Some 1,200 screaming Gilmore Girls fans finally got some of the closure they've been looking for for eight years when 17 members of the cast and crew piled onto the stage to share touching memories, celebrate heroes, and of course, dispel a few myths.

And the capacity crowd got all that and more: After hours baking in the hot sun (there were more than a few victims of heat exhaustion at the front of the line) and surviving on the free Pop-Tarts some saintly volunteer passed around, we filed into the theater shortly after 7pm, buzzing and whirring slightly while we waited for the cast to find their seats.

Fittingly, the show started with a 1,200-person singalong of the show's iconic opening credits before festival cofounders Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson welcomed moderator Jessica Shaw from Entertainment Weekly and the three Gilmore girls—Rory (Alexis Bledel), Lorelei (Lauren Graham), and Emily (Kelly Bishop) to the stage. They quickly settled into their perfectly mismatched chairs—each seemingly selected to reflect their character's personality. After 45 minutes of chatter, they paused for an in memoriam tribute to Edward Herrmann—who played Richard Gilmore, the patriarch of the clan, and who passed away suddenly late last year—and then invited the rest of the cast to join them on stage for another round of questions.

For the true fans, there weren't too many surprises. We knew Graham practically "manhandled" Bledel, who struggled with blocking in the early days of shooting, this being her breakout role after only her "fifth or sixth audition." We knew Liza Weil originally auditioned for the role of Rory before the creators decided they liked her so much to write the role of Paris Geller specifically for the actress. We knew the show's scripts were 20 and 30 pages longer than the standard hourlong show's, thanks to the rapid-fire pace of the cast's delivery.

But we came out in droves to just listen to them tell stories with and about one another, hoping and praying for some sly mention of a movie or reboot down the line. Here's what we learned.

1) Amy Sherman-Palladino has a sick sense of humor

No cast panel is complete without audition stories, and this one was no exception. Bledel, at the time a student at New York University, recounted the horrible (last) modeling gig that got her sick before her audition (look for a tweet of one of those pictures over on Bledel's Twitter page soon); Bishop confessed how she thinks she reads for auditions poorly ("You're wrong," Sherman-Palladino quickly chided). But it was Graham who found out she'd gotten the role after ignoring a phone call while driving another contender back to her hotel afterward.

"If you had answered the phone and gotten the job in front of her… 'I got it?! Oh my god when do I leave?!' … That would have been so awesome," Sherman-Palladino deadpanned.

Well, awesome for somebody, anyway.

Before there was Jared Padalecki, "There was another Dean," Graham announced in a spooky, foreboding voice. "There was a Canadian Dean."

"There were two Canadian Deans," Sherman-Palladino corrected. "You gotta go American."

Damn right you do. Considering Padalecki has gone on to become a leading name in his own right, holding down a massive series in Supernatural, we think she made the right call.

3) Team Jess, Team Dean, and Team Logan are all wrong

The men in Rory's life are all buds in real life, with Milo Ventimiglia (Jess) saying he's Team Dean, Padalecki saying he's Team Jess, and everyone agreeing that "Logan was a dick."

But the real last word goes to Scott Patterson (Luke), who summed up what so many viewers thought by the end of season 7: "None of you are good enough for Rory." Final answer.

Worth it? You be the judge.

4) Michel isn't sure how he got to Stars Hollow in the first place

As the cast passed mics around and shared where they thought their characters might have ended up down the line, one answer in particular got a huge laugh from the audience. Rory would be off on her "highly ambitious career path," naturally; Scott Patterson is convinced Luke is off "40 miles outside of town" somewhere, with a new bait and tackle shop on a lake; Jess is "out being Jess" (a crowd member's suggestion of "successful author" got a much bigger cheer); Lane is "[hopefully] still playing music"; and "Logan would not be working." Check, check, and check.

5) Edward Herrmann left a huge impression on the cast

The interstitial in memoriam reel of Richard's best scenes got a standing ovation from the audience, but we weren't the only ones touched. Lauren Graham had to dry her eyes a few times throughout the evening as they shared memories of the role "Mr. President" played in their lives.

In the course of the evening, we heard about a pre-Gilmore Girls Miss Patty book available online (still trying to confirm that one ourselves), a Gilmore Girls drinking game, and the Gilmore Girls reading challenge, in which you try to read all 339 books Rory was seen reading onscreen throughout her time at Chilton and Yale. (Full disclosure: The fan who brought up the latter confessed that it's both "insane" and "expensive," so tackle that one at your own risk.)

7) …but a movie isn't on the books

Scott Patterson teased us all in a recent interview with the Gilmore Guys podcast by suggesting that "there are talks going on at the moment" for a movie or new season of the show. (And after that finale, you can't blame us for wanting a little something more.)

But it's not in the cards. At least not yet.

Amy Sherman-Palladino says she might share the final four words she intended for the show "on my deathbed"—Daniel Palladino chimed in that one was definitely "limburger"—but she quelled the rumors of a movie or Netflix reboot. "I'm sorry—there's nothing in the works," she said. But the good news? "Nobody here hates each other," so someday down the road, it's still a possibility. "It would have to be the right format, the right timing, the right way, [deeper voice] the right budget…" but would you really have it any other way?

Photo by Monica Riese

Sling TV Looks to a Personalized Future

Hirings and firings in the media business rarely make the front page, but in the case of Sling TV’s addition of Ben Weinberger, there’s reason to take note, pay attention or save the news to your favorite clipping service.

Weinberger, who comes to Dish’s live/on-demand service from TiVo, is one of the founders of Digitalsmiths, a company that emerged victorious from the disruptive video search space. In the competitive world of video search, many who failed focused solely on the technology piece of the puzzle, while Digitalsmiths also took the application of its search capabilities into strong consideration. For example, I recall having a briefing with the company when it showcased a b2b service it was developing for a film studio who wanted to sell clips from its films for commercial usage (in ads, for example). The ability to get down to the meta level — perhaps the scene where Vito Corleone plays in his tomato patch — was a powerful implementation of Digitalsmith’s capabilities.

In 2014, TiVo purchased Digitalsmiths with Weinberger becoming VP of services for the San Jose-based hardware and service provider. The addition of Digitalsmiths searching capabilities resulted in a 2014 Emmy Award for “Personalized Recommendation Engines for Video Discovery for Multichannel Video Programming Distributors.” Not too shabby.

Weinberger is anointed Sling’s chief product officer, which tells us the new TV provider is on a track to not only add new content to its lineup, but also to continue to improve customer experience to separate it from current and future competitors.

Which brings to mind a few questions. What sort of underlying platform will Sling use to handle the complexities of program customization. To put the process in its simplest terms, in order to personalize content, a process must be put in place to ingest/observe/gather the “tags” (descriptors) associated with each program. That info is put into a database and then married with individual user behavior. The merger of those two sets of information can yield a variety of personalized results. With Digitalsmiths belonging to TiVo, Sling will have to buy, build, or partner with a different tech provider.

Read the full article at the Video Ink.

One of Fixed’s greatest strengths lies in its willingness to question the positivity of the futurist and transhumanist agendas that certain disabilities can, and should, be fixed for the good of humanity. The film spotlights particularly strong advocates against the all-encompassing idea of fixing being a positive ideal, among them activist and artist Dominika Bednarska, biochemist and ability studies professor Gregor Wolbring, and futurist Jamais Cascio.

There remains a profound question of whether mitigating some disabilities (at least somewhat) through high-tech options will start some sort of dis/ability caste system, where those who can afford to buy their way out of disability with technological advances will be seen as better, more able, or more normal than those who cannot, or choose not, to pursue a technological solution to their impairment(s).

The least interesting parts of Fixed are the person-on-the-street interviews sprinkled throughout the film, where casual interviewees are asked what sort of extra-ability or superpower they would like to have if the option were available. In a film that centers the voices and experiences of people with disabilities, these interviews stand as a marked change in tone—and, unfortunately, detract from the film’s serious discussion of futurism, transhumanism, and people with disabilities by having seemingly non-disabled people weigh in on what sort of super-abilities they would choose. While the aim of bringing levity to the film’s discussions is an admirable one, the short interviews do not accomplish this.

Even with its run time barely topping 60 minutes, Fixed is a surprisingly comprehensive introduction to the intersecting—and often thorny—issues surrounding dis/ability, transhumanism, technology, and who the concept of a “better” future includes and excludes. 

Photo via F Delventhal/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

You thought the trend for "Uptown Funk" videos had been and gone? No. You were wrong. So wrong. "Uptown Funk" is still alive and kicking, and its latest viral star is a 60-year-old dance teacher from British Columbia.

High school dance teacher Shirley Clements has been organizing a local dance contest called Outbreak for 19 years, and took to the stage one last time before her retirement next year. Her energetic routine to "Uptown Funk" is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, and has the crowd yelling for more.

Make sure you keep watching until the breakdancing section.

H/T CTV News | Screengrab via Sheila Fergus/Ellentube

The world has been out of sync since Jeremy Clarkson was fired from motoring show Top Gear earlier this year. Subsequently, co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May’s contracts with the BBC expired and were left pending.

According to The Mirror, a very close source is claiming that Hammond and May rejected a $4 million offer from the BBC in lieu of joining up with Clarkson for a new show on Netflix. It’s also reported that longtime Top Gear producer Andy Wilman will be joining the trio.

According to the source, “Flattering though it is to be offered huge sums, there’ll be no going back. It wouldn’t feel right and their heart wouldn’t be in it. They’ve always said they come as a team and that hasn’t changed.” 

That statement does ring true, and May said back in March that “the three of us come as a package.” The source went on to say, “They are all very excited at the prospect of having total editorial control over their new show, to make it and get it distributed.”

Although the BBC was offering both Hammond and May a much larger sum of money than what they’re accustomed to, “they would stand to earn much, much more than they would with the BBC.” The BBC is a public network that doesn’t earn from ad revenue like most other television channels.

Fans of subreddit r/TopGear bombarded Netflix with messages, begging the streaming giant to take on the three hosts for a new show. Maybe it’s what drove Netflix to allegedly pursue the trio. There were also rumors that Netflix would name the show House of Cars, but let’s hope that isn’t the case.

Hammond and May did film the final two episodes of Top Gear without Clarkson, as the footage still needed to be aired. It should hit television screens in the coming weeks.

The three are also touring around Europe for what was formerly known as Top Gear Live, but after Clarkson’s sacking it was changed to Clarkson, Hammond & May Live. The BBC didn’t feel it right to cancel the live events, as fans had purchased tickets well in advance.

What about the future of Top Gear? Well, the BBC is scrambling to try to relaunch the show. It’s been reported that Chris Evans is on the short list to host. There were also reports of having different hosts for each episode.

The source went on to say, “Clarkson had his faults but his ­importance to the show cannot be understated. He wrote it, came up with ideas, and was its heart. It will need about three or four good operators to replace him.”

Netflix has not publicly confirmed the show yet. 

H/T The Mirror | Screengrab via Top Gear/YouTube

Pop star Ariana Grande is single now, and she would really appreciate if you stopped treating her like a wounded puppy. Don't let the ponytail and pumps fool you: She packs a grande punch.

Grande posted a screed to both Twitter and Facebook condemning the way women are treated in the wake of a breakup, and their treatment as sexual beings in general. The singer recently split with rapper Big Sean, and she's now on her world tour.

In her post, she repeatedly quotes feminist icon Gloria Steinem and refers to her aunt Judy, the first Italian-American female president of the National Press Club. She calls out society's double standard when it comes to sex, and she's 100 percent on the money.

