1. “Industry sources” report that Apple will begin selling 32- and 37-inch television sets next year. Called iTVs, the devices will supposedly draw on an extensive library of on-demand programming and incorporate everyone’s favorite virtual assistant, Siri. [via Digital Spy]
2. Slash says that he’d like to squash his feud with his former Guns N’ Roses band mate Axl Rose. According to the guitarist, the duo’s rift “got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn’t the focus for me.” [via NME]
3. Interesting hiring decision: Robert “Joe” Halderman, the CBS News producer who served six months in jail for attempting to extort David Letterman, has a new gig on Investigation Discovery’s On the Case with Paula Zahn. Insert tawdry “investigation” and/or “discovery” innuendo here. [via NY Daily News]
4. According to UK tabloid Mirror, the one and only Joan Collins is in talks to appear on Downton Abbey as Maggie Smith‘s cousin – but only if the show does a 2012 Christmas special.
5. Fox Latin America had to apologize after running a delightful Christmas poll asking readers whether they thought Jews killed Jesus. Really. [via AP]
A post Jenny Craig (sorry, Jenny) Mariah Carey paid The Rosie Show a visit yesterday. The pop diva opened her talk show appearance by arriving on a giant, suspended disco-glittery moon. This is the same woman who played her own 1995 live performance of “Fantasy” during the birth of her new twins Moroccan and Monroe so they would be born to the sound of applause. (Yes, really.) The singer’s awkward lunar landing calls to mind many celebrity talk show appearances where the stars veered off topic — sometimes avoiding it completely — and humiliated themselves in front of the world with oddball behavior and confusing conversation. Click through to revisit some seriously weird celebrity talk show moments, and let us know who you’d add to the list below. Read More »
1. Bravo has announced the new cast for the ninth season of Top Chef, along with the show’s premiere date (November 2) and guest stars (Pee-wee Herman!, Charlize Theron, Patti LaBelle). [via Pop Candy]
2. Watch the hour-long set that Wilco played for David Letterman last night here. The band’s eighth studio album (and the first album for its homemade label), The Whole Love, hits stores next Tuesday.
3. So much for riding Mad Men’s coattails: Last night’s premiere of NBC’s new show The Playboy Clubtotally bombed, bringing in just five million viewers and finishing in last at its timeslot. [via The Daily Beast]
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a deal with Simon & Schuster to release his memoir, tentatively titled Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, next October, but according to a source, “Partial Recall: Shit I Feel Like Telling You,” would be a much better name for the book. [via Gawker]
5. Say hello to my little friend again: Universal plans to release a new version of Scarface, but it won’t be a remake of or a sequel to either of the two previous versions of the classic film. [via Deadline]
1. David Letterman has reportedly been marked for death by a jihadist group because he “gloated” on air about the recent death of Osama bin Laden‘s Pakistani lieutenant Ilyas Kashmiri. While his show is currently on summer hiatus, its production company, Worldwide Pants, wouldn’t comment on the threat. [via The Daily News]
2. This is the world we live in: Some exciting new words have been added to the latest edition of the Concise English Oxford Dictionary, including retweet, sexting, jeggings, and mankini. [via Gizmodo]
3. Is it just us, or is it kind of funny watching Christine O’Donnell storm out of her interview with Piers Morgan last night after he asks her about gay marriage and her thoughts on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy? [via Jezebel]
4. Speaking of funny, last week The Game thought it would be hilarious to post a phone number to Twitter that his followers could call about getting a music internship, but — wait for it — in reality it was the number for the Compton Sheriff’s office. Now, the rapper has apologized for his little prank, explaining on CNN that it “a joke gone wrong.” [via Gawker]
5. We think the album art for Björk’s Biophilia is pretty awesome — particularly her wig.
1. We’re not sure what to think about the fact that Lenny Kravitz has been cast as Cinna, Katniss Everdeen’s subversive stylist, in the forthcoming film adaption of The Hunger Games. Says director Gary Ross: “When I saw Lenny’s work in Precious I was just knocked out. It was quiet and strong and understated and open hearted; all qualities which define this character. I’m really looking forward to this ride.” [via THR]
2. Bono and the Edge are set to perform songs from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on tonight’s American Idol season finale alongside cast members of the Broadway musical. What we’re wondering: Do you think there’s any overlap between the kind of people who like U2 and the ones who care whether Scotty McCreery or Lauren Alaina wins? [via Billboard]
3. In case you missed the awkward flirting last night, find the best parts from Lady Gaga’s first ever interview with David Lettermanhere.
