"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams just published a short note revealing he will leave the show for "the next several days" amid the growing scandal surrounding false claims he made about time he spent in Iraq.

A spokesperson for the network told Business Insider that a note was sent to "NBC News staff" announcing Williams' temporary hiatus. It was also published on the NBC website where it was titled "A Personal Note from Brian Williams."

In the short memo, Williams said Lester Holt, who normally anchors the show on weekends, is taking over in his absence.

Here's the full note:

In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue. Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us.

On Wednesday, Williams, NBC News' top anchor, confessed he "bungled" a story he had told on air about being in a helicopter that was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2003. His admission came after multiple military members questioned the tale, which he has told on multiple occasions, and revealed he was actually not in the aircraft that was shot down.

Since then, Williams' reporting about Hurricane Katrina has also been called into question and NBC News is reportedly conducting an internal investigation into his work. There have also been multiple reports the situation has led to some turmoil at the network, with other NBC News staffers angry at Williams.

In a memo to staff that was sent out Friday, Deborah Turness, the president of the network's news division said they are "working on what the best next steps are" to address the situation.

Williams has been the face of NBC News for over a decade. He took over "NBC Nightly News" from Tom Brokaw in December 2004.

The show is the highest-rated network evening news broadcast in America.

On Friday, Variety magazine looked at the leading potential candidates to replace Williams if he departs NBC News as a result of the scandal. Holt topped the list and was described as "the obvious internal choice."

NBC spokespeople have not responded to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider asking whether Williams will face disciplinary action.

This story was last updated at 4:57 p.m. 

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NOW WATCH: 11 Facts That Show How Different Russia Is From The Rest Of The World

Kevin O'Leary, known by "Shark Tank" fans as "Mr. Wonderful," is a no-nonsense investor who isn't afraid of calling an entrepreneur a "cockroach" or saying that their company sucks.

He got his nickname in the first season of the reality pitch show from fellow Shark Barbara Corcoran, but it's a title he's embraced and made his own.

O'Leary grew up in Montreal and received his MBA in 1980. His second business, the software company Softkey, became successful enough to acquire The Learning Company in 1995 and subsequently adopted its name. Four years later, O'Leary and his business partner Michael Perik sold the company to Mattel for $4.2 billion.

Newly rich O'Leary became a venture capitalist, mutual fund manager, and television personality, serving as one of the original investors on "Dragon's Den," the Canadian series that inspired "Shark Tank."

Last year, he announced that he would appear exclusively on "Shark Tank," and that the companies he's invested in would be collected under the O'Leary Financial Group.

We spoke to Mr. Wonderful about his business philosophy, what he looks for in an entrepreneur, and why he can be so nasty in the Tank.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

BUSINESS INSIDER: At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

KEVIN O'LEARY: When I was in high school, I got a job as an ice cream scooper at Magoo's Ice Cream Parlour. It was the end of the day of my second day of work, and the woman who owned the ice cream parlor said to me, "Listen, before you go, scrape all the gum up between the tiles." It was a terracotta tile floor.

I said, "No, I'm not going to do that. You hired me to be an ice cream scooper." She said, "I hired you for whatever I want. You work for me. Scrape the gum or you're fired." And I said, "I'm not doing it," and so she fired me.

I didn't know what "fired" was, to be honest with you.

It really shocked me, and of course it was really embarrassing.

I realized then that when you work for somebody else, you're basically their slave. From that day on I swore I'd never work for anyone else. That was the beginning of my journey.

BI: Have you spoken to her since?

I went back decades later to find the owner because I owe her such a debt of gratitude. I never did find her — and when I visited the mall I realized I could buy it today if I wanted and bulldoze it — but she was a very important part of my decision-making for the rest of life.

That's how it started. I'll never forget it.

BI: Who were some mentors who inspired you?

KO: My biological father died when he was 36 years old, and my stepfather became a big mentor for me in my early years. I suffered from dyslexia and had a really hard time with reading and math early on and he helped me through that.

And then when I graduated from undergrad with a bachelor's in psychology and environmental studies he looked at me and said, "You know you don't have the skillset to get a job. You're going to have a tough time." At that time, I was trying to be a filmmaker and photographer with marginal success. He said, "You should go back to business school and get some skills. Who knows what will happen."

I got an MBA and started a business when I got out, ironically in television production. I sold the company and then started a software firm — a classic out-of-the-basement situation — which turned into The Learning Company. We sold it for $4.2 billion. I've never been able to recreate a deal of that size again, but I've had many other various successes since in different sectors.

I've never worked for anybody in my life, and I'm pretty happy with that.

BI: Who taught you about money?

KO: My mother. Even at a very young age she worked at a company called Kiddies Togs that made winter clothing for kids. She would get paid on Thursdays, and every Thursday she would take a third of her paycheck and go buy bonds with it. She would tell my brother and me, "Never spend principal, only the interest." I didn't know what she was talking about at the time, but she was very concerned about preservation of capital — that was her whole thing.

After she died I became the executive of her estate, and I saw her portfolio for the first time. For 50 years all she had invested in was corporate bonds and given it to large cap stocks, and she beat every index in the world and every portfolio manager.

I don't know how she knew that, or why she felt that way, but her strategy of investing has built a billion dollar mutual fund company — that's O'Leary Funds— because basically what I did is I created a bunch of funds around that philosophy. I don't allow my portfolio managers to buy any stocks that don't pay dividends and we have done very, very well.

BI: What did you learn from managing businesses?

KO: There's a guy named Gerry Patterson. He was a sports agent and he was a partner of mine in a company called Special Event Television. He's dead now, but he once told me when we had some huge problem with our business, "Listen, Kevin. Every day, poo poo's gonna hit the fan. Stuff is gonna happen, and it's gonna be bad. You just don't know when or how bad it's gonna be. But you have to put shutters on, set a goal, don't listen to the noise, and just go forward. All of that noise is a distraction, and if you let it distract you, you'll fail."

Years later we were doing a hostile acquisition of Broderbund for $500 million, and they were taking it out on us in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, digging all the dirt they could about me. In the darkest hours, even though Gerry was gone, it was like he was saying to me, "Listen. Don't crack. It's all noise. "

And we won that deal in a vicious takeover battle. I remember flying out west to the board and going in there after all those guys had been so difficult to work with and firing all of them. Not that revenge is sweet — it's just if you stay focused, you're a very powerful force.

Since then, I tell all the entrepreneurs I mentor that story and explain to them, "I swear to you it's going to be very hard. Business is hell on earth. But if you can stay focused and remember Gerry's words, you'll win. You'll beat those battles." And I think if you're an entrepreneur, you want to fight those fights. That's the whole reason you do it. You want to win.

BI: Is that your business approach in a nutshell?

KO: Yeah. My attitude is business is war. You send out your soldiers every day in the form of your capital, and you want them to come home with prisoners. You want to salt the earth that your competitor is lurking on. You want to steal their market share. You want to destroy them and get their customers.

I'm not into this Kumbaya thing about business. There are winners and losers, and I want my entrepreneurs and me to fall into the winning camp.

Not everybody agrees on my philosophy, but in the end, the only things that matter are your shareholders and your customers. To try and say that businesses are going to solve all social problems means you don't understand the idea of business. Business is about return of capital, return of your shareholders' capital, and winning. It's that simple.

BI: When you're on "Shark Tank," what are you looking for in entrepreneurs that indicates they could align with your interest and approach?

KO: When I value a business, I ask myself, "How good is this entrepreneurial team, and how broad is the product in terms of its desire from the consumer?"

I invested in Wicked Good Cupcakes because pretty much everybody eats cupcakes. The fastest-growing cupcake brand in America today is Wicked Good Cupcakes. Why? Because it was on "Shark Tank." It used to have maybe $7,000 a month in sales, and now it's now nearly $400,000 a month.

I look at companies and say to myself, "OK, how much value can I add by being an investor? What do I know, and what does my team know about what their business does?"

I've got 21 different investments now that are private in O'Leary Ventures. Some are mediocre, and some are wildly successful. I just sold GrooveBook last month to Shutterfly for $14.5 million dollars. That's the biggest exit ever on "Shark Tank." And that company is only 11 months old, so that's the power of "Shark Tank," and that's why I think it's the most fascinating venture capital experiment ever created.

BI: Many times on "Shark Tank" it seems as if you're holding court. You'll narrate what has unfolded and move deals along even if they're not yours. How did that dynamic develop?

KO: It's the natural ebb and flow of what occurs with our different personalities.

My personal opinion of "Shark Tank" is that the entrepreneur is standing in a very valuable spot when they're presenting. I get frustrated when I see people wasting my time. So I determine if a deal has merit or not. If it does, then I want one of the Sharks to invest in it, but let's move it along because I want to see the next deal.

