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Link Time! 7/14

BuzzSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Ooh, yet more DVDs releasing this week: The State complete series! - PopCandy
True Blood: Maryann's true form . . . revealed! - TV.com
The fan poll has spoken: Johnny Depp for Riddler in Batman 3. - MTV Movies Blog
Top five quirky TV towns that would be fun to live in (of course Stars Hollow is on there!) - TV Addict
Check out some concert footage of Spoon performing a new song titled "Is Love Forever?" - Stereogum
There's no way around it: when it comes to writing screenplays, men are going to write about women, and women are going to write about men. But can they do so successfully? - Cinematical
Blossom's Mayim Bialik discusses her role on tonight's episode of Saving Grace. - TV Squad
Surprising decorating finds from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. - CasaSugar

Finally: The State Is Coming to DVD July 14!

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:30:09 -0700

Many folks know Thomas Lennon, Keri Kenney, and Robert Ben Garant as members of the bumbling police force on Reno! 911, and Ken Marino as any number of characters on TV (Professor Wilder on Dawson's Creek, Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars, currently Shep on In the Motherhood and a sweet, gay demon on Reaper). David Wain is now known largely as writer and director of movies like Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten, and Role Models, while actor Michael Ian Black starred as Phil Stubbs on Ed, among many other stints on various TV shows and movies.

But to me, all of these people will forever and always remind me of The State, the MTV sketch show they created and starred in for a precious few seasons. Though the series has been off the air since 1995, DVDs of the cult hit still weren't available to its enthusiastic fans - until now! The complete series will be on DVD as of July 14.

Finally, I can retire the VHS tapes on which I recorded the show (yup, I kept them and watched them regularly) and proudly replace them with a shiny new set of DVDs. Also, whole new generations can be introduced to the fun and weirdness that is Doug, Louie, Barry, and Levon, not to mention sketches like "Monkey Torture," "Porcupine Racetrack," and "Tenement."

If you know what I'm talking about, you may be as psyched as I am. And if so, what's your favorite State sketch? To see a video announcement about the DVD (complete with a rapid-fire montage of classic scenes), read more.

Link Time! 1/29

BuzzSugar — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:30:46 -0800

Hot Jon Hamm, or hot ham and cheese sandwich? It's that age-old question again. (I would absolutely go with Hamm.) - Lemondrop
Speaking of hotties, let's ogle yesterday's Hump Day Hottie: Ralph Fiennes. - FilmExperience
Jimmy Fallon attempts his first monologue. Discuss. - Popwatch
Hey, it's photos from the reunion of The State at SF Sketchfest! - Pop Candy
Is American Idol's Megan Corkrey this year's Josiah Lemming? - MTV News Blog
Check out the 20 Hottest (directors, actors, movies and. . . fistfights?) to come out of this year's Sundance Film Festival. - Cinematical
Studying for Jeopardy: Not actually all that easy. - TV Squad
New stuff from Sufjan Stevens: A cover of the Castanets' "You Are the Blood." - Stereogum

Movie Preview: The Ten

BuzzSugar — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:29:00 -0700

News about The Ten first caught my eye when it screened at Sundance back in January. After that I kind of forgot about it... until yesterday when the full trailer hit the web - and the trailer is awesome.

The broad cast seriously runs the gamut, from comedic people I'm a little in love with (Paul Rudd, Rob Corddry, Ken Marino and other members of "The State") to mainstream actors (Adam Brody, Jessica Alba, Winona Ryder). The result is bizarre, but also looks like it could be really funny. Opening August 3, The Ten tells ten stories, each with the theme of one of the Ten Commandments.

To see the trailer, read more

Link Time! 5/24

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:09:13 -0700

Pop is extremely excited for Mary-Kate Olsen who will be in 10 out of 15 "Weeds" episodes next season.
And Bella alerts me to the new Cool Water perfume ads in which "Lost"'s Josh Holloway glistens with radiance.
TV Squad has news on a possible reunion for the cast of sketch series "The State."
Spinner has the super-cool new White Stripes video for "Icky Thump."
The TV Addict ponders what went wrong with "Studio 60."
Check out the trailer to Michael Moore's latest documentary Sicko on the Movie Blog.
TV Filter tracks down the favorite currency of "The Office": the Schrute Buck and the Stanley Nickel.
Idolator listens to Blake and Jordin's "American Idol" EPs so we don't have to.
Popwatch reviews "Dancing with the Stars" judge Len Goodman's instructional DVD, which is apparently jazzed up with limericks.

Source

Movie Preview: Diggers

BuzzSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:00:35 -0700

We all know about my deep affection for Paul Rudd, "The State," and most things "Six Feet Under"-related. So I am loving the trailer for Diggers, a drama that a) focuses on a character played by Paul Rudd, b) was produced by David Wain and written by Ken Marino, both from "The State," and c) stars "Six Feet Under"'s sassy redhead Lauren Ambrose. Count me in!

The film is only out in limited release this Friday before moving into DVD release the following Tuesday, May 1. IMDB calls it a "coming-of-age story about four working-class friends growing up in Long Island, New York, as clam diggers. Their fathers were clam diggers as well as their grandfathers before them." The trailer, however, is a lot more intriguing than that. You can check it out and tell me what you think if you read more

Source

Talking New Moon With Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:15:50 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner may be dominating the promotional circuit right now, but they're not the only cast members with something to say about New Moon. I had the opportunity to chat with costars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, aka Emmett and Alice Cullen, during their recent stopover in SF. They chatted about their characters, the vampire craze, and what it's like to be a "Twilight celebrity." Here are highlights:

On why so many people are crazy for the Twilight Saga:
Ashley: I think this film in particular is highly relatable. There are a lot of situations that people can relate to. The love story - everyone can relate to being in love or being in lust. You add the vampire, and it adds that next level fantasy. Vampires are mysterious and sensual and dangerous and unattainable. And everyone wants what they can't have. I think on another level that this came together at the perfect time. All the elements just fit, the casting was spot on, and we're in a difficult time right now with our economy. That's why you never have a drop in ticket sales because everyone wants an escape, and this movie is very much an escape from reality.
Kellan: It's a good escape but also it deals with so many situations, on so many positive notes. Just looking at it from the vampire coven to the wolf pack. It just deals with everyday issues just on bigger levels, in a way. And you have Bella as the keystone in many situations. You can just all relate from different countries to issues within the United States. It's easily relatable.

To read a lot more about working with three different directors and why they feel so lucky, just read more.

On how their portrayals of the Cullens are similar or different from the books:
Kellan: We got the jobs because we brought something new to it. You can interpret the characters each their own, but I think it's what we did alongside. Just like Kristen said - she's playing Bella but she's putting her Kristen spin on it, just like all of us are. And I think that's what's making it unique. We're still following the cheat sheets that Stephenie created by making the books, and there's Wikipedia. We have a lot of information to go off of. But I hope it's what I did in my audition that set it apart from the other guys trying out.

Ashley: I think it's mannerisms too. People do fall in love with this book, but I think part of it is that they always want more. You can't write out every human mannerism. You can imagine it, but seeing the emotion in someone's eyes and seeing them be affected it - it was kind of easy to give something to it, because we were just being people. We kinda just got lucky.
On how much more of the Cullens we can expect in the remaining movies:
Kellan: Realistically, we stick pretty close to the books. Obviously us Cullens would love to be in the books a lot more, which would mean we'd be in the movies a lot more. Talking New Moon, the scenes that the Cullens - except for Ashley, playing Alice who gets to go to Italy and be a main lead in the movie - us Cullens, we have to stick really close to the books, and the scenes that we're in are really crucial to the story, as you know - the birthday scene, the voting scene. I don't know, it was kind of a tease. Chris Weitz is such an amazing director, and for us, for myself - I only worked about a week on that movie. And it didn't even seem like I really got a taste for what it was.

Ashley: In the third film, you'll see a lot more of the Cullens because it's all of us collaborating and then getting ready to fight this war that's coming up. In the second one, my character got a much larger role because Alice is the Cullen, other than Edward, that really embraces Bella and they end up becoming best friends. In the beginning, you see her throw this huge party for Bella, and then Alice is the one who does, in fact, come back for Bella when everyone else decides to skip town. Alice is responsible for dragging Bella over to Italy, and she and I the whole time are fighting to save my brother's life. And then of course we get held up by the Volturi and stuff like that. My character got to grow a lot, which is really cool. You get to actually see the relationship develop between Bella and Alice, where in the first one you didn't. The first one was very much about the romance and showing the audience why these two people are willing to die for each other.
On working with a different director on each film:
Ashley: Each director is going to be very different. They're artists as well, and I don't think any of them are quite the same. The books, when you read them, all have very, very, different tones. So I think it's highly appropriate that we switch directors each go. The first one is very much a romance and is a very scenic, beautiful film. And Catherine's really, really great at capturing that. She's very high energy and works well in chaos and stuff like that. And it was fantastic because we didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into, and so it was nice to have her to guide us when we were freaking out a little bit. She was just so high energy, and it was really contagious. We were sad to lose her and move on to the second film, but then we got Chris Weitz and he's the complete opposite! But great as well. He's so giving and caring and collaborative and created this atmosphere that was kind of a safe haven for us. And it was really nice because we didn't know, switching directors, if they were gonna embrace us or if they had a completely different vision than what we created in the first one. It was nice that he was right there on the same page with us. And the second one is a warmer film, even from the color scheme. The first one is very blue tones, and the second one is much richer and warmer and I think he did a great job at capturing that. And we just finished shooting with David Slade, and I think he's highly appropriate as well. He just finished shooting 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy, and they're both very dark, edgy films. And Eclipse is very much that. It's all centered around the anticipation and us getting ready to fight this huge war. We just finished filming, we haven't gotten to see much of it, but I think it's gonna be fantastic. He is, technically, the most advanced director. The angles that he shot and how he knows that tweaking something can affect a whole scene and the lenses. He was really nice to work with.
On coping with the fan effect and being a "Twilight celebrity"
Kellan: That's what blows my mind, 'cause I feel like it's really unearned in a way. The fans are making our careers. Without them, we wouldn't be working and doing the saga. There's so many times that trilogy books become a movie and the first one bombs, and then that's it. And you're always hopeful that you get to do them all. Especially since we're all in love with our characters. I love Emmett Cullen to death, he's my favorite character I've ever played. It's just so cool to have made it this far, and I think we all hope that we get to finish this series and do Breaking Dawn. This is such a blessing, it's every actor's dream to be part of something like this. It's not terribly hard either. We don't shoot halfway around the world; we don't shoot for a year of our lives. I know a lot of us have homes, we have pets, we have family. And it's really nice to shoot on the West Coast, either Portland or Vancouver, and have the chance to fly down if we need to. But it's definitely amazing to be part of something like this. And I don't think any of us knew how crazy it would be and how exhilarating it would turn out to be. Going to the premiere, really just, wow. I don't even remember it because I was really just starstruck by how many fans and signs and cameras. It felt like I was just walking through a strobe light room. It's amazing.

Ashley: I still think we can't really wrap our heads around what's going on and what's happening. We're still in the midst of filming and kept very busy from one film until the next. It's only these brief moments where you sit back and are actually able to take a breath where you go "Whoa. Wow. This is crazy." I mean, the amount of tickets they've already sold for New Moon - I'm pretty sure I can't even get a ticket if I tried to see my film in Jacksonville and it's mind boggling. We're just very lucky. I went into this film thinking "Oh my gosh, I got a job" and the it turned into the biggest break of my life. I think we all feel very blessed to be a part of this.
On how it feels to be part of Twilight fan fiction:
Kellan: It's an escape, in a way. We do live in a trivial time period right now. There's so much depression that it's kinda cool to be a part of something where people use it to be an escape. In a way that's kinda what Stephenie did -she had a dream and just elaborated on it. It became a huge success and it's really encouraging that people are doing the same and just making up this journey.

