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'OITNB' creator to bring '80s wrestling show 'G.L.O.W.' to Netflix

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Jenji Kohan's latest project is bringing the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling to Netflix

The creator of Orange Is the New Black is focusing on a new group of ladies, according to the Hollywood Reporter: the female wrestlers of '80s TV show G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling). The show gave women in wrestling a storyline and elevated their distinct characters and personalities. It also tried its hand at sketch comedy. 

A 2012 documentary on G.L.O.W. showed just how popular it became, and how much it affected the women's lives, for better and for worse. The 10-episode series, co-created by OITNB writer Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive (Adult BeginnersHomeland), will hinge on a fictionalized account of one woman's time on the series, inspired by the true story. It will be set in Los Angeles and promises "big hair and body slams." 

Orange Is the New Black season 4 debuts on June 17. 

H/T the Hollywood Reporter


YouTubers helping H3H3Productions fight copyright lawsuit by raising $165,000

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YouTubers are circling the wagons and helping a prominent comedy channel fund itself in a copyright fight.

YouTube channel H3H3Productions announced May 24 that fellow YouTuber Matt Hosseinzadeh (aka Bold Guy) brought a copyright strike against it for a video made about him, and he's subsequently sued H3H3Productions in a case that its creators say will take two years and at least $100,000 to fight.

"It’s been hanging over our lives like a cloud these past months," said H3H3 cofounder Ethan Klein in the video. The video that's the subject of the Hosseinzadeh suit is a reaction clip on the second channel of H3H3 co-founders Ethan and Hila.

Ethan and Hila have been active in the copyright space on YouTube. They've lashed out at other YouTubers who they've felt have infringed upon fellow creator copyrights. One example is SoFloAntonio, who the channel rallied against earlier this year. 

Now that Ethan and Hila are facing their own legal issues, the YouTube community has rallied around the channel, led by Philip DeFranco. 

DeFranco set up a GoFundMe account that has raised $165,000 to date for H3H3's legal defense. Several big-name YouTubers have contributed, including MarkiplierPewDiePie  and DeFranco himself. 

Ethan responded on Twitter with thanks and a promise to set up a legal defense fund so other creators who are the target of copyright cases have a chance to protect themselves.

They are part of FUPA, the Fair Use Protection Account, a self-started legal defense aimed at "keeping the Internet free of copyright trolls." 

Overall, the intertwining of fair use and YouTube has been a hot topic lately, with creators calling foul on those who use YouTube's strike system to cripple accounts, while the RIAA has called out YouTube for not being strict enough in its interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to protect the rights of non-YouTube creators, like traditional musicians. 

YouTube has changed policies in response to creator outcry. It's also supporting select channels in copyright cases where the website views those cases as clear examples of fair use. But there's more copyright strikes than YouTube can support, and that's where the community, led by DeFranco, comes in.

"This is a much bigger deal than H3H3Productions, this is about fair use in general," said DeFranco in his video. 

"A YouTube channel should not get taken down by someone who does not like jokes about them," said DeFranco. “If we are a community here on YouTube and not just a smorgasbord of random channels that are one-offs trying to get views, we will stand with Ethan. I just can't let stuff like this go down on our watch.”

Surfer Blood guitarist Thomas Fekete dies, contributions still pour into his GoFundMe page

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Thomas Fekete, the guitarist for the indie rock band Surfer Blood, died Monday after a battle with cancer, and the GoFundMe page started by his wife seven months ago originally constructed to pay for his healthcare continues to raise money.

At the time of publication, the GoFundMe page had raised $63,379 by 1,435 donors. The 27-year-old Fekete's wife, Jessica, broke the news of her husband's death on the site Tuesday.

As she wrote:

"Our sweet Thomas passed on last night, peacefully in his sleep, holding my hand. With one last sigh, he let go of the burden of pain and suffering that he has been bravely carrying for so long. I am full of comfort knowing that he is now free, and long for the day I get to be with him again. ...

"It was an absolute privilege to stand next to Thomas and face this monster head on. Even as his body failed him, his mind and spirit soldiered on. Never was there a day that we weren't filled with hope. Never was there a day that he even considered throwing in the towel. He was the kind-hearted, funny, fearless, magnetic beam of light you all knew him to be up until his very last breath. 

"Thomas John Fekete, I love you and live for you. Nothing will make me more proud than being able to call myself your wife."

From the Surfer Blood's official Twitter account:

Fekete was one of the founding members of the band, which garnered success with 2009 single, "Swim."

At the end of 2015, Jessica wrote on GoFundMe that the family had not anticipated that Fekete's fight would be such a long haul, and she said that it cost about $15,000 out of pocket monthly for him to receive care—which included months of chemotherapy and a number of surgeries.

"Right now, I'd like to keep it simple: Let's get Thomas to 2016," she wrote at the time. "Another year of promise and another year of new opportunities. 2015 has brought so much, and we are so excited to see what 2016 holds."

A tumor was discovered in Fekete's abdomen last year, but after it was removed, doctors discovered the cancer had moved to his spine and lungs. He had to leave the band and give up touring in order to try to heal, and that's when the family began asking for financial help.

A number of musicians—including Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices, Real Estate, and Lou Barlow—contributed to a benefit album of previously unreleased tracks to help raise money for Fekete's treatment.

Jessica's last wish for her husband was the sweetest of all. As she wrote, "Now, my beautiful angel, go find Bowie and jam."

If you're into Jay Z making 'Damn, Daniel' jokes, you'll be sympathetic toward his new song

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Jay Z has lost his jumper.

