Katy Perry

Celebrities’ Punk Rock Selfies From Last Night’s Met Gala

Selfies aren’t just for the layfolk. Even celebrities take them now and again, and last night’s extravagant, punk-themed Met Gala — corresponding with the museum’s latest Costume Institute exhibit, Punk: Chaos to Couture — was an opportune time for the glitterati to take to social media with pictures of their dresses, hairdos, nails, and other accessories (including friends and other fabulous people). We scoured Instagram and Twitter to bring you the best of last night’s selfies. Take a peek through the images below, including a sufficiently punked-up Madonna sporting tartan and rocking a black bob, a very pink Debbie Harry, Katy Perry’s bling-tastic nails, and Zooey Deschanel’s pretty (if questionably punk) hairdo. Oh and, erm, Alicia Keys in a bathrobe. … Read More

Camille Paglia’s Most Culturally Tone-Deaf Moments

Author, critic, self-avowed dissident feminist, and veteran professor of liberal studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Camille Paglia is in many respects a shrewd woman. And yet somehow Paglia has become just as well known for her frankly insipid and often unsound pronouncements about pop culture. Most recently, she wrote an article for The Sunday Times misleadingly comparing Rihanna to Princess Diana. The pop star, who apparently returned home sloshed to find her face melding beautifully into Lady Di’s on the cover of the paper, was thrilled with herself, posting the picture on Instagram, hashtagged with the made-up word: “extraordinaRIHbehavior.” To hold you over until she sees fit to compare Miley Cyrus and Kate Middleton, we’ve rounded up her most culturally tone-deaf moments. … Read More

10 of the Most Disturbing Pop Culture Parodies We've Ever Seen (NSFW)

This week, we heard about a terrifying-sounding SpongeBob SquarePants porn parody entitled SpongeKnob SquareNuts, and we thought to ourselves: but why? Turns out, there are tons of incredibly disturbing pop culture parodies floating around the Internet, just waiting to ruin all of your childhood memories. In case that’s something you want, we’ve collected ten of the most upsetting here for you after the jump. But you’ve been warned. Not disturbing enough? Did we miss your favorite video? Let us know in the comments. … Read More

A Selection of Contemporary Cultural Icons on Feminism

Zooey Deschanel’s recent declaration that she is indeed a feminist, Peter Pan collar and all, inspired us to take a look at a few of the different reactions the controversial term has gotten from contemporary cultural icons over the past few years. Here, a selection of famous women on feminism, their comments ranked from our favorites to our, um, less-favorites. Do you agree?… Read More

This Inspiring Video Might Make You Rethink Katy Perry

Katy Perry is one of those pop stars who usually elicits a major eye roll around these parts. And for a valid reason: it often seems like her career is more about what’s shooting out of her chest than the actual music. But thanks to a clip tweeted by Sarah Silverman from Comedy Central’s upcoming Night of Too Many Stars fundraiser, we’re going to have to revise our feelings about Perry. In the video below, she sings “Firework” with Jodi DiPiazza, a young girl with autism who has used music to help her communicate and express her emotions. What makes their duet all the more incredible: as DiPiazza’s dad explains, at one point he and his wife thought that their daughter would never even be able to speak. We dare you to watch this lovely video without tearing up. … Read More

10 Notoriously Disastrous Musical Performances

Musicians make mistakes, too. They’re only human, after all. But that doesn’t stop us from delighting in a bit of good-natured Schadenfreude when a performance devolves into a total train wreck. This week has seen its share of disappointment when it comes to live music, including an abrupt end to Jack White’s concert at Radio City Music Hall and the Biebs losing his lunch in the middle of a 105-minute-long set. In light of such mishaps, we’ve put together a list of some of the most notoriously awful, embarrassing, or otherwise disastrous live performances in recent history. … Read More

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

Today at Flavorpill, we talked about sex dreams. We saw what it might look like if Disney villains had won, and then we bought t-shirts starring all the wicked characters. We read about movie studio logos and the stories behind them. We chatted with … Read More

Celebrities Dressed Up Like Cartoon Characters

Earlier today we came across this photo of Mindy Kaling as Marge Simpson from the October issue of Glamour Magazine. It was so adorable that we were inspired to do a little digging to see what other images of celebrities as famous cartoon characters we could find lurking in the dark corners of the Internet. Click through to peep the results; we think you’ll be especially surprised by who we caught dressed up like Dora the Explorer. … Read More

The Best and Worst Singles from Repackaged Pop Albums

There comes a time in a pop star’s life when she, her business manager, some barnacles from the major label footing the bill for her latest record, and some other freeloaders gather in a conference room and look at how much money she’s been able to scare up a few singles into an album release. They might decide, “We’ve sold quite a lot of records and people want more!” They may note that people are still buzzing about the artist and suggest, “Say, auspicious pop star, how would you like to record another album quickly so we can make another boatload of bucks?” At this point, the pop star might say, “You know what? I’m tired.” But, plucky as they are, major label types will persist: “Okay, well, we have all these live tracks. We have some b-sides and demos, too. We can master them in Garage Band and have you pose for a new album cover and call it a ‘deluxe edition.’” At this point, the pop star might say, “Sure, fine, is there more Cîroc?” Of course, there is always more Cîroc. … Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. Katy Perry and John Mayer are reportedly no longer dating, but will remain friends. Do you think any interesting songs will come out of their brief affair?

2. Retired cyclist Lance Armstrong has decided not to fight the charges that he currently faces from the US Anti-Doping Agency, which means he’s likely… Read More