Sheesh… I do a piece on Romanian gymnast Nadia Comeneci — and now everybody’s got to get in on the act.
To be fair, though: Tom Leonard’s article is more far substantial than mine (which was just an excuse to leer at her grownup tatas).
And it reminds us that Commies are unspeakable bastards.
Good grief. Try this idiot on for size:
A woman who bought THREE of Italy’s €1 houses has warned of the real price of renovating the bargain-priced properties.
Solar consultant and business owner, Rubia Daniels, took up the fantastic offer in Mussomeli, Sicily – but quickly realised that it would total a MASSIVE €60,000.
No doubt she thought that the houses were going to be in pristine Islington-style condition, and that she could just move in and start enjoying the bargain. (She bought the other two for her children, by the way.)
Of course, what she got for her $3.90 were three houses that were in a state of disrepair approaching write-off — hence the low price — in a dying village without, say, a Home Depot (US) or Homebase (UK) outlet anywhere nearby.
And frankly, even if the whole tripartite reno does cost €60,000 she’ll still have three houses that cost €20,001 each, in this place:
…which quite frankly looks like any shithole town in Sicily where even €1 is too much to pay.
Anyone remember her?
Yup, that’s Nadia Comeneci. who achieved a perfect 10.0 in gymnastics at the 1976 Olympics. Of course, as a callow pre-adolescent girl with no figure to speak of, she wasn’t a perfect 10 — that improvement would come later.
So why are you mentioning her at all, Kim?
Because later this year, she will be turning 60. Here’s a more recent pic: 
You all have my permission to feel really old. (And I know, she’s probably gone blonde to disguise the grey. Bad choice, in my opinion, but I still would.)
Ladies and Gentlemen (and those about to have the operation):
Say hello to the new GTO Squalo, with its 4.0-liter quad-cam 12-cylinder engine:
And if you think it resembles a certain model of 1960s-era Ferrari, you may be permitted to do so.
Here’s the story, as well as more pictures.
This is what happens when I get curious about stuff and set out to explore.
Last week, I read that former Spain- and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas (one of the best goalies ever, btw) has divorced his journototty wife Sara:
…and moved to a “Japanese-style” penthouse in La Finca.
Where dat?
Not being familiar with Spain, I eventually found out that it’s a swanky suburb of Madrid. (I should also mention that I caught the giggles because I first read “Finca” as “Fica” — the Italian slang for “pussy” — but I recovered and went on.)
I should have stopped upon learning that La Finca was a Madrid suburb. But noooo, I had to see what it looks like. Casilla’s penthouse apartment (see here) should have given me a clue, but when I DuckDucked it, I saw stuff like this… endless examples of foul glass and concrete boxes modernity:
I could go on, but I think you get the drift. (If you want to see bigger pictures — gawd help you — just DuckDuck “La Finca Madrid”.)
As a rule, I quite like traditional Spanish architecture — especially the Catalonian style:
…and as for apartments and public buildings:
Compared to those, La Finca Horrible doesn’t even come close:
I think I need to look at something beautiful, just to recover from that hideousness. Here’s Paz Vega:
Now that’s some classic Spanish architecture for you.
The other day I was skimming Teh Intarwebz, idly looking at smut pics of pretty women, and saw this creature:
I had (and still have) no idea who she is, but my lecherous gaze was somewhat tempered by my feeling of guilt for ogling a teenage girl. (Of course, it turns out that she’s actually 30, so my guilt was misplaced.)
Which brings me to my point.
As we get older — I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in this — everyone not looking like the late Prince Philip looks about twelve years old, and I often wonder when we started promoting adolescents to positions of power and authority.
I’m not even talking about celebrity women, who with the aid of surgery can look decades younger than their actual age. I’m talking about everyday people we see on television, who are supposedly in charge of some important function, but who seem to still need adolescent acne cream.
Then again, who cares? As long as we can ogle the likes of Carol Vorderman, Annabella Sciorra or Jennifer Grey (all aged 60):
…I don’t really care that foreign policy is being run by someone who looks like Doogie Howser, or that Steve Urkel somehow became President of the United States.