BI: You often make aggressive or demeaning comments in the Tank. Is that a tactic?

KO: I'm trying to test the mettle of those entrepreneurs, because if they think it's tough in the "Shark Tank," wait until they get out in the real world. If they can't take a guy like me, then they're not ready.

Maybe people think I'm bullying them. That's not true. I'm the only guy there who tells the truth all the time. I don't care about your feelings; I care about your money.

I look at business as binary: either you make money or you lose money.

I say to Barbara all the time, "Why are you so worried about their feelings? Who cares? If the business has no merit and it's a bankrupt idea, they're going to fail anyways. You're doing them a huge favor if you're telling them the truth."

And if it's not the truth, then debate it with me. Tell me why I'm wrong.

I'm not trying to make friends. I'm trying to make money. It's that simple.

BI: You're unique among the Sharks for your affinity for deals that aren't straightforward equity deals.

KO: We've all been getting more complicated in terms of how we structure deals because they're much larger now. I do equity deals, venture debt, royalty deals, convertible ventures, preference shares.

The point is, there are many ways to skin the cat. I think by doing more creative structures, you're aligning yourself with the entrepreneur based on the business risk you're taking.

I do structures to protect my capital and then I participate in the upside. Generally my entrepreneurs are pretty happy with my deals.

BI: You made the the biggest deal yet on "Shark Tank" with Zipz Wine. How has your relationship developed with them?

KO: Zipz is an industry-changing deal. Of all the beverages in America, the only one that is not available in single serve in any notable market share is wine. Many have tried before to do it, and no one has been successful. I'm looking at Zipz as a multi-year investment. I have to now go winery to winery, brand to brand — including my own [O'Leary Fine Wines] — to arrange deals and go to retailers to convince them that they want to stock single-serve wine.

I think we'll be looking at Zipz three years from now, and hopefully it will have gained some market share. Right now we're just at the beginning stages, and we're doing a lot of work to finalize the design so that it's cost effective for wine makers and retailers, and also able to store wine for at least a year. I think we've licked both those problems.

We're launching our next platform at the end of March, and so I'm very excited about it, while recognizing it's not an overnight success by any means.

BI: What makes a "Shark Tank" pitch successful?

KO: I've seen thousands of presentations. If you look at the common thread in all of the companies that got financed, regardless of the outcome, you find three common attributes:

1. They're able to articulate the opportunity in 90 seconds or less.

2. They're able to explain why they are the right people to execute the business plan.

3. They know their numbers.

I've seen so many deals fall apart after the first two have been achieved, and then you ask questions about anything to do with the numbers side and if they don't know the answer, they just evaporate. You lose confidence immediately when someone doesn't understand the numbers.

BI: What are some of the worst pitches you've seen?

KO: The worst are ones where they either don't have confidence or they don't know enough about the business and it's painfully obvious. It's a horrible thing to see happen.

It frustrates me miserably because they've just wasted my time and they wasted the opportunity in the "Shark Tank" that somebody else would've begged to have had. I'm extremely harsh on people like that. And for good reason in my view.

But there's nothing worse than arrogance with ignorance — it's horrific. I actually don't care if you're arrogant, as long as you know what you're doing and you know what you're talking about.

BI: What was a particularly dramatic or emotional moment on the show, and how did it play out on set?

KO: I think the most emotional moment on "Shark Tank" ever was a deal for a company called Tree T-PEE. It actually is the reason the show won an Emmy.

It was a farmer who invented a device that reduced the amount of water wasted irrigating orange groves. Very interesting patent and technology — reduced water usage by about 20%, so it paid for itself very quickly. And he didn't want to profit from it. He basically wanted to sell it at cost to help other farmers. Now, it's a powerful thing to want to do that, but it's not a business.

There we were in the Tank drawn to the story of this man whose father had died inventing this and who then went on to commercialize it. Yet he just wouldn't raise the price even though it was obvious you could triple the price. He could've created so much value.

It's the difference between a charity and a business. But it was a particularly powerful moment in "Shark Tank," and no one's going to forget it. Every Shark had a tear in their eye, including me. He is a great soul, that man. I'm not sure he is a great businessman.

BI: What is your best negotiation advice to entrepreneurs who have the chance to come onto the show?

KO: Don't be greedy. The biggest mistake that people make in "Shark Tank" is trying to overvalue their business.

I'm tremendously valuable to an entrepreneur, not just for the experience or advice I can give them, but it's infinitely valuable to get a deal on "Shark Tank" and get covered on primetime television year after year.

It gives you a competitive edge that others don't have, and the only way you're going to get that is to get me as an investor. If you want me, you're going to have to make it really interesting because I've got lots of opportunities to invest in and lots of deals, and people now have figured that out. I've got lots of successes under my belt, and you're going to pay for that if you want to use me as an investor. I'm going to cost you more than the typical venture capital firm, and I'm well worth it.

BI: Do you have a favorite among the companies that you're working with now?

KO: You know, it's like choosing a favorite child — really hard to do. I think now about a company like Bottle Breacher, which is so successful they can't even fulfill their orders. They're 20,000 orders behind right now and trying to solve that problem. That company has limitless opportunity.

I'm now into multiple years of Wicked Good Cupcakes. It's been a phenomenal success and everything is growing into retail and been amazing.

Honeyfund is a remarkable online business that is growing.

I could just go down the list. Everything is different; everything is unique. Every day something happens to one of these companies and we're dealing with it. I sit down with the [O'Leary Financial Group] team every Friday, and we go, "OK, what happened this week?" And we go through the good, the bad, and the ugly, and they're all in different sectors.

I have a very diverse portfolio now. It's really interesting.

SEE ALSO: 'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary explains the best investment he ever made

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NOW WATCH: Here's How Much Mark Cuban Sleeps To Be On Top Of His Game

There are currently five “Game of Thrones” books with a few more in the works. However, author George R.R. Martin’s original plan was for the series to be a trilogy. 

Redditor TheNextRobin noticed a tweet from UK bookseller Waterstones which contained three photos of a 1993 letter Martin wrote outlining the entire series. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before the images made it to the Internet. 

Variety first picked up on the Reddit post. 

While the letters detail many differences that never ended up occurring in the books and show. The biggest real is the five characters who survive at the end of the entire book series.  

Of course, this could have changed by now, but back in ’93 here’s who Martin listed as surviving “Game of Thrones”: *spoilers* Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Tyrion Lannister. *spoilers* 

Here are the letters below. 

So you don’t need to squint, I’ve included a typed out transcript of the three letters. There are some omissions because of giant glare marks on the letters. One of the last paragraphs is also blacked out. There are big spoilers below for those who haven't read the books or watched the shows.

First, the images:

Dear Ralph,

Here are the first thirteen chapters (170 pages) of the high fantasy novel I promised you, which I'm calling A Game of Thrones. When completed, this will be the first volume in what I see as an epic trilogy with the overall title, A Song of Ice and Fire. 

As you know, I don't outline my novels. I find that if I know exactly where a book is going, I lose all interest in writing it. I do, however, have some strong notions as to the overall structure of the story I'm telling, and the eventual fate of many of the principle characters in the drama. Roughly speaking, there are three major conflicts set in motion in the chapters enclosed. These will form the major plot threads of the trilogy, [unclear] each other in what should be a complex but exciting (I hope [unclear] tapestry. Each of the [unclear] presents a major threat [unclear] of my imaginary realm, the Seven Kingdoms, and to the live [unclear] principal characters.

The first threat grows from the emnity between the great houses of Lannister and Stark as it plays out in a cycle of plot, counterplot, ambition, murder, and revenge, with the iron throne of the Seven Kingdoms as the ultimate prize. This will form the backbone of the first volume of the trilogy, A Game of Thrones.

While the lion of Lannister and the direwolf of Stark snarl and scrap, however, a second and greater threat takes shape across the narrow sea, where the Dothraki horselords mass their barbarian hordes for a great invasion of the Seven Kingdoms, led by the fierce and beautiful Daenerys Stormborn, the last of the Targaryen dragonlords. The Dothraki invasion will be the central story of my second volume, A Dance with Dragons.

The greatest danger of all, however, comes from the north, from the icy wastes beyond the Wall, where half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything that we would call "life." The only thing that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and an endless night is the Wall, and a handful of men in black called the Night's Watch. Their story will be [sic] heart of my third volume, The Winds of Winter. The final battle will also draw together characters and plot threads left from the first two books and resolve all in one huge climax.

The thirteen chapters on hand should give you a notion as to my narrative strategy. All three books will feature a complex mosaic of intercutting points-of-view among various of my large and diverse cast of players. The cast will not always remain the same. Old characters will die, and new ones will be introduced. Some of the fatalities will include sympathetic viewpoint characters. I want the reader to feel that no one is ever completely safe, not even the characters who seem to be the heroes. The suspense always ratchets up a notch when you know that any character can die at any time.

