Directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, along with their massively talented cast and crew, built a movie out of LEGOs that far-exceeded our collective imaginations. Here’s a small peek into how they did it.
P.S. — EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
Category Archives: Entertainment
TV reminder: 10 premieres to look out for in January
New year, new TV. It’s time for the latest installment of what to watch this month! There are a total of 10 new and returning shows to look out for in January so let’s get right to it, after the break. Continue reading TV reminder: 10 premieres to look out for in January
Kanye West releases Paul McCartney-assisted ballad “Only One”
Kanye rings in the New Year with a new track called “Only One.” Paul McCartney (of legendary English rock band The Beatles—look it up, kids!) backs up ‘Ye’s autotuned vocals with keyboard improvisation. The quiet ballad is pretty much the opposite of what Kanye last put out in the world; “Black Skinhead” this is not. In fact, “Only One,” which is what “Kanye” translates into from its Swahili roots, is a very personal song for the rapper. Upon first listen it’s immediately apparent that ‘Ye is channeling his late mother Donda West; she’s speaking to him and his daughter North (Nori is her nickname) in the simple yet powerful lyrics. A press release tells the enlightening tale of how Kanye’s “stream-of-consciousness riff” came to him:
When they played back the recording afterward, something remarkable happened. Kanye sat there with his family, holding his daughter North on his lap, and listened to his vocals, singing, “Hello, my only one . . . ” And in that moment, not only could he not recall having sung those words, but he realized that perhaps the words had never really come from him. The process of artistic creation is one that does not involve thinking, but often channeling. And he understood in that moment that his late mother, Dr. Donda West, who was also his mentor, confidante, and best friend, had spoken through him that day. “My mom was singing to me, and through me to my daughter,” he said, astonished.
If you’re one to buy into the rumor mills, this is the first of many collaborations between the rap icon and the rock legend. West and McCartney recorded “Only One” in a small bungalow in Los Angeles, and some say this is just a sampling of their collaboration. Perhaps McCartney will pop up more than one on West’s upcoming seventh studio album when it purportedly releases sometime this year.
For now, click over to kanyewest.com; there you can hear the new track, croon along thanks to provided lyrics (likely) hand-written by West, and view the single artwork featuring Kanye and his daughter. “Only One” can be purchased at iTunes today.
JibJab presents “2014: You Are History!”
Nobody closes out the year like the uniquely entertaining animators at JibJab. The Interview fallout, the heated turbulence in the Middle East, Ferguson, ebola, marijuana legalization, NFL woes, The Fappening, the Bill Cosby scandal, NFL woes, Shia LaBeouf’s meltdown, Kim Kardashian’s ass breaking the Internet, our fascination with space…even Renée Zellweger’s new face gets a memorable mention. From politics to pop culture, JibJab covers nearly all the bases here in its comprehensive blazing fast Year In Review retrospective.
Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2014
As we close out the year, let’s journey back in time and explore the high points and the lows that made up the last 365 days. Google, Twitter, and Facebook gather our searches and publicly shared posts to make it super simple to do just that with dedicated portals, trending lists, and flashy videos. Let’s start with Google, as is tradition.
For 2014, Google is foregoing its “Zeitgeist” terminology for something simpler. The search giant is calling its retrospective portal “A Year in Search.” That’s got a nice ring to it. First, there’s the hopeful and inspirational video embedded above that summarizes the major events and discoveries that unfolded all around the world this year. And then there’s the Top Charts that show what we all searched for most across a myriad of categories including People, Cars, Beer, and Memes. Of course, it’s the top trending Searches of 2014 you’re likely most interested in knowing right off the bat and they are: Robin Williams, World Cup, Ebola, Maylaysia Airlines, Flappy Bird, ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, ISIS, Ferguson, Frozen, and Ukraine.
