Music

Last night's American Idol finale -- we were RIGHT on the money -- included such spectacles as Lady Gaga and 71 year old Tom Jones, but also Reeve Carney, who plays Spider-Man in the cursed Spider-Man musical, singing the song's big ballad alongside composers Bono and the Edge.

Or that's what SCOTT PILGRIM director Edgar Wright just tweeted:

This is so not comics, but the Final Three go at it tonight and we'd been saving up some notes. We started watching American Idol a few years ago because we felt the need to pay attention to a least one thing that wasn't nerdy but instead reflected the more mundane and/or inane side of culture -- something universal, just so when we had to hang out with normal people we wouldn't be entirely defenseless. Plus former judges Simon and Kara talked about music a little and it was interesting. But that was then. This season's judges, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez excel at nothing but praise, blather and administering something called the "amazing" scale:

NY Magazine recently commissioned a bunch of designers to reimagine the mistress of all the surveys, Lady Gaga, just in time for her new album's release. While it's hard to out-weird someone who wears a meat dress and goes to a Mets game in her underwear, several cartoonists gave it a shot, including Ariel Shrag, David Reese, Tim Hensley and Mike Keefe.

...What happened to John Stewart?

Cartoonist Peter Bagge has long had a thriving side career as a member of various garage bands. Now his outift Can You Imagine? has just released a new video for the song "Drive," directed by Mott Todd. Bonus: Artwork by Peter Bagge!

While the Spider-Man musical has been struggling along with all the momentum of an elderly man wearing roller skates trying to go up Lombard Hill after it has been covered with lard, another nerd-derived Broadway musical has opened with the fanfare of a million angels playing Handel's Water Music while flying over a burning fireworks factory.

Someone made a Lego version of the song "Do What You Wanna Do" from the "Elementary School Musical" episode of South Park. In this episode, the boys find that the whole school has gone crazy for musicals because of a cute boy named Briden, and resist attempts to break into song every time there is an emotional moment. It turns out Bridon doesn't even want to sing all the time and the episode ends with all the roles reversed.

From Team America to Captain America -- the great message comes through.

Variety confirms that everyone's favorite orphan is getting a reboot courtesy if Will Smith's production company, with daughter Willow Smith set to star. Smith's production company is teaming with Jay-Z to form a new movie-making joint venture and ANNIE is on the list.

The first new Wagon Christ album in 7 years (!) is due March 14th: Toomorrow. Wagon Christ is also known as Luke Vibert, aka Rephlex, Amen Adnrews, Kerrier District and many other things. If there is one artist that is a constant soundtrack for work at Stately Beat Manor, it's Vibert -- his music is melodic, cheerful, unobtrusive and always giddy. If Raymond Scott, Henry Mancini or Esquivel had been acid disco/IDM DJs they would probably have been Vibert.

MF Doom is one of the peripheral players of comic-dom -- a hip hop stylist who wears an iron mask, originally based on Doctor Doom. He also frequently slips nerd-referenced samples and lyrics into...