When MTV stuck a proverbial fork in their long-running TRL franchise last fall, every indication was that the network had little to no interest in remaining in the daily live-programming business. However, back in late April, the network announced that they had tapped a basically unknown (at least on these shores) British fashion model and television personality named Alexa Chung to become their next Carson Daly. Well, sort of. Rather than just pressing the reboot button on TRL, MTV execs decided that the program should lean more toward the traditional daytime chat-fest format, only with a greater focus on integrating social networking phenomena like Facebook and Twitter into the fold. Not only was their decision to play the "we're doing what the kids are doing" straight out of the classic MTV playbook, but it also gave them a hook they could use to get the media to give them some positive press (both the NYT and CNET wrote fawning pieces). While those ambitions are all well and good, there's only one question that really matters: How good is the show itself?
Well, to be perfectly fair to all parties involved, it's far too early to give a verdict on the show's future potential. But based on yesterday's bumpy debut, we don't really think Rachael Ray has much to be concerned about. We're not intimately familiar with Chung's prior television hosting style, but her energy in yesterday's debut was decidedly low-key, almost bordering on reserved, marking a stark contrast to most of the other programs that she's ostensibly competing with (not to mention other high-energy British television personalities like Cat Deeley and Myleene Klass). She's certainly striking, appearance-wise, but we tend to believe that there's a good reason the daytime-television landscape is void of "posh" personalities like hers. Additionally, she wasn't able to really connect to either her celebrity guests (Jack Black and Michael Cera) or the in-house audience, but we expect that's something she'll be able to work on and improve with time.
And, speaking of time, why did MTV programming executives schedule this show to run at noon? You know, as opposed to a later-afternoon slot like 3 or 4 p.m.? We know that it's summertime and teens are home from school, but what happens when the kids go back to school in the fall? After all, one of this show's main selling points is the live nature of the show, which helps position it within the advertising community as a program that is less likely to be time-shifted. Additionally, unless they're counting on college kids to routinely skip their classes (which we all know NEVER happens), we think this time slot will prove to be a huge drain on the show's promise to integrate real-time feedback from young fans on Twitter and Facebook. Just something for the suits at MTV to noodle on.
All that said, we've got our season pass set and we're going to continue to monitor her progress. What say you, VultureWatchers? Do you think that a Posh Spice–like personality can succeed in daytime television? What are you normally doing at noon? Did you even realize that this show existed? As always, if you've got feedback, we're game to hear it.
Oh, LiLo. If it's not one thing, it's another. Having moved her Facebook relationship status from "single" to "it's complicated," it seemed like Lindsay Lohan again had the love of a good woman and reason enough to sit out the next couple of news cycles. Oh, but no. The British tabs are reporting that the oft-troubled ginger left a British Elle photo shoot with a £250,000 custom-made Dior necklace (that's $411,316 to us) last week. While it took staffers two days to report the missing jewels (as this wasn't exactly a stickup), the English police are already "investigating" and angling to question Ms. Lohan in person. Granted, Lindsay's been tagged with getting grabby before (she's made off with dresses and accessories from photo shoots, as well as that infamous fur coat). But we're willing to write this off as a very, very expensive misunderstanding (it was "custom made" for her, after all) or just one of those moments when you wake up hung-over, with someone else's lipstick and two new lighters at the bottom of your purse.
Lindsay Lohan downed virgin Shirley Temples (we're skeptical) at Axe Lounge in Southampton on Friday, then climbed the Box's stripper pole at 4:30 a.m. the next night, which is interesting because her father left a Hamptons lunch early that day claiming he had to catch a flight to L.A. to see her. Oh, and Scotland Yard is investigating LiLo for potentially stealing $400,000 worth of Dior jewelry from an Elle photo shoot. Anne Hathaway shopped for soap in Soho. Miley Cyrus (who's back with Nick Jonas) makes out with a hot Aussie for her next film, The Last Song in Savannah. Dakota Fanning is suddenly dressing like a badass, kind of like when Jenny Humphrey went all raccoon-eyes on us.
Dan Abrams's new website will pit media honchos against one another, ranking bigwigs like Tina Brown, Katie Couric, and Jon Stewart. Abrams has also been keeping busy by dating an aspiring actress, twenty years his junior, whom he picked up in a bar. Meanwhile, his ex Renée Zellweger is leaving 240 Central Park South for an Upper East Side brownstone. No one wanted to bid on Max Weinberg's 1957 turquoise Corvette at the Hamptons Auto Classic. NBC producers won't let Artie Lange on the Tonight Show because they don't think the recovering heroin addict is sober enough. Mayor Bloomberg sat front-row at Yankee Stadium next to Andrew Murstein and Brian Williams following his stint in the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Al Roker tweeted about Speidi's "bad and vacuous behavior." He's just noticing this now?
Ashley Olsen wore tangerine at last night's CFDA Fashion Awards. Adrian Grenier got friendly with Twilight's Ashley Greene over the weekend, dancing and surfing in Santa Barbara, at least until the cops came, threatening to kick him off the beach because of noise complaints. The Daily News reports that topless photos of Megan Fox were conveniently leaked to the media the same week that Transformers premieres. Except that they were actually leaked about a month ago. Anna Paquin likes skimpy bikinis and short shorts. Paris Hilton is "getting to know" soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell chatted with some sci-fi nerd about UFOs over dinner with Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, photographer Mick Rock, and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Vanessa Minnillo, who's supposedly still dating Nick Lachey, downed tequila till sunrise in Atlantic City without him. M2 turned away Plaxico Burress and his "inappropriately dressed posse." Brazilian model Ana Maria Macedo gushed to "Page Six" about her "fairy-tale wedding" to the guy who stood her up a year ago. Apparently, it included festivities at Pink Elephant and Kiss & Fly.
Here's what's going on in Iran: At least seven deaths have now been blamed on yesterday's clashes, though it's impossible to know at this point where the true casualty count stands. The Guardian Council has agreed to perform a limited and completely untrustworthy recount. Opposition leader Mousavi tried to cancel a rally planned for the same place and time as an Ahmadinejad rally for fear of violence. And the mainstream media will now find itself even less able to fully cover the ongoing conflict in Iran than before.
