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By Zachary Swickey
"Into the Wild" star Emile Hirsch hasn’t been around much since 2009’s "Taking Woodstock," and now, perhaps we know why: He's been working real hard on his directorial debut ... a music video for Daft Punk's "Alive," a song that was released 14 years ago.

We're not really sure why Hirsch chose the song — which comes at the tail end of Daft Punk's epochal 1997 album Homework — but we've got to admit, he's got quite the directorial flair: His video features a scrawny, skeevily-moustached Ace Norton (a director in his own right, having done clips for the likes of Norah Jones, She & Him and Bloc Party), as a amateur weightlifting enthusiast gearing up for battle against a more toned opponent, actor Frankie Levangie.

So, of course it features plenty of montages, including some spirited beach workouts, a touch of skateboarding, extreme Creatine chugging, and, of course, an epic final face-off, which, in a twist worthy of a thousand Shyamalans, turns out to be an epic dance-off that recalls Michael Jackson's "Bad" video ... or Mac's "karate dance" from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

So far, neither Hirsch or Daft Punk have actually commented on the vid, but it is the first — and, so far, only — upload the actor has posted on his personal YouTube channel. And while we certainly appreciate his unique approach to directing, perhaps next time, he can choose a more current song as source material. Like, say, OutKast's "SpottieOttieDopaliscious," which totally came out in 1998.

Tags daft-punk, music videos, shirtless dudes

By Rya Backer

Long (OK, two weeks) before last night's Elimination Heard Around the World, there was the Judges' Save Heard Around the World, when on Casey Abrams was given a second chance to play his upright bass for all the country to see. Because nobody was eliminated that week, a double send-off was promised the week after, and on March 31, Thia Megia and Naima Adedapo bid farewell and one final "Boom, fiyah!" to the viewing audience.

The pair landed in our studio on Monday for an interview, as is routine with all ousted "Idol" contestants, and following talk about eliminations and just how well they all got along, we delved into a set of 10 irreverent questions to help us better get to know our fallen Idols. The Q&A usually makes its debut during our weekly live roundup of all things Idol, "Idol Party Live," but with the show on hiatus until next week, we still couldn't resist sharing their answers.

So watch on to discover what Naima may title her debut album and what her least-favorite word is. Learn who each lady's favorite member of TLC was. And feel fairly old when Thia admits that she has no idea who New Kids on the Block is.
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Tags American Idol, Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia

America, we need to talk. I get it, the viewers of "American Idol" are mostly teenage girls who are clearly not interested in seeing an attractive woman win the show. And I also get that you're all feeling a bit lost without Simon Cowell telling you what to think and pointing out when your beloved singers are way, way off and not really star material.

But really? Pia Toscano? You couldn't throw in an extra vote for her amid your 57 furious texts for no-chance-in-hell-of-having-a-pop-career (see Taylor Hicks) Casey Abrams? You've made this bed and you'll have to lie in it for the rest of the season. Honestly, I really, really did not see this coming.

Nor did my fellow experts, since none of us even had Pia on our bottom-three radar yesterday, when we all confidently pegged gospel goofball Jacob Lusk as the surefire bootee. In case you're keeping score at home, that's four women in a row eliminated to zero males, leaving just two ladies standing amid a gaggle of six men.

"I am not surprised at all," said Village Voice music editor Maura Johnston. "I think the biggest problem was her aesthetic; she's a throwback to a style that just isn't popular right now. Say what you will about the return of theme weeks forcing all the contestants to be a little bit throwbacky in their choices, but the Celine/Whitney/Mariah aesthetic is just not really a thing on 'Idol' [right now]."
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Tags American Idol, Pia Toscano

On Thursday, much to the delight of Stanley Tucci enthusiasts and students of meta-comedy the world over, the Beastie Boys premiered a teaser clip for "Fight For Your Right Revisited," their short film that chronicles the events that transpired following their epochal 1987 video of the same name (or, as the B-Boys put it, "the long-ass video thing.")

