At the end of March, it was announced Chelsea Handler will leave her late-night talk show "Chelsea Lately" at E! after eight years.

Less than three months later, she signed a deal with Netflix to air a stand-up comedy performance in October, film four "docu-comedy" specials for the streaming service for 2015, and launch a talk show the following year.

Unlike Netflix's other original series, Handler's new talk show will be the first program to be released during a specific time block. Other than that, no one really knows much about how the late-night host's new show will work online.

During Tuesday's Q2 earnings call for the company, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos gave a better idea of what a Chelsea Handler talk show on Netflix will be like. Specifically, he noted the series will take into account the way people watch late-night TV today which is often after the show airs in the evening.

"People are not watching scripted programming the way they used to. They're also not watching these late-night talk shows the way they used to, meaning they're not watching them at 11:30. They're watching them days, weeks, sometimes months later online or on stacked episodes on DVR. So what we are hoping to do with Chelsea and her team is create a show that’s built closer to the way people are going to watch it, the way we had done with serialized dramas where we to took out the commercial breaks and the cliffhangers and really produce it for the way people watch. And we've got a lot of time between now and then to work through all the format details. Chelsea is incredibly excited and we're really excited about her brand and we think it’s going to be great for us."

SEE ALSO: Why people love working with "Avengers" director Joss Whedon

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A few months ago, most people hadn't heard of the woman who is now the most-searched-for musician on Google.

But in the past several months, 24-year-old Iggy Azalea — real name Amethyst Amelia Kelly — has risen to global fame with her hit "Fancy," which has been called the Song of the Summer.

Some of the buzz surrounding Iggy has to do with her being a white female rapper with a unique background.

She grew up in Australia but moved to the U.S. in 2007 when she was 16 years old. According to a Billboard profile, Iggy told her mom that she was going to Miami on vacation with a friend, when really she came to the U.S. by herself to try to make it in music.

After arriving in America, Iggy spent time perfecting her craft in Miami, Atlanta, Houston, and L.A., where she recorded her mixtape "Ignorant Art" and made a music video for her song PU$$Y that went viral and helped launch her career, according to a 2012 Gawker profile.

She used the last of her savings to shoot the video and hoped it would pay off. As Gawker noted: "She and her girls licked at ice pops in such a way that one does not generally lick at ice pops in public, and there was also an adorable young boy doing the Dougie. It went viral soon after."

Iggy's name is as unusual as her style — once she decided to get into the music business, she created her rap persona by combining the name of her childhood pet (Iggy) with the name of the street her mother lives on (Azalea).

Atlanta rapper T.I. has been a mentor to Iggy from the start, and she had a management deal with his label Grand Hustle Entertainment in 2012. But that fell through, delaying the release of her debut album, and she signed with Island Def Jam in 2013.

So far, her album "The New Classic," released in April, has brought her considerable commercial success.

Her hit single "Fancy" was the most-played song on U.S. radio earlier this summer, and the video has amassed more than 160 million views on YouTube. It riffs off the popular 1995 movie "Clueless," with Iggy dressing as the movie's main character, Cher. Scenes from the movie are also recreated in the video.

Here's Iggy in the video:

And here's a shot from "Clueless":

Iggy's hard work over the past several years has landed her some high-profile gigs. Before she rose to mainstream popularity with "Fancy," she was the supporting act for Beyoncé on the Australian leg of her "Mrs. Carter" tour last year. She has also toured with rapper Nas.

And Iggy does more than just music — she also models and has a contract with Wilhelmina, a big-time modeling agency based in New York.

As Iggy has risen to fame, she's faced a lot of criticism. She's a white female in a business dominated by black men, and she raps with a southern twang even though she speaks with an Australian accent.

Emma Carmichael wrote for Gawker in 2012:

There is a studied nature to her flow. She sounds very much like someone who learned to rap by listening to other (black, male) rappers and mimicking them. ... Rappers' flows are called flows because they are supposed to sound natural. Though she says she now feels as if she's totally found it, Iggy's sounds practiced. In conversation, her voice is high and light, her Australian accent unmistakable. When she raps, though, her voice lowers a near octave. She growls, sneers, and takes on an accent that is decidedly un-Australian.

But Iggy says there is authenticity in her rapping — she told the Sydney Morning Herald last year that southern rap reminds her of growing up in her small Australian hometown of Mullumbimby and made her realize that "the country is cool."

Beyond being called inauthentic, Iggy has been accused of appropriating black culture.

Brittney Cooper, a writer for Salon who teaches Africana Studies at Rutgers University, wrote last week that Iggy "has very little appreciation of Black culture or the problematic ways that white privilege can colonize that culture to the tune of millions of dollars." As Cooper points out, "though rap music is a Black and Brown art form, one does not need to mimic Blackness to be good at it."

