When the camera [and the tape] is rolling.

*

If you don't believe that we are living in a new media age, the events over the past few weeks should go a long way in changing your mind. Consider the following: Some wacko makes a movie denouncing and mocking Islam and it causes riots all over the world. The future queen of England is caught au natural while on a private vacation. And, here in America, the republican candidate for president was caught on camera letting regular folks know just how he feels about them.

I love it. The world has become smaller and everything has become more transparent. This means that if you are a public figure you have to be more careful. When Mitt was hobnobbing with his big money friends in the home of one of the owners of my hometown Sixers, he never expected that it was possible that one of the servants --who, to him, might as well have been a piece of the furniture in the room-- might be taping his every word and movement from a cell phone. I am quite sure that when Kate decided to do her best Janet Jackson imitation she didn't expect some paparazzi with a high powered lens to be picking up what she was pulling out. But such is life in our new media age; everyone can become his or her own version of Cecil B. DeMille with the drop of a hat.

Finally, there are a couple of stories out there where I am glad that the cameras weren't rolling. The first one comes to us from out in Cali:

"A California chef told police he slow-cooked his wife’s body for four days after accidentally killing her, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The grisly detail emerged Tuesday during the second week of the murder trial of David Viens, accused in the death of 39-year-old Dawn Viens in October 2009.
In two March 2011 interviews with authorities that were played for the jury on Tuesday, David Viens recounted how he caused the death of his wife and disposed of her remains. The interviews were conducted in a hospital because Viens had jumped off an 80-foot cliff when suspected by police in his wife’s disappearance.

He said he panicked when he woke up the next morning and found his wife dead. Viens told investigators he placed her body into a large drum of boiling water and used weights to keep it submerged, the newspaper reported.
“I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days,” he said, according to the paper.

“You cooked on Dawn’s body for four days?” responded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Garcia.

Before it was done,” Viens said. He didn’t say where he cooked the body, but Viens owned the Thyme Contemporary Cafe in Lomita, Calif., at the time.

The defendant did say he kept his wife’s skull. “That’s the only thing I didn’t want to get rid of in case I wanted to leave it somewhere,” he admitted, according to the Los Angeles Times.

He told police that the skull was in his mother’s attic in Torrance, but they did not find it there." [Source]

For today's special....let me stop.

The second story comes to us from Florida. (One day I am going to try and raise enough money to commission a study to research the behavior of people in Florida.)

"A frisky farm hand cuffed after allegedly telling police he masturbated with a donkey told a Florida court Tuesday that he wants his burro back.

“There’s got to be due process here. I paid $500 for her,” said 31-year-old Carlos Romero, according to the Ocala Star-Banner.

But Marion County officials want custody of the miniature donkey named Doodle, and plan to put her up for adoption, the newspaper said. The animal appeared in good condition after the alleged abuse.

Romero pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual activity involving an animal and animal cruelty. His bail was set at $2,000 and was placed into Marion County Jail" [Source]

Poor Carlos, there just aren't that many donkey pick up bars around. What's a love sick guy to do?

*Pic from Mother Jones