In an interesting New York Times Magazine profile where he’s compared to Harold of Harold and the Purple Crayon fame, Spike Jonze explains why his long-delayed film is more inspired by John Cassavetes than Harry Potter. He also provides a funny metaphor for Warner Bros.’s initial hesitation over the material: “It’s like the studio was expecting a boy, and I gave birth to a girl. And now they’re learning to love and accept their daughter.” [via NYT]

While this can’t really compare to the  Tori vs. Gaga feud, we were surprised last week when M.I.A. unleashed her wrath via Twitter about Tenacious D replacing the Beastie Boys on the 2009 Outside Lands Festival lineup. (“Can’t believe they replaced Beasties with Tenacious D? And if I pull out they sue! So really? Tenacious D after me?”) We’re glad to hear Jack Black isn’t letting it get him down, and by all accounts, their performance was a big success. Satan even showed up on stage; check out an image after the jump. [via MTV] Read More »

Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and Flavorpill interview subject of yester-week, reveals his territorial fued with rival author Jonathan Safran Foer to the New Yorker‘s Book Bench. We wonder what extra ingredient that coffee shop adds to their brew, because Grossman and Foer are sure a lot more successful than the sweatpants-clad denizens of our local haunt.  Team Grossman, head over to Penguin’s From the Publisher’s Office for more about The Magicians.

Tori Amos thinks Lady Gaga is a recession-friendly novelty act with a short shelf life. Vulture thinks that this might be the great summer catfight we’ve all be waiting for, and wants dueling pianos thrown into the mix. Tori made our list of The 50 Essential Women-In-Music Albums. Gaga intrigued us with her architecture-inspired wardrobe choices. We might have to wait for round two to pick sides. How about you? [via BlackBook]

Having been cast as a cross dresser in his new film, Taking Woodstock, Liev Schreiber is now able to comment on the wonders of womanhood. His previous role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Sabertooth, a violent man-mutant with prehistoric cat tendencies, makes his upcoming performance the ultimate gender reversal. Schreiber later added,”The shoes are awful. But for a 6-foot-3-inch [tall] man, to walk around in stilettos is nearly impossible. But women have no idea what it’s like for a grown hairy man to remove all of his hair from his body. Now that hurts!” We can only imagine.

Related Post: Why’d It Take 40 Years to Make a Woodstock Movie With Actual Actors?

The title says it all. To clarify some statements she made in her June More magazine interview, Weeds‘ Mary Louise Parker reaffirmed for her now relieved fans that she has no problem doing nude scenes. “[The interview] made it sound like I was like, ‘They made me take my clothes off and chained me to the bathtub,’” she explains in reference to the season 4 finale. According to Tonight, Louise was actually discussing “the difference between editing styles in film versus television.” Oh, and for those who missed out on the Esquire shoot… Read More »

Jeff Koons sits down with the Financial Times and looks back on his reputation-making 1991 Venice Biennale show, which featured explicit photos of Ilona Staller, his wife at the time. The photos will resurface for a Tate Modern retrospective in the fall.

Related post: In Which We Ask 42 Art World Types — Including His Wife — “What’s Your Favorite Jeff Koons?”

Funnyman David Sedaris showed up on KCRW’s Guest DJ Project yesterday and explained he was never a “big rock guy.” Shocking. What does he prefer to listen to instead? Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, Joni Mitchell, Betty Carter and Aretha Franklin, because he relates to them more. Especially when he’s pretending to be on stage singing “Until You Come Back to Me,” which is almost as entertaining as imagining him working as an elf named Crumpet at Macy’s. Almost.  [via Jacket Copy]

Daniel Radcliffe — now at work on films seven and eight in the Potter franchise — tells the LA Times he will not be involved with Peter Jackson’s upcoming Hobbit movie. Look for him to play 22-year-old artist and photojournalist Dan Eldon in a film called The Journey Is the Destination, due out in 2011; Eldon was stoned to death by an angry Somali mob in 1993.

Shepard Fairey – no slouch in the publicity department himself – interviews the ever-elusive graffiti artist Banksy for Swindle magazine. Though we didn’t unearth any smoking guns about Banksy’s true identity (grew up in Bristol, idolized an older street artist who went on to found Massive Attack, designed a Blur album) he does relay an interesting anecdote about painting on the Palestinian side of the Israeli government border. Read More »