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An 11-year-old girl challenged Gaston to an arm-wrestling contest

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Gaston may have biceps to spare, but one 11-year-old girl was definitely not intimidated when she challenged the Disney villain to an arm-wrestling match.

This young woman had her interaction well-planned, totally ignoring Gaston's typical misogynistic banter, distracting him by showing him a mirror in which he might gaze upon himself, and then setting him up for an epic takedown in the field of arm wrestling. We won't spoil the outcome, but we suspect you'll be cheering.

This is far from the first time Gaston has been challenged recently. Earlier this week a man went head-to-head in a pushup contest, and Gaston quickly walloped him with some one-handed, showy moves. However, he was not so lucky when a young child name Isabella gave him the talking-to he deserved in December. In addition to letting him know Beast is her favorite, she also promised him he'd never marry Belle and that Beast would beat him up.

What's clear here is Gaston may be able to get a leg-up on guys, but it's young women who are making sure the buffoon is publicly disgraced in all the right ways.

H/T Jezebel | Screengrab via Peyton Kays/YouTube


David Cross's directorial debut will become BitTorrent Bundle's first feature film

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Torrents are widely synonymous with piracy. When BitTorrent Chief Content Officer Matt Mason reached out to Sony Pictures to aid the studio in releasing The Interview, a lot of people assumed he was trolling. But the platform—which allows torrent files to be placed behind paywalls—seems to have caught the fancy of David Cross, who has decided to use it to release his feature directorial debut, Hits. As Cross states on a Kickstarterpage for the film:
"We went to Sundance and while we received offers from some great distributors, their plans with the film were a little lackluster... so we decided to release it ourselves in an unusual way, as an experiment! We're launching it nationally in theaters and on BitTorrent as a Pay What You Want release! It will be on iTunes and other platforms but they will be more traditionally priced."

After Sony's snub, Hits will have the distinction of being the first feature film released via BitTorrent Bundle. Last September, Thom Yorke made waves by releasing his solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, over the service, also opting to let downloaders choose what they paid (although BT Bundle also allows artists to set fixed prices). Drafthouse Films has also been friendly with the service, having released behind-the-scenes bundles for The Act of Killing and Cheap Thrills (but no feature films—yet).

As interesting as Cross's online strategy may be for Hits, the theatrical approach is no slouch, either. The Kickstarter page is aiming to raise $100,000 to rent theaters in 50 markets so that Cross can allow attendees to set their own ticket prices. Yes—as if allowing fans to pick their own digital prices isn't groundbreaking enough—he's also bringing the concept into the physical realm. Arguably, though, the coolest info on the Kickstarter page may be its confirmation of new Mr. Show material

At this point, releases over BitTorrent Bundle are still too few in number to confirm it as a viable platform, but Sony may have been wise to take Matt Mason up on his offer: While The Interview has been pirated like crazy (with Sony estimating it's been pirated as much as it's been paid for), Stereogum estimated (albeit very generously) that Yorke pocketed $20 million on the release of Tomorrow's Modern Boxes.

Hits—featuring Matt Walsh, Wyatt Cenac, David Koechner, Michael Cera, James Adomian, and Amy Carlson—is tentatively set for release on Feb. 13. You can check out the trailer below.


H/T The Verge | Photo via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)

Neil deGrasse Tyson is headed to late-night TV

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Watch out, late-night hosts. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is about to enter the talk show arena. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Tyson will host a late-night talk show on the National Geographic Channel starting this spring.

The weekly series will be called Star Talk and share a similar format as Tyson’s popular podcast by the same name. Tyson is working on new elements that will be added to the TV version of Star Talk. The only addition revealed so far is that Bill Nye will be given a minute to rant on each show.

Cosmos allowed us to share the awesome power of the universe with a global audience in ways that we never thought possible. To be able to continue to spread wonder and excitement through Star Talk, which is a true passion project for me, is beyond exciting. And National Geographic Channel is the perfect home as we continue to explore the universe,” Tyson said during the Television Critics Association press tour.

The late-night show will be taped at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in front of a live studio audience. It is set to debut in April. 

