Thursday, October 31, 2002
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Page Six
VH1 has pulled the plug on the "Liza & David" show after weeks of frustration trying to deal with David Gest - a svengali who continually restricted access to his new bride, Liza Minnelli.
"We discovered what a lot of people already knew: David Gest is impossible to work with," said a source close to the aborted reality show. "David Gest redefines the term 'control freak.' He was almost insane."
The heavily hyped cable show was originally supposed to debut Dec. 8, then was pushed back to January. Yesterday, VH1 lawyers wrote to Gest's lawyers informing them the deal was off because Gest had breached the contract repeatedly.
"In light of your . . . inability to cure these breaches, it is with great regret and sorrow that we must notify you that we have no choice but to terminate the agreement," the letter states.
Rob Weiss, VH1's head of East Coast programming and development and one of the show's executive producers, told PAGE SIX:
"We've made the decision not to move forward with the 'Liza & David' show on VH1. Although we continue to believe that Liza is an amazing talent, we were not given the cooperation that we were promised."
Weiss would say no more, but insiders said Gest:
* Kept Minnelli locked in their apartment. "She'd want to come out to shoot, and he wouldn't let her," said one source.
* Banned Liza from watching dailies.
* Made the crew take off their shoes and wear surgical booties inside the apartment.
Gest was such a "neat freak," insiders said, he once ordered a female member of the VH1 crew to stick her head in the oven to examine some dirt.
Another time, Gest made a crew member stand with a portable vacuum cleaner while a hole was drilled in a plaster wall.
But the worst problem was lack of access. "This went beyond creative differences," said our insider. "He canceled us about 20 times. He had a bodyguard stand outside to keep the crew out."
Gest would call producers as late as 2 a.m. and everything would be worked out, "but he'd break every promise in the morning," our source said.
Producers didn't get inside to start setting up until three days before an Oct. 21 party Gest threw, and never saw the guest list - Dominick Dunne, Isaac Mizrahi, Lynn Wyatt, Sandra Bernhard, Liz Smith and Cynthia McFadden - in advance.
Ray Charles and Luther Vandross both performed, but Gest refused to give the microphone to chart-topping teen Michelle Branch or Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child.
"Gest refused to listen to our producers," our source said. "He thought he knew best."
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Monday, October 28, 2002
I saw The Ring on Friday. It's an urban legend piece, sort of like Candyman, in this case featuring a video that after you watch it, the phone rings, telling you you have seven days to live. And then you die a week later. The delightful Naomi Watts, who didn't even get nominated for an Oscar for Mulholland Drive, stars as a reporter on the story, and who must have a death wish to want to pursue a story like that.
It scared the shit out of me. I practically spent the whole film on the lap of the guy sitting behind me. Having a beer with my friends afterwards felt like one long group exhale. And that was despite some of the more ridiculous parts of the movie. The video in question was art-school goth crap, and the idea of a spectral dead girl waiting for the answering machine and leaving a message was silliness up there with Hannibal Lecter's job search in Hannibal.
I hear the original Japanese version of The Ring is much better; if I see it I might end up giving birth.
Maybe I'm just whimping out in my old age or something.
Monday, October 28, 2002 Posted: 3:36 AM EST (0836 GMT)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- A reckless driver killed six people when he hit a group of mourners, prompting surviving funeral-goers to stone him to death and try to set fire to his body, police said.
The driver crashed his BMW at speed into the group, which had just attended a funeral in the northwestern Limpopo province town of Klipgat on Sunday, and then tried to drive on, police Inspector Tyron Seate told Reuters on Monday.
He said four people were killed instantly and two more were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital, adding to the toll of thousands who die through reckless driving on South Africa's roads every year.
The mourners were so angry with the BMW's driver, who tried to drive on after the crash, that a crowd of about 500 hauled him from his car, stoned him to death by the side of the road, and attacked police who tried to stop the mob burning his body.
"When the police arrived on the scene to arrest him, we were also stoned by these people, and they fired shots towards us," Seate said.
"They didn't want police to intervene and rescue the driver. They had put him inside the boot of the car and were about to burn him...We had to use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them."
Seate said members of the mob were too angry with police to answer questions about the crime. "We can't even talk to the witnesses because they are so furious with us."
An investigation into the incident was underway.
