Archive: May 2009 (1-10 of 467)

May 30 2009 08:58 PM ET

What's on your summer reading list?

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Categories: Books

Clueless_l

Good day to ya, PopWatchers! Hope you’re enjoying your weekend. Me, I woke up on this lazy Saturday and clicked on the TV to find… a blissfully empty DVR! Ah, summer — how I welcome your warm embrace. The 2008-2009 television season has come to its long-awaited end, and assuming I can avoid becoming attached to any reality programming involving fat people bouncing off things, that means it’s time for my favorite annual activity: the reading of as many books as possible before the TV shows start premiering again in the fall.

I’ve already finished my first novel of the season: Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland, about marital struggles and cricket on the fringes of post-9/11 New York. I loved it, and not just because Obama told me to. Sitting now in front of my bookshelves — organized as they are into "already read," "need to read," and "read but can’t remember what it was about" — I am really getting excited about the months to come. I’m going to start out with More Than It Hurts You by my old friend Darin Strauss, then dive into All the President’s Men. I think I’ve got enough distance from the movie to read Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men at last. I’ve been meaning to tackle Thomas Friedman’s Longitudes and Attitudes for what feels like a decade; elsewhere in non-fiction, there’s Elizabeth Royte’s Garbage Land, and two from Steven Johnson, Everything Bad is Good for You and The Ghost Map. I never got around to Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America or Maureen Dowd’s Are Men Really Necessary? As always, Gravity’s Rainbow is taunting me like an evil brick. And then there are the guilty pleasures: an unauthorized biography of Axl Rose, or Anthony Kiedis’s memoir, Scar Tissue; a stack of old Neil Gaiman graphic novels; John Irving’s Until I Find You, which I’m not sure is supposed to be any good but I’ve read everything else of his so I might as well read that. Also, for some insane reason, I’d like to re-read some Shakespeare this summer. Maybe it’s because I’m re-watching Sports Night on DVD, and Aaron Sorkin shows always make me feel like I don’t have enough Shakespeare memorized to use when proving a point in casual conversation.

What about you, PopWatchers? What books are going on your bedside table, in your beach bag, or on vacation with you this summer? And how many books do you think you can finish by fall? Summer Book Challenge 09 starts now!

More Summer Reading lists from EW:
Stephen King: 7 Great Books for Summer
Nightstand Inspection: What are you reading right now?

 

May 30 2009 06:00 PM ET

'Up': Now that it's out, we'd like to know: What's your favorite Pixar movie?

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Categories: Have You Seen This?, Movies

Pixarup_lIt’s certainly nothing new or insightful, but after seeing the winsome and utterly charming Up, it really does bear repeating: Pixar can do no wrong. The beginning of the film, where it traces the decades-long romance between Carl and Ellie, is disarmingly sweet and more than a little devastating. The fact that Up begins on that decidedly adult note elevates (no pun intended!) the film to one of Pixar’s very best, in my estimation. It will take at least another viewing to decide where Up ranks on my all-time favorite Pixar list, but I would say it definitely warrants consideration.

That got me thinking: What is my favorite Pixar feature? Picking just one is totally a Sophie’s Choice, only this time you have 10 children instead of two. They are all good! (Cars is easily my least favorite, though. It’s not bad per se, just bland.) While I would tend to think Toy Story 2, Ratatouille, and Wall-E are the company’s flat-out best — artistically and story-wise — the one I have watched the most is Monsters, Inc. That movie is totally comfort food, the cinematic equivalent of baked macaroni and cheese. It captures the spirit of being a child perfectly, and it’s just so darn warm, fuzzy, and cute. And I think the door sequence — where Mike and Sully chase after Boo and travel through locales like a backwoods trailer park and an apartment in old Paris — is one of the most inventive/ingenious scenes in a Pixar film, ever.

