Image Credit: Splash/The Field MuseumTwo things that surprise me about this 3,000-year-old statue, which has been on display at the Chicago Field Museum since 1988: 1) Only recently have museum-goers begun to realize its uncanny resemblance to Michael Jackson, and 2) We didn’t spot the late King of Pop on a grilled cheese sandwich first. [Best Week Ever]
So how long before folks start discovering how much Easter Island’s statues look like a certain sexy beast from Twilight?
Image Credit: Brian To/FilmMagic.comGood news for tennis fans who like a little side of beautiful music to go with their high-stakes matches: American Idol season 7 champ David Cook has been booked to perform “America the Beautiful” at the 2010 U.S. Open men’s finals on Sept. 12, EW has learned exclusively. Cook’s performance will be included during CBS’ coverage of the event*. Now hopefully, Novak Djokovic can take home this year’s U.S. Open crown, and complete my fantasy day of music and sporting awesomeness. Who else is completely stoked about this news? And can anyone tell me if it’s possible to program my DVR this far in advance? Sound off in the comments!
*Because, c’mon, failure to do so would have to result in an FCC fine or something, right?
Image Credit: Pixplanete/PR Photos; Daniel Locke/PR PhotosWho says politics and showbiz don’t mix? The celebrity feud between actor-activist Sean Penn and hip hop artist-turned-Haitian presidential candidate Wyclef Jean is getting more entertaining every day. The latest salvo: Penn’s blog in today’s Huffington Post. “I was there for those 6 months after the earthquake,” Penn wrote, “and so many of us on the ground wondered where [Jean] was when that kind of [media] attention was so necessary and absent, and why he was NOT helping to keep this desperate situation in the news.” (Marian Salzman — Jean’s publicist, who was also name-checked in Penn’s piece — gave the following response to EW: “There shouldn’t be a negative debate between Sean Penn and Wyclef Jean, who both obviously care deeply about the people of Haiti. There’s no reason they need to agree, but they certainly need to advance the dialogue about Haiti.”)
Earlier this month, you may recall, the former Fugees member announced on Larry King Live that he was running for president of Haiti, his homeland before moving to the U.S. at age nine. (It was a strange venue for the occasion, since not much of the electorate on that still-recovering island gets basic cable.) Afterwards, Penn was interviewed as a celebrity expert on the country, and he walked right up to the line of calling Jean an opportunistic and political lightweight. “I worry that this is more about a vision of flying around the world talking to people,” he scoffed. Jean responded on the Gayle King Show a few days later. “I would like to tell Sean Penn [that] I do not have to sacrifice my life and live inside a tent to prove that I am for the Haitian people.” Bam!
What makes Penn’s counter-attack today a bit curious is that it comes a week after the Haitian government declared Jean ineligible to run. (There’s a five-year residency requirement.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Insidefoto/PR Photos; Sylvain Gaboury/PR Photos; Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesThis year, the Academy has decided to give out the honorary awards off-camera, at a dinner on Nov. 13. So, naturally, they pick a bunch of winners we’d actually like to see on TV. (Bummer.) The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola will receive this year’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, while Eli Wallach and French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard will be both be getting special lifetime achievement Oscars (along with British film preservationist Kevin Brownlow). Personally, I’d stay up late to watch this group of heavyweights getting richly-deserved gold. How about you, Popwatchers?
Watching Landline TV‘s video “True Blood in 60 Seconds” made me realize (shockingly for the first time) that what my daily routine has been missing is a scathing Lafayette type whose chief purpose is to coolly deliver cutting/fabulous commentary about what is really going on. As “Bill and Sookie” engage in their fightin’ vampire sex, “Lafayette” drawls “Hell no. They canceled Deadwood for this?” I have my Mad Men calendar page of Roger Sterling, but it doesn’t count. He never wears head scarves. [Buzzfeed via Vulture]
Other characters I’d want around 24/7 to do a running commentary about my creepy life: Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) from NewsRadio, Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter) from Arrested Development, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) from 30 Rock, and Maryann Thorpe (Christine Baranski) from Cybill. You?
