Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Game of Thrones is Coming Edition

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The new season of Game of Thrones debuts on Sunday and I for one couldn’t be happier about it. I’m fully prepared to immerse myself once again in the political intrigue and family drama of Westeros. My DVR, however, is probably less happy since television has gotten crazy good all of a sudden and the number shows that I need to record is kind of off the charts. Just on Sundays alone, I now have Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Veep, Silicon Valley, Last Week Tonight, Bob’s Burgers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Revenge. It’s a great time to be a fan of television.

It’s also a great time to be a fan of pop culture. My travels and a cold put me behind schedule this week, but I guaranteed that this week’s roundup was worth the wait. So while we all are killing some time until we can hang out with the Starks and the Lannisters again, get caught up on some of the pop culture that you might have missed.

• The Washington Post created an illustrated guide to all the deaths in Game of Thrones (HBO series only).

• Here’s a refresher on where things stood at the end of season 4.

• The Roots are also here to catch you up on GoT with a one-minute rap:

 

• HBO has officially launched HBO Now in advance of the Game of Thrones debut.

• A giant flame-thrower will make the GoT dragons more realistic this season.

• This site lets you calculate how you rich you’d be and your position in Westeros.

• There was a Monty Python Easter Egg last season on Game of Thrones that you probably missed.

• Sesame Street did a Game of Thrones parody:

 

• Psychics predict who will die on the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

• People continue to name their babies after GoT characters.

• Jon Snow is terrible at dinner parties:

 

• Arrested Development will be back for 17 more episodes. Hooray!

• No surprise here – House of Cards renewed.

• David Lynch is reportedly leaving Showtime’s Twin Peaks reboot. Cast members are trying to lure him back.

• There will be another podcast that focuses on the case against Adnan Syed, the subject of Serial.

• Expect at least another five years of Doctor Who.

• Most of the cast of Freaks and Geeks will reunite at the TV Land Awards.

• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 starts filming in February 2016.

• ABC may be bringing back The Muppets to TV. #squee

• LEGO may actually create a Golden Girls inspired playset if it gets enough support. GO VOTE! Let’s make this happen, people.

• Joss Whedon says that there is no post-credits scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

• Fox has renewed The Last Man on Earth for a second season.

• Bad news – Idris Elba says that any chance of him playing James Bond is gone.

• Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are doing a sketch comedy show for Netflix.

• Nina Dobrev is leaving The Vampire Diaries. Michael Trevino is leaving too.

• The Rock’s eating plan has him consuming 10 pounds of food a day.

• Kathy Bates will appear on American Horror Story: Hotel.

• Netflix is allegedly considering a Full House spin-off.

• NBC and the creator of Downton Abbey are teaming up on a 19^th Century prequel.

• If you want to hear Beyoncé’s new song, you’ll have to join Tidal (the music streaming service she owns with Jay Z).

• A look at the post- The Wire careers of some of the show’s secondary characters.

• NBC actually passed on Lip Sync Battle. Their loss is Spike’s gain.

• Sean “Diddy” Combs is producing a new animated comedy that is referred to as “Black South Park.”

• Suspiria and Django Unchained may both get small screen adaptations.

• Dave Chappelle has been recording footage for a new HBO special.

• Carrie Mathison will no longer work for the CIA when Homeland returns.

• James Corden has already done some funny stuff on The Late Late Show. He played Musical Chers:

 

And had Dave Grohl, Rainn Wilson and Jordana Brewster do some sketches of a nude model :

 

• Kristen Schaal has joined the cast of Melissa McCarthy’s new movie.

• Nicole Kidman’s troubled Grace Kelly biopic is headed to Lifetime.

• Daniel Radcliffe may play the lead role in the BBC’s drama about the creation of Grand Theft Auto.

• Nerdist Industries (home of Chris Hardwick) is developing a weekly news show.

• You may not know that Pharell wrote (or co-wrote) these songs.

• Eddie Huang is not a fan of ABC’s sticom Fresh Off the Boat, which is based on his memoir.

• A She’s All That remake is being developed.

• There’s a new Vulcan salute emoji.

• Someone made a life-sized Benedict Cumberbatch out of chocolate.

• New Girl is bringing a whole bunch of guest stars on board for season 5.

• Netflix has bought a war satire from Ricky Gervais.

• Mallrats 2 will be Kevin Smith’s next movie; Clerks 3 will follow.

• Since 1998, 2,000 babies have been named Beyoncé.

• Here’s a playlist of almost every song used in Wes Anderson films.

• Today is Riot Grrrl Day in Boston.

• One Direction’s Niall Horan will caddy for Rory McIlroy at the Masters Par 3 event.

• Jeremy Clarkson already has a new hosting gig.

• Broadway is still trying to make a Groundhog Day musical.

Time for some trailers….

• Straight Outta Compton:

 

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl:

 

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided:

 

• Sinister 2:

 

• Burying the Ex:

 

• A documentary about comic Tig Notaro:

 

• NBC’s Mr. Robinson:

 

• The Gift:

 

• The Carmichael Show, also at NBC:

 

• Starz’s Ash vs. Evil Dead:

 

• A documentary about Amy Winehouse:

 

•  Jurassic World:

 

• Disney needs to be stopped – now they are developing a live-action Pinocchio.

• This comes on the heels of a live-action Winnie the Pooh.

