Anorak

Anorak News - Pop culture, media, sport and weirdness

14th, January 2014 Strange But True

Man Sues Close Up Toothpaste After He Failed To Seduce Women

“Where is the Close Up effect? I’ve been waiting for it for over seven years," says Anthony Olatunfe. He's using Unilever Nigeria Limited for failing to live up to the promise that brushing with Close Up toothpaste makes you irresistible to women..." More »

14th, January 2014 Strange But True

Jeweller Frances Wadsworth-Jones Makes 'Lucky' Bird Poo-Themed Broaches

"I like to try and find beauty in the unexpected and I quite often look at the floor."... More »

14th, January 2014 Celebrities 3

I'm Glad Hayley Cropper Is Dead: She Never Once Posed In A Bikini

Hayley Cropper was dying. Hayley Cropper is not a real person. She's the work of dramatists at Coronation Street. And she's dead. No. She's alive. Hang on... No, Dead. But she could return for a retrospective or Christmas special... More »

14th, January 2014 Reviews

Signs That Knock-off Major Brands Hang in a Fake Shopping District in China

At the foot of the Shimao Skyscrapers in China's Wuxi City, a fake shopping district has popped up featuring storefronts marked with signs that knock-off major international brands like Starbucks (now "Sffccks"), H&M (now "H&N"), and Apple (now "Appla")... More »

14th, January 2014 Strange But True

Possyum, A Dog Food Made From New Zealand's Marsupial Menace

In New Zealand, there is a big problem with an ever-growing population of small, cat-sized critters, the non-native possum. Now considered the island country's public enemy #1, the beady-eyed brushtail possum was introduced in 1837 to New Zealand from Australia as a way to establish a fur trade./// More »

13th, January 2014 Money

And Now The Parisian Taxi Drivers Are Beating Up Limousines

The latest is that several Parisian taxi drivers have beaten up someone driving an Uber limo: this is even after the French Government just passed a, quite probably illegal, law to favour the taxis over the Uber drivers... More »

13th, January 2014 Reviews

Pervert Cheese Feta-shist At Large In Philadelphia: Chris Pagano Is Smeared

I found that women tend to like dairy products, and settled on cheese to represent the girl. thus I started having sex with cheese... More »

13th, January 2014 Celebrities 1

Justin Bieber And 20k's Worth of Egg Damage: How The Star Faded Like Nilsson Said

Where angry popstars usually lob furniture out of windows and punch a pap or two, Bieber can't let go of the child in him, preferring to attack a neighbour's house. With eggs... More »

13th, January 2014 Film

British Board of Film Classification Gets All Wussy Over Horror Films

They're designed to be loud, brash, assault your eyes and ears and you can have fun being part of a crowd all scared witless at the same time. Going to the movies, it seems, is designed for horror. However, the British Board of Film Classification is to look more closely at the psychological impact of horror films under new guidelines to decide on movie ratings... More »

13th, January 2014 Flashback

Gimme Shelter From Hell's Angels: Meredith Hunter, Alan Passaro And The Rolling Stones Horror Show

The killing at the Altamont Speedway in northern California was caught on camera. Meredith was killed as the Stones played, the horror recorded on Gimme Shelter, David and Albert Maysles's documentary. (One not filmed by George Lucas because his camera broke.)... More »

13th, January 2014 Reviews

Frankfurt Transport Asks Men 'Do You Love Children More Than You Should?'

Frankfurt transport is reaching out to potential paedophiles: "Do you love children more than you should?"... More »

13th, January 2014 Reviews

Spurs Balls: Sherwood Gives Jermain Defoe The Gilded Elbow

How good is Defoe..? More »

13th, January 2014 Money

Letter Of The Day: The Financial Times Is Best For Keeping Champagne Cold

Why do you read the Financial Times... More »

13th, January 2014 Politicians

Francois Hollande Ruins The Economy And Proves The French Can't Even Have A Decent Affair

Francois Hollande, the French president, says Closer magazine's exposure of his alleged affair with Julie Gayet, an actress, is outrageous. (Always the actress.) The details are pretty juicy not least of all that Hollande arrives for trysts in a borrowed flat on the back of a scooter... More »

13th, January 2014 In Pictures 3

No Pants Subway Ride 2014: The Photos

The annual "No Pants" commute - aka Was That Wet Patch There Before I sat Down? - show Train riders bare their legs in 60 cities. The "No Pants Subway Ride." The trick is to act "normal", as if wearing no trousers is the most everyday thing in the world, which it is in large parts of the UK on a Saturday night... More »

13th, January 2014 Flashback 3

Peculiar Fun for the Whole Family: 20 Odd and Interesting Board Games

There have been thousands of boxed games (board games and their ilk) published over the years. For your convenience, we've culled together twenty of the most peculiar (in no particular order). Don’t say you weren’t been warned... More »

13th, January 2014 Gifs

The Most WTF Moments From Japanese TV (In Gifs)

Japanese TV is great... More »

13th, January 2014 Key Posts 1

Checking The Mail: Sherlock And Bashing Benefits Claimants

Channel 4’s documentary Benefits Street has been an absolute boon for The Daily Mail. The sound of the boners popping up must have been audible in the office as the hate-filled shitstirrers of The Daily Mail’s crack Poor People Hating unit grew aroused at the thought of some easy targets. And lo, as it was foretold, the stories of “odious” benefits ‘cheats’ have been spewing out of the Mail’s collective maw faster than crumbs flying out of Paul Dacre’s gob at lunchtime... More »

13th, January 2014 Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann: Met Wants To Arrest 3 Burglars As Soon As The Portuguese Police Can Find Them

Anorak's look at the missing child in the news. These are the first front-pages of 2014 to feature the tabloids' 'Our Maddie'... More »

13th, January 2014 Key Posts

Fear of A Fat Planet: Billy Bunter Is Now An Enemy Of The State

Fat is bad. The top-down message is consistent. The Mail leads with news that Obesity is "worse than we first feared"... More »

13th, January 2014 Celebrities

Golden Globes 2014 Highlights: Elisabeth Moss's Finger Cam, Tina Fey Rocks Clooney And Bono Disses Diddy

The Golden Globes 2014. Here are the highlights from last night's Hollywood AGM... More »

12th, January 2014 Books

In 1933 Helen Keller Wrote This Open Letter To German Students Planning To Burn 'Un-German' Books

"History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas..." More »

12th, January 2014 Sports

Newcastle United's Alan Pardew Calls Manchester City's Pelligrini Names On Sunday Afternoon Telly - Video

No subtitles provided... More »

12th, January 2014 Flashback

Behind Enemy Lines: Over 100 Photographs Of German Soldiers Fighting World War One

What was life like behind enemy lines during World War 1? What was it like being a German soldier? In a word: grim... More »

12th, January 2014 Celebrities

As Hitler's Boxer Said To The Actress: Silent Anny Ondra Was Hitchcock's Star Of Britain’s First ‘Talkie’

Some of the first words ever spoken on British film were uttered in a sound-test for Anny Ondra one of the stars in Blackmail and which featured a short conversation between Hitchcock and the Polish-Czech actress. Ondra certainly wasn’t hired for her authentic cockney accent and Hitchcock knew that her thick accented voice would not be suitable. Due to the unsophisticated sound-equipment, and in a situation that parallels similar scenes in Singin’ in the Rain made just 23 years later, he brought in the actress Joan Barry to dub live and off-screen, Ondra’s silent mouthing... More »