BABY GOT BACK! Stars Who Made Their Careers Based On Their Rears

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In recent years more than a few Hollywood stars have managed to launch their careers solely on the strength of their...assets.

Pippa Middleton, who stole the world's, er, attention this past April with her bottom clinging bridesmaid dress is reportedly set to make an unintentional foray into the film scene.

A UK film company says they producing a biopic about Pippa's life in response to increased interest...in how she pulled off that dress?

No matter.  Pippa is merely the latest person to back their way into Hollywood.  Here are some others.

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Here Are The Best 5 Moments From Last Night's Premiere Of "Dancing With The Stars" (VIDEO)

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"Dancing With the Stars" is back for lucky 13.

And unlike last season's lackluster-save-for-Kirstie-Alley-falling vibe, this season's cast is anything but boring.

Case in point: the opening night was full of what-the? revelations.

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A Con Man Recruited High School Basketball Stars To Play For A School That Doesn't Exist

A former college basketball player recruited kids from all over the world to come play hoops at a West Virginia prep school that doesn't exist.

About 16-to-18 kids were discovered sharing a single South Charleston apartment last week, sleeping on the floor and starving after two days without food.

All of them were promised a spot on the basketball team at West Virginia Prep Academy, a new college prep school that was supposed to be opening this fall.

But beyond this hastily assembled website, there's no evidence that the academy exists or ever intended to.

The man behind the school is team "coach" Daniel Hicks. He charged many of the players $500 in admission to the school and they were expected to pay $300 a month in food and lodging.

However, once they showed up, there was no gym, no games, and not even a school. Players were forced to fend for themselves to get meals, despite most of them having no cash.

It's not clear if Hicks intended to defraud the players all along or truly hoped to build a prep basketball team – and failed once he realized that starting a high school is not as easy as he thought.

Unfortunately, starting a high school team is easier than you think. It's clear that West Virginia Prep Academy is modeled after academies like Findlay Prep, a Las Vegas academy that has one of the top high school basketball programs in the country.

However, Findlay Prep is not a school. Its players all live together and play a full basketball schedule against other top teams, but the kids actually take classes at a different private school in Henderson, Nevada. They are essentially a private team, outside the jurisdiction of state athletic associations. It's perfectly legitimate, if not entirely about education.

According to Yahoo Sports, who spoke to one the duped players, some of the boys were told to enroll in and get financial aid from an online university. In theory, they could have gotten their education from that school while playing for West Virginia Prep, but Hicks failed to even schedule games for his new "team."

Sadly, the ease with which someone can create a team and lure kids dreaming of a NCAA scholarship makes scams like this almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Findlay and others like it may be totally legit operations, but are only a few steps removed from a guy with a van hoping to make a few bucks in the world of high school recruiting. Hicks still claims his school is real and there will certainly be others like him in the future, some more scrupulous than others.

South Charleston city officials have helped all the boys who Hicks recruited to get back home, after Greyhound and a local Ramada hotel pitched in to help the stranded players. The FBI is investigating, though arrests have been made.

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25 And Under: 15 Hot Young Stars In New York Tech

  x You have successfully emailed the post. New York is a young, hot city and the tech scene is no exception.

From venture capitalists to founders, we rounded up 15 super stars that are creating big names for themselves despite their young ages.

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ABC Attacked By "Dancing With The Stars" Fans For Casting Of Chaz Bono

"Dancing With the Stars" aims for provocative casts, and Chaz Bono joining the show this week has already yielded strong reaction -- some of it ugly.

Bono, the only child of Sonny Bono and Cher, was born a woman but legally changed his gender and name last year. The announcement Monday that he would join the highly rated ABC dance competition immediately made him one of the highest-profile transgendered people in the world. 

It also brought to the surface prejudices about Bono and others who have changed their gender, judging from the "Dancing With the Stars" message board. In hundreds of comments, Bono was the most common subject.

