As sold on eBay (categorized as outsider circus art from the middle 1900s): Amazing how far we've come when we used to do this kind of thing at a circus and now we do it on reality TV. Oh, wait—maybe we still have a ways to go.
As seen on eBay (where the tiny photo sold for nearly $800!): Wonder where they are now, 66 years later? Wonder if they were friends, boyfriends, relatives...all three???
It's always one pop diva vs. another, isn't it? At least this 1985 South Korean mag didn't make any pretense about it.
The bidding really heated up at one point...aka, the house later burned down
My pal John sent me this link, to a borderline nuts, borderline sweet story about the family who tried to make millions selling Madonna's childhood home on eBay 10 years ago.
I remember they contacted me for advice, but can't recall what I told them. (You can see one of the brothers reading my Encyclopedia Madonnica in one fuzzy picture.)
The site of Madonna's live birth
I can't quite sign off on the film's assertion that the whacky bids they received all failed to materialize strictly due to 9/11 or get into the sadness that their 15 minutes of fame flew by so quickly. Also, the narrator (one of the brothers in the family) claims eBay was a relatively new thing then, but it wasn't really. I've been a member since 1998 and it was launched in 1995.
Still, it's a pleasant way to pass a few minutes if you can tear yourself away from leaving pro or con comments about Britney's pink dress all over the blogosphere.
Apparently, a young couple who graduated from my high school in Flushing, Michigan, are behind an eBay auction for a thank-you note—the idea is that you bid $10 and you'll be helping them raise money toward spending thousands on in vitro treatments in order to have a baby.
They're already spent several years and "several thousands of dollars" unsuccessfully trying to "conceive naturally," so my first thought is...adopt. No? If not, then I just find it odd to request that others fund their potentially fruitless effort, especially during hard financial times.
I feel bad for them if this is a dream of theirs that they can't achieve and I hope their luck turns, but I can't imagine chipping in on this one.
(Also, I can't explain the red AIDS-awareness ribbon on their thank-you card.)
Please, overzealous Madonna fans, once and for all—these books of Gary Heery's cover shoot from Madonna's first album are not vintage 1983 and are not promotional. The session leaked years ago on the 'Net and the hi-res files are simply printed in these items in the same way any enterprising fan could do using Snapfish or Shutterfly or whatever. So sick and tired of seeing fake Holy Grails.
Madonna signed this teddy bear designed by Daniel Vosovic to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Bidding is at over $400 already with a few days left to go. Click here if interested.
Artist Paul Richmond has been ripped off. A man on eBay has been reproducing his rather identifiable oil paintings (they're male cheesecake, but don't call them beefcake—try cheesesteak) and selling them. Once eBay inexplicably refused to close the man's account, Richmond embarked upon a hysterical effort to document, fuck with and shame the man stealing his work in a campaign that must be read to be believed—it's equal parts Last House on the Left and 27b/6. Even if you wind up hating Richmond's technique, you'll fall in love with his style.
All kidding aside, Mr. Richmond, please—sue eBay. For all of us.
