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Patton Owsalt shares a heartbreaking tribute to his wife after she suddenly died at 46

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Patton Oswalt Michelle McNamara Alberto E. Rodriguez Getty final

Comedian Patton Oswalt looked back on the life of his wife, author Michelle McNamara, who died suddenly on April 14, in a new piece he wrote for Time.

"She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater,” he wrote.

Oswalt touched on his wife’s achievements, which included how her true crime writing on the blog TrueCrimeDiary.com led to her writing a story on “The Golden State Killer” (a name McNamara coined), which then led to a HarperCollins book deal on the subject.

He also touched on McNamara’s social work and collaboration with a young Michelle Obama in the early 1990s.

"I loved her,” Oswalt wrote. “This is the first time I’ve been able to use ‘I’ writing this. Probably because there hasn’t been much of an ‘I’ since the morning of April 21. There probably won’t be for a while. Whatever there is belongs to my daughter—to our daughter. Alice.”

He also shared the moving quote from his and his late wife's daughter Alice:

"Five days after Michelle was gone, Alice and I were half-awake at dawn, after a night of half-sleeping. Alice sat up in bed. Her face was silhouetted in the dawn light of the bedroom windows. I couldn’t see her expression. I just heard her voice: 'When your mom dies you’re the best memory of her. Everything you do and say is a memory of her.'"

No cause of death has been given. McNamara was 46 years old.

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about the next "Star Wars" movie 'Rogue One'

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Disney has 6 'Star Wars' movies planned through 2020 — here they all are

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The first new "Star Wars" in 10 years, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," launched a franchise reboot in 2015, which will consist of six films total through 2020.

"The Force Awakens" takes place 30 years after the events of 1983's "Return of the Jedi." The First Order has risen from the fallen Empire and the Resistance is fighting back. Featuring a group of characters from the original trilogy alongside a new team of young Rebels, "The Force Awakens" is the first in a trilogy. 

In addition to that series, three stand-alone spin-off films make up the Anthology series. "Rogue One," the first, will hit theaters December 16, 2016, and has a new trailer. A Han Solo origin film and Boba Fett film will round out the series for now.

In honor of Wednesday's Star Wars Day, here's what you can expect in the next four years: 

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about the next 'Star Wars' movie, 'Rogue One'

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" smashed box-office records, taking only 12 days to gross $1 billion and only 20 to become the highest-grossing domestic film. The film has successfully rebooted the "Star Wars" franchise and set high expectations for the Disney-produced films to follow.

Source: Business Insider



The next film, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," jump-starts the anthology series.



The stand-alone film takes place before the events of the 1977 original film and follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and a group of Rebel fighters on a mission to steal plans for the Death Star.



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Boba Fett was originally supposed to be the main villain in 'Return of the Jedi'

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BobaVaderLucasfilm

If you want to thank someone for the fandom that is “May the Fourth Be with You,” the annual celebration of all things “Star Wars” that happens on May 4, then thank Craig Miller.

An unofficial adviser and Lucasfilm’s first official fan relations officer, Miller was in charge of getting sci-fi fans in the late 1970s to fall in love with the “Star Wars” saga, which has now bubbled into a global obsession with the franchise.

In fact, Miller was responsible for many of the rumors that floated around leading up to the release of “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980. He provided many stories to Star Log Magazine, as he recently explained to Inverse.

“What we did in the final article, it ran that piece with the rumors, and then it had a sidebar, which was a response from me as a rep of Lucasfilm,” Miller said. “In it, I said some of the above was true, some wasn’t — we wouldn’t tell them which was which — and here are some more rumors that we’ve heard, that may or may not be true. At that point the only photo we released was Luke on the Tauntaun, but you only saw the Tauntaun's neck and top part of its head.”

You can read the Star Log piece here.

But Miller also knew a lot of truths. A big one about Boba Fett he revealed to Inverse:

“Originally Boba Fett was set up in ‘Empire’ as a character,” he said, referring to the bounty hunter who shows up briefly in the movie. “Boba was gonna be the main villain… That was set up, why he was taking Han Solo away...”

