LATEST COVERAGE
An 'SNL' Exodus?
Three of the late-night sketch-comedy show's biggest stars might soon be departing. See clips of their best moments and debate the future of the show without them.
Saturday Night Live has long been an incubator for future superstar performers – they develop their talents, grow their name recognition, and eventually, they move on. But this year it looks like we might be losing three big ones all at once, and it's just so hard to say goodbye. Watch our tribute to SNL's (allegedly) departing cast members.
New York's Hottest Club Is Wahhhhh
The Week in Viral Videos
From Chris Hadfield’s International Space Station finale a la David Bowie to Daft Punk’s big tease, WATCH our countdown of this week’s best and buzziest.
‘Leia and Chewie Need to Do It’
Apparently fans want Star Wars to become more sexually deviant. On Jimmy Kimmel Live, director J.J. Abrams took plot suggestions from the audience (including William Shatner in disguise), and a romance between Princess Leia and the Wookiee Chewbacca now seems likely.
The Beautiful New Trekkie
The newest addition to the Starship Enterprise is the stunning British actress Alice Eve. Oxford-educated Eve opens up about her journey to ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ on-set shenanigans, and more.
Alice Eve has boldly gone where few women have gone before.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, the 31-year-old British actress stars as Dr. Carol Marcus, a mysterious new member of the Starship Enterprise’s crew who sneaks aboard to help them travel to the Klingon home world of Kronos to capture terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch). Marcus joins Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), Lt. Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), and the rest of the gang from the first Trek film, also helmed by J.J. Abrams. And the newcomer’s scantily clad scene with Kirk in the film will surely have many Trekkies' tongues wagging.
Alice Eve as Dr. Carol Marcus and Chris Pine as Capt. James T. Kirk in 'Star Trek Into Darkness'. (Zade Rosenthal/2013 Paramount Pictures)
5 Reasons Why Musto Matters
This week, 'The Village Voice' fired three writers, including inimitable gossip writer Michael Musto. Tricia Romano on why Michael Musto still matters.
The news Friday that the much-diminished Village Voice fired three of the last remaining writers on staff before the New Times’ hostile takeover in 2005, set the media world on fire. It was bad enough that veterans, theatre critic Michael Feingold and food critic Robert Sietsema were both axed. But it was the news that longtime gossip columnist Michael Musto—who has been writing a column since 1984—was laid off that was the biggest shock.
Michael Musto celebrated his 25th anniversary at the Village Voice, accompanied by performer Dirty Martini, left, on March 2, 2010 in New York City. (Marc Stamas/Getty)
The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch wrote on Twitter: “The @villagevoice firing @mikeymusto amounts to @villagevoice firing itself: auto-da-fé.”
Cannes' First Palme d'Or Contender
The director’s new film about social inequities in China is tragic, absurd, and a must-see at this year’s festival. Could it win the coveted Palme d’Or?
Long a favorite on the festival circuit, the Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke is poised to make a splash with his powerful chronicle of social inequities in contemporary China, A Touch of Sin. Towards the end of Jia’s film (which premiered Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival and is one of the surest bets to win the Palme d’or), workers at a sex club are taught to proclaim: “Distinguished Guests: Welcome to the Golden Age.” This 133-minute howl of despair confirms, with a mixture of absurdist humor and events appropriated from notorious actual incidents, that, instead of enjoying a Golden Age, Chinese society is plagued by random violence, sexual assault, and the rage of millions of disgruntled workers.
ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP
Neither an upholder of the status quo nor precisely a dissident, Jia, who started his career as an “underground” filmmaker making unauthorized features, now works within the system—even though he clearly enjoys testing its limits. While his earlier films were meditative and often peppered with whimsical interludes, A Touch of Sin is notable for its anger. A four-part structure conveys the rampant disaffection that lies beneath the veneer of China’s economic dynamism. An infatuation with guns also suffuses the first two narratives: a chronicle of a miner who wreaks revenge on smug, corrupt village leaders and the story of a migrant worker who hopes that a firearm can negate his problems with pull of a trigger. The third sequence, featuring Zhao Tao, Jia’s wife and favorite actress, builds to a powerful crescendo as a receptionist at a spa fights off a rapist with bloody consequences. The final sequence is by far the most sardonic, as well as the most despondent: a hapless worker goes from job to job without any hope of advancement. His woes, which include a grueling regimen at a sweatshop and performing mindless tasks in the service economy, seem to sum up the fate of millions of Chinese workers who have few outlets for their grievances.
