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Marvel reveals new Daredevil: Charlie Cox

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The first of Marvel’s new live-action TV superheroes has been cast: Daredevil, a role that previously went to Ben Affleck in the widely derided 2003 movie adaptation.

Our new Daredevil is Charlie Cox, a British actor previously known for his starring role in the Neil Gaiman fantasy movie Stardust, and as Owen Slater in Boardwalk Empire. This casting is something of a surprise, because most predictions suggested a big-name actor being used to launch Marvel’s first venture onto Netflix. Dexter star Michael C. Hall was a name that kept coming up, although he denied rumors that he’d been offered the role.

This will be Cox’s first time in this type of action-heavy role, so it’s anyone’s guess what kind of Daredevil he will be. The show will take Marvel back to a setting that has recently been dominated by DC Comics adaptations: urban noir crime-fighting. Marvel’s official synopsis reads:

“Blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock fights against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the super hero Daredevil in modern day Hell's Kitchen, New York City.”

Daredevil is the first of four interconnected Netflix shows. Marvel heroes Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will each get a series of their own, culminating in an Avengers-style team-up titled Defenders. All of these shows are set in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood and take place in the same universe as the Avengers movies, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the upcoming Peggy Carter TV series. The format will be a Netflix-friendly arc rather than individual episodic storylines—the equivalent of a single superhero movie that stretches over a 13-episode period.

Daredevil’s original showrunner, Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard, dropped out from the project this weekend. It looks like it was just coincidence that he chose to resign on the same weekend as Edgar Wright, who publicly abandoned Marvel passion project Ant-Man after a creative conflict with the studio. Goddard will stay on as a producer and consultant for Daredevil, and will be replaced as showrunner by Steven S. Knight, formerly of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Spartacus.

Photo via jdhancock/Flickr


Christopher Lee releases heavy metal album for his 92nd birthday

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In celebration of his 92nd birthday, movie legend Christopher Lee is releasing another operatic metal album. Wait, you didn’t know he’d already made one?

Lee, best known is recent years for his role as Saruman in TheLord of the Rings, has been recording metal tracks since 2006. His first album, Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross, was just as epic as its title suggests. It tells the story of Medieval king Charlemagne and features a 100-piece orchestra and various guest vocalists performing other roles alongside Lee’s Charlemagne. The sequel, Charlemagne: The Omens of Death, came out in 2013. Christopher Lee is living the dream.

His latest album is Metal Knight, a compilation of heavy metal cover songs. Two tracks come from the 1960s Don Quixote musical Man of La Mancha, with Lee’s reason being, "As far as I am concerned, Don Quixote is the most metal fictional character that I know.” The album is a collaboration with Italian symphonic metal band Rhapsody of Fire.

The first single from the album is a cover of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, which Lee describes as “more operatic” than the original.

Photo via YouTube

You can help bring 'Reading Rainbow' back

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Reading Rainbow was on air for a good 21 seasons and became an iconic fixture for generations of children. The idea of it returning once again is enough to reduce some people to full-on Troy from Community tears, but don’t worry—LeVar Burton gets it.

Using Kickstartercrowdfunding, Burton plans to raise $1 million to launch a new, Internet-friendly version of the classic educational show. You can watch his explanation in this video, featuring a realistically awe-struck cast of adults who grew up with the original TV series.

Reading Rainbow holds a warm place in many people’s hearts, both as an object of nostalgia (which this campaign cheerfully capitalizes upon) and as an example of popular media genuinely trying to do good work.

The TV show spent over two decades promoting literacy among children, and two years ago LeVar Burton launched a Reading Rainbow app that brought the spirit of the series from television over to tablet media. The app includes video “field trips” presented by Burton and a subscription-based library. At the moment, children are reading an average of 139,000 of those library books each week.

This crowdfunding campaign aims to bring the new Reading Rainbow media to a wider audience online, and to provide more classroom materials for underfunded schools and teachers.

“A resounding number of teachers have told me that they want Reading Rainbow in their classrooms,” reads the Kickstarter page. “We will provide it, along with the tools that teachers need, including teacher guides, leveling, and dashboards. And in disadvantaged classrooms, we'll provide it for free.”

