune, "My Way" songwriter Paul Anka, threatened to sue Jackson's estate for proper credit and his share of royalties.

The administrators of the estate quickly acknowledged Anka's claims and granted him 50 percent of the copyright, a potentially massive payday for the 68-year-old Canadian crooner. And an equally massive loss for the estate.

"They realize it's a mistake, they realize it's my song, they realize it's my production of his vocal in my studio and I am getting 50 percent of the whole project, actually, which is fair," Anka said in a video posted on the TMZ gossip Web site.

The song dates back to 1983, when it was known as "I Never Heard" -- a co-write between Jackson and Anka -- and intended for inclusion on an Anka album. But the pair fell out, Jackson took the master tapes and Anka got them back.

The song was eventually released in 1991 after Anka placed it with an unknown Latin singer named Sa-Fire.

Both "I Never Heard" and "This Is It" share the same vocal and piano line, although the latter track boasts new overdubs from Jackson's brothers.

But "This Is It" had been promoted as a new Jackson recording, one of a multitude of unreleased recordings likely to come out in the next few years.

It was released online around the world nearly four months after the singer died in Los Angeles of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 50.

Fans will be able to buy it when a two-disc album hits the shelves in two weeks to coincide with the October 28 worldwide release of the Jackson rehearsal-footage movie "This is It."

The circus continues!

Once upon a black and blue moon...

Okay...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man mooning at railway staff in a departing train got his trousers caught in a carriage door and ended up being dragged half naked along the platform, out of the station and onto the tracks.

The 22-year-old journalism student shoved his backside against the window of a low-slung double-decker train when staff forced him off in Lauenbrueck for traveling without a ticket, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Bremen said.

"It's a miracle he wasn't badly hurt," the spokesman said on Monday. "This sort of thing can end up killing you."

Instead, dangling by his trousers, the man got pulled along for about 200 meters, all the while managing to keep his legs away from the wheels of the train.

The ordeal ended when a passenger pulled the emergency brake. Rescues services were called in, causing rail services between Bremen and Hamburg to be suspended for over an hour, delaying 23 trains.

The man -- unharmed except for cuts and bruises -- now faces charges of dangerous interference in rail transport, insulting the train staff, and may face sizeable a compensation claim for the delays he caused, police said.

"He was full of remorse when I talked to him," the spokesman said. "And he advised others not to try the same thing."

Humm...okay...

And the box office champion this week is...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The critically maligned Vince Vaughn comedy "Couples Retreat" easily took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, helped by the absence of any other new releases.

The film earned $35.3 million during the three days beginning on Friday, confounding industry forecasts of an opening in the $20 million range.

Paradoxically, the Universal Pictures project was released four days after studio chiefs David Linde and Marc Shmuger were ousted from the General Electric Co unit in the wake of a dismal summer at the box office.

Vaughn stars as one half of a couple who join three other couples on a tropical island for some counseling. He co-wrote the script with his "Swingers" co-star Jon Favreau, who also appears, alongside the likes of Kristin Davis and Jason Bateman.

It marks Vaughn's best opening since "The Break-Up" launched with $39 million in 2006. But critics overwhelmingly trashed the picture. Time magazine said it was "offensive." USA Today said it was "tedious."

Universal said women accounted for 61 percent of the audience, while 56 percent of the audience was aged 30 and older.

One other film arguably made a bigger splash, a low-budget horror flick driven almost exclusively by fan-driven word-of-mouth. Paramount Pictures' "Paranormal Activity" jumped 15 places to No. 5 after earning $7.1 million in just 160 theaters. The top three films, by contrast, were each in about 3,000 theaters.

For the past two weekends, the scary-house film played to sellout crowds at midnight-only screenings in a handful of markets determined by online balloting.

Taking a page from the playbook of the underground smash 1999's "The Blair Witch Project," the Viacom Inc unit is letting the fans do the marketing through such social-networking sites as Twitter. Its own marketing costs have been minimal.

"Most people found out about this through the recommendation of a friend," said Rob Moore, the studio's vice chairman.

Paramount bought the $15,000 movie last year at the Slamdance Film Festival, an indie rival of the concurrent Sundance festival in Utah.

Last weekend's top film, "Zombieland," slipped to No. 2 with $15 million, while past two-time champ "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was down one to No. 3 with $12 million. The respective totals for the Columbia Pictures releases stand at $47.8 million and $96.3 million. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp.

