Alisongrinter

The editors of Cook's Illustrated take their grilling seriously, and they're sharing their secret to uniform cooking: an aluminum baking pan with water, placed opposite the coals.

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A Florida man was arrested on Sunday after repeatedly sending lewd and provocative photos to a police officer’s department-issued cell phone.

Paul Arnold Kirleis, 30, initially contacted the police to report a suspicious vehicle in his neighborhood. Then things got flirty:

After their conversation, according to reports, the officer began to receive texts from Kirleis’s phone number. The first text asked, “Who is this?” and the second text said, “I am boo,” according to reports.

Then things got sexy:

Following those texts, the officer received a photo of a man in a black thong and nothing else, according to reports. Two more photos followed, with a man who resembled Kirleis sending a photo of himself naked, bent over and looking back at the camera, and a photo of a man in lingerie, bent over, looking back at the camera, according to reports.

Then things got downright solicitous:

A sixth text said, “Sooo,” according to reports.

Sooo he was put in handcuffs, and not the fun kind. Kirleis, who said he was intoxicated and did not remember much from the night, was charged with “stalking and prohibition of certain acts in connection with obscene, lewd materials.”

(Via Naples Daily News; H/T Mandatory)

Filed under: Upcoming, Web Culture Tagged: FLORIDA, Sexting, SEXTS

Stephanie Amato, 30, is an eighth grade special education teacher in Philadelphia who turned herself into the authorities last week for allegedly having sex with one of her students. According to 6ABC, “the sex was consensual but illegal because the student is a minor.”

A police source told Action News there were “at least 10″ sexual encounters between Amato and the victim.

“He’s not doing too well, he doesn’t want to go to school. He feels humiliated, since that happened he changed,” said the child’s father.

Sources say even though Amato knew she had to turn herself in to police Wednesday, she posted pictures on Facebook of herself hanging out with her students on Tuesday night. (Via)

I’m sure it was worth the 19 Likes, though.

Via 6ABC

Filed under: Upcoming, Web Culture Tagged: Facebook, STUDENTS, teachers

I never would have guessed that combing through stock photography would be such an exciting and enlightening part of my job, but everyday I encounter at least one photograph that teaches me something new about life, love and even my own body. Oh yeah, stock photography is full of wisdom about the vagina — crazy shit your gynecologist probably never told you. For example… [Photos: Shutterstock]

If you're a parent who wants to inspire your daughter to break down gender barriers with her eventual career choice, here's one way to go about it: New research shows that little girls who see their dads participating in household chores are more likely to want jobs in higher paying, traditionally male dominated fields.

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When you are trying to troubleshoot internet connection issues, knowledge is power. Viewdns.info consolidates 21 different tests on one handy page.

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1. 1.Toad
2. 2.Tanooki Mario
3. 3.Mario
4. 4.Sonic

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Toad, Toad, come here. You’re my go-to guy in Mario Kart. You’re Princess Peach’s right-hand shroom. We’ve all had days like that, buddy. It’s going to be okay.

Artist Christopher Hemsworth is the fiendish mind behind these. Click through for more 16-bit angst. Prints are available at Society6.

(via Geeks Are Sexy)

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One of the great things about working from home is that I don’t have to put up with crap from coworkers who try to assert authority in the saddest and smallest way possible by policing refrigerator real estate, eat loud and/or smelly food at their desks, or come in spreading the plague everywhere after one of their goddamn kids comes home and infects their entire household.

However, as a pet owner who works from home, one of the truths of my daily existence is that at some point during the day, a cat’s butthole will come in direct contact with my laptop — most likely the keyboard part of the laptop.

Well, to solve this problem, an innovative Hong Kong design company called LYCS Architecture has created the CATable, an interactive piece of furniture which can be enjoyed by both humans and their feline companions — designed by Ruan Hao, and exhibited in the University of Milan at Milan Design Week. From the LYCS Architecture website:

[People] who lives with cat always has those kind of experiences:

1. Putting away the cat from your lap top was like a sentimental ritual of temporary farewell.

2. A proper sized hole could be so irresistible to cats. Their curiosity would be greatly satisfied through repetitively exploring the unknown  path behind the hole.

The design of CATable was a fusion of those experiences, as well a locus where the interaction occurs. It is a table for us, and a paradise for cats.

The only downside? While daily occurrences of laptop butt-planting might decreased, I have a feeling that “lunch burglaring” might skyrocket. ESPECIALLY on tuna sandwich days.

(All images used with permission of LYCS Architecture)

Filed under: Web Culture Tagged: ARCHITECTURE, Cats, CHINA

A long, long time ago I stumbled across quite the find on eBay: some 1939 Kodachrome footage showing off downtown Dallas in glorious color. It caught the attention of a few … [visit site to read more]

Reportedly, Chase Bank recently sent letters to hundreds of porn performers informing them that their accounts will be shut down by mid-May. This isn't the first time Chase has targeted those who work in the adult industry — and, sadly, I doubt it will be the last.

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David Foster Wallace committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 46, but even with a short amount of time he was still one of the most productive and interesting writers of the 21st century. Let's take a look at how he did it.

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The new stamps from the Finland postal service are gay. Like really gay. Like overtly gay. And that's the point. The new stamps feature artwork from Tom of Finland, an artist known for the in-your-face homoeroticism of his illustrations.

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You don't have to live large or have a huge garage to get your DIY on , but apartment dwellers and people in small spaces can often find it challenging to find room for tools or just flat space to work. This space-saving workbench handles both, and bonus, it's easy to build yourself.

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Portland advertising mavens Jason Kreher and Matt Moore wanted to explore the dark subjects that make people laugh, and more specifically, “take something innocent and make it profane.” What better way to do that than replacing the usual corny one-liners printed on popsicle sticks with some seriously dark jokes? Their finished product is called SchadenFreezers, melting popsicle joke GIFs described as “strawberry, blueberry and lemon-flavored joy derived from the suffering of others.” After the jump, check out a few more SchadenFreezers. The ones that I could post without crying, anyway…

These are far from the worst ones — see whole batch of frozen black comedy on the SchadenFreezers Tumblr (if you dare).

[Design Taxi]

Are you a boy whose name ends in "n"? Congratulations, you are contributing to one of the weirdest naming trends in American history.

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Today in "Vogue, noooooo," British Vogue is urging Orange Is The New Black fans to purchase conceptual prison-inspired designer garments. The three recommended items add up to about $1500. So chic!

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There’s no show that inspires the internet quite like Game of Thrones. I’ve been almost as excited about the return of next day reactions to each individual episode as I have been about the new season itself.

As you probably guessed, there are plenty of Arya, The Hound, and chicken chuckles to be had today. So let’s get right to it, starting with “sucks to be you, HBO Go user,” followed by my favorite GIF from last night being replaced by my new favorite.

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1. 1.
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5. 5.
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7. 7.
8. 8.
9. 9. Taken on Coney Island's Wonder Wheel.
10. 10.
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13. 13. "Last show done!"
14. 14. Never forget. FYI, while at Coney Island the Sirs took a souvenir portrait that they had printed on three t-shirts. They’re auctioning those t-shirts, which are autographed, to benefit City Harvest. The image on the shirt (see it here) is not the now legendary Homies Forever pic, but we thought you’d want to see that one again all the same.

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Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have been in New York for a few months performing Waiting for Godot on Broadway, and to celebrate the play’s closing night Sir Patrick tweeted “outtakes” of the pics he and Sir Ian took while palling around the Big Apple. None of your fair Mary Sue writers ran into either one of them on the street while they were in town (though this did happen—be jealous), but looking at these pictures has far less potential for embarrassment than an in-person meeting, so I’m good with it.

Previously in Sirs Patrick Stewart/Ian McKellen BROTP

• Super Bowl
• New Year
• Christmas
• Thanksgiving

(via: The Frisky)

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We hear a lot about the racial disparity in death penalty sentencing, namely, that black Americans are dramatically overrepresented on death row.

The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2003, but the rules governing its implementation were not completed until June 2012 and standards governing audits of state facilities weren't finalized until August 2013. Governor Rick Perry today sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder, forwarded by a confidant to your correspondent, declaring Texas would not comply. Here's a notable excerpt:

Because PREA standards prohibit most cross-gender viewing, TDCJ would be compelled to deny female officers job assignments and promotion opportunities, simply based on their gender. A consultant referred to TDCJ by the PREA Resource Center absurdly suggested that TDCJ solve this proglem by removing security camersas and obstructing lines of sight. That is ridiculous. Doing so would not only be a security risk for both prisoners and staff but also increase the likelihood of assaults taking place, defeating the intent of the law.

PREA also infringes on Texas' right to establish the state's own age of criminal responsibility. That age in Texas is 17. PREA, unlike the JJDP Act, which recognizes each state's age of full criminal responsibility, makes no allowances for differences among the states. PREA sight and sound separation standards would require Texas to separate 17-year old adult inmates from 18-year old adult inmates at substantial cost with no discernible benefit to the state or its inmates.

PREA standards also set specific staffing ratios for juvenile detention facilities different from the state's current rate. While this ratio may be ideal in some facilities, the decision of what constitutes appropriate staffing ratios should be left to each state and to those professionals with operational knowledge. One of Texas' 254 counties has said that compliance with this standard would require them to hire 30 more detention officers. That is an unacceptable cost for a small county with a limited budget. ...

PREA standards also mandate that by May 15, 2014, the governor of each state must certify, under threat of criminal penalties, that all facilities under the governor's control are compliant with PREA standards. Texas has approximately 297 facilities subject to PREA, including 164 lock-up facilities. PREA requires one-third of these facilities to be audited each year, yet no audit tool for lock-ups has even been developed. There is no way that I will certify compliance for facilities that have not even been audited. The compliance and certification deadline is further complicated by the fact that PREA requires states to conduct audits by PREA-certified auditors. There are only about 100 PREA-certified auditors nationwide, and the first of those were not certified until late 2013.

Even if the manifest problems with PREA standards I laid out above did not exist, I cannot and will not certify as true those things for which I do not have the facts.

Washington has taken an opportunity to help address a problem in our prisons and jails, but instead created a counterproductive and unnecessarily cumbersome and costly regulatory mess for the states.

I encourage the administration to change these standards and do so soon. Absent standards that acknowledge the operational realities in our prisons and jails, I will not sign your form and I will encourage my fellow governors to follow suit. In the meantime, Texas will continue the programs it has already implemented to reduce prison rapes.

Fascinating. Perry's letter portrayed this as an Obama Administration initiative but really it's his Texas gubernatorial predecessor-turned-president whose policy he's snubbing.

A quick Google search finds little media coverage or other significant detail on how PREA is being implemented in other states, but here's an FAQ from the feds on PREA implementation. It's not clear to me how Perry gets to 297 facilities under his "operational control" given that TDCJ only operates 111 facilities and there are five secure, state-run juvenile lockups. Here's the definition from the FAQ of what facilities are under the Governor's "operational control":

The National PREA Standards state that “The Governor’s certification [of full compliance with the PREA standards] shall apply to all facilities in the State under the operational control of the State’s executive branch, including facilities operated by private entities on behalf of the State’s executive branch.”  28 C.F.R. § 115.501(b).   A “facility” is defined as “a place, institution, building (or part thereof), set of buildings, structure, or an area (whether or not enclosing a building or set of buildings) that is used by an agency for the confinement of individuals.”  Id. at § 115.5.  Some standards apply specifically at the facility level, while others apply at the agency level.

The definition of facility includes local detention and correctional facilities as well as State correctional facilities; however, not all facilities within a State are subject to the Governor’s certification. The Governor’s certification does not encompass those facilities outside the operational control of the governor; namely, those facilities that are under the operational control of counties, cities, or other municipalities, or privately-operated facilities not operated on behalf of the State’s executive branch.

The term “operational control” is not defined in the National PREA Standards.  The determination of whether a facility is under the operational control of the executive branch is left to a governor’s discretion, subject to the following guidance.

Generally, there are several factors that may be taken into consideration in determining whether a facility is under the “operational control” of the executive branch:

• Does the executive branch have the ability to mandate PREA compliance without judicial intervention? 
• Is the State a unified correctional system?
• Does the State agency contract with a facility to confine inmates/residents on behalf of the State agency, other than inmates being temporarily held for transfer to, or release from, a State facility?

The above list is not exhaustive but it covers the majority of the situations that Governors may face in determining whether a facility or contractual arrangement is subject to the Governor’s certification. 

By that definition, it doesn't sound to me like Perry must certify that county-run juvenile detention facilities or local jails comply with PREA standards. Texas doesn't have a "unified correctional system" under gubernatorial control that extends to those local facilities. Further, PREA standards specifically do not "apply to adult psychiatric forensic mental health care facilities or hospitals operated by non-correctional agencies," though they "do apply to residential community confinement facilities such as halfway houses operated by community corrections agencies." Even so, I'm still not sure how that gets you to 297.

According to the FAQ, the certification Perry is talking about would affirm that "not less than five percent of its DOJ funding for prison purposes shall be used only for the purpose of enabling the state to adopt and achieve full compliance with the PREA Standards." Perry, though, appears to be saying he will not make such a commitment even though, as the program ramps up, the rule specifically provides that the Governor can make the required assurances "even if the agency has not pursued or completed audits."

For the life of me, I can't tell to what the letter is referring when Perry says governors must submit certification under "threat of criminal penalties." Judging from the FAQ, the penalty for noncompliance appears to be a 5% cut in three federal grant funds administered by the Governor's office, specifically "(1) the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Formula Program, and (2) the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Formula Grant Program." The third block grant to be cut is "administered by the Office on Violence Against Women: the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program."

Finally, the new PREA standards provide another argument for the state to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18, as the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee was discussing earlier this week. Again, from the FAQ:

The Youthful Inmate standard requiring separation of those under age 18 from those over 18 is “setting specific,” applicable only in prisons, jails, and lockups. Even where state law provides for automatic prosecution in adult court of individuals at age 16 (e.g., NC, NY) and age 17 (e.g., GA, NH, IL, LA, MD, MA, MI, SC, TX, WI) when those persons are detained or confined in an adult prison, jail, or lockup, such individuals must be sight and sound separated from those over the age of 18.

This is another example of how Texas' outlier status regarding the age of criminal culpability creates ongoing conflicts with federal law.

Notably, however, the "sight and sound" standards about which the governor complained do not apply to juvenile facilities: "The PREA standards do not provide for any sight and sound separation of residents in juvenile facilities either because of age or court of conviction. Neither the standard on youthful inmates (115.14) nor the standard for youthful detainees (115.114) is applicable in juvenile facilities."

It'll be interesting to see how all this plays out in the coming months. Since Perry is leaving office after the end of the year, he really has no dog in the fight when it comes to foregoing federal grant money since he won't be around anymore to preside over its distribution.

Grits has filed an open records request for any report and/or correspondence from the consultant referenced in the Governor's letter, so perhaps that will reveal more about the supposed barriers to Texas' compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

CLARIFICATION: The DOJ has issued standards for county jails and local juvenile lockups but governors are only required to issue certifications for facilities under "operational control" of the state's executive branch, which in Texas does not include either category. Language in the post was adjusted to make that clear. MORE: See a detailed analysis of PREA implementation, including the lack of meaningful enforcement mechanisms, from Prison Legal News.

by Taisia Kitaiskaia

Transcript after the jump.

Dear Baba,

I have lost all my power and no longer recognize myself. I hide in whiskey and distract myself with men. I am limp, hollow, and disoriented. How do I restore my spirit? Where has my spine gone?

BABA YAGA:

The beaches of this earth are littered with spines , abandoned;.  )but no matter how many Whiskeys you do pour on yr wave-beaten backbone, it will not erode.but remain yrs.  : Go & pick it up & lash it to you, for sometimes you must be brash & fiendly to wear what is yrs, & in that violence it too will claim you.

Previously: "Am I Actually Better Than Everyone Else, Or Just Arrogant?"

Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. She's taking questions on behalf of Baba Yaga at AskBabaYaga@gmail.com.

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A group of 25 strippers at a club in San Diego filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming they were forced to be part of a demeaning photo session.