The Kickstarter rewards include things like tickets to live Reading Rainbow events, a group picnic lunch with LeVar Burton, and Reading Rainbow subscriptions for schools and classrooms. But the thing that will get LeVar Burton’s own fans buzzing is the top reward at $10,000: a private dinner with Levar Burton, with the opportunity to try on the visor he wore when playing Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

We’d like to say that this is the coolest Kickstarter we’ve heard about in ages, but we did find out about the solar powered roads just a few days ago. Still, the idea of Reading Rainbow for the Internet generation is pretty darn awesome, and the Kickstarter campaign seems likely to achieve its lofty fundraising goal: Donations are already piling on from 1,800-plus backers, to the tune of $89,000 and counting, and there are still 35 days to go.

Photo via Kickstarter

'World's ugliest woman' is making an anti-bullying film

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She was once deemed the "ugliest woman in the world." Soon, she may have a starring role in an important and inspirational film.

Lizzie Velasquez suffers from a rare syndrome that makes it impossible for her to gain weight; additionally, she is blind in one eye. When a video of her was uploaded to YouTube in 2006, it quickly went viral, with many users calling her the "ugliest woman in the world." 

While the moniker was no doubt painful to Velasquez, she parlayed the notoriety it afforded her into something positive. Ignoring her hateful critics, she went on to successfully finish college, write three self-help books, host a successful TED Talk, and be interviewed by Barbara Walters, among others. Her Facebook page currently has more than 250,000 likes and close to 35,000 people follow her on Twitter.

Recently, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund The Lizzie Project, a documentary about bullying and overcoming the negativity associated with it.

"Lizzie has a bigger dream to accomplish: to make the online community a more positive place than when she found it. Or, rather, when it found her," project founder Sarah Bordo wrote.

So far, over 3,000 backers have pledged $197,000 toward the project, exceeding its $180,000 goal.

Velasquez's journey—and the support she has received from far more level-headed Internet users—has been nothing short of inspirational and is proof positive that opinions formed by anonymous online cowards truly don't matter in the real world.

H/T Philly.com | Screengrab via Lizzie Velasquez/YouTube

Here's a perfect video explainer of why Edgar Wright's films are so great

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A lot of modern comedy movies are bad. Egregiously, embarrassingly, painfully bad. And no, the explanation for this isn’t Adam Sandler; it’s that a lot of comedy filmmakers are no longer really “filmmakers” at all.

Over the years, the comedy genre has been boiled down to the basic concept of, well, jokes. A movie is now simply a means of conveying as much funny dialogue as possible, occasionally accompanied by pratfalls, but without much in the way of cinematic trickery or smart visual gags.

In this video, Vimeo user Tony Zhou explains what we’re missing and why, using Edgar Wright movies as an example of comedy done right.

After watching this, you’ll probably understand why Edgar Wright inspires such slavish devotion among his fans. You’ll also start feeling a little frustrated next time you watch one of the many SNL actor comedies that come out each year, because most of them make all the mistakes listed in this video: boring cinematography, unimaginative sound design… Basically, a total lack of the kind of background detail you see in virtually every other genre. As this video puts it, “Don’t be satisfied with shit that’s less inventive than Vine.”

This video also couldn’t have come at a worse time. After eight years of working on an Ant-Man adaptation for Marvel Studios, Edgar Wright recently quit the movie due to a creative conflict. With an as-yet-unnamed director taking over from Wright, it looks like Ant-Man may wind up as a considerably less entertaining movie than fans were hoping.

Screengrab via Tony Zhou/Vimeo

Tumblr's cutest crime-fighting duo has Kickstarter dreams

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An artist hopes to take a Tumblr-based meme about a cute bear and a Canadian cop and turn it into a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Ami Guillen, known on Tumblr as Lemonteaflower,  and head writer and showrunner E.L. Zofchak are in the process of creating an animated series featuring a “female officer and her sentient bear, who solve cases and keep the peace within their small quirky town.”