H/T The Hollywood ReporterPhoto via NASA's James Webb Space Telescope/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

4 key reasons why Netflix isn't releasing its viewership data

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Don’t bother asking Netflix about its audience numbers. For now, at least, the company is not talking.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos reiterated to the Television Critics Association that the popular streaming service would refuse to release audience viewership numbers for as long as it could. One reason, he said, was to avoid seeing such numbers misinterpreted by and compared to more traditional television ratings from services like Nielsen.

While there are many reasons why Netflix won’t release its audience numbers, there are four key ones that any Netflix fan or industry observer needs to understand.

1) Netflix does not sell ads

As a subscription service, Netflix’s business model rests solely on monthly fees from customers. Unlike its competitor Hulu Plus, which includes ads in its premium package, Netflix is ad-free. For more than half a century, granular data from Nielsen about the total number of people who watched a given show—as well as a demographic breakdown of those viewers—was gospel for ad agencies placing commercials in local, network, and cable programming. Netflix neither needs nor wants to jump into that debate.

2) Subscribers don’t care about numbers

Fans of Orange Is the New Black don't care how many other people are watching the show. While these fans want to know who in their social graph is watching, big numbers are not impressive to them. In the new world of online content streaming, the fact that more than 140 million people have watched Akon’s video “Smack That” on YouTube carries no important meaning.

3) Most people would be surprised and confused at Netflix's numbers

An August survey from marketing firm Centris Marketing Science revealed that 44 percent of Netflix viewers have watched Orange Is the New Black and 31 percent have watched House of Cards. Based on its most recent numbers, that amounts to 22 million and 15.5 million respectively. Compared to an average week for the top scripted network show, The Big Bang Theorywhich had 15.5 million viewers for the week of Dec. 8, 2014—that’s quite respectable. What the Centris numbers do not reveal is whether the 22 million viewers watched all the OITNB episodes or just a few. Nor do they reveal how many times customers recommended the show to friends. There is no doubt that Netflix has detailed viewing statistics, but for now, mum's the word.

4) Netflix has all the data it needs

Netflix is a big believer in big data. In fact, the company has said that 100 percent of its decisions are based on the nuggets of data it collects from viewers each time they log on. Netflix uses that data for two purposes: to provide individual recommendations (as in, if you like The Avengers, you will like Guardians of the Galaxy) and to make decisions about what projects to greenlight. The company has said that it went ahead with production on House of Cardsafter looking at its data algorithms, which are used to predict content that will appeal to viewers.

For now, Sarandos can remain tight-lipped about his company’s viewing metrics. However, Netflix is a public company with its eye on global streaming dominance. At some point, the powers that be will have to share its numbers with investors and partners. Netflix's hope is that, by that time, an accurate, independent, and well-audited audience-tracking system will be in place—one that focuses more on audience engagement than eight-digit numbers.

Photo via Michael Galpert/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

HBO announces premiere date for 'Game of Thrones,' 'Veep,' 'Silicon Valley'

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Set your DVRs and flex your livetweeting hands: Game of Thrones, Veep, and Silicon Valley will air back-to-back-to-back on HBO Sunday, April 12. All three of the upcoming seasons will be 10 episodes long.

Game of Thrones kicks off the marathon at 9pm ET, followed by Silicon Valley at 10 and Veep at 10:30. Read HBO's press release for… well, not much more information, but a partial list of each show's cast.

In some wonderful alternate universe, Maisie Williams assassinates Julia Louis-Dreyfus while Martin Starr turns the whole bloody scene into an app. The closest we'll ever get to that will happen the second Sunday of April, when these fan favorites return to TV.

What can you expect from the fifth season of Game of Thrones? Mostly, all we know is who's not going to be in it. But if you're not afraid of spoilers, check out our rumor roundup here.

Screengrab via Game of Thrones/YouTube

The director of 'The Room' hates porn stars

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When one thinks of people who have weathered the storm of negative public opinion, The Room auteur/noted Croatian cyborg Tommy Wiseau springs to mind. Yet although Wiseau is on the bottom of the Hollywood totem pole, to say the least, he apparently still believes he’s superior to one class of human: Sex workers.

