Image Credit: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Facebook has enjoyed a gangbusters week, thanks in no small part to its impending IPO on Friday. Today, according to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook even decided to increase the IPO to 421.2 million shares. But of course, the pendulum of Facebook’s fate always has to swing both ways. With this good news, a relic of Facebook’s tumultuous early years (see: The Social Network) has surfaced. READ FULL STORY »
Update: Annie’s recap is live.
SPOILER ALERT: After a results show featuring performances by Alanis Morissette, Carrie Underwood, and the Rock of Ages cast — welcome back, Julianne Hough! — one of the final four couples is heading home following Monday’s semifinals performances. The dancers heading home… are… coming up, after the break! READ FULL STORY »
As you tune into your favorite TV shows tonight, we think it’s only fair that YOU decide the night’s best sound bite.
After you’ve watched enough TV, submit your choice sound bite in the comments section of this post. Will it be from Glee or Pregnant In Heels? 90210 or NCIS: Los Angeles? Cougar Town or Private Practice? Leave us a comment with your favorite quote of the evening, or vote for someone else’s by hitting “Like” next to their submission.
We’ll highlight the most-voted quote as our Bite of the Night tomorrow morning, and give due praise to the submitter. Don’t be discouraged if your pick doesn’t win — there’s a whole new batch of TV tomorrow!
What are you waiting for? Let the sound bite hunting commence! READ FULL STORY »
Hunger Games fans, are you unsatisfied with this ho-hum world full of naturally occurring animals? Well, never fear! According to a New York Times article, the books’ symbolic mockingjay — the Capitol-flouting hybrid of a mockingbird and the fictional jabberjay spy bird — isn’t inconceivable. “The tools needed to modify organisms are already widely dispersed in industry and beyond. Do-it-yourself biology is growing,” writes James Gorman. He cited Freeman Dyson of the Princeton-based Institute for Advanced Study (former home to Albert Einstein), who “envisioned the tools of biotechnology spreading to everyone, including pet breeders and children, and leading to ‘an explosion of diversity of new living creatures.’”
The chance to hear the mockingjay’s rebel song got us thinking: What other fictional animals would we like to see made real? Read on for a few of our ideas, then share your own. READ FULL STORY »
We all used to be annoyed by commercials. Thanks to the wonders of DVR, we’re now just annoyed by the need to fast-forward through commercials, and then maybe also rewind for a few seconds if we go too far, and thus still be forced to experience the last few annoying milliseconds of that Zooey Deschanel iPhone ad. But what if there were a way to eliminate advertisements from your TV-watching experience? That’s the pitch behind a new DVR feature released last week for Dish Network subscribers called “the Auto-Hop,” which replaces commercial breaks with a few pregnant moments of black screen. READ FULL STORY »
Dancing With the Stars will launch its first-ever all-star edition this fall — presumably, any Planet Mirrorballus visitor who didn’t win his or her season would be eligible to compete. There goes my dream of Apolo Ohno and Kristi Yamaguchi returning for a very special Dancing With the Stars All-Stars On Ice!
Who do you want to see as all-”stars”? I’ve listed my top 7 (seh-vehhhhhhhn!” –Len Goodman) picks below…. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Is Cinderella the new Snow White? With Into the Woods taking Central Park this summer, Douglas Carter Beane’s rejiggered Cinderella tentatively scheduled for next season, and a third Cinderella story now entering the mix, glass slippers are in fashion on Broadway. Producers of Ever After, a new musical based on the 1998 film starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston, announced plans on Tuesday for a Broadway opening during the 2013-2014 season, with a pre-Broadway engagement planned (but not announced).
Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall (Nice Work If You Can Get it, Anything Goes), the production “tells the story of Danielle de Barbarac, the daughter of a nobleman in 16th-century France, who embarks on a series of adventures, standing up to her scheming stepmother, befriending Leonardo da Vinci and winning the love of the crown prince of France,” according to a press release. The new musical will feature music by Zina Goldrich and book and lyrics by Marcy Heisler. Additional casting, dates and creative team members will be announced at a later date.
The original film version starred Barrymore as the titular Cinderella figure and Huston as her cold, manipulative stepmother. While Broadway can no doubt handle three Cinderellas (staggered throughout the season), the real question is whether the Great White Way is ready for another movie-turned-musical. At last count, there are at least 12 slated over the next two years. Can you say bibbidi bobbidi box office?
Read more:
‘Evita,’ ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ to launch national tours
‘Annie’ on Broadway: Meet the orphans! — EXCLUSIVE
Tonys 2012: Six-time nominee John Lithgow on original plays and a modern-day ‘Columnist’
The first Disney Epic Mickey game, released in 2010 on the Nintendo Wii, was a witty, inventive action-adventure platformer that was held back by a few blemishes. Now here’s Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, and in an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, the developers at Junction Point Studios don’t shy away from addressing those prior complaints.
Dismayed by the graphical limitations of the Wii? Epic Mickey 2 will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC/Mac, in addition to the Wii. Tired of reading text bubbles? The game now features full speech. Wish you could play with a friend? The sequel will offer drop-in, drop-out co-play. And if you were ever frustrated by the original game’s clunky camera, this quote from creator Warren Spector will be music to your Mickey Mouse ears: “The camera is dramatically enhanced — we’ve made hundreds and hundreds of changes.”
Epic Mickey 2 returns players to Wasteland, an alternate universe inhabited by Walt Disney’s discarded or forgotten characters and ideas. In addition to playing as Mickey, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit — one of Disney’s earliest hit characters — can now be controlled by a second person. And in what sounds like a delightful twist, the game is being described as a musical in which the plot will be advanced through original song numbers.
Check out the exclusive behind-the-scenes trailer below: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC Family
It’s probably for the best Make It Or Break It ended when it did. Kerri Strug might have pulled off a gold-clinching vault on a sprained ankle at the 1996 Olympics, but that kind of odds-flouting miracle certainly didn’t seem in store for the teen gymnasts of MIOBI, who mostly limped to the finish of last night’s season 3 finale.
It was an issue of set-up, really. The entire dramatic thrust of the series has been centered on the girls’ dreams of competing at the 2012 London Olympics (an event that would likely happen before the return of the show itself). Had the show been renewed for a fourth season, it would have felt dead in the water. READ FULL STORY »
Max Payne 3 isn’t the only notable interactive entertainment being released today. Christian company Lightside Games — their logo stylizes the “t” to look like a cross — announced this morning that their latest endeavor, Journey of Jesus: The Calling, has officially hit Facebook. They’re calling this diversion “the first-ever video game based on Jesus.”
In Journey of Jesus, players search for articles and artifacts as they explore a colorful, cartoony version of biblical Israel. The company plans to release new chapters, “ideas and information and challenges” each week in order to hold player interest. This game is similar to Lightside’s Journey of Moses, an ancient Egyptian adventure that attracts 70,000 monthly users, according to Facebook; Lightside says Moses has drawn over two million players since lauching last summer.
Watch a trailer for the holy curiosity below.
