In all its gory glory, right here:

 

More details, including that it will debut on Cinemax (of all cable channels), Sat May 2 at 10PM EST/PST here

Obsessed, the new film starring (and executive produced by) Beyonce Knowles, was number one at the box-office over the weekend, earning over $28 million and laying a beat down on Zac Efron's 17 Again. So does the film's success mean that Beyonce can do no wrong? Does it mean that her brilliant co-star Idris Elba will finally get to do some worthy post-The Wire work? Or does it mean that fake Fatal Attraction ripoffs bathed in bizarre post-post-racialist paranoia about all white people (but especially gay ones) are finally striking a chord?

According to the AP:

"Obsessed" was not screened in advance for critics, and those who reviewed it generally trashed the movie as a lame retread of 1987's "Fatal Attraction," which starred Glenn Close as a demented woman pursuing a married man, played by Michael Douglas.

But "Obsessed" had the lure of singer Knowles stepping out from her pop star image and duking it out with the crazy lady threatening her home and marriage.

"There's something about wanting to see Beyonce kick butt. She's taking on one wacked chick, played very well by Ali Larter," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "Let's face it, everyone loves Beyonce, and to see her in this role is a treat."

Crazy.

If the record store biz item was too specialized for you, A Socialite's Life offers you pictures of Justin Timberlake playing golf.

People like to say that record stores are dead, but last week's Record Store Day stunt—a promotion designed to attract as many people to actual physical record stores as actually physically possible—appears to have been a success. Though the numbers themselves might seem not too impressive, there's reason to believe that even a 1% increase bodes well for a phenomenon that's still important to lots of people.

From Billboard online:

The numbers are in and Record Store Day produced a nearly 1% gain -- to 566,000 for the week versus 561,000 from the corresponding week of the prior year -- in U.S. album sales for the indie store sector, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While that may seem meager, it comes off as strong considering that U.S. album sales were down 15% last week to 6.3 million from 7.5 million in the corresponding week for the prior year.

"Any sales increase nowadays is a big victory," says one distribution executive. "Record Store Day was a big success."

Beyond album sales, Record Store Day is being felt in other places in SoundScan. For instance, 80,000 vinyl albums were scanned last year, versus 40,000 in the same week of the prior year, while 46,000 singles were counted last week versus 33,000 in the same week last year.

Also, Wilco's "Ashes of American Flags," available exclusively at Record Store Day participants, debuts on top of the video chart with nearly 9,000 scans, or 65.7% greater than the previous week's No. 1 video, Jeff Beck's "Performing This Week."

Moreover 11 spots of the top 20 singles in SoundScan's physical singles charts are occupied by Record Store Day exclusives, and that might have been more impressive, but a lot of titles weren't registered by SoundScan, including all the Columbia exclusive singles.

But wait! There's more.

The merry men of the (once-brilliant) joke (that refuses to die) Spinal Tap, namely (r-l) Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, are touring again, this time without the costumes and production shtick they have been toting around for years, allowing the actual comedy (and melody) of the songs they've written and performed together. Not just the false metal, either: they're also playing their fauxlk songs from A Mighty Wind, and other delights.

From Rolling Stone.com:

The men of Spinal Tap went costume-free last night at Southern California’s Grove of Anaheim, but Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer had no trouble getting into character: Singing Tap classics as well as material from A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman, the trio offered pitch-perfect parodies of arena-rock excess and folk-revival earnestness on the fifth date of its Unwigged & Unplugged tour, which wraps up May 31st in Milwaukee (shortly before the release this summer of a new Spinal Tap album, Back from the Dead).

Set list:

“The Colors of My Life”

“Hell Hole”

“Never Did No Wanderin’”

“Clam Caravan”

“Bitch School”

“Loco Man”

“This Bulging River”

“All the Way Home”

“Blood on the Coal”

“(Listen to the) Flower People”

“Corn Wine”

“The Majesty of Rock”

“Stonehenge”

“Start Me Up”

“Cups and Cakes”

“Old Joe’s Place”

“Big Bottom”

“The Good Book Song”

“A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow”

“Rainy Day Sun”

“Sex Farm”

“Gimme Some Money”

“A Mighty Wind”

“The Colors of My Life”

Tour dates and other stuff here.

