Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Crushable

Crushable

Video: Snooki Doesn’t Know Who J.K. Rowling And Maya Angelou Are

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 11:42 AM PDT

Snooki‘s appearance on The Jimmy Kimmel Show last night was so close to satire that it made me think she might be playing just a little bit dumb for the cameras. I know, I know, some people are just not that smart, but listen: she pretty much claimed not to know books exist. Neither the books you must read to graduate high school, nor the most popular fictional series of the past decade. No books at all.

First, Jimmy Kimmel asked the (ugh) best-selling author how she manged to “write” three books in a year while it takes authors like J.K. Rowling three years to write just one book. (Granted, this was sort of an evil question to ask, because Rowling is a real author and Snooki is sort of assumed to have all her books ghostwritten.) “I don’t know who that is, but I’m here,” she replied. When told Rowling wrote Harry Potter (come on Snooks, even people who don’t read at all like Harry Potter, or at least know about it) she said, “oh, those movies are cool.” Is it just me, or did she show just a glimmer of a knowing smirk when she said that?

Then, she admitted that she doesn’t actually “write” her books, in the traditional sense of the word:

I can’t really type with these nails, I mean they’re pretty serious, so you know, I just talk it out on a recorder and that’s that.

Oh, girl. If the lady at my local DMV can type with those curling talons she has (I’ve seen it, it’s impressive), surely you can type with those.

And lastly, the pièce de résistance of my “Snooki is pretending to be stupider than she is” theory. When Jimmy joked to her that she managed to use the word “friggin’” enough times in her book to break a record previously held by Maya Angelou, she said, “I don’t know who that is…I don’t know who anybody is!”

How can you attend high school in America and not know who Maya Angelou is?! I’m pretty sure it’s written into the charter of every school that you must read and analyze at least one Maya Angelou poem to graduate.

Additionally, in that infamous New York Times profile, Snooki claims to have only ever read two books: Twilight, and Dear John. I’m pretty sure you have to read more than two books in order to pass high school. I know some schools are so overwhelmed with problems that they let illiterate students slip through the cracks, but Snooki didn’t go to one of those. She grew up in a solidly middle class community and graduated from Marlboro High School in 2005, at least that’s what I’m told.

In conclusion, one of these things is true:

1.) Marlboro High School is a shitty, shitty school that regularly allows people to graduate without completing their coursework.

2.) Snooki was one of those smart slackers who is able to bullshit all their essays based on the Cliff’s Notes (doubtful).

3.) Snooki is lying about how few books she has read.

Which one do you think it is?

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Garbage’s Shirley Manson Approves Of Controversial ‘Video Games’ Singer Lana Del Ray

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT

The following is a guest post from our friends at Luckymag.com.

Lana Del Rey, the voice behind hit song “Video Games,” has been getting a lot of flack in the music blogosphere. Initially positioned as an indie artist named Lizzy Grant, it’s fairly obvious that Lana’s look and sound is more pop than anything, which has irked plenty of music snobs. Admittedly, we’re not necessarily exempt from being snobs ourselves, but manufactured look and lack of “indieness” aside—we think her music holds up.

Amy Klein, bandmember of Titus Andronicus, points out that whether or not Lana is authentic may not be the issue, but that her image and point of view may not quite be in line with the way we’d hope our culture perceives women. “Lana Del Ray is sitting at home waiting for you to come home so she can fix you dinner and a drink. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you to come home so she can watch you play video games on the couch and ignore her all day until it's time for bed. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you to come home so you can go to bed and act out all of your wildest fantasies, which is exactly what she wants to do—what you want to do, that is. Lana Del Ray is waiting for you because she is your mirror.”

Perhaps she’s being judged too harshly for someone with real talent. We were psyched to hear that one of our favorite female front women, Shirley Manson, strongly endorses the artist, having been moved to tears by one of her songs.

“I'm obsessed with ‘Video Games’ by Lana Del Rey,” Manson told us. “Absolutely obsessed by that song. Her whole story is fascinating on so many levels. To me, the music really stands up on its [own]. Whether people believe in her or not I don't care. The music is so strong.”

