Gwyneth Paltrow triggered some controversy over the weekdn when she tweeted the "N" word, even though she asterixed out the middle and was referring to the Kanye West, Jay Z track "N----s in Paris."
According to the Los Angeles Times, Gwyneth joined her friend Beyonce at Jay-Z and Kanye West's Paris stop of the Watch the Throne tour - during which they performed the track "N----a in Paris" 11 times.
Today was Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee! Alas, Liz’s husband Prince Philip was hospitalized with a bladder infection at the last minute, surely casting a pall on the events. Still, the party must go on, one supposes.
Celebrations went on in London all day, culminating in a concert outside Buckingham Palace, with 12,000 ticket holders in attendance and others lining the Mall, according to the AP.
And the Queen herself? Well, the show started at 7:30 and, according to The Guardian, she didn’t get there until nine. Whatever. She’s the Queen. She can do what she wants.
Lana Del Rey performed at the El Rey theatre in Los Angeles last night and premiered a new song, "Body Electric."
This is not to be confused with the Rush song or the Sisters of Mercy song of the same name. Nor is it the same thing as Body Electric, the 1999 album by Steve Roach and Vir Unis or The Body Electric, a New Zealand Music act from the early 1980s. OK, I just discovered those last two now. On Wikipedia! You know what else out there is called The Body Electric? A 1979 book on Kirlian photography by Thelma Moss, a 1985 book on bioelectromagnetism by Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden, and a 2002 book on cybernetics by James Geary.
There was also a TV show named for the Rush song and a PBS fitness and aerobics series hosted by someone named Margaret Richard.
Meanwhile, "I Sing the Body Electric," is, of course, also the title of a Walt Whitman poem and a song from the movie Fame.
So, what do we think of this particular "Body Electric"?
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According to the AP and the New York Daily News, Eduard Khil -- better known to many outside of Russia as "Mr. Trololo" or "The Trololo Guy" -- passed away in St. Petersburg today (June 4th). He was 77.
Khil was apparently a popular singer in the Soviet Union but after the fall of the Iron Curtain, he slipped into obscurity.
Two years ago, a 1976 video of him performing went viral on YouTube.
“I found out about it from my 13-year-old grandson,” he told RT, a Russian TV news program, in 2010. “He walked into the room, humming the song... So I asked him, ‘Why [are] you singing it?’”
The boy replied, “Grandpa, you’re home drinking tea here, [and] in the meantime, everyone’s singing your song on the Internet.”
The NY Daily News says the song was originally titled “I Am Glad, ‘Cause I’m Finally Returning Back Home,” and was written at the height of the Cold War in 1966 with lyrics about an American cowboy. But because Khil and the composer knew the Soviet government would never allow him to sing it, they simply scrapped the lyrics. I did not know what until now.
The original 2009 upload of the video has been viewed over 12 million times.
Millions are celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee right now, all across the UK. It's a little damp in the city of London, but no matter.
This evening's shindig promises quite the lineup of British stars - and a few select non Brits, including American soprano Renee Fleming, American R&B legend Stevie Wonder, Chinese pianist Lang Lang and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue - whose "Timebomb" was requested specifically by Her Majesty, claims the UK Telegraph.
The show takes place this evening at Buckingham Palace and will air afterwards.
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front has reportedly threatened to sue Madonna, should the singer bring a video image depicting Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead to France.
The fleeting image was shown during Madonna's Tel Aviv concert last Thursday as part of her MDNA world tour. This is reported by both The SUN and The Telegraph, though interestingly, the image on the Telegraph website does NOT appear in the video as far as I can tell. I have gone through it about ten times, in slow motion, so I'm not sure where it came from. What does appear is the above image.
Justin Bieber's New York concert at Madison Square Garden has sold out, in 30 SECONDS, according to reports. But that claim is rather misleading.
"The 18-year-old pop star, whose new album, Believe, is due out on June 19, sold out his entire U.S. and North American tour within one hour, according to his label, Island Def Jam...[and] tickets for Justin Bieber’s two Madison Square Garden shows (capacity: 20,000), scheduled for November 28 and 29, went in 30 seconds." That's what The Hollywood Reporter says.
The people at Billboard Brasil decided to make a urinal that plays music when men relieve themselves. It's currently touring bars in Sao Paulo. The video below shows what happens when unsuspecting dudes use the contraption - but don't worry, it's all shot from the shoulders up. Amusing!
There's also a mobile app that “streams” “MPee3s” captured at the time of flushing. Ha!
The video for Coldplay's "Princess of China," featuring Rihanna, has appeared online. And it's pretty stylistically stunning. Take a look!
The clip is presented like a kung fu movie trailer, very Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Chris Martin and Riri are lovers AND fighters.
(One of my favourite jokes:
Q: Why couldn't you see the tigers and dragons in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
A: Because they were crouching and hidden. [Hahahahahaaaaa!] End digression.)
Riri has referred to her character in the clip as a "gangsta goth geisha" and media all over the place is using the word "samurai" in connection with the thing. I'm wondering if I should bother pointing out that neither geisha nor the Samurai are Chinese, or if I should just pour myself some sake and call it a day.
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If you are a Madonna fan (I'm not, but you might be!) who is sad because you couldn't be at the kickoff of her MDNA tour in Tel Aviv last night, here's a behind-the-scenes video!
Don't say I never did nothin' for ya.
Here also is the final version of her mashup of "Express Yourself" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," during which she does some weird lifting of her skirt (why wear one, hon?). Yes, it's obviously a dig.
