Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional character, Ali G, hails from a British town called Staines. But residents of that very real town are unimpressed with the attention the character brings them. As a result, they recently voted to officially change the name of their home to Staines Upon Thames. It will officially be re-named in May of 2012.

The ladies of the music world really raked it in in 2011. Lady Gaga was by far the highest earner in the last year pulling in somewhere around $90 million from concerts, album sales and endorsement deals. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry came in second and third earning $45 million and $44 million, respectively.

The man responsible for leaking an early copy of 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine a month before its release has been sentenced to a YEAR in federal prison! Gilberto Sanchez pleaded guilty in March to uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial release. The judge also ruled that Sanchez be subject to a year of supervised release and a number or restrictions to his computer use. Unfortunately, the writer and director of that piece of poop are still at large.

World of Warcraft plays host to more than 10 million users and generates a reported 500 million dollars a year in subscriptions and disc sales. Revenues have made owner Activision the biggest gaming company on Earth so it’s no wonder rival company Electronic Arts is creating an online world of its own – Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game, which reportedly cost in the 100 million dollar range, will do with lightsabers and intergalactic travel what Warcraft does with swords and sorcery.

When Elizabeth Taylor passed away earlier this year, she left behind one of the most extraordinary personal jewelry collections in the world. Many of the items went up for sale recently at an auction hosted by Christie’s and fetched a record-breaking total of 116 MILLION dollars. The item that fetched the highest price was the 33.19 carat diamond Richard Burton gave her. It sold for 11.8 million.

Alec Baldwin’s rage got the best of him once again while on an American Airlines flight bound for New York. He had a verbal altercation with a flight attendant who asked him to turn off his iPhone while the plane was taxiing. He claims they were still parked at the gate and took to the Twitterverse to vent his frustrations. Baldwin was given a seat on a later flight.

A 1938 original copy of the first issue of Action Comics recently became the most expensive comic in history. The issue, which features Superman’s debut, was auctioned off online and fetched a whopping 2.16 MILLION dollars. Neither the buyer or the seller’s name was disclosed but there’s speculation that the book was owned by Nicolas Cage.

Horror fans Down Under may have to book a flight if they want to see The Human Centipede 2 on the big screen. Just weeks after the gruesome sequel premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival, it’s been banned all over Australia. The country’s Classification Review Board wouldn’t even give it a rating, ruling it was full of, quote: “gratuitous, exploitative or offensive depictions of violence.”