1. Today would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday, and Google is honoring the Queen frontman with an animated Doodle tribute that took them nearly three months to create. [via Gawker]
2. It looks like The Help — which is sitting pretty at number one for the third week in a row now — will top this weekend’s holiday box office, with newcomer The Debt (that Helen Mirren thriller) trailing not too far behind. Less popular than predicted: Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D. We’re proud of you, America. [via THR]
3. Sorry, Billy Crystal. According to Deadline, Eddie Murphy is producer Brett Ratner’s top choice to host this year’s Academy Awards. Given the fact that Murphy stars in Ratner’s fall release, Tower Heist, this news isn’t all that surprising, but it could result in a more interesting show than we’ve seen in recent years — especially if he channels ’80s Eddie.
4. Update: Steven Soderbergh’s much-discussed impending retirement (which is to coincide with his new career as a painter) has actually been blown way out of proportion. “It’s less dramatic that it sounds; it’s just a sabbatical,” he told the Observer. “I feel I need to recalibrate, so I can discover something new. I’m out of ways of telling art.” [via Vulture]
5. How old would you say is too old to be kicked off a plane for refusing to pull your pants up? Let’s ask Billie Joe Armstrong, shall we?
That’s right kids, it’s Oscar night, when America’s most self-celebratory town gets together and just cold pats itself on the back for three or four or eight hours, and we all watch and make fun of the dresses. We’ll be liveblogging the whole damn thing tonight, right here (well, the whole ceremony, at least—not that endless red carpet crap, because really, what do you want from us?).
1. Evidently craving some controversy, last night Kanye West tweeted the following: “an abortion can cost a ballin’ nigga up to 50gs maybe a 100. Gold diggin’ bitches be getting pregnant on purpose. #STRAPUP my niggas!… It ain’t happen to me but I know people.” [via Vulture]
2. Earlier today a British court ordered Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden to face accusations of sexual abuse; his lawyers have seven days to appeal the ruling. [via NYT]
3. The dowdy old Oscar envelope is getting a much-needed makeover courtesy of Marc Friedland: “Taking cues from old Hollywood, it’s done up like a gilded picture frame, which features the award category in sleek charcoal ink. Images of the Oscar statuette in satin gold leaf adorn a red-lacquered lining. As for the winner’s name: It’ll appear on a heavyweight ecru card decorated with even more gold… then mounted on a red lacquer frame. The whole thing will be sealed with a ribbon featuring PwC’s logo.” [via Gawker]
4. In honor of his one-year anniversary on Twitter, Conan O’Brien is holding a contest to rewrite his bio on the site. The winner will receive an original painting of the Conan Pale Whale painted by Twitter fail whale artist Yiying Lu. [via Geek Sugar]
5. Paul McCartney has collaborated with the New York City Ballet to compose the score for their new production Ocean’s Kingdom, which is set to debut in September. [via NME]
1. Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who is currently recovering from salivary gland cancer, says that’s he ready to get back to work, and that the group’s next album, Hot Sauce Committee, Part One, will drop this fall. [via MTV]
2. An insider says that George Clooney was in on the Oscars gag: “It was something George and Alec [Baldwin] agreed upon… It was a ‘follow-my-lead’ sort of thing.” [via NYDN]
3. How much was Sandra Bullock‘s Oscar win worth? Apparently lot less than Jeff Bridges’ was. [via Vulture]
4. An amended edition of James Joyce‘s Finnegans Wake is set to be published next week with 9,000 “minor corrections and alterations.” [via Irish Times]
5. Massive debtor/celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz has arranged a deal with a private equity firm that should preserve her archive. [via Reuters]
Coachella giveaway: We use Yahoo! Search to help find the top culture stories of the day. Now we’re giving you the chance to play editor, and you just might win a trip to Coachella.
Use Yahoo! Search to find an interesting link about Adam Yauch, and drop it below in the comments. Our favorite entry will receive Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology – Criterion Collection and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
We’ve all crashed a party at some point in our lives, but very rarely do you have the opportunity to do so on live television for millions of people to see. Short film producer Elinor Burkett did just that during last night’s Oscar presentation for Best Documentary Short, latching herself onto the microphone in the middle of director Roger Ross Williams’ acceptance speech. Her intrusion and his shell-shocked look show the surface of a deeper story; apparently the two hate each other.
While Kanye’s not-unprecedented mental lapse towards Taylor Swift left in a bitter taste in many mouths, sometimes the art of stage-crashing takes on a kind of morbid hilarity. After the jump, see our roundup of some of the best and high-profile instances of award show stage-crashing, from gratuitous nudity to Courtney Love (surprisingly, not in the same video).
Hayyy. No one is reading real news today; instead we’re all looking at pictures of pretty dresses. And ugly dresses. But definitely not tuxedos because they are boring. Anyway! You probably watched the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, and you may have even seen Kathy Ireland acting like a Frankenstein on happy pills during the pre-show, but have you seen the outfits color coded? That’s what we’re here for. Peep into our box of Oscar Crayola after the jump. (Sarah Jessica Parker, featured at right, did not make the cut because her dress was confusing. See Matthew Broderick? Stymied.)
1. Singer/songwriter Mark Linkous of Sparklehorsecommitted suicide on Saturday. He was only 47. [via Pop Candy]
2. We’re still waiting to find out why George Clooney looked so grouchy last night at the Oscars. In the meantime, here are some of his best faces from the show. [via Jezebel]
3. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is working on the score for a film adaptation of Haruki Murakami‘s Norwegian Wood. [via Spinner]
4. An unproduced John Hughes script about “a wealthy Chicago family that loses everything and is forced to move to the sticks” is making the rounds. [via THR]
5. You know it wasn’t a very funny episode of Saturday Night Live when all people are talking about is how Zach Galifianakis was able to shave off his beard during the show. [via ArtsBeat]
Bonus link:Jimmy Kimmel‘s “Handsome Men’s Club” video, with cameos from Ben Affleck, John Krasinski, and Sting
Which reminds us, we’ll be live blogging the Oscars right here on Sunday. We can’t promise that we’ll be sober, but it should be a good time. Join us, won’t you?
Still reeling from the Academy’s decision to cut the Best Song performances out of this Sunday’s ceremonies, we’re fighting back with a list of Oscar-nominated movies that arguably have been eclipsed by their music. (Note: We’re not including any material from musician biopics or musicals, because that would be way too easy.) Chime in with your favorite theme song, backing track, or Oscar-winning tune in the comments.
and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
