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Drunken Darth Vader Punished for Jedi Attack
Life indeed imitates art, especially when Star Wars geeks start drinking. Arwel Wynne Hughes, a 27-year-old, boozed-up Briton, dressed up like Darth Vader (with a garbage bag cape!) and attacked two members of group known as the Jedi Church. To appreciate this story, consider how seriously the British are about George Lucas' space saga. In 2001, the United Kingdom listed Jedi as a religion with some 390,000 members -- about 0.7 percent of the population. Prosecutors say Hughes jumped over the Jedi Church wall and whacked the men with a metal crutch, pretending it was a light saber. In his defense, Hughes' lawyer says he couldn't remember the incident, having quaffed a 2 1/2-gallon (10-liter) box of wine beforehand and doesn't remember a thing. A judge sentenced him to two months in jail but suspended the sentence for a year. Of course, in a true Jedi court, Hughes might have been frozen in carbonite and sold off to Jabba the Hutt. Other Weird News Highlights
Photo © Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Wednesday May 14, 2008 | permalink | comments (1) This Week in Weird: Make 'Noise' for Not-so-Iron Ironmen
While Robert Downey Jr. is burning up the box office with "Ironman," Tim Robbins is hitting theaters as a superhero with less super-power but more comic punch. Meet the Rectifier. In "Noise," the Oscar-winning Robbins is a short-fused New Yorker whose blood boils each time an auto alarm blares, and he transforms into a car-vandalizing vigilante. The Rectifier doesn't have an airborne suit of armor like Downye's Ironman. He's a bleary bat-wielding guy who wanders outside in a bathrob. But he does get his point across -- and he's not unlike some real-life vigilantes, each fighting a pet peeve for the greater good. Among theses real-life headline-making heroes: A Connecticut woman who's taking on dog owners who don't clean up after their pet's poop. (Our Litigious Times) Then there's this Constitutional martyr in Utah who's proved that the Fourth Amendment can protect your right to moon. (Nude News) We salute these other would-be Rectifiers as we look back at last week's best weird news.
Photo © Seven Arts Pictures Monday May 12, 2008 | permalink | comments (0) Ripley's Eye-Popping Odditorium Hits San Antonio
Why remember the Alamo? Because it's just a stone's throw from Ripley's all-new Odditorium -- home to a two-trunked elephant, Lee Harvey Oswald's autopsy toe-tag, a 512-lb. meteorite, and other one-of-a-kind wonders. Heavily-pierced sideshow stars swung from metal hooks, Sideshow Bennie the Human Pincushion hammered nails into his head, and a knee-high woman -- known as "The Human Tripod" -- sang. San Antonio has long been home to a Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum, but the all-new Odditorium ratchets up the weirdness. Among the other featured exhibits: The mummified head of famed Colorado cannibal Alfred Packer; a preserved deer with eight feet on four legs; the car Lee Harvey Oswald used on the day he assassinated John F. Kennedy; and a 23-foot model of the Eiffel Tower made from toothpicks. And if you have time, don't forget to check out the Alamo. RelatedPhoto © Ripley's Believe It or Not! Tuesday May 6, 2008 | permalink | comments (0) Cat-astrophy! 300 Dead Cats in Man's Freezers
Police say they found 300 dead cats stuffed into the freezers of Michael Louis Vondueren, a 47-year-old man from Sacramento, whose home was littered with cat feces. Perhaps the only shred of relief for cat lovers is that 30 felines were rescued from the house, along with Vondueren's 81-year-old mother. Vondueren was arrested on suspicion of possession of an automatic weapon and obstructing police officers, and animal control officials say he might face additional charges. This is just the latest incident of humans behaving badly in California. Over the weekend, a 24-year-old from Santa Rosa was arrested at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for punching a camel on a dare. Top Weird News
Photo © David Paul Morris/Getty Images Tuesday May 6, 2008 | permalink | comments (2) This Week in Weird: Man Uses Toe to Dial 911
Here's a good reason to clip your toenails: A man in Mary Esther, Fla., at the DRS Technologies building, got his arms stuck in machinery that resembled an elevator and he saved himself by dialing 911 with his big toe. Police pried him free and he was airlifted to a Pensacola hospital. With minor miracles like this in mind, let's look at the past week's best weird news stories. Top Weird News
