BBC News: Ben Collins, aka ‘The Stig.’

”Former Formula Three driver Ben Collins has won a legal fight to publish an autobiography in which he claims to be The Stig - the mystery driver on the BBC’s Top Gear show. But who is he?” Fast, that’s who he is.

Chicago Tribune: Does a book’s popularity guarantee its movie’s success?

”The film version of ‘Eat Pray Love’ took in $24 million its opening weekend — a tally AdAge calls ‘satisfactory’ — but it was bested by ‘The Expendables,’ the over-the-hill tough-guy action movie. In the weeks since, the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ has stayed in the top three — respectable but not stunning. Meanwhile, the paperback of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ is back at the top of our nonfiction bestseller list.”

NY Times: Roger Ebert on Food.

Rice cooker mastery.

RogerEbert: The American.

High praise. I’ll see this one in the theatre.

GQ: The Verge Q&A;: Michael Caine.

”We all went and saw Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, about violence in the future—I felt we could’ve called this movie Clockwork Orange is Here! The gangs now are so much deadlier than when I was younger.”

WSJ: For Sale: T. Rex, Good Condition, Woolly Mammoth, Needs Repair.

“Prairie Dog Town, near Oakley, Kan., is for sale, with an asking price of $450,000, says its owner, Larry Farmer, who also wants to retire. It comes with 37 billboards advertising the attraction, 400 prairie dogs and — for anyone not sufficiently excited by burrowing rodents — a live, six-legged cow.”

Partizan.com: The Bike Song.

Great.

YouTube: Carlton Draught Slo Mo.

Guys, with promos like this, we just don’t stand a chance.

CNet: Men treat virtual girlfriends to beach vacations.

“If you visited the Japanese hot springs resort of Atami recently and spotted a disproportionate number of men gazing longingly at their smartphones, it probably wasn’t because they were playing Angry Birds. This summer, the beach town became a vacation hub for guys who like to treat their girlfriends to sun-and-fun holidays. Girlfriends, that is, who only exist on-screen.” Have human relations devolved so far?

New Scientist: Bjørn Lomborg: climate change is a problem after all.

We’ll have to see if “better late than never” applies.

The Coolist: Bentley R Type Concept.

I kinda like it. From the 3/4 view, it looks like it has a lazy eye ... like a cleaned up version of Jack Elam.

NY Post: Susan Boyle got Auto-Tuned on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

”News that Boyle’s audition was retooled comes as a particular shock, since it got more than 120 million YouTube hits and turned her into a global star.” We were sold a bill of goods ... anyone still have a stomach for reality shows?

YouTube: Sketchy Duel.

Yep. That’s about right.

GameTrailers.com: DC Universe Online Video Game, Exclusive Who Do You Trust Trailer.

These game folks are getting close to being more interesting than the live action movies.

Autistic Disdain: HuluPlus Comparison Chart.

Handy.

The Atlantic: Deficit Fears and the Pollster-Pundit Complex.

“This article is part of an unfortunate pollster-pundit complex where columnists, who are supposed to inform the public, instead recite public opinion without proper context or criticism, creating an infinite feedback loop that loses the central question: Is the public right? Halfway into the article, Zuckerman finally gets there: ‘Of course, the question remains whether public sentiment coincides with sound economics.’”

Goodbye to “Cowboys and Aliens.”

Jon Favreau gave us a nice Twitter goodbye, now Olivia Wilde (’13’ of House fame) gives a longer-form farewell. I understand she hurt her back during a horse stunt; hope she feels better soon.

[It always strikes me as funny that visitors discover things we residents don’t necessarily notice. Never knew that Body had regular gym machinery. I’ll have to go check it out. And the comment about Birkenstocks and melanoma was spot-on - for certain sections of town.]

My Modern Metropolis: Words of Wisdom.

Doesn’t need any commentary from me.

Left Lane News: Top Gear’s “The Stig” finally revealed?

”According to The UK’s The Telegraph, recently discovered financial reports place an almost undeniable amount of suspicion around Formula Three driver Ben Collins. The newspaper cites a report in 2002 – the same year the current Stig appeared on the show – that Collins’ own company, Collins Autosport, listed a major source of income from providing ‘driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme.’”

Wired: Simon Cowell’s X Factor Singing Contest Auto-Tuned Contestants.

Busted. Can’t say that AI winner of last season, Lee Dewyze, ever got Auto-Tuned. Dude was almost never able to hit a note on key - yet he still won.

Obit Magazine: The Murder that Changed the Movies - 50th Anniversary of Pyscho.

”Time magazine lamented ‘one of the messiest, most nauseating murders ever filmed. At close range, the camera watches every twitch, gurgle, convulsion, and hemorrhage ... The nausea never disappears.’” The article includes a Youtube clip. In case you want everpresent nausea.

Tilted Forum Project: Ziegfeld Girls of the ‘20’s.

My goodness. Well-veiled nudity, but still likely NSFW. Puts a different twist on history - some of these poses are quite current, almost Flickr-ish.

IGN: Do We Need Another Indiana Jones?

If we can’t get another James Bond, something much more worthy ... then no.

NY Times: Movie Review: ‘The Switch’.

Worth the read only to see Jennifer Aniston characterized as ”a walking vanilla milkshake.”

NY Times: Reality TV Is an Old Entertainment Form.

”Women and men made news by spending money frivolously or having grand weddings with millionaires or titled Europeans; they became infamous in lurid sex scandals and even murder cases ...” Paris Hilton as the modern version of Marie Antoinette?  “Let them eat Twinkies ...”