Boba Fett was primed to be a centerpiece in "Return of the Jedi," while Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader's head-to-head would extend to a future trilogy. But a major decision by George Lucas changed everything. 

“When George decided not to make the third trilogy, he completely jettisoned that storyline, which is why in the first ten minutes, Boba Fett gets bumped into and falls into the mouth of a giant monster,” Miller said. “So he took what was planned for the third trilogy, which was the confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader, and the battle with the Emperor, and that got squished down from three movies to one movie. And that became the plot of ‘Jedi.’”

According to Miller, the reason why we never saw Lucas-directed episodes seven, eight, and nine is simple: The filmmaker was burnt out.

“And I remember sitting in a mixing room with George, working on ‘Empire,’ and he told me he was just going to make the third movie, which didn’t have a title at that point, and then stop,” Miller said. “He was going to retire from making big movies and make experimental movies. And that’s why the whole plot of the third movie, what became ‘Return of the Jedi,’ completely changed.”

Boba Fett made out okay, since he's one of the most popular characters from the saga. But it would have been really cool to see a whole movie focused on him and Han Solo playing cat and mouse.

SEE ALSO: We talked to Megan Fox about her new game, the stresses of motherhood, and why she wishes she were a female Indiana Jones

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What Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and 21 other highly successful people were doing right out of college

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Donald Trump Liberty University

The first few years after college can be the launching pad for the rest of your career — it's why successful people often advise young people to start doing what they love as soon as they can.

But while some tech geniuses and business tycoons took this route to success, finding the optimal career path right away is easier said than done for many, and others found career bliss many years down the road.

To show that no two paths to success are alike, here's what 23 highly successful people were doing right out of college.

Aaron Taube contributed to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: 19 highly successful people who prove it's never too late to change careers

DON'T MISS: The unglamorous first jobs of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and 18 other highly successful people

Donald Trump worked for his father's real-estate-development company.

After graduating from Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a degree in economics, Trump went to work as a young real-estate developer at his father's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son.

In 1971, he was given the reins of the company, which he later renamed the Trump Organization, according to Bio, and soon became involved in large, profitable building projects in Manhattan.



Steve Jobs dropped out of college, but kept learning.

The Apple cofounder dropped out of Reed College, an elite liberal-arts school in Portland, Oregon, where he started doing lots of LSD and learning about spirituality, after six months, according to "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson.

Jobs said he didn't see the value in paying for an expensive college when he didn't know what he wanted to do. But his edification didn't end when he dropped out.

For the next 18 months, he would sleep on the floor in friends' rooms, live the bohemian lifestyle, and return soda bottles for spare change, and drop in on the creative classes he wanted to take at Reed College, like calligraphy.

"If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts," Jobs said during his commencement address at Stanford in 2005. "And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do."

 

 

 



Marissa Mayer became Google employee No. 20.

At 24, fresh out of grad school, Mayer became the 20th Google employee and the company's first female engineer. She remained with the company for 13 years before moving on to her current role as CEO of Yahoo.

Google didn't have the sorts of lavish campuses it does now, Mayer said in an interview with VMakers. "During my interviews, which were in April of 1999, Google was a seven-person company. I arrived and I was interviewed at a ping pong table which was also the company's conference table, and it was right when they were pitching for venture capitalist money, so actually after my interview Larry and Sergey left and took the entire office with them."

Since everyone in the office interviewed you in those days, Mayer had to come back the next day for another round. 



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The incredible career of J.J. Abrams: How the 49-year-old 'Star Wars' director became this generation's Steven Spielberg

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J.J. Abrams has established himself as the king of the nerds and creator of blockbuster hits. 

The 49-year-old director, writer, and producer has been at the helm of two reboots of iconic franchises set in space — "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" — and jumped into the action world by joining the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

He's taken on the sci-fi world with his own film, "Super 8," which he produced with his idol Steven Spielberg. The film provides an obvious glimpse at the inspiration Spielberg's earlier films provided.

And even before the two had a chance to officially collaborate, Abrams, as a teen, helped refurbish old films for Spielberg. 

