Archive: January 2011 (401-410 of 414)

Jan 3 2011 02:25 PM ET

Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin break up. Who knew they were together?

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culkin-kunisImage Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesThe recent announcement that Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin broke up left me stunned. Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin were going out? For eight years? How did I miss this? I read People‘s Star Tracks each week. I sneak USWeekly inside my open New Yorker when I’m trying to look smart on the train. Is it possible that my eyes saw them together in the glossy pages and my brain just refused to recognize the reality of their relationship? I mean, I understand he’s 30, but he’s also forever nine years old, due to his cheek-slapping performance in Home Alone. And if you’ve seen Black Swan, then you’ve done your own cheek-slapping about Kunis, but somehow, it’s not the same.

Did you know they were a couple for eight years? Why didn’t you tell me?

Jan 3 2011 02:00 PM ET

Facebook now valued at $50 billion. Mark Zuckerberg surely likes this.

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mark-zuckerbergImage Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFacebook is now worth $50 billion to Goldman Sachs, thanks to a new deal in which the Wall Street megafirm and Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies invested $500 million in the social networking site, placing its valuation at $50 billion. Billion! The mind reels. That still puts it behind Google ($190 billion) and Amazon ($83 billion), but it’s ahead of eBay and Yahoo. And it’s about 20 times more than AOL.

This staggering valuation comes on the heels of a new report that says Facebook was the most-visited site from the United Sates in 2010, topping Google for the first time. It was also the most searched term, which is heartbreaking, because that means people are apparently unable simply to go to their address bars and type in “facebook.com.” I live in a nation of strangers.

Valuation, traffic — it’s all lovely for Facebook or whatever. I just really hope this means FB is ready to roll out its version of drop.io already. Some of us have some large files to share, guys!

Put on yer banker hats and let’s hear it, PopWatchers: Do you think $50 billion is the current value of all of Facebook’s future cash flows? [NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Wired]

Read more:
Mark Zuckerberg named TIME’s Person of the Year
The Facebook redesign: The most important event ever since the last Facebook redesign

Jan 3 2011 01:34 PM ET

The new 'Early Show' debuts, but did you watch?

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Tags: , Television, TV

early-showImage Credit: John P. Filo/CBSIt was Day One of the new Early Show this morning on CBS. Gone were Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez, and Dave Price. In their seats were Chris Wragge, Erica Hill, and Marysol Castro. When the decision to revamp the third-place morning show was announced in November, some folks were none too pleased: Wragge was too handsome, said many critics, and his hard-news bonafides — he logged time on Entertainment Tonight — weren’t up to Smith-ian levels. Many loyal and disappointed fans of the previous team vowed not to watch the program. But the new gang seemed poised and professional this morning, eager to pretend that today was just another day of work. They covered politics, the latest in La Vida Lohan, and shared their 6,500-mile bonding tour. Castro even braved the icy waters for a story on the Polar Bears’ annual dip. All in all, they comported themselves rather well — though there’s no denying that Wragge is not hideous. (See a clip from the show here.)

But were you watching, loyal Early Show-ers? Was it better than you feared? Worse than you hoped? If you did tune out this morning, where did you go instead?

Read more:
Man jumps fence at ‘Early Show’ Plaza
Harry Smith dancing: The reason to watch The Early Show summer concert series
Harry Smith out, as CBS gives ‘The Early Show’ a new look

Jan 3 2011 11:58 AM ET

'Toy Story 3' tops Tarantino's list of fave films from 2010

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Tarantino-Toy-Story-3Image Credit: C2C/Beth Wagner/PR Photos; Disney/PixarQuentin Tarantino has released the list of his 20 favorite films from 2010, with Toy Story 3 earning the top spot over The Social Network. We suspect this means Tarantino, like 87 percent of the 18,000 PopWatch readers who responded to a poll after TS3‘s release, cried watching it (perhaps as 57 percent of readers, more than once). Has his list inspired you to give any movie a try? I’ve been hanging on to free copies of Knight and Day and Robin Hood — perhaps I’ll finally press play. Though we haven’t been able to get the Tarantino Archives link to work, below is the list as reported. I enjoyed Tangled, but I’m surprised to see it at No. 5, above True Grit and The Town. Regardless of how your list matches up to Tarantino’s, you’ve got to a love a director (albeit one known as a massive movie fan) having the cojones to rank his peers’ work. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 3 2011 10:26 AM ET

CES preview: Bring on the tablets and smartphones

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consumer-electronicsImage Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesOoh, tech nerds, gird your loins: the Consumer Electrics Show kicks off this week, and with it, a shiny parade of fantasy gadgets that will tease and tempt us. Sadly, few of these marvels will ever trickle into the normal consumer’s hands, but it’s nice to dream. This year’s big draw? Tablets.

Last year’s CES was flooded with e-readers, and in the subsequent months, we saw tons of non-Kindle e-readers enter the marketplace. This year, tablets will be taking center stage. The elusive Windows tablet will probably make another appearance, but I’m more intrigued by all the Honeycomb-based options. Yes, you can love both iPads and their Android competitors.

CES showcases tons of super-high-end, mega-expensive, for-Bruce-Wayne-only types of gadgets (a TV screen … the size of a house!), and those are always fun to ogle. But some of us need day-to-day gadgets, and this year’s crop of fancy smartphones — especially HTC models on Verizon’s schmancy 4G network — look particularly promising.

What gadgets and gizmos are you looking forward to, PopWatchers? Are you still jonesing for more 3-D TVs? Or are your sights set on smart dashboards for your car?

