Hugh Hefner Is Laid To Rest Next To Marilyn Monroe In Private Ceremony: Report

Denise Truscello/WireImage / ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Hugh Hefner was laid to rest next to Marilyn Monroe in a private ceremony in L.A. on Saturday, September 30.

TMZ reports that the Playboy founder, who died on Wednesday, September 27, at the age of 91, was farewelled in an intimate ceremony attended by his four children, wife Crystal Harris and some Playboy staffers at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in L.A. at noon on Saturday.

Hef was placed in a crypt to the left of Monroe’s. He bought the burial spot in the Corridor of Memories Mausoleum in 1992 for $75,000.

Hefner was laid to rest in the crypt to the left of Monroe Douglas Keister/Corbis via Getty Images

The movie star, who died in 1962 at the age of 36, appeared on the cover of the first issue of Playboy magazine in December 1953, and Hef said in 2012 that he felt a “double connection” to Monroe, who was born the same year as him.

The businessman told the Los Angeles Times in 2009 that he had many friends buried at Westwood and that as he lived close by, it was almost the neighborhood cemetery.

“I’m a believer in things symbolic,” he told the Times. “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.”

Hefner’s four children — Christie, 64, David, 62, Marston, 27, and Cooper, 26 — were spotted raising a glass to their father over dinner at Katsuya in Brentwood, California, on Thursday, September 28, one day after his death.

Hugh Hefner’s Best TV and Movie Cameos
“My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom,” Cooper, who is the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, wrote in a statement on Twitter. “He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history. He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston, and all of us at Playboy Enterprises.”(usmagazine)

Five Things To Watch At The Presidents Cup

The U.S. looks like a youthful juggernaut, Tiger’s here, the golf course is bad, the fans will be wild. It might not be close, but it should be fun, and it’s big-time golf in the fall. It works.

Hey, the other international team golf competition is back in the U.S. for the first time since Tiger Woods still reigned atop the golf world.

The 12th installment of the President’s Cup gets underway Thursday just across the waterway from Manhattan at Liberty National Golf Club with 12 players from the United States taking on 12 players, uh, not from the U.S. or Europe.

Here’s five storylines to watch as play gets underway today and throughout the rest of the week.

Do we still care about the Presidents Cup? Did we ever?

We’re now 24 years and 12 events into the Presidents Cup, and the event still hasn’t taken on the impact PGA Tour officials dreamt of at the tournament’s inception in 1994. The loose catch-all confederation of players on the “International” side has always felt clumsy and weird, and that’s before you recall the rest-of-the-world bunch has only managed one win in the event in 11 tries. The Ryder Cup has 90 years of history, the baked-in nationalistic rivalry between the U.S. and Europe, and real competitiveness. Our sample size is far smaller, but so far the President’s Cup has, uh, none of that.

Yet, maybe none of that’s the Presidents Cup’s fault, exactly. Perhaps we’re using the wrong barometer — of course it’s not going to measure to golf’s most thrilling event that has a ton of built-in advantages. There’s been no War on the Shore, or Brookline, or Medinah. I cover golf for a living and for whatever reason the only recent installment that pops out in my memory is the 2007 Cup at Royal Montreal, when Mike Weir beat Tiger Woods in Sunday singles for what’s probably the best modern moment in Canadian golf history. Other than that, meh. Most others have been forgettable.

Still, that doesn’t mean this event shouldn’t continue. Especially when the alternative is perhaps another run-of-the-mill, 72-hole stroke-play event. Golf needs format variety and events that pop out on the schedule. Even for all its shortcomings as a competition, the Presidents Cup is still one of those dates. This week’s crowd at Liberty National will assuredly be massive, raucous (read: very drunk), and fun. It’ll be fine.


The Presidents Cup, for now, is fine.

BIG CAT BACK! Kinda!

If you’d like to be sad for a moment, consider where we were the last time the United States hosted a Presidents Cup. Coming into the 2013 event at Jack’s Muirfield Village in Columbus, Tiger Woods had already won five PGA Tour events that season, led the tour in adjusted scoring average, sat atop the OWGR, ran away with the top spot for Pres Cup qualifying, and took home Player of the Year honors. Life comes at you fast, etc, etc.

After another year completely away from the golf course, Tiger returns to his role this week as national team assistant captain — one he seemed to enjoy last year at Hazeltine. He’ll be a bit player in helping various groups navigate Liberty National, though Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth were quick to credit Woods last year after the U.S. team’s Ryder Cup win.

