Name one thing you thought Lauren Conrad w/could never do. OK. Now read this: “In addition to getting back to work on the clothing line, Conrad will be hard at work penning her ‘L.A. Candy’ young-adult novel series, [Whitney] Port said. ‘I know she’s been working and writing some books,’ she said. ‘I think it’s like some sort of play on a biography.'” We know that everyone has to pretend these tales of teen excess were penned by LC, but we hope that someone’s planning to ghostwrite the shit out of this series. [via MTV]
Coldplay denied copying parts of Joe Satriani’s music for “Viva La Vida” in federal court yesterday. No surprise. But we do think it’s funny that this backhanded self-insult was part of their defense: “Satriani’s song ‘lacks originality,’ Coldplay’s response claims, and shouldn’t receive copyright protection.” [via Billboard]
Is an iPod touch as your tour guide enough to lure you out to a museum? That’s what the folks at the Milwaukee Art Museum are hoping. The Baltimore Museum of Art has interactive behind-the-scenes touchscreens, while the Brooklyn Museum is getting crazy with web cams. May we make a small suggestion here? Maybe it’s smarter to appeal to the more plentiful lethargic demo with more moving sidewalks… don’t they have those at the Smithsonian? They’re still doing well. [via AP]
The geeks have spoken in the wake of a super secret premiere in Austin: The new Star Trek movie is not only good, but J.J. Abrams has somehow avoided pissing off most online critics with his addition to the franchise. What we’re wondering is whether this has the potential to become a mainstream success or if the draw will be limited to sci-fi fans. Because we’d never thought we’d say this, but we actually want to see it. [via /film]
Another thing that’s different in Britain (you know, other than that whole potatoe chip/crisps thing): Their attitude toward street art. A Bristol group called Appropriate Media has defaced a Banksy mural entitled “The Mild Mild West” in protest, claiming that,”Graffiti artists are the performing spray-can monkeys for gentrification.” Not true. Everyone knows the best way to monitor such things is keeping a tally of American Apparel stores. [via BBC]