Featuring appearances by pretty much everybody — Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Jack Black, Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, Susan Sarandon, the aforementioned Tucci and Seth Rogen, to name just a few — it's most certainly a celebrified thing, but it also manages to rise above the usual cameo crap-heap by being really clever, too, filled with wink-wink nods to the Beastie's past, Ferrell's legendary "More Cowbell!" "SNL" sketch, and even the late, lamented "Arrested Development" ("Come On!")

In short, it's everything you could possibly want from a celeb-heavy clip, but is that enough to earn it a place amongst the all-time best? Here's a look at some of its competition ... the greatest celebrified music videos of all time:

» Vampire Weekend, "Giving Up The Gun:" Featured guests include the RZA, Lil Jon, Joe Jonas and, most memorably, a flask-guzzling Jake Gyllenhaal, all of whom channel their inner McEnroe in this tennis-heavy clip.

» The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, "Talk About The Blues:" Sure, the JSBX star in this video (in some sort of murder-mystery/heist sub-plot), but the real stars are the folks they got to play the band themselves — Winona Ryder, Giovanni Ribisi and John C. Reilly — who positively kill it here, particularly Ryder, who screeches and wails and actually looks like Spencer himself.

» Jamie Foxx, "Blame It:" A glossy, flossy clip that's most memorable for the inexplicable cameos it features, including Gyllenhaal (again!), Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Quincy Jones and, for reasons totally never explained, Ron Howard. None of them actually do much aside from post up in the club, but we do learn that, for a 57-year-old with male-pattern baldness, Howard has a surprising amount of swag.

» Moby, "We Are All Made Of Stars:" The celebrity video as social commentary, featuring a host of Hollywood F-Listers — Kato Kaelin, Vern Troyer, Corey Feldman, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and Ron Jeremy, to name just a few — hard-living rockers like Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro, and glamorous folks like Molly Sims and Dominique Swain (and, of course, the Toxic Avenger), each fighting to keep their 15 minutes ticking. Deep indeed.

» Michael Jackson, "Remember The Time:" Like many MJ clips, this one is a big-budget, big-name affair, loaded with special effects, elaborate sets, and, of course, head-scratching celebrity cameos, including Eddie Murphy and Iman as Egyptian royalty, Magic Johnson and Tiny "Zeus" Lister. Oh, and Jackson appears as a hooded wizard with the ability to disappear into a cloud of dust. Y'know, just your average, run-of-the-mill thing.

» Johnny Cash, "God's Gonna Cut You Down:" Filmed three years after the Man in Black's passing, this somber clip is nothing but celebrity cameos. In order: Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Terrence Howard, Flea, Q-Tip, Adam Levine, Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Kate Moss, Sir Peter Blake, Sheryl Crow, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee, Tommy Lee, the Dixie Chicks, Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Bono, Shelby Lynne, Anthony Kiedis, Travis Barker, Lisa Marie Presley, Kid Rock, Jay-Z, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Depp, Graham Nash, Brian Wilson, Rick Rubin, Owen Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Phew.

» Michael Jackson, "Liberian Girl:" The celebrity video to end all celebrity videos, Jackson showed just how much clout he truly possessed by lining up cameos by basically every gigantic star of the late '80s, a list that included everyone from Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Brigitte Nielsen, Carl Weathers, Paula Abdul and Whoopi Goldberg to Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Danny Glover and Richard Dreyfuss. Shoot, even Steven Spielberg shows up here, and he didn't even direct the thing. More proof that, at his peak, no one was as powerful as the King of Pop.

Tags beastie-boys, Celebrity, Lists, Michael Jackson

By Jett Wells

Smaller, better, faster, shorter. No, these aren’t the lyrics to a Daft Punk remix; it’s just the mantra of America's post-Google culture. If our entertainment and technology is getting faster, shorter and more efficient as consumer attention span shrinks at an alarming rate, should our award shows be any different?

The answer, apparently, is no. On Wednesday, the Grammys announced they’re shrinking the awards show by shaving off 31 total awards, downsizing from a whopping 109 categories to 78 (for comparison's sake, the Academy Awards only have 24). Such a drastic move makes one think the glamorous award ceremony just came off a rough few years, ratings-wise, but that couldn’t be further from the truth; the 2011 Grammys posted the best ratings in 10 years, so why the change?

