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Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 3:01 PM UTC

Pop Torn: 10 pieces of cultural ambivalence

This week we're on the fence about Lady Gaga's porn parody, Chuck E. Cheese's mascot scandal, and Gmail Man

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Topics: Pop Torn, Television,

Pop Torn: 10 pieces of cultural ambivalenceCan you guess why these photos are making us feel weird?

Did you guys play that game this week where you take a shot every time someone said “debt ceiling”? It was a really fun way to kill some time … although I actually don’t remember much past Monday night. Did we win?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll now want to catch up on the important cultural news of the week. But before you do, here are those weirder stories we dredged up from around the Internet.

1. Man builds real life Batmobile: I like how the most important part of this headline is that it’s “street-legal.” Because that’s the most important part of the Batmobile … making sure you don’t get tickets.

2. Morrissey’s take on the Norway massacre: “We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead [sic]. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried s— every day.” Move over, Glenn Beck, we have a new winner for “Most inappropriate response to terrorism.”

3. Chuck Palahniuk adaptation directed by “Degrassi” and “Skins” vet: “Invisible Monsters” is not my favorite of Palahniuk’s books, so I’m not sure how I would feel if Samir Rehem turned all the characters into hot 16-year-olds. Might actually be an improvement?

4. Michael Lohan admits he wasn’t on “Celebrity Rehab” for substance issues: Nope, he was being treated for “codependency.” So, at the very least, that show needs a new title.

5. Hustler releases stills from “This Ain’t Lady GaGa XXX “: Who needs a Lady Gaga porn parody? If you can’t imagine what she looks like in bondage gear, you haven’t seen any of her videos.

6. Trailer for “Ides of March”: People are already giving George Clooney’s political thriller two big thumbs up for its unflinching view of a Democratic candidate, but I’m just wondering if Ryan Gosling doesn’t actually just have a twin brother to shoot half his movies for him.

7. HBO doesn’t really know what it’s doing with “Game of Thrones”: During a recent press tour, series execs were unable to answer questions like, “How many seasons are there going to be?” and “How can you shoot a season that the author hasn’t written yet?”

8. Netflix is now streaming “Mad Men”: It won’t make up for jacking up their prices, but hey … who doesn’t love “Mad Men”?

9. Chuck E. Cheese has a dirty mouse: Is this mascot giving the finger with his arms around a 4-year-old boy? And if so, can his parents make any money in a subsequent lawsuit?

10. Microsoft’s “Gmail Man” parody: This was an internal video going around the Bill Gates offices, which you can tell from the low production cost and the fact that it keeps freezing my computer.

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

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The week in 10 pics

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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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