Archive: August 2009 (71-80 of 386)

Aug 25 2009 05:08 PM ET

Happy 70th anniversary, 'The Wizard of Oz'! (Name your favorite lines!)

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Categories: Movies, Things That Are Awesome!, Things That Are Classy

Break out those ruby red slippers, PopWatchers! Today marks the 70th anniversary of 1939′s epic The Wizard of Oz. And the only thing more impressive than the film’s ability to hold up for contemporary audiences is the fact that there are still some munchkins alive to celebrate the movie’s septuagenarian status. If the secret to long life is a diet of lollipops, I’m in!

Though rightly revered for its ground-breaking visual effects, and Judy Garland’s effervescent on-screen presence, we know what’s most fun about the film: the quoteables. While famous quotes from old-time films like All About Eve (“Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be a bumpy night.“) and Auntie Mame (“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!“) are slowly but tragically being omitted from the lexicons of future generations, The Wizard of Oz‘s best lines continue to be referenced by folks of all ages. Who hasn’t seen an embroidered pillow reading “There’s no place like home”? Or screamed “I’m melting! Melting! Oh, what a world, what a world!” during an oppressively hot day?

So let’s pet our little dogs and toast the classic film with a poll of your favorite Wizard of Oz quotes! Tell me, PopWatchers, which famous lines from the film do you find yourself referencing most? List them below, or…I’ll bite you myself!

Aug 25 2009 04:54 PM ET

EW exclusive! First look at Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman in the Broadway play 'A Steady Rain'

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Categories: Exclusive First Look, Stage/Theater

steady-rain-craig-jackman_lWolverine and James Bond will soon be squaring off eight times a week. And here’s the first publicity photo of Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in the Broadway play A Steady Rain, in which they play Chicago cops with enough troubles to fill Soldier Field. Jackman, who won a Tony in 2004 for hoofing it as 1970s singer-songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz, plays Denny, a patrolman with a racist streak and violent temper. And Craig, a London stage veteran making his Broadway debut, plays Joey, a recovering alcoholic and gentler soul who may not be as docile as he first seems. In A Steady Rain, which just began rehearsals, the two buddies in blue recount a few harrowing days on the job and their very different accounts of a police call that quickly went south.

Performances of American playwright Keith Huff’s two-man play begin Sept. 10 with an official opening set for Sept. 29. The show, directed by Tony nominee John Crowley (The Pillowman), is scheduled to run through Dec. 6. And while I have my reservations about Craig’s porn-stache — a look that 007 could never get away with, thank heavens — I have to say that both stars look rugged, handsome, and intense. They can walk my beat any day.

More from EW:
The Bacchae: EW review
Stage: Index to all EW theater coverage

Photo credit: Greg Williams

Aug 25 2009 04:25 PM ET

Harry Potter Playing the Hobbit? It'll Never Happen. And thank God!

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Categories: Harry Potter, The Hobbit

You’ve been reading about this, right?  Fans online have said Daniel Radcliffe would be their first choice to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit”—so someone finally asked Radcliffe if he’d be interested. “I’d have to say, ‘Thanks but no thanks,’ not that anyone has asked me,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t think they would want me anyway; it’s just too close.” Yes, it sure is.

Let’s come right out and state for the record that it’s capital-k crazy to imagine the folks making “The Hobbit” (producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro) asking Harry Potter to play the Hobbit. It may be  years before moviegoers can believe Radcliffe’s anyone other than Harry P.  If you were launching “The Hobbit” would you want audiences spending the first hour wondering why Bilbo doesn’t have a scar on his forehead?

The movie theaters have become so crowded that franchises need every chance they can to seem different, bigger and better. Also, Tolkein’s middle-earth novels influenced the Harry Potter, and casting Radcliffe would suddenly make ‘The Hobbit’ seem like a lesser book in need of a little Potter magic to work at the box office.

So why are all those fans online saying they want Radcliffe to play Bilbo? Probably because they’re usually asked to pick between him and people like James MacAvoy who’s a zillion times less famous and beloved.  I’d actually love to see MacAvoy (“Atonement,” “Wanted”) play Bilbo. How about you, popwatchers? Who’s your ideal Hobbit? And how would you feel if Radcliffe was cast? Would that be a disaster–or just twice as much as magic?

Aug 25 2009 03:56 PM ET

The new Batman videogame: Does 'Arkham Asylum' deserve all the accolades?

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Categories: Comic Books, Snap Judgment, Videogames

batman-arkham-asylum_lReviewers and gamers are going c-r-a-z-y over Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game, which went on sale today, is terrific: It masterfully weaves together a compelling storyline by veteran Bat-scribe Paul Dini, bone-crunching fisticuffs, vintage Bat-gadgets, oft-neglected detective work, and a satisfying turnout by the Dark Knight’s colorful rogue’s gallery (headlined by a Mark Hamill-voiced Joker). But I’m still surprised by how much attention it’s getting. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 25 2009 03:00 PM ET

Is anyone's life better than Guy Fieri's?

