And Daniel and I were just about to take delivery of ours!

General Motors dealers have been told to halt sales of 2,800 of the maker's new Chevrolet Corvette models because of a pair of potential problems.

The move is the latest in a series of so-called Stop-Sale notices issued by the Detroit maker as it has discovered potential defects with its various models during a year of close scrutiny. It is expected that GM will follow with an official recall notice for the Corvettes.

Damien's note: If you think Daniel and I would spend anything like $80,000 for a vehicle, you have never met either of us. Until this car shows up at one of the Unique Thrift Stores in Chicago, that ain't happening.

One assumes it was not quilted

Memories, all alone in the moonlight ...

An undeniable blotch on an official portrait of former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is a hasty cover-up job to erase estranged wife Maria Shriver’s face from the painting, sources told the New York Post and San Francisco Chronicle.

The portrait, which Schwarzenegger sat for in 2003 but was just unveiled Monday, originally featured an image of Shriver’s face on a lapel pin, a staffer at the state Capitol told the Post.

“Whoever touched it up did not do a very good job,” tour guide Richard Granis said of the painting originally done by renowned Austrian artist Gott­fried Helnwein. “It was softball sized, right there on his left lapel.”

Damien's note: In my childhood, much was made of the fact that then-Soviet Union governments erased people from official portraits, including photographs, when those people fell out of favor. The Governator's little erasure is minor compared to the clean-up job politicians and the media routinely do to help revise our collective memories.

Do they have April Fool's in Japan?

Burger King in Japan is taking bizarre fast food to new heights with black cheeseburgers complete with black buns, black cheese and black sauce.

The chain started the Premium Kuro Burger (kuro means "black") in 2012, colouring the bread with bamboo charcoal and adding squid ink to the ketchup.

Last year it evolved to the Kuro Ninja, which had all the above with a slice of bacon for a tongue, and now Burger King is on the third generation.

Apparently Japanese customers quite liked the bamboo charcoal, so it is now in the cheese slices as well, along with beef burgers made with black pepper, an onion and garlic sauce with squid ink and the black bread.

(Image courtesy: www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp)

While the smaller Kuro Pearl contains the burger, cheese and sauce, the upgraded Kuro Diamond also comes with more edible-looking lettuce, tomato, onion and the usual trimmings.


(Image courtesy: www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp)

A press release from Burger King Japan said there had been a "favourable reception" to previous Kuro burgers, which have all be limited editions.

The current inventions will be available from 19 September, with the Kuro Pearl priced at 480 yen (£2.80) and the Kuro Diamond at (£4.00).


(Image courtesy: www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp)

Black buns been seen before, when rivals McDonald's released "ying and yang" style burgers in China.

Chinese bloggers reasoned that the concept came from a proverb about black and white representing good and evil in society.

Now that's a body pillow!

We love ourselves a grandma who knows how to knit. But we have to say, even the most cozy of afghans can't quite compare to the fruits of grandmother Holly Stewart's labor. Because those fruits are giant, quilted penises. 

Yes, a real life, Kansas City-based grandma has turned her passion for free love into an art endeavor that's certainly got our blood pumping. It's called "Local Grandmother Quilts Giant Penises" and it encapsulates so many of the things we cherish in this sweet, short life: sex positivity, fiber crafts and badass women of a certain age.

Stewart's exhibition is currently on view at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a vision made reality thanks to a Kickstarter initiative with one of the greater names in Kickstarter history. Stewart explains how her interest in decorative members sparked from her time working in a sex toy factory. 

"I was looking on Craigslist for jobs and I saw an ad for a position that was sex positive and I had to know what that was," Stewart explains casually, standing before a giant multicolored phallus. "When I looked at it it was to be a de-molder in a dildo factory. I just knew I needed to be able to tell my grandchildren I had even applied to be a de-molder in a dildo factory. When I got the job it was even better." [Emphasis added]

From Huffington Post 

Damien's note: I understand that the security officers at the exhibit have been instructed to keep Channing Tatum out, lest he go penis-grazing berserk.

Still going rogue [Updated]

Palin Family Allegedly Involved In A Brawl

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A majority of the Palin family — Sarah, Todd, Bristol, and Track — was allegedly involved in a booze-filled brawl over the weekend in which the former vice presidential candidate reportedly screamed, “Don’t you know who I am?”

According to reports from local bloggers, the Palin crew showed up at a party in Wasilla following a day at the Iron Dog snowmobile race.

According to local blogger Amanda Coyne, witnesses at the scene said Palin’s eldest son, Track, showed up to the party in a stretch Hummer. He then confronted a man who had previously dated one of his sisters, according to Coyne and another blog called Immoral Minority.

“That led to some pushing and shoving, which escalated somehow to the family being asked to leave the premises,” Immoral Minority, reported.

“Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly, and it’s something to hear when Sarah screams, “Don’t you know who I am!” Coyne reported.

“This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” a party-goer allegedly yelled, making a possible reference to “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a failed reality series that ran for nine episodes between November 2010 and January 2011.

“As people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose,” a witness told Coyne.

Anchorage police declined to provide details told Immoral Minority that none of the parties involved wanted to press charges. No arrests were made.

Damien's Update: Ms. Palin now claims that she was traveling at the time of the alleged incident. Others have insisted that they saw her there. Whatever one chooses to believe, it seems unlikely to me that if she were there, no one managed to get a photo. So if no pix are forthcoming, it is he-said-she-said-she-said-he-said.

This may bring back snail mail!

A Finnish stamp designed as a tribute to Finnish homoerotic artist Touko Laaksonen – better known as Tom of Finland – have become the country’s biggest seller ever, and has received orders from 178 different countries.

“We haven’t seen this kind of interest before in Posti’s history and we probably won’t again soon,” said Markku Penttinen, the head of development at Finland’s postal service. “Our starting point was to get Touko Laaksonen’s artwork in our stamps. We know that he was very well-known globally. Of course the subject matter is also topical and much discussed. This equation has worked better than we anticipated.”

The stamp which went on sale on Monday coincided with an exhibition of Tom of Finland’s drawings and letters from the 1940s to his death in 1991.

Stamps are being sold, as long as supplies last, in the States by the TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION.

Makes a GREAT Christmas card stamp to send to Bryan Fischer or Brian Brown or Tony Perkins or ...