This morning Iran's Culture Ministry stripped all foreign media of their press accreditation and warned that any journalists seen filming or photographing in the streets will be arrested. But all is not lost — luckily, they are still allowed to report from their hotel rooms (about the firmness of their mattresses or the softness of their toilet paper, we guess). Luckily, Twitter is still doing an admirable job of disseminating first-hand — and unconfirmed, and hard to process — accounts from Iranians around the country. In an acknowledgment of how important their website is to the movement in Iran, Twitter's founders even rescheduled their planned site maintenance after users protested that it would seriously undermine the ability of Iranians to communicate. We're not tech-savvy enough to understand why the Iranian government hasn't figured out how to shut Twitter down, but hopefully they never will.
Music's preeminent song parodist, "Weird Al" Yankovic, returns this morning with a new single and video, and, we'll be honest, we're a little disappointed. "Craigslist" is an "homage to the Doors" and doesn't mock any one song specifically — which is fine! (Some of his best singles — "Dare to Be Stupid," for example, an homage to Devo — meet similar descriptions.) The problem is the lyrics, about all the crap you can find on Craigslist, which are basically just a rehash of the ones to his 2003 song "eBay," which was about all the crap you can find on eBay (set to the tune of "I Want It That Way"). Additionally, Weird Al has already paid tribute to the Doors, with the inclusion of "L.A. Woman" in one of his famous polka medleys, 1984's "Polkas on 45." Still, he did get Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek to play on the track, and the video is pretty terrific (and far and away the most exciting thing on the Internet this morning), so have at it.
Above, Hulk Hogan a.k.a. Terry Bollea or "Ter-Bo", is seen leaving the courthouse after the divorce hearing between him and his estranged wife, Linda. And at Hulk's side, a comely young lass who is either sleeping with Hulk or related to him. Because frankly, we really can't tell if that's VH1 reality star Brooke Hogan or an entirely different woman altogether.
So buckle up, because it's time to play anther round of: "Is It His Girlfriend? Or His Daughter?" Answer ahead.
Um, it's his girlfriend, Jennifer McDaniel.
On the left.... We think. Source: Best Week Ever | 16 Jun 2009 | 3:15 pm
• Janice Dickinson was rushed out of the Costa Rican jungle and into a medical facility over the weekend for an undisclosed illness. [Vulture]
• Adam Lippes cut personnel and eliminated menswear. Thanks recession! [WWD]
• Jessica Simspon is launching a swimwear line. No word if there are any Daisy Duke–esque shorts. [WWD]
• In more celeb-design news, Kylie Minogue is considering branching into golfwear design ever since she took up the sport with her fiancé, Andrés Velencoso, earlier this year. Imagine the glitter. [One India]
• Abaeté's spring-cleaning sale features the bathing-suit tux Rihanna wore in her "Umbrella" video. Now it can be yours. [Racked]
• Gucci's new fall campaign stars Anja Rubik, and it's decidedly darker than the floaty images of previous seasons. More images are expected to be released soon. [Fashionologie]
"It was a lot like doing dishes," said Ms. Farrell. "Just when you think you are done, and just as you are putting the last plate away, a whole new set of plates comes forward."
Oh, dear. Farrell's career may be a testament to what women can achieve in the workplace, but with this comparison, we fear she may have just set us back a few decades.
AP - Bob Bogle, lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band The Ventures, known for 1960s instrumental hits like "Walk, Don't Run," has died at age 75. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:59 pm
David Letterman has been taking some heat and issuing some apologies for the off-color joke he made last week about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, but he found a sympathetic critic in comedian Jeff Foxworthy on Monday.
Deliberately misinterpreted or not, unnecessarily drawn out or not, in poor taste or…well, the consensus is actually pretty clear on that one…Sarah Palin has finally called a...
Episode two opens with Jackie screwing her bartender husband on the floor of their cookie-cutter suburban kitchen, complete with Wonder bread on the table and Fruity Pebbles littering the seventies-era tiles. The sex with her spouse is clearly better than what she’s having with the hospital-pharmacist–cum–prescription-drug dealer — the affair isn’t about romance; it’s about feeding her addiction.
After packing her daughters’ sack lunches, Jackie crushes up a half dozen or so Percocets and tidily shovels the powder into three emptied Sweet ‘n All packets and neatly reseals them with a glue pen. One for morning, one for afternoon, and one for “the long ride home.”
As she arrives at work, so, too, does her closest ally at the hospital, the seasoned Dr. Eleanor O’Hara. We see Eleanor’s bright-red high heels and Barneys New York shopping bag peek out of the taxi before we see her — a Devil Wears Prada moment that plays perfectly against the all-pills, no-frills Jackie. But the two find easy camaraderie in their shared hatred of the world, particularly the one inside All Saints Hospital. They divulge their best-kept secrets, and reveal their career motives: “Doctors diagnose, nurses heal.” At lunch, Jackie all but admits to Eleanor that she flushed the severed ear of a prostitute-assaulting patient; nor does she leave out that she blamed this unauthorized disposal on an innocent intern.
The two women also bond over a hatred of the new guy, young and dumb Dr. Fitch “Call Me Coop” Cooper. He’s the perennial frat boy who tells a dying patient, “we’re gonna fix ya up real good there, champ!” and greets the trauma doctor, nurse, and EMS attending to a critically wounded teenage skateboarder with: “Hey, it’s a party!” Clearly the doofus outcast, he dives (almost literally) into the new patient, spews some med-school baloney, and abruptly declares that kid’s had an aortal aneurysm. O’Hara shoos him away (“too many cooks; you need to leave”).
When it turns out Dr. Cooper’s knee-jerk assessment was correct, Jackie gives him credit, admitting he’s a “good doctor.” It’s an abrupt about-face from her last confrontation with him, which amounted to “stay the fuck out of my way, you spoiled-brat pretty boy.” Cooper, dumbfounded, silently hugs her.
Meanwhile, the wicked-witch hospital administrator, Gloria Akalitus, is unwittingly getting high. You had to see this one coming: As Mrs. Akalitus (they all refer to her as “Mrs.”) was informing Jackie and intern that they would be under formal investigation for the ear incident, Jackie was fiddling with a Sweet ‘n All packet. Wouldn’tcha know it, Mrs. Akalitus has been looking all over creation for some Sweet ‘n All! She snatches it out of Jackie’s hand and dumps the packet into her coffee. (We thought of the scene in Sixteen Candles wherein the prom queen accidentally gets loopy on meds.)