For better or worse, the golf world will always be fixated on Tiger Woods when he’s around. That hasn’t been any different this week so far, and it won’t be any different through the weekend.

Some wanted more new faces on the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year. You’ll get ’em now.

With immense pressure to get things right after a run of embarrassing losses, things worked out for the U.S. team in Minnesota. But with younger, more exciting American golf talent emerging throughout the year, plenty of U.S. golf fans weren’t happy with the Davis Love’s roster. Brooks Koepka was the team’s only national team rookie to qualify on points, only four players under 30 made the team as a whole, and Love opted for Ryder Cup veterans like J.B. Holmes and Matt Kuchar over younger talent with his captains selections.

Still, it worked. But a clear shift in the makeup of the national team will start this week at Liberty National. The youth movement is here. Exactly half of this year’s American contingent will be Presidents Cup rookies and five players (Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner, Kevin Chappell, Charley Hoffman) will be making their pro national team debuts. Matt Kuchar at 39 was the oldest player to qualify for the team on points, but the other nine were 33 or younger. Only two players on the roster are 40 or older — captains selections Hoffman and Phil Mickelson.

If for nothing else, tune into the Presidents Cup to see a stacked core of vibrant, fun, young American stars that are set to head to Paris for next year’s Ryder Cup. It’ll be fun.

The International team has a better shot than you think

If you’re reading this, you’ve won as many Presidents Cups on U.S. soil as the International team has in its history. The team’s lone win ever came at the team’s effective home base at Royal Melbourne in 1998. Let’ just say, uh, the Sandbelt’s a hell of a contrast from a former Superfund site across from Manhattan filled with Bud Light-powered New Yorkers. Probably gonna be a juuuuuuust a bit more hostile.

Take the Americans’ clearly superior roster, the home-course advantage, and the Internationals historical futility in this competition, and it’s easy to arrive at the conclusion we’re set for a beatdown this week. But, perhaps, maybe not.

Despite all the losses, there’s reason to believe this week if you want the Americans to take an L at home. The Internationals just nearly missed in 2015, with the event coming down to the final hole in the final match. This year’s roster looks to be in improving form, too. Hideki Matsuyama won more events in 2017 than anyone in the world. Jason Day seems to be rounding back into form to close the year after a rough season. Marc Leishman was brilliant in the FedEx Cup. They certainly won’t be the favorites against a U.S. team that looks like a juggernaut, but it’s not a forgone conclusion the Americans run away with this.

Liberty National is a bad golf course. That’s OK.

Here, let’s not mince words. Liberty National is not a good golf course. In fact, it’s a bad golf course! The Superfund site-turned-$250 million project has breathtaking views of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty you can’t beat anywhere in the world of golf. It was also described as a project that ruined a perfectly good toxic dump when the course made its tour debut for the 2009 Barclays. It was voted the worst track on Tour by players in 2012. It’s generally regarded as overly penal and exaggerated, a fun-house mirror’s interpretation of a golf course by Bob Cupp and Tom Kite totally out of line with more minimalist courses appreciated in today’s world.

Listen, I’m far from a course architecture snob, but you’ll find few in the golf world that will die on a hill for Liberty National. It’s been redesigned since its early terrible reviews, and some of the dissent has lessened, but it’s not going to be confused for Pine Valley anytime soon. That’s a shame, because the location’s still one of the best in all of golf.

But good news: It’s still a fine venue for a match-play competition. The nature of match play and the unique style of the event make it more suited to bring quirky golf courses into the fold. This week, it’ll be fine for the purpose it serves.(sbnation)

CELEBRATION TIME Google birthday surprise spinner – 9 things you didn’t know about the search giant as it marks its 19th anniversary with a Doodle

Anyone who uses the search engine today will see the company's celebrating its 19th birthday... but it hasn't always done so on September 27

THE world's most used search engine is celebrating its 19th birthday and its marking the milestone with a fun Google Doodle.

Before you give the search engine's birthday surprise spinner a go here's nine things you might not know about Google.

The Google founders hatched their idea at uni

1. Building bricks of success

Back in the very beginning, Google’s storage facility was a load of hard drives in a container made of LEGO.

But don't panic, your precious files and pictures are saved on something much less basic today.

2. Baaaa-king mad

Google’s grounds have a lot of land – and company bosses keep it maintained by hiring goats.