That's my immediate takeaway following Tuesday night's landing of the Jay-featuring Pusha T single "Drug Dealers Anonymous" as a Tidal exclusive. The track is a signal-boosting promotional tweet targeted toward a graying user base of Reasonable Doubt heads gathered around the aux cord. 

It's fuckboi catnip, in other words: Hyper-masculine groveling for fans who like to type words like "murdered" to describe their favorite music. 

It finds the two rappers sniveling about past drug-dealing exploits while simultaneously pledging anonymity to the O.G.s who helped them ditch the lifestyle. This is soft terrain for hip-hop—harrowing raps about socioeconomic inequality and desperate circumstances that compel and fear—but unfortunately for both Jay Z and Pusha, their high school football hero days are long gone. For Pusha, that would be 2006's Hell Hath No Fury, a cocaine epic that provided delirious sweats; and for Jay, it's a pinnacle he hasn't truly hiked to since the two DJ Premier cuts from 1997's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.

Of course, Jay keeps trying. The film American Gangster inspired a 2007 professional reboot by the same name that dealt with his ties to the trade. His best work this century—songs like "Never Change," "Guess Who's Back," and "What We Do"—gets watery-eyed about reckless youth. But here, it's as if Jay is freestyling between Google Calendar appointments.

Not only does he make the mistake of sampling 23-year-old conservative pundit upstart Tomi Lahren (thereby lifting her profile beyond Facebook hardliners clinging to talking points), Jay offers a number of cringe-worthy pivots:

  1. Uselessly reciting the chorus to 1999 BG hit "Bling Bling."
  2. Shouting out his attorneys and asserting that his success stems from their handy paperwork which is such an old man position to take.
  3. Rapping about Google not once, but twice. Then dapping technocrats everywhere with nods to...
  4. Uber's rumored autonomous, driver-less cars...
  5. ... and the joys of typing on a smartphone.
  6. Dropping a "Damn, Daniel" reference as his kicker.

Hey at least his "All the Way Up" remix was pretty cool.

How #WCW Evelyn From the Internets went from YouTube to Beyoncé tour

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The Daily Dot is celebrating Woman Crush Wednesday, better known as #WCW on Twitter and Instagram, by highlighting female creators on YouTube whose work we admire.

In January, Evelyn From the Internets posted a video proclaiming her 2016 motto: “Be visionary.” Little did she know then that her vision would include Beyoncé playing Evelyn's Lemonade review on the big screen of her Formation tour.

Evelyn filmed her reaction to this Queen Bey news—a video that includes such golden quotes like “I don’t need a Linkedin, Beyoncé knows who I am!”—and quickly made national news with articles in Elle, Essence, BuzzFeed, Refinery 29, and more.

In past years, Evelyn—a journalism alum of the University of Texas—has used YouTube to capture and explore her experiences as a black female growing up in America. Her videos such as “7 More Questions BuzzFeed Should Ask Black People” and “Zoe Saldana ‘Nina’ Trailer Reaction” provide critical commentaries on how media is failing to properly portray black narratives. In order to further combat this problem beyond just her own channel, Evelyn co-founded the webseries “Austin While Black” and spearheaded the Magical Black Girl movement with T-shirts and social media campaigns.

She isn’t the first creator whose career has been #BeyBlessed. The Queen is known for her “copy with taste” mentality and is constantly finding inspiration from YouTube. Todrick Hall was asked to choreograph the video for “Blow” after Beyoncé saw his work online, while sisters Halle and Chloe were offered a contract with Beyoncé’s record label after she saw their covers.

Though this is her biggest media moment yet, Evelyn has been making quick, hilarious, critical videos on pop culture, race, beauty, and everyday life since 2009. She isn’t afraid to push back and make her voice heard—and trust me, the Internet waves are better for it.

In her recent interview with Elle magazine, the Austin, Texas, native opened up about why this moment has meant so much: 

We live in a society where Black folks have to be accessible. Palatable. Especially in entertainment. Is it a movie or a Black movie? Is it music or Black music? Lemonade resonated with me not so much in the overarching storyline (because I've never reached the Forgiveness stage, that's for sure), but in the visuals. It's Black, y'all. Fast forward, reverse, front to back, any way you slice it. And the world will watch. And recite the lyrics verbatim on cue. And pay to see it.

Evelyn uploads typically one video a month except for April. Every year since 2013, Evelyn has committed to VEDA (Vlog Everyday in April) as a way to stay disciplined around creativity. Inspired by her “fairy godfather” Ira Glass, Evelyn advises her audience to simply put in the work. That’s 70 percent of making a vision a reality, as Evelyn proved last month in the heat of a Lemonade frenzy. 

K-Pop legends Big Bang celebrate 10th anniversary on the big screen

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Big Bang may be heading off the radar later this year, but beforehand the K-pop stars are celebrating their 10-year anniversary in a huge way: with a big-screen debut.

Big Bang's label, YG Entertainment, premiered a trailer early Wednesday morning for Made: The Movie, which is based on the band's last album. It looks like a peek into the making of the Made project, as well as a lot of the boys goofing off (and for the fangirls, G-Dragon dancing naked behind a towel).

There's an official poster too, which ought to leave fans salivating.

The timing on the film is good, as the members of Big Bang have yet to serve their time in the military as required by Korean law (two years). According to a report from Korean website Naver, T.O.P. will be the first of the group to go as he is the eldest. 

The other members' enlistments will be staggered as well, so none will go at the same time. While T.O.P. serves his time, G-Dragon and Taeyang will be at work on solo projects that are due to release next year.