"A case of murder has been opened, as well as one of culpable homicide...I think the investigating officer will try and make a case against those who killed the driver," Seate said.
Friday, October 25, 2002
The people at Stuart's Coffee House remember John Allen Muhammad as a quiet chess player who never wanted to be apart from his big, stuffed, heavy U.S. Army duffel bag.
At this point, nobody can prove that the bag Muhammad was lugging around contained the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that police found in his car when he and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo were arrested at a Maryland rest stop early Thursday. By the end of the day, ballistics tests had tied that weapon to the bloody East Coast sniping spree that left 10 people dead.
But federal court records filed in Seattle indicate that Muhammad owned the weapon in question in May 2000, well before he and Malvo arrived in Bellingham.
The Rev. Al Archer, director of the Lighthouse Mission where Muhammad lived off and on for months, remembers him as a guy who made a good first impression - too good.
"On the surface he was squeaky clean," Archer said. "He was almost too good to believe. I kind of quit believing."
After he got to know Muhammad better, Archer grew so suspicious of his odd behavior that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization, and he called the FBI. But that was in October 2001, in the aftershock of the World Trade Center massacre, and Archer doesn't think he got the feds' attention.
"I felt they probably threw the note in the trash," he said.
Mystery bag
At Stuart's, 1302 Bay St., suspicions were never aroused to that extent. Quirky people are hardly a novelty there, employees said.
Nobody ever got a peek inside Muhammad's duffel bag, but singer Hannah Parks, who often performs at Stuart's, said it seemed a lot heavier than it would have been if it only contained clothes. She also thought it sometimes made a metallic sound when Muhammad moved it around.
Mark Wendover and Ellie Savage, who work nights at Stuart's, said Muhammad wanted to take the duffel into the restroom with him, even though that's against the rules because of management's concerns about drug dealing. That didn't deter Muhammad.
"He snuck it into the back bathroom where we couldn't see it," Wendover said.
Although Muhammad spent time at the homeless shelter, he sometimes flashed a wallet thick with currency, and showed off expensive-looking watches and gold bracelets, Parks said.
At the mission, Archer said, Muhammad would stay for a few days and then leave, saying he was traveling to Denver and New Orleans, among other places. The odd part was that Muhammad was traveling by airplane. Archer learned that when an airline ticket agent called the mission asking for Muhammad.
"At the mission, not many airline agents call and ask for residents," Archer said.
Muhammad's frequent flier status seemed odd to other people. One of them was Greg Grant, a real estate agent in Bellingham who owns and manages an apartment complex about two miles south of Sumas on Highway 9. Last year, Grant said, he would often drive residents of Lighthouse Mission - including Muhammad on several occasions - to the apartments to do yard work and other chores, then back to the mission once the work was done.
Once, Muhammad told Grant that he had to travel a long distance, possibly to Jamaica or the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, to sign some papers on a land sale, Grant said. Grant said he wondered why Muhammad would fly to do that when the job could be handled by mail.
In the post 9-11 climate, Archer felt it was worth a call to the FBI.
"I felt like he was part of an organization. I felt like he had some connection with terrorists. ... I said he's got connections somewhere with somebody who's got money," Archer remembered telling the FBI.
He also contacted Bellingham police with his concerns.
"We both agreed there was something not right, but there was nothing they could nail him with," Archer said.
Archer said he can't help but wonder what would have happened if his concerns had been taken more seriously.
"I always figured we would read about John in the news," he said. "He was involved in something. He wasn't just an average, ordinary guy. ... If he had been stopped at that time, a lot of people would be alive who are not."
Visit by mother
Also in the fall or early winter of 2001, Archer said he first made the acquaintance of Una James, who told Archer that she was Malvo's mother. Archer said she arrived in Bellingham with five packing crates of belongings.
"She said she had come bag and baggage to Bellingham to try and get her son back," Archer said.
But James had immigration problems. When she tried to check into Agape Women's & Children's Home, the mission's lodgings for homeless women, immigration agents were waiting to take her into custody. She eventually got back to Bellingham and was reunited with Malvo, Archer said. But it didn't last long.
He was sketchy on details, but at some point James and Malvo were arrested again in Seattle, and Malvo eventually was released and wound up with Muhammad again. James eventually made it back to Bellingham to reclaim her five packing boxes from the mission warehouse, but she then left the city for good, without her son.