--

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.

This is going to be (I hope) quite an epic. Epic in its scale, epic in its action, and epic in its length. I see all three volumes as big books, running about 700 to 800 manuscript pages, so things are just barely getting underway in the thirteen chapters I've sent you.

I have quite a clear notion of how the story is going to unfold in the first volume, A Game of Thrones. Things will get a lot worse for the poor Starks before they get better, I'm afraid. Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn Tully are both doomed, and will perish at the hands of their enemies. Ned will discover what happened to his friend Jon Arryn, [unclear] can act on his knowledge [unclear] will have an unfortunate accident, and the throne will [unclear] to [unclear] and brutal [unclear] Joffrey [unclear] still a minor. Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Arya escape back to Winterfell.

Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Arya, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

Young Bran will come out of his coma, after a strange prophetic dream, only to discover that he will never walk again. He will turn to magic, at first in the hope of restoring his legs, but later for its own sake. When his father Eddard Stark is executed, Bran will see the shape of doom descending on all of them, but nothing he can say will stop his brother Robb from calling the banners in rebellion. All the north will be inflamed by war. Robb will win several splendid victories, and maim Joffrey Baratheon on the battlefield, but in the end he will not be able to stand against Jaime and Tyrion Lannister and their allies. Robb Stark will die in battle, and Tyrion Lannister will besiege and burn Winterfell.

Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night's Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Ben jen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving ... until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

--

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

Over across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen will discover that her new husband, the Dothraki Khal Drogo, has little interest in invading the Seven Kingdoms, much to her brother's frustration. When Viserys presses his claims past the point of tact or wisdom, Khal Drogo will finally grow annoyed and kill him out of hand, eliminating the Targaryen pretender and leaving Daenerys as the last of her line. Danerys [sic] will bide her time, but she will not forget. When the moment is right, she will kill her husband to avenger her brother, and then flee with a trusted friend into the wilderness beyond Vaes Dothrak. There, hunted by [unclear] of her life, she stumbles on a [something about dragon eggs] a young dragon will give Daenerys [unclear] bend [unclear[ to her will. Then she begins to plan for her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.

Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king's brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

[The next graph is blocked out.]

But that's the second book ... 

I hope you will find some editors who are as excited about all of this as I am. Feel free to share this letter with anyone who wants to know how the story will go. 

All best,

George R.R. Martin

SEE ALSO: A “Game of Thrones” actor just broke a 1,000 year-old Viking record for strength

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NOW WATCH: The Real King's Landing In 'Game Of Thrones' Is Actually This Little City In Croatia

On Wednesday night, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams apologized on air for his "bungled" story about getting shot down in Iraq. 

Williams said on air, "I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago ... I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

Shortly before the broadcast, Mashable editor Brian Ries dug up this video of Williams recalling his story on "The Late Show with David Letterman" in 2013. 

Williams starts telling the tale at the 3:00 minute mark:

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NOW WATCH: 11 Facts That Show How Different Russia Is From The Rest Of The World

Warning: There are spoilers ahead. 

Last summer, Warner Bros. abruptly pushed "Jupiter Ascending" back 10 months only weeks before it was due in theaters. 

The latest sci-fi movie from the Wachowski siblings ("The Matrix" trilogy) supposedly needed to complete visual effects. It was expected to be the studio's big summer movie after Johnny Depp's $100 million budget "Transcendence" flopped.  

I think we know the real reason the reported $175 million Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis movie was moved.

"Jupiter Ascending" is terrible.

Don't take my word for it.  

In addition to press, there was a number of general audience members in attendance who received free advance tickets to the media screening. (This is normal. You can usually get these through websites like GoFobo.) 

Here are some of the things viewers were saying as they headed out of the screening:

"It wasn't bad ... it was horrible."

"It was embarrassing."

"That's what they spent $150 million to $200 million on?"

"I can't even explain the plot. You kill humans … so you can use their genes?" (more on this in a bit)

The movie follows Kunis as Jupiter Jones, your not-so-average looking maid who cleans houses for a living with her obnoxious Russian family. One day, she finds out there's a bunch of other species living outside of Earth and that she's actually the ruler of our planet. Two groups of different people, one led by Titus (Douglas Booth) and another by Balem (Eddie Redmayne), are out to capture and murder her so they can have control of the planet. 

Why do they want control of the planet? To harvest humans. The aliens have apparently been using human cells to create a regeneration serum for some time. 

Yep. That's it. The whole movie is about aliens wanting to preserve their youth by killing humans. 

In a point that's sort of glossed over quickly, but better explained in the film's production notes, Jupiter is what is known as a "recurrence." She's born with the exact genetic DNA as a royal that just passed away and for some reason this now makes her the reincarnation of that person.

But, unless I missed something, it's not clear how anyone knows Jupiter even exists. It's not like her father or mother were royalty. Jupiter has no clue she's royalty, and once she learns she is, she doesn't find out that she has any secret, magical powers. So the basic premise of the film, where aliens are worried about Jupiter, a lowly, humble, toilet scrubber overthrowing all of them, is pretty thin.  

I don't remember the last time I've said "What is going on right now?" (not in those actual words) so many times during a film screening to myself. This isn't because I couldn't follow the movie's plot, it was just because what was occurring on screen: the dialogue, the acting, the strange-looking characters were all so bizarre at points that there was no other way to react. 

Here are a few of the things I'm talking about: 

1. There's a ridiculous bee scene

Early on, when Jupiter is learning she's royal, there's a scene where a group of bees start to follow her. (Why are there bees hanging around? Why not?) The group slowly builds until there's a giant swarm surrounding her, but not stinging. When she moves her arms, they move with her. When she asks why they do that, you're sitting there waiting for a good response. Instead, the answer we receive is that the bees sense royalty. The audience cracked up at this in disbelief. To add insult to injury, this was followed up with the line, "Bees don't lie." 

I've never wanted to relive the Nicolas Cage bee scene from the 2006 "Wicker Man" remake, but this was all I could think of: 

 2. Random egg selling

There's a crazy subplot early in the film where Jupiter considers selling her own eggs at the behest of her sleazy cousin (you can't make this stuff up) to make some easy cash. He wants to buy a big flat screen TV and Jupiter has her sights on a $4,000 telescope on eBay. What? 

3. Mila Kunis slaps a sanitary pad onto Channing Tatum to patch up a wound.

I guess this was supposed to be humorous. It's not. It's kind of just gross, especially when Sean Bean, who plays a secondary character, later tears it off on screen, waving it at Kunis.  

4. Channing Tatum is a half-human, half-wolf

You read that right. He doesn't have a tail, but he does have a keen sense of smell, some pointed ears, and, yes, he does growl a few times in film. Honestly, he looks ridiculous, and because of that, and some added eyeliner, it's difficult to take Tatum, seriously. Even his name is Caine, an obvious reference to canine. 

5. Kunis' character continually hits on half-wolf Tatum, and it makes for the most awkward screen time and dialogue ever

The two actors have chemistry; however, the romance between the two feels so overtly forced, even the audience could tell. There's a scene in the movie where Jupiter says she's into Caine. Here's how that conversation goes down.

Caine: "I have more in common with dogs than I do with you."

Jupiter: "I love dogs."

The audience burst out laughing at this. Later in the film, there's even an overt reference to "Beauty and the Beast," to describe their relationship.

6. The creatures are terrifying.

An early scene in the film shows a group of short aliens trying to abduct a woman. These are some of the creepiest things I've ever seen on screen, and it's probably why you haven't seen a trace of them in marketing. The film's production notes say they're supposed to "resemble classic grey ETs."  

The same goes for a bizarre lizard/dragon mashup with wings.  

Some of the characters just look like knockoffs of other sci-fi animals. There's an elephant-looking creature that pops up a few times that looks like a mix between Ten Numb and Max Webo from "Star Wars."

You can sort of see him here in the background.

7. And then there's Eddie Redmayne's character, Balem Abrasax, who is on a completely different level of crazy in this film.

After a masterful Oscar-nominated performance in 2014's "The Theory of Everything," Redmayne gives a pitifully poor performance as a spoiled brat. He comes across as a fragile, strange creature, who speaks in eerily calm, creepy whispers. Then there would be these disjointed moments when he would scream out loud at people. Audiences laughed every time this occurred.  

It was as if Redmayne was actually channelling the awkwardness of Michael Sheen's vampire character Aro in the "Twilight" movies. It was essentially the same role. 

The Wachowski siblings said they wanted to put together a bunch of genres — a sci-fi film mixed with a thriller, an "action epic," and a "love story" — but in doing so, it's hard to figure out what this film wants to be.

