ONE OF A KIND

Imperfect Death For Maurice Sendak, Author Of ‘Perfect’ Children’s Book

By Elizabeth C.

DEATH SEEMS TOO ORDINARY an ending for Maurice Sendak, the cranky, brilliant writer who perfected the children’s picture book. The widely hailed author and illustrator of Where The Wild Things Are, died today from complications of a stroke. He was 83.

Journalists, editors and authors delivered effusive tributes to the “genius” who penned imaginary worlds populated by scallywags and monsters, fears and resolutions. The New York Times hailed him as the “author of splendid nightmares”; The Washington Post anointed him “a scowling monument of 20th century children’s literature.” Entertainment Weekly called him “a true creative force with singular vision.”

COMPASSION IS LACKING

Don’t React In Horror To Police Brutality Lest You ‘Distract’ The Judge

By Elizabeth C.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF WATCHING FOOTAGE OF A SCHIZOPHRENIC homeless man getting beaten senseless by cops in Judge Walter Schwarm’s courtroom, make sure to check your horror.

Family members and supporters of Kelly Thomas, a homeless man who died five days after being beaten by police, packed a Fullerton, Calif. courtroom Monday during a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to try two police officers for crimes related to the beating. A 33-minute video revealed the entire exchange between Thomas and the cops, which ended with the 37-year-old lying bloodied and unconscious on the ground. When the courtroom crowd reacted emotionally to seeing Thomas beaten, Judge Schwarm stopped the video and told them their cries were “distracting him.”

RUMORS PERSIST

Staying A Lie? John Travolta Hit With Claims Of Sexual Battery Against Masseur

By Elizabeth C.

HAS JOHN TRAVOLTA SPENT HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE LIVING A LIE?

For three decades rumors have flourished that the actor who propelled to fame as a sexy dolt on Welcome Back Kotter is gay. As far back as the late 1980s, porn star Paul Barressi claimed that he was Travolta’s lover and took a lie detector test to prove it. The National Enquirer and Star tabloids have both published cover storiescontending Travolta had secret gay lovers despite being married to actress Kelly Preston. Those rumors were reinforced when an interior designer wrote a book in 2010 about the A-list actor’s exploits in gay bath houses.

SNIFF SNIFF

RIP, Meow: Too Fat To Be Saved, But Just Right For TV

By Elizabeth C.

HE WAS MEOW, A PHOTOGENIC FAT CAT WHOSE OBESITY ENTERTAINED THE MASSES. But just weeks after being surrendered by the family of his dying caretaker and thrust into the national spotlight, the five-year-old tabby has passed.

Meow suffered “respiratory distress” over the weekend and wasn’t able to be saved, according to Mary Martin, director of Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society.

STFU

Real Housewives Of New Jersey: Beating Around The Bitches

By Karen Malmquist

REMEMBER NOT TOO LONG AGO WHEN WE ALL LOVED THE GIUDICES?

On Sunday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, the big catfight we heard in the season three reunion is about to begin, and there’s more to it than just a “joke” about Caroline being one-sixteenth Italian.

THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

Mad Men: Megan Refuses To Settle

By Miz J

TONIGHT’S TITLE “LADY LAZARUS” IS AN ODE TO Sylvia Plath’s monologue about an angry, revenge-seeking woman who does not conform to ladylike standards. It is an apt description of Peggy, Megan and a bevy of other wives of this tumultous time.

As we begin, Pete’s on the train, chatting with Howard, an insurance salesman. Howard small talks insurance before revealing he has a “spectacular new side dish in the city,” a “strawberry blonde with huge tits” before he abruptly leaves to chat up someone else about the same.

MAKE SOME NOISE IN MEMORY

R.I.P Adam “MCA” Yauch

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DESCRIBES THE BEASTIE BOYS’ DEBUT ALBUM Licensed To Ill as satire for punks, B-boys and frat brothers too stupid to know better.

That pretty much sums up the band’s entire oeuvre. But the hip hop band who fought for our right to party turned grayer yesterday when Adam “MCA” Yauch died, three years after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 47.

Do Genes Cause Vegetarians To Eschew Meat?

By Elizabeth C.

THE FINDINGS ARE BASED ON A SMALL SAMPLE, but a Duke University researcher speculates that individuals who carry two functional copies of a gene linked to an odor receptor that detects a compound in male mammals called androstenon

COMMITTING TO DO GOOD

The Pauly D Project: Have A Heart

By Karen Malmquist

AFTER WEEKS OF FIST-PUMPING AND FLIRTING WITH GROUPIES, THE BOYS RELAX ON THE PAULY D PROJECT.

Pauly D. et. al have some time off, so they head home and surprise their families in Rhode Island. Biggie’s especially happy, because he’s got plans to pop the question to MJ. If only she would get off his back about it.

SEMANTICS

Camille Grammer Back On Housewives? Depends On Definition Of ‘On”

By Trisha B.

DESPITE DECEPTIVE HEADLINES, Camille Grammer won’t really be back on Housewives, after all.

She will be seen, probably at one fabulous party after another, but according to HuffPost, she’s no longer an “official” Housewife and she’s not on the Bravo payroll (like she needs their coins).