Screengrab via ArianaGrandeVEVO/YouTube

Every day, dozens of free rap releases hit the Web. These are the moment's most interesting and resonant—including the return of Young Jeezy.

1) Young Jeezy, Gangsta Party

It has now been over a decade since the soul of Atlanta trap rap, Young Jeezy, did his first Gangsta Grillz collaboration with mixtape guru DJ Drama, a fact Drama does not shy away from yelling into your ears on their newest in a long series together, Gangsta Party. Jeezy has found a resurgence in the past couple years, teaming up with West Coast-sounding producers like Cardo and DJ Mustard, who gave the Snowman himself his first platinum records in years with “RIP” and “My Nigga.” This tape is a little too incidental to be aiming for another hit, but Jeezy may have carved out a nice lane for himself in the current rap landscape.

I was as surprised as anyone when I found out how good Jeezy sounded when he showed up a few years ago on the spliffed-out “Playin,” off Compton rapper YG’s mixtape. He doesn’t quite kick up his Balmain sandals at Venice Beach like he did there, but he’s evolved his sound somewhat with Cardo, and they find a happy middle-ground between the music they’re both known for. Even on this tape’s song with YG, it sounds geographically closer to Atlanta than SoCal.

Jeezy doesn’t box himself in either. On “Birds Could Talk,” it sounds like he’s been cooking crack in a pigeon coop all night in the best way possible. “I Might” with Rich Homie Quan sounds a lot like Jeezy guesting on his own track, and the Kevin Gates feature really transcends mixtape love songs. The closer, “Wit Me,” perfectly encapsulates Jeezy in 2015. It sounds like a dress-code party in South Central hosted by an unabashed ATLien.

2) Kevin Gates, Murder for Hire

Mixtapes are too damn long. A perfect length is about 10 songs, but three-quarters of Datpiff mixtapes have 20-plus. That makes Baton Rouge’s own Kevin Gates—one of the most exciting people rapping today—dropping a seven-song EP look especially appealing. Unfortunately, Murder for Hire sounds more like odds and sods than lean cohesion. “Puerto Rican Johnny” sounds like an early version of “John Gotti,” which appeared on last year’s Luca Brasi 2 mixtape.

Gates is a brilliant rapper though, one capable of conveying myriad feelings at once, and there’s no shortage on this tape. Even with multiple listens, it’s difficult to get a consistent sense of anything. He can jump from topic to topic without losing momentum, best illustrated on “Khaza,” where he works his way from “Osama Twin Llamas” to “Beyoncé follow me on Instagram, Jigga watch it” to “You tall and you can’t dress, really you annoying.” There are a couple of other highlights, or at least enough to hold over fans until his first proper release of 2015.

3) King Louie, Drilluminati 3: God of Drill

Southside Chicago rapper King Louie was already something of an old head in his mid-twenties, when the term “Chiraq” was coined by the burgeoning teenage street rap scene. Years later, after the major labels raided Englewood like they discovered America, King L is steady dropping mixtapes, still to release a debut album. Rather than focusing on the lack of career development (more than partially Epic Records’ fault), King L has experimented musically with Auto-Tune, melodies, and means of release, like in 2013 when he put out a song a day during the month of March.

Louie’s most successful tracks tend to be minimalist anthems like “Michael Jordan” and “Live & Die in Chicago.” I personally prefer when he goes off rapping and sounds like he’ll never stop, like on “I’m Arrogant” or “Bars,” but with his third straight “Rozay Flow” in the Drilluminati mixtape series, it doesn’t look like that’s coming back. On the other hand, he’s still great at making songs that sound like there’s a body in the trunk when played through car speakers. 

Most of the tracks on Drilluminati 3 are tuned for maximum knock, with many of the same producers he’s worked with for years. Louie also softens some of his edges with sung choruses, helped out by Fetty Wap, Dreezy, and PartyNextDoor. On “Like Louie,” he wobbles over a shaky piano beat that also sounds like chirps echoed in a robotic birdcage. It might be the best song on the tape. The weirdest song, “My World,” finds King L rapping about his fears and Croc sandals over some laid-back acoustic guitar plucks. He never loses his sense of humor or his ability to evoke imagery.

