She's one of the biggest stars in the world, but in her music, equal rights activism and, now, politics, Katy Perry is a woman of the people.
The "Teenage Dream" star covers this week's issue of Rolling Stone, and talks, among other things, her political awakening, saying that she's starting to understand just how big money runs the country.
"It just feels like the thing running our country is a bank, money," she tells the magazine. "I think we are largely in desperate need of revolutionary change in the way our mindset is. Our priority is fame, and people's wellness is way low. I saw this knowing full well that I'm a part of the problem. I'm playing the game, though I am trying to reroute. Anyway, not to get all politically divulging and introspective, but the fact that America doesn't have free health care drives me f*cking absolutely crazy, and is so wrong."
Perry has already been active in fighting for gay rights; of course, her breakout single, "I Kissed A Girl," teased a sort of "just to try it" lesbianism, but she's been involved in a more serious fight, too.
She dedicated her gay-friendly song and music video "Fireworks" to the It Gets Better video initiative, and told DoSomething.org in November that, "I am a gay activist and I say that proudly."
Residents still remaining in Minot, North Dakota rushed to pack up their belongings and leave town Wednesday as sirens wailed throughout the city, a warning of what is expected to be the worst flooding the city has seen in over 40 years.
The Souris River -- heavy with intense snowmelt and rain -- overtopped levees 5 hours ahead of an evacuation deadline, the AP reports. Those still remaining of the 11,000 in the Minot evacuation zone were prompted to leave their homes and head for higher ground immediately.
From the AP:
The resulting deluge is expected to dwarf a historic flood of 1969, when the Souris reached 1,555.4 feet above sea level. The river is expected to hit nearly 1,563 feet this weekend – eventually topping the historical record of 1,558 feet set in 1881.
Residents in Minot were told to evacuate earlier this month before the river hit 1,554.1 feet. They were later allowed to return, but were warned to be prepared for the possibility of another evacuation.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to increase releases from the Lake Darling Dam to 15,000 cubic feet per second on Thursday, and officials have said flood defenses in Minot were rated to around 9,500 cubic feet per second.
Amtrak has temporarily disabled services in Minot and other areas in North Dakota due to the flooding.
Apparently, Hoda and Kathie Lee went west over the weekend, to the annual Food And Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. (It's the event that all the Top Chefs on "Top Chef" get to go to.)
On Monday, the "Today" co-hosts showed some footage from their pilgrimage to the decadent gathering. From what the cameras picked up, the whole trip was an excuse to drink and drink and eat and drink and drink and eat and drink and be fed grapes and drink. Hoda and Kathie Lee even had bottles of wine attached to their bicycles so they could have a glass at a moment's notice
A Brazilian woman listed by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person has died - just weeks shy of her 115th birthday.
Maria Gomes Valentim died Tuesday morning in the southeastern city of Carangola. Helerson Lima of the Carangola senior home facility says Valentim died of multiple organ failure.
On May 18, Guinness determined that Valentim was 48 days older than the person previously considered the world's oldest human, Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia.
Guinness verified that Valentim was born July 9, 1896, in Carangola, where she lived all her life.
She married her husband, Joao, in 1913. He died in 1946.
Valentim is survived by four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren. Her son died at age 75.
The larger arc of "True Blood" may see an epic love triangle and struggle for Sookie Stackhouse's love, but off the set, that battle was won long ago. And you just don't mess with Bill.
Stephen Moyer, in a cover story for the new issue of Men's Health, opens up about his relationship with co-star and now wife Anna Paquin, who plays the psychic object of bayou affection on the HBO show, now in its fourth season. The pair met during auditions, and at first, it was all professional. But as it so often happens, distance made the heart grow fonder.
"I did find love on set. We had met at the very first rehearsal before my screen test for HBO, for the network, for the pilot," Moyer remembered. "Our interest was piqued by each other but at that point it was like, we're about to work together for a long time, hopefully, you know, if the show gets picked up. So, there were no feelings at that point...they put us in a hotel, we were in the same hotel. We were having dinner every night. I got back to London and Anna got back to New York and I just missed speaking to her every day, which is what we had been doing up into that point. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, and... you have a marriage."
Well, it took some romancing, including Skype calls that lasted two to three hours per night. Presumably, they weren't just going over lines.
Whether Bob or Fanny were invited, the pair were married last August.
The thing about a marriage between two stars of a massive TV show is that they have to share each other with the world. Especially with a rabid fan base like the one that obsesses over "True Blood." Which means there has to be some understanding -- sometimes.
"I get to sign boobs a lot. I get to bite boobs, occasionally, when I'm allowed. If my missus is there and she approves of the person I get to bite boobs...and necks," Moyer revealed.
China urged the United States on Wednesday to leave the South China Sea dispute to the claimant states, saying that U.S. involvement may make the situation worse, its most direct warning to Washington in recent weeks.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai's comments to a small group of foreign reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials in Hawaii this weekend come amid the biggest flare-up in regional tension in years over competing maritime sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.
Tension has risen in the region in the past month on concern that China is becoming more assertive in its claim to waters believed to be rich in oil and gas.
Part of the waters are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
"The United States is not a claimant state to the dispute in the South China Sea and so it's better for the United States to leave the dispute to be sorted out between claimant states," Cui said.
"While some American friends may want the United States to help in this matter, we appreciate their gesture but more often than not such gestures will only make things more complicated," he said.
