Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Comic Con Edition

One of the things on my pop culture bucket list that I’m dying to do is to attend Comic Con in San Diego. If you are unfamiliar with Comic Con, it is basically pop culture mecca; while the convention originally was focused primarily on comic books, it has morphed into a giant celebration of all things pop culture. It is the venue where tons of exciting news about television shows and movies is revealed and where die-hard fans congregate for the chance to see their favorite actors and directors at panels. If you love pop culture, it is something that you have to check out. It’s ridiculously popular and the people often have to camp out to get into the more popular panels, but I feel like it is something that I have to experience at least once if I am going to call myself a pop culture enthusiast. Perhaps next year.

But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you don’t have to go to Comic Con to get all of the breaking news and scoop about your favorites. This week’s round-up is chocked full of nuggets from convention as well as some other pop culture goodness that happened in the last two weeks. I just saved you all a roundtrip ticket to California.

So kick back and peruse my bi-weekly summary of all things pop.

• The biggest news of the Con in my opinion – Superman and Batman are going to be in a movie together!

• Game of Thrones paid tribute to dead characters with an In Memoriam video (contains spoilers- duh):

 

• LEGO unveils a Back to the Future set at Comic Con.

• NBC has released a trailer for Dracula:

 

• Watch the entire X-Men: Days of Future Past Panel:

 

• Highlights from the It’s Always Sunny Panel.

• Neil deGrasse Tyson is rebooting Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

 

• Breaking Bad will be getting its own post show talk show similar to what AMC does for The Walking Dead.

• Also Breaking Bad related – Walter White’s journey:

 

• A How I Met Your Mother video from Comic Con. Amen, kids. Amen!

 

• You can watch the entire HIMYM panel here.

• A trailer for JJ Abrams’ new show Believe:

 

• Scoop from the Sons of Anarchy panel.

• Sons season 6 promo – everyone looks really mad:

 

• A new NSFW red band trailer for Kick-Ass 2 debuted at Comic Con:

 

• A trailer for the new season of The Walking Dead:

 

• A sneak peek of the Veronica Mars movie:

 

• Highlights about the new season of Community.

• Metallica released a trailer for their upcoming film:

 

• Joss Whedon reveals the name of the new Avengers movie as well as who will not appear.

• Watch the entire Marvel panel:

 

• Some details on the second season of The Following (which I will not be watching).

• Info on the Doctor Who 50^th anniversary trailer.

• A Hannibal gag reel:

 

• Intel on the new season of Sherlock.

• Trailer for season 2 of Arrow:

 

• I’m still shocked by the sudden death of Cory Monteith. I long abandoned Glee, but he was always my favorite. Addiction is no joke, my friends. To remember him, one of my favorite performances from the show:

 

• Glee’s third episode will be a tribute to the actor, followed by a hiatus.

• Emmy nominations were announced last week.

• CBS has posted episodes of Swingtown, Jericho and Wolf Lake online.

• This Star Wars vs. Game of Thrones Subreddit is pretty hilarious. Spoilers abound.

• Netflix is getting into the original standup special business.

•  An article in Rolling Stone states that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will end after its 10^th season. Glenn Howerton took to Twitter to say that might not be the case:

• Mr. Show stars reuniting for a tour.

• Rosemarie DeWitt has joined the cast of the new Poltergeist movie.

• Watch Jon Hamm’s ESPY’s monologue:

 

• The latest Paranormal Activity film has been delayed.

• Firefly is getting an online game.

• ABC is doing a Cold War miniseries.

• Umm…I don’t think this is what Kickstarter was made for: Spike Lee is trying to finance his newest movie using the fundraising page and fellow director Steven Soderbergh donated $10,000.

• I’m totally stealing these movie poster wedding announcements if I get married.

• Cartoons are getting very hospitable – The Simpsons will host Futurama in a crossover and Family Guy will invite over The Simpsons.

• American Dad is moving from Fox to TBS in 2014.

• As a political scientist who used to use “I’m Just a Bill” in her Into to American Government classes, I enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel’s Schoolhouse Rock parody:

 

• A blog with a focus on Bruce Springsteen and burgers? Sign me up!

• A Korean baseball mascot dance off? I’m in.

