When the subway pulls into your station, you never know what you're going to find. You might end up sitting next to a passed out junkie in a wheelchair, you might get stuck on the dreaded "stinky car," or, worst of all, there might be a bunch of tacky assholes who took over the train with their party.
The Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, which some would consider the summer's best opportunity for middling Republican presidential campaigns to build momentum or fail completely, is only a few days away! So what mixture of carnival games and free food will the contenders use to trick voters into supporting them? Let's run down the list.
My new personal hero is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, better known as the Duchess of Alba. The Spanish royal (and tabloid fixture better known as Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart) is worth between $850 million and $5 billion but she's giving it all away to marry a commoner. Aww.
If you've eaten at the Olive Garden in Fayetteville, North Carolina, you probably have hepatitis, that's just science. After an employee tested positive for Hepatitis A, hundreds of panicked former customers descended upon the local healthcare clinic for vaccination.
Most college freshmen only find it necessary to be mortified by their roommate, their room decorations, their dorm mates, the difficulty of the classes, their struggles with newfound freedom, their all-too-frequent intoxication, and the overwhelming sense of being a lost and anonymous soul in a brand new environment in which nobody loves them. Now, at least one school is working to ensure that they're also mortified by their own lack of physical fitness. Progress!
Twelve-year-old Dale Ostrander was swimming in the Pacific Ocean in Washington with his church youth group on Friday when he was dragged underwater by a riptide. He was submerged for 20 minutes before rescue workers found him. Now he's just, you know, totally fine.
Reggie Bush texts Kim incessantly, begging her ditch Kris at the altar. George Clooney's female wrestler lover sleeps over. Angelina dodges rioters in London. Ali Lohan is officially more bankable than Lindsay. Wednesday gossip is the one that got away.
News Corp has a much-anticipated quarterly earnings call today, following yesterday's board meeting. The one (and only) real agenda item is to figure out how to move past the devastating UK phone hacking scandal—which means making sure it doesn't spread to America. Fortunately, News Corp has something going for it: best friends!
On the fourth night of England's riots, 10,000 police flooded London streets and the city remained mostly calm. But the riots spread to other cities, leaving three men dead in Birmingham. British Prime Minister David Cameron promised a "fightback" to squelch unrest.
Both these TV stars are closeted, but they're thinking of taking their love public. This reality star won't fly coach. And this on-screen couple is finally having sex in real life. But when are they going to take that public?
Iranian government officials are loving the riots in Britain. In a flurry of statements over the last couple of days, lawmakers have attacked the police response and said they'd like to send human rights observers to London to keep an eye on events there. Iran's Majlis are even thinking about closing the British embassy in Tehran.
A 43-year-old dentist from the Chicago area, William Anthony Howe is recovering in the hospital after he crashed head-on into another car on the interstate last Saturday. Howe was going the wrong way and the two people in the car he crashed into are dead. And it gets worse: A witnesses told the Chicago Tribune that Howe "was rifling around his passenger seat and picked up a handful of cash and threw it out the window." Several cars pulled over to grab the money. Shockingly, Howe was driving a red Porsche. So, why would some dickhead in a Porsche make it rain while driving the wrong way on the interstate? This could have something to do with it:
Newly minted MSNBC anchor Al Sharpton took to the airwaves on Tuesday evening to say that the outcome of Wisconsin's recall elections would indicate whether Americans on the whole are ready to "push back" against the evils of government. And then he spouted off a bunch jumbled words that made no sense, and yet at the same time it may have been the most entertaining thing he's ever said on live television. Video of Sharpton's flub is above.
Here's some Nancy Grace-nip you'll be hearing a lot more about in the coming weeks: Robyn Gardner is a 35-year-old Maryland woman who took off recently on a vacation to Aruba with a man she barely knew: Gary Giordano, 50, also from Maryland, whom she had met online. Gardner has been missing since last Tuesday, and Giordano — who it turns out has a criminal record and a history of domestic violence—is now in custody.
Do you live in Paris and frequently stumble out of bars at 2AM with a craving for a bite of baguette? If so, you'll be totally psyched to learn that French baker Jean-Louis Hecht recently installed two bread-dispensing vending machines outside his boulangeries. Yes, that's right: For just one euro (and a bit of dignity), you can now enjoy a warm loaf of French bread 24/7. [via Grub Street]
By day, Allen Samuels is a popular casino host in Atlantic City. By night? He's A. Samuels, the illest fledgling rapper in the game, son!
"Don't riot! Be happy! Cavort with inflatable sluts!," or something to that effect, might be the unofficial motto of the Ninth Annual Bubble Baba Challenge — in which 800 brave participants ride inflatable sex dolls down the Vuoksa river rapids, about 50 miles from St. Petersburg. The entire event lasts about three minutes, and was conceived by organizer Dmitry Bulawinov "as a joke at a party where the men got drunk and the women didn't show up."