Photo © Buck Wolf Monday May 5, 2008 | permalink | comments (2) $61 Million: Britney's Stupidity Bill
When Britney Spears shaved her head last February and turned her run-of-the-mill Hollywood eccentricity into free-freaking hyperdrive, we knew she'd pay a price, the only question was how much. Now, In Touch Weekly is quoting an insider that put's the figure at $61 million -- and that's not counting the $50 million she passed up by not touring. That's an awful lot of underwear she didn't buy, and clearly didn't wear. “It’s staggering how much money has been used up,” an insider tells the magazine. “It’s been quite a challenge getting things under control.” Britney's father is now managing her affairs. Other Weird News Highlights
Photo © Getty Images Friday May 2, 2008 | permalink | comments (0) Not All Lesbians Are Lesbians
People from the Greek Island of Lesbos are known as Lesbians and they want the world to know they're not a bunch of gay woman (not that there's anything wrong with that). Three Lesbos islanders are petitioning a Greek court to ask one of the country's gay associations -- the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece -- to stop using the word "Lesbian." For those who don't know, Lesbos is the home of the ancient poet Sappho who celebrated the love between women. "My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou, one of the litigants, according to the Associated Press. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos." Perhaps the court can consider changing the islands name to Homophobia, and the people there can happily be known as Homophobics. Other Weird News Highlights
Photo © Huton Archive/Getty Images Thursday May 1, 2008 | permalink | comments (3) Bra-Snapping, Seat-Sniffing Politician Refuses to Quit
Does Eliot Spitzer need a drinking buddy? If so, he might want to look up Troy Buswell of the conservative Western Australian Liberal Party, who tearfully admitted Tuesday that in 2005 he sniffed a female staffer's seat. But unlike Spitzer, Buswell is not stepping down. Only 24 hours earlier, Buswell had denied the "unsubstantiated, anonymous rumor" that he went to the woman's chair and inhaled to get a laugh from colleagues. When he changed his tune a day later, he broke down in tears when he talked about his family: "I've spoken to my wife and my boys and it's a difficult process," he said. "It's hard dealing with these matters and having to face up to your responsibilities . . . It's harder to do it privately." But Buswell has some practice apologizing. He previously had to admit that he snapped the bra of a staffer from the rival Libor Party -- another ill advised little joke while drinking at a party. Here's a little peak at how, only a few months earlier, Buswell promised to clean up Western Australia. More Weird News Highlights
Photo © OzElections.com Wednesday April 30, 2008 | permalink | comments (0) Free Viagra for Old Men
Grumpy old men of Chile, rejoice! A town just south of Santiago is giving out free Viagra to men 60 and older four times a month to improve their "quality of life." "It's done responsibly. It's not just like handing out candy at the corner," Gonzalo Navarrete, a physician and mayor of the poor town of Lo Prado, told Las Ultimas Noticias, according to Reuters. Mayor Navorrete says he was spurred to act after hearing older men in his town complain about not getting enough sex. It goes without saying, Viagra is no cure for loneliness. Other Weird News Highlights:
Photo © Roland Maguina/Getty Images Tuesday April 29, 2008 | permalink | comments (3) This Week in Weird: Baby's 1st Plastic Surgery Book
See Dick run. See Jane run to the plastic surgeon. Run, Jane, run! My Beautiful Mommy (Big Tent Books) goes where no other children's book has yet to go. It explains to little tykes why mommy is getting a nose job and tummy tuck. As you may have guessed, the author, Dr. Michael Salzhauer, is a plastic surgeon. As the book's central character -- a cute, teddy bear-clutching little girl -- wonders what's going on, her mom sets her heart at ease: “You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore," mom says. "Dr. Michael is going to fix that and make me feel better.” Here's a look at some of the week's top weird news:
Photo © Big Tent Books Sunday April 27, 2008 | permalink | comments (0) Display Latest Headlines | powered by WordPress |
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