At least, that was the impression adult performer and (most likely former) The Room fan April O’Neil got when she recently met Wiseau, when a friend asked her to appear as his love interest in a short film he was working on. At first, everything seemed kosher, albeit a little weird, as she recounted on her Tumblr, Hey It’s April (NSFW):

I was so thrilled to get to meet this guy. We’re introduced to one another and he’s told that I am the one to play his girl. He’s very nice and we talk for about 10 minutes. We had an excellent conversation about the various comic cons we’ve both attended and so, because of my cosplay and name, I reveal my porn background. He didn’t seem phased.

When she got back from lunch, however, things quickly went south:

While I’m downstairs, the behind the scenes camera guy is filming me talking to one of the directors about my scene, looking at sides and figuring out details. Then another director, or the producer, I’m not sure, reveals that Tommy won’t do the scene because he doesn’t want it to be with a porn star.

Although O’Neil says she pretended not to be hurt by Wiseau’s dismissal of her, she says the situation was incredibly uncomfortable; and that it made her feel “disrespected” and “like I’m some sort of subpar human being.”  

In the end, she writes,”I wasted a good portion of my day to go play a character in a movie opposite someone who I was very excited to meet and work with only to be disrespected and made to feel terrible by that person.” 

The worst part is, Wiseau wouldn’t even deign to come out of his dressing room to talk to her: “He hid in his dressing room, wouldn’t apologize to me, and when confronted by my friend about it all, he couldn’t complete full sentences and fielded everything to his manager who also had nothing to say.”

So to recap, Wiseau is a) a terrible actor, b) a terrible writer/director, and c) a terrible person. You’re tearing us apart, Tommy.

H/T Sex.com via Hey It’s April | Photo via J/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

VH1's 'Hindsight' is tinted with rose-colored tech nostalgia

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VH1’s new time travel romcom Hindsight premiered last night and transported viewers back to 1995—a time before iPhones, Gmail, and Wi-Fi. Besides being a love-letter to all things '90s, the series is coyly aware of the technology we’ve adapted as integral to daily life as well as the once-loved tech we’ve left behind.

The series stars Laura Ramsey as Becca, a bride-to-be who gets pre-wedding jitters on the eve of her second wedding. Becca’s been married before, to a man who she thought truly was the love of her life, and she is terrified that she’ll get things all wrong, again.

After speaking to a “magical black man” (VH1 isn’t letting this cliché die) at a newsstand who advises Becca in lofty verbiage not to chase her future nor to seek the past, and following a very shaky elevator ride, Becca awakes on the morning of her (first) wedding. The year is 1995. And, in spite of the unfortunate cliché in the preceding scene, the series gets back on track and is downright funny.

The best jokes are the moments that point to our alarming attachment to tech. Upon entering her parents' kitchen, and before realizing she’s been transported 20 years into the past, Becca squeals with anxiety, “Where’s the Keurig? Where’s the Keurig?”

A typical moment of I-can’t-live-without-this-tech panic evolves when she encounters extinct technology in her brother’s bedroom: “VHS, a Discman? OK, this is going to sound crazy, but I’m having a very vivid dream that it’s 1995 and I’m marrying Sean today.”

Much of the rest of the pilot is devoted to typical romcom moments of dramatic decision, tender reunion, and pseudo-philosophical, existential musings. Becca reconnects with her former estranged bestie Lolly (Sarah Goldberg), and the two exchange an easy, warm chemistry that feels like slipping into a favorite old sweatshirt.

Though highly watchable, it would be easy to dismiss Hindsight as mostly fluff on premise alone. What makes the show so likable, however, is that it branches out from the flat conflicts of romantic love and delves into the intricacies of friendships we treasure and the things we come to expect will always be there.

In a pivotal scene Becca recounts a hasty list of how things will change in the future and scoffs that she could not get in touch with Lolly in the future because “the only email I had for you was AOL.” “That’s awful,” replies Lolly. “All of it sounds awful. Do people not use AOL anymore?” Becca breaks it to her softly that AOL has “become somewhat unfashionable,” and Lolly is crestfallen. 

