Each Thursday, the Avenue is serving up the best in entertainment, pop culture and everything in between. From the big screen to the radio waves, check out this week’s picks.
Listen: Showroom of Compassion
Check out the latest tunes from peppy pop-rockers Cake, who haven’t released new work since 2004’s “Pressure Chief.” But even though almost seven years have passed, one can expect Cake’s sixth studio album to include the band’s classic fare of quirky lyrics, driving beats and well-placed horn riffs. The album comes out Jan. 11. However, those who pre-order the album get an instant download of “Sick of You.” Sounds like icing on top of a delicious cake.
Read: The Lover’s Dictionary
David Levithan’s latest novel doesn’t play any games: It’s bare and honest in title and in substance. Particularly, the book’s name is fitting because its content is not a complicated, metaphorical narrative filled with hidden meanings and a twisted storyline. Rather, it’s literally an extensive dictionary of words uttered by lovers of all kinds, defined in a romantic, relationship-centered context that at times can be silly and heart-wrenching at others. Hopeless romantics, this one’s for you.
Watch: "Jersey Shore"
What better way to kick off the new semester than with the laughable antics of Snookie & co.? This season finds the bronzed, boisterous guidos and guidettes back in New Jersey and away from South Beach, ready for a third helping of hot tubs, drunken revelry and reckless, unproductive arguments. The crew’s all the same except for newbie Deena, who’s replacing Angelina and, unlike most of the cast, is a New Jersey native. Get ready for GTL: Season three starts today at 10 p.m.
See: "Country Strong"
Not everybody likes country music. But everybody loves a comeback kid. In this case, that “kid” is Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), a middle-aged, washed-up country music star. But Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester, “Gossip Girl”), a prim and proper beauty queen-gone-country artist, threatens to steal Canter’s regained thunder. Throw in a tangled love web, a drug addiction and some stage lights, and you’ve got a country drama wild enough to pop the strings off that banjo. Yee-haw!
