The Tsunami's Celebrity Victims
The rich and famous were not immune from the tsunami that devastated South Asia last weekend.
Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova (she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue last year) is in a Thai hospital recovering from a possible broken pelvis and unspecified internal injuries after holding onto a tree for eight hours. The 25-year-old had been vacationing in the resort city of Phuket with her fashion photog boyfriend, Simon Atlee, who was taken by the waters and as of yesterday was still missing.
Petra Nemcova was injured by the tsunami.
(Simon Atlee via AP)
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"Gandhi" director Sir Richard Attenborough -- who has acted in films including "Jurassic Park," "The Great Escape" and "Elizabeth" -- was on holiday in Phuket with his family as well. His 14-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, died in the tsunami, and daughter Jane and her mother-in-law were still missing yesterday. Another granddaughter, Alice, 17, was being treated in a hospital yesterday.
Thailand's royal family lost Poom Jensen, the 21-year-old Thai American grandson of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Jensen was jet-skiing at Phuket. Aussie rugby player Troy Broadbridge -- he and wife Trisha, who is safe, were on their honeymoon in Phuket -- was still missing yesterday.
Swedish skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark, on holiday with friends in Khok Kloi, Thailand, barely escaped the enormous wall of water. The Olympic gold medalist was one of the lucky ones -- he was not hurt.
In Sri Lanka, former German chancellor Helmut Kohl and some of his entourage, on vacation, were able to evacuate with help from the Sri Lankan air force. And designer Nate Berkus -- you may know him as a contributor on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- was in Sri Lanka with a friend. After the roof of their hut was ripped off, they grabbed a telephone pole for safety. But a second wave proved too mighty. Berkus was able to climb to safety. His friend, sadly, disappeared.
Carrying the King's Water
Three tablespoons of water that could have possibly graced the lips of Elvis Presley nabbed 455 smackaroos in an online auction over the weekend for one Wade Jones of Belmont, N.C., who has had the treasure since 1977, when he took it after a concert as a memento.
Jones insists that he's not an Elvis-maniac. "It's one thing to be an Elvis fan, but then you tell them you have this cup of water and they think you're a fanatic," Jones defends. "I'm not like the people bidding on the water."
Nooo, of course you're not like them. Fanatics are die-hard fans. All you did was go to the concert, nab a souvenir, deep-freeze it for eight years, then melt it and transfer it into a glass vial. This obviously does not qualify as "fanatical behavior." It's just common business sense.
Jones, 40, offers what he calls proof of the water's authenticity: photos of the King during the concert with several foam cups in the background, as well as a photo of Presley holding a (operative word here being "a") foam cup.
Ah, but the cup wasn't for sale. Says Jones: "I'm kind of attached to the cup. I thought it was a little quirkier to sell the water." You got us there.
End Note
And we leave you with a belated and un-Christmasy Christmas thought given to us by none other than that the liberal-blasting, knock-you-off-your-seat Ann Coulter, as posted on her Web site last week. Stand back, people, here it comes: "To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU'D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW! Merry Christmas." When we asked Coulter what the response was to this little ditty, she e-mailed us: "It's a big hit!" We bet.
-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder
from staff and wire reports
