Monday, December 10, 2001
Good morning, and good morning tomorrow, Tuesday, also, for Yr Ed has been informed that he will not be able to upload tomorrow (although this website will still be accessible). So when I get finished this morning, I won't be back until Wednesday.
Turner Prize Goes to Empty Room
Britain’s most prestigious award for unconventional art (and its 30-something-Gs prize money) went Saturday to Martin Creed, 33, who was described in the Reuters story as “looking utterly bewildered” upon being named (which appropriately matches the expressions of most people viewing his exhibit), for an empty room with a light switch that patrons can turn on and off. Betting favorite was Mike Nelson’s (as it turns out, antithetical) storeroom full of junk, and a video of 2 gay cowboys also attracted some buzz. The award-presenter, on live TV, was Madonna, who drew apologies from Channel Four when she got carried away by the moment and cheered, “Right on, mothernewters.” [The Times (London), 12-10-01]
Story Link
Our Geraldo
A piece on Afghan combat correspondent Geraldo Rivera in this morning’s Wall Street Journal makes this point: Fox News is selling his fearlessness, hoping for a “money shot” of real danger, but all the while providing him with 6 armed guards and 20 porters, which is 6 and 20, respectively, more than all the other war-zone journalists combined, have. [Wall Street Journal, 12-10-01]
Updates and Recurring Themes
Today’s the day that Tammy Lyn Felbaum goes on trial in Butler County, Pa., for the death of her castrated husband, James (News of the Weird 686); Tammy used to be Tommy, if you recall.
A U.S. Senate committee said on Friday that that Mellon Bank-run IRS processing center whose workers tossed out tax returns and taxpayer payments because they had too much work to do actually tossed out almost 2x as many as originally reported.
Fla. Dept. of Law Enforcement wants Immigration records of those INS believes have overstayed visas and live in the F State because, well, FDLE is sorta concerned about investigating threats to Yr Ed and his fellow citizens, but INS said no.
Friday and Saturday, in Tokyo and Hiroshima, respectively, police arrested men, aged 68 and 51, for making about 1,000 and about 1,400 bogus emergency telephone calls to police.
And the arrest of 8 firefighters in Charlottesville, Va., who are charged with starting fires because they were bored: The category has long been No Longer Weird’ed.
[Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12-9-01; Nando.net-AP, 12-8-01; Tampa Tribune-AP, 12-8-01; Mainichi Daily News, 12-7-01, Daily Yomiuri, 12-9-01]
Below the Fold for Monday
Making world news today is the court in Sweden that ordered a certified sperm donor (i.e., not a parent in any ordinary definition of the word) to assume parental rights just because the lesbian couple he assisted have split up, and the child needs about $265 a month more to subsist on.
An outfit called Amwest Surety Insurance was officially liquidated last week, which doesn’t mean much to anyone except the 300,000 criminal defendants who are out on bail because their bail was guaranteed by Amwest; those guys are now pick-uppable.
A Reuters report out of Riyadh mentioned an actual interview with the actual mother of Osama bin Laden (one of the many wives who gave birth to the old man’s 57 kids), who said she wasn’t angry with her son but was “disappointed.”
In a New York Times piece this morning, the maker of the OxyContin semi-knockout pill (Purdue Pharma, Stamford, Conn.) claimed ignorance of prescription abuse despite reports, for example, that a “pain management clinic” in Myrtle Beach, S.C., had a full parking lot, morning to night, with 15-20 people lined up outside, from as much as 100 miles away, because they knew it was an easy mark for prescriptions.
[Sources: Yahoo-Reuters, 12-9-01; Nando.net-AP, 12-8-01; Japan Today-Reuters, 12-10-01; New York Times, 12-10-01]
Thank You So Far This Week to
Lyle Mariam and Matt Porter and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors (see below).
News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
Senior Advisors Jenny T. Beatty, Gaal Shepherd Crowl, Paul
Di Filippo, Geoffrey Egan, Sam Gaines, Ivan Katz, Barbara
McDonald, Matt Mirapaul, and Jim Sweeney.
Chief Correspondents Paul Bogrow, Bob Brown,
Michael Colpitts, Lance E. Ellisor, Harry Farkas, Leslie Goodman-Malamuth, Fritz Gritzner, Ginger Katz, Wolf Kirchmeir, Myra J. Linden, Bob McCabe, Victor McDonald, Kerry O'Conner, Jerry Pohlen, Yvonne Pover, Larry Ellis Reed, Tom Slone, H.Thompson, Bruce Townley, Barbara Tyger, and Elyse Verse.
Sustained Excellence in Weird-News Reporting: Gary Abbott, Bob Bayer, Dave Beck, Paul Blumstein, Rob Borosak, John Cieciel, Roger Gulbransen, Peter P. Gunther, Herb Jue, Scott Langill, David Lips, Joe Littrell, Steve Miller, Paul Music, Christopher Nalty, Joel O'Brien, Allen Pasternak, Jason Rule, Lee Sechrest, Rob Snyder, Maurine Taylor, Marty Turnauer, Willard Wheeler, Mark Weiss, Jerry Whittle, and Peter Wolf.
The people on this list do not necessarily agree with Yr Ed’s opinions and in fact are probably appalled by some of them from time to time.
©
2001, Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
