Does anyone over the age of 25 know who Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are? (pictured) They’re two of the “stars” of the MTV reality smash “The Hills,” playing a fake couple on the faux reality show (uh, it’s “improvised” real-fake reality, sorta).
They’ve been making the rounds of the talk shows for quite some time now. I’ve seen them, and they are stunningly vapid. But what I didn’t know, cuz I’m not in the scene, is that they get $50,000 each for a two hour club appearance, at least according to Spencer in a new interview with the LA Times (though I saw this first on Gawker).
My eyes popped out of my head, like Yosemite Sam, and bounced across my desk when I read that. Does it reek of sour grapes when I say that I am genuinely horrified that these talent-free do-nothings are paid buckets of money so other young do-nothings can drink with them, or across the room from them, at a club?
Of course, it’s nothing compared to the fees Paris (The Queen of Talent-Free Do-Nothing) pulls in for appearances. Forbes reports the Hilton heiress commands up to $300,000 per appearance abroad.
Indeed, the price of fuel has jumped more than 63 percent, notes The New York Times.
But what has slipped past a lot of people, I think, are the fees for checked baggage. For most of the airlines, a second checked bag is $25; a third bag is $80. On Delta, checking an oversized bag will set you back $150.
How did I miss this cataclysmic event? The International Male catalogue is being phased out in favor of the company’s UnderGear catalogue. Of course, I’ve never purchased a single item from Int’l Male - I don’t know anyone who has - so that might explain the move. There is, evidently, more to be made in a well-packaged brief.
I heard about this from the fashion-gossip blog Jezebel, whose readers have a curious take on the UnderGear. Trolling through the reader comments, I discovered nearly all the readers appear to be female. But here’s the kicker: 99% of them expressed disgust over the catalogue, with many of them calling the pictures, and the outline of the sometimes visible male genitalia in particular “gross” and “offensive.”
Sorry, ladies, but men have penises, and how is that a bad thing? Would you prefer to see neutered males? But more to the point: these straight women evidently find male genitalia downright repellent. I find that more than a little odd. I can understand a lesbian finding the male anatomy utterly unappealing, that makes sense. But straight women?
Their revulsion over these pictures has me wondering, what’s up? I mean, if you like men, how do you not like their privates? Oh, you like them but you don’t want to see them? Even in an underwear ad, in a publication not even geared for women?
I could be wrong, but I have the distinct feeling that before leaving their comments these women scrutinized each image to get the full effect, which leads me to opine: the lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Barack Obama needed to “close the deal” and beat Hillary Clinton in Indiana and North Carolina. Clinton needed a “game-changer” so that she could have a viable path to the presidential nomination.
No deal closed; no game changed, as The Washington Post keenly observed. I feel like I’m in a slow motion version of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and my eyes are being slowly pecked out.
Peck. Peck. Peck. Make it stop, please, make it stop.
Last Wednesday, Aaron Chandler, a 23–year–old from Amherst, Mass., was dancing at a club in the Cayman Islands, when he gave a few chaste kisses to his boyfriend on the dance floor.
A short while later, someone at the club asked him to stop the affectionate kisses. “He told me he did not want me to show public displays of affection,” Chandler told the Cay Compass. “He said it was against the law for two people of the same sex.”
Chandler kissed his partner a few more times as the evening went on, prompting an off-duty cop to haul Chandler off to the local police station, where he was detained (but not arrested). Here’s the full story.
Look, the Cayman Islands are known to be hostile to gays and lesbians (infamous for denying docking rights to a ship carrying 900 gay passengers in 1998). But lots of foreign countries will detain, arrest and do much worse if you show any affection to a person of the same sex. Of course these laws are antiquated, idiotic and insulting. But if you’re traveling in a foreign land, it seems stupid to not check the local laws first and follow them — or risk your personal safety.
UPDATE: Chandler received a reasonably contrite letter of apology from the Cayman Islands Dept. of Tourism, reports Towleroad. Good of them, but what of the ignorant locals? Given all we know, would you spend your tourist dollars in the Royal Caymans? Methinks not.
If you’re a fan of writer Augusten Burroughs (”Running With Scissors,” though I think his best is “Dry”), as I am, you may like his latest “memoir,” “A Wolf At The Table.” I haven’t read it yet, but I suspect it’s not a light summer beach-read — it’s a decidedly non-comic look at his difficult relationship with his father.
You may also find it interesting to hear him speak — I never had until this morning, when I caught this brief interview on Towleroad.com. The interview is not wildly illuminating, so don’t expect any heretofore unknown tidbits about the writer. But it’s fun.
The world’s biggest retailer will add 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and make some drugs available in a 90-day supply for only $10. Whatever you may think of Wal-Mart’s internal policies or conservative political leanings, it’s hard to deny this is a very good thing.
No word yet on whether Target and Kroger (who also offer a $4 drug program), or K-Mart’s 90-day supply program, will match Walmart’s new offer.
The Consumerist notes that Midwest grocery store chain Meijer is now offering many commonly prescribed antibiotics for free with a doctor’s prescription.
Does anyone over the age of 25 know who Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are? (pictured) They’re two of the “stars” of the MTV reality smash “The Hills,” playing a fake couple on the faux reality show (uh, it’s “improvised” real-fake reality, sorta).
