Maya Rhodan

"This is weird as hell for me," T-Pain says. Us, too

Remember T-Pain? In the mid-2000s, he was one of the biggest names in popular culture. His hit songs included the use of auto-tune, which synthesized and distorted his voice for a futuristic sound that led him to the top of the charts. But some time around 2010, he fell off. Looking back, he blames the exact thing that made him popular for the masses souring on his music—“People felt like I was using it to sound good,” he says in an upcoming interview on All Things Considered. “But I was just using it to sound different.”

Yet to the average listener, a “different” T-Pain would be more like his recent Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. In the 13-minute video, the now 30-year-old singer performs some of his greatest and latest hits—get this—without auto-tune. His actual voice will surprise you. Before starting up, the singer says, “this is weird as hell for me.” That pretty much sums up how you’ll feel once the 13-minutes are up. If this isn’t your ideal T-Pain, NPR says he’s got a greatest hits coming out soon.

[NPR]

"I've never gotten a black eye or a busted lip”

Jennifer Lopez says in a new book that she has “felt abused” in past relationships, even if she’s never been physically harmed like other women.

“I’ve never gotten a black eye or a busted lip,” the singer writes in her upcoming book True Love, which is previewed in People magazine. “But I’ve felt abused in one way or another: mentally, emotionally, verbally.”

“I would never go into specifics about my relationships, and I don’t,” Lopez tells People of the book. “But the idea was that I learned something.”

The 45-year-old opens up about her past trials in love, including her three marriages and several high-profile courtships.

“You have to take control and you have to set up your own boundaries,” Lopez tells People of what she’s learned in relationships. ” You have the power to change it.”

Read more at People

The two will appear on the hit FX series toward the end of the season

Hollywood can’t get enough of Neil Patrick Harris. On top of all the other appearances and host spots NPH has snagged this year, the actor and his husband David Burtka will both appear in episodes of American Horror Story: Freak Show later this season.

Harris will join the cast of Freak Show for the 11th and 12th episodes, TV Line reports, in which the How I Met Your Mother star will play a chameleon salesman. Burtka, on the other hand, will appear in the season finale during a “sexy storyline” with Jessica Lange’s character.

Harris is also hosting the Oscars in 2015.

[TV Line]

Paramount TV will produce it

The 1980s classic American Gigolo is set to become the latest film adapted for television by Paramount TV. The thriller’s original producer Jerry Bruckheimer will be involved in the project as an executive producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Bruckheimer produced the 1980s film starring Richard Gere as a male escort in Los Angeles who falls for Lauren Hutton’s character amid scandal. “With its signature noir aesthetic, American Gigolo has remained a deeply entertaining, psychological thriller and I’m thrilled to partner with [Paramount’s] Brad [Grey] and Amy [Powell] on remaking it into a television series,” Bruckheimer said in a statement.

Gigolo is one of many films getting a small screen reboot by Paramount TV. A television version of the 2002 film Minority Report is also in the works. Paramount TV is also producing Grease live for Fox, Yahoo reports.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Both of their shows will broadcast and livestream on Election Night

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are not only broadcasting live episodes of their shows on Election Day, but the specials have—hands down—the best names.

CNN’s “Election Night in America” sounds downright boring when compared to The Daily Show’s “Democalypse 2014: America Remembers It Forgot to Vote” and The Colbert Report’s “Midterms ‘014: Detour to Gridlock: An Exciting Thing That I Am Totally Interested In—Wait! Don’t Change the Channel. Look at this Video of a Duckling Following a Cat Dressed Like a Shark Riding a Roomba! ‘014!”

No, seriously. That’s what it’s called.

The coverage will air back-to-back on election night on Comedy Central. Viewers can also stream coverage on Comedy Central’s website and mobile app. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show.

The video has more than 8.1 million views on YouTube and over 42,000 comments

A woman featured in a video that showed her being harassed as walked the streets of New York City has received at least 10 death and rape threats since the video went viral.

Some of the threats have gone directly to Shoshanna Roberts’ personal email accounts, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The video, “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman,” had over 8.1 million views on YouTube as of late Wednesday afternoon, and many derogatory comments—including one that says “this is exactly why women aren’t supposed to leave the kitchen.”

Despite the backlash, the video, which was created by the anti-street harassment organization “Hollaback!”, has become the latest fodder in an ongoing conversation about street harassment. You can see the video below.

Campaign says "there is no scandal here”

The Republican Senate candidate in Iowa copied-and-pasted large portions of her op-eds in local newspapers from other sources, according to a new report.

BuzzFeed, citing side-by-side comparisons of the offending articles and source material, reports that many of the op-eds Joni Ernst wrote for local papers as a state Senator contained large swaths of text from summaries sent to many state legislators. Some of Ernst’s work also reportedly contains lines from speeches and news releases by Gov. Terry Brandstand. BuzzFeed presents several of the passages containing nearly identical text for comparison.

The Ernst campaign told BuzzFeed these instances are taken from pieces created “for the express purpose of reproduction” and they are “no different than what virtually every state lawmaker in the nation does, including Iowa Democrats.”

“Despite BuzzFeed’s every effort, there is no scandal here,” the campaign said.

Ernst, who’s facing Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in a tight Senate race in the state, is just the latest politician to be caught up in allegations of plagiarism. In recent years at least three politicians have been accused of lifting other people’s words and calling them their own, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Earlier in October, Democratic Sen. John Walsh had his master’s degree revoked after the U.S. Army War College found he plagiarized an important academic paper.

[BuzzFeed]