There's no question that it's a sci-fi flick, but other than the ridiculous premise, the entire film doesn't feel original. It has the feel of "The Fifth Element," for its elaborate and outlandish space creatures and ship designs, and "Ender's Game" (for same space visuals). However, unlike "The Fifth Element," I doubt we'll be seeing re-runs of this on cable television anytime soon.

There were three good things about this film:

1. There's a point near the end where Kunis (sort of) beats the crap out of Redmayne's character. 

I was waiting for Kunis to be this break-out strong female character, and other than a few small parts in the film, she's not. She's whiny (she complains about how she hates her life in the beginning of the film), she's insanely gullible (she's convinced to marry a guy she just met in practically seconds even though he plans to kill her), and, except for a brief part in one of the film's climactic moments, she plays the D.I.D. (damsel in distress) to Tatum's character for most of the film. Sigh.

2. Channing Tatum's gravity boots

Caine soars through the streets and skies of Chicago and other worlds with these special anti-gravity shoes. Imagine using a hoverboard turns your shoes into flat roller skates and you have the idea. It was probably the most entertaining part of the film. 

3. The visuals.

There's no question that there was an incredible amount of time devoted to making sure the film was visually beautiful. The film's production notes mention that to get the right shades of purple, indigo, and gold into the film's background at one point, they shot the film at a specific point of the year in Chicago between 5:15 and 5:45 a.m. That's dedication, but it's something viewers won't appreciate because most moviegoers aren't going to know that going in to the film.

18 months were spent visualizing costumes and hundreds of alien looks and hybrid human/animals for the movie before filming began. However, this is the downfall of "Jupiter Ascending." There's too much attention to detail and too little focus on the big picture. If the Wachowski siblings spent as much time on the story as they obviously did on the film's aesthetics, the movie may have had some potential. However, the visuals alone are not going to sell me on a movie. There needs to be some meat and potatoes with my gravy. 

Right now, BoxOffice.com is tracking the film to make $19 million opening weekend. The duo's last film, 2012's "Cloud Atlas," starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, debuted to $9.6 million. Instead, Paramount's "Spongebob Squarepants" sequel, which has been over a decade in the making, is expected to dominate the weekend making $35 million.

One thing's clear. 

There's one must-see Channing Tatum movie this year from Warner Bros., and it's not going to be "Jupiter Ascending."

"Jupiter Ascending" is in theaters Fri. Feb. 6.

Watch a trailer below.

SEE ALSO: "Jupiter Ascending" was shown at a secret Sundance screening and the responses were not good

Join the conversation about this story »

The following post is an excerpt from the book Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone by Marky Ramone.

Every time I ran into [my friend] Dee Dee at CBGB in the winter of ’78, he told me I ought to join the Ramones. As if you could just do that, like joining the Y or the ACLU.

He said the band was having trouble with Tommy, their drummer, and I was actually a little upset to hear that. I didn’t want the original lineup of the Ramones to break up. I was a fan. But I didn’t put much stock in what Dee Dee said. He was a nut and known to exaggerate.

It takes a nut to be involved with two psychotic women at once. About a year before, he was living in an apartment with Connie, a violent stalker, prostitute, and drug addict. Dee Dee was also having a fling with Nancy Spungen, the schizophrenic girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. When she came home to find Dee Dee in bed with Nancy, Connie grabbed an empty beer bottle, smashed it, and stabbed Dee Dee in the ass with the jagged edge.

But when Johnny Ramone asked to meet with me about joining the band, the whole proposition turned real. I arrived at Max’s with Marion, and we took seats across from John and Roxy in a booth up front. I was impressed with John. He seemed to have a handle on the Ramones’ business matters and a vision of how to get the band through this difficult transition. Joey wasn’t exactly up to it, and Dee Dee would have sent the whole thing into the toilet.

John laid down some rules. Maybe they were more like guidelines. 

Whatever they were, the Ramones didn’t get high before playing. Me neither. Dress on and off the stage was leather jackets, jeans, and sneakers. I was already wearing all that and had been forever. Dee Dee always counts off the songs. Definitely. I know. We don’t go away on tour for more than a month. Sounds good. We travel together, and girlfriends are welcome. Marion can come. Thanks.

The only confusing thing was the audition. There would be one at the Ramones’ rehearsal studio. But John discussed the rules and regs like my being a Ramone was already a done deal. Then I thought, Whatever they call it, I’ll blow it away.

On our way out of Max’s, Marion and I put our heads together. We had heard through the grapevine that the Ramones already auditioned several drummers, maybe more. Marion’s take was the Ramones knew from the start that I had the experience they needed, but in the back of their minds they preferred a nobody they could boss around. It was hard to get all that in the same package, so over time they realized I was their man.

From what I had heard, Dee Dee wasn’t the only one rooting for me. Tommy was, too. In fact, Tommy was the one who first suggested me. Beyond whatever had happened between him and the other Ramones, Tommy still loved the band and wanted it to continue. What better way to do it than with an experienced professional drummer who knew the ropes?

When I walked into Performance Studios on East Twentieth Street in Manhattan and sat down, Tommy was sitting at a drum set behind the set I would be using. It was an unusual way to run an audition, a show, or anything musical unless maybe you were in the Grateful Dead. I asked him what all this was about.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tommy said. “Just in case you need a little help.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I got it.”

I shot Tommy a little smile. I really did have it. The songs “I Don’t Care,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” were on the jukebox at CBGB, on my stereo, and in my world. I had listened to them again before coming down, and that was enough. It wasn’t like learning “From a Dry Camel.” But they were great songs, and I was like Sheena and her friends—all hopped up and ready to go. Even so, I appreciated Tommy’s concern. He literally had my back.

Dee Dee counted “One, two, three, four!” and we launched into “I Don’t Care.” It was one of the purest rock-and-roll songs written after the year 1962. With a deliberate, powerful beat underpinning a progression based on E, F, G, A, it was a song a novice could learn on but never tire of playing: not caring about the world or the girl was the entire message served up in two lines, repeated over and over like a punk mantra.

The song clocked in at a minute forty seconds. We were locked in as a band within the first ten of those seconds. Thirty seconds in, the audition—if there ever was one—was over. We were relaxed and smiling. Rehearsal had begun.

I had my work cut out for me. Recording for the new album, Road to Ruin, was set to begin in less than three weeks. We'd be doing shows immediately after. We were scheduled to do fourteen songs for the album, and the Ramones’ live set was twenty-four songs.

So I had almost forty songs to learn, minus the three for the audition, in about the length of a honeymoon. The Ramones handed me a pair of cassette demo tapes with all the songs. I stopped in at Sam Ash on Forty-Eighth Street and picked up a set of drum pads.

When I got back to the apartment on Ocean Avenue, I hooked up a pair of headphones to the boom box I had gotten with the Voidoids advance. Right next to it, I set up the pads. And that’s where I spent most of the next eighteen days.

My favorite song on the Road to Ruin demo was “I Wanna Be Sedated.” It was catchy and huge even in stripped-down form on a cheap cassette tape.

It was pop but without sacrificing hardness. Lyrically, being sedated could mean any number of things, but at its simplest level it was about needing a drink. The song captured being on the road just about perfectly. Of course, I had never been on the road with the Ramones, but I would be finding out what that was like soon enough.

I also really liked “I Just Want to Have Something to Do” and “Go Mental.” “Mental” was faster than most Ramones songs—and faster than most songs, period. It felt like what it was about: sitting in a hospital bed and losing your mind. The album’s one cover song, “Needles and Pins,” was written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono back in 1963.

The original single was done by Jackie DeShannon, but the Searchers had more success with it the following year, giving it an early-Beatles feel. The chord changes and subject matter—heartbreak and holding back tears—were right up the Ramones’ alley.

We recorded at Media Sound in Manhattan. I was prepared, but everyone there totally expected that of me. I understood my role from the get-go. I was not a ringer, mercenary, hired gun, or session player. I was a member of the band who could nonetheless deliver what a ringer, merce- nary, hired gun, or session player could deliver. But I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to help take the band’s sound to the next level.

There was a lot of heavy competition out there. Not so much from the punk bands. I considered the Ramones the originators of punk, so in that sense there was no one to compete with. But the Ramones were a punk rock band with the emphasis on rock. In rock, there were a lot of big boys with heavy drums: AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, and Van Halen. Van Halen were the new kids on the block, and someone the Ramones might not even have considered. Yet their self-titled album had just come out and it was worth considering.

Van Halen stood out from the corporate rock clones being churned out monthly by the music industry. Eddie Van Halen loved Page, Beck, and Clapton but squeezed his influences out of his black-and-white-striped red Charvel with a new, wild hammer-on style of playing that was melodic, smooth, and raucous all at the same time. Alex Van Halen’s drums were huge, sounded huge, and were locked in perfectly with his brother’s play- ing as well as bassist Michael Anthony’s. The band didn’t take itself very seriously. They were kind of campy, thanks especially to lead singer David Lee Roth, who brought his Las Vegas A-game to the show. The album was a fun listen and made me think.

