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Jason Fagone, writing for HuffPost:
So perhaps it was only fitting that at age 64, Jerry found himself contemplating that most alluring of puzzles: the lottery. He was recently retired by then, living with Marge in a tiny town called Evart and wondering what to do with his time. After stopping in one morning at a convenience store he knew well, he picked up a brochure for a brand-new state lottery game. Studying the flyer later at his kitchen table, Jerry saw that it listed the odds of winning certain amounts of money by picking certain combinations of numbers.
That’s when it hit him. Right there, in the numbers on the page, he noticed a flaw—a strange and surprising pattern, like the cereal-box code, written into the fundamental machinery of the game.
These kinds of stories suck me in like no other.
TMZ is reporting that Ariana Grande has finished her new album:
We’re told half of the album was produced by Pharrell and the other half by Max Martin, but Ariana was involved in the writing of every song … something new for her.
Casey Hopkins, from Elevation Lab (makers of quite a few products I really like), has posted a blog about how Amazon is complicit in helping promote counterfeiters:
When someone goes to the lengths of making counterfeits of your products, it’s at least a sign you’re doing something right. And it deserves a minute of flattery.
But when Chinese counterfeiters tool up and make copies of your product, send that inventory to Amazon, then overtake the real product’s buy box by auto-lowering the price – it’s a real problem. Customers are unknowingly buying crap versions of the product, while both Amazon and the scammers are profiting, and the reputation you’ve built goes down the toilet.
I have their headphone anchor under my desk and it’s fantastic.
Nate Henry of Sherwood did an oral history of the band on The Local Wave Podcast.
Embattled iHeartMedia Inc. is circulating documents for a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this weekend for the biggest U.S. radio broadcaster.
Advisers to some of iHeart’s senior creditors have been shown bankruptcy papers that would be used on the first day of court proceedings, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Newsweek is reporting that two members of Pussy Riot have gone missing:
Two members of Pussy Riot, the all-female Russian punk rock band from Moscow known for their provocative protest lyrics and colorful balaclavas, disappeared on Tuesday while traveling from the Crimean Peninsula to Moscow. […] The women were allegedly in Crimea to protest the detention of filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year sentence on terrorism charges that many say are politically motivated.
Update: They have been found.
Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional sat down with GQ:
When I’m writing, I have to allow that to be the most important thing that I could possibly be doing. That’s what happens with a lot of people when they make more and more records. There’s more important stuff that comes around. Responsibility creeps in, and it’s necessary and wonderful. But I think you have to make an agreement with yourself: When a song begins to feel like a real thing, you’re just going to have to let that be the moment you’re going to be in. And not be distracted and be selfish. Not meet your friend like you said you were going to. Or finish your bills. Or route your tour. Or whatever else your responsibilities are.
David Byrne’s new album, American Utopia, is streaming over at NPR.
A Wilhelm Scream have announced a 10-year anniversary reissue of Career Suicide. It’s a double LP that comes with a new set of demos.
AV Club sat down with Max Bemis of Say Anything to talk about the creating of …Is a Real Boy.
Black Panther: The Album is once again the number one album:
Black Panther: The Album spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the set earned 131,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 22 (down 15 percent), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 40,000 were in traditional album sales (down 23 percent). A week ago, the album debuted at No. 1 with 154,000 units (52,000 in album sales).
This GQ profile of Brendan Fraser is fantastic:
His eyes are pale and a bit watery these days—less wide than they used to be when he was new to the screen, playing guys who were often new to the world. Blue-gray stubble around the once mighty chin, gray long-sleeve shirt draped indifferently over the once mighty body. I’m 35: There was a time when the sight of Fraser was as familiar to me as the furniture in my parents’ house.