weird news roundup

one for dglenn:

Rio may require transvestite bathrooms

Moreira, a 32-year-old policeman on leave from the force, said he got the idea when dozens of transvestites showed up for a local samba show.

"It was a real problem. The women didn't feel comfortable having them in the ladies' room, and the men didn't want them in their bathroom either," said Moreira, who is married and the father of two children. "I'm not doing this for my own benefit."

He said the "alternative bathrooms" could also be used by men or women who didn't mind sharing space with transvestites.

(this isn't actually "weird" news per se, but it came from the "weird news" section.)

one for tongodeon:

accused molester claims her 15-year-old husband aggressively wooed her

"They're making a big deal out of a 15-year-old," she told WAGA-TV in Atlanta. "And I can assure you that he was no victim.

"It's not like they are making it out to be. Actually, I'd told him 'no' several times because I prefer someone older, but he was just so nice and so sweet," she said.

and one for the rest of us:

cops kick down woman's snow penis

Biasotti worries the display might give others ideas. "Now we're going to get snow penises popping up all over town," he said.

Many scholars, of course, trace the origin of the modern-day yule log to ancient pagan totems to virility and sun-god worship. Is that what Sherer was going for?

"We just did it because we were really bored, and we thought it'd be funny," she said. "It was huge."

the latest meme

( this one nailed me but good... )

that music meme

fizzbang tagged me. i fully expect ronebofh to mock me for not listing enough things he's heard of. if anyone really wants to hear something i didn't link to, shoot me an email.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good (thank goodness they added this modifier), but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your seven songs.

1) (If i could) Walk away - slower -- Don Dixon
i first heard this song performed live by Marti Jones (Don's wife) probably 15 years ago, and i never have managed to shake it out of my head. i've also never managed to get a copy of her version (except an unsatisfying live track), but Don obligingly recorded two versions on his latest. this is the slower version; it drags a little, but i like it better than the other because it's got more of that classic Dixon sound i fell in love with the first time i heard "Praying Mantis."

2) My Funny Valentine -- The Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker
Chet Baker on trumpet and Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax turn a jazz classic i've never especially liked into something transcendent. nothing short of brilliant.

3) Here I Be - Five Fingers of Funk
tongodeon turned me on to Pete Miser, who did a trés cool CG video. Five Fingers is one of his old projects. i just really like this track. no good reason. his latest CD is really good. i listen to it a lot. and i'm not a rap person at all.

4) A Shot In The Dark - Henry Mancini
i would like this to be my personal theme music. that is all.

5) Cause We've Ended As Lovers -- Jeff Beck
melancholy and beautiful. perfect for cold, gray rainy days. i notice i seem to be listening to a lot of really downbeat stuff lately.

6) Sascha -- Jolie Holland
this is just plain the most bewitching, sensuous music i've heard in a long time. the whole CD makes me feel like Doc Holliday sitting in a morphine haze on the front porch of a sleazy roadhouse on a languid August afternoon, staring out into the desert and hallucinating dancing girls among the tumbleweeds. only better, because i'm not dying of tuberculosis.

7) Holding Back -- Scott Andrew
this song could have been written about me. it stabs me many times with a thousand tiny knives. i keep listening to it anyway. the salt in the wounds is that Scott is doing exactly what i stopped being brave enough to do ten years ago. ze irony! 'e is crushing!

i tag:

the_steelmare, rizbone, haineux, drieuxster, inkerx, auralchick, sambushell, and anyone else who wants to play.

things that are just plain WRONG

( not so much worksafe )

people with too much time on their hands

Scientists figure out why Mona Lisa smiles

In what they viewed as a fun demonstration of technology rather than a serious experiment, the researchers scanned a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece and subjected it to cutting-edge "emotion recognition" software, developed in collaboration with the University of Illinois.

The result showed the painting's famous subject was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful and 2 percent angry. She was less than 1 percent neutral, and not at all surprised.

in other words, women feel exactly the same today about being ogled as they did 500 years ago.