Speaking of other performers

Watch Elysium Online Most historians are in agreement that Salinger did continue writing after his last publication, “Hapworth 16, 1924,” was published in the New Yorker in the sixties. Even if most of the above writings don’t come to fruition, it should be alright, as long as one or two of the rumors do hold true. I think most Salinger fans would be interested to see what the author was busy creating after he had locked out most people from his life. Did the writer grow more thoughtful with age or did he lose the fervor for writing he’d maintained in his younger years? Soon, we may be able to find out.

Watch You're Next Online In the meantime, you can catch the Salinger biography on shelves next week or check out the trailer for the documentary, which was created only after nine years of research and was financed by the Weinstein Company for a September release. That documentary will air on PBS after its initial run. The MTV Video Music Awards are as much about the performances as they are about the awards themselves. The event's history is cluttered with memorable musical performances. Remember Britney Spears and the snake? Or when Eminem made it very clear that he's the real Slim Shady? This year's crop of VMA performances included an opening number from Lady Gaga, who demanded "Applause" in various costumes, and Katy Perry stepped into the ring outside the Brooklyn Bridge to close out the show with a "Roar."

Watch The Grandmaster Online Watch Gaga's opening performance above, during which she steps out in a bizarre, white, blocky-looking habit, and then throughout the number, strips down to various costumes and wig situations. At one point, her face is smeared with colorful make-up. And it all comes down to a beachy-Barbie mermaid look that I'm pretty sure she stuck with post-performance, as I think I spotted her in her seashells later on during the ceremony. But that's the VMAs, where it's ok to sit in the audience in a thong and some seashells.

Watch The Heat Online And then there was Katy Perry, who rocked out to "Roar" in a sports bra and some boxing shorts. Check out her performance below:As far as I can tell, both women's performances were sung live, which isn't always standard practice at awards shows. But given the choice between a polished and perfect lip-sync and an imperfect but original live performance, I'll take the latter almost every time. So, assuming my observation's accurate, points to these two ladies and the other performers of the night for taking to the stage and showing us what they can do without relying on an audio track to do the singing.

Speaking of other performers, there were some big ones, including Miley Cyrus stripping down to serve as Robin Thicke's "good girl" for the "Blurred Lines" performance. Warning on that one, you won't be able to unsee it, so if you're not ready to see Miley grinding all over Robin Thicke and his striped suit, skip it. But you don't want to skip the NSync reunion. In fact, a pretty significant block of time was dedicated to Justin Timberlake and his former music group, and I doubt anyone's complaining about that, given how many hits they've had. I'm pretty sure Timberlake performed all of his, or most anyway. Here's the Timberlake solo medley, if you didn't catch it…