BIG-SCREEN EDITION
GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK
The Avengers
Passed the billion-dollar mark in just 19 days, tying Avatar and the final Harry Potter.
Battleship
Grossed just $25 million, roughly one-eighth of its massive budget, during its U.S. opening weekend.
FASHION
Deals on Wheels
Pitas, burgers and ... crop tops? In Boston, the food-truck craze has spawned fashion trucks--roving boutiques that pay parking-meter fare instead of rent. They're all technically illegal, per old city ordinances. But we're sure that diehard bargain hunters don't care.
COMIC CONNOISSEUR
Fifteen years after his death, the Art Institute of Chicago is celebrating Roy Lichtenstein as one of the pioneers of the 1960s Pop art movement. In all, there are more than 160 works on display, including Masterpiece, below, one of many cartoons that Lichtenstein elevated--with his signature colored-dot printing process--to the realm of high art.
CONFESSION
'I always felt like I was Quasimodo or the Phantom of the Opera.'
BILLY BOB THORNTON, in a Nightline interview, discussing personal insecurities during his marriage to actress Angelina Jolie, which ended in 2003
BADVERTISING
$40 million
Settlement that Skechers USA must pay to customers for falsely promising, via ads, that its Shape-Ups shoes would help them easily lose weight and tone their butt, leg and stomach muscles
QUICK TALK
Carly Rae Jepsen Mere months ago, Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen was a nobody in the U.S. Then Justin Bieber signed her to his label and lip-synched her single on YouTube. Now "Call Me Maybe" is the top-selling track in the country, and Jepsen, 26, is being hailed as the Next Big Thing in pop. --DAN MACSAI
O.K., be honest: How many people have given you their number and asked you to call them maybe?
I've definitely had a few radio promoters who've thought they were, like, the first ones to do it. So they give me their number, and I'm like, "Oh, I've never heard that before."
Whoops. That was my next question.
No, it's really cute! I always find it really amusing.
In the "Call Me Maybe" video, your crush ultimately gives his number to another guy. Why'd you make that choice?
I'd love to take credit, but it was my director's idea. We wanted the ending to be fun and unpredictable.
It's since won over a lot of gay fans. Do you support same-sex marriage?
You know, acceptance has never even been a question to me. And if my video is encouraging that mind frame with other people--well, it's about time, I guess!
What's the best part of overnight fame?
The travel. Before this, Canada was my whole world.
Confession: I've never been there.
[Laughs.] It's O.K.--your world's pretty cool too.
POLITICS
Bipartisan Bromances