Rich People Force Their Dogs to Live in Beautiful, Ramshackle Mansions

Caity Weaver · 06/28/12 06:22PM

The always-infuriating New York Times Style section featured a story Thursday about insanely expensive dog houses. It was an article tailor-made made to generate the piquant brand of blind rage specific to every story featured by the always-infuriating New York Times Style section.

Is MSNBC's Willie Geist Headed to Today?

John Cook · 06/28/12 04:31PM

Now that awkward weirdo Ann Curry has bid an uncomfortable, tear-stained farewell her Today viewers, we're one step closer to learning about the succession plans for America's Only Morning 'News' Show That Was Co-Founded by a Monkey. One possible side effect of the shake-up underway: We hear MSNBC's Willie Geist, whose current gig involves pointing out Joe Scarborough's lies in real time, may end up in Natalie Morales' chair as the show's newsreader.

50 Shades of Grey Is Making E.L. James Even More Money Than You Thought

Leah Beckmann · 06/28/12 04:13PM

50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James—Snowqueens Icedragon to her fans—is purportedly making an estimated $1.34 million a week off her quaint little country romance novel. Having sold 20 million copies and counting, the trilogy is calmly and methodically shattering every previous sales record in the world.

Listen To and Download 'Going Down,' from Idjut Boys' New LP 'Cellar Door'

Max Read · 06/28/12 03:07PM

Daniel Tyler and Conrad McConnell, a.k.a. the Idjut Boys, are finally releasing an album. Not another mix or collection or collaboration: an "artist album" called Cellar Door, designed, McConnell says, for "hav[ing] a cup of coffee and read[ing] the paper." It still sounds like classic Idjuts, though — spacey and shaggy and drenched in echo and reverb — and it's only a matter of time before the whole thing is reworked for one of the pair's legendarily long sets. "Going Down," which we're premiering here, has apparently already been the recipient of a "drum and bassy dub" mix. Not that it needs it.

Remix Everything: BuzzFeed and the Plagiarism Problem

Adrian Chen · 06/28/12 03:05PM

BuzzFeed has built a lucrative business on organizing the internet's confusing spectacle into listicles easily comprehended by even the most numbed office workers. But the site's approach to all content as building blocks for viral lists puts it in an awkward position in relation to internet etiquette and journalistic ethics.

Are Shareholders Ruining Corporations?

Hamilton Nolan · 06/28/12 01:56PM

If you read "the business section" or invest in a "portfolio" or are a member of or have ever gotten into an argument with a member of "the Republican Party," you're probably familiar with the argument that corporations have a moral and legal duty to act solely to grow their value for their own shareholders. If you are not a corporation's shareholder, in other words, it has no duty to do shit for you. Now, this idea is being challenged. BUT: should it be?

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Believe the Hype

Rich Juzwiak · 06/28/12 01:45PM

You want an unadulterated, neatly packaged expression of pride? See Beasts of the Southern Wild. And even if you don't want that, you should still see Benh Zeitlin's arresting first film. Gorgeous, poignant and plainspoken in its achievement of both so as to come off as humble, this movie exists to make adverbs modify the word "original." "Boldly original" says Movieline. "Strikingly original," says Entertainment Weekly. "Fiercely original," says Hitflix. "Dazzlingly original," says the Sydney Morning Herald.

Today's Song: R. Kelly 'Love Is'

Rich Juzwiak · 06/28/12 01:35PM

This week sees the release of the 11th R. Kelly album, Write Me Back. It's a follow-up of sorts to 2010's retro-tender Love Letter and just as wonderful of a spotlight for the best male voice in contemporary R&B, period. Like before, it's straightforward soul that's mopped of any potential pee jokes.

Everyone Stop Blowing John Roberts (Including the Right Wing)

Mobutu Sese Seko · 06/28/12 12:42PM

John Roberts, former character actor as "the dad who wears khaki shorts and stands with his hands on his hips a lot," joined the liberal wing of the Supreme Court in upholding the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." In doing so, he gave a lot of people who don't pay attention reason to celebrate him on Twitter. They're idiots.