The movie will hit Korean theaters on June 30 and is produced by YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk. While there's no word on a U.S. release yet, YG has ramped up its attention to international fans in the past few years, so there's hope. Now if YG would just give us all of Made on one album, we'd be really happy.

New Rage Against the Machine project will make you mosh like Lollapalooza '96

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Remember that mysterious Rage Against the Machine website that was counting down to June 1 and crashed hours into existence under the weight of millions of RATM fans hopeful for a reunion? 

Well, dreams of a true reunion were dashed by the existence of Prophets of Rage, a hybrid group featuring three-fourths of RATM, Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord, and B-Real of Cypress Hill. It announced itself yesterday, with this very cool band photo. 

Yes, this might make you feel like you never left Lollapalooza '96, but alas, the group played its first show last night at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, and in addition to windmilling through RATM songs "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Bulls on Parade" and a Cypress Hill/Public Enemy medley, it also debuted two new songs. Proceeds from the sold-out show will go to PATH, a California homeless charity. 

Will Prophets of Rage find an audience in this current era of political discord? Well, Public Enemy shirts have been updated with Donald Trump's image, and "Make America Rage Again" will certainly fit nicely on merch. 

H/T Pitchfork 

Adnan Syed of 'Serial' infamy will get an Investigation Discovery special

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The murder case at the center of Serial’s award-winning first season will be the subject of a new TV special as Adnan Syed awaits news on whether he will receive a new trial.

Investigation Discovery announced Tuesday that new special Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? will dive deep into the case that captured millions of Serial listeners and examine new evidence that’s come to light both during Serial and afterward.

Syed is serving a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee. 

The special will feature the first one-on-one interview with Justin Brown, Syed’s current defense attorney who brought forth evidence of Asia McClain Chapman—a former classmate of Syed’s and a potential alibi witness as well as information on the phone tower evidence that convicted Syed in 2000—in his post-conviction hearing back in February. 

It will also include interviews with others involved with Syed’s case. Among that list are a juror from Syed’s 2000 trial; Dr. William Manion, a medical examiner who reviewed Lee’s autopsy report; the last person to have seen Lee at school before she died; and Robert Gutierrez, the son of Syed’s former attorney Cristina Gutierrez, who died in 2004.

"[W]e are excited to share the latest in this unfolding saga with viewers," Henry Schleiff, group president, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel and Destination America, said in a statement. "The serialized podcast in 2014 has more than 130 million downloads to date, proving unequivocally that this is one of the great true crime stories of our time. With a judge expecting to make a decision at any time, we want to give our viewers not only the crucial information surrounding Adnan Syed's case, but also the personal, first-hand accounts of what to expect from key players."

Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? will air June 14 at 9pm ET on Investigation Discovery.

H/T Vulture


Breakout CNN series ‘Race for the White House’ lands on Hulu

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BY TODD LONGWELL

Netflix has Kevin Spacey playing fictional U.S. president Frank Underwood in the series House of Cards. Now, competing streaming service Hulu has Spacey talking about the real-life aspirants for the office in Race for The White House, a six-part docu-series narrated by the actor that premiered on CNN in March and went on to become the most watched original series in the network’s history. 

The series debuts Wednesday on Hulu.

The deal marks the first CNN series to stream exclusively on Hulu and further expands CNN parent company Turner Broadcasting’s relationship with Hulu, which currently carries full seasons of shows from Turner’s Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TBS, and TNT.

Each hour-long episode of Race for the White House combines rare archival footage, interviews, and stylized dramatizations to tell the story of one campaign for the presidency of the United States. Elections covered include Lincoln v. Douglas, Kennedy v. Nixon, and Bush v. Dukakis.  The series was executive produced by Spacey and Dana Brunetti through their company Trigger Street Productions.

Race for the White House joins a growing list of political programming streaming on Hulu that includes Triumph’s Election Special 2016, which premiered its first installment in February and will debut a second later this year.

Debra Messing apologizes amid backlash for UCLA gun violence selfie

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Debra Messing may not be known for media snafus, but she certainly stumbled her way into one. 

It all started Wednesday afternoon, when the Mysteries of Laura star tweeted a now-deleted selfie of herself in a gun violence awareness T-shirt, along with the caption: "HORRENDOUS Watching news about shooting at UCLA with casualties while taking selfie 2bring awareness to Gun Violence." 

Screenshots of the tweet are still floating around: 

Not only did her tweet go out as news of an active shooting on the UCLA campus was unfolding, but it seemed evident that she was aware of the situation and had chosen to tweet specifically because of the media tie-in. At best, it looked like a gravely misguided PR moment; at worst, an insensitive reaction to a still-unfolding school shooting.

The Twitter community's reaction was largely negative: 

So much so that Messing pulled her initial tweet and tweeted a longer, more thought-out response. 

In it, she claims that her gun violence T-shirt selfie was scheduled for Wednesday anyway, and that the timing of the tragedy in Los Angeles seemed "ironic." She also expressed regret at the obvious miscalculation on her part, message-wise. 


DigiTour unveils summer '16 lineup—and it's stacked

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DigiTour returns this summer with a fresh slate of digital talent, targeting the hearts and wallets of 28 cities nationwide.

The DigiTour and DigiFest brand has deep roots in the digital celerity world, starting in 2011 with the first tour sponsored by YouTube. While it's previously been a YouTube and Vine-heavy event, this year will see more diversity of platform for its stars.

