Morning Meme: Goodbye Anne Francis, Hello "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena," and a New "Being Human" Trailer

Goodbye to Anne Francis, star of the 1960s detective show Honey West, a pioneering portrayal of a female detective. Francis passed away Sunday from complications from pancreatic cancer at age 80.

In news I can get behind, the Navy, responding to growing outrage has suspended Captain Honors from command of the USS Enterprise pending an investigation into the homophobic and misogynistic videos he produced on the carrier in 2006-2007 while serving as XO.

Simon Cowell has chosen Pepsi as the exclusive soft drink sponsor for The X Factor in the U.S. when it launches next year.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $2 million to a sanctuary in Namibia, birthplace of their daughter Shiloh. It seems to me like it’s been forever since either of them had a hit movie, so they must be amazing investors to give away as much cash as they seem to.

Could Denis O’Hare be headed back to True Blood? It sounds like Russell Eddington has a plotline in the new season, despite finishing up encased in concrete, though no contracts have been signed. The storyline for the King of Mississippi has diverged so far from the books at this point, I couldn’t predict where his story would go.

I’m all for “suspension of disbelief” when I go to the movies, but sometimes, I just can’t swallow the junk science. And that’s true of people who have a much better understanding of science than I have. The worst offender in recent memory? 2012, according to these scientists. There’s just no way any of this would work.

The Hard Rock Hotel has agreed to pay a fine for having allegedly procured cocaine and ecstasy for guests through their concierge desk.

Father Cutie (real name, and it’s accurate) made huge news when I lived in Miami for getting caught canoodling with a woman on the beach while he was still an ordained Catholic priest. He then switched churches rather than deny his love. In his new book, he says that the priesthood is so full of gay priests, both celibate and not that the church couldn’t function if it got rid of them all.

A gay Minnesota high school student who wrote an OpEd in his Catholic school newspaper slamming the diocese for mailing out hundreds of thousands of DVDs opposing marriage equality has come to terms with the fallout for his celebrity and notoriety. I’m just in awe of his courage.

I still don’t get what the plot of the upcoming science fiction movie Elysium is, but with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster headlining, it’s sure to get some major marketing.

Italy has passed new rules that essentially define YouTube and Vimeo as broadcast stations, making them liable for all content uploaded to them. It’s now basically impossible to run a video site in Italy without running afoul of the new law.

Guess what? Americans watched even more television last year than ever before. Shocking, isn’t it?

The Economist is hosting an online debate all week about marriage equality. In our corner is Evan Wolfson, and Maggie Gallagher is speaking for the bigots.

That new Justin Timberlake song that leaked over the weekend? Not Justin Timberlake. It’s actually a Danish artist named Rasmus Thude. Which leads Vulture to ask the question “If we all thought it was JT, and it wasn’t, do we really need JT?”