Sad day, guys: Brittany Murphy (who got her start in Clueless and went on to star in movies like Girl, Interrupted, Just Married, Uptown Girls, and dozens of other films) died last night. According to Gawker, Murphy died after going into cardiac arrest, which could be the result of some underlying condition or drug use.
Our thoughts go out to her family, especially her husband, screenwriter Simon Monjack.
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under celebrities, movies, pop culture, RIP
Sorry for the hiatus ladies and gents. I actually started a new job this week (yay!) so thats the reason for my absence.
My absolute favorite season is coming up and it’s not Christmas. The awards season is upon us! The Golden Globe nominations came out today and the Awards are on Sunday, January 17. Soon after, we’ll see who’s up for the Oscars (on March 7, fyi).
I personally love the Golden Globes for a few reasons. First off, the Golden Globes are wayyy more laid-back that the Oscars, i.e., comedies and musicals actually have a shot to win (mostly because they have their own separate category). Secondly, tv shows are awarded too and the variety tends to be better. Lastly (and most importantly) booze is served! Who doesn’t love watching trashed stars act completely inappropriately in formal wear?
I’ll let you read through most of the nominee list yourself, but my boy George and crew got the most nods for “Up in the Air.” Here’s the trailer if you’re living under a rock and haven’t seen it yet.
I can’t remember the last time I was so excited for so many movies that come out around the holidays. It’s Complicated, The Blind Side, Precious, Invictus, and Nine, they all look so good. Except Avatar, which I can’t take seriously in ANY way. Also, it’s not Titanic 2..so THAT’S disappointing.
James Cameron, make this movie, I DARE YOU!
[Posted by Shannon]
Filed under celebrities, crushes, movies, news, pop culture, the arts, TV, YouTube
I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to watch a movie more than once (in my lifetime), unless I really like it. Movies that I’ve actually watched and enjoyed multiple times include Good Will Hunting, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Lizzie McGuire Movie…you know, the classics. Then this one time, back over a winter break in college when all I had to do was lie on my couch at home and get yelled at for eating too many pretzels (as opposed to now, when I go home for winter break and get yelled at for eating too many pretzels AND using too much profanity on my blog), I rented a movie called Once. I probably intended to watch it with my mom, and she probably fell asleep reading a magazine four minutes into the credits. The next day, when everyone was “at work,” and I was, you know, “figuring out what I wanted to do with my life,” I watched Once. And then I watched it again. And then I watched it a third time, this time with actor commentary.
As someone who doesn’t like to watch movies more than once, this was HUGE. I mean I watched the thing three times in a row! And it’s sort of kind of a musical, which is even huger because I almost always hate musicals! I promptly emailed all of my friends and insisted that they see this movie immediately.
Long story short, I really love Once, and the movie made me love Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Tonight, I finally got to see them in concert, and they were spectacular, which is to say that both the performance and Glen’s beard were top notch. I mean, who doesn’t love a great ginger beard?
Exactly.
Anyway, tonight was lovely and I got to dress like a faux hipster (though SOME of my friends claim that maybe I looked like a full hipster, if one were to assume that my flowery J.Crew headband was ironic) and you guys should listen to this, because they played it well tonight:
To quote the Clancy Brothers, goodnight and joy be with you all.
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under movies, music, pop culture
Sorry that I have been “the worst guest blogger ever” to directly quote Mallory. I recently got back from a fantastic trip to Ireland and London with my Mom, and then we had a long-femurred visitor a few weekends ago. I know, poor me.
All excuses aside, I wanted to share this youtube video to see how people felt about this marriage proposal. So far, we’ve got 2 votes for creepy, 1 vote for cute (sorry, Caroline).
To me, it seems like the girl being proposed to in the video would vote creepy as well, but that’s just my observation.
Here it is: Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal
[Posted by Shannon]
WAHHH Patrick Swayze died!
Patrick Swayze, of Dirty Dancing and Ghost fame, is dead at 57 after a battle with pancreatic cancer:
“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
Accounts show that Swayze was optimistic and maintained as normal of a life as possible while he was sick, though he recognized what he was up against:
Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making “The Beast” because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that.
“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking,” Swayze told ABC’s Barbara Walters in early 2009. “Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”
You’ll be missed, Mr. Swayze. Thanks for everything, but especially for this:
I don’t know about you guys, but I plan to honor Patrick Swayze’s life by having “Time of My Life” stuck in my head for the next month or so. 2:28 and on…ICONIC. What a scene.
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under celebrities, dance, movies, music, news, pop culture, RIP, YouTube
Guys, this is the BEST Google Holiday ever! It’s 09/09/09! My coworkers and I celebrated this morning at 9:09 a.m. by watching a preview for the movie 9 and learning facts about the number 9. There are no exciting facts about the number 9. But it is very important for sudoku!
