I’m not really sure how this happened, but in a little over two weeks it’s Christmas. Maybe it’s because the unofficial Christmas season starts so darn early that it lapses me into a false sense of security and then suddenly – bam! – the holidays are here. I’m lucky in that Christmas is a pretty low stress holiday for me – I don’t have a ton of people to shop for and I’m already done – but getting myself into the Christmas spirit takes some effort. When there are no children in your family and you see your relatives on the reg, it takes a little more work to get me excited about this time of year. The fact that the arrival of the holiday season also means that winter is coming certainly doesn’t help. I have some things up my sleeve to try and move things along, but one way that I plan to gin up some holiday yule (that doesn’t involve actual gin) is to make sure to give something back to others.
I try to be charitable throughout the year, but around the holidays a lot more opportunities present themselves. This is both a blessing and a curse, since it also means that there are a lot of worthwhile causes competing for your limited time and money. That’s what appealed to me about this local story about a little girl, the sole survivor of a fire that killed the rest of her family, who wants Christmas cards. Such a small and easy thing to do that will bring joy to someone who deserves to have a nice Christmas. I promised to help try and promote this, so anyone who wants to contribute by sending her a card, the address is in the linked story.
Another simple way I give back is the weekly pop culture roundup. Sure, I’m addressing the very first world problem of people falling behind on pop culture, but we all have to play to our strengths. As usual, I’ve searched the Internet high and low to find the best that the world of pop culture had to offer in the last seven days. The pop culture machine is beginning to slow down a little with the holiday season, but there’s still plenty of goodness to be found. So get yourself all caught up on the world of pop with this week’s roundup.
- The 2016 Grammy nominees were announced.
- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were interviewed by The New York Times.
- Pretty much every young male actor in Hollywood has auditioned to play Han Solo in the Star Wars spinoff movie.
- NBC renews The Blacklist for a fourth season.
- Avengers: Infinity War probably won’t feature any of Netflix’s Defenders.
- However, you can probably safely assume that Spider-Man will be in Captain America: Civil War.
- Steven Spielberg says that Harrison Ford will be the only person to play Indiana Jones. #sorryChrisPratt
- 50 Cent will play 50 Cent in a new TV comedy about 50 Cent.
- Ryan Coogler is in talks to direct Black Panther for Marvel.
- Lionsgate plans to keep making Hunger Games movies.
- Jason Priestley is working on a Phil Hartman biopic. Dean Norris is slated to star.
- ABC has ordered a Dirty Dancing remake TV movie.
- Quentin Tarantino is still interested in adapting Elmore Leonard’s Forty Lashes Less One (possibly for TV).
- In other QT news…..Kill Bill 3 isn’t out of the question.
- FXX has renewed You’re the Worst for a third season.
- Haha…Amy Schumer wasn’t pleased that Judd Apatow crashed her photo with Bradley Cooper:
- Apatow will produce Kumail Nanjiani’s first movie.
- The Writers Guild Award nominees have been announced.
- The NAACP Image Award nominees have also been revealed.
- Seth MacFarlane indicates that a Family Guy movie is happening “soon.”
- Start saving your pennies now…..Hamilton is going out on tour.
- Coldplay will headline the halftime show for Super Bowl 50.
- All I know about Paper Magazine is that is features the naked butts of celebrities. First Kim Kardashian and now John Stamos.
- Queen Latifah will headline a new music drama pilot from Lee Daniels.
- Netflix plans to double its original programming in 2016. I can hardly keep up now!
- This may or may not be a trap – Admiral Ackbar will appear in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- Vulture spends some time with Anthony Daniels, the man behind C-3PO.
- Don’t bother waiting – there’s no post-credits sequence at the end of The Force Awakens.
- Here’s 45 minutes of Nick Offerman drinking whiskey in front of a Yule log
- Helen Mirren will appear alongside Will Smith in Collateral Beauty.
- Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell reunite with a song:
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: Green Screen Christmas special will air December 13th.
- Benedict Cumberbatch wrote a letter to Santa.
- Cumberbatch will star in the WWII drama The War Magician.
- Bill Murray and Wes Anderson will team up again.
- Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show as a guest.
- Every time Stewart made fun of Arby’s while hosting, they sent the crew lunch.
- Fans of The Leftovers dressed as the Guilty Remnant outside HBO to lobby for a third season.
- Amazon has given the greenlight to Billy Bob Thornton’s series from David E. Kelly.
- Sam Richardson has joined the season 5 cast of New Girl.
- Dave Chappelle has a no cell phone policy during his shows.
- Katey Sagal will play Jake’s mom on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
- I’d definitely go to a sleep over with Tony Romo:
- Josh Hutcherson, Zac Efron, Hannibal Buress and Kate Upton have joined James Franco’s adaptation of The Disaster Artist.
