Holiday Weekend News Roundup! Obama in Wu, Round Two

THAT DRESS!

Happy Tuesday! Here’s our compendium of pop-culture news you may have missed while you were doing more important things over the long Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend.

President Obama was sworn in for his second term in office on Sunday, and gave his inaugural address yesterday. His speech alternated between boilerplate Jefferson stuff and some nicely forceful promises to focus on the environment, social programs, and gay and women’s rights (one lovely rhetorical flourish tied together the struggles at “Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall”).  [Salon]

• And Michelle Obama opted to revisit the designer she made famous, Jason Wu, at the second inaugural ball; she wore a gorgeous red gown that proves once and for all that she has no armpit fat whatsoever. (It’s a tricky cut to pull off!) [Us]

• Beyoncé performed the Star-Spangled Banner. She nailed it, duh. Joe Biden spent the entire time looking like he was either about to cry or holding in a fart, but he was probably just cold? [HuffPo]

• This is from a few days ago, but we missed it and can’t resist: Johnny Depp’s ex-girlfriend, Amber Heard, apparently left him for a woman—the model Marie de Villepin, daughter of ex-French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is so pretty, you guys. [DM]

Mama won the weekend box office despite Jessica Chastain’s uncharacteristically dowdy hair, pulling in $28.5M. Zero Dark Thirty stayed steady in its fifth week with $18.5M; Silver Linings Playbook‘s national expansion netted it $10.8M; and Gangster Squad and Broken City made $8.7M and $8.3M, respectively. [BOM]

• The Postal Service is apparently going to sort of reunite! They’re definitely playing Coachella, and Sub Pop is releasing a 10th-anniversary edition of Give Up (in case you needed a reminder of how dreadfully old you’re getting, Give Up came out a decade ago). It doesn’t seem like they’re releasing any new music, but to calm the disappointment, have you ever heard their cover of John Lennon’s “Grow Old with Me”? It’s lovely! [RS]

• Sperone Westwater, itself a recent transplant to the Lower East Side with its 259 Bowery location, is suing to block Ian Schrager’s 25-story hotel from invading a block to the east on 215 Chrystie Street. They claim the building—which is set to be twice as tall as any other in the area—should be subject to environmental review. We just hope it doesn’t drive the monthly membership rate up at the Chinatown Y, to be honest. [BB]