June 21, 2017 by heather7180

Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Summer Solstice Edition

Summer is officially here! To all my friends that are teachers – your watch has ended. To my friends that are parents – your watch has begun. This is shaping up to be a weird summer for me since I don’t have much of anything on the calendar. I already took a quick vacation and my summertime commitments are pretty limited. So really, all that summer means to me is time to catch up television, which is alright by me.

Speaking of catching up, this new edition of the roundup is your chance to get up to speed on all pop culture that you may have missed. It’s the longest day of the year, so you have time!

Television

Jon Snow’s real name may have accidentally been revealed.
Star Trek: Discovery will split its first season and will debut September 24^th.
Damon Lindelof is developing a Watchmen TV series for HBO.
Martin Freeman is adapting Paradise Lost as a modern TV series.
David Fincher’s Mindhunter series has a release date on Netflix.
NBC has set its fall premiere dates.
Glenn Close will play a zombie in George Saunders’ Amazon comedy pilot.
Tony Danza to star in the Netflix dramedy The Good Cop.
T.I. has been cast in Fox’s drama Atlanta’s Most Wanted.
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are working on a series about Dracula.
The DuckTales reboot has an updated theme song.
Sorry to confirm bad news, but Barb won’t return to Stranger Things.
Bill Nye Saves The World renewed on Netflix.
You can watch Adam West’s unaired episode of Powerless on YouTube.
Some props and costumes from Community are being auctioned off.
The CW is trying for another Supernatural spin-off.
Last Man Standing will not find a new home at CMT.
The John Wick TV series will focus on the chain of hotels where assassins stay.
Summertime means one thing – a new cast for Big Brother.
Aisha Taylor is leaving The Talk.
Michael Phelps will race a great white shark during Discovery Channel’s Shark Week.
Here are the TCA Awards nominees.
NeNe Leakes is returning to Real Housewives of Atlanta.
SpongeBob SquarePants will do a stop-motion episode for Halloween.
Ranking the clones on Orphan Black.
Paul Shaffer returned to The Late Show.
Filming will resume on Bachelor in Paradise after an investigation in allegations of misconduct.
Here’s what’s coming and going to Amazon Prime in July. And Hulu. And Netflix.

Movies

Phil Lord and Chris Miller out as directors of Han Solo. Ron Howard is rumored to be taking over.
The Dark Tower movie is a continuation of the book series.
Daniel Day-Lewis is retiring from acting.
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in talks for Paul Feig’s adaptation of A Simple Favor.
Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart’s remake of The Intouchables will hit theaters March 2018.
Jack Black to star in Eli Roth’s adaptation of The House With A Clock In Its Walls.
The Nightcrawler team is reuniting to work on a new mystery project.
The Mummy will lose an estimated $95 million.
Lucy Liu joined the Netflix comedy feature Set It Up.
Oona Chaplin has joined the cast of the Avatar sequels.
Mark Wahlberg says that he’s done with the Transformers franchise.
The Twilight Zone movie has found a writer.
David Mamet is in talks to write an adaptation of Don Winslow’s The Force.
Judy Greer joined the cast of Richard Linklater’s comedy-drama Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
A sequel to Book of Life has been announced.
Kyle Chandler and Corey Stoll to star in Damien Chazelle’s First Man. Ryan Gosling will also star.
Neither Jada Pinkett Smith nor 50 Cent were fans of the Tupac biopic, All Eyez On Me.
Moana is now on Netflix.
Emily Ratajkowski joins the cast of I Feel Pretty.
Michael Bay has an idea for a sequel to The Rock.

Trailers

Detroit:

Pitch Perfect 3:

Goodbye Christopher Robin:

Netflix’s Atypical:

Transparent, season 4:

Thank You For Your Service:

Daddy’s Home 2:

Happy Death Day:

The Trip to Spain:

Annabelle Creation:

Okja:

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press:

Brigsby Bear:

Midnighters:

Jungle:

American Assassins:

Friends From College:

Music

Jay Z is dropping a new Tidal exclusive album on June 30^th.
Jay Z, formerly known as Jay-Z, is now going by JAY-Z.
The Grammys will allow members to vote online.
Lorde announced North American tour dates.
Shania Twain announced a new album and released a new single.
Bruce Springsteen will play a series of concerts on Broadway.
A new LCD Soundsystem album will be released in September.
St. Vincent announced a tour.
Foo Fighters announced a new album, a new tour, and their own festival.
Dave Grohl’s eight-year-old daughter Harper played drums with the Foo Fighters in Iceland.
The Killers released their first new single since 2012.
Queens of the Stone Age released a new song.
Gene Simmons is trying to trademark the devil horns hand gesture.
Danny Elfman will do the music for Justice League.
Yoko Ono will get a songwriting credit on “Imagine.”