Walt Disney Co's 3D reissue of the hit Pixar cartoons "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" was also down one, to No. 4, with $7.7 million; its 10-day tally rose to $22.7 million.

Marge Simpson, Playboy covergirl!

What? The beehived one nude! Read on...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "D'oh!" doesn't even start to cover it.
Marge Simpson -- the blue beehived matriarch of America's most loved dysfunctional family - is Playboy magazine's November cover, the magazine said on Friday.
Simpson, tastefully concealing her assets behind a signature Playboy Bunny chair, is the first cartoon character ever to front the glossy adult magazine, joining the ranks of sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford.
Playboy said the cover celebrates the 20th anniversary of the "The Simpsons." Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie have already been honored this year with a set of U.S. postal stamps.
The magazine promises a story inside called "The Devil in Marge Simpson" and another three pages of pictures.
Animated series "The Simpsons" debuted in December 1989 with a Christmas-themed episode called "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." It has won 24 primetime Emmys and was renewed by Fox television earlier this year for two more seasons.
"The Simpsons" began its 21st season last month, putting it on track to become the longest-running primetime series on U.S. television.
The November issue of Playboy hits newsstands on October 16.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Oh man! Next will be Lois Griffin in "Penthouse" or Wilma Flintstone in "Hustler"!

President Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Now this is a surprise!

OSLO – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.
Speculation had focused on Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan woman's rights activist.
The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appeared to be a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."
He added that the committee endorsed "Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.'"
President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won in 1919.
The committee chairman said after awarding the 2002 prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, for his mediation in international conflicts, that it should be seen as a "kick in the leg" to the Bush administration's hard line in the buildup to the Iraq war.
Five years later, the committee honored Bush's adversary in the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore, for his campaign to raise awareness about global warming.
The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama.

Now he only needs to win the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, retire the troops from Germany, pass a real health care reform with a public option and fix the economy. He does that he's the best president ever!

BTW, thanks for the stimulus check! At least there's some extra cash!

Boricuas Beyond's take on the Egg and Fortuño!

Wewex Collazo and the boys from "Boricuas Beyond" have done it again! What would had happened if the egg thrown at Fortuño, had come from other sources instead of a chicken!

Enjoy!

A comment on the situation in Puerto Rico...

As we have been entertaining you with this blog, things in Puerto Rico has gone from worse to worse. Apart from one of the worse murder rates in 16 years, a very high unemployment figure, made worse by the mass firings of over 16,000 public employees.

All of these things are happening and then our brand new Secretary of Goverment Marcos Rodríguez Ema goes on the radio and said that the protesters and their leaders are Terrorists.

Terrorists?

Who fired more than 16,000 employees, destroying the careers and peace of thousands of Puerto Ricans?

Who has insulted the dignity of our people, over and over again?

Who wants to privatize all of the public services, making more expensive our public works?

Who?

And they dare to call peaceful protesters terrorists, dangling the fascist "Patriot Act" over the head of law abiding citizens.

The only terrorists here are called the Government of Puerto Rico, trying to suppress the right of people to protest unfair practices and gained rights.
By using threats and intimidations, you're only succeding in looking weak and afraid.
By firing honest men and women from their employment, you have engendered terror in the minds of Puertorricans. That's what a real terrorist does!

Remember Mr. Fortuño, we are your bosses. We pay your salary with our taxes. You are a temporary employee at best.

Be greatful that you live in a country where people don't take things as seriously as they should. If it wasn't the case, you would have been tarred and feathered...or worse!

Give thanks to whatever god you belive in, that we are only going to protest in peace your abuses.

There's still time to open dialog and to talk this thru. Peace is still at a cheap price, as the character Quark said in the Star Trek series "Deep Space Nine". Afterwards the price for peace might be measured in pints or gallons of blood.

It's a dangerous road we are driving. Hope we don't crash and burn!

Epic Fail #2 - Pole Dancing can be dangerous!

The girl wants to stay in shape by pole dancing, the Belgian instructor is showing her how.

Please, do no try this at home!



EPIC FAIL!!!!

Don't bother the horse!!!!

This guy got what he deserved!



Epic FAIL!!!!!

No Samba please, we're Muslims!

Another fun activity cancelled by the forces of the Invisible Guy!

