Welcome Home (Sanitarium): A Girls Recap

A.J. Daulerio · 02/04/13 12:39PM

When you cohabitate with a boyfriend/girlfriend/manfriend, especially in New York City or any of its lesser boroughs, the best day you share with that special someone is Sunday. This is the only day of the week where a shared living space does not feel like a hostile takeover. "This is why we do this," you'll say to yourself, gazing at your significant roommate-lover, momentarily forgetting about all the excess hair caught in the drain and that the ice cube trays are always half-frozen or empty. Because it's Sunday. "To Sundays, to our Sundays" then you clink glasses of Bloody Marys and find the right page of the Times' magazine to dry-hump on top of until it's time to watch BreakingLandMenBlood. The rest of the week is spent trying to remember how to breath without screaming. Cohabitation is the centerpiece of this week's episode, titled "It's a Shame About Ray," a nod to the Lemonheads song. [The episode was directed by Jesse Peretz, former bass player for the Lemonheads and son of former New Republic owner and wealthy man-about-Tel Aviv Martin Peretz ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.—Ed.] You may remember that last week featured a Duncan Sheik song. This means that Lena Dunham is only one Cranberries reference away from becoming a bona fide 90's bitch.

Beyoncé Knowles Is the King of Pop

Rich Juzwiak · 02/04/13 10:45AM

When Michael Jackson died, people clamored to determine the rightful heir to the King of Pop. None of the contemporary young male singers batted around – Usher, Ne-Yo, certainly not Chris Brown (despite his mother's grandiose claims) — satisfactorily fit the bill. Talent abounds, but none of these guys quite has MJ's levels of musical virtuosity, fascinating eccentricity and the ability to package them in appropriately surreal performance. Granted, the search seemed doomed, as the entire angle of Michael Jackson's celebrity was that there was only one of him. But now it is clear that by turning to men (and men-children), we were looking in the wrong place: the heir to Michael Jackson's throne is none other than King B.

Here's Why the Lights Went Out in New Orleans: The Super Bowl Blew a Fuse

Camille Dodero · 02/04/13 10:05AM

No, Ray Lewis did not kill the lights. Bane, the human Goatse, wasn't to blame. And it wasn't the Frogman's dedicated beard dryer, nyuck nyuck. Rather, the explanation that's been offered as to why the Superdome mysteriously went dark last night, holding America hostage to stretching football players, confused anchors, and an Oreo hashtag, was something far more mundanely vague—an "abnormality" in the electrical system.

Beyoncé Kills It at the Super Bowl, Sends Haters to the Left

Caity Weaver · 02/03/13 10:08PM

From the second she appeared silhouetted in black against a field of smoke and ghosts to the moment she cut power to the New Orleans Superdome just to prove to Michelle that she could, it was clear that Beyoncé viewed the Super Bowl as a Beyoncé concert where a few fans had gathered in the parking lot to play a quick game of touch football.

Super Bowl Goes Dark Minutes After Beyoncé's Performance (UPDATE)

Taylor Berman · 02/03/13 09:13PM

Well, that was one way to quiet the lip-synching haters/give credence to rumors of Illuminati: Minutes after Beyoncé's inspired performance and just moments after a record-setting kickoff return from the Baltimore Ravens' Jacoby Jones, power went out in over half of the Superdome. CBS's James Brown said the outage was caused by a power surge. Another CBS reporter who spoke with NFL officials said the blackout was caused after an outside power source was lost. NFL and stadium officials reset the lights and, after a 35-minute delay, power was restored. So far, no official reason has been given but, for now, certain groups are denying responsibility:

Taylor Berman · 02/03/13 07:45PM

President Obama said the Boy Scouts of America should lift their ban on gay members.

Mallory Ortberg · 02/03/13 03:45PM

To deny the Illuminati exists is to strengthen it. By the transitive property, Kanye West has made Pusha T a member.

Police Just Love Lying

Max Rivlin-Nadler · 02/03/13 03:20PM

Across the country, police officers have very little incentive to tell the truth. Is that such a crazy thing to say?

This Week in 'Million-Dollar' Biblical Archaeology Lawsuits: A Breakdown

Mallory Ortberg · 02/03/13 02:35PM

Simcha Jacobovici, the Canadian documentary director who claimed in 2011 to have found two of the nails used to crucify Jesus, is suing archaeologist Joe Zias for libel. There are few things more enjoyable than fights between academics, particularly when one of the academics is being accused of pandering and sensationalism. The blog posts fly thick and fast, the Change.org petitions sing with wounded intellectual pride ("we the undersigned simply and collegially request that Mr. Jacobovici abandon his lawsuit"), and everyone gets a chance to play.

The Gawker Super Bowl Roundup

Max Read · 02/03/13 01:08PM

The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII, but there almost wasn't any second half at all — an electrical screw-up at the Superdome plunged the stadium into darkness just a few minutes after Beyoncé's jaw-dropping halftime performance. Read on for more about the Blackout Bowl: