We’re not sure exactly what’s behind the recent nail art explosion, but as long as it continues to produce amazing pop-culture tributes on a tiny, personal scale, it has our attention. Last week, we brought you the blood-flecked fingertips of a Dexter groupie and some Arrested Development Mr. Banana Grabber press-ons in our roundup of amazing TV-inspired nails. Before that, we went highbrow with literary nail art paying tribute to everyone from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Harry Potter. Now, nail art superfans, are you ready to rock ‘n’ roll? Today’s haul of musician-inspired nail art includes a dazzling riff on David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, a set of crazy Nicki Minaj claws, and even a perfectly executed Daniel Johnston manicure.

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Ugh. As if Amy Winehouse’s untimely demise weren’t already tragic enough, yet another worrisome complication has emerged. NME reports that one of the coroners who declared the singer’s death a result of “misadventure” and revealed the cause to be extreme alcohol poisoning was not qualified for her post. And the story gets pretty ridiculous from there. Suzanne Greenaway, who participated in the inquest into Winehouse’s death, was appointed Assistant Deputy Coroner by her husband, Inner North London Coroner Dr. Andrew Scott Reid. The only problem, besides obvious nepotism? Greenaway resigned in November after it came out that she didn’t meet the basic legal requirements for the position. Now, each of the 30 inquests she spearheaded — including Winehouse’s — could be declared illegal if challenged in Britain’s high court. [via Spinner]

1. Apparently Amy Winehouse’s father was unhappy with Jean Paul Gaultier’s catwalk tribute to the late singer, which took place last night in Paris. “We’re proud of her influence on fashion but find black veils on models, smoking cigarettes with a barbershop quartet singing her music in bad taste,” he reportedly told The Sun. “It portrays a view of Amy when she was not at her best, and glamorizes some of the more upsetting times in her life. That’s upsetting for her family.” [via NME]

2. After meeting Radiohead at a music festival in Poland, minimalist composer Steve Reich is planning to premiere a new work at London’s Southbank Centre that is based on two of the band’s songs, “Everything In its Right Place” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.” Look for the piece to debut in March 2013. [via P4K]

3. Lana Del Rey has purchased the rights to the 2010 album that she recorded back when she was still Lizzie Grant, and she’s planning to re-release it this summer. [via Vulture]

4. A new $803 million complex designed by starchitect Renzo Piano that is supposedly “broadly reminiscent of the Acropolis” is set to go up on the site south of Athens that was home to the 2004 Olympics. The ambitious project will include a national library, opera house, and a 42-acre park. [via The Architect's Newspaper]

5. Live Earth founder Kevin Wall is helping to launch the inaugural Tadasana Festival, a new three-day yoga event that will take place in Santa Monica over Earth Day Weekend. Along with over 100 yoga classes and workshops, the festival will feature performances by world music artists like Karsh Kale, Hassan Hakmoun, Cheb i Sabbah, and Vishal Vaid. [via Billboard]

Bonus Buzz: NASA’s Incredible New High Resolution Photograph of Earth

1. Donald Trump has revealed the lineup for the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice, and the rather depressing roster of “celebrities” includes Arsenio Hall, Clay Aiken, Dee Snider, Debbie Gibson, and Real Housewives star Teresa Giudice. [via Deadline]

2. Les Miserables director Tom Hooper has offered the choice roles of Eponine and Cosette to Taylor Swift and Amanda Seyfried, respectively. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Sacha Baron Cohen are already on board the project. [via Collider]

3. Pop icons (and longtime mutual admirers) Madonna and Kylie Minogue are finally going to be performing a duet together as part of a British TV special honoring Minogue’s 25th anniversary in music. Any guesses as to what they’ll sing? [via Vulture]

4. The Kardashians are rumored to be launching a new magazine with American Media, the publisher of Star, The National Enquirer, and Shape. Word is that the girls will be involved with the project editorially, but it’s unclear at the point whether it will be more of a fanzine or a lifestyle title. [via NYP]

5. Patti Smith wrote a song inspired by Amy Winehouse that will appear on her next album. “We were at [New York studio] Electric Lady doing a whole other song and I wrote Amy a little poem when she died and my bass player, Tony Shanahan, wrote a piece of music and the two matched perfectly.” [via NME]

Bonus Buzz: 30 Billboards That’ll Make You Say WTF

You couldn’t have a VH1 Divas special in the second half of 2011 without paying tribute to one of the 21st century’s greatest divas, Amy Winehouse. That goes double for an installment devoted to soul music. Last night’s Divas assembled some of the best pipes in the business, including Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Chaka Khan, and Mavis Staples, with the ubiquitous Roots serving as house band. But the segment that pushed us to the verge of tears was a celebration of Winehouse’s career, including a personal remembrance from her friend Nas and performances of “Back to Black” by Florence Welch and “You Know I’m No Good” by Sharon Jones and Wanda Jackson (who also covered the song for her latest, Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain’t Over). Watch Divas’ Amy Winehouse tribute after the jump, and see more clips from the special at Prefix. Read More »

