I had never heard the phrase Mercury retrograde until my friend’s step-mother used it a few years ago. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about when she said it, but then she explained it was tied into astrology and was a period when things tended to go haywire – especially electronics. I didn’t necessarily buy into it – I’m skeptical of such things – but I threw the term around a lot whenever I hit a period where nothing seemed to be going right. The last week I seemed to have more little issues than normal – especially related to technology; my iPod suddenly freaked out and first wouldn’t turn off and then wouldn’t turn back on, my cable box was being weird, my cell phone has been giving me problems, etc. This was all capped off this morning when I was getting ready for work and my hair dryer inexplicably was dead. It worked without incident yesterday, yet today it was just a useless heap of plastic. I’m not saying Mercury retrograde is in fact real, but it is an odd coincidence that all of these things gave me problems the same time that Mercury retrograde was occurring. I’m chalking most of this up to bad luck, but it did give me some pause.
Thankfully none of these technological issues got in the way of doing this week’s pop culture roundup; I would not have been laughing if a week’s worth of links mysteriously disappeared. Per usual, I’ve searched the Internet far and wide to curate the most important pop culture nuggets from the last week. So while I explain to my co-workers why my hair is a wavy mess this morning, kick back, relax and catch up on all the pop culture that you may have missed.
- Marvel made some big announcements yesterday about Phase Three. Of particular interest – Chadwick Boseman will play Black Panther, Civil War is officially happening, and Captain Marvel will get her own movie in 2018.
- There will be some changes to the Avengers line-up after Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- The award for first cancelled series of the season goes to…….Manhattan Love Story.
- It sounds like Benedict Cumberbatch will play Doctor Strange.
- Well this sounds promising…Neil Patrick Harris to host a variety show at NBC.
- 86,000 people in Spain turned out for 600 extra roles on Game of Thrones.
- Better Call Saul will be “85% drama, 15% comedy.”
- Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, debunks a theory about the show:
- The Foo Fighters were on 60 Minutes last Sunday.
- Dave Grohl and Courtney Love allegedly have a $10,000 bet over strippers.
- Lauren Graham has joined the cast of The Odd Couple remake.
- Marc Cherry is developing a modern Phantom of the Opera for ABC.
- A hotel in London offers Harry Potter-themed suites.
- A new Harry Potter story about Delores Umbridge will drop on Halloween.
- If this whole acting thing doesn’t pan out for Daniel Radcliffe, he may have a future as an MC:
- The Daily Show is in Texas this week.
- Nicki Minaj is delaying the release of her album.
- The CW is developing a series about a young William Shakespeare.
- Vulture speculates on who each song is about on Taylor Swift’s new album.
- Ha! This baby’s Uncle Leo costume fantastic:
- Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Martin have reportedly broken up.
- A Big Bird documentary will hit theaters in 2015.
- Prince will perform on SNL this weekend; the show is letting him play for 8 straight minutes.
- The beginning of the end? CBS has cut the episode order for CSI.
- ABC is adapting the British series Wire In The Blood.
- The next Golden Globes will be the last one hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Boo!
- Taylor Kitsch will be on True Detective season 2…according to Taylor Kitsch.
- Downton Abbey may eliminate the unfortunately named dog on the show.
- Michael K. Williams has signed up for another HBO series.
- DirecTV has ordered a Downton Abbey parody, The Britishes.
- LaVar Burton reads Go The F*Ck T Sleep. I’m pretty sure this is why the Internet was invented:
- Temple of the Dog reunited at a the Bridge School Benefit.
- The lead singer of Staind flubbed the National Anthem before Game 5 of the World Series.
- Things went better when the San Francisco Giants honored Robin Williams.
- Resolved: Drogon, one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons from Game of Thrones, could not beat Smaug from The Hobbit.
- Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis will star in Showtime’s pilot Billions.
- Paul Rudd did NOT help break up a fight at Dallas airport (though I like to think he would’ve had he been there)
- Pitbull has not one but two reality show projects in the hopper.
- Seth Rogen and Jacki Weaver have joined James Franco’s Zeroville.
- Conan O’Brien learned a valuable lesson: don’t get into a Twitter war with Madeline Albright. You, sir, have been served:
- Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) will appear in SyFy’s Childhood’s End.
- This infograph tracks the settings for all Best Picture winners at the Oscars.
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will feature a 45 minute battle scene.
- Members of The State reunited at Festival Supreme in LA.