Stand-Up

Judd Apatow will have a stand-up special on Netflix later this year.
Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher are going out on The Endless Honeymoon Tour.
Iliza Schlesinger said some stuff about other female comics and it did not go over well.

Books

A John Wick comic book will explore his origin.
John Carpenter is writing a Big Trouble in Little China comic book series.

Theater

Indecent will close on Broadway.
Amy Schumer is in talks to star in Steve Martin’s new Broadway play.
Ingrid Michaelson will make her Broadway debut in The Great Comet.

Podcasts

Bob’s Burgers’ Eugene Mirman is launching a podcast.

Odds and Ends

Beyoncé may have given birth to twins.
Mahershala Ali was profiled in GQ.
Yaron Versoano, Gal Gadot’s husband, wore the perfect shirt.
Scarlet Johansson and her grandma doppelganger hung out at the premiere of Rough Night.
Mattel has unveiled a new line of more diverse Ken dolls.
A year after his wife’s sudden death, Patton Oswalt appeared on the red carpet with actress Meredith Salenger.
Josh Peck married his girlfriend Paige O’Brien over the weekend, but the real news is that he didn’t invite his Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell to the wedding. Feelings were hurt, things were said.
Rebel Wilson won a defamation suit against a magazine publisher.
Miles Teller was allegedly arrested for public intoxication.
An autopsy found heroin and cocaine in Carrie Fisher’s system at her time of death.
Director John G. Avildsen (Rocky, The Karate Kid) passed away. He was 81.
Actor Stephen Furst, Animal House’s Flounder, has died.
Rapper Prodigy, half of Mobb Depp, has died. He was 42.

Mashups and Supercuts

An orchestra covered Daft Punk’s ”Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”:

A vintage cover of “Say It Ain’t So”:

Lightening McQueen gets a 30 for 30 short:

Game of Thrones characters sing “I Will Survive”:

June 14, 2017 by heather7180

Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Spring Cleaning Edition

It’s not technically summer yet, despite the very warm weather we’re experiencing, so my recent spring cleaning binge is still in season. Lately I’ve been obsessed with instilling order to my office, so I’ve been spending my free time scanning files, moving furniture around, and generally fixating on minimizing clutter. I’m not sure what has kickstarted this, other than it may be a manifestation of stress. I’m controlling what I can by trying to instill order where I can. Sadly this spring cleaning bug has not applied to my apartment, which continues to look like my college sorority house after a party. I don’t understand why this dichotomy exists, but it does. I dunno – maybe it’s something to discuss with my therapist.

Lucky for you, my focus on organization and order applies to the pop culture roundup as well, so it’s easy for you to catch up on the various news that you may have missed.So while I spend my lunch hour dusting my desk (seriously), bring yourself up to speed on the week in pop.

Television

The season 7 finale of Game of Thrones will clock in at a cool 90 minutes.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia won’t return until late 2018.
Netflix has renewed Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for a fourth season.
Ryan Murphy is swapping the new seasons of America Crime Story; Season 2 will be The Assassination of Gianni Versace and the season on Hurricane Katrina will debut later.
Luther will return to BBC America for a fifth season. We could all use more Idris Elba in our lives.
Anna Chlumsky has joined Halt and Catch Fire for its final season.
Amid allegations of misconduct, production has been suspended on Bachelor in Paradise.
Fargo may end after this season.
The Game of Thrones aftershow is moving from HBO to Twitter.
The competitors on Battle of the Network Stars have been revealed.
According to the Doctor Who showrunner, the new Doctor has been picked.
Nathan Fillion and Tony Hale will appear in the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
24 Legacy has been canceled by Fox.
How to make Freddy’s Ribs from House of Cards:

Cinemax gives a series order to Warrior.
Jennifer Connelly joins the cast of the TV adaptation of Snowpiercer.
Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will return in October.
Sandra Oh returns to TV in a BBC spy series.
Game of Throne’s Michael Huisman has been cast in Netflix’s The Haunting Of Hill House series.
Broad City will bleep out a certain person’s name in the new season.
Lindsay Lohan joins the second season of the British comedy series Sick Note. Rupert Grint, Nick Frost, and Don Johnson star.
NBC has passed on pilot from Tina Fey that starred Busy Phillips and Casey Wilson. NBC is stupid.
Paul F. Tompkins, Jim Rash, and Margo Martindale lend their voices to the new DuckTales series.
Facebook may pick up Loosely Exactly Nicole, which was cancelled by MTV.
Tiffani Thiesen will co-star in the Netflix comedy series Alexa & Katie.

