RIP

Amy Winehouse, ‘Foul-Mouthed Sex Kitten,’ Dead At 27

By Elizabeth C.

AMY WINEHOUSE, THE TROUBLED BRITISH BLUESY SINGER who wrestled with addictions and mental illness, was found dead in her London flat today. She was 27.

I GIVE IT FIVE STARS

Rebecca Black Friday Parody Dances On News of the World’s Grave

By Elizabeth C.

IT HAS THE BEST OF TABLOID NEWS: CELEBRITY, SCANDAL AND IRONY IN FULL-PAGE COLOR.

But the Rebecca Black parody of Friday which spoofs the hacking scandal that’s rocked Rupert Murdoch’s world one-ups the tabs in at least one way: it has a catchy beat that you can dance to.

DIABOLICAL THINKING

Planet of the Apes” />

Could News Of Lab-Grown Animal-Human Embryos Be PR Stunt For Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes?

By Elizabeth C.

A DAY AFTER Britain’s Academy of Medical Sciences called for tighter regulation of “transgenetic” animal-human experiments, a British politician claims that scientists have already created 155 animal-human embryos in labs.

The embryos were grown at King’s College London, Newcastle University and Warwick University in experiments that have been halted due to lack of funding, according to the U.K’s Daily Mail.

“It is dabbling in the grotesque,” Baron David Alton of Liverpool said in Parliament Friday night.

TOP OF THE WORLD

You Can’t Top This: Planking At Machu Picchu

By Mike S.

I‘VE NEVER BEEN AHEAD OF THE CURVE ON ANY FAD.

From Pet Rocks to Bum Fights, I was always the last to know. Perhaps planking’s my redemption. My chance to ride the wave as opposed to watching it crash ashore from a bobbing and semi-submerged long board.

I first heard of planking while watching an interview with New Zealand footballer David Williams late one night. He was asked exactly what was planking and he quickly obliged by laying across the anchor’s desk in a prone position. The next day I asked some younger staff at the office if they had heard about planking. All responded with the same look of, ”What the hell are you talking about?”

CREEPY CRAWLIES

Mosquitoes Are Your Mortal Enemy, Says Author Amy Stewart

Staff

Wicked Bugs”/>A HEAT WAVE SEEMS AS GOOD AS ANY TO TALK ABOUT THE DISGUSTING BUGS THAT MAKE OUR SUMMERS’ ITCH. And Amy Stewart’s new book, Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects, provides an even better reason.

The author talks of the “pure evil” of insects on The Current — in particular the mosquito — “the most wicked bug of all.”

NOTHING BUT THE GUILE IN HER HEART

Daily Mail/Getty Images” />

Lindsay Lohan Pleads Poor In $1,500 Christian Louboutin’s

Staff

LINDSAY LOHAN’S GOT A CASHFLOW PROBLEM that’s keeping her away from the shrink (but not away from the shoe store).

TOWERING LEGACY

Lucian Freud, World’s Unrivaled Figurative Painter, Dies At 88

Staff

LUCIAN FREUD, the “uncompromising” realist painter and grandson of Sigmund Freud, died Wednesday. He was 88.

Freud, who lived in London, was a realist even when the style was out-of-fashion in the art world. He frequently painted nudes as in Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, above, which was sold for $33.6 million — the record for a living artist. (And what would his grandfather Sigmund say about that woman lying naked and exposed on a couch?)

STARGAZING

What Makes Rupert Murdoch & Wendi Deng Click? An Astrological Perspective

By Elizabeth C.

HE’S THE CRAGGY-FACED NEWSMAKING REPTILIAN WHO BUYS AND BULLIES HIS WAY TO WINNING AT CAPITALISM. She’s the steely Chinese-born Tiger Wife raised as a Communist who’s clawed her way to wealth and power.

Who else could we be talking about other than K. Rupert Murdoch, titan of the News Corp. and his third wife, the ferocious 42-year-old Wendi Deng, who’s married up three times.

SWING!

Mad Men’s Opening Credits Re-Imagined

By Elizabeth C.

WHO IS PAUL ROGERS????

That’s what I want to know after watching his reimagined opening credits for Mad Men embedded above.

OH THE HUMANITY!

Britney’s Ex-Security Guard Calls Her A Skank

By Elizabeth C.

THE SECURITY GUARD WHO ACCUSING BRITNEY SPEARS OF BEING A TEASING HO NOWS ADDS ‘SKANK’ TO HIS CHARGES.