Your turn, PopWatchers: Monsters, Inc. is my favorite, what’s yours? Have you seen Up yet? How does it stack up in your mind? And who else can’t wait for Toy Story 3?

More Pixar from EW:
Pixar Hall of Fame photo gallery: All the classics

May 30 2009 03:39 AM ET

'Idolatry': Danny Gokey on the scream, the controversial photo, and the performance that made him 'angry'

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Categories: American Idol, Idolatry

Here it is folks (and sorry for the delay): Idolatry‘s hotly anticipated, five-part interview with Danny Gokey. With apologies to fans of the profoundly awkward, neither Kristen Baldwin, nor her alter ego Kristen With Glasses, participated in this sit-down chat. Idolatry’s commentary episodes may be brutally scathing — a place where EW staffers and I can vent our visceral feelings about American Idol – but if a contestant is game enough to pay us a visit, we’d never go out of our way to make him or her feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. In fact, the goal of these interview segments is to be as unfiltered as possible, but just as important, to give you a better sense of each and every Idol finalist — as I think we’ve seen all season, the best portions of contestants’ personalities often seem to end up on Fox’s editing-room floors. And so it was in that spirit we approached our conversation with Danny. Press play below to hear his thoughts on wanting people to like him, shopping in the "women’s department," and dreaming about trying out for season 9. Danny also responds to record producer Howard Benson’s contention that he’ll never make a record, gives a surprising answer about the way certain media outlets painted season 8 as a referendum on social issues, and addresses the criticism that followed his semifinal performance of "Hero" (after a relative held up a picture of Danny’s late wife for the camera). Check back later this weekend for the cherry on top of the Idolatry season sundae: An action-packed interview with Kris Allen. (In the interim, check out bonus outtakes of Missy Schwartz’s most excellent feature story on the season 8 champ from this week’s issue of EW.) We’ll also be serving up a LaKisha Jones conference-room performance during the week, so keep checking back, or better yet, click here and sign up for our Idol email alerts, which will alert you to our coverage of America’s favorite talent show all through the unbearable off season.

More on ‘American Idol’:
‘Idolatry’: Adam Lambert dishes song choices, naughty lyrics, and Bill O’Reilly!
‘Idolatry’: Now on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’!
Adam Lambert: A role model? Really?
EW.com’s American Idol HQ

May 29 2009 11:09 PM ET

Enter the Fray: Adam Lambert, 'Jon & Kate,' and Robert Pattinson shirtless!

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Categories: American Idol

Thefrey_lThe remnants of American Idol continue to dominate PopWatch, particularly posts about runner-up Adam Lambert. Seemingly everyone has something to say about the guy (even Clay Aiken). Elsewhere, the usual suspects of Robert Pattinson and The Bachelorette provoked lively reactions from you folks, and rumors of a Buffy movie sans mastermind Joss Whedon proved that show has perhaps the most ardent (and vocal) fan base of any program in recent memory. Here are the 10 stories that lit up PopWatch this week:

10. Missy Schwartz graciously gifted us with leftover snippets from her interview with Idol champ Kris Allen.

9. A friend of Margaret Lyons is watching The West Wing for the first time, and it prompted her to get all nostalgic/jealous and ask: What show do you wish you could see again…for the first time?

8. The machine that is known as Jeff Jensen shared some statue-related knowledge that should hold all Lost fans in thrall until his final column surfaces, in which he’ll tell us what to think about it. Thank God for that.

7. Clark Collis saw Terminator Salvation, and not only understands Christian Bale’s rage, but also just might be done with McG, professionally.

6. As EW’s resident Dancing With the Stars recapper, Annie Barrett is a little petrified that American Idol castoff Danny Gokey may find his way back on the airwaves. Why would she be petrified? Oh, I dunno, maybe because of this.

5. Robert Pattinson walks around without a shirt. Hearts flutter.

4. The Jon & Kate Plus 8 premiere attracted historic ratings. But stories from the show continue to get more depressing. Did Kate really put Jon on a $5 dollar a day allowance? At this point, nothing would surprise us.

