While this article looks like a column and reads like a column, a “column” would imply that this will be a new regular feature on the site.
It won’t be. But it IS a warm up for a new flagship podcast coming to Hypable in February.
More on that new podcast in a minute. First: The following are a few of the biggest pop culture stories of the week, in my view, and I’d like to offer up some commentary.
– New album coming from U2 this year, according to Larry Mullen: If you knew of me in 2006/2007, you’ll know I used to be a huge U2 fan. Their most recent albums have been excellent despite the fact that Bono’s voice peaked during the Vertigo tour in 2005/2006. I can’t wait to hear what’s next from the band, but I definitely do not want another awful single like “Get On Your Boots” was. The song, the first off their No Line On the Horizon album, was an obvious attempt to copy the wild success of “Vertigo” and just did not have the same appeal. I hope they try something very different for their next single instead of taking the easy route.
– The Academy Award nominations were announced: Surprises were all over, but everyone agrees the biggest “snubs” were Argo and Zero Dark Thirty’s lack of Best Director noms. I won’t repeat what everyone’s already said; read Hypable’s analysis here.
– First photos from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire debut: Lionsgate picked some great photos to release first, and I think these came really, really early. Why did they debut this week? Because the People’s Choice Awards were held the same night, and Lionsgate knew The Hunger Games would do well at the awards. By releasing these photos on the same day, we got an extra “spark” lit under the fandom when people were thinking about the franchise.
– Christopher Paolini writing another Eragon book: Full disclosure: I haven’t read any of the books in the Eragon series. But, I remember Paolini was set on writing three books. Then decided to split the final into two, thus creating a four book series. At the time people thought this was a money grab, so now that he’s writing a fifth, I see it as an even larger grab. A popular comment in our story on this news is that readers weren’t happy with how Eragon ended, so it’ll be nice for him to have a second chance at wrapping it up. I suppose there’s a bright side to everything, but everyone remember that he’s decided three times now that he had an end point. That is, of course, unless he decides this fifth book is a prequel or jumps far ahead in the timeline.
– Britney Spears confirms she’s leaving X Factor: Her $15 million contract was the biggest mistake a U.S. talent competition show has made since Idol had Ellen DeGeneres. Though initially exciting given her success as a pop superstar, Spears brought nothing to the table except for endless new GIFs for use on Tumblr. Her vapid opinions didn’t offer any worthwhile or original critiques. Simon Cowell was hoping Spears would bring new viewers in, but ultimately the show had 3 to 4 million less viewers compared to season 1. Simon should bring in someone truly unique, who’s not necessarily an entertainment star but worth tuning in for, to shake up the table. Let’s remember that Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson were all relative unknowns when American Idol began.
– Joey Richter on Glee: Remember how excited StarKid fans were when Darren Criss joined Glee in 2010? While Richter’s new gig may only be temporary and is hardly a lead role (though I hear there’s a chance Glee will decide to bring back this Glee-esque group, with Richter in it, much more in the future), the show definitely needs a little spark right now, and the StarKid fans can bring it. I’m unsure how many more characters the show needs to be following, however. I had to stop watching Glee because I wasn’t liking it anymore, but a few who still watch tell me it’s not going well this season.
And in my own pop culture news…
– I finished reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. The book is being turned into a film this year and will be released in 2014. I really enjoyed it, but like many readers, I felt that the story truly didn’t get underway until the final few chapters. With this in mind, I’m concerned that Divergent will falter the same way The Hunger Games film does on repeat viewings: You spend a good chunk of the movie waiting to get to the action, so the first half seems boring and tedious.
– I’m binge-watching Downton Abbey and am in the middle of season 2 right now. What a show. Who thought a story about life in a Yorkshire estate during the Edwardian era could be so interesting? One of my favorite aspects is the hierarchy within Downton. It yields endless story lines for the drama. Maggie Smith is absolutely delectable in her delivery. “Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel” is one of my favorite lines from the show, delivered by Smith.
– I have one more episode to go in Sherlock and then I’ll finally be caught up. The show is quite the treat, and now I find myself thinking like Sherlock quite often when it comes to deciphering clues based on someone’s appearance (though I can’t seem to crack any cases like he can). I’m enjoying series 2 much more than I did series 1 and will have more to say once I’m finished.
So, about that new podcast.
Next month we will be launching a new, flagship podcast on Hypable featuring several familiar faces from the site. It will encompass lots of fandom news and analysis. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s tentatively set to be released twice a month. For me personally, this new podcast and another show I currently do will be my the two shows I’m putting 100% of my podcasting focus into. This is to ensure we’re creating the best podcasts possible. This new show will not be like any other pop culture show out there. It will take the spirit of podcasts like MuggleCast and provide you with a fandom show for the long-term.
This article is a bit of a warm up for what’s to come on the podcast. Sound off on anything I talked about in the comments!
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