Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Web site offers 'friends' for rent STEWARTSVILLE, N.J., March 9 (UPI) -- A Web site based in New Jersey that allows users to "rent a friend" for platonic outings said it has 1,200 paying members. Advertisement RentAFriend.com founder Scott Rosenbaum said the site, which started up five months ago, boasts 108,000 friends for rent and 1,200 customers paying $24.95 a month to browse the profiles, the Las Vegas Sun reported Monday. Rosenbaum said the friends for hire, who list their profiles for free, can negotiate their hourly rates and receive payments in advance via PayPal. The founder stressed his Web site is not a place for personals or escorts and physical contact is specifically banned by the Web site's rules. Man pre-empts 'Avatar' with proposal BASINGSTOKE, England, March 9 (UPI) -- A British man said his girlfriend accepted the video marriage proposal he arranged to have screened before a showing of "Avatar" at his local movie theater. Advertisement Bryan Hughes, 35, said he created a film of his fiancee's friends and family singing Lou Reed's 1970s hit "Perfect Day" and arranged for the head projectionist at Vue Cinema in Basingstoke, England, to show the homemade movie prior to the scheduled screening of James Cameron's blockbuster, The Daily Telegraph reported. Hughes said he excused himself to go to the restroom before the film started and reappeared at the end of the song to drop to his knee and propose marriage. Fifty of the couple's closest friends, who were hiding incognito among the movie-going crowd, stood to cheer when Kerrie Richardson, 27, accepted the proposal and a party was held outside while the real audience enjoyed "Avatar." Man racks up 298 nude rollercoaster rides ALTON, England, March 9 (UPI) -- A British man who raised money for charity by taking a roller coaster ride in the nude said it was his 298th thrill ride in the buff. Richard Jones, 27, of Churchdown, England, a lifelong roller coaster fan, said his recent nude ride on the Nemesis coaster at England's Alton Towers marked the 298th time he has taken off his clothes and gone for a roller coaster ride for charity, The Sun reported. Advertisement Jones said his rides have included coasters across Europe and North America, including his favorite, the Top Thrill Dragster at Ohio's Cedar Point amusement park. "Ever since I was 4 I have been hooked on roller coasters. It's an escape from time because it takes you somewhere you don't normally go," Jones said. "Hurtling along at 80 mph also gets the adrenaline going. Doing it naked is a lot more difficult because it does get very cold." Jones said he participated in the Mary 2004 Guinness World Record for largest naked roller coaster ride with 112 fellow nude riders on the Nemesis coaster. Air guitar event raised $4,000 for schools NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., March 9 (UPI) -- Organizers of an air guitar world record attempt at Rutgers University said they fell short of the mark but raised more than $4,000 for music and art programs. The Rutgers University Programming Association said attendance Friday at the Louis Brown Athletic Center was not high enough to break September's record of 1,436 people simultaneously playing invisible guitars, set at Canada's Brock University, The Daily Targum, Rutgers University, reported. Alexandria Intravatola, the programming association's vice president of spirit and special events, said donations totaled more than $4,000 for New Brunswick School District art and music programs. Advertisement "Will I say this is a failure? Absolutely not," Intravatola said. "This event was still successful for many people." She said the programming association may take aim at another world record next year.