Reuters Blogs

Actress Pamela Anderson poses at the 6th Annual Hollywood Style awards in Los Angeles, October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Go for the gold. Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Posted in Oddly Enough | 5 Comments »

October 30th, 2009

Another reason not to smoke?

Posted by: Robert Basler

Continuing on with today’s theme of curious responses by onlookers who are present at a crime scene…

Maybe you’ve already seen our video of a mafia-style hit on a guy with a mafia criminal record. It’s pretty strong stuff, and also fairly surprising.

A guy is smoking a cigarette outside a bar, a dude in a baseball cap walks into the bar, then comes out and kills cigarette guy with several shots.

Meanwhile, a woman checking out her scratch-off lottery ticket just keeps on doing that, then walks away. Even the hitman just walks off.

For those of us trained in human behavior, this raises a number of questions:

This new get-tough initiative on smokers, is it working?
Why are baseball fans suddenly turning so violent?
Are lottery officials allowed to use this footage in an ad campaign along the lines of, “Hold the noise down boys, I think I won the lottery!”

Tweat yourself to this blog on Twitter at rbasler

We can’t turn you down! Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Posted in Oddly Enough | 8 Comments »

October 22nd, 2009

NONE of you brought bullets?

Posted by: Robert Basler

Blog Guy, you’re an expert on police operations around the world, right?

Okay.

So I was wondering, what are the very best and very worst police departments? I’m counting on you.

The worst may be these police in Mumbai.

Check out this photo. Looks like all of them are groping for bullets while balancing their rifles between their knees, with the barrels pointed up towards their faces.

It seems like a Deputy Barney Fife moment if ever there was one. I have another photo taken 20 seconds later, but it’s a bit grisly to use here.

And the very best unit?

I’d have to say the Dominican Republic Police Department, which appears to be made up entirely of models in skimpy bikinis. I believe the officer saluting here is a captain.

She’s a COP? Man, I’d like to cop…

Stop right there! This is a sophisticated blog, Buster, so just keep those cheap pool hall lines to yourself!

Above: Policemen prepare to fire their weapons to pay homage to their fallen colleagues on Police Commemoration Day in Mumbai October 21, 2009. REUTERS/Arko Datta

Below: A model displays a creation by Puerto Rico designer Ecliptica at a fashion show during the Dominicana fashion week in Santo Domingo, October 20, 2009. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Posted in Oddly Enough | 9 Comments »

October 11th, 2009

Bad practical jokes on guys with guns…

Posted by: Robert Basler

Pay attention, Earl, this is goin’ down as my very best practical joke ever!

Now just picture it. All these troops will be looking left, see, watching for the president to arrive. So I’m gonna stretch a shin-high rope in front of their legs!

Then, see, when they take a step forward with their UNLOADED rifles to present arms, they’ll all go stumbling and sprawling! They’ll be SO pissed-off!

Get outta here, Earl, here comes the president now!

What? Their guns ARE loaded? Fully-automatic, huh? Magnum what?

A soldier lines up a rope for guard of honor members before Hungary’s President Laszlo Solyom arrives for a two day long official visit in Brdo, Slovenia, October 8, 2009. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic

What have you got to lose? Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Posted in Oddly Enough | 15 Comments »

October 6th, 2009

I didn’t prepare ya for Bavaria?

Posted by: Robert Basler

Blog Guy? I read about Oktoberfest in your blog and went to the bar you suggested, and now I wanna die!

Really? What did you order?

Hold your voice down. I’ve never had a headache this bad. I ordered “Bavarian Shooters.” My ears are still ringing. I inhaled so much black smoke…

Uh, you DID make clear you wanted a beverage, right?

Apparently not. There were SIXTY of them. I don’t think I’m gonna make it.

Look, go back to that bar, tell ‘em I sent you, and ask for some “hair of the dog.” Can you remember that?

Sigh. You’re sure nothing can go wrong?

Around 60 shooters in traditional Bavarian clothes fire off salutes during a last day ceremony at Munich’s 176th Oktoberfest October 4, 2009.

A German police officer and her bomb-sniffing dog search through an Oktoberfest tent during the early morning hours in Munich September 30, 2009.

REUTERS photos by Michaela Rehle

Live the dream. Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Posted in Oddly Enough | 13 Comments »

October 5th, 2009

Baby, you’re the stupidest!

Posted by: Robert Basler

Blog Guy, I’m tired of dating smart chicks. Where can I find some stupid ones?

I can’t help you. The ones I know, especially those who read my blog, are very smart.

Come on, just between us, you must know where I can get some dimwits.

You might try London. Some of the women there are so stupid the police have launched an ad campaign warning them to stop carrying guns for their boyfriends. It doesn’t get much dumber.

“Hey Pam, you got any extra room in your purse?

“Sure, Johnny. Watcha need?”

“Let’s see. here’s my Chapstick, and some gum…”

“No worries, Johnny. Anything else?”

“Oh, I guess I should take my Glock in case I wanna kill somebody. But I’d rather not carry it on me because I could go to prison.”