“But I really love AOL."

It’s a light-hearted joke, playing on the absurdity of how very attached we can become to something as trivial as a Web provider. But Goldberg’s excellent performance is a testament to how much we love the people and things we love while we love them—and how heartbreaking the moments are when we realize we can’t hang on to them forever.

The series is part of VH1’s new foray into scripted programming, which is in itself a throwback to yesteryear amidst a sea of the network’s contemporary reality and celeb-based content. In this way, the show avoids being a retread and feels a lot more like a cozy trip to an old haunt. After hefty doses of reality TV divas and drama, Hindsight is welcome, easy watching, with a healthy helping of heart.

Screengrab via Hindsight/VH1

'BoJack Horseman' creator tackles gender in comedy debate on Tumblr

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The world of BoJack Horseman is a peculiar one to say the least. Anthropomorphic animals coexist alongside humans as functioning members of society with absolutely no explanation as to why. A washed up sitcom actor who just happens to be a horse struggles with drinking, drugs, depression, and all the other vices of Hollywood. Paparazzi blue jays try to blackmail agents with salacious photos of their clients, and that’s just the start of it.

But even an animated world as upside down and nonsensical as Bojack’s Hollywood isn’t immune to the very real issue of gender in comedy. It’s a stigma that series creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg isn’t only aware of, but tries actively to work against.

On Wednesday, the creator of the Netflix original comedy took to his Tumblr to field questions from fans about the show. One devoted viewer took the chance in to inquire as to where in the creative process sight gags are added. But in their haste to ask where the idea for a craft services crocodile wearing crocs comes from, things got mis-gendered.

Though comedian and podcaster Kulap Vilaysak voices the aforementioned reptile, the question poser labeled the croc as a “he,” leading Bob-Waksberg to go on a brilliant tangent about society’s problem with viewing “comedy characters as inherently male, unless there is something specifically female about them."

To break down the psychology behind that exact thought process, he called upon another sight gag from the show’s first season in which one of the storyboard artists had designed a bit that centered on a businessman standing next to a dog with droopy jowls on a curb. As a car drives past, the dog’s flabby cheeks and tongue are blown onto the businessman's face, leaving him soaked. A fresh take on car spraying water on those standing on the sidewalk, if you will.

But when head designer Lisa Hanawalt came back with mock ups for the characters, she had drawn both the dog and the business executive as female. At first, the depiction didn’t sit right with Bob-Waksberg. But when Hanawalt asked why, he couldn’t come up with any viable answer.

The thinking comes from a place that the cleanest version of a joke has as few pieces as possible. For the dog joke, you have the thing where the tongue slobbers all over the businessperson, but if you also have a thing where both of them ladies, then that’s an additional thing and it muddies up the joke. The audience will think, “Why are those characters female? Is that part of the joke?” The underlying assumption there is that the default mode for any character is male, so to make the characters female is an additional detail on top of that. In case I’m not being a hundred percent clear, this thinking is stupid and wrong and self-perpetuating unless you actively work against it, and I’m proud to say I mostly don’t think this way anymore.

To help emphasize his point about how ridiculously behind society is when it comes to gender, the BoJack creator recalls an anecdote he read about the drama behind the scenes of The Brave Little Toaster. According to Wikipedia, one crew member became so enraged that a woman had been hired to voice the appliance, that he stormed off set never to return.

So if you need help trying to rid yourself of this outmoded thinking, ask yourself the same question Bob-Waksberg does. "Is there anything inherently gendered about what this character is doing? Or is it a toaster?" 

Photo via Netflix


Bill Cosby reportedly jokes about rape during Canada standup

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Bill Cosby returned to the standup stage this week in Ontario, Canada. Thursday, Cosby reportedly made a rape joke to one specific woman in the audience. The audience then paused, and roared with laughter. This according to National Post reporter Richard Warnica, who livetweeted the performance.

The performance was later interrupted by a male in the audience.

