jon & kate agree on something.

Jon & Kate Gosselin who have been in the spotlight ever since their show Jon & Kate Plus Eight first aired in April of 2007, but we all know that the family - yet, arguably the parents - became even more famous, or infamous in some cases, after Jon & Kate decided to separate in April of 2009. The pair later filed for divorce papers in June of 2009. And ever since, it's been one of the worst "he said, she said" battles we have ever seen, having much been over who will gain custody of their 8 children - a set of 9-year-old twins and a set of 6-year-old sextuplets. Kate would state that Jon is too busy to care for his children while he was gallivanting with his new girlfriend in exotic locations such as St. Tropez, France. While Jon would state that due to her constant book-tours and book-signings, she is an "absentee mother" and requires either Jon or nanny to watch the children while she travels the nation. But it seems as though the pair has finally come to an agreement. Although details of the agreement are being kept a secret between the couple and the state of Pennsylvania, an insider with the couple stated that they have come to an agreement for the better of the children. We can only assume that the two will formally continue to keep their $1.4million home in Wernersville, Pennsylvania while Jon & Kate each have their own home, and will share custody and keep their children in "their" home.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2e4hlrt

drew drops the pounds.

Drew Carey of The Drew Carey Show and Who's Line Is It Anyway? fame who replaced Bob Barker as host of daytime game show the Price Is Right.in October of 2007. Since January of this year, Carey has lost 80 pounds which for him equates to ten pants sizes. At 52-years old, the actor suffered from Type II Diabetes but since losing the weight, he is no longer diabetic and no longer takes medication for the illness. This is obviously due to the fact that Carey is on a strict diet and workout routine. He does at least 45 minutes of cardio workouts 6 times a week and is on a strict no-carb diet. No pizza, no crackers, no breads, no beans, no starches of any kind. Carey said that once he started to see the results in wearing smaller pants sizes, it was easy to stick to the diet. He also stated that he wanted to be in the same health that Bob Barker is in, when he gets to be 86-years-old.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/23e9bpz

bep makes history. again.

On the same day that the Black Eyed Peas were to take center stage on Good Morning America, the quartet found out that they now held a new world record. The band has become the first performance artist to have 6 million digital music purchases and downloads for a single song. Of course, that song would be "I Gotta Feeling." This is the second type record that the band holds, having been the first performance artist to reach 500,000 digital music purchases with their song "Let's Get it Started" way back in February of 2005. Boy, the fellas at the Digital Millenium Copyright Act must love the Black Eyed Peas.

The news for the Black Eyed Peas continues to fellow pop star, Katy Perry who also got a new record this week. Perry's song "California Gurls" tied Flo Rida's song "Right Round" for the fastest song to reach 3 million purchases. This is also Perry's third song to reach the 3 million mark following the successes of her previous singles "Hot N Cold" and "I Kissed A Girl"

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/285uxk9

dmx heads back to the slammer.

Even through rapper DMX just got released from his 4 month jail stay in Arizona earlier this month from a violation of his probation. Yet in a new lifestyle he is trying to live, DMX states he is trying to pay all of his former debts from crimes he has commited in the past. Because of this lifestyle, his manager states that he will likely be turning himself into the Los Angeles authorities for a reckless driving crime he committed in 2002. From the reckless driving charge, he was placed on probation, but has since violated that probation as well. DMX has not, however, done any time for this violation. He has since been ordered a 90-day stay in Los Angeles city prison.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/24t4l9d

even more retro challengers.

Think your Dodge Challenger isn't quite retro enough for you? Well we finally have the answer. Heide Performance Products of Madison Heights, Michigan will take your Dodge Challenger muscle car and transform your car into something of decades past all the while transporting you back in time while driving around in them. Supply the Challenger and $16,400 for the body kit and your Challenger can turn into either a Dodge Charger Daytona or a Plymouth Road Runner Superbird. For a total of $40,000 to $60,000, to some it seems like quite a hefty price to pay, but for the ones with the pudgier bank accounts might see it as a bargain. The additional $16,400 for the body kit includes the new nose, giant rear spoiler, all graphics, a new instrument cluster, a new shifter and exclusive floor mats. But like any coach builder, things can get even more custom. These customizations include new tires, a new hood, special paint, ground effects, as well as technical customizations such as a supercharger, Magnaflow exhaust and a new coil-over-spring suspension. If the car is completely optioned via Heide Performance Products' catalog the package comes to more than $41,000. Purchase a Challenger SRT-8 and you're looking at about $85,000. Like I said before, to some it will be absurd; to others, the answer to their prayers.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/24xlsul
Visit the HPP website here: http://tinyurl.com/2bqs2zj

chatroulette cleans up its act.