4) RJ, O.M.M.I.O. 2

I still maintain that L.A. rapper RJ’s first mixtape from 2013, O.M.M.I.O. (On My Mama I’m On), was the best collection of West Coast rap beats of the last few years, better than all the other YG, Dom Kennedy, and DJ Mustard full-lengths. That was two years ago, however, and even though the sound has blown up on the radio, RJ hasn’t been able to follow the success of his big bro YG. I don’t want to say that RJ has missed his chance, but as other contemporaries start to evolve from the minimalist ratchet sound that blew up Southern California, and as YG continues to tour the world, this new RJ tape doesn’t contain many new ideas.

There's a reason why the sound hasn’t left the radio, though: If it ain’t broke, why add sonic flourishes? The piano plinks and 808 farts do start to wear quicker than usual, but the familiar features make it feel like redoing a party rather than cleaning up the first one. Every song is pretty short and the tape sounds somewhat like a DJ set. It all flows together and it’s difficult to remember specifics when it’s over. Luckily, there ain’t no party like a West Coast party ‘cause a West Coast party don’t stop.

5) YT Triz, Dysfunctional

YT Triz is an Orlando, Florida, rapper whom I’d never heard of before he scored a Bobby Shmurda feature right at the peak of “Hot Nigga.” That collaboration, “How Can I Lose,” was some pretty bright, uplifting trap rap, even if not particularly noteworthy. He just showed up again out of nowhere with “Vamanos,” which somehow has guest verses from Lil Wayne and Rick Ross. I have no idea how he got the money to pay for those features, but it certainly wasn’t from rap.

It becomes pretty apparent that YT Triz should be a few years away from getting Wayne and Ross features. There is little that distinguishes himself and he’s just sort of trying on flows for size. But then “Vamanos” pops up halfway through the tape and after that, it’s like years in the future. I can’t be 100 percent sure, but it sounds like the tape progresses after track five, and Triz bought features and rapping classes. He shows a surprisingly deft flow over some menacing harp strings on “Gangsta Party,” an ability to craft something that sounds like it could be a solo single in “Rob the Plug,” and serious songwriting ability on “The Set Up.” Time will tell if YT Triz continues his rapid improvement in rapping and beat selection, or signs with Rick Ross's MMG record label and gets buried with the rest of the roster.

Screengrab via YGVEVO/YouTube 

Jean was joined by executive producer James L. Brooks, writer Matt Selman, and animator/director David Silverman at Austin, Texas's State Theatre to talk about the "evolution" of The Simpsons over the last 25 years. Jean related that he always wanted Wile E. Coyote to get the Road Runner, and in season 27, we'll allegedly get to see Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, quench his bloodlust on the Halloween episode. 

"I have two daughters, and when the older one was in school, they had a handbook that said, 'No T-shirts permitted, e.g, Bart Simpson.' And now they want cels to donate at their auctions and want me to speak at the school and, well, that's certainly changed." 

Indeed. While the murder of Bart at the hands of Sideshow Bob is only inferred, it will be interesting to see how they frame it. Bob's pretty good at playing the long game. What would he do without Bart?

Screengrab via Simpsonit SuomiTv/YouTube 

John Oliver will not rest until he has unveiled every injustice in the U.S. legal system. This week on Last Week Tonight, he explored how bail makes life harder for poor people accused of a crime—regardless of their guilt or innocence.

The obvious problem with bail is that if you can't afford to pay it, you stay in jail. This can result in something as extreme as ending up in Rikers Island for driving with an expired license, while a rich person like accused murderer Robert Durst can pay his $250,000 bail and go on the run. Sometimes, people decide to plead guilty just to get out of jail.

