Lady Gaga's New Video Authentically Country, Save for the Mermaid

Plus: Jeff Bridges proves again he's serious about his musical side project

We realize here's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why The Atlantic Wire is unveiling a new late afternoon feature highlighting the day's video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today: Lady Gaga's new video arrives early, Jeff Bridges brings his Crazy Heart-inspired songbook to Today and CNN's political team is revealed as a hungry bunch.

• The video to Lady Gaga's new single "You and I" was scheduled to premiere on MTV and Logo this Thursday, but Perez Hilton scooped the networks and posted it this afternoon. Listen to it without the visuals, and the country twang could belong to any number of old genre pros. It's only when you look down and see the mermaid in mourning clothes and the Black Swan-style eyeliner that the video becomes unmistakably a Lady Gaga creation. [Perez Hilton via Mashable]

• Speaking of twang, Jeff Bridges was on the Today Show this morning to promote his country album, "What a Little Bit of Love Can Do," which arrived in stores today. It's supposed to be a collection of more songs from his Crazy Heart character, but this performance of "Little Bit of Love" seemed more like the work of middle-aged, would-be Springsteen. And you know what? It sounded pretty good. [Today via The Hollywood Reporter]

• Candidates have notoriously bad diets on the campaign trail, but CNN's political team reveals life isn't much easier on the snack-stocked press bus. We're not sure whether this is fascinating or the kind of bellyaching that will inspire eye rolls but we like knowing the snack food preferences of John King ("beef, beef, beef"), Candy Crowley (tofu), Soledad O'Brien (Swedish fish, before she hurt her leg) and Mary Matalin ("red wine and pretzels"). [CNN]

• Gar Ryness is known as Batting Stance Guy for his ability to mimic and replicate some of the most intricate and arcane batting stances in baseball history has resulted sports blog fame and moderate crossover success. After watching this new hypnotic video of Ryness channeling the speaking habits of the game's most prominent reporters and play-by-play men, we're ready to rename him Biting Sports Media Criticism Guy. [Deadspin via Big L:eague Stew]