The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

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1. If you missed last night’s installment of The Office (which was Steve Carell’s penultimate episode), watch the cast sing a strangely touching parody of Rent’s “Seasons of Love” here. (Warning: it made us tear up a bit.)

2. This photo of Rupert Grint (the kid who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films) allegedly smoking from a bong is currently making the rounds. We always figured Fred and George for stoners, but never Ron — what would Hermione think?

3. “I’ve never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality — period. I don’t blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited. You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship.” – Mel Gibson finally speaks out on the Oksana tapes

4. Weird but true: Chinese author Zhang Yiyi is planning to undergo 10 surgeries over a 10-month period — and spend an estimated $150,000 — to sculpt his face to look exactly like William Shakespeare’s mug because he wants to “let the people across the world mourn” one of world’s greatest writers. [via Herald Sun]

5. “I’m going to sail the Nile before it’s all over. I would like to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx… I want to do Broadway — on my terms.”- Some items on 69-year-old Aretha Franklin’s bucket list

Bonus link: In honor of Earth Day, 10 of the most polluted places on Earth