The tour will get a mix of traditional celebrity with Jake T. Austin, who starred in Wizards of Waverly Place and boasts a dedicated Instagram followingDylan Dauzat will fill the role of viner and YouTuber. Others on the bill include Ariel Martin, aka Baby Ariel, a lip-synching star on musical.ly; 14-year-old Weston Koury from livestreaming service YouNow; and YouTuber Rickey Thompson, who recently branched out to acting in projects for go90 and YouTube Red, will join as a special guest.

These sort of events are moneymakers—the basic admission price is $25—with upgrades stretching to $110 for a VIP ticket with meet-and-greet, and $250 backstage passes. That's before you factor in merchandise purchases. While these digital stars are building fandoms online, they know getting IRL time with their fans equals great connection, and bigger paychecks. 

Past DigiTour performers have been standout digital stars, like musicians Jack and Jack, or viner Nash Grier. As stars branched out on their own solo tours to target their own demos like Tyler Oakley or MirandaSings, DigiTour remains the one-stop shop of choice for the teen set.

DigiTour will kick off July 21 in San Diego, just a month after VidCon finishes in southern California. 

America's favorite reality TV shows are broken down here state by state

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It turns out what state you live in might be shaping the type of reality TV shows you're watching. At least that's what data from CableTV.com seems to suggest. 

The site pulled Google Trends data for all 50 states in the U.S., and used it to compile a list of each state's top three reality TV shows based on what we're Googling. 

While some shows like Hoarders seem to be popular no matter where you live, there's also definitely a Duck Dynasty belt and a Kardashians corner. 

Take a look and see if you agree.

Somehow, all of this seems to make sense.

'Bachelorette' contestant Chad snatches up domain names for self-promotion purposes

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Bachelorette contestant Chad Johnson bought domain names of his reality show cohorts and rerouted them to his Instagram as part of his evil plan to become Jojo’s one true love—or something like that. 

“Haha yes! I bought the domain names,” Johnson wrote to the Daily Dot. A former marine and a real estate agent from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Johnson said he bought the domain names, because “that's business!” and “it's hilarious!” 

On Tuesday, Mashable senior tech correspondent Christina Warren made the first finding when she tweeted out a screenshot of a domain search result for robbyhayes.com, a domain that reroutes to Johnson’s Instagram account and is also the name of Bachelorette contestant Robby Hayes, the 27-year-old sales rep/model from Florida.

The search result revealed that the domain was created April 21, about a month before the show’s season premiere, and is owned by a Brian Johnson from Oklahoma, who is also, coincidentally, Chad Johnson.

Johnson, who has so far been characterized on the show as the Trump-like villain of the Bachelor Mansion, vaguely replied to Warren with a tweet of his own, “[insert evil laugh here] hahaha.”

The Daily Dot found that chasemcnary.com, alexwoytkiw.com, and derekpeth.com all reroute to Johnson’s Instagram account, too. While the domain search results didn’t prove they were owned by Johnson, GoDaddy hosts all the domains, which were created around the same time robbyhayes.com was and which expire after one year.

In his correspondence with the Daily Dot, Johnson revealed that he also owns domains for two other housemates, lucaspell.com and danmaguire.com (though the latter URL was offline at the time of publication).

Johnson also confessed to owning jjhlane.com, which is the Twitter and Instagram username of Bachelorette season 11 contestant JJ Lane. According to another domain search, Johnson bought the domain just three days after Lane called him a “fucking dickhead” according to US Weekly, and one day after Lane tweeted that Johnson and contestant Daniel Maguire are “dumb, mindless muscle.”

(For context, a few veteran Bachelor Nation fans told the Daily Dot that Lane was “the Chad of last season.” Lane also co-owns the website villainsgottavill.com with fellow season 11 bro Clint Arlis. Take from that what you will.)

As a self-proclaimed web entrepreneur who also flips websites and sells domains, Johnson said he owns more than 100 domain names and always reroutes them to whatever he’s working on. This time, it's his Bachelorette Instagram persona.

“I figured these might as well not be parked and should instead be directed to a page related to what people were originally looking for,” Johnson said.

Though a domain search reveals that a few of his fellow contestants’ URLs remain unclaimed, Johnson debunked even the most earnest of fan theories and said he only bought the domains that were still available. “If you know of one still available let me know lol,” he replied. (Hard pass, Chad. Do your own sleuthing.)

So, any chance Robby, Chase, Alex, Derek, Luke, Daniel, and JJ will have the opportunity to get back the URL namesakes that are (kind of) rightfully theirs?

“I will gladly sell the domains back (at a price lol),” Johnson said.


The 20 best movies streaming on Netflix

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We’ve all made the mistake of firing up Netflix with the intention to “just find something to watch.” Fast forward to 30 minutes later and you’re still searching. 

It’s the virtual equivalent of getting lost in the woods. The stakes may be nonexistent on the Netflix walkabout, but the lost time is real. As a woodsman, I’m nearly incompetent, but as a Netflix nomad I’ve emerged from the forest with 20 great recommendations—surely enough to save you from the abyss.

Read more from the Daily Dot:

Here are the 20 best movies you can stream on Netflix right now.

1) E.T.

If you’re burnt out on Steven Spielberg’s recent run of historical dramas, there’s no better antidote than E.T. It reminds you why you love movies in the first place—swooshing drama, humanist optimism, and one of the most nostalgic, heartbreaking endings of the last 40 years. It’s also an essential primer for Spielberg’s upcoming The BFG.

2) Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder is a pantheon filmmaker who isn’t the household name he deserves to be. All of his powers are on display in this 1950 Hollywood satire. Wilder’s films are often darker than an empty back lot, but they’re film-school staples for a reason.

