Jezebel: something fishy

Feet First

Intern Katy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:20:00 EDT

Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez has announced plans to ban fish pedicures in New York. She calls the practice - in which carp feed on the dead skin of customers' feet - unsanitary. We call it gross and unnecessary. [NYPost]

Was Jeremy Piven Fired, Not Poisoned?

Margaret — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:20:00 EST

Though Jeremy Piven claims he had to leave Speed the Plow because he was suffering from mercury poisoning, sources at the Broadway show say he was actually fired for diva-like behavior.

Piven was showing up two minutes before show, behaving like a "d-bag" toward the cast and crew, and sending his understudy on if he didn't like the size of the audience, according to an "integral player" in the show. "He wanted out of his contract for about a month—he was trying to get out of it," says another Plow source. Piven's reps are denying the rumor and sticking to the "too much sushi" story, but one source says, "Don't expect to see him welcomed back on Broadway ever again." [E!]

She's Crafty

dodai — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:20:00 EST

Different women have different hobbies. Knitting, gardening... Taxidermy? The Washington Post's Melanie Kaplan tried her hand at critter sculpting one weekend in Duncannon, PA. Her "taxidermy sensei," Gary Bruch, used to make ice sculptures. Now he creates replicas and skin mounts of fish. Ms. Kaplan spent the first day airbrushing. "I'd never used an airbrush before, and working my fingers to hit that sweet spot of air and paint reminded me of learning how to drive stick shift, only harder," she writes. In the end, she "scraped the last bits of paint off my rainbow trout's glass eye, took a step back and gasped. 'It looks so real.'" Somehow, since antlers are the new skulls and there's tons of animal-themed stuff being sold for the home, a do-it-yourself lesson kinda makes sense, especially since there wasn't actually handling of a dead fish involved (Ms. Kaplan worked from a photo). We want a life-like raven to perch on our desk. [WaPo]