Gyu-Kaku (Theatre District) - OMG, DIY BBQ!

HBO's Luck, a drama about the big bad horse racing scene, has been warmly received by most media critics, but lax production standards have roused critics less concerned with quality acting and believable narratives. According to the New York Observer, two horses used in filming were euthanized following on set injuries, prompting PETA to put the HBO show on blast. "Perhaps if producers had considered the proved safety protocols that we would have suggested, these horses would still be alive," the animal rights organization wrote in a blog post from a few weeks ago. PETA may be controversial, but considering the generally accepted moral standard for animal safety in media production, its disappointment doesn't seem so histrionic. 

Never one to play if safe, fashion phenom Anna Dello Russo styled Italian model Bianca Balti as a Spanish bullfighter in March's Vogue Nippon editorial called "Kiss of the Matador." The Giampaolo Sgura-shot images features Balti in looks inspired by the now-banned sport, designed by Versace, Giuseppe Zanotti, Moschino, Emilio Pucci, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Salvatore Ferragamo.

If you hold a lot of warm dorm room viewing memories regarding 2005's Wedding Crashers, you're in luck: Vulture reports that Crashers stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson will reunite for Interns, a Twentieth Century Fox production. They'll play "forty-ish company guys who both get laid off in a downsizing," Vulture writes. "Convinced they’ve gone about managing their careers entirely wrong, they resolve to become interns at a Google-like dotcom and start anew. Suddenly, the two old chums are competing against wily, fresh-faced 22 year olds for advancement." It's going to be an tour through the middle-aged male psyche, one that pulls no emotional punches at looking how hard it is to grow up when your future has been tossed to the side. Either that, or Vaughn is going to get too drunk at a company party and sleep with his boss, played by an immensely aggressive Jennifer Coolidge. It's going to rule.

● Having yet to scandalize with his tales of binge drinking and ungroomed nethers, Daniel Radcliffe says that he likes to "like somebody before I sleep with them," but that sex with Harry Potter groupies "has happened." And a million new Harry fanfics were born. [NYDN]

Tucked inside Sharon Van Etten's small, slender frame is a powerful, evocative voice, one that delivers dirge-like folk ballads and aggressive provocations with equal command. On her third album, Tramp (out this week on Jagjaguar), Van Etten embraces a rich sound, one that is more brash and full compared to her previous efforts. While her intimate debut Because I Was in Love and its follow-up Epic were stand-outs in their own right, it's Tramp that proves her sonic power.

St. Vincent's Strange Mercy was one of the more brittle, stunning albums of 2011, so it's only right that singer Annie Clark continues to promote it rather than moving onto her next project. Directed by Hiro Murai, the newly released video for "Cheerleader" has Clark tied up in the middle of an art gallery, surrounded by impassive, boho spectators. As she struggles to break free, her body collapses to the ground and shatters into pieces. Considering the subject material, it's very metaphorically appropriate. As YouTube user "lovewithanapparition" puts it, "so is her thing this album cycle releasing videos where she dies horribly?"

● Chris Brown will return to the Grammys this year -- and as a preformer, no less -- for the first time since his infamous and almost career-stunting fight with Rihanna in 2009. [Idolator]

There are so many good fashion films popping up as of late that we can hardly contain ourselves. For Edun's spring 2012 campaign, acclaimed artist Ryan McGinley filmed a group of models, including Bradley Soileau and Charlotte Free, casually interacting with a bunch of friendly butterflies. But because it's under the direction of the imaginative and somewhat controversial McGinley, butterflies aren't just hanging around said pretty people—they're in their mouths, in their pants, and generally up in their business. And it works.

The Harry Potter movie adaptations have done just fine for themselves, ranging in quality from acceptable to pretty good, taking in enough cumulative box office money to turn Antartica into a dog colony. They haven't won many Academy Awards, though, not unless you count technical categories like Best Visual Effects and Best Score (which nobody does). There's been a dearth of those important acting and Best Picture nominations for a franchise that's had a permanent role in the theater for over a decade -- a streak that continued with the lack of big nominations for the final installment, 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Daniel Radcliffe, the erstwhile Potter, was not very pleased about that, telling the Guardian that the snub came down to a type of elitism.