But overall, Warnica reports that the crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Cosby. Outside, it was a different story as protesters showed up in full force.
Late Thursday, Cosby's publicist issued a statement deriding the incident as "one outburst." Cosby's statement ends with defiance: "I'm Far From Finished."

Update 12:25am CT, Jan. 9: Here is footage from the performance as the man is being ejected.

Photo via Kenya Allmond/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Liam Neeson used his famous 'Taken' speech in an amazing prank

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It’s the Liam Neeson call we’ve all been waiting to hear about—or dreading, depending which end of the phone you’re on.

Maggie Grace, who plays Neeson’s daughter in the Taken films, is close with her movie dad after acting next to him for nine years. He always asks Grace about her love life (or lack of one), which is how he found out she was “a little bit heartbroken” over a boy during the filming of the first Taken movie.

And like most movie dads, he decided to take it into his own hands. He called the ex-boyfriend with a modified version of his famous threatening speech. Luckily for us, Grace recorded the phone call.

Neeson doesn’t promise to look for him, find him, and kill him, but it’s pretty great regardless. That ex-boyfriend probably had a moment of horror after hearing that speech in the film.

Screengrab via Team Coco/YouTube

Crowdfunding site for film and webseries creators offers more than financing

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Seed & Spark founder Emily Best believes the best way for the new breed of webseries creators and indie filmmakers to survive is to think of themselves as tech startups.

“Old models in new landscapes will be frustrating,” Best told the Daily Dot. “If you want to change the world, there will not be a single solution, and that’s a good thing.” Hence the emergence of what she calls “the film entrepreneur.”

Seed & Spark is a financing engine for indie filmmakers and webseries creators. In theory, the four-year-old concept is a crowdfunding site no different from Kickstarter or Indiegogo. In practice, however, the company differs in its filmmaker-centric services and its ability to offer a platform to distribute and monetize the finished project.

“We want to help raise money in a way that effectively communicates the way you make a film,” explains Best. To accomplish this goal, Seed & Spark not only accepts financial donations for specific projects; it also offers a system that Best equates to a wedding registry. Filmmakers are able to tie funding requests to specific needs, so in the case of the pending project “The Song the Zombie Sang,” the project owners are seeking 180 blocks of $25 donations ($4,500) for a casting director. The ability to tie specific asks to a given film or webseries, Best believes, creates a loyalty between creator and audience that carries from the kernel of an idea to finished product.

“The process creates a lot of intense devotion,” Best adds. “We got 150 people to show up [for a screening] on a Tuesday evening in New York City, and that’s not easy to do.”

As a funding resource for film and video creators, Seed & Spark goes the extra step to offer distribution to finished projects through its cinema platform, powered by Kaltura. The works vary in rental price, with many in the $2.99 range and some as low as $0.99. To provide guidance, the site offers personal curation and staff picks with trailers to tease out the storylines.

Robert Paul Verdi is a webseries showrunner whose childhood interest in live-action role playing (better known as LARPing) became the impetus for Neverland, a show soon to be in production that offers a sometimes-comedic look at LARPers. Verdi, who is using the show as his thesis project for the School of Visual Arts in New York, selected Seed & Spark to crowdsource his initial financing. He chose the Los Angeles-based company after Erica Anderson, another cofounder of the site, visited his school and, as the young film artist said, “wooed me into using their platform.”

Out of the $6,255 Verdi raised on Seed & Spark, more than half was in contributions of goods and services such as props, makeup artist, craft services, and location fees. Filming in Sparta, N.J., begins in mid-January, with the goal of having a 20-minute pilot ready in May—just in time for thesis delivery.

Verdi’s experience with Seed & Spark has been positive, but he understands there is a tradeoff using a vertically specific crowdfunding resource. Webseries creators looking to get off the ground face two options: potentially getting a larger number of smaller donations on a more general crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter, or using a site such as Seed & Spark that provides, in addition to requests for capital, a connection to others in the film community.

As Neverland matures as a digital property, Verdi said he may choose to work directly with video on demand providers for support rather than the populous approach. Working with VOD providers will allow him greater control over distribution, something important given LARPing's global appeal.