The show is called “Miss Officer and Mr. Truffles.” The Kickstarter campaign will fund a seven-minute animated production short used to approach TV studios in the United States and Canada.

But the story of “Miss Officer and Mr. Truffles” began back in June 2011.

That’s when Constable Suzanne Bourque was called to a Canadian rest stop because of reports of motorists feeding a bear. When she arrived, she sounded her horn, scaring the bear away. Bourque then spent the next 45 minutes talking to the people who fed the cub while waiting her colleague to arrive. By the time she did, the bear had returned looking for more food.

Bourque’s colleague took the following photo of the two interacting:

The photo existed in relative obscurity until January, when the following Tumblr thread inspired Guillen to transform it into some quick illustrations.

“I thought [the comics] were quite awesome,” Bourque told me on Jan. 16. “She’s quite talented. I don’t know what caught her attention about it. I must say, I’d like to be in contact with her to see how she got it in her mind.”

Keep an eye out on the Tumblr page Official MOAMT for more information on the “Miss Officer and Mr. Truffles” Kickstarter. The following are two more GIFs posted on Tumblr of the series in progress.

Photos and animations by Gus Sanchez, Avian Anderson, Marco Ibarra, and Mollie Boorman

No one's more pumped for the 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' sequel than this Greek mom

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Fans of My Big Fat Greek Wedding were thrilled to learn that star Nia Vardalos is making a sequel to the beloved 2002 film. “Thrilled” is a relative term, however, because no one in the world is as excited as this actual Greek mom.

Angelo’s mother saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding five times when it was in theaters. So when Angelo heard the news, he just had to share it with her.

It was the best news she’d received in the last 10 years, easily. It was just like Christmas morning.

Angelo’s mother is a bit of a film critic herself; she’s reviewed movies before on her son’s YouTube channel (she was really offended by Noah). And she just doesn’t care about the other big films coming out.

Vardalos is still writing the script; the movie won’t be made for at least a year. That leaves us plenty of time to try to get Angelo’s mom to a screening.

Photo via FlyingOverTr0ut/YouTube

'Reading Rainbow' Kickstarter smashes through fundraising goals

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Levar Burton's Kickstarter to resurrect our childhoods and bring Reading Rainbow back to the kids of America has joined the elite list of fastest campaigns to ever reach $1 million.

The project, which launched yesterday, proposes to expand the successful Reading Rainbow app into a free webseries with special delivery to classrooms. It funded its million-dollar goal in just over 11 hours.

The campaign is now the fourth-fastest Kickstarter to reach $1 million. The groundbreaking Veronica Mars Kickstarter remains the fastest, hitting the mark in just over 5 hours and wrapping with a total of over $5 million. Roleplaying game Torment reached $1 million in 7 hours last year; gaming console OUYA did it in 8 hours in 2012. The highest-funded Kickstarter in history, the Pebble watch, needed 27 hours to gain its first million. 

Reading Rainbow didn't need time to build and spread via word-of-mouth. It already has a huge fanbase and a multi-generational nostalgia factor thanks to its 26-year-run (1983 - 2009) on PBS—along with one of the catchiest theme songs known to man. Yesterday's campaign brought out moments of nostalgia, tears of joy, and moving personal tributes:

The campaign's swift success hasn't come without controversy, however; the Washington Postcritiqued the reasonReading Rainbow was cancelled in 2009 to begin with, and questioned whether the show was utilizing best practices to teach millennial kids how to read. The National Journal opined about the way public education was falling into the hands of crowdfunding: "[I]t's sad that it takes people like LeVar Burton to compensate for our country's literary failings."

Despite these doubts, the campaign currently stands at over $1.7 million, putting Reading Rainbow on track to prove the age-old adage: Butterfly in the sky— we can go twice as high.

Screengrab via Kickstarter


Hulu might bring back 'Community' for a 6th season

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There may be hope for a sixth season of Community after all.

Almost three weeks after NBC canceled the cult comedy, Hulu is in talks with Sony Pictures Television, the main studio that produces the show, to bring more original Community episodes to Hulu Plus.

