When George Lucas released "Star Wars" people grumbled
that the special effects masked a lack of character
development.

Charles Ross is starring in the "One-man Star Wars
Trilogy" at an off-Broadway show that brings Lucas'
three original films back to life in about as low-tech
a way as possible. Ross embodies all the characters
himself and provides his own sound effects for the
lightsabers, space ships and lasers — cramming all
three films into an hour's worth of high-energy, often
immensely comical entertainment.

It's a retrospective look at such a pop culture
phenomenon almost demands more satire to maintain its
interest.

After all, it reinforces that film characters that
have reached iconic status are also fallible —
sometimes badly written and overacted.

Stand-up comedian Dane Cook, whose new album just
became the highest-charting comedy release on the U.S.
pop charts in a quarter-century, is set to star in a
comedy pilot called "Cooked."

A who's who of standup comedy came out for a roast of
Pamela Anderson.

Among those in attendance were two of Anderson's
romantic partners: model Marcus Schenkenburg and
ex-husband Tommy Lee, who performed during the show.

Also musician-actress Courtney Love, who said she was
friends with Anderson "because she's really smart, and
she's really cool, and, like me, we share the
distinction of being the two probably biggest freak
shows on Earth, who have the most fame and the least
amount of money."

Anna Nicole Smith said she, too, felt many ties
binding her to Anderson. "She has a really great sense
of humor. She's bubbly. People make fun of her. She
just shoves it off. She doesn't care what people think
about her."

A strip club operator in Los Angeles has stirred
outrage among his neighbours by unveiling a sign
advertising the wares of his establishment in very
explicit terms.

The Century Lounge near Los Angeles' airport has for
years wooed passing trade with the sign, "Live Nude
Nude Nudes," but last week it stepped up the rhetoric
with a new sign proclaiming "Vaginas 'R Us."

"In sort of a naive way, I felt that there was nothing
terrible about it since the 'Vagina Monologues' was on
Broadway forever," he said.

Toys 'R Us complained about the similarity between his
sign. However White is facing heat from fire mashals
who issued him with a citation ordering him to remove
or replace the vinyl sign by this weekend as it is
made of combustible material.

Catch a stray cow from the hundreds roaming the
streets of New Delhi, haul it to a state shelter and
you will be given $46 for your pains.

The Delhi High Court had passed an order instructing
city authorities to offer money to rid the Indian
capital of 35,000 cows and buffaloes roam free in the
capital, sharing space with hordes of monkeys, camels
and stray dogs. Traffic routinely comes to a halt to
allow animals to amble across highways, leading to
accidents and sometimes deaths.

Cows are sacred to Hindus, who make up a bulk of
India's billion-plus population, and just a rumor of
mistreatment can prompt angry mobs to attack people in
revenge.

Remember sacred cows make the best hamburgers!

Sonya Thomas, at 99 pounds, gobbled her way to another
speed-eating title over the weekend by attacking a
Wisconsin staple — the bratwurst. She's known as The
Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit downed
35 brats in 10 minutes to win the first Johnsonville
Brat-Eating World Championship. She edged out her
nearest competitor by half a brat to win.

She's ranked second by the International Federation of
Competitive Eating, Her various eating records include
ones for hard-boiled eggs (65 in 6 minutes 40 seconds)
and chicken wings (167 in 32 minutes).

The day before the bratwurst-eating contest, she won a
grilled-cheese-sandwich eating contest in San Diego,
eating 22.

Take her to New Delhi!