- Hugh Jackman was treated a third time for skin cancer.
- NBC will air the holiday special Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas starring Jim Parsons.
- Speaking of It’s Always Sunny – here are some Frank Reynolds inspired costumes.
- Lifetime has found its Marilyn Monroe.
- A Philly restaurant is actually recreating the burger of the day specials from Bob’s Burgers. ROAD TRIP!
- OK Go debuted another video:
- Daniel Radcliffe did a Reddit AMA.
- All the Jim Carrey references from his SNL skit, “Family Reunion.
- A section of West 121st Street in New York City is now known as George Carlin Way.
- An investigation of Kathy Bates’ accent on American Horror Story: Freak Show.
- Homer Simpson has been blamed for Britain’s obesity problem.
- I don’t own a home, but if I did I might have to install this wall divider of LEGOs.
- This study tries to find a relationship between musical preference and SAT scores. It turns out that I am way smarter than the music I listen to.
- The Crow reboot will begin shooting in 2015.
- NBC has given Mysteries of Laura a full season pickup.
- Toys R Us is selling unofficial Guy Fieri costumes, which I find way more offensive than the Breaking Bad figures that they pulled from shelves.
- Terry Crewes in a robot dance off:
- Joel Schumacher is making a comic book sequel to Batman and Robin.
- Drake debuted three new songs.
- RuPaul will appear on The Comeback.
- Kelly Osbourne got a tattoo to honor the late Joan Rivers.
- Lucasfilsm is suing New York’s Empire Brewing over Strikes Bock lager.
- I’ve never really been in to hockey, but stories like this are convincing me to give it another try.
- Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter recovering after his appendix burst.
- Dear Lord – Taylor Swift has apparently just discovered NYC. She’s been named an “ambassador” to the city.
- Lifetime and Christina Ricci are teaming up for a Lizzie Borden limited series.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) will join Matt Damon in The Martian.
- Will Ferrell and Harvey Weinstein are teaming up for Plus One.
Trailer Time
- Y’all have probably seen it already, but here’s the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron:
- A quick look at Marvel’s Agent Carter, debuting in January on ABC:
- A teaser for season 10 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
- A trailer for Chelsea Peretti’s Netflix special:
- A red band trailer for Nightcrawler:
- A teaser for the Netflix original series, Bloodline:
- Another new Netflix series, Marco Polo:
- Shameless, season 5:
- Happy Valley trailer:
- A trailer for Fox’s new series Empire:
- Insidious: Chapter 3:
- Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards reunite in this teaser for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee:
- Dame Helen Mirren is the new face of L’Oreal Paris.
- Ewan McGregor has not had good experiences with Star Wars fans.
- HBO has ordered their Scream reboot to series.
- A Honeymooners musical will debut next year.
- Ren & Stimpy is coming to Hulu.
- Kevin Smith shaved off his beard and it’s freaking.me.out.
- The writers of The LEGO Movie will also write the sequel.
- Louis C.K. has been testing out some new material in New Orleans.
- Fox is developing a series based on Archie comics.
- Here’s a look at the Breaking Bad cookbook.
- Jason Jones and Samantha Bee (The Daily Show) are developing a comedy for TBS.
- Here’s a cat dressed like Jasmine ridding a Roomba:
- Nickleback covered Led Zeppelin. The world did not spin off its axis.
- An animated Wind in the Willows show is being developed.
- Kate Hudson can do a solid Matthew McConaughey impression.
- Conan O’Brien reunited with his former bandleader Max Weinberg last night after five years; Weinberg’s been busy playing with some up and coming group – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
- Welcome Back, Kotter actress Marcia Strassman passed away at 66.
- Cream bassist Jack Bruce has also died.
- Actress Elizabeth Norment, who played Frank Underwood’s secretary on House of Cards, has died.
- Lake Bell and her husband welcomed a baby girl.
As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts
- Sesame Street meets Harry Potter:
- Greatest movie deaths of all time supercut (spoilers, obviously):
- I have no idea what this means, if anything, but the new Avengers trailer syncs up pretty well with Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”:
- A supercut of all the on-screen deaths in the original Star Wars trilogy:
- Taylor Swift mashed up with Aphex Twins:
- Here’s Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” sung in 20 different styles:
- And finally…puppets do a shot by shot remake of Mr. Big’s “To Be With You” video:
As Heather's World Turns 
