What if, every Monday morning, whether you were spending the weekend living it up or partying down, you could have all of your pop culture news in one place? What if there was more to your weekend than bright nights and hazy mornings? What if you could be caught up on your television, film, and music news all at once, with a little Northwestern thrown in for good measure? This is the Monday Morning Hangover.
Movies
It's sad because we're having such a good run. This week, movie-goers were treated to Rio 2 (Did anyone see the first Rio? It should not surprise me that this somehow missed the “kids movies that somehow catch on with everyone else” train. Maybe you need a good song for that), Draft Day, Oculus, and some Nick Cage movie called Joe.
This is the weird lull period where it is just past the “Hey! Let’s put out a good movie to counter all the post-January crap” period and just before the beginning of our summer blockbusters. Makes me want to rent an oldie, or watch the beginning of the McConaissance on Netflix (2012’s Mud).
Trailer of the Week goes to the intriguing I Origins promotion. It does not tell you a whole lot about the film, but it makes good use of the “begin with solitary piano notes, then escalate to a sweeping score” ambience.
Television
There was a lot of big Northwestern-centric news, but we will hold up on that for a bit.
I have to give a huge shout-out to Mad Men for having the sneakiest season premiere for a popular show in recent memory. It was last night, and you probably had no idea. Every time I wonder if Mad Men belongs in the conversation of Greatest TV Shows of the Golden Era, I come back to this spectacular scene from season one. It defines the entire show, and it might be one of the single most conflicting viewing experiences of the last decade. It is just so hard to pinpoint the character of Don Draper after the carousel pitch. Do you love him? Do you hate him? He is a fascinating dude (and a huge bro who pulls like crazy, but whatever).
Speaking of the Golden Era of Television, we have another blip on our Major Actors/Actresses Switching to Television Radar: Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman are starring in FX’s new miniseries Fargo (loosely based on the Coen Brothers flick). First question I have—why have we not heard about this when it airs tomorrow?! Either way, I feel great about this.
Music
Aside from Coachella (OutKast was there, and people loved them), the big news in music from this past weekend came from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Inductees included KISS, Nirvana, Hall and Oates, and Peter Gabriel—the main event being a massive Nirvana tribute, with the likes of Joan Jett, Lorde, and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark filling in for Kurt Cobain.
Bonus fact: denied induction was N.W.A.—not sure how I feel about it, both in terms of their candidacy and exemption.
Northwestern
Big news for the ‘Cats alumni network this week: Stephen Colbert is joining the talk show circuit—the School of Communication alumni will be replacing David Letterman on the Late Show. I think the most interesting thing about this is the question of which Colbert we are going to see. We could see the real Stephen Colbert, or we could see Colbert the character (Surprise!, the guy behind the desk for The Colbert Report is not how the “real” Colbert behaves). In any case, Northwestern administration has to feel good about the so-called “late-night comedy domination” that we have with Colbert and Myers.
Another thing Colbert has to consider: which niche will he fill? Conan has the hardcore comedy crowd, Fallon has the Twitter-verse and Kimmel has everyone who does not know any better. Colbert has to somehow elbow his way in there and establish himself as the best at something. Maybe it will be interviews? Letterman always killed interviews, and after he leaves, the door is going to be wide open.
As always, stay classy ‘Cats. Try not to step on a prospie when you head out there.