Jan 2 2011 06:38 PM ET

Happy 50th birthday Gabrielle Carteris!

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gabrielle-carterisImage Credit: Spelling Television/Everett CollectionIf you’re under 25, that headline probably means nothing to you. If you’re over, you may have just broken into a cold sweat. But before you reach for the booze, keep this in mind: Carteris was 29 when she started playing 16-year old Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990. Her youngest costar, Brian Austin Green (a.k.a. David Silver) won’t hit the big five-0 until … 2023! Phew. That’s way in the future. And Shenae Grimes, star of the new 90210, won’t be 50 until 2039! Which, whoops, just made us feel old again. So forget that part. Happy birthday, GC!

Jan 2 2011 02:39 PM ET

Plinkett treats 'Revenge of the Sith' like freezing tauntaun

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Mr. Plinkett, the comically churlish critic who’s made a name for himself by dissecting the Star Wars prequels, saved his best for last. In a 110-minute takedown of The Revenge of the Sith, the semi-lucid Plinkett insists that the emperor — ah, Ah, AH … LUCAS! Gezundheit. Thank you — has no clothes. “This was like going to an autopsy,” drones Plinkett, describing the final chapter in the space epic. “You know it’s dead and nothing’s gonna change that, but you gotta do an autopsy to find out what killed it. Or who killed it.”

Yes, Plinkett claims that George Lucas “ruined six years of everyone’s lives, even starving children in Cambodia.” But he’ll also spotlight the thinnest of silver linings: At least Han Solo was not dragged into this mess. Lucas clearly knew better than to tamper with an iconic Harrison Ford character. Oh. Right.

Part I of Plinkett’s epic three-part spanking is below. But do watch the NSFW critique in its entirety. It’s cathartic for any middle-aged person who has kids that think “Yippeeee!” is a battle cry. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 1 2011 10:10 PM ET

'Oprah: Behind the Scenes' premiere: Now we're talking, OWN!

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Oprah-WinfreyImage Credit: Janet Mayer/PR PhotosSince Oprah Winfrey is contractually incapable of doing a talk show for OWN while her syndicated one continues to air, her executives came up with a pretty ingenious way of featuring the Queen of Daytime on her new cabler: Oprah: Behind the Scenes. Narrated by Winfrey, the show takes a behind-the-scenes look at the 25th and final season of Oprah before she rides off into the sunset next September. What a marvelous idea: I didn’t catch the premiere episode of Oprah but felt like I got a much better perspective of the adrenaline-fueled hour by watching Behind the Scenes. I doubt we’ll ever witness those truly authentic behind-the-scenes moments, like Winfrey possibly having an epic meltdown or executive producer Sheri Salata blowing up at her staff, but I definitely got the idea that it’s not all fun and games for the 464 employees at Harpo Studios in Chicago.

Anyone who caught the first episode of Oprah already knows that Winfrey treated her audience to a free Australian trip, but it was still a gas to watch her production team whoop it up in the booth as their boss addressed the audience of rabid, mouth-breathing fans. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 1 2011 03:08 PM ET

Paula Abdul speaks out: 'I have a brain'

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paula-abdulPaula Abdul is about to make her return to network TV with the new reality competition Live to Dance, which debuts Jan. 4 on CBS. But before that, she wants to set the record straight on a few things — especially the popular perception of her as a ditzy intellectual lightweight. “I am intelligent,” Abdul tells Sunday Morning‘s Julie Chen in a segment set to air Jan. 2 on CBS. “Having a brain, that’s a concept, yes, with Paula Abdul. I have a brain.”

Abdul also defended herself against accusations that she appeared intoxicated at times on American Idol. “I’ve never had a drinking problem,” she says. “Even though I’ve been in this business for quite some time. I’ve never physically been drunk in my life. I’ve never been drunk in my life. I don’t use recreational drugs. But, I am goofy.”

Check out a preview of the interview at CBS News, then sound off in the comments below: Does Paula need to defend herself? Does any of this change your opinion of her?

Read more:
‘Live to Dance’: Are your feet tapping?
Paula Abdul’s ‘Live to Dance’ premiere set; will compete with ‘American Idol’
Paula Abdul discusses her new show, the ‘American Idol’ judges, and whether she’ll reunite with Simon on ‘The X-Factor’
Paula Abdul’s ‘Live to Dance’ reveals panel and host (the Aussie Ryan Seacrest!)
The Poetry of Paula Abdul

Jan 1 2011 02:07 PM ET

'Kidnapped by the Kids': Oprah Winfrey kicks off new network with a workaholic named Hank, a frustrated wife and some lonely kids. Huh?

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kidnapped-by-the-kidsImage Credit: OWNThe folks behind the Oprah Winfrey Network made the (odd) decision to kick off the new cabler with Kidnapped by the Kids, a reality show about a pair of frustrated and lonely wee ones who abduct their traveling daddy for a week of camping, rehabilitation, and general torture for being the sole wage-earner. Instead of launching OWN with the 25th season of Oprah: Behind the Scenes – which probably would have been the best way to immediately capture viewers – we got a pretty dull look at Hank, an obviously likable and well-meaning guy from Santa Monica, Calif., who bums out his family whenever he travels for work (which, apparently, is every freaking week).

Poor Hank gets ambushed at the airport by his kids, who supposedly earned the permission of their dad’s boss to steal him away. (Imagine what it must have been like for the anonymous supervisor, who had no choice but to acquiesce because cameras were rolling and somewhere, Winfrey was probably watching). READ FULL STORY »

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