• Get too close to George Clooney’s Italian villas (yup – plural) and you’ll get fined.

• An Etsy user has created The Book of Yeezus, which replaces “Kanye” for “God” in the Bible.

• The Teletubbies reboot at the BBC will be coming soon.

• Kentucky’s March Madness loss cost Drake $6,000.

• The Sorting Hat Twitter account will sort you into your proper Harry Potter house.

• My goodness – they are doing a Play-Doh movie.

• FX announces a premiere date for Denis Leary’s Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll.

• There is a Change.org petition to get Ruth Bader Ginsberg a Ben and Jerry’s flavor (Ruth Bader Ginger). I fully support this and the Notorious RGB

• Andie MacDowell’s daughter played the model at the beginning of the season premiere of Mad Men.

• John Singleton is no longer attached to the Tupac biopic.

• A cast photo for Suicide Squad was reveled (minus Jared Leto and Scott Eastwood):

• Russell Peters admitted his comments about new Daily Show host Trevor Noah stealing jokes were a prank. Aren’t comics supposed to have better timing?

• Ha! This website lets you know how long you have to wait in a movie until Jason Statham throws his first punch.

• Mariah Carey and Brett Ratner are apparently working on a Christmas movie together. God help us all.

• Marilyn Manson got punched in the face at a Canadian Denny’s. For some reason, the fact that this happened in Canada makes it funnier.

• Olivia Wilde will return for Tron 3.

• Netflix has ordered a supernatural drama series.

• Five Nights at Freddy’s is being turned into a film.

• Jack White, Robert Redford and T-Bone Burnett are teaming up for a documentary series about music from the 1920s.

• Andrew Rannells will star in and co-write a comedy for Judd Apatow.

• Syfy has greenlit a Matt Damon and Ben Affleck produced thriller to pilot.

• Taraji P. Henson will return to Person of Interest (which I guess means that she was on Person of Interest).

• Here’s an oral history of the greatest joke from the first season of Silicon Valley.

• Jimmy Jean-Louis (aka The Haitian) will be back for Heroes Reborn.

• Zach Braff and Donald Faison offered to make pizza for any gay weddings impacted by Indiana’s religious freedom law.

• Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba is running the Boston Marathon to raise money for cancer research. Good on you, Crazy Eyes.

• 80,000 copies of The Interview were dropped over North Korea last weekend.

• Find out your TV personality with a Myers-Briggs inspired quiz.

• I don’t know what we did to deserve this but Human Centipede 3 is happening.

• A Need for Speed sequel is being developed because of the Chinese market.

• Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean, doesn’t really dig Nirvana’s music.

• Danny Trejo says that Machete Kills Again….In Space will start filming later this year.

• The Gremlins remake has hired a writer.

• Ed Sheeran dropped by Sesame Street:

 

• Joe Manganiello will star in Pee-Wee Herman’s Netflix film.

• Taylor Swift and Sam Smith lead the 2015 Billboard Music Awards nominations.

• Tom Hardy could potentially do three more Mad Max movies.

• The Webby Award nominees have been announced. Hannibal Buress will host.

• The sculptor responsible for a God-awful statue of Lucille Ball has apologized and offered to fix it for free.

• Vanity Fair has published an exposé on the Brian Williams scandal.

• A&E has already canceled its show about swingers.

• We should consider the fake trailers at the end of 22 Jump Street as “canon,” whatever that means.

• Jaleel White (aka Urkel) will guest star on Castle.

• Eliza Dushku has joined the cast of Banshee.

• There is a Kickstarter to build a giant Nicolas Cage mosaic.

• A documentary about Saturday Night Live will hit theaters June 12^th.

• Google might be hatching a plan to help you avoid spoilers.

• Paul Walker’s brother is getting into acting.

• Hulu has launched a Tumblr full of TV show GIFs.

• Billy Ray Cyrus will star in a new scripted comedy on CMT.

• Celebrity Family Feud is headed to ABC primetime.

• The band Gwar has been sued for stealing the ashes of their former lead singer.

• Wal-Mart won’t stock Ronda Rousey’s autobiography in their stores because she’s too violent.

• Twisted Sister is calling it quits after 40 years.

• Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for the Grateful Dead, sat in with some street musicians in San Francisco.

• Bruce Jenner will sit down for a two hour interview with Diane Sawyer.

• Comcast has complained to the Better Business Bureau about Rob Lowe’s DirecTV commercials.

• The new Maya Angelou postage stamp features a quote that wasn’t hers.

• Kanye West has settled with the photographer he punched back in 2013.

• Don McLean weighed in on the meaning of his song “American Pie.”

• Tommy Tune will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tonys.

• A famous dermatologist that was parodied on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has committed suicide.

• Hopefully this isn’t true, but Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield have reportedly spilt.

• DMX is accused of a robbery at a New Jersey gas station.

• Vanilla Ice has accepted a plea deal in his Florida burglary case.

• R.I.P. Rosco P. Coltrane (actor James Best).

• Kendrick Lamar is engaged to his childhood sweetheart.

As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts:

• Game of Thrones and Legend of Zelda – together:

 

• Louie meets Chewbacca.

 

• Here’s a supermix of every Thin Lizzy guitar solo:

 

• The evolution of the MGM logo:

 

• A ragtime remix of Eminem’s “Without Me”

 

• And finally, all of the season 5 kills (walker and human) on The Walking Dead:

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