Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

* The new Captain America: The Winter Soldier TV spot has generated speculation that a certain someone is going to die. Also, Chris Evans was the Grand Marshal at the Daytona 500 this weekend. (What a dork.)

* The four Marvel Netflix series will be filmed in New York.

* Drew Pearce talks about the Mandarin short, All Hail the King.

* In non-MCU Marvel movies, I'm not sure we really need this much Spider-Man in our lives?

* Dear God, NBC is really scraping the bottom of the barrel by bringing back Heroes, of all things. Okay, sound off: how many canceled NBC series can YOU think of that you'd rather see return than Heroes?

* Michelle Monaghan talks about True Detective and its female characters. It would be so awesome if next season had two female leads.

* Doctor Who is injecting a little diversity into its cast with a new companion.

* Jeremy Jordan, Anna Kendrick, and Richard LaGravenese talk about adapting The Last Five Years as a film.

* Peter Dinklage already has a post-Game of Thrones job in the works on a new HBO series.

* I would so totally be on board for a Farscape spin-off/sequel TV movie.

* Ordinarily I would have no interest in a Godzilla movie, but... Bryan Cranston, yo.

* Matthew Rhys talks about the new season of The Americans, starting TONIGHT! Plus, an interview with the show's creators.

* With The LEGO Movie proclaiming "Everything is Awesome," now is a good time for a cautionary tale. If you don't talk to your children about LEGO, who will?

* Adam Driver is not who I would've expected for a Star Wars villain, but okay.

* I haven't watched it, because I'd rather see it in context, but you can watch Hannibal's opening scene from the season 2 premiere if you want.

Wow, I totally flaked on Galentine's Day this year, didn't I? Er... have some links to make up for it?

* Alyson Hannigan has lined up a new pilot for after HIMYM ends. Meanwhile, the Mother, Cristin Milioti, has booked her own pilot.

* Both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals have been renewed for another season.

* Anna Kendrick talks about filming The Last Five Years.

* Joel McHale is hosting this year's "Nerd Prom," aka the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

* The full Parenthood/Friday Night Lights crossover webisode is now up.

* Here's another Hannibal promo.

* Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are adorable together for charity.

* Wow, Philip Seymour Hoffman has died.

* Dylan Farrow finally speaks out about being sexually abused by her adoptive father, Woody Allen. (For reference, here is the original 1992 Vanity Fair article that first publicized the allegations.)

* On Super Bowl Sunday, a powerful ad from the National Congress of American Indians on the name of Washington's football team.

* Jesse Eisenberg will play Lex Luthor in the Man of Steel sequel, and Jeremy Irons is Alfred.

* Michael Pitt will be appearing on Hannibal.

* Geoff Stults talks about his new comedy, Enlisted, which so far I am really enjoying. Stults plays the oldest of three Army brothers - the other two are Veronica Mars' Chris Lowell and Suburgatory's Parker Young, both hilarious here - all serving in the same rear-detachment unit of misfits and screwups.

* Anna Kendrick talks about filming Into the Woods.

* Here is the list of theaters where you can see Veronica Mars.

* Chris Evans talking about Snowpiercer. He also talked about Captain America: The Winter Soldier, plus here's more about all the different shields used in the film.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I took a little trip to NYC to see First Date. Sometime back in November, it was announced that the show was closing, so I had to get there before the end of the year to make sure I had a chance to see it (and my bbs, Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez).

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I'd say you can keep suggesting topics, but at the rate I'm going, I would not blame you for being skeptical that I could finish any additional posts before the end of the month. But, I mean, you can, if you want. I promise I'll write them all eventually.

This topic comes fromslaymesoftly:

( Unironic musical love! )

* Jeremy Jordan talks about Smash and The Last Five Years. I mentioned this in the lost linkspam, but I kind of can't believe that Hit List is actually getting a live concert performance. And yet, I kind of wish I could go, considering it's Jeremy, Krysta Rodriguez, and Andy Mientus, without all the Kat McPhee bringing them down. At least maybe I'd finally find out what the plot of that show was supposed to be.

* Pippin is getting a movie adaptation? Did I know that? I am too lazy to go back and look at previous linkspams to see if I knew that. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is also apparently a go.

* Jennifer Lawrence talks about not wearing a bra in American Hustle.

* Community season 5 trailer! And a Sherlock series 3 trailer.

* Jeffrey Bell talks about Agents of SHIELD in two new interviews.

* With The Sound of Music being a ratings success, NBC is obviously going to try it again with another musical (which one is still TBD). Despite finding parts of the live performance somewhat cringe-inducing (Carrie Underwood's acting; Stephen Moyer's everything), I can only think it's a good thing to give people outside of New York more and easier access to Broadway shows. I hope they have learned a valuable lesson about casting people who can handle all aspects of the role - singing AND acting - rather than simply going for the big-name stars, but 18.5 million viewers (even if many of them were tuning in to watch Carrie fall on her face) says probably not, so I look forward to next year's show starring a Kardashian.

(Without repeating the entire review that is now lost to the ether, I will say this: Carrie's singing was fine. God bless her for being brave enough to YODEL on live television. But Audra McDonald is a goddess and Laura Benanti is my queen, and putting them next to someone with no acting experience is just setting Carrie up to fail.)