- A bunch more people have joined the cast of the Roots remake.
- If you want to get a head start on your #OscarDeathRace, here’s the shortlist of potential visual effects nominees.
- The Ava DuVernay Barbie doll sold out in 17 minutes.
- The Rock is all about helping to rescue puppies.
- A fan theory asks if Kevin from Home Alone became Jigsaw in the Saw movies.
- That was a real bear that Gwendoline Christie interacted with on Game of Thrones.
- A newly revealed Guardians of the Galaxy deleted scene explains the origin of Drax’s tattoos.
- Samurai Jack will return to Adult Swim next year.
- Justified creator Graham Yost will adapt the hacker drama The Code for Fox.
- Joey McIntyre (of NKOTB fame) is getting a series on Pop.
- Former Dexter showrunner Scott Buck will helm Netflix’s Marvel series Iron Fist.
- Here’s how the Full House reboot will explain the absence of Michelle.
Time for some trailers……
- Game of Thrones, season 6 tease:
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
- Netflix’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny:
- The Nice Guys:
- Chelsea Does:
- Season 11 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
- Eye in the Sky:
- Zoolander 2:
- HBO’s J. Cole Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming:
- American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson:
- Jane Got a Gun:
- Final Fantasy VII Remake:
- Powers, season 2:
- Mob Wives will end after its sixth season.
- Vulture chats with the always wonderful Connie Britton.
- FX has bought a comedy from the duo behind You’re the Worst.
- Lollapalooza will expand to four days.
- Barbra Streisand will return to directing with a Catherine the Great movie.
- The original cast of Trainspotting will be back for the sequel.
- Shailene Woodley will join Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon in HBO’s Big Little Lies.
- Blake Lively is apparently the newest member of Taylor Swift’s squad.
- Not apparently good enough for Taylor’s Squad – Adam Scott:
- Jared Leto endured the wrath of the Swifties.
- Fox has ordered a game show that involves hypnotism.
- Dean Martin will return to Vegas in hologram form.
- Ja Rules says that a TV series based on Murder, Inc. is in development.
- The next Friday the 13th movie has found a writer.
- Pamela Anderson will be the final naked centerfold in Playboy.
- Norman Reedus was reportedly bitten by a female Walking Dead fan who maybe has an issue with fact v fiction.
- John Goodman will lend his voice to a CGI alien.
- Watch Channing Tatum say some hateful things to a kitten:
- The line-up for the alt comedy festival Riot LA has been announced.
- CNBC renews Jay Leno’s Garage.
- Oprah’s writing a memoir. So is Al Franken.
- Tyra Banks will be back as Eve for Life-Size 2.
- HBO is developing a comedy about an underground college humor magazine.
- The CW has picked up the series Transylvania. Did no one tell them that vampires are so over?
- New York Film Critics Circle has named Carol the best movie of the year.
- Sofia Coppola explains why he dropped out of directing The Little Mermaid.
- IFC pulls the plug on Gigi Does It.
- There is now a dating site specifically geared toward Disney fans.
- Hillary Clinton pays tribute to female musicians in an essay for Billboard.
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open this spring at Universal Studios Hollywood.
- Dolly Parton talks about her plans for her 50th (!) wedding anniversary in May 2016.
- Melvin Williams, who inspired the character of Avon Barksdale on The Wire, passed away.
- Former American Idol contestant and mouseketeer Marque “Tate” Lynche was found dead at 34.
- Actor Martin E. Brooks, who appeared on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, is dead at 90.
- Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland has died. He was 48. His ex-wife penned a powerful letter about not glorifying his death.
- Character actor Robert Loggia died last Friday.
- Kristin Cavallari’s brother has been reported missing.
- Dascha Polanco (Orange is The New Black) is facing criminal charges for allegedly assaulting a teenage girl.
- Adult film star (and occasional Lindsay Lohan co-star) James Deen faces multiple sexual assault allegations.
- Nicki Minaj’s older brother has been charged with first-degree rape against a child.
- Dancing with the Stars pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd have gotten engaged.
- Welcome to the world Saint West.
As always, we end with the supercuts and mashups……
- A tribute to 2015 cinema:
- A bluegrass cover of Macklemore’s “Downtown”:
- Here’s Prince covering “Creep” at 2008 Coachella:
- Notorious B.I.G. meets Star Wars:
- Grand Theft Auto meets Mario Kart:
- Sisters – The Farce Awakens:
- “Hotline Blink” – Drake meets Blink-182:
- What if Kevin Burns directed Captain America: Civil War?
- Movie characters sing Adele:
- And finally – ALF and Weezer, together at last: