The heat wave doesn’t have to get you down. Two polar bears at Japan’s Himeji Zoo took to the pool to cool off and relax this summer. They were even treated to fruit served in blocks of ice so yes, they are livin’ the life. Thanks Jessica for the “cool” tip!
Via: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Stringer / Getty Images
Via: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Stringer / Getty Images
Via: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Stringer / Getty Images
Via: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Stringer / Getty Images
Dave Grohl (and Ringo Starr) fans, go take 1mg of Klonopin and come back in an hour.
(Rush)
I'm putting The Professor #1 for one simple reason: I don't want to be hunted down and drawn and quartered by the Legionnaires of the Rush Army.
Also, Peart is precise rock drumming personified. I've seen Rush in concert five times, starting with "2112" tour and ending with "Moving Pictures" (Rush's last good album) tour. To have watched him live, in his prime, is one of my life's joys.
Overhead shot of Peart's kit by John Arrowsmith.
A lot of media publications and sites have of course written "top ten drummer" stories, but Buzzfeed hadn't. Well, now BuzzFeed has a drummer-writer.
My qualifications? I began playing drums right out the womb, according to my father. I used to arrange the pots and pans around me on the floor in a semi-circle, and pound on them with wooden spoons. Now, my dad's one of the biggest bullshitters in the world, but my mom backs up the story.
I got my first real set when I was six, a used Ludwig 4-piece my parents bought for $100. I shit my pants (probably literally) when I saw it. I took six years of lessons from an old jazz drummer who taught me a thing of two.
I was "first snare" in my high school concert and marching bands (hold the applause).
I played in 6 shitty bands between the ages of 15-28, including one punk band that was less shitty than the others. My favorite show ever was a CYO church hall dance in my South Jersey hometown when I was 16, and we played "Freebird" as an encore. I never sweated more in my life, and that church never again hosted a band dance.
I now play drums on my desk and the floor at work, and drive my BuzzFeed co-workers insane — particularly Editor-In-Chief Ben Smith.
Moon edges out Bonham, IMHO.
I'm not old enough to have had the chance to see him live, but if you've seen clips, (go look on YouTube now) he was a fucking maniac on the kit with a style unseen before or since. It was comical to watch, but the results were percussive magic.
Long Live Rock, Be It Dead Or Alive.
(Moon Premier ad scan from my personal collection).
I was at a Rush concert ("Permanent Waves" tour) at Philadelphia's old Spectrum the night after Bonham died. It was amazing to see all the Bonham tribute signs that had been hastily made.
Anyway, if you're a drummer you already have your opinions about him. He was a beast. He often used sticks the thickness of tree trunks. What he could with one foot and one bass drum defied physics.
Photo by Carl Dunn.
Carl Dunn / via: ledzeppelin.com
If you build it, they will buy. Here’s to a free market economy!
According to the description R2 is very "headstrong." You've been warned.
This is exactly what I want my young son to wear!
Plays Gangnam Style and has soft bristles...what more could you ask for??
I suggest going with the yellow or orange so people can see you before you die.
Big round of applause to your mixologist for the evening hardacttofollow .
Source: hardactofollow.tumblr.com
Source: hardactofollow.tumblr.com
Source: hardactofollow.tumblr.com
Source: hardactofollow.tumblr.com
The Funniest Person on Twitter has officially gone from 140 characters to 250 pages, give or take. And the book promises to be a “non-murdery” adventure.
Source: twitter.com
Yes, friends, an actual book that you can preorder now — or buy in a store when it goes on sale Nov. 5, 2013.
“I did a tweet a while back that was mocking people’s social media bios, like on Facebook or Twitter," Delaney said of the subtitle. "Like a famous actor, in their descriptions put something like, ‘Father. Storyteller. Woodworker. Student of life.' People really did that, and it makes my molars explode. Because that’s ridiculous, dude, you’re an actor," he said, laughing. "So the subtitle is a play on somebody's inflated sense of self, imagining that anyone should possibly care — which they very much shouldn’t. So that’s me, trying to take a little air out of people's self-importance by naming my navel-gazing memoir that title. So, hopefully that title will let people know immediately that I’m a very ridiculous person, in every negative and positive sense of the word.”
When I asked Delaney why people should buy his book, he said, “If you enjoy this guy's sandwiches, do you want to eat at his restaurant? If you enjoyed the ice cream cone he gave you, would you like to come to his salon and have him give you a pedicure with his sure hands? Basically, like, if my tweets are the tip of the iceberg, it would be like, ‘Do you want to go in my ice chest?' Not in a murdery way, but in a fun, exploring together way."
Source: twitter.com
Or he at least knows how to read...right?
Source: twitter.com
Catch up on the month’s best songs, albums, and moments with new music by Ciara, Robin Thicke, Pretty Lights, One Direction, and more.
This free downloadable album of mashups features a diverse range of artists including Men At Work, Lana Del Rey, Kimbra, INXS, Cake, and Coldplay, among others, all paired with the music of one Mr. Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver. Although the word "mashup" is a huge turn-off, this is actually really fantastic and fun. As Mr. Vernon's collaborations with Kanye West have proven, his sad mountain shtick is a lot more interesting when dusted with a healthy coating of pop sugar. – Summer Anne Burton
w.soundcloud.com
These are all pretty important, so feel free to take notes.
Source: flickr.com
Source: Richard Austin/ Rex/ Rex USA
Source: imgur.com
Source: imgur.com
There’s never a wrong time to have some cake.
Via: reddit.com
Via: reddit.com
Via: devilgodabraxas.tumblr.com
Courtesy of the new swimwear designs shown at Miami Swim Week They’re fun, but your tan would look like a half-finished patchwork quilt — or worse.
Disclaimer: I am as pale as a Cullen, so this post is based entirely upon my vague notions of that exotic, sweaty business called "tanning."
Via: rkstewart.tumblr.com
From the Lolli Swim show.
Via: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
From the Beach Riot show.
Via: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
From the Beach Riot show.
Via: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Vivendi’s sale of the giant video game company signals a very real chance that the world’s largest music group could wind up on the block. Less and less reason to stay together.
At first blush, it would not appear that the deal by Vivendi to sell its 61% stake in Activision Blizzard back to the video game company for $8.2 billion would have any impact on Universal Music Group.
But in the context of the French conglomerate's corporate maneuvering, it appears that the Activision Blizzard deal could be a prelude to a sale of Universal Music, which Vivendi also owns.
Right now, Vivendi is struggling to get out from under a roughly $15.5 billion debt pile. In addition to the Activision deal, the company earlier in the week said it entered into exclusive talks to sell its majority stake in Maroc Telecom. Vivendi also explored a sale of GVT, a Brazillian telecom company, that was ultimately halted over lowball bids and, according to press reports, is considering a spin-off of its French telecom company SFR.
Vivendi has said that it wants to sell these assets so it can focus on content production. So far the only assets Vivendi hasn't explored selling are French pay-TV company Canal+ and Universal Music, which ranks as the world's largest music company and the record label home of Justin Bieber, Drake, The Killers, Kanye West, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and many more.
In fact, it recently emerged that three months ago Japan's SoftBank Corp offered a stunning $8.5 billion for Universal Music that Vivendi, to the surprise of many, rejected. The reason the offer was stunning and Vivendi's rejection surprising was because the $8.5 billion was at least $2 billion more than what many consider to be the fair market value for Universal Music. And the bid was unsolicited and not subject to a competing offer!
A report in the Financial Times cited two anonymous sources as saying that Vivendi's rationale for rejecting SoftBank's offer was that it felt a sale of Universal Music would lead the entire company to "fall apart." Against the backdrop of the Activision sale, however, that rationale makes little sense.
The reason SoftBank, a wireless telecommunications company, wanted to buy Universal Music is supposedly the same reason why Vivendi wants to keep it — to integrate music into its mobile devices to drive sales of both. For SoftBank, that logic makes sense since it is doubling down on telecoms, recently agreeing to buy Sprint, the third-largest phone carrier in the U.S., for $21.6 billion. For Vivendi, on the other hand, it doesn't make sense both because it has thus far been unable to successfully integrate Universal Music with its telecom assets and it is actively trying to dispose of them! Through that lens, the idea that selling Universal Music would lead Vivendi to "fall apart" seems wholly illogical. Indeed, it appears that Vivendi itself is basically tearing down its own house piece by piece.