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The internet pooped its collective pants at the news that a Super Troopers sequel was actually happening, so God only knows what they’ll do with the news that the titans of two different eras of weed comedy are now set to team up. Chong and Cheech have reportedly been meeting with Super Troopers director and Broken Lizard member Jay Chandrasekhar about directing a new Cheech and Chong movie.

In a new interview, Tommy Chong reveals that he and longtime comedy partner Cheech Marin are teaming up with director Jay Chandrasekhar, a member of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, who counts 2001’s Super Troopers and 2006′s Beerfest among his credits.

“He’s working a script right now for us,” Chong tells celebstoner.com. “We’ve had some preliminary meetings. It looks really good. It looks really funny. It will be about us going to a festival called the Burning Joint. All sorts of shenanigans happen. It’s going to be a lot of fun.” [THR]

This would be the first official Cheech and Chong movie since 1983′s Still Smokin, although they did release an animated film composed of their old comedy bits last year (you midnight tokers probably forgot). Weed comedy seems slightly tame after Chong’s old cellmate Jordan Belfort inspired a movie that was just three hours of doing quaaludes and snorting coke out of butts, but hopefully people are still into it. Who am I kidding, weed comedy never goes out of style. Why, I’ll never forget the day my dad caught me smoking a joint for the first time. “Come on, don’t be a pussy,” he said, handing the joint to me while driving me home from my first semester of college (true story).

I think they should just go all out and make a Cheech and Chong and Jay and Harold and Kumar movie, celebrating every ethnic minority who has ever made a pot movie.

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Minimal, I say. Those clothes are how very. Hit the jump for two more pics and a poster for the off-Broadway production, which’ll be hitting New York’s New World Stages starting March 31st.

(via Entertainment Weekly, Broadway World)

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Look, Arnold, I adore you but please, if you’re going to be involved with Terminator: Genesis at least use your clout for something interesting. Hit the jump to find out what the heck I’m talking about, plus a small tidbit on the casting of Miles Dyson’s son! 

I’m not terribly for or against the next Terminator film. I love the franchise as an idea but if we’re being honest, really only the original and Terminator 2 (I have the tattoo to prove it). I only have a soft spot for Rise of the Machines because Angela Chase was in it.

Moving on.

We’re getting a new film, Terminator: Genesis, as well as a somewhat connected TV show and Emilia Clarke (aka Daenerys on Game Of Thrones) is set to play Sarah Connor in the movie so I’m at least looking forward to what they do with her. But we’ve been hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger is definitlly coming back for a while, just not in what capacity. My hope was he’d be playing the human inspiration for the T-800. That way they wouldn’t have to do any weird anti-aging effects like in Terminator Salvation.

But no.

Speaking with MTV, Schwarzenegger discussed how they’re planning to explain his age while still having him be a cyborg. ”It will be challenging because it will be a new director, and it will be a really action packed movie. And sometimes it does get more difficult when you’re 66 years old and doing this kind of action, versus when you’re in your 30s or in your 40s,” he said. Fair enough. But then…

“The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath,” said Schwarzenegger. “It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.”

Anyway.

Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter tweeted a few interesting things about the film as well yesterday. Namely, throwing out Attack the Block’s John Boyega to be in the running to play Miles Dyson’s son. You may remember the actor as one of five rumored to play a major Jedi role in Star Wars: Episode VII. Borys wrote, “He can’t do both. He has to wait out the Star Wars game.”

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Since learning about Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s decision to “consciously uncouple,” we’ve been trying to unpack the term in all its PC glory. It seems that similar to other areas of her life, Gwyneth will be superior when it comes to divorce. So, far we haven’t seen one inkling of sadness, ire or admission that either party was having an affair. Ahem.

According to an anonymous source who spilled the beans to the Daily Mail, even the couple’s decision to get divorced was beyond reproach. Allegedly, the couple agreed to split while vacationing on island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and instead of exchanging bitter words, they exchanged gifts. The source claims that Chris gave Gwyneth a painting of a bird in flight by Mila Fürstová to “mark the new stage in their lives.”

