Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Guilty Pleasures:

Are you ready for pornography... aimed at the blind. Canadian LISA MURPHY has come out with a new book called, "Tactile Minds,"which contains 17 different thermoformed, two-dimensional tactile images of posed male and female forms in various stages of undress.
   Those thermoforms are also accompanied by "descriptive" Braille text.
   The cost? About $225-dollars per copy. (Pacelli)

Trade Secrets:

 April 15th is almost here and the last thing you need is the IRS to come-a-knockin'. Yahoo! put together a list of mistakes that could raise the Tax Man's eyebrows:
   1. Leaving Out 1099 Income.  
   2. Being "creative" with your deductions --particularly those that are obviously personal that you're trying to swing as a business expense. 
   3. Claiming Big Charitable Gifts. If you made fifty-grand no one will believe you sent the equivalent of a new car to starving kids in Africa --use common sense.  
   4. Using Round Numbers on Schedule A Deductions --the IRS thinks obscure digits with decimal points are more likely to be legitimate. Lots of zeros may look pretty to normal folks, but not to an agent.
   5. Not Signing Your Return. Forget this little matter and your return could be rejected then subject to penalties. (Lee)

Hot for teacher:

One of the world's top universities has more than just English and Math on their class schedule these days.
   The London Daily Telegraph says England's Cambridge University is now offering pole dancing classes. The stripper lessons will take place in the university's famous Blue Room --the same place where WINSTON CHURCHILL gave some of his famous speeches.
   For the record, a spokesperson for the college says, "The classes are for fitness and well-being, and are not intended to be sexual." (Still)

The Hollywood Rumor Mill:

The movie "Mean Girls" is coming out this fall for Nintendo DS, which --according to the liner notes-- will let you to "go up against plastics, jocks, art freaks and math-letes, as you work to play the cliques against each other and become the high school prom queen!"
   Interestingly, however, the game's cover only shows "plastics" AMANDA SEYFRIED, RACHEL McADAMS and LACY CHABERT --and eliminates the picture of the main person the game's about: LINDSAY LOHAN's character.
   Blogs and gossip sites are now making a big deal over the lack of Lindsay on the box, the implication being that her party girl persona was enough to keep teens from buying the game.

The Reel Deal:

First, ALEC BALDWIN played CIA analyst Jack Ryan in TOM CLANCY's "The Hunt for Red October" (1990). Then HARRISON FORD took over the franchise for "Patriot Games" (1992) and "Clear and Present Danger" (1994). Finally, BEN AFFLECK played the character in"The Sum of All Fears." Now "Star Trek" actor CHRIS PINE is set to take over the role in a new movie called "Moscow." MTV Movie News says it'll be about a Russian move to cripple the U-S economy which gets pinned on Ryan, who's forced to clear his name and rescue his wife from the clutches of an evil billionaire.

Grace notes:

Little Fatty has been squashed. LIN YU-CHUN who became an Internet superstar with his note-perfect rendition of WHITNEY HOUSTON's "I Will Always Love You" was voted off Taiwan's "Million Star" TV talent competition on Friday. He didn't impress the judges with his performance of a song in Mandarin. One said (quote), "You rarely hit a wrong note. But you did today. What's wrong with you?" But, Lin's agent says the singer has a very bright future ahead of him. (Marino)