The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

Share:

1. Last night, The Weeknd — whose House of Balloons was one of our favorite debuts of 2011 — released his third mixtape of the year. You can download Echoes of Silence for free at his website.

2. Louis C.K.’s great online comedy special experiment has now succeeded beyond his wildest dreams: In ten days, it’s earned him more than $1 million. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon last night, C.K. said he would donate some of the proceeds to charity, use another portion to pay for the cost of the production, give away $250,000 in bonuses to his staff, and keep only $220,000 for himself. [via ArtsBeat]

3. NBC has released yet another 30 Rock preview. Watch Jack Donaghy learn something he didn’t know about Liz Lemon is this Christmas-themed clip from the season premiere.

4. Lady Gaga has a holiday gift for fans: “On Christmas Day I will leak to you an unreleased song off Born This Way,” she tweeted. “It was recorded live, in one take, on the tour bus. Uncensored.” [via Digital Spy]

5. Never one to rest on his laurels (or, really, rest at all) Woody Allen has just released some news about his follow-up to Midnight in Paris. The movie is called Nero Fiddled, is set in Rome, and stars Allen himself — along with Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, and Greta Gerwig. Whoa. [via Splitsider]