Who knew that David Leslie Baker had such a crazy life? Unlike his character, Stanley Hudson on The Office, Baker apparently loves entertaining the ladies in a one piece outfit at his lavish mansion. Presenting “2 Be Simple,” his first single.
Baker teamed up with N.U.M. (which stands for Nuthin Under a Million) for the single. It is heavily auto-tuned, but still really kind of amazing.
Italian fashion company The United Colors of Benetton is no stranger to controversial ad campaigns, but the chain’s latest may have pushed the envelope too far. The ad campaign, called “Unhate” by Benetton, features world leaders kissing each other in an act of tolerance.
Members of the Vatican, however, claim the ad featuring Pope Benedict XVI and Ahmed el Tayyeb, the imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, goes way too far. The church will take legal action to prevent the distribution of the image through mass media channels throughout the world.
A Vatican spokesman said the image was insulting “not only to the dignity of the Pope but also to the sensibilities of the faithful.” Benetton had already vowed to suspend distribution of the image prior to the church’s announcement. “We are sorry that the use of an image of the pontiff and the imam should have offended the sensibilities of the faithful in this way,” the company said in a statement. They claimed the advertisement was designed “exclusively to fight the culture of hate in every form.”
Earlier in the day, a large banner of the image appeared close to the Vatican in Rome. It was promptly removed.
After a decent discussion with another male friend, I decided to make a list of my favorite musical songs. I know this might be controversial, but leave your comments. Admittedly these are only from musicals I’ve actually seen.
1) You Can’t Stop the Beat— Hairspray
2) Carrying the Banner— Newsies
3) Take Me Or Leave Me— Rent
4) America— West Side Story
5) We Go Together— Grease (The first song I ever learned the words to)
6) Defying Gravity— Wicked (This song is so unbelievable live)
7) If I Were a Rich Man— Fiddler On the Roof
8) I Just Can’t Wait to Be King— Lion King
9) It’s a Hard Knock Life— Annie
10) I’ll Cover You— Rent
So this is the type of thing you can get away with when you’re an incredibly wealthy corporation. Microsoft opened a store today right across from an Apple Store at the University Village shopping center in Seattle. It looks a lot like an Apple Store.
This opening is happening right in their own backyard, after all Microsoft is based just across Lake Washington from Seattle. I’m sure Microsoft wanted a great turnout. Perhaps coincidentally, the company also decided to offer a Black Keys concert and a OneRepublic concert the very next day— for free. What’s the catch? You have to be one of the first people in line to score your two free tickets to one of the shows.
Lines for the opening started forming the night before. Some people waited overnight for the grand opening. The Microsoft promotion worked like a charm. There were tons of people waiting in line for the store to open. Then, reporter David “Goldy” Goldstein from The Stranger asked them what Microsoft product they were most excited to buy.
Can you guess what they answered? Is this a brilliant promotional move by Microsoft or an epic fail because no one cares about their actual products?
An incredibly bizarre and tragic story continues to evolve in Ohio. Terry Thompson had an exotic animal farm in Zanesville, Ohio where he kept at least 56 creatures, including bears, lions, mountain lions, cheetahs and tigers. On Tuesday evening, Thompson opened the animals’ cages then committed suicide.
Police officers reported putting down 48 of the animals, including 18 Bengali tigers (some of the rarest in the world) and 17 tigers. Six animals were captured and taken into the zoo. Officers decided against tranquilizing the animals because it was approaching nighttime and they feared the animals would flee into the woods where the sedatives would wear off. Just one wolf and a monkey remain unaccounted for.
A picture posted to Twitter shows the carnage:
One highway sign read “Caution Exotic Animals. Stay in Vehicle. Call 911 If Seen.” Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz described the animals as “mature, very big, aggressive” and called public safety “my No. 1 concern.” Noted animal expert Jack Hanna defended the actions of the police, but was deeply saddened by the loss of the tigers in particular.
“When I heard 18 I was still in disbelief,” Hanna said. “The most magnificent creature in the entire world, the tiger is.” Here’s video of the most recent press conference.
What a shame.
Not Intent on Arriving 