Iggy talked to BET about race in hip hop in 2013, saying: "I think this idea of 'rap should be Black' or 'rap should be this or that' is worrying to me because it's like segregation. ... If we have something in music that is unifying, that other cultures are drawn to ... then it should be a positive thing."

Iggy is now working on recording another album.

SEE ALSO: 10 Crazy Quotes From Kanye West's New GQ Interview

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There was a racist incident that occurred on this season of ABC's dating reality show, "The Bachelorette."

One contestant, Andrew Poole, allegedly leaned over to another during the show's first rose ceremony and whispered "She picked the two blackies," after two African American men were picked to continue vying for Andi Dorfman's heart.

ABC doesn't have audio of the incident, but it does have video of Poole leaning over and whispering something after Ron, one of the African American men, received a rose.

When Marquel Martin, one of the contestants who was allegedly called "blackie," learned about the comment, he approached Poole about the sensitive topic in an inspiring way.

On a group date, Martin addressed the issue head on: "Andrew, I’d like to discuss something with you," he said calmly. "What I heard — and I don’t need anyone to chime in — I heard during the first rose ceremony that you made a statement that was very offensive to me. I heard that you said, 'She picked the two blackies.”Poole looked shocked and awkwardly laughed. Then he denied the statement."Before you start laughing," Martin continued, "That term is very derogatory.""I've never said anything like that in my life," Poole interjected.Martin pressed on. "I hope you can understand as a man that, when there's something as sensitive and serious as the topic of race, it directly effects me. I find it hard to be around you, I find it hard to respect you.""Being that I am a man of respect and I believe in talking to a man face to face, I want you to understand and respect where I’m coming from — that I will never stand for any type of talk like that," Martin said. He then ended the conversation and walked away.Later, the producers asked him about the incident. "I’ll let everyone else judge how he responded," Martin said. "Maybe he did say it, maybe he didn’t say it. I’m not going to sit up all night and say, ‘Who is really telling the truth?’ I spoke my truth."

A few weeks later, Martin and Poole were asked about the incident again by ABC. Martin — who is religious — explained to Poole, "I’m not attacking you, Andrew, because my faith calls me to forgive you anyway. But at the same time I will never forgive the ignorance that is racism."

Here's the clip of Martin confronting Poole about the racist statement he allegedly made. Poole says the incident put his job in jeopardy, and he still claims he never made a derogatory comment.

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Warner Bros. will be holding a huge panel this Saturday at San Diego Comic Con previewing some of its new films for attendees.

Ahead of the event, the studio released a bunch of photos for three of its upcoming films, including a first look at the final installment of the "Hobbit" trilogy, "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies."

The teaser trailer for the film, which director Peter Jackson has confirmed is in Warner Bros. hands, is expected to debut during the panel.

Until then, here are the first two images released for the sequel. They suggest Luke Evans' character Bard the Bowman will have a bigger role in the final film.

Bard (Evans) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) appear to be deep in conversation.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Bard look like they're prepping for battle. Could they be looking at the dragon Smaug?

SEE ALSO: Here's what "The Avengers" sequel will be about

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Prince William and Kate Middleton's first born son, Prince George of Cambridge, arrived to a media frenzy exactly one year ago today.

And what a year it's been!

The royal baby has already hobnobbed with dignitaries and traveled the world, visiting zoos everywhere from New Zealand to London.

See where Prince George's travels have taken him and how he has grown throughout the year.

On July 22, 2013, Kate Middleton and Prince William debuted their new bundle of joy — Prince George of Cambridge — outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in central London.

Prince William quickly whisked his son away from the massive crowds and into a car headed for Kensington Palace.

Prince George is third in line to the British throne. His birth certificate was filed with the Westminster Register Office in London.

When you're shopping, working, or going to church in an old New York City building, there's a chance you might be standing in a former movie theater.

New York-based photographer Larry Racioppo created a portfolio of photos showing former movie theaters and what they have become. Racioppo grew up in Brooklyn and said he found it amazing that many of the theaters he'd known as a kid had escaped demolition. His photo portfolio is titled, "Movie Houses of the Outer Boroughs: Past Glory and Adaptive Reuse, 1998-2001."

This project was made possible by a grant Racioppo received from the Graham Foundation. He donated 105 photos from his project to the New York Public Library's Digital Collections, and hopes to someday show the entire project in an exhibit.

While many of the theaters are still standing, some have been demolished since Racioppo took these pictures.

Racioppo has been taking photographs since the 1970s. He loves capturing events in the New York area like the Mermaid Parade and Halloween—things that happen every year but change with time. "Everything I do is about New York," he said.

He is currently working on a book with investigative journalist Tom Robbins titled, "Before The Gold Rush," which will be about life in 1970s Brooklyn.

