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

* Via umadoshi, some speculation on Black Widow's MCU backstory based on the Age of Ultron trailers. I have to admit, much as I want Natasha's origin story, the mere mention of "how much Joss Whedon looooves his trained-as-a-weapon, mentally-brainwashed ballerinas" makes me go NO NO NO HANDS OFF DON'T TOUCH DO NOT RUIN THIS FOR ME WITH YOUR GROSS FETISHES, JOSS.

* Here's the live-blog of the Agent Carter TCA panel, as well as the Community panel.

* Also a live-blog of the Parks & Recreation panel, and an interview with Michael Schur about Parks & Rec's final season.

* Season 3 of Hannibal won't be on until the summer. It will also involve a time jump long enough for someone to get married, and Richard Armitage has been cast in a key role.

* Zachary Levi will star in the Heroes reboot. Oh, Zac. Why.

* Jennifer Lawrence interviews Eddie Redmayne and it's adorable.

* Bradley Whitford is guest-starring on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Yay!

* The cast of The West Wing reunites for the second annual Big Block of Cheese Day.

* More Twin Peaks cast announcements.

* Paul Bettany talks about playing the Vision. I kind of get the sense he misses showing up for 45 minutes and walking away with a bag of cash? lol

* Kevin Feige talks about Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and other Marvel stuff.

* Karen Gillan talks about Guardians of the Galaxy and her new TV series, Selfie.

* Another perspective on the Age of Ultron footage shown at Comic-Con.

* Here is a pretty thorough round-up of video interviews with the cast.

* Here is also the full playlist of Nerd HQ videos. So far, I've only watched the Orphan Black panel (which is even more off the chain than last year's - seriously, pants come off and Zachary Levi curls into the fetal position, possibly in horror at what he hath wrought).

* This post-finale video from the TVD panel is pretty hilarious. Ian: "Nuh-uh. I've been killed off a TV show before and this is not how they do it." Paul: "Does this mean that I get more money?" CANDICE'S SANDWICH. And Nina knocking down walls to expand her dressing room, lmao.

* Completely non-Comic-Con related, Audra McDonald talks about playing Billie Holliday and her previous attempted suicide, which I never knew about before, wow. Like, when I first saw the headline, I thought it meant Billie, because that seemed more likely, but no. Audra, who went on to be a Tony-winning goddess.

I will put the rest of this under a cut, because it has precisely zero newsworthiness, and is entirely the cast of Avengers being ridiculous and adorably goofy together.

( I fucking love these dipshits )

* Lots of news and photos leaking from the Age of Ultron set. They were filming in Norwich, where RDJ was adorable with children (as usual).

* Frank Grillo talked a little about Captain America 3 in this interview about something else. Meanwhile, Daredevil has added Vincent D'Onofrio.

* On the DC front, Aquaman will now be making an appearance in Batman vs. Superman.

* Malia Obama is working as a production assistant on a TV show.

* A mostly non-spoilery interview with the Game of Thrones showrunners. Also, here's why the book thing that didn't happen in the season finale didn't happen. (I was already spoiled for it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.)

* Ugh, I wish I could have gone to Idina Menzel's solo concert last night. It sounds like it was so much fun.

* I suppose I will need to find a new TV boyfriend: Zachary Levi got married to Missy Peregrym this weekend, whom he's apparently been stealth-dating.

* Interesting casting news for Orange is the New Black season 3.

* A nice look back at Friday Night Lights in honor of Father's Day.

* I hope Chris Evans' movie A Many Splintered Thing gets released eventually. The photos look really intriguing.

* The Orphan Black creators talk about the newest clone to show up, which.... honestly, felt rather half-assed to me. I've come to expect better from this show.

* Andrew Rannells will be taking over when Neil Patrick Harris leaves Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway.

* Tom Hiddleston has been cast as Hank Williams in a new biopic.

* The creator of True Detective says he only wants to do three seasons of the show.

HI GUYS. I went to San Diego and didn't tell you. And I missed SO much TV, including the Oscars, which I've had to piece together from GIFs. (Funny story: we actually kind of considered having an Oscar watching party, but we're all idiots from the eastern and central time zones who forgot that it started at 5PM on the west coast, so we're out at a restaurant eating dinner and someone's like, "Uh, guys, the Oscars are kinda half over...?") Not that I saw any of the nominated films, except Gravity. You better believe that we were Travoltifying our names when we were bored at work, though. Luka Bailerey, at your service, btw.

