Category Archives: Entertainment

2014 Oscar nods are in!

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The nominations are here for the 86th Academy Awards. There are nine films vying for Best Picture and they are American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena. 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street. David O. Russell (American Hustle) Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) are up for Best Director. American Hustle and Gravity are the most nominated movies this year with 10 apiece. As for snubs, people are buzzing that star Tom Hanks and director Paul Greengrass were not recognized for their respective contributions to Captain Phillips; also no love for Sam Rockwell (The Way, Way Back), Scarlett Johansson (Her), Pixar’s animated Monsters University, and Ed Sheeran’s phenomenal song “I See Fire” from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Click here for the full list of nominees.

Ellen DeGeneres hosts the Oscars live Sunday, March 2 at 7PM EST on ABC.

2014 Golden Globes: ‘American Hustle’, ‘Breaking Bad’ & ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ big winners

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The big winners at this year’s Golden Globes were 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, Breaking Bad, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Slave took the coveted Best Motion Picture (Drama) home, and American Hustle nabbed four trophies for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Best Actress for Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence, and Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto. Though Gravity and Her didn’t win the big ones, they were recognized as the former movie’s director Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director and the latter’s writer/director Spike Jonze won Best Screenplay. Frozen won Best Animated Feature Film, but unfortunately it lost out to U2 for Best Original Song; “Let It Go” will have a shot at the Oscars.

Bad and Brooklyn dominated the TV side of things both scoring Best TV Series for a Drama and Comedy, respectively. Bad‘s star Bryan Cranston was named Best Actor and in a surprise turn of events Brooklyn‘s protagonist played by SNL alum Andy Samberg took home that award as well. And finally, Globes co-host Amy Poehler received an award for her turn as Leslie Knope in the low-rated but highly acclaimed sitcom Parks And Recreation.

Click here for the full list of winners.

First look: Meet Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

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Here’s our first official look at Marvel’s upcoming superhero movie Guardians of the Galaxy. From left to right there’s Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), a raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Drax the Destroyer (played by wrestler Dave Bautista), and a giant tree named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). United as one they are the Guardians of the Galaxy, and under James Gunn’s direction they band together in theatres August 1, 2014. Also starring are Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Commander Rael, and Benicio del Toro as The Collector.

In addition to this slick pic is the flick’s first official synopsis and it goes like this:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team–the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand–with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

[Via Marvel]

TV reminder: 9 premieres to look out for in January

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We’ve hit the midseason mark and with it comes a handful of series premieres worth getting excited about, along with the return of some of your favorite shows. Full speed ahead, after the break! Continue reading TV reminder: 9 premieres to look out for in January →

Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2013

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Google’s year-end Zeitgeist, or “spirit of the times,” continues to impress with its far-reaching grasp on what we searched for and talked about over the course of the year that was 2013. The search giant calls it their “most global Zeitgeist to date” as it includes over 1,000 top 10 lists spanning 72 countries. Their “Here’s to 2013” retrospective video highlights the people, places, and moments that captured the world’s attention throughout the year. Of all the lists the one you’re most likely to want to see first is the top 10 global searches of 2013. Falling in line with years past, the list includes celebrity/world leader deaths, hot technology, and a viral video to boot.:

  1. Nelson Mandela
  2. Paul Walker
  3. iPhone 5s
  4. Cory Monteith
  5. Harlem Shake
  6. Boston Marathon
  7. Royal Baby
  8. Samsung Galaxy s4
  9. PlayStation 4
  10. North Korea

Head over to the Zeitgeist homepage to explore the myriad trending lists. There, for the first time, you’ll also find an interactive Trends Globe that allows you to play around with a 3D global map showcasing the top search trends of the year by day in cities around the world. Like I said, impressive stuff here.

Jump after the break to see how Twitter and Facebook are celebrating the big two-oh-one-three. Continue reading Google, Twitter and Facebook mark the highlights of 2013 →

This year in viral videos, as told by YouTube’s top 10 of 2013

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It’s been another wild year for things that went viral on the Internet. YouTube‘s compiled a list of the top 10 most trending videos of 2013 and can you guess which video claimed the #1 spot? I’ll give you a hit: Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! That’s right–it’s Ylvis’ “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” which has amassed over 306 million views as of writing this post. The Harlem Shake, Steve Kardynal’s hysterical Chatroulette version of “Wrecking Ball,” The Lonely Island’s “YOLO,” and that Carrie movie telekinesis marketing ploy also made the most watched list:

1. Ylvis – “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” by tvnorge
2. “Harlem Shake (original army edition)” by kennethaakonsen
3. “How Animals Eat Their Food” | MisterEpicMann by MisterEpicMann
4. “Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball (Chatroulette Version)” by SteveKardynal
5. “baby&me / the new evian film” by EvianBabies
6. Volvo Trucks – “The Epic Split feat. Van Damme” by VolvoTrucks
7. “YOLO (feat. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar)” by thelonelyisland
8. “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” by CarrieNYC
9. “THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading” by BadLipReading
10. “Mozart vs Skrillex. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2” by ERB

The video hanging above mashes together the year’s most popular viral hits; “YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?” stars YouTube personalities like Mystery Guitar Man, GloZell, DeStorm, Jenna Marbles, Epic Meal Time, Annoying Orange, iJustine, Grace Helbig, and FreddieW. Rock out with your tail out!