But for even those who think LARPing has something to do with The City of Angels, “Neverland” will have a strong appeal. “It’s a comedy first, and a show about LARPing second.”

Photo via Mark Sebastian/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0) | Remix by Jason Reed

Here's how Calvin Klein Photoshopped Justin Bieber

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Are you one of the many ladies and gay men who saw those Justin Bieber Calvin Klein photos and thought, “Wow, he is truly packing some man-heat. Maybe some of that blood pumping through his giant D is going upstairs and he actually has a functioning brain”? (I’m raising my hand sheepishly.) 

Bad news: We have been deceived.

The website BreatheHeavy has obtained the unretouched photos that reveal Justin Bieber received a pretty thorough Photoshop job

Calvin Klein made Bieber’s pecs bigger. 

It made his abs bigger. 

It even—brace yourself—augmented the size of his package.

Quel horreur! Is nothing sacred anymore? To paraphrase Spice World, we’ve been living a meaningless lie.

BreatheHeavy.com has crashed now, presumably as the result of increased traffic from BieberDick truthers. 

Take a look at the before-and-after GIF below. You can tell how these wily Photoshoppers increased the size of the pop tartlet’s hands, pecs, biceps, and yes, sadly, his package. They also decreased the size of Bieber’s head, I guess, to make him look more muscular? The end result: It kinda looks like they placed Bieber’s dome on the body of an German ’90s alt-porn star.

As TMZ points out, Calvin Klein also gave Bieber body hair, giving him a happy trail, or a “digital pelvic merkin,” in the final retouched photos with model Lara Stone. So yeah, this boy has not quite become a man yet. Maybe an impromptu bar mitzvah will do the trick (or growth hormones, either one.)

This is obviously a sad day for celebrity dong-watchers all over the Internet. So let’s take a few minutes to mourn the few days this week where we actually found Justin Bieber attractive. RIP, week of Jan. 5–9. You will be sorely missed.

H/T Defamer | Photo via Justin Bieber/Instagram

Cast says Edgar Wright's story is still at the heart of 'Ant-Man'

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The specter of Edgar Wright is still hanging over Ant-Man. The director quit just a few months before filming was due to begin, meaning Marvel had to scramble to find a replacement. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirmed that the split was due to that old enemy of any artistic collaboration: "creative differences."

“It is true that there were disagreements about the direction the script should take,” said Feige. However, “everything was aboveboard. Everything was done with everybody else’s knowledge. There was a sense of ‘We’re going in this direction, you’re staying in this direction—maybe it’s best that we end as friends.’”

The image Feige wants to project is that of an amicable breakup, although cast interviews are still rather less flattering. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly both signed on to make what they thought would be an Edgar Wright action comedy, in Lilly's case without having seen a script. Instead, they found themselves working on a film directed by Peyton Reed (whose best-known work is Bring It On), heavily rewritten so the story and tone would cleave closer to Marvel's house style. Now, Ant-Man's script is credited to Anchorman's Adam McKay and Paul Rudd, with Wright and his creative partner Joe Cornish receiving a "story by" credit.

"It all happened very quickly," Rudd said at first. "I was devastated." But in the new EW interview, he emphasizes the lingering effects of Edgar Wright's influence on the movie.  “The bones of it is really Edgar and Joe. It’s been an emotional roller coaster, but I’m very excited now.”

These public disputes mean that Ant-Man is under even more scrutiny than your average superhero movie. When the first trailer came out this week, it was analysed not just for comic book details, but for signs of the creative divide between Wright and the studio. For a film that is presumably meant to be comedic, it feels oddly unfunny and bland, especially when compared to Guardians of the Galaxy. Still, that's just the first trailer, and later clips may showcase the film's funnier side.

Photo via Marvel/Entertainment Weekly 

Lena Dunham trounces Jimmy Fallon at Pictionary

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Actors have to portray emotions and moods for the audience to pick up on, but they might not be as good at conveying concepts through 2D art.

In another rousing game of Pictionary, Jimmy Fallon and Steve Higgins faced off with J.K. Simmons and Lena Dunham to see who could draw the better stick figure art. And although Fallon has played this before on the show, he doesn't necessarily have the upper hand.

