Another one of those stories where it’s agony that there has to be a loser: Stella McCartney and Bono’s wife Ali Hewson are squaring up for a legal battle.
Aside from being a tax-avoiding philanthropist’s wife, Hewson has a sideline. She is apparently “investor and muse” to a firm called Nude Skincare, and is so angry that fashion designer Stella wishes to launch a perfume called StellaNude that she is taking her all the way to the high court. For use of the word “nude.”
In other courtroom drama, a Massachusetts judge has issued an arrest warrant for Grammy Award-winning
R ’n’ B singer Bobby Brown for failure to pay child support, local media reported on Friday. Family court judge Christina Harms ordered Brown, 40, arrested next time he is in the state and brought to her court after he failed to appear at a court appointment, the reports said.
Want to spend eternity next to Marilyn Monroe? Now you can, because the burial spot located just above the ill-fated starlet is going on sale for a cool US$500,000 on auction Web site eBay.
The tomb in the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles is currently occupied by one Richard Poncher, who died 23 years ago aged 81, the Los Angeles Times reported.
But his widow is having his body moved over one spot and auctioning the site above Monroe’s, hoping to earn enough to pay off her US$1.6 million Beverly Hills home.
“Here is a once in a lifetime and into eternity opportunity to spend your eternal days directly above Marilyn Monroe,” the sale advertisement on the site says. Bidding starts at US$500,000.
Elsie Poncher, who prefers not to give her age but says she is over 70, told the Times that her husband, a successful businessman, bought the crypt from baseball player Joe DiMaggio, Monroe’s ex-husband, in 1954.
Richard Poncher also bought the spot one space over, which is where Elsie plans to relocate him to open up the crypt above Monroe. For her part, the widower wants to be cremated when she dies.
Being buried close to Monroe has already proved a draw for some, with Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner purchasing a spot to the side of the sex-symbol’s for US$75,000 in 1992.
For those who do not have US$500,000 to spend on the space at the cemetery, which is also the final resting place for Natalie Wood, Truman Capote and Farrah Fawcett, there is still a free crypt space two spots above Monroe to the left.
The going price for that spot is a mere US$250,000.
For the uber-flashy, there is the option of going to the grave next to Monroe wearing the shiny glove Michael Jackson wore during his first performance of the moonwalk, which goes on auction this November — with the current owner hoping to earn US$40,000 to US$60,000.
The left-handed glove was part of Jackson’s outfit for the 1983 performance of Billie Jean during a television special marking the 25th anniversary of Motown.
It goes on the block on Nov. 21, five months after Jackson’s death, at a Music Icons sale run by Julien’s Auctions at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York’s Times Square.
Julien’s estimates fans will bid as high as US$60,000 for an item that started life as a regular leather golf glove labeled “Made in Korea.”
Unlike Jackson’s usual single gloves, which he wore on the right hand, this is for the left and was hurriedly decorated with rhinestones instead of the characteristic hand-sewn crystals.
What the glove lacks in artisanal quality, it makes up for in pop history.
Jackson wore it along with a fedora during his first performance of the legendary backwards dance known as the moonwalk.
The owner, Walter “Clyde” Orange, was a member of the Commodores group when Jackson gave him the glove at the Motown tribute.
The glove headlines an auction featuring other Jackson memorabilia and items once belonging to Madonna, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other music big names.
In news of the living, one of Asia’s top film festivals will pay tribute to veteran Hong Kong director Johnnie To (杜琪峰), known for his stylish action thrillers like Election (黑社會) and Exiled (放逐). South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival said in a statement on Friday it will show 10 of To’s films and host a master class led by the 54-year-old Hong Kong filmmaker during the Oct. 8 to Oct. 16 event in the southern beach resort city. Hong Kong and South Korean film critics will also take part in a panel discussion about To’s works.
To is best known for his crafty action films, but his versatile 29-year career also includes romance, comedies and lighthearted crime movies.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
No one saw it coming. Everyone — including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — expected at least some of the recall campaigns against 24 of its lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) to succeed. Underground gamblers reportedly expected between five and eight lawmakers to lose their jobs. All of this analysis made sense, but contained a fatal flaw. The record of the recall campaigns, the collapse of the KMT-led recalls, and polling data all pointed to enthusiastic high turnout in support of the recall campaigns, and that those against the recalls were unenthusiastic and far less likely to vote. That
A couple of weeks ago the parties aligned with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), voted in the legislature to eliminate the subsidy that enables Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to keep up with its burgeoning debt, and instead pay for universal cash handouts worth NT$10,000. The subsidy would have been NT$100 billion, while the cash handout had a budget of NT$235 billion. The bill mandates that the cash payments must be completed by Oct. 31 of this year. The changes were part of the overall NT$545 billion budget approved
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
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