What was originally heralded as another huge social-networking hit like MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter, Chatroulette quickly went down the toilet, sometimes literally. According to the website's creator - Russian teenager, Andrey Ternovskiy - Chatroulette is meant to allow people from all over the world to jump the gaps of both geographical and social demographics to bring the world closer together. When going to the site, you are quickly and randomly given a stranger to video chat with for as long as you're inkling. Don't wanna talk to the person, you can skip them and the website will pick someone new for you to talk to. From a personal, perspective, it was quite a lot of fun. But soon, perverts and pedophiles across the globe quickly found the site and took it to their exhibitionist advantage. And in seemingly no time at all, analysts had determined that Chatroulette users would be given a naked stranger more than 10% of the time they skipped to a new person. The problem arouse when parents caught on and were appalled that there was such vulgarity on the website. Chatroulette does not ask for any sort of age verification, making it all to possible for these strangers to flash their goodies to minors - and lots of them. However, on the home page of the site, there is clearly a warning stating:

"Warning: Broadcasting inappropriate content to minors is a violation of both US and UN law. We are actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies."

Ternovskiy has taken the proper precautions in attempting to have his site once again be flasher-free and is working with the authorities to clean up the site by discovering user's IP addresses and enforcing the law upon them.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2f37o3s

iphone escapes jail.

Hackers, computer geeks and smartphone users can all rejoice today, for they have won a battle against the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Even with websites such as Movie-Links.tv being shut down for copyright infringement on a daily basis, sometimes the people do get some freedom. Today is one of those days. The U.S. Copyright Office announced that Apps for the iPhone that allow the Apple smartphone to be jailbroken - or, in simpler terms, hacked - are now legal. Before the announcement, Apple had the right to apply a $2500 federal fine to customers who had jailbroken their iPhones. Both sides of the story can be understood, in my opinion. When an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad is jailbroken, the wireless devices can then download applications that aren't offered in Apple's vast App Store. Also, a jailbroken device can download applications for free that would have been needed to be purchased from the App Store. Since these jailbreaking apps are now legal, it allows customers to download software onto their iPhones so that it allows them to use non-AT&T service providers. The only harm in jailbreaking your Apple device, if you happened to get the AppleCare insurance program, the contract is immediately null and void, so it's not a perfect system. But the question is, if it's become legal to download applications for free, won't it affect the sales figures of Apple's famed App Store?

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2f37o3s

steinbrenner strikes out.

Owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner, died Tuesday, July 13th after suffering a massive heart attack after turning 80 less than two weeks prior on the 4th. Steinbrenner had always wanted to be a sports owner after his father stuck his interest in the shipping industry giving him his billions. Eventually his shipping company provided him with the wealth to buy the New York Yankees from CBS, Inc. in 1973 for the bargin price of $10million. But thanks to Steinbrenner's will to win and his exuberant bank account, he managed to get the Yankees 16 American League East titles, 11 American League pennents and 7 World Series Championships over his 37 season time with the Yanks. His efforts brought the Yankees' net worth to more than $1.6billion, making them the third richest sports franchise on the planet (behind Manchester United at $1.8billion and the Dallas Cowboys at $1.65billion). Despite the Yankees' famed "they-buy-their-players" status, Steinbrenner was a truly charitable man and would go out of his way in order to make his players happy, as long as their hair was kept short.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/38jqvcv

it's been a while.

Now I realize that it's been some time since my last update, but it's hard to find time to look up news headlines that seem fun and interesting, read them, paraphrase them, find a relevant picture and do all it takes in order for these posts to seem even somewhat interesting. But.. like I said in the original post, I will try to post more than one at a time from various forms of pop culture to allow me more time between posts. Enjoy!

king james feels the heat.

Buzz has been sturring for more than a month now about what will happen to Lebron James now that he is a free agent having his Cleveland Cavaliers contract expire earlier this year. And just about every team has been throw into the ringer as far as where the experts thought he was going to go during next year's NBA season. Last night during primetime ESPN hosted a special featuring James, himself so that he could officially make the decision on live national television. The special was even given a formal name: The Decision. After a ton of waiting and "beating-around-the-bush" questions, James finally announced his formal decision that he would be joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami playing for the Heat. Many bloggers and analysts were furious by the fact that the decision was made in such a conspicuous manner some even saying that it reminded them of Tiger Woods' ho-hum televised apology for his sex scandal. When explaining his decision he stated:

"I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win and to win for multiple years, and not only just to win in the regular season or just to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I want to be able to win championships."

The statement outraged Cleveland fans who responded by burning James' jersey. When he was asked about the situation, he simply did not want to get involved. When it comes to my personal opinion, The Decision doesn't really surprise me coming from a man who does things such as the picture above as well as being an all around narcissist.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2dpndyf

mayer the masturbator.

And so it seems taboo subjects aren't all that taboo coming from celebrities. John Mayer solidifies that fact. As does Rolling Stone for recognizing it. It's practically common knowledge that John Mayer always speaks his mind so it was both a surprise and not much of one at all when he was interviewed back in January by Rolling Stone - I realize this is quite old news, but I just couldn't pass it up. The interview was, by all definitions, quite the tell-all. He answered questions on everything from the paparazzi to his break-up with Jennifer Aniston. As far as Jen goes, he says:

What would I be saying to Jen, who I think is fucking fantastic, if I said to her, [...] I have to back out of this because [...] this is not my ideal destiny."

