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Beyonce performs during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, in New Orleans in 2013.Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press

TEACHING BEY

Just like everyone else, Harvard University wants to know more about the mystery that is Beyoncé.

MTV News reports that the world-renowned institution plans to release a case study next week that attempts to deconstruct the success of the Grammy-winning singer's hugely successful and surprise "visual album."

Released last December, without fanfare or advance publicity, the studio album titled simply Beyoncé has elicited the hits Drunk in Love (on which she collaborates with her superstar husband. Jay Z) and Flawless and has gone double platinum in U.S. sales.

All of which has piqued the curiosity of the inquiring minds at the prestigious Harvard Business School, which plans to publish a case study on the album's phenomenal success.

As reported in The Harvard Gazette, the study was authored by business professor Anita Elberse and former student Stacie Smith and will be part of teaching material in Elberse's Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries course when it commences next month.

The case study "examines what it took to pull off the ambitious and costly campaign, the prevailing market conditions, the structural and technical obstacles, as well as the many difficult decisions Beyoncé and her management team confronted along the way," The Harvard Gazette reports.

And for anybody who thinks Beyoncé might not be worthy of such a lofty honour, consider the recent case of the college student who told her professors at Baltimore's Towson University that she would not be attending classes on September 4 because it was a very special day: Beyoncé's birthday.

CLOSE CALL

Jennifer Lopez and best friend Leah Remini narrowly escaped injury after their car was rear-ended in Los Angeles. According to People magazine, the pop diva and former King of Queens star were stopped at a red light on the Pacific Coast Highway on Saturday night when they were rudely rear-ended by another driver. Also in the car was Remini's 10-year-old daughter, Sofia, and Lopez's six-year-old twins, Max and Emme; nobody was injured. Lopez posted a pic of herself and Remini taken moments before the accident with the caption, "Riding high before some drunk fool rear ended us in my new whip."

Source: People

TROLL BUSTING

British pop star FKA twigs has lashed out at racist comments about her new relationship with Twilight star Robert Pattinson. The singer (real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett), who is half-Jamaican and half-Spanish, went onto Twitter on Sunday to state, "I am genuinely shocked and disgusted at the amount of racism that has been infecting my account the past week. Racism is unacceptable in the real world and it's unacceptable online." Twigs and Pattinson began dating last month and their romance went public last week when they were spotted holding hands in Los Angeles.

Source: Us Weekly

CHEAP SHOTS

The New York Post has wasted no time in taking cheap shots at the newest member of the Clinton family. On Sunday, the conservative tabloid reported on Chelsea Clinton giving birth to Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky – the new granddaughter of former U.S. president Bill Clinton and future presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton – on its front page with the headline, "Party Pooper," accompanied by the deck "Another liberal crybaby for Dem Clintons."

Source: New York Magazine

TASTE TEST

The government of Thailand will unveil a robotic taster to determine if restaurant fare is genuine Thai food or not. The contraption will scan food samples to produce a chemical signature that is measured against a standard of Thai spicing and flavours. Readings from ten sensors will combine to produce the chemical signature. According to the New York Times, the machine can evaluate the difference between a properly-prepared green curry, with the right mix of Thai basil, curry paste and fresh coconut cream, and a poor imitation.

Source: The New York Times

LOVE LOST

Singles looking for a life partner online might want to consider other options. A new study from the University of Michigan has cast doubt on those TV commercials extolling the success rates of online dating services. The university's Department of Communication recently surveyed more than 4000 U.S. adults between 2009 and 2013, of whom 3,000 were in a committed relationship. The study revealed couples who had met online were far less likely to get married than couples who met through real-life situations. In addition, both married and dating couples who had met via an online dating service had significantly higher break-up rates.

Source: Mashable

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