It’s not so much a numbers game, but an outreach issue; by taking away some of what, to the average music fan, could be viewed as esoteric niche categories, the Grammys are — as Recording Academy president Neil Portnow put it — "demonstrat[ing] its dedication to keeping the Academy a pertinent and responsive organization in our dynamic music community." Simply put, the Grammys needed a good haircut, thought there might be even bigger problems ahead.

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Tags Grammys, Opinion

The one thing we could all agree on this week is that it’s getting harder and harder to figure out who might go home each week.

Last week’s thinning of the herd took down bland teen Thia Megia and Naima Adedapo, a spirited performer America just didn’t seem ready for. But Wednesday (April 6) night’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show didn’t make it any easier to pick who will get the hook this week.

I personally thought James Durbin made a big mistake with his shaky ballad treatment of George Harrison’s "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," which just showed off how weak his vocals are when you really focus on them.

But, like my fellow experts, I had to put the X on gospel good-guy Jacob Lusk, who just took a turn for the weird this week when he made a somewhat threatening comment to viewers about how if they eliminate him, it’s because they are somehow uncomfortable with themselves. Plus, the fire seems to have just gone out of his eyes lately and I’ve wondered all along how you market his peculiar talents to a Carrie Underwood-craving audience?

MTV News’ "Idol" expert Jim Cantiello said it is, frankly, insane, that we’re only down to nine contestants and there doesn’t appear to be any deadweight laying around. "Typically the eliminations don't hurt until Top 6," he said. But, sucking it up, Cantiello said it’s probably the end of the road for early favorite Lusk as well. "His opening spot didn't earn him any favors (nor did that head-to-toe white outfit), but what might do him in was more of what he said than what he sang," Cantiello noted of Lusk’s odd preamble to his shaky performance of Michael Jackson’s "Man in the Mirror."

Not to sound too much like Randy, but Jim said "Mirror" was just, well, pitchy and forgettable, dog, unlike the song Lusk abandoned over his moral convictions, Marvin Gaye’s "Let’s Get it On," which gave him goosebumps. If not Jacob, Cantiello said Stefano Langone might be in trouble again, since his "When a Man Loves a Woman" was a carbon copy of his last three ballads. And, after a few weeks where women dominated the bottom three, he said the final slot will probably belong to toothy strummer Paul McDonald, who, despite getting the final "pimp" spot, is already on probation with voters after hitting the bottom three last week.

"There's only so much Paul can do with that frog voice and at the end of the day, 'Idol' is a singing competition," Jim said.

Read more of our "Idol" reactions — and our bottom-three picks — below! Read more...

Tags American Idol, Jacob Lusk, predictions

On September 25, 2010, Cee Lo's (now ubiquitous) "F--- You" officially debuted on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, rising to a peak position of #18 within a few weeks before quickly — and, rather unceremoniously — falling off the chart altogether by the end of November.

Of course, within weeks, thanks to a pop-culture groundswell that included a plumb spot on an episode of "Glee" (in Gwyneth Paltrow belted it out as "Forget You,") a spoken-word cover by William Shatner, and, of course, an armload of Grammy nominations (including both Record and Song of the Year), "F--- You" was back on the Pop chart ... and from that moment on, it began a slow-but-steady climb to the top that culminated Thursday, when the tune finally reached #1 ... and made a bit of history in the process.

Because, according to Billboard, "F--- You's" ascension to #1 officially completes the longest journey to the top of the Pop Songs chart in its 18-year history, a voyage that took 25 weeks to complete, breaking a mark first set in 2006-07, when Pink's "U + Ur Hand" reached #1 after a 23-week climb.

All told, "F--- You" has spent 30 weeks on the Pop chart, which ranks songs based on total radio spins. The song has also reached as high as #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, and has sold more than 3.7 million downloads to date ... oh, and, of course, it got the deluxe Grammy treatment, too, as Cee Lo and Paltrow (and a whole bunch of puppets) performed a memorable duet of the song during the big show.

And speaking of big shows, Cee Lo has just been confirmed as a judge on NBC's upcoming talent competition "The Voice," a show on which, we suspect, we'll hear "F--- You" several times; though not always in song form, of course.