“No sweat, Johnny. I can see where you wouldn’t want that. Look, just a little bit of the barrel sticks out of my purse. Ya want some extra ammo, too?”

“You’re the best, baby! What did I do to deserve a tree stump like you?”

Above: Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich in a 2004 file photo. REUTERS/ Yuriko Nakao

Left: A model presents swimwear during a fashion show in Budapest in a 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

It’s not as bad as you’ve heard. Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Posted in Oddly Enough | 15 Comments »

September 8th, 2009

How I spent my summer vacation

Posted by: Robert Basler

Welcome back to a feature called What Year is this Again? where we offer items that lack humor, but do make us wonder if we have somehow gone back in time…

Children, welcome to third grade! I’m Miss Johnson. Let’s start with all of you writing a paragraph called “How I Spent My Summer Vacation!”

Dear Miss Johnson, my family went to Disney World. We rode on every ride. I threw up.

Lisa

Dear Miss Johnson, we went to Martha’s Vineyard. I saw President Obama. He waved.

Sean

Dear Ms. Johnson. Last Sunday, Mommy and I were on a bus. There was a truck full of roosters. Some guys called “hit men” drove by and killed two men in the rooster truck. Four days earlier in the same city, “hit men” went to a clinic, lined up patients and killed 17 of them. Next summer, I want to visit Hollywood.

Rosie

A woman and her daughter look at a crime scene where hitmen killed two men in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, September 6, 2009. Four men were traveling in a truck loaded with roosters when they were attacked on Sunday afternoon in a drive-by shooting, according to local media. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

Posted in Oddly Enough | 5 Comments »

September 1st, 2009

I hope there are some bulls on his “death panel”

Posted by: Robert Basler

Blog Guy, what’s the humane situation in Britain? They really love their animals, right? But so like what if you’re a Brit person and you really have this urge to be cruel to animals? Is that a problem?

You can go fox hunting, though that’s a little more difficult these days.

But what if it doesn’t satisfy my need to be cruel? What if I try that, and just have the urge to torture BIGGER animals?

Oh, then you become a bullfighter and go to Spain.

A British bullfighter? Come on!

There really is one. We have photos of him.

Wow! I bet he has to be REALLY fit for a sport like that. Isn’t that a very demanding skill?

Uh, this guy is 67 years old, he’s had quadruple by-pass surgery and a replaced knee.

My God! How does he survive in the ring?

You can see him here with his “assistants.” I believe they protect him in the ring with machine guns and flame throwers.

Do you have any pictures of him with an actual bull?

In the photo below it looks like he THINKS he’s touching a bull. Does that count?

Above: British matador Frank Evans, 67, poses with his assistants before a bullfight in Benalmadena, Spain, August 30, 2009. Evans, known on the circuit as “El Ingles,” quit bullfighting in 2005, but came out of retirement last year after enduring quadruple by-pass surgery and having a knee replaced.

Right: Evans practices before the bullfight.

REUTERS photos by Jon Nazca

Posted in Oddly Enough | 8 Comments »

August 20th, 2009

Presenting our new crack unit!

Posted by: Robert Basler

General, I’m proud to give you the first look at our new battlefield attack cycle! It carries five soldiers - three with assault weapons, a lookout on top, and a driver.

This is a rolling death machine that approaches speeds of four miles an hour, downhill. We can produce them for $240,000 each. I know that sounds high, General, but most of it goes to buy life insurance for the lookout guy.

Now, the three shooters are able to spray a bullet pattern of….

What, General? How does the driver see through all those billowing trousers to steer? Hmm. Uh, I guess we’ll need to work on that.

Well yes, General, I think it might work to have the shooters wear no pants of any kind, so the driver could kind of look around their bare butts to navigate…

That is a great idea, General, plus it solves another problem. Suddenly, the lookout no longer has the worst job on the motorcycle.

Motorcyclists from the Kashmir Police perform during Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar, August 15,2009. REUTERS/ Danish Ismail

Posted in Oddly Enough | 11 Comments »

July 29th, 2009

Heads I win, tails you lose…

Posted by: Robert Basler

Blog Guy, I just lost a bunch of money to a guy flipping coins, and I can’t figure out how he did it. He beat me every time!

Let me guess. Was he playing, “Heads I win, tails you lose?”

Yes! I can’t figure out what went wrong!

Well, this is not generally a good phrase to agree to in the world of wagering. As a helpful illustration, look at these two guys in the photos.

After an hour of gambling, the one who was saying “Heads I win, tails you lose” is blazing away with two machine guns, looking like Rambo and about to leave with several gorgeous chicks wearing stiletto heels.

He is standing on the other guy, whom we will call the loser. That dude has bricks broken around him, tire tracks on his face, and no shirt.

Yikes. Is that all that happened to the poor shirtless guy?

Nope. The hot shell casings from those guns have to be coming down somewhere, don’t they?

A Russian soldier fires as he stands on the stomach of a comrade as they train for a military parade to mark Navy Day in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok, July 24, 2009. REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev