Married/Work Team Sam Bee and Jason Jones Sell Comedy Pilot to TBS!

Samantha Bee and Jason Jones have to be one of my favorite long-running parts of The Daily Show - they're such a wonderful comedic pair and marriage pair. It's really great to watch! Plus, they are of course also funny on their own. Sam Bee's book, I Know I Am, But What Are You? is a total delight (Bee-light!? No). So I'm so happy that they've sold a comedy pilot to TBS! For right now, it looks like it would star Jason as the father of a family on a pretty epic family road trip (each season would cover a different family vacation). I love the concept, and those two are funny enough to make it live up to its potential. I hope if it gets ordered to series this doesn't mean they'd have to leave TDS, but of course, if it does, they've certainly earned a wonderful goodbye. They're the best (bee-st!?)!

[via Jezebel - Nice find, Maddie!]

Captain Marvel Casting - Who Should Play Carol Danvers?

I'm not a huge comics fan, but I did really enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy this year, and I usually have a good time at any Marvel movie I see, so I'm at least vaguely looking forward to the newly announced Captain Marvel movie - Marvel's first lady-led superhero flick. At least, I'm looking forward to it as much as you can for something that's three years away and not a Pixar movie. What made me interested enough to post about it? Angie Han over at /Film put together a great list of women who could play the Captain. It serves as a great reminder of how many talented actresses out there are ready to play interesting action heroes - though it also makes me want to see all of those women in one epic Guardians style movie together.

A Whole New World... of Ice and Fire!

Big day! In addition to Yes, Please, George R.R. Martin's latest encyclopedia, A World of Ice and Fire came out today! The husb and I got our copy in the mail. Spoiler alert: it's enormous! But there are also a lot of pretty pictures in it. It's like an adult picture book combined with a fun textbook. Well, I say fun. We haven't read it yet. But I sure do hope it's fun!

Yes, Please! Start Reading "Yes, Please"!

Speaking of books that came out today, you can now read Amy Poehler's Yes, Please! What are you doing reading this blog? Go! Order it online! Grab it in a bookstore! Kindle it! iPad it! But get it in your mind-tummy!

And if you need a little extra convincing, you can read a few excerpts from the book here and here!

Neil Patrick Harris got a Variety Show!

Our beloved NPH will host a variety show (possibly in New York!) next year based on the British series Saturday Night Takeaway. One quote says the show will be, “a real blend between comedy, game and musical variety. And it has this fast pace and irreverence to it.” Interesting!

For those curious what the British show is like, below is their Series 11 Highlight reel:



My honest reaction? God, this show (or maybe Britain in general) is white. Like, really white. Other than that, hard to get a read on it, but seems like there are plenty of explosions. Possibly, glitter explosions.

New York: Bastion of Clean Energy!

Since the Climate March and because of Climate Week, there's been - thankfully - a lot of announcements about new clean energy initiatives and deals. In New York, two especially significant deals were announced. By NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to reduce emissions in the city by 80% of 2005 levels by 2050, and (more practically) $100 million in funding new solar projects in New York state that will increase the total solar output by 68%. That's a lot of percent!

Isn't it nice to read some good news every once and a while?

Read more about both events at ThinkProgress.

"Harry Potter" Helps Teen Readers Empathize

In case you needed another reason re-read Harry Potter or gift them to your little cousins or nieces and nephews, a new study suggests reading the HP books increases your ability to empathize with different people, particularly "out groups" vs "in groups".  From the Scientific American article on the study:

For decades it's been known that an effective means of improving negative attitudes and prejudices between differing groups of people is through intergroup contact – particularly through contact between “in-groups,” or a social group to which someone identifies, and “out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories about friendship between in- and out-group characters is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized groups in children. A new study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that reading the Harry Potter books in particular has similar effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards and witches descended from only one magical parent – don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort character believes that power should only be held by “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Intuitively, this feels right, but it's good to know it's backed by science and not just the innate yearnings of my heart.

Emmy Nails!

These Emmy nails I did before the Creative Arts Emmys in August certainly brought us luck - my husband brought home his second trophy! Now they're flanking our TV. Pretty baller, huh? I'd like to say I contributed heavily to the win.

Baby Nails for Shira & Adam & Ezra!

My friends Shira and Adam had their first baby in June. His name is Ezra and he's adorable. Moreover, he's the first baby my husband and I ever held (at least that I remember). He's too cute, so I did these polka dot, footprint, and otter nails to celebrate his arrival. Why an otter? Adam loves them and surely Ezra will, too.

Blue Mountain Ranch nails!

BMR nails to celebrate our wonderful trip to Blue Mountain Ranch summer camp. Send all your kids there! Oh, and yellow part represents "A Mountain Made of Gold" for "Friendship is a mountain made of gold that cannot be bought or sold." Seriously, people, send your kids to BMR!

Veronica Mars Webseries Spin-Off "Play it Again, Dick" to Premiere Sept 15th

I'm happy to see Veronica Mars back in any incarnation, and who doesn't love Ryan Hansen (if not his douchey character Dick Casablancas)? So I'm happy to see that the CW will, in fact, release the Veronica Mars spin-off webseries, Play It Again, Dick starting on September 15th, with a new 8-10 minute episode released weekly after that. Should be fun!

Read more about it over at EW!

Obamacare: Lowering Premiums

This is a pretty BFD. TPM's headline that the fact that Obamacare is lowering - instead of increasing - premiums around the country is something the GOP doesn't want you to see is totally accurate. This, along with other factors like the fact that Obamacare hasn't been the disaster the GOP "knew" it would be, is why it's slowly but surely stopped being a 2014 elections issue. Just as Social Security and Medicare quickly blended into the, "Of course we have this safety net/protection," Obamacare, too, is quietly becoming just another thing Americans assume they have, and appreciate without really acknowledge or even know they appreciate.

Congrats to Bob's Burgers and Harry Shearer!

I forgot to mention this around Emmy's time, but I was SO happy that Bob's Burgers won an Emmy for outstanding animated program, and that Harry Shearer (finally!) won for his voiceover work on The Simpsons! Yay for funny people who have been recognized for their great work!

Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur" Update!

I was bummed when Pixar's The Good Dinosaur got bumped from this summer to next Thanksgiving (definitely one reason this summer has been a bit lacking in the film department - aside from Obvious Child and Guardians of course!), because it meant the film's problems must have been pretty severe. It looks like we were right, but, fortunately, that all has been resolved.

Collider released a video and article from an interview with John Lithgow explaining that he's going to re-record his entire role (Poppa) for the film. He says, "Don’t worry.  It’s coming and it’s gonna be better than I ever imagined.” That's good! Lithgow's got good taste, so I trust him on this one.

I also much prefer Pixar delaying and reinventing a movie rather than release something subpar. I hope that when The Good Dinosaur is released in November 25, 2015, it proves that this reboot was necessary and that the film is just as wonderful and magical as we expect from the Pixar pedigree.

You can read more and watch the video of Lithgow's interview over at Collider.

Fall TV's Getting Colorful!

If you're not excited about Fall TV so far, I'm not surprised. There are a lot of not-so-promising pilots out there, but that's always the case! Some that look terrible will turn out to be great, most will turn out to be just as bad as you thought, and ones you never heard of will in turn fade into ether or be the funniest/most wonderful thing of all time (until the next FMWTOAT). BUT ABC may have more a more good than bad ratio going on this year, since they've greenlit a lot of shows starring people of color. I know I've mentioned this before, but since premiere time is right around the corner, I figured I'd re-mention it. I'm most looking forward to How to Get Away with Murder because I'm a Shonda girl, but the other shows might just blow my mind! Who knows!?

I Wrote a Funny Thing

And it's kind of blowing up the internet! It's this card for someecards. Just 7.9K more shares and it'll get to 200K shares!

It even made it onto HuffPo!

#Shonda + #Mindy = #BestShowEver!

Shonda Rhimes will appear on The Mindy Project. She will play - of course - herself.

Once I watch that episode, my life will be complete.

Get ready for a new definition of time: BSAM (Before Shonda And Mindy) and ASAM (After Shonda And Mindy).

[via HuffPo]

Shonda Rhimes #ThankGodItsThursday

Hey! It IS Thursday! Must be why ABC dropped this gem on us:



Can we handle a three-hour block of every-act-break-the-world-blows-up-insanity? Who knows! But we're going to give it a shot! I love that Shonda is owning this. I love that her leads are right there with her. I love that I will get to see Viola Davis chew the shit out of the scenery on my TV every week. That is brilliant. It's so weird. I used to love Thursdays for comedy, but now I'm getting pumped to love Thursdays for drama. So. Much. Drama.

Take me to Shondaland.

[via Jezebel]

Notorious RBG Owns her Notoriety

Ruth Bader Ginsburg knows we adoringly refer to her as Notorious RBG and loves it. She said as much in an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo News. If you aren't familiar with the meme, check out the Notorious RBG Tumblr and see why we love this boss Supreme Court Justice.

[via Jezebel]

Great News! Donating a Kidney Does NOT Affect Lifespan!

I'm pretty sure we already knew this, but another study has confirmed that donating a kidney - even in older patients - does not increase risk of death or heart disease.

Let's all go celebrate by donating a kidney*!

*Unless you already have donated a kidney or have a donated kidney inside of you.