A Maryland girls swimming team has had its county championship title revoked due to a bizarre shaving violation committed

The unnamed swimmer cost the team points due to improper shaving. Had the swimmer shaved only several hours earlier, the team would have still been county champions. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the rules say that athletes can not shave before, during, or after a meet once the team in on-site.

How the judges determined that the swimmer shaved on-site is still a mystery to me, but it must definitely be a bummer to lose a championship just because you have the smoothest legs on the team.

The president belted out a few lines of “Sweet Home Chicago” alongside B.B. King, impressing the crowd with his singing voice during the “Red, Whte, and Blues” concert last night. This is not the first occasion Obama has flexed his vocal chords for the public. In Janauary, the president sang the first few lyrics of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” during a campaign fundraiser in Harlem’s Apollo theater.

Obama is not the first president to show off his musical talents. Republican Richard Nixon reportedly played the accordian occasionally and Bill Clinton plays the saxophone, which he famously broke out during his presidential campaign. Harry Truman was known to play the piano and Thomas Jefferson played the violin.

Check out a clip of Obama jamming below.

Misty Lawson, 30, of Louisville, KY, was attending an in-home counseling session with her son when she began hitting him in the face. The counselor, who was right next to her, called the police as well as Child Protective Services. The police report states that the child had “redness to the eye, a knuckle bruise on the right cheek and bruise on the side.”

Lawson says she smacked her son twice after he called her a “b####.” “They make it sound like I beat  my child like an adult.” Lawson also said he has major behavioral problems, and she was defending herself.  (Again, he is 10 years old).

This is hardly Lawson’s first brush with the law. In June, 2011, she allegedly left her son, then 9, and a 12-yr old girl in a hot car while she and her boyfriend went into a store to have their pictures taken. Prosecutors decided to drop the charges from that incident. Other priors include receipt of stolen property, possession of marijuana, resisting arrest and contempt of court.

Two boys were removed from Lawson’s custody after the latest incident, and she was released on her own recognizance after being charged with 4th degree assault.  Mother of the Year candidate…NOT!

Peter Skyllberg was found in a totally snow-covered car parked deep in the woods near the northern Swedish town of Umea on Friday, where temperatures had dropped to a reported -30 degrees! The snow luckily created an igloo effect, keeping the air trapped inside the vehicle at a warmer temperature. He told police he had not had access to food since December 19th, surviving solely on snow.

According to the New York Post, the man had lost his job and was living in the woods, sleeping either in a tent or in his car.

Apparently, it’s not so unheard of for a human to survive without food for that long. “Doctor Ulf Segerberg, the Chief Medical Officer at Norrland’s University Hospital reported, “Starvation for one month, anyone can tolerate that if they have water to drink,” Segerberg told the Telegraph. “If you have body fat, you will survive even longer, although you end up looking like someone coming from a concentration camp.”

Some doctors and experts believe that perhaps Skyllberg went into some kind of hibernation, others think it’s a case of sheer luck.

“This is a case in a lifetime. Every winter we have people who have frozen to death. But a case like this, with someone caught outside for such a long time, is very rare, because it’s very rare that you are not missed by anyone, which seems to be the case in this instance.”

The Change-Up star is doing a lot of diaper changing this past year. First, it was while he played a doting father and loving husband to on-screen wife Leslie Mann. (As a side note, that movie was actually very comical and should definitely be rented one night.) But now, he will be changing diapers off-screen for his new baby girl.

Him and his real-life love Amanda Anka had their second girl last Friday. Their 5-year-old daughter, Francesca Nora, gets to be a big Bateman sister to… drum roll please… MAPLE SYLVIE! No comment here on what we think of the name, but we would love to hear your thoughts. Does it roll off the tongue? Does it fall under other celebrity names such as Apple and Blanket?

Either way, Maple is being brought into quite the showbiz family. It is no secret that Jason Bateman is a successful actor, but Anka’s grandfather is singer Paul Anka. Maybe Maple will be the next Disney star, since each of them know how to act, sing, and dance! Good Luck, Maple!

New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa and sections of California either allow or have allowed gay marriages, with more to certainly follow.

Old News.

The big marriage news of the past few weeks is that Babylonia Aivaz’s spouse is a 107-year-old warehouse that sits at 10th and Union in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. She entered into what she described as “a gay marriage” with the building since she heard about the building’s upcoming demolition, making room for an apartment/small business location.

“If corporations can have the rights as people, so can buildings,” said Aivaz, referring to the recent Supreme Court decision on political advertising. “I’m doing this to show the building how much I love it, how much I love community space and how much I love this neighborhood. And I want to stop it from gentrification.”