Before he was a blockbuster director, Abrams was at the head of hit TV shows, creating or cocreating "Felicity," "Alias," and "Lost," which became a cultural hit. 

He's also delved into some franchise-making of his own, producing "Cloverfield" and its surprisingly successful sequel, "10 Cloverfield Lane."

With the celebration of Star Wars Day and Abrams primed to produce more hits, here's a look at his established career: 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: Every character in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' from best to worst

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born June 27, 1966 on Long Island but grew up in Los Angeles with his parents, producers Gerald W. and Carol Ann Abrams. His sister, Tracy, is a screenwriter.

Source: The New York Times Magazine



Abrams adored films by directors such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and when he was 13, his grandfather gave him a Super 8mm camera, prompting Abrams to begin filming home movies.

Source: The New York Times Magazine



He met Matt Reeves at a young filmmakers festival in Los Angeles and soon began collaborating with him. The two were asked by Kathleen Kennedy, then working for Spielberg, to repair and refurbish some Super 8mm films he had made as a teen.

Source: Vanity Fair 



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This 90-year-old homeless woman befriended Hollywood stars, and it changed her life

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mimi haist Zach Galifianakis Renee zellweger ABC7 Getty

A homeless woman in Santa Monica, California, made some important celebrity friends, and now she's the subject of a new documentary.

Marie Haist, who goes by Mimi, called the streets her home until she was invited to stay in a laundromat by its owner on a rainy night. She stayed there for another 20 years, ABC's Los Angeles affiliate, ABC 7, reported.

During that time, the 90-year-old began making friends with patrons and helping out around the laundromat. That's how she met "Baskets" star and "Between Two Ferns" creator Zach Galifianakis. Suddenly, she found herself at the "Hangover Part III" premiere as his date.

"Mimi has changed my life since I met her, the appreciation that I have for the elderly and people who need some help," Galifianakis said.

She also befriended actor and filmmaker Yaniv Rokah, who has wanted to tell Haist's story for a while. On May 13, his documentary about her, "Queen Mimi," hits theaters.

"To me, Mimi represents so many things: hope, human spirit, strength, survival," Rokah said.

Life hasn't just become much more glamorous for Haist, but it has also become much more comfortable. She isn't homeless anymore, thanks to her famous friends.

"Zach [Galifianakis] got me an apartment," Haist told ABC with a laugh. "And Renee Zellweger furnished it."

Watch ABC7's segment on Haist below:

 

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A real-estate expert who sold an $11 million home in 10 hours explains how to make your own luck

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josh altman

Josh Altman is a real-estate powerhouse.

The star of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" and cofounder of real-estate firm The Altman Brothers has sold over $1.5 billion in real estate, including the most expensive one-bedroom house in history, which sold for over $20 million.

He also sold an $11 million home to actor Tyler Perry in less than 10 hours, and made a $12 million sale to someone within hours of meeting them in line at Starbucks.

"A lot of people say, 'Well that's just lucky. That's just because you were in the right place at the right time,'" he tells Farnoosh Torabi on an episode of her "So Money" podcast.

It's not just blind luck, he tells Torabi: "The truth is that I go to that same Starbucks every morning for one reason. It's not for the coffee.

"It's because I know the type of clientele that I'm trying to go after, and I know that all the rich people and celebrities in Beverly Hills go there. And so I'm putting myself in a situation where I choose to be lucky — it's not just random luck."

The second half of the equation is jumping on opportunities as they arise — for example, actually talking to the guy in the Starbucks line.

He calls this the "ready-aim-fire" mentality. "You've got to realize when there's an opportunity in front of you and you have to capitalize on that opportunity," he explains.

His $11 million sale to Tyler Perry epitomizes the "ready-aim-fire" mentality. He was at the gym one morning and realized he was working out next to Perry, he tells Torabi: "I go back and forth about whether or not I'm going to talk to him. I'm a little nervous. And I say, 'You know what, I'm just gonna do it.'"

altman brothersBy 10 a.m. Altman is showing Perry his future house. Come 4 p.m. he has an offer on his house. At 5 p.m. he closes the deal for $11 million.