Here are some of the photos from "Movie Houses of the Outer Boroughs."

The Savoy Theater in Brooklyn housed the Charity Neighborhood Baptist Church until 2012, but the building was unfortunately demolished earlier this year.

The 46th Street Theater in Brooklyn is still in use as a furniture store called Regal Furniture. The theater has quite a history—Racioppo said the Grateful Dead performed there back in the day.

The former Drake Theater in Queens opened in 1935 and is now partially taken up by an Italian restaurant. However, 90% of the theater isn't being used.

You'd never know this C-Town supermarket in Brooklyn was formerly Prospect Theater, which opened in 1927.

The RKO Chester Theater opened in the Bronx in 1927. After it closed, it was used as a car repair garage. There was also a Spanish restaurant in the lobby for some time. The theater was demolished in 2010.

The Palace Theater in north Bronx opened in 1948 and was eventually converted into a Bingo parlor. It is now a furniture store.

The Roland Theater in Brooklyn is now a church called the Holy House of Prayer for All People. Racioppo said the water tower on top of the building is a key sign that this structure was a theater, as many older theaters had this addition.

The former Colonial Theater in Bushwick, Brooklyn, is now the Wayside Baptist Church.

The former Lowes Oriental Theater in Brooklyn is now a Marshall's, but the upper floors of the theater are untouched. Unfortunately, Racioppo could not get access to these floors.

This building was once the Bronx Opera House, but it is now split up into several different parts, including a Spanish evangelical church. A boutique hotel was built and began using the front of the building as its entrance in 2013.

SEE ALSO: 12 Incredible Landscape Photos Of America

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Senator Tex Cruz (R-Texas) did not enjoy seeing his name pop up in last Sunday's episode of HBO's vampire series "True Blood." He responded to the reference in a Facebook message posted Tuesday. 

"Of all the places I never thought to be mentioned, HBO's True Blood vampire show would have to be near the top of the list. Sunday night, they aired a misogynist and profanity-ridden episode where Texas Republicans are murdered attending a 'Ted Cruz fundraiser,'" Cruz wrote.

"True Blood" featured vampires preparing to attend a Cruz gala at the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Before the event, they dismissed the types of people who would be present.

"You'll never get in. You're vampires. Security is going to be tight, and they only invite assholes," one of the characters says.

"You don’t know us, sweetheart. We can be assholes," came the reply.

After dressing up for the gala, a female character declares,  "Oh my God! I am a Republi-cu**!"

Cruz said the entire situation had confused him since he would have expected the film industry to depict vampires as conservatives instead of "hard-core leftists."

"Well, I'm sorry to have lost the vampire vote, but am astonished (and amused) that HBO is suggesting that hard-core leftists are blood-sucking fiends," he wrote.

HBO did not immediately return a request for comment about Cruz's remarks.

(h/t Mediaite)

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After Oracle CEO Larry Ellison bought the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, he told reporters that he planned to turn the island into a model for sustainable living.

On Sunday, July 20, he took a step closer to his mission of saving the earth when he and girlfriend Nikita Kahn hosted a VIP-packed fundraiser for the California Wildlife Center. The CWC is a nonprofit that rescues sick, injured, or orphaned animals in California.

The fundraiser took place at Ellison's restaurant Nikita, located on Malibu's ritzy Carbon Beach, where Ellison also owns 10 oceanfront homes. A number of celebrities were in attendance, including Bradley Cooper and Kathryn Bigelow.

The event ultimately raised $600,000, which the CWC will use towards opening a new facility and surgery center.

The party took place at Ellison's restaurant Nikita, a pricey Mediterranean eatery that looks out over the ocean in Malibu, California. Here, Vanity Fair's Julie Miller and Haute Living's Laura Schreffler enjoy the patio with another guest.

Ellison hosted the party with girlfriend Nikita Kahn, an animal rights activist and philanthropist.

Kahn gave a rallying speech during the party. "Recently, we had a lot of very young seals come up on the beach in Malibu because they were too small and weak to feed themselves,” she said. "The California Wildlife Center came to the beach, picked them up, fed them, and cared for them until they were big enough and strong enough to be released back into the wild. I didn't even know an organization like that existed. I was so impressed with how they responded to the emergency, I decided I had to get involved."

Last week Facebook debuted a new app, Mentions, for celebrities and public figures to use to keep up with their followers.

Only those with verified pages can download the iPhone app,. No brands or regular Facebook users allowed. So for laypeople to get the story on Mentions, our best bet is through William Shatner, Marketing Land reports.

Shat took to his Tumblr to dissect the new app, captain's log style. He compared Mentions to a similar app called Pages, which anyone can download, though it packs many of the features Mentions promises.

The verdict? "It seems to be ill conceived," Shatner writes.

