Mattel (Barbie) won a court case that was filed against MGA Entertainment (Bratz) a $1 billion-plus doll franchise.
A nine-member federal jury in California found the creator of the multi-ethnic, big-headed dolls, Carter Bryant, created their characters and the name while he was under contract as a Barbie designer at Mattel.
The decision put Mattel in commanding position going into the damages phase of the trial, which begins July 23.
Other than the four drawings that Bryant testified that he made in a notebook while on an eight-month hiatus from Mattel in 1998, privately held MGA lost the rights to all drawings and “sculpts” of the Bratz.
While the verdict is a blow for MGA, it can say in the damages phase that Mattel has no rights to the dolls themselves because they are different from the drawings and were made by MGA designers.
Sounds to me like Barbie was a bit jealous of the Bratz craze and wants a piece of the pie. Nothing hotter than two plastic dolls in a catfight.
source: Jury finds in favor of Mattel in Bratz trial [usa today]
Illinois senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been transformed into a muscle-bound toy action figure by an American firm Herobuilders.
The company says its “Beach Blanket Obama” doll - on sale now for $21.95 USD - was inspired by paparazzi-style photos of the 46-year-old politician running on the beach in Hawaii earlier this year.
Apparently Sean Penn has had his fill of Petra Nemcova and random whores. Penn and his wife Robin Wright Penn were in the divorce process decided to kiss and make up. The divorce has been dismissed as of Tuesday.
To woo his wife into a reconciliation, he took her to an Eddie Vedder concert and had a song dedicated to her. They originally spit ways due to Sean’s alleged boozing and sexcapades with other women. Robin, according to rumors, had caught him in bed with two sluts while hammered drunk. His constant digs at George W. Bush and political crazy-making are enough to make me forgive him.
Inebriated threesome with Russian whores….isn’t that the standard 11th anniversary present?
Source: Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn Divorce Dismissed [US Magazine]
The following is a the result of the Rolling Stone Magazine Poll to find the Top 20 Most Annoying Songs:
1. Black Eyed Peas, “My Humps”
2. Los Del Rio, “Macarena”
3. Baha Men, “Who Let The Dogs Out”
4. Celine Dion, “My Heart Will Go On”
5. Nickelback, “Photograph”
6. Lou Bega, “Mambo No. 5?
7. James Blunt, “You’re Beautiful”
8. Spice Girls, “Wannabe”
9. Sisqo, “The Thong Song”
10. Cher, “Believe”
11. Aqua, “Barbie Girl”
12. Chumbawumba, “Tub Thumper”
13. Rednex, “Cotton-Eyed Joe”
14. Eiffel 65, “Blue”
15. Crash Test Dummies, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”
16. Meatloaf, “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”
17. ‘NSYNC, “Bye, Bye, Bye”
18. Ricky Martin, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”
19. Semisonic, “Closing Time”
20. Wham!, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
Two blonde bombshells dubbed the “Barbie Bandits” shocked the nation when they burst into a Georgia bank and allegedly tried to rob it earlier this year.
Now, in her first interview since the incident, 19-year old Heather Johnston, one of the alleged “bandits,” told ABC’s David Muir that the whole scheme started out as a prank.
“This all began as a joke,” she said. “I mean it’s crossed a lot of people’s minds, from what I’ve heard.”
The joke became a reality with the help Johnson’s friend, Ashley Miller and Miller’s boyfriend, who knew a teller at a Bank of America branch. One February morning, Johnston said the teller told her how to write a threatening note. All the while, Johnston said she didn’t think about how her plan might terrify the other bank workers.
“No, because we had an inside man. So, no,” she said.
‘Stunner Shades’ and Highlights
Clad in form fitting jeans, tight tops and large sunglasses that Johnston and Miller called “stunner shades,” the teen girls headed to the bank to pull off their heist. Their plan wasn’t without flaws— they weren’t able to get the wigs they wanted and at first— and they got lost “We took a wrong turn somewhere, ended up going to a complete different Bank of America,” Johnston said.
Realizing the inside man was not at the bank, they called him, got new directions and soon showed up at the correct bank. After the girls handed over the note,Johnston said the money started flying.
“He started throwing it out and it was like going everywhere,” Johnston said. “So I was pushing it, Ashley was grabbing it, putting it, throwing it in the bag,”
After collecting thousands of dollars, Johnston said they hit the mall to get highlights at a high-end salon. They were later arrested and charged with felony theft.
