Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 12, 2011

Survivor: real life:

A grocery employee in Scotland got a big surprise after opening a box of bananas.
Orange.co.uk says 48-year-old BILLY CLARK felt a sting in his finger after opening the box, which was imported from Colombia. It turns out a scorpion was hiding under the bananas. Clark managed to capture the scorpion after being stung. But, a short time later he started getting sick. He was rushed to the hospital, but is expected to recover.
Hospital staff named the scorpion after pop singer SHAKIRA, who also comes from Columbia. (Still)

Grace notes:

JANI LANE, the former lead singer for the band WARRANT, is dead. TMZ.com says he was found last night in a Los Angeles area hotel room. No official cause of death has been released. Jani was 47. Warrant had two big hits: "Heaven," from 1989 and 1990's "Cherry Pie." (Marino)

Former DEEP PURPLE keyboard player JON LORD has cancer. He posted on his website that he'll beat the disease and will get back on the road within a year. While he's recovering, Jon is writing new material. He was supposed to do a bunch of concerts next month in Europe with his solo band, BLUES PROJECT, but all of them have been canceled. Jon co-founded Deep Purple in 1968. He and drummer IAN PAICE were the only two members that remained with the band during its various Marks. Jon retired from Deep Purple in 2002. (Marino)

The Reel Deal:

"The Silence of the Lambs" director JONATHAN DEMME has already optioned STEPHEN KING's novel "11/22/63" for a movie --and it isn't even out in bookstores yet.
The book is about a high school English teacher from Maine who goes back in time to try and prevent President JOHN F. KENNEDY's assassination.

Despite her new reality show, "Roseanne's Nuts," ROSEANNE BARR is also working on a new blue-collar sitcom.
The Hollywood Reporter says the show will be called "Downwardly Mobile," about a family living in tough economic hardship (and presumably a mobile home). It's her first sitcom since her old show, "Roseanne," ended in 1997.

Looking for love in all the wrong places:

A father in Kent, WA, is facing assault charges for threatening to shoot his 17-year-old daughter's boyfriend after finding him naked in his home.
You know how they got caught, right? Dad came home unexpectedly to find his daughter, the boyfriend and another friend at his house. She tried to hide the two boys (the other one was 16) in a bathroom but that didn't work and when they finally came out, prosecutors say the father pulled a pistol from his hip holster, cocked it and pointed the weapon, telling them he could shoot them for breaking and entering.
The assault charge comes from claims by one of the boys that the father punched him and hit his daughter --quote-- "50 to 100 times."
The girl said her father shoved her one time and displayed a pistol but denied that he pointed it at either of the boys or hit her. So far, he has not been jailed in the case. (Maiman)

Posturing, Posing and Press Releases:

TX Gov RICK PERRY is running for president.
His spokesperson says he'll announce his intentions tomorrow in South Carolina (followed by a visit to another early primary state, New Hampshire). He'll then begin campaigning in earnest next week.
Perry discussed his thoughts on a White House bid yesterday with Time Magazine, leaving it pretty clear that he would run. He said he wouldn't even be sitting down for the interview if he'd decided not to make a run. "I wouldn't be this far into the process," he explained. "The issue of, Is this what I want to do? was dealt with about 45 days ago in a conversation with my wife." (Maiman)