Porn star's wine passion gets plaudits

The world of wine-making has long attracted celebrities of all stripes who want try their hands at producing a virtuous vintage, including the likes of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, musicians Jerry Garcia and Olivia Newton-John, and even pro golfers Ernie Els and Greg Norman.

So we shouldn't be surprised that an adult-film star has decided to dip her toes into the wine vat.

But Savanna Samson, star of "The New Devil in Miss Jones," has gone further than simply slapping a steamy label on some cheesy chardonnay. Her Italian red wine has received a score of 90 to 91 out of 100 by wine guru Robert Parker.

The key, she told Reuters recently, was lining up a respected wine maker. So she convinced Italy's Roberto Cipresso — also a vintner to the Vatican — to join the project.

"I never wanted to just do gimmick. That would just happen with me being a porn star, me having a photographer shoot the label, how risque could I get on the label — all those things," said Samson, the stage name for 31-year-old Natalie Oliveros, adding that it was pure coincidence that Cipresso also sells wines to the Vatican. She said she met him through her husband, a wine merchant.

"I knew I wanted Roberto to make my wine — I just love his passion," she said.

Samson went to Tuscany and tasted dozens of Cipresso's Italian-grown varieties, then she selected a mix of 70 percent Cesanese, 20 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Montepulciano. She ordered over 400 cases.

The result is Sogno Uno, (Italian for Dream One) a 2004 vintage packaged under the Savanna name with a label showing Samson in a see-through gown. It was launched last month.

Read the complete article at MSNBC

German Man Leaves Wife's Severed Head at Gas Station

HAMBURG, Germany - A 40-year-old German man who claimed he was mentally ill decapitated his wife and then showed up at a gas station on Monday carrying her severed head, police said.

Officers went to the man's nearby home, where they found the rest of the woman's body and their two young daughters.

The man, whom police did not identify, had left the head in the snow by the Hamburg gas station in the working-class suburb of Harburg, police spokeswoman Karina Sadowsky said. He then asked an attendant to call the police, and confessed to the killing, she said.

"The 40-year-old appeared confused and said that he had killed his wife," Sadowsky said.

A motive was not immediately known, Sadowsky said, adding that the man did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Read the complete article at Comcast.news

Drug Ring Sold Pot-Laced Candy, Soda

A California drug operation manufactured marijuana-laced candy and soft drinks that were packaged to resemble popular products like Jolly Ranchers, Milky Way, and Pop Tarts. The pot ring, busted yesterday by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, was headquartered in Oakland and allegedly headed by Kenneth Affolter, 39, who was one of 12 alleged dealers nabbed. DEA raids at indoor pot-growing facilities turned up the marijuana-infused products, which carried labels such as Toka-Cola, Pot Tarts, Puff-A-Mint Pattie, Stoney Ranchers, Munchy Way, and Buddahfinger.

Read the complete article at The Smoking Gun

Police Officers in Virginia actually get paid to have sex

These Police Officers in Virginia actually get paid to go and have sex with Prostitutes in order to break up the prostitution rings in Virginia. Not a bad on the job perk.


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Man severs own penis, throws it at officers

Before cops threw the book at him, Jakub Fik threw something unusual at them -- his penis.

Fik, 33, cut off his own penis during a Northwest Side rampage Wednesday morning. When confronted by police, Fik hurled several knives and his severed organ at the officers, police said. Officers stunned him with a Taser and took him into custody.

"We took him out without any serious injury, with the exception of his own," said Chicago Police Sgt. Edward Dolan of the 16th District.

Read the complete article at Chicago Sun-Times

Man Hits His Own Car Then Sues Himself

When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault.

After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name.

City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said this one also lacks merit because Rhonda Gokey can't sue her own husband.

"You can sue your spouse for divorce, but you can't sue your spouse for negligence," Schwabauer said. "They're a married couple under California law. They're one entity. It's damage to community property."

But Rhonda Gokey insisted she has "the right to sue the city because a city's vehicle damaged my private vehicle."

Read the complete article at Newsday.com

Yigal Amir caught sneaking sperm

The jailed assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was caught Thursday trying to give his wife a plastic bag of his sperm so the couple could have a child, according to the Israel Prisons Authority.

The authority said earlier this week that the killer, Yigal Amir, could have a child by artificial insemination with his wife, Larissa Trimbobler. But the couple was told they could not start the process until the prison sought medical guidance, said Orit Stelser, a spokeswoman for the prisons authority.

Amir, serving a life sentence without parole for the 1995 assassination, married Trimbobler by proxy in 2004. The prison has not allowed them conjugal visits.

Read the complete article at jpost.com

Boy, 12, Sticks Gum on $1.5M Painting

DETROIT - A 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials say.

The boy was part of a school group from Holly that visited the museum on Friday, officials say. They say he took a piece of Wrigley's Extra Polar Ice gum out of his mouth and stuck it on Helen Frankenthaler's "The Bay," an abstract painting from 1963.

The museum acquired the work in 1965 and says it is worth about $1.5 million.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News