Oz Bans Snoop Dogg

Singer calls rumors over 'California Gurls' bogus

(NEWSER) - Katy Perry is dismissing rumors that she is getting sued for using part of the Beach Boys' "California Girls" in her song "California Gurls". "No one is suing anyone," Perry tweeted , calling the reports "once again" an example of the media's tendency to "fabricate & exaggerate stories to get hits or sell papers." Although she isn't getting sued, Beach Boys published Rondor Music isn't too happy about "California Gurls," Billboard reports . More»

I want it that way. Wait, you want what what way?

(NEWSER) - Some lyrics are just so ambiguous you have no idea what you’re singing about when you sing along. Willa Paskin lists 20 “songs that make you go, huh?” on BlackBook :

• “I Want It That Way,” Backstreet Boys: “Make up your minds dudes, is ‘that way’ a good or a bad thing? Or is it anal sex?”
• “Push It,” Salt N’ Pepa: OK, maybe this one isn’t so vague: “Yeah, the ‘it’ in this song is pretty definitively ween.”

Plus more fun tidbits from his latest disturbing interview

(NEWSER) - Marilyn Manson, that fine upstanding Goth rocker, offers his fans a little TMI in the latest issue of Spin—including the admission that, when it comes to ex Evan Rachel Wood, he fantasizes “every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.” Other highlights:

• On the Christmas after his break-up: “Every time I called her that day—I called 158 times—I took a razorblade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands.”

Rudd visits capital, president wounded in attacks by rebel soldiers

(NEWSER) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd jetted to East Timor today, vowing to stand by its neighbor after attacks Monday on its president and prime minister, Reuters reports. "It's by the ballot box, and not by the barrel of a gun, that the decisions for our countries will be made," said Rudd, who boosted Australian troop presence there after the assault. More»

...Australia, according to annual survey

(NEWSER) - Want a "better life"? Head to Australia. That country ranks highest on the annual Better Life Index, a well-being survey that measures everything from income to air pollution in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 34 member countries plus Russia and Brazil. The OECD doesn't explicitly offer up a No. 1, but Australia's cumulative score puts it at the top, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among its pros: near-full employment and a historically high currency. The big con? A high cost of living. More»