Actress Lindsay Lohan stands on the red carpet as she arrives for the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, April 28, 2012.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Welcome to Talking Points, a daily roundup of digital miscellany
A REALLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
£70,000
Children's parties keep getting more extravagant: A British couple hired renowned event planner Steven Duggan to decorate a birthday party for one-year-old twins in Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland styles. The bill (about $113,300)raised eyebrows, and questions as to what they would have to do next year to beat this.
A HATEFUL LETTER, A SWIFT REACTION
A letter signed by a "pissed off mother" has outraged a community and frightened a family. Thirteen-year-old Max has autism and spends his summer days playing in his grandmother's backyard in Newcastle, Ont. Last week, a letter showed up under her door that urged her to take Max to a park, instead of letting him "make noise" in her backyard which "scares the hell out of [her] normal children." The letter was posted on Twitter by singers and Nashville stars Lennon and Maisy and has since garnered shock and outrage. "Disgusting and inhuman," Shadows Fall, a metal band, posted on their Twitter feed. The letter, which shows a complete disregard for human life, ends by encouraging euthanasia. "Who says that about a child?" Max's mother, Karley Begley, said through tears when speaking with CityNews. The letter goes on to say other awful things, including, "He is a nuisance to everyone and will always be that way!!!!! Who the hell is going to care for him??????" and "I HATE people like you who believe, just because you have a special needs kid, you are entitled to special treatment!!!" Max's father said, "A person that's that crazy or demented that would fabricate something like that, it leads me to believe that they're very dangerous and right now I'm scared for my son's safety." The post has been retweeted more than 3,500 times. Responses have included support and kind words to promises of action. "I have a severely autistic nephew. If anyone talked about him that way I don't know what I'd do," one user tweeted. Another said: "Oh my gosh. It is so upsetting that there are such evil, hateful people in this world." Durham Regional Police told Yahoo! Canada News that they are investigating the incident. The family has said, if possible, they will press charges.
QUOTED
Nobody's perfect; I love my parents, but I'm not going to say that there aren't certain situations I would have preferred to be handled differently – and I don't blame anyone for my mistakes.
Lindsay Lohan
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Oprah on Sunday night, the oft-troubled actress said she's learned a lot and is in "a different head space" now.