We also forgot that Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and apparently San Diego REALLY loves Mardi Gras, so... that was interesting. Certain coworkers of mine now refer to me as "Princess."

ANYWAY. Let me know if I missed anything awesome on the interwebs. Now I'm back and have oodles and oodles of links that you've probably already seen. Separated into categories for easier organization.


Oscar stuff first:

* Lupita Nyong'o gave an amazing speech about beauty and skin color, and then continued her flawlessness with her acceptance speech. Plus, visual proof that she can (and does) rock any color dress.

* Anna Kendrick kept a diary of her Oscar weekend.

* An interview with an Oscar seat-filler reveals what goes on behind the cameras.

* Ellen interviewed the winners on her show. Here's Cate Blanchett and Lupita part 1 and part 2. The pizza delivery guy also went on Ellen to collect his tip.

* Tired of Frozen's Oscar-winning song, "Let It Go"? Then this is the parody for you.


TV stuff:

* Ground Floor has been renewed for a second season, while The Mindy Project has been renewed for a third.

* Community's Joel McHale and Jim Rash take on True Detective.

* FML. I thought I was done with HIMYM, but now Krysta Rodriguez is starring in the spin-off, which means I'm gonna have to watch it.

* Julia Stiles has a new legal drama coming to TNT.

* John Oliver's new HBO show, Last Week Tonight, has a trailer.

* Emmy Rossum talks about season 4 of Shameless, which has been fantastic.


Marvel stuff:

* I'm all for Chris Evans pursuing more directing gigs, but I hope he finds projects he can also star in, because otherwise I'd miss him as an actor.

* Speaking of, OMG this Captain America: The Winter Soldier clip! My bb! \o/ Plus, here's two new ads with new footage, and some speculation about the future of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and therefore Agents of...) in the MCU.

* Scarlett Johansson is pregnant, which will almost certainly impact filming for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

* Other Age of Ultron news: Marvel is locking in Thomas Kretschmann, who will appear as Baron von Strucker in AoU, in case they want to use him again, and adding Korean actress Kim Soo Hyun to the cast, in a yet to be announced supporting role.

* Not really a link, but I finally saw Thor: The Dark World. I don't have much to say about it because, other than Thor and Loki being adorably brotherly, I don't really have ~feels? Thor is probably the least interesting Avenger to me, Thor/Jane does nothing for me, and I'm mostly in it for the supporting characters, so as long as there's enough laughs, I don't mind that the plot's a bit of a mess. But yay for Zachary Levi joining the MCU!

* Marvel is airing a one-hour special on ABC about... themselves, basically. It's a one-hour commercial for their TV show and the 3 new movies coming out in the next year and a half. Which I will watch because I am a sucker for new footage.


Movie, musical, and movie musical stuff:

* Veronica Mars has been added to the Kindle Worlds legal fanfiction list. Plus, lots of photos from the movie (one week, you guys!). You can actually watch the first two minutes of the movie, but before you get excited, it's basically a "previously on" summary of the TV series.

* Steven Spielberg wants to remake West Side Story. I know people get tetchy about remaking classics, but maybe this time they'll cast lead actors who can actually sing?

* Speaking of movie musical remakes, Quvenzhane Wallis is freakin' adorable in the trailer for the new Annie.

* Into the Woods is getting an off-Broadway revival. Not sure how I feel about this "stripped-down" version.

* Clark Gregg talks about Coulson and Agents of SHIELD.

* Looks like there will probably be a third Captain America movie, assuming this one does well, which it will. (Also, so much for the "they're killing off Steve Rogers" rumors?) And Thor 3 is happening for sure.

* Thor: The Dark World is coming out on DVD soon, hence all the special features popping up online. (Including an adorable interview with my TV boyfriend Zac Levi.)

* And in case you ever wondered what Tom Hiddleston would look like as Thor, here are some gifs from his screen test. (Tom is also here with the answer to why the villains in movies are always Brits.)

* A clip from Chris Evans' movie Snowpiercer. I admit, the Tumblr comments cracked me up. Also: please give us this movie.

* Orange is the New Black season 2 casting news.

