The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

Share:

1. In an obvious ploy to upstage Alec Baldwin’s news that he’s leaving 30 Rock next year, Tina Fey announced that she is pregnant with her second child while taping an episode of Oprah yesterday: “Who will be my daughter’s family when my husband and I are dead from stress-induced cankers? She must have a sibling.” In all seriousness, perhaps this means that those rumors about the show ending are true. [via Vulture]

2. J. J. Abrams is teaming up with Alive in Necropolis author Doug Dorst to write a novel for Little, Brown, but because this is an Abrams project, there are no details about the top secret plot as of yet. Look for a fall 2012 release on the Mulholland Books imprint. [via NYT]

3. The Grammys is getting a major (and much needed!) makeover: “Men and women will compete head-to-head, some of the more exotic awards like best Native American album and best spoken-word children’s record have been eliminated, and the number of categories has been reduced by more than 30 in the biggest overhaul in the 53-year history of the Grammys.” [via AP]

4. Stone Roses singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire reportedly “buried the hatchet” at bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield’s mother’s funeral and will reunite the band later this year as long as they can get drummer Alan “Reni” Wren on board. [via NME]

5. Javier Bardem is close to signing a deal to play Roland Deschain (“the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers”) in Ron Howard’s epic, multi-film adaptation of Stephen King’s seven-novel series, The Dark Tower. [via Deadline]

Bonus link: How Does the Mona Lisa Look Without Mona Lisa?