Category: Books (31-40 of 323)

Feb 12 2013 05:37 PM ET

Author John Green is going to (Google) hangout with President Obama -- VIDEO

Tonight may be President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address of his second term (important!), but Thursday he’ll follow it up with a Google+ hangout featuring author, vlogger, and Hank-brother, John Green.

This we learned the usual way: because Green announced it on his YouTube channel.

“Wait, did you just say I was gonna be in a Google+ hangout with the President of the United States of America?” he asks himself while narrating “the sound of his anxiety.” (Watch the video below.)

The hangout’s other guests include “a group of people who regularly discuss important issues of the day online,” according to a post on Google’s blog. This means that Green is one of those important issue-discussing people. This makes Green nervous, according to the vlog, compounding the fact that his brother and fellow vlogger Hank had already stolen some mutual footage which derailed John’s vlogging plans for the day which might be causing him a cold sore. (Again, watch the video.)

All of that worry so that we can learn this: Green will be asking the President some questions, although he hasn’t nailed them all down yet…although one of them might be, “Would you rather fight 10 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?”

And also: You, too, can participate in the hangout and submit questions. Congratulations, America. (John Green, calm down.)

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Feb 11 2013 09:21 AM ET

Iron Man Mr. Potato Head? Must be Tony Starch! -- FIRST LOOK

Sure, the other spuds settle for tin foil but, as you can see yourself, there’s nothing typical about this tuber. Allow us to introduce a sleek new Iron Man Mr. Potato Head, a rocketing russet of red-and-gold who is making his world debut today both here on EW.com and at the 110th American International Toy Fair, which got underway Friday in New York despite some weather challenges.

The armored hero (we can call him Tony Starch!) joins two other heroic veggies — Wolverine Mr. Potato Head and Thor Mr. Potato Head — as the vanguard of a new Marvel line that will try to stir attention as a collector’s item. The product description from Hasbro: “The attention to detail, scale and consistent design elements … with a variety of fun components to mix and match, or collectors can proudly display them thanks to their compact size and design intricacy.”

Iron Man has been a Mr. Potato Head before but the other tough guys are newbies. All three of characters are returning to the big screen in 2013 and collectively (if you count cameos) they will finish the year with appearances in 14 feature films.

As Hollywood brands go, actually, Mr. Potato Head hasn’t exactly been sitting at home on the couch. Toy Story 3, his third movie, now stands as the highest-grossing animated film in international box office history with a take of more than $1 billion.The Pixar success is merely one chapter in the long, strange saga of a toy brand that was (appropriately) ground-breaking when it first came into view in 1952. To help you peel back the history, here are five fully baked facts about Mr. Potato Head.

1. He was alive once. Seriously, the first Mr. Potato Head’s were genuine potatoes that had been fashioned into “unique” playthings with a kit that came with 28 items (16 body parts, eight pieces of felt hair, three hats and a pipe). Check out a vintage commercial…

NEXT: PEEL BACK HISTORY

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Feb 8 2013 12:33 PM ET

'Walking Dead' website to launch this Sunday

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For a bunch of slow-moving, reanimated corpses The Walking Dead sure are an industrious bunch. Between the original comic, the TV show, the video games, the novel prequels, and the assorted merch — including the just-announced jawless walker bank — it’s getting difficult to keep track of all the developments in Walking Dead overlord Robert Kirkman‘s zombie-verse. But help is at hand!  It was announced today that Kirkman and his Image Comics imprint Skybound are launching a new website, TheWalkingDead.com.

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Feb 1 2013 10:15 AM ET

'Warm Bodies': Which supernatural is right for you?

WARM-BODIES

Image Credit: Jan Thijs

It’s time for Mystery Date: Supernatural Edition! While the whole vampire craze may be drawing to a close (Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 comes out on DVD March 2) 2013 is still on track to be a huge year for those that love the supernatural. Apologies to viewers who enjoy their zombies more in the style of Walking Dead, but it’s looking like the biggest trend is more romance, less death and destruction. Warm Bodies, in theaters today, centers around a love story between zombie R. and a human, Julie. It’s a great read – and surprisingly, in between the killing and the brain eating, a wonderfully original and charming boy-ish meets girl tale.

Which got us thinking: Readers probably have their personal favorites when it comes to the guys that portray these vampires, zombies, and werewolves (Ian Somerhalder, Robert Pattinson, Alexander Skarsgard, etc.) But what if we took the actors out of it? Based solely on the plotlines in the current books/movies/television shows, which supernatural should you, a “normal” human with a slight love on danger, attempt to begin a relationship with? The answer may surprise you – or help you justify a couple all-too-real conversations about an alleged hypothetical situation (ahem).