The idea for Road to Ruin, I thought, was not to be Van Halen or anyone else. The idea was to be a heavier Ramones. We had our fans and would keep aiming to please them. And we had our punk/new wave competition—the Clash, the Police, the Cars. But there was no harm in letting the metalheads and all their cousins know that the Ramones could rock a stadium if they needed to.

To begin with, I tuned my snare a lot tighter than Tommy’s and used larger cymbals. I wanted to get more projection and impact from the sound. There were a bunch of other factors involving microphone placement, levels, and even the way I struck the kit that would give the songs a bolder, more muscular feel. The beauty of the situation was that I had a great producer who worked closely with me to get that sound: Tommy. He hadn’t just passed me a golden baton. He was clearing the track for me. Tommy was there alongside me every step of the way.

The very first song we tracked was “Sedated.” I speeded up the tempo a bit from the demo. The song itself didn’t feel right sedated. It had to be manic and in need of sedation. I added a few fills here and there that helped distinguish the parts, plus a critical fill in the break. It sounded nice when we did it. Then it jumped out of the monitors and had all of us smiling.

During recording, I noticed Joey had a funny habit. He would touch a spot somewhere—the mixing console, a chair, a microphone stand—and then touch it again. And again. And again. It didn’t matter. His vocals were great, and he didn’t need to do them again and again and again. It was just a little weird.

Igot to meet and talk to the full Ramones entourage, including Seymour Stein of Sire Records. Seymour was already my boss from the Voidoids, but he especially loved the Ramones. He appreciated the way they took the chord changes and vocal approach of the doo-wop era and spit it back out as their own—harder, faster, and a little warped. Seymour was knowledgeable, easygoing, and quiet.

His wife made up for the quiet part. Linda Stein was a short, loud, opinionated, outgoing quintessential New Yorker. She started out as a schoolteacher—probably one you would never want to be caught throwing a spitball at. She learned the music business from her husband, and the Ramones were lucky to have her managing their business.

Danny Fields was the other half of the Ramones management team.

Danny had started out doing publicity for the Doors and later was instrumental in signing the Stooges and MC5 to Elektra. In 1975, he brought the Ramones to the attention of Sire. Danny was the hands-on manager for the group, plying connections at rock magazines, booking venues, getting the band radio interviews. Together, the Steins and Danny Fields spearheaded a professional organization behind what looked like four punks in street clothes.

It was this professional team that asked me about changing my name. I was off to a good start, but we weren’t going to be Marc Bell and the Ramones. My new last name was a done deal, but I needed a first name that ended in a long-e sound. Rocky Ramone was either too suggestive of the Sylvester Stallone movie or made me sound like a gangster. Timmy, Jimmy, and Willie Ramone and a dozen others made me puke. And just adding a y to Marc came out to Marcy, which was not only a girl’s name but happened to be the name of the discount store Marcy’s, across the street from Erasmus High School. The fewer reminders of high school, the better.

So I said, “Let’s go with Marky, with a k.” My grandmother called me Marky as a kid, and the name was made famous by Marky Maypo. In the fifties and sixties, Maypo was one of the big three hot cereals, along with Farina and Wheatena. Mickey Mantle was a pitchman for Maypo, literally crying if he didn’t get a bowl of the stuff. Marky Maypo was the goofy, whinny, cartoon mascot wearing a cowboy hat. For the sake of nostalgia, I could live with that. So Marky, like the cereal, stuck.

There was no need to change my name legally. My bills would still come to Marc Bell. And so would my paychecks. The Ramones team let me know that I would be receiving a nice check every week, on time, from our accountant Ira Herzog. The check would come whether we were on the road or off. When we toured, there would be extra per diem payments based on the shows we did. This was all a load off my mind and off Marion’s. Moving into Manhattan was on the horizon.

From PUNK ROCK BLITZKRIEG: MY LIFE AS A RAMONE by Marky Ramone and Richard Herschlag.  Copyright © 2014 by Mark Steven Bell. Published by Touchstone, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

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NOW WATCH: Kanye West explains how marriage has helped him become a better man

The on-camera talent of America's highest-rated network evening news broadcast and "the 23rd-most-trusted person in the country" is now the face of viral internet memes.

Brian Williams, who has anchored "NBC Nightly News" for more than a decade, was forced to take a temporary leave of absence over "the next several days" amid the growing scandal of false claims he made regarding his reporting in Iraq.

Williams, who earns $13 million annually (making him America's fourth-highest-paid news broadcaster), admitted to confusing parts of a story he shared on air about riding in a helicopter shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2003. On Wednesday, after multiple military members questioned Williams' personal account, which he had repeated on numerous occasions, he apologized on camera to his audience.

Since then, Williams' coverage of Hurricane Katrina and other notable accounts are under internal investigation.

Here are some of our favorite reactions:

riding shotgun with O.J. #BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/52E6h5tVcl

— Calhoun (@linkcalhoun) February 5, 2015

"Damn, those tablets were heavy!" #BrianWilliamsMisrememberspic.twitter.com/orXsbLU9Bf

— Serr8d (@serr8d) February 5, 2015

"That one live shot I did from the moon" #BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/FbND6jAqc7

— Greg Dutra (@DutraWeather) February 5, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers The opinion of the entire NBC News Division is that a blockade is best option here, Jack. pic.twitter.com/OxEua3DKkt

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

Brian Williams misremembers -- Internet won't let him forget it: http://t.co/5Uu1kAuw9i#BrianWilliamsMisrememberspic.twitter.com/mDZbVGbvEJ

— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) February 7, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/L30hn90BCP

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

@zerohedge More breaking Brian Williams news... pic.twitter.com/DdVdKcOyh0

— Squeeze Indicator (@SqueezeTrading) February 8, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers Brian The Astronaut pic.twitter.com/keU4dSRBog

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

"It wasn't a dream. It was a place. And you were there, and you, and you ...." #BrianWilliamsMisremembers#WizardOfOzpic.twitter.com/0T51hqBY9u

— Tracy L. (@ViewFromAskew) February 5, 2015

'84 was magical. I needed a perfect 10 on the vault to secure the gold...and I did it. #BrianWilliamsMisrememberspic.twitter.com/jY2bO8PPv2

— Mark Turcotte (@mark_turcotte) February 5, 2015

"The sky is literally falling here in Pangea…" #BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/LwDtUlo59t

— Kyle Grantham (@kylegrantham) February 5, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/MtNGJH1PsH

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers If it were me, I'd start with something catchy like Four score and seven years ago ... pic.twitter.com/Lc4iqF0Jp2

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

Brian Williams' tall tale of Iraq war becomes art meme. http://t.co/1XIEJOrOSr#BrianWilliamsMemoriespic.twitter.com/Lanxfd7o0X

— BU Art Gallery (@BUArtGallery) February 8, 2015

Brian breaking America. #BrianWilliamsMisrememberspic.twitter.com/AIm96Mn5xx

— Craig Wilson (@CWilso57) February 5, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers h/t Matthew Thomas pic.twitter.com/yNch3feqGT

— MLB Memes (@MLBMeme) February 8, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers the Battle of Thermopyle pic.twitter.com/KSZCC3uoo7

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) February 5, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisremembers#BrianWilliamsWarStories Brian in the trenches defending the world. pic.twitter.com/Lk1sJaXDwF

— Яob (@robx_d) February 5, 2015

@robx_d@CifJamestownpic.twitter.com/3A8isZvLPZ

— Chuck Pfarrer (@ChuckPfarrer) February 6, 2015

#BrianWilliamsMisrememberspic.twitter.com/hh056rL48q

— Яob (@robx_d) February 6, 2015

Why, Brian, why?? pic.twitter.com/fCiLu7dItR

— StuffJournalistsLike (@JournalistsLike) February 8, 2015

pic.twitter.com/MWfBiod5j4

— Franklin Harris (@FranklinH3000) February 8, 2015

SEE ALSO: Brian Williams is leaving 'NBC Nightly News' for the next several days

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What Happened When A Bunch Of Young Boys Were Told To Hit A Girl

The 57th annual Grammy awards are this Sunday.

This year's nominees, presenters, and performers will all go home with a gift bag full of goodies worth an estimated $25,000.

Distinctive Assets has hosted the Grammy Gift Lounge and packaged the accompanying gift bag for 16 years now.

From lip balm and tooth paste to a $14,000 trip through the Rocky Mountains, see the strange and cool swag the celebrities will bring home even if they don't get an award.

A $3.99 bottle of Purell hand sanitizer

A $16.95 memoir, "...And I Breathed" from former CEO of Global Music at Live Nation, Jason Garner.

Garner reveals what his life was like as a concert promoter while juggling his personal life.