It’s not a confirmation that there will be a sixth season on Hulu by any means, but both Hulu and Sony appear to be interested in the prospect of bringing the show back. The plan would likely include one more 13-episode season with creator Dan Harmon running things again.

Hulu owns the rights to stream Community digitally, so reviving the show there logically makes sense; it’s something people have speculated about since the show was canceled.

If a deal is made, it would be a bold statement for Hulu. The streaming service has made its own content before—although it’s never been as successful as Netflix’s original content—but it has never rescued a show. Community would by far be the biggest name in its lineup, and the move would be comparable to Netflix reviving Arrested Development.

Plus, the rabid fans who rallied for “six seasons and a movie” would be one step closer to fulfilling that cry.

Harmon said he was open to making a sixth season of Community (after initially appearing “eh” right after cancellation), but he was also OK if it never happened. Either way, it was going to be a long process, most of which would be out of his hands.

“I’m not going to be the guy who recancels cancelled Community,” he said.

H/T Deadline | Photo via NBC/YouTube

YouTube pranksters ink a movie deal with Lionsgate

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It’s not another prank: The Janoskians are coming to the silver screen.

The Australian pranksters have signed a deal with Lionsgate for the company to develop a feature film based on their antics. Originally from Melbourne, the five members of the Janoskians (Just Another Name Of Silly Kids In Another Nation) are now based in Los Angeles.

Since starting out on YouTube in 2011, they have accumulated more than 15 million followers and some 200 million views between their social media and all of their channels, gone on a sold-out worldwide tour, signed a record deal, and launched their own clothing line and video game.

They’re one of the biggest stars to come out of the AwesomenessTV teen empire, and they’ve even got AwesomenessTV president Brian Robbins on board to produce the film. Clearly, Lionsgate is hoping that the Janoskians’ fanbase will leap at the chance to see their favorite pranks in movie-length form.

Unlike Justin Bieber’s films, the Janoskians’ big-screen debut will not be a documentary. A script is still in the works, but the plan to to make a “partially scripted comedy” that will be full of the stunts and pranks that fans have come to expect from the quintet as they adjust to life in Los Angeles and decide to throw an epic party.

If you’ve never heard of the Janoskians, you soon will. They’ve already got their own passionate fanbase that’s able to shut down any area they appear—even Times Square.

The members have all gone on Twitter to celebrate the news and thank the millions of fans who helped make it happen. There’s plenty of pranking still to be done.

H/T Deadline | Photo via JanoskiansBlog/YouTube

'2001: A Space Odyssey' gets an upgrade from the voice of Archer

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The Internet loves nothing more than when voice actors (or apparent professional narrators) use their vast vocal abilities to recreate famous scenes for a crowd. H. Jon Benjamin—Bob Belcher and Sterling Archer himself—voicing HAL 9000 was nothing short of genius.

Benjamin stopped by the Late Night Basement in Brooklyn, where host Chris Rose asked him to lend his voice to the most iconic scenes in movie history, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Take the voice of Bob’s Burgers and Archer, add in some sass and a fit of the giggles, and you’ve got yourself the perfect villain. It’s unclear if he’s tipsy or the crowd’s making him laugh, but it just makes it even better.

Dave’s definitely in the danger zone now.

Photo via Late Night Basement/YouTube

'Jurassic World' director confirms leaked plot details

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We live in a spoiler-phobic world, so it’s unusual to hear about a big-budget movie that isn’t in a state of paranoid lockdown about information leaks.

Admittedly, it sounds as if Colin Trevorrow, director of Jurassic World, found himself backed into a bit of a corner. Following a flurry of rumors about the movie, he decided to speak to Slashfilm and explain which spoilers are genuine and which are not -- despite the fact that this new Jurassic Park sequel won’t be released until 2015.

One of the most intriguing leaked spoilers was that the main character (played by Chris Pratt from Guardians of the Galaxy and Parks & Rec) was training “good” dinosaurs like Pokemon to fight back against the scarier ones. Trevorrow sets the record straight on this one, saying, “There’s no such thing as good or bad dinosaurs. There are predators and prey.” Rather than training the dinosaurs, Chris Pratt’s character is just a behavioural researcher.