For Twitter and Facebook’s stamp on history, jump after the break. Continue reading Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2014
This year in viral videos, as told by YouTube’s top 10 of 2014
YouTube celebrates the moments, memes, and people that made 2014 with its “YouTube Rewind” mashup extravaganza. The video features a number of YouTube content creators singing, dancing, and acting out many of the year’s most popular viral memories. Speaking of viral videos, the good folks at YT have provided a top 10 list of the most popular clips uploaded to the video streaming site “based on views, shares, comments, likes and more.” And they are:
1. Mutant Giant Spider Dog (SA Wardega) by SA Wardega
2. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more by Nike Football
3. FIRST KISS by Tatia PIlieva
4. The Voice IT | Serie 2 | Blind 2 | Suor Cristina Scuccia – #TEAMJ-AX by TheVoiceOf Italy
5. iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test by Unbox Therapy
6. Bars & Melody – Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer act | Britain’s Got Talent 2014 by Britain’s Got Talent
7. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial — “Puppy Love” by Budweiser
8. Devil Baby Attack by DevilsDueNYC
9. Goku vs Superman. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 3. by ERB
10. 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman by Street HarassmentVideo
This year YouTube also went out of its way to provide a top 10 list of the most-watched music videos. Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” tops the list that’s pasted after the break. Continue reading This year in viral videos, as told by YouTube’s top 10 of 2014
This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2014”
DJ Earworm is back to celebrate the most popular music to come out of 2014. Per usual, he magically mashes together the top 25 songs of the year–as determined by Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 charts–with visual eye candy to-boot. The 4-minute music video mash includes Ariana Grande, Hozier, Iggy Azalea, John Legend, Maroon 5, Meghan Trainor, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, and many more. Jump after the break to discover every song the DJ managed to string together for his latest tribute. When you’re done watching, click over to SoundCloud to download the track for free. Continue reading This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2014”
iTunes shares 2014’s top-selling music, movies, TV shows, apps & more
Apple returns to reveal its best-selling media across the major entertainment industries including music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books. Consumers flock to the iTunes Store for the latest and greatest, and so it’s always fun to look back and discover which products made the biggest dent in their respective categories.
The top-selling album of 2014 is actually a soundtrack: it’s Disney’s Frozen! Included in the top 20 are T-Swift’s 1989, Coldplay’s Ghost Stories, Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour, Beyonce’s self-titled surprise album, and Lorde’s magnificent debut Pure Heroine. The top-selling song of the year is Pharrell Williams’ addictive “Happy,” a song that made waves in the animated feature Despicable Me 2. Also in the top 20 are John Legend’s “All of Me,” Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” A Great Big World’s “Say Something,” and OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars.” In addition to these top-selling lists, Apple likes to share hand-picked Editor Choice awards and they include: Best Artist (Beyonce), Best Album (Taylor Swift’s 1989), Best Song (Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”), and Best New Artist (Sam Smith).
Top-selling movies include Frozen, The LEGO Movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, Catching Fire, and Neighbors. Apple named Guardians of the Galaxy Best Blockbuster, The LEGO Movie Best Family Movie, Boyhood‘s Richard Linklater is crowned Best Director, and Obvious Child is Best Discovery. Moving over to TV, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, and Scandal are amongst the year’s best-selling series. Apple named Fargo TV Show of the Year, The Honorable Woman is Best Discovery, Key & Peele is Best Breakthrough, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s performances in True Detective are commended.
Apple’s App Store truly houses the best app ecosystem–there are just so many to choose from. In 2014 people gravitated toward trivia game Heads Up!, which receives my personal Best App To Help Pass The Time Award. Other best-selling paid apps include Minecraft–Pocket Edition, Afterlight, Plague Inc., Sleep Cycle alarm clock, and Facetune. And I bet you can easily guess the top 5 best-selling free ones: Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. 5 for 5? Thought so.
Are you a reader? John Green’s The Fault in our Stars, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Veronica Roth’s Insurgent, Allegiant, and Divergent are among the best-selling fictional tales. Top-selling non-fiction novels include Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson, Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, and Duty by Robert M. Gates.
We cannot forget about podcasts! I will share with you my favorite podcast this year. It’s Serial, from This American Life. It’s being called the most popular podcast of all-time and for good reason. It tells a highly serialized and incredibly addicting true crime story across 12 episodes. It’s like a riveting TV drama, except you get to imagine all of the characters and settings in your head. In addition to Serial, which Apple calls the Best New Podcast, other top-selling podcasts include works from NPR, HowStuffWorks.com, Joe Rogen, Carolla Digital.
Open iTunes to view all of the best-selling media across Apple’s digital storefronts.
Newscaster bloopers will make you laugh, cringe, and laugh some more
Schadenfreude: noun: satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune.
