Now, I don’t know for a fact that Hell has in fact frozen over, but I don’t see why it should be exempt from the deep cool that most of the United States has been plummeted into. This weather is ridiculous – part of western New York may get 80 inches of snow in the next few days. 80 inches! I didn’t even know that was possible! For someone who hates winter on a good year, I’m miserable beyond belief. I need to move.
I’m bouncing back from several weeks of computer issues – malware is no joke, my friends – so unfortunately this week’s pop culture roundup is not as thorough. There’s still plenty of good stuff in here to peruse when you are hibernating from these frigid temperatures. Kick back, grab some hot cocoa and catch up on what’s been going on in the world of pop:
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop is getting a sequel. See – I was right about Hell.
- A UK village is renaming itself Kings Landing.
- The Simpsons’ house LEGO set was unveiled.
- Dan Harmon explains how they pulled off the very unexpected cameo in the season premiere of Community.
- Paul Walker’s character will not be killed off in Fast & Furious 7.
- Louis CK revealed the ending to his ice fishing story in American Hustle.
- Vanity Fair has an interview with Jimmy Fallon. He also made the cover:
- Jay Z brought a 12 year old up on stage during a recent concert and let him rap.
- A new Pixar short will precede Muppets Most Wanted.
- The new season of Shameless debuts this weekend on Showtime, but you can watch the first episode early – and for free. Episodes of House of Lies and Episodes are also up.
- Saturday Night Live has hired their first female African American cast member in six years.
- The duo between the lyrics of Frozen will work on Disney’s new film Bob the Musical.
- This makes me very happy – Jack White is wrapping up production on two new albums.
- Also news to my ears – Pinball is cool again (It always has been, IMHO).
- This is kind of spectacular – Josh Hutcherson was given the Mockingjay salute at a college basketball game.
- R.I.P James Avery (Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
- The Norway pavilion at EPCOT may soon have a Frozen attraction.
- Some highlights of Jerry Seinfeld’s great Reddit AMA. The alleged mystery project with Larry David intrigues me.
- David Beckham will star in a Super Bowl ad for H&M. I no longer care who is playing in the actual game.
- ABC Family has picked up Mystery Girls starring Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth (Donna and Kelly if you grew up in the 90s).
- It was only a matter of time: Jordan Belfort (the inspiration for The Wolf of Wall Street) is shopping a reality show.
- Freed up from his commitments on Community, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) is going out on tour.
- Stream Bruce Springsteen’s new album before it’s January 14th release.
- Justified may end after its sixth season (season 5 just started).
- In what was really the next logical step, Duck Dynasty has launched a line of guns.
- Denis Leary will create and star in a new half hour comedy for FX.
- Neil Patrick Harris used his Instragram account to chronicle his margarita filled day in Mexico.
- Also in Mexico: Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza.
- Both Kaley Cuoco and Lacey Chabert recently successfully pulled off secret weddings.
- Ke$ha has entered rehab for an eating disorder.
- Kanye is extending his Yeezus tour – and surprisingly coming to my hometown. Now I can catch the final act that I had to miss at Madison Square Garden.
- Marvel has released the first still for Guardians of the Galaxy:
- The comic book company also announced that Deadpool is getting married.
- Lucasfilms has convened a Star Wars story group to define a single, coherent canon.
- An Absolutely Fabulous movie is happening.
- Vince Gilligan hopes that a Breaking Bad favorite will appear on Better Call Saul.
- Our pals over at Vulture debate what movie had the best soundtrack: Anchorman 2, American Hustle or The Wolf of Wall Street.
- Stan Lee is appearing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Ha! If you ask Siri about the new movie Her, she’s not amused.
- HBO is remaking a French porn industry comedy.
- American Horror Story: Coven co-stars Emma Roberts and Evan Peters are allegedly engaged.
- Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have updated their Golden Globe drinking game.
- ABC is putting some limitations on their online next day video streaming.
- How many times would The Wet Bandits die if Home Alone was real?
- Forbes released their list of 30 Under 30 for arts and entertainment.
- This sounds like it is worth the $5 investment: Louis CK is releasing his 1998 movie starring Steve Carell and Amy Poehler.
- Ice-T now has a podcast.
- Harry Potter fans – The Ministry of Magic has a website.
- Fox may be cooking up a Fantastic Four vs. X-Men movie.
- Lorde, Metallica and Katy Perry have been added to the Grammy’s lineup.
- Stephen Colbert will appear in a Super Bowl ad for pistachios.
- See images of Colbert’s very brief The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug cameo
- Whoa: the new season of Archer involves a radical departure from previous seasons. And I do mean RADICAL.
- Leonardo DiCaprio was trapped in a shark cage one time. No big whoop.
- MythBusters is getting a spinoff, perhaps as a result of all the posts I’ve written about the show recently.
- Mo’Nique is returning to the big screen in Blackbird.
- Before they were Mary and Matthew on Downton Abbey, Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens co-starred in a movie together.
- An A to Z guide to Abed’s pop culture references on Community.
- NOT a good sign for the show – NBC got the name of the school wrong in their promo.
- A Girls parody involving cats? Sounds good to me:
- The Honey Boo Boo family are generally OK after a serious car accident.
- In honor of their 100th episode, watch a Parks and Recreation retrospective.
- The Eurhythmics are reuniting for one night only for a Beatles tribute special.
