culture

"Harlem Shake" Creator Insists His Viral Smash Hasn't Made Him Money

Camille Dodero · 08/19/13 06:11AM

Baauer is the 24-year-old trap-rave producer whose future-crunk behemoth “Harlem Shake” soundtracked Norwegian army drills, morning-show derp squads, school suspensions, an FAA investigation, a fiery fall, and a mass stabbing among perhaps a zillion other flash-mob dancing demonstrations, thanks to a craze perhaps orchestrated by corporations. But despite debuting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after chart rules changed to incorporate YouTube streams, the Brooklyn-based DJ insists that his best-known smash hasn't directly earned him money. How could that be?

Camille Dodero · 08/17/13 08:00AM

Color Me Badd broke up. Spoiler alert: They were back together.

The Week in Movies: Jobs, The Butler, Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 05:00PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

Cutie and the Boxer is a Tough Love Story

Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 04:45PM

In one of the final scenes of Zachary Heinzerling's documentary, Cutie and the Boxer, the 80-year-old artist Ushio Shinohara looks over a book of his works entitled Love is a Roarrrr!!. He likes the final word, but says he doesn't understand why it's preceded by a comparison to love. "Who put 'love is'?" Ushio asks his wife, another artist, named Noriko. She points to herself. "Why? Because I think so: Love is a roar. I found out by experience in my life. Love is a roar."

More, Merrier: Showtime's Polyamory: Married and Dating Is Back

Rich Juzwiak · 08/15/13 04:19PM

So much new love and sex is thriving in the four-person, two-couple pod profiled on Showtime’s reality series Polyamory: Married and Dating. Tonight’s Season 2 premiere is something of a cram session to catch us up: Kamala is dating her business partner Jason, who is 10 years her junior. Michael, Kamala’s husband, has been dating Rachel for a few months. This is his first lover outside of the pod, and Kamala is “pretty thrilled” about that. Their lovers, Jen and her husband Tahl, have been living with Michael and Kamala for about a year, nearly as long as Jen's been dating Jesse. Tahl’s new girlfriend is named Tziporah, whom Tahl describes as “my little Spanish gypsy, she’s just cute.” Tahl is also out this season as bisexual. “This is who I am. I’m a bisexual poly man,” he beams.

Maggie Lange · 08/14/13 12:17PM

Prepare to high-five a million Tina Fey angels: she's developing a new show for NBC, that should be like "Cheers... on Fire Island." What? Whatever, I mean obviously we'll take it.

Lionel Shriver's Paragraph on the "Crack High" of Beauty Is Perfect

Rich Juzwiak · 08/13/13 04:16PM

For New York magazine's fall fashion interview, Lionel Shriver (known for novels like We Need To Talk About Kevin and So Much for That, as well as her journalism) wrote an essay about beauty and obesity and their manifestations in literature and life. The whole of "Warning: I Will Employ the Word 'Fat'" (posted two days ago on online) is terrific, but this early paragraph on feeling beautiful is particularly perfect:

Stephen Colbert on Daft Punk Feud: “I Found the Whole Thing Joyful”

Rich Juzwiak · 08/13/13 02:20PM

Stephen Colbert has shed more light on last Tuesday's episode-long Colbert Report response to MTV barring Daft Punk from playing his show. On comedian Paul Mecurio's podcast, Colbert explained that there was trouble with booking Daft Punk from the start — they didn't want to perform "Get Lucky" or be interviewed (since part of the Daft Punk members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter's schtick is that they are robots who do not speak). "I’m beginning to see why they don’t do TV," Colbert recalled thinking weeks ago, during the negotiations for the proposed appearance.

The Week in Movies: Elysium, Prince Avalanche, Lovelace, and Planes

Maggie Lange · 08/09/13 05:30PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.