Throughout the year, so many different kinds of video go viral around the world. But there’s nothing quite like newscaster bloopers. So sit back, relax, and the enjoy the best of these bloopers from 2014. It’s schadenfreude at its finest. Viewer discretion is advised; dirty mouths abound. And there’s more where this came from; YouTube channel NewsBeFunny has curated a Part 2 and its posted after the break. Continue reading Newscaster bloopers will make you laugh, cringe, and laugh some more
The ‘Entourage’ movie trailer has arrived
Vince. E. Turtle. Drama. Ari. The boys are back in the first teaser trailer for the Entourage movie. Everybody’s back for the final ride, including Lloyd, Mrs. Ari Gold, and Sloan. Also, the teaser features exciting cameos from Calvin Harris, Billy Bob Thornton, Haley Joel Osment, kick-ass MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, and of course, Mark Wahlberg.
Movie star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), together with his boys, Eric (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny (Kevin Dillon), are back…and back in business with super-agent-turned-studio head Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven). Some of their ambitions have changed, but the bond between them remains strong as they navigate the capricious and often cutthroat world of Hollywood.
The synopsis is pretty generic, but at the end of the day the plot isn’t what’s going to have fans of the HBO original series flocking to theatres this summer. It’s the characters, and man are they back in stride. From the mock sci-fi movie starring Vince and DJ Calvin Harris that opens the teaser, to the numerous Drama jabs, and Ari Gold being Ari Gold, it’s all here. If you’ve been following the Entourage movie whispers since the series finale aired in 2011, this is quite the early Christmas treat.
Entourage hits theatres June 5, 2015.
Surprise: It’s a ‘BoJack Horseman’ Christmas special!
BoJack Horseman is an anthropomorphic horse voiced naturally by Will Arnett who stars in a wickedly smart and funny Netflix original series. If you’ve haven’t binged the 12 episode animated show yet, drop everything you’re doing and get going! Without getting too in-depth so as not to spoil the fun, BJH is about a dude (who happens to be a horse) navigating his life after being in the spotlight starring in a children’s TV show. When he’s tasked to help pen his tell-all biography with a ghost writer, his world slowly begins to get turned upside-down as he is forced to face his past. He contemplates love and so many other things, and it reaches some unexpectedly dark and cynical places, too. All in all, it’s very entertaining and it features slick animation with a stellar voice cast.
Now, onto the good news! It was previously reported that Netflix is already underway with a second season of BoJack Horseman, but seemingly out of the blue today the streaming service dropped a full-length Christmas special for fans of the series. Huzzah! In “Sabrina’s Christmas Wish:
It’s Christmas, and BoJack Horseman wants nothing to do with it, especially when Todd (Aaron Paul) shows up with a giant candy cane and one of BoJack’s “Horsin’ Around” Christmas episodes from his TV star days. But BoJack agrees to watch it with Todd, if only for the residual check. One heart-warming orphan story and lots of cans of beer later, BoJack might be willing to re-think his attitude — unless Todd gets too enthusiastic about the whole holiday thing.
Stream the special at Netflix today. And if you’re new to the show, start with episode 1 right here. BJH season 2 is expected to arrive sometime in 2015.
‘Bates Motel’ teaser turns Norman into the Peeping Tom we’ve all been waiting for
Now that Norman Bates–played exquisitely by Freddy Highmore–is truly reaching his Psycho potential, it’s high time for the buzzy drama to start embracing its rich source material. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic has found its way into Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin’s prequel series in various forms: Highmore’s Norman has been fascinated with taxidermy for awhile now, and we’ve even seen his mother’s dark (yet still living) silhouette from afar in a window peering out of Bates Manor. Plus, at the very end of last season, Norman realized he could compartmentalize his multiple personalities: Norman and Norma can reason independently inside his mind. There’s no doubt we’re inching closer to the completely psychotic Norman Bates as seen in Hitchcock’s film.
Where does Norman go from here, then? To the peep-hole, of course! In this creep-tastic teaser for the upcoming third season of A&E’s Bates Motel, we spy on new motel tenant Annika Johnson (played by the beautiful Tracy Spiridakos from the recently cancelled NBC series Revolution) as she begins to undress. Cue heavy breathing as the camera pulls out of the hole to reveal Norman as our Peeping Tom. Chilling! As a massive fan of Psycho, watching this teaser is majorly satisfying.
Bates Motel checks in again this March.