George Rodrigue, the Louisiana artist whose 'Blue Dog' paintings you've seen in living rooms across the nation, has died at the age of 69.
George Rodrigue, the Louisiana artist whose 'Blue Dog' paintings you've seen in living rooms across
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Nelson Mandela Buried in Small Town Where He Grew Up
Nelson Mandela was buried Sunday in the small town he grew up in, capping ten days of mourning for the South African leader and anti-apartheid crusader.
"Now I have lost a brother. My life is a void. I don't know who to turn to," Ahmed Kathrada, one of Mandela's oldest friends, told mourners in a football field-sized dome in the Eastern Cape hills where Mandela was born.
Mandela's casket was draped with the South African flag before it was carried up a hill to a burial place in Qunu.
Instead of a parade of world leaders that praised the life of Mandela at the large national service this week, family members recalled the former President on Sunday. "He was a lot of fun to be around. He was a great storyteller. At dinner he liked telling stories about his childhood and he preferred telling stories laughing at himself," Nandi Mandela, his granddaughter, told attendees.
Mandela was given a 21-gun salute, and South African jets flew overhead, as the casket was carried to his family burial spot.
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Drunken SantaCon Brawl Features Six Santas
For the unfamiliar, SantaCon is a holiday bar crawl in which bros dress up like Santa and get shitfaced. When SantaCon winds down and Santas have imbibed more than they can handle, a pedestrian can usually witness Santas puking, sleeping or—in this case—fighting. So get that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling as one Santa eats the top of a taxi trunk.
H/t to Chris
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Bummer: Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's house burned down.
Bummer: Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's house burned down.
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Oklahoma Legislature Opens Door to Satanic Monument on Capitol Grounds
You know that phrase "slippery slope" that politicians are always throwing around? The Oklahoma legislature just hit the Slip 'N Slide. In fact, they've provided a perfect demonstration of the phrase's meaning by opening up the door for a giant monument to Satan on the grounds of the capitol building.
Last year, Oklahoma's highly conservative government greenlit the building of a religious monument on the steps of the capitol, with the stipulation being that it was financed by private cash. Numerous legal experts criticized the decision and warned that it might be unconstitutional. They went ahead and built it anyway, but in the act of doing so, they've attracted the attention of a few people they didn't plan on: Satanists.
In a letter to state officials, Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves lauded Rep. Mike Ritze, who headed the campaign and helped pay for the Ten Commandments replica, saying that they plan on submitting their own monument designs within a month or so.
"He's helping a satanic agenda grow more than any of us possibly could," Greaves said. "You don't walk around and see too many satanic temples around, but when you open the door to public spaces for us, that's when you're going to see us."
The Satanic Temple has gone so far as to create a crowdfunding page for their campaign to raise the $20,ooo needed to build the monument. As of this writing, they're well on their way with nearly four grand pledged.
Rep. Bobby Cleveland said that monuments like the Ten Commandments are needed to celebrate America's "Judeo-Christian heritage", citing that many Christians feel persecuted by political correctness. Then he said that Satanists aren't allowed to feel the same way because "they're nuts".
But Brady Henderson, the legal director for the Oklahoma Chapter of the ACLU, says that the local government is in for a surprise.
"We would prefer to see Oklahoma's government officials work to faithfully serve our communities and improve the lives of Oklahomans instead of erecting granite monuments to show us all how righteous they are," Henderson said. "But if the Ten Commandments, with its overtly Christian message, is allowed to stay at the Capitol, the Satanic Temple's proposed monument cannot be rejected because of its different religious viewpoint."
As the campaign to raise the funds for the Satanic monument continues, and the ACLU gears up for what is sure to be a fight, Lucien Greaves remains confident that their own demonstration of faith will be a success.
"We believe that all monuments should be in good taste and consistent with community standards," Greaves wrote. "Our proposed monument, as an homage to the historic/literary Satan, will certainly abide by these guidelines."
Just days after the the Satanists announced their plans, The Universal Society of Hinduism followed suit with their own plans to build a monkey god statue.
Use Roadtrippers to plan all your visit to Oklahoma's new Satanic monument. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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[A Pro-European Union supporter, his mustaches painted in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian national flag co
[A Pro-European Union supporter, his mustaches painted in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian national flag colors, at a mass rally in Kiev Ukraine. Photo by Efrem Lukatsky via AP]
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Man Shoots Up Other Employee's Car After They Win Worker of The Month
A Florida Wal-Mart worker shot up another employee's car after the other worker won employee of the month, investigators believe.
The employee of the month at the Deerfield Beach Wal-Mart store had her car shot up after Willie Mitchell became incensed that she won the award.
"She was announced as the employee of the month which you would think that would be something good, people would be happy for her," the Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman said. "But there was one employee who wasn't happy."
Apparently, Mitchell told the Employee of the Month that "I'm gonna show you." A short time later, he did just that.
"Perhaps (Mitchell) wanted to be employee of the month but clearly these actions that we saw in response to this, I think we see why he wasn't chosen as employee of the month," the Sheriff's office said.
