What Some of Our Favorite Musicians Are Reading On Tour

July 17, 2013, 9:45 am

≫ Next: See Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in New The Fifth Estate Trailer

≪ Previous: Nicolas Cage as Disney Princesses = Magic

$

0

0

While you're lounging on a sunny beach with a book, your favorite bands are toiling on the road on their summer tours. But just because musicians are always on the move doesn't mean they don't have time to curl up with a good book. We caught up with artists touring this summer and asked them what books they'll be packing for the trip. Happy reading!

William Tyler
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
"I just found out David Bowie was obsessing over it when he recorded Low."

Heather McEntire, Mount Moriah
Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough and My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman
"I'm excited to learn more about these two artists who have contributed heavily to my musical foundation."

Sonny Smith, Sonny & The Sunsets
1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider
"I like to look at the movie stills in it and read the little synopses."

John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats
The Sarban Omnibus by Sarban; The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda; Maidenhair by Mikhail Shishkin
"I doubt that I get all three done. I'm not a fast reader, but hope springs eternal."

Eleanor Friedberger
Speedboat and Pitch Dark by Renata Adler
"A friend sent me both, after another friend had already lent me them. I'm curious to see why they both thought I would enjoy them."

Alex Bleeker, Real Estate
The Cardboard Universe by Christopher Miller
"Particularly looking forward to this one because it combines aspects of two literary monuments, Philip K. Dick, and Nabokov's Pale Fire."

Max Gregor, Lemuria
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
"I'm behind on the whole Girl with... fad, but I started reading the first book while on vacation, and couldn't put it down. Bought the second a couple weeks ago."

Tim Forgarty, El Ten Eleven
Who I Am by Pete Townsend
"I grew up on The Who, and I'm a sucker for autobiographies."

---

See Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in New The Fifth Estate Trailer

July 17, 2013, 10:45 am

≫ Next: Let the Maker of "Sh*t Girls Say" Teach You About King Charles Spaniels

≪ Previous: What Some of Our Favorite Musicians Are Reading On Tour

$

0

0

Our favorite actor-slash-otter doppelgänger, Benedict Cumberbatch, has transmogrified into silver-haired, Aussie-accented Julian Assange for the upcoming movie The Fifth Estate. Directed by Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga, Dream Girls, Kinsey), the film focuses on the rise of Wikileaks and Assange's complicated relationship with his colleague-turned-opponent Daniel Domscheit-Berg (played by Spanish-German actor Daniel Brühl). As you'll see in the trailer, above, the whole thing feels very dramatic (it's already drawing comparisons to The Social Network or Argo), and also stars Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, Stanley Tucci and Dan Stevens. No word on whether the script calls for any dance scenes, though -- fingers crossed we might get to see Cumberbatch put his own spin on Assange's sweet, sweet moves.

Let the Maker of "Sh*t Girls Say" Teach You About King Charles Spaniels

July 17, 2013, 11:15 am

≫ Next: Is Armani Selling $30 Diapers to Russian Babies?

≪ Previous: See Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in New The Fifth Estate Trailer

$

0

0

There's a new canine-centric and internet pre-approved series from Graydon Sheppard, maker of "Shit Girls Say." Called Pure Breeds, the series explores the history of different breeds of dog -- this first installment is all about Cavalier King Charles Spaniels -- with an ample dose of lulz. John Roberts -- who once got the PAPER office to sing "Jingle Bell Rock," let us remind you -- narrates the series in his usual mom/Linda from Bob's Burgers voice, while Sheppard works some King Charles drag. With a gaggle of cute pups and asides about Sheppard's own Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Miley ("Some say the character of Falcor in The Neverending Story was based on Miley, but that's just absurd, that's... that's just a dirty filthy lie"), it's a good escape from the hump day blues. Watch the first episode above.

[via OMG Blog]

Is Armani Selling $30 Diapers to Russian Babies?

