LOVE ITTIME’s Lev Grossman calls Adam Sternbergh’s Shovel Ready, a hard-boiled mystery set in a dystopian future New York City, “the best of two dark, amoral, existentially empty worlds!”Stephen Colbert will star in a Super Bowl ad for Wonderful Pistachios, joining a storied list of spokespeople including Psy and Snooki.North Carolina politician David Waddell stepped down from a local council–and tendered his resignation letter in Klingon.When asked about the virtual companion in Her, Apple’s Siri throws shade: “Her portrayal of an intelligent agent is beyond artificial.”HAIKU REVIEWA tale of three brosOn a sad-sack Army baseIt’s more Stripes than M*A*S*H–JAMES PONIEWOZIK ON ENLISTED, FRIDAYS AT 9:30 P.M. E.T. ON FOXDEVELOPING STORYInsta-photography isn’t just a smartphone thing. Its lure–particularly since the 1972 debut of the Polaroid SX-70, the camera used by André Kertész for this 1979 picture–has long enticed photographers to play with the norms of the medium, as explored at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla., through March 23.QUICK TALKBusy PhilippsIt’s been a busy (sorry) few months for the actress, 34, who returned to shooting Cougar Town (Tuesdays on TBS) when her younger daughter was “like, 6 weeks old.” The show’s fifth season kicked off Jan. 7.–LILY ROTHMANSo, New Year’s Eve: Worst night of the year or the best?I’ve always had a good New Year’s Eve experience–though I had the worst New Year’s ever [in 2012]. I got food poisoning in Mexico.Uh-oh. What did you eat?It was cooked shellfish. I started puking at, like, 9 p.m., and I didn’t stop until noon the next day.Not to bring up food, but your character on Cougar Town has a cake shop. Do you bake?Well, you know what happens on TV shows. Toward the end of the second season the writers are like, “What do you guys have going on in your lives?”So, yes?I have to be honest with you, since they wrote it into the show, I like doing it less, which is sort of a bummer–but at the same time it’s like, whatever, it’s fine. I just took a class with Anna Ellison at Charm City [Cakes] West, who was on the show Ace of Cakes.What did you learn?Some fondant techniques, like ombre ruffle cake.As soon as you mention fondant, I’m impressed.When [my older daughter] said she wanted a Rapunzel tower, I spent hours trying to figure out how I was going to do it. The Rapunzel cake was probably my favorite.The other Cougar Town culinary staple is wine. Are you a connoisseur?I sort of refuse it.Really?I might be one of those people who’s allergic to wine. If I were drinking that much in real life, I wouldn’t be able to talk. Or at least you wouldn’t be able to understand what I was saying.“ON MY RADARHaim’s Days Are Gone“Those girls are so awesome and so talented!”House Hunters on HGTV“My 5-year-old is obsessed with home shows, and I just feel like I’ve done something right.”ART FILMSThe intersection of art, technology and film will come into focus when the Sundance Film Festival returns to Park City, Utah, Jan. 16–26. This year it has expanded New Frontier, its multimedia film-art program, to showcase pieces like Jonathan Harris’ interactive documentary I Love Your Work, in which 2,202 video stills showing the day-to-day lives of sex workers are stitched together, above, and the first live-action film made for the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset, courtesy of Chris Milk.ROUNDUPWould-Be Celeb CurrenciesKanye may not like it–in fact, he’s threatening to sue over it–but Coinye West still launched on Jan. 7. The Bitcoin-like product, whose logo and name are inspired by the rapper, aims to be “a cryptocurrency for the masses,” according to its creators, who may or may not be playing a giant practical joke. Nonetheless, it got us thinking: Which other celebrities could be cashified, and–more important–what would that cash be called? Here’s what @TIME’s Twitter followers said.EDDIE MONEY–@DAVIDBHAYTERKIM KARCASHIAN–@AMAZINGSDJJOHN YENNON–@STEVEPC1DOLLAR PARTON–@FLORENTDEDEKEN50 CENTS–@DUNCANA_THE DIGITS506+Number of F bombs dropped in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. The financial caper totally outcursed previous record holders Summer of Sam (roughly 435) and Nil by Mouth (roughly 428).#$@%&!LEAVE ITShia LaBeouf apologized to Daniel Clowes, whose comic he plagiarized in his new film, with a skywrite over Los Angeles. Clowes lives in San Francisco.Rick Ross is suing LMFAO over the “Party Rock Anthem” refrain “Everyday I’m shufflin'” because it sounds too similar to his lyric “Everyday I’m hustlin’.”TIME’s James Poniewozik calls IFC’s The Spoils of Babylon, produced by Funny or Die, “a bloated parody of ’70s network miniseries that might have been funnier if it were mini-er.”Lady Gaga’s apology to fans for delaying the release of a new music video includes the line “Let me be for you the Goddess that I know I truly am.”FOR TIME’S COMPLETE FILM, TV AND MUSIC COVERAGE, VISIT time.com/entertainment
Women who have taken the pill may live longer because they face less risk of heart disease and cancer, according to new study led by Dr. Philip Hannaford from Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. The study, published this week in the British Medical Journal, followed more than 46,000 female patients from 1,400 medical practices throughout the U.K. for up to 39 years. They found that, women who had taken oral contraception at some point in their lives had a lower risk of death from any cause compared with those who had never taken the pill.
Women who had used oral contraception had lower rates of death due to all forms of cancer, including uterine, ovarian and bowel cancers. Additionally, those who had taken the pill had significantly lower rates of death due to heart disease or stroke. Oddly, and inexplicably, researchers did find that women who used the pill tended to have higher rates of violent death.
The study indicates that, not only does oral contraception not increase risk for disease or death, but it may provide some protection and even increase longevity for women. Still, Hannaford was careful to qualify these findings, emphasizing that this large-scale study included women taking the first generation of birth control pills—which tended to have higher levels of estrogen than those marketed today—and that, while it is likely that later generation birth control pills would yield similar results, additional research on those pills is necessary. As Hannaford told the BBC:
“It would be wrong for me to say these results directly apply to today’s pills, today’s women, but from the few studies that have been done on the newer pills we are finding similar effects as the older pills. So one would suppose that the overall benefit from the newer pills is equally as good.”
Women who take birth control pills do need to consider potential risks, including an increased risk for blood clots, and should discuss their medical histories with their doctors prior to taking the pill. While the study found that, overall taking the pill at some point in life reduced a woman’s risk of death due to cancer or other conditions, researchers did find a slightly increased risk for death from any caused among women younger than 45 who had stopped using the pill five to nine years earlier. After 10 years, however, that additional risk disappeared, and benefits to longevity later in life offset those initial heightened risks, the researchers concluded.
It is important for women considering the birth control pill to be aware of any potential contraindications. As gynecologist and obstetrician Dr. Katharine O’Connell White told TIME in August, women who have high blood pressure, migraines with aura, are smokers over age 35 and women with a personal or family history of blood clots should not take the pill.