It’s been two weeks - like, an eternity - since we last brought you news about those reclusive Victoria’s Secret models, and you’re probably worried sick about why they just dropped off the face of the earth.

Well, today three of them showed up at the New York store to promote a new line of something or other. Naturally, we weren’t going to let a news opportunity like that go by without being there, because when two or more of them get together, sometimes they pose and smile, which is exactly what they did! Were we lucky, or what?

Oddly Enough Blog

Talk about a social faux pas.

A 74-year-old grandmother bought a bag of potatoes at her local market, brought it home, and found a live hand grenade among the spuds.  Of course, she didn’t know it was a grendade until she washed the dirt off of it, at which point it was quite evident.  Fortunately, police and explosives experts were able to safely detonate the thing before she tried mashing or baking it.

Of course, if it’s this easy to mistake the two things, you also have to spare some sympathy for some poor soldier out there on the battlefield who makes the same mistake, screaming at the top of his lungs as he attacks an enemy fortification with nothing but a dirty spud in his hand. That has to be pretty embarrassing, though probably not for long.  Here’s the story:

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You want fries with that? Palestinian militant members of the Popular Resistance Committee take part in a news conference in Gaza in a file photo. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Ahead of a grilling by the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Task Force, Sirius chief executive Mel Karmazin talked to us on Tuesday about why its proposed acquisition of XM Satellite Radio would yield benefits for them and for consumers in a mercurial competitive landscape.

But the deal is not crucial to its survival, Karmazin told us in an interview.

“Is the company going to be able to survive and be around if the merger doesn’t happen? Yes. We believe it will be able to absolutely survive without a merger. We have said that we have cash on the balance sheet which would enable us to get to cash flow positive. And we have a business plan that provides for us to be profitable.”

“What we think is that (with this deal) there would be significant cost savings that will enable us to be even more competitive and offer even more benefits. But this isn’t a failing company argument that we are taking.”

Merger or no, Sirius radios will contine to work, according to Jim Meyer, Sirius’ President, Sales & Operations. He told analysts on the company’s quarterly conference call:

“We must not confuse consumers, as we take the time necessary to work through the regulatory approvals required. To combat this issue, quite simply, we will guarantee customers that any radio they buy from SIRIUS will not become obsolete. ”

Karmazin is expected to be one of the main speaker in Washington today, where lawmakers will discuss the deal.

Read USA Today’s Q&A with Mel Karmazin here.

Here we go again. China seems to be the kind of place where P.T. Barnum and the Ripley’s Believe it or Not folks could retire happily. Recently we gave you the stainless steel pot-eater, and today we’ve got this dude holding five chairs in his teeth in a Hong Kong shopping mall.

I don’t completely understand the marketing strategy here. Back when I lived in Hong Kong, frenzied shoppers were so interested in buying gems and designer luggage that they never even would have noticed a guy chomping down on five chairs.

So, have they done research and isolated a demographic that has money and would love to spend it, but only if they can go someplace and see carnival freaks at the same time? “Grab your wallet, honey, the fire-eating geeks are performing at Jimmy Choo!”

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Guo Guozhi, one of the “China’s Top Ten Extraordinary Men”, uses his teeth to lift 5 chairs, each measuring 1.1m in length and 3.1 kg (6.8 pounds), at a shopping mall in Hong Kong February 9, 2007. REUTERS/Paul Yeung

 Careful what you wish for.

That was Blockbuster Inc. Chief Executive John Antioco’s message to Hollywood studios as they feel compelled to experiment with DVD release dates.

They may not like the results.

Here’s what he said on Tuesday during the company’s conference call to discuss fourth quarter financial results:
 ”The big impact to studios is, what impact does it have on sales of key titles?” 

“We do not believe a wholesale flip of the (release) windows makes sense economically for the studios and we believe because of that, it won’t happen.”

