The New York Times paywall is a way for the Times to try and remain profitable while not completely shutting out readers. You get to read twenty articles in a month. After those twenty you are urged to pay a monthly fee. Well, I’m not so rich as to feel it necessary to pay for information so I take what I can get. This means for about a week or two each month I have to cull my news completely from the Times’ homepage and from various “other sources.”  (more…)

If you like comedy there is a show on my local cable access station that you simply must see. The Staten Island Comedy Show is a program put together by a slough of borderline mental patients. It plays on Staten Island and Manhattan cable access and it will blow your mind. (more…)

By Tim Duffy

I spend a lot of time discussing what may or may not be the “Best Song Ever” day to day on my blog. Today though I wanted to focus on the year in music and for most nerds like me that means an album of the year list. When this comes around every year I am often shocked by how much good shit I’ve soaked in over the past year, this year though I expected to struggle to fill out a top ten. (more…)

Justin Bieber fans everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Last week, allegations that the teenage pop star fathered a child with Mariah Yeater were quietly dismissed.

At one point in the case, Yeater’s lawyers claimed she had credible evidence that her four month old child was fathered by Bieber. Bieber staunchly denied any claim saying that he had never even met the girl in question who was probably just “an attention seeker hell-bent on grabbing headlines.” Well, if that was her goal: mission accomplished!

Yeater was the subject of many a twitter trend, entertainment headline, and even die-hard fan death threats.

The charges have been dropped and Yeater’s lawyers have completely abandoned their former client. Speculation is that Justin’s lawyers threatened to sue both Yeater and her legal team for defamation of character and making false accusations.

This came on the tails of the pop star stepping forward to willingly take a DNA test to prove he was not the father of Yeater’s child.

Justin Bieber stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that he felt very strongly about premarital sex and was quoted as saying “You should only do that with someone you really love.”

Maybe he was thinking of his long time girlfriend Selena Gomez with this sentiment? In the wake of the Ashton and Demi breakup, we’re in need of a new power couple. Personally, we’re rooting for Bieber and Selena. Go team.

For many of the younger generation, “Lady Marmalade” is a song that is only associated with the film “Moulin Rouge.” However, for those with a larger musical library, Patti LaBelle introduced this gotta-dance soul song into living rooms and dance clubs back in the 1970s. Now this diva is best known for the Oprah Winfrey Show theme song, singing with Lady Gaga, and now assaulting Toddlers.

The R&B singer was staying in New York City when she got into an altercation with a woman who’s 18 month old daughter was wandering around the lobby of a Manhattan building. When Ms. LaBelle tried to say something to the mother, Roseanna Monk, the mother told her she should mind her own business. Apparently, this is the wrong this to say to Ms. LaBelle who flew into a rage and started cursing. According to ABC news, she was overheard saying “I hope you have a terrible life” coupled with a flurry of f-words.

During this tirade, the soul diva threw water and her water bottle on the child and her mother causing the toddler to cry and be sick. After asking for an apology and a donation to a child cancer charity and being refused, Mrs. Monk is now suing the grammy award winning singer for an undisclosed amount.

Over the past few decades many people have lamented the “sell out” status of the Rolling Stones. Corporate sponsorship for their tours, playing the same songs in increasingly vacuous terrain, $200 concert tickets, you know the deal. Funny thing is those young rebels were ready to sell out long ago. (more…)

Bill Murray is the greatest comic actor of his time. I say this not as an opinion, though it is that as well, but as an unmitigated truth that should be accepted and respected by all who’s ears it touches. Just as the Beatles are “the greatest band of all time” Bill Murray should loom over modern comedy film like a constant reminder of what being funny in a movie is all about. (more…)

If you aren’t a knuckle dragging mutant you may not realize that this weekend is the annual Gathering of the Juggalos. Each year fans of the “musical” act Insane Clown Posse gather to drink an obscure soda called Faygo, listen to music and perhaps sexually assault an internet super-star. (more…)

The day a woman thinks shaking her hips in front of a man constitutes a lap dance is the day she needs to retire. Britney Spears gave an unlucky DJ Pauly D the worst lap dance I’ve ever witnessed, next to Britney’s Billboard Awards performance with Rihanna. I think when Britney had her meltdown she damaged parts of the brain that know how to do basic things like dance, eat, and grind up on people.

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If you’re not a fan of Evanescence, you probably thought they faded off into the distance a long time ago. In all fairness, Amy Lee almost walked away from the band completely after realizing how nice it felt not to be in the spotlight. She was rather enjoying married life, unlike most couples. But after a long four year hiatus, the band is more than ready to dominate the charts once again.

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