Major League WTF?: The Bizarre World Of Courtney Stodden

In all of the weird stories in pop news history, few come much stranger than the weird tale of Courtney Stodden, an aspiring singer who looks about 40, but is really only 16 according to her birth certificate. Some entertainment sites seriously questioned that she was really 16, because she looks much older than that.But, searches revealed the shocking truth that she is really telling the truth and she's not pulling off a crazy hoax, when her real birth certificate was made public. Also very strange, is her recent bizarre marriage to 51 year old actor Doug Hutchison from LOST, the recently canceled ABC drama.

The fact of the matter is that Courtney Stodden is actually well under the age to legally buy beer, or even cigarettes for that matter, yet looks more than a decade older than her real age. And she could only be married with the consent of her mother because she is so young, marrying the actor 35 years her senior. What a weird story this is. Even a TWILIGHT ZONE episode couldn't be as creepy and weird as all of this is. Weird! Weird! Weird!

Big Time Sissyass Stuff: Oregon Democratic Party Fundraiser Calls donors Telling Them They're Being Arrested On Drug Charges

An outrageous fundraiser working for the Democratic Party of Oregon has been making outrageous fund-raising calls to donors telling them that they're going to arrested on drug charges as a sick joke. The latest outrageous conduct is about to be as expected when organizations don't do background checks on who they hire or set down hard and fast rules about professional conduct.

The unfunny joke is also backfiring as well, as at least one donor asked to be permanently removed from their phone call list as a result of the outrageous phony threatening phone call.

Rather than concentrating on improving the economy or running the country well, the Democratic Party has recently been focused on huge fund-raising efforts at all levels, local and national. While the latest Gallup Poll has President Obama trailing a generic GOP candidate by eight points, his re-election campaign has raised more than $80 million so far, easily besting GOP front-runner Mitt Romney's $29 million by comparison. The Democrats hope to counter a weak presidency and weak political leadership with huge ad blitz campaigns, which hardly seems like a suitable substitute for better political leadership to begin with.

Fantagraphics Will Publish THE COMPLETE ZAP COMIX

Big news from the world of comix and art is that Fantagraphics will publish THE COMPLETE ZAP COMIX, a beautiful two volume set reprint of all 16 issues of ZAP COMIX, that very influential underground comix series that ran from 1968-2005. It was mostly a vehicle for the terrific art of R. Crumb as well as Gilbert Sheldon and others. But, it was the ground-breaking social satire art of R. Crumb that really set up ZAP COMIX as a true legend. The one page image of his KEEP ON TRUCKIN' from issue #1 became such a legend that Toyota once offered the artist $100,000 to use the image for part of an advertising campaign.

Interestingly, that KEEP ON TRUCKIN' one page cartoon became so popular that it was ripped off by for numerous unlicensed products such as t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers and other items. R. Crumb never received royalties for hardly any of these images, and was even pursued by the IRS who thought that he was making huge royalties from the images, and once asked the artist for thousands in back taxes for the image. The overwhelming popularity of ZAP COMIX made R. Crumb into a widely respected artist, although he wasn't very skillful at learning how to profit from his works such as licensing the images. Crumb did officially license his FRITZ THE CAT character for a 1972, but then had some huge disagreements about how the film was made and demanded that his name be removed from the film. The film was made for $850,00 and grossed $190 million, becoming a huge success for the very first animated film ever with an X-rating. R. Crumb wrote a comic in which he killed of FRITZ, hoping to end that character, yet a 1974 sequel to the film, THE NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT was made. It was R-rated and was only a moderate success compared to the 1972 film.

R. Crumb was also known as a musician as well, recording several albums with his 1920's sounding string band, The Cheap Suit Serenaders. Some of these recordings were on the defunct 78rpm format. R.Crumb provided the album art for the recordings.

If anything, R. Crumb was forever temperamental and odd, but those personality quirks have helped to make the artist a legend where the upcoming collection of his ZAP COMIX works by Fantagraphics should really be something great to behold. The original artwork will be produced on high quality paper slightly larger than the original artwork, making the two book set a beautiful library volume to own and love.