Earlier warning?
Another indicator of possible danger arose when Muhammad and Malvo reportedly began talking to people about violent plots. Bellingham lawyer Patrick Lackie said a client of his, Harjeep Singh, met Muhammad and Malvo and struck up a friendship while exercising at Whatcom Family YMCA.
But Singh was soon put off by the men's "anti-American statements," Lackie said. They also spoke of violent plans, but offered few details, the lawyer said.
"At some point, they had told him that they wanted to make a silencer and wanted to know if he would help them," Lackie said. "And they had said they had plans to shoot police.
"He didn't know if it was real or not, or if it was just talking big," Lackie said. "He really didn't know them. They seemed like decent guys on the outside."
Singh told the men, whom he knew as John and Lee Muhammad, that he didn't know how to make silencers for guns, and didn't want to be involved in their plans, Lackie said. He then distanced himself from the men, Lackie said.
In June, when Singh was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, he told police about the conversations with Muhammad and Malvo, Lackie said. The police told the FBI, he said.
"They never told him they were going to do what they have just been accused of doing," the lawyer said. "They never told him of any specific plan, they basically conveyed ideas to him about things that they wanted to do or thought about doing.
"He didn't know if they were just huffing and puffing and mad at the government. But they said some bad things and obviously he thought enough of it that he told police about it."
Singh didn't think Muhammad and Malvo had anything to do with the sniper shootings near Washington, D.C., until he saw their photos on television Thursday, Lackie said.
According to federal court records, Muhammad told a former Army buddy four months ago that he tried to equip an assault rifle with a silencer.
Bellingham Police Chief Randy Carroll confirmed that Singh told police and FBI agents months ago about conversations he'd had with Malvo and Muhammad.
"It was pretty much just general information and certainly did not give us any indication that Mr. Malvo or Mr. Muhammad's future would lead them to where they are today," Carroll said. "The information he gave us did not lead us to a criminal investigation and in fact did not lead us anywhere."
The FBI and police went back and talked with Singh on Wednesday, Carroll said. He said Singh gave different information from what he said earlier, but would not elaborate.
"I think that Mr. Singh is trying to position himself in this community to be a bigger part of the totality of the circumstances than he truly is," Carroll said.
Kept to themselves
Besides the occasional issues with the duffel bag, Muhammad and Malvo didn't cause any trouble at Stuart's Coffee House, employees said. They mostly kept to themselves; they played chess, often until midnight closing time; and didn't mingle much, even with other chess players.
"I don't think I ever saw either of them smile," Savage said.
Muhammad was quiet and Malvo, whom Muhammad referred to as his stepson, seemed almost speechless.
"I thought (Muhammad) might be beating up his son or something because he (Malvo) was so intimidated by everything," Parks said. "The kid did not talk."
Some of Muhammad's ex-in-laws told the Associated Press that Muhammad was keeping the teen-ager on a diet of crackers, honey and nutritional supplements, and had earlier kept an older son on a similar martial regimen of exercise and spartan diet.
While Muhammad seldom called attention to himself, Parks also said Muhammad gave her some unwelcome attention. He almost seemed to be following her around, she said. Whenever she was at Stuart's, he would be there. When she moved her singing act out onto downtown streets, Muhammad would nearly always appear a few minutes later.
Muhammad also pestered her for her address and phone number, telling her that he was a music producer and he wanted to help her career.
"I asked him for a business card and he said he didn't have any," Parks said. "He said he played the trumpet and he had all these connections ... but he looked like a homeless guy, so it was sketchy."
Parks also said Muhammad tried to get her into conversations about politics and religion, subjects she said she prefers to avoid. He seemed even more interested in those subjects after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she said.
Although Parks wasn't interested in hearing his views at length, she does remember that "he definitely talked about how he wasn't into America."
He also passed out pro-Islamic fliers on the street from time to time, she said.
While local authorities have said they believe Muhammad and Malvo left Bellingham for good about nine months ago, after his last stint at Lighthouse Mission, Wendover and Savage are nearly certain the pair were at Stuart's around April and May. And Parks insists they were there as late as June.
She remembers Muhammad trying to convince her to drive cross-county with him. But her interest in that proposition was zero.
"Anybody with that much money who's roughing around on the street, you gotta wonder about," she said.
