Grammy Awards 2011: Fashion Winners and Sinners

The Grammy Awards 2011 are being held tonight at Staples Center in Los Angeles, with everyone from Eminem to Bob Dylan scheduled to perform.  But the night isn’t just about music–it’s also about the best, the worst and the most outrageous fashions.

After the jump, a look at some of the most notable Grammy fashions from tonight–and Lady Gaga’s wild entrance.

Adam Sandler Tops Justin Bieber in Close Box Office Race

Comic Adam Sandler edged out singer Justin Bieber in a close race at the box office.

Sandler’s new romantic comedy “Just Go With It” (Sony/Columbia), which co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Bailee Madison, placed first at the box office with $31 million. Bieber’s new 3-D concert film “Never Say Never” (Paramount) took the second slot with $30.2, according to early estimates from Hollywood.com.

More after the jump.

Grammy Awards 2011: A Preview

Who will win best album at the Grammys this year? And should the award be retitled best collection of tracks available for individual downloading? And what will Lady Gaga wear to the show? Will it be edible, flammable or both?

These are some of the questions yet to be answered as we head into tonight’s Grammy Awards, to be broadcast on CBS starting at 8 p.m. ET. Speakeasy will be live-blogging the event starting at 7:30 p.m.

More after the jump.

Will Jazzman Kirk Whalum Finally Win a Grammy?

After multiple Grammy nods but no trophies, is it still, as they say, an honor just to be nominated? Jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum may have an opinion on that topic Monday, the day after the ceremony honoring 2010 music releases, for which Whalum has four nominations, making a career total of 12.

His nominations are split among songs from two different albums: “Everything is Everything,” a tribute to Donnie Hathaway, who died 32 years ago last month; and “The Gospel According to Jazz Chapter III,” the latest in a series of recordings Whalum launched in 1998.

The Memphis native, who has backed everyone from Whitney Houston to Barbra Streisand, diversified his career last year when he became the official steward of the Stax Records legacy. Last April he was named president and chief executive of the Soulsville Foundation, which includes the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Stax Music Academy and the Soulsville Charter School.

Whalum performs Sunday as part of the Grammy pre-telecast concert, which will be streaming here. We recently spoke to Whalum about the Grammys, his day job in Memphis, and the state of jazz.

Russell Brand and Chris Brown on ‘SNL’: The Best Bits

Comic actor Russell Brand hosted “Saturday Night Live” with musical guest Chris Brown last night. Wait a minute, is that the same Chris Brown who pled guilty in 2009 to assaulting his now ex-girlfriend Rihanna and was sentenced to five years of probation and 180 days community labor? That Chris Brown? He gets a spot on SNL after that? Couldn’t be the same Chris Brown. Really? The same Chris Brown? Who is the musical guest next week? Hosni Mubarak?

Anywho, after the jump, watch some of the more amusing sketches from last night.

Years After Dictatorship, Scars Run Deep for Argentinean Filmmakers

New Hollywood darling Hailee Steinfeld opened the Berlin Film Festival Thursday evening with her first film “True Grit,” which will show out of competition in Germany’s capital. The fresh-faced teenager may even win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress come February 27, but it’s a seven-year-old Argentine named Paula Galinelli Hertzog who may bring home the Golden Bear—Berlin’s top award—for her debut drama “The Prize” (El Premio).

Hertzog plays Cecilia Edelstein, the only child of political dissidents in 1976 Argentina, when the country was on the brink of a brutal military dictatorship lasting seven years. Living in an abandoned beach shack with her mother and waiting for an absent, possibly dead father, freckle-faced Cecilia is expected to keep track of a web of lies constructed by her mother and designed to make the family seem like obedient supporters of the regime.

Saving Italy From Corruption, One Film Fan at a Time

With allegations of an affair with a 17-year-old prostitute nicknamed Ruby swirling around Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, it seems apropos that a new satirical film chronicling the quest of a corrupt politician to save his village from morality would find a bemused audience in Italy.

“Whatsoeverly” (Qualunquemente) premiered in Italy two weeks ago and is now playing at the Berlin Film Festival out of competition.

Cetto La Qualunque, the film’s protagonist, returns home to Calabria from his hideaway in Cuba, bringing his mistress and bastard child in tow (neither of whose names he can remember). He plans to live the good life in his gaudy mansion, bulldozing Etruscan ruins to build shoddy housing complexes. But when he realizes a civil rights activist is running for mayor, he launches his own campaign, running on a platform of more prostitutes and corruption for all.

The Wall Street Journal caught up with comedian Antonio Albanese, who plays Cetto and co-wrote the screenplay, to talk in Berlin about how he hopes using comedy can save Italy from political corruption.

An Eight-Track Museum Opens in Dallas

The Dallas Observer has a feature on a museum devoted to eight-tracks, the clunky musical format that went out of fashion in the early-80s. The museum’s founder, Bucks Burnett, rightly sees eight-tracks as the precursor to cassettes and, now, MP3s — the first format that allowed music to be movable, listened to in cars, at the beach, on portable players. Burnett’s museum, in Dallas’ Deep Ellum neighborhood, has space-age decor and will house his collection of about 3,000 tapes.

The news made us recall a cool documentary about eight-track collectors that came out several years ago, “So Wrong They’re Right.” Watch a clip after the jump.

Grammy-Winning Singer Adele Plays the WSJ Cafe

With the Grammys set for Sunday, British singer Adele, who won the honor for best new artist at the show in 2009, stopped by the WSJ Cafe to discuss her coming album “21,” and perform two new songs.

Watch her intimate performance of “Rolling in the Deep” after the jump.

How Reading Junot Diaz Can Help America Prosper

When I teach fiction writing out here on the frozen prairie, many of my undergraduates come to my class from programs in food science, animal ecology or engineering. Very few of them have read much by the way of contemporary literature, and so I begin each semester by telling my students why we are going to be reading so many things that feel, in their terms, “depressing.”

More after the jump.