Pop Culture Odds and Ends – I’m Back, Baby edition

I couldn’t think of any better way to bring the blog back from its brief hiatus than with everyone’s favorite post, the bi-weekly pop culture roundup. Pop culture stops for no man (or woman) and stories kept rolling out even while I was away, so this post is as much for me as it is for you. So while we all play catch up, enjoy this barrage of links to stories that you might have missed:

• In news that will surprise no one, Game of Thrones has been renewed for another season.

• Crime of the century? Someone stole one of the final 8 Breaking Bad scripts from Bryan Cranston’s car. You can listen to his 9-1-1 call online.

• Very sad news – Jane Henson, widow of Muppets creator John Henson, lost her battle with cancer yesterday.

• You people are failing me when it comes to Happy Endings. Shame on you.

• One of the stars of MTV’s reality show Buckwild has died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Production on the show has been halted.

• Kids retell Star Wars in their own words:

 

• Big news from the FX network – they are launching a new channel and have renewed  Justified and The League, the latter for two years.

• This might be a reason to have a baby – White Stripes songs have been turned into an album of lullabies (just kidding, Mom. Probably).

• The sequel to Finding Nemo will be called Finding Dory and will be released November 2015.

• Dave Chappelle seems to be dropping hints that he’s considering a return. A girl can dream.

• If you don’t have Netflix but want to check out House of Cards, the first season will be released on DVD June 11.

• Robert Redford confirms his role in Captain America 2.

• Avengers 2 will start filming in London in 2014.

• No matter how The Great Gatsby film turns out, it’s shaping up to have one hell of a soundtrack.

• Amazon has purchased the website Good Reads.

• Like Justin Bieber doesn’t have enough problems, he needs to worry about this guy.

• You can stream the new Dawes album, one week before it is released.

• The real reason Will Smith turned down Django Unchained. Dummy.

• Is there nothing that Jay-Z can’t do? This has to be good for the Yankees, right?

• I’m assuming Jay-Z also had a hand in MTV moving their Video Music Awards to the Barclay Center.

• The History Channel’s The Bible miniseries is already out on DVD.

• Conan has been renewed by TBS through 2015.

• TBS has also renewed Cougar Town. Happy Dance!

• Dang – I missed out on the auction for Tupac’s fedora from the “California Love” video. I look excellent in hats.

• The many disguises of Sterling Archer.

• Listen to a new song from John Legend and Rick Ross.

• Crackle is now streaming episodes of The Shield for free. Definitely a show to check out if you haven’t seen it. It is where I first discovered the awesomeness that is Walton Goggins.

• This Rap Quotes project is a cool idea.

• Check out this list of 20 forgotten Billy Joel songs that haven’t been overplayed (though I argue there is no such thing as too much Joel).

• Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno addressed The Tonight Show succession rumors:

Jimmy, my friend, some unsolicited advice: stop palling around with Leno. He cannot be trusted.

• The Hollywood Reporter says that Fallon has signed a deal to take over The Tonight Show. Seth Meyers is the frontrunner to take over Fallon’s 12:30 time slot.

• Steve Buscemi will direct a live Vampire Weekend webcast.

• I’m sad that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries webseries that I have recommended is calling it quits.

• The forgotten G.I. Joes.

• Rolling Stone wisely put Jon Hamm on the cover.

• Kevin McDonald from Kids in the Hall is guest writing at Saturday Night Live.

• Lindsay Lohan will make a pre-rehab appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday.

• Not sure how I feel about this: Amy Poehler is rumored to be dating fellow comedian (and occasional Parks and Recreation guest star) Nick Kroll. Love them both, but I’m still not over her split with Will Arnett.

• This seems like a waste of perfectly good Easter candy:

 

• Rob Lowe flew around in a jet pack, because why not?

• Roger Ebert is taking “a leave of presence.”

• This bracket came out too late for my March Madness roundup, but is right up my alley: best TV Theme Songs.

• Glee star Cory Monteith has checked into rehab and will miss some episodes of season 4, currently in production.

• I have no idea if this story about Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and a gay bar are true, but I really hope that it is.

• Springsteen has brought someone on stage to sing “Waiting on a Sunny Day” at every show I have been to, but I’ve never seen him do this before:

Lucky kid – and this only makes me love the Boss more.

• Some new details are emerging about Wes Anderson’s new movie, Grand Budapest Hotel.

