Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Crushable

Crushable

Video: Das Racist Deliver One Of The Weirdest And Best Late Night Performances In Recent Memory

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 11:40 AM PST

As much as I love them, Brooklyn indie hiphop crew Das Racist is known for having somewhat uneven live performances. If they’re not feeling the vibe of the party they’re at, they’ll turn it into a huge joke no matter how much they’re getting paid, and that’s part of what makes them great. But as much as I respect their desire to keep it real, I’d always rather see a great Das Racist performance than a half-assed one, which is why I’m glad they went all out for their appearance on Conan last night.

Performances taped in a studio can be a bit sterile, but they fixed that with lots and lots of live percussion, the most important element in an electronically based act’s translation to the stage. They also recruited folks like Chairlift‘s Patrick Wemberley and LA noise rock band Tearist‘s Yasmine to create an enormous, almost industrial drum sound, augmented by drum machines and that cartoonishly “Oriental” sounding little synth sample. Heems, Victor and Kool A.D. also showcased their own prowess as musicians, each playing an instrument when he wasn’t rapping. Strange pitch shifts not heard on the record also added a nice layer of weirdness.

Oh, and there was a Michael Jackson impersonator. What more do you need? I’m sure angel Michael Jackson is looking down on this from somewhere, very glad that people are still engaging with the intensely strange nature of his career.

(Via The Fader)

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You Guys, Ben Affleck Has A Dolphin Lower Back Tattoo!

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 11:33 AM PST

Oh man, important news from the land of celebrity tramp stamps: it appears Ben Affleck has a little black dolphin tattooed on his lower back. Photographers snapped the image when Ben bent over to help his daughter Violet into their car.

Apparently, Ben’s dolphin actually covers something way more embarrassing: the name of an ex-girlfriend from high school. We sort of wish he’d gone with a unicorn instead, but at least this fix is more subtle than Johnny Depp‘s “Wino forever.”

Ben’s got a couple other tattoos on his body, and they’re sufficiently masculine to counterbalance the swimming dolphin. He has a skull and crossbones tat, as well as a circle of barbed wire around his forearm. Tough!

(via NY Post)

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Selena Gomez’s Fans Attack Radio Host Kidd Kraddick Over False Miscarriage Rumor

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:57 AM PST

This anecdote illustrates why the younger fanbases that have cropped up around stars like the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber can be disturbing. Although fandom can stir anyone up, I believe that having mobs of preteens used to speedy Twitter communication and bite-sized news definitely exacerbates a situation like the one that Selena Gomez landed in.

Up until yesterday, it appeared that Selena was in a feud with Dallas, TX radio host Kidd Kraddick; Monday morning she allegedly tweeted, Kidd I used to look up to you.. Talk about me all you want but my mom or my family is crossing the line. Boyfriend Justin added, Smooth kid. real smooth smh. Interestingly, both tweets have since been deleted.

The story that Selena’s fans have cooked up is this: On his radio show, Kidd joked about Selena’s pregnant mother having a miscarriage. Except that there’s no indication that he ever did say that. What happened instead is that Kidd and his team were joking about the embarrassment a 20-year-old like Selena might feel about her mom having sex as well as Justin’s paternity suit with Mariah Yeater.

From there, it was easy to make up a silly conspiracy theory along the lines of the Sarah Palin/Bristol Palin baby hoax. Here’s the audio:

DFW.com interviewed Kidd about the controversy, and he clarified that he and co-host Kellie Raspberry were doing a recurring comedy bit where she pretends to be “Supposition Kellie,” a gossip reporter:

Kellie went into “Supposition Kellie Mode”, where she becomes a tabloid writer and comes up with what the gossip writers will spin from the latest news. She said something like, “It’s actually Selena who’s pregnant and her mom is part of the cover-up! Nine months from now she’s going to pretend to pop out a baby and will raise it as her own!” We all gave our over-the-top disbelief reactions…as we ALWAYS do when “Supposition Kellie” is making up a rumor. I said, “You left out one part! Justin is the father!!!”

… Bieber and Selena fans started “adding in facts” about me saying she should have an abortion or I hope she has a miscarriage. Ridiculous.

We are a comedy show and we talk about celebrities…sometimes we’re facetious (like in this case) but our listeners get it. No one listening to that would conclude that we were slamming Selena or her mother. Which is why we didn’t get a single phone call about it from our millions of listeners. Not one e-mail. Not one facebook message. Not one tweet about it.

