Archive: February 2010 (1-10 of 489)

Feb 28 2010 06:00 PM ET

Olympic Stud of the Olympics: Kim Yu-Na!

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Categories: Olympic Stud of the Day, Olympics, Sports

kim-yu-na-olympicsImage Credit: George Bridges/MCT/LandovThe 2010 Winter Olympics aren’t over yet: The US and Canada are tangling in an overtime gold-medal hockey match that everyone I know is watching, regardless of whether they care about hockey or not. But unless someone on that ice manages to score 14 goals using only their teeth, we’ve seen the best individual performances these Games have to give.

Here at PopWatch, we’ve brought you our picks for the Olympic Stud of the Day over the past two weeks, those men and women who made our hearts stop with their athleticism, strength, endurance, and character. We’ve seen moments both triumphant (Evan Lysacek!) and touching (Joannie Rochette!); we’ve applauded those who overcame long odds (Lindsey Vonn!) and those who fell victim to their own limitations (uh… Lindsey Vonn!). We’ve seen firsts (the Americans who medaled in Nordic combined), and lasts (the celebratory, career-capping gold for skating pair Shen and Zhao, who can hopefully stop living in separate dorm rooms now).

But who was the best? Who, when we look back at the Vancouver Olympics, will we remember the most? Please take a moment to google the lyrics to the South Korean National Anthem, because our Olympic Stud of the Olympics is…

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 28 2010 11:03 AM ET

'Idolatry': Miraculous survivals, new contenders, and a Bowersox concern this week on 'American Idol'

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Categories: American Idol, Idolatry, Ouch! That Was My Ear!, Reality TV

The first week of American Idol‘s season 9 semifinals resulted in some strange days indeed…most peculiar mama (nothing like dropping a random John Lennon reference on a Sunday morning.) But my co-host Missy Schwartz and I have tried to make sense of the insanity. How in the blankity blank did Jermaine Sellers violently assault the melody of Oleta Adams’ “Get Here,” yet live to survive another week? Are Siobhan Magnus and Lee Dewyze the season 9 dark horses, even if one of the two contestants doesn’t know what, exactly, that means? Was there a common thread among the first four semifinalists eliminated? (Read their respective exit Q&As here, here, here, and here.) Missy and I tackle all those topics, plus I offer a PSA to Idoloonies who are voting for male contestants based solely on their hotness. Press play below, then hit the comments section with your own thoughts on these subjects of vital national importance. (Also of vital national importance? That you follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak!)

Feb 28 2010 10:45 AM ET

Poll: Which 'Today' show TV family reunion are you most eager to see?

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Categories: Morning Madness, Television, Things That Are Awesome!

They’ve reunited the Keatons and the Cosbys, now NBC’s Today show is welcoming the Bradfords, the Partridges, the Bradys, and the Jenkinses. This week, Today stages live in-studio reunions of the following casts:

Eight is Enough (Monday, March 1): Dick Van Patten, Laurie Walters, Connie Needham, Grant Goodeve, Dianne Kay, Willie Aames, and Betty Buckley
The Partridge Family (Tuesday, March 2): Suzanne Crough, Danny Bonaduce, David Cassidy, and Brian Forster

The Brady Bunch (Wednesday, March 3): Barry Williams, Eve Plumb, Susan Olsen, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, and Maureen McCormick
227 (Thursday, March 4): Marla Gibbs, Jackée Harry, Regina King, Hal Williams, and Curtis Baldwin

Willie Aames and Jackée are both calling my name, but considering I’m now about to watch every 227 minisode Hulu has (beginning with the one that guest-starred Leslie Nielsen), you know my answer. What’s yours?

 

Feb 28 2010 10:30 AM ET

Do the 10 Best Picture nominees make you want to watch the Oscars more? Or less?

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Categories: Advance Advancement, Avatar, Hollywood, Movies, Oscars, Pop Culture Pet Peeve

It’s only a week away from the Academy Awards and only a week until we see whether the big decision to include 10 Best Picture nominees will yield ratings gold. Personally, I’ve still only seen half of the nominees (Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up, Inglorious Basterds, and District 9) and I’m a little overwhelmed with catching up on the rest! That’s a lot of movies! That’s a lot of time! But thankfully snow has blanketed much of the East Coast this weekend so it gives me reason to sit down and catch up on a couple more (I think I’m gonna watch Precious and Up in the Air). I do think this will lend more eyes to the telecast next week but screening all of these titles is borderline exhausting (Be sure and check out this week’s EW with all of Dave Karger’s Oscar odds.). Am I alone here in my frustration?

