It all began in 1995 with 10 alluring beauties on a three-page foldout cover. With the current issue—fronted by tuxedo-clad funnymen Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Chris Rock, and Jack Black—Vanity Fair marks the 13th year of its gigantic annual Hollywood Issue, and thus the 13th year of Annie Leibovitz’s spectacular gatefold covers. These classic photographs capture Tinseltown talent and glamour like nothing else. Here’s a look back at all of them.

see all thirteen here…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

“He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,” said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one,” said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

read the rest…

Channel 4 is to investigate a claim that it misled viewers in a survival series, in the latest allegation of reality being manipulated on a TV show.

[ed. note: sorry folks, I knew this was coming, but finally people caught on that it wasn’t real…]

Born Survivor featured British adventurer Bear Grylls dealing with “perilous situations” in the wild.

But a crew member told the Sunday Times some nights were spent in hotels.

Channel 4 insisted Grylls was never billed as working entirely unaided, but promised to raise the matter with the production company that made the show.

American survival consultant Mark Weinert, who was recruited by Diverse Productions, told the paper Grylls claimed to be stranded on a desert island on one occasion.

He often directly addresses the production team, including the cameraman, making it clear he is receiving an element of back-up Channel 4 statement. However, he was actually in Hawaii and spent some of his time there in a motel, Mr Weinert alleged.

read more…

LOS ANGELES — A ground squirrel in the Stoneyvale Picnic Area of the Angeles National Forest tested positive for plague, Los Angeles County health and U.S. Forestry Service officials said Thursday.

The squirrel was one of a dozen captured in traps on July 10. The picnic area, located five miles north of La Canada-Flintridge, is expected to remain closed for at least 10 days as crews dust for fleas and monitor other squirrels.

“Plague is a bacterial infection that could be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas. However, it is very important for the public to know that there have only been four cases of human plague in Los Angeles County residents since 1984, none of which were fatal,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county’s public health director.

Two ground squirrels found in the same picnic area tested positive for plague in 1996, as did a squirrel found in an adjacent campground in 1995.

read more…
[img by flickr user: chrysophylax]

This weekend I’m neglecting the fiancee and heading off to the Bahamas to shoot my first destination wedding down outside the city of Freeport in the Bahamas. I’m pretty excited as all the pictures I’ve seen from down there are spectacular and I fully expect to bring back some killer shots. See you next week!

Sometimes when I’m thinking about having babies, I think of first- college is going to be amazingly expensive for them and I’m probably not going to be able to afford it. Second- I think about all the asteroids we’re tracking and what if they’re alive when one of them hits and kills everything. I watch too much Discovery Channel.

If you think similar to myself, then you’ll like this website. You can keep tabs on all the near Earth asteroids and deem whether it’s worth it to have babies based on the probability of size / mass / destructive force = dino killing power.

I found a really killer website that basically tells you how walkable your neighborhood is [this is a big deal for us LA folk, I hate my car]. It breaks down all the bars, grocery stores, day cares, home depots, etc. and tells you how far they are from your house. My place got a 57 out of 100, basically because Playa del Rey is a dead town and there’s nothing here. Enjoy!

http://www.walkscore.com/

When I was in St. Kitts [an island in the Caribbean, down near South America] I got some new portraits for the [who knows when it’s coming out] sequel to The Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society that was released last year. Hopefully I’m going to post up one a day for the next week or so, they came out pretty cool I think- always nice to have a successful street portrait trip! -enjoy!