Another rumor was that this movie would contain genetically modified dinosaurs, which sounds kind of “blah” unless you know that a while back, there were rumors of a plan to include part-human, part-dinosaur creatures in one of the Jurassic Park movies. This concept sounded like it would tip the franchise into schlocky B-movie territory, so fans will be happy to learn that Jurassic World’s GM dinosaurs are not nearly so bizarre.

“It doesn’t have a snake’s head or octopus tentacles,” says Trevorrow. “It’s a dinosaur, created in the same way the others were, but now the genetics have gone to the next level.”

Speaking more generally, he clarified that Jurassic World takes place in a fully functioning version of the park that was attempted in the first movie. “It sees more than 20,000 visitors every day. You arrive by ferry from Costa Rica. It has elements of a biological preserve, a safari, a zoo, and a theme park. There is a luxury resort with hotels, restaurants, nightlife and a golf course. And there are dinosaurs. Real ones.”

22 years after the first Jurassic Park was built and then quickly shut down, living dinosaurs are old news. “We imagined a teenager texting his girlfriend with his back to a T-Rex behind protective glass,” says Trevorrow. “For us, that image captured the way much of the audience feels about the movies themselves. 'We’ve seen CG dinosaurs. What else you got?' ”

As well as sharing this handful of new details, director Colin Trevorrow seems very aware of the pressures of making a new Jurassic Park movie, urging people not to pre-judge Jurassic World based on a few scraps of information. “I understand the risks of leaving the safe zone. We’ve all been disappointed by new installments of the stories we love. But with all this talk of filmmakers 'ruining our childhood,' we forget that right now is someone else’s childhood.”

Photo via Nerissa's Ring/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

We the Kings singer secretly performs his own song at a karaoke bar

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Professional singers might have an advantage over the rest of us at karaoke—not necessarily because they have a better voice, but they already know how to work the crowd. But what if they performed their own song?

That’s what happened when We the Kings, who are currently touring in Japan, ended up at a random Japanese karaoke bar. After noticing that their song, “Check Yes Juliet,” was among the list of available tunes, singer Travis Clark’s bandmates made him perform it to the unaware crowd.

It’s a feat that Beyoncé would never be able to pull off in pure anonymity.

It might be cheating, but he sings it just as well in a karaoke bar.

H/T Reddit | Photo via Trippy/YouTube

Could you do a Patrick Stewart impression to Patrick Stewart's face?

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In the recent release X-Men: Days of Future Past, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender play young versions of, respectively, Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, characters that were brought to stunning and timeless life by Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen in the original X-Men film trilogy.

Now, the young actors are showcasing precisely why they were the chosen ones.

In an amazing and hilarious video, McAvoy and Fassbender showcase spot-on impressions of their respective thespian counterparts—to their faces. In fact, McAvoy takes it a step further and challenges Stewart to perform an impression of him.

And not a single one of them needed to sell fast food to get the laughs.

Now we need to see how well Nicholas "Beast" Hoult can channel Kelsey Grammer.

Screengrab via Marty23/YouTube

Let's get something straight about this rumored 'Breaking Bad' return

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Warning: This article contains spoilers for the ending of Breaking Bad.

Just when we thought we’ve made our peace with the Breaking Bad ending, Bryan Cranston pulls us back in.

The actor appeared on CNN yesterday to promote Godzilla, and Ashleigh Banfield asked him about the show’s ending after telling her he almost passed on doing the film because he was trying to pick projects that met the high standards he had with Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad will likely come up in every interview Cranston will ever do for years to come (much like Daniel Radcliffe and the Harry Potter films), even though he’s already done other projects and has a Tony nomination under his belt. It’s a show that millions watched and will continue to binge-watch until the day it goes off Netflix, at which point it’ll be revered with the same fervor and respect that The Wire gets from TV buffs.

And as a veteran of the entertainment industry, Cranston must have some idea that anything he says regarding Breaking Bad will make headlines, just as when he dropped the tiniest of possibilities that Walter White survived the shootout that ultimately killed him in the finale.

