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TV-JUDGE EDITION

GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK

Keith Urban

The country star tweeted that he’s returning as a judge on American Idol

Simon Cowell

The prickly X Factor judge made tabloid news for impregnating a friend’s wife (her divorce is under way)

TECH

It, Robot

The world’s first talking robo-astronaut, a 13-in.-tall android named Kirobo (a mashup of the Japanese words for hope and robot), recently blasted off to the International Space Station to keep the occupants company. Its first phrase: “This is one small step for me, but one giant leap for robots.”

QUICK TALK

Lake Bell

She wrote, directed and stars in In a World, out Aug. 9, a comedy set in the cutthroat world of (mostly male) voice-over artists. Here, the 34-year-old actress–best known for her role in 2009’s It’s Complicated–talks to TIME.

–MARY POLS

When you first got to Hollywood, you attempted to be a voice-over artist. Had you not looked in a mirror?

I wanted to go straight to the big time, funding my acting career with this supplemental career as a voice-over artist. Then I realized, obviously, you can’t just roll into that. It is just as hard as becoming a f—ing movie star. I ended up being a hostess at a place where they serve boiled eggs at the bar.

In a World depicts the voice-over world as deeply unfriendly to women. Is that true?

I didn’t meet any women who were doing it until I started writing this movie. One of the women I consulted, Melissa Disney, is the only one who has done a movie trailer.

Why do you think that is?

The omniscient voice has been male for as long as we can think of it. It may be a physical thing–the musculature of a male voice and its resonance. Or the more controversial conceit would be, In the Bible it says “He.”

Did you learn to direct from being in front of the camera?

That exposure is priceless. It is what you make of it. You could go to a trailer and smoke a bong for four hours, or you could learn something.

Some bloggers were critical of the highly decorated Marchesa wedding dress you wore this spring. Were you insulted?

I never envisioned getting married, so I take it as a huge compliment to be atypical. I did not want a wedding dress that was like anything I had ever seen before.

BON VOYAGE

28

Number of hours it took guitarist Ben Friberg to travel the 111 miles from Cuba to Key West, Fla., standing on a paddleboard. He is the first person to accomplish the feat.

FANTASY MAIL

No, these early 20th century European postcards are not Photoshopped. But their creation involved similar techniques: artists penciled in backdrops, added hand tinting and mixed surreal drawings with actual photography to create dreamlike landscapes worthy of Sigmund Freud. Some 500 are on display at the Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki from Aug. 17 through Dec. 15.

TWEET BEAT

Objects With More Followers Than You

The @MyToaster account made waves when its creator revealed that tweets like “Toasting!” actually came from his toaster. (It’s auto-synched.) Below, some of our other favorite things on Twitter, all ghostwritten by funny humans–for now.

BIG BEN

“BONG BONG BONG”

@big_ben_clock

CURIOSITY ROVER

“I got mooned by Phobos and Deimos.”

@MarsCuriosity

EDVARD MUNCH’S THE SCREAM

“Aaaaahhhh!!!”

@munchsthescream

PHOTOCOPIER

“I think the laser printer has a far right political agenda.”

@aphotocopier

CALIFORNIA’S 91 FREEWAY

“5:30 on a Friday afternoon.

How’s it going? Heh … heh … Hahahaha …”

@The91Freeway

BLURRED LINES

According to Chuck Close, he was destined to paint portraits. The artist suffers from prosopagnosia–face blindness–and says the only way he can commit a face to memory is by flattening it out, or painting it in his photo-realist style, as pictured above. His most recent watercolors and tapestries will be on view at the Museum at Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., through Oct. 14.

PHRASE DU JOUR

la beuverie express

They used to call it le binge drinking. But now, thanks to a language committee, the French have their very own phrase–literal translation, “fast drinking”–to describe the party phenomenon. Trés awesome!

FA$HION

Made by Ke$ha

Leave it to a pop singer who describes her look as “garbage chic” to create a jewelry line that’s, well, just that. Skulls, human teeth, male genitalia–it’s all part of the (literal) charms of the Kesha Rose by Charles Albert collection, which is already selling out online.

3 THINGS YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS WEEK

1. Lindsay Lohan’s welfare.

The troubled actress got enthusiastic reviews for her guest-host stint on Chelsea Lately.

2. An alternative career path for Bob Dylan.

An exhibition of his pastel portraits will open at London’s National Portrait Gallery next month.

3. Sydney Leathers wasting her 15 minutes of fame.

Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner wrote an op-ed about (what else?) how to sext with a politician.

FOR THE LATEST FILM REVIEWS FROM MARY POLS AND RICHARD CORLISS, VISIT time.com/movies