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Saturday, Apr 9, 2011 12:09 PM UTC

Pop Torn: 10 pieces of culture we’re feeling iffy about

This week we're on the fence about Jay-Z's new lifestyle site, Miley Cyrus sex dolls and the baby bald eagle cam

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Topics: Pop Torn, American Idol, Celebrity, Charlie Sheen, Dancing With the Stars, Miley Cyrus, Viral Video, YouTube, Television,

Pop Torn: 10 pieces of culture we're feeling iffy about

With all the problems in the government this week — from the possible shutdown to the tea partiers to Donald Trump — isn’t it time you stopped and focused on what was really important? Like all that entertainment news you’ve let slip through your brain while you were contemplating what would happen if the federal government stopped working? Well now it’s time to take a deep breath, relax and check out some of the weirder stuff you may have missed this week.

1.) Bacon cologne and perfume: Hey, that’s a thing now! Really great to use if you like being chased down the street by dogs.

2.) Ben Affleck may be playing the brutish Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” remake: Fine. He might actually rock that. But does it still have to be in 3D?

3.) The video preview for the Beastie Boys’ eighth album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two.”

Usually we’d think it’s silly for an album to get a trailer (We’re getting a little trailer-heavy: Why do books need trailers? Only movies need trailers!), but “Fight For Your Right – Revisited” has Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Stanley Tucci, Danny McBride, Seth Rogen and John C. Reilly. So it’s basically the best.

4.) Pia Toscano eliminated from “American Idol”: We know, crowd favorite. But you guys are the ones who voted her off! Also, now Casey Abrams can go on to Viking glory.

5.) Kirstie Alley fell down on “Dancing with the Stars”: And somehow you managed not to talk about it all week! Good for you!

6.) Jay-Z starts lifestyle newsletter: I was just wondering how Jigga could be more like Gwyneth Paltrow.

7.) Tina Fey leaving “30 Rock” to have a baby: OK, it sucks, and we know that. But you know what? If this is what an empowered, feminist comedy icon wants to do with her life, who are we to be like “Nooo you can’t have another baby, we want more funny stuff!” Grow up, us.

8.) Miley Cyrus sex doll sells out in 48 hours: Which is twice as long as it took regular Miley Cyrus.

9.) Charlie Sheen courts Mila Kunis: Oh, this should be good. We mean, obviously not for Mila, who is horrified. But for the rest of us watching at home: good times.

10.) Baby bald eagle cam!!: Three babies hatched recently, letting us all into the guilty pleasure of feeling a vague sense of voyeurism towards our national mascot. But still, awwww!

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

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  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

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