Comparing it with the Pages app across five categories, including the feed and posting ability, Shatner declared he liked "both" three times and "neither" twice. At the end of his post he wrote he plans on using Mentions, Pages, and the basic Facebook app in the future. 

His post is packed with the humor we've come to expect from the actor. Before he starts his review process, Shat points out that new Mentions users are forced to follow another celebrity. He notes the first suggested celeb on his phone was his former "Star Trek" costar, fellow social media icon, and longtime feuding adversary George Takei. Shatner writes he rolled his eyes and went with a different star, Robert Downey Jr., who he then hid from his feed. The captain follows no one.

Shatner also gave some polite advice for other celebrities looking to try out Mentions. He writes, "If you have this app please turn off notifications because if you post something your phone spends the next hour sending you notifications of every person who makes a comment."

SEE ALSO: Shakira broke a Facebook world record

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San Diego Comic-Con is this week! 

From July 24-27, fans will descend upon the San Diego Convention Center decked out in costumes and fan gear prepped to catch a glimpse of some of their favorite stars.

But the event isn't just about cosplay and comics. Now in its 44th year, more than 130,000 people are expected to come out for television and movie panels where studios reveal first looks at some of the biggest future film releases.

With "The Avengers" sequel and the "Batman V Superman" movie in the works, this should be one of the biggest Comic-Con events yet. 

If you're not heading to the event, here's what to expect...

Our first look at "The Avengers" sequel.

We'd be surprised if the first trailer for next summer's blockbuster isn't teased during Marvel's panel Saturday.

Entertainment Weekly just dropped a huge cover story on the film spoiling a lot of details about the movie, so you know Disney and Marvel are ready to discuss it's next big movie. With "Guardians of the Galaxy" coming out soon, it would be the perfect teaser trailer to attach to the film in theaters.

It's also likely we'll see images of concept art for the film since that's what Marvel teased last year.

An update on "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Disney will already be on a roll if they drop any "Avengers 2" news, but if they really want to take the cake from rival studios and own SDCC this year, they'll drop some news about "Star Wars: Episode VII."

We already know Josh Trank ("Chronicle") and Gareth Edwards ("Godzilla") will be directing spinoff movies, but we're not positive what they'll be about. 

Even a look at the title card would be enough to send fans into a swoon. 

More news on "Batman V Superman."

Some have suggested "Batman V Superman" won't be at SDCC, but it would be a huge missed opportunity if Warner Bros. doesn't reveal something when Disney may come out firing on all cylinders.

Plus, it's Batman's 75th anniversary, so what better way to celebrate than with a look at Batman's new suit? Sure, we had a tease of it back in May, but there were rumors we were supposed to have the big reveal soon. Otherwise, we'll settle for even the briefest of teaser trailers or concept art during Warner Bros.' panel Saturday.

Tony Cruz, a backup catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, chose to walk up to the plate last night to the sound of Matthew McConaughey thumping his chest as he hazed Leonardo DiCaprio in the "Wolf of Wall Street."

The Cards were down five runs with one out in the bottom of the 9th, so it appears to have been an "anything goes"-type situation.

McConaughey has explained that the bit was mostly ad libbed from his own warm-up routine, so it actually totally works.

Check it out: 

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On Tuesday's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart announced the humorous launch of a fictional, $10 billion Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN.

Stewart explained that if Rupert Murdoch was successful in purchasing CNN parent company Time Warner, the news network would have to be sold off in order to avoid regulatory problems because of the conflict that Murdoch also owns Fox News.

So Stewart proposed that he and his viewers attempt to buy CNN.

"It wouldn't come cheap though, with analysts saying the network would be worth about $10 billion on the open market," Stewart explained. "It's a lot of money for anyone — but not a lot of money for everyone, which is why tonight we are starting our Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN!"

Stewart elaborated, "You make a pledge for whatever you're comfortable with ... just keep in mind we need to raise $10 billion."

He then urged viewers to check out Letsbuycnn.com to contribute to the campaign — which is not actually a functioning Kickstarter page, but a funny new site that doesn't really allow people to donate. 

When you visit the site, here's what you see:

A homepage featuring Stewart's face that explains, "CNN, America’s first 24-hour cable news network, has been terrible for many, many years. Does it have to be that way? Who knows, maybe it does. So let’s find out for ourselves!"

The best part is the rewards offered in exchange for donations.

"We've got some very attractive rewards at every level!" Stewart revealed on the show. "For instance, $10,000 lands you in a signature mass-shooting, CNN six-box."

"Hopefully this campaign will be more successful than my 'Wolf Blitzer KickStopper,'" Stewart concluded. "As far as I know, he has not yet been stopped."