Ashley: That's why people love it so much I think. You can take it and make what you want of it. Before the demographic was teenage girls, but now it's women of every age and guys are starting to get into it, too. It's because there is that element of fantasy. If you're 8 years old you look at it one way; if you're 80 years old you look at it another. I think it's fantastic that we can draw such a huge crowd. The other thing is - it blows my mind but people are making connections over this film and over this book. there are mothers and daughters and grandmas who can all sit and talk about the same story and all fantasize about it and I think that's a really cool thing. I think it's rare.

To see all of our Twilight and New Moon coverage, check out TwilightSugar!

What Do You Think About the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:17:17 -0700

Toni Collette is taking home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for The United States of Tara! She beat Tina Fey, Mary-Louise Parker, Christina Applegate, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Sarah Silverman.

This one totally shocked me, but Collette is pretty great on The United States of Tara. What do you think about this win? Can you believe Tina didn't take home the gold?

Vote on all my Emmy Awards polls here!

Twilight on Talk Shows: Where to Watch the New Moon Stars

BuzzSugar — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:30:53 -0800

The big release of New Moon is just five days away, which means the film's stars are in turbo mode to promote it. They've already popped up on red carpets all over the world, but now they're bringing it home to hit the interview circuit here in the states. The list is a bit overwhelming, but I've mapped out the next week so that you can all program your DVRs accordingly! Of course, don't forget to check out Molly's exclusive interviews with the whole cast and check back for my own chat with Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene.

Monday, November 16: Tune in to The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC to see Kristen Stewart while Taylor Lautner stops by The Jay Leno Show on NBC
Wednesday, November 18: Robert Pattinson stops by The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS, while Kristen hits The Today Show on NBC, Live With Regis and Kelly on ABC and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC, Nikki Reed heads to It's on with Alexa Chung on MTV, and Kellan Lutz heads to Ellen
Thursday, November 19: Kristen takes her turn on The Today Show on NBC while Robert heads to Live with Regis and Kelly on ABC, Dakota Fanning makes an appearance on The Jay Leno Show, Kellan heads to It's on with Alexa Chung on MTV, and Taylor spends his Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC
Friday, November 20: Taylor Lautner hits The Today Show on NBC and Live With Regis and Kelly on ABC, Nikki Reed makes an appearance on The Rachael Ray show, Robert heads to Ellen on NBC, and both boys join Kristen for a late night chat on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC
Monday, November 23: Tune to The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS to see Ashley Greene
Tuesday, November 24: Ashley Greene takes her turn on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC.

Still can't get enough? Check out the Twilight Saga Group in the BuzzSugar Community!

Rob, Kristen, and Taylor Are This Week's Entertainment

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:56:22 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner have been posing for photo ops all over town - check out Pop's favorite promo tour moments - and it wouldn't be complete without an interview with Entertainment Weekly. In the cute interview, the costars quip about everything from Rob's attachment to his signature hair to Kristen's confession that she'd like to quit smoking to Taylor's obsession with hitting the gym for New Moon. There're also tidbits about Rob and Kristen's off-screen relationship and how Robert handles fandom. They're clearly a tight-knight trio, so check out the highlights below. If you can't get enough Twilight, keep the convos going in the Twilight Saga community group, and be sure to check back next week for my own interview with Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz!

Robert Pattinson on his hair in Eclipse: I swear to you I’ve never experienced anything like this. It's every single day. In Twilight, they wanted me to have extensions down to my hips.
Kristen Stewart: He's a liar. He doesn't remember. He's remembering how they made him feel, but they were just, like, down to here [pointing to her shoulders].
Pattinson: So I told them, "Look, that's just not going to happen." I said, "It looks like this already – I'll come to set like this." I sound so stupid, but in a lot of ways the hair is 75 percent of my performance, so in the second one I said, "Listen, I need to tone down the hair. Let's make it a little more real, a little bit more . . . Method.” [Laughs] And then in the third one, I'm doing fight scenes and there's a strand going down my forehead and they're like, "We need to do it again because no one will recognize you! No one will know who it is!" I'm like, really, is my face that generic?
Stewart: They want proof that you're doing your own stunts, man!
Pattinson: I have to look like the poster at all times. Just in case they want to use any clip for the trailer. Any clip at all! There were about five people in different departments who, because of my forelock, ended up in tears.