• Christopher Walken has joined the big screen adaption of Jersey Boys.

• Parks and Recreation has some great guest stars lined up for next season: Henry Winkler (in some inspired casting) and Kristin Bell.

• The Carrie Diaries will introduce a young Samantha next season.

• Spinal Tap may reunite in 2014.

• ABC has announced fall premiere dates.

• Mega-spoilers ahead unless you’ve read all the books – The Periodic Table of Thrones

• Watch Jerry Seinfeld and Stephen Colbert (two of my faves) chat:

 

• O.J. Simpson may (or may not) being courted to appear on Anger Management.

• Glenn Close has joined the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy. Who isn’t in this movie?

• Britney Spears new music video for her song in Smurfs 2 features 2 cute co-stars – her sons:

 

• Ben Affleck may star in the Gone Girl movie.

• Whether we want it or not, we’re getting a Hot Wheels movie.

• Netflix has begun the discussion for more episodes of Arrested Development.

• Tumblr of the week: 99 Problems (illustrations of possible Jay Z problems)

• Florence Welch is just like us – gets drunk and sings “Get Lucky”

 

• Troubled actress Amanda Bynes has been placed under a 5150 hold after setting a fire.

• Chuck Palahniuk is working on multiple sequels to Fight Club. I do not support this idea – leave well enough alone.

• 15 life lessons from Clueless.

• A trailer for the 4^th season of Boardwalk Empire:

 

• Vampire Weekend covers “Blurred Lines”

 

• John Travolta will appear on Kirstie Alley’s new sitcom.

• Courtney Love’s memoir may be out later this year.

• Jason Momoa (Drago, GoT) has been cast in a new Sundance Channel show.

• Dave Grohl joined Sha Na Na on stage during a Grease sing-a-long because Dave Grohl is awesome (and to the kids in the video – shut up! A legend is on drums):

 

• Bill Hader will be a full-time writer at South Park.

• Paul Walker is going to be part of Shark Week. Marine biology? Really?

• IFC has renewed Maron for a second season.

• Syfy is working on a 12 Monkeys adaptation. They are also working on yet another Wizard of Oz project.

• A new trailer was released for Catching Fire:

 

• Sacha Baron Cohen has quit the Freddie Mercury biopic. That’s too bad – that had promise.

• Kids in the Hall reunited for a comedy special.

• Name that Tune – TV Theme show edition.

• Rick Moranis speaks about retiring from acting to be a stay-at-home dad.

• The Toronto International Film Festival has announced their preliminary program and it sounds fantastic.

• Oh Lifetime – just when I thought you couldn’t get any more awesome, you announce a Flowers in the Attic adaptation. Outstanding. I will absolutely DVR this.

• This sounds fascinating: a Calvin and Hobbes documentary is coming.

• HBO has unsurprisingly renewed True Blood for a 7^th season.

• Watch Jesse and the Rippers (John Stamos’ band from Full House) reunite on Fallon:

 

• Are all Pixar movies connected? One blogger says yes.

• The Backstreet Boys have released a new acoustic single:

 

• Beyoncé: gets hair caught in a fan during a concert, keeps singing.

• Watch Jimmy Eat World cover Taylor Swift’s “We are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together” on Conan.

• Paste ranks the ten best Ryan Gosling roles.

• The NCAA is getting out of the video game business.

• Supernatural may be getting a spin-off.

• Naveen Andrews (Sayid on Lost) has joined the cast of the Once Upon a Time spinoff.

• R.I.P. Dennis Farina. As a tribute, here is a supercut of the actor saying the F word (NSFW, obviously):

 

Baby News!

• Of course there are a ton of parody accounts for the new royal baby.

• Congrats to my pal Jimmy Fallon on becoming a dad!

• Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott gave birth to a baby girl.

• Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem welcomed their second child Monday.

• Robin Thicke covers Icona Pop’s “I Love It”

 

• Sharknado recreated out of LEGOs. A sequel is in the works – this time NYC is in danger.

• Kardashian ex and NBA player Kris Humphries will appear on The Mindy Project. Adam Pally will also make an appearance.

• Watch Snoop Lion and Larry King Rap. Oh Snoop – remember when you had street cred? Me neither.