“It might sound like a line that they’re happier than they’ve ever been but the relief is massive, they can enjoy being friends again now. It’s like all the tensions have finally dispersed, the stress of arguing where about where to live. She missed Los Angeles and he’s an English boy through and through so that seemed like an eternal battle. They’re communicating again, they’re having a glass of wine together and a laugh and were actually looking forward to the holiday,” boasted the insider.

Sounds a little too good to be true to us. Breakups are messy, no matter how organic your diet is. For now, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.If you aspire to go the Gwynnie/Chris route and dump your partner like an enlightened lifestyle brand baron, here are some tips for how to “consciously uncouple” with no mess, no stress and no heartbreak:

1. Get an aura massage together so that when you negotiate separation proceedings you’ll both be coming from a spiritually pure place.

2. Have an nutritional guru examine your quinoa leftovers to determine your true emotional states and cholesterol levels.

3. Burn the $5,000 Egyptian cotton sheet set that you once shared, for closure.

4. Strike the words “anger,” “sadness,” “blame,” and “depression” from your vocabulary…forever.

5. Record a cathartic rap duet and release it on iTunes.

6. Do an organic coconut oil pulling to cleanse your teeth and gums of any lingering resentments.

7. Go on a double date with Jay and Bey and make it clear that you don’t expect them to choose sides.

8. Stop eating carbs, because you should have already been doing that, but it’s even more important during a breakup.

9. Keep divorce journals and get together once a week to discuss them before your therapy sessions, just so you’re on the same page.

10. Continue to let your ex-partner dictate your pubic hairstyle, because you’re THAT comfortable with each other as friends.

11. Watch the “Iron Man” trilogy together in your shared home movie theater and practice not hoarding the gluten-free Raisinets.

12. Start a lifestyle blog and co-author a book about how to “consciously uncouple.” Split all the profits 50-50.

Wes Anderson’s eighth feature film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, releases this Friday and so far has been positively received (Vince’s review). The film’s IMDB page lists about half of Hollywood in the cast, with Ralph Fiennes in the starring role as a hotel concierge trying to prove his innocence after being framed for murder. If you like Wes Anderson movies, you’ll probably love it, and if you’re not a fan of Wes Anderson’s work, then why are you even reading this?

To celebrate what’s sure to be another eccentric entry into Wes Anderson’s body of film, here are 25 facts you might not know about his other movies. Now with 25% more Murray!

1. Bill Murray paid for the helicopter scene in Rushmore. How the helicopter scene in Max’s Vietnam War-themed play cost $25,000, I have no idea, but it did and Disney didn’t want to front the cost for it. Being the awesome human being that he is, Murray wrote Anderson a check to cover the costs.

2. Bottle Rocket almost forced Owen Wilson into the military. Owen Wilson helped write the movie, but initially had no plans to act in Bottle Rocket. After the movie bombed horribly at the box office, Wilson was convinced he had no future in entertainment and seriously considered enlisting in the Marines.

3. That’s not Ben Stiller’s hand with the lodged BB in The Royal Tenenbaums. It’s actually the brother of Owen and Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson. When they were kids, Owen shot Andrew in the hand with a BB gun and the pellet has been stuck there ever since.

4. Creating the jaguar shark for The Life Aquatic was no easy task. At eight feet long, the jaguar shark was one of the largest stop-motion puppets ever made for a film. The shark required five hand-cranked controls to operate its swimming function. The song “Starálfur” by Sigor Rios was used during Steve Zissou’s second encounter with the jaguar shark, but for whatever reason did not make it onto the film’s soundtrack album.

5. Bottle Rocket producer James L. Brooks was worried about Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson’s work ethic. After a shorter version of the film caught the attention of James L. Brooks at the Sundance Film Festival, Brooks helped Wilson and Anderson get financial backing from Columbia Pictures for a feature film version. Brooks was concerned about Wilson and Anderson’s work ethic though as they never took notes during meetings. After buying them plane tickets from Texas to Los Angeles, Owen Wilson tried to exchange his plane ticket for a bus ticket in hopes of pocketing the extra cash.

