MTV drops the music, and other top stories...

MTV was a riveting prospect as a channel dedicated entirely to music when it was first launched in 1981. But those days are long gone. What does the M stand for now? Mediocre? Martian? Moron? Whatever the case, it doesn't stand for ‘music' anymore. The channel's newly designed logo has ditched the ‘music television' description. A variety of non-music based programmes have taken up large portions of the station's schedule for many years, and scripted reality shows are its chief currency nowadays...

The man who inspired Dave Eggers' quarterly literary publication McSweeney's has died at the age of 67. Despite being a pleasingly evocative brand name, McSweeney's isn't one that was just pulled from the air. It has a real and rather sad back-story. Timothy McSweeney was a man who wrote mysterious letters to Eggers and his mother. He thought he was a relative and planned to visit, but was later revealed to be an artist who went on to struggle with alcoholism and mental illness. Farewell, Mr. McSweeney...

The nominations for this year's Laurence Olivier Awards have been revealed. Jude Law and James McAvoy are competing for Best Actor award, Keira Knightley (who you may be surprised to learn is still only 24) is up for Best Supporting Actress, while Gillian Anderson (who is, in fact, English) competes with Rachel Weisz for Best Actress award. The Royal Court Theatre has the most nominations for productions including Jerusalem and Enron...