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Pitbull, Nicki Minaj, and LMFAO brought the dance beats to their performances on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, but Justin Bieber opted to help ring in 2012 by sitting at a piano — for a cover of the Beatles’ “Let It Be” featuring Carlos Santana. Watch it below. What did you think? READ FULL STORY »
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More than 200 artists have performed on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve since it debuted 40 years ago, and in tonight’s countdown of the Top 40 performances, Jennifer Lopez (and her bedazzled bodysuit) took the crown. See the full list below. Things we learned watching Fergie and Jenny McCarthy host tonight’s live two-hour countdown special: The crowd dancing in the ’80s was so much better than today, Rick Springfield actually pulled off that pink suit (which is, we assume, why his name and “Jessie’s Girl” trended on Twitter), and meeting McCarthy was one loud man’s life dream. READ FULL STORY »
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What’s the sound of New Year’s Eve to you? It may be “Auld Lang Syne” for some. For others, it’s Anderson Cooper’s giggle. Get ready to hear it again as he and Kathy Griffin reteam for CNN’s coverage, which goes live at 11 p.m. ET. UPDATE: Check out the best of Kathy and Anderson here.
If you’re staying in for the night, you’ll want to tune into ABC at 8 p.m. ET, for the live New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 40th anniversary countdown of the 40 most memorable performances. That leads into Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest at 10 p.m. ET. The New York City lineup includes Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber (who’ll collaborate with Carlos Santana), Pitbull, and Hot Chelle Rae. The Los Angeles party will feature The Band Perry, blink-182, Florence + The Machine, Gym Class Heroes, LMFAO, OneRepublic, Nicki Minaj, Taio Cruz, will.i.am, and Robin Thicke. We’ll also see a special performance by Beyoncé from the London leg of her worldwide tour. UPDATE: Watch Justin Bieber sings ‘Let It Be’ here. Watch Lady Gaga’s medley performance here. See the list of ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ best performances here. READ FULL STORY »
This New Year’s Eve, celebrate in style with themed cocktails based on some of 2011′s most memorable pop-culture moments. Whether you’re hankering for a non-alcoholic (and Lohan-friendly) sipper, a Potter-inspired potion, a tipple as tart as Katniss Everdeen, or something that’s just bloody good (vampires what?), we’ve got you covered. Pop the cork on our cultural concoctions below! READ FULL STORY »
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Much like the other anxiety-causing questions that hang heavy over your head on New Year’s Eve (“When should I leave this party?” “What will my resolution be?” “Who should I kiss at midnight?” “Why did I kiss that person at midnight?!”) “Which televised New Year’s Eve bash should I watch?” looms just as tauntingly over the holiday. Unfortunately the networks aren’t going to make your decision much easier this year, as there’s a plethora of specials to tune into to watch that blasted ball drop.
You’ll have to choose your allegiances to Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, as he’ll be ringing in 2012 on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, along with the likes of Lady Gaga, Pitbull, Hot Chelle Rae, The Band Perry, blink-182, Christina Perri, Florence + The Machine, Gym Class Heroes, LMFAO, OneRepublic, Nicki Minaj, Taio Cruz, and will.i.am; while she’ll be on MTV for their New Year’s Eve Bash with Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo, Mac Miller, and J. Cole. (Then again, you might have to take into consideration that Bieber’s New Years won’t really count, on account of his being Canadian and all.) READ FULL STORY »
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I’ve never been the kind of person to go out on New Year’s Eve. I prefer to invite friends over or stay in at their place. I think my favorite New Year’s Eve was 2002, when two friends and I agreed to each bring one movie we loved but the other two hadn’t seen and force them to watch it. My friend Eva brought Robert Altman’s Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, my friend Judy, if I’m remembering correctly brought Barry Levinson’s Diner, and I had Trey Parker’s Orgazmo. (Being the host, I took the liberty of also making them watch the bloopers from BASEketball.) I wish that was a tradition we continued. We also broke out the karaoke machine my parents had gotten me for Christmas.
What’s been your favorite pop culture-filled New Year’s Eve? Do you have a tradition worth stealing? Go!
Absolutely Fabulous, the British cult hit of the ’90s that makes the Mad Men crew look like a bunch of light drinkers, is coming back for three new episodes for the show’s 20th anniversary airing on BBC America in January. What antics are you most looking forward to seeing Patsy and Edina get into? Can the (now 60-something) ladies still pull off passing for twentysomethings? Has their drink of choice (and drug of choice) changed in the past 20 years, or even the past six, when we last saw the drunken duo on air?
I’m most interested to see what’s happening with Saffron, Edina’s daughter, who is always taking the brunt of the abuse and gets stuck cleaning up after her mom and Patsy. But now that she’s well into her 30s, will Saffron take it anymore? In a clip on BBC America, it looks like Patsy and Edina are shifting their mean-spirited ways to younger targets — in this case an intern at Patsy’s fashion magazine who takes some heat for lunching with designer Karl Lagerfeld.
In an interview with New York magazine, show creator Jennifer Saunders said she’d love to do an Ab Fab movie, and she noted that in the new episodes Edina is still doing her best to stay relevant: “Eddy still forces herself to listen to a rap record.”
So, PopWatchers, do you think Eddy’s choice in music will be more Jay-Z or Snoop? What would you want to see Edina and Patsy get up to these days? How far do you think the pair have gone to stay young and hip?
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Kelly Clarkson’s appreciation for Ron Paul — and the resulting Twitter war with followers who don’t echo her endorsement — may be making headlines now, but as we enter an election year, we’ll no doubt see other celebs coming forward to share their views.
Vince Vaughn introduced Ron Paul at the Liberty Political Action Conference in September, and in 2009, he endorsed Paul’s book End the Fed with the quote, “Everyone must read this book — Congressmen and college students, Democrats and Republicans — all Americans.” Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has publicly endorsed Paul, who, over the course of the last four years, has had folks like Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, and Bill Maher saying they agree with things he said.
If you have ever wished Kermit would lip sync to Queen, you’re in luck. In this new YouTube spot for Google+, the whole gang joins in to show off how the new video-chat service works. Best moment? “Swedish Chef joined this hangout.” Now if I could just get my friends to jam like Animal or air guitar with a dead fish like Fozzie. Check out the video after the jump.
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Let’s first address the flying superhero in the room: No, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark doesn’t (quite) make our list of the worst stage shows of 2011. (You can check out our Mormon-led best list here.) In the end, we decided Spidey’s aerial effects are pretty darned cool, though all too brief, and the retooled show isn’t as unwatchably overwrought as Julie Taymor’s original version. Instead, our evil eye is trained on the year’s even more offensive theatrical blunders like the misguided revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (pictured, with Jessie Mueller and Harry Connick Jr.). Did we miss a show that had you fleeing at intermission? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
10. Measure for Measure (Off Broadway)
The Public Theater’s uneasy, laugh-averse, and metaphor-heavy production in Central Park made the Bard’s problem comedy even more difficult. READ FULL STORY »
