According to the LA Times, cell phone confiscations within the California Department of Corrections has jumped almost 7,000 from just three years ago, and among the prisoners caught with phones is none other than serial killer Charles Manson. Manson was caught calling and texting numbers in California, New Jersey, Florida and Canada. California DoC spokeswoman Terry Thornton said, "I don't know, but it's troubling that he had a cellphone since he's a person who got other people to murder on his behalf." Maybe he was just excitedly texting that "Helter Skelter" is finally on iTunes. more ›

John Waters has written a memoir. That statement alone may be enough to make those who are familiar with his work lunge towards the nearest bookstore—or to Bryant Park on Monday night, where the inimitable auteur will be having a conversation with Paul Holdengräber as part of the free "LIVE at the NYPL" series. Everything about the cult film director—who has been called the "Pope of Filth," and is responsible for such classics of their own very off-kilter genre as Hairspray, Cry Baby, and Pink Flamingos—begs the question, "how did he get this way?" more ›

News of Norman Mailer’s hospitalization broke today; the cantankerous and influential author is suffering from severe respiratory problems following a collapsed lung. His children have been keeping a bedside vigil in the critical-care unit of Mt. Sinai Hospital, where Mailer is reportedly still in fighting spirits, thumb-wrestling and cracking jokes. (The Post has more, while New York Magazine looks at the illness in the context of his recent ruminations on spirituality in a new book, On God.) more ›

Tom Snyder died today, at age 71, after losing a long battle with leukemia. There are many videos with footage of his long career, because just about everyone wanted to talk to him (especially on "The Tomorrow Show" which aired after Johnny Carson in the '70s and '80s). more ›

Legendary Director Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist), who testified against a Vanity Fair article - via video, of course, to avoid extradition in the US where that sex with a minor issue is still hanging over his head, just won his libel case in a British court. The VF's article claimed Polanski seduced a woman at a NYC restaurant en route to the funeral of his wife Sharon Tate and their unborn child, who were viciously murdered by the Charles Manson clan in 1969. So, if Gothamist gets this right, you flee a country because you're too spineless to face justice, only to seek it once a magazine dares to run some gossip - good to know that Polanski’s inability to self-examine himself is almost laughable. more ›

Noah Tarnow, Producer/Quizmaster, The Big Quiz Thing more ›