Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Short Week Edition

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I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend; I am a big fan of any holiday that results in me having a short work week. This has been a good week for me not only because of the bonus day off, but because this week is the lull when a lot of shows have ended and summer series haven’t begun yet. The Tonight Show, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are all in re-runs this week as well, so I have a legitimate chance at catching up on programs that I’ve fallen behind on and cleaning out the old DVR. I really need the chance to get current on some programs – I have the entire second season of The Americans waiting for me to devour and I just caught up on Mad Men over the weekend, in time for the mid-eason finale.. I guess an alternative would be to watch less television in general, but that sounds like kooky talk to me. Who wants to live like that? I am, however, a little concerned about the withdrawal symptoms that I am exhibiting after no new episode of Game of Thrones this week. It is quite possible that I have developed an unhealthy attachment to that show.

I’m still beta testing the pop culture roundup as a weekly feature; so far the limited feedback that I’ve received (thanks Ang!) has been positive and I’m digging it so far, so I think this will stick. So while I relish all my brief freedom from being a slave to television programming, check out what’s been going on the last week in the world of pop.

• RIP Maya Angelou

 

• We have some new clues about season two of True Detective.

• Seth Rogen and Snoop Dogg got high and recapped Game of Thrones (spoilers, obvs):

THIS NEEDS TO BE A REGULAR THING! HBO – get on that!

• Could George Clooney be getting married at Downton Abbey (aka Highclere Castle)?

• They Might Be Giants pay tribute to inventor Nikola Tesla with a new song.

• Don’t hold your breath on any Mad Men spinoffs.

• Bill Murray crashed a bachelor party and gave a speech.

• The first stand-alone Star Wars movie will be directed by the guy who did Godzilla.

• Quentin Tarantino wants to make a Django Unchained miniseries.

• NPR talks to the guy who played The Gimp in Pulp Fiction.

• Could Tarantino’s Hateful Eight start production this November?

• Wiz Khalifa arrested for marijuana possession, takes a selfie:

Jail selfie. pic.twitter.com/l01qB8oLrm

— Taylor Gang World Leader (@wizkhalifa) May 25, 2014

 

• The new season of Doctor Who is coming to BBC America in August.

• Vulture rounds up the 150 greatest schlock songs ever. In other words, they stole my iPod.

• This guy may be a Game of Thrones fan – he requested a trial by combat.

• The pizza delivery guy from the Oscars is opening up his own pizza place.

• Pharrell and Spike Lee are working together on an interactive concert at The Apollo.

• This couple had a pretty detailed Harry Potter-themed wedding.

• Steve Perry performed for the first time in nearly 20 years.

• A film critic at the Washington Post implied that Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow contributed to the tragic shooting in San Diego.

• What does Morgan Freeman sound like after inhaling helium?

 

• This karaoke performer sang Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” as Elmo.

• Justified showrunner Graham Yost is developing a war drama at WGN America.

• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was on hiatus for Memorial Day, so they guessed at what the news would be.

• The Wall Street Journal has some interesting facts about how The Shawshank Redemption is still earning money.

• Seinfeld re-runs are keeping Jerry very wealthy.

• Someone else that makes bank – Judge Judy.

• More wealthy people – the partners of Sterling Cooper Partners on Mad Men (spoilers if you aren’t current).

• Life is way too short for me to sit through and review Blended, but here is a roundup of some of the harshest comments.

• Tupac’s alleged final words are pretty much what you would expect.

• Hear three of the songs from the new Tupac musical on Broadway.

• This guide from CNN Money shows how many hotdogs and beer you can get for $20 at all the MLB ballparks. You can eat like a king in Cincinnati

• It’s OK to be Smart tries to explain why the winters are so long in Game of Thrones.

• David Schwimmer has been pretty low profile since Friends. Now we know why – he’s been fighting crime.

• The CDC speculates how Don Draper could possible die.

• Sleepy Hallow has added some new cast members.

• The New York Post wrote perhaps the greatest wedding announcement:

 

• Vegas has odds on the duration of the West/Kardashian marriage – as well as those of some other famous couples. I wonder what they know about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner?

• All the Easter Eggs in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

• I did pretty well on Vulture’s guess the Mad Men offices quiz.

• I did less well on this quiz on Drew Barrymore’s dating life on-screen and off.

• Haha…As a huge fan of The Godfather, I kind of want this horse head pillow.

• This is disappointing – director Edgar Wright has dropped out of Ant-Man due to “difference in vision” for the film.

• The showrunner of Netflix’s Daredevil series also stepped down. Rough week for Marvel.

• They did, however, cast the lead role for the Daredevil series.