Screengrab via Last Week Tonight/YouTube

Last Sunday, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver reveled in the arrests of several prominent FIFA officials, and promised to drink a Bud Light Lime if FIFA head Sepp Blatter finally resigned. Two days later, that happened, and there was much GIF-based rejoicing. 

In addition to taking aim at bounty hunters on last night’s show, Oliver kept his word and drank a Bud Light Lime. But before he drank the golden swill, he offered a few colorful descriptors of its taste, such as, “Bud Light Lime tastes like the Jolly Green Giant's ejaculate.”

Of course he didn’t just choke down the beer: He went big and threw a Bud Light Lime party, complete with amazing Adidas sneakers. And yes, he looks like he’s about to cry after chugging it, but at least we’re finally rid of the, as Oliver put it last week, “Swiss demon who is ruining the sport I love.”

We haven’t heard much about the Sandman movie since Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David S. Goyercame on as producers, but the adaptation of the 10-volume, Neil Gaiman–helmed graphic novels is still very much on—and it won’t be like other big action movies, according to Gordon-Levitt.

He attended the Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards Saturday night, and after touching on some current projects, MTV News’s Josh Horowitz asked him about the state of Sandman, which had been in production hell since the ’90s. He understands why fans are getting antsy, but he asks them to be patient. After all, he’s adapting stories from years of backlog that doesn’t have any beginning, middle, or end in the same line as Watchmen.

Although he wouldn’t give any hints as to what aesthetic the film would have or what stories are being adapted, he did assure one thing: Morpheus would never punch anybody.

“Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing shit up. This has nothing to do with that,” Gordon-Levitt said. “And it was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said, ‘Don’t have any punching.’ Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn’t punch anybody. That’s not what he does. It’s going to be like a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary clichés. So, that’s why it’s taking a lot time to write, but it’s going to be really good.”

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has taken a stand against young people and their oppressive politically correct culture.

In an interview with ESPN sports radio host Colin Cowherd last week, Seinfeld addressed Cowherd’s concerns about the political "climate" for comedy, after he remarked that Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy don't even want to play college campuses anymore. Seinfeld said that he, too, didn't play colleges anymore and that he has been warned not to "go near" them because "they're so PC."

The 61-year-old comedian used his 14-year-old daughter as an example of youth gone PC. His wife, Jessica, allegedly told her that in the next few years, she'll want to hang around the city more so she can "meet boys." Her response? "That’s sexist."

"They just want to use these words," he continued. "'That’s racist, that’s sexist. That’s prejudiced.'"

Cowherd then cited Artie Lange, of all people, and his struggle to make a joke about Caitlyn Jenner in a culture where we have to take a stance on an issue in seconds.

We can evaluate what’s funny and what’s not at a breakneck pace, and that instant analysis feeds the echo chamber. For comedy to evolve, there must be a reevaluation of what’s funny and what’s not. But there’s a difference between exploring the pathology of racism and sexism and making a racist or sexist joke because you're a dick and want to rouse your Twitter followers. 

As Seinfeld points out in the interview, "Louis' great gift is that he doesn't worry" about offending people. "If I wanted to say something, I would say it. You know, everybody has their hot zone. You know, you’ve got your heat map, and that’s the jokes you do."

When asked last year about the lack of diversity on his webseries Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Seinfeld said focusing on gender or race is turning comedy into a "census."

"Funny is the world that I live in," he said. "You're funny, I'm interested. You're not funny, I'm not interested. I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that.”

Seinfeld also recently called YouTube, a major medium for young people, a "giant garbage can." 

At this point in his career, Seinfeld probably doesn't even have to play colleges. The bigger question here is, Do college kids even know who Seinfeld is? And if so, do they care? This is the generational divide writ large. 

H/T Uproxx | Photo via david_shankbone/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

YouTube megastars KSI and Casper Lee will star in the film, a comedy that tells the story of two foreigners who travel to America to have sex with women. The film has already begun production, and it features other prominent YouTubers, including Timothy DeLaGhetto, Josh Leyva, and Josh Golden. Fans can follow along with a Twitter account documenting the behind-the-scenes action.