July 17, 2013, 1:35 pm

≫ Next: Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Chris Baio Do "Ask a Grown Man"

≪ Previous: Let the Maker of "Sh*t Girls Say" Teach You About King Charles Spaniels

$

0

0

In today's "fashion headlines that should have appeared in The Onion," we've come across a supposed ad for Armani diapers selling for €23 (that's $30!) each. Though it's highly likely that we're all getting trolled and the ad's a fake, it's a pretty sophisticated one at that: a link to find the diapers directs you to a site for "Armani Russia," powered by e-commerce site Yoox (but, as Jezebel points out, the link to actually buy the diapers doesn't seem to be working), and there's even an image which purports to show the ad in Russian Tatler (below) with the tag-line "When only the best is good enough."

This has to be fake, right? Right? But what if it's not? What if soon there will be a generation of crazy wealthy Russian babies scampering around whose oil-rich oligarch/media tycoon/[insert over-simplified stereotype of ways 21st Century Russians get rich here] parents have spent as much money on poop receptacles as an editor at an indie publication pays for the majority of her shoes. On the other hand, this could be a real boon for Justin Bieber: we know he's already a fan of saggy, diaper-like pants and is not potty trained. Special commission in 3-2-1...

In other WTF style news, Karl Lagerfeld is designing leather-clad dirndls and pinafores for his new Munich-based concept store. The pieces are set to arrive, of course, shortly before Oktoberfest.

[via Jezebel/WWD]

Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Chris Baio Do "Ask a Grown Man"

July 17, 2013, 2:43 pm

≫ Next: Run the Jewels Beat Andrew W.K. + Amber Tamblyn to a Pulp in "36" Chain"

≪ Previous: Is Armani Selling $30 Diapers to Russian Babies?

$

0

0

Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Chris Baio decided to join the ever-growing list of successful, crush-worthy men doing Rookie Mag's "Ask a Grown Man" series. Over the course of their advice session, they liken porn to baseball, spend thirty seconds telling a girl what the New York Times would spend months pointlessly investigating, and say such pithy things as "life is pain." And, unlike some of the other "Ask a Grown Man" videos which leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, Chris and Ezra get pretty real: they don't sugarcoat their answers and there are moments when it seems like they'd rather be torching a SAAB than responding to the questions. But, as is usually the case with "Ask a Grown Man," their advice is worth listening to. Watch above.  

[via Death and Taxes]

Run the Jewels Beat Andrew W.K. + Amber Tamblyn to a Pulp in "36" Chain"

July 17, 2013, 3:44 pm

≫ Next: Shameful Crushes: Sorry/Not Sorry.

≪ Previous: Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Chris Baio Do "Ask a Grown Man"

$

0

0

Run the Jewels, the hip-hop duo formed by Killer Mike and El-P, debuted their new video for "36" Chain" and it stars a slew of PAPER favorites. Following the rappers as they try to rescue their just-kidnapped rodent puppet Mr. Killums -- who at this point is a staple of El-P's videos  -- we see Mike and El beat the shit out of a guitar-strumming Andrew W.K., rip out Amber Tamblyn's eyeball and throw an old lady across the room. Despot, Das Racist and Mr. MFN eXquire also make appearances and there's even a dramatic TWIST at the end. Watch above and don't let the suspense kill you.

Shameful Crushes: Sorry/Not Sorry.

July 18, 2013, 7:30 am

≫ Next: CocoRosie Have a Beautiful -- and Uncomfortable -- New Video for "Child Bride"

≪ Previous: Run the Jewels Beat Andrew W.K. + Amber Tamblyn to a Pulp in "36" Chain"

$

0

0

Love all these guys. Sorry/not sorry. [via 100 Years of Lolitude]

PSA: Nice Jewish Boy-turned-porn star James Deen has a really frickin' cute web series about his love of food, wherein he eats Timothy McVeigh's last meal (it was two pints of mint chip ice cream, FYI), rates ketchup brands and makes a "turducken dog". [via Wood Rocket; h/t Jezebel]

Ahhh! Here are a few baby ostriches and emus having a dance party though, as Hyper Vocal points out, the videographer missed a crucial opportunity to score the video to some summer jams. [via Hyper Vocal]

Who wore it better? [via Afternoon Snooze Button]

Don't we all? [via Rats Off]

