People: Apr. 16, 2007

Clarification Appended: April 10, 2007

GOOGLE NEWS HITS + GOOGLE BLOG HITS = THE SCORE

1 Keith Richards has never been known for mainstream values, but he is a family man of sorts: he told NME magazine that he snorted the ashes of his dead father. Quoth Richards: “I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.” Trying to rehab Richards’ rep, a spokesman later called it a joke. SCORE: 3,275

2 Howard Stern is trying to kill American Idol by supporting votefortheworst.com an anti-A.I. site that ballot-stuffs for increasingly improbable contender (and “ponyhawk” aficionado) Sanjaya Malakar. The NEW YORK POST calls for calm: “Even if he survives … he’s no music star. But his hair–his hair will last forever.” SCORE: 1,885

3 After winning a proxy wrestling match, Donald Trump shaved opponent Vince McMahon’s head, per their wager. Most viewers would have preferred the opposite outcome, among them “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who gave Trump a “stunner.” Gossip site TMZ speaks for all of us: “One can only hope that this begins a flurry of celeb feud shave-offs.” SCORE: 1,529

4 If Justin Timberlake was worried about his street cred when he signed on to host the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, he needn’t have been: three people were wounded by gunfire at an afterparty. Gang violence is suspected. A commenter on DEFAMER gushes, “Aww, it’s like the Source Awards with training wheels.” SCORE: 1,037

The party mentioned in the original version of this item was not connected or affiliated in any way with Nickelodeon or the awards.

5 Actress and pop singer Hilary Duff tells PEOPLE she did what anyone would have done after feeling the pressure from being called “Duff Puff” by the tabloids a few years back: she lost weight. With infinite maturity, blog site GIRLS TALKIN’ SMACK clarifies, “Well, you know what they say, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” SCORE: 740

TIMELINE

Steven Spielberg is helping stage the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Games. Olympic glitz is an evolving, controversial art.

BERLIN, 1936 Cinema pioneer and accused propagandist Leni Riefenstahl set a new standard for sports photography with Olympia, her film of the Nazi-hosted games. To the end, she maintained that art, sport and politics collided–but didn’t collude.

MUNICH AND L.A. The ’72 Games in Munich were captured in Visions of Eight (lensers included Milos Forman and Arthur Penn). For the ’84 Games in L.A., Bud Greenspan’s 16 Days of Glory used a now familiar technique: focusing on the athletes’ lives.

BEIJING ’08 The Games’ 2008 motto is “One world, one dream.” Mia Farrow sees it differently: citing China’s support for Sudan, she calls Spielberg a neo-Riefenstahl. But the Games–and the show–will go on, as will the controversy.