While American YouTubers have been racking up film projects this year, the trend is in no way limited to the United States, as proven by KSI, a Brit, and Lee, who’s South African, getting into the game. The duo of Lee and KSI are no stranger to pairing up, as they’ve done collaborative videos before, and the topics are definitely raunchy. In one, KSI jokes with Lee about what his sister’s vagina smells like.

There’s no release date set for Laid in America, but filming continues.

Hold onto your chips, because Cookie Monster has baked something huge here.

Sesame Street is taking on Jurassic Park in another crisp parody with Cookie Monster as the brilliant (but mad) scientist who thought it was a good idea to rise a prehistoric baked good back from extinction. Naturally, everything crumbles, and there’s not a giant rig of milk to dump in sight.

Not much can stop a Cookie Monster for long, be it monsters or puzzles. And after all, a cookie-shaped Tyrannosaurus rex is still a cookie.

Last week, Björk released the video for “Stonemilker,” a song off her latest album, Vulnicura. It’s her first video shot specifically for virtual reality headsets, and the camera follows Björk around an Icelandic beach, encircling the singer as she walks alone. Toward the end, Björk multiplies and fills the screen with a plaintive melody. 

Vulnicura is an album about loss, solitude, about finding inner strength after the dissolution of a partnership. In a March 21 Facebook post, Björk explained how the video for “Stonemilker” came to be:  

“this came about as a spontaneous fruit of mine and andrew huang´s collaboration. we had already done black lake, the "family" moving album cover and the black lake "book cover" trailer and then found us in iceland one day with nothing to do and a 360 camera lying about. we discussed its potential for intimacy and andrew then suggested we take it to the beach where the song was written. it immediately rang true for me as that location has a beautiful 360 panoramic view which matches the cyclical fugue like movement in the song. if the song has a shape it is sort of like a circle that just goes on forever.”

The video experience is much different when you watch it on YouTube, without a VR headset. Director Andrew Huang says the video was of course meant to be watched through virtual-reality headsets, which was one of the components of Björk’s three-month MoMA retrospective, which just came to an end. Fans were also able to take part in the immersive experience at Rough Trade locations in New York and London, and Huang said the setup provided a “multiple-Björk fugue situation where you’ve got multiple Björks singing to you.”

Last November, Huang, who’s been collaborating with Björk since 2012, met up with her in Iceland to film the “Stonemilker” video, after filming the video for “Black Lake” last August in a huge production, with a 50-person crew. “It was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to make this epic, nocturnal, heartbreak opera out in the landscape,’” he said. “We had all kinds of technology we wanted to bring to it, and there was months and months of planning. It was just really weighty.

“And then, when we came back in November… We were there shooting this moving album cover, and my producer at Vrse.works brought out one of the first iterations of their proprietary 360 camera, just so we can have it. We’d also brought a few other 360 cameras with us just to kind of be ready for anything, because, having worked with Björk for a year and a half, you just have to be ready.”

“She had basically covered her entire house in lilac,” he explained. “She painted all of her walls lilac and had these lilac candles, and she was also wearing all these neon yellow garments. And it was very clear that she was kind of in a different… I came back from ‘Black Lake’ expecting to pick up where we left off and elaborate on that. However, I think she had already moved on emotionally, and I think she was in a more positive and healing kind of place.”

The “Lionsong” shoot was eventually put on hold as the more circular nature of “Stonemilker” came into focus. The beach where she wrote the song was not far from her house, Huang says, and so they set out to shoot there instead.

“When you have a 360 camera, you see everything,” he said. “So you can’t hide your crew behind the camera because there is no behind the camera. So as Björk performed for us, we’re actually all hiding, and we all had no idea what we were capturing. And it really was just trusting Björk and this camera to be by themselves, and it really was like a duet between her and this technology. And she loved it because there was nothing restricting her and it was completely intimate.”

