TresSugar

Breaking News: Human Head Found in BK Hamburger

GiggleSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:00:00 -0700

Back in 2005, Wendy's scored an avalanche of negative publicity for allegedly serving a flippin' finger in a bowl of chili. Anything Wendy's can do, Burger King can do better, so one BK restaurant allegedly shoved an eight pound human head between the buns of a double whopper. (Let's see Wendy's allegedly top that.) And the free publicity has already started rolling in . . .

Would You Show Your O-Face For an Alt-Porn Website?

TresSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Years ago, I was approached by a filmmaker who asked if I wanted to participate in a documentary he was doing about (get ready for it!) what people's faces look like when they're having an orgasm. "You can either be alone while I film you," he told me as I looked increasingly wary, "or you can bring your girlfriend or boyfriend in to 'help' you. It will just be me and the camera."

It was, alas, an offer I could refuse. But the idea of capturing someone's face at the moment of orgasm hasn't gone away. Beautiful Agony is an alternative-porn site that recently hit its five-year anniversary. "Sexy doesn't need to be obscene" is one of its philosophies, and what started as an experiment has turned into a full-on website "dedicated to the beauty of human orgasm."

There's no nudity (only video footage of heads and shoulders) and most of the videos are accompanied by a "confessional" interview where the O-face contributor talks about masturbation, sexuality and sexual secrets. Is this something you'd be interested in participating in?

Talking Trash: Smart B*tches Tell Us How to Buy Romances

TresSugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan have helped romance readers discern the good smut from the bad for years with their blog Smart B*tches, Trashy Books. And now with their book Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart B*tches' Guide to Romance Novels, they offer a guide through the heady world of the $6.99 novel and defend it with wit and intelligence.

What's up today? Candy and Sarah tell use how they assign grades (they're harsh) to novels on Smart B*tches, Trashy Books and how to navigate book shelves packed with romance novels.

You grade books on Smart B*tches, Trashy Books, A-F; what makes an A? What loses points?

Sarah: A grade-A book for me is one that has a strong plot that takes familiar concepts and reinvents them into something new and different, with memorable and realistic characters, dialogue that is authentic and human, and a story that stays with you long after you've finished. I also find that books that reach A level with me are impossible not to read, so if I pick up the book to look at a page I end up rereading the whole thing.

Candy: An A book generally means that a) I loved it, and b) it's at the very least competently written. There's a certain floor to the craft for an A book. That's not to say I don't love schlock, because I do, but a schlocky book probably won't get an A, no matter how much I love it.

Generally speaking, books lose points if they don't engage me - if I'm able to step back from my immersion in the fictional world and I'm taking a hard look at the gears and bits that drive the machine, so to speak. When my internal editor has slowed my reading pace to a crawl, that's usually the kiss of death. Good books shut my internal editor up, and that's hard to do, honestly - hell, it's hard to get me to shut up, period, much less the pedant who lives in my head and gripes about how people just don't use the subjunctive properly nowadays.

Beyond Throbbing Bosoms was originally titled The Top Ten Signs You’re Reading a Very Bad Romance Novel. Is there a way to know to recognize a bad romance before wasting $6.99?

To see their answers, read more.

Sarah: If a book, any book, doesn't grab you after the first 30 pages or so, it's probably not to your tastes. That rule has served me well in any genre.

But the original title of the book wasn't Signs You're Reading a Bad Romance Novel, though that was part of the book that didn't make it into the final edition. My favorite was the poor copyediting that made a horse change color three times in two pages. Magic chameleon horse in historical England? Not good.

Candy: I call it the 10-page test. It's kind of analogous to bad visitors. The really bad ones generally announce themselves early on and proceed to eat all the hors d'oeuvres you've set out, then belch in your face. Many others, however, survive the 10-page test and prove to be awful visitors when it's too late to get them out of your house. So flip through the first pages, see if there are egregious plot or grammar flaws, figure out if the characters and storyline are your cuppa. It won't catch the more sneakily awful romance novels, but you should be able to root out most of the worst ones.