As with the premiere, we close with Mom, Dad, and their two kids. The brood meets at the pub where husband Kevin tends bar. One of the regulars has taught the grade-school–age daughter the trick where you knot a cherry stem with your tongue. The other daughter informs her mother that she learned antibacterial soap doesn’t work anymore because germs have gotten too strong. There’s genuine familial affection surrounding this bunch, so much that we hardly even notice when the Large Hadron Collider — the same one Jackie’s pharmacist paramour was just telling her about — conveniently appears on the bar TV.
As Speidi lightning continues to strike on Al Roker, the Today show icon is maintaining his sense of humor.
During a recap on this morning's episode, Meredith Vieira showed a clip of...
(AP)
AP - An Indiana soldier is awaiting the results from the auction of his rare leather-bound copy of a book that played an influential role in America's early history.
'As far as the future of D12, we're gonna be back in the studio soon,' Eminem says.By Gil Kaufman Eminem and D12's Kon Artis Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage As if releasing two albums in one year... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:34 pm
Comfort Inn(R) Hotels Offers Free Accommodations to Wedding Party SILVER SPRING, Md., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Every couple dreams of having the perfect wedding.... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:32 pm
CHICAGO, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In Playboy.com's "The Chilling Effect," investigative journalist Peter Lance exclusively discusses how his book, Triple Cross: How Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:29 pm
Last night, on the eve of the most momentous protest rally this side of the Persian Gulf, David Letterman took a few minutes out of his show to fully explain last week's widely denounced Palin joke, and to sincerely apologize to all who were offended. He reiterated, again, that he never meant to target 14-year-old Willow Palin and had no idea she was at the Yankee game where A-Rod hypothetically knocked her up. All he was trying to do was mock the sluttiness of the other Palin daughter, as every other late-night comedian has done ad nauseam. John McCain, already tired of Palin even before this all started, tweeted his satisfaction this morning: "Letterman apologizes and did the right thing — time to move on." Indeed it is. Oh, except that rally planned for this afternoon outside of Letterman's studios is reportedly still going ahead as planned, for some reason.
NEW YORK - Sharon Gless plays women with toughness, drive and, when it counts, a comic streak. No matter how vulnerable her character may be, she's no shrinking violet, nobody's patsy. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:24 pm
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former "American Idol" finalist Bo Bice has donated a clarinet to a Nashville instrument drive. Bice, who was on the show in 2005, personally delivered the instrument Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:22 pm
MyMojo's Data On Mobile Consumption Trends Identifies Ringtones And Videos As Fastest-Growing Categories WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., June 16 /PRNewswire/ --... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:21 pm
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Taylor Swift's top-secret CMT Music Awards opener promises to be nothing but a dream. Show staffers and crew have been sworn to secrecy about the opening segment,... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:21 pm
Accessory Designer of the Year Award winners Proenza Schouler.
The CFDAs crowned the winners last night. If you missed the fun, we live-tweeted the excitement. The big news: Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte took home the prize for Womenswear Designer of the Year. Italo Zucchelli of Calvin Klein and Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders tied for Menswear Designer of the Year. And Ralph Lauren won the Popular Vote. In other major news: Marc Jacobs did not wear a kilt last night. We're as shocked as you. Here's a rundown of the full list of winners.
Womenswear Designer of the Year
Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte
Scary Ballet:Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, in development since 2007, may be finally moving forward now that Natalie Portman is attached to star. Excited? It’s a “supernatural thriller set in the world of ballet.” Still there? Specifically, Portman’s character faces off against a rival dancer who may be a ghost. We didn’t think it was possible, but Aronofsky’s RoboCop reboot is starting to sound pretty good. [HR]
All In:Leonardo DiCaprio will produce and star in an untitled drama set in the world of online casinos. Appropriately, the Rounders team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien will be writing the screenplay. Apparently the intrigue will take place among the offshore masterminds of the operations in Costa Rica, and not the people on the other side of the screen — which is too bad, because Leo would be great as a guy who sits in his sweatpants for ten hours a day playing Internet poker. [Variety]
Wyle Times:Steven Spielberg is apparently chasing down Noah Wyle for the alien-invasion pilot he's producing for TNT. Wyle would play the leader of a motley crew of humans attempting to fight back against the aliens who, six months prior, destroyed Earth. Steven Spielberg is pursuing Noah Wyle? Print this out and slap it on the fridge, Mrs. Wyle. [EW]
And Again:You Again, the Disney comedy starring Kristen Bell as a young lady trying to convince her brother that his new fiancée is secretly a terrible person, has added a few names to its cast: Jamie Lee Curtis will play Bell’s mother, Odette Yustman (Cloverfield) will play the secret bitch, and Kristin Chenoweth will play a “wedding extraordinator.” Wedding extraordinator! [HR]
Music Industry Saved: Universal has partnered with U.K. Internet provider Virgin Media to create a music-download subscription service. Costs and other details haven’t been announced, but basically users will be able to download or stream as many tracks as they like in exchange for a monthly fee; as part of the deal, Virgin Media will get tougher with the illegal downloaders on its network. This is totally going to work! [Variety]
Jack Pot: Screenwriter Liz Meriwether has sold her action-comedy pitch Honey Pot to Paramount. The spy flick will feature two female leads and is what happens "when a bunch of hot, funny women get their Bourne on," according to Meriwether. Got it — now let us hear the snappy one-liner Meriwether uses to describe her other in-development project, Fuckbuddies. [Variety]
We've been looking for a good blazer ever since last year, when menswear-inspired pieces started showing up on all the spring runways. But with prices costing in the hundreds, our pockets just weren't deep enough. That's where Bloomingdale's comes in. The retailer has its own house line named Aqua, a collection of runway-inspired pieces that won't max out your credit card. It's been out for a while now, but we rediscovered it when we found this jacket. Available in navy or black, the timeless colors fit every season, and we love how the length hits right below the hip, making it just slouchy enough without it looking like you swiped your boyfriend's jacket. Obviously, it looks better than his, anyway.
Sarah Palinaccepted David Letterman's apology, as well as Letterman's thanks for being completely unaware of how much free publicity she's been giving him for over a week.
Police are investigating $400,000 of missing jewelry from a Lindsay Lohan photoshoot. Way to try to smear her name, paparazzi -- I'm sure Lindsay Lohan really stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewels, sold them for coke, and...wait, this is sounding really plausible, actually. Carry on.
The Jonas Brotherswant to do a mash-up of their song "Paranoid" with Kanye West's "Paranoid." Kanye was quick to respond on his blog "IM NO GON MASH UR SONG WIT Y WULD I DO THAT YO U JUST KIDZ!"
Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in a film about online casinos. The movie will be just like Ocean's Eleven, but full of spam and banner ads that constantly freeze the screen.
Here's Miley Cyrusmaking out with a dude while soaking wet on the set of her new movie. Let's just make sure she keeps her shoulder covered, or else we're all instantly molesters.
Can Heidi sue the producers of I'm a Celebrity for all she's been through?
—SpiediLuv, N.C.
All she's been through? You mean like not being able to see what...
• When we're bored, we usually turn on the television or pick up a book. Sometimes, we'll even go for a walk. When Lindsay Lohan is bored, she posts topless photos to her...
(Reuters) Reuters - For one day only, visitors to the Royal Albert Hall in London will be able to go underground to the loading bay and see giant graffiti portraying the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and Paul Weller. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:55 am
The New York Dolls formed amid the grit and grind of early '70s New York but broke up before they could take advantage of the success of followers such as the Ramones, Blondie, the Sex Pistols and Talking Heads. But one thing led to another, and before long the Dolls were a working band again.
Reuters - Global spending on entertainment and media will reach $1.6 trillion in 2013 at a relatively sedate 2.7 percent annual average growth rate with growth in digital content offsetting declines in traditional media revenue models, PriceWaterhouseCoopers said on Tuesday. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 16 Jun 2009 | 11:16 am
AP - The fashion industry made it clear at its annual awards ceremony Monday night that it's looking to future stars to see it past the doldrums of the recession, shunning longtime favorites and honoring a largely new guard: Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang and Michelle Obama.
Reuters - Italian fashion house Prada is talking to banks about renegotiating its debt, Executive Vice President Carlo Mazzi said on Tuesday. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 16 Jun 2009 | 10:45 am
Thousands of "American Idol" hopefuls made it through the rain -- and the cold -- hoping to find their singing respected by the judges as Season 9 auditions kicked off near Boston.
Beyonce will perform at the Black Entertainment TV Awards.
(Reuters) Reuters - In 1906, Upton Sinclair published his muckraking novel "The Jungle," which exposed corruption, unsanitary conditions and horrifying labor practices in the U.S. meatpacking business. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 16 Jun 2009 | 5:37 am
Reuters - Sandra Bullock is one of the most likable and skilled comedians in movies today, but she hasn't had a comedy hit since the first "Miss Congeniality" nine years ago. That's about to change with "The Proposal," an engaging, well-crafted lark that proves "high concept" isn't necessarily a tired tactic. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 16 Jun 2009 | 3:40 am
Reuters - Divorce stats be damned: Americans continue to devoutly, enthusiastically believe in weddings. So when Mark Burnett -- the man who made TV stars out of island starvelings, fifth-grade smarty-pants and Donald Trump's hair -- steps up into the wedding fray, stand back. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 16 Jun 2009 | 3:31 am
Reuters - Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose: Forty-one years after Diahann Carroll broke barriers as the first black actress in the lead role on a TV series -- playing a widowed mom who was a nurse in "Julia" -- TNT introduces to its stable of strong, slightly unstable ladies Christine Hawthorne, R.N., played by Jada Pinkett Smith. She's a widowed mom. And a nurse. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 16 Jun 2009 | 3:28 am
Live Nation has taken all fees and taxes out of "No Service Fee Wednesday," responding to complaints that hidden fees remained when it launched the ticket promotion two weeks ago.
If you got a feeling of déjà vu on tonight's Jon & Kate Plus 8, it's because some of the same footage aired last week on American Chopper when the Teutuls connected with the...
Picture dated 1932 from the movie "Tarzan" shows Maureen O'Sullivan in the role of Jane and Johnny Weissmuller playing Tarzan Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:18 am
The exhibition "Tarzan" at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. Jungle saviour, noble savage, or green superhero? Tarzan's many mythical faces come under the microscope at a Paris show complete with sounds... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:18 am
Jungle saviour, noble savage, or green superhero? Tarzan's many mythical faces come under the microscope at a Paris show complete with sounds of the forest, and the hero's distinctive cry Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 16 Jun 2009 | 2:18 am
Front Page: Kutcher, Goldberg shingle to bridge the gap -- Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg's Katalyst shingle is looking to bridge the gap between digital and TV.
David Letterman has figured out that, at this point, the joke's on him.
At Monday's taping, the Late Show host again apologized—but without reattacking them this...
Front Page: Paramount project hails from writers Koppelman, Levien -- Paramount has put its chips down on an untitled pitch about the world of online casinos based in Costa Rica. Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star and produce through his Appian Way shingle.
We heard earlier today—incidentally, the start of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'s first fully Speidi-free week—that Janice Dickinson was rushed to the hospital to be...
Miley Cyrus was caught kissing a boy today!
Nope, not Nick Jonas or Justin Gaston. She puckered up to Liam Hemsworth. But it's no real-life romance…
It was all...
It's that time again! Following the success of our Wetlands discussion, New York book critic Sam Anderson has assembled another elite team of literati — including Anil Dash, Virginia Heffernan, David Rees, and Charlie Todd — this time to discuss Bill Wasik’s And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture. Anderson fires first: "I guess it’s so easy to be against viral culture — the word itself always makes me think of pandemics and STDs. ('Virus' comes from the Latin for 'poisonous slime.') But what about its legitimate human pleasures? Charlie, when you convince hundreds of people to ride the subway without pants, does this lead to some kind of actual, non-shameful, positive emotion like social joy or empowerment, or is it all about buzz and scene and cynical post-humanist ennui?" [Vulture Reading Room]
Parents and alumnae of the Nightingale-Bamford School were sent an e-mail recently from Head of School Dorothy Hutcheson addressing the publicity onslaught that will come later this month in the form of the Bravo reality show NYC Prep. Star Camille is a student at the all-girls' school, though it is not mentioned on air. Quoth Hutcheson, according to The Wall Street Journal:
The decision to participate in the show was made by the student and her parents without consulting Nightingale's administrators. We counsel our girls to avoid such exposure, knowing that the best intentions are usually subsumed by a media machine that too often simplifies the many facets of a Nightingale education into a shallow and stereotypical view of independent schools. (As with most series of this genre, the show is "reality" in name only.) Ultimately, though, these decisions reside with the families themselves. Our goal at Nightingale has always been to help each of our girls find her unique voice; it us up to each of them to determine how and when to use that voice.