Here, you should celebrate too, by watching the 9 preview:
Is it weird that I cried at the end of that?
Today’s Google Holiday: 09/09/09
What I was Googling: carana
And sorry for the embarrassing lack of posting lately. School started up again, etc. etc. and I am a bad blogger. I’ll do my best to remedy that this week!
P.S. You’re all still invited to my gala on 11/11/11 at 11:11:11 p.m.
P.P.S. Okay, I missed a Google Holiday this weekend. It was confusing and had something to do with unexplained phenomenon.
[Posted by Mallory]
I love indie films (and indie anything, really — for the Fourth of July, iTunes gave away 20 free indie songs and by God, it felt like Christmas!), but I am a little bit self-conscious of the fact that everyone loves indie films. Remember when Garden State first came out and it was like THE movie to be obsessed with? I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t listen to that soundtrack on repeat for most of the beginning of college. I’m thinking back about it, and pretty much every song gives me some sort of overwhelming feeling of nostaliga. “New Slang”? Laying out on a boat off the coast of Italy and just cold lovin’ my life. “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You”? Emo nights falling asleep with my iPod (in, yep, a bunk bed) sophomore year of college. “Let Go”? Away messages before drunken college nights. I’d often make my AIM away message “drink up baby doll,” and I’m embarrassed because now I know that the lyrics are actually “drink up baby down.” What does that even mean, anyway?!
The point is, I like indie films and the music in indie films and the people in indie films. (John Krasinski, Zach Braff…I’m looking at you.) But I also love this video. It’s spot on:
Thanks to Miss Susannah for the tip!
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under crushes, humor, movies, music, pop culture
It doesn’t come out until 2010, but people are so excited already. Tim Burton is going to take us through his demented, but creative, looking glass and give us his take on “Alice in Wonderland”. (Even the Disney version is trippy… I can only imagine what this is going to be like.) I’m going to give you one guess as to who is playing the Mad Hatter.
Johnny Depp, of course. And if you didn’t guess that, shame on you. Helena Bonham Carter will be playing the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway is the White Queen. The role of Alice will be played by Australian Mia Wasikowska, but let’s face it– Johnny Depp will steal the show. He just plays crazy a little too well. Some publicity photos were just released today. Check these out:
Intense! What are your thoughts?
[Posted by Kathleen]
Filed under adventures, blogging, celebrities, movies, news, pop culture, random, thoughts, weird
Despite the fact that I write for a blog that often focuses wacky celebrity gossip, and despite the fact that I’m a young person with plenty of access to and knowledge of technology, I often entirely miss major pieces of pop culture news. As in, some things on “I Love 2009” will be totally new to me. A few recent cases in point: I’m just starting to know the words to “Just Dance” — don’t talk to me about “Poker Face,” because I don’t know that I’ve heard it. I also don’t understand some basic Facebook commands. Yesterday, whilst Facebooking stalking (that I know), I clicked some button that was apparently the wrong button to get where I wanted to go. And I was flat out mocked by my companions, including my sister, who told me that she was ashamed to be related to me.
I’m not super concerned about things like this. I know that Lady GaGa wears weird apparatuses (apparati?) on her head, and I know how to use Facebook to find out which of my middle school friends are knocked up. That’s about all I need. But I have been hearing an awful lot about this movie called Up. In the past 24 hours or so, a bunch of people have been talking about it, and it’s gotten to the point where I can’t pretend to understand the references anymore. (Comments like “Oh, ha ha, yeah, the dog with the talking collar” or “Right, houses tied to balloons, genius” only work for so long.)
Being the modern day Nancy Drew that I am, I YouTubed that shiz, and here’s what I found:
Now, while that preview is cute, it doesn’t exactly make me want to leave work early, pick up some Red Vines, and run to the nearest theater to see the movie. I do have faith in Pixar, though (like Google and Mac, they seem to never screw up), and comments on Rotten Tomatoes are astonishingly good. And if the movie can make me cry within the first 15 minutes, as one Rotten Tomatoes commenter said Up did for her, you know I’ll be an easy sell.
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under adventures, blogging, celebrities, crushes, dance, fashion, movies, pop culture
My little sister was in town this weekend, and we were both up early so that I could get off to work and she could get to the airport. We were ready ahead of schedule and had the fortune of watching some of “The Today Show” — and of being reminded why watching the news can be really depressing. Today’s headlines include:
Celebrity news wasn’t quite as depressing, but there’s a lot going on there as well:
Let’s hope the week calms down a little after this…
[Posted by Mallory]
Filed under celebrities, movies, music, news, pop culture, RIP, TV
six words to change the world. 