By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Bono who?
Lawmakers in the North Dakota House defeated a resolution 58-35 Thursday to honor the U2 frontman for his advocacy of debt relief for Third World countries, saying the Irish rocker had no connection to the state, the Associated Press reported.
Rep. Gil Herbel, a Republican, said he initially thought the resolution referred to Sonny Bono, the former singer, Republican congressman and husband of Cher.
"When I saw the resolution, I was looking for Cher's name in there," Herbel said.
Fargo state Rep. Scot Kelsh, who sponsored the measure, said he got the idea for the resolution from a magazine published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, which mentioned that no state at the time had approved a resolution to honor the singer.
"This is something that does matter to us as citizens of North Dakota, the United States, and the world at large," Kelsh said.
Not Quite a 'Classic' Film
NEW YORK (AP) -- The good name and dignity of the classic 1960s film "La Dolce Vita," directed by Federico Fellini, is being stripped away by two pornographic movies using the same name, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
International Media Films Inc. accused New York filmmaker Andrei Treivas Bregman of trademark and copyright infringement for the porn films he made under his business name, Michael Lucas. The lawsuit seeks to stop sales of the movies, "Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita" Parts 1 and 2, and to collect unspecified damages.
Bregman, who moved to the United States from Moscow in 1997, called the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan a joke.
"Nobody can be confused and think they're buying Fellini's movie by buying mine," said Bregman, noting the name Michael Lucas was part of his title, which otherwise means "The Sweet Life."
New York-based International Media Films said it believed the gay pornographic films, released last month, will "infringe, tarnish and dilute" its trademark rights to the highly decorated "La Dolce Vita," which won the 1961 Academy Award for costume design and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best foreign film of that year.
"La Dolce Vita," with its famously sexy scene of Anita Ekberg coaxing Marcello Mastroianni into the Trevi fountain, also won the Golden Palm at Cannes. Fellini won a lifetime achievement award in film in 1993, shortly before his death.
International Media Films said it bought "La Dolce Vita" in 2001. The film introduced the term "paparazzi" as it followed the life of a tabloid journalist who covers the show business life of Rome while yearning to write about more serious subjects.
Nude Jogger to Miss 'Liberating Feeling'
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A man whose habit of jogging in a park wearing nothing but a pair of running shoes said he would keep his clothes on after he was fined $95 for indecent exposure.
Darryl Delacruz, a Silicon Valley engineer, said he would miss the "liberating feeling" of running naked in Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. But he conceded his personal comfort was less important than the discomfort he caused others.
"I'll go back, but I'll be wearing clothes," he said. "I don't want people to have the wrong impression."
After other park users complained about Delacruz streaking, park rangers kept an eye out for him and finally caught him in the buff Jan. 9. People are allowed to sunbathe naked in the park, but only out of eyeshot of others.
"We don't see it as appropriate behavior," said Kerry Carlson, president of the Midpeninsula Rangers Peace Officers Association. "A significant number of people feel uncomfortable with a nude person running around."
Delacruz, 43, said his preferred jogging attire was "about getting in touch with nature, not meeting people."
A Friendly Reminder From Your Urinal
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) --New Mexico is hoping to keep drunks off the road by lecturing them at the last place they usually stop before getting behind the wheel: the urinal.
The state recently paid $21 each for about 500 talking urinal-deodorizer cakes and has put them in men's rooms in bars and restaurants across the state.
When a man steps up, the motion-sensitive plastic device says, in a woman's voice that is flirty, then stern: "Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks? Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home."
The recorded message ends: "Remember, your future is in your hand."
The talking urinal represents just the latest effort to fight drunken driving in New Mexico, which has long had one of the highest rates of alcohol-related traffic deaths in the nation. (The new tactic is aimed only at men, since they account for 78 percent of all driving-under-the-influence-related convictions in New Mexico.)
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