Today's Internets - "For me, that's a defining trait."

World gone mad - Update: Seventh Graders Now Expelled For Playing With Pellet Gun Off School Grounds - Hit & Run : Reason.com: 

"The Hampton Roads NBC affiliate WAVY reports an update on the students who were suspended after a neighbor made “uncomfortable” by the teenagers playing with fake guns called 911 on them. They’ve now been expelled. Via WAVY: During a hearing Tuesday morning, Aidan Clark and Khalid Caraballo were expelled in a unanimous vote. Clark was offered the option of attending an alternative school, but his father, Tim, told WAVY News' Andy Fox he will be homeschooled.  Caraballo will attend an alternative school. 

Your American education system."

Khalid Caraballo, Aidan Clark, Middle School Students, Suspended For Playing With Toy Guns At Home: "Airsoft guns fire small, spring-loaded plastic pellets. They are generally considered safer than BB guns, which fire copper pellets. Seeing the kids playing with the toy guns, a neighbor called 911, according to the Washington Post. In the 911 call, the neighbor admitted she knew the guns were not real. "This is not a real [gun], but it makes people uncomfortable," she told a dispatcher. "I know that it makes me [uncomfortable], as a mom, to see a boy pointing a gun." "And you know what, do have someone contact me and tell me what was done," she continued. The dispatcher informed the woman that police would not contact her but could talk to her at the scene. The neighbor said in the call she would not be on the scene."

Miley Cyrus Might Be Smarter Than Anyone Gave Her Credit - BroBible.com: 

""America is just so weird in what they think is right and wrong," she continues. "Like, I was watching Breaking Bad the other day, and they were cooking meth... And then they bleeped out the word 'fuck.' And I'm like, really? They killed a guy, and disintegrated his body in acid, but you're not allowed to say 'fuck'? It's like when they bleeped 'molly' at the VMAs. Look what I'm doing up here right now, and you're going to bleep out 'molly'? Whatever.""

Miley Cyrus on the Cover of Rolling Stone | Music News | Rolling Stone: 

"...on the inside of her left forearm, the words so THAT HIS PLACE SHALL NEVER BE WITH THOSE COLD AND TIMID SOULS WHO NEITHER KNOW VICTORY NOR DEFEAT. "It's from a Teddy Roosevelt speech," she says. "It's about how people judge who wins and who loses, but they're not the ones in there fighting." In other words, "It's about critics."

...Miley admits that her performance with Thicke got a little – her word – "handsy." But she makes a good point: "No one is talking about the man behind the ass. It was a lot of 'Miley twerks on Robin Thicke,' but never, 'Robin Thicke grinds up on Miley.' They're only talking about the one that bent over. So obviously there's a double standard." She was especially amused by the criticism from Brooke Shields, who played Miley's mom on Hannah Montana and called the VMA performance "desperate." "Brooke Shields was in a movie where she was a prostitute at age 12!" Miley says with a laugh.""

...If there's one thing that bothered her about the fallout, it was the idea that her performance was racist, or a "minstrel show," because, critics argued, she appropriated a dance style common in black culture and used black backup dancers like props. "I don't keep my producers or dancers around 'cause it makes me look cool," she says. "Those aren't my 'accessories.' They're my homies." Meanwhile, she argues, the idea that she's somehow playing black is absurd. "I'm from one of the wealthiest counties in America," she says. "I know what I am. But I also know what I like to listen to. Look at any 20-year-old white girl right now – that's what they're listening to at the club. It's 2013. The gays are getting married, we're all collaborating. I would never think about the color of my dancers, like, 'Ooh, that might be controversial.' What do you mean?" she says with a laugh. "Times are changing. I think there's a generation or two left, and then it's gonna be a whole new world.""

Joss Whedon: The definitive EW interview | Inside TV | EW.com: 

"I remember being in my room and going, “Oh, I’m alone, but not lonesome. I have a family. They are people. But I’m all alone.” For me, that’s a defining trait."

[On Buffy] - It was the idea of somebody that you discount that has a secret and the weight of wisdom. I always wanted the person who nobody pays attention to to have a cool secret. It’s so obvious. I’m so obvious. Subtlety is for little men. And I look back at my work and see a rage-filled hormonal autobiography that spans over four different series—five now—and several films. There’s lots of fear, lots of love and confusion and sex, and deep-seated anger at the bullies of the world, be they corporations or demons. I don’t have a ton of enemies. I get along with people pretty well when I’m not annoying them to death. But there’s a lot of inarticulate emotion that I articulate pretty well when I’m in the guise of a teenage girl.

When Twilight and The Vampire Diaries came along, what did you think about them? 

A small part of you is like, “Well, you know, I did that first. I liked that band before they were popular.” The thing about Buffy for me is—on a show-by-show basis—are there female characters who are being empowered, who are driving the narrative? The Twilight thing, and a lot of these franchise attempts coming out, everything rests on what this girl will do, but she’s completely passive or not really knowing what the hell is going on. And that’s incredibly frustrating to me because a lot of what’s taken on the oeuvre of Buffy is actually a reaction against it. Everything is there except for the Buffy. A lot of things aimed at the younger kids is just Choosing Boyfriends: The Movie...

You dance too, which surprised me. At the EW Comic-Con party, you get the floor started. Where did that come from? 

I never danced until I was in college. I was dragged on the floor. I think a lot about it. Because on one hand, it’s the most free I ever feel. On the other hand, I’m analyzing everything I do all the time. It’s this weird combination of “dance like nobody’s watching” / “but everybody’s watching, right?” It’s showing off for no one. I’ve never taken a class. I can’t do the foxtrot or the running man. I want to be with my friends, but it’s a weird way of being alone. It’s just about the movement. It’s a way of being at the party and also getting away from the party.

...you once tweeted: “Everything is a drug. Family, art, causes, new shoes… We’re all just tweaking our chem to avoid the void.” That’s profound and depressing. 

If you look at the Twitter feed like you look at my work, it’s all me trying to work out my problems—and some puns. And with that one I didn’t even feel like being funny. I remember that one particularly. It was one of those obvious revelations, but I was really feeling it. Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that’s overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes it makes me feel kinship and forgiveness. We’ve all got the same ending to the story. The way we make that story more elaborate, I got to respect."