JK Rowling, author of the best-selling children's book series "Harry Potter," knows a lot about achieving success.
But one thing she wishes she'd been warned about early on was how to handle failure.
"I don't think we talk about failure enough,"Rowling recently told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show. "It would've really helped to have someone who had had a measure of success come say to me, 'You will fail. That's inevitable. It's what you do with it.'"
Before Rowling became one of the wealthiest women in the world, she was a single mom living off welfare in the UK. She began writing about her now-famous character, the young wizard Harry Potter, in Edinburgh cafes, and received "loads" of rejections from book publishers when she first sent out the manuscript, The Guardian reports.
Rowling previously addressed the subject of failure in a 2008 Harvard University commencement speech, which has been watched on YouTube more than 1.5 million times. Referring to her rough start, she said: "An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless ... By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew."
She went on to say that she considered her early failure a "gift" that was "painfully won," since she gained valuable knowledge about herself and her relationships through the adversity.
Rowling told Lauer that the Harvard speech was one of her proudest moments because it initially scared her. "I'm normally proudest of myself after I've done something that frightens me," she said. "I believe in courage, and I think that it's the virtue that ensures all the others, as Winston Churchill said."
Cyber security entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor Robert Herjavec is an avid runner. For the past six years, he's jogged five miles a day for six days of the week, topped off with an 8- to 10-mile run on the weekend, he tells Runner's World.
There was a moment when a failed attempt to recruit a friend to his habit gave him a critical business insight, he explains in the latest episode of "Shark Tank."
In the segment, Forus Athletics founder Arsene Millogo and his VP of sales and marketing, Joel Vinocur, are seeking $200,000 for 15% equity of their lightweight running shoe company. The investors agree that the shoes are high quality and that Millogo and Vinocur are exceptionally driven individuals, but all except Herjavec decline to make a deal after concluding they can't help Forus break into a crowded market.
The Sharks are also skeptical of the company's ability to focus. They point out that Forus has a large number of shoe varieties for a young company; has a seemingly off-brand, pending deal with NASCAR; and also has a connection to Millogo's side company, email plugin Attlo.
"Man, you are fighting so many battles," Herjavec says. He then tells the story of the elite sprinter he wanted to run with:
Look, a guy that used to work for me, he was actually at one point the 11th fastest man in the world. I run five miles a day, so I used to say, "Hey, let's go running." And he would say to me, "I can't run five miles."
I said, "Come on, man. You're in great shape. You can run five miles."
[He said:] "I don't run five miles! I run 100 meters as fast as I can. That's my job."
"I'm not sure what your job is," Herjavec tells the entrepreneurs. "If you want to win, just run the 100 meters. Focus."
The Forus duo leaves the Tank without a deal but with the encouragement of the Sharks.
"You do not have unlimited time and/or attention," Cuban writes. "You may work 24 hours a day, but those 24 hours spent winning your core business will pay off far more. It might cost you some longer-term upside, but it will allow you to be the best business you can be."
A lot of people evidently want to buy an Apple Watch.
The party line from the traditional watch industry has been that this is no big deal, that the Apple Watch isn't really a watch but more of a gadget or a geeky plaything and that the world of "real" watches has nothing to worry about.
Maybe. We got some indications recently, reported by Business Insider's Lianna Brinded, that the arrival of the Apple Watch has at least stalled the pace of purchasing in the luxury watch world.
There's one contingent of the watch-buying public that likely won't have much use for an Apple Watch: people who need a very tough timepiece.
The Apple Watch looks to have a lot going for it, but robustness isn't one of its selling points. We've heard that it was designed to be relatively durable – obviously able to stand up to workout demands – but even if Tim Cook says he showers with his watch on, that's not a risk I'd want to take. Modern micro-processors plus batteries plus water equals NOT GOOD.
Many folks need or want a watch that they can beat the crap out of. Often, they spend less than $100 on a Casio G-Shock and are perfectly happy. Other folks desire a bit more style and tradition. They're the ones who will buy something like a Seiko Diver, a watch I highlighted as a good alternative to Apple Watch if you want a very solid "real" watch, but don't want to spend a lot of money (you can get one for $400, before the usual online discounts).
As it turns out, over the weekend I got some insight into just how utterly useless the Apple Watch would be for a person who needs a watch that can handle just about anything.
I watched the 2013 film "All Is Lost," starring Robert Redford and only Robert Redford as a solo sailor shipwrecked at sea. Redford barely speaks any dialogue, but he does manage to survive his predicament – as does his Seiko Diver, a Japanese automatic watch (no battery, uses the motion of the wearer's body to keep the movement ticking) that has a stupendous reputation among people who spend a lot of time on or under the water.
The man and the watch take an unholy beating. Redford's boat has a hole punched in it, which he patches himself. Then his boat is clobbered by a massive storm and sinks. Redford abandons ship and takes to an inflatable life raft. He teaches himself celestial navigation using an antiquated sextant (it's very helpful to have a relatively accurate timepiece when navigating this way), ends up in a shipping lane, is missed by several cargo ships, ultimately sets his raft on fire as a signal, and is rescued.