3) The Truman Show

It took me longer than it should have to recognize the genius of this movie. I’ve caught it on cable a handful of times over the last few years and now I can’t turn away from it. Jim Carrey's first career masterwork is prescient in a way that’s unsettling in our current state of reality TV, but the thing that makes it timeless is its humanity.  

4) The World of Tomorrow

Don Hertzfeldt makes beautiful movies that get way darker than you expect from an animated project. His stripped-down style often features stick figures, but his work is as ambitious as anything the major studios release. It’s only 16 minutes to boot, so if you like what you see here make time for his longer work, It’s Such a Beautiful Day.

5) Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino has to be the leader in the clubhouse as the most copied filmmaker of the last 25 years and with good reason. His dialogue has defined and given voice to a generation. Whether that’s good or bad, you just can’t argue with sprawling epics like Pulp Fiction.

6) Scream 2

Speaking of '90s movies that inspired way too many knockoffs, Scream revitalized the slasher genre long past its expiration date. Netflix doesn’t have the original, but that’s OK because the sequel is just as good. Scream 2 set a gold standard for sequels before Scr3am and Scre4m came along to erase all that good work.

7) The Good, the Bad, and the Weird

South Korea’s cinematic output in the 2000s is staggering. Directors like this film’s Kim Jee-woon, along with Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-Ho, and Lee Chang-dong delivered a dense wormhole of modern classics. This riff on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is funny, violent, and the action is impossibly good.

8) Holes

It’s hard to remember a time before Shia Labeouf was an insufferable agitator, but movies are nothing if not time capsules. Holes doesn’t dumb itself down for kids and it doesn’t get so silly that it loses older viewers. Fun for the whole family—seriously.

9) World’s Greatest Dad

This one is for the more cinematically adventurous. It’s a comedy so dark it would make Billy Wilder proud. Robin Williams gives a grand performance as a failed writer who finds fame after writing a fake suicide note to cover up the real reason for his despicable son’s death. It will rewards viewers willing to go out on a limb.

10) The Imposter

Documentaries like this prove that real life will always be stranger than fiction. It’s about a man who pretends to be children. Specifically, it recounts his attempt to assume the identity of a missing Texas teenager. The imposter lives with the family for a while before he’s found out, but more the truth comes out the more bizarre the story becomes.

11) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

This is a film based on the real-life account of a man who suffered a debilitating stroke and went on to publish a memoir. Director Julian Schnabel does a miraculous job of making you feel every bit of the main character’s condition, but as the movie goes on its world opens up. A movie about a paralyzed man whose only way of communicating is blinking his left eye shouldn’t feel this alive.

12) Tell No One

Harlan Coben is one of America’s most popular mystery writers. He’s renowned for his byzantine plots that deliver the goods more often than not. For some reason that popularity hasn’t led to much in the way of American adaptations, but this French take on one of Coben’s top-shelf books is a crackling work.

13) Drug War

Johnnie To has 66 directing credits on his IMDB page. He’s 61 years old. That kind of prolificacy is as impressive as it is exhausting. Don’t let his age fool you. Drug War is action filmmaking of the highest order.

14) Jurassic Park

The sequels remain less important than the life of a Jurassic Park construction worker, but the 1993 original is every bit as spiraling, tense, and inventive as it was then. And when the sports-utility vehicles come off the track, and the T-rex gets to eating the lawyer, you best have the popcorn handy.

15) Princess Bride

Like you, I've put off seeing this  Princess Bride's reputation is as impeccable as it gets, so there’s not much to say about the 1987 comedy. The main reason I’m putting it here is so that I’ll feel the appropriate amount of shame and be compelled to watch it this weekend—and you should too.

16) The Emperor’s New Groove

I fire up this movie fairly often under the guise of putting it on for my sons. It’s an obvious ploy. They’re both under three and have neither the time nor inclination to watch anything without Elmo. But they’re helpless when I start Emperor and put the remote on the top shelf—kid tested and sturdy, this underrated Disney hit is forever. 

17) Boogie Nights

Paul Thomas Anderson is well represented on Netflix. There Will Be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love, and The Master are all available and all worthy of your time. If there’s such a thing as a less divisive PTA film, Boogie Nights is it. The film and its maker are legends so it’s best you make sure you're hip to it.

18) Beyond the Lights

The perfect movie for people clamoring that “they don’t make them like they used to” or those who bemoan the lack of diversity in Hollywood. This is a throwback romance about two people who find each other at the exact right time. The movie was criminally ignored by audiences when it came out in 2014, but those who have seen it love it.

19) His Girl Friday

Screwball comedies are hard as hell to pull off and His Girl Friday is still the gold standard 76 years after its original release. The dialogue is as spry as ever and the chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell is as electric as a Tinder hookup.

20) Short Term 12

This film marks the jump-on point for the Brie Larson bandwagon. It's primarily set in a group home; before you jump to the conclusion that it’ll be depressing, it’s a movie that navigates its darker waters well and offers enough hope to make it a rewarding experience. 

Editor's note: This article is regularly updated for relevancy. 

The 20 best TV shows streaming on Netflix

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I signed up for Netflix back in 2005. My first rental was the short-lived and quickly forgotten Jay Mohr series Action. It was a long, tedious slog.

Now it’s common to make plans to binge seasons of shows in a day. Between Netflix’s rapidly expanding original content empire and the shows it has the rights for, prioritizing your My List requires more strategy than ever. 

Where do you put the cult favorite in relation to the buzz show you’ve been meaning to catch up on? What about your favorites that have fallen out of the TV rerun rotation to make way for How I Met Your Mother, Two and Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory? When did CBS’s comedy lineup devour every syndication opportunity and why didn’t we stop it? Are you ready to settle down for 200-plus episodes of Murder She Wrote or are you looking for something more compact? 