3. Chris Harrison blogged about the cocktails, man-bikinis, and the bizarre full-frontal nudity that dominated this week’s episode of The Bachelorette.

2. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie without Joss Whedon? Blasphemy!

1. People can’t stop talking about Adam Lambert. Kara DioGuardi fanned the flame of the "is-he-or-isn’t he" discussion on The View, while EW staffer Adam Markovitz wondered whether Lambert is using all of the speculation as a marketing tool. It’s a must-read. Check out Michael Slezak’s interview with the guy, as well as his fuschia-red hair on Idolatry while you’re at it.

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May 29 2009 10:39 PM ET

'Lost': Rethinking my crazy-ass thinking while cleaning toilets

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Categories: Lost

The week has reached its end, and there should be a new Doc Jensen column here for you to read. Right? After all, I promised you as much a couple days ago when I posted an item in this space apologizing for the absence of my promised Wednesday column. Well, guess what? I’m here again, in this space, to offer you yet another apology. You see, a funny thing happened since I made my Friday pledge, something I like to call … work.

For when the last season of Lost concluded two long weeks ago, my editors took me aside and said, Look, dude. We know you’d like nothing better than to spend the next nine months sitting in your office eating Ding Dongs and swilling vodka while combing through Wikipedia for ideas for new theories — but not this year. In this economy, you gotta earn your keep, or we gotta cut you loose. So here are your options: You can clean the toilets, or you can write about summertime reality television. What’s it gonna be?

About 20 hours of scrubbing and bleaching later, I have found time to file this item, informing you of yet another delay.

The good news is that I do a lot of my best thinking while I’m in the bathroom. And so, during the course of my janitorial work, I have had a of couple epiphanies that I intend to share with you in my final column. For example:

READ FULL STORY »

May 29 2009 10:00 PM ET

'Idolatry': Now on 'The O'Reilly Factor'!

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Categories: American Idol, Idolatry, Strange Bedfellows

Lambertoreilly_l_2(Possible) controversy alert! Idolatry, EW.com’s humble video series devoted to all things American Idol, is being sucked into the No-Spin Zone. That’s right, Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor will be excerpting our interview with Idol‘s season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert for an episode airing tonight at 8 p.m. EDT (and repeating at 11 p.m.).

I’m not sure what to expect, exactly, but here’s a little context: During my freewheeling, candid Idolatry chat with Mr. Lambert, I had asked if he’d seen an O’Reilly Factor segment from earlier in the season during which host Bill O’Reilly blurred out photos of Adam kissing another man and called them "embarrassing." When I raised the question "embarrassing to who?" Adam replied, "I wasn’t embarrassed. I guess he was. Bill was embarrassed." So you know where we’re headed, right? Straight up Molehill Mountain, the land where narcissistic TV hosts grab onto any little soundbite that makes the news about them. And now, here I am, blogging about O’Reilly building a show around an interview I did with an Idol contestant that referenced an O’Reilly segment that was focused on said contestant. Coming soon to your dictionary, next to the word "meta": A picture of my ridiculous pink dye-job.

O’Reilly’s web site teases their story thusly: "’Idol’ runner-up Adam Lambert sounds off on Bill! We’ll play you the tape." Newsflash to fans of The O’Reilly Factor: The interview, in its entirety, is embedded after the jump! Guess there’s no need to tune in to O’Reilly after all!

UPDATE: Color me plum surprised! O’Reilly actually praised Adam for his Idolatry comment that TOF‘s two female contributors gave him props during the telecast in question. But riddle me this: If O’Reilly wants us to believe he truly operates in a "no-spin" zone, how come he neglected to air any of Adam’s Idolatry quotes that could’ve been construed as critical or mocking of the Fox News host? Also, dude needs a serious education about First Amendment. Maybe he should start with this link?