Tough guy, touch watch. Numerous watch aficionados noticed the Seiko in the movie – it's a timepiece with a reputation for being utilitarian, highly waterproof, and nearly indestructible, not to mention inexpensive. It bears a resemblance to the discontinued Rolex GMT-Master II "Pepsi," so named because of its red-and-blue bezel – but you'd be bummed if you lost your $6,000 vintage Rollie. So the Seiko is a better choice if you're planning to take to the waves for an extended journey.
In "All Is Lost," all of Redford's electronics are fried. The circumstances were extreme. But I wouldn't really want to test an Apple Watch when washing dishes or in a thunderstorm, much less in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by salt water. By the end of movie, Redford has only one functioning piece of technology – his watch.
Apple isn't going to convince anyone who plans to subject their timepiece to plentiful abuse to strap on one of their wrist computers when the strapping on counts. Although I suppose there could be an aftermarket opportunity here, perhaps for somebody like OtterBox – makers of super-tough iPhone cases.
So although the traditional watch industry may face a bigger threat from Apple that it's admitting, the idea that a watch is a tool in addition to being a statement about style should keep at least one segment of the traditional market going and going strong.
If you're someone who likes to watch movies and TV shows in the background while you work, you might want to give the Helium floating web browser a try.
Helium is a multitasker's dream, making it easy to watch your favorite shows without sacrificing any valuable screen real estate or resizing windows. The secret? It turns your videos partially transparent while removing your mouse's ability to interact with it, freeing you up to use your mouse to click, scroll, and select anything that resides behind your video.
This means you no longer have to worry about accidentally selecting or dragging Netflix or Hulu away from your work when you need to explore a document or access additional controls — with Helium you can still see your movies and TV shows playing, but they just can't interfere with your work.
In the screenshot above, you'll notice that I can access and click on the edit button and Google Doc settings behind the video while "The Office" plays in the foreground.
"I've spent so many hours trying to watch Hulu while I code, always getting frustrated when the video gets lost behind my work," Helium founder Jaden Geller wrote over on Product Hunt. "A few days ago, I spent the night hacking this together to fix that, and I'm pretty pleased by the results!"
Once you've installed Helium and booted it up, you'll notice it just looks a smaller version of web browser, minus the address bar. Helium has removed all the clutter from its browser so it doesn't distract you while you work, so if you want to navigate to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, or wherever else you want to watch a video, you'll need to click on the Helium icon (a hot air balloon) in your dock and then click on "Location" at the top of your screen and then "Open Location" to type in your desired URL.
After you've found a video to watch, you can then adjust the transparency settings to allow you to see through the video so you can work on things in the background.
You can then re-arrange the Helium window to the size and location of your liking and press Command + T to turn on transparency. This frees up your mouse so you can click on things around and behind your video without disrupting your workflow or accidentally selecting the video itself.
If you need to pause the video or re-arrange the placement of Helium on your desktop, just click on the Helium icon in your doc and your mouse will now be able to select the video.
If you want, you can even resize your Helium window to watch videos full-screen, though it's not going to be for everyone. Below you can see I tried to enlarge Helium to almost full-screen while continuing to work on a Google Doc in the background.
In the future, Helium's founder says he wants to introduce a 1-click "Open in Helium" button for Safari, which should make navigating to Netflix, Hulu, or your favorite video website much easier.
The new season of HBO's "Silicon Valley" debuted Sunday. The first episode of season two featured a funeral for one of the first season's leading characters, the eccentric venture capitalist Peter Gregory, played by a 48-year old actor named Christopher Evan Welch. Peter Gregory's death in the show was unplanned. It was written into the story after Welch himself died of complications from cancer in late 2013. Aaron Gell wrote this tribute to Welch early last year.
Just a day after Christopher Evan Welch landed a career-making role on HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” he received some heartbreaking news. The lung cancer he’d been battling successfully since the fall of 2010 had spread to his brain.
Chris was sitting with his wife, Emma, and his doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. “I have to go shoot this pilot,” he said, stunned.
Welch was 47. Before his diagnosis, he’d been a fanatical cyclist, winging around Central Park on his fixed-gear bike, his thin brown hair flying behind him. Nobody could say why the cancer had attacked his lungs, then his prostate, and now his brain. He was a casual smoker, and he enjoyed the occasional steak at Keens, but so did a lot of people. Maybe the weeks Chris spent after the 9/11 attacks helping out at ground zero were a factor. Or maybe it was all just the result of some horrible mutation that lay dormant in his DNA all along.
With aggressive treatment, Chris and the doctors had kept the tumors at bay so far. The latest news was bad, but he and Emma were used to that. One more fight in a grim slog.
It was agreed the surgery could be put off for a month, and Chris went to Los Angeles, where he created the role of comedically awkward, creepily soft-spoken angel investor Peter Gregory.
Based loosely on the slightly less-awkward, creepily soft-spoken PayPal co-founder and Facebook angel Peter Thiel, Gregory was a linchpin of the first season of the series, having funded the startup —Pied Piper — around which the action revolves. More than that, he was a poster boy for the tech world’s imperiousness, its brilliance, and its odd alienation from the very world it is forever trying to make “a better place,” as one character after another puts it in one of the show's running gags.
Welch shot five episodes before further complications related to the cancer took his life in December 2013.
While the show is charming and keenly observed, and will likely thrive even in his absence, Welch's Peter Gregory, TED-talk Socrates and sesame-seed tycoon, will be missed.
Executive Producer Mike Judge has long specialized in wounded, insecure, painfully uncomfortable men (from “Beavis & Butthead” and “King of the Hill” to “Office Space”), and despite Peter Gregory’s brief time on screen, he is already among the most indelible. Amid a cast that often seems like a taxonomy of male social inadequacy, Gregory is the most awkward of them all. Letting his hands dangle helplessly like a neurasthenic T. rex, speaking with an exaggerated formality, he’s a ridiculous, magnetic, and deeply human figure — the irreplaceable heart of the show.
* * *
Lanky and floppy-haired, Welch grew up in Dallas, Texas, the oldest child of a Korean War vet and a homemaker and entrepreneur. A theater geek in high school, he attended the University of Dallas on a full scholarship, then went on to grad school in Seattle, where he fronted the Ottoman Bigwigs, a brainy indie-rock band with a small but devoted cult following.
He arrived in New York in 1997, appearing in a revival of Molière’s “Scapin,” opposite neovaudevillian Bill Irwin, delivering a slapstick tour de force that The New York Times called “a sensational debut.”
In the years that followed, Welch built up an impressive career as a character actor, one vaguely familiar to anyone paying close attention, but, as Vulture rightly noted, maddeningly hard to place. Except for one unhappy attempt to wait tables in Dallas during college, he made his living — modest though it was — exclusively as an actor.
Welch did his share of “Law & Order” episodes, like every New York actor, and was a regular presence off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. He made it to Broadway a couple of times, as well, most notably as the tormented Reverend Parris in a 2002 production of “The Crucible,” opposite Laura Linney and Liam Neeson. But he also did plenty of experimental and regional theater, and it was while appearing in an out-of-town show — a 2005 revival of J.M. Barrie’s “Dear Brutus” in Westport, Conn. — that he first met Emma Roberts. “We played husband and wife, and we wound up falling madly in love,” she remembers.
Chris could be snobby about doing commercials, although as an obsessive newspaper reader he was thrilled to land a New York Times ad. He had a great voice. He narrated Woody Allen’s “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” and made decent money reading audiobooks, including the young-adult “Last Apprentice” series, “The Imperfectionists,” and John Grisham’s “Playing for Pizza.”
He was a big guy, over 6 feet, but he exuded vulnerability. His face, hawkish but soft, had something of a permanent wince about it, as if he expected to be smacked at any moment. Even when he played smarmy or sinister, that fearful look around his eyes, that cosmic flinch, made him relatable and drew audiences in.
He became a regular on AMC’s short-lived spy series “Rubicon,” and especially in recent years, began building an impressive film resume, turning in uniformly stellar work in small roles — in films like “Lincoln,” “The Master,” and “Synecdoche, New York” — the latter two of which co-starred his friend Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose death just two months to the day after Chris’ dealt a further blow to New York’s tightly knit theater community. In light of the two losses, Welch’s existential barn-burner of a speech in “Synecdoche” — a performance he pulled together with just 24 hours’ notice — is shattering.
* * *
It started with a persistent cough, which led to an X-ray, which led to a CT scan. This was in 2010. A radiologist diagnosed Welch with stage IIIA lung cancer. Emma was six months pregnant.
The doctors wanted to admit him immediately, but Welch was in a play, “The Little Foxes,” at the New York Theatre Workshop, and like most stage actors, he was determined never to miss a performance. Besides, they needed to process the news. “We’re getting out of here and we are both going to drink a glass of wine,” Emma said. “I don’t care if I’m pregnant.”
Welch went onstage later that night. Then, even as he began chemo, he continued the run while spending his days rehearsing for yet another show he’d been offered: “The Coward.” He finished that run, as well. Once he even went on after waking up from general anesthesia.
Things kept happening; life marched along.
A few weeks after “The Coward” closed, their daughter, June Harper, was born.
The lung surgery happened not long after that.
Chris’ health was much improved by February 2013 when his agent called to tell him about “Silicon Valley.” The producers wanted him to read for either one of the rival Internet moguls, Gavin Belson or Peter Gregory, and he picked Gregory. Since he had to stay in New York, where he was appearing in an off-Broadway show, “The Madrid,” with Edie Falco, he taped his audition. Chris knew basically nothing about the tech world. Except for an addiction to Words With Friends on his iPhone, he was basically computer illiterate. But out of the blue, he decided to give Peter Gregory an odd vocal inflection. “I’m setting my voice back in this weird way,” he told Emma excitedly. He felt instantly he’d found the character.
Chris didn’t know then how right the choice was, but as it happens, Peter Thiel also happens to speak rather haltingly. Chris was offered the role immediately.
The timing was perfect. With the illness, Chris hadn’t been working as much, and money was tight. Suddenly, things were looking up. Every actor dreams of an HBO series. “This was the job that changes the game,” Emma says.
