Gawker: sick national obsessions

'People' Pays $1M for Pics of Anna Nicole's Wedding/Suffering

Jessica — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 10:50:26 EDT

You have to hand it to Anna Nicole Smith: despite the sudden, tragic death of her son Daniel just days after the birth of her baby girl, she seems to have made quite the comeback. Financially speaking, that is. Immediately following Daniel's death, she had Getty Images broker the final photos of her son and daughter, taken hours before his death, which were eventually sold to In Touch for a nice $375K or so. But that's not enough to assuage this woman's suffering! So last week, when she had her emotional, fake wedding to her lawyer Howard K. Stern (who also claims to be the father of her new child), she had someone whip out the PowerShot and take a whole new round of snaps. And wouldn't you know it, Getty Images came to the celebrity weeklies with 30 images, ready to broker an offer. The lucky winner? People, who is said to have forked over $1 million for the not-wedding wedding photos in a classy little bidding war (Radar confirms the sale).

So what's People ed Larry Hackett getting for his money? Pictures of Anna in a wedding dress with Stern, posing on the catamaran where they wed, and several images where sad little 3-week-old Dannielynn is being held. So what makes these banal shots worth $1 million? In one pic, Anna is supposedly holding the baby while wearing pasties. Apparently, they're saving the one with the titty tassles for Cookie.

Atoosa on 'Today': To Catch an Editor

Jessica — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:00:16 EDT

This clip from this morning's Today show combines some of our favorite topics: MySpace, self-promoting Seventeen editor Atoosa Rubenstein and Chris Hansen of Dateline's ridiculous "To Catch a Predator" series. The topic is the vague-yet-threatening cell of online predators that continues to prey upon teens innocently posting pictures of themselves in their underwear, but the real threat here is the 'Toos, who all but silences Hansen and squeezes herself as much face time as possible.

To Catch a Predator on MySpace

Jessica — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:25:02 EDT

We're not sure if you watch Dateline's To Catch a Predator — the internet pedophile-busting series that has captivated a nation! — but last night, NBC vigilante Chris Hanson busted a few Georgian boys who thought they were about to tap some underage ass. No big deal, just another Wednesday night of taunting men until they actually commit suicide on air. (Don't miss the wonderful "my thang in your mouth" clip.)

If you're a fan of such things, you'll probably appreciate the MySpace page belonging to one of last night's featured pedophiles. His interests don't include banging 13-year-old girls, but he does believe "JESUS ROCKS!" and his hero is God. Which is good, because at this point, he's in desperate need of divine intervention. Guess they don't let you manage your internet presence once you're in cuffs — too bad, because now angry, anti-pedophile commenters have totally ruined his blog.

Since the profile just might disappear, we've got screen caps after the jump.

Profile page 1

Profile page 2

Coggy [MySpace]