So here’s my question for you, PopWatchers: Has the expanded Best Picture category made you want to watch the Oscars more? Or has viewing all ten of the nominees stressed you out? Sadly, I think I fall into the latter category but having seen front runners Avatar and The Hurt Locker brings me some peace.

Feb 27 2010 04:52 PM ET

Only YOU can help save the Hollywood Sign. (Or at least the land around it.)

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Categories: Current Affairs, Hollywood, News You Can Use

Hollywood-signImage Credit: dpa/LandovCahuenga Peak, the home of L.A.’s famed Hollywood Sign — you know the one, it’s big — is in danger of being sold to developers, who intend to build an array of McMansions blocking the icon that’s inspired countless disaster movies, kitschy souvenirs, and one really great Miley Cyrus song.

An organization called Save Cahuenga Peak is fundraising in an attempt to purchase the land and donate it to nearby Griffith Park; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tippi Hedren, Aisha Tyler, and John Slattery are among the celebs shaking their hips like yeah to donate to the cause. The group’s first effort was to cover the sign itself with the message “Save The Peak,” a massive undertaking that was already underway when Ke$ha tried to convince us all she’d gotten drunk and tagged it in the middle of the night — you can see in news reports like this one (also embedded after the jump) just how hardcore you’ve gotta be to drape those four-story letters, people.

I also enjoy this video from some dude named Blake — despite the schmoopy Valentine’s Day content — who is standing in a spot I know and love on the roads just beneath the landmark’s fenced-off perimeter. The area around the sign has some of L.A.’s best in-town hiking, the kind of land that starts as a neighborhood and turns into wilderness before you know it, with panoramas of the entire sprawling metropolis on clear days. It would really suck if all that nature went away.

Save Cahuenga Peak has until April 14 to raise the funds, and — provided you can get past the irony of a campaign to save a former real estate billboard from real estate development — you can donate via their website. They are a ways off from their goal, so if you have any extra cash lying around after giving what you can to the various earthquake-stricken areas of our planet, I hope you’ll find it in your hearts to throw some their way. And while we’re at it, are there any entertainment landmarks in your towns that need saving?

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 27 2010 10:00 AM ET

Jimmy Fallon is a Gleek: 'It's the best show on television'

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Categories: Glee, Have You Seen This?, Jimmy Fallon, Late Night, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Misc., Television, Things That Are Awesome!

Jimmy Fallon is a busy guy thanks to his nightly gig as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (which celebrates its one-year anniversary on March 2!). But Fallon still makes time for his favorite TV shows which include Lost, Survivor, and, yes, Glee. In fact, you could call Fallon a Gleek. “I think Glee is the best show on television,” says the host. “It’s so good!” Fallon particularly loved the fall finale when Lea Michele belted out “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” Says Fallon, “When she did that Barbra Streisand song, I freaked out! I freaked out! I was like this is better than Barbra.” But he stresses that he’s a fan of Glee‘s entire ensemble. “Everyone’s got such an interesting face on that show,” he says. “I love everyone’s face! I could watch these guys forever.”

Fallon loved Glee so much in fact that it inspired Late Night‘s newest comedy spoof, 6-bee, which features its own elaborate music number (and a cameo by SNL‘s Abby Elliot). It’s pretty awesome. Watch below…

Do you like Fallon even more now that he’s admitted his Gleek status, PopWatchers? What do you think of 6-bee?

Feb 27 2010 07:22 AM ET

'Caprica' Recap: They Say the Bad Sleep Well, Here in New Cap City

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Categories: Caprica, Sci-Fi, Television, TV Recap

Ender’s Game is about a videogame. Or maybe it isn’t. Or maybe it is, but not in the way you think. There’s a strange little subplot in Orson Scott Card’s space-fi masterpiece, about playing a game called The Giant’s Drink. The gameplay is sub-Pong: a Giant offers you two glasses filled with liquid. If you drink the wrong one, you’ll die; if you drink the right one, you get to go to Fairyland. Like the Kobayashi Maru, it’s a lose-lose: it’s a game of complete chance, and nobody in Battle School ever chooses the right one. There is no right one. There is no Fairyland. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 26 2010 07:04 PM ET

What are your favorite 'Olympicisms'?

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Categories: Olympics, Ridiculata, Sports, Television

With two days left in the 2010 Vancouver Games, I’m getting prematurely nostalgic for some of their random, “only in the Olympics” quirks. My favorite Olympicism lately has been the NBC commentators’ constant use of the term “most decorated” to describe athletes — like U.S. speed skater Apolo Ohno, the Most Decorated Olympian of All Time — who have won a bunch of medals. I enjoy picturing these people as Christmas trees or spacious sunlit lofts, finally adorned to their fullest potential.

Other Olympicisms I’ll miss:


Which Olympicisms have you loved, PopSasquatchers?