Tire, Lebanon (Reuters) - A protest by Muslim clerics torpedoed a Brazilian samba show in the Lebanese city of Tire on Thursday, local officials said.

A statement by the clerics condemned plans for the open-air display by a dance troupe that has been touring Lebanon.

"We support tourism but are against obscenity," said Sheikh Ali Yassin, who heads a group of clerics in the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim city.

The local council responded by cancelling the show after consulting politicians and security officials, officials said.

The troupe, including musicians and scantily clad dancers, performed in central Beirut's Martyrs' Square last week.

(Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut, editing by Paul Casciato)

Is any wonder that the two most intolerant cultures in the world; the christian right United States and the Islamic fundamentalism are in war with each other?

And the Box Office Champion this week is...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Woody Harrelson scored the biggest opening of his career at the North American box office, as "Zombieland" stormed theaters with weekend ticket sales of $25 million, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
The comedy ended the two-week reign of children's comedy "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," which slipped to No. 2 with $16.7 million. Both films were released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.
Four other new releases entered the top-10. A 3-D reissue of the Pixar cartoons, "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," opened at No. 3 with $12.5 million. The release was designed to stoke anticipation of the June 2010 arrival of "Toy Story 3."
British comedian Ricky Gervais' "The Invention of Lying" followed with a modest $7.4 million, slightly ahead of Bruce Willis' "Surrogates," which is in its second weekend. Rankings could change when final data are released on Monday.
Two entries tied at No. 7: Drew Barrymore's directing debut, "Whip It," and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" each reported about $4.9 million in ticket sales.
"Capitalism" played in almost twice as many theaters as "Whip It," which had been expected to open in the high-single-digit millions ahead of the Gervais comedy.
"Zombieland," bolstered by strong reviews and advance buzz, matched its modest production budget.
Harrelson, who rose to fame in the sitcom "Cheers," stars as a gung-ho zombie killer who joins an obsessive-compulsive nerd, played by Jesse Eisenberg, during a worldwide zombie epidemic. It marks the debut of director Ruben Fleischer.
"It's an action-driven road-trip buddy comedy, and the icing on the cake is that it's got zombies in it," said Rory Bruer, Columbia's president of worldwide distribution.
Harrelson has kept a low profile at the box office in recent years, living in Hawaii with his wife and daughters and advocating for the legalization of marijuana. His best opening until now was the $18 million debut of "Indecent Proposal" in 1993.
"Toy Story/Toy Story 2" was released by Walt Disney Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co. "The Invention of Lying" was released by Warner Bros Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
"Capitalism: A Love Story" was released by Overture Films, a unit of Liberty Media Corp. "Whip It" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

Air India crew and pilots come to blows at 30,000 ft.

Wow! And I thought air service couldn't get worse!

NEW DELHI: The Maharaja witnessed his first in-flight Mughal-e-Azam at 30,000 feet above sea level on Saturday, as two members of the cabin crew—one male and one female—slugged it out with the pilot and co-pilot.

Endangering the lives of 106 passengers and grossly violating safety norms, the airline staffers came to blows in the cockpit and galley of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-320 as the aircraft cruised over Pakistan en route to Delhi via Lucknow from Sharjah.

The cabin-vs-cockpit tiff originated on the ground in Sharjah itself and then turned into a full-blown fight once IC 884 took off soon after midnight.

The cabin crew alleged that pilots harassed a 24-year-old female colleague who later filed a molestation complaint against them with the cops after the flight landed in Delhi.

The pilots, on the other hand, accused a male flight purser of misconduct that seriously compromised flight safety, and said the accusation of molestation aimed to protect the complainant's purser friend—who has a commercial pilot licence (CPL)—from facing action.

No party denied that blows and abuses were exchanged as bewildered passengers looked on. Sources said that the female cabin crew member and the co-pilot sustained bruises.

Confirming the in-flight fight, Air India said it had ordered an inquiry and had grounded the staff members involved. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also ordered a probe.

There were unconfirmed reports that at one stage the cockpit was unmanned, as the crew was busy fighting outside. Things allegedly degenerated to the point where the captain threatened to divert the plane to Karachi, likening the situation, sources said, to a "hijack".

In Sharjah, the cabin crew went to meet Captain Ranbir Arora and co-pilot Aditya Chopra for the pre-flight briefing. Both sides give different versions of what happened after this.