• ABC Family has cancelled Bunheads.

• Aaron Paul appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210:

 

• Roseanne and Tom Arnold got into a Twitter spat.

• J.K. Rowling was revealed to be using a pseudonym in writing another book.

• Pearl Jam debuted some new songs at their concert at Wrigley Field:

 

• Nate Silver has jumped ship from The New York Times for ESPN/ABC.

• Tina Turner got married.

• Hear your first taste of the Elvis Costello and The Roots collaboration:

 

• Wait. Hold up. Kanye had an HBO comedy pilot? This must be screened IMMEDIATELY! I.Must.Watch.

• Mazzy Star will debut a new album this year. Hooray!

• Poor Anna Gunn – a Breaking Bad fan broke down episodes based on likability and Skyler White appearances.

• Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan.

• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego may return to PBS. Do it, Rockepella!

• A Saved by the Bell parody musical is playing off-Broadway.

• Tom Hanks and Ron Howard are going to torture us with a third Robert Langdon movie.

• 2 Chainz’s new album will come with a cookbook.

• Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) has released a new single.

• Alanis Morissette’s song “Ironic” rewritten so it is actually ironic:

 

• Puck from The Real World was arrested for domestic violence.

• Kellen Lutz may be joining The Expendables 3.

• A thief stole a van full of band equipment for the band A Flock of Seagulls. The interesting part of this story is that A Flock of Seagulls is still a thing – I haven’t heard a peep out of them since the 1980s.

• Adam Lambert will appear on Glee.

As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts

• Blurring Pains

 

• Bill Clinton sings “Blurred Lines” (a song that I am completely obsessed with):

 

• “Ice Ice Baby” sung by the movies:

 

• History gets a Game of Thrones makeover in this video of the building of the Capitol:

 

• Some new mashups courtesy of Girl Talk. First up, A Michael Jackson/Daft Punk combination:

 

• Kanye and Marilyn Manson (I really dig this one):

 

• This is impressive – a reinterpretation of the Wizard of Oz done a cappella with pop songs:

 

• A Star Trek/Archer mashup

• A Game of Hodor:

 

• A supercut of people watching movies in the movies:

 

• It’s Always Sunny in Pacific Rim:

 

• Watch Game of Thrones done in the style of the Arrested Development opening credits.

• And finally……A Cher/Golden Girls mashup? Spectacular!

Pop Culture Odds and Ends

It is time once again for your bi-weekly round up of pop culture stories that you may have missed. I like to think of these roundups as pop culture cheat sheets for people. If you see a story that you think should be included, please feel free to pass it along to me on the blog’s Facebook page (like me!), Twitter (follow me!) or in the comments. I’m always interested in reader feedback. And a special welcome to all my new blog followers – thanks for reading!

Let’s get some of the sad stuff out of the way first:

• Matt Damon wrote an essay about the Boston Marathon before the bombings that explains what the tradition and event means to him.

• Family Guy has pulled an episode from the web after the Boston Marathon bombing.

• Stephen Colbert had some thoughts on the Marathon Bombing.

• Jon Stewart also made some quick comments.

• Boston Comic Con will go on as scheduled, minus weapons.

• Legendary NFL announcer Pat Summerall passed away Tuesday at the age of 82.

• The A.V. Club takes a look back at the career of the late Jonathan Winters.

• Rest in Peace, Annette Funicello.

• The actor who played General Motti in Star Wars has passed away.

Now on to the more sublime:

• Ian Ziering (Steve, Beverly Hills 90210) is becoming a Chippendale dancer. For reals.

• Vin Diesel announced that Fast and Furious 7 will be released on July 11, 2014. The sixth installment of the franchise will open nationwide on May 24^th of this year.

• Dame Maggie Smith now has a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, though it isn’t all that flattering.

• Showtime will air a Richard Pryor documentary on May 31^st.

• Here are some fake Arrested Development inspired album covers.

• The Tribecca Film Festival starts today – EW has a preview of the films.

• The Newsroom will return to HBO in July.

• A new red-band trailer has been released for Netflix’s new original series Hemlock Grove. As this comes from director Eli Roth, it is most decidedly NSFW:

 

• In other Netflix news, the second season of House of Cards will start shooting in two weeks.