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

More Olympics Vancouverage:
PopWatch flashback: When Annie met Apolo
PopWatch on Ice: Figure skating recaps, Johnny Weir, and more
Olympic Studs of the Day: Honoring the athletes that keep us glued to the TV
Olympic Songs of the Day: The music that motivates Team USA

Feb 26 2010 06:41 PM ET

Michael Sheen on vampires, politicians, and soccer

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Categories: Have You Seen This?, Movies, Twilight, Vampires, Wolves? Where?
Damned-UnitedImage Credit: Laurie SparhamMichael Sheen started 2009 as a werewolf, in the Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and ended it as a vampire in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. You’d be forgiven if you missed his other film when it was released in theaters. The Damned United, a biopic about infamous British soccer (aka football) coach Brian Clough, certainly doesn’t co-star Robert Pattinson. But the film, out this week on DVD, is a true gem, a sports film that’s not really like any other sports film you’ve ever seen.

United is written by Peter Morgan, the scribe who also helped Sheen become Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon. (The pair also worked together on an earlier Blair film for the BBC, The Deal; later this year brings a third installment, The Special Relationship.Trilogy alert!) Like those earlier films, The Damned United meshes a fascinating sliver of history with a deft character study. Clough is a brilliant strategist and a plucky underdog, but he’s also a self-imploding narcissist and a glamour hound. It’s a tricky performance to pull off, but Sheen makes you adore Clough even after you realize just how completely he’s destroying himself.

Sheen talked to EW.com about The Damned United, why playing real people isn’t too different from playing vampires, and the secret ingredient for making Volturi leader Aro scary (hint: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.) For historical accuracy and because it sounds cooler, “soccer” will be referred to as “football” throughout this Q&A.

EW: Most people in America probably haven’t heard of Brian Clough before. What did you know about him before you started work on The Damned United?
MICHAEL SHEEN: I knew him originally as the man on the TV my dad used to shout at whenever he came on. When I was growing up in the 70s, he would be on chat shows, and people were doing impersonations of him on entertainment shows, and he’d be on the football shows as well. So he was kind of everywhere. A very entertaining, but quite unsettling presence for me. There was something about him… I don’t know, it was like there was a kind of a desire in him. You could tell he was much more alive than anyone else that you saw on TV. There was something sort of restless. He required something of you when you watched him. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 26 2010 06:30 PM ET

Alexis Bledel: Time for a change?

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Categories: Casting, Movie Trailers, Movies, Sexytimes

In the new film The Good Guy, currently in limited release, poor little Alexis Bledel has such a hard life. She has a successful, attractive Wall Street boyfriend (Friday Night Lights’ Scott Porter), AND the attention of his equally (if not exceedingly) cute friend and co-worker (Bryan Greenberg).

Why is it that with every new role, Alexis Bledel finds herself in the awful predicament of having two incredibly attractive suitors fawning all over her? She’s like that girl you hated in high school; the one who simply takes a breath and has every male within a three-mile radius falling in love. Since her days in Stars Hollow when she was dating homegrown dreamboat Dean, but had the resident bad boy Jess pursuing her on the side, she’s always played the object of every man’s affection (and remember she chose Jess! A debate that will go down in pop culture history). While her three best friends were spending their summer vacations dealing with heavy issues (sex, an estranged father and new step family, cancer), in Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Lena, the shy artist, was gallivanting in Santorini, being romanced by Kostas the Greek god. Her characters are always innocent heart breakers, oblivious to their effect on men. In last year’s Post Grad, Bledel grabs the attention of a much-too-hot-for-a-suburban-neighborhood Brazilian across the street (Rodrigo Santoro), while her “strictly platonic” best friend (played by another Dillon Panther, Zach Gilford) has been harboring a major crush on her for the past four years.

What’s strange about all this is that I like Alexis. But while I go see her movies (even Post Grad), and watch Gilmore Girls in syndication much more often than I’d like to admit, it would be cool to see her break out of this character rut. Her career could probably benefit from something new and different – just look at what a dramatic turn did for comedienne Mo’Nique this year. With a role in 2005′s Sin City, it looked like Bledel was ready to branch out, but since then she’s fallen back into the motions of Rory Gilmore. Maybe she could take a stab at the vampire thing?An intense family drama with Sam Mendes? Or even a raunchy comedy with Judd Apatow and co., anything that moves her away from the bookish, doe-eyed, unassuming beauty. Plus, wouldn’t you like to see her break the mold and get rejected by someone already? (for the sake of expanding her range as an actor of course, not your, err my, own jealousy.)

How ’bout it PopWatchers. Do you like Alexis Bledel? Anything new you’d like to see her in? Are there any other actors that seem to play the same characters over and over again?

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