• The original Flash (John Wesley Shipp) will play the Flash’s father on the new CW series.

• HBO is developing a 1960s gay rights drama.

• Norm MacDonald is lobbying to take over The Late Late Show after Craig Ferguson’s departure.

• There will be a My Big Fat Greek Wedding sequel.

• The kids at the University of Delaware recreated the Friends intro:

 

• Arby’s has set a Guinness World Record for the longest TV commercial.

• Grantland looks at everything Ill Communication on the 20^th anniversary of the album.

• The Television Critics Association Awards nominations are out. Breaking Bad and True Detective (unsurprisingly) lead the pack.

• More celebrity commencement speeches: Jim Carrey and Ed Helms (the latter at Cornell, naturally).

• Congratulations to Happy Ending’s Casey Wilson, who got married Memorial Day weekend

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Casey Rose Wilson (@caseyrosewilson)

• Twitter account of the week: Hannibal at the Zoo.

• Some guy is trying to get Kanye elected Mayor of Chicago. Rahm Emanuel probably shouldn’t lose sleep over this.

• Festival Supreme has a pretty sweet lineup of comics.

• Showtime is going to re-air all the episodes of Queer as Folk and The L Word.

• FX set a premiere date for their Martin Lawrence/Kelsey Grammer comedy.

• Pedro Pascal (Game of Throne’s Oberyn Martell) did a Reddit AMA.

• Orange is the New Black is getting a cookbook.

• Ever wonder how much it costs to book your favorite bands? Wait – I can book the Foo Fighters for $500,000? Time to get a Kickstarter page started.

• The director of Once and U2 have teamed up for a project.

• TBS has cancelled The Pete Holmes Show. Too bad – I thought it had potential.

• The A.V. Club looks at fake apps from pop culture – and their real world equivalents.

• Plan your next vacation with this handy Star Wars travel guide.

• Seriously Nabisco? You are killing me with peanut butter cup Oreos:

 

• Also not helping – Hershey is making full sized Krackel bars.

• Netflix is developing a 10 episode Wet Hot American Summer prequel series.

• Last year I wrote a post on terrible ceremonial first pitches. I may have to update that to include 50 Cent.

John Mayer covers Beyoncé:

 

• Jack White rarely talks to his ex-band mate (and ex-wife) Meg.

• New music from Queen, featuring material recorded by Freddie Mercury in the 80s, will be released.

• Reddit thinks that Sansa Stark looks like Boy George.

• Pixar has released plot details for Inside Out.

Time for some trailers…..

• Disney’s Big Hero 6:

 

• The first trailer for Life Itself, the documentary about Roger Ebert:

 

• A trailer for a new season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I need to catch up!

 

• Roman Polanski’s adaptation of the play Venus in Fur:

 

• River Phoenix in Dark Blood:

 

• Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria:

 

• The Cannes Film Festival winner, Winter Sleep:

 

• Denzel Washington in The Equalizer:

 

• Pink is pregnant with her second child.

• Christina Ricci is expecting her first baby.

• Macaulay Culkin’s band was booed off stage.

• Robert Pattinson to star in a Chicago mob movie.

• Early prototypes for the creature that would become E.T. have been revealed.

• Johnny Depp will play Harry Houdini.

• Quvenzhane Wallis is the face of Armani Junior.

• Eli Roth is executive producing an exorcist horror series for WE tv.

• Here’s the cover of Amy Poehler’s new book:

• The countdown to Discovery’s shark week has begun. Not to be outdone, Syfy is planning Sharknado week.

• Metallica’s James Hetfield is narrating a docu-series, The Hunt.

• Lifetime is planning a Whitney Houston/Bobby Brown movie. I’m surprised it took this long.

• Some HBO shows are now available on Amazon Prime streaming.

• T.I. and Floyd Mayweather allegedly got into an altercation at Fatburger.

• A cat that plays Jenga?

• Sofia Vergara and her fiancé called it quits.

• Robert Redford may play Oral Roberts.

• The former Hasbro executive credited with creating G.I. Joe has passed away.

• Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith are allegedly being investigated by child protective services over photos that surfaced of their daughter Willow. They should also be investigating what Jaden wore to the Kimye wedding. In the words of Hank Hill…

As always, we end with the supercuts and mashups:

• This week – the previous roles of the actors on Mad Men:

 

• Pop culture characters as zombies:

 

• The 40-Year-Old Virgin, re-cut as a psychological horror film:

 

• A supercut of Nic Cage laughing.

• What if Mad Men characters were drawn by caricature artists?

