In the wake of the recent prank call to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the ensuing drama, we realized that prank calls are not just for 12-year-old boys and Bart Simpson worshipers (wait, are those the same thing?). They can have real — or just amusing — bearing on our culture, and they just might be worth examining as a reflection of our cultural proclivities. (Because what are Charlie Sheen’s unending outbursts if not one continuous prank call on American society?) If you’ve ever asked someone if their refrigerator was running, click through to see our list of five culturally relevant prank calls, and let us know which of your favorites we’ve missed!
Welcome to Conversation Pieces, where Flavorpill curates five articles from the past week that you should read. Some are long, others are short. Some are from major publications, others aren’t. The only thing all these articles have in common is that they’re interesting. This week, we cover the shortage of women writers in 2010, the art of editing, how you can earn lots of money by fostering the infidelity of others, Billy Ray Cyrus’s regrets about making his daughter famous, and more. After the jump, find something exciting to discuss this weekend in the home, at the bar, or on the street.
MTV’s Skins may be the “most dangerous show on television” according to the Parents Television Council, but the racy British import isn’t in hot water solely for its characters’ constant drug use or girl-on-girl action, because that would be just too damn predictable. Instead, the show’s latest scandal stems from claims that it may have violated federal child pornography laws. Oops!
The thing is, this isn’t teen TV’s first media circus, by a long shot. After the jump, we’ve rounded up some of the biggest teen TV scandals from the ’80s through present.
She found early success as a songwriter for pop stars including Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, and even Miley Cyrus, but UK singer Jessie J is about to break through as a star all on her own.
Jessie’s debut single, “Do It Like a Dude,” is an edgy hip-hop-influenced thrill ride with a brilliantly disconcerting video to match, but don’t be fooled into thinking it represents the full Jessie J package. Her first album, Who You Are — due out later this year — balances the darkness with uplifting pop, Motown balladry, and heartfelt anthems, all expressed by one of the most striking voices you’ll hear in 2011.
Editor’s note: Each Friday, our internet-savvy friends over at BuzzFeed curate a post for us that’s filled with links to some of their favorite items on the web that week. Enjoy!
A lot of people seem to be surprised/outraged by the video that leaked today of Miley Cyrus hitting a bong. An 18-year-old getting high: pretty shocking, right? Anyway, a source has said she was only smoking salvia, which is legal in California, but we have our doubts. Salvia does not make you tell someone he looks like your boyfriend; it makes you announce to the entire room that the planes of the walls are connecting or something. And then fall down.
In any case, as far as we’re concerned, the most embarrassing part of the whole video is that you can hear Bush’s “Come Down” playing in the background. There are only a few more humiliating songs to be caught on video smoking weed to, and we’ve listed most of them after the jump.
Editor’s note: Each Friday, our internet-savvy friends over at BuzzFeed curate a post for us that’s filled with links to some of their favorite items on the web that week. Enjoy!
Yesterday, at long last, Girl Talk released his new album, All Day. He’s even offering it for free online, at Illegal Art, although the download queues are predictably massive. When you finally get that sweet, sweet zip file onto your hard drive, you’ll notice that Girl Talk’s two-year absence hasn’t dulled his mastery of the sample. Any new Girl Talk album doubles as an unofficial “Name That Tune” challenge, a trivia quiz for those who pride themselves on their pop-music literacy. But never fear! We have a cheat sheet. Your intrepid listeners at Flavorwire have done our damnedest to compile a list of samples on the new album, in roughly chronological order, after the jump. Tell us what we missed in the comments.
Why do we fuss over 17-year-old Miley Cyrus’ sexy stage shows, same-sex kisses, and, um, underpants when 16-year-old Taylor Momsen is wearing ripped fishnets and smudged eyeliner, smoking cigarettes, writing songs called “Make Me Wanna Die,” and, well, also kissing ladies? That’s what Amber James at PopEater would like to know. And while we see her point and would love it if the girlhood police would mind their own damn business re: Miley, we also see some big differences between the two teens. Whereas Miley started her career as a pure, chaste Disney icon, Taylor’s first claim to fame was playing scheming little sister Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl — a show that’s never professed to have a moral center. Public transformations can mean public scrutiny, especially if you’re playing up that tiresome good-girl-gone-bad vibe.
As for Momsen, who writes her own songs and just generally seems more in control of her image, she is starting to remind us of our favorite teenage rocker girls of yore. After the jump, we revisit some famous musical bad girls who made their first splash before they were legal.