6. Rushmore hinted at The Life Aquatic. The book that Max is reading in the movie is Diving For Sunken Treasure by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Cousteau of course would provide the main inspiration for Wes Anderson’s 2004 film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

7. Bill Murray didn’t take the Rushmore part for money. When Bill Murray takes a role on a Wes Anderson film, it’s never for the money. For his part in Rushmore Murray took home $9,000 and jokingly details in the clip below that working with Wes often involves long hours for little cash and some stale bread.

8. Indian director Satyajit Ray’s portrait can be seen in The Darjeeling Limited. The film was dedicated to Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray who’s portrait can be seen hanging above Owen, Jason, and Adrian while riding on The Bengal Lancer.

9. The bullhorn parenting in Moonrise Kingdom was based on Roman Coppola’s childhood. The bullhorn that Mrs. Bishop uses to call her children was based on a practice used by co-writer Roman Coppala’s mother when he was a child.

10. Margot’s cigarettes in The Royal Tenenbaums haven’t been made since the 1970s. I’d imagine being the prop master on a Wes Anderson film has to be one of the most irritating jobs in showbiz. Take Margot’s cigarettes for example, the brand she smoked were only ever sold in Ireland and were discontinued in the 1970s. Anderson specifically wanted this brand of smokes because it correlated with the 70s theme of the film and made Margot’s secret smoking habit that much stranger.

11. Fantastic Mr. Fox replaced curse words with just “cuss.” Dialogue that called for cursing was replaced with the alternative of “cuss” including graffiti on a spray painted wall. In an interview on Fresh Air, Anderson explained the benefit of this: “I don’t even remember. It think it was just to use the concept of profanity as a replacement for profanity itself. It turned out to be very versatile.”

12. The score from The Royal Tenenbaums appears in The Life Aquatic. The music that plays when Steve Zissou gives the tour of his boat is the score from The Royal Tenenbaums, only played in reverse.

13. The Life Aquatic is both a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Harry Belafonte. So French sea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s ship was the Calypso, Zissou’s ship is named The Belafonte and Harry Belafonte was known for singing popularized versions of Calypso songs. During the scene where Zissou is introduced to the Italian audience there is a model of Cousteau’s ship the Calypso on his desk, only painted blue instead of black.

HBO released a new, extended trailer for Silicon Valley over the weekend. If the show ends up being, like, 70% as funny as this 90 second teaser, it is going to be very, very good.

A quick refresher: Silicon Valley is the latest project from Mike Judge, the man behind Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, Office Space, and Idiocracy. Here’s the description that accompanied the first teaser clip from a weeks ago.

Richard is an introverted computer programmer living in the Hacker Hostel start-up incubator along with his best friend, Big Head, pompous Gilfoyle and dry-witted Dinesh. These social misfits live under the watch of Erlich, a self-satisfied dotcom millionaire who lets them stay in his house for free — as long as he gets a ten percent stake in their projects.

After a failed pitch to billionaire venture capitalist Peter Gregory, Richard seems destined to remain at his job at the tech company Hooli, founded by the megalomaniacal Gavin Belson. When Monica, Gregory’s head of operations, and Jared, a Hooli executive, realize the value of the site’s compression algorithm, a bidding war erupts between Belson and Gregory, with Richard caught in the middle.

So it’s basically Office Space plus The Social Network, with T.J. Miller as a Lebowski-esque version of Justin Timberlake’s version of Sean Parker? Because, if it is, I can dig that. I can definitely dig that. I can dig that straight through the center of the Earth all the way to China.

It seems like we’ve been MORALLY OUTRAGED WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN about Miley Cyrus‘ transformation from Hannah Montana to Twerk McTwerkSex for years now. But the official tour for Bangerz, the album that gave us “Wrecking Ball,” didn’t begin until last night in Vancouver.

And what a show it was:

Miley Cyrus delivered a spectacle with furry creatures, a dwarf, a gigantic hot dog, and a back-up dancer dressed up as former US President Bill Clinton. The 21-year-old was having a good time as she showed off her X-rated moves during the first show to kick off her Bangerz Tour on Friday. Miley’s most shocking move was when she performed a racy song-and-dance with the Clinton impersonator during her “Party In the USA” finale number. (Via)

Caption contest time. I’ll begin: “OK, who’d like a bangerz in the mouth?”

Banner via Getty Image, tweet via @yungchipotle