Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Blog’s Birthday Edition

It’s hard to believe it, but tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of As Heather’s World Turns. Time flies when you’ve having fun. In some ways I feel like I’ve been blogging forever, yet it also doesn’t feel like I’ve chronicled a year of my pop culture consumption.

To kick off the second year of As Heather’s World Turns, I’ve added some additional ways that you can keep up with the blog. The blog now has its own Twitter account (@AsHeathersWorldTurns) that you can follow and I’ve created a Facebook page for the blog. Both are a work in progress, but I’ll post and tweet all my new blog posts from these accounts as well as any interesting pop culture stories that I find throughout the week. So please feel free to follow and like respectively.

Now on to the pop culture stories you may have missed in the last two weeks:

• ABC has pulled Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23 from the schedule and there are no immediate plans to air the remaining episodes. Though there is no official word from the network, James Van der Beek tweeted that the show has “basically been cancelled.” ABC will air two episodes of Happy Endings on Tuesday nights until Dancing with the Stars begins in March.

• The Roots and Elvis Constello will be collaborating on an album.

• Mark your calendars – Mad Men returns on April 7^th for season six with a two hour premiere. Rejoice! Creator Matthew Weiner confirms that the show will end after season seven.

• I have discovered the website www.Citizenbrick.com that has customized Lego figures that bear a striking resemblance to some of my pop culture favorites. I’m guessing Omar Little and Walter White will find their way to my desk sometime soon.

• A “lost” episode of Dexter’s Lab has been released; the episode never aired because of the excessive swearing (though it is all bleeped), so it’s NSFW and not especially kid friendly:

 

• This is a bit of a long read, but this New York Times Magazine piece on what it’s like to work with Lindsay Lohan.

• The teams have been announced for the new season of The Amazing Race.

• David Fincher is in talks to direct the big screen adaption of Gone Girl. That’s next up on my reading list after I finish World War Z.

• I thought this was cute – two fans of the show 30 Rock sat outside of Silvercup Studios to see if they could get members of the cast to high five them:

 

• There is a casting call notice on Craigslist for a reality show based on the TV show Girls.

• Madonna is launching a line of workout DVDs.

• Jurassic Park 4 is scheduled to be released in 2014. I honestly didn’t know that there was a Jurassic Park 3.

• For the first time in 34 years, there will be a new Black Sabbath album.

• I thought we already knew this, but Bruce Willis will appear in Sin City 2.

• People are all in a tizzy that Beyoncé lip synced the National Anthem.

• Art meets reality – a Breaking Bad actor is running for the school board in Albuquerque.

• Prince has released a new song on his website.

• HBO has purchased the rights to the Pussy Riot documentary at Sundance.

• Atari has filed for bankruptcy.

• Louis CK’s face appears on a peeping tom flier in California.

• Ryan Gosling is a knitter.

• Quentin Tarantino worked a Pulp Fiction reference into Django Unchained.

• Esquire discusses the best films of Sundance so far. Someday, I will make this film festival.

• A spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, centered around Klaus and the Originals, is in development. I will totally watch this.

• In the upcoming Man of Steel, Jimmy Olsen may now be Jenny Olsen.

• If you missed it in the theater, Les Misèrables will be out on DVD on March 19^th.

• Jack Wagner will be returning to General Hospital.

• The Postal Service (the band, not the government agency) will be reuniting.

• In honor of the 25^th anniversary of Die Hard, Fox Studies is unveiling a giant mural on their lot. Die Hard 5 (A Good Day to Die Hard) will be released February 14th.

• Check out the yearbook photos for 63 celebrities. Blake Lively, James Franco and Rachel Maddow were particularly surprising.

• I tuned in Monday night to watch Kevin Bacon’s new serial killer themed drama, The Following. I wasn’t completely bowled over – it was a bit clichéd, they really hit you over the head with the Edgar Allen Poe references and some of the supporting cast isn’t very good – but there was enough there that I’ll tune in for a while to see where it goes.

• Kris Kross is reuniting. That makes me want to jump, jump.

• The Killing has officially been resurrected by AMC.

• For its final season, Dexter moves to the summer.

• Check out Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange for the upcoming film about the WikiLeaks co-founder.

• Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, featured on the program Ace of Cakes, made a pretty cool cake for President Obama’s inauguration.

• Josh Groban will guest star on CSI:NY.

• Will Ferrell is developing a late night talk show for USA.

• Robert Chew, the actor that played Prop Joe on The Wire, passed away last week.

• I was also sad to hear that Conrad Bain, Mr. Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes, passed away.

• Jerry Seinfeld and the rapper Wale will collaborate. I don’t get it either, but I’m intrigued.

• Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are working with HBO on a new WWII mini-series.

• There might be a Hot Tub Time Machine sequel.

• The Onion has put out a fake biography for Joe Biden.

• JJ Abrams will produce a movie about Lance Armstrong. It was only a matter of time.

• A new Dan Brown book is on the way.

• Stephen Colbert’s sister is running for Congress. For reals. He should have held on to that Super PAC money.

• Leonardo DiCaprio is taking a break.

Tina Fey takes you on a tour of Liz Lemon’s office.

 

• Proving why he is awesome, Michael J. Fox admits that he wouldn’t be thrilled if his son dated Taylor Swift. Apparently Fox later apologized to Swift because she said he reached out to her and thanked her fans for “having her back” – against a fifty year old man with Parkinson’s. Taylor Swift is the worst; thanks for nothing Kanye. You created this monster.

• Heather Locklear will join the cast of TNT’s Franklin & Bash.

• In other TNT news, they have picked up a Rebecca Romjin PI drama and a pilot for a Geena Davis bounty hunter show.

• My pal Michael K. Williams will play Ol’ Dirty Bastard in an upcoming film. Check out his skills on Brooklyn Zoo at a recent benefit show (NSFW). I wasn’t impressed.

 

• I’ve retired from the boy band game, but NKOTB, 98 Degrees and Boys II Men are going out on tour together.

• My prediction about what would happen on American Horror Story: Asylum came true.

• A new Terminator movie is in the works.

• NBC is making a comedy starring Jessica Simpson.

• I love Jennifer Lawrence, but last week’s episode of SNL wasn’t good.

• Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) will star in a Hercules movie.

• Ted will make an appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony.

• A TV show based on the movie Zombieland (go rent it) is slowly moving forward (kind of like a zombie).

• You can check out a very cool version of the script for Moonrise Kingdom here.

• There may be no Michael Scott, but Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak will return to The Office.

• FX may split into two networks.

• Al Pacino will play Joe Paterno in an upcoming movie directed by Brian De Palma.

• Metallica will appear in an upcoming movie.

• I was pleasantly surprised with the new Jim Jefferies comedy, Legit. It was mostly material from his stand-up, so I’m curious what the show will be like once it features more original material.

• U2 has a new album coming out.

• River Phoenix’s final movie will be released.

• New tumblr that amuses me? Kanye West Wing.

• Marcia Gay Harden will replace Rosemarie DeWitt on The Newsroom.

• Matt Damon will make his first official appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night.

• I don’t know if I can wait this long, but Muppets 2 will be released March 21, 2014. (Now with more Ray Liotta)

• And finally…..enjoy this Toy Story recreation with real toys.