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Peter O'Toole, Star of Lawrence of Arabia, Dead at 81
Peter O'Toole, an eight-time Academy Award nominee and star of Lawrence of Arabia, has died at the age of 81. He passed away after a long illness.
Retiring from acting last year, O'Toole said "I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell."
His family released the following statement:
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Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev heard voices, but his family ignored signs of his mental il
Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev heard voices, but his family ignored signs of his mental illness. The Boston Globe has a huge investigative piece on the family of the two Tsarnaev brothers.
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Air France Flight Grounded in Venezuela Over Terror Threat
An Air France flight that was scheduled to fly from Caracas to Paris was grounded Saturday after a reported terror threat.
Venezuela and French officials believed that a terrorist group had planted a bomb on the aircraft and planned on detonating it while the flight was in midair.
The aircraft was searched, with the results not yet released. Officials believe it was a credible enough threat to reschedule the flight.
"We don't want to speculate on the motives because the information comes directly from French intelligence services," Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told the media.
"We only learned reading Twitter that it could've been a bomb," said passenger Jesus Arandia, a 52-year-old university professor. The United States believes that terror groups have been able to make inroads in Venezuela since Venezuela stopped cooperating with the United States on anti-terrorism operations.
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The Weekend Uber Tried To Rip Everyone Off
For several hours on Saturday, Uber was maybe the most hated company in America. Some of the year's most atrocious weather dumped across the Northeast, and the transit company of the future hit customers with the worst price gouging we've ever seen—it would cost over a hundred bucks just to drive down the block. Get used to it.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Yes, but the opposite: people were disgusted by the exorbitant 8x pricing, and no one beyond those for whom money is no object could afford to use the service at all. Uber self-nullified in a display of greed. What's the point of increasing supply to meet demand if the supply is unusable? What's stopping Uber for going up to 10x pricing, or beyond? Kalanick's is a bullshit premise that lets Uber make bundles more whenever it wants, to the detriment of anyone who can't spend hundreds of dollars to go home. This is a shame not just because no one likes paying more money for a thing, but because it jeopardizes Uber's chance to become a really terrific urban utility.
Responding to criticism of the "surge" pricing program at a recent conference, Kalanick gave little smile and said Uber might just make price-boosted cars disappear to people who don't want (or can't afford) them.
That's Uber's solution: if you don't like price gouging, walk your ass down the street.
Which is sort of fair! No one is forcing you to hire a private car from your smartphone. Ride a bike. Take the subway. We could chalk this up to an Ayn Randian CEO fleecing the rich and lazy.
But sometimes you'll need to catch a car, whether to the airport, through a storm, to the hospital, a spot the train doesn't reach, or blackout drunk back home. Now, remember: Uber's ambitions go way beyond cars for hire. Just as Amazon became The Everything Store, Uber is determined to become an everythingmobile, cars that deliver humans and everything they want. Subject to 9x pricing.
That's down the the line a bit—for now, we're looking at the eradication of low-tech cabs. Uber doesn't hide its contempt for traditional taxi cab systems and dreams of their destruction. City cab companies are rife with problems of their own, yes, but subject to regulation—the kind of regulation we now know Uber badly needs to implement itself, or be forced into. Uber wants to expand to every city in the country, and supplant existing cab systems—the ones subject to laws and regulations. For instance: if a yellow cab driver says it's going to cost an extra $100 just because it's Friday, he'll lose his job. If Uber does it, it's the magical mitts of supply and demand pushing us around.
If more drivers leave traditional taxi companies for Uber—and I've talked to many who have—we step closer to cities where price gouging is the norm, where only the rich can get around, and where outrageous profiteering is the base fare. And if you don't like it, you can hit the road.
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Cory Booker Remembered His Girlfriend’s Birthday
Remember Bianca Levin
According to one calendar entry, Booker (security detail in tow) personally picked up Levin from a midnight flight at Newark International on May 24—two weeks before she co-hosted a campaign fundraiser for Booker on June 10. Another entry indicates Booker made sure not to forget her 36th birthday in early September. He didn’t even tweet anything on her special day. Good for them both.
You can view the calendar entries below:
A spokesman for Booker said his office does not comment on the Senator’s personal life.
To contact the author of this post, email trotter@gawker.com
[Photo credit: Getty Images, Twitter]
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Watch People Struggle to Cross Street As Strong Winds Push Them Around
It's Monday again, so here's a video that perfectly illustrates the rest of the work week.
A freak storm surprised residents of Scandinavia last week, giving them just 24 hours to prepare before striking with destructive winds.
The sea port town of Ålesund was hit hard by "Ivar," which left much damage in its wake and thousands without power.
Still, many Christmas shoppers weren't deterred, deciding to brave the gale-force gusts to do some last-minute gift-buying.
Photographers lined up within a safe distance to capture amusing footage of these intepid souls struggling to cross a downtown street while nature does its best impression of Gandalf's "you shall not pass."
Let's watch.