Read more from the Daily Dot:

If you’re assuming that this rambling is going to lead you to a treasure trove of TV streaming recommendations on Netflix, you’re righter than 10 Parks and Recreation episodes on a rainy day.  

1) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

This is a top-tier Netflix show and should already be locked into your My List. I’m not sure we deserve someone as brilliant as Tina Fey running a TV show, but it’s the most pleasant kind of burden for us to bear. Freed of NBC’s shackles (the network bailed on it), season 2 is even Kimmy-ier and better.

2) BoJack Horseman

This is Kimmy Schmidt’s companion in the Netflix Originals hierarchy. It’s as funny as any of Netflix’s comedies and its more dramatic moments land harder than most of the company’s dramas. It’s one of those shows that’s hard to convince yourself to watch on paper—an odd-looking, animated series where Will Arnett voices a talking horse—but once you take the plunge you won’t look back.

3) Terriers

FX’s one-season wonder is a nice change of pace from ultra-serious crime shows. It still has all the lasciviousness you expect from a noir-ish story, but the chemistry between leads Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James softens the harder edges just enough.

4) Broadchurch

If you prefer dark mysterious and gut-punch revelations, this British import is what you’re looking for. David Tennant and Olivia Coleman are an odd couple investigating a death that has shaken up an entire community. The first season is great and makes a fine stopping point if you’ve had enough. But the second season rewards those who want to dive deeper into the fallout of the first season’s resolution.

5) Malcolm in the Middle

This Fox Sunday staple was around way longer than you probably remember (seven seasons) and is better than your memory of it. It really is a live-action Simpsons. The show was free to do whatever it wanted in any given episode. But the main thing is that it’s funny. And continuity isn’t a big deal, so it’s a great show to throw on at any time.

6) 30 Days

Morgan Spurlock took the basic premise of his breakthrough movie, Super Size Me, and made a docuseries about people trying different lifestyles for a month. Much of the series revolved around culture-clash scenarios (a Christian stays in a Muslim community, a hunter stays with an animal-activist family). The results were often predictable, but the path usually wasn’t.

7) Black Mirror

One of the things that makes this modern-day Twilight Zone a great streaming option is the standalone factor of each episode. The show goes to some bleak and nihilistic places to make its techno-terror satire land, so it helps that you don’t need to worry about tracking multiple storylines and relationships. Each episode features a new cast (including the likes of Hayley Atwell, Domhnall Gleeson, and Jon Hamm) and a premise taken to its extreme. There are only seven episodes currently, but Netflix has more coming down the pike.

8) Awake

This show never had a chance on NBC. It’s about a cop (Jason Isaacs) who lives in two worlds. In one his wife is dead and his son is alive, but when he goes to sleep he wakes up in the other world with a dead son and grieving wife. And his cases have a tendency to cross over in random ways. Of course nobody watched it, it’s way too dense. But taken in binge form, it’s easier to track the two worlds and highly rewarding.

9) Rectify

This is another one for those willing to take a leap of faith. Rectify is meditative, glacially paced, and deals with spirituality in a way not often seen on TV. Daniel Holden is working his way back into a society that doesn’t want him after spending 19 years on death row. What the show lacks in flash it makes up for with a strong ensemble and outstanding writing.

10) Scrubs

This emo comedy used to be a staple of the syndication circuit, but now you have turn to Netflix to get your prescribed laughs. I watched this a few years ago during late-night feedings with my son and it was just as funny as ever. I didn’t even mind the dreaded medical school season at the end. You know what you’re getting with the Sacred Heart crew.

11) Freaks and Geeks

It’s the all-time best “cancelled too soon” show. Everything everybody says about it is true. The cast is amazing and the writing is painfully on point. If you’re weary of Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, and James Franco, pop this on to remember when you wanted them to win.

12) The Spoils Before Dying

Does anybody actually have IFC? I know that's where Portlandia lives but I’m not sure this channel actually exists. Content just appears out of the ether on Netflix and suddenly everyone but you has seen it. Except for Dying, which went largely unnoticed. It’s a noir spoof with Michael K. Williams, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Michael Sheen, Andy Daly, Maya Rudolph, and enough other people to make you wonder how you haven’t heard of it before now.

13) Luther

If you loved Elba’s work on The Wire like any sane person, you owe it to yourself to check out his heel turn as troubled detective John Luther. Luther has a preternatural gift for solving crimes and series creator Neil Cross has a knack for deranged criminals.

14) Saturday Night Live

A lot of people like to dump on SNL for not being as good as it used to be. That’s nonsense because SNL was never as good as they think it was. It can’t be consistent by design; but when it hits, it's a lightning-rod moment always worth revisiting.

15) Parks and Recreation

Who says you need to wait for a rainy day to watch Leslie Knope make the world a better place? You can skip around (“Greg Pikitis” is 22 minutes of perfection), relive Leslie’s campaign against Paul Rudd and calzones, or watch every Jean-Ralphio episode. It’s your call.

16) Top of the Lake

Elisabeth Moss proved she is a national treasure with her work on Mad MenLake shows her to be an international treasure. I may be showing my hand too much, but I’m a sucker for a good mystery, and guess what Lake is? The show is filming its second season now (where Moss will partner up with Games of Thrones badass Gwendoline Christine), so now is the time to get on board.

17) The Wonder Years

Nostalgia at its best. You may not have come of age in the '60s, but, just like Kevin Arnold, you had a best friend, a first love, a family that drove you crazy, and when you think about every teenage adventure, you can provide an adult running commentary that makes it all even better.