Or, as a Credit Suisse report on the Activision sale more diplomatically put it, "For us, Vivendi is now looking increasingly like a full break-up story."
Singer Kanye West.
Via: Mike Blake / Reuters
Outside of its telecom holdings, Activision Blizzard represented the only other asset Vivendi owned that had synergies with Universal Music. While franchises like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have petered out, the general trend of incorporating music into video games is still very much alive. Sure there are synergies between Universal Music and Canal+, but not enough to justify keeping the record company — and certainly not enough to justify turning down a $2 billion premium.
To be sure, the strategic need for Vivendi to retain Universal Music is outweighed by both the financial imperative to pay down its debt and the fact that, unlike GVT for instance, there is already at least one known buyer for the record label. Raw math shows that between the $8.2 billion Vivendi is collecting for Activision Blizzard — which is actually a discount to its market value — and the $8.5 billion SoftBank offered for Universal Music, Vivendi could wipe out its entire debt load and have more than $1 billion leftover.
Putting aside its own corporate issues, Vivendi would be wise to sell Universal Music now, while it is at the apex of its value and before Sony Music potentially goes up for sale. On the latter point, industry observers speculate that Sony Music might be vulnerable to a takeover as a result of activist investor Dan Loeb's campaign against Sony. Loeb, the founder of hedge fund Third Point who just cashed out of Yahoo for $600 million, is campaigning for Sony to separate its music and film assets from its core consumer electronics business, a move which opens a window for a potential buyer to come in with an offer to buy either Sony Music or Sony Pictures Entertainment together or individually.
But here's the thing: from a buyer's perspective, Universal Music is a much more attractive asset than Sony Music. And the reason is because Universal Music is by far the world's largest recorded music company and owns the industry's second-largest music publishing catalog, which is where a disproportionate amount of revenue is derived for record labels nowadays. Music companies don't make money on recorded music, but rather from the rights they hold to songs that allows them to collect a license fee from live performances, radio airplay, and streaming services, among other avenues. In short, publishing is where the power lies, and Universal Music controls the rights to well over one million songs. (while Sony's music publishing catalog is larger, control is split between the company and a number of other parties, unlike Universal, which owns its catalog outright.)
Now that the SoftBank offer has come to light, Vivendi might not have the luxury of dismissing another bid for Universal Music. Analysts and investors were severely disappointed that it rejected the first one. In a report entitled "Stepping Sideways, Away From Media," analysts at Bernstein Research wrote that they "regret that Vivendi did not recently dispose of Universal Music" and called its media-only strategy "confused and shrunk" in light of the Activision Blizzard deal.
Reading the signals, it seems increasingly likely that Vivendi's media strategy will end up being shrunk further through an eventual sale of Universal Music.
For nights when you need a simultaneous pick-me-up, a cool-me-down, and a chill-me-out.
black tea + sugar + bourbon + fruit
Get the recipe.
Source: tablematters.com
pom molasses + mint + vodka + chai tea + ginger beer
Get the recipe.
Source: tanyazouev.com
Fedotowsky on getting the call from her agent: “I was, like, ‘What??? This is a joke. This isn’t a real thing.’” Plus, she talks about her post- Bachelorette experience and watching this current season.
Ali Fedotowsky at a Blue Jasmine premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this week Beverly Hills.
Via: Steve Granitz/WireImage / Getty Images
In the Venn diagram of Woody Allen audiences and Bachelorette fans, the union is so small that it is not visible to the naked eye. So who knows how many people who see Blue Jasmine, Allen's new film that opens in limited release this weekend, will experience the shrieking frisson I did when ex-Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky turns up in a small role in the movie?
Fedotowsky plays the personal trainer of Alec Baldwin's philandering Bernie Madoff-like character and Cate Blanchett's Jasmine, the dupe around whom the movie revolves. She's in a funny scene with Baldwin and Blanchett, and was cast, according to a story in The Los Angeles Times, after Allen's casting director, Patricia DiCerto, saw Fedotowsky's travel and lifestyle series, 1st Look, an NBC show that plays in the back of New York City cabs.
