Showbiz History: Shyamalan Twists and Steppenwolf Alum

10 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

we just called to say we loved you, Myrna1905 Charismatic Myrna Loy is born in Montana. She'll come to epitomize urbane style and wit at the movies as one half of The Thin Man's glorious marrieds with William Powell. Though she was never Oscar nominated she was given an Honorary Oscar in '91.

1914 Beatrice Straight is born in New York. In her sixties she'll make history by becoming the actor with the least amount of screentime to win an Oscar. She rages through Network (1976) for all of five to six minutes as a betrayed wife, but that was enough...

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Emmy Night: Winners List, Haphazard Notes, Political Jabs

By Nathaniel R

The BIG LITTLE LIES cast were first presenters setting the tone for a night devoted to them essentially

8:00 Stephen Colbert managed to work lots of political commentary and Trump jabs into his opening song which hits peak jab with the "even treason's better on TV" lyric with the stars of The Americans giving brief cameo. The also Trump centric post-song monologue is good and the stars are eating it up. 

8:16 Colbert actually saves the best joke for last with a surprise cameo by Sean Spicer (yes, actually Sean Spicer with his stand) who he introduces as Melissa McCarthy. Even McCarthy is shook. 

8:18 Nice touch to have an ensemble as joyfully in synch as Big Little Lies do a supporting category. Lithgow wins for playing Churchill. That also worked for Albert Finney 15 years ago. Oldman is also going to win the Oscar playing Churchill later this year. It's one of those roles... like Effie White or Mama Rose. And, well, Winston Churchill...

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The Emmy Nominations!!

The 69th Emmy nominations have been announced! HBO need not worry that Game of Thrones wasn't eligible this year, as they landed the most nominated drama anyway with Westworld. The early-in-the-season genre hit tied Saturday Night Live for 22 nominations each, followed by Stranger Things and Feud tying for second place at 18 each.

Most of the nominations follow Emmy's expected players despite the openings left by departed perennials like Thrones, though this year isn't without surprises or fresh faces. The major breakthroughs this year were Hulu (finally in the major races thanks to the success of The Handmaid's Tale) and our beloved RuPaul's Drag Race (scoring 7 nominations, plus one for Untucked).

The team will be sharing their favorite nominations and frustrations on what missed the cut later today, but our dream ballot should give you a hint of our thoughts. Here are the nominees in the top categories:

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Link Blog Repeat and Repeat

The Muse another movie that believes shark lives are worth less than dumb humans endangering themselves
Coming Soon The Glass Castle sets a release date for August. YAY. We love a counterprogrammed adult drama in the summer
Film School Rejects on the proliferation of streaming services. A bursting bubble?
Gothamist Rooftop Films in NYC announces their summer lineup which includes buzzy titles like Beach Rats, Menashe, and The Big Sick
MNPP Who wore it best? Darren Criss or Max Greenfield
EW First images of Naomi Watts in the Netflix series Gypsy

Film School Rejects on highlights from the Godfather 45th anniversary reunion -the original cast showed up!
/Film Edge of Tomorrow is getting a sequel (with both Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise returning) and its riffing on the original film's tagline for its title: Live Die Repeat and Repeat
Collider why Rian Johnson asked JJ Abrams to make a small switch to the ending of The Force Awakens to help out The Last Jedi
The New Yorker Anthony Lane reviews Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. This tossed off line about Kurt Russell's character honestly made me LOL but I think it's only funny if you're old enough to know Yes albums.

Ego has built his own planet, apparently after consulting the covers of Yes albums.

Off Screen
AV Club Pepe the Frog dies, killed by his cartoonist creator who was upset that his initially harmless creation had been turned into a symbol of hate by Neo Nazis
EW Nicki Minaj went on a spending spree for fans for an hour on twitter, paying their student loans and tuition
Boy Culture congrats to Dustin Lance Black and Tom Daley who reportedly married
Towleroad a rave review of the London production of Angels in America
Jezebel leaked tracklist for a deluxe reissue of Prince's masterpiece Purple Rain 

Exit Video
I almost never post SNL videos because frankly I never understand why people think that show is funny. It's always such a long slog with just a couple of laughs. Chris Pine hosted and did an opening number about how he's not Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth or Chris Pratt but Chris Pine. It included one little similarity I hadnt even though of: Evans and Pine both play guys named Steve in superhero pictures that also double as World War period pieces. But this Chris Pine's guested skit about RuPaul's Drag Race is sneaky funny and super up-to-the-minute.  

Tuesday Top Ten: Fictional Pop Culture of 2014

Manuel here bringing a fun list to enjoy the fictional pop culture 2014 has brought us.

I have to admit it; I like my pop culture like I like my ouroboros - constantly eating itself. That is to say, I’m a sucker for meta-fictional drama and particularly enjoy when films, books and TV shows create their own pop cultural world to satirize, comment on and critique (it won’t surprise you that two of my favorite movies, All About Eve and All About My Mother, are twinned images of one another). We’re weeks away from end-of-year Top 10s, but I figured we could begin early by I celebrating the fictional pop culture landscape of 2014.

The criteria? I looked for fictional pop cultural things in the films and TV shows from this past year that I wish were real and we've definitely had plenty to choose from. There was reality TV show Black Face/White Place from Dear White People, “The King in Yellow” (a fictional play embedded in the eponymous novel that featured so prominently in True Detective), the 30 Rock-esque Hammy Bear trilogy from Chris Rock's upcoming Top Five, SNL's amazing-looking The Beygency, not to mention Inside Amy Schumer's spot-on Sorkinean parody The Foodroom. These are, of course, all runners-up to the 10 I've chosen to make up our list. Incomprehensible algebraic equations were designed to rank them all, though I'm eager to hear what I inadvertently missed and/or placed too high. 

TOP TEN FICTIONAL POP CULTURAL ARTIFACTS OF 2014

10. "Everything is Awesome!!!" from The LEGO Movie
You could say the entire film is a pop cultural kaleidoscope as it is both creating a universe dependent on our own pop culture (Wonder Woman! Gandalf! C3PO!) yet populated entirely by beings unaware of it. Unsurprisingly then, this ear worm of a conformist anthem (written by The Lonely Island, they of “D**ck in a Box” fame) was as ubiquitous in the film as it was in everyone’s minds after watching the film. To assure us of its own pop cultural caché, the song was recorded by, implausibly enough, Tegan and Sara! Shoutout to the wonderfully plausible CBS-like sitcom “Where are my pants?” which fits oh so well in this perfectly mundane yet quirky LEGO World.

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