1. Remember the nude sketch that Tony Bennett did of Lady Gaga for Vanity Fair per Annie Leibovitz’s suggestion? Well, it’s now up for auction on eBay, with the proceeds going to Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and Bennett’s Exploring The Arts. [via NME]

2. “I have heard that Lady Gaga is keen to play Amy in a film. I don’t know what her English accent is like but it’s not just an English accent she would have to perfect – it’s an English-Cockney-Jewish accent so she better start practicing now. But she would be great.” — Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch, as quoted by The Mirror. Meanwhile The Daily Mail is reporting that he says that there will never be a film. Which UK tabloid do we trust?!

3. Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp were on Rock Center last night discussing their talented son, Marcel the Shell, with host Brian Williams. Watch the adorable interview (which takes place in their adorable Brooklyn apartment) here.

4. Evidently, James Franco is now writing movie reviews for The Paris Review. He also narrates the new documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter, which comes out on DVD today.

5. You know that you need to watch SNL cast member Taran Killam re-create Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” video. Why doesn’t he get to do stuff like this on the show? [via Vulture]

Bonus Buzz: 26 Of The Best Of The Worst Family Holiday Cards

A little earlier this year, we ran an article about the things we felt were wrong with indie music in 2011. One of the points we mentioned was that a lot of music (indie or otherwise) has become a sort of endless spin cycle of recurring trends that come around in metronomic 20-year phases. We stand behind this observation, but in retrospect, we feel we could have argued the point a wee bit better (as Simon Reynolds does in his must-read book, Retromania) — we don’t mean to imply that all bands who take their cues from the past are terrible, because there’s clearly a fine line between inspiration and pastiche, and there are many excellent bands who fall on the right side of that line. With the release of Amy Winehouse’s posthumous compilation this week, we thought we’d look back at her career, and also some other fine throwback artists who’ve adorned the last decade. Read More »

And to think we used our smarty-pants Waste Land intro last month. As we should have remembered, November is a cornucopia of releases compared to the barren expanse that is December — unless, of course, you’re into Christmas albums, AOR piffle, and commercial hip-hop, in which case you’re probably not reading this in the first place. If you are still reading, then you’ll be happy to know that we’ve crossed the desert and found ourselves ten new releases that really are going to be worth hearing in December. Result. Check out our selections after the jump, and let us know if there’s anything else on your Christmas list that we’ve missed. Read More »

Amy Winehouse’s label is due to release her posthumous album Lioness in December, but to slake your Winehouse-lust until then, they’ve just released a video for the late soul diva’s cover of “Our Day Will Come,” originally made famous by ’60s R&B crooners Ruby And The Romantics. And popular wisdom says to get it while the getting’s good — according to The Guardian, at least a dozen of Winehouse’s unfinished tracks will never see the light of day, and will remain locked in the bowels of Island Records, per the singer’s request. For instance, there’s this song “Procrastinate” that is pretty good.  ”If you ever hear Procrastinate, you have my permission to come into my offices here in Kensington and fire me,” exec Ted Cockle said. Well, as the Guardian pointed out, it’s on YouTube (or a version of it anyway). Click through to watch the video for “Our Day Will Come” and let us know what you think in the comments!

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1. In the most recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast, Adam Scott revealed the exciting news that a production company is interested in doing a “low budget” version of the Party Down movie. All they’re waiting for now is for Starz to sign off on the project. [via Pop Culture Brain]

2. “New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself. What was happening in Zuccotti Park was not that.” – Mayor Bloomberg defends his decision to clear the park in an early morning raid that led to the arrest of about 150 Occupy Wall Street protestors

3. After making us wait for an entire year, Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have finally made a new Marcel the Shell With Shoes On video, you guys! Watch it here.

4. In a new interview with Esquire, former Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark director Julie Taymor says that Bono and the Edge — who weren’t around at the time — publicly described her as “exhausted” and “overwrought” to get her fired: “I think that those were important to paint a picture of a director who you needed to release in order to make this big change. I had to be characterized that way in order for something to happen.” [via ArtsBeat]

5. According to a report in British tabloid The Sun, Pete Doherty is convinced that his apartment is haunted by the ghost of his departed friend Amy Winehouse. [via NME]

Bonus Buzz: Britney Spears Made A Music Video For Marilyn Manson’s “Sweet Dreams”