Let’s hop into the way-back machine and set our coordinates for 1785. This was a time way before any inkling of commercial air travel and the frisky little concept of ducking into an airplane bathroom with a “friend” for a saucy, airborne tryst thousands of feet above the ground. But let’s be realistic — people have had the very same frisky thoughts, because if the thought of sex didn’t occur to people, the human race would end. So, yes, even in the more “proper” and “modest” of times, people had sexual intercourse and in a variety of locations. In the case of actress and model Letitia Ann Sage, a hot air balloon. At least that’s what was rumored to have happened (even if it probably didn’t.) Hey, if you’re going to be stuck up in the air for a while, and the guy who is accompanying you is friendly and handsome, then “when in Rome,” amirite?

Late last year we brought you news of the imminent demise of Women’s Professional Soccer in the Unites States. The cause was the loss of several teams in the league, which according to US Soccer rules, meant they would no longer have Division 1 status. The hope was they would find new teams to bring their numbers back up but after canceling the 2012 season, their hopes were never realized. It’s now been officially anounced, Women’s Professional Soccer is no more. 

Probably time to break out the old “creative differences” chestnut — Dan Harmon, showrunner of Community, revealed that he has been unceremoniously fired from the show he created days after its third season finale and not long after news of its renewal. NBC has replaced him with David Guarascio and Moses Port, and Harmon will still be called upon as a “consulting producer.” And apparently, all the official dealings took place behind closed doors, without Harmon, which has left Harmon wondering “Hey, did I miss anything?”

As many of you have no doubt gathered, The Mary Sue is a blog based on the east coast of the United States, and a such we are all very jealous of the western US and Pacific areas who got treated to a gorgeous annular eclipse this weekend. What’s an annular eclipse? Well, it’s a certain kind of solar eclipse, i.e., one where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and casts its shadow on the Earth’s surface. Now, the Moon is way, way smaller than the Sun, and even though it’s also way, way closer to the Earth than the Sun, it still takes a lot of celestial synergy to get that rarest of eclipses: the full solar eclipse. More often, we get partial solar eclipses. An annular eclipse is one where the moon passes fully between the Sun and Earth, with the entirety of its disc covering our view of the Sun… but not our entire view of the sun. The Moon still appears smaller than the Sun in the sky, and so at the peak of its coverage, it is outlined on all sides by the Sun, appearing as a dark disc on the face of the star, surrounded by a ring of fire.

Space.com and Reddit’s Tokyo users have offered a number of striking pictures of the event.

And now you all know the song that was stuck in my head all weekend. For more bang for your Monday Cute buck, see the original video this song was based on below, with more baby seal action including baby seal bleats.

If there’s another Saturday Night Live departure I’m sad about, it’s Andy Samberg‘s. I can’t tell you how the Digital Shorts saved my sanity a few years back, and probably the sanity of others. And while I’m psyched to see what Hollywood has in store for Young Sandwich, it’ll be a slightly less raptastic weekend for all of us from now on. Samberg’s departure is still not officially confirmed, but he said all we needed to hear in his (presumably) final video as a cast member: “That’s how Imma finish it!” We present to you “Lazy Sunday 2,” featuring Chris Parnell, who wants you to know that he’s been working out a lot.

Best of wishes, and hugs & air kisses!

(via Saturday Night Live)

Well — are you???? (found on Facebook; if you know who created this, email us at tips [at] themarysue [dot] com!) UPDATE: The artist responsible for the Alien pic was Seivewright, who created it as part of Kotaku‘s recent “Are You Shop Enough?” contest. See more spoofs here. Hat tip to Esperino‘s Jess “Ninja” Watson for filling us in!

Ask me how I resist posting about a buddy cop movie starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you craft the perfect question … Never mind, I’m just going to answer you: I cannot resist posting about it. I am writing two stories about women in comedy today, and you’re just going to have to deal with it, because this is great news. This is a buddy cop movie starring two women as cops, and that is new and exciting. It’s also being directed by Paul Feig, who also directed Bridesmaids, and if all of this means that McCarthy and Bullock use unconventional bathroom furniture as toilets, then sign me up. It won’t, because that was part of the screenplay, so Feig had little to do with that. But the screenplay was written by Parks and Recreation co-showrunner Katie Dippold, so… Holy crap, this is truly exciting.

The 47th Nebula Awards Weekend has been taking place in Virginia, and included among the festivities was announcing the winners of the awards! After the jump, read who took home the top honors from Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and see who you can read for free!

What’s been rumor for a while now has finally been confirmed — after seven seasons on NBC‘s Saturday Night Live, Kristen Wiig is moving on. Last year, the superstar comedian proved she could draw an audience beyond the late-night institution with her script for and performance in Bridesmaids, the former of which got her an Oscar nomination. So, yes — it will be sad to see Wiig’s brand of demented but lovable characters gone from Saturday nights. But she’s going to be just fine. That doesn’t mean that some of us, including Wiig, didn’t cry about it, though.