Pop Culture

The unemployment rate may be at an all-time high, but at least one person is hiring... Diddy.

Per MediaJobsDaily: Hip hop mogul Sean Combs is looking for a new bad boy for life personal assistant. If you've got what it takes to cater to Diddy 24/7, give it your best shot at an audition for season two of the reality show, "I Want To Work For Diddy."

Not only is Diddy combing (ahem) for characters in New York, but he's holding casting calls in Los Angeles and Chicago, so if you can stand out among the stiff competition, you might land yourself a spot on the show.

Time to don your best bling...

The last seven days have been terrible ones for print media. While the demise of print has been long discussed certainly no one could have foreseen the speed with which it is happening. At a keynote address in New York yesterday morning Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore told the audience that this October looked like 1931.

"Time Inc has never had so many advertising clients in trouble at the same time. The declines are stunning." Moore added that she didn't care if it technically isn't a recession. "It is one for us."

Recession or otherwise it's definitely depression causing to read and write about the continual layoffs. And while we can't control the news, it is Halloween! So to that end we are at least going to have a bit of fun and find all our favorite scary movie scenes throughout the day via the magic of YouTube hopefully mitigating slightly the scariness of the newscycle.

Parents are hopelessly behind when it comes to teaching their kids about sex and the media isn't helping, a researcher at Indiana University argued in a recently released study.

"There aren't any consequences to premature sexual activity in the media, so teens receive mixed messages," Catherine Sherwood-Laughlin said. "They need adults in their lives to help clear up those messages."

She argues that text messaging and the Web have altered the way teens deal with sex, and parents need to understand what their kids are discussing. We're so glad we're not from Indiana.

On Tuesday, we brought you the news that the Onion had "scooped" the competition with its story about Shia Lebeouf's arrest.

Now, courtesy of Aaron Barnhart at TVBarn, it looks like the jokers at "America's Finest News Source" have done it again.

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal — citing voters who "won't vote for any beanpole guy" — asked if Barack Obama was too fit to be President. Six months ago, however, the Onion News Network covered this territory when it ran a video called "As Obese Population Rises, More Candidates Courting The Fat Vote." WSJ foiled again. (Why the Journal is running this story in the first place in an entirely different discussion.)

ONN video after the jump.

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In the past, the Beatles have been notoriously tight with releasing their catalog online and licensing their songs — try finding them on iTunes — but Apple, keeper of the Fab Four's name, has been loosening up lately.

The newest twist comes courtesy of the Financial Times, which reports Beatles reps are in talks with Activision, makers of Guitar Hero, and MTV Games, distributors of Rock Band, to create a video game similar to both. The deal could be worth several million dollar.

Many industry experts see this move as the next step down the path towards the inevitable licensing of Beatles music across a wider spectrum. "To my view, it's only a matter of time before we see Beatles songs that are the original recordings in motion pictures, in television work, and yes, maybe even one day in a commercial," Martin Bandier, chief executive of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls more than 200 Beatles copyrights, told FT.

$1 billion-plus in sales is certainly enticing.

In honor of this weekend's friendly (that's exhibition for those of you unschooled in the rhetoric of the beautiful game) between the United States men's national soccer team and Argentina's, we bring you a story written by Barry Yourgrau in the current issue of Culture and Travel. In it, the spoken-word poet tells of taking in a game between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid at the latter's Vicente Calderón Stadium. It's not Bill Buford's Among the Thugs, but it paints an accurate portrait of a game in Europe.

Live soccer is one of the great spectacles, but unless you're down in the club president's box, details are tough to follow. No TV replays or commentary — even the reporters alongside us were checking the Internet coverage to keep informed. The stunned crowd buzzed and bayed. Atleti found some equilibrium and started to attack, but Robinho kept dazzling down the left side for Real. Then Atleti surged, time and again they swarmed Real's goal, young Kun Agüero lashed thrilling shots — but either Casillas, the goalkeeper, inhumanly saved them or the ball hit the woodwork. Close to halftime, while I was looking down at my notes, Real managed a corner kick. When I looked back up, Real players were rushing around deliriously. Two-nothing.

Entertainment Tonight is not retracting its report (gleaned from a "source," possibly an imposter, inside the delivery room) that Angelina Jolie has given birth to the golden children, despite the fact that Brad Pitt's representative has denied it to the AP. The executive producer of the entertainment show apparently wants to "see how this story plays out." Which is an interesting approach since eventually she'll have the babies, we guess (kind of like, one day this election season will have to be over), so maybe ET is trying to edge its way in to the prediction market.

Anyway, the report apparently sent every celebrity magazine in town into a state of "pandemonium," though in the end People, US Weekly and OK magazines (talk about celebrity mag holy trinity) concluded the rumors were indeed false — no flowers and no grand-parents were what tipped them off. It all sort of begs the question: why hasn't someone at the CIA considered putting the paparazzi on the Bin Laden case?

Sex and the City. All the time. Everywhere. Can't get enough. (And seriously, if you really can't get enough you should check this out).

In the meantime, in the midst of all this talk about print vs online we wondered: if Sex and the City were to take place in New York City 2008 where do you think would Carrie Bradshaw would be working? Tell us what you think, after the jump.

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Great news, lambs! Newly slim and semi-recently unbatsh*t pop star Mariah Carey will bathe Manhattan in lavender, pink and white light this weekend when the Empire State Building ignites in those hues to honor Carey's new album, E=MC, a sure scientist fave. We couldn't say it any better than a friend of the 'bowl, who writes: "I love that someone like Mariah Carey has taken the work of a genius, Einstein, and corrupted it for the title of her little album, E=MC. And now we all get to bask in the dim glow of her celebrity. Thanks for nothing, Mimi."

Specifics, should you wish to take your pink, lavender and white sign to tomorrow's lighting ceremony, where Carey will hopefully only flip the switch (not flip out), after the jump.

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1. The specialty media discovery. In Radar's April issue, a piece runs on celebrity inspired blow-up dolls. Focusing on the creations of blow-up doll baron Nick Orlandio, mention is made of a Sarah Jessica Parker model, "Sarah Jessica Porker Loves Sex In Her Sh***y":

The most recent one [is] Sarah Jessica Porkher. The dolls are all about the box and artwork, because if you've seen the dolls, they're miserable-looking. The SJP doll is funniest. We were able to take existing copy and have fun with it.

Keep in mind that Radar mentioned a variety of celebrity inspired dolls, folks. Not just Sarah Jessica Parker.

2. Around 1.5 weeks after the Radar piece hits newsstands, the New York Post discovers
the SJP blow up doll:

The Chatsworth, Calif., sex-toy company's Web site touts the doll with mock laudatory newspaper reviews, like this one from "USGay Today": "From laptops to lap dances, this high-class piece of a — is gonna show you her Lower East Side!"

"I would think HBO would make an effort to stop this on the basis of trademark infringement," Brian Brokate, a Manhattan intellectual-property attorney, told The Post.

3. Blogs discover it.