Info Meme

As if I wasn't already finding him swoon-worthy,, a newly single Jake Gyllenhaal stepped out in New York City last night to a benefit for God's Love We Deliver, an HIV/AIDS charity. People bills it as a guy's night affair, as the party was thrown by Justin Theroux, Mark Ronson and Scott Campbell. Still, cute, single, and doing good? Call me Jake!

File this under news I didn't expect to ever hear, but the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has issued a statement praising The Simpsons. The Vatican says that without the residents of Springfield, "many today wouldn't know how to laugh" and even said it could be possible to come up with a "Simpsonian philosophy." Okely-dokely then.

I know I show my true colors as an Anglophile fairly frequently in these Memes, but one thing that does put me off is how intrusive it feels law enforcement is at times. The number of survellience cameras is just creepy. Now I find that they're giving police (and bouncers at clubs) something called a "cocaine torch" which is a special flashlight they shine up your nose, and if there's cocaine residue, it glows green. You can check my I.D. at the door, but my mucus membranes are private!

Another plus to the U.K. is things like Prince William sleeping on the street to raise awareness of homeless youth for a charity he supports. Armed with only a piece of cardboard, and sleeping bag (and his armed body guard, and his secretary, and the head of the charity, but this is the heir to the throne), he braved the freezing streets for one night.

Tomorrow is Christmas, and here's hoping yours is better than everything on this list of 10 Historically Bad Christmases. Reaching back to every major Christmas disaster back to 1261, this list ranges from volcanic eruptions to firing squads to cyclones. Kind of makes the fit you threw over not getting that catcher's mask seem overly dramatic, doesn't it?

Just in time for Baby Jesus' birthday, a biology professor at University College London has decided that angels and faeries are incapable of flight, based on artistic representations he's studied. Much like a bumblebee, they are just aerodynamically impossible.  

Think I don't pay attention? I've found something for all of you that love catching our typos, our grammar errors, our misclassification of various animal species. Here's a list of the 10 Biggest Continuity Errors in Movies. From missing books in Twilight: New Moon to countdown clocks counting up in 2012, they've got all the mistakes $300 million couldn't catch.

Out NBA legend John Amaechi responded to PR advisor Max Clifford's recommendation gay football players stay in the closet because of fans, and it's not pretty. He points out that placing that charge against working class fans is ridiculous, and leadership begins at the top, so owners and executives set the tone and are to blame for rampant homophobia in the sport. Your move, Max. 

One of the Jonas brothers got married last weekend, so he got to take his purity ring off and hop in the sack with his bride. I don't actually know which Jonas this was, so I'm not being specific. According to the Huffington Post, his review is in, and "to be honest about it, sex was not worth the wait." Has he considered the possibility that he didn't know how to do it right? Maybe I can recommend an instructional video?Or a pair of jeans that isn't so tight?

Photo Meme

To start things off with an Awww!, we'll show you Jamuna Toni, the baby Asian elephant born at the zoo in Munich Germany Monday. Weighing in at 250lbs at birth, she's all kinds of adorable. There are a lot of pictures at the Los Angeles Times, and in that story, be sure to follow the link to see where a baby elephant's trunk can end up - she's curious!

Photo credit: Alexandra Beier/Getty Images

Next, we want you to meet George, the 7-foot long, 43-inch high Blue Great Dane who lives in Tuscon. He's currently waiting to be certified as the world's largest dog by the Guiness Book of World Records. He has his own queen size bed, and consumes 110 lbs of dog food every month. The unreal scale of this dog is not to be believed.

This is 245lbs. of well-behaved canine.

Construction on the Freedom Tower is years behind schedule at Ground Zero in New York City. I have no idea if cutting down on commute time for workers to take lunch will help, they they've hoisted a portable Subway restaurant up with a crane and will keep lifting it as the building grows.

What about the commute for the sandwich artists? This is so not worth $7.25/hour.

Got a spare $10 million lying around? Because Cher is dumping her Hawaiian home for that bargain-basement price. Don't laugh - most of her neighborhood was worth $20+ million before the economy tanked last year. TMZ has the details.

I have the remnants of 24" of snow outside my window.

Video Meme

Fox has a new series about a body guard that takes the place of his clients to catch people that want to kill them. Or that's what the comic book was about. The TV series takes a lot of liberties. This is what they want us to watch instead of Dollhouse. At least Mark Valley is hot. Human Target on Fox.

The next preview is for a Brendan Frasier movie called Furry Vengence, which kind of looks like a live-action version of Over the Hedge from a few years ago. Don't expect much - Brendan didn't even bother to slim down for this thing.

Speaking of animals that have it in for humans, Christmas time always brings tasty treats for zoo animals, either extra fruit or raw meat, depending on their preference. A chimpanzee in Florida wasn't having the citrus thing though, and threw an orange, clocking a toddler in the head. So much for my theory that Monkeys Make Everything Better. Wait - it wasn't my kid. Nope, theory holds true.

In this rather odd video, we have the followup to the tape measure trick artist, except this guy throws blades from a circular saw, and slices 2x4s when he does it.

Next, I can't decide if this is funny, or if it's a safe-sex PSA, or maybe it's a commercial. But there's a shelf life for running reindeer themed clips. You tell me what the purpose is. I give you Reindeer Hookups!

For the kid inside all of us, I'd like to present Jimmy Fallon with The Muppets, singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

And to send you into the holidays on a happy note, I give you Kristine Chenoweth singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas."

We've got a few presents for you over the next few days, and I'll be back Monday morning with some regular posts. Have a great holiday!