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At a big event in Brooklyn last night to celebrate the release of her new album ARTPOP, performance art student Lady Gaga unveiled her senior thesis, and it is a wonder of engineering. The piece is called Volantis, and it is a flying dress. Of Volantis, Gaga said "Although she is a vehicle, she is essentially a metaphor for me. I will be a vehicle today for their voices." Really, it's a big, remote controlled personal gyrocopter with some stylized elements. Gaga straps herself into the thing, which has six propellers sprouting up out of the "dress" part, and then her "pilot" remote controls her into the air. Last night the thing rose about five feet off the ground and sputtered around for about 30 seconds until it landed and did not move again. Not all that impressive, but the demonstration was met with a good deal of enthused applause anyway. (Which is what Gaga lives for, she is insistent on telling us.) The whole thing seemed a little silly, especially when you consider that Gaga had to employ an R&D team of engineers to build this thing, a bunch of Rensselaer grads who never thought they'd be working on something like this. But, hey, here they are, making Lady Gaga buzz around in a whirlygig to the curious delight of people like Tony Bennett. What a thing. Anyway, happy ARTPOP Day! May it be everything you hoped it would be. [Page Six]
Aw. Leonardo DiCaprio is all grown up! The actor turns 39 today, and to celebrate the occasion, he had a lavish party at the new Manhattan restaurant/club TAO Downtown last night. Featured guests included Kanye West and 2 Chainz, who both performed. Because these are the times we live in, there are Instagram videos of the performances, and of DiCaprio reacting in the crowd. He's sporting a beard and a funny little cap and keeps trying to kiss the blonde girl who is hanging off of him but she misses his cue a few times before realizing what's going on. Neither appear to be sober. Which is fine. It's a birthday party! It's just kind of funny that at 39 years old, Leo still likes this scene. Still these loud, hippest-of-the-moment clubs full of skinny twig things flailing their bony limbs in the air. He's spent so much time in nightclubs! More than most people ever will. And he's still at it. He still enjoys it. At 39 years old. I guess it's going to be a lifelong passion. [Vulture]