Like many sons, Kim didn't always want to follow in his father's footsteps. What he really wants to do is direct. Kim's video library reputedly contains between 15,000 and 20,000 films, and in 1973 he wrote a 300-page book on film, titled On the Subject of the Cinema. In a less academic vein, he authorized the separate kidnappings of a South Korean movie director and his wife in 1978. After keeping them apart for five years (with neither knowing of the other's whereabouts), Kim reunited them and explained that he hoped to turn North Korea into some kind of East Asian Hollywood with their help. The three made six movies together before the two captives escaped, including one that won a best-director award at a Czechoslovakian film festival. In a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the liberated actress-wife said Kim could have been a top-notch movie producer had fate not led him down the path of totalitarian dictatorship. "We nicknamed him 'micro-manager,' " she said. "He pays attention to everything. He keeps track of everything. He is simply amazing."
Oct 23, 9:13 am ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German policewoman snared a wanted criminal after she arranged a blind date with him, police said Tuesday.
The policewoman found the 29-year-old man's mobile phone number and landed a date after flirting with him, said a police spokesman.
"It all began as a wrong number call, which then turned into a conversation, and eventually a date in a bar downtown," he said.
The criminal -- wanted in the town of Recklinghausen, north of Cologne, for crimes worth a total of three years behind bars if he is convicted -- not only fell for the ploy, but turned up "all dressed up," he said.
The policewoman arrested the man at the end of the date, surrounded by other police officers who had been posing as fellow revelers.
The police spokesman could not confirm whether there had been mutual attraction. He said: "In any case, it was all purely professional."
Things overheard at the STD clinic
by Paul Demko
The quotes below are complaints reported by clients of Room 111, a public health clinic in St. Paul that treats people for sexually transmitted diseases. Nurses at the clinic began creating the list two decades ago; it now includes several hundred comments.
"I have reason to believe my penis was exposed to LSD. When I ejaculate I have flashbacks."
"My hair is falling out and the sun hurts my crotch."
"I went to a party, had a few beers, woke up in a closet later on and my face stunk and my dick hurt."
"My last period looked like meat."
"My balls feel soft and mushy."
"I be messin' with these nasty women from Minnesota and they don't tell you they got something unless they mad at you."
"How am I supposed to do lap dances smelling like a dead fish?"
"I got the dripper."
"I have food chunks in my urine."
"Had sex with my daughter's fiancé and then douched with Lysol--feelin' a little raw down there."
"Scabs on my butt and I'm losing my mind."
"I'm releasing semen when I take a crap."
"I was poked in the rectum with the infected finger of a 70-year-old homosexual man."
"I live at the VA and my roommate has his girlfriend from Minneapolis over. They throw ticks at me that bite my neck and when I pop the sores, they smell like vagina juice."
"Can't you put the swab in further?"
"I had sex with my baby's momma, sex with my other baby's momma and my other new baby's momma has disease."
"Last time I had sex I passed something that looked like Cream of Wheat before it's cooked."
"My cervix hurts when I jiggle."
"The seam in my circumcision split open."
"I be messin' with my ex-wife and my girlfriend and I don't trust either of them."
"My whole body smells like a menstruating woman, especially my armpits."
"From the looks of my penis, I believe they are sucking the adrenaline out of me."
"I think they hypnotized me and put implants and poltergeists in my brain and had sex with me."
"I think my boyfriend knows what's going on. He's been calling me a 'chlamydiahoris.'"
"My pee smells like ham."
Thursday, October 24, 2002
CAKEByte - The G-Money Shot
For the past generation getting the word out on female sexual pleasure meant unveiling the clitoris as a primary female pleasure spot and thus the surest way to orgasm. In emphasizing its inherent usefulness, there arose some heated debate about the difference between orgasms that came from external stimulation vs. internal stimulation - with some going so far as to refer to the internal orgasm as a myth. CAKE is here to tell you that there is no reason to mythologize the truth...but then again, why spend your time looking for the proverbial unicorn when you can find the white horse.
Though there has not been nearly enough research to announce groundbreaking results that will change the face of human sexuality - there has been a bit of research done on the g-spot since it was "found" by Dr. Graftenwhosehisname in 1950. In present times, the most recent hypothesis by some is the proposition that the external clitoris that we all know and love is actually, anatomically a large (4 or 5 inches) internal organ that wraps around the vaginal canal and stems all the way down the thighs! A figurative wishbone structure begging to be handled correctly. Who knew? The clitoris is an animal waiting to be stroke from the inside!