Banfield: That final scene, that final image... I wasn't so sure that you died. I really wasn't. Your eyes were open, and I thought, 'What if the police just take him into custody, he gets better, breaks out, and just goes nuts?'

Cranston: Hey, you never saw bags zip up or anything, or anybody say... you know.

When she asked about a possible Breaking Bad movie, he answered with a coy “Never say never.”

When Breaking Bad's finale aired last September, it was described as being near-flawless. It answered every single question we had (except one), it didn’t suddenly cut to black, it didn’t mislead the audience for its entire run, the “it was all a dream” ending only happened as a DVD extra, and the main antihero got what he deserved (unlike another series that featured a serial killer).

“I feel that the ending satisfies me and that’s something that I’m happy about,” Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligantold Entertainment Weekly following the series finale.

But now that Cranston planted the seed in people’s heads, they’re not so sure that Walter White is dead.

Cranston’s “never say never” quote, that Breaking Badisn’t necessarily over” and posing the question that maybe Walter White might’ve survived instantly made headlines. Fans are now at odds over whether Cranston’s just messing with them… and wondering if they even want more Breaking Bad at all.

We’ve watched enough television in recent years to know that a character is never truly dead until you see the corpse—just look at the Hannibal season finale—and if there’s magic or supernatural elements or a high-functioning sociopath turned consulting detective involved, that might not even be a guarantee. Maybe we’ll see Ned Stark magically walking around, totally fine minus a head on his neck in two seasons’ time.

(Fear not, spoiler-phobes! That won’t actually happen—at least that I know of. Events in future books aren't a guarantee.)

So is Breaking Bad coming back? Will there be a movie? Did Walter White survive? It’s a prime example of Betteridge’s law of headlines, which states, “Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

During Breaking Bad’s final eight-episode run, the cast and writers did a lot of press. They talked to major entertainment websites and shows just about every week, they regularly appeared on Talking Bad to discuss the show right after it aired with Chris Hardwick, Jimmy Fallon made a longform parody (in which Cranston and Aaron Paul showed up), and Conan O’Brien devoted an entire episode to talking to Gilligan and the cast.

So let’s look back at some of that press coverage, shall we?

“People always ask me, ‘Did you know how Breaking Bad was gonna end from the get-go?’ and I always say, ‘No I didn’t,’ and that’s the truth,” Gilligan explained. “But I kinda always did know that Walter White should not survive this series. How that was gonna come to pass was very much up in the air up until we broke this final episode.”

Gilligan to the Los Angeles Times:

"It's implicit to me in the promise of that first episode of 'Breaking Bad' is that he's not going to survive 'Breaking Bad.’ It just felt right that we saw his demise."

Gilligan to Entertainment Weekly:

“We didn’t feel an absolute need for Walt to expire at the end of the show. Our gut told us it was right.”

Cranston on Walt’s death:

“But ultimately, I think [Walter White dying] is the best ending. A real satisfying ending. And I’m so grateful for that.”

Even the last page of the "Felina" screenplay, posted to Reddit last fall, includes one seemingly definite ruling:

"They're too late. He got away."

And if you still have doubts, just see how he and Paul reacted to reading it for the first time. “So I guess there won’t be a sequel,” Cranston said, laughing.

It’s probably safe to say that Cranston was probably pulling Banfield’s leg. We may see Walter White make a cameo in Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel starring Bob Odenkirk, and we’re sure to read plenty of stories from the good ol' days on set when Cranston’s memoir comes out.

But for now, let Walter White stay buried and full of bullet holes—body bag or no.

H/T Uproxx | Photo via amc/YouTube


This 'Book of Life' trailer is a thing of beauty

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The Book of Life trailer made a splash yesterday as it debuted to an Internet keen on visual spectacle and unconventional storytelling.

Set in Mexico and featuring gorgeous animation, Book of Life instantly became a hit on Tumblr. The trailer for the movie, which lands in theatres this October, spent most of yesterday making the rounds on Tumblr in the form of an infinite number of fetching, eye-catching GIFs and photosets.