Aivaz has invited the public to her planned wedding on Sunday. She is describing the event as a community potluck event, and asked attendees to “Bring Food.”

“Yes, I’m in love with a 107 year old building! Yes, It’s a gay marriage! Well there must obviously be a deeper story,” she said on Facebook.

… Just scant seconds left on that 15 minutes of her fame, her think.

Getting married on Halloween and expect a normal ceremony? Not going to happen. Expect a zombie-fied bridal party and guests to include robots, surfing nuns, and a gentleman that looks much like your strange bug-eyed uncle Dweeb, yet just a little less frightening. Movie themed weddings are passé – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Willy Wonka, Nudist, Underwater, Gilligan’s Island, Civil War Re-enactments – been there done that.

What does it to take make a true stand-out wedding today?

Earlier this week, we reported on an amorous ram and deer marriage in a south-western China zoo.  In case you were wondering, the two species cannot produce any offspring.

17-year old “teen bride” Courtney Stodden and her 51-year old husband Doug Hutchison have been working the fame whore thing for most of 2011, but that’s not weird, it’s just creepy. Courtney’s parents, Krista Keller and Alex Stodden, had to give their consent for their underage daughter to get married in the first place. Mom is currently her manager, but you probably could have guessed that.

Weird enough yet? The wedding list continues, with real life and reality show weddings…

► Kim Kardashian’s sham wedding with Kris Humphries lasted 72 days.

► In contrast, the longest celebrity marriage may have been Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman’s. They lasted from January, 1958 until his death in 2008.

► Daniel and Susan (née Brewer) Bakeman tied the knot in 1772 and it lasted until she passed away in 1863, keeping a vow for over 91 years.

► In 2010, a man named Sal9000 married Nene Anegasaki from the Nintendo DS video game “Love Plus.”

► The U.K.’s Karam and Kartari Chand have been married since 1925, and are still going strong as of today.

► Virgin Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer married the Berlin Wall in 1979. She has reportedly not been back to visit since it was torn down.

► 90′s Fame ho’ Carmen Electra’s marriage to Dennis Rodman lasted all of two days, as did Britney Spears’ marriage to old school friend Jason Alexander (no, not the Seinfeld star)

► Crazy much? Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards shared three years of winning bliss.

► Erika La Tour Eiffel married the Eiffel Tower.

► At some point in late 1957, 23-yearold rocker Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year old cousin, Myra Gale Brown. That lasted 14 years.

► Liu Ye from Zhuhai city, China, married himself. “There are many reasons for marrying myself, but mainly to express my dissatisfaction with reality,”

There is all kind of odd wedding trivia too!

► The average cost for a wedding in the United States was $25,631.00, according to weddingreports.com.

► The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Frances Spencer on July 29, 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million. 30 years later, her son Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s televised wedding was seen by an estimated 161 million people.

► Felix Mendelssohn’s  ‘Wedding March’ was first played at the wedding of Dorothy Carew and Tom Daniel at St Peter’s Church, Tiverton, England, on June 2nd, 1847.

► About ten posthumous marriages are carried out each year in France, since they have a law pretty much saying that if everything else in order, the ceremony may take place with a deceased partner.

► For her January 3,2004 weekend wedding, Britney Spears was given away by her limo driver at the $200 chapel-blessed nuptial event.

It’s popular on TV, with current and recent shows including:

► David Tutera’s My Fair Wedding

► Bridezillas

► Say Yes To The Dress

► Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

► My Big Redneck Wedding

For such a ‘happy occasion’, there seem to be a lot of jokes that look at a dark side of the ceremony, according to the groom’s side…

“The young girl leaned toward her mother and whispered, “Why is the bride dressed in white?”

Wishing to keep it simple, her mother explained, “White is the color of joy, and today is most joyful day of her life,”

The child nodded and asked, “Why is the groom wearing black?”

More From the Groom:

► I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her first name was Always.

► Let me give you the same advice my father gave me upon the occasion of my own wedding: “There are two ways to handle a woman, and no one knows either of  ‘em.”

► I haven’t spoken to my wife for 18 months. I don’t like to interrupt her

► Marriage is a 3-ring circus: Engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering.

► The last fight was my fault. My wife asked, “What’s on the TV?”  I said,” Dust!”

► In the beginning, God created earth and rested. Then God created man and rested. Then God created woman. Since then, neither God nor man has rested.

► Why do men die before their wives? They want to.