Watch Stewart talk Wolf Blitzer, the CNN campaign, and Rupert Murdoch below:

SEE ALSO: Here's The Insanely Long List Of Things Rupert Murdoch Would Own If He Bought Time Warner

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Philip Seymour Hoffman wanted his kids to work for what they earn.

That's why the late actor left his $35 million estate to his longtime partner and mother of his children, Mimi O'Donnell, instead of leaving any of the fortune to his three young kids, all under age 10, E! News reports.

In documents obtained by E! News, Hoffman had told his former accountant that he "did not want his children to be considered 'trust fund' kids."

Instead, Hoffman — who has said he didn't believe in marriage — left the money to O'Donnell, knowing she would be raising the children, according to the docs.

Hoffman's initial will was signed in 2004, when his eldest son was just a year old and his two daughters had not yet been born. The will also stated that Hoffman wanted his son to be raised in a cultural city, such as New York, Chicago, or San Francisco.

The Academy Award winner died in his West Village apartment after an apparent heroin overdose on Feb. 2.

The idea that Hoffman wanted his kids to make something of themselves, instead of relying on his money, is something that is shared by many in the wealthy community. According to a survey by the law firm Withers LLP and Scorpio Partnership, among families worth $10 million or more, the second-biggest fear was that their children would "lack the drive and ambition to get ahead."

SEE ALSO: Sting: My Children Won't Inherit My Wealth

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Meet HERB.

HERB is a robot butler featured on the awesome new show Going Deep With David Rees. He appear in the July 28 episode, titled "How To Open A Door."

You can see HERB is well equipped to open doors, with two flexible arms and three fingers on each hand:

So, on Rees' journey to open a door, he meets with HERB and his handler, Siddhartha Srinivasa from Carnegie Mellon's Personal Robotics Lab. First, Srinivasa helps us figure out what a door is. That may sound simple to you, but let Srinivasa explain why it's not:

"A door is a device that allows ingress and egress by means of a revolute joint that is controlled by a handle that once can grasp with forceful actuation."

That may sound overly-complex, but this kind of description is important when telling something that isn't human how to navigate a complex environment like a house. Because HERB is a robot butler meant to deal with all kinds of different situations like this, he works on his own to figure out problems.

He's not that great at it yet, but he's getting better.

To open a door, HERB first needs to analyze what kind of door he's looking at and the environment he is in — how far away the door is and how he could interact with it to make it revolve open. Then, he figures out where the handle and hinges are on the door. He makes his move:

After analyzing the situation, HERB takes the plunge. But when he gets his hands in the door, he runs into a problem and gets stuck:

HERB doesn't have the advantages that we do of proprioception — the feedback we get when we pull on something. When we open a door, we can feel the weight of the door and the resistance to pulling straight. We know to start pulling the door to the right, toward the hinge, and not just straight at us, because of what we feel when we pull the door.

You'd get stuck too if you tried to open a door just by pulling it toward you. We've just opened so many doors over our lives that our bodies remember the motion required, without having to think about it.

So, admit it: You underestimated doors. Watch the full episode next week to learn how to open them.

HERB eventually gets out of the sticky situation with a pretty ingenious solution. Watch the entire clip, provided to us by National Geographic Channel, to see HERB in action. You won't regret it, especially if you want to hear a robot swear:

Watch Going Deep on the National Geographic Channel, Mondays at 10 pm. And check out other clips online.

SEE ALSO: Neil deGrasse Tyson Describes His Life-Changing First Encounter With Carl Sagan

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Though female participation in the overall labor force has increased over the past two decades, Hollywood is still the boys' club it has always been.

In fact, there are actually fewer women working on major motion pictures today than there were in 1994, according to a new report compiled by the writer and film producer Stephen Follows.

Follows looked at the crews behind the top 100 grossing films in each of the past 20 years and found that female participation dropped from 22.7% in 1994 to 21.8% in 2013, without showing much fluctuation in either direction.

Another troubling fact from the report is that the major creative roles — writer, producer, and director — continue to be dominated by men. In 2013, women accounted for just 18% of producers, 7% of writers, and 2% of directors.

Neither of those numbers are much changed from what they were in 1994 — a sad commentary on how little control women have over a medium that is vital to our cultural discourse.

Female representation in technical jobs like editor and cinematographer was similarly dismal, at 11% and 2% in 2013, respectively.

The lone bright spot, if you can even call it that, came in the historically gendered fields of costume design and casting, where women made up the majority for 2013's highest-grossing films.

SEE ALSO: If Only 9% Of Jobs In Hollywood Go To Women, What Is The Future Of Women In Film?

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NBC premiered the first full trailer for the "Fifty Shade of Grey" film out next year Thursday morning on the Today show, and surprise, it was too racy to watch in entirety on TV.

The Universal film is based on the best-selling erotica series by E.L. James that started a frenzy among women when it was released in 2012. More than 100 million copies of the series have been sold. 

Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, stars as the naive college student Anastasia Steele who gets swept away by Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), a billionaire playboy who is secretly into bondage and BDSM relationships. 

Beyoncé released the first teaser trailer for the film earlier this week with what sounded like a slowed down version of her hit "Crazy in Love." NBC confirmed the singer recorded an exclusive version of the track for the upcoming adaptation.

The final 10 seconds of the trailer where Grey takes Miss Steele to a torture/pleasure chamber known as the "red room of pain" were were cut from NBC's broadcast. Host Meredith Veira said they were a bit "too racy" for television. 

"Fifty Shades of Grey" will be in theaters February 14, 2015. The end of the trailer may be slightly NSFW.

SEE ALSO: Here's what the "Avengers" sequel will be about

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If “Halo” was the biggest game of the past 10 years, Bungie, the game developer behind that iconic sci-fi shooter, hopes to dominate the next decade of gaming with a new adventure called “Destiny.”

Bungie released the beta version of “Destiny” for PS3 and PS4 users who pre-ordered the game (it'll also be available on Xbox 360 and One), but the game is available only until Sunday night. That means gamers have just a few more days to test out “Destiny” before it launches in retail stores Sept. 9.

I downloaded and installed “Destiny” on my PlayStation 3 on Wednesday night, and after playing the game for five straight hours, I can honestly say this is one of the best games I’ve ever played. (Mind you, I don’t think I’ve ever played a video game for five straight hours in my entire life. It’s really that good.)

To start, you choose your desired skillset (warrior, assassin, or warlock) and customize your character by choosing your race, gender, and other physical characteristics like hair and scars. There are three races to choose from: Humans, a humanoid alien race called Awoken, and a race of robots called Exo. 

I customized my male Awoken warlock with gray skin, gray lips, white eyes and a shock of dark purple hair, but I could’ve spent hours creating characters. (I almost did.)

Once the game starts and you’re thrust into the storyline, a floating robot called Ghost serves as your guide. Ghost is played by "Game of Thrones" actor Peter Dinklage, who also narrates your journey and keeps you on track with missions and side quests. After playing this game, I wish Peter Dinklage narrated my life.

The first thing you’ll notice about “Destiny” is the stunning art direction. Expansive vistas are aplenty, but Bungie clearly put a lot of effort into making sure everything you look at along your journey, even if it’s small or minor, is beautiful. One of the most memorable images, to me, was walking along a dirt path and looking at an abandoned building with a large mass of fluffy white clouds in the background, which were backlit by the sun and the light blue sky. It honestly looked like a painting.

Everything in this game was crafted with a great deal of love and care. This is no more apparent than in the story missions, where you always know exactly where you need to go and what you need to do thanks to subtle markers that show enemies and mission objectives. (Believe it or not, most games have trouble showing this information in a clear and concise manner.)

“Destiny” achieves a unique balance I’ve rarely seen in games: Just when you’re getting tired of shooting aliens, there’s something else to do that feels fresh and exciting. The game features the best of almost every game genre to keep things interesting — there are adventure mechanics like exploration, role-playing mechanics like upgrading equipment and leveling up, and shooter mechanics like unique weaponry, headshot rewards, and even magic abilities that make you feel like a Jedi. But what’s truly impressive is how seamless this combination feels, and how addicting it truly is as a result.The quests, like the game itself, are pretty epic. You’ll fight wave after wave of enemies, which range from zombie-like bug monsters that rush at you to more deliberate alien races that try to snipe you from afar. There’s no right or wrong way to play or fight, but it gets even better in specific missions that involve other online “Destiny” players. For example, my last mission involved me and two strangers taking on a giant spider-looking tank, and then a giant purple ball that could teleport and shoot massive laser beams. The bosses are difficult, but luckily, you’re given plenty of tools to succeed.

"Destiny" is a huge game with tons of other features, and I can honestly go on and on about my impressions of this game — and I did last night, as my brother and I texted each other for hours on end about its merits and how deep the rabbit hole goes, particularly when you start getting into the side quests and random group events that often take place in the game.

I was a “Halo” fan, but “Destiny,” as my brother said to me, feels like Halo-plus. This is the kind of game you can't wait to run home to. Everything about the older sci-fi franchise has been improved and polished for this latest adventure, and months ahead of its final release date, I am totally ready to embrace Bungie’s “Destiny.”

If you can't play the "Destiny" beta this week for any given reason but want a taste of Bungie's coming game, check out this gameplay video from one gamer who screencast his entire experience to YouTube:

SEE ALSO: Why 'No Man's Sky' Might Be The Most Creative — And Complex — Game Ever Invented

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Earlier this month, AMC revealed new details about their Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, most notably that Bob Odenkirk's character is not known a Saul Goodman, but James M. McGill, a small-time lawyer "hustling to make ends meet."