The narrative begins on the Mexican Day of the Dead and involves a very colorful underworld. Combined with the beautiful CGI animation reminiscent of stop-motion, comparisons to Corpse Bride and Nightmare Before Christmas are probably inevitable. But Book of Life is very much a different cultural product, owing far more to the magical realism of its producer Guillermo del Toro than to Tim Burton. 

Book of Life's director and creator is Jorge Gutierrez, an Emmy-winning Mexican animator and writer best known for creating the award-wining Nickelodeon series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. Gutierrez wanted to make his film a distinct cultural product that he could share with the world. The story is firmly grounded in Mexican folklore, but it also utilizes famous actors like Zoe Saldana and Channing Tatum, along with catchy covers of famous pop songs.

Gutierrez also had a goal of making certain that the beautiful, luminous qualities of illustrated concept art found its way to the screen. Indeed, screengrabs of the trailer look more like pages from an illustrated children's book than a movie. Even the gorgeous movie website is like falling into a picture book.

What do you think? Is Book of Life just another children's film? Or is it an extra treat in the usual bag of Halloween film tricks?

Photo via Film Habits

For its first original programming project, Vimeo invests in weed comedy 'High Maintenance'

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Earlier this year, Vimeo announced it would be investing money in crowdfunded films and original programming, in an effort to highlight the site’s audience development and Vimeo On Demand service. Yesterday, it announced its first partnership: the webseries High Maintenance.

In a statement about the partnership, Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor explained that “[e]arlier this year we announced an initial $10 million investment to license content for distribution on Vimeo On Demand from creators seeking alternatives to ad-based models, and this is an exciting next step for the platform.”

The show, which stars co-creator Ben Sinclair as a weed delivery man in New York City, originated on Vimeo last summer and drew a devoted audience. Though the premise might suggest a plot full of weed jokes, the show is more character-driven, focusing on the people Sinclair's character meets. This unnamed hero often lets his face do the talking in these scenes of deliverance, and it contains multitudes.

The people Sinclair visits are not stereotypes of weed culture, and credit for excellent casting should go to co-creator Katja Blichfeld, who’s perhaps best known as 30 Rock’s casting director. Hannibal Buress appears in one of the first season’s best episodes, as well as in another 420-friendly show, Broad City, which mirrors High Maintenance's talent for creating relatable, emotionally sketched characters. Both shows make the city a character. There’s a bit of Slacktory’s original series Tough Love in there as well.

Pricing for the series on Vimeo On Demand is yet to be determined, but you can watch the first 13 episodes on Vimeo now. It will be interesting to see how the company attempts to compete with Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu’s original programming.

Screengrab via Vimeo 

Kanye West could be the new mayor of Chicago thanks to this website

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Kanye West wear lots of hats, or rather Margiela crystal encrusted face coverings. He is a rapper, a self-proclaimed deity, a Kris Jenner talk show guest, shruggie muse, fashion designer, Kardashian husband, Illuminati secretary, and head of DONDA creative. Thankfully Kanye’s ego’s ambitions haven’t ventured into the field of public service like other celebrities.  But as the old adage goes, if you build it, Kanye will come. That’s the hope that writer and artist Ben Shepard’s website Kanye4Mayor.org holds.

As the URL would lead you to believe, it is in fact a site that carefully articulates an argument for why Yeezy would be better suited as Mayor West, Chicago’s leader in 2015. The site’s rhetoric seems to focus less on Kanye’s strengths as a mayoral candidate and more on the weaknesses of Rahm Emanuel and his current regime. Shepard outlines the his critique of Chicago’s current political landscape in the “Why?” as well as his proposed changes in an “Open Letter to Mr. West.” As for Kanye’s role in this political reconstruction of the flawed Chicago, Mr. Shepard’s provides his own explanation: 

The ideal candidate has three qualities. (1) They share a vision of a New Chicago for and by all Chicagoans.   (2) They are famous, because fame iscrystallized charismatic authority and this kind of big change needs significant authority. (3) They are not associated with existing Chicago politics and willing to use creative methods. 