How much would you pay for access to Billy Corgan's blog of video updates from the studio where he's making the new Smashing Pumpkins recordings? If you said "less than $40," you're out of luck, cherub.

From The Guardian:

What do you do when all the other original members quit your band leaving you to soldier on like a zombie, recording new music under the same name? Well, if you are Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, you charge your fans money for updates.

Smashing Pumpkins have announced plans for a new subscription service, with subscribers receiving neither new songs nor old ones, but video updates from the studio. For $40 (£27), fans will be entitled to 12 weeks of access, and at least 25 minutes of "updates" will be posted each week. Footage will be shared within 24 hours of being recorded, and eventually assembled for a "substantial art film", according to the official website.

"I am excited to make this offer to anyone who might be interested in what goes on behind the wizard's curtain," Corgan wrote. "It is my goal to far exceed the normal documentary process and use the moment to create something that invokes synchronicity, electricity and faith into a moment that is ever unfolding."

Although five-minute in-studio video clips aren't likely to invoke synchronicity, electricity and faith for cynical music critics like ourselves, Corgan seems hopeful for the interest of the Smashing Pumpkins massif. But if demand is too weak, the website states, "the project will be set aside".

"The goal is to create a working model that is not profit-motivated but rather information and access-motivated," Corgan promised, meaning that if fans want information or access then they have to give Corgan some money. The project's contributors will include Electric Prunes bassist Mark Tulin, photographers Kristin Burns and Lisa Johnson, and Smashing Pumpkins music video director Justin Coloma.

Corgan reformed Smashing Pumpkins in 2005, though drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was the only other original band-member. Chamberlin quit in March, saying he could "no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don't fully possess".

From Digital Spy:

Britney Spears has come out in support of gay marriage.

The 'Circus' singer told followers on Twitter that people should be able to find happiness irrespective of their sexual orientation.

"Love is love! People should be able to do whatever makes them happy!" she wrote.

Spears's statement comes amid a row about controversial comments made by Miss California contestant Carrie Prejean, who was booed for saying that "a marriage should be between a man and a woman".

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton later branded Prejan a "dumb bitch".

Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus has also used Twitter to voice her support for same-sex marriage.

"Jesus loves you AND your partner and wants you to know how much he cares! That's like a Daddy not loving his lil boy cuz he's gay and that is WRONG and very sad! Like I said everyone deserves to be happy," she wrote.

Over at the band's MySpace page, you can dig all 30 songs of The Cure's recent headlining set from the Coachella festival. Got live if you want it... and if you're willing to sit at your desk for a couple hours (not counting buffering time).

Morrissey (one of the three main reasons I both did and did not want to attend Coachella this year) left the stage midway through his set at the desert festival because the barbecued meat stench was getting to him.

The singer was performing a set laced with Smiths hits when, midway through his performance, he was overcome with fumes from the backstage barbecue. "I can smell burning flesh ... and I hope to God it's human," he said. This was no mere wisecrack, though. Halfway through playing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, Morrissey decided he'd had enough and walked off stage.

The star did return to finish his set, however, declaring: "The smell of burning animals is making me sick. I just couldn't bear it."

He never disappoints. More story in the Guardian.

This exchange may be the only thing I can honestly claim to have in common with the great Beyonce Knowles:

AP: Your sister Solange twitters all the time. Do you do it?

Beyonce: My sister is the Twitter queen. She told me about the twittering, but I don't get it, I feel like I'm getting really old. I'm like, what? I don't understand. Just call me.

More about The Artist Soon to be Formerly Once Having Tried To Be Known as Sasha Fierce right cheer.

In case you were wondering what Bobby Brown thinks about the idea of touring with Vanilla Ice, here's a little video to clue you in. Also, how sad is TMZ, seriously?