After taping the pilot, Chris underwent surgery to remove the brain tumor, and the operation was declared a success. But then came yet another blow. His blood-cell counts were dropping, and the doctors diagnosed AML, acute myeloid leukemia, most likely brought on by the earlier radiation treatments.
“He was just really unlucky,” Emma says. “So unlucky.”
There was really nothing to do but keep fighting. After a grueling summer, including six weeks in the hospital and repeated visits to the emergency room, Welch began what seemed like a miraculous recovery. “The lung had been removed and that was the end of it,” Emma recalls. “The brain was fine, the leukemia was in remission, the prostate was under control.” During a physical with a doctor working with the network — a standard requirement for an actor signing on to a TV series — he disclosed his medical history and was declared fit for the job. “You’d be surprised how many people I see who have cancer,” the doctor told him.
“We thought we were home free,” Emma says.
Chris and Emma moved into a rented bungalow in Santa Monica with June, who was then 2. He was in remission and holding steady. They were living near friends, in a great house a few blocks from the beach. Welch was needed on set only a couple of days a week, and the rest of his time he devoted to June, playing elaborate games, telling stories, singing songs, and going to the park.
Things were good. Welch enjoyed being “the old guy” on a set full of young comics, and he was thrilled to discover that one of the show’s producers was Clay Tarver, guitarist for one of his favorite bands, Chavez. Mostly, he loved inventing Peter Gregory. “I’m just locked in,” he said. He even began to fantasize about being nominated for an Emmy.
The work seemed to be contributing to his recovery. He was putting on weight and feeling healthier than he had in a while.
Then, the show took a break for Thanksgiving.
The Sunday after the holiday, Chris suddenly felt awful. He couldn’t get out of bed. He was vomiting, and his blood pressure dipped. There’d been rough days before, though. Nobody panicked. Emma started making calls, first to the ambulance, then to some friends to come look after June.
“Do I need to make a call to HBO?” she asked.
“I don’t know, maybe,” Chris replied.
* * *
That evening, Chris lay in intensive care with Emma by his side. He was suffering from septic shock. Five hours after heading to the hospital, in the early hours of Dec. 2, his heart gave out.
Emma thinks it may be for the best that Chris died the way he did — so suddenly, during such a high point, without time to brood about what he’d be missing. The last months of his life were idyllic, she said. June missed her dad, of course, but she was just 3. She would be OK. And Chris had written to her in case something happened — letter after letter she could reread when she was old enough.
But Chris was a dedicated performer, and knowing that he wouldn’t be able to finish what he’d started on “Silicon Valley” would have been unbearable in its own way. It was good he was spared that.
Faced with a similar situation, many producers might well have opted to put off a show’s premiere and reshoot a character’s scenes with another actor in the role.
Executive producers Mike Judge and Alec Berg never even considered it. “The brilliance of Chris’ performance is irreplaceable, and inspired us in our writing of the series,” they said in a joint statement. It was bad enough that they had to rewrite subsequent episodes in which Peter Gregory was originally going to appear, reimagining several major story points. “Cutting Chris out of those scripts was among the most difficult things we have ever had to do as writers,” they added. “The entire ordeal was heartbreaking. But we are incredibly grateful to have worked with him in the brief time we had together. Our show and our lives are vastly richer for his having been in them.”
For the series' viewers, too, the loss will be acutely felt. We won’t have seen nearly enough of Peter Gregory or of Christopher Evan Welch. Then again, it was so nice getting to know them both.
* * *
Emma Roberts Welch was kind enough to share a video their friend Jennifer Kleinman put together for Chris' memorial service. It's a beautiful tribute to his life and career.
And here, a wonderful track from the Ottoman Bigwigs' self-titled 1996 album, with Chris on vocals.
Note:I wasn't going to write about this since "Avengers: Age of Ultron" isn't out for several weeks; however, after seeing this pop up on otheroutlets, there's not much point in holding back. The below doesn’t spoil anything in the actual film.
When the first trailers for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" came out, we were left with way more questions than answers.
Particularly, there were a few mysterywomen in the trailers that had fans buzzing.
We quickly learned the woman in one of the initial trailers was Korean actress Kim Soo-hyun, also known as Claudia Kim. We won't say much about her role or her character's name.
We imagined it would have been one of the big reveals in the film.
Nope!
After heading to a screening of the film April 9, the scene with the above character didn't appear in the finished film.
If you're a big Marvel fan who has been pouring over the marketing of "Age of Ultron" for months on end, it will be pretty obvious to you that the scene is missing.
We figured since Marvel had no issue revealing the full image of Vision nearly a month before the film's premiere that there would be a bigger reveal in the film, such as the one above.
"Fast and Furious 7,” aka “Furious 7,” had a record-breaking opening weekend at theaters.
The film, which grossed an estimated $143.6 million over the holiday weekend, beat all analyst expectations, which originally estimated the film would make between $115 million and $120 million.
Now, the film is the highest-grossing debut for an April movie and Easter weekend.
“Furious 7” also debuted at number one in 63 markets, grossing another $240.4 million overseas to bring its worldwide total to $384 million.
Why did “Furious 7” take off at the box office? There were many factors that led to the film’s success both at home and overseas.
1. Paul Walker
The most obvious reason fans and non-fans may want to head out to see the film is to see how Universal and the cast handled finishing the seventh installment in the franchise after Walker’s death in November 2013.
“Its success at the box office, many people are going to see that as a tribute to Paul Walker, and what he brought to the franchise and they’re going to show up for that reason,” Phil Contrino, the vice president and chief analyst of BoxOffice.com, tells Business Insider. “Even if they maybe skipped some of the other movies, they’ll show up for this one.”
“The big thing is, what happens to Paul Walker and how they handle that,” adds Contrino.
Cast members like Vin Diesel and Tyrese have been telling their social media networks that they hope to make Paul (or Pablo, as some affectionately refer to him) proud with this movie. The hashtag “#ForPaul” appears on screen at the film’s end, offering fans the chance to start a conversation.
2. Vin Diesel
After Walker’s death, Diesel quickly became one of the most-followed celebrities on Facebook, with over 87 million likes, as he shared images and stories of himself and Walker with fans in both English and Spanish.
Diesel makes it a point to share news with his fans first. He revealed the release date for “Furious 7” before Universal had the chance to break the news, and has shared news of secret meetings at Marvel and Facebook headquarters with Mark Zuckerberg.
Diesel also gained a big following after his role in last summer’s hit, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” in which he played the lovable tree Groot, a role the actor later said helped him get through Walker’s death.
The 47-year-old Diesel has been the driving force behind the “Fast and Furious” franchise for some time. After skipping the 2003 sequel, “2 Fast 2 Furious,” Diesel returned at the end of the third film, “Tokyo Drift,” for a brief cameo.
After "Tokyo Drift" had the worst performance of the series, taking in $158 million worldwide, Universal considered sending the series straight to video. Instead, the studio turned to Diesel, giving him creative control over the franchise. Since then, each film has only been bigger, both in terms of stunts and worldwide gross.
3. Social media
It’s not just Vin Diesel. Much of the cast — including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese, and Ludacris — are among the stars that have shared behind-the-scenes images from the film before it hit theaters, and related anecdotes and memories of Paul to fans. Some of the biggest cast members in the film openly grieved Walker’s death and the fans responded to that enormously.
The “Fast and Furious” movies in general have a huge social footprint. The films’ Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube pages and more are a well-oiled machine. While the movie’s YouTube page has put out countless featurettes on the making of the film and nostalgic clips from previous installments, Instagram was releasing seven-second long videos teasing footage for the movie days before the trailer came out.
The Facebook account alone has 54.9 million followers— well more than Marvel (17.9 million) and “Star Wars” (13 million) combined.
Each social account was always putting out something different that engaged fans and felt organic. Unlike other films, the social experience didn’t stop once a film was put out. Fans are never given a chance to forget about the “Fast” family.
“If you follow ‘Minions,’ ‘Jurassic World,’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ they had the same approach with those movies where it was just kind of a slow-drip marketing approach,” Contrino explains. “Where they say here’s a new still or here’s a funny ‘Minions’ video or here’s something from ‘Jurassic World.’ They keep it going and they keep building it. People share that stuff and they add more likes.”
“Universal’s marketing department deserves a huge amount of credit for how successful these movies are,” says Contrino. “They’re going to be neck and neck with Disney this year, at least domestically, for the highest market share of the major studios at the box office. That’s pretty significant because they don’t have a superhero franchise and they’re doing incredibly well.”
4. The diverse cast
There’s a reason the audience opening weekend for “Furious 7” was 75% non-white.
One of the things the “Fast and Furious” franchise excels at, which so many other franchises have difficulty doing organically, is having an ethnically rich cast that that hits upon nearly every demographic.
A look at all of the “Fast and Furious” films shows that the characters speak a number of languages on screen including Spanish, English, and Russian.
Entertainment Weekly recently pointed this out in a cover story titled, “This is What America Looks Like: So why don’t our movies?”
Diesel told EW, “It doesn’t matter what nationality you are. As a member of the audience, you realize you can be a member of that ‘family.’ That’s the beautiful thing about how the franchise has evolved.”
“They do it in a smart way,” Contrino tells us. “It doesn’t feel tacked on like some movies where a Spanish-speaking character pops up for an obligatory line or two that’s caricature. They don’t do that. It’s fully fleshed-out characters who people care about. That’s a huge lesson for any other content producers who want to take the quick easy route. That doesn’t work. You have to do it the right way.”
5. It’s more than just a car movie
Since its inception in 2001, the “Fast and Furious” films have had souped-up cars, hot chicks, and ridiculous stunts. While the films certainly contain those elements, at the heart of each movie, especially the last three, is family.
Nowhere does this resonate more than in the series’ fifth film, when Dominic Toretto (Diesel) gathers everyone around to say, “The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room. Right here. Right now. Salud mi familia."
The "Fast and Furious" films are fun, they’re silly, but at the end of the day they're about Dom protecting both his immediate and his extended families.
That’s something to which everyone worldwide can relate.
Kanye West was mobbed by dozens of fans after he jumped into a lake during a concert in Yerevan, Armenia. Security guards had to wade into the water to help the rapper out amid the chaos.
West was visiting Armenia with his wife, Kim Kardashian, who has ancestral roots in the country.