• The Cleveland Show has been cancelled.

• Crap….it this happens I may be forced to watch The Bachelor.

• Speaking of Adam Scott (the actor, not the golfer):

 

• Vulture tracks Pete Campbell’s rapidly receding hairline on Mad Men.

• Vulture also imagines Mad Men as a kid’s Saturday morning cartoon spinoff, Mad Men Kidz.

 

• Apparently the Academy didn’t received the memo from the American people – the producers for this year’s abysmal Oscars ceremony will be back.

• CBS has released summaries for 18 of their season finales. Ummm – doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?

• Tonight may be the last episode ever of Southland, which would be a real shame.

• If you go to see Iron Man 3, stay through the credits (and if you want to know what happens now, click here *spoilers*)

• The winner of random video of the week: Macaulay Culkin singing “Kokomo”:

 

• A prequel to the film adaption of The Mortal Instruments is already being planned, despite the fact that The Mortal Instruments hasn’t even been released yet.

• The fictional Veep and the real life VP met:

 

• The casting for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy continues to intrigue me. The newest member of the cast is The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker.

• The MPAA will make some ratings tweaks in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings.

• Phoenix’s new album Bankrupt! is currently streaming on iTunes. It will be released next week.

• Former The Walking Dead showrunner will write a screenplay for a prequel to The Shining. Stephen King has no involvement.

• Rumors of a Friends reunion have been greatly exaggerated.

• Check out these new The Big Bang Theory toys.

• Patton Oswalt will host the 2013 Webby awards.

• Watch Community and Mad Men‘s Alison Brie recreate some popular memes (her grumpy cat is pretty spot on):

 

• Grantland looks at the career arc of friend of the blog, The Rock (I’m assuming, if he knew this blog existed)

• Grantland also examines the 20 best food scenes in Tarantino movies.

• Bates Motel has been renewed for a second season.

• Ryan Murphy has a deal with HBO. I can only imagine what he’ll do when not restricted by basic cable.

• Is Warner Brothers eyeing Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam for The Flash?

• The Awl debates which song is worse: the Brad Paisley/LL Cool J song “Accidental Racist” or Ray J’s song “I Hit It First” about Kim Kardashian. I vote for the latter – though misguided, Paisley was at least trying to do something good. Ray J is just a jerk.

• Oy. Amanda Bynes continues her quest to be the craziest of them all with this new video that she posted on YouTube:

 

• Meanwhile, Justin Bieber continues his trail of questionable behavior with what he wrote in the guestbook at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.

• The Veronica Mars Kickstarter closed this week, netting $5.7 million.

• Patrick Duffy is game for a Step-by-Step reunion.

• Mike Myers and Dana Carvey have settled their feud, which they never admitted existed.

• Pitch Perfect 2 is officially a thing, to be released in 2015.

• I am a grown-up, so I didn’t watch the MTV Movie Awards, but if you are curious who won or what people wore I have you covered.

• Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza decided to “pull a Kanye” during Will Ferrell’s Comedic Genius Award acceptance speech.

• Victoria Beckham’s hesitance may save the world from a full on Spice Girls reunion.

• Martin Short intereviewed Lorne Michaels.

• Funny or Die has released their Steve Jobs movie, iSteve (starring Justin Long).

• There is an art show dedicated to Nickelodeon shows of the 1990s.

• Jon Hamm was on Seseme Street, apparently in attempt to see if he could make me love him more:

 

• The Kool-Aid Man is getting a makeover.

• AMC has moved Hell on Wheels to Saturday nights.

• A ranking of the film adaptions of Michael Crichton’s books.

• See Jaime Foxx as Electro on the set of The Amazing Spiderman 2. Or is it The Amazing Spiderman: Ghost Protocol?

• Foxx is also creating a horror anthology for SyFy.Yeah – I don’t get it either.

• Snoop Dogg will appear on One Life to Live.

• Snoop is a busy guy – he also collaborated with Miley Cyrus

 

• B.J. Novak (The Office) has signed a book deal.

• Also an author – Jason Segel has written a Young Adult book series.

• Katey Sagal will appear on Glee.

• The sisters of singer Bruno Mars are getting a reality show.