Until that voice is caught smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol on national television, we'll wager.
There’s nothing we like to look at more than shoes. Seriously, we could do it all day, people. So imagine our bliss at being able to preview the Sergio Rossi Resort collection, which will be available on the designer's website and at Saks Fifth Avenue come fall. Creative director Francesco Russo was inspired by art and architecture, citing Zaha Hadid as a reference. The super-skinny stiletto heels (the reps swore they were very stable and easy to walk in) are ultrafeminine and sophisticated for night, while the thick wedges with soft napa leather straps are more graphic and practical for day. Of the vibrant collection, we especially love the hot-pink suede slingbacks (a big color this season) and the towering sky-blue leather platforms with sexy double ankle straps. The prices are steep ($450 to $925), but there’s no harm in looking (and lusting!).
AP - You put food in your mouth every day. But do you know exactly what you're consuming when you pick up chicken breasts at the grocery store or drive though a fast-food restaurant for a cheeseburger? Or do you even bother to care?
On Saturday, before an audience of 150, Blur played its first concert as a four-piece in a decade, at Essex, England's East Anglian Railway Museum (it's where they performed one of their earliest gigs) — and some wonderful person has uploaded video of practically the entire show. Since Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon have been onstage plenty these past few years, promoting non-embarrassing solo records, we knew their chops would still be in pretty good shape. But it's nice to see that Alex James and Dave Rowntree's new grown-up jobs (food writer for The Independent and Labour Party politician, respectively) haven't cost them their rocking abilities — "Girls and Boys" sounds pretty much as great as it did in 1994. Click for video!
And, just for the hell of it, here's "Coffee & TV":
States of play, clockwise from top right: Mardi Gras beads for subway strangers; participants learn rules for their next game; two players ponder text-message clues; secret-agent games in Grand Central.
It was kind of a strange weekend around town: Commuters hopping on the 42nd Street S (shuttle) train Friday evening were confronted by people holding strands of beads and asked to don one until the next platform. Meanwhile, in Grand Central, a dozen or so strangers were casing the main hall, receiving phoned instructions from “secret agents” in order to orchestrate the delivery of a package to Campbell Apartment. And around Times Square, iPhone-wielding individuals were swinging their phones like golf clubs, then gamely running off to chase down their “ball” on whatever block it may have landed.
This wasn’t a collective dive into insanity, exactly. These were just some moments from Come Out and Play, a festival celebrating so-called “Big Games” in urban environments. The festival's co-founder, Greg Trefry, explained the appeal. "For us, it's clear people don't just want to play in front of a computer," he said. And so Big Games take elements of childhood play — like, say, a scavenger hunt or board game — and plop them down in an urban environment. Gather a bunch of willing participants, give them some 34 different games to play, and you've got a memorable weekend.
Caroline Himmelman, a 26-year-old Astoria resident, posed as one of the aforementioned secret agents in Grand Central for a fairly elaborate and complex game called Stalk Exchange. Unfortunately, the fun got cut short due to security concerns — a bunch of people suspiciously lurking around the main hall on Friday night was likely to prompt that kind of response. But by Saturday afternoon, Himmelman found herself sporting a red wig and walking around Fifth Avenue with a two-man “entourage” for another game called Paparazzi. The goal was to make it to impromptu “party spots” without being photographed by rival teams. “It’s so crazy ducking around scared in the middle of Manhattan,” Himmelman said.
Her teammate (and occasional entourage member) Joe Conklin, a 29-year-old human-resources specialist, said: “Meeting people and interacting with all these strangers is amazing. We were making eye contact with everyone, which is so not a New York thing.”
We know you're just tingling with excitement! But if you haven't scored an invite, or if the ever-present gray skies are keeping you indoors (hey, no judging, melting is a bad thing), we'll be tweeting the night away courtesy of our hardworking reporters. Find out who wins the coveted womenswear designer award in real time! Or better yet, what color kilt Marc Jacobs wears. The festivities begin in an hour or so at Cutblog/Twitter.
Front Page: Pixar toon tracks record box office -- After less than a month at the multiplexes, Disney-Pixar's 3-D toon "Up" has enough lift to likely become the second-highest-grossing Pixar title at the domestic B.O. after "Finding Nemo."
The hits just keep on coming for NBC's troubled reality showI'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here. Zap2It's Korbi Gosh is reporting that Janice Dickinson was rushed to a Costa Rican medical facility to treat an undisclosed illness (possibly bronchitis?) over the weekend. This marks the third cast member who has needed medical treatment since the show's first broadcast aired two weeks ago today: Heidi Montag was sent to the hospital after suffering from dehydration and Lou Diamond Phillips needed medical treatment after repeatedly getting bitten by rats. [Korbi TV/Zap2It]
At 8:30 a.m. Monday — a half hour before he was scheduled to speak at the Time Warner Economic Summit — Geithner pulled up in a dark blue SUV around the corner from the Time Warner Center in midtown Manhattan. From inside a Starbucks across the way, I watched Geithner pop out of the back seat and walk briskly across 60th Street into the Starbucks, followed by two men (presumably his security detail). The line was at least ten people deep. But Geithner stood by himself in the queue with everyone else and focused on his BlackBerry until it was his turn to order and pay. If anyone recognized the Treasury Secretary, they didn’t make a fuss. I wasn’t nosy enough to find out what Geithner likes for his morning caffeine fix, but when he showed up to be interviewed by Time magazine’s managing editor, Richard Stengel, Geithner was still clutching his cup o’ joe. The caffeine must have helped Geithner stay sharp as Stengel tried to get him to reveal details of the financial market reorganization plan that President Obama is unveiling on Wednesday.
Emphasis ours, because really, CNN? If you're going to do this kind of reporting, at least own it. Don't chicken out on us at the crucial moment. You people have a lot to learn from Access Hollywood.