The cabin crew lobby said that after the initial tension on the ground in Sharjah, when the woman crew member went into the cockpit, one of the pilots held her hand and then pushed her out of the cockpit.

"She hit the cockpit door with such force that she started bleeding. When Amit Khanna, the purser, saw her in this condition, he went to the cockpit to ask what was happening. At this point, the pilots got abusive and started a fight with him," said a representative of the IA cabin crew, who added that the actual fight took place on the Lucknow-Delhi segment.

Pilot sources claimed that despite his CPL, Khanna could not get a pilot's job due to the downturn.

"The airhostess had announced flying time from Sharjah to Lucknow as per the schedule, and not the actual one that the commander gives. After taking off, the pilot scolded the airhostess and then called Amit to the cockpit," said a source.

Khanna, the source added, entered the cockpit angrily and that's when the fight started. "He became abusive, and tempers ran high in the cockpit. Given the highly unsafe situation there, the commander said he would divert to Karachi, to which Amit retorted, 'Jahan le jaana hai, le jaao, is aircraft ko main bhi uda loonga (take it wherever you want to, I can also fly)'," a pilot representative said, adding that the fight occurred over Pakistan, while the plan was flying from Sharjah to Lucknow. The woman crew member, the source explained, got bruised when she entered the cockpit in the melee.

The cockpit was cleared, with pilots pushing out Amit and then locking the door. After that, the plane landed in Lucknow at around 4.30 am. "Amit then apologized to the pilots, and they took off for Delhi so that the flight wasn't delayed. He later got the woman crew member to level charges of molestation to avoid action for making a hostile entry into the cockpit," said a source speaking on behalf of the pilots.

The police are investigating the woman's complaint and have registered a case against the pilot and co-pilot. "There are several eyewitnesses and we are recording their statements," said joint CP (operations) Satyendra Garg. The police had the victim examined at Safdarjung Hospital, where her bruises were confirmed. A case was registered, among others, under Section 354 for outraging the modesty of a woman.

The DGCA is fuming at the gross violation of safety norms on IC 884. "The airline didn't even inform us of this incident in time. We're going to summon the crew members on Monday. This incident is shocking and we may need to take exemplary action," said a senior official.

And then they announced there was no more Curry Chicken!
Panic followed!
Remind me not to fly this airline!

The only motion picture of Anne Frank known to be in existence, released for viewing on YouTube.

For those not in the know, or never read the book, The Diary of Anne Frank is a moving document about humanity. Written by a 13 year Jewish girl in hiding from the Nazis that invaded her country of Holland, Anne documents her life in cramped quarters with 7 other people, their misery and joy. Her musings on the human condition show a surprising maturity and her budding romance with the other boy in hiding, Peter, show how the turns of the heart works.

She maintained the diary, hoping to publish it after the war and to become a writer.

It was not to be. She was arrested in August 1944 and sent to Bergen Belsen concentration camp.

She died sometime in March 1945 from typhoid fever. She was only 15 years old.

Her book, published in 1948, resonated with a world audience and gave voice to the millions of nameless victims of Fascism worldwide.

Until a few years ago, we only had photos of Anne Frank. Recently, however, the Anne Frank Museum came across a piece of film of a marriage ceremony in Holland. The couple can be seen walking down the apartment to see the judge for the ceremony. The neighbors came out to see the happy couple and one of the curious neighbors that came out to see was none other than Anne Frank, months away from her hiding ordeal.

This is the only piece of film that exist of Anne Frank. It's history come alive.

The Anne Frank Museum has released this as part of their new Anne Frank Channel on YouTube.

Take a look at this and wonder what could have been.

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics

In a stunning victory, Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, won the bid to become the first South American city to host the XXXI Summer Olympic Games in 2016. Rio triumphed over other cities like Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, who also had bids for the 2016 games. Rio was the shoo-in favorite as already North America has hosted the Olympics 6 times (1904-St Louis-USA/ 1932-Los Angeles-USA/ 1968-Mexico City-Mexico/ 1976-Montreal-Canada/ 1984-Los Angeles-USA/ 1996-Atlanta-USA), Europe has done it 13 times (1896-Athens-Greece/ 1900-Paris-France/ 1908-London-UK/ 1920-Antwerp-Belgium/ 1924-Paris-France/ 1928-Amsterdam-Netherlands/ 1936-Berlin-Germany/ 1948-London-UK/ 1960-Rome-Italy/ 1972-Munich-West Germany/ 1980-Moscow-USSR/ 1992-Barcelona-Spain/ 2004-Athens-Greece) and will host the next one (2012-London-UK) and Asia has done it 3 times (1964-Tokyo-Japan/ 1988-Seoul-South Korea/ 2008-Beijing-China)

The only other continent that has not hosted the Summer Olympiad, apart from Antartica (Humm...Winter Olympics?), is Africa. Maybe Cairo, Nairobi or Johannesburg in 2020? Who knows?