I talked to Fedotowsky about her Blue Jasmine experience, how she went from working at Facebook to becoming a reality star, and her predictions for Desiree Hartsock's season of The Bachelorette as it comes to an end.
I was at a screening of Blue Jasmine by myself, and when you came on the screen, I freaked the fuck out. Sorry to say "fuck," but Ali, that is what happened. And I had no one to talk to about it in the entire theater. You have to tell me how you got in this movie, please.
Ali Fedotowsky: Oh my gosh. Honestly, I'm still a little bit in shock about how it happened. Because it's just such a surreal thing. Over a year ago, my agent called me out of the blue and said, "I just got a call from Woody Allen's casting director, and they want you to come play a role in his new movie." I was, like, "What??? This is a joke. This isn't a real thing." I've never had any acting aspirations, or anything like that. I've never once even auditioned for an acting role. So I flew out to the Hamptons last summer, and I got to be in the movie for a small cameo. Which is crazy. I still can't believe it. Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett — and then Woody Allen walking in.
My head is exploding.
AF: A lot of my girlfriends are actresses, and they're, like, "Oh my god, that's what every person who's an actor aspires —" I mean, it's just a small, tiny little role. But I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I was thought of.
So you went to film it.
AF: I went out to the Hamptons. I got into a trailer and got my hair and makeup done. They came in and gave me outfits. And then I walked into the room and Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin were there. I mean, it is crazy. The fact that I was even in a room with them is incredible. I haven't seen the movie yet, but my character started off with one line, and then Mr. Allen came in and said, "Why don't you establish that you're the personal trainer? Just say something." I'm, like, "Really? You want me to make up a line in your movie?" He was so cool, and so chill.
And you were in a scene with the stars of the movie. Were they nice?
AF: So nice. So nice. Alec was asking me, "Where are you from?" I'm, like, an extra basically. I thought it said a lot about them as people to ask those kinds of questions. I really was pleasantly surprised.
And what was Woody Allen like?
AF: He was the nicest, sweetest guy. He comes in just like you see him in his movies, like with his head down. He was just great. It's funny, one thing he did after my first take, he said, "Good job," like reassuring me. And then, "How about this time when Alec asks you if you like baseball, why don't you pretend you don't know he's going to ask you that?" I was probably just so eager and excited.
That is good advice.
AF: If I'm going to get acting advice, who better to get it from than Woody Allen?
Did it make you think you wanted to do more of this?
AF: Look. People used to ask me if I would ever do The Bachelorette again, and I would say, "Never say never" — but now I say no. I'm not going to go out and audition for shows or movies. That's not my thing. But if anything were ever to come up again, I would totally be on board. Because it's fun. It was just a fun experience. You won't see me at casting calls.
Fedotowsky with Roberto Martinez, whose proposal she accepted in the season finale of The Bachelorette.
Via: ABC
I was a fan of your Bachelorette season. But before that, you were an ad sales person at Facebook! This is such a crazy turn your life has taken in the past three years.
AF: The decision to leave Facebook was, to this day, the most difficult decision of my life. It was really a job that I'd worked at for years, and was super proud of, and did not want to give up. If you had told me when I got my job at Facebook that I would leave within a year, I would tell you that you were crazy. It was very, very hard. At the end of the day, I feel like you have to make the choice in your life that's going to leave you with the least regret. And I'd experienced Facebook. I was happy. But if I didn't go to this other path of trying to meet someone — I know the show doesn't have the best track record, but I believe you can meet someone in any way. I wasn't going to give it up. I knew that if I was watching at home, I always would have wondered, "What if?" and I would have regrets. And I had a really great relationship with my manager at Facebook. She was, like, "If you ever want to come back, come back. That option is there for you." I did The Bachelorette, and after, a bunch of opportunities started coming my way. I consider myself a businesswoman. I'm not stupid. And if good opportunities are coming my way, I'm going to take advantage of them and explore them.
After that, I was going to do a show on the Style Network that had a pilot, and I was on that for a year, working on it. It ended up not getting picked up. I always told my agent and lawyer, "I'll do this until it's hard." Like, I'll do this when opportunities are presenting themselves, because I'm not going to turn down great opportunities. But I'm not going to be then be one of those people who's a washed up reality star that's trying her hardest and showing up on every red carpet. That's not me. And that's never been my dream. Once people stop caring, I'm done.