"The majority of people in situations like that will say, 'Ah forget it — I'm not gonna do it,'" Altman tells Torabi.

He recognized the opportunity and found the guts to tap Perry on the shoulder. "I knew what I needed to do," he tells Torabi. "I made sure that he knew what I do and that I'm very good at what I do. You believe in yourself, you trust your gut and don't second-guess yourself, and you do it."

Making your own luck, or choosing to be lucky, doesn't just apply to real-estate agents, he emphasizes: "You can do that too, in any business that you're in."

SEE ALSO: An HGTV star who's invested in over 100 properties says one day of the week is best to buy a home

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Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca fought over this San Francisco entrepreneur before giving him a $600,000 deal on 'Shark Tank'

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There's never an easy time to leave a comfortable job to start a business, but it's especially risky when your daughter is six months old and your wife is on unpaid maternity leave.

That's the gamble San Francisco-based entrepreneur Dave Vasen took in June 2014 when he left an executive position at AltSchool to found KidCasa, a preschool management service that later became Brightwheel. It's paid off.

After a year of development and the branding relaunch, Vasen raised a $2.2 million seed round led by Eniac Ventures and RRE Ventures in June 2015. Just a few weeks later, Vasen saw "Shark Tank" was having tryouts down the street from his office and, because he had the idea of applying in the back of his head for some time, decided to improvise an audition.

He was called back for filming in September, and his appearance was finally broadcast Friday in the latest episode of the show's seventh season. It revealed that he raised another $600,000 from investors Mark Cuban and guest Shark Chris Sacca, the billionaire investor best known for his lucrative early deals with Twitter, Uber, and Instagram.

"I'll never forget hugging them after the deal," Vasen told Business Insider. "I have such admiration for them."

Vasen entered the Tank seeking $400,000 for a 4% stake in Brightwheel, giving his company a $10 million valuation. He was hopped up on two Red Bulls he chugged while waiting in the trailer the producers gave him.

Vasen explained to the Sharks that as the father of a toddler and as someone who's spent the majority of his career in the education space, he's seen firsthand that the operators of a preschool are placed in a uniquely challenging situation. "They're not just managing a classroom, but managing a business, too," he said.

Brightwheel is a service that allows preschool owners and employees to monitor both their paperwork and their students, with updates linked to a smartphone app for parents.

Here's the app in action: 

Vasen launched the pilot program in the fall of 2014 with 10 preschools, and as he stood in the Tank he had recruited 2,500 schools across all 50 states.

Brightwheel is free to download, but a premium account is available in packages ranging from $40 to $200 per month, depending on how many accounts will be linked together for a school. Vasen told the investors his projected revenue was $1 million for 2015, $6 million for 2016, and $20 million for 2017.

In the edited version of the pitch that aired, it appears that Vasen captured the attention of a few of the Sharks immediately, but he told Business Insider that the full experience — which lasted over an hour — was much more stressful.

"It got pretty negative pretty quickly," he said. Daymond John and Mark Cuban have explained repeatedly that they're always on the lookout for "gold diggers" — entrepreneurs with no intention of making a deal who use their "Shark Tank" appearance as a free commercial.

Vasen realized that he was putting the entire reputation of his company on the line, and that if he bungled his pitch, he would be embarrassing himself, his family, and his other investors. He explained to the Sharks that he was turning to them to get an adviser on his side who would put in much more work than the typical investor, and that even though he had accomplished a level of success with a small team, he needed the help to scale.

That was satisfactory for Kevin O'Leary, who opened up negotiations by offering $400,000 for 10% equity, cutting the company's valuation down from $10 million to $4 million.

By this point, Cuban was sufficiently convinced Vasen was the real deal and began considering an offer because he realized "my kid's preschool desperately needed this exact type of software," he told us.

Sacca jumped in, dismissing O'Leary's sharp devaluation, but saying he needed to invest on the same terms as the seed round, where the company was valued at $8.2 million. That meant his $400,000 would get him 4.85% equity.

Vasen quickly told Sacca the deal sounded good to him, but that he wanted to see if anyone else wanted to split it.