Peter is reportedly concerned about his mother’s well-being, and had last seen her 8 months prior to the eviction attempt. He said she had appeared to be disoriented and living in poor conditions. Peter owns the house and says that his mother refused to live with him or go to a nursing home.

Mary’s husband, John, bought the house in 1953, and worked hard to pay for it as well as make improvements. He told her never to leave the house. John passed away in 1997, and Mary has been paying all the expenses on the home ever since.

Mary’s other son, Jack, visits his mother regularly. In fact, he checks on her nearly every day, and says that a visiting nurse from a nearby hospital also comes by regularly. He says his brother is a “scumbag.”

Probate court has stopped Peter from trying to sell the house after the eviction papers were served. The case goes to trial in Bridgeport Superior Court on March 2.

Peter says he’s not putting his mother out on the street, but thinks that the 98-yr old should be with other people her own age and should also have her meals on time. Scumbag.

This week everyone has been surrounded by Valentine’s Day (or Single’s Awareness Day, or Day of Over Commercialism) and frankly I’m sick of it. Honestly, I thought to myself, how could I write about Valentine’s Day when there is something far more significant to current pop culture that has just made a triumphant return? What is that you ask? Well grab your 3D glasses young padawans! This week let’s talk…

STAR WARS

(insert John Williams score here)

Star Wars is a space saga or space opera (just without the libretto) created by producer/screen writer/director George Lucas and originally introduced as a movie series. The story began in the middle with Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977. The next installment, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was released three years after. The final piece of the original trilogy would follow after another three years and was called Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

These first three movies follow the story of Luke Skywalker, a farm boy who learns that he is more than what he seems and decides to follow the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and learn the ways of The Force to become a Jedi Knight. He gets swept into the fight against the evil Sith Empire with the Rebel Alliance and meets some wise, brave, frightening, and funny characters along the way. For those who are unfamiliar with this epic there will be more on The Force and Jedi and the Sith and the Empire and theAlliancein a moment.

16 years after Jedi’s release, Lucas brought us back to the beginning of the saga to see where it all began in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Also three years later Episode II: Attack of the Clones arrived and again in another three years along came Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. These told the tale of Luke Skywalker’s father, Anakin Skywalker, from boyhood to manhood. Anakin was believed to be the chosen one who would bring balance to the Force. He was trained by Obi-wan Kenobi in the Jedi arts but fell prey to the Dark Side of the Force and became a Sith lord called Darth Vader. Vader and the Emperor Palpatine took over the Republic of the time and formed The Empire.

The first movie made was initially just called Star Wars and not anticipated to be a success. In fact Lucas produced it out of his own pocket because no studio thought it was a money maker. However history has shown it to be one of the highest grossing movie franchises, just going to show that it’s the people in the end who really decide (Boondock Saints much?).

Now you’d be hard pressed to find someone in our modern culture who doesn’t know Star Wars, even if they aren’t a fan. There are books, video games, toys, and even live action role playing games all expounding upon Star Wars. These additions to the stories are called the Expanded Universe. Every character ever mentioned, even if they walked on screen for a second, has an action figure. I even have a friend who was able to put “Jedi” as his religion on his dog tags. Yeah, it’s that big.

And now Episode I is being rereleased in theatres in 3D. A new Star Wars for a new decade. But what part does Phantom Menace play in the story? Like I said, the prequels follow the story of Anakin Skywalker. Ep. I finds him a young boy living as a slave on the desert planet of Tatooine. He is found quite by accident by a Jedi Knight named Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). The movie opens with Qui-Gon Jinn and his Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) on a negotiation mission on behalf of the planet Naboo. The planet is being blockaded by star ships by the Trade Federation but “the negotiations never took place.” The Trade Federation is being controlled by the Sith lord, Darth Sidious, and his Sith apprentice Darth Maul, who try to have the Jedi killed. Sidious orders the Federation to invade Naboo and have a treaty signed by Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). The Jedi rescue her and the Queen’s star ship even makes it past the blockade but is badly damaged and will not make the full journey to the safety of the capitol plant Coruscant. This is not only the capitol of the Republic but also the home of the Jedi council.

They chose to land on Tatooine to repair the ship because it is “small, out of the way, poor…[and] the trade federation has no presence there.” At a parts store where Qui-Gon is looking to buy a new hyper drive for the ship they find Anakin (Jake Lloyd). During his conversations with Anakin and his mother, Shmi, Qui-Gon begins to suspect that Anakin may have Jedi powers. After taking a sample of his blood Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan realize that it has the highest midichlorian count of any Jedi that has ever lived. Midichlorians, as explained by Qui-Gon, are microscopic life forms that live inside all living things. Normal human levels are about 2,500 but when present in high levels, they allow the living thing to communicate with the metaphysical power called the Force, which binds all living things. Anakin’s count is well over 2,500. In fact it’s well over 9,000! His count is over 20,000 midichlorians! And when Shmi admits that there was no father involved in Anakin’s birth it leads Qui-Gon to conclude that the boy was conceived by the midichlorians and therefore the fulfillment of a prophecy promising balance to the Force.

