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Hey, remember when Johnny Depp surprised a group of kids in London by showing up at their school in character as Captain Jack Sparrow? Well, this story is kind of the opposite of that one. A staff developer who works for Tenafly Elementary Schools in New Jersey is in hot water for promising kids an appearance by Lady Gaga herself — then delivering a Lady Gaga impersonator instead. READ FULL STORY »
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America’s Got Talent kicked off a new season of adorable minors, inspirational seniors, acrobatic dance groups, dancerly acrobatic groups, mock indignation (Howie Mandel) and genuine indignation (Piers Morgan) with a double-threat performer: A man who could simultaneously ride a unicycle and juggle torches. That he did all of this with one hand on Howie Mandel’s cranium earned him the love of everyone in the arena who was not Howie Mandel. The season premiere from there had a few high points (all hail the Kindergarten-aged rap trio, the SH’Boss Boys), low points (the Forever Young Dancers — think Cocoon with more diapers and no ladies) and a high-low point (a Fart impersonator.) READ FULL STORY »
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Last night’s 60 Minutes featured an in-depth piece about the federal investigation into Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner who stands accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. The most damning part of 60 Minutes‘ investigation was the interview with Tyler Hamilton, an Olympic gold medalist and former Armstrong teammate. Hamilton was direct in his accusations, claiming that Armstrong “took what we all took … There was EPO, there was testosterone. And I did see a blood transfusion.” Hamilton also alleges that Armstrong used EPO to prepare for the Tour in 1999, although he hedged a little: “I can’t say that he used it during the tour.” READ FULL STORY »
Iron Sky
In response to Jon Stewart’s spoken-word takedown of Fox News, Fox patriarch Bill O’Reilly has officially thrown down the gauntlet. On yesterday’s O’Reilly Factor, the host had a message for Stewart: “I would like to debate you about the Common situation.” Thus, the stage is set for yet another O’Reilly/Stewart showdown, which will be sort of like an East Coast-West Coast-style rap battle, except without any killer beats, memorable rhymes, and also both men work in New York. (Actually, it will probably very genteel, since the two opposing hosts seem to positively treasure each other’s company.) For his part, O’Reilly arguably succeeded in escalating the “Commongate” debate a little bit. Where earlier anti-Commonites likes Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity had directly attacked Common’s music with all the self-awareness of preachers proclaiming that Elvis Presley’s gyrations were opening a portal to hellfire, O’Reilly focused on what he called Common’s “defense” of “two cop-killers,” apparently referring to Joanne Chesimard, a.k.a. Assata Shakur, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.) READ FULL STORY »
Scrabble, I’m with you on Indian words like “keema,” “alu,” and “gobi.” I’ll even back you for gak — slang for cocaine — if only because it also happens to be the name of my favorite ’90s toy. But “thang” and “grrl”? No, as much as I would love to string together all my Scrabble consonants in times of desperation, I am not happy about the new slang being acceptable in the game. But acceptable it is: Apparently, the Collins Official Scrabble Words has updated its dictionary to include the tween Internet lingo. This is dangerous territory, PopWatchers. We are just years away from watching our great-aunts score 20+ points with BFFLNMW. (That’s Best Friends for Life, No Matter What. Since this is the first time I’ve ever typed this, I’ll assume I have no friends. Thanks a lot for the sad self-discovery, Scrabble.)
Seriously, Scrabble: Stop giving credence to the May 21, 2011 end-of-the-world theory. There are enough Signs of the Apocalypse out there.
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Will Smith upset some residents of New York City when he rolled into their quaint little hamlet with a massive double-decker bus (pictured above.) Apparently, Smith’s ludicrous digs on wheels took up quite a bit of space in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, allegedly blocking business and emitted some harsh fumes.
Smith and Columbia Pictures have since moved the trailer, but some New Yorkers still seem a little peeved. So, to smooth things over we’ve come up with some ideas how the actor can make nice with the Big Apple once more:
– Sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song at anyone’s request READ FULL STORY »
Imagine a future Celebrity Apprentice cast. Now, imagine them all getting devoured by man-eating fish, and you’ve got Piranha 3DD, the follow-up to 2010′s blood-and-boobs fest Piranha 3D. Just look at the actors involved: Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, Gary Busey, Katrina Bowden, and now, David Hasselhoff. Yep, that’s right: The Weinstein Co. announced Wednesday that the America’s Got Talent judge and hamburger aficionado is set to join the sequel.
But here’s where I enter a plea to The Weinstein Co. I want just one thing for the holidays this year (the film is headed to theaters in November 2011): Please, oh please, let Hasselhoff play Mitch Buchannon. READ FULL STORY »
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is, technically, a very well-designed game. It’s extremely colorful. It makes funny noises. The first time you swim too far into the LEGO ocean and get eaten by a LEGO shark, you will probably laugh for a measurable second. LEGO Pirates is the latest in the Danish toy manufacturer’s series of LEGO-fied franchises, and like its brethren — LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Batman, and LEGO Harry Potter — the game wisely decides to treat its material with all the gravitas of a summer camp sketch. So all your favorite scenes from the first Pirates movie (and all your least favorite scenes from the second and third movies) get replayed by curious little block-people who speak in a guttural caveman non-language. You can break pretty much everything into little LEGO pieces, and as near as I can estimate after playing the game for about five hours, there are something like 20 million unlockable characters. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is a lot like the other LEGO games: Cute, playful, relentlessly inoffensive.
To paraphrase Charles M. Schulz: Good ol’ LEGO videogames… how I hate them! READ FULL STORY »
Jersey Shore’s third season finale aired March 24. Does that mean the fist-pumping reality program has been off the cultural radar long enough that jokes about it are funny again? Half an hour ago, my answer would have been “No.” Then I saw the following clip from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in which the host and a slew of guests — Abby Elliott, Rachel Dratch, and, best of all, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey — are transformed into pitch-perfect parodies of the guidos and guidettes we’ve gotten to know and loate (that’s “love and hate”) over the past year and a half. Watch the 9-minute opus yourself to hear Jimmy’s Pauly D voice and marvel at the best televised use of the Shake Weight since a certain episode of South Park, then nod sagely at Questlove’s wise words: “White people are weird.” READ FULL STORY »