The Beastie Boys’ set at Bonnaroo this weekend didn’t exactly blow us away, but we’d still like to pass along a highlight so good it’s worth braving shaky fan footage for: the B-Boys premiering a new song featuring Nas — possibly titled “Too Many M.C.s” or “Let It Out” — with a live appearance from Mr. Nasir Jones himself. It’s not so much the performance that’s getting us geeked as just the fact that this song exists; as any Beasties fanatic worth his salt can tell you, this is only the second time in the crew’s career they’ve solicited verses from a prominent guest rapper. (The first was Q-Tip, on Ill Communication standout “Get It Together.”)
One could argue this is just happenstance — rap groups in general aren’t too big on guest verses, seeing as there is only so much mike time to pass around for actual members. But we’ve always seen the B-Boys’ isolationist policy as a sly nod to the fact that — for reasons including their instrumental work, their genre experiments, and the color of their skin — they’ve never really been evaluated solely the merits of their skills as emcees: They’ve always been considered more of a critically acclaimed, one-off hip-hop curio rather than a collection of funny, highly skilled individual rappers. In case you haven’t been able to guess by now, we think that’s a bad thing. And the fact that they’ve recorded a song whose chorus includes the phrase “too many rappers and still not enough emcees” and features the implicit approval of one of the greatest rappers of all time leads us to believe they’re finally calling out for credit where credit is due. Heartwarming. (The two clips below unfortunately just have a verse from Nas and Mike D each, but we’re sure a leaked studio version can’t be that far behind.)
As you may know, we here at Daily Intel have a healthy appreciation for Michael Phelps's chest. It is, well, pretty much godlike — if God took the chest of David Beckham, stretched it over his head, shimmied it down and tried to squeeze all his Holy Splendor inside of it. Something we have slightly less appreciation for is Michael Phelps's mouth. Granted, it is a key and necessary part of his swimming weaponry. But we never really spent a lot of time looking at it, until that thing happened. You know what we're talking about: the mustache. Some people call it the "Splash 'Stache." We call it the "Porno Plunger." And now all we can do is look at his hairy tooth opening. And eventually, it's going to make us insane. Check out what we mean in this eye-and-other-orifice slideshow.
• Unattractive facial hair seems to be having a moment right now. The Daily Beast compiled a list of the worst staches and beards to make it to the big screen. [Daily Beast]
• Lauren Conrad posed as a brunette for an upcoming editorial in Harper's Bazaar. And though her hair changed, her aloof facial expressions stayed the same. [Just Jared]
• Lady Gaga keeps her hair blonde so she's not mistaken for Amy Winehouse. [Sun UK]
FRAGRANCE • John Varvatos launched a new limited-edition fragrance named Rock Volume One. The scent is supposed to capture rock and roll with its notes of rose absolute, coffee, fig, and coriander, but clearly it's missing notes of sex, drugs, magic, and booze. [Now Smell This]
Last week, the Internet was transfixed by a product called the ComfortWipe, an eighteen-inch plastic gripping tool that promised to be the long-awaited solution to those who could not, out of infirmity, obesity, or just plain disinclination, wipe their own asses using the time-tested method of hand and toilet paper. The satisfied ComfortWipe users in the commercial — a feisty blonde grandma with a New Jersey accent, a self-professed Big Guy, and others — were convincing in their ardor: This was a product the world wanted. Nay, needed. It was the first innovation in toilet-paper technology in 100 years! It was specially designed to "follow the contours of your body." It was like a Snuggie for the bathroom! We couldn't wait to order one, so that we could assign Tim Murphy the task of trying it out. But alas: "I'm sorry to tell you that the product has been discontinued," a spokeswoman for Telebrands, the New Jersey–based company informed us. What's worse, the ComfortWipe never even got a chance to be. The commercial was merely a test run to gauge interest in the product, and despite its cult success, the product "was never brought to market and it was never sold," said the spokeswoman. She added, somewhat matter-of-factly, "Telebrands tests hundreds of products every year, the majority of which fail." This gives us some small comfort. With that kind of track record, the perfect ass-wiper could still be on the horizon.
AP - "She's going to be a big star someday," a ballet-goer remarked to his companion as they moved up the aisle during intermission at American Ballet Theatre's "Giselle."
And Now, in another installment of "Stupid People Doing Stupid Sh*t", we have an old man attempting to do the lankiest "Running Man" in 90s dance history. This was filmed in Florence, Alablama -- "The Italy of the South" -- and comes to us via Men.Style.Com. It's 37 seconds of pure internet joy!
Front Page: 'Billy Elliot,' 'God of Carnage' get bump -- The Tony Awards kickstarted Broadway box office last week, with sales rising across the board in the post-kudos frame.
Twilight star Robert Pattinson is currently in Washington Square Park shooting romantic comedy Remember Me (opposite Lost's Emilie de Ravin) and giving himself lung cancer. And Daily Intel has a slideshow! [Daily Intel]
Lacking a summer blockbuster to drop on your head, Bruce Willis, 54, has offered up a somewhat kinky magazine editorial and interview with his new wife, Emma Heming, 32, shot by Steven Klein for the latest issue of W. The special effects are awesome! Trapped in the still-curing bowels of the Standard Hotel, the bride and groom contort and glower wearing Nina Ricci, Tom Ford, and, at times, little more than their own Lucian Freud–toned hides. The accompanying article on how the pair met and married is actually fairly adorable in places (cuter even than that shot of Bruce wearing those darling red gloves as he grips his head in agony). The candy-sweet text and the chilly carnality of the pictures cancel each other out nicely, even if our initial reaction reminds us of when we found out our parents used to go to key parties. Certainly, we'll never look at David Addison in quite the same way again.
CNN brings us the following "wacky" news story about a teeny puppy who was flushed down a toilet but lived and was rescued, noting that a kid flushed the puppy down the toilet to "clean it" with "the best intentions," which can only mean one of two things:
1) This kid believes that a toilet, the thing that humans pee and poop in, is what you use to clean things.
Or 2) This kid attempted to murder his puppy and is a shrewd, manipulative liar.
