The Flaming Lips to play Hollywood Cemetery

The Flaming Lips will have an all-star audience when they perform their 'Everyone You Know Someday Will Die' shows at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery next month.

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd is the final resting place of big Hollywood stars and musicians like Don Adams, Cecil B. DeMille, Mel Blanc, Estelle Getty, Jane Mansfield, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone, Nelson Riddle, Fay Wray and Rudolph Valentino.

The Flaming Lips will perform at the cemetery for 2 nights on June 14 and 15.

The June 14 show will feature their 1999 album 'The Soft Bulletin' in its entirety while the June 15 show will focus on their recent interpretation of the Pink Floyd classic 'Dark Side Of The Moon.

Fans can purchase a single day ticket for $40, a two-day pass for $80 or a Special Ticket Bundle Package featuring the two-day ticket and a exclusive Flaming Lips (life size) Gummy Skull with USB featuring 'The Soft Bulletin: Live La Fantastique de Institution 2011' limited edition, only available for this show.

The Gummy Skull houses a USB drive and inside includes a flavoured Gummy brain. It weighs 7lbs and is edible.

And it even comes with the following warning:

Warning! You may wish to consult a registered physician before attempting to consume several pounds of congealed corn syrup, sugar, citric acid and vegetable oil in a single serving as 29g of carbohydrates at approximately 2500 calories may cause undesirable and unhealthful results. Side effects may include: dizziness, bloating, sweating, vomiting, temporary food-induced coma-like inability to move from the sofa or floor, discoloration of the teeth or bowel movements of an unusual hue. For best recommended results, immediately place USB drive into a compatible playback device set to maximum volume. Instant boogie will ease physical discomfort and enhance a heightened sense of euphoric well-being. Good luck.

Black Jacksonville firefighters sue city over promotions process

Two dozen Jacksonville firefighters have sued the city and the fire union, claiming the city's promotional process discriminates against minority firefighters.

Among their allegations: that union officials collected and shared promotional exam questions with white firefighters but not black firefighters, corrupting the promotional exam's supposed secrecy.

The lawsuit comes as the black firefighters, city and union are two years into court mediation designed to forge a resolution to decades of racial issues in the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.

City and union officials said Wednesday afternoon they hadn't been served with the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it or how it might affect mediation. Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, said he was surprised by the lawsuit and vehemently denied the allegations.

City General Counsel Cindy Laquidara said discussing the lawsuit while mediation is ongoing would violate the terms of the talks because they aren't at impasse. A mediation session is scheduled Friday before Senior U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger, who has been overseeing the negotiations.

Attorney Dennis Thompson, representing the black firefighters, said he remained optimistic about mediation. His lawsuit says negotiations resulted in a resolution of hiring issues raised in the 1971 case, but issues like harassment and promotion are unresolved.

"This was done because it needed to be done," Thompson said. "We had no active litigation regarding promotions."

The lawsuit accuses the city of holding exams under its collective bargaining agreement with the union while the mediation is ongoing, despite flaws such as improper administration, an invalid testing process and a historically adverse impact on African-American candidates.

The exams mean resulting promotion lists for engineer and lieutenant will be in place for two years at a time when nearly three-fourths of the department's ranking black officers are eligible for retirement, the lawsuit says. That will further reduce opportunities for minorities to hold ranking positions, it says.

And it claims the union exerts "excessive political influence" over City Hall and has refused to include a different promotional process in collective bargaining.

Thompson said all the lawsuit's 24 claimants have taken a promotional exam in the past five years except one who's scheduled to take the suppression lieutenant's exam Friday. He said nobody should be surprised at the lawsuit because the firefighters all received right-to-sue letters from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan established the court-sponsored mediation after reopening the 1971 discrimination case, saying after 40 years, litigation may not be the best avenue to resolve the department's racial issues.

2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI gets an extra 20HP in the UK

In a strange and unpredictable marketing strategy, Subaru UK has decided to give potential customers the extra oomph they may need to go out and purchase an Impreza WRX STI. Between now and June 31, 2011, Subaru UK will be selling the standard WRX STI models for the typical 32,995 (about $53,500 at the current exchange rates), but add on an upgrade in engine power and satellite navigation system for FREE. Yes, that's F-R-E-E.

The Subaru Impreza WRX STI comes with a 2.5 liter Boxer 16-valve turbo engine that produces 300 HP, but during this promotional period, the engine will be tweaked to deliver 320 HP and 331 lbs-ft of torque. With this extra 20 HP, the improved STI will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds.

Next to the engine upgrade, the STI will also get a Pioneer satellite navigational system fitted as standard. The system features touch-screen capability, Bluetooth, and iPod connection. The screen is also detachable and can be connected to a laptop via a USB port for easy downloading of additional information.

The list of equipment for the Subaru will also include symmetrical AWD, keyless entry and push button start, hill start assist, climate control, SI-Drive, leather Recaro seats, 18 inch alloy wheels, remote locking, satellite tracker, and cruise control.

Subaru UK didn't mention the reason behind this added bonus, but we don't think anyone in the UK will mind.