Sacca mocked the other Sharks, saying that they would be helpful to Brightwheel if Vasen was looking to make some T-shirts or get something into Bed Bath & Beyond. "What do you think you need from the rest of the line here?" he asked.

Cuban was offended. "Are you serious? Are you really that clueless?"

He jabbed back, saying that when Sacca affiliated himself with a company, "it adds a lot of street cred to his little part of the world. Once you get outside of that little bubble called Silicon Valley, it doesn't mean sh--."

"Uber, Twitter, Instagram operate in their own little world," Sacca said sarcastically. "I've never been outside of San Francisco. Sorry."

Vasen said he was thinking "this is surreal" as the two investors he had set his eyes on, Cuban and Sacca, spent minutes yelling at each other from opposite ends of the panel.

mark cuban chris sacca shark tank

Vasen kept his focus and after some more back-and-forth, offered Sacca and Cuban a joint deal: $600,000 for 6%, split evenly, at the originally proposed $10 million valuation. Sacca said he'd compromise by doing that at a $9 million valuation, meaning he and Cuban would each get a 3.34% stake for $300,000.

Cuban said that worked for him, and Vasen took the deal.

And though Sacca kicked off a spat with Cuban that genuinely got both riled up, he told Business Insider that he and Cuban are old friends and that when Sacca took Cuban's offer last year to appear on a few episodes of "Shark Tank," "I agreed to go on the show so I wouldn't miss the opportunity to bust his balls in front of millions of Americans. There is no doubt he adds an incredible amount of value to his companies. But I'm there to make sure he doesn't get a free ride anymore."

As for why he invested in Brightwheel, Sacca said, "My best entrepreneurs always have one thing in common: They radiate a sense of the inevitability of their success. Dave didn't need to sell us. Instead you can tell he just knows that Brightwheel is going to win the space. That's simply irresistible.

"Plus, in the same way that Uber solves a problem for both drivers and riders, I love how Brightwheel dramatically improves the lives of hardworking teachers, thrills parents, and empowers school administrators," he added. "You nail a solution for those three groups and you've got a huge business on your hands."

SEE ALSO: Billionaire investor Chris Sacca explains the 4 key elements of his investing philosophy

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Here are the big changes coming to Apple Music this summer

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Apple Music is getting an overhaul this summer, and 9to5Mac reporter Mark Gurman has the scoop on what it'll look like.

The new version will reportedly be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Big changes include the following:

  • A flatter, mostly black and white design instead of today's colorful translucent look
  • Integrated song lyrics where possible — Apple is negotiating with content owners for this feature
  • The "New" tab will be replaced by a "Browse" tab that makes it easier to discover new music
  • The "For You" tab and sections, which is used for personal recommendations, is getting overhauled
  • More prominent album art

The Apple Music app was widely panned at release for being buggy and hard to use, and Apple recently overhauled the team responsible for it, giving new responsibility to rock star Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, according to Bloomberg. A lot of the people who were working on the original app, including many from Apple-acquisition Beats, left the company.

Read Gurman's full report here>>

SEE ALSO: Apple Music is a mess — and the company has called in rock star Trent Reznor to help fix it

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The internet wants a Spotify ‘tip jar’

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Spotify NYCThe idea of paying artists directly, “what you want,” in exchange for their music, isn’t a new concept on the internet.

Some artists have done it have done it through their own websites, Kickstarter, or more commonly, Bandcamp. Bandcamp provides multiple models for paying artists, but many use the “name your price” version, which allows fans to pay whatever they want. Bandcamp takes a percentage (usually 15% for digital album sales, plus processing fees). In this use, the Bandcamp download feels closer to a tip jar than an album sale.

But this functionality doesn’t exist on Spotify, the world’s most popular streaming service with 30 million paying users, and Reddit wants to know why. A post calling for a Spotify tip jar spent much of Wednesday on Reddit’s front page, garnering over 2,000 comments.

Why isn't there a ‘tip jar’ on Spotify? I would gladly pay bands I like $10 or $20 for a record I love, if I knew it went straight to them,” the post says. “Spotify would take a cut, obviously. But even if 80% of it went to the band, it would make a huge difference for struggling artists putting out sick records.”