Watch the video and judge for yourself:
Please click on the following video while reading the remainder of this post:
Bruce Willis is just like any other Hollywood actor: He's in fabulous shape; Takes home million dollar paychecks a couple times of year; and every now and again, has the urge to make love to a gorilla with breasts:
Yes, Bruce Willis, the bald-headed star of the soon-to-be-hitA Couple of Dicks, was photographed with his supermodel wife in a series of slightly compromising positions for W Magazine. Such as this photo, which we like to call "Why Is Your Vagina Screaming At Me Right Now?":
And this charming capture, whose title we're assuming is "Remember That Movie Ransom? With Gary Sinise? "Give Me Back My Son"? That's The One... Well This Picture Is Slightly Scarier Than Ransom.":Bruce looks kinda sexy in this one ---- however his vagina is getting in the way of our enjoyment in this following photo:
Finally, here is his wife's impersonation of the entire country as they watched The Whole Ten Yards:
If you want the real NSFW good, you'll have to head over to WMagazine.com. Source: Best Week Ever | 15 Jun 2009 | 9:17 pm
This year's Friday the 13th reboot managed to gross $90 million worldwide on a budget of only $19 million, so it's no surprise that producers are looking to shoot another film. Considering this would be the tenth twelfth movie in the series, how can they continue to keep things fresh? According to producer Brad Fuller, "We also want to bring things [the audience] hasn’t seen before and one of the things that they haven’t seen before is Jason in the snow. They haven’t seen that before." We can hardly wait for the luge decapitation scene! [Collider]
The Sydney Morning Herald painstakingly combed through the tweets of both Brüno and Karl Lagerfeld for a little comparison. And what do you know? They're eerily similar. Of course, the "ze"s and "zere"s are a dead giveaway for the fictional Austrian, but you gotta wonder if perhaps Karl wasn't a source of inspiration for Sacha Baron Cohen. "On this day [Jan 1] each year, I soak the previous year's calendar in my mother's favourite perfume and then set it ablaze. Here's to a fresh start!" Oh Karl, you're truly one of a kind. Of course, the writer of the piece then spends an entire page blasting the fashion industry for being full of "megalomaniacs" and "despotic control freaks." Someone got left out of the cool kids' party.
After dominating the MTV Movie Awards, Twilight has now been nominated for TWELVE Teen Choice Awards, more than High School Musical 3 or The Jonas Brothers, in the following prestigious categories (which are not in any way ripped off the MTV Awards Show):
Choice Movie: Drama
Choice Movie: Romance (Because really, you can't contain the breadth of this film in one genre. It's like Jerry Maguire with vampires instead of money-showing)
Choice Movie Actress: Drama - Kristen Stewart
Choice Movie Actor: Drama - Robert Pattinson (trying to join the elite company of Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt and Peter Fonda for Ulee's Gold)
Choice Movie: Villain - Cam Gigandet
Choice Movie: Fresh Face Female - Ashley Greene and Nikki Reed (the classiest way to vote for "Hottest Underager")
Choice Movie: Fresh Face Male - Taylor Lautner
Choice Music: Soundtrack
Choice Movie: Rumble - Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet (because teens these days definitely still use the term "Rumble")
Choice Movie: Liplock - Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (replacing last year's highly controversial "Choice Movie: HJ" category)
All I can say is, Man On Wire got its ass ROBBED. Source: Best Week Ever | 15 Jun 2009 | 8:25 pm
In the past, we have never really had a desire to pee all over Gene Simmons. Then, we watched Gene talk some smack about Adam Lambert. And then, strangely, we were met with a desire to pee all over this "rocker's" face.
Well, America/World, WE ARE IN LUCK. That's because this past weekend, urinal cakes were spotted in a New York City bar bearing Gene Simmons' face on it. Witness:
In fact, our spy (note: our friend) reported that not only did Gene Simmons' visage look up at you as your waste fountain splashed all over his digital likeness, but that some of the cakes ACTUALLY TALKED. This is, how do you say? Our idea of hell on Earth. And yet still, we can't help but want to urinate all over the guy. So be warned, local gentlemen. Source: Best Week Ever | 15 Jun 2009 | 7:15 pm
LA's Silversun Pickups are already having a huge summer. Their single "Panic Switch" reached number 1 on the Billboard Rock Charts, and the band will be touring Europe before returning stateside to play the big summer festivals like Lollapalooza and All Points West in August.
We ran out of time to feature Silversun Pickups on the show before the season ended, but I still got a chance to ask lead singer Brian Aubert a few questions. Because my brain has little space left to come up with any thought-provoking questions about the indie-rocker's influences and such, they're all about pop culture. Let's hope he's got DVR and a subscription to Entertainment Weekly on the tour bus...
Q: Which of this summer’s blockbuster movies do you think have the best chance of being in your DVD collection one year from now, and which look like they will be considered torture in some circles?Brian Aubert:Up and Drag Me To Hell have good chance of joining the collection. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is definitely gonna make it. Go see that movie. As far as torture, Terminator Salvation probably ranks as one of the most painful films I've seen in a bit, however, it does have an amazing Mystery Science Theater aspect to it which could be a funny late night with the right crowd. Yipes...
More questions and the video for "Panic Switch" after the jump.Q: Being from LA and having toured the country, what is the worst or weirdest celebrity run-in you’ve ever had?Brian Aubert: We've had a few of them. Generally they are really nice experiences. The weirdest one was years ago, before we had any albums out, the LA Times reported a celebrity sighting of Andy Dick going to see us at a club. It was more odd that the paper even knew who we were. Must've been a slow week...
Q: Because these days Hollywood is hell-bent on taking every beloved childhood toy, movie, book, and TV show and turning it in to a movie or remake, what’s one thing from growing up you’d like to save from ever being exploited?Brian Aubert: I remember really loving the reruns of an anime show called Robotech. I really hope they don't touch this. But who knows, look at Battlestar Gallactica...
Q: Who is one celebrity (current or washed up) you’d like to have join the band? (Let’s assume they all have some kind of musical talent.)Brian Aubert: Hmmm. I think it would be quite fun to have Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppet Show back us up for a few shows. Are they washed up? i think not...
Q: If we took the women from each of Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchises (Orange County, Atlanta, New York City, and New Jersey), put them in the Thunderdome and made them fight to the death, which city’s cast do you think would emerge victorious?
Brian Aubert: I have never seen any of these shows. I would assume Orange County could win it. They are more machine than woman...
