Weird News

This is one clever way to avoid visiting family during the holidays -- Jean-Jacques Savin has boarded a vessel in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean relying only on the current and wind.

After spending months to build a barrel-shaped capsule, the 71-year-old Frenchman jumped in his vessel off the coast of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. His mission -- to cross most of the Atlantic and ultimately reach the Caribbean ... either Barbados or the French islands of Martinique or Guadeloupe.

According to reports ... Savin's gonna spend the next 3 months inside his vessel that's already 11 miles away from his origin. He's reportedly gone just 1 to 2 miles per hour since leaving Wednesday.

Savin -- who funded the $66k trip through crowdfunding and a sponsor -- calls the expedition a "crossing during which man isn't a captain of his ship, but a passenger of the ocean." He reportedly loaded up his 10-foot by 6-foot vessel with a bottle of Sauternes white wine and a block of foie gras to celebrate New Year's Eve. He's also got a bottle of Saint-Émilion red to celebrate his 72nd birthday in January.

Someone was really feeling a little too much holiday spirit -- Friday night a man climbed the National Christmas Tree near the White House.

After a stalemate with U.S. Park Police, the man finally came down and was taken to a hospital for mental evaluation. No injuries were reported, and Park Police described the climber as being in "emotional distress."

The wild scene started unfolding around 5:45 PM Friday night at the Ellipse, which is across the street from the White House.

After the man climbed about 15 to 20 feet up, the 74,000 LED lights covering the giant spruce were turned off, creating an eerie scene. By the time the climber started heading down, the lights were turned back on and police officers rushed inside to track him down.

“I think, total, that thing has seen 33 countries, four IEDs, and two combat zones.”

That's Ken Brasington -- a Washington superfan and Marine Corps veteran -- describing his beloved Nationals cap that he nearly lost ... and yeah, the story of him getting it back is incredible.

Ken was at the Caps-Hurricanes game in Raleigh last Friday ... when his favorite hat -- that he had worn during his tours of duty across the world since he bought it back in 2004 -- was snatched off his head and thrown onto the ice in celebration of Alex Ovechkin's hat trick.

Brasington says he watched the beat-up headwear hit the ice in horror ... and described the ensuing panic to get the cap back as "a nightmare."

"Everybody that knows me knows me for wearing that Nationals hat," Brasington told The Washington Post, who first reported the unbelievable story.

"It’s the ugliest. It probably has to be washed once a week because it ends up smelling so bad. It’s a special piece of where I’ve been and it kind of describes me."

Ken says he immediately tried after the game to get the cap back from Hurricanes officials ... but was told it couldn't happen -- even after he described where the hat had been and how much it meant to him.

But, Brasington didn't give up ... and thanks to the help of a Hurricanes beat writer -- Ken got in touch with the Hurricanes' manager of communications and team services, who helped get the hat back.

"There was a good amount of hats in the bag, but his hat was right on top," Pace Sagester said ... “From the way that he had described it to us, we pretty much knew right away that that was the hat."

"It’s super beat up; the bill has, like, chunks missing out of it. It’s almost pink it’s so faded. It’s not something I would want to put on my head, but it’s special to him."

Pace was able to ship the cap from Carolina back to Brasington in Washington ... and even sent him a brand-new Hurricanes one in case Ken wanted to officially retire the Nats cap.

As for the hat's future ... Brasington says after the close call -- he might consider hanging it up, or even putting it on display in a shadow box.

"That way, everybody wins," Brasington says ... “I keep my hat, and [my wife] doesn’t have to see me wearing it."

A federal judge in Brooklyn says New York state's nunchucks ban -- made wildly popular in the U.S. by Bruce Lee in the '70s -- is unconstitutional because it violates the 2nd Amendment.

The judge says the right to bear arms is not limited to guns ... it applies to all weapons that have some legal purpose. In the case of nunchucks, Judge Pamela Chen says they have been widely used over many, many years for martial arts training and defense -- a perfectly legal activity.

Judge Chen says a weapon that has a legal purpose cannot be summarily banned under the 2nd Amendment. She says, the "relative dangerousness of a weapon is irrelevant when the weapon belongs to a class of arms commonly used for lawful purposes."

Her Honor draws a distinction between nunchucks and, say, pipe bombs, because the latter is really targeted for lawbreakers.

'Rock of Love' star, Lacey Sculls, got an earful during a road rage incident, as in she allegedly chewed some guy's ear ... and now, as you might expect, he's suing the hell out of her.

Lacey, who tried and failed to lure Bret Michaels on his mid-2000s reality show, is being sued by Jorge Magana ... who claims Lacey and her hubby, Jonny, beat him to a pulp back in January.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Jorge says he was sitting in his car when Jonny charged at him, pulled him outta the car and repeatedly punched and bit him. During the skirmish, he claims Lacey jumped on him, scratched his face and bit off a portion of his ear.

Cops investigated the incident ... leading to Lacey and Jonny's arrests on multiple felony charges, including battery with serious bodily injury and assault. Jorge's suit offers no explanation for the altercation.

Lacey and Jonny are countersuing, however, and tell a much different version. They say Jorge repeatedly brake-checked them, trying to trigger a collision. Once both parties stopped, they claim Jorge got out of the car and sucker punched Jonny as he sat in their car ... and then Jonny sped off.

The investigation into who threatened to shoot up an NYC screening of "Surviving R. Kelly" -- the documentary about his alleged sexual abuse of women -- has led cops to someone in R. Kelly's hometown.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... NYPD's person of interest is a man with Chicago's 773 area code. We're told cops aren't ready to release the man's name yet, and it's unclear if he has any direct connection to Kelly.

'Surviving' was screened Tuesday night at NeueHouse in NYC, but 20 minutes into it someone made a phone threat. The male caller said someone was in the audience with a gun and would open fire if the screening continued. The venue was immediately evacuated.

R. Kelly's ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, told Variety she thought the singer was connected to the threats. Andrea was at NeueHouse and she and several other accusers were scheduled to hold a Q&A session immediately following the screening.

The docuseries premieres in January on Lifetime.

Monica says anyone shocked to learn she's a mortician should understand one thing ... she's more than just a Grammy-winning singer.

We got Monica at LAX on Monday and had to talk to her about recently revealing she's a legit mortician. She revealed her side hustle's actually something she's been doing for YEARS. It's true ... she's been working at her uncle Gus Thornhill's funeral home since 2013.

YouPorn is now all about the D -- as in, Dunkin' -- because it's getting revenge on Starbucks for blocking Internet porn in its stores ... TMZ has learned.

Reps for YouPorn tell TMZ ... the porn giant is now strictly pushing Dunkin' coffee on its workforce. The company's VP sent a memo to employees announcing a ban on all Starbucks products from YouPorn offices effective New Year's Day.

Point is ... 2 can play this game.

Starbucks just announced it's blocking customers from watching XXX material while on their free WiFi, this after mounting pressure from the Internet safety group, Enough is Enough. YouPorn is simply responding in kind with a blockade of its own.

Yes, it's revenge porn ... but this one's legal.

You know that big ass steer in Australia that went viral for being the biggest freakin' thing you've ever seen?

Major League Eating -- the competitive eating org that brought you food-guzzling superstars like Joey Chestnut, Matt Stonie and Takeru Kobayashi -- wants to eat him.

"Knickers" has become a viral sensation after reports pegged his height and weight at 6'4" and 2,800 pounds. He's a beast.

The MLE says it believes the animal could be too large to handle at a normal meat processing facility ... so they'd like to help out -- but butchering him and serving him themselves at an outdoor BBQ.

"Knickers is an extraordinary Holstein and we hope to pay honor by eating him in historic fashion," MLE Chair George Shea said.

"As a point of clarification, we would not consume the stomach because none of our eaters care for tripe."

So ... how many of the MLE's best eaters would it take to finish off good ole, Knickers??

The org estimates it'll take 20(!!!!) of it's best food fighters -- plus donut eating world champion Badlands Booker.

Here's something you don't see every day ... 2 movie stars riding bare-ass nekkid on a scooter -- but when ya do, it sure makes for a good day.

Sebastian Stan -- who plays Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier in the 'Avengers' flicks -- and Irish actress Denise Gough busted out their birthday suits Wednesday morning and hopped on the scooter to cruise through Athens. It's not a dare or a drunken escapade ... they're just filming for the upcoming movie, "Monday."

Check out the gallery ... Sebastian and Denise seem totally at ease riding in the nude. So, they're either great actors or kinda freaky. Or both. They're definitely not shy.

Jackpot! That's what one lucky man is saying after purchasing a storage unit from "Storage Wars" star Dan Dotson, that ended up with 7.5 million dollars in cash inside!!

The buyer says after he purchased the unit, he found a safe inside that took some time to crack open, but when they did, they found the ultimate return on investment.

When word reached the original owners of the storage unit that they just lost $7 mil, needless to say, they got their attorney to reach out immediately.

The 2 parties agreed to let the new owners keep a 1.2 million dollar reward for returning the lost loot, not a bad takeaway considering they only paid $500 for the unit.

If money's no object this Black Friday, and you're willing to spend a bit LOT more on that special someone -- why not drop millions for a fancy smell? 'Cause this year ... you can.

Morreale Paris has rolled out a brand new line of perfume that retails for $20 million. That's more money than any of us could ever hope to see in our lifetimes -- but hey, somewhere out there is some Richie Rich who's thinking ... "Eh, I'll give it some thought."

The reason for the astronomical price tag ... it's literally covered in gold and precious stones. The $20m bottle is laced in over 20,000 diamonds and rubies from Russia, Botswana, Cambodia and Thailand -- all of which sit on an 18-karat gold frame.

You're also getting the most bang for your buck if you make the purchase -- bottles come in multiple sizes, from 5L to 7L and even 10L.

Maxime Rancon is the creative director behind the whole thing, and tells us, "Le Monde sur Mesure is an absolute work of art, a true conversational piece, it is the most exclusive and luxurious perfume in the world. Rancon was also the brains behind the incredible video for Nile Niami's Opus mansion.

Rancon created a video for the fragrance directed by Clement Oberto and starring Logan Polish and the voice of Loan Chabanol.

As for the fragrances, Morreale will customize an aroma of your liking. You can mix scents like black pepper from Vietnam, cardamom from forests of southern India, cinnamon from Sri Lanka, grapefruit from the Caribbean, lavender from the Canary Islands, cloves from Madagascar, juniper from the French Alps, and lemongrass from Cambodia/Vietnam ... among other options.

The man who went viral thanks to a mugshot that showed off his massive neck just a week ago has been arrested again ... and the dude is still flexing what made him famous.

Charles Dion McDowell was busted Wednesday in Lee County, Alabama for allegedly eluding law enforcement, reckless driving, driving with a revoked license, improper lane usage and a 2nd-degree possession of marijuana charge.

McDowell's first mugshot -- from an arrest in Florida last week -- blew up on social media after it was posted to Facebook. During that arrest, he was booked for eluding, possession of cocaine, meth and marijuana.

The pic spurred an influx of memes, puns and social media shares.

Okay, so full disclosure here -- we don't get it. We're not really sure why a French Soccer star just made love to a chicken on his Instagram, but he did ... and we're about to show it to you.

The guy's name is Patrice Evra, and he's an international soccer superstar, who used to play with Manchester United, and now plays with West Ham United F.C.

Not long ago Evra took to his IG and, in full view of his over 5 million followers, made love to raw turkey. He kissed the turkey, he sucked the turkey, he even got a little rough with the turkey, smacking it.

Patrice is pretty infamous for posting bizarre stuff, but none have inspired anything close to the collective WTF that the entire internet is experiencing right now.

BTW -- Evra came back and admitted he's not aware of things like oh, SALMONELLA which, if he isn't lucky, he'll be intimately acquainted with soon.

Shania Twain is setting her piss record straight ... telling us she only sprung a leak once mid-concert.

We got the country queen Tuesday night in WeHo at Craig's, and she wanted to clear a few things up about her penchant for pissing during performances.

Check out the clip ... Shania tells us she's taken a No. 1 onstage, but only one time -- when she was 16.

If you're wondering where all the potty talk came from ... Shania was on Andy Cohen's Bravo show last week, and the way the convo went down it sounded like she was a serial pisser.

Shania says her losing it was the result of stage fright ... when she was only 16 in front of a big audience. She wants to get the word out stat that she's outgrown the spontaneous pee thing.

J.K. Rowling was putting pen to paper for teaching gigs before 'Harry Potter' ever took off, and now one of her employment bids can be yours ... for the price of a modest home.

An application Rowling filled out in 1996 to teach in Scotland is currently for sale for $250,000. We didn't screw up the number of zeroes, you read correctly ... $2-5-0-0-0-0. The original app is being sold through Moments in Time.

The document -- part of a 12-page bundle -- is definitely a huge part of Rowling's story of success. She'd finished her first 'Potter' manuscript in 1995, but was still shopping it around to publishers before one of 'em finally bit in '97 ... and the rest, of course, is history.

Before that though, she had a brief stint teaching secondary languages to high schoolers at Leith Academy -- a result of her filing this application. It lists her employment and education history, as well as experience which she considered relevant.

It's interesting ... ya gotta wonder if her time at Leith (and the application process to get in) dictated anything she went on to write about Hogwarts in the books.