What does Spotify think about a tip jar?

Spotify declined to comment on this particular point, but an interview Business Insider had with Spotify’s Jim Lucchese last month might shed some light. Lucchese is the CEO of The Echo Nest, the music data company Spotify acquired in 2014 for a reported $100 million. It’s his job to turn the data Spotify has on its users into something the company, and artists, can make money off of.

One of the things Lucchese said Spotify was excited about in the future was the idea of “fan funding.”

“[Spotify] can be a platform that can really help facilitate and drive fan-funding initiatives,” he said, referencing examples including having fan contributions help finance a new record. “We've got the fans. We know where they are. We know those fans want to support those artists. That's a really intimate and direct way of doing it.”

Lucchese says Spotify wants to become a hub for an artist’s entire revenue strategy, including helping them decide where to tour and which fans to contact. The key, he says, is in a smart application of Spotify’s trove of user data.

So while Spotify is keeping quiet about a tip jar specifically, it seems like it would fit well into the company's drive to open up new revenue streams for artists.

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'Family Guy' just took a big shot at Donald Trump in a new ad

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Long-running Fox animated series "Family Guy" is hoping Donald Trump's success could rub off on the show when it comes to the Emmys.

Marketing materials sent to Emmy voters and media feature the show's title character, Peter Griffin, stealing Trump's look, as Deadline reported.

Decked out in a navy suit and sporting a gravity-defying blond hairstyle, Peter is accompanied by the text, "As long as we're voting for dumb loudmouths, can I get an Emmy?"

Clearly the saying resonated throughout this primary season as Trump went from seeming national joke to the lone candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

The site reported that this wasn't the first time the Emmy materials referenced a politician.

In 2014, Peter was dressed as Trump endorser Chris Christie and threatened "Bridgegate"-level traffic on Emmy voters if they didn't support the show.

Whatever "Family Guy" is doing, it's effective. The animated series has won five Emmys so far.

SEE ALSO: Colbert and cartoon Trump sent Cruz off in 'Hunger Games' style

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The US Army responds to the fan theory that the government owes Captain America $3 million

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This week a fan on Reddit calculated that the US government would owe Captain America more than $3 million in back pay if the events in the Marvel Universe were real.

A US Army spokesman told INSIDER that the fan had a point but that calculating the exact dollar amount isn't so simple.

Here's the backstory.

After defeating Hydra in World War II, Captain America was lost in the Arctic north from 1945 to 2011. During those six decades on ice, he was never technically discharged. As a result (the theory goes), the government owes him payment for those 66 years of service.

Redditor Anon33249038 crunched the numbers and concluded that the First Avenger is entitled to $3,154,619.52, adjusting for inflation.

The analysis factors in the Army's 1945 pay grade, biannual raises, and how long Cap spent on ice before he returned to active duty in 2011 at the start of "The Avengers."

Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman, says there's more to it than that.

"If Capt. Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) were not a fictional character and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and recovery actually real, he may actually be entitled to receive back pay," Hall told INSIDER in an email. "However, a wide variety of variables would have to be taken into consideration to actually calculate the true amount of back pay to which he would be entitled to receive; given that he is a fictional character we cannot truly capture all of those variables accurately."

Hall went on to say that the Redditor had some of his facts wrong.

"Yes, it is correct that the O-3 (Army captain) pay grade in 1945 was $313.50; however it was a monthly pay rate vs. quarterly as the original poster indicated."

The fan theory also "misinterpreted military pay scales" when arriving at the figure for the biannual increase of pay, Hall said, and failed to take in "any potential promotions that may have been bestowed upon Rogers while he was listed in a 'Missing' status."

Whatever the final amount of back pay the government would owe Captain America for his decades of service, it's almost certain that he would still have way less money than Tony Stark.

Join the conversation about this story »

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The painkiller Percocet was reportedly found in Prince's body when he died

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Prince performs during the halftime show of the NFL's Super Bowl XLI football game between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts in Miami, Florida, U.S. February 4, 2007. REUTERS/Mike Blake/Files

The Star Tribune is reporting that a source close to the investigation of Prince's death says there was Percocet present in his body when he was found dead April 21.