Production is currently under way in Albequerque, New Mexico, the same city where Breaking Bad was filmed, where an Instagram user named Varago01 spotted a billboard that gives fans the first look at James M. McGill.

In case you were wondering, the number on the billboard (505-842-5662) is real, featuring a recorded message with Bob Odenkirk showing off a fake British accent. Take a look at the message below, or call 505-842-5662 and listen to it for yourself.

We reported last month that AMC already renewed Better Call Saul for Season 2, although the Better Call Saul Season 1 premiere was pushed from late 2014 to early 2015.

SEE ALSO: HBO Completely Blew Its Chance To Air ‘Breaking Bad’

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Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige said making “Guardians of the Galaxy” was “the riskiest movie” the studio has attempted since 2008's “Iron Man” — and he’s right.

Compared to Tony Stark, Captain America, and the Hulk, you probably haven’t heard of the alien team that was first introduced to Marvel comics in 1969 until recently. 

Business Insider attended a screening of the new movie Wednesday before its in theaters next month, and it’s safe to say that risk is going to pay off in a big way.

Not only does the film finally reward viewers for patiently sitting through countless Marvel end-credits scenes over the years, but “Guardians” is brash, it’s bold, and it’s not afraid to stray from what you typically expect from Marvel in terms of superheroes.  

Warning: Some minor spoilers follow.

"Guardians" isn't trying to be another Avengers — and that’s a good thing. This time around we're not following people who are supposed to be idolized. The team that makes up the group of Guardians are a bunch of self-absorbed misfit miscreants who would probably make good candidates for therapy.

We meet two bounty hunters in the form of a feisty, gun-toting Raccoon named Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and his faithful giant tree-like companion Groot (Vin Diesel). Rocket has some real anger issues and a slightly all-too-eager trigger happy finger. Groot can only utter one sentence (“I am Groot.”). Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) takes everything you say literally and wants to avenge a slain family. Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a deadly assassin, has some serious daddy issues. Then there's Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) who was abducted by aliens when he was 8-years-old and is now a womanizer traveling around space calling himself Star-Lord.

In many ways, they're the anti-Avengers and it works. The group's quirky personalities are a refreshing change that allows them to stand out in what is soon to become a very crowded Marvel cinematic universe.  

Those end-credits scenes are finally making sense This is probably the single-most important film to watch in terms of knowing the trajectory for future Marvel movies.   

“Guardians” is essentially the culmination of many previous teasers we’ve seen in end-credits sequences for Marvel films. Remember all of those teasers with Thanos, the Collector, and hints at the Infinity Stones? Well, prepare for them to come to life on screen. 

The five end up in cahoots after Quill stumbles upon an Orb that ends up housing a powerful gem known as an Infinity Stone. It’s a very in-demand item that many different people in the film are after. It’s such a hot-ticket item that one man, The Collector, who we’ve seen briefly before, is willing to pay a space currency of 4 billion units (a possible subtle nod to how much Disney paid to acquire Marvel in 2009). 

Chris Pratt’s reign at theaters continues Pratt hooks the viewer from the moment you see him enter the screen throwing on a retro set of headphones, putting on an old school Sony Walkman, and freely dancing to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” across a wide open set like a goofball. It's one of the most satisfying, feel-good openings to a film I've seen in a while. The scene takes an unexpected turn quickly that I guarantee will have you laughing.   

Between "Guardians" and “The Lego Movie,” this is really Pratt’s year and it’s easy to see why. The “Parks and Recreation” star is magnetizing every time he’s on screen much in the same way Tom Hiddleston is with Loki in “Thor” and Robert Downey, Jr. is with Tony Stark in “Iron Man.”  

Whether he’s dangling a man’s robotic leg casually over his shoulder, trying to channel Kevin Bacon in "Footloose" (more on that in a bit), or unsuccessfully hitting on women, he always has your attention on screen. 

There are a lot of fun action sequences

Many people, ourselves included, weren’t really sure what to expect going into “Guardians.” Is it a comedy? An action film? A drama?

First and foremost it’s an action film. "Guardians" probably has some of the most fight scenes we’ve seen all summer in a film other than “X-Men: Days of Future Past” or “Transformers.”  

If you’re looking for action scenes that aren’t completely made up of explosions, “Guardians” offers a lot of fight scenes. It's as if everyone gets a chance to beat up nearly everyone else in this film.  Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) vs. the Guardians, Gamura vs.  Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket vs. the world, and even the Guardians vs. themselves. 

While I’m not sure that they top scenes from Disney’s earlier release this year “Captain America: The Winter Solider,” there’s a satisfying prison sequence and an amusing fight between some of the Guardians early on. 