“I first discovered ‘Video Games’ by total default,” she continued. “I was just mooching around on the internet. I sat on my bed on a Friday night and played it over and over again crying to the point where my husband was like, ‘honey, you need to shut the computer now.’”

Manson’s stamp of approval is all we needed to keep believing in Lana Del Rey. Since when do females musicians need to be one of two extremes: overly eccentric or a modestly dressed hipster? Not that we don’t love Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, but we think it’s about time the industry made room for something new.

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Gallery: The Rum Diary Premiere Brought Out Hunter Thompson-esque Fashion

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 11:10 AM PDT

The Rum Diary is the film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson‘s drink-fueled romp through Puerto Rico in the late 1950s. The New York premiere was held last night, and stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard mingled with counter-culture heroes like Keith Richards and Betsey Johnson. And everyone wore their super hip, bright finest.

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The Winehouse Family Releases Defensive Statement About Amy Winehouse’s Death By Alcohol Poisoning

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 10:45 AM PDT

Since August, Amy Winehouse‘s family has maintained that their daughter died of alcohol withdrawal, which lends her death something of a saintly air: The singer, long besieged by problems with addiction, left this world fighting those damaging habits.

Except, today an inquest ruled that Winehouse actually died of alcohol poisoning, her blood alcohol levels having clocked in at more than five times the legal limit for driving. The court is calling this “death by misadventure.”

It’s unfortunate news for her family, who were already heartbroken by her early death at the age of 27; now it adds another embarrassing hue to the story. And suddenly there are details piling in that weren’t released in the last few months. Winehouse’s doctor Christina Romete says that she saw the singer the night before she died, at about 7 p.m.—and Winehouse was tipsy. When Romete asked her when she would stop drinking, Winehouse said she would call her over the weekend.

Then there was the singer’s guard Andrew Morris, who only noticed something was wrong when she didn’t wake up at 3 p.m. the next day. He noted that she had started drinking the prior week, although he specified that she didn’t “drink to get drunk.” (Although isn’t that the case for someone who’s failed rehab, that every drink is damaging?)

It’s all pretty damning evidence, but apparently it’s news to Winehouse’s family. Rather than release a statement directly, they spoke through representative Chris Goodman. Maybe it’s just us, but this statement comes across as a bit passive-aggressive and defensive.

It is [with] some relief we finally found out what happened to Amy. We understand there was alcohol in her system when she passed away. It is likely a buildup of alcohol in her system over a number of days. The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain that she could not win in time. She had started drinking again that week after a period of abstinence.

It seems as if they’re eager to clarify that as far as they knew, she was recovering. However, her father Mitch – who’s already given away his daughter’s clothing to fans — has plans to write a memoir. Amy: My Daughter is meant to act as a salve for both father and fans; Mitch said earlier this month, “I feel that I need to write this book to tell the true story of Amy and to help with my personal recovery.”

We’re curious to see if the memoir gives us any indication of how much the family actually knew about Winehouse’s last week.

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Anti-Rape Group Accuses Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ Video Of Glorifying Abusive Relationships

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 10:01 AM PDT

Rihanna‘s edgy-for-a-pop-star video for “We Found Love” might be adored by fans around the world, but there’s one group that’s not amused: the women of Belfast, Ireland’s Rape Crisis Centre. “Rihanna’s new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases,” the Centre’s Eileen Kelly told The Daily Star.

Rihanna’s camp has yet to respond directly to these charges, but director Melina Matsoukas recently emphasized to MTV that she did not intend to glorify domestic abuse with the video.

Via MTV News:

“We love, obviously, to do provocative imagery … we always try to definitely push the limits,” Matsoukas told MTV News. “I think because, in the end, it’s not really at all about domestic violence. It’s really just about it being toxic, and they’re on this drug trip and that definitely plays a part, but I think it’s also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It’s not trying to glorify that type of relationship. The bad parts of it, that’s what you don’t want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life. The drugs and the addiction and the toxic — that’s what brings her downfall and brings a lot of harm.”

