Weird News

She already (kinda) redeemed herself for that infamous pageant flub -- so yesterday, we decided to pelt the beautiful Miss Utah with some brain-twisting riddles instead ... and she actually did pretty damn well.

21-year-old Marissa Powell had just touched down in L.A. for her appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" -- and while she was at the airport, we asked her a bunch of questions to test her wits on the fly ... such as the classic "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" and "What can you put in a bucket of water to make it lighter?"

She doesn't exactly get them right, but she doesn't exactly get them wrong either. Then again, she could probably say anything and we'd be happy.

Chris Brown is firing back at the City of L.A. -- claiming the gov. has NO RIGHT to force him to remove the graffiti art on the front of his L.A. home because it's protected by the 1st Amendment.

Brown just filed an appeal with the city -- telling officials the bill they're trying to stick him with for having an "unpermitted" mural on the front wall of his Hollywood Hills home is pure B.S..

According to the legal documents, obtained by TMZ, Brown claims the city is wrongly trying to nail him for having an illegal "sign" -- when the graffiti is art that "[enhances] the architectural and aesthetic features of the residential property."

Translation -- my artwork makes my house look dope, son!

Then Chris drops the constitutional bomb -- arguing, "The murals are a reflection of [my] aesthetic taste and a reflection of free speech and expression protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Brown's case is now in the hands of the Dept. of Building and Safety's board of appeals -- and if they shut him down, he can bring the fight to L.A. County Superior Court.

In fact, there's a chance ... albeit a small chance ... that Brown's case could go all the way up to the Supreme Court if he's not willing to back down.

Two important things -- 1) "Pants on the Ground" auteur General Larry Platt is STILL ALIVE!!! ... and 2) He absolutely loves the new saggy pants ban in New Jersey.

As we reported, the Jersey Shore town of Wildwood has passed a law banning saggy pants from its boardwalk, and it's scheduled to go into effect next month.

But unlike a bunch of famous rappers, legendary "American Idol" anti-sag crusader Platt tells TMZ, "I am happy about the law and would like to see the law passed worldwide."

The 65-year-old General says he's actually talking to politicians in his hometown of Atlanta about getting the same law passed there.

Platt -- who says he'd consider a post with Wildwood PD just to enforce the ban -- adds, "Saggy pants are a disgrace to the community. When you wear your pants on the ground, you look like a fool, and it pulls down people, churches, schools, education and jobs."

Take us home, Larry!

Legendary songwriter Diane Warren -- who wrote pretty much every hit song you've ever heard -- tells TMZ, it took her 56 years to reach the highest point of her career ... when Snoop Dogg got her blitzed out of her mind on some serious sticky icky.

Diane -- whose hits include Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" and Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" -- recently wrote Snoop's new song "The Good Good" ... and when they recorded it at the studio, Diane says they got high as kites together.

The best part of the video is when Diane's friends tell her not to talk about the weed session on camera ... and she blows 'em off saying -- "I don't care, I'm not running for office. I don't give a f**k."

It's pretty hilarious ... Diane's got a great sense of humor ... watch the clip.

Millionaire choke artist Charles Saatchi -- the guy who says he was only "playfully" strangling his wife in public last week -- surfaced in London today for a dinner date with himself.

Saatchi has been hounded by the U.K. media ever since photos surfaced showing the ad mogul getting a little too hands on with his celebrity chef wife Nigella Lawson.

But today, Saatchi arrived solo to the the swanky 34 Restaurant in London.

After days of ridicule, Miss Utah finally had a chance to redeem herself on the "Today" show this AM -- and this time she answered the infamous pageant question WITH FLYING COLORS!!! For a beauty queen.

Marissa Powell sat down with Matt Lauer and explained -- as TMZ previously reported -- that nerves got the best of her during Sunday night's Miss USA contest ... causing her to give one of the most confusing answers in pageant history.

Matt, being the saint he is, gave Marissa ONE MORE SHOT to get the question right ... see how she did this time. And remember folks she only had 48 hours, the Internet and a team of people to help her prepare.

Talk about pressure.

Rapper J. Cole was basically extorted by a sick fan who tweeted a photo of a little girl with a gun to her head ... and claimed he would shoot her if Cole did not respond to his message.

The fan tweeted last night "@JColeNC retweet me and I'll buy Born Sinner. Don't retweet me and I'll kill my lil sister."

Shortly after the threatening tweet, which refers to Cole's new album ... Cole did indeed retweet the message.

It's unclear if the gun is real or where the twisted bastard behind the tweet actually lives. The account, which we're not revealing, claims to be out of Saudi Arabia -- but the truth is it could be anywhere in the world.

We reached out to police in North Carolina -- where J. Cole lives -- to see if they were investigating ... but they hadn't heard anything about it.

