Shortly after Time Magazine’s Most Influential list (Time 100) came out yesterday, they released some video interviews of some of the artists/influential people that were profiled. As you can imagine, Kanye West’s videos are particularly notable. He’s dropping some Kanye Truth Bombs, but here’s the thing – you know how I’m sort of Kanye Apologist? Yeah, these videos show why. I think when we’re reading some crazy interview with Kanye, we imagine him ranting like a crazy person, yelling ALL CAPS to some poor journalist. When in reality, Kanye takes himself seriously (too seriously) and he’s a narcissistic monster, for sure, but he’s soft-spoken and thoughtful, even funny. Is he as profound as he thinks he is? Not really. But when you actually get to see him in an interview, the experience is a lot different.

Video #1. This one is generating the most headlines. Kanye talks about how “Every time I crash the Internet, it’s like this little drop of truth…Every time I say something that’s extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the Internet. So what are we getting the rest of the time?” He also says he doesn’t care about his legacy. He also talks about his “mission” and claims “I think there are schoolteachers with the exact same mission as me. I think there are police officers with the exact same mission as me.” O RLY?

Video #2. Kanye talks about being the “Robin Hood of Fashion” as in, the current fashion equation is all about expense, exclusivity and luxury and he wants to bring great, dope style to the masses. He’s very grandiose here, but it’s cute.

Video #3. Kanye claims he’s not in competition with anyone. Except Kendrick Lamar?! NO! No, he’s not competing with Kendrick or Drake or anyone else. This week.

Here are some photos of Kanye and Kim leaving Paris yesterday:

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Time Magazine.

View image | gettyimages.com

I throw major side eye at Shia LaBeouf’s hair. He’s sported a rat-tail extension since March. I know it’s an extension because Shia’s hair was buzzed last December. The top part grew out quickly, but the rat tail is a deliberate cosmetic enhancement. Then he shaved the sides of his head and showed up to the Tribeca premiere of Love True (as executive producer). The rat tail looks fuller than it did last month. He’s been tweaking it in the salon. He also has a new eyebrow piercing (on the left side). This is a lot of effort for a guy who wants to appear effortless.

During an an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Shia says he was excited to “cheer from the sidelines” and not appear in this film. But he isn’t retired from acting no matter what he says. Shia won’t ever be able to stay away; his IMDb profile reveals some upcoming projects. For this movie, he was content to observe. He also told HR about his “Al Pacino acting,” which doesn’t make much sense. Here are some other excerpts from HR and Variety. Shia gets philosophical about celebrity and the movie star:

On maintaining his artistic integrity: “The craft of acting for film is terribly exclusive and comes with the baggage of celebrity, which robs you of your individuality and separates you. As a celebrity/star I am not an individual — I am a spectacular representation of a living human being, the opposite of an individual. The enemy of the individual, in myself as well as in others. The celebrity/star is the object of identification, with the shallow seeming life that has to compensate for the fragmented productive specializations which are actually lived. The requirements to being a star/celebrity are namely, you must become an enslaved body. Just flesh — a commodity, and renounce all autonomous qualities in order to identify with the general law of obedience to the course of things. The star is a byproduct of the machine age, a relic of modernist ideals. It’s outmoded.”

Is he still “retired” from acting? “I turned to performance art, as I couldn’t find another container/platform/discipline for individual expression, self-presentation. I couldn’t contact the audience. Performance art tightens the space of relations and allows me to work in real time, as opposed to only synthetic time. It liberated me from the old constraints of genre and taxonomic systems (drama, thriller, comedy, mystery). It liberates me and allows me to work in broad complexities.”

Does he really want to direct? “I’m a performer.”

Rehab & method acting: “I just got out of rehab nine months ago, and in rehab you do this kind of operatic therapy, where you go in and sit with your small little group, three or four people, and you work through your sh*t. Somebody will play your father, somebody will play your mother, and there’s literally like an action/cut thing and you go all the way there. For me, it’s like method acting.”

[From Variety]

Shia believes movie stars are “a relic of modernist ideals.” This is his roundabout way of saying he’s more evolved, more postmodern than a simple celebrity. He’s exhausting. I can’t believe he’s comparing being a movie star to being “enslaved.” And the “I am a spectacular representation of a living human being” part is just ridiculous. Hopefully he took his rehab seriously, but he fronts like he method acted his way through it.

Back to the rat tail. Shia’s been working various incarnations of this ‘do. He’s often papped outside the gym with a jug of water, always wearing his Fury boots and black skinny jeans. He never carries a gym bag, so I assume he doesn’t change clothes to work out. He probably doesn’t wash those pants very frequently either. So gross.

Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet & WENN

*Perfectly Executed Chewbacca Sound*

This might be the nerdiest thing to have ever nerded. Yesterday, nerdgasms took over the world as Star Wars nerds wept in the streets… wept nerd-tears of JOY. Pure joy. The kind of joy that comes from seeing Harrison Ford without an earring. And everything about the Chewbacca REALNESS. And John Boyega being whatever it is he is. And Mark Hamill talking about The Force. All of it! Because King Nerd JJ Abrams dropped the second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Most of all, I’m happy that they took the franchise away from George Lucas. Aren’t you? Bless George Lucas for creating these characters and for the first three (Episodes IV-VI) films, but I’m genuinely happy that JJ Abrams has taken over. As for the trailer… this really is just a glimpse, you know? JJ knows how to stoke the nerd-flame just enough, and we get the emotional pay-off of seeing Han Solo and Chewy. But we aren’t seeing half the big-name actors in this… yet. So far, we haven’t seen Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson OR Carrie Fisher. We keep getting a brief glimpse of Oscar Isaac, and it seems that he, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are the three central characters.