Take the quiz below, and then click over to the next page for your results. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 28 2013 05:51 PM ET

'Pride and Prejudice' celebrates 200 years: Its influence on modern pop culture

PRIDE-PREJUDICE

Image Credit: Alex Bailey

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice – first published in three volumes in January, 1813 – has left quite a mark on pop culture, far larger than Jane Austen herself could have ever envisioned. In celebration of the book’s 200th (!) anniversary, EW is singling out (in honor of literature’s favorite single gal) our favorite pop culture gems that we can trace back to an origin at Pemberley. We all may have eaten up the 2005 movie adaptation starring Keira Knightley, or other modern-day films that celebrate Austen such as The Jane Austen Book Club, but that’s only scratching the surface of Austen’s pop culture superpowers — and the lovefest isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Austenland, a new movie starring Keri Russell, premiered at Sundance last week. Read on below for more things we can thank Pride and Prejudice for in modern pop culture, and definitely give a shout out to your favorites in the comments.

Colin Firth: Not to diminish his Oscar for The King’s Speech, but Firth owes his career to Pride and Prejudice. Not only did he tackle the role of Mr. Darcy in the iconic 1995 British miniseries, but his performance in that version inspired Helen Fielding to write Bridget Jones’s Diary, which is basically just a modern-day Pride and Prejudice. The best part? Firth of course agreed to star in the movie version, playing a character named Mark Darcy. That’s a whole heck of a lot of pop culture gold all beginning with Ms. Austen. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2013 09:00 AM ET

Fantasy casting: 'Divergent' edition

DIVERGENT-ROTH

With the news that Kate Winslet is very close to signing on to star in the film adaptation of Divergent (presumably, though nof officially, as cunning antagonist Jeanine Matthews), it’s only natural to start thinking about how else director Neil Burger (Limitless) should fill out the cast.

Veronica Roth’s 2011 YA thriller often gets compared to The Hunger Games. And it’s true, both series feature brave, bad-ass heroines in a dystopian future and plenty of life-or-death action. Divergent‘s Beatrice Prior, 16, must choose a faction to call home. Each faction is dedicated to virtues found within society: There’s Erudite for the more cerebral; Candor for the honest; Amity for those seeking peace; Abnegation for the selfless; and Dauntless for the brave. There’s no sorting hat to help those decide so it’s a shock when Beatrice — who grew up in an Abnegation home and based on her test results was eligible to go to three different factions — chooses to go with the wild and daring Dauntless and rename herself Tris. Initiation is scarily competitive. While Tris makes friends and embarks on a romance with the mysterious and stoic “Four,” she’s also guarding a secret about herself that could put her life in danger. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 18 2013 06:00 PM ET

Nominated for Nothing: 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'

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Image Credit: John Bramley

Just about every year, brilliant movies are utterly ignored by the Oscars. The Searchers, Groundhog Day, Breathless, King Kong, Casino Royale, Touch of Evil, Caddyshack, Mean Streets, The Big Lebowski — the Academy has a long history of overlooking comedies, action movies, horror flicks, hard-boiled genre pics, artsy foreign films, and documentaries that aren’t about World War II. This year, we’ll be taking a closer look at films that were too small, too weird, or perhaps simply too awesome for the Academy Awards. These are the Non-Nominees.

The Film: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky’s emotional adaptation of his own seminal YA novel, starring Logan Lerman as titular wallflower Charlie, Emma Watson (in her first major post-Harry Potter role, unless you count My Week With Marilyn, which you shouldn’t) as his damaged dream girl Sam, and Ezra Miller as Patrick, Sam’s flamboyant and flamboyantly awesome stepbrother/best friend.

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Jan 15 2013 11:00 AM ET

'The Walking Dead': Prison plotline Minimates toys to be released this spring -- EXCLUSIVE

TWD-MINIMATES-GROUP

Would young Carl Grimes be less traumatized by the undead apocalypse featured in the Walking Dead comics if he could play with compact, zombie-themed toys? Alas, we’ll probably never know. But we do know that Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman‘s Skybound comics imprint and Diamond Select Toys have announced that Series 3 of their Walking Dead Minimates will hit stores this spring. The series will feature characters from the franchise’s prison storyline including Rick, Tyreese, and Hershel (all of which you can see below). READ FULL STORY »

Jan 15 2013 01:05 AM ET

'The Bachelor': See Kristy's winning Harlequin cover, and the three runners-up -- PHOTOS

Tags: Books, TV

As we all know, one of the key qualities men look for when searching for a mate is her ability to pose as a vampire, Southern belle, cowgirl, or glamor vixen on the cover of a mass-market romance novel. Which must be why Sean staged his first group date of the season at a photo shoot for Harlequin on last night’s episode of The Bachelor. The woman who showed the most chemistry with Sean in her photos was granted a three-book cover deal with the romance novel giant, and — spoiler alert — Kristy the professional model took the crown. Click through to see Kristy’s winning photo, as well as runner-up “covers” featuring the Bachelor with Selma, Taryn, and cowgirl Lesley. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 10 2013 06:33 PM ET

Warner Bros. wins latest court battle with heirs of Superman creator

Action-Comics

Back in October, Warner Bros. defeated the heirs of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster in a lawsuit regarding the ownership of the character. Today, the studio was handed a victory in their legal tussle with the heirs of Superman’s other co-creator, Jerry Siegel. As reported by the New York Times, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, Calif. overturned a 2008 court case that granted the Siegel estate half-ownership over the character. (Deadline has a full copy of the six-page ruling, which also briefly mentions the ownership of the comic book character The Spectre, like anyone cares.) READ FULL STORY »

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