Ignoring the redundant comparison in the statement “it’s not really at all about domestic violence, it’s just about it being toxic” (can’t domestic violence be a huge part of said toxicity?), I can see it from both sides. It’s true that the video makes the unhealthy relationship in it look somewhat glamorous, because everything that happens in a Rihanna video looks glamorous. It’s beautiful people, in beautiful clothes, shot beautifully as they pretend to argue and do drugs. But when she leaves him in the end, it sends a strong message that this is not the kind of situation you want to be trapped in. I think this part even veers toward “Movie Of The Week” territory: somewhat facile, but responsible to Rihanna’s young fans. I’m no Rihanna apologist (here is some evidence), but I think in this case, her critics don’t really have a leg to stand on.

(Via Popdust)

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Art Crush: The Best Pieces Of Fan Art From Coco MoCA (The Museum Of Conan Art)

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 09:20 AM PDT

Not only does New York City get Conan O’Brien for a four-day stint where he hosts his show Conan live from the Big Apple—but his team decided to grace the fans with Coco MoCA, or the Museum of Conan Art. And it’s populated entirely by fan paintings!

From October 24 to November 3 (the last day of his stay), the Time Warner Center in NYC will display 50 pieces of art created by fans in honor of the late-night host. It’s clear that Conan had a hand in the museum’s creation: He and Andy Richter have recorded an audio tour that you can consult while walking through the gallery, and there’s even a contraption called the Conan Loveseat, which talks to you and hugs you.

Check out this gallery with pieces from the official site. We don’t know if these made the cut for NYC, or if there’s even more craziness on display, but they all show fans’ love of the famous ginger.

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The Daily WTF: This Maury Casting Call Is Grim

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 09:21 AM PDT

“Were you kidnapped and then turned into a sex slave, but you managed to escape? Instead of the thousand hours of therapy you probably need, would you like to air out your story on national television to a tabloid talk show host? Does this font make you feel cheap, dirty and open to exploitation? Then call Maury Povich today.”

Weird.

(via Vulture)

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5 Facts About Frances Bean Cobain’s Possible Fiancé Isaiah Silva

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 09:11 AM PDT

According to some posts on both of their Facebook pages, it would appear rock scion Frances Bean Cobain is at least pretending to be engaged to her boyfriend of about a year, local musician Isaiah Silva. Then again, from what little we know of her, Frances Bean (or as she’s currently calling herself on Facebook, Frodo Matthew Lillard) seems to have a wry sense of humor, so who knows? “Getting to spend the rest of my life loving my best friend makes me the luckiest woman in the world,” she wrote back in September. He also referred to her as his fiancé in a comment. It’s a testament to her ability to fly under the radar that nobody leaked screenshots to the press until now. But just who is this flannel-clad babe she’s been dating? Read on.

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Crushable Quoteable: Ryan Gosling Thinks Like A Girl, Does Ballet

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 08:46 AM PDT

Every time we think Ryan Gosling has formed himself into a creature more perfect that anyone could possibly be, he says something even more wonderfully perfect. And now we know what’s behind his sensitive and lady-positive outlook — he was raised by women! He explains:

“I think like a girl, I think … I was literally raised by my mother and my sister. And I just feel like I wouldn’t know how to think any other way. My sister was my best friend and my hero growing up. Because I was home-schooled I didn’t have a lot of friends and I did ballet, which was always just girls. All of that had an effect on my brain.”

And guess what? Ryan still practices ballet in Los Angeles. He talked about the other students in his class:

“A lot of the students are young girls so they’re there with their mums but they just kind of watch and tell me to keep it up. They try and be positive but I’m so bad. I don’t even know what I like about it but it’s like acting, I’m just compelled to do it and I do it to find out why. The not knowing is interesting.”

So, field trip to all the ballet studios in the L.A. area? Maybe we can set it up like a Star Tours thing — a bus will pick us up and drive us around on the hunt for Ryan Gosling in tights. Who’s in?

(via Jezebel)

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