Pop Charts

  • SPORTS EDITION

    GOOD WEEK/ BAD WEEK

    Tour de France

    Sans doping chatter, the annual bike race pedaled off to much fanfare.

    Roger Clemens

    The hurler appeared in a D.C. court on charges of lying to Congress about taking performance-enhancing drugs.

    BOOKS

    Enter the Dragon

    An accidental early shipment of George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons allowed a few lucky fans to get a peek at the fifth book in the series that began with 1996's A Game of Thrones. Not so lucky, however, is the unknown Amazon employee responsible for the leak; the novelist has vowed to "mount his head on a spike."

    VERBATIM

    'I became reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff.'

    DANIEL RADCLIFFE, on why he has been sober since last summer; the Harry Potter star said in an interview with British GQ that "as much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time, that doesn't work for me"

    TELEVISION

    The End of Pine Valley

    ABC announced the final airdate for All My Children, one of two long-running soaps the network canceled this year. The show has been on the air for more than 40 years.

    MUSIC

    Hova + Yeezy = ???

    Obvious questions aside — who sits on the throne, who genuflects first — the idea of an album-length collaboration between Jay-Z and Kanye West (Watch the Throne, out Aug. 2) got us thinking about other musical team-ups. As our scientific "duet evalu-meter" shows, combined star power doesn't always guarantee a smash.

    KEY: MUSICAL FAME QUALITY OF SONG

    [The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

    HIGH

    LOW

    Paul McCartney

    Stevie Wonder

    "Ebony and Ivory"

    Bill Medley

    Jennifer Warnes

    "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"

    Mariah Carey

    Boyz II Men

    "One Sweet Day"

    David Bowie

    Queen

    "Under Pressure"

    Bryan Adams

    Sting

    Rod Stewart

    "All for Love"

    MOVIES

    An American Abroad

    Despite expectations that it might tweak the name of its new Captain America flick to appeal to overseas moviegoers, Paramount stayed true to the Stars and Stripes — except in a trio of countries, where it decided to just ditch that whole America part.

    Captain America: The First Avenger

    Everywhere except ...

    Captain America: The First Avenger

    ... Russia, Ukraine, South Korea

    TOYS

    A High-Art Makeover

    The next best thing to an art gallery field trip, Mattel's new Museum Collection includes three dolls whose fashions are inspired by famous paintings, including Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night and Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer I.

    BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE

    The longest sea bridge in the world opened in China on June 30. Spanning 26.4 miles — 2.5 miles longer than Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the old record holder — the Jiaozhou Bay bridge is yet another Chinese nose thumbing.

    FEUD OF THE WEEK

    Ashton Kutcher Vs. the Village Voice

    Alt weekly the Village Voice fact-checked Ashton Kutcher's "Real Men Don't Buy Girls" campaign, which claims that 100,000 to 300,000 child sex slaves are in the U.S., and found that only an estimated 250 kids are trafficked here each year. In response, Kutcher took the Voice to task for its adult classifieds and tweeted at companies to stop advertising on its website. American Airlines immediately complied.

    "Ashton Kutcher, Sex Trafficking, and the Big Lie"

    "Hey @americanair, are you aware that you are advertising on a site that supports the sale of human beings (slavery)?"

    VERBATIM

    'What film won Best Picture in 1989? Driving Miss motherf- - - - ing Daisy! That's why [Oscars] don't matter. Because 20 years later, who's watching Driving Miss Daisy?'

    SPIKE LEE, reminding people, yet again, of the short-sightedness of the Academy Awards; Lee's 1989 classic, Do the Right Thing, failed to garner a Best Picture Oscar nod

    MOVIES

    Disney Bland

    A film based on Disneyland's Matterhorn roller coaster is in the works, proof that a man in a room is throwing darts at a theme-park map. Though Disney aims for Pirates of the Caribbean — like success, we all remember what happened with The Haunted Mansion.

    5 THINGS YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS WEEK

    1. Glenn Beck's second act.

    In addition to his new online venture, Beck is launching a charity clothing line called 1791 that sells polos and button-downs.

    2. The dominance of ESPN.

    It just snapped up Wimbledon rights for the next 12 years.

    3. Charlie Sheen's desperate need for attention.

    Comedy Central will fill it with a roast airing opposite Two and a Half Men's September premiere.

    4. Kevin James.

    No matter how many bad movies he makes (hello, Zookeeper), his career just chugs along.

    5. Talking animals.

    Their film careers are thriving. (See No. 4.)