ZAP COMIX contained some of the most influential artwork that characterized the underground hippie artwork era of the late 60's. The sheer popularity of those images have made those images of Mr. Natural, the KEEP ON TRUCKIN' panel and other images from those comix a great part of Americana. The new two book set by Fantagrahics is a great tribute to a great artist, R. Crumb.

In the past, Fantagraphics has published wonderful tribute hard bound, slipcover editions of great classic comix such as LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE and PRINCE VALIANT. The Fantagraphics editions may not come too cheap. But, compared to an original copy of ZAP #1 in perfect condition, valued at over $10,000, the Fantagraphics edition looks dirt cheap by comparison.

Strangely, although ZAP only lasted for just 16 issues, one issue was numbered #0. It was based on some drawings before the 1967 art of issue #1. So #0 was published as the third issue of ZAP, although the material actually predates the first issue. It is only another strange little quirk about this incredible collection of cartoons. And by spelling comics as comix, ZAP probably also helped to reshape the language of comics as well. What a wonderful collection of great art.

Major League WTF?: Catholic School Hires White Supremacist For Principal

No, it's not a new NBC comedy! But, for the last two years, Frank Borzellieri has served as principal at Our Lady Of Mount Carmel, a Bronx Catholic school despite an active career as a White supremacist author, linked to several controversial groups. Despite concerns of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal organization that has successfully sued some White supremacist's for civil rights violations, the Catholic Archdiocese has remained clueless about their choice of principal for a school with a large Black and Hispanic population. Apparently, using a computer for a little Google background check involves technology that this church has not yet embraced. It was only after an angry man was arrested who disrupted a Catholic mass to protest Borzellieri that this church got a clue that something might be seriously wrong with their choice of school principal.

Certainly, the religious school is cvery bit concerned that Borzellieri's views are far outside of church teachings. But, with their great track record of terrific background checks that have only allowed numerous sex criminals into church leadership positions, it's only about to be expected that a few others with outrageous backgrounds like Borzellieri can find their way into positions of authority with the church as well.

The latest embarrassment for the church is so funny that NBC should seriously consider making a weekly comedy about it. I think that WHITE SUPREMACIST CATHOLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPAL has hit written all over it. You think? - Sort of a twisted version of SAVED BY THE BELL, or something?

Who Is Sandy McMillin?

Sandy McMillin 51, made national news when she was tossed out of a Eugene, Oregon Wal-Mart in what appeared to be outrageous dress and a shaved head. But, there's an interesting life story behind this woman as KVAL noted. She was a former motorcycle racer who would race three wheeled motorcycles who suffered two serious life-threatening crashes in 1999 and 2008. In 1999 crash, she suffered serious head injuries that left her in a coma for three and a half months. Her head injuries were so serious she has continued to shave her head since the accident. She also wears a leg brace due to permanent damage to one leg as well. She's been permanently disabled since the two accidents. She lost her husband, Jimmy, in a 2006 motorcycle crash. That's been the biggest heartbreak of her life. Her husband was also her race crew chief as well. It was their common love of motorcycles and hot rods that brought the couple together.

KVAL, channel 13 Eugene, Oregon was a little dismayed that her appearance drew so many rude comments from viewers. Indeed, I admit to even tossing out some cheap jokes about her appearance. That was very wrong of me. She's a fellow motorcycle rider, and a real hero who was brave enough to rip roar down a racetrack in the dangerous world of motorcycle drag racing, and she deserves a great deal of respect as a great sports figure. Maybe the bikini top was a bad idea, but I think that Wal-Mart owed her a lot more respect than she received. I bet few Wal-Mart employees would have the balls to do what this lady has done with her life so far.