Get the book here.

An illustrated children's book called "Archibald's Next Big Thing" valued at $24.95.

The book is by Emmy-winning actor Tony Hale ("Veep").

The Grammys are tonight and that means it's time to familiarize yourself with some artists.

Here are a few need-to-know artists who are going up against the venerable Beyoncé, the popular Taylor Swift, and the ubiquitous Pharrell.  Some of these artists are viable competitors!

1. Hozier

What he's nominated for: Song of The Year
What you should know: The Irish singer is responsible what might be the best song of the year, "Take Me To Church." The song was actually released in 2013, and the video made waves for its depiction of sexuality and its open critique of those who condemn homosexuality. In an excellent interview with The Cut, Hozier (full name: Andrew Hozier-Byrne) clarified what the song was about. He said:

"Take Me to Church" is essentially about sex, but it's a tongue-in-cheek attack at organizations that would … well, it's about sex and it's about humanity, and obviously sex and humanity are incredibly tied. Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that's not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced.

Hozier has also recently made viral waves for a video which features him covering Ariana Grande's "Problem."

2. Sia

What she's nominated for: Record of The Year, Song of The Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Music Video
What you should know:  "Chandelier" was played all over the radio this summer, and its corresponding video wowed audiences, but Sia didn't emerge from out of nowhere. In fact, the songerwriter, who often is credited as Sia Furler, has written scores of hit pop songs for Beyonce, Rihanna, and more. 2014 was the year she took center stage, and it could pay off — Billboard reported Spotify predicts "Chandelier" will take home some of the top prizes. 

3. Childish Gambino

What he's nominated for: Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album
What you should know: If he looks familiar to you, there's a reason — Childish Gambino is actor and comedian Donald Glover, who you probably know from "Community." He has gained significant success and popularity as a rapper. He revealed some of his fears about his career, relationships, and this very album on Instagram in late 2013. Mic also took the time to point out that the comedian's way with words transfers to his lyrics — his rhymes are chock full of wordplay.

4. Haim

What they're nominated for: Best New Artist
What you should know: The band actually gained attention in 2013 — people started taking notice of this indie-pop girl group after the women performed on Saturday Night Live. The band is composed of three sisters, and Rolling Stone profiled their meteoric rise at the end of 2013. SPIN called the band's debut album, "Days Are Gone," "one of the most ruthlessly proficient pieces of music to come out this year." 

5. Sam Smith

What he's nominated for: Record of The Year, Album of The Year, Song of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album
What you should know: Smith is pegged to take home plenty of awards. It's like you're familar with his massive hit, "Stay With Me," and his excellent and emotional album, "In The Lonely Hour." Smith recently received some attention from the media when word surfaced that he has to pay Tom Petty royalties for "Stay With Me," since it sounds so much like Petty's "I Won't Back Down."

6. Ed Sheeran

What he's nominated for: Album of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Song Written for Visual Media
What you should know: "I See Fire" gained popularity with "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," but Sheeran became a star in his own right this year." Sheeran is also friends with fellow-nominee Taylor Swift.

7. Meghan Trainor

What she's nominated for: Record of The Year, Song of The Year
What you should know: You heard "All About That Bass" all summer long, and Trainor is the woman behind the body acceptance anthem. The song prompted a bevy of thinkpieces, criticism,parodies, and more, but its catchy tune landed her two major nominations.  But can the rest of Trainor's music — including the similarly-sounding "Lips Are Movin" — gain the success that "All About That Bass" did?

8. Bastille

What they're nominated for: Best New Artist
What you should know: That song that played all year wasn't called "If You Close Your Eyes" — it's actually called "Pompeii." In fact, it was released in 2013. 

9. Brandy Clark

What she's nominated for: Best New Artist, Best Country Album
What you should know: She's the only contender in the Best Country Album category who's also nominated for a Best New Artist award. That might because she's not so new to the country game. Even though her album, "12 Stories," marks her debut a solo artist, she's a seasoned pro when it comes to writing country songs. In fact, similarly to pop music's hitmaker-turned-solo artist, Sia, Clark has written songs for other artists, such as Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Sheryl Crow, Darius Rucker, and more.

10. St. Vincent

What she's nominated for: Best Alternative Music Album 
What you should know: This is St. Vincent's first Grammy nomination, even though her debut album, "Marry Me," was released in 2007. St. Vincent (real name: Annie Clark) was dubbed "Our David Bowie" by GQ Magazine for her massive guitar-playing talents and proclivity for writing unique songs.

11. Alt-J

What they're nominated for: Best Alternative Music Album
What you should know: Rolling Sonte noted that the British band counts Miley Cyrus as one of its fans (it helps that the band sampled one of her tracks on their recent album, "This Is All Yours"). The band is known for blending a wide variety of musical styles in their tracks.

12. ScHoolboy Q

What he's nominated for: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Album
What you should know:  ScHoolboy Q has been around for a few years, but now he's getting some more attention. When Pitchfork's Craig Jenkins reviewed Schoolboy Q's now-nominated album, "Oxymoron," he wrote:

ScHoolboy Q specializes in hairpin turns from cautionary street tales and remorseful reflection into wanton bacchanal, and Oxymoron is essentially a volleyball match between his warring proclivities ... Oxymoron is a victory in that Q’s sound has made the jump to the majors fully intact in an era where major label debuts often take a chop shop approach to assembly.

DJ Premier commented that ScHoolboy Q should take the prize for Best Rap Album over rap-pop star, Iggy Azalea.

13. Ledisi

What she's nominated for: Best R&B Performance
What you should know: Ledisi is up against Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, and Jennifer Hudson, which is huge competition. Her nominated song, "Like This," only has just over 100,000 views on YouTube. But even though the 42-year-old songstress may not be as mainstream as her competition is, she still has received ample praise. NPR noted that her performance at the Essence Music Festival "stopped the whole thing dead."

14. Jhené Aiko

What she's nominated for: Best R&B Song, Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
What you should know: Aiko has been singing for awhile, but many took notice when she sang alongside Drake during his "Saturday Night Live" performance in January 2014. Billboard celebrated her debut studio album with plenty of accolades:

On Aiko's major label debut, "Souled Out,"  the cuts run deep, searing with spite and indifference. Often, she's calling a love interest out on his missteps. Even more, she looks inward, chronicling her wearisome romantic history. The bulk of the 12-song set is delivered in a quiet fashion, in the way the emotionless speak when their well's run dry. [...] "Souled Out" is an insular album, not meant to spill from nightclub speakers or queued up on playlists at house parties. It's 'party of one' music to overthink with and lines to quote when angry at a significant other--the soundtrack for hard times.

SEE ALSO: Sam Smith top new face in Grammy nominations

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"Game of Thrones" actor Hafthor Bjornsson recently broke a 1,000 year-old Viking record for strength by carrying a 32-foot, 1,433 pound log for five steps at The World’s Strongest Viking competition in Norway, a regional competition similar to The World’s Strongest Man.

Check out the full video here:

On "Game of Thrones,"  Bjornsson plays “The Mountain,” a knight known for his ferocious strength.

Outside of the show, Bjornsson is a professional strongman, spending his time lifting huge weights and competing in strongman competitions like The World’s Strongest Man.

The record that Bjornsson broke comes from the Icelandic legend of viking Orm Storulfsson, who it was said carried the mast of a ship with the same specifications for three steps. In the legend, 50 men had to place the log on Storulfsson’s back and, after the third step, he broke his back and was never the same.

Bjornsson had no such trouble, suffering no injuries in the effort. 

Bjornsson is now moving on to The World’s Strongest Man competition. Last year, he placed second, losing to four-time champion Zydrunas Savickas.

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The 57th annual Grammy Awards took place Sunday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

While artists like Kanye West, Rihanna, and Katy Perry all performed, the real attraction was on the red carpet.

Kanye West with Kim Kardashian, in Jean Paul Gaultier.

Beyoncé arrived in an all-black Proenza Schouler dress.

Rihanna rocked a poofy pink Giambattista Valli gown on the red carpet ...

Despite reading Kirsten Acuna's scathing review of "Jupiter Ascending" and other dire press (22% on Rotten Tomatoes), I decided to see the movie this weekend. After all, I take pride in appreciating science fiction that many don't like, such as "Lucy," "John Carter," "In Time," and "Repo Men." And I didn't just see the movie: I shelled out $22.50 on Fandango for Regal's premium RPX 3D screening in Times Square so I could see the $175-million Warner Bros. feature at its best.

Oh what a horrible mistake I made. Written and directed by The Wachowskis, "Jupiter" is so bad it made me want never to go out to the movies again.

The plot is ridiculous, but it's the inept and tedious script that seals the deal.

See, it's only ten minutes into the movie that we meet the ancient human aristocrat siblings from another planet who have been harvesting rejuvenating lifeblood from species on planets around the universe and who plan to do the same to planet Earth, which they actually seeded with humans after having first wiped out the dinosaurs.

