Evans Above

After seeing the recent flash mob on Modern Family, I came across this YouTube sensations of a flash mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus to unsuspecting food court patrons in a mall. It’s already made the old media rounds, appearing on CNN, CTV, etc.

Looking over the comments on YouTube, I chuckled at the one that said, “America does controlled spontaneity like no one? else.” Maybe America is great at “controlled spontaneity” but kudos to Canada as this was actually shot in a mall in Welland, Ontario. You can even see the OLG kiosk in the background…which reminds me, I need to buy a 6/49 ticket.

There’s a giant meme flashing around the internet right now. It’s even got its own Twitter hashtag: #buthonestlymonica

In a nutshell, writer Monica Gaudio discovered that an article she had written about apple pie had been published in a print magazine called Cooks Source. She had not been paid, nor had she given her permission for the article to be published by them.

She started an email exchange with the mag’s editor, Judith Griggs, and when asked what she wanted, Monica asked for a printed apology and a $130 donation to be made to the Columbia School of Journalism. Grigg’s reply showed a draw-droppingly ignorant point of view for someone in the publishing world. Griggs said:

…Honestly Monica, the web is considered “public domain” and you should be happy we just didn’t “lift” your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me… ALWAYS for free!”

Wow. The web went nuts. People began digging around and discovered evidence that articles on the site may have been taken from NPR, The Food Network, Paula Deen, Disney and a whole host of others whose legal pockets are quite deep. The blog How Publishing Really Works has an excellent post detailing the whole Monica Gaudio/Judith Griggs debacle.

And not wanting to let a good meme pass, we present our new T-Shirt: Dear Judith Griggs: My ass may not be public domain but you can still kiss it!

Nevada GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle was recently talking to a group of Hispanic high school students. At one point, she was asked about her ads featuring Latinos and discussions of illegal aliens. Angle responded, “I think that you’re misinterpreting those commercials. I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through.”

Ok. Well none of the 9/11 terrorists came from Canada and Canada is now trying to get Angle to apologize.

Angle went on though and questioned if the people in the ad were even Latinos adding, “So that’s what we want is a secure and sovereign nation, and, you know, I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me.”

So in honor of Sharron Angle’s remarks, we bring you the Asian-Looking Hispanics for Sharron Angle (because she looks kinda crazy) T-Shirt.

Kendra Wilkinson has a memoir. Really?

What’s crazier: the fact that she does or the fact that someone out there will buy it?

M. Night Shyamalan’s career arc has been a topic of discussion among filmgoers and the entertainment media after his last few films. Some people think that the director’s career has been on a downward spiral over the last few years. They believe his career basically peaked with his third, and most famous film, The Sixth Sense.

I got a taste of the public perception tonight when I attended a press and promo screening Wednesday evening for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Mostly public, with a smattering of press. There were a couple of the studio’s trailers before the film.

One was for Drew and John Erick Dowdle’s new thriller, Devil. When the tag “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” (he has a “story by” credit) appeared on the screen, the audience burst out into spontaneous laughter. Not a scientific poll, but perhaps an inkling as to what the moviegoing public thinks of the filmmaker’s recent output.

Here’s a look at the trailer for Buried, which comes out October 8th, 2010. In the film, Ryan Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

After Joe Barton’s apology to Tony Hayward, will the Republicans decide to change party nickname from “GOP” to “GO BP”? Or will they embrace clean energy and suggest capping Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s mouth to reduce the global warming caused by all her hot air?

I think this story from Money Smarts Blog is a good enough reason to avoid owning rental properties and buy REIT shares instead.

We noticed we were getting a lot of traffic for a poster we sell of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.

We decided we’d fill some of that searching with a new page featuring the star striker: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) Souvenirs

It’s funny how an appearance on a news show or site can trigger a hot trend in Google. Today, actress Christa Miller — of Drew Carey, Scrubs and Cougar Town fame — is a hot topic. So in the interest of serving Google, here’s a photo of Christa Miller we took back in 1999 at the Golden Globes.