Celebrity Skin: Markie Post

Markie Post who just turned 60(and still a major league babe!) this year is probably best known as public defender Christine Sullivan on NIGHT COURT, the very popular comedy that once was the highlight of Wednesday nights on NBC. Currently she voices the character June Darby in TRANSFORMERS PRIME. And despite a long career in TV and movies, this beautiful actress has just two nude scenes to her credit. In 1988, while NIGHT COURT was still in production, Markie Post played call girl Marla in TRICKS OF THE TRADE, a made-for-TV movie. However, the home video version of the movie features some rare nudity from the actress including a topless scene and a nude swim scene not featured in the edited TV version of the movie. Fans of NIGHT COURT certainly got to see a lot more of the actress than they normally do.

The last known partially nude scene filmed by the actress was in the 1996 made-for-TV science fiction space alien film, VISITORS OF THE NIGHT, where some horny space alien beams Markie Post aboard their ship for a little alien probing, all done in the name of science, huh?

Despite her great beauty, nudes of Markie Post are exceedingly rare, where a number of fake nudes flourish on the Internet, photo-shopped by fans of the actress, who can only wish to see more of her in her birthday suit. But, the brainy daughter of a distinguished nuclear scientist, Richard F. Post, was rare to appear nude during her career, making TRICKS OF THE TRADE her most daring film of them all.

CONAN Falls To Fourth Place Among Cable Talk Shows

Conan O'Brien, remember him? He has a cable talk show on TBS, remember? Well, you're not alone if you forgot all about that show. It seems like a lot of folks have as well. During June, CONAN fell to fourth place place among the cable TV talk show also-rans, coming up just behind Chelsea Handler's CHELSEA LATELY. CHELSEA LATELY drew 808,000 average viewers vs. CONAN's lowly 743,000 viewers. Even worse, O'Brien is even losing the coveted 18-49 age bracket that advertisers love to CHELSEA LATELY by a 503,000-559,000 margin. THE DAILY SHOW with Jon Stewart and THE COLBERT REPORT top the cable TV talk show ratings race, leaving CONAN looking like the very last runner in a race.

Yet, despite all his ratings woes, Conan O'Brien still commands a fairly decent sized loyal fan base and critics gave high praise to CONAN O"BRIEN CAN'T STOP, a very good documentary film from Rodman Flender, which documented the months in which the comic wasn't able to legally perform on TV due to his NBC exit contract.

Going to cable TV was widely viewed as being a major mistake by many critics for Conan O'Brien as NBC sought to correct their mistake when they moved Conan O'Brien into the 11:30 TONIGHT SHOW slot where the show became a quick ratings failure. NBC had also hoped to cut TV production costs by creating a cheaply produced 10pm prime time show for Jay Leno, which certainly cost considerably less to produce than a decent TV program like a LAW & ORDER or ER would have cost. But, audiences quickly rejected that prime time version of a Jay Leno talk show. When NBC proposed moving Leno back into the 11:30 slot, and moving the TONIGHT SHOW with Conan O'Brien after midnight, O'Brien was upset and sought to leave NBC. Former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon took over Conan O'Brien's old 12:30 show and has made it into a decent hit with strong ratings that run neck and neck with THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON. Both of these guys have proven to be great talents, as both created excellent shows for as late as they appear on TV. Both entertainers and their shows are much better than their late night time slots would suggest. Either could easily handle the call to do a show at at 11:30 if the call comes someday. Jimmy Fallon probably ended up the biggest winner of the NBC shakeup disaster with Conan O'Brien ultimately the biggest loser, largely due to his inability to maintain strong enough TONIGHT SHOW ratings for a variety of reasons and his decision to leave network TV for lowly rated cable TV.

So where does this all leave Conan O'Brien? Maybe, do his cable TV show for a few more seasons until his contract runs out at TBS,, then call it quits to produce TV shows. Hopefully, much better than the ill-fated OUTLAW, though. Conan O'Brien remains a very talented writer and entertainer, but not always the best career manager.

While CONAN is certainly entertaining, the fact is that fewer and fewer people are even bothering to watch. Compared to building an audience of new viewers, that's a very troubling trend. But, if that trend is good enough for TBS or for Conan O'Brien to accept, then it can go on for a while until it just doesn't make good economic sense to continue.