• Interesting – the same kid who played a young Don Draper on Mad Men also played a young Michael Bluth on Arrested Development and a young Ice Truck Killer on Dexter.

• Go the F*ck to Sleep will be turned into a feature film. I’ll be curious as to how they pull that off.

• The house from Downton Abbey is being turned into a luxury hotel.

• Patricia Arquette is coming to Boardwalk Empire.

• Nathan Fillion and John Krasinski have signed on to Pixar’s Monsters University

• Travel Channel debuted a new show that I want to check out: Burger Land.

• Steve Carrel made an appearance on last night’s Deadliest Catch’s new pre-game show, The Bait.

• Tumblrs of the week: Sports Balls Replaced with Cats and Reasons My Son is Crying.

• New trailer for Man of Steel:

 

• These “oral histories” are officially out of hand: the oral history of TLC’s song “No Scrubs.”

• Creed from The Office turns out to not be a big fan of Creed, the band.

• Kermit the Frog knows how to vacation.

• Adam Scott and Amy Poehler are working on the sequel to last year’s fabulous Greatest Event in the History of Television. This makes me very happy!

• There are many times that I wish I lived on the west coast. This is one of those times.

• 8 real places that inspired superhero headquarters and landmarks.

• A running list of all the law enforcement fails on The Following.

• This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle/Entourage parody is better than either of these shows separately:

 

• A stage adaptation of the book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is coming to Broadway.

• Also Broadway bound? Andrew Lloyd Webber bought the rights to School of Rock.

• Chris Rock has joined the cast of BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood. Seems beneath him.

• The list of the most frequently challenged books for 2012 was released Monday.

• NBC’s never ending quest to beat every good idea they have into the ground continues – a kids version of The Voice is allegedly in the works.

• Anyone want to go to the Big Easy? Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails are top-billed at the New Orleans’ Voodoo Experience festival. Will Macklemore really still be relevant in November?

• A compilation of every movie spoofed in the Scary Movie franchise.

• Here’s a Conan double shot. First up, Conan hosts a roundtable discussion with some of his former colleagues from The Simpsons’ writers’ room.

• Then, watch some clips from Conan’s Late Night audition tape 20 years ago.

• Jackee Harry (remember her?) has joined the cast of the Boy Meets World reboot.

• G.E. has brought back a character from The Matrix for some commercials.

• An actress who sued IMDB for revealing her age lost her court case.

And now the mashups and super-cuts:

• A super-cut of fake websites featured on TV shows:

 

• Love this – the synopsis of every romantic comedy ever made. It’s funny because it’s true:

 

• Every movie reference made on 30 Rock.

• A supercut of Tyrion Lannister’s best lines on Game of Thrones (NSFW )

 

• A homemade version of the final race from The Fast and the Furious:

 

• Will Ferrell yelling

• And finally – an Anchorman/”Thrift Shop” mashup:

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Pop Culture Status Report

What to do when your pop culture is too scattered and unfocused for one in depth blog post? That seems like the perfect time to do a little status report on what pop culture I’m currently consuming and how I feel about it. What am I loving? What has lost favor? What is boring me to tears?

• Currently reading: Game of Thrones, Book One by George R.R. Martin

I started reading this book forever ago, but then I was enjoying the HBO program so much that I didn’t want to spoil what was coming next. The show has progressed far enough that it seemed like a good time to pick this back up and start over; it will be a good refresher on the characters and their backstories. And after reading the Gillian Flynn books (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects and Dark Places), I need a change of pace. The events in Game of Thrones can be just as awful as what happens in the Flynn books, but at least they aren’t so rooted in reality. Dragons aren’t real, right?

• Currently cracking me up: Grantland’s “Captain’s Log”

Baseball isn’t really back until Grantland contributor Mark Lisanti starts writing his fictional account of what Derek Jeter’s journal entries would look like. You don’t have to a Yankee fan to appreciate them, but if you ARE a Yankee fan you will appreciate how spot on that they are. They are just ridiculous funny and extremely well done. I wish I had thought to write something like them.

