While we are keeping our ear to the ground for Lana Del Rey’s debut album, “Born to Die” and the full length from Azealia Banks, there are some artists we really wish would quit while they’re ahead.

As posted on Cracked, here are the 7 least anticipated albums of 2012.

7. Insane Clown Posse – “The Might Death Pop!”

6. Scorpion – “Comeback”

5. Adam Lambert – “Trespassing”

4. Willow Smith – “Willow: You Think You Know Me”

3. Bret Michaels – “Get Your Rock On”

2. Marilyn Manson – “Born Villian”

1. Scott Stapp – “Somewhere in the Middle of Love and Lust”

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Just in time for Halloween, a company called E-Poll conducted a survey to find out who gives America the creeps. The poll surveyed 1100 Americans and asked them to rate celebrities based on 100 different possible attributes. The following list indicates what percentage of the sample group checked off “creepy” for each celebrity.

1. Marilyn Manson..69%

2. Casey Anthony…57%

3. O.J. Simpson….56%

4. Spencer Prat….49%

5. Nadya Suleman…41%

6. Charlie Sheen…34%

7. Eliot Spitzer…34%

8. Woody Allen…..31%

9. Tim Burton……31%

10. Jesse James…..30%

Topping the list of creepy celebrities is a man who allegedly had a rib surgically removed in order to perform oral sex on himself (Marilyn Manson). Also on the list are two of America’s most famous accused murderers (Casey Anthony, O.J. Simpson) and a warlock from planet Awesome (Charlie Sheen). For the most part, the list is fairly predictable. The only real surprise is a neurotic film -maker who fell in love with his adopted daughter (Woody Allen). Perhaps that’s not as surprising as one may think.

Surprisingly, none of the cast members from Jersey Shore made the list. (Personally I thought The Situation was a shoe-in for the top spot.) None of the Guidos or Guidettes even broke the the top ten but somehow Eliot Spitzer has a strong hold on seventh spot.

In addition, the same survey also determined which celebrities have the most marketing potential. Of the top ten listed above, Spencer Pratt from The Hills and ‘Octomom’ Nadya Suleman proved to have the least marketing potential, demonstrating that America will gladly watch these idiots but probably wouldn’t purchase a product they endorse.

These statistics are pretty reassuring. Americans show they haven’t lost the ability to think rationally and I agree with them. I would never purchase anything from a psychopath with a frozen sperm fetish. Nor would I buy anything from a delusional moron still caught in a shame spiral after he and his Franken-Bride were last seen on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. 

Well done, America.

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This time it maybe for good. Shock rocker Marilyn Manson and girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood have broken up and ended their engagement last week, reports People.

Manson was spotted out Saturday night partying it up in L.A with a group of people including a brunette named Twiggy and former Playmate of the Year Colleen Shannon.

“They just broke off their engagement, and he needed a night out with friends,” says another source.

The couple had been on and off for the past four years. Manson proposed to Wood during a January show in Paris.

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The beautiful couple, the beautiful couple.

According to MuchMusic.com, shock rock legend Marilyn Manson and his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood are happily engaged.

Manson popped the question on January 5th – his 41st birthday.

And, like everything else shocking about Marilyn Manson is the 19 year age gap between him and Wood.

The Wood family must be thrilled.

Well, perhaps Manson can relax his oddities for his love life. He sounds charming, to say the least.

“I’ve found my double, my twin, with my girlfriend,” he said.

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Lady Gaga sure knows how to sell albums, even if it’s one you already purchased.

A deluxe edition of The Fame Monster hit shelves this week, featuring a spread of high-class nude photos by none other than celebrity photographer, David LaChapelle, according to The Daily Mail UK.

One of the photos features Gaga, completely nude, in the arms of Kanye West as he stares blankly into the distance while a volcano is erupting behind them. Another shows her completely nude, strapped to an electric generator with strategically placed sparks erupting from her hands and nether regions.

The photos are futuristic and avant-garde, in the style of LaChapelle who is known both for his vivid photography and videos. LaChapelle has photographed countless stars, including Rihanna, Angelina Jolie, Marilyn Manson and David Beckham, to name a few, and has produced and directed music videos by Elton John, No Doubt, Amy Winehouse and others. This is not his first run-in with Gaga – he photographed her for her Rolling Stone cover earlier this year.

The Fame Monster will feature the original 12 tracks from her debut, The Fame, as well as eight new songs, paper dolls, a fanzine, a puzzle and 3D glasses.

And, as if full frontal nudity were not enough, Lady GaGa is also including a lock of her hair in every purchase. If sales continue her chart-topping trend, the poor girl will be in wigs until 2012.

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Don't be scared, you won't need all of those. At once.

Nerd Games (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love RPGs)

You start work at a new office.  You meet someone on the subway or a streetcar, and conversation starts.  For someone like me (men in their early twenties), mentioning to someone you play video games still has a bit of a nerdy connotation to it.  Although video games have definitely become a mainstream form of entertainment for boys and girls alike and even more significantly men and women, if you ask someone you just met if they’ve played Fallout 3 or Oblivion, you run the risk of sounding like a nerd (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  You may even come across as childish, although  it’s become popular opinion that video games can and are played by men and women of all ages.   All said though, it’s not really too big of a deal.

Now try the exact same situation, but instead of asking your new-found friend if they have played the new Call of Duty or Batman: Arkham Asylum you ask them if they know what Dungeons and Dragons is.  Completely different story.  Telling someone in 2009 that you play Dungeons and Dragons is like telling someone in 1989 that you play video games – or Dungeons and Dragons, for that matter.