It seems that Justin and Selena’s exasperated tweets came in response to these harmless jokes, since Selena didn’t like them even teasing her mother.

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Dr. Conrad Murray Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For His Role In Michael Jackson’s Death

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:49 AM PST

Less than a month after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, Dr. Conrad Murray has been sentenced to four years in prison. In his decision, Judge Michael Pastor said that Murray engaged in “a cycle of horrible medicine,” and that he viewed it more as a “criminal homicide case” than a medical malpractice case.

Via CNN:

Jackson died “not because of an isolated one-off occurrence or incident,” Pastor said. “He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr. Murray … because of a series of decisions that Dr. Murray made.”

Murray, he said, became involved in “a cycle of horrible medicine.”

He cited Murray’s “pattern of deceit and lies. That pattern was to assist Dr. Murray.”

A tape recording of Jackson’s slurred voice was Murray’s “insurance policy,” Pastor said. “It was designed to record his patient surreptitiously at that patient’s most vulnerable point. I can’t even imagine that happening to any of us because of the horrific violation of trust.”

…In a sentencing memo filed with the judge last week, prosecutors said Murray has “displayed a complete lack of remorse” about Jackson’s death, and is, “even worse, failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility.”

The judge’s whole speech is pretty damning:

For their part, the Jackson family had their lawyer and family friend Brian Panish read a statement on their behalf:

“We still look at each other in disbelief. Is it really possible he is gone?” Panish read. “We are not here to seek revenge, there is nothing you can do today that will bring Michael back,” he continued. “But we will keep the love in our hearts that Michael embodied throughout his life. His passion was for unifying the world through… his artistry. We respectably request that you impose a sentence that reminds physicians that they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder and cast aside the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. As we all know from this tragedy, doing so can have devastating results.” The statement concluded with a request for “justice.”

Do you think justice has been served?

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Courtney Love Says She’s LiLo’s Sobriety Coach

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:04 AM PST

In the latest issue of Details Magazine, the dubiously sober Courtney Love claims to have the unenviable task of being Lindsay Lohan‘s “sobriety coach.” Ever the magnanimous individual, Love tells Details, “I’ve taken up Lohan because nobody else will. She’s further down the line than I was, because there was no TMZ then.”

Is C-Love trying to blame LiLo’s constant tabloid coverage (which she courts) for her problems with drug abuse? Because that sounds like kind of a cop out. Not to mention, having Courtney Love as a sobriety coach sounds a little like having Cookie Monster as a not-eating-cookies coach. Regardless, it wouldn’t be the first time Courtney had positioned herself as the default mother hen of celebrities with drug problems. In an interview with The Fix last spring, she had this to say:

…It wasn’t that long ago when Kim Stewart was screaming, "Courtney, what are we going to do? Kelly Osbourne is blue on the floor!" Kelly wasn't doing that well back then. For some reason, Kim Stewart also called me when Paris Hilton got pulled over for her last D.U.I. And Lindsay Lohan called me after she was arrested. The judge presiding over her case was the same judge who presided over mine. He was a very sweet man. I think he was an ex-alcoholic himself. I told Lindsay to just get it together and trust the judge, and Lindsay’s father called me for advice every day. I’m not even that friendly with these girls. What am I, a junkie Auntie Mame?

Oh, Courtney. Don’t ever change.

(Via Stylecaster)

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Video: Take A Look Behind The Scenes Of Beyonce’s ‘Countdown’ Video

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 09:50 AM PST

Despite everything that might be going on with Beyonce‘s is she/isn’t she pregnant situation, we have to admit that this video is pretty adorable. Taken behind the scenes at her shoot for “Countdown,” Beyonce holds up a copy of The Daily News featuring her own darn self on the cover.

She also explains why her pregnant stomach appears to change shape throughout the video, claiming it’s due to a series of bodysuits. Basically, this video is worth watching to hear Beyonce say, “Oh baby!” a bunch of times. In fact, I think I’d like to make that my ringtone.

(via BuzzFeed)

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Video: Outtakes From Emma Stone And Bill Hader’s Star Wars Shoot For ‘Stand Up To Cancer’

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 09:22 AM PST

Stand Up To Cancer has smartly utilized three factors to get their message out: 1) Celebrities like Andy Samberg and Zach Galifianakis 2) reenacting scenes from Star Wars in a 3) viral video. Back in September they posted the official video — created in partnership with Lucasfilm – but now SU2C has released a behind-the-scenes look where the actors talk about their love for George Lucas‘ enduring series and how cancer has touched their lives.