It is not yet clear if the drug contributed to Prince's death, the source also said.

Percocet is a prescription painkiller. The opioid was reportedly found on Prince and in his Paisley Park home in suburban Minneapolis.

A source also told the Star Tribune that Prince was one day away from getting help for an addiction to painkillers when he was found dead in an elevator in his home.

The news comes as both the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the U.S. attorney’s office have announced that they are assisting in the local police investigation of Prince's death.

Representatives for Prince were not immediately available for comment to Business Insider.

 

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'Game of Thrones' star tells us about the 'tricky' time she had keeping the Jon Snow secret

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Carice van Houten was incredibly relieved once Sunday's "Game of Thrones" aired.

Having been informed of Jon Snow's storyline in July of last year, she said keeping the secret of his fate for 10 months got "tricky." The only cast member who had to keep the secret longer was actor Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow.

"I texted Kit the day it aired: 'Relieved?' And he wrote, 'God, yes.' Poor guy," van Houten told Business Insider.

"It was a long time to lie to people," she added.

Like Harington, van Houten had to lie to fellow cast members and crew until they too were informed of the closely guarded Jon Snow storyline. Then there was the lying to the public and the media.

"I got asked the [Jon Snow] question the most outside of [Kit Harington], because of Melisandre's powers," she said. "Yes, it was hard. It was tricky. But of course, it was a fun lie. It was a lie where something good is going to come out of it."

She then recalled, "Sometimes, people would really look into my eyes and say, 'You can tell me. Is he dead?' I had to really act. My acting skills really came in handy."

melisandre jon snow game of thrones hboAs part of the cover-up, the cast and crew were not allowed to refer to the Jon Snow character by name. Instead, they used the codename "LC." It stood for Lord Commander, Jon Snow's position at the Night's Watch when he was killed on season five.

The ban was extensive and applied to everyone on the set. "Jon Snow" didn't appear in scripts, scene breakdowns, call sheets, or prop and wardrobe materials.

"[Jon Snow's storyline] was such a mystery in the scripts and everyone was talking about it," van Houten said. "We couldn’t even say 'Jon Snow' anymore."

The only verbal use of the name allowed was in dialogue. Producers even used "LC" while talking among themselves, in case someone not belonging to the production was in earshot.

At some point, the codename became the subject of a joke on the set. During the scene on last week's episode when Melisandre must wipe down Jon Snow's body, van Houten adopted a new "slightly sexual" version of the codename.

"It was not me who came up with this. It was one of the girls and I don’t want to spoil which one it is. It was always LC, so the girls would say, ‘Little c--t.’ There, I said it."

SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' star Kit Harington lied to costars to keep the Jon Snow reveal secret

SEE ALSO: The 5 most talked-about moments from this week's 'Game of Thrones'

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NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

Katie Couric is looking to jump ship from Yahoo (YHOO)

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Marissa Mayer Katie Couric

Katie Couric is mulling an exit from Yahoo, just a year after signing a new contract worth $10 million last year, according to the New York Post.

Couric has apparently been thinking about a departure for a while, but has only stayed to find out the buyer of Yahoo, which is currently courting bids for its core internet business.

But with Yahoo shutting down a number of its content sites and laying off hundreds of employees earlier this year, Couric believes "it may be time to leave," according to the Post.

The report said that Couric has long been frustrated by Yahoo's layout and strategy that make it difficult to find her content on the site. Despite hiring Couric as its global news anchor three years ago, Yahoo doesn't promote any of her content on its front page.

In fact, Couric has been visibly absent from some of Yahoo's public appearances lately, including the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the company's annual NewFront advertising event, the report said.

Couric's exit could be another blow to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who's been dealing with a number of executive departures lately. Some of her most trusted executives, who she personally hired, have left Yahoo, while the company's facing pressure from activist investors criticizing Mayer for the failed three-year turnaround effort.

The Couric deal, in particular, is often touted as one of Mayer's big accomplishments during her tenure as Yahoo CEO. When she first signed a deal estimated to be worth $6 million a year in 2013, many saw it as part of Yahoo's larger plan to double down on video content.