Produced by Jason Gaines. Video courtesy of Associated Press and Arman Gharjyan
Music games like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" had a meteoric rise and subsequent fall.
For a few years, it was impossible to go to a bar or party without running into a group of folks huddled around a screen, furiously attempting to recreate music using plastic, instrument-shaped game controllers. The flood of faux instruments attached to music games resulted in a collapse; the folks buying those games grew tired of them just as quickly as they'd picked them up.
By 2011, second-hand stores across the world were littered with the discarded controllers of years past.
Four years later, and the genre is getting an encore: "Guitar Hero Live" is a new music game which uses a plastic guitar-shaped game controller peripheral. It's headed to Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Wii U, phones, and tablets this fall.
Given that most folks aren't still holding on to aging plastic guitar controllers, there's a new version being created for "Guitar Hero Live." Rather than the traditional five button horizontal layout, the new guitar has two rows of three buttons. The game's publisher says this new setup allows players to "play two-row combinations that mimic real chords."
The game's focus this time is on the "live" experience, putting players in the position of a lead guitarist facing crowds of actual people. Here's an example:
These folks are totally pumped that you nailed that guitar line.
But the crowd won't always love you! Here's how they look when you do poorly:
Despite the dropoff of music games four years ago, publisher Activision believes it can win players back by paring down the experience and re-focusing. The focus here is on making "Guitar Hero" into a guitar-based game once again, retracting from the full band setup that it became before the series left the spotlight.
To that extent, "Guitar Hero Live" is powered by a network of music videos spanning a variety of music genres. This is "GHTV," which is described as, "the world’s first playable live music video network." What that means for players is that the game is powered by music videos, available on-demand, which will expand the game's playable library of songs beyond what comes on the disc this fall.
But will that be enough? Will "Guitar Hero Live" bring players back to the game genre that its owners help to obliterate with over saturation? We'll find out this fall, when both "Guitar Hero Live" and its competitor "Rock Band 4" launch.
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival kicks off Thursday with 11 days filled with flashy red carpet premieres and under-the-radar indie gems.
But what if you’re not in the New York area to take part?
The good news is a handful of titles from this year’s fest will be coming to a theater near you in the coming months.
Let’s take a look.
1. “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”
Though there have been a few films about the life and music of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, Brett Morgen’s documentary is being touted as the first authorized film on the iconic musician. Morgen uses home movies, recordings, photography, artwork, and journals to chronicle the face behind 90s grudge rock.
Why you should see it: Brett Morgen has wowed audiences for years with his fresh approach to docs. Just look at the dazzling effects in "The Kid Stays in the Picture" or the animated doc "Chicago 10." It’s safe to say his look at Cobain will be full of originality.
“Gattaca” director Andrew Niccol reteams with Ethan Hawke to make a different kind of war movie. In “Good Kill” Hawke plays Major Tommy Egan, a veteran of air combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan who now is a drone pilot. Egan does missions daily from inside a trailer in Nevada and spends his evenings at home arguing with his wife (January Jones) and pondering the ethics of his current role in the military.
Why you should see it: Hawke is tailor made for these kinds of roles and the film sheds light on the anxiety drone pilots endure.
Long before Felix Baumgartner skydived from space, a pet store owner from New Jersey had dreams of breaking the world record for highest parachute jump. At the height of the cold war, Nick Piantanida convinced investors, engineers and even the US Army to let him attempt this insane stunt. "Angry Sky" chronicles this bizzare moment in history.
Why you should see it: Since the director of this documentary is Jeff Tremaine, one of the creators of “Jackass,” you know you’re in store for a gonzo trip.
Lily Tomlin is known best for her comedic work, which is what makes her performance in this grandmother/granddaughter road trip dramedy so great. In it she plays Elle Reid, an aging poet mourning the loss of her longtime partner. But when her teen granddaughter (Julie Garner) shows up unannounced and asks for $600 and a ride, the two embark on a powerfully emotional journey.
Why you should see it: If Tomlin’s performance isn’t enough, the film is directed by Paul Weitz (“About A Boy”) and has a great supporting cast that includes Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, and Sam Elliott.
Mina (Alba Rohrwacher) and Jude (Adam Driver) quickly fell in love after meeting in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant, and soon after Mina became pregnant with their child. Juggling a relationship, family, and being pregnant leads Mina to go to a psychic. What she’s told quickly changes her relationship with Jude and the child they're about to have.
Why you should see it: The gripping performances by Rohrwacher and Driver led them to receive Best Actor awards at the Venice Film Festival.
One of the most anticipated movies at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this look at family loyalty during a zombie outbreak has all the makings of a cult hit. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a father who tracks down his teen daughter (Abigail Breslin) at a hospital and learns she’s been infected. He takes her home but her progression into a zombie soon makes things very challenging for family life.
Why you should see it: Schwarzenegger delivers one of his first dramatic performances. This could be a turning point for the actor who has been trying to make a comeback on screen unsuccessfully in action-centric films.
Jake (Jason Sudeikis) and Lainey (Alison Brie) lost their virginity to each other many years ago and since then have each gone through disastrous relationships. In a chance encounter at a counseling group, they decide to reconnect, but just as friends. Will this lead to a new path in finding “the one?”