Also read: 'DWTS' Cast: Ricki Lake, Ron Artest, Kristin Cavallari, David Arquette & Nancy Grace

"HUGE HUGE fan of this show since season two and eagerly await each season to get my dancing/entertainment 'fix'!! But when I heard that Chaz Bono was going to be on, I was sick. Not that I have anything personally again her/him, I just don't want that lifestyle choice continually flaunted in the media esp ABC," went one typical anti-Bono comment.

But for everyone who vented disgust -- or questioned whether Bono would dance with a man or woman -- there were many who defended Bono and accused his critics of bigotry.

Also read: Meet J.R. Martinez, the 'DWTS' Star Not Just Famous for Being Famous

Bono's casting is only the latest to make a lighthearted reality show the impetus for deeper discussions about values, tolerance, bigotry and politics. Gay "American Idol" contestants have opted not to announce their sexuality, perhaps out of concerns about alienating intolerant viewers. And Bristol Palin's "Dancing" casting two seasons ago seemed to have influenced voters with opinions on her mother's politics. 

If Americans quickly vote Bono off the show -- or keep him on despite a middling performance, as they did with Palin -- it could reveal plenty about attitudes toward transgendered people.

An ABC spokesman said Bono, 42, was in rehearsals for the show and unavailable to comment. The network, meanwhile, had no comment Tuesday on the comments posted by "Dancing" fans on its message board.

Among the other comments:

"Chaz Bono How low can this show sink. Well you have certainly addressed the gay commuity. Guess this will not be a family show any longer!!!! Lost my family!"

"YOUR choice to bring Chaz Bono into the mix goes too far. I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7 and 9 year old are watching. If you want the 'anything goes' hippy culture, then soon that is all you will get. You've lost us. In case any of you are wondering ... no, we are NOT tolerant. We are not tolerant to allow any and all influences to come unfiltered into our home and especially to our children. This is truly a sad farewell."

Some of the objections were flat-out confusing -- one person seemed to suggest Bono had to be paired with a woman -- because he was still a woman: "Chaz will have to dance with one of the girls because she/he says she/he is a man but chromesomes [sic] say different no matter how many surgeries you have."

The show has historically paired men and women regardless of sexuality. The openly gay Lance Bass was paired with Lacey Schwimmer.

Transgendered people believe that their gender identity does not correspond to the one into which they were physically born. Many seek surgery or hormones to change their physical gender. In an interview with ABC News in May, Bono explained:

"It's actually pretty simple if you look at it. ... We all in the womb start out as female and then hormones come and we either stay female or we become male. I think of it as hormones that, you know, went in the brain but not in the body, and that's all being transgender is. It's just that the sex of your body and the gender of the brain don't match up."

Many criticisms of Bono on the "Dancing" message board have nothing to do with gender. Some complained that he is overweight and only famous because of his parents. Those two criticisms have faced many, many contestants before him.

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Sleep In A Glass Dome Under The Stars At This Hot Hotel In Scotland

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The Eco Pod is a perfect getaway on the west coast of Scotland. And the Pod leaves no permanent footprint.

Image: Courtesy of Eco Pod

If you're a part of the "Go Green" movement and struggling to find a place to vacation -- Eco Pod has the perfect getaway for you (via Urban Daddy).

Sleep beneath the Scotland stars in your very own glass dome, the Eco Pod.

The igloo-like rooms don't leave a permanent footprint on the land.

They are set on the west coast of Scotland, with view of Loch Linhe and the mountains of Mukk and Kingairloch coastline.

These luxury pods feature a glass ceiling, a kitchen (where the appliances have been carefully selected to use minimum power), "hampers" filled with local goods such as sea scallops, hand-made chocolate and locally brewed beers. The pods sleep two.

Rooms go for about $1,800 for a seven-night stay.

These pods are popular. If you want to make your retreat to the coast of Scotland -- better hurry and book now. There's one seven-day stay left in September. Then, It's booked solid through the middle of October.

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