 

• MTV Cribs – Star Wars edition:

 

• The Smashmouth Redemption:

 

• Beyoncé meet Godzilla in the parody trailer:

 

• Halo and Minecraft, mashed up together:

 

• System of a Down and Elton John go surprisingly well together:

 

• H Jon Benjamin voices HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey:

 

• Disney villains get their own musical:

 

• This collection of GIFs mashes up Orange of the New Black and Seinfeld:

 

• Hannibal re-cut as a cooking show:

 

• And finally….Game of Thrones meets Perfect Strangers:

Pop Culture Odds and Ends – I’m Back, Baby edition

I couldn’t think of any better way to bring the blog back from its brief hiatus than with everyone’s favorite post, the bi-weekly pop culture roundup. Pop culture stops for no man (or woman) and stories kept rolling out even while I was away, so this post is as much for me as it is for you. So while we all play catch up, enjoy this barrage of links to stories that you might have missed:

• In news that will surprise no one, Game of Thrones has been renewed for another season.

• Crime of the century? Someone stole one of the final 8 Breaking Bad scripts from Bryan Cranston’s car. You can listen to his 9-1-1 call online.

• Very sad news – Jane Henson, widow of Muppets creator John Henson, lost her battle with cancer yesterday.

• You people are failing me when it comes to Happy Endings. Shame on you.

• One of the stars of MTV’s reality show Buckwild has died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Production on the show has been halted.

• Kids retell Star Wars in their own words:

 

• Big news from the FX network – they are launching a new channel and have renewed  Justified and The League, the latter for two years.

• This might be a reason to have a baby – White Stripes songs have been turned into an album of lullabies (just kidding, Mom. Probably).

• The sequel to Finding Nemo will be called Finding Dory and will be released November 2015.

• Dave Chappelle seems to be dropping hints that he’s considering a return. A girl can dream.

• If you don’t have Netflix but want to check out House of Cards, the first season will be released on DVD June 11.

• Robert Redford confirms his role in Captain America 2.

• Avengers 2 will start filming in London in 2014.

• No matter how The Great Gatsby film turns out, it’s shaping up to have one hell of a soundtrack.

• Amazon has purchased the website Good Reads.

• Like Justin Bieber doesn’t have enough problems, he needs to worry about this guy.

• You can stream the new Dawes album, one week before it is released.

• The real reason Will Smith turned down Django Unchained. Dummy.

• Is there nothing that Jay-Z can’t do? This has to be good for the Yankees, right?

• I’m assuming Jay-Z also had a hand in MTV moving their Video Music Awards to the Barclay Center.

• The History Channel’s The Bible miniseries is already out on DVD.

• Conan has been renewed by TBS through 2015.

• TBS has also renewed Cougar Town. Happy Dance!

• Dang – I missed out on the auction for Tupac’s fedora from the “California Love” video. I look excellent in hats.

• The many disguises of Sterling Archer.

• Listen to a new song from John Legend and Rick Ross.

• Crackle is now streaming episodes of The Shield for free. Definitely a show to check out if you haven’t seen it. It is where I first discovered the awesomeness that is Walton Goggins.

• This Rap Quotes project is a cool idea.

• Check out this list of 20 forgotten Billy Joel songs that haven’t been overplayed (though I argue there is no such thing as too much Joel).

• Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno addressed The Tonight Show succession rumors:

Jimmy, my friend, some unsolicited advice: stop palling around with Leno. He cannot be trusted.

• The Hollywood Reporter says that Fallon has signed a deal to take over The Tonight Show. Seth Meyers is the frontrunner to take over Fallon’s 12:30 time slot.

• Steve Buscemi will direct a live Vampire Weekend webcast.

• I’m sad that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries webseries that I have recommended is calling it quits.

• The forgotten G.I. Joes.

• Rolling Stone wisely put Jon Hamm on the cover.

• Kevin McDonald from Kids in the Hall is guest writing at Saturday Night Live.

• Lindsay Lohan will make a pre-rehab appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday.

• Not sure how I feel about this: Amy Poehler is rumored to be dating fellow comedian (and occasional Parks and Recreation guest star) Nick Kroll. Love them both, but I’m still not over her split with Will Arnett.

• This seems like a waste of perfectly good Easter candy:

 

• Rob Lowe flew around in a jet pack, because why not?

• Roger Ebert is taking “a leave of presence.”

• This bracket came out too late for my March Madness roundup, but is right up my alley: best TV Theme Songs.

• Glee star Cory Monteith has checked into rehab and will miss some episodes of season 4, currently in production.

• I have no idea if this story about Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and a gay bar are true, but I really hope that it is.

