May 2010 Archives

And the hits just keep on comin'. Teen star Miley Cyrus is in the glare again this week after the above video surfaced on TMZ (watch it here; they disabled the embed) showing her grinding and lap dancing with a 44-year-old man when she was 16.

The video was filmed by fans at last year's wrap party for Miley's latest movie, "The Last Song." The man she's dirty-dancing with is the film's director and frequent "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Adam Shankman. This next factoid has been trotted out as if it somehow makes the sight less unsettling: Shankman is gay.

Not present at this party: Cyrus' parents or boyfriend/co-star Liam Hemsworth.

Some campy, possibly suggestive photos of Cyrus and Shankman were spread around earlier online, as well. Shankman previously responded to those on Twitter: "Miley is a sweet angel who works tirelessly and endlessly, and is allowed to have fun in the make up room! ... Seriously! Lighten up or no more behind the scenes pics! She's like my angel little sister."

Further evidence of the slut-ifying of Cyrus can be seen in her new music video for the song "Can't Be Tamed," in which she appears as an avain dominatrix of some sort ...

She seems to be following, to the letter, the steps outlined in the manual How to Become Britney Spears.

In other news, Cyrus was at least spotted recently dating someone her own age. She and fellow teen phenom Justin Bieber (who got big laughs and respect not long ago for being 16 and joking suggestively about buying panini for an older woman on national TV) were seen dining together in Hollywood early this week.

Cyrus told reporters the two were planning a "side project," which some reports claim is a planned duet.

So much her for quitting music for a while.

It's still a mansion, but there's little else about the former Playboy HQ that says sexy these days. More photos here.

And it's not too often they go condo.

Yet here we are, looking at a listing at 1340 N. State St. A beautiful home in classic architectural style by Gamble Rogers, built in 1899 for Dr. George S. Isham. The stone giant was chopped into condos, with unit 1S on the market for a cool $2.9 million.

Why take the leap on this unique property? It used to be the hopping ground of the original Playboy bunnies. This was Hugh Hefner's first Playboy mansion.

Hef bought the mansion in 1959 and it would soon become famous for the 24-hour bacchanalia that encompassed the gardens and spacious, leather-bound rooms.

The bunnies and Hefner blew out in 1974 - the whole building was donated to the Art Institute and used as dorms - when the operation took off for Los Angeles. In 1993, according to the Presidential Rubloff listing, it was converted into seven luxury condos, on of which is on the market now, promising a lovely view of the garden and private patio.

But no, no grotto. And a dearth of Bunnies as well.

Boy, if you've seen one "Star Wars"-themed video birth announcement, you've seen 'em all, right?

Wait, what? "Star Wars" birth announcements? When did this become a trend?

The exact date this idea sprung from a happy nerd couple's heads is a little murky, but the genre just took off like its ready to make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Jennifer and Jeff Hays, you see, are about to become parents. A proud, "aging couple" craving danger and adventure and at the end of their breeding range. But, the Force must be strong with the Hays. With a baby clock alarm exploding like the Death Star, and two torpedoes in the, help us, baby hole later, the Hays are expecting twins.

Thankfully, not to be named Luke and Leia.

And how do we know this quiet couple is about to pop? Well, it's been beamed to the world, hologram-style, via YouTube.

Jennifer and Jeff have something they wanted to share with everyone...and because analogies make things easier and Jeff is an admitted Star Wars dork...we thought this might be appropriate...Thanks!

As a side benefit, it's clearly an exemplary educational video, too. This explains the whole procreation thing well enough for your little tykes the next time they ask where babies come from.

But, as well done as this is, it's hardly the first in this volley of nerdtastic one-upmanship baby-making broadcasts.

One of the earlier versions, seems to be this work by vidopantera. As a groundbreaking piece of due date film, it's an important work. But as with so many other trendsetting efforts through history, there was much to be perfected upon - the acting is as wooden as Queen Amidala's dialogue and the scene seems to have been shot from a Gungan sewer based on the lighting. But still, you have to start somewhere.

And then there was this rather wordy effort from cdalek that gives all lead-in type and no 'splosions. The dialogue killed George Lucas' moments of glory and it's no different for

Keeping it simple is good, but the people want special effects and action in this day and age. Mindful of the production must you be, parents.

Thanks to ToplessRobot for digging the new stuff up.

Here's why the Internet is better than TV and almost as good as video games. This video, released by the Dutch military (who knew?) show's a team of commandos raiding a German cargo ship overtaken by Somali pirates.

Thanks to a helmet-mounted camera, we get to travel along the cramped ship as the soldiers go room-to-room clearing out the bad guys. And, of course, this must go on YouTube. But it's wasn't uploaded by the commando in a drunken moment of glory. It was place by the government!

Yay, Holland!

Our Dutch is a little rusty around here, but a rough translation of the narration:

"Soap" Mctavish is searching for a stolen cache of missiles and intelligence before the enemy jets come to sink the ship with his team aboard ... err ... wait, that actually is from the "Modern Warfare" game.

Anyway, no translation needed.