As the sun prepares to set on the eastern seaboard (thanks, farmers!) and your seasonal affective disorder kicks in, why not tarry a while longer and bundle yourself in the warm embrace of some of the day's most depressing news? That's right: It's time for a steaming cup of Friday Buzzkills!
– Of course, there's no bigger buzzkill than the writers' strike that continues to darken every soundstage, but even more worrisome is the way studios are looking to fill the gaps in their schedule. Not only can we expect a flood of idiotic reality programming (like The CW's charming new hick spin on The Bachelor, Farmer Takes A Wife), but apparently some execs are even turning to Myspace for ideas, with talks of NBC picking up the website's mopey new Quarterlife series as contingency programming.
– While Prince fans can breathe easy that His Royal Badness isn't threatening to sue them over unauthorized use of his likeness as previously reported, the dove is about to cry for popular bittorrent site The Pirate Bay, whom Prince recently put in his purple crosshairs. Jesus, first Oink and now The Pirate Bay—what do they want us to do, pay for music or something?
– On that note, popular torrent site Demonoid has also leaked its last, bowing to pressure from the Canadian Recording Industry Association—uh, not that we've ever used it! Hurray for the recording industry!
– The anticipation for the new Wu-Tang album, The 8 Diagrams, continues to build , and while fans are eagerly anticipating a possible live tour to follow, Raekwon recently aired a few beefs on the Missinfo.TV blog yesterday that indicate the Wu is having an internal battle over the direction the album is taking. Apparently the group is butting heads with producer RZA, who is reportedly ignoring the other members' input. In a telling quote given to Billboard, RZA said, "Everybody has their own opinion. This is my vision at the end of the day."
– A follow-up on last week's reported murder of former Ramones manager Linda Stein: Her 26-year-old assistant, Natavia Lowery, has confessed to the crime. According to the report:
"Stein twice blew marijuana smoke in her assistant's face, even though the assistant complained it was making her ill. Stein, according to Ms. Lowery, yelled profanities at her and waved what Commissioner Kelly called a 'yoga stick'—two pieces of wood tied together with cord. Then, Ms. Lowery grabbed the stick and struck Stein six or seven times."
Have a super weekend!