FLASH LITES: RIP ‘N’ READ POP CULTURE RECAP

FLASH LITES: RIP ‘N’ READ POP CULTURE RECAP



BANGKOK (Wireless Flash) – Thailand is hoping to have a global hit with Beautiful Boxer, a movie about a young kickboxer who enters a contest to win money for a sex-change. The film’s director says Beautiful Boxer is about overcoming adversity to “achieve your ambition.”

TOKYO – The Daihatsu Motor Company has been forced to remove an ad from Japanese TV after viewers complained it was racially offensive. The spot shows Europeans greeting a Japanese woman by making “slant-eye” faces. Company officials say the gestures were meant to emphasize the “sleek design of the headlights.”

LOUISVILLE – Country singer Loretta Lynn knows something about carrying a torch – and she’ll be doing just that this Sunday (Dec. 16) when she carries the Olympic torch down the streets of Louisville, Kentucky.

TOKYO – The newest member of the Japanese royal family is driving the country to drink. Ever since Princess Aiko was born, sales of Aiko- brand vodka have soared. In fact, some folks are buying as many as ten bottles at a time for friends and family.

MADRID – The fiftysomething blond bombshell mayor of Cadiz, Spain, has been offered a part as a nurse in the upcoming James Bond movie, but has turned it down, saying she wants to focus on her political career.

STOCKHOLM – Talk about getting an earful: A pet pooch swallowed a man’s ear during an attack in Stockholm yesterday. Veterinarians retrieved the ear in hopes of reattaching it, but the dog’s stomach acid had dissolved too much of it.

SANTA MONICA – Arnold Schwarzenegger’s publicist announced yesterday the actor had to be hospitalized after breaking several ribs in a motorcycle accident. The 54 year old is said to be in good spirits, but feeling sore.

SEOUL, South Korea – It’s a South Korean-eat-dog-world and actress Brigitte Bardot wants it stopped. She’s protesting South Korea’s dog-eating practice with a letter that was printed in the Korean Times newspaper yesterday. In the letter she stated, “Defending and justifying this brutality in the name of culture is an absurdity!”

LONDON – British police say they have released the man they earlier arrested on charges of stalking actress and model Elizabeth Hurley. The 32-year-old suspect was arrested Sunday in Kensington where Hurley lives.

HOLLYWOOD – Don Tennant, creator of advertising icons like Tony the Tiger, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Marlboro Man, passed away this past weekend at the age of 79.