We hope to land a guy as dreamy -- and as dashing in drag -- as Mick. [via Rrrick]

Love  this pepperoni pizza skateboard deck by The Good Company X artist Henry Gunderson. [via Laughing Squid]

The hottest new music video on the Internet is "Mass Text" by Tay Allyn. It has everything: thirty-year-olds pretending to be in high school, dubstep, and lyrics like "I'm gonna get your mass text / I'm in your contacts." It's like that thing, when Rebecca Black dyes her hair blonde, ages approximately ten years, and sings about group SMS. Watch above. [via Buzzfeed]

Need this Steve Buscemi makeup bag pronto. [via 100 Years of Lolitude]

CocoRosie Have a Beautiful -- and Uncomfortable -- New Video for "Child Bride"

July 18, 2013, 10:00 am

≫ Next: Finding the Musical Groove Has Never Been So...Challenging?

≪ Previous: Shameful Crushes: Sorry/Not Sorry.

$

0

0

CocoRosie's new video for Tales Of A GrassWidow track "Child Bride" is a beautifully stylized clip depicting exactly what the song title suggests -- a child bride preparing to marry a much older man. Though it deals with a deeply uncomfortable subject, the video is absolutely transfixing; throughout the footage, the young actress lip syncs to lyrics like "It is hard to tell whose little girl am I / The man with the black hat will take me home tonight," which are sung in Bianca Casady's distinctive, child-like whisper, and the vaguely medieval-looking costumes and remote, wooded setting give the whole thing a gothic, fairytale feel.

Tales Of Of A GrassWidow is out now. You can catch the band playing NYC's Webster Hall on October 12 as part of a North American tour.

---

Finding the Musical Groove Has Never Been So...Challenging?

July 18, 2013, 10:30 am

≫ Next: Parker Posey On Grace of Monaco and Her Soap Opera Days

≪ Previous: CocoRosie Have a Beautiful -- and Uncomfortable -- New Video for "Child Bride"

$

0

0

I love music. Given the right mood, I can listen to almost anything. Back in the day I'd scour record bins in search of a forgotten, neglected or overlooked masterpiece, spending hours upon hours looking for I knew not what until I'd find it. Folk, blues, jazz, rock, R&B, soul, indie, rap, prog, classical and avant-garde? Why not? Gamelan music from Indonesia? Bring it on! Music for me was a journey, very much political at first with Peter, Paul and Mary and Dylan, who eventually led me to Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson and Al Green and into Motown and '60s psychedelia. Living in New Orleans in my early 20s, I tuned into local legends like Professor Longhair, Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas and the Meters. (I'm listening to the Wild Tchoupitoulas as I write.) One day a friend returning from a visit to Manhattan brought back a new record. It was the first time I'd heard of the New York Dolls, and seen their cross-dressing album cover art. I listened but wasn't impressed, preferring the homegrown sounds of Lee Dorsey and pianist Ellis Marsalis, who played regularly at Lu and Charlie's on North Rampart Street.

A few years later I moved back to New York City. I was working at the SoHo Weekly News in January 1978, when the Sex Pistols broke up only months after they released their influential album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. Nine months later, Nancy Spungen was found dead in the bathroom of the room she shared with Sid Vicious in the Chelsea Hotel and I was assigned the story. I bought Never Mind the Bollocks... and listened to it over and over and over again. Looking past Vicious and Spungen's sad, drug-fueled relationship, the Pistols felt like the return to pure rock 'n' roll, and had an anger and energy that fit in perfectly with the decay of the city in the late '70s. I was hooked on punk: Ramones, Television, Talking Heads. Everything else suddenly sounded old until the emergence of rap, which Afrika Bambaataa maintains had the same radical energy as punk.

So when it's time to put together our music issue, I'm always asking my editors to take a stand on what's moving the culture today. Is there a zeitgeist-shifting sound that will take us to a new awareness of the times and the world around us?