But don't fret - you don't have to choose. Further research shows that the g-spot - elusive to some and well known to others - is not entirely unrelated to the clitoris and that stimulation of one can mean stimulation of the other. Some experts have gone so far as to say that it is time, again to focus on internal stimulation and discover how the g-spot - and ejaculation as a result of g-spot stimulation - is the primary pleasure goal.
Hey, we're not here to fight. In fact, these recent developments in female pleasure mean a girl has got some options. And if you don't know the facts, you can't get the job done.
Let's review.
The G-spot:
The medical profession has accepted the g-spot or as they like to say the 'female prostate' as a real and functioning female organ that ejaculates. The g-spot itself is commonly known to be a bean-shaped area on the front wall of the vagina, about 1.5 inches above the opening.
It is known that the main component of the g-spot is the urethral sponge tissue, which surrounds the female urethra and which swells during sexual arousal. When swollen, this tissue can, in some women, be felt and stimulated through the vaginal wall in the area described as the g-spot.
The urethral sponge develops from the same embryonic stem tissue as the prostate gland in men (which is the organ affected by stimulating the "male g-spot"), and some of the secretions observed in female urethral ejaculation during g-spot orgasms are chemically similar to male prostate secretions.
The tissue swells during arousal. This may stimulate nerves in the area, and may also involve the internal portions of the clitoris. So the swelling of the tissue can produce pleasant sensations. Stimulating the tissue, commonly by pressing it through the vaginal wall, can further stimulate it
"Since the prostate in most women is ramp shaped and located just at the opening to the urethra and runs along the urethral canal about 1/3 of the way in, one can easily claim they are 'clitorally stimulating and ejaculating', when in fact they are also stimulating their g-spot." - Says Deborah Sundahl (aka Fanny Fatale) in her new book, 'Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot', due out from Hunter House in December.
How to find your G-spot:
Using a finger (or two,) go inside and feel along the front wall of the vagina. Once inside, rest your fingertips on the slightly ridged area just behind the pubic bone and press upwards lightly. Move your fingers subtly until you start to feel a small bean-shaped swelling. Vary the pressure, speed, and pattern of movement. Try moving your fingers side to side or in small circles. Point your fingers more sharply upwards and rock them forward and back. Use your thumb to rub the clitoris, and the first two fingers to simultaneously stimulate the g-spot. Repeat often, alone or with a partner.
Tip: When the g-spot is stimulated, it swells. You can see your g-spot, even its ridges, by getting a clear plastic speculum and turning it sidewise once it is inserted into the vagina. One of the best positions for many women to stimulate the g-spot with a partner is the classic - wheelbarrow position on your back with your legs over your head.
How to ejaculate:
According to a random study, supposedly 20% of all women have the ability to ejaculate. However the actual mechanism and physiology is not definitively known. More research is undoubtedly needed....In any case, yes, women have the potential to ejaculate. (No blushing boys.)
"Women can learn to ejaculate by themselves without an orgasm by stimulating the g-spot with their fingers and then pushing out the ejaculate. Most women will feel an urge to pee, but that urge is ejaculate knocking on the door, not urine! Strong and healthy PC muscles (pelvic muscles), amount of stimulation, and ability to relax and not fear one will pee will allow a woman to ejaculate and often determines its amount."
- Deborah Sundahl.
Again, knowing our bodies and learning and exploring its potential should be the message here.
The clitoral truth? Well no one really knows for sure. Much more research needs to be done. There are scores of women out there who tell us that all they need is a few strokes on their external clitoris (can take as little as 30 seconds!) and boom - a mind blowing 10 second orgasm that rocks their world. Other women like to stimulate the clitoris and g-spot at the same time for maximum pleasure. As far as CAKE is concerned, it is not an either or situation, but rather it's all about YOUR pleasure - so figure out what gets you off and explore your orgasmic potential. Go seek out your own "G money shot."
Love,
CAKE
www.CAKEnyc.com
www.CAKElondon.com
He regularly threatened to "destroy" his wife. "Destroy." Are you fucking kidding me? "Kill," "beat," "maim" or "disfigure" I can understand. But "destroy"? That's supervillain shit.