After that ham-fisted exposition, it's no surprise when earthling cleaning lady Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who is introduced with an equally ham-fisted voiceover about her parents, encounters aliens and wolf-human hybrid Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) and gets swept up in an adventure. She doesn't seem surprised either — and as a Kunis fan I'm going to do her the credit of blaming the script and not her acting.

Compare that to exposition in "The Matrix," which is the one good movie I've seen by The Wachowskis. That movie grabs you from the first scene, as protagonist Neo (Keanu Reeves) receives a mysterious message and is sent running for his life, and there's a dramatic buildup before he takes the plunge and learns the shocking truth about the world (that humans are being harvested by, in that case, machines). "Jupiter" treats a comparable plot with the drama of a Wikipedia page.

The Wachowski's latest doesn't get any better from there. Jones, after learning she is the genetic second coming of one of those ancient aristocrats, suffers through boring and repetitive encounters with all of her new family members, as they pretend to be her friends and she almost falls for it long enough to sign away her rights.

The directors "make world domination as boring as filing your taxes," notes BI's Brett Arnold.

We are also treated to a cornfield showdown that feels like a knockoff of "Looper"; space rogue hijinks that feel like a knockoff of "Guardians of the Galaxy"; a Steampunk bureaucracy that feels like a knockoff of "Brazil" — with a Terry Gilliam cameo; and a wedding that feels like a knockoff of "The Princess Bride."

Then there are ludicrous details, like how the guy who settled on a bee farm happens to be named Stinger Apine (Sean Bean) — that's Stinger as in bee stinger and Apine as a play on the Latin apis meaning bee.

And that part only gets more ridiculous when Jones visits and learns that she has the power to control bees because bees have the ability to recognize royalty — not just bee royalty but also humans who are genetically identical to those ancient humans who rule the universe.

Meanwhile, Wise is not developed at all, and the only significance of his wolf splicing seems to be pointed ears and stoicism. This humorless character is a waste of Tatum's comedic talent and charm, and it makes for a painfully awkward romance with Jones.

Wise: "I have more in common with dogs than I do with you."

Jones: "I love dogs."

Dumb movies can be fun, but this one is just boring, and it drags out for 127 minutes.

The only redeeming qualities of the movie are good special effects, production design, and — to a certain extent — action sequences.

There is great part early on when Wise, equipped with awesome gravity boots that let him surf on anything, a energy shield, and a directed-energy gun, embarrasses a group of space mercenaries and follows it up by winning an aerial fight in Chicago against a bunch of aliens with cool spaceships.

But the action sequences go on too long, and at a certain point watching so much CGI becomes as interesting as watching "Halo." This was most apparent in the climactic aerial battle between Wise and a winged lizard person in the middle of an exploding base on Jupiter: Strip away the CGI and you're left with Tatum's face spinning in a circle for five minutes.

While this movie might fare better among non-native English speakers, it seems likely to be a flop, which was expected last summer when Warner Bros. abruptly pushed the movie back 10 months only weeks before it was due in theaters — and it's off to a bad start on opening weekend.

I could go on but will instead direct readers to Acuna's lengthy discussion of how much this movie stinks.

SEE ALSO: The coolest new sci-fi feature is on Amazon Prime

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Switzerland is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its extremely secretive banking business.

It's for that reason, private Swiss bank accounts are popularly seen as belonging to only tax dodgers and, well, Swiss nationals.

Indeed, when newly leaked HSBC documents named musicians David Bowie, Phil Collins and Tina Turner as being tied to Swiss bank accounts, it wasn't a big deal because all three are actually legal residents of Switzerland or living in Switzerland.

But the story's a tiny bit less clear for actor John Malkovich, fashion designer Diane Von Fürstenberg, and soccer star Diego Forlán.

On Sunday, the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists along with news outlets the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama, and CBS's 60 Minutes published what they found in HSBC’s Swiss private bank documents stolen and leaked by whistleblower Hervé Falciani. The journalists conclude that among other things, HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients evade taxes. The leaked files date 2005-2007.

Without establishing any clear connection to illegal activity, the journalists went ahead and revealed the names of a bunch of celebrities whose names appeared.

Here's a summary of names and what the journalists found:

John Malcovich (actor): "Hollywood actor John Malkovich, for instance, said through a representative that he knows nothing about an account listing his name and conjectured that it might have to do with Bernard Madoff, the former stockbroker convicted of fraud who handled some of his finances."

Joan Collins (actress): "A representative for the British actress Joan Collins told ICIJ: 'In 1993 my client deposited funds into a bank account in London and subsequently discovered that, without her instructions, the money had been transferred to the Swiss account referred to in your letter.' The representative added that no tax was avoided."

Christian Slater (actor): "Christian Michael Slater was linked to an HSBC client account named "Captain Kirk,” after the Star Trek character. It was opened in 1996 and closed in 1997. The account listed two postal addresses: one in the United States, associated with ERNST & YOUNG LLP, and one in the United Kingdom. The leaked files do not specify the exact role Slater had in relation to the account."

Diane Von Fürstenberg (fashion designer): "Diane Von Fürstenberg's was linked to four HSBC client accounts: two numbered that were opened in 1988 and later closed in 1996 and 2002. There was another account under the name “Thunderbird Investments Ltd,” in which she showed up as beneficial owner, opened in 1994 and closed in 2002 and one account for “Licom Ltd,” where at one point she was listed as “Attorney B.” Two family members were also linked to the client account. Her mother was listed as beneficial owner of the account and then stricken. “Licom Ltd” listed seven bank accounts that together held as much as $6,268,217 in 2006/2007 ... A spokeswoman told ICIJ that von Fürstenberg inherited Thunderbird Investments Ltd. from her parents, who were not American tax residents, and that she never received anything from Licom Ltd. Von Fürstenberg 'made all necessary US tax filings and insisted that the assets be domesticated to the United States more than 10 years ago.'"

Diego Forlán (soccer player): "Diego Forlán became an HSBC client in 2006, while he was playing in Spain for Villarreal. He was connected to two client accounts that together listed four bank accounts. Two of them were associated with the account Rosario Trading Company S.A where he was listed as “Attorney C,” and two were associated to numbered account 12661 ZDF. Together the accounts held as much as $1.4 million in 2006/2007. The leaked files do not specify the exact role that Forlán had in relation to the numbered account."

Elle MacPherson (model): "Elle MacPherson was connected to seven HSBC client accounts. She was beneficial owner of five of them. The other two, under the names of “Elle MacPherson Capital A/C” and “Elle MacPherson income A/C” do not specify the exact role that she had in relation to the accounts. The four client accounts still operative in 2008 were linked to 25 bank accounts that together held as much as $12.2 million in 2006/2007. Three of the accounts for which she was the beneficial owner were closed in 2000, 2001 and 2004."

It's quite possible that all of these celebrities' accounts were legit and legal.

Unfortunately, their names are appearing next to alleged blood diamond traffickers and illegal arms dealers.

Read more about all of this at ICIJ.com.

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Paul McCartney got a little more air time on the Grammys than he expected.

It all started when Ed Sheeran and ELO's Jeff Lynne performed "Evil Woman."

The majority of the crowd was a little young to know the 1975 hit, but not 72-year-old Paul McCartney!

McCartney stood up, shook his hips, clapped his hands, and sang along to "Evil Woman" as the two rocked out on stage.

But as soon as McCartney realized the audience camera was pointed directly at him, the Beatle went into a panic and hurriedly sat down, his embarrassment palpable from viewers' couches. 

McCartney then quickly returned to the comfort of his seat next to wife Nancy Shevell.Later in the show, McCartney regained his confidence and joined Kanye West and Rihanna onstage for "Four Five Seconds."

SEE ALSO: The most ridiculous outfits at tonight's Grammy Awards

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“Breaking Bad” spinoff “Better Call Saul” premiered on AMC Sunday, and it’s everything you could possibly want from a spinoff of the hit series — musical montages that pull at your heartstrings, cameos from some of your favorite Albuquerque natives, and plenty of Saul trying to talk his way out of trouble.

We previewed the first two episodes of the spinoff series featuring lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) last month, and hands down, it's one of the best midseason premieres we’ve seen so far.

There’s an incredible amount of payoff for fans of the original series, with subtle nods and references to the parent show. For those of you who may be groaning and rolling your eyes, don't worry. The show doesn’t overdo it. If you're not looking for the references, you most likely won't even see some hidden in plain sight.