It’s really fantastic that Lucasfilm is willing to supply the footage and score for these videos. And the actors don’t seem disingenuous at all, in terms of expressing their geekery and talking about the disease. You trust that Emma Stone, Seth Rogen, and Aziz Ansari are all actually fans of the series and knew some of the lines even before reenacting them for the video. Furthermore, you take their word that their parents and grandparents suffered from cancer.

Here’s the official SU2C site; you can also buy the Star Wars shirts that the celebs were modeling for $25 a pop.

And in case you missed the first video…

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World AIDS Day 2011 Poll: Do You Know Someone With HIV/AIDS

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 08:59 AM PST

With World AIDS Day 2011 coming up this Thursday, we’ll continue to post on the topic throughout the week in an attempt to raise awareness. Yesterday, we posted a gallery tracing the on-screen depiction of HIV/AIDS from its initial portrayal as something that was essentially death sentence affecting only the fringes of society to a much more manageable and less terrifying disease. And now we want to hear from you.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that there are more than 1.2 million people in the Unites States living with HIV, spanning across lines of race, gender and sexual orientation. In the inter-office discussions we’ve been having of late, we’ve learned that some of us know someone with HIV, some of us do not, and some of us simply aren’t sure. And we’re curious to know how the disease affects the lives of our readers, if it does at all, so we’ve created a poll. Take it, yeah?

For more information on World AIDS Day 2011, go to ONE.org.

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Dunder Mifflin Is Now A Real Paper Company

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 08:53 AM PST

Have you ever been watching The Office and wished you could try out Dunder Mifflin‘s paper for yourself? Staples thinks you have, and also that you will pay extra for paper that says “Dunder Mifflin” on the box. In a brilliant(?) stroke of reverse product placement, a new partnership between Staples-owned site Quill.com and NBC will sell “100% fun” copy paper bearing Dunder Mifflin’s fictional insignia on the box, as well as quips like “Our motto is ‘quabity first’” and “Get your Scrant on.”

The DM paper is actually cheaper than regular paper at the moment, by a whole $5/carton. However, when the sale ends it will be a good deal more. I guess they figure everyone will be hooked by then. Apparently, the real life paper business is flagging too, and they needed something sexy to combat the “race to the bottom in the paper business.” NBC will get 6% of the revenue over the course of two years, which sounds like a decent deal for Staples.

Glamorous TV tie-in, aggressive profit share, reliance on the selling power of hott celebrity faces…this sounds like something Ryan and Kelly would come up with. Somewhere at Staples HQ, a snotty temp and a ditzy Indian girl are hi-fiving.

(Via zap2it)

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Doug Hutchison Drops Out Of Movie Because Of Sex Scenes With A Teenager

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 08:41 AM PST

Let’s start your morning off right with a healthy heaping of irony: Lost-actor-turned-figure-of-public-ridicule Doug Hutchison has backed out of his new movie The Genesis of Lincoln because his character has sex scenes with a teenage pop star. Yet the only reason that we all know who Doug is is because he’s married to 17-year-old Courtney Stodden!

Doug would’ve played a director named Drey LeBeck who’s shooting a controversial movie about Abraham Lincoln being born a bastard. But instead he “fall[s] into a strange and scandalous relationship with the teenage pop star he casts as Lincoln’s mother.”

It’s shocking how much the role imitates life, really: Doug and Courtney met when her parents heard about his acting classes, and they corresponded over e-mail. And yet he feels uncomfortable basically reenacting their romance on-screen?

The production company Lost Colony Entertainment released a statement from writer/director/producer Richard O’Sullivan which fully acknowledges the ridiculousness of the casting and how Doug’s worries about art imitating life:

I know it’s gonna surprise a lot of people to hear this. But Doug was legitimately concerned about some of the sexual content and how people might not be able to separate who he is as a person from the character he was playing.

Initially, it seemed like perfect casting, playing on the parallels. But eventually I think Doug and the character became too intertwined. Doug’s a wonderful guy, a brilliant actor, and a terrific creative collaborator. Ultimately though, they’re not one and the same. The character at points is not nearly as sympathetic and as likeable as Doug, and this is coming from someone who likes Doug a lot.

Again, this is a man who is shopping around a reality show about his nauseating romance with Courtney and who’s already shared tidbits about their burning sexual desire for each other. (Gag.) We’ve gotten a hefty preview of what their reality show will be about, so why not ride those fifteen minutes of fame into Hollywood?

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