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Categories: Double Vision, Food and Drink, Is This a Rhetorical Question?, Television, Things That Are Awesome!

guy_fieri_lookalikeFirst of all, pictured is some potentially useful proof that if the Food Network ever misplaces ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ host Guy Fieri, it has a spare in Alma Mendez, the owner of La Texanita in Santa Rosa, Calif. Whew! Though I’d just like to go on the record as saying I’d be more than happy to change up my own look for the chance to trade lives with the Guy. Starting in present day, of course. The “road-tripping around the U.S. to consume as much locally beloved deep-fried goodness as possible” part, not the “learning to cook well enough to win a reality show” part, because that would take forever and I am so busy. According to my own standards and priorities, the answer to the question in the headline is NO. Guy Fieri is on TV, eats everything, and no one tells him to lose weight. Name someone who has it better. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 25 2009 02:45 PM ET

'Vh1 Divas' adds Paula. Now where are Madonna, Mariah, and Whitney?

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Categories: Madonna, Mariah Carey, Music, Television

Paula-Abdul_lA nation can let out its collective breath: After weeks of hand-wringing, pearl-clutching, and taking out our frustration on loved ones by asking them, “Am. I. A. Page. In. Your. Hiss. Tor. Ee. Book?” we now know for certain when and in which capacity Paula Abdul will once again appear on TV. She’ll be hosting the ‘Vh1 2009 Divas’ concert, featuring Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, and Jordin Sparks, plus “additional performers” to be announced by Vh1 in the near future. You’ve already voiced your displeasure with the 2009 lineup (AHEM Miley) when PopWatch asked who’d be better to headline Vh1′s much-touted franchise revival. So does the addition of Paula to the scene help make Divas Live a can’t-miss event? Sure, Paula’s more of a Diva than any of the guests, but it still seems that even more than American Idol‘s former “nice judge,”  Vh1′s showcase event could use some A-list vocal firepower, no? Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Madonna all have albums dropping this fall and could add some heft to the performances. This was supposed to be a big deal, right? Where are all the divas?


Photo Credit: Black/startraksphoto.com

Aug 25 2009 02:19 PM ET

'Batman: Arkham Asylum' commercial plays the old dancing skeleton barbershop quartet card

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Categories: Advertising, Animation, Videogames

There’s just something about this Batman: Arkham Asylum ad that makes me laugh and squeal with joy and terror every time I watch it — perhaps because it’s probably the only ad I can compare to late-period Federico Fellini (or at least early Sam Raimi).

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 25 2009 02:15 PM ET

Jack Ingram goes for Guinness radio interview record, takes The EW Pop Culture Personality Test

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Categories: Country Y'all!, EW Pop Culture Personality Test, Music

Jack-Ingram_lCountry singer Jack Ingram is promoting his new album, Big Dreams & High Hopes, out today, by attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most radio interviews in 24 hours. CMT is currently live-streaming his quest — approximately 225 five-minute chats. It’s not the craziest thing he’s ever done: That, he says, would be riding a steer in a celebrity event hosted by bullriding champion Tuff Hedeman. “Three seconds later, I couldn’t breathe for, like, literally two weeks. The next morning I could not get out of bed. Not because I was sore but because something was definitely wrong. It turns out I cracked a couple of ribs. I called Tuff, and he said, ‘You know what you do for a cracked rib, right? You say Ouch.’” Ingram shot the video for his current single, “Barefoot and Crazy,” the next day.

Nervous for his Guinness run, but realizing that when he got to New York he was “gonna have a beer with somebody,” he met PopWatch for a couple Bud Lights last night and warmed up with The EW Pop Culture Personality Test. (He left the bar at 9:30 p.m. — because he had a phoner to do.) READ FULL STORY »

Aug 25 2009 01:00 PM ET

Attention fans of 'Guiding Light' couple Otalia: The moment you've been waiting for?

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Categories: Tech, Television

Guiding-Light-Leccia-Chappell_lWhen I was coordinating the Must List, there would be an almost weekly deluge of suggestions for “Otalia” for the Reader’s Choice. Never heard of them? Then obviously you aren’t a Guiding Light fan. “Otalia” is the nickname for the characters Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera, two single moms who surprised themselves by falling in love, and consequently capturing a fervent online fanbase. As the venerable soap opera winds down to its final episode on Sept. 18, the NY Times ran a piece yesterday that may cheer up some viewers. Crystal Chappell, the longtime soap star who plays Olivia, will be launching a Web series called Venice in November in which she’ll star as gay woman in Venice Beach, Calif. Jessica Leccia, the actress who plays Natalia, has agreed to appear, and Chappell promises that their characters will do something that’s been avoided on Guiding Light so far: actually kiss. What do you think Otalia-ites? Are you going to be tuning in?

PHOTO CREDIT: CBS

Aug 25 2009 12:34 PM ET

Wikipedia's new editorial policy: Wiki-whaaa?

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Categories: Tech

Your ability to influence Wikiality is about to change: Wikipedia is instituting what the New York Times is calling “a layer of editorial review,” but only on articles about living people. “The new feature, called ‘flagged revisions,’ will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in Wikispeak, flagged — it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia’s servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version.”

A similar editorial process has been in place for the German-language version for some time now, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says Wikipedia has a “serious responsibility” now to be accurate.

On a practical level, this is a good decision: Accuracy and accountability are good things, and Wikipedia — like any other source — can always use more. On an abstract level, though, there’s part of me that wonders if this runs counter to the entire premise Wikipedia: The whole point was that it was a bottom-up process, not a top-down one; that everyone’s contributions were equally welcome; and that the community edited itself.

What do you think, PopWatchers? Now that Wikipedia is as front-and-center as its ever been, should it change its editorial policies? And do you love BJ Novak’s “Wikipedia Brown” bit as much as I do?

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