Recently, a chorus has risen declaring that EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is the music that will change your life. EDM icons Daft Punk have blown musical minds everywhere with the new album Random Access Memories, the band's first album to hit number one in the U.S. But ultimately its retro-future grooves driven by Nile Rodgers' guitar riffs hark back to the '80s. One of the year's biggest musical highlights was the 73-year-old Giorgio Moroder -- the godfather of electronic music, the Italian-born, Munich-based producer and creator of a Kraftwerk-y Euro disco sound made famous by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"­ -- making his DJ debut. As part of Red Bull Music Academy, a sensational month-long extravaganza, Moroder packed Williamsburg's Output with worshippers --including me­ -- who shuddered with excitement in beat to the sonic vibrations created by the booming system. So old it's young, but not a musical shape shifter.

Alas, the editors weren't buying the EDM hype. What's more to the point, we decided, was the lack of a predominant sound. Sure EDM is infecting everything from hip-hop to indie to pop, but is it taking over? We don't think so. Whether you blame it on everyone's favorite scapegoat, the Internet, or a myriad of other socio-cultural-political phenomena, the fact is that the musical attention span is all over the place--abetted by the fact that you can listen to almost anything at anytime. There's Spotify, Amazon and Pandora of course, and now Google has launched a paid music subscription service that will put it in direct competition with other streaming services that use your catalog and analytics to introduce you to new music.

No one reflects the multiplicity of the musical moment better than our Grammy-winning style-loving cover star Miguel, an R&B singer who has crossed over into the pop and mainstream worlds, a feat that reminds me of Marvin Gaye's work. The rest of the issue is similarly eclectic, jumping from sound to sound, from noise rapper Antwon to Satanic FM rockers Ghost B.C. to gospel legend Mavis Staples.

So get on your pogo stick and start jumping. You'll enjoy the ride and meet some musical mayhem along the way -- while we keep looking for the perfect zeigeist.

Parker Posey On Grace of Monaco and Her Soap Opera Days

July 18, 2013, 12:00 pm

≫ Next: Levonia Jenkins and La Lopez Embrace Their C*ntiness with "So C#nt"

≪ Previous: Finding the Musical Groove Has Never Been So...Challenging?

$

0

0

Last night the Ali Forney Center -- which provides shelters, drop-in centers and outreach for LGBT homeless youth in New York -- held their fourth-annual summer Oasis benefit at the Chelsea Piers. It was our kind of fundraiser: There were cute boys in swimsuits, drag queens (including a performance by Detox of RuPaul's Drag Race) and the evening's emcee was our eternal girl crush, Parker Posey. (Photos below!) All in all, the evening raised $200,000. Mr. Mickey chatted with Posey before she hit the stage to talk Party Girl, the band Oasis and returning to soap operas.


What are your top three tips for being a good emcee?
Oh, you know, just being nice and supportive! And taking pictures.

You're starring in the Grace Kelly movie Grace of Monaco with Nicole Kidman. You play Madge Tivey-Faucon, her scheming lady in waiting -- is it fun to play an evil character?
I like it all really -- this part in the Grace movie is a nod to Mrs. Danvers in [Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel] Rebecca and Grace is a trapped blond in a Hitchcock-styled monarchy.
It was fun to do.

Which of your movies do fans quote to you the most?
There's been lots of Party Girl lately here in the city because the night life dance scene is picking up again. Work it!  It's usually "He-he hello" [from Party Girl] or "air raid, bitches!" [from Dazed and Confused] or "I've been workin' at the DQ." [from Waiting For Guffman.]

Since this is an Oasis event, I have to ask: Do you have a favorite song by the band Oasis?
"Wonderwall." Great song. My old boyfriend Ryan Adams did a cover of it and Liam Gallagher said he liked his version more than his. 

I'm a soap opera addict. Any behind the scenes gossip about As the World Turns?
I saw Colleen Zink, who played my aunt a few years ago -- I hadn't seen her for 15 years -- and she still looked the same. The actors on that show were fab. I wish I could go back and do more -- that would be a hoot.



Parker Posey, Todd Thomas

Junior LaBeija

Why, hello there.

Parker Posey

Dance party!