Around 200 goats visit for a week at a time, to guzzle up the Google grass.

There are a lot of dogs too – with employees being encouraged to bring their own pets, because their pooches are thought to make people happier.

The green and grassy grounds of Google... which are maintained by GOATS

3. Traffic jam

Back in 2013, Google crashed for five minutes – and took 40 per cent of web traffic with it.

Nowadays, Facebook challenges Googles power, by driving a lot of traffic through social media. So any future crashes would be much less drastic.

4. The surprising cost of I’m Feeling Lucky

This handy little button costs Google tens of millions of dollars every year – because it bypasses all the adverts which would normally show up on the results page.

They’re slowly getting round it. Have you noticed that suggestions pop up even as you start typing your first word?

5. There’s a T-Rex on the Google Campus

And it has a scary message for the company’s many employees.

The dinosaur skeleton is there to remind workers that even the most powerful things can go extinct, and not to let it happen to Google.

6. They don’t want you to ‘just Google it’

Bosses didn’t like their company's name becoming a verb.

The phrase ‘just Google it’ worried those high up in the company, who thought it could undermine all their hard work to establish a brand.

Google is thought to be a great place to work... with the company looking after employees even after they pass away

7. Quest to dominate

Experts reckon Google buy more than one company every week.

Most of them are tiny, and get folded into the already established branches of Google’s business.

But others, like Android, are much bigger – and continue to stand on their own within Google’s enormous empire.

8. They really value their employees

Google make sure they look after the families of those who die while still working for them.

Husbands and wives get 50 per cent of their dead partner’s salary for a whole decade.

While their kids receive money until they’re adults, too.

9. To infinity and beyond

One Google search uses more coding and computing power than it took to send the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon.

And is significantly quicker than the rockets.(thesun)

Former NFL Player Reveals Hidden Singing Talent and Sweet Coming Out Story on The Voice

Previously, this singing contestant was a human wrecking ball, but on Monday night, he was wreaking havoc on people’s emotions with his singing strength.

Former NFL player Esera Tuaolo amazed The Voice judges and the audience with his rendition of Andra Day’s “Rise Up” on the premiere of the singing TV show.

Tuaolo, 49, kept his sexual orientation a secret from his NFL teammates during the nine years he was a defensive tackle, but the player revealed on Monday night’s show what it was like to finally come out.

“When I finished in the NFL, I came out to my family. When I said those words for the first [time], when I said that I was gay, it was like this huge mountain just crumbled,” the former Minnesota Vikings player said.

“I felt light as a feather, but when I jumped on the scale I was still that 6’4”, 300 pound Samoan that’s gay and played in the NFL.”

Going from NFL star to singer has been part of his journey to living his life to the fullest.

“What The Voice has given me is an opportunity to reach for the stars,” he said before stepping onto the stage.

Tuaolo immediately caught the attention of judges Jennifer Hudson and Blake Shelton.

“That is one of my favorite songs, which is part of why it caught my attention,” said Hudson, who turned her chair first.

Tuaolo, who is from Hawaii but lives in Minnesota, sported his NFC championship ring during his audition.

When it came to picking a judge, Tualo went with Shelton, who said, “I’m a country singer, but I’ve got a lot of experience doing this with a lot of different artists. I like great singers, and you’re one of them.”

“I’m such a football geek and if I was your coach, I’d probably drive you nuts,” he continued. “You’ve definitely got two servings of talent, man.”

As he walked off stage, Tuaolo couldn’t help but say, “That was better than the Super Bowl.”

The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.(people)

Angela Merkel wins fourth term in German election

Merkel’s main centre-left rivals, the Social Democrats, slumped to a historic low after Sunday’s vote.

Supporters of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) react as exit poll results are broadcast Sunday evening in Berlin.  (ODD ANDERSEN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel won a fourth term Sunday, but now faces the tricky prospect of forming a coalition with two disparate new partners after voters weakened her conservatives and a nationalist, anti-migrant party surged into parliament.

Merkel’s centre-left challenger, Martin Schulz, conceded that his Social Democrats had suffered a “crushing election defeat,” with projections showing the party’s worst performance in post-Second World War Germany.

He vowed to take his party, the junior partner in Merkel’s outgoing “grand coalition” of Germany’s traditionally dominant parties, into opposition.

“We have a mandate to form a new government, and no government can be formed against us,” Merkel told cheering supporters. She added that it wasn’t a “matter of course” to finish first after 12 years in power, and that the past four years were “extremely challenging.”