* Another Hannibal season 2 trailer. Hold me.

* Lots of pictures from season 4 of Game of Thrones.

* I'm not sure we really needed an oral history of She's All That, but the fact that this movie is 15 years old makes me feel old.

* A nice piece about Seth Meyers leaving SNL.

* If you've been hoping to get relationship advice from the creator of Community, now is your chance.

* There will be a sequel to Pitch Perfect, and Elizabeth Banks is directing it..

* Anyone still care about How I Met Your Mother? I admit, the 200th episode (in which we get the backstory of the Mother) was the best episode the show's done in a long, long time, but it only reaffirms my belief that they should've gone there WAY sooner and spent WAY more time getting to know her.

* True Detective is getting a second season, with an entirely different cast. Which is understandable (you're not going to get Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey to stick around for years, so why even try) and would make sense for a procedural show - instead of a "case of the week" you have a new case every season - except that, like, there is zero emphasis on the case? The storytelling is ALL about the characters, and the murder they are solving is basically just to give them something to do while they talk to each other. So... interesting choice here, and I am curious to see if season 2 will be as captivating. Anyone else watching?

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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* John Oliver is leaving The Daily Show to host a weekly comedy-news-satire show on HBO. Maybe they'll call it The Weekly Show.

* This is the creepiest fucking thing ever. BRB checking my walls for secret passages.

* Doctor Who prequel minisode. I... what? Did they just... do what I think they just did?

* The Catching Fire interview where Woody Harrelson finally figures out that Chris and Liam Hemsworth are brothers. (It starts around 4 minutes in.) "You do have the same last name... I honestly never put that together. (Interviewer: "You know, they kind of look similar?") Now that he mentions it, I totally get it!" Exactly how many drugs do you think he's on?

* Katniss Everdeen kills everything. Spoilers for... a lot of things, I guess, but mostly Game of Thrones.

* The trailer for Maleficent. Thoughts?

* Tom Hiddleston will pretty much do anything you tell him to, won't he? Here he is juggling, drinking beer, and singing karaoke in a car on some German show. There was also the dance-off with Zachary Levi at the Thor 2 premiere (Zac is still my TV boyfriend, but Tom totally won that one), and The Return of Steve on MTV After Hours.

* CBS has already ordered the pilot for How I Met Your Dad, so this is apparently a thing that is happening.

* The cast of Bunheads got together to film a goodbye dance sequence.

* Dammit. I don't really want to watch Showtime's new series, The Affair, but Dominic West and Joshua Jackson might convince me to give it an ep or two.

* Another Mockingjay cast announcement, this time for Annie Cresta.

* Joss Whedon talks about how Marvel's dedication to franchises is thwarting his efforts to kill off Avengers. I... may have read between the lines a bit there.

* Zachary Levi talks about Broadway and stuff. I love the question about creating his own geeky musical, because I really just want to introduce him to Jeff and Hunter and be like, "GO BE BESTIES NOW."

* If you've ever wanted an article that explains exactly what's wrong with Dexter, congratulations: here it is.

* In the best pop culture mash-up of the night, Hank and Marie Schrader react to Miley Cyrus' VMA performance.

SPEAKING OF BREAKING BAD OMG CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT?? The writer of last night's episode, Gennifer Hutchinson, did. But also...

( cut for spoilers )

[1-62] Orange is the New Black
[63-82] Graceland
[83-89] Zachary Levi (with Krysta Rodriguez)
[90-95] iconthat (Luther, Mad Men, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, True Blood)
[96] Lost
[97-98] The Avengers

Preview:



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* If you didn't watch the Tony Awards on Sunday, you should at least watch this clip, in which several Broadway stars lament their failed efforts to break into television.

* Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez are adorable talking about their new musical and terrible first dates. Also, Krysta sings a song from the show!

* Joss Whedon interview number eleventy billion.

* The Game of Thrones folks hash out the options for continuing the series if George R. R. Martin doesn't get his ass in gear and finish the books.

* The news initially broke while I was on vacation hiatus, I think, but now it's confirmed: Dan Harmon is coming back for season 5 of Community.

* The epically talented Tatiana Maslany talks about the Orphan Black season finale.

* There's a trailer for The Hobbit part two. I still haven't seen the first one, so I'm pretty meh. Thoughts?