Wimbledon royal box fixture and avid sports fan Kate Middleton has been awarded an honorary membership to the prestigious All England Tennis Club. Being a Duchess certainly has its privileges! “The Duchess was pleased to accept the kind offer, especially given her interest in tennis,” a palace rep said of Kate and the venue of the iconic sports event. Of course, the 31-year-old wife of Prince William is unlikely to make it to Wimbledon this year (with Kate Middleton’s due date also falling in early July). However, both she and her sister Pippa Middleton (along with her hubby, the Duke of Cambridge) have been staples at matches over the years. The membership offer has already sparked speculation that Kate may replace the Duke of Kent as club president whenever he chooses to step down. Time will tell if the ball is in her court there!
Katy Perry makes one convincing male ’70s game show host. Who knew!? In an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ show Friday, the 28-year-old singer channeled her inner Pat Sajak and lived out an unexpected childhood fantasy: Katy Perry Plays Game Show Host on Ellen Katy’s wig in particular earned a special shout-out: “I asked for the Anne Hathaway ,” she joked, before launching into a game called “Grab Ellen’s Bust.” To play, two lucky audience members had to answer some trivia questions about the host, who turns 55 tomorrow, while grabbing a bust of her likeness. If this whole pop superstar thing doesn’t work out, Katy Perry definitely has a fallback option as a cross-dressing game show host caught in a time warp. Watch the clip above, it’s pretty funny.
In a recent interview, Taylor Swift said she may want to end up alone. But the singer’s fashion choice said something very different last night, as Swift posed on the red carpet of something called the Principales Music Awards in Madrid, rocking a very revealing dress in the process. See for yourself: Is Taylor sending Harry Styles some kind of come hither message via this outfit? Or perhaps trying to lure her next prey? What do you think of the fashion statement? Love it! Loathe it! View Poll »
Andre Barbosa is living the dream. The 23-year-old has been crashing at a vacant mansion in Boca Raton, Fla., for free – and it’s all legal. Say what now? Boca Raton Squatter Using an obscure Florida real estate law to stake his claim on the foreclosed waterside property, Barbosa is legit squatting. The police can’t move him. No one saw him breaking into the house, so it’s a civil matter. Representatives for the real owner, Bank of America, are “following a legal process.” Not surprisingly, the situation is driving his neighbors crazy . “This is a very upsetting thing,” said neighbor Lyn Houston. “Last week, I went to the Bank of America and asked to see the person in charge of mortgages.” “I told them, ‘I am prepared to buy this house.’ They haven’t even called back.” Barbosa, according to reports, is a Brazilian national who refers to himself as “Loki Boy,” presumably after the Norse god of mischief. He did not return calls. He has reportedly posted a notice in the front window naming him as a “living beneficiary to the Divine Estate being superior of commerce and usury.” A spokeswoman for Bank of America said her company has sent overnight a complaint and an eviction notice to a clerk in Palm Beach County. Still, it’s unclear how quickly (if at all) the matter will be resolved. Barbosa is invoking a state law called “adverse possession,” which allows someone to move in and claim a property’s title if they can stay there seven years. A signed copy of that note is also posted in the front window. Soon after Bank of America foreclosed on the property in July, Barbosa notified the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office that he was moving in. Police were called to the home, which was empty for 18 months, but did not remove him. He presented cops with the “adverse possession” paperwork. The law stems from the days when most people lived on farms; whomever moves in to occupy the property must do so in an “open and notorious manner.” The deed is currently valued at $2.5 million, according to county records. The county appraiser’s office lists the total market value at $2.1 million. Hey, you might as well squat in style.
A woman was apparently so smitten with texting her boyfriend that she fell straight into a frozen canal in the UK, which suffice it to say is pretty hilarious. It all went down in Birmingham, England, when Capital FM Radio personality Laura Safe was texting her boyfriend en route to a shopping center. She was so engrossed in the text message that she didn’t notice she was heading straight for an icy cold canal a few feet from the base of a stairway. The rest, as they say, is viral history: Texting Woman Falls Into Canal Fortunately, area businessman Neil Edginton was able to rescue Safe. He said he saw the incident coming and tried to stop it, to no avail. Edginton “realized her focus was on her mobile phone and that she was going to walk straight into the water. I shouted to her to stop but it was too late.” “I dropped my phone and ran over to her. I had to lay down on the side with my arms in the water because she was submerged and pulled her out.” Although Safe did escape serious injury, she says she’s learned her lesson. “I’m a lot more cautious,” said Safe. “I don’t text any more. I’m too scared.”
Russell Erxleben has been arrested for kicking a financial plot way outside the uprights of the law. According to The Associated Press, the former NFL player was arrested yesterday on allegations that he schemed investors out of more than $2 million between 2005 and 2009. Erxleben, an ex-placekicker for the Saints and Lions, faces count of money laundering and security fraud. The maximum sentence for these charges? Over 100 years in jail! That’s worse than actually being stuck on the Lions! In 1999, Erxleben was sentenced to seven years behind bars after robbing other investors of $36 million. He stills owes $28 million in restitution from that incident.
Khloe Kardashian wants to make one thing very clear: she’s committed to her marriage. Just because she and Lamar Odom made the perfectly rational decision to shelve their reality show – considering it was jeopardizing Odom’s chances of signing with a new NBA team – doesn’t mean they are getting divorced, people! “I’m a modern girl, but you should put your husband first,” Khloe says in this week’s People Magazine cover story , adding that divorce is “not an option” for her. Oohhh, subtle slam at sister Kim Kardashian , huh? “We just wanted to prioritize a little,” Kardashian explains of tabling Khloe & Lamar after season two. “We just wanted a little pause. Part of being married is knowing when your husband needs your support.” Another part of being married? Having the business sense to bank six figures from giving an exclusive interview about a non-existent rumor. We’re actually being serious. Only the Kardashians could conjure up talk of divorce and then get paid for shooting it down. A reluctant tip of the cap in this case.
Photo via NOAA You can stream all sorts of nature sounds on your computer to keep you calm during the day — babbling brooks or rustling trees or ocean waves. But have you ever listening to whales singing live to you? A project called Listen to the Deep Ocean or LIDO , gives you that opportunity. But surprisingly, the tools used to record the song are tuned for something much more… spacey. Researchers trying to listen to neutrinos, which are emitted by distant stars, they’ve been able to pick up some extraordinary… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Is enough being done to save the Giant Tortoises? Photo credit: Collin Dunn Conservation efforts, especially in places as renowned as the Galapagos, have something of a reputation. It’s developers vs. protesters, consumers vs. conservationists, people vs. animals. Thanks to a lecture by Ros Cameron, who works at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) on Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos, we can see it’s lot, lot, lot more complex than that. So, with that as a given, what’s actually being done now to save the Galapagos?… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Wow…we’re more than a little shocked. The National Enquirer is reporting that Matt Lauer and his wife of twelve years Annette Roque have separated amidst allegations of infidelity. According to the magazine, Lauer moved out two months ago after Annette accused him of cheating on her with two Canadian broadcasters while covering the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The couple, who have three children, are reportedly under pressure from the network to keep Lauer’s indiscretions under wraps. Since when did keeping your image as a family man become more important than actually being one?
