The Sun [UK]
2 January 2019
GOLDENBALLS
Cristiano Ronaldo statue has
buffed crotch after being rubbed by keen female fans
A CRISTIANO RONALDO statue has attracted groups of
laughing women due its huge, shiny bulge. The Juventus superstar's
larger-than-life tribute was unveiled at his Pestana CR7 hotel in Funchal,
Portugal in 2014. Of course visitors want to get a photo alongside the artwork
- but doing so has had unexpected consequences. The groin area has apparently
been rubbed so frequently that the bronze has been polished into a hard-to-miss shine. […]
9News [Australia]
2 January 2019
Pregnant Melbourne mum finds
needles hidden inside grapes
[…] Skender Hasa and Shams Alsubaiy, from Craigieburn,
were having an after-dinner snack last night when Ms Alsubaiy pricked her
finger while picking up a green grape. “When we cut it open there was a needle
stuck through it,” Mr Hasa told 9News. He said he bought the seedless fruit
about 3.30pm yesterday from the Woolworths outlet at Craigieburn Plaza. After
cutting open every grape in the bag, they found two needles. […]
Halifax Examiner [NS]
4 January 2019
The North End Pub fire still
burns: insurance company asks the court to declare Grafton-Connor bankrupt
A fire destroyed the North End Pub on March 7, 2007,
but the insurance fight continues. Local lore has it that the day of the fire
there was a guy on a winning streak on the VLT machines who refused to leave on
his own accord when the fire engines showed up, and so he had to be physically
picked up and carried out of the burning structure. Later, the gambler tried to
make a claim against the fire department for his supposed lost winnings. I’ve
never been able to verify that story, but true or not, it captures the spirit
of the pub. […]
“Come Die With Me!,” Beware #8, March 1954. [This 6-page comic book horror story begins
with two medical students placing a
cadaver in bed next to a sleeping classmate.]
The most famous movie appearance of the “popcorn trick” is in Diner (Barry Levinson, 1982). The screen
grabs here are from Cashback (Sean
Ellis, 2005), where a character played by Shaun Evans gets his face slapped by
his horrified date.
Hank Gross, “The Fling’s the Thing.” Ace Magazine (New York), vol. 6, no. 4,
January, 1963, pp. 60-1. This is likely a fictitious report of a penguin thief. There have been
occasions when penguins actually were stolen from zoos or aquariums, but more
often such reports are the stuff of urban legend.