This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2013″

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Experience 2013’s most popular songs (as determined by Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 charts, of course) with DJ Earworm‘s latest installment in his “United State of Pop” mashup franchise. As always Earworm goes the extra mile and complements his annual mashup with a visual component, magically stitching together the artist’s music videos. The new track is called “Living the Fantasy” so it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that Lorde’s “Royals” dominates here; Miley’s “We Can’t Stop” and Rihanna’s “Stay” also get recycled often. Songs by Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Justin Timberlake, and One Republic are among the 25 total used here; jump after the break for the full tracklist.

After watching the mashup, download the track for free at SoundCloud. Continue reading This year in music, as told by DJ Earworm’s mega-mashup “United State of Pop 2013″ →

This year in movies, as told by 300 of them in seven minutes

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Genevieve Ip returns with her annual look back at the year in movies. This time around she’s crammed 300 films into a seven-minute retrospective. The clip is separated into five parts based on various themes that connect the various films used: words, origins, evil, death & love, and time. Hop over to Ip’s Tumblr to read her take on said themes.

“One of my biggest goals in cutting this video was to show that movies are more alike than they are dissimilar, that they can all come together and tell a grander narrative about humanity and life,” she told the LA Times. “I’ll create a backbone of themes and try to find dialogue and music to support them. Sometimes though, I’m struck by a particular line and it takes on a life of its own and creates its own thematic section.”

According to a recent tweet, this is Ip’s final “Filmography” mashup. “I’m ready to come up with a new format for my passion projects,” she admits. So sit back, relax, and enjoy “Filmography 2013” and relive her past creations here.

iTunes shares 2013’s top-selling albums, movies, TV shows, apps & more

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Apple’s iTunes, App, and iBooks Stores have truly become the destination on the Internet to discover and download the latest and greatest in music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books. And every year the house that Jobs built tallies the best-selling media, so let’s take a look.

In music, Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience is crowned the top-selling album of 2013. Also landing in the top 15 are Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. The top-selling song? M&R’s “Thrift Shop,” followed by Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.” In addition to these top-selling lists, Apple has hand-picked Editor Choice awards; namely, JT is named Artist of the Year, M&R’s The Heist is Album of the Year, Lorde’s “Royals” is Song of the Year, and Kendrick Lamar (Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City) is Breakthrough Artist.

The top three best-selling movies are Skyfall, Wreck-It Ralph, and Argo. Apple named Gravity Best Movie and Despicable Me 2 Best Animated Movie. On TV, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, and The Walking Dead lead the top-selling series of 2013. Vince Gilligan’s masterpiece is TV Show of the Year, Scandal is Best Breakthrough, and Orphan Black is Best Discovery.

The best-selling paid app is Minecraft – Pocket Edition; also making that list is Heads Up!, Temple Run: Oz, and Angry Birds Star Wars. The best-selling freebie? Candy Crush Saga, of course, followed by Temple Run 2, Vine, Google Maps, and Snapchat.

The most popular books (fiction) are Dan Brown’s Inferno, E L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Apple quite liked Tenth of December by George Saunders.

Click here to browse Apple’s Best of 2013 charts across all the various forms of media.

‘Sherlock’ mini-episode tees up series 3

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Sherlock has been gone for two years. But someone isn’t quite convinced that he’s dead…

So reads the logline for this Sherlock mini-episode that serves as a prequel appetizer for series 3. It opens with Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade (Rupert Graves) meeting with a bearded Anderson (Jonathan Aris) at a coffee shop investigating probable Sherlock sightings. DI Lestrade firmly believes the master sleuth is “dead and gone” but Anderson’s worldly tales have Sherlock’s fingerprints all over them. Later, Lestrade stops by Dr. John Watson’s pad (Martin Freeman hasn’t grown out his famed mustache yet) to hand over some of Sherlock’s belongings. Among the contents is a DVD with the uncut version of a birthday message Sherlock made for his apprentice. In it the one played by Benedict Cumberbatch teases, “Oh and don’t worry; I’m going to be with you again very soon.”

“Many Happy Returns” was written by series creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.

How did Sherlock fake his death? How exactly will his reunion with Watson go down? Find out when Sherlock returns January 19 on PBS.

‘Orphan Black’ season 2 teaser gets sciencey

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It’s another Orphan Black tantalizing teaser! There’s blood and test tubes and DNA strands galore!

“I’m part of a sisterhood like no other. A piece of a puzzle I can barely comprehend. My life is someone else’s experiment,” says star Tatiana Maslany. “My name is Alison Hendrix, is Cosima Niehaus, is Rachel Duncan, Sarah Manning–and I’m one of a kind.”

Boom. Orphan Black returns for its highly anticipated second season April 19 on BBC America.