UNGOOGLEABLE: The house of Ariel Castro, the man who last week was handed a life sentence plus 1,000 years for his part in the imprisonment and sexual assault of three women, is seen blurred out on Google Maps. The Cleveland property was demolished on Wednesday by an excavator in less than 90 minutes as spectators applauded on the sidewalk.
Welcome to Talking Points, a daily roundup of digital miscellany
STYLE BIBLE
Former Victoria's Secret model Kylie Bisutti is bringing the Bible to the masses. Her new focus, after releasing the book I'm No Angel back in May about her journey from model to Christian housewife, is a clothing line called God Inspired Fashion. The brand offers a range of items including skinny jeans and accessories that prominently display faith-related words or phrases like "strength," "faith," and "…but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Bisutti told the Daily Beast's Misty White Sidell she hopes the clothes help shy Christians feel comfortable talking about their beliefs. "I didn't know what to say and I thought that if I didn't know what to say, I'd look stupid," she said. Positive feedback has come in from Catholics and Mormons, but Bisutti said there's been negative feedback from atheists, which, she notes, isn't all terrible: "People have to look and read the Bible verses to even give a negative critique, so at least we are getting the word into their lives."
HEY HEY HEY!
Smithsonian Magazine's Linda Rodriguez McRobbie did a take on why so many people are terrified of clowns. It might not be all in their heads, she says, discussing famous clown Joseph Grimaldi, whose life was marred by tragedy, and Charles Dickens, who brought attention to the far-from-perfect lives of those portraying the happy characters. "What Dickens did was to make it difficult to look at a clown without wondering what was going on underneath the make-up," McRobbie wrote. John Wayne Gacy also didn't do much to help the clown's image: As the "Killer Clown," he sexually assaulted and murdered more than 33 males in the Chicago area between 1972 to 1978. Before being executed in 1994, he drew pictures of clowns, heightening suspicion of the figures in makeup. And then, of course, there was Stephen King's It. Actually, come to think of it, it's surprising there are people who aren't afraid of clowns. Is there any reason to trust them?
QUOTED
"If Daft Punk were on my show, people wouldn't tune into see them on the VMAs almost a month from now. That's how music works. You love a band, you see them once, then never want to see them again. That's why after the Beatles went on Ed Sullivan, they dropped off the face of the Earth. I think Ringo ended up working as a train conductor."
Stephen Colbert
The late-night talk-show host angrily reveals Daft Punk will make a surprise appearance at MTV's Video Music Awards after they cancelled their performance on The Colbert Report due to a conflict; Viacom owns both Comedy Central and MTV, and the electronic duo promised first TV-appearance rights to both.