“I have mixed emotions…on one hand, I say, ‘Bring it on‘ because I think we need to get the answer to this question, so you know, we’ll know. We don’t believe it’s in the best interest of the company to make that switch.”
    
In an interview with Reuters, Antioco said the move to shrink release windows was being fueled by a Comcast test being conducted in Pittsburgh and Denver.  “This is a test that is a long time in the making,” he said. “The studios had to do it. They had to answer the question. I continue to feel that when they get an answer to the question they are not going to like the answer.”

(Photo: Reuters)

A magazine is not just something that you read while holding in your hands. Anyone who avoids paying for a subscription by reading stuff online knows this already, but the Magazine Publishers of America compiled a list of current initiatives that drives that point home.

The idea here is that publishers will find ways to sell advertising and subscriptions around these efforts because today’s children and tomorrow’s big spenders are far from keen about manipulating dead trees chopped up into small squares and stapled together.

Here is a partial list, ripped from the press release. The full list — and it’s a long one — is here.

Condé Nast: Online film festival, user-generated content on websites, interactive dating blogs, online video series, online radio station, bridal sites with virtual fitting rooms, PDA-enabled editions with mobile sites, and text shopping/buying from cell phones.

Guns & Ammo: Video library, online community.

Hachette Filipacchi: Launched magazine brands on free mobile sites, exclusive online content, daily blogs, virtual test drives of cars.

Hearst: Formed a digital applications and technology lab for its magazine brands, online contests, public awareness campaigns on MySpace, video content, podcasting, mobile content.

Martha Stewart Living: Branded online photo products, improved search functions, increased original content, and created a social community web network.

Meredith: Formed video creation unit for magazine brands.

National Geographic Magazine:  Posting short time-lapse film of four-hour heart replacement procedure that was a cover story package.

Newsweek: Online business degree program, launched a political blog, mobile editions.

The New Yorker: Collected 80 years of the magazine on a branded limited edition hard drive.

Time Inc. Online guru guides, acquired social networks, downloadable sports tickers, sports tracking applications, special swimsuit issue website, mobile content series, several new blogs, upgraded social networking functions on its websites.

For most press photographers standing in the rain is an occupational hazard; even so the equipment we use does not operate well when wet. Imagine then the challenges faced by news photographers when torrential rain floods a nation’s capital city, leaving more than 340,000 people displaced and knocking out transport and communications.

After 24 hours of continual downpour, Reuters Jakarta photographer Beawiharta was shooting pictures of happy children playing in flooded paddy fields. Two days later with the water still rising Chief Photographer Indonesia Enny Nuraheni was literally up to her neck in it, photographing the evacuation of beleaguered residents from lower lying areas of the city.

“I was paddling through flood water on a borrowed air mattress which residents usually use to sleep on. Getting access to the areas of deeper water using my temporary raft I was able to shoot the pictures of rescuers putting the boy in a plastic container as they fled, neck deep in flooded streets. We had to continually take care and rely on local knowledge as we couldn’t determine what was a flooded river and what was a tunnel which could sweep us under the flood waters.”

A week later as the waters receded, with thousands still in cramped emergency shelters and the fear of disease gripping the city, Beawiharta’s image of buckets of mud in a Jakarta classroom, looks deceptively like a scene from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and hints at the sheer scale of the task faced by residents before they can return to their homes.

And finally, two succinct black and white images from You Witness contributor Donal Husni show life in Pamalung, Indonesia returning to normal as the floods recede.

They call it the “city of lights,” and we saw a whole line of new creations at a Paris fashion show yesterday in which the models wore their own elaborate light fixtures. Why didn’t somebody think of this sooner? If you’re a chick who likes to be in the spotlight, take the spotlight with you!

