Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Ashlee Simpson targeted by advocacy group NEW YORK, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. group promoting quality entertainment is offering fans a chance to trade in Ashlee Simpson's CD for one by the likes of Ray Charles or Elvis Costello. Advertisement The group -- Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment -- urges consumers to turn in Simpson's debut, "Autobiography," at a New York venue in exchange for music of a "higher entertainment quality," the BBC reported Tuesday. Simpson's music was targeted as substandard fare after last month's "Saturday Night Live" incident, during which the singer was caught lip-synching. HOPE members also have protested outside theaters where "Taxi" is showing and demonstrated at a Los Angeles book signing for Paris Hilton's "Confessions of an Heiress," where members carried signs that read "Why are you famous?" and "You can't buy brain cells." Sandwich resembling Virgin Mary a no sale MIAMI, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A Florida woman says she was offered $22,000 for a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on it, before eBay canceled the deal. Diana Duyser of Hollywood, Fla., received an e-mail from eBay saying the sandwich offering violated the firm's policy barring listings "that are intended as jokes." Advertisement Duyser told the Miami Herald it was not a joke and she takes the matter very seriously. She said she made the sandwich 10 years ago and, as she took her first bite, saw the Virgin Mary staring at her from the lightly toasted bread. She said she put the partially eaten sandwich into a clear plastic box with cotton balls to absorb moisture and there was never a sign of mold. Duyser offered the sandwich for sale on eBay last week. Bids started at $9.99 and quickly soared to $22,000 before the ad was removed. "I never imagined it would get that high," she said. But eBay officials, after being assured the offer was a serious one, reinstated the listing. The Herald said the Web site page had been viewed nearly 100,000 times before it was removed. Couple fined $1,200 for onstage sex KRISTIANSAND, Norway, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A couple who had sexual intercourse on stage at a concert in Norway in the name of protecting the rainforest has been fined $1,200 each. Tommy Hol Ellingsen and Petra Leona Johansson said they would appeal the verdict. The couple said they jumped onto stage during the concert in Kristiansand to protect the world's rain forest, reported Aftenposten Tuesday. Advertisement The couple now lives in Berlin where they produce Internet pornography they say is meant to raise money for the protection of rain forests. They said they have been attracting about $12,000 a month and they are living on only 10 percent of what they receive. "This is going well after all the attention we got," Ellingsen told newspaper VG recently. "We're out to shock, and our income will go to the rain forests."