JJ Abrams launched this new trailer at the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim event on Thursday – go here to read more about what was said during the panel discussion. Hint: they really didn’t let any plot details slip out beyond Boyega’s character getting the ball rolling.

Stills courtesy of LucasFilm.

I normally don’t care about Allure’s annual “celebrities get naked” issue. I’m not a prude about naked photos or anything, it’s just that Allure usually chooses people that I don’t really care about, naked or not. But in this year’s issue, they got Laverne Cox to pose. And suddenly, I was interested. Laverne is beautiful, of course, and she’s also the first transgender woman to pose for Allure’s Nude Issue. I was curious to see how they posed her and yes, I was simply curious to see her body. She looks gorgeous. I think it would have been a stronger photo if her eyes were open, but this is fine. Laverne spoke to Allure about WHY she posed:

“Going through life, you try to cover and hide, but it doesn’t really work,” says the Orange Is the New Black star, 30, who at first turned down Allure’s request to pose nude.

“I said no initially, thought about it, and said no again,” she says. “But I’m a black transgender woman. I felt this could be really powerful for the communities that I represent. Black women are not often told that we’re beautiful unless we align with certain standards. Trans women certainly are not told we’re beautiful. Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks. There’s beauty in the things we think are imperfect. That sounds very cliché, but it’s true.”

Cox wanted these pictures for herself, too: “I honestly just want to make myself happy most, and if other people like it, then that’s great. If they don’t, then I’m still happy.”

[From Allure]

It is a powerful thing for her to represent African-American beauty and trans beauty all at once. Intersectionality beauty! Laverne is also one of this year’s Time 100, listed in the Pioneer section. Go here to see her Time profile. She’s such a powerful advocate and a cool lady.

What an interesting coincidence that my eyes are closed in both photos that came out today. The one on the left for the #Time100 by #PeterHapak and the one on the right for @allure by #NormanJeanRoy #SeeNoEvil #LookingInward

A photo posted by laverne cox (@lavernecox) on Apr 16, 2015 at 6:07am PDT

Photos courtesy of Norman Jean Roy/Allure, Instagram, WENN.

Update: It’s a boy for Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen! According to TMZ, the Hollywood couple welcomed their first son – named Montgomery Moses Brian Baron Cohen – on March 17.

Continue reading original post below…

Congratulations are in order for Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen.

The Now You See Me actress, 39, and the Borat star, 43, have welcomed their third child, Us Weekly reports.

No further information — including the baby’s birth date, gender or name — has been released.

The new arrival joins big sisters Olive, 7, and Elula, 4½.

Last month, we spotted the Wedding Crashers star rocking a mini maternity dress.

The private couple, who were wed in 2010, confirmed the pregnancy news in October.

Two days in a row of Tom Hardy. He’s at the Child 44 premiere with Noomi Rapace. I said I wanted to see him in a well-tailored suit. He’s in a well-tailored suit. Is that working for you?

If I say some hair and less beard would help will he show up tomorrow with more hair and less beard?

…      

Proud mama Kelly Clarkson shared a sweet snapshot of daughter River, 10 months, via Instagram Wednesday.

While taking in the Nashville Predators game, Kelly captioned the cute image: “River’s first sporting event! She’s so excited!”

In another shot, the adorable tot is decked out in Predators gear while dad Brandon Blackstock holds their baby girl.

“River & daddy hanging at the game,” the Grammy Award-winning singer, 32, captioned the photo from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Although she’s recently experienced some body-shaming, the American Idol alum maintains a healthy body image.

“I don’t obsess about my weight, which is probably one of the reasons why other people have such a problem with it… There are just some people who are born skinny and with a great metabolism—that is not me,” she recently shared. “I wish I had a better metabolism. But someone else probably wishes they could walk into a room and make friends with everyone like I can. You always want what someone else has.”

River’s first sporting event! #GoPreds #Nashville she’s so excited haha!

A photo posted by Kelly Clarkson (@kellyclarkson) on Apr 15, 2015 at 5:48pm PDT

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Reese Witherspoon having a Sweet Home Alabama moment. This is a “must watch” movie when you find it on TV on a Sunday afternoon.

Um. This just happened. @Tiffanyandco just surprised me with a #SweetHomeAlabama moment in NYC??!!! Where magical moments happen….      

A radiant Ashlee Simpson wowed in a breezy white maternity sundress on Wednesday (April 15). Joined by husband, singer-actor Evan Ross, the mom-to-be, 30, enjoyed lunch at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The following day, the newlywed couple were spotted leaving the Tracy Anderson gym in Studio City.

We’ve spotted Ashlee hitting the gym several times throughout her second pregnancy.

This will be the first child – a girl – for Ashlee and her husband, 26, whom she wed on Aug. 30.

She is already mom to 6-year-old son Bronx with ex-husband, Fall Out Boy rocker Pete Wentz.

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As previously mentioned in the Emma Stone post, the Cannes Film Festival released their list this morning; Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, will be screened in competition. Two of the finest actors of a generation playing the Frank and Claire Underwood of their time. You…