We also contacted Twitter headquarters ... a rep said the company doesn't comment on individual accounts to protect privacy

This morning J. Cole commented about the incident, saying ... "Wildest s**t I ever seen on twitter."

Well this is bizarre -- a man was arrested last night for tiptoeing around Rihanna's roof ... but lucky for the singer, security guards nabbed the guy before he made it much further.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, private security guards near Rihanna's Pacific Palisades property called police just after 10 PM, reporting they had detained the 26-year-old alleged trespasser. Guards then held the man until officers arrived, and turned him over. The man was subsequently placed under arrest.

We're told the man was adamant ... he did NOT know it was Rihanna's house he was creeping around -- though cops tell us he had a Google map of the area pulled up on his phone. (Maybe he just got really lost???)

Bail was set $2,882. He's still in custody.

According to the L.A. Times -- which broke the story -- Rihanna wasn't home at the time ... she's in the U.K. on her Diamonds World Tour.

It's been a wild year for Rihanna's L.A. pad -- she was swatted in April ... and there was also that guy who tried to break into her house and sleep in her bed. The perks of being famous.

Advertising mogul Charles Saatchi -- one of the biggest art collectors in the world -- was given an official "caution" by London police after photos emerged showing the 70-year-old CHOKING HIS WIFE with his bare hands.

The story is exploding in the U.K. ... after photos surfaced showing Saatchi with his hands wrapped tightly around the neck of his wife Nigella Lawson -- a celebrity chef who recently appeared on "The Taste."

The photos were taken while Saatchi and Lawson were having dinner last week at Scott’s in Mayfair -- a very posh London restaurant.

Saatchi insisted he wasn't trying to hurt Lawson -- claiming they were merely in the middle of a "playful tiff." The look of sheer terror on Lawson's face says otherwise ...

Saatchi also said, "The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella’s tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."

Lawson has reportedly left the couple's home with her children -- though Saatchi insists he sent her away to escape the media blitz until "the dust settled."

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's baby girl already has the Midas touch -- 'cause her poop-filled diapers could be solid gold ... according to the stars of "Hardcore Pawn."

Leslie Gold -- a bona fide expert in selling other people's crap -- told our photog in NYC ... if someone wanted to pawn baby Kimye's soiled poop sacks he'd definitely pony up some cash.

You gotta see how Les' co-stars -- his kids Ashley and Seth -- react to his answer, but truth is ... he's not off-base.

Miss Utah is beyond humiliated after her epic Q&A fail at the Miss USA pageant, and she's blaming her brain fart on a massive case of nerves ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Marissa Powell tell TMZ the beauty queen's mortified after babbling ... "we need to see how to create education better" while attempting to answer a question about salary inequality for women.

Marissa's now telling friends she botched the response because she was so anxious she spaced out during the question, and never really heard it.

Instead of asking the judge to repeat the question ... Marissa decided to fake an answer, but got more and more flustered as she tried to improvise.

Takes you back to high school, right?

Or maybe to 2007 with the South Carolina, and such as ...

Kim Kardashian's mini-me gave birth this weekend -- LIVE on stage -- complete with Mini Kanye and even a mini-baby ... yes, that's possible.

Just hours after the real Kim gave birth ... Mini Kim pretended to pinch out a baby of her own during Beacher's Madhouse at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood Saturday night.

The lil cast included a little person playing lil K&K's baby girl -- and the real Kim K's real BFF, Jonathan Cheban, just happened to be in attendance to deliver the kid.

Mini mazel.

Miss Utah Marissa Powell put on a clinic at the Miss USA pageant Sunday night -- but did she snatch the bumbling-stumbling crown from former Miss South Carolina Teen USA?

Time for a dumb-off ... enjoy!

And now ... "Where in the World Is Amanda Bynes?"

She's soaking in an Atlantic City hot tub -- or at least she was this weekend. Sources tell TMZ, Bynes checked in solo at the Revel Hotel ... where she stared into her phone while surrounded by strangers in the tub.

We're told she did pose for some photos with fans -- while wearing her famous blonde wig in the jacuzzi -- but if Amanda didn't like the way she looked, she demanded they be deleted ASAP.

Terrell Suggs is no punk bitch ... and tells TMZ if Vladimir Putin ever tried to jack his Super Bowl ring (a la Robert Kraft) ... he'd MAN UP and get it back.

The Baltimore Ravens badass was leaving Boa in Hollywood this weekend ... when we asked how he would react if he was in Kraft's shoes when the Russian prez reportedly strong-armed the New England Patriots owner out of his ring during a 2005 encounter.

(FYI -- Putin's people swear Kraft offered the ring as a gift. Suuuuure.)

"I would get it right back," Suggs said ... "He would give me MINE back for sure."

When we insinuated that Putin was "kind of a scary guy," Suggs shot back -- "That's OK. I know a lot of scary guys."