Daily Transom

By Steve Huff 5/30 1:20am

SNAFUs

Posted to Twitter by Dana Stevens--@thehighsign

Mitt Romney’s iPhone App Exhorts Users to Believe in a Better ‘Amercia’

It’s the kind of mistake that’s irresistible to social media wits: an iPhone app for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign misspells the word America. The app lets users take photos and it currently superimposes the legend “A Better Amercia (sic)” over them. While the Romney campaign is seeking to have the app corrected and replaced in the iTunes store as soon as possible, jokes about the screw-up spread like wildfire across Twitter Tuesday night. It is tempting to run down a catalogue of wisecracks but one tweet represents the general tone pretty well: Read More

By Steve Huff 5/29 11:52pm

Politics as usual

Getty Images

Canadian Politics Get Scary Real: Decomposing Human Foot Sent to Canadian Conservative Party H.Q.

It was strange enough earlier today when a human foot was apparently delivered via Canada Post to the headquarters for Canada’s Conservative Party in downtown Ottawa–now police have yet another body part to investigate.

The foot arrived at the Conservative Party offices in Ottawa this morning. A Hazmat team took control of the package and eventually delivered it to a coroner who did indeed confirm, yes, that’s a dcomposing  foot. Of the sort that typically belongs to a person.

Authorities haven’t disclosed much regarding the grisly new find: Read More

By Steve Huff 5/29 10:58pm

It's Zuck's World We're Just Living In It

Hang in there just like that kitten on the poster, Mr. Zuckerberg. (flickr.com/gpaumier)

Mark Zuckerberg No Longer On List of 40 Wealthiest People

If you felt The Force shudder and ripple sometime tonight it may have been due to the Earth-shattering report that Facebook’s C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg has left the world’s 40 richest people list. We would pause while you gasp and sob but it’s scab-pulling time regarding the bad news for the youthful billionaire–and anyway, we think Zuck can handle the pain: Read More

By The Editors 5/29 7:17pm

Opening Shot

Thomas and Baldwin at Cannes.

Cannes It!

It’s finally time to break out the fans, air conditioning window units and anything else that helps cool off sweltering New Yorkers. Memorial Day weekend brought some wonderful weather, though not as nice as the view coming in from Cannes. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 5/29 12:27pm

Odd Couples

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Colas Combat Crude Campaign Against Sugary Sodas

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been battling for brand supremacy for decades through advertisements, slogans and celebrity endorsements. The cola wars have brought us “The Choice of a New Generation,” “Can’t Beat The Real Thing” and the short-lived, inexplicably bleached Crystal Clear Pepsi with accompanying Van Halen soundtrack. And back in the ’90s, we even watched as two of our most iconic pop idols sold their names to each soda: Britney Spears to Pepsi and Christina Aguilera to Coke.

Now, Coke and Pepsi have done the previously unthinkable and banded together to fight a common enemy: the New York City health department. Read More

By Drew Grant 5/28 12:41pm

Food Fights

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D’Amico Coffee Loses Battle over Carroll Gardens’ (Coffee) Grounds

D’Amico Coffee, the 64-year-old Brooklyn family-owned grocery that has been grinding its own beans since it was founded in 1948, has been forced to change its operations because some new neighborhood residents who hate the way coffee smells keep calling the fire department on the store.

That’s right….Carroll Gardens is officially the worst. See below for the new sign on the Court St. location: Read More

By Steve Huff 5/28 3:07am

It's Zuck's World We're Just Living In It

Don't turn around officers, the ultimate capitalist is laughing at you!

The Strange Case of the Mark Zuckerberg-Priscilla Chan Chinese Cop Documentary Photobomb

This is neither here nor there but strange enough to note: a screengrab from a Chinese documentary, Chinese Police, which features at exactly 30 seconds in a photobomb from no less than Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg, who reportedly visited Shanghai at the end of March, is shown walking behind a pair of grim-faced Chinese cops with Ms. Chan, looking oddly amused if not downright tickled by the scene in front of him.

The site that originally reported the photobomb (docu-bomb?) translated the subtitle on-screen during Mr. Zuckerberg’s appearance as “Many problems impelled the Chinese police to find way (sic) to increase efficiency.” Read More

By Steve Huff 5/28 2:37am

Crime

Nicola Furlong

Two Americans Arrested in Japan In Connection With Murder of Irish National

Tokyo media reports two Americans have been arrested in connection with the death of 21-year-old Irish student Nicola Furlong. Ms. Furlong was in Japan as part of University program. She was found dead in her hotel room earlier this week after she attended a concert given by hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj. Tokyo authorities believe Ms. Furlong was strangled then sexually assaulted.

Twenty-three-year-old James Blackston (possibly Blackstone–early reports vary) a.k.a. “King Tight,” and an as-yet unnamed 19-year-old male were taken in after police suspected the pair gave “drinks with high alcoholic content to Furlong’s friend, a 21-year-old Irishwoman, leading her to fall unconscious and then groping her inside a taxi,” reports Japan’s Mainichi News.

Until his arrest Mr. Blackston had an active social media presence, with a Twitter account under the screen name @KingTightBucc20 as well as a Myspace with the screen name “liltight.” The Twitter account has disappeared but various cached tweets made it clear he had a working relationship with R&B singer Omarion, who once tweeted this photo of @KingTightBucc20.

“King Tight’s” MySpace is private. Read More

By Steve Huff 5/26 3:23pm

Virality

http://law-order-food.tumblr.com

How Viral Tumblr Sausage Gets Made: Law & Order & Food

Tumblr has occasionally been fruitful for writers looking to spin the germ of an idea into something viral, maybe even a book. However, the mercurial nature of the Web means few who go for it with their million-dollar Old People Sleeping On Trains Tumblr idea will ever see it morph into a dead tree version suitable for Grandma’s coffee table.

There are sometimes naturally-occurring viral Tumblrs, never intended by their creators for further, offline glory. Goofs or riffs that take off and quickly become a part of the Web’s pop culture Sargasso Sea, linked by every tent-pole blog and tech site. One big recent example: Law & Order & Food.

Law & Order & Food is a ridiculously simple idea: screen grabs from Law & Order (and its spin-offs, like Criminal Intent) made when a character was taking a drink or shoving a hoagie or bite of pizza  into his or her mouth. No commentary, just frozen moments from a show that ran for so long it practically merits its own cable channel.

Law & Order & Food grows on you with each new post–because it’s funny and also sometimes unexpectedly poignant–like this shot of the late, great Jerry Orbach, who played Lennie Briscoe, eating takeout Chinese. Read More