On relationships in general, Mayer told the rocker magazine:

"All I want to do now is fuck the girls I’ve already fucked, because I can’t fathom explaining myself to somebody who can’t believe I’d be interested in them."

And then it's the most shocking - yet obvious - response to the inevitable question: if he masturbates daily. His response:

"I am the new generation of masturbator. I’ve seen it all. [...] I don’t like that question, because it seeks to make me sound strange if I say ‘Yes, but of course I do.’ I mean, I have masturbated myself out of serious problems in my life. The phone doesn’t pick up because I’m masturbating. [...] I don’t jerk off because I’m horny. [...] It’s like a hot whirlpool for my brain."

And there you have it, one of the most soulful and swooning singers of our time, openly admits that he denies phone calls because he's busy masturbating. But hey, at least he's got the balls to upset the taboo.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/y85n84d

pt cruises on out.

Friday, July 9, 2010 marks the death of the Chrysler PT Cruiser. The retro-inspired "Personal Transport" wagon was introduced in 1999 as a 2000 model and quickly became one of Chrysler's best selling vehicles of all time before a convertible model was introduced in 2005. Over the decade, Chrysler sold more than 1.5 million of the wagons and convertibles, selling almost 100,000 in 2007 but dropped to just over 50,000 two years later. Reports for the first half of 2010 are stating that only about 8,500 have been sold nationwide. It was an incredible downturn for the car that everyone fell in love with. It was an attractive car that was geared towards the utilitarians of the world, and they gobbled them up. Many customers even purchased more than one. Demand was so high for the car that many dealers could not keep them on the lot. Chevrolet was even interested and asked PT Cruiser designer Bryan Nesbitt to come up with their own version, and then came the Chevrolet HHR - the PT's direct competition. But as the economy began to tank and Chrysler was tossed around between various owners, the PT Cruiser took almost all the wrath of cost-cutting and then everyone traded them in for higher-quality cars. Both my parents and my aunt, were also involved in this, having owned a PT Cruiser but traded both of them in for two much nicer Honda CR-Vs. It has been a prime example of what has been going wrong in the US Auto Industry over the past decade. There has been too much cost-cutting and not enough attention turned towards the initial and long-term quality of their cars. It's made improvement but it's got a long way to go.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2e67scn

so.cal. rocked by earthquake.

At 4:53pm today, residents of Southern California were on their toes as an earthquake began to rattle the region. The tremors centered about 28 miles south of Palm Springs, California - or about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, California - were originally measured to be 5.9 on the Richter scale but was eventually downgraded to a 5.4. Residents all over the region reported violent shaking but no damage was reported other than things being knocked off of shelves and walls. Many celebrities even tweeted about the earthquake having felt it, including: singer Jason Mraz, Disney actress/singer Demi Lovato, The Hills star Stephanie Pratt, and American Idol-winner Jordin Sparks who tweeted:

"I'm higher than the 10th floor. That was THE weirdest feeling ever. Equilibrium is now off. Nauseated. Thanks California."

Many aftershocks were also reported but none of which measured any higher in magnitude than a 3.0 on the Richter scale.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/29yyf6q

land rover creator dies, apologizes.

The creator of famed British 4x4 company, Land Rover, Charles Spencer King, died earlier this week at the age of 85. King originally engineered the original Range Rover - then the company's only model - in 1970 in hopes of being one of the most capable vehicle created at the time. It's original target market was not the upper-class soccer moms, nor the celebrities, but rather it was for designed with a large V8 engine, large tires and a suspension designed to tackle the harshest of terrains. King eventually told the New York Times that he regretted the image his design had come to be. He says it was never his intent to have it become an "international symbol of gas-guzzling conspicuous consumption." The Land Rover range, but especially the Range Rover, has become one of the most luxurious vehicles on the market, to the extent that stars such as Tom Cruise, Kim Kardashian and even Queen Elizabeth II of England all drive themselves around in the Range Rover.

News of King's death comes in the same week as Land Rover officially unveils their next sport-utility. In fashion show style, Land Rover teamed up with Vogue and Victoria Beckham to unveil their second SUV under India's Tata Motors after Ford Motor Company sold the Land Rover-Jaguar partnership in 2007 and their fifth SUV in the lineup, and the third under the Range Rover moniker. Pictured above, the Range Rover Evoque is almost identical to the Land Rover LRX concept we were treated to at the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Land Rover is referring to this third Range Rover model - following the original and the Range Rover Sport - as a coupe considering it's high, rising beltline, sloping roof, and two-doors, but let's face it, this is no Audi A5. When it comes down to it, the Range Rover Evoque, is very much so still a four-wheel-drive SUV and only personifies Land Rover's image as a symbol of consumption.

Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/26mcs5h
Read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/22pj65y
Watch the unveiling here: http://tinyurl.com/2dx7jro