With a new hyper drive, a new passenger, and a new mission, they take off for Coruscant. The Queen appeals to the Senate for help against the Trade Federation’s oppression but to no avail. Bureaucracy wins out. So she does what she feels is her last chance. She “[moves] for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in [the chancellor’s] leadership” in the hope that someone will be elected who will not let her people “suffer and die.” At the same time the Jedi Council refuses to take on Anakin as a padawan learner to become a Jedi Knight, though they admit the Force is extremely strong with him. They feel his future is too clouded and that his heart is too full of fear. “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering,” says Jedi Master Yoda, “I sense much fear in you.”

But just like Queen Amidala will not lose faith in or abandon her people, Qui-Gon refuses to abandon Anakin.Upon returning to Naboo, the Queen reaches out to the Gungans, a humanoid race of creatures who live in under water cities on Naboo. They don’t typically get along but to save their planet they agree to join together as one army. Now Star Wars is famous for it’s battle sequences, not only because they are epic and fantastic (especially for it’s time back in ’77) but also because it usually has about three different battles going on at once! You’ve got your land assault, your space battle, and of course your Jedi battle with lightsabers, laser swords with metal hilts and blades of plasma.

From this point on, if you haven’t seen the movies, you need to. I’ve hardly skimmed the surface of the plot and the last battle is so epic you should be permitted to experience it for yourself. In my opinion Episode I is the best of the prequels. I saw it 5 times in theatre when it first came out and was Obi-Wan Kenobi for Halloween that year, not to mention the trading cards and movie companion guides I collected and read. And though the original three are the best, Star Wars in 3D is something I wouldn’t miss. Seriously, everyone should experience this for themselves because Star Wars is such an important part of our history as a collective culture.

            So until next week when we meet again, May the Force be with you!

Logo photo by Justine Impressions http://www.justineimpressions.com/

The hospital-themed restaurant is know for its unhealthy food; a sign on the front door states, “Caution: This Establishment is Bad for Your Health.” The wait staff wear sexy nursing uniforms when they serve burgers, fries cooked in lard, and butterfat shakes. Diners have the option of being outfitted in hospital gowns. Customers that weigh over 350 lbs eat for free, and the restaurant’s website says that the “taste is worth dying for.”

What’s in a Triple Bypass Burger? 3 half-lb burger patties with the buns dipped in lard, 1/2 red onion cooked in lard, a whole tomato, 15 pieces of bacon, cheese and special sauce. All for 6000 calories. The Quadruple Bypass Burger weighs in at 8000 calories.

Tourists thought they were seeing a publicity stunt, and were taking pictures and videos of the customer, who is reportedly recovering.

This gives “to die for” a whole new meaning.

Other Hollywood stars that attended the event included: Chelsea Handler, Sophia Bush, Forest Whitaker, Paris Hilton, MC Lyte, Kelis, Melody Thornton, Malin Akerman, Charles Gibb, John Sykes, Sam Trammell, Natasha Bedingfield, and DJ Skrillex. Okay, I am out of breath! But, it is wonderful to see so many people come out to celebrate such a great and worthwhile cause.

Blige said she has always been a supporter of (RED). “Helping to give people awareness about AIDS and save lives, I mean, why wouldn’t I be a part of something like this,” she commented. Blige also spoke about her pick for Grammy artist of the year. “I am rooting for Adele. She’s a real artist with real songs.”

Sophia Bush also had much to say about the foundation. “I think Red is one of the best organizations working in the world right now,” she commented. “When you look at the revenue they’ve generated in the last 5 years, and the way they are sort of affecting conscious consumerism, I think that this is really the future of the whole model.”

She added, “I think that the goal that Red has established in trying to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 is incredibly important and it’s doable. And, it’s a wonderful thing when you see an organization like this taking a party that would be happening anyway and using it as a platform to raise awareness, we’re using music for a cause here and I think that that’s something that really resonates with people.”

Blige turned the house into a “Dancery” when she performed some of her classics such as (my favorite) “Family Affair.” Sheila E. also sang her song, “The Glamorous Life,” and had fun rocking out on the drums.

Overall the evening was a success, raising awareness and raising people out of their seats to get themselves on the dance floor.