Early Buzz: Belushi, Beck, Bettie and other newsmakers
Good morning, everyone! I hope you had a fun Monday. Last night I caught up on Eastbound and Down, which makes me laugh harder than anything else on TV right now. I think Sunday's episode was the season's best, and I may have to see it again to catch any jokes I missed.
On sort of a related note, Danny McBride co-stars in James Franco's new drama As I Lay Dying, which I saw last weekend. It's somewhat of a confusing film — based on a confusing book! — but Franco does present it in an interesting way, often using split-screens to illustrate different points of view. Faulkner aficionados should check it out and compare.
Moving ahead with headlines:
- Patti Smith remembers her friend Lou Reed.
- Legs McNeil pays tribute to Reed as well.
- We have a positive review of a new Johnny Cash biography.
- We have a so-so review of J.J. Abrams' mysterious new book. (I'm kind of relieved I can skip this one.)
- Emile Hirsch will play John Belushi in a new biopic.
- Beck has announced a new album.
- From Daria to Dexter, here's a rundown of TV introverts.
- Joan Jett is planning to rock the big screen.
- I love this list of songs you may not know were covers.
- So a movie studio has optioned an eighth grader's journal ...
- Preview a new Bettie Page documentary.
- The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead topped NME's list of the 500 greatest albums.
- Here are the last two pages of the script for Breaking Bad's finale.
- See a trailer for the new Michel Gondry/Noam Chomsky movie.
- "10 Great Lesser-Known Lou Reed Songs."
- HBO released another trailer for its new series True Detective.
- The New York Times features Running From Crazy, the Hemingway doc I mentioned a few weeks ago.
- Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black, gave a TEDx talk about being in prison. (Thanks, Matt!)
- I used to live a few blocks away from this women and children's bookstore in Chicago. I hope it can stay open for many years to come. (Thanks, Paige.)
- The winners of the American Mustache Institute's "Goulet Award" have been announced.
- And finally, Star Wars bloopers have been uncovered.