Oh and if April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) from Parks and Recreation just sat there glaring at me all day, I’d probably be a lot more productive, but that’s kind of a different post (that I will never write). She’d probably feel weird and bolt pretty quickly because that’s all I ever do at the office, too. Occasionally I talk. It’s a real treat for everyone. Now answer the question! READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Michael Yarish/FoxI’m gazing into my pop crystal ball, PW nation, and here’s what I see: A house! With a picket fence! And a barn! Just kidding. I see Mr. Schue singing Cee-Lo’s ““F— You” on Glee this season. It’s a total guess, based not in reason so much as hope, but seriously, can’t you hear Mr. Schue wailing “I pity the fo-oool”? I can. In my dreams. READ FULL STORY »
Cute things are good, but angry cute things are even better. Witness the success of Angry Birds, the iPhone/iPad game that stars a cast of adorable cartoon fowl who furiously pursue egg-stealing green pigs. (You launch the birds from a slingshot. Some of the birds explode. It’s incredible.) Angry Birds is currently the #1 paid app on the iTunes store — take that, Oregon Trail! — but the game’s creators have bigger dreams. According to Variety, the Finnish company Rovio plans to expand the ferocious-flying universe of Birds across every level of media. “We hope we can be the first major franchise to come from mobile,” says the Rovio CEO, who imagines an Angry Birds movie in Wallace & Gromit-style claymation.
Personally, I’m onboard — especially if the style of an Angry Birds cartoon hews to the retro-Looney Tunes look of the much-viewed game trailer. There’s a Rube Goldbergian complexity to the videogame that Buster Keaton would appreciate, and hey, it’s a slightly less nonsensical idea than Battleship: Hotties Vs. Aliens. But if Hollywood is adapting apps into movies, aren’t there better options than Angry Birds? How about Fieldrunners, which is basically a G-rated version of the D-Day sequence from Saving Private Ryan? Or what about a Hook Champ movie? All you need is a cave, a grappling hook, and hats!
What do you think, PopWatchers? Are there other apps you’d like to see expanded into full-fledged franchises? Or are we one step closer to Coupon: The Movie? And does Angry Birds make more sense now that you know it’s from Finland?
Image Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesIf you thought the news that Justin Bieber was going to star in a 3-D movie was unbelievable, wait until you hear this: The teen dream is looking for fans to play a part in the film. The Biebster is asking devotees to upload a video of themselves singing along to “That Should be Me,” or show him how “U Smile” in a video or photo. (There are no details yet on how the footage or fans will be incorporated, but we’re seeing shades of Nickelback’s “Rockstar” video.)
Full details can be found here. And fans should act quickly: Bieber will no longer accept submissions tomorrow, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m. After then, you can only hope that Bieber Fever is still in full force come Valentine’s Day when the movie is set to release — with or without you. So how would you capture Bieber’s attention?
Apple is poised to announce a 99-cent TV rental service in September, according to Bloomberg. (An Apple rep declined to comment for this story.) The hypothetical rented show would be yours for 48 hours, and available within 24 hours of air.
Given how many shows are already available in free, legal online versions, what’s the special draw here? Timeliness. You get home after a long day, only to discover your DVR didn’t record your precious new Bones episode — because it recorded some marathon of some other show you shamefully added once upon a time. (Curse you, Say Yes to the Dress. Curse you.) Would you shell out a buck to watch the show you’d been looking forward to all week? I sure as hell would — if I could watch it right then. Night-of availability is the holy grail of Internet-released shows.
Does 99 cents sound about right to you, PopWatchers? It’s only a dollar less than iTunes currently charges for an episode of a show, but it somehow feels a lot cheaper — right? What would entice you to digitally rent a show?