4. The History Channel has given the go ahead to The Bible, a “10-hour, CGI-heavy miniseries” from Survivor producer Mark Burnett, making it his first scripted TV project. Considering what the network did to The Kennedys, we’re betting that poor Charlton Heston is turning over in his grave. [via USA Today]
5. The dangers of Middle Earth: Two people have been hospitalized after an accident on the set of Peter Jackson’s much beleaguered two-film adaptation of The Hobbit. According to a publicist for the movie, it occurred in a production workshop when “a couple of the guys” were drilling on a statue, and they sustained “mild burns but nothing serious.” [via ArtsBeat]
1. ArtsBeat is reporting that the opening of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Lights will now be pushed from January 11 until sometime in February. This will allow time for the creators to make several changes, including changing the final number, rewriting the dialogue, adding new music from the composers, U2’s Bono and the Edge.
2. Watch David Letterman’s hilarious tribute to Larry King, who hosted Larry King Live for the last time last night, complete with a Larry blooper reel. [via Gawker.tv]
3. Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are pitching a new movie! According to the LA Times, “While the plot is being kept under tight wraps — it’s a pitch, so a script has yet to be written, and Kaufman movies are famously hard to describe in a few sentences anyway — two people familiar with the project said it has been making the rounds to independent financiers in recent weeks.”
4. Yesterday Anne Hathaway surprised the kids from the PS22 Chorus with the news that they’ll be performing at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on February 27th. Watch a video of their reaction.
5. An anonymous LA street artist has put a new work in response to MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch’s decision to paint over another artist’s mural that he had commissioned: “The wheat-pasted mural depicts the face of Deitch on the body of an Iranian ayatollah holding an extension pole with a paint roller at the end — and it’s set against Italian street artist Blu’s now-controversial anti-war imagery.” [via Culture Monster]
1. It turns out that Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem got hitched earlier this month in the Bahamas. We wish them a marriage full of all of the passion and none of the drama of their onscreen romance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and lots of insanely beautiful babies. [via US Weekly ]
2. Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are getting married too; all he had to do was publicly grovel, disown his sister, and take their baby, Tripp, for a walk. [via Gawker]
3. Last night M.I.A. self-replicated during a performance of “Born Free” on Letterman. She was joined by Suicide’s Martin Rev. (video) [via Vulture]
4. If we’re all very, very lucky, then Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch could become a state park. Sadly, most of the rides have been dismantled and sold. [via Billboard]
5. Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said the FCC‘s indecency rules are “too vague and violate the First Amendment, undermining the government’s primary tool for policing civility over the airwaves.” [via WaPo]
1. David Goyer and Jonah Nolan have started working on a script for their follow up to The Dark Knight. [via The Playlist]
2. The story behind that Leno-Letterman-Oprah Super Bowl promo (In other news, The Late Showhas hired its first female writer!) [via USA Today]
3. There’s a Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot in the works, but it won’t feature Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. [via Vulture]
4. Comic book god Neil Gaiman is writing an episode of Doctor Who which will air in 2011. [via BBC]
5. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has raised $250 million in just six months, largely to help expand their space for the massive Donald Fisher Collection. [via Unbeige]
Bonus Giveaway: We use Yahoo! Search to help find the top culture stories of the day. Now we’re giving you the chance to play editor, and you just might win a trip to Coachella.
1. Jawbox, a beloved Washington D.C. punk band that had not performed together since 1997, reunited last night on Jimmy Fallon. There are no future concerts planned outside of the appearance. (video) [via ArtsBeat]
2. David Letterman is now on Twitter. [via PopCandy]
3. Steven Soderbergh‘s Spalding Gray documentary, And Everything Is Going Fine, will world premiere at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival. [via Variety]
4. Rivers Cuomo is on the mend after last weekend’s tour bus accident, which made a small puncture to his lung and cut his spleen. [via Vulture]
5. While we find this almost impossible to believe, an early cut suggests that MacGruber is the best SNL movie since Wayne’s World. [via Slashfilm]
, and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