18) Louie

Louie is about as singular as a show can be. Each episode is its own experiment and Louis C.K. is just enough of a mad scientist to pull it all off. Pick it up anywhere, and it's hilarious.

19) Lost

Lost is messy as hell and that’s part of why it’s so much fun. Despite all of the sci-fi gobbledygook, the show is anchored by its characters. No matter how baffling the plot gets the relationships are always clear and that’s why is worth going back to the island.

20) Gilmore Girls

Of all the reclamation projects Netflix has embarked on, this is one that offers the most creative reward. Most fans of the show pretend the seventh season, made without the guidance of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino, doesn’t exist. With the Palladinos back in the saddle we’ll finally get the ending that we should’ve had all along, including the near mythical “final four words” that have taunted fans for a decade. Watch the first six seasons, read the wiki for the seventh, and be ready to devour the next installment, expected this year.

Editor's note: This article is regularly updated for relevancy. 


Composer David Schwartz on creating the sound of 'Lady Dynamite'

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The recurring outro to Lady Dynamite is the perfect curtain-closer: There’s a drum roll, then a swell of chorus sweetly sings, “I don’t know what I’m doing, more than half of the time.”

Who would have thought a Dean Martin song from 1972 would translate so brilliantly to a 2016 Netflix show about mental health and show biz starring comedian Maria Bamford? David Schwartz, the show’s composer. 

Schwartz says he’s a “kitchen sink guy,” and approached the series’ soundtrack with that mindset. The opening track, which Schwartz explains was influenced a bit by Japanese hip-hop, matches the manic brightness of the show, introducing us to Bamford as she kicks and improvises over a “wacky, big band” skronk. Schwartz says the idea to improvise came from creator Mitch Hurwitz. 

“Mitch loves to add stuff and stuff and stuff,” he says. “He never feels, ‘This is going to be too much for the audience.’”

In adding stuff and stuff and stuff, the hope is to try to give the show a more distinctive sound based on original songs, like Schwartz did for another Hurwitz joint, Arrested Development. He’s responsible for its ukulele opening and the interstitial music, which became as much a part of the show as the characters. While there was some “carryover” of sounds from that show to Lady Dynamite, as Arrested Development grew, it developed that signature sound. 

“That’s what you’re trying for,” he says.

We asked Schwartz about a few more of Lady Dynamite's songs and how they came about.

The human-dog duet from 'Knife Feelings'

That is actually a Gordon Lightfoot song, repurposed for a touching duet between Bamford and her Herzogian pug, Bert. “It’s a very winding, hard song to sing,” Schwartz says. 

'You Gotta Loaf' from 'Loaf Coach'

Bamford goes to a “loaf coach” (played by Jason Mantzoukas) to learn how to do less, and this song becomes the anthem for doing nothing. It was originally to be sung as heavy metal, and singer Julian Coryell (son of guitarist Larry Coryell) delivered it with a “high, metal, screeching voice.” Then Schwartz thought it would be funnier if he sung it like Perry Como, so it actually comes off a bit Euro-goth. 

The lyrics were written by the show’s writers. “It’s sort of Dylan-esque when you have people who write TV and they get to write song,” Schwartz says. Sample lyrics: “You’ve got to loaf/You’ve got to loaf/Cause working is for pussies and trying is for chumps.”

The 'Touch the Children' song from 'Josue'

Bamford gets roped into a gig for the unfortunately named foundation Touch the Children and bombs, and this song brings us screeching into the end credits. Schwartz says he wrote it with his 26-year-old daughter, Lucy, who was “aghast at the concept of the song.” He ran it by showrunner Pam Brady to see if it went too far, and she advised him to “go as far as you can.” He modeled it after “We Are the World” and its big production of “heroic chords.” 

Christian singer Trey Pearson comes out as gay in moving letter to fans

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Christian singer Trey Pearson made a name for himself as the lead singer of Everyday Sunday, but his most headline-grabbing achievement to date might be a heartfelt open letter he penned this week announcing that he is gay. 

The 35-year-old singer says he published the letter this week, along with an interview for Religion News Service, after realizing, “There is absolutely no conflict with accepting who I am and following Jesus. God wants me to be healthy, authentic, whole, integrated and my truest self.”

Pearson is one of the most high-profile members of the Christian music community to come out publicly. With Everyday Sunday, Pearson has sold about a quarter of a million albums, and his 2009 album made it to the Billboard 200 chart. To boot, he has toured worldwide and performed with top Christian bands like Toby Mac, Switchfoot, and MercyMe.

Here is the full text of Pearson's letter: 

To my fans and friends:

Most of us reach at least one pivotal moment in our lives that better defines who we are.

These last several months have been the hardest – but have also ended up being the most freeing months — of my life.

To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.

I grew up in a very conservative Christian home where I was taught that my sexual orientation was a matter of choice, and had put all my faith into that. I had never before admitted to myself that I was gay, let alone to anyone else. I never wanted to be gay. I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it never was an option for me. I have been suppressing these attractions and feelings since adolescence.  I’ve tried my whole life to be straight. I married a girl, and I even have two beautiful little kids. My daughter, Liv, is six and my son, Beckham, is two.

I had always romanticized the idea of falling in love with a woman; and having a family had always been my dream. In many ways, that dream has come true. But I have also come to realize a lot of time has passed in my life pushing away, blocking out and not dealing with real feelings going on inside of me. I have tried not to be gay for more than 20 years of my life. I found so much comfort as a teen in 1 Samuel 18-20 and the intimacy of Jonathan and David. I thought and hoped that such male intimacy could fulfill that void I felt in my desire for male companionship. I always thought if I could find these intimate friendships, then that would be enough.