“This is not gonna go well,” Fallon repeated.

In most cases, zooming in on someone else’s game might be boring, but Fallon does feature a hotdog that looks much more NSFW than something you’d get at a ballpark. And with Dunham and Higgins’ communication, they manage to keep it interesting.

Screengrab via The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/YouTube

The 'Mythbusters' guys are taking over Springfield

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It’s pretty much understood that cartoon physics defy all reason, but the guys at Mythbusters are testing out the science of The Simpsons anyway.

The citizens of Springfield might not use the classic “walk on air” gag, but there’s still plenty of things for Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to prove (or disprove). Can you set off every connected toilet in a building with a single cherry bomb? And what about Homer’s impact with a wrecking ball and a house?

You’ll have to wait for the actual special to air on Jan. 10 to find out how those go, but here's a sneak peek at what went into creating the necessary materials for the experiments, which includes creating a life-size Homer Simpson.

Any possible d’ohs will be the least of their worries.

H/T Uproxx | Screengrab via Discovery/YouTube


Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield delivered a master class in photobombing

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We’ve fallen in love with Emma Stone’s lip-synch and (lack of) fibbing skills, but when she joins forces with boyfriend Andrew Garfield, you can’t help but unclench your fists and accept that romance isn’t dead.

Case in point: Witness Emdrew’s amazing photobombing skills.

Instagram user Alejandra Garibay was recently dining in the same New York City restaurant as the couple, and like anyone with a pulse, she attempted to take a covert photo of them. But they are a celebrity couple, and quickly detected it. Rather than throw a fit, they delivered a master photobomb, and inadvertently gave Garibay the best photo she never asked for.


Don’t forget Emdrew also found a clever way to thwart paparazzi by promoting a charity. Ugh, these two. 

H/T Vulture | Photo via El Hormiguero/Flickr (CC BY ND 2.0)

Maroon 5 parody somehow manages to make 'Animals' even creepier

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The only way that Maroon 5's murderous music video "Animals" could get creepier is if you add in some plush friends, a feat accomplished by a new parody video from Pop Trigger.

Instead of Adam Levine spending time in a locker full of meat while stalking his girlfriend, Brett Erlich fills in for the Maroon 5 frontman as a guy with a plushie fetish, with the lyrics appropriately changed to be an ode to his stuffed animals like, "You'll be in my heart, forever stuffed" and "I can't deny my furry side."

This does deserve a slight NSFW warning, as the last third of the song doesn't really hold back from just going at it with giant stuffed bears.

Erlich, who helms Viral Video Film School and is a host for Pop Trigger, is a passable Adam Levine, complete with stuffed-animal themed tattoos. We'll never get the vision of him humping teddy bears out of our brains, though.

Screengrab via Pop Trigger/YouTube

IFC's new webseries proves even 'Faeries' get the blues

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The leading ladies on IFC Comedy Crib’s new webseries share all your feminist angst, with a magical twist. 

They’re faeries.

The series Faeries debuted on Jan. 6, and the first episode smartly plays up the familiar frustrations of women navigating society’s expectations as they seek happiness. Or, in this case, the special blend of grumpiness and glee that makes faeries content.

Moth Catfrost (Kristen Acimovic) and Feathers Peppershimmer (Laura Grey) are endowed with magical powers and shimmery garments, but they’re cynical and savvy. In episode 1, “Baby Crazy,” they smoke e-cigarettes while deliberating the pros and cons of baby-stealing (something all faeries are expected to do) and bemoaning the limitations of age (“You know it gets way harder to steal a baby after you turn 35 million”). In a moment of true vulnerability, Feathers wonders, “Who’s going to hate me when I’m old?”

Series creators Acimovic and Grey, who will debut their feminist sketch show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in February, came up with their idea in casual conversation. 

“We started talking about disgruntled city faeries one day over coffee, and "Faeries on a Smoke Break" became the thing we most wanted to make," Acimovic told the Daily Dot. "We just weren't sure we had the resources to do it.”

Enter UCB Digital and IFC. They loved Acimovic and Grey’s idea and made the city faeries a reality.