Detox

Detox and Chris Constable

Jon Jon Battles, Parker Posey and Chris Constable

Detox

Levonia Jenkins and La Lopez Embrace Their C*ntiness with "So C#nt"

July 18, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Is Tropical's New Video Is Very, Very NSFW

≪ Previous: Parker Posey On Grace of Monaco and Her Soap Opera Days

$

0

0

In drag, "cunt" is a compliment -- much like "fishy," it means that a queen has done her utmost to look like a vagina-having, cisgendered lady. But drag divas Levonia Jenkins and La Lopez are here to take "cunt" and turn it on its head with their new video for "So C#nt." The clip finds a very bearded, muscly Jenkins werking the NYC transit and discount store circuit while La Lopez lyrically defends her c#ntiness on the dance floor. These two gals do an amazing job of mocking the tropes of typical drag queen-released singles: the completely interchangeable house beat, the obsession with labels ("Gucci, Prada / Old Navy, Zara / Chanel, Dior / Jenkins is a whore"), and the drive to be perfectly fishy all the time. Oh, and did we mention that there's a Suri Cruise interlude in the middle? Watch this shining example of extravaganza eleganza above.

[via Slate]

Is Tropical's New Video Is Very, Very NSFW

July 18, 2013, 3:05 pm

≫ Next: Here's Rahm Emanuel Dancing to "Blurred Lines" at Taste of Chicago

≪ Previous: Levonia Jenkins and La Lopez Embrace Their C*ntiness with "So C#nt"

$

0

0

British trio Is Tropical released a music video through Kitsuné and it's very, very NSFW. This should come as no surprise since the boys are proven partiers, the director of the vid is Vice's resident party photog Richard Kern, and the song is called "Lover's Cave." Fittingly, the video finds Is Tropical alternating between two kinds of "lover's cave:" one a huge, sloppy rager, and the other a more intimate performance in front of a bunch of naked women who like to dance and make out with each other. The whole thing may seem like an adolescent's fantasy of what his life will be like once he gets a fake I.D., but the song is catchy and everyone involved seems to be having a good time. Boobs galore, above.

[via Death and Taxes]

Here's Rahm Emanuel Dancing to "Blurred Lines" at Taste of Chicago

July 19, 2013, 7:30 am

≫ Next: There Is Now An Advanced Style Coloring Book

≪ Previous: Is Tropical's New Video Is Very, Very NSFW

$

0

0

This video of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel dancing to "Blurred Lines" at Taste of Chicago is everything we've ever wanted and more. I think you might even see duck lips at the 1:27 mark. Can he and David Gregory please have a sexy dance-off? [Jezebel]

You the hottest bitch in this place! [LaughterKey]

Going out in your 20s vs. your 30s. [TastefullyOffensive]

This is the look. [Mlkshk]

This is the look. [RatsOff]

This video of a raccoon stealing a handful of cat food and running away is the greatest. Watch to the end. [TastefullyOffensive]

Cats can be very supportive. [ThisIsntHappiness]

Hmm, are you a horse? [YeahDementia]

Obviously penis. [ThisIsntHappiness]


Love that one song. [Awesomephilia]

There Is Now An Advanced Style Coloring Book

July 19, 2013, 10:23 am

≫ Next: It's the Freakin' Weekend, Baby

≪ Previous: Here's Rahm Emanuel Dancing to "Blurred Lines" at Taste of Chicago

$

0

0

We love us a quirky coloring book that lets us shade in Bill Murray's Steve Zissou beard, experiment with giving Jon Hamm blonde hair (why not?) and connect the dots on Tupac's bandana (that would be in Bun B's rap coloring book). And now there's one more to add to our list: Advanced Style the Coloring Book by Advanced Style founder Ari Seth Cohen and illustrated by Ilan Schraer, out this September via powerHouse Books. You can bust out some crayolas and color in one of Zelda Kaplan's marvelous hats, play an AS-themed word hunt (with words like "vitality," "elevated" and "accessories") and connect the dots to complete a gentleman's natty lewk. Take a peek at some preview images above and below.  