Why you should see it: It will be filled with raunchy humor from director Leslye Headland, who brought us “Bachelorette.”
Set in the American West of the 1800s, this period piece follows Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a Scottish aristocrat who sets off to the brutal Colorado frontier in search for his love. The travel soon becomes too much for him and he's rescued by passerby Silas (Michael Fassbender), who we quickly realize has a connection to young Jay.
Why you should see it: Fassbender was born to play a cowboy.
A year ago, in a Reddit AMA, the actor revealed he nearly turned down the part.
Before "Game of Thrones," Dinklage was a star on the horizon. He kept busy with small film roles and TV cameos: voicing a character in the "Ice Age" franchise, dating Liz Lemon on "30 Rock," and appearing in both the American and British versions of "Death at a Funeral."
One of the bigger-budget fantasy epics, 2008's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" cast the 4-foot-5-inch-tall actor as Trumpkin, the cynical, practical caretaker of the Pevensie children. The role of a "Red Dwarf" required him to sit in the makeup chair for three hours each morning.
"It was a lovely experience, but it was pretty uncomfortable," Dinklage told The New York Times in 2012.
Eight years ago, when "Game of Thrones" co-creator and showrunner David Benioff approached Dinklage with the role of Tyrion, the actor felt concerned.
"I had one hesitation, because of the fantasy genre, I told him I didn't want a really long beard and pointy shoes," Dinklage said in his Reddit AMA.
"Dwarves in these genres always have this look," he told The Times. "My guard was up. Not even my guard — my metal fence, my barbed wire was up. Even 'Lord of the Rings' had dwarf-tossing jokes in it."
"[Benioff and co-creator Dan Weiss] assured me this character and this world wasn't that," Dinklage told Reddit. "They told me about his complexity, the fact that he wasn't a hero or a villain, that he was a womanizer and a drinker, and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him, so I signed on."
Tyrion Lannister, the black sheep of a wealthy family, responds to his physical limitations with wit and cunning. He dresses in traditional Medieval-inspired clothing, often in the House of Lannister colors of crimson and gold, and keeps his curly brown locks short, not unlike how Dinklage styles his hair in real life.
"I feel really lucky, although I hate that word — 'lucky,'" Dinklage said to the Times. "It cheapens a lot of hard work. ... I don't think I felt myself lucky back then, doing plays for $50 and trying to be true to myself as an artist and turning down commercials where they wanted a leprechaun."
"I won't say I'm lucky," Dinklage said. "I'm fortunate enough to find or attract very talented people. For some reason I found them, and they found me."
You can catch Dinklage and his very talented "Game of Thrones" castmates Sunday nights on HBO.
At his presidential campaign kickoff rally on Monday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) walked off the stage to the tune of "Something New" by the Swedish musical duo Axwell and Ingrosso.
However, Axwell and Ingrosso told Business Insider that Rubio did not ask to use their song and they would like him to stop.
"Axwell ^ Ingrosso didn't give their permission for this song to be used and don't want to be affiliated with a particular party during the upcoming presidential race," the band said in a statement on Tuesday.
Axwell and Ingrosso are two former members of the band Swedish House Mafia. They made their debut last year.
Even though Bieber had the proper wristbands and credentials and was personally invited backstage by Drake, Coachella security refused to let the pop star enter, saying the area was at capacity. But Bieber argued with security and refused to be turned away, reportedly saying there was no way he could stand in a big crowd because he would get bombarded by fans.
Security wasn't having it and told him to leave ... Bieber didn't stand down and security was pissed. At that point a Coachella staffer came up to Bieber and said she would escort him inside the artist's area. She grabbed Bieber by the arm and began walking him and his security team inside, when Coachella security came up from behind and put Bieber in a chokehold. We're told Bieber's team got into it with security and the singer was then ordered to leave the festival.
Bieber's camp insists he left the festival voluntarily, and it is now considering legal action against the Coachella security.
It was the kiss heard 'round the world when Madonna surprised Drake with an intense makeout session during his closing set at Coachella on Sunday.
But Drake's look of disgust probably wasn't the reaction Madonna was going for.
After the kiss, a shocked Drake said to the massive crowd: "What the f--k just happened?"
But just one day after the incident, Drake is already doing damage control for his reaction.
The rapper posted a photo of the makeout to his Instagram with the caption:
"Don't misinterpret my shock!! I got to make out with the queen Madonna and I feel 100 about that forever. Thank you @madonna"
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Madonna, meanwhile, doesn't seem to feel too bad about the situation, posting the same photo to her own Instagram, with the caption: "No caption necessary ..........@coachella. #bestnight #bigasmadonna #bitchimmadonna."
She followed it up with:
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"And not now........... Not ever! #unapolgeticbitch"
For years, fans have been staying through the lengthy credits that roll at the end of Marvel movies for a brief sneak peek at what's next from the Marvel cinematic universe.
More recently, some of the films started adding two scenes, one that appeared early on, which is referred to as a mid-credits sequence, and, another, post-credits sequence, at the end which usually is more comical.