With Biophilia, I was being like Kofi Annan—I had to be the pacifist to try to unite the impossible. Maybe that was a strange, personal job between me and myself, to show how overreaching I was being as a woman. The only way I could express that was by comparing it to the universe. If you can make nature and technology friends, then you can make everyone friends; you can make everyone intact. That’s what women do a lot—they’re the glue between a lot of things.

Could there be a time when whole albums are released in VR? Huang sees the potential for VR in the tandem with music, but says the medium is “not to be taken lightly.”

“I think there are a lot of people who want to do VR as an experiment or they have small budgets and are making just kind of bonus material. But virtual reality is kind of a greedy and demanding format in that if you’re able to look around, people not only want to look around but also step forward and into the space. They want to be able to touch things, they want to be able to see them in stereo. Once you start opening up different senses, then you kind of want more. Therefore, providing more… you literally are providing eight times the information that a normal film screen would.”  

For Björk, however, it was an experiment, and a spontaneous one at that. “The nature of this whole album is very naked, very stripped down,” Huang said. “She doesn’t have all the accoutrements from Biophilia. We just wanted to make a naked statement and a naked performance, and an intimate one.”

Screengrab via Björk/YouTube 

The film will apparently be a “satirical comedy” informed in part by late journalist Michael Hastings’s 2011 book, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan. Pitt will play a character modeled on Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of American and international forces in Afghanistan and a central character in the book. Hastings’s 2010 Rolling Stone story about McChrystal, “The Runaway General,” led to McChrystal’s resignation. Hastings was killed in a car accident in 2013, though the circumstances around his death were mysterious. 

David Michod, who directed the 2010 sleeper hit Animal Kingdom, will helm the film. Pitt’s production company, Plan B, picked up the rights to the book last year. 

War Machine joins Ricky Gervais’s Special Correspondents and the Jamie Dornan drama Jadotville in beefing up Netflix’s war room. 

H/T Deadline | Photo via DoD News Features/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

This video of a young girl named Johanna performing a tap-dance routine to the classic soul song was posted by YouTuber Elissa Colón, the girl’s mother. In the video, you can hear someone, most likely Johanna’s dad, screaming, “That’s my baby!”

And, well, where to even start with this video? The immediate sass and finger-wag she gives the audience when she turns around? Her “I got this” look? The cute little stage directions she gives her fellow dancers? Her circle-snaps? Her fierce exit?  

Screengrab via Elissa Colón/YouTube 

Shortly after the event was over, Drake called his appearance his “biggest moment yet” before quickly clarifying that it was his “most nerve racking moment yet.” For a man that has played huge, sold-out arena shows and hosted Saturday Night Live, it’s curious that this would feel so big to him, but it might have to with the reported $19 million that Apple has agreed to pay him to essentially be a brand ambassador for Connect and Apple Music.

In classic Drake fashion, he rocked a vintage Apple varsity jacket to the conference, which he told the crowd that he got it “on the Internet.” Fashion blogs immediately began to speculate where the jacket had come from. Complex Style managed to reach an eBay seller who successfully auctioned off a jacket which looks identical to the one Drake wore today for $825. 

The seller, named Jake, told Complex that he was surprised to see Drake in the jacket and was pretty sure it was the same one. The jacket was apparently given to Apple employees in the ’90s as a gift. He added that he has one more of the jackets to sell that is currently unlisted. 

For those looking to snatch up a similar look, eBay has some options, including this jacket that's currently going for $499:

H/T Complex | Screengrab via Apple Livestream

After shaving off his TV vacation beard and hiring a new band leader, it's time to get down to business and start planning his show. Apparently, that includes composing a new theme song—a completely terrible new theme song that no one in their right minds would ever air on TV.

Screengrab via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/YouTube

Beloved ’90s cartoon The Powerpuff Girls is getting a reboot, but don’t worry—it doesn't look like Cartoon Network is changing much.

Photo via The Powerpuff Girls/Facebook