For a girl supposed to be in her first year of college, the bank robbing was the culmination of a trip down the wrong path.
Johnston was a scholarship winner from a typical middle class home. But before heading to college, she met new friends and decided to try working as an exotic dancer. She became fast friends with fellow dancer, Miller. The girl who wanted to become a dental hygienist was soon far off track.
For Johnston’s mother, an elementary school teacher, the ordeal has been heart-wrenching.
“[It's] devastating as a mom,” she said, her voice breaking. “With my children, and I hope that I would instill positive values … we always did something special together. And I thought that that would instill and pretty much guarantee me wonderful adults, but I guess there is no guarantee.”
Out of prison on bail, Johnston has found a new job with an advertising firm — her first boss fired her after learning she was one of the Barbie Bandits.
But Johnston’s troubles may not be over. Knowing she could face up to 10 years in prison, she’s admitted the bank robbery scheme wasn’t the brightest idea.
“Some of the stuff we did was just pretty ignorant,” she said
For the most part, I’ve felt a great deal of sorrow for Anna Nicole Smith these past several months. Especially with how horribly she’s been disrespected by everyone she trusted, especially from the very people she should be able to trust. Now we find her sister, who’s in the ranks of mother, Virgie Arthur.
Anna Nicole’s sister Donna Hogan - same white-blond hair, industrial- strength eye and lip makeup, ample bosom, low-cut top, but drinking only Sprite - said:
“It pisses me off when people say I’m making money off her. I was offered fortunes to tell on her. I was there when she did liposuction in the ’90s. I have pictures of her lipo. Even though I needed money bad, I never sold her out.”
So, OK, so Donna, hon, so then why “Train Wreck,” your new book about and against Anna?
“Because I was hurt. Because it’s closure for me. Because now she’s gone, and things about her upsetted me. She was selfish. I always respected her, and she always disrespected me. I was struggling. I had to live in a shelter to protect my three kids and I never asked her for nothing. She had four houses and never offered me one to stay in. I bought her a Marilyn Monroe doll and she never bought me a thing. She’d take people who worked for her on shopping sprees to Rodeo Drive and never bring my kids anything.
She sounds like an 8 year old fighting over a Barbie®.
“She never once offered me money. Except to try and take my little girl from me. See, even after she had Danny she wanted a girl child desperately. She offered me thousands, but only if I’d give up my baby daughter to her which, of course, I wouldn’t.”
About their similarities: “Well, yeah, I’ve done drugs . . . we’ve both had a wild crazy life . . . both had affairs with women . . . three-way sex . . . kids without husbands . . . and I’m now kind of living with someone . . . And, like her, I worked gentlemen’s clubs. I waitressed. There’s perverts who just want you to get drunk with them. So I’d sit and drink. You could make $2,000 a night.
“Look, I was offered lots of the same kind of stuff she was, but I just couldn’t do it. I think she had some kind of illness. She did it with all sorts of girlfriends and gay boyfriends. I mean, she gave our father - who molested girls and actually touched me - naked photos of herself. This is a man who got married the day after we buried Vickie.
“And she never liked her given name Vickie. In school she’d call herself Nicky, so maybe that’s where Nicole came in.”
Donna Hogan lives in Houston. Her gift baskets business is called Country Delights. Monday was her first moment ever in New York. After dinner she saw Times Square. While asking could she squeeze in a musical like “Mama Mia!” or “The Color Purple” between the 17 shows she’s doing to hustle her book, I was asking her opinion of Howard K. Stern.
“I never believed he was the father of Dannielynn. He couldn’t create a child even if he had two [she used a colorful word to describe male equipment.] He’s not man enough. Anna Nicole Smith led him around by the nose. And can you believe his sister now has a publicist? And wants to be a Dr. Ruth-type TV sex therapist?”
And Donna’s opinion of mother-dearest Virgie?
“Virgie had more media than family at the funeral. Listen, Virgie used to abuse Vickie. Treat her bad. Hit her. When they started Virgie went with her to the strip clubs.
“I never took money from anybody. All the media companies followed me and harassed me and offered big money for my story. I never took a dime. Now, for the funeral and lawyers and traveling around, Virgie has a photo company paying. Howard’s bills are being paid by a TV show. Larry Birkhead probably has some deal, too.”