My thanks to Brian for taking time out for us. For more from Silversun Pickups, check out their website. Swoon is in stores and on iTunes now. Watch the video for "Panic Switch" right here:
Blogger and comedian Kate Spencer of TheFabLife.com fame brings us the following video, which I believe is the MOST INSPIRATIONAL THING WE HAVE EVER SEEN: A children's choir singing "Don't Stop Believin'". Now while some of you are probably yelling "Glee Did It!" right now, others are already mopping up the tear pools that are forming at their feet from even the thought of youngsters sing-pleading with you to believe in something -- anything. And if youngsters singing Journey doesn't set your ovaries ablaze, perhaps a young chubby boy doing the same will do the eggs-on-fire trick.
I might hate A Cappella, but I am a sucker for stuff like this. Source: Best Week Ever | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:45 pm
I feel like Norm MacDonald has entered that rare, prestigious "Bill Murray" zone of comedy where just about anything he does in interviews or on talk shows -- even if it would be annoying or seem forced if another comedian attempted it -- ends up being inexplicably, painfully funny. I can't recall ever seeing Conan O'Brien crack up this uncontrollably, but by the end, I couldn't really blame him:
Reuters - A celebratory portrait of an African music superstar, "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love" falls into the same trap as so many similarly themed music documentaries. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 15 Jun 2009 | 6:17 pm
Musicians burn through more cash than the Federal Reserve -- and when it's gone, their bailout comes in the form of tell-all books, reunion tours,TV commercials, and reality shows. Source: FOXNews.com | 15 Jun 2009 | 4:21 pm
Front Page: 'Hell's Kitchen' nabs spot, 'Dance' cut short -- Fox will get an early jump on fall, launching its Wednesday, Thursday and Friday skeds a week before the official TV season start.
Front Page: Social media allows youth to spread information -- Iran's hardline authorities are attempting to suppress news coverage of the country's hotly disputed presidential election, but they can't quash the Twitter brigades.
Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy Tell'Em and Drake will go on an official tour this summer, and the dates have just been confirmed. The "Young Money Presents: Americas Most Wanted Music Festival" trek will start on July 27 at the Toyota Pavilion at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and will end on August 23 in Dallas, Texas.
Tami Farrell, who became Miss California USA last week when Donald Trump dumped Carrie Prejean, promises to avoid controversy during the five months of her reign.
Palin would no doubt be horrified by the idea, but there's a chance she could become the same boon to David Letterman's career that Hugh Grant was to Jay Leno's. Source: FOXNews.com | 15 Jun 2009 | 2:32 pm
Reuters - Italy's fashion sector turnover is seen falling again this year as the economic crisis saps demand for designer clothes and accessories. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 15 Jun 2009 | 1:18 pm
Deliberately misinterpreted or not, unnecessarily drawn out or not, in poor taste or…well, the consensus is actually pretty clear on that one…Sarah Palin has finally called a...
As Speidi lightning continues to strike on Al Roker, the Today show icon is maintaining his sense of humor.
During a recap on this morning's episode, Meredith Vieira showed a clip of...
Can Heidi sue the producers of I'm a Celebrity for all she's been through?
—SpiediLuv, N.C.
All she's been through? You mean like not being able to see what...
• When we're bored, we usually turn on the television or pick up a book. Sometimes, we'll even go for a walk. When Lindsay Lohan is bored, she posts topless photos to her...
If you got a feeling of déjà vu on tonight's Jon & Kate Plus 8, it's because some of the same footage aired last week on American Chopper when the Teutuls connected with the...
David Letterman has figured out that, at this point, the joke's on him.
At Monday's taping, the Late Show host again apologized—but without reattacking them this...
We heard earlier today—incidentally, the start of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'s first fully Speidi-free week—that Janice Dickinson was rushed to the hospital to be...
Miley Cyrus was caught kissing a boy today!
Nope, not Nick Jonas or Justin Gaston. She puckered up to Liam Hemsworth. But it's no real-life romance…
It was all...
Yes, Bruce Willis, the bald-headed star of the soon-to-be-hit
Bruce looks kinda sexy in this one --
-- however his vagina is getting in the way of our enjoyment in this following photo:
Finally, here is his wife's impersonation of the entire country as they watched The Whole Ten Yards:
If you want the real NSFW good, you'll have to head over to 
After 
LA's Silversun Pickups are already having a huge summer. Their single "Panic Switch" reached number 1 on the Billboard Rock Charts, and the band will be touring Europe before returning stateside to play the big summer festivals like Lollapalooza and All Points West in August.
We ran out of time to feature Silversun Pickups on the show before the season ended, but I still got a chance to ask lead singer Brian Aubert a few questions. Because my brain has little space left to come up with any thought-provoking questions about the indie-rocker's influences and such, they're all about pop culture. Let's hope he's got DVR and a subscription to Entertainment Weekly on the tour bus...
Q: Which of this summer’s blockbuster movies do you think have the best chance of being in your DVD collection one year from now, and which look like they will be considered torture in some circles?
Brian Aubert: Up and Drag Me To Hell have good chance of joining the collection. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is definitely gonna make it. Go see that movie. As far as torture, Terminator Salvation probably ranks as one of the most painful films I've seen in a bit, however, it does have an amazing Mystery Science Theater aspect to it which could be a funny late night with the right crowd. Yipes...
More questions and the video for "Panic Switch" after the jump.
Q: Because these days Hollywood is hell-bent on taking every beloved childhood toy, movie, book, and TV show and turning it in to a movie or remake, what’s one thing from growing up you’d like to save from ever being exploited?
Brian Aubert: I remember really loving the reruns of an anime show called Robotech. I really hope they don't touch this. But who knows, look at Battlestar Gallactica...
Q: Who is one celebrity (current or washed up) you’d like to have join the band? (Let’s assume they all have some kind of musical talent.)
Brian Aubert: Hmmm. I think it would be quite fun to have Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppet Show back us up for a few shows. Are they washed up? i think not...
Q: If we took the women from each of Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchises (Orange County, Atlanta, New York City, and New Jersey), put them in the Thunderdome and made them fight to the death, which city’s cast do you think would emerge victorious?
Brian Aubert: I have never seen any of these shows. I would assume Orange County could win it. They are more machine than woman...
My thanks to Brian for taking time out for us. For more from Silversun Pickups, check out their 