Movies

Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler are collaborating on their fourth film together.
Jon Hamm joins Jeremy Renner and Ed Helms in Tag.
Melissa McCarthy will produce and star in the Christmas musical comedy Margie Claus.
Robin Wright is returning for Justice League.
The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira has joined the cast of Avengers: Infinity War.
Deadpool 2 has added Shioli Kutsuna to the cast in a mystery role.
A Pittsburgh bar unveiled a Sandlot-themed cocktail menu.
Someone from Ocean’s 11 will make an appearance in Ocean’s Eight.
Michelle Monaghan will appear in Mission: Impossible 6.
Don’t expect to see Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins Returns.
O’Shea Jackson, Jr. will play Dock Ellis in a new biopic.
2 Live Crew is getting a biopic.
Hannah John-Kamen joined the cast of Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s script is hitting the auction block.
The Cannonball Run remake will be helmed by the Dodgeball director.
A Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker documentary is coming to Netflix June 23^rd.

Trailers

Black Panther:

Coco:

Flatliners:

The Gong Show:

Oh, Hello:

Spider-Man: Homecoming:

Ferdinand:

Tour de Pharmacy:

Transformers: The Last Knight:

Gypsy:

Security:

Landline:

Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time:

Killing Ground:

Life of Kylie:

Music

Listen to the new Fleet Foxes album, Crack-Up.
Beck will be an opener for U2 on The Joshua Tree tour.
Here are the 2017 CMT Music Award winners.
Taylor Swift’s music has returned to streaming services.
The site of Woodstocl has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Moby announced a new album.
The Aftershock Festival will help you relive the 90s.
Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile made an album together and are hitting the road.
The Hip-Hop Hall of Fame will open next year in Harlem.
Perfume Genius is going out on tour with The xx.

Stand-up

Dave Chappelle is doing a ten-date residency at Radio City Music Hall with a ton of special guests.
A stand-up special from Maz Jobrani will debut on Netflix in August.

Theater

Here are the 2017 Tony winners.
Falsettos will be shown in theaters this summer.
Delta Airlines and Bank of America have pulled their support of The Public Theater’s production of Julius Caesar.
Sweat will close on Broadway June 25^th.
The Broadway revival of Six Degrees of Separation will close early.

Books

A Black Mirror book will be released.

Odds and Ends

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich has been knighted in Denmark.
Scarlett Johansson is rumored to be dating SNL’s Colin Jost.
Ryan Lochte and fiancé Kayla Rae Reid welcomed a baby boy.
Julia Stiles and fiancé Preston Cook are expecting their first child together.
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s little daughter Luna threw out the first pitch at a Mariners game.
Ice Cube received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Phil Collins was hospitalized after a fall.
Former Top Gear host Richard Hammond was in a serious car crash.
Jennifer Lawrence OK after her plane had to make an emergency landing in Buffalo.
Tom Hardy paid tribute to his beloved dog Woody, who lost his battle with polymyositisis.
Roman Polanski’s victim asked to end the case against him.
Bill Cosby’s defense rests their case after calling only one witness.
MTV Road Rules star Danny Dias has died. He was 34.
Actress Glenne Headly has passed away. She was 63.
Rest in peace, Adam West.

Mashups and Supercuts

Terrence Malick’s version of Wonder Woman:

Emily Blunt and James Corden sing their way through Romeo and Juliet:

All the Game of Thrones deaths in one video:

June 7, 2017 by heather7180

Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Here Comes the Sun Edition

I don’t know what the weather has been like in the rest of the country, but it has been a rainy mess here in upstate New York. It’s just been grey, thunderstorms are a daily occurrence and, to add insult to injury, it has been on the chilly side.So this morning I was slightly confused by this bright orange globe in the sky. I’d almost forgotten what a sunny day looked like in Albany. I’m taking this as a sign of good things to come; the yucky weather certainly hasn’t done much to life people’s spirits lately (mine included).

Another good omen – the pop culture roundup! While I’m enjoying some sunshine, get yourself caught up on the pop culture that you might have missed in the last week.

Television