It's become a sort of staple for Marvel viewers. So it was a bit of a shock when "Avengers: Age of Ultron" director Joss Whedon confirmed to Entertainment Weekly there won't be any extra scene for fans sitting through the film credits when it debuts in theaters May 1.
On Monday night's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", the host mocked how fanboys probably reacted to the news after watching the end-credits to his "Avengers"-themed episode alongside "Ant-Man" actor Paul Rudd.
The two proceeded to tear apart the living room in which they sat.
As one of the fanboysgirls, I can attest that this is pretty spot on.
Since Brian Williams was suspended without pay on February 10, the embattled “NBC Nightly News” anchor has hardly been seen in public.
Until yesterday, when he was spotted on the streets of Manhattan clutching his daughter Allison's new Golden Retriever puppy, Moxie, while walking with her and his wife Jane, according to pictures published by the Daily Mail.
The longtime news anchor was removed from the airwaves in the wake of the fabrication scandal prompted by his now-discredited claim that his helicopter took rocket fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Since his suspension, he has only reportedly been seen one other time in public - at a fundraiser for his high school in New Jersey.
It is unclear if Williams will return to the anchor chair, currently occupied by Lester Holt amid a slide in ratings that has seen ABC’s “World News Tonight” ascend to the top spot among primetime national newscasts, according to the Associated Press.
"It costs a shitload of money to make these specials, and I do it myself," he wrote on his site. "I love offering it to you directly for so cheap and so easily. I would like that to continue to be a good idea."
C.K. wasn't always in the position to bankroll his performances so generously.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he reflected on how he struggled to earn money earlier in his career:
The year that SNL passed on me [1993] was the same year almost every comedy club in New York closed, and it was the one time where I really thought, 'I'm probably going to have to quit.' The early 1990s, they were ugly. The Cellar and the Strip were really the only clubs that survived that time, and they were empty. For almost five years of my life, I was starving. I'd do a club, and the owner wouldn't pay me. I'd say, "Where's the money?" and he'd say, "I'm just not paying you." That's how little leverage comedians had then. It was really, really hard.
And when things started looking up, he recalls, he wasn't able to let go of that feeling of scarcity (emphasis added):
It's funny, when you start having success as a stand-up, you're like, "Oh my god, they're paying me $2,500 for seven shows in a week. I'm so excited." Then you start doing theaters, and you find out what kind of money there really is out there.
I mean, I could make 12 movies next year, and I wouldn't make half of what I make on the road. When I first started making tons of money, it freaked me out. I would always get 10 grand in cash every show because I needed to touch the money. I needed to feel like it wasn't just going to pay my bills. I'm a bit like boxers in that way. Boxers go and buy, like, a gold car because they just want to feel like they understand what they have. I'll be a little dumb like that.
Millions of dollars later, he says he's stopped keeping cash on hand.
Actor Dennis Quaid was caught on camera going on an expletive-ridden rant while shooting his latest film, "Truth," about Dan Rather's last days at CBS News.
In a 43-second YouTube clip, Quaid is heard screaming at crew members:
What the f---! 'Keep going?' I am acting here, and this d---head wanders onto my set. I can’t even get a line out until dopey the d--- starts whispering in your ear and you’re not even watching anymore ... Don’t f------ Dennis me! I am doing my job here. I am a pro. This is the most unprofessional set I have ever been on. This is horses---! I've got these f------- zombies over here that I have to look at. I have a bunch of p------ staring at me, and this f------ baby. This is garbage! ... Blow me!
Watch the full video below; it's pretty crazy. Warning — explicit language:
While the video is reminiscent of Christian Bale's 2009 on-set freak-out, not everyone is convinced Quaid's video is real, with many commenters saying they think it may be a prank.
"A number of commenters on Reddit, where the video with over 460,000 views has been upvoted over 4,000 times, are speculating it’s a prank for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' — a late-night show that has had its fair share of viral hoaxes," notes The Wrap. "One commenter on the site even said he works for the ABC talk show, and can 'confirm' it’s a prank."
Quaid has previously helped Ellen DeGeneres prank people on her show, but as The Wrap notes, there "is no release date or even a trailer for 'Truth,' so the actor probably isn’t thirsty for publicity yet."
Neither ABC and nor Quaid's reps have not responded to inquiries regarding the video.
Hearthstone is one of the most fun and addicting games out today, and it's finally available to play on iPhone and Android phones, according to Polygon.
Created by "World of Warcraft" developer Blizzard, Hearthstone is a strategy card game where players build their own decks to duel against one another online. The game is easy to pick up and understand but has enough depth and customization options to keep the more advanced players hooked.
Hearthstone has grown to over 20 million players since it's launch last year, but up until now, players have been stuck playing on their computer, iPad, or their Windows or Android tablet. While Blizzard has been promising a more mobile version of Hearthstone since the game's launch, the iPhone and Android versions were delayed so that Blizzard could fine-tune the app's design for the smaller screens found on phones.
The new layout re-arranges things, but maintains the same fantasy flavor found in desktop and tablet versions of the game. Your card hand now resides in the bottom right of your screen, and some of the charming interactive details of the map's environment have been removed to leave more room to play.
Hearthstone is available as a free download for iPhone or Android phones starting Tuesday.
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