Welcome to the inaugural Entertainment Roundup, where I take my favorite happenings in the entertainment world of the past week and give you my spin on them. Let’s get started with something that is sure to make David Letterman seem even more weary.
Cue card guy fired for punching writer
In the most interesting thing to happen on David Letterman’s show since Hatsune Miku. Letterman’s longtime cue card holder was fired from the show after assaulting staff writer, Bill Scheft
To hear Tony “Inky” Mendez, who I can only assume got that nickname because he is secretly a squid, explain it the guy had it coming.
“I know I shouldn’t have put my hands on him,” Mendez told the New York Post “But this has been coming for a long time.”
“Bill was always undermining me — making himself out as Dave’s No. 1. Trying to pretend that I wasn’t even in the room . . . little passive-aggressive things”
After a particularly heated argument, Mendez spent all of that night “stewing over it” and concluded that the only solution was to go and assault Scheft the next day.
“I just grabbed him by the shirt. He was very surprised. He didn’t say a word. He was cowering, his eyes were real big, he probably peed a little bit on his pants.” Mendez proudly proclaims of his rivals pants-wetting fear.
Mendez has now been fired from the program although he’ll still be receiving salary for the rest of the show’s run, which ends this December, so there’s an upside to all of this for him. For now though, let’s all focus on this and ignore the odd cult of personality that seems to be fostered around David Letterman.
Forget one sequel, let’s go for two!
Pacific Rim, that movie that you really liked until you had to think about it, is already getting a sequel but director, Guillermo del Toro is thinking ahead to the inevitable trilogy any vaguely popular blockbuster film must now become.
“We’re going to shoot ambitiously and say ‘Let’s hope we have three movies,’ so some characters come in at the end of the second, hoping that it will ramp up on the third one,” del Toro tells Collider.
This is an odd path to take considering a second film only happened due to Pacific Rim’s overseas gross. Regardless, look forward to seeing more monsters destroy some stuff only to be stopped by robots who in turn destroy more stuff while destroying the monsters.
What a Story, Robyn!
Robyn Paris, who played Michelle in the wonderfully horrible cult-classic, The Room, is now branching out to another movie that will probably not be very good.
She recently started a Kickstarter to fund The Room Actors: Where Are They Now? Which will sadly not follow the actual depressing stories that led to Robyn and her castmates attempting to cash in on their brief moments of fame. Instead, the film will be a Spinal Tap-esque mockumentary that will probably be less depressing but just as funny.
Big-time prizes include “dinner with The Room actors at a top L.A. restaurant” ($2,500), co-producer credit($5,000), or full-on executive-producer ($10,000). So, there’s no way this thing could go horribly wrong.
If you don’t wish to contribute at least go to the page, watch the video, and marvel at how horribly Denny has aged.
Fuck You, Pay Me
Actor Frank Sivero, known for playing Frankie Carbone in the classic mob film Goodfellas, is now suing The Simpsons claiming that they’ve stolen his likeness for the character of Louie, one of Fat Tony’s henchmen. Why it took him 23 years to bring this up is unknown, perhaps he was still making that coffee?
Sivero is looking to get $250 million from the show. Not only does he claim they have “diluted the character he’s created” but that they have led to his being type-cast as a mobster and thug. Which definitely had nothing to do with him appearing as a mobster and thug in both The Godfather Part 2 and Goodfellas.
Sivero also claims to have had a conversation with The Simpsons producer James L. Brooks in 1996. Which is clear evidence of the show’s culpability. Regardless, if you’d also like to neglect how parody laws work you can consider joining the many who are probably already planning on suing over Comic Book Guy
Marvel get effect-ive and DC looks for a feminine touch
As superhero movies continue to get more and more popular superhero new continues to be more and more mundane. Most of what you’ll see on a given week is a rumor of some sort about who MAY be playing Captain Carrot and who is DEFINITELY directing that Squirrel Girl film that is somehow still not a thing.
This week Marvel decided to hype everyone up with a trailer for the next Avengers film. Which Victoria Alonso, Marvel Studios executive VP of visual effects, said would be their most effects-laden film yet. With over 3,000 shots of VFX.
Alonso also took time to say that she’d like to see a female-led superhero film from the studio as well as more female creators working for them.
Meanwhile, DC, which has seemed one step behind Marvel for the past 4 decades, might be getting a slight edge. They are said to be looking for a female director to helm Wonder Woman, which is looking to be the first female-led superhero film since the, best if we forget, Elektra and Catwoman. Whether or not this will be better remains to be seen but you have to admit, DC at least seems to be making the right steps so far.
Florida Mom faces-off with Breaking Bad
In what has oddly become the biggest news of the week, a Florida mom took up a petition demanding that Toys R Us remove it’s line of Breaking Bad toys. The aforementioned mom, Susan Schrivjer, claims that “kids mimic their action figures, if you will. Do you want your child in an orange jumpsuit?” Indeed, who in their right mind would want to see their child in an orange jumpsuit, especially this time of year.
While Toys R Us seemed to be planning on keeping the toys in their stores they eventually, like any good publicity driven enterprise, caved into pressure and took the toys off the shelf, possibly sending them to Nebraska to lay low.
While this may have appeased Florida moms everywhere this only aroused the anger of typical loose cannon, Jesse Pinkman, or rather his actor, Aaron Paul.
Paul delivered a bitch-slap to Toys R Us on Twitter asking if the store was still planning on selling violent video games and if the Breaking Bad figures would have been anymore damaging to children than Barbie dolls. While also linking his own petition to put the toys back on the shelves.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world waits patiently for Bryan Cranston to come up with an amazing plan to solve all this. Maybe something with magnets.
That’s it for this week of the Roundup, look for future installments every Saturday.
Man that Floridamom is such a damper on the economy! How to make meth is the information our youth NEED to succeed in such a bad recession!
Not only is she breaking free market principles, shes stopping the flow of crucial youth development knowledge!
Can’t think of a better place to be ignored than Nebraska.