For tons of more quotes, just read more.

EW: How are you all coping with living in a fishbowl?
Pattinson: It really depends on the mood. When I met you last year [before Twilight came out], I was doing interviews very sporadically and I never got recognized. Now it's like anywhere I go there's immediate recognition. So there's more of a responsibility . . .
Stewart: I don't mind working every day. It's just, suddenly, I have this other role. And that's really disappointing. All I'd like to do is go outside with a book and figure out what to do with the day. And if I can't do that, then I'm just going to sit in my hotel room on my balcony and chain smoke. [Pauses] I'm going to stop smoking. I'm not such a good smoker, anyway. It's not in my bones. I'm gonna drop it.
Pattinson: The three of us have been working for two years [straight]. It does feel like your day has a shape just as soon as you wake up. I just forget what it's like when you're free.
EW: Taylor, you're the only one who almost lost a shot at the sequels. Do you have a different relationship with fame because you had to fight for your job?
Lautner: No, I kept my eye on the prize 100 percent of the time. I was motivated. I wasn't even thinking about anything else.
Stewart: Thank God you got the job. I wouldn't have wanted to deal with you if you didn’t. After all those months of working out!
Lautner: I just wanted to focus on what I could control, and I worked really hard.
EW: You mean in the gym? Because I see your abs everywhere these days.
Lautner: Yeah, the gym was a major part, but I really studied the books and the character, too. And it all turned out good.
EW: Kristen, it must be nice to watch the guys' appearances get obsessed over for a change.
Stewart: Seriously, it's a trip to sit back and look at the sexual objectification of these dudes. I've never been asked to do any of this stuff.
EW: You guys are lucky. You clearly all dig each other.
Lautner: The amount of time we have to spend with each other – if I didn't like these two, it would be exhausting.
EW: Rob, you made Remember Me this summer, between sequels. Was that the set in New York, where you were knocked into a cab by hordes of fans?
Pattinson: That was completely made up. I was walking across the street, and there was one cab going about one mile an hour and it nudged my leg. The story ended up being how I got hit by a cab because of a mob of screaming fans, [but] it was 4 o'clock in the morning and there was one person there – a paparazzi. . . . And then there was another time – apparently they said on the news that I had a drug overdose. The security guy saw it on TV, and I wasn't in my room, and he was like, "Uh-oh!" It's just so weird. I wake up and my room is too messy to order room service, and so I end up eating a pack of M&M’s for breakfast – and it takes me about five hours to find it. That's my first five hours of the day. [Laughing] And then you see the news and think, "Who cares if he had a drug overdose? It would probably make him more interesting!"
EW: Kristen and Rob, why do you think people are so obsessed with the state of your off-screen relationship?
Pattinson: Good question. That's a little thing I have to think about every day.
Stewart: Maybe it's just my personality, but I'm never going to answer it. I probably would've answered it if people hadn't made such a big deal about it. But I'm not going to give the fiending an answer. I know that people are really funny about "Well, you chose to be an actor, why don’t you just f---ing give your whole life away? Can I have your firstborn child?"
EW: You don’t think just saying, for example, "Listen, we dated for a few months, it was weird, we're better off as friends" would end the speculation?
Pattinson: No way.
Stewart: People are deeply judgmental and I'm not strong enough. I would love to be like, "I don't care what anybody thinks." But I'm a very private person. And think about every hypothetical answer: "Okay, we are. We aren't. I’m a lesbian." I've thought about this a lot. There's no answer that's not going to tip you one way or the other. I'm just trying to keep something. If people started asking me if I was dating Taylor, I'd be like, "F--- off." I would answer the exact same way."