My next job!!! Monday, March 26, 2007

Harlequin books seeks “real men” for covers
Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:04PM EDT

By Jonathan Spicer

TORONTO (Reuters) – Real men don’t pose for the cover of a Harlequin
romance. And that’s something the publisher wants to change.

Representatives of Harlequin Enterprises, the world’s biggest
publisher of romance novel series, inspected the assets of about 200
men who lined up at a Toronto casting house on Saturday to prove they
could flutter readers’ hearts better than professional models.

“We’re looking for some guys that are not your usual models, but
have that iconic look that women go for — sexy, sensitive, beautiful
and fit,” said Harlequin spokeswoman Marleah Stout, who attended the
open casting.

“We want real men … exactly what you think in your mind when you’re fantasizing or imagining that ideal man.”

Toronto-based Harlequin, a division of newspaper group Torstar
Corp., sold 131 million books in 94 countries last year. It estimates
that a third of American women have read at least one of its titles.

Until now, the publisher relied on modeling agencies to supply
bodies for its concupiscent covers. But the readership — predominantly
female and averaging 42 years of age — was upset when slight, young
cover models clashed with the brawny, mature heroes described within.

“Some of the heroes are captains of industry, billionaires,” said
Deborah Peterson, a Harlequin creative designer and a judge at the
audition. “A lot of the models were too young, men in their twenties
… and our audience likes men a little bit older, a bit bigger, than
the runway models.”

At the Toronto casting, chiseled hopefuls shed their shirts and
donned a cowboy hat for the panel while a handful of other judges
watched on closed-circuit camera in an adjacent room.

Several were asked to return for a book cover shot, where they may
earn up to C$250 ($215) an hour, according to male modeling agencies.

Others indulged their own fantasies.

“From what I understand, (Harlequin) readers are women who want to
escape from the relationship that they’re in,” said auditioner Carlos
Troccoli, 30, who was tall, sturdy and muscular. “I can bring that to
them.”

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And I thought my parents’ were bad… Wednesday, March 14, 2007

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian woman paid a former convict to kill her
17-year-old son because she was fed up with sharing her small one-room
apartment with him, the newspaper Izvestia reported on Wednesday.

The
42-year-old crane operator paid the man a 2,100 rouble ($80) deposit to
kill her son, Izvestia said. But the would-be hitman told the police
who set up a sting operation and arrested her when she handed over the
900 rouble ‘completion’ payment.

The woman and her son shared the
tiny apartment in the Moscow region with their respective partners and
there were frequent rows, which became worse when the son’s girlfriend
became pregnant.

“The woman decided that by snuffing out her son she could solve her housing problems,” the paper said.

Prosecutors confirmed the report and said the suspect would be charged soon.

Chronic
housing shortages have dogged Russia for decades. The problem has eased
slightly since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but many families of
several generations still share cramped apartments.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.A

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Now Chik-Fil-A will have to change their mascot. Thursday, March 8, 2007

       KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal                village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs.

But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow — a sacred animal for the Hindu family — gobbling up several of them at night.

“We were shocked to see our calf eating chickens alive,” Ghosh told Reuters by phone from Chandpur village.

The family decided to stand guard at night on Monday at the cow shed which also served as a hen coop, after 48 chickens went missing in a month.

“Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat,” Gour Ghosh, his brother, said.

Local television pictures showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken in seconds and a vet confirmed the case.

“We think lack of vital minerals in the body is causing this behavior. We have taken a look and have asked doctors to look into the case immediately,” Mihir Satpathy, a district veterinary officer, said by phone.

“This strange behavior is possible in some exceptional cases,” Satpathy said.

Hundreds of villagers flocked to Chandpur on Wednesday to catch a glimpse of Lal, enjoying his bundle of green grass for a change.

“The local vets said the cow was probably suffering from a disease but others said Lal was a tiger in his previous birth,” Ajit added.

My take: Run for the hills folks. Global Warming? This is mass hysteria. Cats and Dogs living together. This is the end. My friends, the end.

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