• Currently listening to: Joshua Radin, Underwater

I’m taking a break from my Justin Timberlake obsession to branch out and try new music. I’m sure my co-workers appreciate the change; I think they were a little tired of The 20/20 Experience. I’m in a singer/songwriter frame of mind currently and after a guest appearance on the season finale of Cougar Town, I’ve put Radin on heavy rotation. It’s soothing background music to have while I’m working – one of the occupational hazards of listening to so much Timberlake was fighting the urge to get up and dance in my office. No one wants to see that.

• Currently over: The Following

I had my problems with Fox’s show The Following from the beginning, but it has gotten really terrible really quickly. I’m now more hate-watching the show than really even enjoying it, but since this is a short season and there really isn’t anything else on Monday nights I’ll see it through to the end. Plus I am kind of curious how they are going to resolve all this nonsense. When Kevin Bacon accidentally tweeted a spoiler for the international audience, I didn’t even remember that major plot point happening and I had JUST watched it.

• Currently on the fence about: Revenge

I don’t know if it is the unpredictable scheduling of new episodes – ABC sees to bump this show a lot and show re-runs at odd times – or if it is just the overall muddle direction of season 2, but I am just not enjoying Revenge as much as I did last year. The Revenge plots have gotten really complicated and I just can’t be made to fully care about the Initiative or what they are up to. I don’t like the love interest that they have brought in for Emily and the fact that haven’t found a way to fill off Declan yet is frustrating. But the show can still deliver on occasion (a recent death of a character that I wasn’t necessarily all that fond of resonated far more than I anticipated) and Nolan is usually good for some fun quips), so I’m not completely over the show. I’m hoping that they can resolve some of the story lines I am less intrigued by and regroup for next season. An explosion that wipes out about 50% of the cast might not be the worst idea in the world.

• Currently surprised by: Hannibal

Most of the new programs that NBC has trotted out recently have been horrific (Ready for Love, case in point) and the idea of yet another show that focuses on a serial killer, especially a serial killer that has been featured in books and several movies (and played by Anthony Hopkins to boot!), made me a bit skeptical of NBC’s new hour-long drama Hannibal. I tuned in last Thursday expecting to quickly lose interest, but was surprised to discover that Hannibal was extremely well done, creative and engrossing. I’m actually quite interested to see where they go with this show and am looking forward to this story being told. The acting is quite good – Mads Mikkelsen puts his own spin on Dr. Hannibal Lecter and brings something new and different to a character that is already familiar to many. I already gave the show a season pass on my DVR and no one is more surprised by that than me.

Things I’m looking forward to this weekend:

• The Masters – I know a lot of people think that watching golf is boring, but I am not one of those people. I always try to watch each of the major tournaments and the Masters is my favorite of the bunch. Augusta National is so beautiful that it provides a picturesque backdrop for all the drama to unfold. And believe it or not, there is drama in a golf match. All eyes are on Tiger Woods as he attempts to move one step closer to being the competitor that he used to be. I’m pretty neutral on Tiger – I have my issues with him, though none of them have much to do with his extramarital activities – but it is always exciting to see an athlete try to recapture some of their former glory.

• Saturday night I am going to see comedian Amy Schumer perform, which I am very excited for. She can be crass and isn’t for everyone, but I find her hilarious. She’s probably most famous for her participation in the Comedy Central roasts, but her stand up specials are a lot of fun. She also has a new show debuting on Comedy Central later this year. Should be a good time.

• My DVR is already set for Louis CK’s new standup special that is airing on HBO Saturday night. He is my favorite comedian working today (sorry Seinfeld) and I have no doubt that this special will be just as  fantastic as his previous work. The guy is a comic genius and always has something interesting to say. My only regret is that I didn’t jump on the chance to see him live during this tour when opportunity presented itself.

• Going back to the movies – believe it or not, I haven’t been to the movie theater in over 3 weeks, which is a lifetime for a person like me. Part of that was because I was away and part of that has been the dearth of free previews lately, but mostly I’ve just needed a break. There haven’t been any movies that I’ve been dying to see and I was going to the movies so often that the people who work there were starting to recognize me on sight. This weekend two movies come out that I am excited about – 42 and The Place Beyond the Pines – so I think it is time to make my triumphant return to the theater. I’ve missed the walnut brownies from The Spectrum.