It's the Freakin' Weekend, Baby

July 19, 2013, 12:30 pm

≫ Next: Vampire Weekend Made a "Blurred Lines" Cover

≪ Previous: There Is Now An Advanced Style Coloring Book

$

0

0

It's the freakin' weekend, baby, and in honor of R. Kelly's hometown performance this Sunday headlining Chicago's Pitchfork fest, we're declaring his eternal jam, "Ignition (Remix)" our oldie but goodie Friday video. The clip is a great pre-recession early-'00s time capsule filled with hummer stretch limos, those Moroccan belts you used to find at Urban Outfitters and lots of belly buttons everywhere. Watch it above.

---

Vampire Weekend Made a "Blurred Lines" Cover

July 19, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: VMA Nominations X Emmy Nominations

≪ Previous: It's the Freakin' Weekend, Baby

$

0

0

Vampire Weekend went into BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and came out with a damn good cover of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," complete with Ezra Koenig rapping with a funny ATL-meets-posh-Mid-Atlantic accent during T.I.'s verse. At various points, the guys forget the words and kind of do a mumble-chuckle, which only adds to its charm. The whole thing is embarrassing/awesome. Listen below.

VMA Nominations X Emmy Nominations

July 19, 2013, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: The Best, Worst and Weirdest of the Week

≪ Previous: Vampire Weekend Made a "Blurred Lines" Cover

$

0

0

In this weekly column, MC/DJ Hesta Prynn pairs pop culture stories with an original playlist.

The Primetime Emmys and the MTV Video Awards announced their nominees this week.  Sure, there were snubs, but at an awards show where there's a "Best Video with Social Message" category --  implying that all of the other videos have none -- can you really take this too seriously?  In this week's Five 'n' Five I've added my own categories.  The awards go to nominees paired from the Emmy's Best Drama category and MTV's Video of the Year.  Someone call Neil Patrick Harris; it's going down.

 

1. Best Empire-Building: Breaking Bad/"Thrift Shop" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz
"Walk up in the club like what up I got a big cock!"
Thrift Shop was the first song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts without the support of a major label since Lisa Loeb's "Stay" in 1994.  Breaking Bad's Walter White is the Macklemore of the crystal meth biz -- he's "in the empire business" on his own terms and we love him for it.

2. Best Use of Gratuitous Nudity: Game of Thrones/"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell
"I know you want it."
Here is a partial list of the actresses whose breasts you've seen if you've watched Thicke's vid and Season Three of GoT: Emily Ratajikowski, Jessi M'Bengue, Elle Evans, Emilia Clarke, Oona Chaplin, Natalie Dormer, Rose Leslie, Lena Headey, Roxanne McKee, Sibel Kekilli, Esmé Bianco, Carice van Houten, Amrita Acharia.

3. Best Crying: Homeland/"I Knew You Were Trouble" - Taylor Swift
"No apologies, he'll never see you cry"
Clare Danes has built a career off of a quivering chin. Swift spends half of this video crying in an abandoned desert. Brody = John Mayer. 'Nuff said. 

4. Best Overuse of Melodrama: Downton Abbey/"Mirrors" - Justin Timberlake
"The vacancy that sat in my heart is the space that now you hold!  Show me how to fight for now!"
Perhaps you've found yourself leaving the city too close to 4pm on a Friday and it's taking you no less than four hours to drive to the Hamptons. Maybe this song comes on the radio, the driver cranks the volume as high as it will go and a entire carload of people sing every word to this epic oeuvre which, let's face it, really belongs on the the Broadway stage, not Z100.  (Hypothetically speaking of course.)

5. Best Fashions in a Period Piece: Mad Men/"Locked Out of Heaven" - Bruno Mars
"Can I just stay here, spend the rest of my days here."
Obviously Don Draper, Joan Harris et al are killing it in the throwback department.  Everything about this show reeks of '60s fabulousness. Similarly, everything about "Locked Out of Heaven" is retro -- sure it's kind of a Police rip-off but it's done really well and the VHS-inspired video is just glitchy enough to keep your attention.

Bonus!

