Is this what that guy on American Idol was talking about? Well, count me as another clueless white guy, but Krumping is still new to me, despite its apparently having been around for years. Fortunately for the likes of my out-of-touch self, glossy celeb photographer and Warhol protege David LaChapelle is going to teach us all about it (from a safe distance, of course) via a short feature called Krumped. An award-winner at Sundance, the film chronicles the emerging west coast dance movement notable for its rejection of hiphop materialism and its participants' tendency to wear clown makeup. No, not like that. More like this. You can read an interview with LaChapelle about the whole thing over at Salon.

Seems pretty interesting, although sometimes I half-wonder whether young black Americans secretly get together and plan out their fads with an eye toward making MTV look as silly as possible when it inevitably steals their ideas. "Carson Daly in clown makeup, people. Come on, this is going to be great!"

UPDATE: While you're at it, check out some of LaChapelle's portraits. I'm no photography expert, and his stuff is of a particular sort that many people may not like -- bright, saturated pop photography with lots of too-cute ideas -- but I still find the shots pretty astounding. If nothing else they're eye-catching.