Casual Fridays

Mamma Mia

A survey by Slate magazine has suggested that actress Meryl Streep has been thanked in Oscar acceptance speeches more than God in the past 12 years. Since 2002, Streep has been thanked by four out of 47 total individual Oscar winners, compared with three Oscar winners thanking God and two winners thanking Sidney Poitier and Oprah Winfrey. Streep might be loved like a deity, but don’t forget that the devil wears Prada.

The Empire Sews Back

In an act of dedication only a true fan could show, British designer and illustrator Aled Lewis has created the “Star Wars” version of the Bayeux Tapestry. The 30-foot strip of cross stitching, named the Coruscant Tapestry, features key moments of the “Star Wars” epic from “Episode I” to “Episode VI.” The entire project took Lewis more than six months from conception to completion. The planning process included watching the films multiple times in order to choose main plot points of the films and obtaining the cloth and thread from Germany and France. The tapestry is currently on display at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles and is on sale for $20,000. The tapestry was a great idea, until Jar Jar Binks was stitched into it.

Don’t Tase me, bro

On Thursday, Pittsburgh police were called to the scene of a naked man running across the Rachel Carson Bridge. The unidentified man was seen taking off his clothes and throwing them over the side of the bridge and into the Allegheny River. When police arrived on the scene, the man began running, causing the police to pursue. The man resisted arrest, forcing police to use a Taser. There was no word on what caused the man to remove his clothes. Then again, sunlight is in high demand these days, so maybe he just needed to work on getting rid of his winter glow.

If the selfie fits …

A burglary in southern California was solved when the alleged burglar left his cell phone at the scene of the crime. When police arrived at a burglarized church in southern California, the phone was found and determined to hold a selfie of the burglar. The photo led police to the home of Adam Howe, who was found with various items taken from the church. Police published Howe’s selfie, which caused him to be linked to other robberies in a nearby mobile home park. Howe seems to have forgotten that a Snapchat lasts ten seconds, but a mug shot is forever.

Cascading caramel calamity

A man in Iowa lost his job after he was fired for using a forklift to retrieve a candy bar from a vending machine. Robert McKevitt was attempting to retrieve a Twix bar from a vending machine when the candy became stuck on a coil and would not fall. After rocking and knocking on the machine, the candy remained unfallen. It was then that McKevitt went behind the wheel of a forklift, lifted the vending machine several feet off the floor and dropped it, causing several candy bars to fall. Several days later, the company McKevitt worked for fired him. It appears McKevitt could have used the opportunity to chew it over with a Twix before using the forklift.