It's Christmas, and that means time for wives everywhere to break out the traditional skull jewelry and excoriate their addled spouses for buying them inappropriate gifts.

(Didn't know that Nicolas Cage--"star of National Treasure II, playing now at a theater near you!"--and his son were producing a comic book? Cage Factor has more on Voodoo Child and the entire line of Virgin Comics, which "hopes to challenge titans Marvel and DC by marketing largely to Asia and infusing the story lines with Eastern mythology." HT: The Beat)

Posted by jat at 12:02 PM | Permalink

Breaking news in the New York Post:  reports that the New York City Dept. of Education is about to fire a New York City principal who allegedly forced staff to participate a Santeria ritual cleansing of their school.  What actually happened isn't clear--the priest accused of leading the ceremony denies practicing Santeria and the principal denies the whole thing, but the staff members themselves tell a far different story in considerable detail:

A former assistant principal, Melody Crooks-Simpson, said there was a running joke at the school that sage should be used to cleanse the building because many of the students were ill-behaved. But it seems Tamayo took it seriously, Crooks-Simpson told investigators, and had Fonte lead a ceremony at which she sprinkled chicken blood on the building.

Crooks-Simpson told investigators she didn't attend that ceremony but showed up to school a few days later in a white dress to participate in another ceremony because Tamayo said it wouldn't work without her. She said she was charged $900 by Tamayo for the rite.

Another teacher saw Tamayo, Fonte and another woman, wearing white dresses, performing a ritual at the school while Fonte balanced a silver tray with 40 lit candles on her head, said investigators, who were tipped in February by an anonymous caller who accused Tamayo of misconduct.

Posted by jat at 09:27 PM | Permalink

"Superstition is ubiquitous in football," so it should come as no surprise that this official World Cup voodoo cup has been one of the event's hottest selling tie-ins.  The "FooTooKit" makes it simple for fans to curse their team's opponent in any given game--just dress the doll with a shirt bearing the opposition's national symbol, stick in a bunch of pins and you'll help secure a victory for your team.

And now you know the real reason why the fifth-ranked U.S. team mysteriously choked to lose 3-0 in its opening game. 

(Click here for more World Cup marketing fun!)       

Posted by jat at 08:55 PM | Permalink