Imagine a daily news program with current events, entertainment, sports, and weather. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary so far, however, now imagine a team of naked women reporting the latest soccer scores, or the current energy crisis in California, or even the tragic and senseless bombings in the Mideast. The program usually begins with host Victoria Sinclair delivering the headlines fully clothed, and by the end of the segment (and with the casualness of pouring a cup of coffee) she has removed blouse, skirt, bra, and panties, leaving her as naked as Eve in her Edenic debut—had Eve worn a diminutive microphone on her neck. What to call such a program? Why, Naked News, of course.

Elliott Shulman is the creator and producer of the Toronto-based Internet news site (nakednews.com). Only a year-and-a-half old, the show is wildly successful. It airs five days a week and is patterned after a Russian TV program called Golaya Pravda (“The Naked Truth,” which has aired since November ’99 and is hosted by Ukrainian actress Svetlana Pesotskaya). The Naked News team also consists of sports reporter Devon Calwell, weather girl Diane Foster, and business reporter Carmen Russo (who recently reported on the dismal performance of the dot-com stocks in today's bare market—oh my side!).

The popularity of the show was not missed by Playboy Magazine which featured four of the ladies in the June issue. Amidst all that silicone perhaps the Toronto beauties can prove to the world that natural assets are far more desirable that those manufactured in a lab.

As if NN's ground-breaking format wasn't enough, their very pregnant entertainment reporter Holly Weston, who believes that "more is better," was on-camera well-into what looked like her 7th month AND a male version has been added for the ladies, featuring two very buffed and toned hunks.

With nude beaches, nude house-cleaning services, and entire nude communities (yes, that includes the grocery stores and gas stations) we shouldn't be surprised with news anchors in the buff. It is truly odd, however, to try to concentrate on the strife in Macedonia while staring at a woman's bare breasts.

In the song, California Girls, the Beach Boys refer to the Northern girls keeping their “boyfriends warm at night,” yet still “wish they all could be California girls.” Brian Wilson is definitely due for another look at the fair lasses north of the border.

“You all come back, eh?”

•

 

 

•

H
O
M
E

•

T
H
E

S
T
R
A
N
G
E

A
N
D

B
I
Z
A
R
R
E

•

P
H
O
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
Y

•

E
S
S
A
Y
S

•

A
R
T

•

E
D
I
T
O
R
I
A
L
S

•

C
U
R
R
E
N
T

I
S
S
U
E
S

•

F
I
C
T
I
O
N

•

T
H
E

S
T
R
A
N
G
E

A
N
D

B
I
Z
A
R
R
E

•

P
H
O
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
Y

•

E
S
S
A
Y
S

•

A
R
T

•

E
D
I
T
O
R
I
A
L
S

•

C
U
R
R
E
N
T

I
S
S
U
E
S

•

F
I
C
T
I
O
N

•

T
H
E

S
T
R
A
N
G
E

A
N
D

B
I
Z
A
R
R
E

•

P
H
O
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
Y

•

E
S
S
A
Y
S

•

 

 

Monumental Cemetery of the Capuchin Brothers
Cimitero Monumentale dei Padri Cappuccini

Leave it to Christendom to create one of the most ghoulish sites in the world. In a series of four underground chapels hundreds of skulls, femurs, finger bones, jaw bones, toes, knuckles, knee caps, and teeth have been woven into incredibly macabre mosaics emulating the altars, chandeliers, and rose windows of Europe's cathedrals. The bones of more than 4,000 Capuchin brothers who died in the 1500's were used in the making of this bizarre religious shrine. Some of the skeletons are intact, draped with Franciscan habits. Tradition has it that the Cimitero was the work of a French Capuchin. The brochure suggests "...you should visit the cemetery keeping in mind the historical moment of its origins, when Christians had a rich and creative cult for their dead, and great spiritual masters meditated and preached with a skull in hand." Definitely not for the squeamish, the Cimitero is still a must for the adventurous who wish to experience the other side from the perspective of another time.

 

Location:
Next to the Church of the Immaculate Conception
Via Vittorio Veneto 27, Roma, Italia
Phone: 06/4871185
Open: Fri-Wed 9am-noon and 3-6pm.
Donation required.
Metro: Barberini.

 

Inscription in the cemetery:
"What you are we once were. What we are you will be."