LOVE IT
• The Japanese hologram performer Hatsune Miku appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman.
• Pop singer Demi Lovato jokingly accepted a marriage proposal from a 5-year-old fan during a concert in Illinois.
• Director Paul Feig confirmed there will be a women-led Ghostbusters movie.
• A Domino’s deliveryman got a $1,268 tip after taking two pizzas to an Indiana Wesleyan University chapel service; the stunt was meant to teach students the value of giving.
THE DIGITS
$37,000
The top bid for Willie Nelson’s braids (cut before he went gray) at an auction of items from country singer Waylon Jennings’ estate
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Featuring both man-made fabrics and natural fibers in a variety of vivid colors, I Don’t Know, or The Weave of Textile Language doesn’t just take up a whole room; it’s the largest work ever from acclaimed American artist Richard Tuttle. It’s on display at London’s Tate Modern museum until April 6.
QUICK TALK
Idina Menzel
Winter must be this Broadway star’s season. Last year the 43-year-old taught the world to “Let It Go” as the voice of Frozen’s Elsa; now she’s releasing a Christmas album, Holiday Wishes.
–NOLAN FEENEY
Your album came out Oct. 14. Isn’t it a little early for Christmas music?
I think that’s ridiculous! I’ve been asking the label to tell me why. I’m barely into Halloween with my son. I completely understand if people aren’t ready for it until Thanksgiving.
Also, you’re Jewish …
If Barbra Streisand can make a Christmas album, I can.
What are your holiday traditions?
I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. I do like to decorate a tree. I do collect ornaments. I’m excited that my son probably won’t take them and throw them on the ground and break them. Now he’s 5, so he might understand the importance of a good ornament.
It’s been a year since Frozen. What’s the most memorable version of “Let It Go” you’ve heard so far?
There are so many, I wouldn’t even pick a favorite.
Not even the dance remix?
Don’t you love it? When it first became successful I was like, “This has to have a club version–and a gay club version.” It’s the anthem of all anthems.
“ON MY RADAR
• 12 Years a Slave
“I just saw it on my vacation. I felt guilty that I hadn’t watched it.”
• “Rude,” by Magic!
“It’s become my favorite song with my son in the car.”
VERBATIM
‘Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My wand won’t tolerate this nonsense.’
J.K. ROWLING, tweeting a cryptic anagram meant to offer clues about the plot of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Harry Potter spin-off hitting the big screen in 2016. A superfan eventually solved it: “Newt Scamander only meant to stay in New York for a few hours.”
SERVING FACE
English-born artist Chris Ofili, now living mostly in Trinidad, made a name for himself in the 1990s partly for using elephant dung in some of his paintings. These four untitled works don’t feature that medium–just watercolor and pencil–but they are part of his massive Afromuse series of portraits, created from 1995 to 2005. Catch these and more in “Chris Ofili: Night and Day” at New York City’s New Museum from Oct. 29 to Feb. 1. It’s Ofili’s first retrospective at a U.S. museum.
ROUNDUP
Great Moments in GIF History
Photo-sharing site Imgur recently announced the GIFV, a new, high-quality version of the popular animation file type (whose letters stand for Graphics Interchange Format). The upgrade is the latest milestone in the nearly three-decade history of the GIF. Here are six more:
JUNE 1987
The GIF is invented
JANUARY 1998
The Dancing Baby GIF, one of the first viral web moments, appears on Ally McBeal
FEBRUARY 2007
Tumblr launches; it will eventually help lead the GIF renaissance
NOVEMBER 2012
Oxford Dictionaries USA declares GIF the Word of the Year
MAY 2013
GIF creator Steve Wilhite confirms the soft-G pronunciation; Obama, however, uses the hard-G pronunciation the following year
DECEMBER 2013
GIF becomes the subject of a Jeopardy! question
LEAVE IT
• The White House put emojis in an official release to help millennials understand the economy. (They were removed after a backlash.)
• People are complaining that their hair is getting caught between the metal casing and glass display on the iPhone 6.
• Despite rumors she started in May, there will be no new Adele album this year.
• NBC axed plans for a Say Anything … TV series after director Cameron Crowe tweeted his discontent.
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