culture

Nanny-Nanny-Boo-Boo, Fuckers: A Conversation With Kathleen Hanna

Rich Juzwiak · 11/26/13 03:10PM

On Friday, IFC will release to select theaters and via On-Demand, Sini Anderson's 80-minute documentary on the life and career of Kathleen Hanna, The Punk Singer. The film traces Hanna's early days at Olympia, Washington's Evergreen State College through her tenure leading iconic riot grrrl group Bikini Kill, her post as the lead singer of Le Tigre, and her current band the Julie Ruin. Feminist rock icons like Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, Joan Jett, and Kim Gordon are part of the film's venerating chorus, and Hanna's personal life (including father-based trauma, her marriage to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, and her debilitating bout of Lyme disease) is explored in greater detail than ever. Throughout The Punk Singer, its subject remains as outspoken as we've come to expect.

No One Pronounces Rihanna's Name Right, Except for Rihanna (Maybe)

Rich Juzwiak · 11/26/13 11:00AM

In the rare instance that she is made to say her name in public these days, Rihanna pronounces it, "Ree-anna." This is unlike the rest of the world, which pronounces it "Ree-ah-na." This has been a longstanding pet peve of mine (especially because I say it the way she does). It doesn't make sense that people such as her Roc-a-fella boss Jay Z, or her on-again-off-again parasite of a boyfriend, Chris Brown, say it the popular way (have they even listened to her)? Shit went haywire Sunday night during the American Music Awards, when her own mother, Monica Braithwaite, pronounced it onstage with the "ah." After all, Braithwaite had a hand in giving her daughter the name (it's actually her middle name—full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty).

In Defense of Adam Levine

Rich Juzwiak · 11/21/13 03:17PM

I know what you're thinking: Adam Levine needs no defense. The Maroon 5 frontman/Voice judge/sometime actor just won what is among the best-known and most meaningless of all of America's meaningless annual awards, People's Sexiest Man Alive. He does a fine job of defending himself, as he did in his self-mocking "acceptance speech" on last night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Kendrick Lamar Pulled From GQ Party in Response to Mag Profile

Rich Juzwiak · 11/18/13 05:32PM

Last week, rapper Kendrick Lamar was honored among GQ's elite in the magazine's Men of the Year issue. But Lamar's label boss didn't want the honor: Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who represents Top Dawg Entertainment, unceremoniously pulled his artist from the party that accompanied the issue, calling out writer Steve Marsh's profile, "Kendrick Lamar: Rapper of the Year," for its "racial overtones."

Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter Barely Appeared in Her Own Documentary

Rich Juzwiak · 11/12/13 11:40AM

Last night E! aired a special called Life After Anna Nicole: The Larry & Dannielynn Story, which was suposedly about Dannielynn, Anna Nicole's 7-year-old daughter, and the man she made her with, Larry Birkhead. Except it was more like a reality show pilot (seemingly constructed conversations and all), and it wasn't so much Dannielynn's story as Larry Birkhead's. That's disappointing because we've heard a lot from him, while Dannielynn has been sort of shrouded in mystery, despite periodical cameos in the spotlight (including modeling for Guess, just like her mom). The child barely said two dozen words for the entire hour. Still, a lovely kid. Clips of her—the real reason to watch the doc—are above.

Rich Juzwiak · 11/11/13 01:36PM

In further passionate defense of his frequent use of the word "faggot," Tyler the Creator says, "It's just another word that has no meaning." Tyler the Creator, by the way, is a rapper who makes money from his crafting and recitation of words. This is bullshit.

Rich Juzwiak · 11/11/13 12:09PM

Earlier today, Mariah Carey released a single, "The Art of Letting Go," which is teeming with 10-cent words. They include "audacity," "dominion," "evidently," "exceedingly," "liability," "reverberating," "subside." Accordingly, our Mariah Carey glossary has been updated.

Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP Could Never Live Up to Its Name

Rich Juzwiak · 11/08/13 02:30PM

The words "pop" and "art" can be confusing. We use "pop" to describe a piece of music from within and without—it can speak to music's genre, its sensibility, and the reaction to it, sometimes simultaneously. When we use the label "art" to describe what's already evidently art—music, for example—we do it as a way of describing a particular expressiveness or originality or difficulty. We use it to distinguish "artful" art.

Patti LaBelle Does Not Give a Fuck

Rich Juzwiak · 11/04/13 01:05PM

Patti LaBelle was the guest on last night's episode of Oprah's Next Chapter. She regularly furrowed her brow at Oprah's questions, often answering them with a side-eye and a "What!" It was, in short, everything you'd want it to be. Moreover, it was everything, period.

Here's Marilyn Manson's Cameo on Eastbound & Down

Rich Juzwiak · 11/04/13 10:55AM

HBO's Eastbound & Down is out-of-control good this season, which makes its imminent series finale (two episodes left!) really hard to cope with (it's to the extent that typing "imminent series finale" just now hurt my heart). Marilyn Manson made an out-of-makeup (at least the usual makeup) cameo on last night's episode as a roller-rink employee deemed a loser on sight by Danny McBride's antihero character Kenny Powers. Manny's cutting in only to be humiliated. This show is so good I'm sure it was worth it.

A Gay Man and Woman Discuss "the Best Sex I've Ever Seen on Screen"

Rich Juzwiak · 10/27/13 10:02AM

Since its debut earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Abdellatif Kechiche's eventual Palm d'or-winning Blue Is the Warmest Color has been one of the most discussed movies of the year. The three-hour French-language film features about 10 minutes of explicit lesbian sex over three scenes (including one that stretches on for almost seven minutes). Blue's sex caused it to be banned in Idaho, as well as unrest among its lead actresses, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. (Seydoux told New York magazine that she was asked to do things in the movie that made her feel "like a prostitute.")

All 226 Clichés Uttered by Katy Perry on Her New Album, Listed

Rich Juzwiak · 10/24/13 04:33PM

Katy Perry is one of the most bankable contemporary pop singers—"Roar," the first single from her new album Prism, became her eighth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August. Prism is expected to sell about 300,000 copies its first week in stores. It is a dreadful album, way too concerned with preserving Perry's star than using said star to push sonically. It is also dreadful because Perry has absolutely nothing to say.