Obama Hip-Hop Video Causes Outrage – A very well put together music video parody called ‘Head Of The State’ by impersonator James Davis is causing a bit of drama over the water. The music video includes quite a bit of, how you say, cussing – and also features “Obama” smoking pot and hanging with his “niggaz” in the hood. His “bitch” Michelle Obama is there as well, played by an equally convincing doppelganger. Love it or hate it – personally, I’m amazed it took them this long to make something like this. [newyorktimes]

Charlie Sheen Hotel Room Drama: Part II – More information about Charlie Sheen’s New York hotel room cocaine/hooker binge have emerged. It turns out the zebra-print carpet was splattered with blood and there was broken chandelier glass everywhere. The “semipro” prostitute (AKA celebrity gold digger) was found hiding in the closet, naked. All-in-all a major success – if debaucherous behaviour is the order of the day. [nydailynews]

Capetonians Hit The Streets In Protest Of Secrecy Bill – Capetonians flocked to the streets on Wednesday to support the Right2Know campaign in a march to Parliament in protest over the proposed Protection of Information Bill. If the Bill is passed by Parliament it will allow any state agency or government department — even parastatals or municipalities — to classify public information as secret. [mail&guardian]

Adam Sandler Also Has A Secret – That previous spice headline about the secrecy bill reminded me of an old video by Adam Sandler, to do with secrets. I started laughing out loud when I thought of it and found it on the intranext to play for myself. Then I realised that I simply had to share it with you. Again. It’s only the tenth time I’ve published it – and it’s still awesome. [funnyordie]

Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 Sells For $4.6 Million – The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 used in the James Bond films “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball,” sold for $4.6 million at the RM Auctions Automobiles of London auction yesterday. The price is about 10 times the value of just about any other mint-condition DB5. Other factors that make this car special include the oil sprayers, bumper rams and machine guns that pop out and are still intact and functioning, though the guns don’t fire and the ejection seat doesn’t work. [wsj]

LVMH Buys 17 Percent Stake In Luxury Peer Hermès – Massive news coming from the luxury goods industry is that LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has bought a 17 percent stake in the family-controlled Hermès International, the French fashion house behind the luxurious Birkin and Kelly handbags. The luxury goods firm is paying 1.45 billion Euros for the Hermes stake. While LVMH has a market value worth €55.5 billion, Hermes is worth €18.6 billion. These guys don’t mess around. [bornrich]

US Marie Claire Responds To “Should Fatties Get A Room” Piece – Marie Claire sex and relationship blogger Maura Kelly drew the ire of the internet yesterday with her post about CBS sitcom Mike & Molly titled “Should ‘Fatties’ Get a Room? (Even on TV?),” in which she concluded, yes, “fatties” should get a room because overweight people “gross” her out. Kelly’s post has since received nearly 1,000 comments, and unsurprisingly, the vast majority of them pillory her. [fashionista]

$1.2 Billion Cruise Ship Is “Biggest Passenger Ship Ever Built” – Allure is four times the size of Titanic. Among the attractions aboard, there’s a professional production of Chicago; a water show featuring Dreamworks characters, acrobats, and high divers; a 3-D movie theater; two different steakhouses (among 22 other restaurants); a boardwalk; a “central park” sporting 12,000 plants; seven themed neighborhoods; a moving bar that cycles up and down three decks; an 18-foot deep pool; and a .43 mile jogging track. Check this out! [fastcodedesign]

DailyBeast Reviews Keith Richard’s Life – We continue our obsession with Keith Richard’s new book, Life – this time with the DailyBeast review. “If there’s a cooler book published this season, we don’t know about it. Keith Richards’ epic is THE story of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Full stop. All the clichés are here, but so is visceral, sharp prose, geeky riffs on music legends, scenes of legendary debauchery, and the most complicated brotherly love-hate affair you can imagine.” [dailybeast]

Osama Bin Laden Wants To Kill French People Now – Al-Jazeera television reports that it has received an audio tape by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatening to kill French citizens to avenge their country’s support for the US-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils. Oh well that’s just great! Off you go then. [news24]

Mel Gibson Is Almost Ready To Talk – After the shocking news that the cast and crew of ‘The Hangover 2’ wanted nothing to do with Mel Gibson, the actor himself is starting to realize that remaining silent is doing him no favors in the eyes of the public and, of course, the Hollywood producers that hold his career in their hands. That’s why the fallen star is getting ready to tell his side of the story. [popeater]

They’re Working On Avatar 2 & 3 – James Cameron has locked in a deal with Fox to make Avatar 2 and 3, due in theaters December 2014 and December 2015 respectively. Said the director in a statement, “It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. Excellent, more blue people. Hopeful in part two they will come up against the Smurfs who will put them all in POW camps and run experiments on them. [hollywoodreporter]

October 27, 1994: Web Gives Birth To Banner Ads – The Mosaic browser was just morphing into Netscape in 1994. And if you think ads slow down page loads now, readers had to download the first banner ads over thin dial-up connections. Despite those handicaps, the gaudy banner ad took over the web, 468 pixels wide by 60 deep. Legend has it that the first banner ad was from AT&T, prophetically asking “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will.” [wired]