24 Sep Dan Abrams’ Web Properties Today: September 24, 2013
From Mediaite: What did Obama have to say about the state of the world today? Mediaite reports, “Speaking before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday morning, President Obama subtly pushed back on Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s New York Times editorial by declaring that ‘America is exceptional.’ The danger for the world is that the United States, after a decade of war, is rightly concerned about issues back home,’ the president said before the gathering in New York City. ‘Aware of the hostilities that our engagement in the region has engendered throughout the Muslim world, they disengage, creating a vacuum of leadership that no other nation is ready to fill. I believe such disengagement would be a mistake.’” Read more here.
From Gossip Cop: What’s the latest on Bieber? Writes Gossip Cop, “Justin Bieber has reportedly thrown Lil Twist andLil Za out of his house after jewelry and other items allegedly went missing. According to TMZ, the two Bieber pals have been staying at the pop star’s Calabasas mansion and throwing parties in his absence. Bieber is said to have discovered earlier this month that expensive bling was gone, and reportedly blamed Twist and Za because it happened on their watch. It’s not known who took the jewelry, or how much was taken. Gossip Cop has reached out for confirmation. Lil Twist has repeatedly gotten into trouble while driving Bieber’s car, and Lil Za has also beenlinked to some questionable behavior in The Biebs’ presence.” Read the story here.
From Geekosystem: The reactions to Grand Theft Auto 5 are in, and one is “why we can’t have nice things,” writes Geekosystem: “Another day, another person complaining that video games make people do violent stuff — except this time it’s not a member of congress but an actual person who did violent stuff and got caught. Man, you know you’re screwed when your best defense comes from a very special episode of Law and Order: SVU. The person in question, 20-year old Zachary Burgess, was arrested by Baton Rouge police this past weekend after hopping after a car just as the owner got out and driving away with it while the female passenger was still inside. He also hit several other cars in the attempted escape, but was stopped by witnesses at the scene until the authorities arrived. See, that’s how you know you’re not in a video game — the NPCs are actually useful. Upon questioning,Burgess told investigators that he wanted to see what it would be like to play Grand Theft Auto in real life.” Read on here.
From Styleite: People can’t stop talking about Miley Cyrus, and now her stylist is speaking out: “There are many things that Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance could have used more of. Clothes, for one. Some might add the input of a responsible parent or the go-ahead from the now-blighted foam finger’s creator. But more twerking shots? According to LA stylist and pink teddy bear enthusiast Lisa Katnic, that’s what was really missing. Speaking to The Cut, Katnic laments: ‘[MTV viewers] didn’t really get to see [seven-foot-tall burlesque dancer] Amazon Ashley’s butt twerking — which is an amazing sight. I feel bad for people who had to watch the performance on-camera. It was a spectacle in person.’ It wasn’t exactly boring on-screen, though we do agree that having the cameras focused on someone who could actually twerk, especially during this part, would have enhanced the performance’s artistic merit.” Read on here.
From SportsGrid: Is your favorite team’s quarterback off to a not-so-hot start this NFL season? There may be a solution, writes SportsGrid: “Somebody go fire up the ol’ rumor mill: Brett Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, says that the NFL great/occasional drama queen/owner of infamous penis is in best shape I’ve ever seen him in’ and could play in the league today. Okay, y’all ready to speculate? Cook spoke to AL.com recently, and, though the article makes it clear that Cook was “merely making an observation” and not trying to drive us all insane with yet another will-he-or-won’t-he saga, the guy had plenty of great things to say about the former Packer/Jet/Viking.” Read more here.
From The Mary Sue: Want to help an awesome cause and get an awesome reward for it? Writes The Mary Sue, “Hanging out with Joss Whedon and the Avengers cast? Check. Helping out women in need? Check. Bidding For Good is an auction site where people can bid to purchase items like sports tickets, fine art, and cruises to benefit various charities. This October, the site is opening an auction for an exclusive visit to the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron set. Charitably-minded geeks can bid for a chance to be ‘the personal guest of writer and director Joss Whedon,’ provided they have at least $500 lying around – that’s the value for the opening bid. Chump change, perhaps, for an item whose true value the site estimates to be ‘priceless.’ They know that this is the ultimate geek-out experience.” Read the story here.
From The Jane Dough: Today, in Ladies of Late Night, a favorite Veep star throws a temper tantrum in a coffee shop: Writes The Jane Dough, “The Internet loves a good meltdown — particularly when it comes from a woman, but we’ll leave the Intro to Gender Studies examination for another day. Still coasting from that sweet viral video high, Jimmy Kimmel revealed another YouTube gem last night, this time focusing on our evergreen fascination with public tantrums. After rotating through the standard hits like “This Lady Is Goin Off In The Apple Store” and “Man Goes Off At Wendy’s Drive Thru Window,” Kimmel shared a never-before-seen clip of Veep actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus flipping out in a coffee shop. The video hasn’t been previously seen for good reason: it’s fake. Regardless, keep a close watch, people: these are the comedic skills that pay the bills and win Emmys.” Watch the video here.
From The Braiser: Pie or cake? Writes The Braiser, “This year’s 16th annual Southern Foodways Symposium is dedicated to ‘Women at Work’ (yes, we swoon), and the sold out weekend in Oxford, Mississippi features what might be our favorite food debate of all time, hosted by two of our favorite lady food writers of all time (we swoon again). Kat ‘The Grill Goddess’ Kinsman and Kim ‘NYT Atlanta Bureau Chief, Multi-James Beard Award winner, and Otherwise Very Big Deal’ Severson will sit down at the Symposium and take place in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate against each other extolling the virtues of either pie or cake. In the pie corner, we have Kat Kinsman, while Kim Severson bravely defends the noble cake… The Southern Foodways Symposium takes place October 4-6. We’ll keep you posted on the final debate scores.” Read how they are preparing for the debate here.