• The collected wisdom of Duck Dynasty’s Uncle Si. I don’t watch the show – should I check it out?

• Quentin Tarantino movies reimagined as Penguin book covers.

• Thought you knew everything about Ducktales (who-hoo)? You are probably wrong.

• OK – this kind of freaked me out – celebrities that are unbelievably the same age. The Taylor Swift/Adele thing always kills me.

• There is adorable and then there is Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Jeopardy! in 1997:

 

• Cher’s mom is getting a Lifetime movie. It has got to be better than Liz & Dick and the recent Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story (based on a murder one town over from where I live).

• Uno may become a game show.

• Based on the success of the Veronica Mars kickstarter, Funny or Die has some 90s TV shows that they think should get the movie treatment.

• Mike from Breaking Bad was in Airplane? Mind blown.

• Queens of the Stone Age debuted a new song at Lollapalooza Brazil, the band’s first in six years.

• True Blood will return with its sixth season on June 16. More Eric, less everything else.

• I have discovered yet another website that specialized in pop culture inspired art. I really think this print would tie my living room together.

• JWoww will appear on the soap One Life to Live.

• AMC’s The Killing will return on June 2^nd. I will not be watching.

• Tublr of the week: Mean Mad Men (Mad Men/Mean Girls mashup). Totally fetch.

• A Mary Tyler Moore reunion is coming to Hot in Cleveland.

• Thanks to a new website, I can listen to many of the Phish concerts that I attended for free.

• ABC has ordered a spinoff of Pretty Little Liars.

• Ben Vareen is totally down for a Zoobilee Zoo reunion.

• Parks and Recreation characters as superheroes? Love.

• The creator of the 90s Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All has brought the character back as an adult in a new book.

• Adios TV Guide Network.

• Is the world ready for a THIRD Hemsworth brother?

• I have no words: man “engaged” to  My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle writes angry letter to pony’s artist.

• CBS renewed pretty much everything.

• Watch the cast of The Big Bang Theory do a number from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sheldon Cooper in drag is unsettling.

• NBC is considering a spinoff of Chicago Fire.

• Bronson Pinchot hijacks a weather cast on a local news cast. I have no words:

 

• Martin Scorsese is developing Gangs of New York as a television series. I’d tune in.

• The Guardian has created a graphic that sums up the 50 year history of Doctor Who.

• The Tina Fey/Steve Carell movie Mail-Order Groom has been delayed a year. Bummer.

• I love this Mr. Rogers story.

• The 2014 Oscars will be in March. I could use some extra prep time.

• A new dark horse candidate to host the Oscars has emerged: Justin Timberlake.

• As a fan, I enjoyed Vulture’s Bruce Willis Movie Matrix.

• Wait – why am I just learning that “Sweet Caroline” was inspired by Caroline Kennedy?

• Actor Richard Griffiths, who played Harry Potter’s Uncle Vernon (among other things) passed away last week.

• America’s Most Wanted has been cancelled – again.

• Eminem is working on a new album, per Dr. Dre.

• I’m a little late with this – watch the full Rugrats Passover special.

• BJ Novak (Ryan, The Office) has joined the cast of The Amazing Spiderman 2.

• This story is just odd – Friday Night Lights author is in rehab for his shopping addiction.

• Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo are in talks to appear in the Vacation reboot, starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate.

• Limp Bizkit is back. Hooray?

• Vulture examines what it was like to write for a TGIF sitcom.

• Are Walking Dead and Toy Story the same?

• The Duggars cannot be stopped.

• Once Upon A Time is launching a book series.

• The CW has released the first images of their new The Vampire Diaries spin-off pilot, The Originals.

• Ron Howard will appear as himself on an upcoming episode of Arrested Development. He is also the show’s narrator.

• I enjoy this collection of GIFs of Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead sneaking up on people. He is one stealth dude.

And now, some supercuts and mashups:

• First up, all the fake video games featured on The Simpsons.

• Watch Al Pacino yell a lot.

• Destiny’s Child “Independent Woman” and Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” complement each other pretty well.

• People running in movies:

 

• I’m glad I didn’t watch this before I flew Southwest last week.

• All of Woody Allen’s stammers:

 

• Bill & Ted & Lincoln’s Excellent Adventure:

 

• And finally, spliced together like this, Fraggle Rock was pretty deep (and a little depressing):