[video via Euronews]
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Ray Price Is Not Dead Yet
Ray Price, one of the great voices and storytellers of the Golden Age of country music, almost died over the weekend. His son, Clifton Ray Price, certainly believed that his father—who is 87 years old and is most certainly, and inevitably, dying of cancer—had passed away on Saturday. But after Price's wife angrily contradicted that report yesterday, the younger Price wrote on his dad's Facebook page that he had "been deceived by some cruel people" and that his dad was indeed "still hanging on." He's going to die, though. Soon. So listen to "Night Life," written by Price's old bass player Willie Nelson. It's the title track from the greatest concept record ever made, a louche, slightly slurred, lipstick-on-your-collar tour through the drunken disintegration of the middle-class American family.
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Former Disney Star Sends Nude Pics to Girl, Girl Puts Them on Tumblr
Over the weekend, former Disney superstar Dylan Sprouse changed his Twitter bio to include his latest vocation: "n00d pic dealer."
It seems The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star was sexting with some girl who turned right around and uploaded his nude pics to her Tumblr.
The images quickly spread, prompting Sprouse to issue quite possibly the most chill response ever to a dick pic scandal:
Whoops, guess I'm not 14 and fat anymore
— Dylan Sprouse (@dylansprouse) December 16, 2013
I messed up... but I'd be a fool not to own up to it. Got to move past it I suppose
— Dylan Sprouse (@dylansprouse) December 16, 2013
At least you can't see my third testicle
— Dylan Sprouse (@dylansprouse) December 16, 2013
Sprouse, who, along with his twin brother Cole, was a serious cash cow for Disney during his teen years, left the House of Mouse under less than ideal terms
He was last spotted working as a host at a NYC restaurant
[H/T: Oh No They Didn't]
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The Nail Polish Bubble Has Burst
Nail polish: a weird product that girls buy. We may never know why. What we do know, thanks to actual statistics, is this: the Great Nail Polish Bubble of 2012 has burst. What gives, nailpersons?
The facts, as reported in Ad Age today, are these: the "nail product" category grew by more than 20% in both 2011 and 2012. Yet the latter months of 2013 saw this explosive growth reverse itself— nail polish sales were down 10% in October, and 13% in November. What accounts for the sudden disinterest of the nail polish-buying public in acquiring ever greater quantities of paint with which to cover their fingernails, as well as (in some cases) toenails? A theory:
Consumer Edge Research analyst Javier Escalante offers a simple explanation. "It was a fad," he said. He noted that the biggest drop has been in "special effects" products such as crackle-top coats rather than basic nail polish.
A fad, in beauty products? Seems far-fetched. More likely is the explanation offered by Gawker.com trend reporter and nail polish customer Caity Weaver, who told us in an exclusive interview: "I always thought crackle was STUPID and UGLY."
Nail polish manufacturing companies were foolish to ignore this incontrovertible fact.
Why did you stop buying so much nail polish? What do you think about "special effects" nail polish, whatever that is? What beauty products or specific humans do you believe are "stupid" and "ugly?" Leave your valuable opinions in the Kinja™ discussion section below. Together, we will assemble a collection of opinions about nail polish.
[Photo: Flickr]
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The Perfect Solution to Obnoxiously Loud Public Cellphone Conversations
— "Don't you hate when people talk loudly on their phones in public?" asks professional prankster Greg Benson.
Benson, of MediocreFilms, believes he's come up with the perfect way to get people to stop having loud private conversations on their cellphones when they're out in public.
He calls his technique "cellphone crashing," and it's exactly what it sounds like.
In his latest candid camera video (shot by his wife), Benson situates himself next to chatty cellphone users at the airport, and proceeds to pretend he and the person next to him are having identical conversations.
Simple yet diabolical yet harmless yet effective. The best kind of trolling.
[H/T: The Daily Dot]
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Merry Fucking Christmas
It's the least wonderful time of the year for one Louisiana woman's neighbors: for the second year in a row, she has adorned a house's roof with a giant glowing middle finger.
The woman pulled the stunt a year ago because she was angry at a neighbor for allegedly stealing her dog. She came back this year angrier than ever after a mysterious interloper cut down the display—on a house she doesn't even occupy anymore. Habitation notwithstanding, the finger has gone back up, this time with another hand for company.
Happy holidays!
[image via Mentality Mag/Twitter]
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Fired Chef Seizes Restaurant's Twitter Account to Tell His Side
Protip: After firing your head chef just days before Christmas for wanting to take time off to spend with his newborn daughter (pictured, left), remember to take away his access to the restaurant's official Twitter account.
Unfortunately for them, the Plough Pub in Oxfordshire, England, failed to follow that basic rule of wrongful termination, leading sacked chef Jim Knight to seize its Twitter feed so he could tell his side of the story:
Knight later took to his own Twitter account to clarify that he hadn't hacked The Plough's account.
Rather, Knight says he created the account, and appears to be the only one at the restaurant with access to it (the tweets are still up almost a full day later).
Though The Plough's website was flooded with visits following Knight's "hijacking," he says this story has a happy ending for him as well:
I have very kindly been offered a serious job offer directly off the back of this twitter storm. More info to follow x
— Jim Knight (@chefjimknight) December 16, 2013
[photo, screengrabs via Twitter]
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iTunes says that Beyoncé's terrific self-titled album sold 828,773 digital copies worldwide in just
iTunes says that Beyoncé's terrific
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