It is absolutely imperative that you do not miss the first minute of the series. "Better Call Saul" opens with a brilliant black-and-white sequence. It may throw you off at first, but once it’s revealed where the scene is heading, fans are going to lose it ... in a good way. *mini-spoilers* We see a future version of Saul, under the guise of Gene, working as a manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. This is one that "Breaking Bad" fans will appreciate. In season 5 episode 15 of "Breaking Bad," Saul's character tells Walter White he'll be lucky if in "a month from now, best-case scenario, I'm managing a Cinnabon in Omaha." Well, what do you know.*mini-spoilers*

The series itself follows Saul in 2002, six years before he has ever met Walter White and before he’s the big-shot criminal lawyer we’re introduced to in “Breaking Bad.” There’s no trace of sidekick Heull and Goodman’s not driving around a fancy Cadillac DeVille (though there’s a nice reference to it in the opening episode that fans will notice).

Instead, Saul is a down-on-his-luck lawyer just trying to get by. He’s not the confident, cocky counselor we’re accustomed to seeing. He doesn’t even go by Saul Goodman at this point. He’s just Jimmy McGill, a lowly lawyer hungry for clients who drives around a Suzuki Esteem.

Odenkirk never misses a beat. He’s so energetic as the spritely McGill, you could just sit and watch him talk the entire time he's in a courtroom, hashing it out with twin teenage boys or trying desperately to save his own skin. You don’t even need to know what he’s necessarily rambling about because, to be honest, no one else probably does either.

Here’s a line of dialogue from him as he’s representing a teenager: “Do you remember 19? Let me tell you. The juices are flowing, the red corpuscles are corpuscling. The grass is green, and it’s soft, and summer’s going to last forever.”

Do you know what a corpuscle is? McGill's talking about red blood cells.

It’s Saul’s usual bull, filled with grand hand gestures and priceless facial expressions, but it's not winning over many at this point in his career. One of the best parts of the premiere is a reintroduction to former characters like Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Gus Fring’s right-hand man on “Breaking Bad.” Mike is still the sarcastic, wisecracking curmudgeon fans love, but instead of waving around a gun, the former Philadelphia police officer is working as a pretty harmless parking-lot attendant at the local Albuquerque courthouse. 

He and McGill go back and forth a bit in the premiere, and we look forward to seeing their inevitable future interactions on the series. 

More interesting are the glimpses of Jimmy McGill’s backstory and his relationship with his older brother Chuck (Michael McKean), who is suffering from an illness.

It’s easy to see from the pilot that “Better Call Saul” is going to be a show about the rise and fall of Jimmy McGill, as much as its parent series is about the rise and fall of meth kingpin Walter White. 

So it makes sense that the show not only feels a lot like “Breaking Bad," it also looks a lot like it. Gorgeous visual shots take you back to the streets, deserts, and skies of Albuquerque, New Mexico (especially in the second episode). Some of the shots literally remind us of scenes from "Breaking Bad." (Sorry, no screengrabs.)

As we know from "Breaking Bad," creator Vince Gilligan has a way with closeup montages. Expect to see more of those on screen, from sweet treats getting baked in black and white to tomatoes getting sliced and diced.

In terms of content, the first two episodes also feel eerily similar to the early episodes of “Breaking Bad.” In "Breaking Bad," Walt and Jesse take a man captive, tie him up in a basement, and then discard his body. No one dies in the first two episodes of "Better Call Saul," but the parallels between the openings of the two series are a little uncanny. 

That's both good and bad. Since it's a prequel series, you know the stakes are a bit lower for some characters — Mike's not going anywhere — yet "Better Call Saul" still has the ability to fill you with excitement and laughs at one moment while tearing the rug out from under you in the next so that you're rocking back and forth in your seat, a bundle of anxiety-ridden nerves. In some ways, the show feels like something we may have seen before. 

Does the pilot episode stand up to that of “Breaking Bad”? No, but, to be fair, I don’t think many premiere episodes do.

The episode is a little slow at points, but when Jimmy runs into two young teens who try to scam him out of $500, the action starts to pick up, and the final minutes of the premiere will have you glued. The very final shots will make you wish you didn't have to wait an entire day to see what happens next. 

It'll be worth it. The second episode, which airs the following evening, is pretty much nonstop action.

There's a huge cameo from another former "Breaking Bad" villain — *spoiler* Raymond Cruz returns as Tuco! *spoiler* — and it definitely had everyone talking on Twitter.

After Sunday, "Better Call Saul" will move to its regular timeslot on Mon., Feb. 9 at 10 p.m. 

Watch a trailer for the series.

 *Note: This review originally ran at the end of January. It has been updated to account for a few plot points in the series.

SEE ALSO: Here's the "Breaking Bad" creator's love letter to fans about spin-off "Better Call Saul"

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Warning: There are major spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the latest episode of “The Walking Dead.”

“The Walking Dead” returned from its winter hiatus with an unexpected surprise for fans. 

For the second time in two episodes, the AMC hit series has killed off a major character, showing that no one on “The Walking Dead’ is safe. 

Final chance to head back before spoilers.

On Sunday night’s episode, Chad Coleman’s character Tyreese gets caught off guard and is bit by a zombie walker in the arm. 

No big deal. As long as his arm is taken off in time, he should have a good chance at survival. After all, it’s something we’ve seen occur numerous times on the series in the past.  

However, things didn’t go so smoothly this time as Tyreese’s condition slowly deteriorated throughout the episode with callbacks to some of a few fan favorites returning from the grave briefly to welcome Tyreese into the light.

Tyreese’s death was a big surprise, considering “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman has said he always saw “The Wire” actor as someone he envisioned playing Tyreese. Kirkman told Business Insider back in October at New York Comic Con “The Walking Dead” team sought him out for the role. 

His death on the show comes one episode after Emily Kinney's Beth Greene was shocking killed off in the season 5 midseason finale last fall.

Coleman first joined “The Walking Dead” back in season three, and was one of many fellow actors from HBO’s “The Wire” to join the series. 

With a growing cast of characters on the series, and more newcomers expected in the latter half of season five, it shouldn’t be too much of a shock that we’ll have to lose some of the major cast members, but this certainly came out of left field for fans.

Executive producer Greg Nicotero explained to Variety why this was the right time to say goodbye to Coleman's character:

Why Tyreese and why now?
Tyreese has had a great story, he’s been on a great journey. Ever since the beginning of season four we’ve noticed that Tyreese was struggling. He’s standing at the fence talking to his girlfriend and he says, “Listen I don’t like killing (walkers) at the fence any more.” He goes out and the helicopter falls through the Big Spot roof and he comes back and says, “I don’t like killing them in here either.” He’s clearly having some issues. Then his girlfriend is murdered and her body’s burned up, and two little girls die. So Tyreese’s real reason for pushing so hard to survive was for the baby, for Judith. Now that he’s reunited with Rick… I think it’s a world where he’s having a hard time accepting that he would want to live there.

In addition, showrunner Scott M. Gimple told The Hollywood Reporter Tyreese's death "just seemed to be what the story dictated."

SEE ALSO: Why "The Walking Dead" casts so many actors from "The Wire"

SEE ALSO: Sunday's "The Walking Dead" was inspired by one of the earliest comics from 11 years ago

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Beck surprised Grammy viewers and musicians alike Sunday night by beating out Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell for the show's biggest award — best album.

As soon as Prince read Beck's name ...

Kanye West — who notoriously rushed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards after Taylor Swift won best female video over Beyoncé — then jokingly began to crash Beck's acceptance speech. 

But he quickly turned around and went back to his seat, with a big smile on his face.

Let's see that again.

Beck was left onstage alone and confused. "I need some help!" he quickly said into the microphone, before his collaborators joined him at the podium.

Jay Z seemed mortified when it looked as if Kanye were serious, but he broke into laughter when he realized it was a joke.

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye interrupted Swift's acceptance speech, saying, "Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

SEE ALSO: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

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Taylor Swift is never one to shy away from a little dancing in her seat during awards shows.

Sunday night's Grammy Awards were no exception.

But one person did not seem amused by Swift's moves. Cue Pharrell's major side-eye.

The above Vine has since gone viral and has been played nearly 3 million times in just a few hours.

SEE ALSO: Kanye West almost grabbed Beck's best album Grammy onstage

MORE: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

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Back in 2009, Kanye West quickly earned the hatred of many Taylor Swift fans when he interrupted Swift's win for best female video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

West took stage during Swift's acceptance speech, stealing the microphone, to say "I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

Entering Sunday's Grammy Awards, the two had not been photographed together since, and you never saw interaction between the two artists.  

That seemingly changed Sunday when West and Swift appeared to put that all behind them.

The photo was in stark contrast to this moment from 2009.

It looks as if West and Swift have shaken off any bad blood.

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If you tuned in to the Grammys Sunday night, you may have noticed Katy Perry and pal, singer Ferras, sporting a pair of devil horns at the start of the awards show.

The next time we saw Perry, the horns were noticeably gone, but many fans and viewers online were confused by the look.