More awesome than you

Brad And Angelina Buy $40 Million Pad – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have purchased a $40 million mansion in Italy. The property, in the Italian hills of Valpolicella, features 15 bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a theatre and two swimming pools, and is the third in the showbiz pair’s property portfolio, adding to a Los Angeles mansion and New Orleans home. Angelina reportedly fell in love with Italy while filming her latest epic ‘The Tourist’ with Johnny Depp. I bet she did. [inquisitr]

Obama Slightly Panicky About People Burning Quran – The White House is considering reaching out to the Florida pastor planning to burn Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11. President Obama himself weighed in Thursday morning during an interview with “Good Morning America”, calling the plans “a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaeda.” FBI agents paid a visit to the Gainesville church Thursday as well. Muslims around the world are already outraged. No shit. Did you see what happened after that cartoon? [countonnews]

Zimbabwe Wants To Strengthen Ties With The West – Zimbabwe wants normal ties with Western powers critical of its policies but will press ahead with a plan to hand control of foreign companies to black Zimbabweans, President Robert Mugabe said. Mugabe said in an interview on Thursday that his government was waiting for positive movement from the US and European Union to mend ties soured over the last decade. No spice. [mail&guardian]

Facebook Addicts Are Insecure Narcissists – Using Facebook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror, according to a study. Those who spent more time updating their profile on the social networking site were more likely to be narcissists, said researchers. Facebook provides an ideal setting for narcissists to monitor their appearance and how many ‘friends’ they have, the study said, as it allows them to thrive on ‘shallow’ relationships while avoiding genuine warmth and empathy. Nailed. [dailymail]

Lion Attacks Man In Vegas – A man who worked at the popular Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is “doing well,” after being attacked by one of his charges, Yvette Monet of MGM Resorts tells me.The incident, which happened without warning as lionkeepers worked inside the glass-walled Habitat Sept. 1, was captured on video. He looked to be bitten on the leg, though MGM says it cannot discuss details. No word on how much the lion blew on the blackjack tables before the incident. [usatoday]

Mark Zuckerberg At Harvard: The Truth – Hollywood biopics are often the inverse of political autobiographies: heavy on sex and drugs, light on weighty questions of morality and leadership. If the script leaked online and the trailers are any indication, the new movie The Social Network, which purports to tell the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook, will play like a conversation between Hamlet and Joe Francis, as secretly recorded by Richard Nixon. It is paranoid, sleazy, and grim. [dailybeast]

Kim Kardashian Bosage Over Playboy Photos – Playboy has released 25 never-before-seen nude photos of Kim Kardashian from her 2007 photo shoot to members of the Playboy Cyber Club, and Kim is not happy about it. “Kim was really upset that the new photos were released,” a source told Radaronline.com. “She freaked out that they were out there, she didn’t think that they were going to be seen again.” [huffers]

The World’s Most Expensive Book – By any standards they form part of a truly extraordinary library: a rare copy of the world’s most expensive book, perhaps the most important book in English literature, a fascinating cache of letters from Elizabeth I to the jailor of Mary Queen of Scots, and more besides. Sotheby’s will today announce it is to sell items from the collection of the late Lord Hesketh, including a stunning copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, a book that grabbed the world-record auction price of $8.8m 10 years ago. [guardian]

Martin Scorses Talks Gangster Movies – Before his epic new HBO series Boardwalk Empire premieres, director Martin Scorsese revisits the gangster films most influential on his career. Watch classic scenes from his picks. Here are 15 gangster pictures that had a profound effect on me and the way I thought about crime and how to portray it on film. They excited me, provoked me, and in one way or another, they had the ring of truth. [dailybeast]

The Next Five Years In Social Media – Over the last five years, social media has evolved from a handful of communities that existed solely in a web browser to a multi-billion dollar industry that’s quickly expanding to mobile devices, driving major changes in content consumption habits and providing users with an identity and social graph that follows them across the web. With that framework in place, the next five years are going to see even more dramatic change. [mashable]

Will Smith’s Daughter Signs Record Deal – Willow Smith, the nine-year-old daughter of actor Will Smith, has signed a record deal with rapper Jay-Z and her first single is already kicking up a storm on the Internet. Jay-Z told radio host Ryan Seacrest in an interview on Thursday that he thought Willow had a superstar career in front of her based on her first hip-hop single “Whip My Hair.” “I heard the record first before I knew that it was recorded by a nine year old and I was like, man that record’s a smash.” I love how her name is Willow. [yahoo]

Fatty-Boom-Booms Last Longer In Bed – Fat men last longer in bed, while lean gym jocks are prone to premature ejaculation, a new study has found. The scientific research found that men with excess body fat develop more female sex hormones that influence their sexual performance. Men with high fat levels were found to have higher levels of the female sex hormone oestradiol, which disrupts the chemical balance in their body, making them last longer during sex. Good news for you, porker. [news.com.au]

You Shouldn’t Take Anything Serious on Fridays, Right? Wrong. The interest rate has just been cut to 6%, so we’ve enlisted the expert opinion of Dr Andrew Golding of the Pam Golding Group to discuss the implications of that decision on your and my pockets. Of course that will happen in between comic guest appearances. And as always on a Friday, look out for DJ Sox’s afternoon session from 3pm to 5pm. [2oceansviberadio]