‘Idol’ Isn’t Dead
Don’t pay attention to the Simon Cowell–like naysayers harping on falling ratings and disappointing judges. Season 12 may have been lousy, but there’s still life left in it.
Ratings are in a free fall. The judging panel was a $40 million bust. Viewers are exasperated over predictable themes and performances. Culture blogs are flooded with obituaries for American Idol. Confetti rained on Candice Glover Thursday night as she tearfully warbled her coronation song, winning the 12th season of the veteran singing competition. But was she singing at its funeral?
Candice Glover performs on American Idol, May 15. (Ray Mickshaw/Fox)
“It’s more like that body at the beginning of Monty Python and the Holy Grail who cries, ‘I’m not dead yet,’” Michael Slezak, senior editor at TV Line and longtime Idol expert, tells The Daily Beast. “Idol is like that leper. It might be mistaken for dead, but it’s not dead yet.”
Never Nudes Take Manhattan
The Bluth family banana stand sets up shop in Times Square, and dozens of Tobias Fünke sympathizers show their support in cutoff jean shorts.
“Excuse me, Banana. Could I ask you a few questions?”
Such is how an exchange began with a man dressed in a full banana suit outside of a banana-shaped bearing his yellow likeness in Times Square, part of a promotion drumming up excitement for the Netflix revival of the cult-favorite comedy series, Arrested Development. The man in the banana suit was, strangely, not the most oddly-dressed person in the crowd.
Watch Never Nudes descend on Manhattan.
Cheat Sheet
Entertainment
-
ENTERPRISE
'Star Trek' Wins Box Office
But doesn't take as much as expected.More
-
NOT FOR SALE
Kanye West Debuts Two New Songs
On “SNL.”More
-
TWIHARDS
Report: Stewart, Pattinson Split
For now. Yes, again.More
-
STAY CLASSY
'Anchorman' Unveils Sequel Teaser
Movie to be released December 2013.More
-
ALL MY SINGLE LADIES
Beyonce Responds to Pregnancy Rumors
“These low life people have nothing better to do.”More
Lately
TODAY'S STORIES
8 Best Music Videos of the Week
From Kendrick Lamar to Queens of the Stone Age, Jean Trinh picks the best music videos of the week.
Game Time
Thrones’ Writers on Why We Watch
Enterprising
Is J.J. Abrams Lost in Space?
Moving On
An 'SNL' Exodus?
Watch This!
The Week in Viral Videos
Not You Too, Jason Sudeikis!
What up with that?! Rumors are flying that the resident Romney impersonator will 'probably' be leaving 'Saturday Night Live' along with Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Seth Meyers (in 2014). 'SNL' just won't be the same without his groovy running man, debonair Devil, and other crazy characters,
Elsewhere
Fashion Beast
-
11 Best Fashion Instagrams
Jason Wu deplanes, Cara Delevingne gets a finger tattoo, Linda Fargo mixes prints, and... More
-
The Cannes Heist: Who Did It?
A hotel-room safe full of jewelry, stolen right under Hollywood’s nose.... More
-
You Decide: Did Michelle Obama Get Rid Of Her Bangs?
FLOTUS parts to the left, Twitter explodes. More
Elsewhere
The Royalist
-
High-Viz Harry Checks Out His Chelsea Garden
High-Viz Harry Checks Out His Chelsea Garden More
-
Harry Stalker Locked Up In Greenwich!
Wen Qi, 36, detained on Wednesday outside the game More
-
Pippa at London Vanity Fair Party
Miss Middleton out and about More