READ FULL STORY »

May 29 2009 10:00 PM ET

Zach Galifianakis, Zombies, and an adorable animal: This week in viral videos

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Categories: Viral Video!!!

I would never sit through this long a YouTube video unless it was unbelievably awesome. And this so, so is. At least wait till they start using the Saran wrap. Ugh, why can’t America have shows like this?

So much more where that came from…

READ FULL STORY »

May 29 2009 09:26 PM ET

'New Moon' trailer: A 14-second tease with a one-second kiss

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Categories: Movies, New Moon, Twilight, Waiting, Weekend To-Do List

Because we can’t possibly wait until Sunday night to see the trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon premiere on the MTV Movie Awards, Entertainment Tonight has scored itself a 14-second tease (which I am ashamed to admit I found out about through a Ryan Seacrest Tweet). Check it out below. I’m not sure what there is to say other than that Kristen Stewart does some nice eyebrow acting and, of course, that Bella’s birthday present is worth $20,000. 

More on ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’:
‘New Moon’: 35 pics from the set
Robert Pattinson. Shirtless. Filming ‘New Moon.’ Yes!
‘New Moon’: Exclusive photos and on-the-set scoop
‘Twilight Saga: New Moon’ one-sheet debuts: Hello, Jacob! And Edward’s chest hair!
EW’s ‘Twilight’ Headquarters (featuring photo galleries, video interviews, and more)

May 29 2009 08:25 PM ET

Will Ferrell: No urine drinking on 'Man vs. Wild' -- but 'I did eat the cornea of a reindeer'

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Categories: Reality TV, Television, Things That Are Awesome!, Waiting

The countdown for Discovery’s very special June 2 episode of Man vs. Wild with Will Ferrell has officially begun. In the new issue of EW, Ferrell tells senior writer Josh Rottenberg that when the idea of promoting his June 5 adventure film Land of the Lost by trekking through the frozen wilderness of northern Sweden with host Bear Grylls was pitched to him he couldn’t stop laughing. "I was like, ‘Oh, that might be awful, but I have to do it.’" In the preview embedded below, you see that Ferrell did make yellow snow — "I think I’ve lost my penis," he jokes on-camera, "Out here…it’s just me and Bear Grylls…in the wild…urinating together" — but he assures EW that he did not drink his own urine, as has been previously reported. "I did eat the cornea of a reindeer, though," he told us. "Bear cut out this little gelantinous disc from the eyeball and was like, ‘Here, try this.’" And how did it taste? "It was like a Certs breath mint, without any of the delicious properties."

Does this look like the best Man vs. Wild ever? If not, which episode holds the title?

May 29 2009 08:12 PM ET

New study suggests nerds like the Internet

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Categories: Television

A new study from Neilsen attempts to categorize "broadband-media consumers" by how much TV they watch on actual televisions, how much they watch online, and how much they watch on something else. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the study wound up with eight categories of viewers, sorted by age, income, gender, and viewing habits.

Apparently, I fall in the "extreme techie" category, because that includes people who watch, on average, 91 minutes of streaming video a week. I watched more than 91 minute of streaming video…yesterday. X-treme! Guh, now I just feel like a freakshow. My fellow ETs — I don’t think that’s a coincidence — and I own, on average, four cross-platform devices that we use to view TV, which is what got me thinking [about something other than what a nerd I am]: Are there shows I’d rather watch not on a TV? Indeed.

Obviously, there are vodcast-only shows I like to fire up, but when I watch, oh, Countdown with Keith Olberman, I just prefer it  on my iPod — actually sitting down and watching his show on TV feels like overstating its significance in my life. On the subway, though, sure. I’m unlikely to watch old episodes of American Gothic on my living room TV, even though I totally have the DVDs, but I do watch it on Hulu now and then.

What about you, PopWatchers? Are there other "extreme techies" out there who like to watch their shows on something other than the traditional TV?

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