Stressing that “we live in stormy times” internationally, she declared: “I have the intention of achieving a stable government in Germany.”

The biggest winner was the four-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD. It finished third after a campaign that centred on shrill criticism of Merkel and her decision in 2015 to allow large numbers of migrants into Germany, but also harnessed wider discontent with established politicians.

One of AfD’s leaders, Alice Weidel, said it will provide “constructive opposition.” But co-leader Alexander Gauland struck a harsher tone, vowing that “we will take our country back” and promising to “chase” Merkel.

Final results released shortly before 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday showed Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union, winning 33 per cent of the vote — down from 41.5 per cent four years ago. It was one of their weakest postwar showings.

Schulz’s Social Democrats were trailing far behind, with 20.5 per cent support, down from 25.7 per cent in 2013 and undercutting their previous postwar low of 23 per cent eight years ago.

AfD won 12.6 per cent of the vote. It was followed by the election’s other big winner — the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which returned to parliament after a four-year break with 10.7 per cent.

The Free Democrats were Merkel’s coalition partners in her second-term government from 2009-2013, but lost all their seats four years ago.

“In a country that is big on schadenfreude, our comeback is an encouraging message — after failure, a new beginning is possible,” party leader Christian Lindner told supporters.

The Left Party and the traditionally left-leaning Greens won about 9 per cent support each, completing a parliament that now has six caucuses rather than the previous four.

All mainstream parties have ruled out working with AfD and Merkel’s conservatives won’t form a coalition with the Left Party.

That means two politically plausible governments are mathematically feasible: continuing the “grand coalition” or a combination of Merkel’s Union bloc, the Free Democrats and Greens.

That alliance is known as a “Jamaica” coalition because the parties’ colours match those of the Caribbean nation’s flag. It has been tried, with mixed results, in state governments but never in a national government.

The Social Democrats were adamant Sunday night that they wouldn’t continue to serve under Merkel.

“It is completely clear that the role the voters have given us is as the opposition,” Schulz said.

Referring to AfD’s third-place finish, he said “there cannot be a far-right party leading the opposition in Germany.”

Cobbling together a “Jamaica” coalition is likely to be time-consuming. The Free Democrats and Greens are traditional rivals. Four years ago, Merkel’s conservatives and the Greens held exploratory talks on a two-party coalition but they came to nothing.

The underwhelming result also looks set to reignite pressure within Merkel’s bloc for a tougher conservative image. Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer, who feuded with Merkel over the migrant influx before putting aside their differences this year, said the outcome showed that the conservatives need to close “an open flank to the right.”

“We can’t just ignore these 13 per cent or more for AfD in a national parliament with international significance,” said Reiner Haseloff, the conservative governor of eastern Saxony-Anhalt state, where AfD is strong.

“We need an answer — there must be no democratic alternative to our right,” he added. “As long as it is there, we haven’t completely done our homework.”

AfD is the first party to the right of the conservatives to enter parliament in 60 years.

Merkel pledged a “thorough analysis, because we want to win back AfD voters by solving problems, by taking account of their concerns and fears, and above all with good policies.”

Outside AfD’s election party in Berlin after the results were announced, at least 500 protesters shouted “all Berlin hates the AfD,” “Nazi pigs,” and other slogans, while several protesters threw bottles as police kept them away from the building.

Similar protests broke out in Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt but police said they were mostly peaceful.

Major Jewish groups expressed dismay at the AfD’s showing, with the World Jewish Congress calling the party “a disgraceful reactionary movement which recalls the worst of Germany’s past.”

Mainstream parties’ leaders vowed a robust response to AfD’s entry into parliament. Greens co-leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt told supporters: “there will again be Nazis sitting in parliament.”

“We will not let one single attack on German democracy stand,” she said, to applause.

AfD leaders dismissed such talk. Asked by The Associated Press what signal the vote sends internationally, chairman Joerg Meuthen said: “That there is conservative politics in Germany again. And that there are patriots in the German parliament again.”

“I want to emphasize that there is absolutely no risk of extreme right politics in the German parliament,” he said.

Fellow European right-wing populists hailed AfD’s performance. The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders wrote on Twitter: “The message is clear. We are no Islamic nations.”

“Bravo to our allies from AfD for this historic score!” tweeted Marine Le Pen, the runner-up in France’s presidential election. “It’s a new symbol of the awakening of the peoples of Europe.”(.thestar)