Check out previous posts from Candy and Sarah, and stay tuned tomorrow for recommendations for romance-novel virgins.

Front Page: Sudan's Bashir Indicted For War Crimes in Darfur

CitizenSugar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:54:17 -0800

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Bashir due to his role in Darfur. That makes him the first sitting president to be indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. - Christian Science Monitor
President Obama signed a memo today that overhauls the government contracting procedure and could save the US more than $40 billion a year. - CNN
Still in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes as "unhelpful." - Washington Post

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown will address a joint meeting of the US Congress today, likely urging lawmakers against protectionism. - Voice of America
A new study shows a link between explicit song lyrics and teen sex. -AFP
President Obama has nominated Julius Genachowski, a telecommunications executive and friend from law school, to head the FCC. - AP

Source

Two Indian Girls Marry Frogs (Literally), Not Even the First Time

CitizenSugar — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:00:08 -0800

Villagers carried two 7-year-old girls on their shoulders and two frogs on garlanded sticks as they walked them to a temple where they were married. Afterward, the girls returned to their parents while the frogs were thrown into a muddy pond.

The ceremony goes back to a centuries-old tradition. The Hindu god Shiva is said to have turned himself into a frog after a fight with his wife, causing her to cry for days and create a health hazard with her dirty tears. Disease control not being what it is today, Shiva decided to marry a young girl to stop the disease. His wife made herself young again, and he agreed to marry her again. After the wedding, they returned to their original forms and good health reigned in the village.

While any old frog will do, a girl who has yet to reach puberty is required. Proud parents offer up daughters because, in their minds, they are saving their village from disease. But the Indian government holds its head in embarrassment at this backroad tradition, calling it ignorant and blaming illiteracy. It has sent psychologists, sociologists, and religious leaders to villages to persuade people to stop.

Though human-animal marriages are not legally recognized by any country, frogs aren't the only animals getting hitched. To see what else humans have been forced (or just chose!) to marry, read more.

Goats: The Sudanese government forced a man to marry a goat after he was caught having sex with it in 2006.

Dogs: Girls can be forced to marry dogs in India to ward off bad omens. A surprisingly adorable ceremony of a puppy-girl (or maybe not that surprising!) wedding can be watched here.

Horse: An Indian woman married a snake by choice in 2006. She "fell in love" with it after recovering from an illness upon giving the snake milk. However, an investigation by Harper's magazine suggested the snake never existed and the incident was staged in a local power struggle between two religious leaders.

Ahh, well. These other stories appear to be (un)real!

Source

Front Page: CA Passes State Budget After All-Nighter

CitizenSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:00:39 -0800

After deliberating through the night and securing a breakthrough Republican vote, California state lawmakers have passed a budget deal. The $42 billion budget deficit will be closed with new taxes and severe spending cuts. - SF Chronicle
Nearly 5 million US workers are receiving unemployment benefits, an all-time high. - AP
President Obama is headed to Canada for his first foreign trip as President. - BBC News
US drug companies are outsourcing clinical trials, human studies that determine drug's safety, to other countries, raising ethical and scientific concerns. - New York Times

UBS, the largest Swiss bank, has agreed to reveal names of Americans whom US authorities suspect of using Swiss accounts to evade taxes. The US thinks $20 billion has been hidden, and UBS admitted that some employees participated in a scheme to defraud the US. - Huffington Post
Some Republican governors may turn down federal stimulus money. Critics say that move puts conservative ideology before the needs of the people, but governors say they are wary of the strings attached to the money. - CBS News

Source

Product of the Day: Disgusting Perfumes From Goth Rosary

GiggleSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:00:00 -0800

A while back, I told you about a French perfume called Secretions Magnifique, inspired by the smell of blood, sweat, tears. . .and spunk. Since then, I've taken a whiff of it, and although I wouldn't suggest dabbing it on right before a date, it was clearly a well-thought out, conceptual fragrance, which some people really like. Take SM's shock value, subtract the value part, and you'll get the three ~~fragrances~~ odors in Goth Rosary's line of shock perfumes. There's Sea Sick, a tribute to the rank smells of the ocean; Chunder, which, from the looks of the spray bottle, is the smell of vomit; and then my favorite, from a gross out viewpoint, Fromunda, which they call "our tribute to human body cheese." Forget the smell of these things, I can't get the phrase "human body cheese" out of my head! Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot.