Then I thought everything would come naturally on my wedding night. I honestly had never even made out with a girl before I got married. Of course, it felt anything but natural for me. Trying not to be gay, has only led to a desire for intimacy in friendships which pushed friends away, and it has resulted in a marriage where I couldn’t love or satisfy my wife in a way that she needed. Still, I tried to convince myself that this was what God wanted and that this would work. I thought all of those other feelings would stay away if I could just do this right.

When Lauren and I got married, I committed to loving her to the best of my ability, and I had the full intention of spending the rest of my life with her. Despite our best efforts, however, I have come to accept that there is nothing that is going to change who I am.

I have intensely mixed feelings about the changes that have resulted in my life. While I regret the way I was taught to handle this growing up, how much it has hurt me and the unintentional pain I have brought Lauren, I wouldn’t have the friendship I now have with her, and we wouldn’t have our two amazing, beautiful children. But if I keep trying to push this down it will end up hurting her even more.

I am never going to be able to change how I am, and no matter how healthy our relationship becomes, it’s never going to change what I know deep down: that I am gay. Lauren has been the most supportive, understanding, loving and gracious person I could ever ask for, as I have come to face this. And now I am trying to figure out how to co-parent while being her friend, and how to raise our children.

I have progressed so much in my faith over these last several years. I think I needed to be able to affirm other gay people before I could ever accept it for myself. Likewise, I couldn’t expect others to accept me how I am until I could come to terms with it first.

I know I have a long way to go. But if this honesty with myself about who I am, and who I was made by God to be, doesn’t constitute as the peace that passes all understanding, then I don’t know what does. It is like this weight I have been carrying my whole life has been lifted from me, and I have never felt such freedom.

In sharing this publicly I’m taking another step into health and wholeness by accepting myself, and every part of me. It’s not only an idea for me that I’m gay; It’s my life. This is me being authentic and real with myself and other people. This is a part of who I am.

I hope people will hear my heart, and that I will still be loved. I’m still the same guy, with the same heart, who wants to love God and love people with everything I have. This is a part of me I have come to be able to accept, and now it is a part of me that you know as well. I trust God to help love do the rest.
– Trey

Fans on Twitter have gone out of their way to show the singer support: 



"I realized the only way I was ever going to be my best for [my children] was to be healthy myself," he told Religion News Service.

H/T Washington Post

New Thurston Moore single 'Feel It in Your Guts' hypes Sanders campaign

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Former Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore has expressed his support for Bernie Sanders, in the form of a vinyl single. 

Moore has penned the song "Feel It in Your Guts" as part of a special collaboration with the Democratic presidential hopeful, via Joyful Noise Recordings. It's an acoustic song, cut with snippets of various Sanders speeches, and it's especially surreal to see Sanders's mug sitting next to releases from experimental groups like Half Japanese and Deerhoof. 

All they're asking is that you first make a direct contribution on Sanders's site, take a screenshot, and then upload that on JNR to redeem. A note on the site says this is necessary because "Joyful Noise is a company... and that means Bernie won't accept a check from us." The limited-edition vinyl has already been snatched up, but you can still cop the digital download, for a suggested $27 donation. 

In a press release, JNR's "curator" Karl Hoffstetter explains, in part, that they did this because "Bernie Sanders inspires us." 

In a political and business climate which is increasingly self-interested and money-driven, Bernie Sanders alone remains uncompromisingly focused on the issues that affect 99% of us. Which is to say, he’s talking about the things that will improve the lives of ourselves, our families, and basically everyone we have ever met.

No word yet on a Thurston Moore/Red Hot Chili Peppers/ICP summer tour. 

Report: Prince died of opioid overdose

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Prince died from an opioid overdose, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Associated Press also reported as much on Thursday, citing separate sources within law enforcement. While no official autopsy results have been made public, the newspaper reports that the ongoing investigation has centered around Prince's apparent addiction to painkillers.

The 57-year-old musician's shocking passing on April 21 submerged social media. The Star Tribune had previously reported that Prince died just before meeting with doctors about his opioid use.

One day before passing, Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson) had been treated for fatigue, in addition to withdrawal symptoms from percocet, an opioid pain medication. He was found unresponsive the next morning in his home elevator by two Paisley Park staffers.

On Thursday the news became an instant, surging Twitter trend in the United States. 

H/T Minneapolis Star Tribune 

New webseries 'Pulse' to explore the neon world of EDM

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The youthful, Web-driven genre of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) will serve as backdrop for a new webseries. The 12-episode series will hit go90Verizon's mobile-only content platform, this fall. 

New Form Digital's Pulse will follow Hannah Cooper, an American in Berlin who's on the hunt for answers about her missing friend. She's sidelined by the compelling world of EDM clubs—rife with sex, drugs, and dance.

Katie Findlay, best known for her roles in How To Get Away With Murder and The Killing, will star as Cooper. Tony-winner Duncan Sheik serves as composer. He's best known for Spring Awakening, and a '90s pop smash "Barely Breathing." The series was created by Kyle Jarrow and will also star Craig Stickland, Calum Worthy, Melissa O’Neil, and Alexandre Landry. YouTubers Meg DeAngelis and Harley Morenstein will guest star.

“PULSE is a very special series that required just the right cast to bring it to life,” said Melissa Schneider, New Form Digital’s SVP of development and production, in a press release. “Katie is the perfect actor for the role of Cooper and she, along with the ensemble cast, will make Kyle and Duncan’s vision a reality.”

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