Tags Cee-Lo, Charts, gwyneth-paltrow, History

Wednesday night's "American Idol" was supposed to be all about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But leave it to Jimmy Iovine's sleepwalking producers and Nigel Lythgoe's showbiz pizzazz to make it rock softer than an Air Supply acoustic album.

That's not to say the top nine of "American Idol X: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain" didn't give it their all and then some. This may go down as the sweatiest "Idol" episode ever. Did Idolland's air conditioning break, or is there a fire within these contestants causing them to look like James Brown on PCP?

As an added challenge this week, producers handicapped the girls by forcing them to wear Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. collection of leopard-print diapers and silk tube-top jumpsuits. I guess they really don't want the Season 10 "Idol" to have a vagina. Paging Gloria Steinem!
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Tags American Idol

For her "Till the World Ends" video, Britney Spears (with an assist from director Ray Kay) is back to doing what she does best in music videos: wearing sexy clothes, grinding with hot guys and throwing one really sweaty, underground dance party.

After she delved deeper for her "Hold It Against Me" video, Spears looks to be having fun again, smiling, laughing and seeming generally happy to be thrown into the middle of a dance orgy.

Halfway through the clip, which is already ripe with "Slave 4 U" references, Spears sits among her people, dripping in perspiration, looking lustfully into the camera. The comparisons will certainly not be lost on any Spears fan who will notice that this scene is almost identical to the one that takes place in "Slave." OK, so maybe this time no one's getting licked, but Spears once again finds herself surrounded by sweaty dancers.

All that sweat seems pretty authentic, given the shooting conditions Spears worked in for the video. "The set was a little much. It was grimy and gross and it felt like there was poop everywhere when there wasn't," she recalled of the L.A. area March video shoot. "It was sweat and it was disgusting sometimes. ... [I] tough it out," she laughed.

Did you make the "Till the World Ends" and "Slave 4 U" connection? Let us know in the comments!

Tags britney spears

By Zachary Swickey
Who better to create a "lifestyle" Web site than Mr. White Louis Boat Shoes, Jay-Z? Dubbed Life+Times, the intriguing new site covers all the dinner-party topics: art, technology, music, sports, and even leisure. Shoot, Jigga even has his own section, the aptly-named "Jay’s," which currently displays a pic of an epic sunset with the title "Peace GOD" emblazoned above. It is strangely Zen. And over in the "About" section, Jay lays out his mission statement for the site: "I want to make the extraordinary, ordinary."

But it’s not all about Jay — far it, from actually. A YouTube clip of UConn’s Kemba Walker’s game-winning moment over Villanova and an article detailing the importance of the "floater" shot can be found in the "Sports" section. Meanwhile, "Art+Design" shows you how to shave like a baller, featuring kits ranging in prices from $800 to $1,600. And if you’ve been looking for the latest info on the new Rolls Royce Ghost, you’re covered: just click on "Technology," to learn more about it (for example, its starting price is a meager $245,000!)

Life + Times also features content like Q&As with French fashion bloggers, profiles on celebrity chefs, and features on Parisian beatmakers. And while the whole thing is very impressive, we can't help thinking that the site could be so much more. So, with all due respect to Jay, here are 10 certifiably HOV articles we'd like to see featured in the coming weeks.

» "Empire State of Mind: The 10 Hottest Spots in NYC"

» "Young Forever: Anti-Aging Secrets of the Stars!"

» "H.A.M.: How To Prepare a Sumptuous Hamsteak While Totally Losing Your S---."

» "Hard Knock Life: The Newest Spa Treatment Crazes"

» "Run This Town: Marathoning Made Easy."

» "Big Pimpin’: The Economics of the International Gentlemen of Leisure."

» "99 Problems: Jay's Advice Column"

» "Blue Magic: Why Pulling A Rabbit From Your Hat Isn't Just For Pedophiles Anymore!"

» "Encore: Where to Be After Last Call."

» "Dirt Off Your Shoulder: How To Actually Remove Dirt From Your Shoulders."

Tags Blogs, Fashion, Jay-Z, Lists, White Louis Boat Shoes