• Springsteen has brought someone on stage to sing “Waiting on a Sunny Day” at every show I have been to, but I’ve never seen him do this before:

Lucky kid – and this only makes me love the Boss more.

• Some new details are emerging about Wes Anderson’s new movie, Grand Budapest Hotel.

• The collected wisdom of Duck Dynasty’s Uncle Si. I don’t watch the show – should I check it out?

• Quentin Tarantino movies reimagined as Penguin book covers.

• Thought you knew everything about Ducktales (who-hoo)? You are probably wrong.

• OK – this kind of freaked me out – celebrities that are unbelievably the same age. The Taylor Swift/Adele thing always kills me.

• There is adorable and then there is Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Jeopardy! in 1997:

 

• Cher’s mom is getting a Lifetime movie. It has got to be better than Liz & Dick and the recent Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story (based on a murder one town over from where I live).

• Uno may become a game show.

• Based on the success of the Veronica Mars kickstarter, Funny or Die has some 90s TV shows that they think should get the movie treatment.

• Mike from Breaking Bad was in Airplane? Mind blown.

• Queens of the Stone Age debuted a new song at Lollapalooza Brazil, the band’s first in six years.

• True Blood will return with its sixth season on June 16. More Eric, less everything else.

• I have discovered yet another website that specialized in pop culture inspired art. I really think this print would tie my living room together.

• JWoww will appear on the soap One Life to Live.

• AMC’s The Killing will return on June 2^nd. I will not be watching.

• Tublr of the week: Mean Mad Men (Mad Men/Mean Girls mashup). Totally fetch.

• A Mary Tyler Moore reunion is coming to Hot in Cleveland.

• Thanks to a new website, I can listen to many of the Phish concerts that I attended for free.

• ABC has ordered a spinoff of Pretty Little Liars.

• Ben Vareen is totally down for a Zoobilee Zoo reunion.

• Parks and Recreation characters as superheroes? Love.

• The creator of the 90s Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All has brought the character back as an adult in a new book.

• Adios TV Guide Network.

• Is the world ready for a THIRD Hemsworth brother?

• I have no words: man “engaged” to  My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle writes angry letter to pony’s artist.

• CBS renewed pretty much everything.

• Watch the cast of The Big Bang Theory do a number from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sheldon Cooper in drag is unsettling.

• NBC is considering a spinoff of Chicago Fire.

• Bronson Pinchot hijacks a weather cast on a local news cast. I have no words:

 

• Martin Scorsese is developing Gangs of New York as a television series. I’d tune in.

• The Guardian has created a graphic that sums up the 50 year history of Doctor Who.

• The Tina Fey/Steve Carell movie Mail-Order Groom has been delayed a year. Bummer.

• I love this Mr. Rogers story.

• The 2014 Oscars will be in March. I could use some extra prep time.

• A new dark horse candidate to host the Oscars has emerged: Justin Timberlake.

• As a fan, I enjoyed Vulture’s Bruce Willis Movie Matrix.

• Wait – why am I just learning that “Sweet Caroline” was inspired by Caroline Kennedy?

• Actor Richard Griffiths, who played Harry Potter’s Uncle Vernon (among other things) passed away last week.

• America’s Most Wanted has been cancelled – again.

• Eminem is working on a new album, per Dr. Dre.

• I’m a little late with this – watch the full Rugrats Passover special.

• BJ Novak (Ryan, The Office) has joined the cast of The Amazing Spiderman 2.

• This story is just odd – Friday Night Lights author is in rehab for his shopping addiction.

• Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo are in talks to appear in the Vacation reboot, starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate.

• Limp Bizkit is back. Hooray?

• Vulture examines what it was like to write for a TGIF sitcom.

• Are Walking Dead and Toy Story the same?

• The Duggars cannot be stopped.

• Once Upon A Time is launching a book series.

• The CW has released the first images of their new The Vampire Diaries spin-off pilot, The Originals.

• Ron Howard will appear as himself on an upcoming episode of Arrested Development. He is also the show’s narrator.

• I enjoy this collection of GIFs of Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead sneaking up on people. He is one stealth dude.

And now, some supercuts and mashups:

• First up, all the fake video games featured on The Simpsons.

• Watch Al Pacino yell a lot.

• Destiny’s Child “Independent Woman” and Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” complement each other pretty well.

• People running in movies:

 

• I’m glad I didn’t watch this before I flew Southwest last week.

• All of Woody Allen’s stammers:

 

• Bill & Ted & Lincoln’s Excellent Adventure:

 

• And finally, spliced together like this, Fraggle Rock was pretty deep (and a little depressing):