I waited on that pilot, and my relationship from the show ended around that same time. I just was, like, "It's not for me." I moved back to San Francisco for three months and started looking into interviewing at Twitter. Because at that point, going back to Facebook after a couple of years, I would have been taking a step back — all the people I started with would be way higher up, and I would feel like I hadn't progressed in my life. So I was, like, "I'm going to interview at Twitter and go back to the Silicon Valley world." And then I got a call, randomly, from my agents that 1st Look, which is the show I do now, had called about me. I was, like, "What? The second I stop trying at all, this falls into my lap." I feel like some sort of force is telling me this is the right path for me. It took me a long time to feel like I'm good at my job; I'm self-deprecating.
I read your E! blog recapping this season of The Bachelorette. Do you still have a relationship with the show?
AF: Right now, I have more of a relationship with E!. I've been doing some correspondent work with them recently. But with ABC, absolutely, I was just on the "Men Tell All" episode Monday.
I've just have noticed you seem more honest about the show and the production of the show and what you actually think than past cast members are.
AF: Yeah, I may have gotten —
You called Brooks boring!
AF: I know. I may have gotten in a little bit of trouble before for saying too much. I push the boundaries with saying the behind the scenes things more, I think, than anyone else. It's a very fine line to walk sometimes. But I want to be honest. I want people to know really what's going on. For instance, one of the huge misconceptions I think out there is, "Oh, if the guy's in the Top 5, it means she really liked him." It's just not true. Maybe she did. Maybe there's a chance the Bachelorette or Bachelor likes everyone in their Top 5. But in my case, for instance, I was good friends with my Top 5, I thought they were great people. But really, I had romantic connections with two guys on my season. She's giving everyone a try, but you can't assume that every single one is love.
For instance, Drew seems extremely gay to me, and he's made it to the Top 3.
AF: [silence]
I know you can't say anything to that.
AF: [laughs]
It is nice to read what the reality is. I feel like Desiree has gotten the worst deal of any Bachelorette ever — I'm surprised she made it out of there alive. The guy who wanted to lure her into a room alone the first night, maybe to kill her — and so on. I do think you're wrong, however, when you say that Chris wins. Ali, you know more than I do, but I assume it's Brooks.
AF: I 100% do not read the spoilers, but obviously I know the spoilers are that it's Brooks, because everyone tweets me the spoilers. I try so hard every season not to read them. I believe that I have detective skills on the show because I know what's going on behind the scenes that you're not seeing on camera. There's kind of a formula that producers use to try to get drama to unfold. I just really find it very hard to believe that they'd be playing up so much that Desiree is so in love with him and he is unsure if that really was the case.
Reza Aslan, a religious scholar with a Ph.D. in the sociology of religions from the University of California and author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth,” went on FoxNews.com’s online show Spirited Debate to promote his book only to be prodded about why a Muslim would write a historical book about Jesus.
Because a drowned dog would really ruin a day at the lake. And safety is sexy.
Team Zissou
Source: i.imgur.com
"Don't be such a cat, the water's fine."
Source: shopdowntowndogs.com
Polka dots are very. in. this. season.
Source: bigdog-boutique.com
Omg I didn't even notice that updo at first.
Source: glamourmutt.com
You voted — here are the results.
With 379 "FAB" votes.
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images / via: buzzfeed.com
With 395 "FAB" votes.
Source: SGP / FAMEFLYNET PICTURES / via: buzzfeed.com
With 407 "FAB" votes.
Source: ER / FAMEFLYNET PICTURES / via: buzzfeed.com
James Lipton gets down like that.
Source: youtube.com
Because some people want to show their affection for “the boy who lived” by showing it on their skin. Always.
Via: fuckyeahharrypottertattoos.tumblr.com
Via: fuckyeahharrypottertattoos.tumblr.com
Via: fuckyeahharrypottertattoos.tumblr.com
Via: fuckyeahharrypottertattoos.tumblr.com
Regardless of education, the number of young Americans with full-time jobs is lower than it was in 2012.
Via: gallup.com
Via: heathersexual23.tumblr.com
Via: gallup.com
