I’ve got to hand it to Andrew Garfield. I wasn’t sure about him at first, you know? Sure, he’s a great actor. But he’s so skinny! So young-looking! He is hardly ideal for action-heroics.

And yet! It turns out he makes a heck of a Peter Parker in this, The Amazing Spider-Man trailer, and my word, he cuts a striking figure in that skin-tight red suit. (What’s that? Baby-faced Andrew Garfield is actually 28 years old, you say? Oh, thank God.)

Embedded above is the movie’s first 3D trailer. Of course it isn’t actually in 3D, not for plebes like us, but Screen Rant promises that the movie, shot in “true 3D,” will deliver.

How darling is Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, you guys? And I hardly recognized Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors. It stings that the role is no longer filled by Dylan Baker, but Ifans strikes the right chord between “empathetic” and “potentially insidious,” right? Phew.

Are you guys getting excited or what?

The movie hits U.S. theaters July 3.

(Images via The Hollywood Reporter.)

I’ve been listening to OK Go since before I entered college—even before their debut album, you guys!—and for some reason, I am still subscribed to the band’s email list. So I did actually know the erstwhile Chicago foursome had a new music video on the way, thanks to a recent email blast.

But what a video! Ever since “A Million Ways“—it was choreographed by one of the bandmembers’ sister—the band’s videos have been getting more and more elaborate, all while tending toward single long takes. (“Here It Goes Again” was the video that really put the band on the map, of course.)

Now that the band is Hot Malarkey, they’re teaming up with Chevy for their music videos. The scoop from the YouTube page:

A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded this version of “Needing/Getting,” singing as they played the instrument array with the car. The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording. There are no ringers or stand-ins; Damian [Kulash] took stunt driving lessons. Each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck.

No, I am not being paid to tell you this: I would love the video even more if it had been shot from inside a Chevy Cruze instead. You guys, I love my Cruze. It is a tiny four-door car with a spacious interior and a surprisingly deep trunk. It gets terrific highway gas mileage, too, and it has a 5-star safety rating. Like, why wouldn’t you drive through a musical obstacle course in one of those? I ask you.

P.S. My Cruze’s name is Clyde; I just remembered I’ve actually written about my car here before.

My mother informed me that she had just seen the Superbowl halftime performance starring Madonna.

Well? How was it? I asked her.

She sighed and looked at me really tired. “I think Madonna’s very talented,” she said. I thought this was really funny. Mom! It’s not like you’re gonna offend the “kid”; Madonna’s 53 years old!

I watched Madonna’s halftime performance online later. And—this is a little weird, because she is such an amazing dancer—those stiletto boots are obviously killing her. Sometimes she looks like she’s never walked in heels before.

By many accounts Madonna’s show elicited mixed reviews, with critics particularly maligning her latest, “Give Me All Your Luvin’.” (Yeah, I’m not into it, either.)

In the meantime! M.I.A. took the stage during the show (along with Nicki Minaj), and she threatened to make the night all her own. Deadline:

During tonight’s show, headlined by Madonna, one of the guest singers, British rapper M.I.A., gave viewers the finger directly into the camera, and NBC’s censors weren’t fast enough to obscure it. The network, which carries the Super Bowl this year, attempted to blur the gesture but was late by almost a second. “We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime,” the network’s spokesperson said. “It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late.”

Yep! M.I.A. flipped off the cameras, incensing the censors. Phew! I’m glad something happened last night; otherwise the show might’ve been a total bore.

(Image via Popbytes.)

It seems sacrilegious to replace Freddie Mercury, but the band Queen has done exactly that.

When Mercury died, future American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert was all of ten years old. Today, it is announced, he is the new frontman for Queen.

Us Magazine:

The season eight American Idol winner [sic] confirmed to the U.K.’s Daily Star Thursday that he has been tapped to be the lead singer of Queen—the spot in which original member Freddie Mercury held until his untimely death in 1991.

“The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f—cking great songs,” Lambert, 30, told the paper. “It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

(more…)

I like Ricky Gervais, even though he constantly finds new uncharted ways to be obnoxious. Ah, here we are: last summer, I called him “affably irritating.” I think that still fits.

His newest, Life’s Too Short, premieres Sunday on HBO (I posted a great clip over here).

Anytime Gervais writes a column for the Huffington Post—admittedly, they’re all timed to promote his latest project—I always take notice. His newest article, “On Fame,” lends Hollywood some much-needed levity. It also goes far in explaining why he really gnashed his teeth at the Golden Globes last year:

But if The Office reflected those quaint docu-soaps of the 90s that followed ordinary people having their 15 minutes, Life’s Too Short reflects the more modern age—desperate, fame-hungry monsters who will do anything just to be on the telly.

You know, so-called role models living their lives like open wounds to accumulate column inches, so they can then get some ghost-writer to spread those inches over several “autobiographies” to cash in on their infidelity, drug abuse, life of crime and personal tragedy. You can’t help but think many should have called a doctor before they called a publicist.

I’ve always been fascinated by the subject of fame. Probably because I’ve never really understood it. Or rather, I’ve never really understood why people would put fame above all else. And it seems to be getting worse. A recent university survey asked a sample of ten-year-olds what they wanted to be when they grew up. They answered “famous.” Just famous.

I guess I always wanted to be eminent. That’s the old word for fame, by the way. Being known for something. Being known for being good at something. Maybe even the best at something. “Fame” used to be fused with “respect” in some ways. That’s what distinguished it from infamy. But not any more.

Ah, Ricky! Bombastic, wise, sage-like Ricky. Read the whole article! You might discover he doesn’t irritate you at all.

I was scanning news stories this morning and yeah, no, this was not the headline I expected to read:

I laughed! I squealed! I blinked. I cackled. I put my head down on the desk. I just could not process this. And who would publish such a thing? ABC News! That’s who! ABC!

I tell you guys what, I am so paranoid about God coming out of a cloud and zapping me, I can’t even make one Reverend Billy Graham joke without flipping out before I get to the punchline. Like, I can’t even directly post an actual photograph of televangelist Joel Osteen’s abs! I can only post a screenshot of his abs as they appeared at ABC News! I am sorry, God, that I mocked one of your agents like this.

BUT SERIOUSLY. Joel Osteen’s beach abs! Has anything ever been more uncomfortable?!

Here are other potentially blasphemous headlines I think ABC could have used. Hey, ABC News! Feel free to reprint these right alongside your Joel Osteen paparazzi pics:

- Check Out Joel Osteen’s “Sinfully” Chiseled Abs!

- Joel Osteen’s Pecs Are “Immaculate”

- Good Lord! Joel Osteen’s “Omnipotent” Pecs

- God Almighty! Joel Osteen’s Beach Bod

- If This Beach Bod Is Wrong, We Don’t Want to Be Right!

- ABC News’s Apotheosis: Joel’s Beach Bod

- Get Thee to a Nunnery!

- There IS a God! Joel Osteen’s Abs

- We’re Converted! Joel Osteen’s Abs

- Righteous Abs, Joel!

- “Lamentations”? Hardly! Joel Osteen’s Abs

- In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him, and He Shall Direct Your Abs

- IT’S THE AB-POCALYPSE!!!!!!!!!!! Joel Osteen’s Abs.

Guys, I know you have more ABC News headlines in you, so leave ‘em in the comments. UPDATE: Us Weekly went with “Holy Moly,” so that one’s out.