There are a few minor, minor problems to be worked out:

• flop sweat from the intense heat can be a problem if you tend to wear an outfit for longer than four minutes.
• second degree skin burns - carry plenty of extra makeup and something to disguise that gross sizzling sound
• small aircraft have attempted to land on several models wearing these dresses
• extension cords are difficult to accessorize
• okay, a few unfortunate “incidents” have been reported at beach parties

A model presents this creation by Dutch designers Viktor and Rolf during their Autumn/Winter 2007/08 women’s ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris February 26, 2007. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Oddly Enough Blog

Dear Blog Guy,
You must see a lot of gross stuff in your line of work, what with foreign reporting and everything. I know foreigners eat a lot of strange things - what’s the weirdest dish you’ve heard of recently, and how far would you have to travel to get it?
Food Lover

Well, Food Lover, this week a consumer group went after the U.S. restaurant industry, and as an extreme example they named a dish containing 2,050 calories that is served by a U.S. restaurant chain and is available four blocks from my house. It is a cross between a pizza and stuffed potato skins, with a deep-dish pizza crust crammed with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, mashed potatoes, bacon and sour cream. I am not making this up. See for yourself

Oh, come on! I can’t believe any U.S. restaurant would serve this as an entree!
Food Lover

No, as a matter of fact they offer it as an appetizer. After you finish that, you get your entree, but leave room for dessert! Will Dunham reports:

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Another generous portion: Waitress Cindy Hines serves a club sandwich at Tony’s I-75 restaurant in Birch Run, Michigan, October 15, 2006. Tony’s, located just north of Flint, has been serving locals and travelers journeying along the interstate highway in Michigan for more than 50 years and is known for their enormous portions. REUTERS/Molly Riley

Hollywood’s big party is now over, and the town can put the Oscar race of 2006 behind it.
    There is no doubt that the best film win by Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller “The Departed” left many movie fans happy. Scorsese, who has helmed movies such as “Raging Bull” and “GoodFellas,” also won the Oscar for best director, finally taking the prize after losing five times previously.
    “It was an overwhelming moment for me,” Scorsese told reporters backstage at the Oscars on Sunday. “This comes as an extraordinary surprise and quite frankly the best picture was a big surprise … I’m just not used to winning.”
    There also is no doubt the big night for “The Departed” left many other fans disappointed, and that is because the race for best film was so wide open. Each movie, “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Babel,” “The Queen,” and “Letters from Iwo Jima,” had their ardent fans.
    But is “The Departed” really the best movie of 2006? Very simply, no. It is, by the way, absolutely the best movie for the dominant block of voters at the roughly 6,000 member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but that does not mean it is the best movie.
    Any critic and any moviegoer will tell you that enjoying movies is a subjective notion. The same thing that makes some people cry in “Little Miss Sunshine,” makes others laugh. The structure of the disparate stories told in “Babel” intrigued many audiences while others simply grew confused.
    It’s been that way throughout movie history, and it’s been that way through the 79 years of the Academy Awards. Quick, what was the best movie for 1939, “Wizard of Oz,” or “Gone With the Wind”? Both remain popular today, so they have stood the test of time. Yet only one could be chosen best film Oscar winner that year. It was “Gone With the Wind.”
    Why can’t “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” be the best film of 2006? After all, it was No. 1 at box offices  with $423 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales. That’s pretty good. “The Departed” had $131 million.
    Scorsese and “Departed” won because the master director was long overdue for his record of classic movies, and the Academy finally gave him his just reward, the experts say. There is nothing wrong with that. The Academy is a club for all intents and purposes, and that club can do what it wants.
    Filmgoing depends on many things, including the viewers’ mood at the time they see a film, their expectation of what story they will be told and how that story is told. Don’t let others decide what movie is good or bad, especially not a clubby group based in Beverly Hills with a highfalutin’ name like The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
    Meanwhile, as some of you may know, Pascal Pinck and I were on the red carpet Sunday night, and many of you sent us questions. We regret that we got to few of them because of the hectic pace. We do, however, hope you watched and enjoyed. Thanks for the questions, and keep them coming.