Best at Being Nominated for a Primetime Emmy Whilst Not Actually Being a Primetime Television Show: House of Cards
I'm out of MTV nominees to pair this with but I think it's okay.  Last I checked this wasn't an actual TV show, was it?

The Best, Worst and Weirdest of the Week

July 19, 2013, 4:15 pm

≫ Next: Let This Video Take You Through the Alphabet in 26 Musical Genres

≪ Previous: VMA Nominations X Emmy Nominations

$

0

0

Coolest Drummer of the Week: This mystery grandma drummer, who just strolled into a drum shop, ripped it up on a set, and then peaced. We love you, Grandma Drummer, whoever you are! -- Elizabeth Thompson

Most Beautiful/Upsetting Music Video We Watched All Week: CocoRosie's video for "Child Bride." -- Abby Schreiber

Best Tumblr of the Week: Posing DJs. DJ Chef is my fav. -- E.T.

Best Reason to Envy a Chair: Its proximity to Rahm Emanuel's strangely enticing dancing/air humping moves to "Blurred Lines" at the Taste of Chicago. -- A.S.

Animal We Discovered This Week That We'd Like to Nominate to Dethrone the Cat As the Official Mascot of the Internet: the micro pig. Just imagine all those cute little oinking squeals coming from a creature who fits in your palm! -- A.S.

Best Mash-Up of Songs By Two Guys Who Kinda Freak Us Out: Girl Talk's mash-up of Kanye's "Black Skinhead" and Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People." It's demonic, makes us feel like there might be bugs crawling on us and is ultimately awesome. -- A.S.


Best Image We Saw All Week That Will Make the Skies Open and Tears of Blood From FOMO-Obsessed Instagrammers Rain Down: this photo on Twitter taken by baker Dominique Ansel showing him bringing his cronut creation into the MoMA rain room. Gothamist points out for regular schmucks like us, the recreation of such an image would require 12 hours. -- A.S.

Let This Video Take You Through the Alphabet in 26 Musical Genres

July 22, 2013, 7:09 am

≫ Next: Mess Around With An Animated Kanye In the Official "Black Skinhead" Video

≪ Previous: The Best, Worst and Weirdest of the Week

$

0

0

If you need a refresher on the headache-inducing number of musical genres there are out there, here's a video taking you through the alphabet with Ambient, Baroque, Chiptune, etc. The most impressive part is how the long-haired guy's hair changes subtly with each new genre. [via Mashable]




After watching this video, we've decided that duck snoring is now the only snoring that we will accept in our lives. [via Jezebel]


Things we wish we hadn't seen this morning: this almost-nekkid selfie that Geraldo Rivera Tweeted over the weekend. [via Uproxx]




Someone get these gay, bad movie-obsessed, lip-synching twins on RuPaul's Drag Race, stat. [via I'm With Kanye]


This is just like getting off of a crowded train at Union Square, only tubbier. [via mlkshk]


Dammit, why didn't we think of that? [via knusprig.titten.hitler]




This awesome little girl covered her brother's face with Kabuki stage makeup-levels of sunscreen. Her excuse? "This is pretending to be sunscreen." [via Rats Off]



Totally worth it. [via knusprig.titten.hitler]


If our lives were captioned, this would be hovering under us the vast majority of the time. [via mlkshk]


Best photobomb ever? [via Rats Off]


Just another day in Florida. [via Afternoon Snooze Button]

Mess Around With An Animated Kanye In the Official "Black Skinhead" Video

July 22, 2013, 9:45 am

≫ Next: The Grasshopper at the Butterfly

≪ Previous: Let This Video Take You Through the Alphabet in 26 Musical Genres

$

0

0

After the brouhaha over an underwhelming leaked clip from Kanye's "Black Skinhead" video, the real deal is here and...it's not significantly different. Directed by British fashion photographer Nick Knight, the clip is punchier, interactive (you can slow down the song and take screenshots) and features a middle finger cursor but otherwise the dancing  Taiwanese news animation Kanye visuals are pretty much the same as before. That said, it is kind of fun trying to make Kanye sound like Rick Ross (the sweet spot seems to be at 80-90% full speed). Watch the video above.