The visuals will appeal to anyone who loves fantasy, but beneath the shimmery surface, the series offers refreshing wit and depth. Both self-described “fantasy nerds,” Acimovic and Grey share a desire to approach familiar topics in a less predictable way. 

“We've both made a lot of Web videos and seen a lot of Web videos... and we wanted to do something that was a bit of a departure from the norm... we liked the idea of doing something more magical and fantastical,” Acimovic said. “Overall, this series is a magical sublimation of our deepest female anxieties. These are magical creatures who are, like, SO OVER their magical lives. They're worried and afraid and insecure just like everybody else.”

You can watch new episodes of Faeries every Tuesday on IFC Comedy Crib.

Screengrab via IFC/YouTube 

7 things to look forward to in the final season of 'Parks and Recreation'

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BY MEGAN VICK 

As the final season of Parks and Recreation rapidly approaches, each new hint of what season 7 will bring is precious. TVLine handed out a healthy dose of Parks magic with their exclusive preview of the upcoming episodes. 

"Pawnee brings everyone together and no one leaves, like the mafia," Amy Poehler says of the beloved sitcom. "This show has been a gift in all of our lives," Nick Offerman says genuinely. 


However, the preview isn't just emotional testimony from the cast. A few brief clips from the new season 7 episodes give some good insight into how things have changed for fan favorite Pawnee residents since the season 6 time jump. Here's what's happening.

1) Andy loses his pants

Clearly the Parks writers know that everyone wants to see Andy (Chris Pratt) shirtless for an extra dose of those Guardians of the Galaxy muscles. That's not happening, but he will somehow lose his pants. Really, that's even better. 

2) Tom gets emotional 

It's not clear what causes it but Tom (Aziz Ansari) is shedding some serious waterworks and goes to Ben (Adam Scott) for consolation. Fingers crossed it's some good news for Tom's Bistro. 

3) Tammy is back... 

Ron's (Offerman) ex-wife Tammy II (Megan Mullally) has been on the confirmed guest star list for a while, but the preview shows her back in horrible action and stirring up trouble. 

4) ...and dating Jeremy Jamm

Ron may be finally immune to Tammy's charms, but Councilman Jamm (Jon Glaser) is apparently not. It takes some serious Pavlovian training to snap him out of that love trance. 

5) Ben looks great in a tux

Again, don't know why Ben is in a tux, but let's just be grateful he's in it. The accountant cleans up really nice. 

6) Leslie has a new nemesis 

Ben isn't allowed to say his name because it will fill Leslie (Poehler) with rage, but she confirms whoever he is is a "stupid garbage head doo-doo face." Don't worry, she's going to be perfectly civil though.

7) Leslie Knope has a strong double slap 

Jamm is going to feel that double-hitter in the morning, but hopefully it's enough to cure him of his Tammy disorder. 

Season 7 begins Jan. 13 at 8pm ET/PT on NBC. 

Screengrab via Parks and Recreation/YouTube 

Bill Cosby's set disrupted by chants of 'We believe the women'

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Bill Cosby has faced a steady stream of rape allegations over the last few months, but he’s still continued to do standup. This has led to some protests from audience members and unfortunate jokes by Cosby. During a Thursday show in Ontario, he told one woman leaving her seat to get a drink, “You have to be careful about drinking around me.”

Friday night at his final Ontario show in Hamilton, Cosby faced a chorus.

A three-minute video posted by Peter Kim of Global News Toronto shows Cosby on stage at the beginning of his set as roughly 20-30 audience members chanted, “We believe the women.” Other audience members screamed, “We love you, Bill.” That was followed up by a man calling Cosby a rapist.


Calls for the police to eject hecklers were shut down by Cosby, who instead called for calm. Hecklers were eventually escorted out of the venue.

People entering the show were allegedly given warnings that they were not to heckle or disrupt the performance, or record it.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Cosby ended the show by asking the remaining audience to “take what has been a wonderful time and let us hold no enemies anywhere." Cosby released a statement after his Jan. 8 show saying he was “far from finished.”

Photo via Ted Eytan/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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