* It is fantastic how the 10th anniversary of Love Actually is inspiring so many articles about it. Such a good movie. If you don't like it, there is a 99.9% chance your heart is made of STONE.

* I am still trying to get my head around Matt Smith in an American Psycho musical. I'm still trying to get my head around an American Psycho musical, period.

* This season of Scandal will on be 18 episodes due to Kerry Washington's pregnancy.

* The Friday Night Lights movie is definitely not happening, you guys.

* Sutton Foster is getting a new show on TV Land. I didn't even realize TV Land had original programming. I thought it was all reruns of old sitcoms?

* Hahaha, "Dos and Don'ts" for when your favorite TV show is canceled.

No rambly topic today, just links: 

* More holiday gift guides: for Broadway fans and TV fans.

* A linguistic analysis of the best way to make fun of Benedict Cumberbatch's ridiculous name. Yes, really.

* An appreciation of the use of pop music in The Americans.

* Now they are making a Cats movie. I love cats, and I love musicals, but this is one of my least favorite shows ever, so... yeah.

* They are making another Bourne movie with Jeremy Renner.

* This is the Orange is the New Black Christmas video you never knew you always wanted.

* Tom Hiddleston recites poetry.

* Here's an update on the Better Call Saul spinoff.

Catching Fire was not the only thing I saw this weekend! I also went to see If/Then, a new musical starring Idina Menzel and written by the guys behind Next to Normal, during its pre-Broadway run at the National Theatre. If you happen to be in DC between now and December 8th, check it out. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until March to see it on Broadway.

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* Laura Prepon's role in Orange is the New Black season 2 has been expanded from one episode to four.

* I am not sure how I feel about a Princess Bride musical. I mean, it combines two of my favorite things, but I remain wary.

* I mentioned it in the comments of my last linkspam, but in case you missed it, here is the trailer for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode.

* Elizabeth Olsen talks about Avengers: Age of Ultron.

* Not surprisingly, The Originals was picked up for a full season. I didn't make it more than two episodes, but it doesn't take much to be a hit on the CW.

* Speaking of successful shows I'm not watching, Downton Abbey was renewed for season 5. I'll probably watch season 4 when it airs on PBS out of perverse curiosity. I don't care enough anymore to be bothered with avoiding spoilers, so I kinda already know what happens and I look forward to the inevitable facepalming.

* Dan Stevens will be playing Lancelot in Night at the Museum 3. Bet he's glad he left Downton for that movie career. In other news, they are making a Night at the Museum 3??

* It is Catching Fire time, which means it is time for Jennifer Lawrence Says the Darnedest Things. The crickets OMG dying.

* It is also Tom Hiddleston season. I watched that whole interview, and it was... strange. But his Natalie Portman impression is spot on and deserves to become an internet meme.

* The Dissolve looks at what Marvel's shared universe means for movies, and pretty much nails why I am such a fan of the Marvel movies in general. I tend to prefer TV over movies because of the greater emphasis on character development and opportunity for long-term arcs, but what Marvel is doing is actually a way for the franchise to sort of duplicate that on the big screen in a way that other franchises don't bother to do. By keeping all its movies centered on the characters, by letting them weave in and out of each other's stories and carry arcs through, Marvel has embraced the long-form storytelling of its comic book source material (which is otherwise impossible to do in a two-hour film) and managed to tell stories with the depth and richness that you typically see in TV series.

Weird, then, that Agents of SHIELD is its weakest link, although the last two episodes (including tonight's) have been much improved. These are the kinds of stories the show should've been telling right out of the gate, so we'd care about the characters sooner.

* I made these cookies for a potluck this weekend. Make these cookies. They are delicious and will win you lots of admirers.

* Zachary Levi talks about Thor: The Dark World and First Date, which I apparently need to get my ass to New York to see before the end of the year.

* And speaking of The Dark World, here's an interview with the director. I get the sense he was not totally pleased with his Marvel experience, lol.

* If this is actually what Ben Kingsley's secret Marvel project was about... meh. I LOVED what they did with the Mandarin in IM3. Fanboys can go fuck themselves.

* I agree with pretty much everything in this Agents of SHIELD critique (including the punctuation). Please get better, Show.

* Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about the Veronica Mars movie promo putting so much emphasis on the Logan/Veronica/Piz love triangle. I mean, Chris Lowell, you're adorbs, but why even is Piz still around?

* Final Catching Fire trailer! OMG I AM EXCITE.

* I swear, someday the internet will run out of Breaking Bad links. But not today. Check out the last two pages of the series finale script. Also, BREAKING BAD ON ICE IS A THING THAT EXISTS.

* This review of the Jonathan Rhys Meyers Dracula series is full of epic snark. A sample: "So Dracula's plan is to introduce a new energy source that will devalue The Order's oil interests and... Oh Dear God. If you're Dracula and you want to get revenge on people, you make yourself an army of vampires and you tear everybody associated with those people into little bits. Your plan is "Murder, pillage, wipe the blood from my mouth" not "Boy I bet it'll make them disappointed if their stock takes a dip." If your plan takes longer than three days, you're not Dracula. You're Emily Thorne."

* Sesame Street did a Homeland parody. OMG. I can't even.

* Tom Hiddleston is not the only one who does impressions. Here are celebrities imitating other celebrities.

* Wow. Woooooow. We never did anything that cool when I was in marching band.