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eBay Pays A $61 Million Bootleg Tax

We’d be lying if we said we never tried to woo a trifey with some $15 knockoff Louis Vuitton flip-flops—but hey, it’s a victimless crime, right? Maybe not, according to the French court that yesterday ordered eBay to pay $61 million to high-end titan LVMH for slanging counterfeit luxury goods.

As part of the lawsuit, LVMH claimed that 90% of the LV bags and Dior perfumes sold on eBay are fugazi, while the online auction site was content to rake in the money. Tiffany has a similar case against eBay pending in the U.S., which got us thinking about some of the most entertaining online frauds in recent memory. Check out a few classic bogus auctions after the jump.

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Is Seth MacFarlane’s New Online Show A Rip-Off?

Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane has been Fox’s golden boy ever since execs realized that drunk college kids love lowest-common-denominator humor. Now, he’s taking on the internet in a huge deal to develop “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” a web series that will deliver his core audience (read: mouth-breathing young men) to online advertisers via Google. Which is all well and good, except there’s something familiar about the show’s title and concept.

See, back in 2003, cartoonists Kelly Shane and Woody Compton released a New Yorker-style comic strip titled…wait for it…“Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Coincidence? Perhaps. But in an interview, MacFarlane describes “Cavalcade” as “animated versions of the one-frame cartoons you might see in The New Yorker, only edgier.” You’d think a guy who created two identical television shows just by changing a dog into an alien would be a little more sensitive to the idea of originality. Read the 2003 comic strips below and judge for yourself.

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Neil Patrick Harris Goes From Doogie To Dr. Horrible

He’s still best known for playing teen doctor Doogie Howser, but there’s no denying that Neil Patrick Harris has been experiencing a major career resurgence in the last few years. After stealing the show in both Harold & Kumar movies and becoming the best funniest part of CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, and he’s finally returning to his M.D. roots in Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The series of shorts, in which NPH plays low-budget super-villain Dr. Horrible—was created by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Astonishing X-Men), along with his brothers and sister-in-law, while the Writer’s Strike was going on. The comedy/action/sci-fi/musical follows Dr. Horrible’s exploits as he fights the local bully/superhero and pines after the unattainable girl at the laundromat. The three 10 minute episodes will debut online later this year and then on DVD afterwards. Click through to watch the teaser trailer…

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South Park’s YouTube Celebrity Showdown

Last night on South Park (watch the full episode here), Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny convince Butters to star in a viral internet video so they can all make a billion dollars. Once it blows up and they get mentioned on the national news, they visit the Colorado Department of Internet Money to collect their “theoretical dollars.” While they’re in the D.I.M. waiting room, they run into the cream of the crop of YouTube superstars, who end up in a brawl to the death. Chocolate Rain, the Laughing Baby, Tron Guy—the whole gang’s there. With all due respect to the I.C.’s, these are the internets icons. Watch the scene, Butters’ video and the original blockbuster viral videos that inspired the episode after the jump.

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Social Networking Like A Rockstar

With Grand Theft Auto 4 dropping on April 29, Rockstar Games is getting ready to launch the forward-thinking Rockstar Social Club. This website will allow GTA 4 players across the world (and fans of future Rockstar titles) to compete, interact and compare progress. All your stats will be linked up on leaderboards, which will let you see how you’re doing in the grand scheme of GTA players. Complete the game to get access to the “100% Club,” see the most dangerous neighborhoods on a aggregated police blotter, and compete in various other “Hall of Fame” benchmarks with your fellow geeks.

Using your gamertag or PSN ID, you’ll be able to register for the Rockstar Social Club on April 15, one week before the game’s release. If you’ve been living under a rock, watch the GTA 4 trailer after the jump…

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Insect-Filled Food For Thought

If you’re looking to add a little kick to your diet, we’d like to suggest visiting exotic food seller Edible.

Their unusual menu includes everything from chocolate-covered scorpions to crocodile curry to ant snacks (they have a whole section on their site called “INSECTIVORE”). Our favorite item: Weasel Coffee. No, there aren’t weasels in the coffee, but…“This Coffee is first eaten by Weasels which then regurgitate it, no one knows why they do this but it is then collected by locals in remote forest areas and then cleaned and roasted.”

Check out more unusual Edible products after the jump…

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Extreme Makeover: Fugly Edition

We don’t really watch those TV shows—you know, the ones where a chick gets a tummy tuck and a weave and then ends up crying into the mirror—but damn, this new D-I-Y virtual makeover site Taaz is kinda fun.

All you need is a headshot (of you, your girl, a celebrity), which you upload to their site. Taaz then lets you manipulate everything about their appearance: hair, makeup, contact lenses, eyelashes, skin tone, etc. We would rather make Dubya look like a boyband reject in drag, but its worth noting that this could actually be a useful tool for women who want to see how they look with different hair and makeup. Check out some more ridiculous celebrity makeovers from Taaz after the jump.

Popularity: 87% [?]