¡¡¡Parabéns Brasil!!! See you in 2016...if I have the money!

The coolest pic you'll see all day today!

Enjoy the weekend!

Pic courtesy of Warren Ellis and Wil Wheaton
Yup! That Wil Wheaton!

David Letterman admits affairs and a extortion plot on the air!

Very bizarre!!!!

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. TV talk-show host David Letterman said on Thursday he was the victim of a $2 million extortion plot by a man who threatened to write a screenplay about Letterman having affairs with employees.
An employee of CBS's "48 Hours," a documentary show that regularly features true crimes, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the case, CBS said in a statement.
Letterman told his audience on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" that he found a package in his car three weeks ago from a person claiming to have information about his sexual affairs and demanding $2 million to avoid going public.
He quoted a note as saying: "I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and I can prove that you do these terrible things."
"Sure enough, contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things," Letterman added.
The 62-year-old, who was recently married, said that after consulting his attorney, he arranged to meet the man who said he planned to write a screenplay and a book about "all the terrible stuff" Letterman did unless he was paid off.
"The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show," Letterman told a stunned audience, which seemed unsure how to react to the story, laughing and applauding at times and exclaiming at others.
"My response to that is, yes I have," Letterman said. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would, especially for the women."
"It's been a very bizarre experience. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family. I need to protect myself. I hope to protect my job," he said.
Letterman said he went to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. "They said, 'Whoa, hello, this is blackmail,'" Letterman said.
An investigation led to an arrest earlier on Thursday. As part of the investigation, Letterman said he handed over a "phony" check for $2 million to the individual.
There were no details on the identity of the suspect from the District Attorney's office or from Letterman himself.
CBS issued a statement saying an employee at "48 Hours" was involved in the investigation and arrested on Thursday on charges of attempted grand larceny.
"The employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation," CBS said. "Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show's broadcast this evening, and we believe his comments speak for themselves."
Letterman, who was married once before, is intensely private, and is rarely photographed with his family. He married longtime companion Regina Lasko in March. They have a son born in 2003.
Shortly after his wedding, he said on the show: "I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years, and I -- honestly, whether this happened or not -- I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers."
Known for his comic Top 10 lists on current events, Letterman has been hosting the "Late Show" since 1993 and has been a fixture on late night TV for nearly three decades. Just last week U.S. President Barack Obama appeared on the show.
Letterman started Thursday's broadcast with his regular monologue, which included references to the infidelity of politicians.

Well, this happens when you do stuff you are not supposed to do! But to be fair, most of those affairs happened before he was married. But still, it sounds like some sort of harrasment. Now Dave has egg on his face and some "48 Hours" producer is going to jail!

Here's the video...

Dwarves found 'theme park' commune to escape bullying!

There's something like this in the States, but it's inhabitants are carnival performers. These is the first one for small people.

Everyone in the mountain commune in Kunming, southern China, must be under 4ft 3 ins tall and they run their own police force and fire brigade from their 120 residents.

Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters.

"As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren't any big people and everything we do is for us," said spokesman Fu Tien.

The idea of housing dwarves in special compounds would be anathema in the West, and the village has sparked fierce debates among expats living in China.

"When I first heard this I pictured myself obscure freak shows from a hundred years back," wrote one commenter on the GoKunming website. "Pay the entrance fee and you can watch these people perform."

But others said that it was the dwarves' best chance of employment given the surplus of labour in China.

"We might feel aghast at treating humans this way but this is the best way the Chinese government can deal with the situation right now," wrote Tonyaod.

"Go back a hundred years or so in our culture and we will see that we did the same thing à la the freakshows and the circus."

It's a small world after all...
I can imagine they can sing "Hi Ho Hi Ho, is off to work we go..."
Yes I know, I'm going to Hell!

Image courtesy of China Daily