The Pop Shizzle

Madame Tussauds got their prop game on this week, putting a functioning camera in the hand of its wax replica of Kim Kardashian. Visitors are welcome to pose with the dummy of KK – she who is infamous for taking non-stop selfies … Likely to score him a few brownie points, Johnny Depp visited paediatric hospitals last week dressed in full Jack Sparrow costume … Fans of camp cult franchise Sharknado (where the villains are giant sharks that are flung via tornados, of course) will be ecstatic to learn Sharknado 3 – subtitled Oh Hell No! will premiere on cable in early August. Oh hell yes! … The producers of horror series Hannibal have confirmed Season 3 will be set in Europe – where our protagonist has escaped to; away from the prying eye of the US FBI … And Game Of Thrones has scooped the Emmy nominations with 24 nods in total – the most of any show.

In literature, Harper Lee, the author of classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, has good reason to celebrate; the sequel Go Set A Watchman had the most Amazon print pre-orders since the last Harry Potter instalment while Watchman sold over 1.1 million copies in its first week … Dr Seuss (may he rest in peace) left a box of unpublished ‘manuscripts’ in his wake which were only recently discovered by his widow and long-time secretary. Included was a draft for a book titled What Pet Should I Get? in which a pair of siblings go pet shopping. The book has just been published and – note for trainspotters – can best be compared to One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

On the fast food front, pop starlet Ariana Grande was sprung doing kinky things to doughnuts at a South California bakery recently – well, licking them, that is … The Minions toys being given away with McDonald’s meals have conservative customers tut-tutting. Apparently some of the Despicable Me critters sound like they’re swearing … Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Philippines has taken junk food grafting to new heights with the release of the ‘Chizza’ – that is a pizza with a fried chicken crust … 21st Century Fox – home of The Simpsons – have issued a real version of Homer’s favourite brew Duff Beer. Yup, we too thought it always was real…

And finally, on a healthy food tip, Time magazine predicts four new ‘it’ foods being dragon fruit (for its high Vitamin C), kaniwa seed (related to quinoa and high in iron and protein), coconut flour (high in fibre) and bamboo water (antioxidants galore). Nyum nyums.  Antonino Tati