About larger-than-life Anna Nicole Smith, this sister says: “She actually had nothing. She was always broke. She lost her ranch. She was always getting sued. She went bankrupt. She lost everything. Her life really turned into a train wreck after Howard Marshall. She got depressed. She fought to keep her name alive. She’d suddenly do anything to stay in the spotlight, then the more she got in the spotlight the more she had to do to stay there. And when Stern came into her life she really changed. Everything went downhill.
“Y’know, because of our same father and different mothers, there’s others of us. Like another sister Amy, who’s into modeling and nobody really knows where she is because nobody wants anything to do with her.”
A bite into the Waverly Inn’s soft roll, a sigh about “I really have to lose weight,” and then . . . “I guess the dysfunctionality in our family goes way back.”
And: “I just never want Howard or Virgie to end up with that baby.”
Put it down to another of your usual humdrum ho-hum evenings of nice pleasant boring dinner-table talk. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
As if Richie isn’t nasty enough as it is, he’s also not smart enough to use sunscreen. Seriously, what does she see in this dude? Then again, Denise has a nice body… but is actually a fake, barbie-looking backstabber. With that said, I guess they deserve each other.
Jenna Jameson, who is starting to look entirely too skinny to be healthy, appears to be going for the Victoria Beckham-look… or maybe she just wants to be the next Posh Spice. I’m leaning more towards “Barbie on Crack“.
[heh]… the title of this post is cracking me up. It’s the first thing I thought of when I saw these three pictures of Vanessa Minnillo, which were taken while taping MTV’s Total Request Live. That shirt is so low-cut, it wouldn’t take much for an accidental nip slip.
A video showing Saddam Hussein shortly after he was executed has emerged on the internet. The video and images from it are shown below. The first uncut, uncensored, unedited video showing Saddam Hussein executed caused quite a stir. Another video of Saddam’s funeral has also been making the rounds.
This video does not show the execution. Rather, it shows Saddam’s body, proportedly right after he was hanged. The short video simply shows Saddam’s corpse under a sheet, and the effects that hanging had on his neck.
The video seems to have first emerged at a Shia website in Arabic, after which it was uploaded to Google.
Here’s the video:
Rusty has several rather graphic photos captured from the video as well.
A new video of Saddam Hussein’s corpse, with a gaping neck wound, was posted on the Internet early Tuesday, the second leaked release of clandestine pictures from the former leader’s hanging.
The video appeared to have been taken with a camera phone, like the graphic video of the hanging which showed guards taunting Saddam in the final moments of his life.
The footage pans up the shrouded body of the former leader from the feet. It apparently was taken shortly after Saddam was executed and placed on a gurney. He was hanged shortly before dawn on Dec. 30. As the panning shot reaches the head region, the white shroud is pulled back and reveals Saddam’s head and neck. His head is unnaturally twisted at a 90 degree angle to his right. It shows a gaping bloody wound, circular in shape, about an inch below his jaw line on the left side of his neck. His left cheek is marked with red blotches, and there is blood on the shroud where it covered his head.
The newest video leak was likely to increase the angry reaction over the way the execution was carried out. There already has been a global outcry about the undignified manner in which the Shiite-dominated government hanged Saddam, a Sunni.
The 27-second video was posted on an Iraqi news Web site that is known to support Saddam’s outlawed Baath Party. “A new film of the late immortal martyr, President Saddam Hussein,” the web site said in a headline over a link to the video.
Voices could be heard on the video. As the shroud is pulled back, one voice says, “Hurry up, hurry up. I’m going to count from one to four. One, two … . Hurry up you’re going to get us into a catastrophe.” Then another voice, apparently the man taking the pictures, says, “Just one second, just one second, Abu Ali. I’m about finished.” Then a third voice says, “Abu Ali, you take care of this.”
It was the second clandestine video to have leaked, the first showing Saddam being taunted in his final moments. That clandestine video showed the former leader dropping through the gallows floor as he offered chanted prayers. It ends with his dead body swinging at the end of a rope.
The hanging video was in sharp contrast with an official video that was broadcast not long after Saddam’s execution which showed him standing silently on the gallows as the noose was put around his neck. The official video was muted.
The leaked hanging video, however, was shot from the floor of the gallows chamber, looking up at Saddam. Voices could be heard taunting him with cries of “Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada,” referring to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia and a key support of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Now, in her first interview since the incident, 19-year old Heather Johnston, one of the alleged “bandits,” told ABC’s David Muir that the whole scheme started out as a prank. 
Anna Nicole’s sister Donna Hogan - same white-blond hair, industrial- strength eye and lip makeup, ample bosom, low-cut top, but drinking only Sprite - said: 
