BRIT EDITION
GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK
Mugly
The U.K. pup won the unique honor of World’s Ugliest Dog.
David Beckham
The hunky soccer star wasn’t selected for the British Olympic team.
FAUXMANCE
With This Ring, I Thee Distrust
Would-be philanderers, beware! A new ring on TheCheeky.com imprints “I’m Married” onto its wearer’s finger–visible after he or she takes it off. For an extra fee, the $550 titanium band will then scream, “Oh, hell no!” and call the spouse. (We wish.)
LONDON LOOK
Heatherwick Studio is known for avant-garde design, including the 65-ft.-tall Seed Cathedral (above), Britain’s pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, whose 60,000 optical strands each contain a seed. The firm’s work is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum through Sept. 30.
No, this is not a giant cube-shaped blowfish
QUICK TALK
Lisa Kudrow
On Web Therapy (airing Mondays on Showtime), Kudrow plays a frenetic shrink who counsels patients via webcam–a.k.a. “the dumbest, worst idea in the world,” she says. Which is why it makes such entertaining television.
–DAN MACSAI
Appropriately enough, Web Therapy started as a Web series. And it was sponsored by Lexus?
Yeah, each episode was a three-minute session. And we were all so curious about how it would work. Would it be interesting enough just to have two faces on a computer screen talking to each other? I was really pleasantly surprised. And Lexus was great. They gave us total creative freedom.
Did they also give you a Lexus?
No! But I always drove a Lexus anyway. It would be weird to say, “Listen, I already have one. Do you wanna, uh, give me some money or something?”
I mean, you were starring in their flagship Web show …
Their extremely valuable Web show! [Laughs.] But I do think it’s done well by them.
Yeah, especially with the Showtime pickup. So, what’s next for you?
We’ll see. I’ve been acting part time lately, and that’s been so perfectly great.
You could always record a single. That’s very en vogue right now.
Like a dance number? A club song? Yeah, I should. It’d be good to Auto-Tune me to sound worse, though. That’d make my single sound different!
CANDY
Bugging Out
Chapul, a new start-up trying to sell cricket energy bars in the U.S., has been met with a chorus of “Ew”s from the Internet. But that’s nothing compared with the strange sweets we searched out.
Wasabi chocolate bar
Made by Kit Kat in Japan
Caffeinated marshmallows
Made by Caffex
Ghost-chili caramels
Made by Theo
Chocolate-covered slugs
Made by Hotlix
Scorpion pops
Made by Hotlix
NOVELTIES
Finger Paint
Many Crayola products inevitably wind up all over your hands. In this case, however, that’s the intent: its new line of nail polish, available at FredFlare.com features eight glittery shades, including robin’s-egg blue and cotton candy. And while they may seem better for doodling than manicures, we promise you’ll be the coolest adult on the grade-school playground.
VERBATIM
‘I’m just a guy in Gainesville, Fla…. not some international bone smuggler.’
ERIC PROKOPI, paleontologist, after the government seized his 70 million-year-old tyrannosaurus skeleton, alleging the fossil was illegally collected from Mongolia.
Authorities said the dino could be worth $1 million
BIEBER FEVER
374,000
Copies Justin Bieber’s Believe shifted in its first week, making it 2012’s biggest album debut. The pop star outsold his mentor Usher (whose record launched the week prior) by almost 250,000–but he can’t have a celebratory drink for three more years.
WHOOPS
‘Youuuuuk!’
At a Boston fundraiser, attendees booed when President Obama jokingly thanked them for Kevin Youkilis, who was traded from the Red Sox to Obama’s hometown team, the White Sox. Or maybe they were shouting his nickname, Youk.
MARSHALL MATTERS
Photographer Jim Marshall could capture rock legends like nobody else–Bob Dylan crossing a littered sidewalk, Miles Davis leaning on a boxing ring’s ropes, Keith Richards (left) getting lost in a jam. To see more, visit lightbox.time.com
3 THINGS YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS WEEK
1. Alec Baldwin’s privacy.
The actor is reportedly sending his wedding invitations via text message the morning of the ceremony to evade paparazzi. Brb, got 2 buy tux lol.
2. Deepening bath-salts panic.
The so-called Miami cannibal had none of the designer drug in his system, only marijuana. Worst munchies ever.
3. Uggie’s legacy.
The Artist star became the first dog to cement his paw prints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
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Contact us at letters@time.com