With additional reporting by Janelle Myers

Sky Explains It All
Rocker chic Sky Ferreira knows who started the selfie, and it’s none other than the Madgesty herself, Madonna. The “Boys” singer believes that this scene from the 1985 film “Desperately Seeking Susan” proves that the Queen of Pop is responsible for this photo phenomenon. Her Instagram caption reads: “Everything started with @Madonna #OriginOfTheSelfie.” Judge for yourself.

Show Your #RE2PECT
For Derek Jeter’s final home game at Yankee Stadium, his most loyal fans, including Jay Z, came to send him off. At his first at-bat, the crowd chanted his name and he hit a double tying the game 2-2. However, it was his last swing that allowed his teammate David Robertson to run home causing the Yankees to beat out the Boston Orioles 6-5. The rest of the Yankees rushed to congratulate him and the stadium roared with cheers and applause.

No More Sparks For Derulo?
R&B singer Jason Derulo and his girlfriend of two years, Jordin Sparks, have reportedly broken up.

This Is ‘Badass’ News
Joey Bada$$ finished his upcoming album on Monday and it will feature Hit-Boy, DJ Premier And Kiesza. Of the collaboration with the “Hideaway” singer, he said, “I hit her up, just showing love [for her song]. And then she hit me back, and she was like, ‘Let’s work.’”

Must-See Video Of The Day
Strong and independent kitten Olivia Poop stars in this The Pet Collective parody of “Scandal,” ...

No matter what else goes wrong in the world, we’ll always have the brilliant innocence of puppies. There’s videos of animals doing cute stuff all over the internet at this point and why? Because we need their cuteness to balance out the unrelenting stream of other news that’s maybe not always the greatest.

So, that’s why watching this puppy react with total confusion when it pops a balloon is a good idea. Because you can live vicariously through the sweet little animal and forget about your IRL problems.

First, the balloon disappears:

Then, complete confusion:

And utter, unending confusion:

It’s a profound mystery! And the answer never comes.

To this puppy, the balloon’s disappearance is the biggest, most confusing thing in the world. But it feels good to imagine a world that innocent. Watch the entire clip below to enter your own blissful crisis:

Caitlin White

MTV Weekend Editor. Acts like Madonna but listens to Merle.

@harmonicait

Justin Bieber has been using his Instagram lately to send one clear message: he is head over heels for Selena Gomez. We’ve already chronicled our own stages of acceptance about the couple’s rekindling, and ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the various adventures of Jelena since they started hanging out again.

But this latest pic from Bieber’s feed feels particularly poignant—it’s a romantic, fuzzy shot of Selena literally stopping to smell the roses.

It’s an adorable and touching moment that captures a certain sense of mystery and seriousness we don’t often see from Jelena.

But he couldn’t let Selena get all the attention and shared his own somber black and white selfie later in the evening:

We couldn’t be happier they’re back together if this kind of adorableness is going to continue.

Caitlin White

MTV Weekend Editor. Acts like Madonna but listens to Merle.

@harmonicait

Ever wonder what the characters from “Frozen” would look like translated into “sexy” Halloween costumes? No? It doesn’t matter if you didn’t think such a thing was possible, because it exists. Yandy.com managed to turn even the roly-poly Olaf into an attractive Halloween get-up.

Because taking characters from a Disney movie and turning them into adult-sized, tantalizing costumes sounded like a good idea to someone. Here’s how Yandy approximated Elsa, Anna, and Olaf across four, uh, “sexy” varieties as follows:

Ice Girl Costume:

yandy.com

Blue Snow Maiden:

yandy.com

The Previously Referenced ‘Funny Snowman’ Costume:

yandy.com

Norwegian Maiden Costume:

yandy.com

So there you have it—if any “Frozen” fans want to take their Halloween to the next level all these looks and more are still available for right under $100 here.

Caitlin White

MTV Weekend Editor. Acts like Madonna but listens to Merle.

@harmonicait

Joey Bada$$ has been teasing fans with the release of his debut album, B4DA$$, since he announced the title back in early 2013. And though there’s still no official release date on the project, the music is ready.

“At this point, the album is completed,” Joey told MTV News on Wednesday. “[I finished it] literally two days ago. It’s been pretty much completed for a while, but it’s like when you make ice cream, it’s that cherry on the top that really brings it all together. The whole time, I’ve been searching for sprinkles, and now I got it nicely decorated and everything, so it’s ready to go.”

Anyone who has heard the Brooklyn native rap knows that the rhymes will be on point — and it sounds like he called in the production to match. “I worked with Statik Selektah heavy,” he said. “I worked with DJ Premier. Hit-Boy. There’s Kirk Knight. There’s Chuck Strangers. Zo Supreme.”

All of those producers fit with Joey’s sound, and we’ve heard him rhyme over some of their beats in the past. But he also has at least one collaboration that’s a bit more surprising: Pop/electronic artist Kiesza. The two worked together on “Bad Thing,” which dropped this week. While that was her record, featuring Joey, she also returned the favor for his album.

“Once I seen her ‘Hideaway’ video, which is like her biggest song, her breakout single, it really blew my mind,” he explained. “The way she combined ...

So, apparently your tendency to date borderline-unemployed artistic types who keep their money hidden in a shoebox under their beds is not your fault — as your parents like to claim.

You’re merely one of the growing number of unmarried women who are failing to find a good, employed man in today’s rough ‘n’ tumble world because, simply, there’s not enough of that to go around. Don’t you feel better now?

According to A Pew Research Center census analysis quoted by New York magazine, 78% of women “place a great deal of importance on finding someone who has a steady job” — because, you know, it’s nice to have someone around who can help pay rent/afford groceries/not steal from you.

Unfortunately for that 78%, though, the pool of dudes with jobs is apparently draining. We’re splatting on the concrete off the high dive here, kids. The number of men with gigs aged 25 to 34 per 100 women “dropped from 139 in 1960 to 91 in 2012,” according to Pew. So, basically, there are fewer employed men now than there were in the black and white days, thereby confirming my dad’s hypothesis that “men today are just so lost — maybe you should join a club of some sort” (minus that last part).

Pew then proceeds to attempt to make us all feel better by informing us that marriage isn’t really in fashion, anyway. In 2012, one in five people over 25 had never been married — as ...

Ariana Grande missed her bro Frankie so much while he was busy living in a rat-infested dystopian society — I mean, appearing on “Big Brother.” She missed him so much, it seems, that she penned a whole list of things to tell him upon his return to the outside world.

See, we told you! A whole list! Of ridiculous and funny things! All for Frankie! We were curious as to what Ari had to tell her sib, so we went rifling through her cupcake-scented diary and dug up the goods. Check ‘em out below…

(Note: This is a joke. These are not Ari’s real secrets. Or maybe they are. We really cannot say.)

Artwork by Julia Panek

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs on repeat. Follow her on Twitter @BrennaEhrlich for news on cats and punk bands.

Hip-hop being taught in the classroom is not a particularly new phenomenon. There are hip-hop studies classes, some that focus on writing and production, and you can even minor in hip-hop culture at the University of Arizona. But this is something else entirely.

In a psychology course at Ohio State University, the professor (or maybe TA) seems to have decided to use rappers as part of their teaching approach. They inserted MCs names into questions related to the material, making them both entertaining and — at least for me, with little background in psychology — utterly confusing. But also amazing.

A student in the class posted some pictures of the lesson on Twitter.

So, what are we dealing with here?

Well, Waka stepped in poison ivy, and Lil B can’t see his haters — but why?

Then there’s Quavo, one third of Migos, who did an experiment — but something went wrong, because the Institutional Review Board might not approve the study.

And we all know Riff Raff can hear colors and shapes, but how?

When Rick Ross doesn’t want to think about his weight, but instead subconsciously thinks about it more, what do we call that?

And what about Chief Keef and his crew, who each take different drugs. Who will have withdrawals?

Read More →

It’s been a long summer without some of our favorite shows, and with the kickoff of fall TV this month, everyone needs a refresher on where we left off. Rather than giving you the rundown of every detail from season finales, we’re going to hone in on the most important question: Where did our favorite couples leave off?

From the will-they-won’t-they (Hook and Emma on “Once Upon a Time”) to the super complicated (Olivia and Fitz and Olivia and Jake on “Scandal”) to the potential hookups (Damon and Bonnie on The Other Side on “The Vampire Diaries”), we’ve rounded up your favorite ‘ship’s status updates. Keep reading to see who’s together, who broke up, and whose status is “it’s complicated.”

“Scandal”
Olivia and Fitz: It’s complicated.

MTV

Olivia and Jake: In a relationship?
We really have no idea what’s happening with Olivia and Jake, with the exception that she ran away with him and is chugging vino on a beach somewhere. Are things romantic, or is she just taking his help?

Quinn and Huck: It’s complicated.
Though Huck and Quinn were hooking up at the end of last season and she even told him that she loved him, all hell broke loose when she took him to his long-lost family. He was so pissed that there’s ...

Matters are far from resolved in Ferguson, Missouri, more than one month after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The most recent occurrence, however, was a more positive one. Police chief Thomas Jackson has come forward and issued a formal apology to the Brown family.

In a video posted to the web Thursday (September 25), Chief Jackson spoke directly to the family of the teen. “I want to say this to the Brown family. No one who has not experienced the loss of a child can understand what you’re feeling,” he said. “I am truly sorry for the loss of your son. I’m also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street. The time that it took involved very important work on the part of investigators who were trying to collect evidence and gain a true picture of what happened that day. But it was just too long, and I’m truly sorry for that.”

Brown, who was unarmed, was shot and killed on August 9, while taking a walk to visit his grandmother. It’s still unclear what happened during the incident — accounts are still surfacing of the day — but Brown’s body was left on the scene for hours following the shooting.

The people of Ferguson reacted immediately, protesting Brown’s death and police treatment of the situation, with rioting following close on the heels of more peaceful demonstrations. The National Guard was soon called in.

Chief Jackson also spoke about ...