Playing in a basement is not a requirement.

Now comes the part where I explain what Dungeons and Dragons is to the people who are ready to skip the rest of this article and Youtube “Cats Doing Things That Are Mildly Amusing.”

Dungeons and Dragons is a roleplaying game that has been the biggest influence for every other RPG ever made since.  Ever. Oblivion, Mass Effect, Diablo, you name it.  Even games like Mafia Wars on Facebook are a result of the core idea of roleplaying games. It is played by 2 or more players and one Games Master (GM).  The long and short of it is that each player creates a character according to the structure of the game, following a procedure to define their character’s various abilities and modus operandi.  The actual playing of the game is essentially that the GM is telling a story, in which all of the players are playing the roles of their respective characters.  Hence, role playing game.  There is a combat system so when the party needs to throw down it’s easy and fun to play and the rest of the time it is relatively free-roaming, with the GM providing narrative and some direction to the party who can act as they wish to accomplish the goal (save the girl, get the rock/sword/etc.).  And along the way you earn experience, which makes your characters gradually more badass, and gold, which allows you to buy more badass equipment for your characters, further increasing the badass quotient.

Sound familiar?  It should – it’s every RPG of all time.  So what’s with the stigma associated with paper-and dice RPGs?  The only difference between what I explained above and say, World of Warcraft is that the stories are invariably more interesting, the dynamic of the party is more story-driven, and instead of developing carpal tunnel syndrome clicking incessantly you roll dice to determine the outcome of combat and some skill-based checks here and there.  Also, you play across a table – not across a city, province, country or continent.

I haven’t been playing paper-and-dice RPGs for as long as I have been video gaming.  I was introduced to a great game called RIFTS by a good friend of mine when he moved to Toronto from Montreal.  Since then, I have kept playing with a group of friends throughout high school and during our respective post-secondary educations.  Sometimes a game is called off for a date or prior engagement, but we play once a week pretty regularly.  We’ve gone through elves, dwarfs, humans and half-orcs.  We’ve played rogues, wizards, sorcerers (yes, there’s a difference), fighters and clerics.  Dragons?  Slain ‘em.  Dungeons? Crawled ‘em.

Chapter 4 is how to play a half-elf without sounding like a douche

But I digress.  The stigma of being a RPGamer – I just made that up, by the way, (edit: No I didn‘t – thanks, Google) has kept a lot of people from enjoying this great genre of gaming.  The fact that most people will play more FarmVille in their lives than RIFTS or D&D is depressing to say the least.  I will say that as much as I despise it, World of Warcraft has done more to bring paper-and-dice RPGs into the mainstream (by way of their similarities in a community-multiplayer idea) than anything else in the last 10 years.  A game that you really can’t play by yourself sounds like a hard idea to pitch to traditional gamers, but it worked.  Oh boy, did it ever work.

Although WoW brought the Diablo-esque MMORPG into mainstream culture, it’s still seen as a nerdy activity by most, and paper-and-dice RPGs even more so.  But I say great – I enjoy having a group of like-minded friends not worried about what everyone else is thinking, ready to play the nerdiest game we can think of.  It doesn’t hurt that some awesome celebrities play D&D – Vin Diesel is a class-A nerd, along with Robin Williams (although I’d imagine getting him to sit at a table for more than 10 minutes is more difficult than learning the game), Marilyn Manson, Stephen Colbert (getting him to shut up for a minute is probably even more difficult than getting Robin Williams to sit still) and of course, the ever-awesome Kevin Smith (who I would imagine runs very dialogue-heavy campaigns).

So the next time you meet a stranger and are looking for something to say, try asking if they have ever played a video game.  If they say yes, you could try asking if (gasp!) they have ever tried D&D.  You can always say “me neither” if they say no.

Just watch out for those Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) people.  You know, the ones that dress up as their characters and swing Styrofoam swords at each other?  Stay away from them; those guys are nerds.

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Marilyn Manson prepares to release his upcoming album, The High End of Low, in stores Tuesday May 26th. With the single, “Arma-Goddamn-Motherfu*kin-Geddon” already hitting modern and rock radio and the upcoming Mayhem Fest tour, Manson is sure to deliver once again.

To celebrate the release and the upcoming tour, Marilyn Manson and AndPop.com have teamed up to giveaway an ASUS Eee PC laptop and the entire Marilyn Manson catalog of CDs to one lucky winner.

Enter now for your chance to win and don’t miss Marilyn Manson on tour this summer!

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The music world is buzzing about “Across The Universe” star Evan Rachel Wood’s voice.

Wood wowed audiences with her renditions of the Beatles classics like “Blackbird” and “If I Fell” (90 per cent of the songs in the film were recorded live as the cameras rolled) and is now reportedly close to signing a recording contract with Interscope records. She is still finalizing negotiations.

The label also represents Marilyn Manson, Wood’s boyfriend.

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Marilyn Manson married long time girlfriend Dita Von Teese in Ireland this weekend.

Rocker Manson, real name Brian Warner, married burlesque dancer Von Teese, real name Heather Sweet, in front of 60 guests at Castle Gurteen.

After dating for four years, Manson proposed at their Los Angeles home in 2004.

The Herald Sun reports Manson, 36, wore a black silk taffeta tuxedo and Von Teese, 33, wore royal purple silk taffeta with a corset.

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