- NBC will not be live-streaming the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony.
- Is there a Velveeta cheese shortage?
- Drea de Matteo has been elevated from recurring to regular cast member on Sons of Anarchy.
- Justin Timberlake had the bestselling album of 2013.
- Let’s just say this hits close to home: 10 episodes that will help you talk about NCIS with your mom.
- Steven Seagal and Clay Aiken are both considering running for office (Arizona governor and Congress, respectively).
- Young Jeezy was arrested on charges of battery and false imprisonment.
- This one’s for my buddy Shaun: Pro-wrestling legend Ric Flair gave the San Francisco 49ers a pre-game pep talk before they faced the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.
- Footage has surfaced of one of Nirvana’s final shows.
- Rainn Wilson is headed back to TV.
- All the fake URLs used on Law & Order.
- Kevin Smith is clearly not retiring.
- This year’s Puppy Bowl will feature penguin cheerleaders and a keyboard cat halftime show.
- Sounds like The Rock will be joining the DC Universe.
- Toad is returning to X-Men: Days of Future Past.
- A recent Jeopardy! category forced Alex Trebek to rap:
Seriously – those were the easiest questions ever!
- The OWN network has already wrapped up the TV rights to the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (which I still need to see).
- I’m glad I’m not the only one who has some questions about that M&M commercial.
- Charmin and Denny’s has some fun on Twitter during the BCS Championship game.
- Jennifer Hudson bought her assistant a house for Christmas.
- There is a charity campaign to make one of the lyrics of Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day” a reality (hint: in involves the Goodyear blimp).
- Jim Gaffigan had his kids open up for him at a recent show.
- Jonah Hill will host SNL on January 25th.
- Some dude is recreating romantic movie scenes with his dog.
- Netflix is experimenting with subscription pricing.
- Ringo Starr and…the Powerpuff Girls?
- The first photos of Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who have been hit the Internet.
- I vaguely remember this – watch a 1997 episode of Late Night of Conan O’Brien that was filmed in front of an entire audience of children.
- Emma Watson is now single.
- Carly Rae Jepsen is headed to Broadway.
- Take a quiz to see what The O.C. character you are. I was Sandy, which is awesome.
- The creators of the Paranormal Activity franchise have a definite end game for the films.
- The Huffington Post contemplates whether Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead are in fact the same show.
- This is a pretty epic poster of every character on Futurama.
- Tumblr of the week: Bad Engagement Photos.
- Aisha Taylor will visit Modern Family.
- The lawyer that revealed J.K Rowling was the author of a detective novel has been fined.
- Eve is engaged to a British designer.
Trailer Time:
- This new Sundance Channel series Red Road looks promising:
- The first promos for the late night changing of the guard at NBC have been released. First up, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon:
Too much Leno for me and I’m surprised Conan got any screen time at all.
- Next up – Late Night with Seth Meyers:
- A new promo for FOX’s The Following:
- A new trailer for the second season of House of Cards:
- A look at season 2 of The Kroll Show on Comedy Central.
- A trailer for the Veronica Mars movie:
- This documentary about Tom’s Restaruant in NYC, made famous by Seinfeld, looks interesting:
- New footage from Spiderman 2:
- The Raid 2:
- Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon will appear in a film directed by McCarthy’s husband.
- Umm…WHAT is going on in the new Old Spice commercial? That is hella creepy.
- Also creepy – Disney princess inspired lingerie from Japan.
- There is a surprising amount of drinking in G rated movies.
- Someone told the story of Reservoir Dogs in 1,125 tweets.
- Breaking Bad has had a lasting effect – a couple tried to tip their waitress in Crystal Meth.
- Falling Downton Abbey:
- William Hurt has joined the Gregg Allman biopic.
- Jane Campion will lead the Cannes Film Festival jury this year.
- Queen Latifah’s show was renewed for a second season.
- Survivor super-couple Boston Rob and Amber are expecting their 4th child.
- Meatloaf is also doing a Las Vegas residency.
- Hold up – there are Mountain Dew flavored Cheetos and they aren’t selling them in the U.S.?
- Will Smith, Tyrese and the Crown Prince of Dubai all went skydiving. That sounds like the set-up to a joke, but it really happened.
- Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis smooched on the Lakers Kiss Cam.
- Snoop Lion and Major Lazer debuted a Pokémon style music video for their new single.
- If you aren’t tired of all the Anchorman hoopla, watch this spoof featuring the Dallas Mavericks.
- Someone allegedly named their baby after a character in the video game Mass Effect.
- The Tia & Tamera reality show has been cancelled.
- The Wolf of Wall Street set a record for the use of the F word.
- Paste looks at the best board games of 2013.
And, as always, we end with the supercuts and mashups:
- A tribute to dancing in movies (set to The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” for extra awesomeness):
- What the Game of Thrones sigils would look like if designed by Lisa Frank.
- A supercut of Norm MacDonald being a terrible salesman:
- A supercut of TV commercials of actors and actresses before they were famous:
- The board game Clue reimagined using Downton Abbey.
- A Psy/Lincoln Park mashup:
- Leonardo DiCaprio: The Movie:
- An Arrested Development inspired poster for Her:
- Star Wars reimagined as 80s anime.
- And finally – two of my absolute favorite things: The Breaking Bad opening credits done in the style of The Wire:
Stay warm, people!