A scene with Benicio del Toro and the gang is also one that should have audiences talking.  

But there's one moment that will leave Marvel fanboys reeling.

As we said, the film brings together what we've seen in a lot of end-credits scenes. Knowing that, we won't say what the big reveal is yet — you'll know it when you see it— but there is a very satisfying cameo that has been in the works at Marvel for some time that we were ecstatic to see on screen.

Groot is handled perfectly in the film Earlier in July, we saw a screening of 17 minutes from the film. One of the few things we were concerned about was how Groot would be handled since he only has one line of spoken dialogue, “I am Groot.” During that screening it felt like we were hearing “I am Groot” every few minutes — something that easily become distracting while watching the film. This isn’t a problem throughout the movie at all. We ended up seeing different parts of the movie edited together where Diesel’s character happened to say the lines a lot.  

(In case you’re wondering, he says the line approximately 10 times throughout the more than two-hour runtime.) 

This movie was made for fans If you’re familiar with the family-friendly Disney brand, its easy to see the Mouse House gave Marvel Studios a lot of leeway in making “Guardians” its own without overstepping the bounds of a PG-13 film.  

This is good for comic fans who don’t want a dumbed-down Disney flick, but questionable for parents who may be looking for a family film that freely uses a bit of raunchier humor.  

There are definitely a few awkward conversations that could possibly arise. Parents will have to tell kids to not repeat Star-Lord when he flips off a crew.   

Pratt later makes a backlight joke referencing how his ship would compare to the likes of a Jackson Pollock painting.  

When we previewed the film at the start of July, we noted there was a line in the film where Quill additionally referred to someone as a bastard. That appeared to be missing in the final cut. 

It has a superb soundtrack

I cannot recommend the tunes from "Guardians of the Galaxy" enough. You'll want to jam to the '70s setlist after you leave the theater.

Music has such a big role in this film from the movie's opening to it's final moment. It served as such a big inspiration on set of the film that director James Gunn often played the soundtrack while the crew was on set along with other '70s tunes. You can check out all of the songs here.

Be on the look out for pop culture references Since Quill was kidnapped from Earth in 1988, there are many pop cultural nods ranging from Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” to Kevin Bacon and "Footloose" to a well-placed Ninja Turtles name drop that may be a very subtle jab to Paramount’s reboot of the ’80s franchise also coming out in August. 

Everyone’s been going crazy about some possible Howard the Duck reference in the film. Unless there’s a comic or image hidden obscurely in the background, we didn’t see anything (and there were two of us keeping our eyes out during the screening).

The only problems with the film"Guardians" partially feels like a filler movie necessary to lay the groundwork for Marvel's continuing expanding universe on screen. 

The entire film focuses entirely on one of six power-wielding stones and the different groups of people trying to ascertain it for their own personal gain. While, yes, the movie is certainly about the five Guardians Disney and Marvel have been showing off in trailer after trailer, the film's bigger purpose is presenting the large scope of the Marvel universe and that there's much more at stake and in play than what we have seen with the Avengers up until now.

Though the film does a good job explaining these powerful gem stones, people will definitely leave the theater looking for more information unless they have a Marvel comic lord beside them in theater. 

Expect to see a lot of explainers about "Guardians of the Galaxy" start to make their way online as the film comes closer to its release or soon afterward.

The only scene that felt slightly jarring was an opening sequence which asks viewers to devote a lot of emotional investment in characters you have just met. It may be a scene that's appreciated more when giving the film a second viewing.

Overall, "Guardians" is probably the edgiest movie Marvel Studios has put out yet. It’s a very enjoyable film during a summer that hasn’t produced a lot of must-see blockbusters aside from Fox’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” 

In case you’re wondering, yes, there will be an end-credits scene. No, we have not seen it yet. Marvel made the decision to not air in during press screenings ahead of the film's release. In other words, we’ll be seeing it along with all of you! 

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is in theaters Friday, August 1. Check out a trailer for the film below: 

SEE ALSO: Fans reactions to early previews of "Guardians of the Galaxy" were overwhelmingly positive

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San Diego Comic-Con kicks off today and Marvel is celebrating with new concept art for "The Avengers" sequel out next summer and it doesn't look good for our heroes.

Marvel debuted four posters of Captain America, Iron Man, the Black Widow, and new character the Scarlet Witch attempting to fight off hordes of robots. 

In "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" the superheroes will have to fight off a robot army threatening to wipe mankind from existence. 

For Thursday only, fans can head over to the Marvel booth to get the posters while available. 

Expect to hear more about the sequel over the next few days.

Check out the posters below.

Note that the woman without the superpowers or man-built machine appears to have a leg up on all her comrades.

SEE ALSO: Here's what the "Avengers" sequel is about

AND: 10 huge reveals to expect from San Diego Comic-Con

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