L.A. Reid Explains Why He Dropped Lady Gaga From Island Def Jam

Lady Gaga's meteoric rise to superstardom can be attributed to her catchy songs, shocking costumes, and wild media antics.
But her perseverance is arguably the personality trait that has benefitted her career the most.
This week, L.A. Reid, "X Factor" judge and former president of Island Def Jam, confirmed reports that he stalled Lady Gaga's music pursuits early in her career. Reid signed the "Born This Way" singer to IDJ but released her from her contract within a few months.
Reid explained his dealings with Gaga during an interview with Access Hollywood. "One day this artist came to my office. She played piano. She had white gogo boots all the way up to here, thigh high boots. She sat down at that piano and she played and she sang and when she was done I said, 'You are an amazing artist, and you will change music.' And I signed her. Her name was Lady Gaga," Reid said.
But when Reid heard Gaga's demos three months later, he had a change of heart. "It was a work in progress, and I was having a bad day," Reid said. "I said, ‘You know, I really don't like it. You know, let her have her freedom. Let her have her career. Let her go find it.' It was the worst thing I've ever done."
Lady Gaga cried for an entire day after receiving the news, the artist said during an interview for the MTV special, "Lady Gaga: Inside The Outside."
But she got over it, ultimately landing a record deal with Interscope Records, a company that supported her artistic vision and helped her become one of pop music's biggest stars.
Lady Gaga is one of many of today's household names that were also rejected by major labels before landing big breaks. 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, and Beyoncé were also met with similar setbacks.
Alicia Keys had been signed to Columbia Records for two years before her recording contract was terminated and she pursued other options.

This Halloween, Watch for Angry Birds

Lock your doors! Shut your windows! Hide your birdseed! This Halloween, the Angry Birds are coming for you! The makers of the hit videogame have launched a line of costumes based on the game's cranky characters. There are outfits for babies, kids, and adults. The baby costumes are cute and relatively inexpensive at around $25. Adults who wish to go as an Angry Bird will have to surrender $49.99 plus shipping, as well as a sizable chunk of their dignity.
Online interest in Angry Birds costumes is already soaring, despite the spooky night being a month away. Over the past 24 hours, Web searches on "angry birds costume" jumped 26%, while related queries on "angry birds halloween costume" and "angry birds costume for sale" tweeted their way to triple-digit gains.
This isn't the first time the Angry Birds franchise has extended its considerable reach. There have been T-shirts, toys, spin-offs, and more. Heck, there have even been unofficial Angry Birds birthday cakes. Clearly, the game inspires a lot of passion.
For those who have been living in a cave without their iPhone, the game is a physics-based puzzler in which the player launches angry birds at various structures in an attempt to knock them over and squash the nefarious pigs. The game has been a tremendous hit on multiple platforms, including Android and Apple's iOS. The game, despite no longer being the new bird on the block, is still tremendously popular in Yahoo! Search, currently ranking in our top 500 overall terms.

Where Celebrities Go to Escape It All

Celebrity getaways are often in luxe locales, such as Seinfeld's mansion in Telluride, CO.

In this paparazzi age, celebrities aren’t even close to safe when they leave Hollywood for vacations. Anyone with an Internet connection or anyone who has waited on a supermarket checkout line is bombarded with images of stars romping in the waves on tropical shores, with captions judging their levels of fitness... or lack thereof.

Hollywood types like to vacation in Malibu, but the following homes are located all over the place—the Caribbean, ski destinations, the downeast coast of Maine, and upstate New York. Oh, and some of them are, in fact, in Malibu.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
Location: 0 Broad Beach Rd, Malibu, CA
Value: $14.75 million
Bedrooms / Baths: 4 / 5
Square Footage: 4,300

This oceanfront property saw extensive rennovation in 2005.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have previously offered their Balinese-styled getaway home on the celebrity-studded Broad Beach for rent in the summers for $95,000 a month, and now it’s it's for sale , or for rent at a reduced rental price of $80,000. Reduced or not, that's still a lot of scratch. What would the renter or purchaser get for all that? The home includes three suites (the master bath has a Chinese onyx spa-inspired bath), a media room, a designer kitchen, plus a guest house with meditation or guest room, and a workout room.

9 things guys say should never be fake about you

Guys want genuine women in their lives. They want to know who you are and what you’re about right from the start. Women don’t want their guy to change mid-relationship, and guys want the same thing from a partner. Knowing this, I’ve compiled a list of the top nine things that my male listeners and readers feel should never, ever be fake about you:

1. Sharing your man’s interests
Often, women will feign interest in activities that they would never normally do in order to get to the first date with a man and to keep things moving along once they’re seeing each other. Don’t go crazy for his favorite football team, develop a love of white water rafting or suddenly crave Ethiopian food if those things simply are not true to your character. He will eventually see through it or be greatly disappointed when he didn’t get the outdoorsy woman that he always dreamed of once you grow tired of it. A man would rather you admit early on that you’d try something new just for his sake than to act like you absolutely love something that you have totally hated all your life.

Can You Spot the Hidden Images in These Famous Logos?

You’ve seen these famous logos countless times on billboards, passing by on trucks, and at the grocery store, but there is more to them than meets the eye. If you take a closer look, you will find that these recognized logos have hidden images and messages. Check out these inventive designs that cleverly use white space and optical illusions to display subliminal messages.

FedEx

This logo appears to be very simple, but if you look at the white space between the "E" and "x" in “Ex," you'll find it is more complex than you thought. Can you spot the arrow?


Tostitos

These popular party chips are a staple at many backyard BBQs, but chances are, you've never noticed the hidden celebration scene concealed within the letters. The second and third "t’s" are sharing a chip over an "i" that is dotted with a salsa bowl. Yum!

Le Tour de France

Named the world's most famous and prestigious cycling race, bike-lovers and non-cyclists alike are familiar with the event's emblem. However, you might be missing out on the logo's most interesting aspect. After careful examination, you'll notice an image of a person riding a bicycle; the yellow circle is the front wheel and the r is the body.