Product of the Day: Chocolate Jesus

GiggleSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:00:34 -0800

Who says Santa and the Easter bunny have a monopoly on being sculpted in chocolate? Just in time for the holidays, an enterprising confectioner in Germany is making hand-crafted candy Jesus figures. Not surprisingly, German churches have critized the idea as "tasteless" (but did they try the chocolate?!).

According to the company website, the high-quality organic chocolate "is produced without exploitation of our fellow humans or the natural resources awarded to us by God, as this would be unchristian." Biting the head off a chocolate Jesus, however, is a great way to celebrate any Christian holiday, "where they can help to refocus on the real meaning of these events."

Georgia Conflict Causes Diplomatic & Humanitarian Confusion

LibertySugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:30:22 -0700

The conflict between Georgia and Russia presents a complex set of questions for the international community. While Western officials try to figure out how exactly Russia's two-headed government shares power, human rights workers are searching for the truth about atrocities that may or may not have been committed.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin undoubtedly holds the power in Russia, but diplomatic protocol obliges European and American officials to negotiate with President Dmitri Medvedev, who appears much more accommodating than Putin. The good-cop-bad-cop routine makes it unclear if Russia will follow the cease fire agreement, signed by President Medvedev, leaving the rest of the world unsure of how to react to Russia.

View 5 Photos ›

Meanwhile Russia and Georgia have spread the confrontation and confusion to courts. To find out how the neighbors trade accusations of human rights violations, read more.

After originally claiming 1,500 had died, Russian prosecutors have opened criminal cases for the deaths of 133 civilians allegedly killed by Georgia's forces. Taking it to the next level, Georgia filed a suit against Russia at the International Court of Justice, accusing Russia of ethnic cleansing. The sensationalized allegations initially put forth by both countries in the media have made the job of human rights investigators very difficult. Gathering data for these lawsuits becomes an even more daunting task given the fact that many people have been displaced and considering that lines are blurred as civilians who take up arms become combatants.

Source

Mass Exodus in the Congo Has Roots In Rwandan Genocide

CitizenSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:00:10 -0700

I know the math on the picture=1,000 words shtick, but these words on the refugee exodus in the Democratic Republic of Congo combined with these pictures is almost a novel I can't even fathom:

Along the red dirt roads looping in and out of the jungle, they trooped in their thousands. The women clutching infants to their chests and balancing rolled-up mattresses, blankets and pots on their heads. Any child old enough to walk carried a jerry can of water or dragged a sack of food.

The people who live in the Democratic Republic of Congo are once again under fire. Many who live in the perpetually war-torn nation have been driven from their homes more times than they can remember and sadly they're finding it's time to escape once more. Packing up any possessions they can manage they're fleeing in advance of the invading Tutsi rebels. The rebels are driving both the government forces, which outnumber them by more than 3 to 1 and the UN peacekeepers that are being met with anger and violence at their inadequate response.

View 5 Photos ›

To see the historic context, read more.

Nearly 30,000 refugees are fleeing into cities and towns bursting their resources. And as the fighting continues so does the human misery. "These people are in a very precarious situation," said Ms van Goor of MSF (Doctors Without Borders). "We're in the middle of the rainy season now and without proper water and sanitation, they're vulnerable to all sorts of diseases."

The conflict is in response to fear of a further genocide by the Hutus who were responsible for the murder of hundreds and thousands of Tutsis in 1994 in neighboring Rwanda. The Tutsi rebels claim that the Congolese government is not doing nearly enough to ensure their safety and are now taking matters into their own hands.

Source