Kanye West is famous, not associated with the existing power structure and clearly willing to use creative methods. 

There is no way to tell if he shares the vision of a New Chicago but three pieces of evidence suggest he might be. First is the fact that he grew up in the South Side and presumably understands the situation. Second are the politics implied by the lyrics and remarks as quoted all over this site. Third is thefinal track of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy.

The true treasure of the site is the quotes section, consisting of the rapper's most Chicago-centric and political lyrics and soundbites. So far neither Kanye nor his represetnation have adressed the site. Likely the public would have less of an issue with Kanye as Mayor then they would with Kim as Mayoress, becuase you know the self comparsions to the Obamas would be inevitable. Besides, Kanye's rants and tangents are insufferable enough. Parish the thought of him giving stump speeches. 

H/T via: NME | Photo via: rodrigoferrari/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Duke porn star Belle Knox debuts reality show 'The Sex Factor'

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Breaking into adult entertainment can be a degrading experience, as Belle Knox, a.k.a. “the Duke University porn star,” discovered when outed by a fellow student. Since being (over)exposed as a sex worker, though, she’s proved quite adept at leveraging her story into bigger opportunities—like hosting a competitive reality webseries called The Sex Factor, which promises to make her scandalous entrée to the world of XXX films look positively quaint.

If you’ve watched American Idol, you already know how this works: would-be performers, none of whom have appeared on film before, will try to impress a panel of industry veterans with their amateur thrusts and moans. The public votes for their favorite male and female contestants, with the two winners taking home $1 million each and performing in a scene with Knox herself.

Great news all around for people who like to see women shed their clothes and inhibitions for cash (or men berated for failing to achieve instantaneous erections). Best of all, you can pimp your friends into consideration by following @thesxfactor and tweeting at them with the hashtag #IWantToSeeYouInPorn. Idiocracy, here we come!

Photo via The Sex Factor/YouTube

A man is raising money to buy and destroy Wu-Tang Clan's 'secret' album

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Wu-Tang Clan’s “secret” (but really, not-so-secret) upcoming album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, is being promoted as a museum piece, a one-of-a-kind work of art that currently has a price tag of $5 million. Understandably, this stunt has angered many longtime fans. There are those who want to tear down this proposed piece of fine art.

Last month, Wu-Tang Clan fans rallied on Kickstarter in hopes of raising enough money to purchase the album and then distribute it to fans. Now, one Virginia man is attempting to raise enough money to destroy it.

Chris Everhart channeled his frustration over the group's high-falutin’ approach to the album:

“I hate that the WU has devolved into such self-riotous assholes. This would be a tremendous idea if all the proceeds went to poor artists or cancer research or Autism or something. Instead it goes to the pockets of artists who have the entire world at their ear. Music and visual art are art. Art should be shared with the world. Especially to poor people and the culturally disadvantaged.  I don't see how this project isn't mutually inclusive to denying that this work is art and should therefore be destroyed.

I will happily destroy this album in public spectacle and never listen to it. I have listened to this group since I was able to pick an album from the CD rack. But these m&%f$#s done went to far.

There will be a destruction ceremony that will be broadcast live via the intertubes. This ceremony will serve as a work of performance art. It will be scripted, filmed for posterity, and made available for download worldwide.”

Countering a performance with a performance is one way to interact with an album that’s been promoted as spectacle, as lore, as mythmaker. What value should we assign to a feat of marketing? Should Wu-Tang Clan be applauded for revising the blueprint for an album release, in a time when permanence is fleeting? The group and the album’s producer have been fairly quiet leading up to the release, but does Wu-Tang Clan feel they’re shutting out true fans, as Everhart implies? Have they been trolling us all?

There's something kind of poetic in this crowdfunded cycle of creation and destruction, but Everhart goes on to say he does “not wish to personally profit in any way. I wish to obtain this album and destroy it in an artistic and grandiose manner.”

If you want to help him reach his lofty goal, you’ve got until July 28. His goal is $6 million, but he’s currently hovering around $50.

Image via scluzay.com

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