In fact, in a blog post published on Wednesday, Yahoo stressed Couric's video content as one of its brightest spots, pointing out that her interviews have racked up nearly 400 million views so far, while doubling in traffic year-over-year in 2015.

"We just announced an extended slate of programming with Katie Couric during our Yahoo NewFront presentation. We look forward to continuing our work together, and bringing our audience even more of her exceptional journalism and storytelling," Yahoo News' spokesperson told us in a statement.

Couric has said only good things about Yahoo and Mayer, at least in public. But if the Post article is true, Couric's days at Yahoo may be numbered.

“She’s thinking about her next act,” an unnamed source told the Post.

SEE ALSO: Katie Couric reveals what it's like to work with Marissa Mayer at Yahoo

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NOW WATCH: Katie Couric learned to be a leader by following this humble advice from her mom

George Clooney and Julia Roberts killed it in 'Carpool Karaoke'

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Old pals George Clooney and Julia Roberts joined Gwen Stefani and James Corden for the popular "Carpool Karaoke" segment on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." The four of them belted out Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" in perfect harmony.

Written by Ian Phillips and produced by Alana Yzola

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Netflix is turning the acclaimed indie movie 'Dear White People' into a comedy series

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dear white people going to netflix

Netflix is adapting indie film "Dear White People" into a comedy series.

Production on the series will begin later this year for a 2017 premiere date, Netflix said in a press release on Thursday.

The film's writer and producer, Justin Simien, will also write the 10-episode season, as well as direct the first episode. He will be accompanied on the series by veteran TV producer Devon Shepard ("House of Lies," "Weeds") and "Dear White People" producers Stephanie Allain Bray and Julia Lebedev as executive producers.

The satirical film comments on modern race relations, following four black students at an Ivy League college as racial tension mounts. After being crowd-funded, the film went on to win the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

“During the film’s release, I had the pleasure to speak with hundreds of students and faculty across a variety of college campuses dealing with these very issues in real time. I'm so grateful to have this platform – not only to give a voice to those too often unheard in our culture, but to also tell great stories from new points of views," Simien said in a statement.

The series will be produced by Lionsgate TV, whose sister company Roadside Attractions released the original film in 2014.

"From day one, Lionsgate has been remarkably supportive of the vision for the show, and working with Netflix is every bit as harmonious as I'd imagined it would be," Simien said. "Bringing this show to such a vibrant platform is an honor I don't take lightly.”

SEE ALSO: Everyone is coming back for the next 'Wet Hot American Summer' Netflix series, says Michael Ian Black

DON'T MISS: Chelsea Handler finally shared details about what to expect from her new Netflix talk show

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NOW WATCH: The defense attorneys from 'Making a Murderer' respond to criticism from Steven Avery’s new lawyer

A new Ryan Murphy series for FX will go behind one of Hollywood's most notorious feuds

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Ryan Murphy has landed another anthology series at FX. 

It's called "Feud," and the first season will star Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon as battling Hollywood divas Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, respectively.

This will be Murphy's third anthology at FX after "American Horror Story" and "American Crime Story," which just wrapped its critically acclaimed first season about the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

Alfred Molina, Stanley Tucci, Judy Davis, and Dominic Burgess are set to also star on the new series, which will uncover the backstage drama behind the movie "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" according to an FX press release on Thursday.

"Feud" will begin production this fall and will air in 2017.

Molina plays the film’s director Robert Aldrich, Tucci was cast as studio titan Jack Warner, Davis as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and Burgess as Crawford and Davis’ costar Victor Buono.

In addition to Murphy, Brad Pitt will executive produce. Murphy will also direct several episodes. Lange and Sarandon will also serve as producers.

SEE ALSO: Tom Hardy is savage in the first trailer for his new FX series from Ridley Scott

DON'T MISS: 'People v. O.J. Simpson' star Cuba Gooding, Jr. explains why movie stars are flocking to TV

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NOW WATCH: Here's how they recreated the infamous White Bronco Chase on 'The People v. O.J. Simpson'

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