8 Things You Need To Know This AM, According To Chelsea Handler

July 22, 2016, 3:00 am

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1. U.S. News: Good news, your college debt is great for the economy!

People with college debt are educated people, and the more there are, the more higher-paying jobs there are. I didn’t go to college, so I got my debt the old-fashioned way: buying dolphins. (Read More)

2. World News: 2016 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record.

How many thousands of studies will have to be published before everyone is on board with this whole climate change thing? (Read More)

3. Tech: Self-driving cars are going to hurt your head.

Experts say the human brain may be too easily distracted for self-driving cars. But they say we only use 10% of our brains, so what do we know? (Read More)

4. Relationships: Text dirty to me.

According to a new survey, people who sext are more likely to be in stable, committed relationships…and probably have way more penetration. So keep sending those dick pics, I guess. (Read More)

5. Fashion: The only wonder in bras these days is wondering why millennial women won’t wear one.

To the disappointment of bra manufacturers and America at large, bra sales for millennials are dropping. I want young people to know bras are the reason people think mine are fake. (Read More)

6. Money: It’s all about the Hamiltons.

A marketing professor in Toronto says we value our purchases more when we pay cash. Which is why you should always pay your credit card bill with a stack of singles. (Read More)

7. Career: Want to be successful like me? Answer yes to these questions…

A woman studied the thoughts and behaviors of more than 100 high earners. If you answer yes to the questions in the article, you might have what it takes to be a millionaire. Or you could end up poor…who the hell knows? (Read More)

8. Love & Marriage: Till margaritas do us part.

After surveying 2,767 married couples, researchers found that those who drink together are happier...mostly because they can’t remember what they fought about the night before. (Read More)

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8 Gorgeous Weekend Beauty Looks That Are So Easy To Copy

July 22, 2016, 1:30 pm

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TGIF: It's time to get excited to sleep in, brunch with your BFFs, and try a new look on your night out. But because we know how tempting it is to fall back on your go-to beauty routine, we're recapping the best celebrity hair and makeup looks of the past week — from the red carpet to Instagram. Consider it a gentle nudge in the direction of that glittery liner collecting dust in the bottom of your makeup drawer. Come back every Friday afternoon for your weekly dose of inspiration.

Whether your weekend plans involve a low-key picnic in the park, a black-tie affair, or an '80s night, we've got your hair and makeup covered. Celebrities didn't play it safe with their beauty game this week — and our mood boards are better because of it. Click through to see the faux perms, red-hot lips, and retro waves you'll want to wear tonight.

What was your favorite look of the week? Let us know in the comments below.

**Teresa Palmer**
Hairstylist John D was behind the actress' gorgeous braided ponytail — and the style is actually easier to copy than it looks. Mist damp hair with salt spray, then roughly blowdry it with a diffuser. Start creating a regular French braid down the back of the head (don't worry about making it perfect; this style looks cooler when messier), stopping at the nape. Tie it off with an elastic, and you're ready for brunch.
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

**Chanel Iman**
This is the perfect style for getting your hair off your face on a hot summer night. Grab a small chunk of hair from each side of your center-part and weave a diagonal cornrow (pulling pieces under instead of over) toward the back of the head. Once you reach behind the ears, finish the braids and secure each with a small, clear elastic.
Photo: Mark Sagliocco/FilmMagic.

**Gigi Hadid**
Has anyone ever made the case for matching your manicure to your makeup as convincingly as Hadid does here? We think not.
Photo: Via @gigihadid.

**Zendaya**
When you're all dressed up in your finest party attire, but also *kind of* want people to think you don't give a damn, take a page out of Zendaya's playbook. Spray your hair with texturizer, pile it high into a knot, and encourage flyaways and short pieces to fall as they may.
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic.

**Halston Sage**
Pairing black, white, and red is a little predictable. Which you're not, obviously. This time, try deeper lips in the purplish-red family and keep your skin bare and highlighted.
Photo: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images.

**Shay Mitchell**
Big hair is bigger than ever — and Mitchell's version couldn't be more envy-inducing. Bonus points if you wear big hoops, too.
Photo: Via @shaym.

**Kendall Jenner**
It doesn't take much more than a killer lengthening mascara — applied on top and bottom lashes — and some tightlining skills to hold the attention of anyone you're talking to.
Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.

**Mila Kunis**
The actress took us back to the days of *That '70s Show* with her flowy, floral top and big, brushed-out waves.
Photo: Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic.

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The Walking Dead Season 7 Trailer Is Here

July 22, 2016, 1:35 pm

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Season 7 of The Walking Dead returns October 23. But today we got a glimpse at what we can expect, courtesy of the latest batshit crazy trailer.

You might get a bit dizzy watching it, because it's about a minute and a half of flashbacks for all the characters. Then once the dizzy part is done, you'll get creeped out, because Neegan is there saying things that are ominous but also kind of fun? Then you'll get grossed out because there are lots of zombie guts and killings.

We don't know who Neegan killed, of course, because that would be bad marketing. Plus, I don't wanna know! Spoilers are lame as hell. But we do see a first look at King Ezekiel. HE HAS A TIGER, YOU GUYS.

Check out the trailer for season 7 below. And come back and visit me October 23, when I'll dutifully return to my recaps.

Watch the World Premiere Trailer for #TWD Season 7, premiering Sunday, October 23 at 9|8c. https://t.co/GAHg8vpSh5
— The Walking Dead AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) July 22, 2016

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Crapper’s Delight: These Horror Movies Will Scare Your Pants Off

July 22, 2016, 1:45 pm

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In July of 2013, a horror movie called The Conjuring hit theaters and made away with $42 million in its first weekend — the box office record for an original R-rated horror movie opening. The movie — starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as husband-wife paranormal investigators enlisted by a family to exorcise their haunted farmhouse — was also lauded by critics. The Conjuring scored an 86% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as praise for its smart plot, cinematic beauty, and well-crafted scare-moments that harken back to classic horror films like The Exorcist.

The key to The Conjuring' s tremendous success — and the reason it got a sequel, The Conjuring 2, this summer — is really pretty simple: It scared the shit out of people. And from the paranormal fright-fests and the psychological thrillers to the classics, that's what a good horror movie does. So we decided to round up the best scary movies — i.e. the ones most likely to make you shit your pants.

The Birds(1963)

The debate over which Hitchcock movie is the thriller director's best continues on. But one thing most every Hitchcock fan can agree on: The Birds is pretty darn creepy. The story about a young woman (this marked Tippi Hedren's big-screen debut) who unknowingly stirs up a series of bird attacks in a small California town is the stuff nightmares are made of. Warning: If you haven't seen this film yet, once you do, you may never look at a flock of birds the same way again.

The Ring (2002)

You can pretend you're above this Naomi Watts adaptation of the equally-scary Japanese Ringu. But anyone who says watching Samara climb out of the TV didn't give them nightmares is full of shit. On second thought, maybe not so full.

The Shining(1980)

Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece remains the gold standard of the genre over 35 years after its release. And while by now we're all familiar with the Stephen King adaptation's scariest scenes — it's become something of a pop culture reference-point — witnessing the horrors inside the Overlook Hotel for the first time is like watching a waking nightmare.

The Babadook (2014)

This small, Aussie sleeper-hit is another modern classic. A woman and her son are relentlessly tormented by a creature born from the boy's coloring book in this restrained arthouse-horror triumph. It's more suspenseful than gory, and the scares are scream-worthy but not cheap.

Psycho (1960)

The only problem with Alfred Hitchcock's iconic psychological thriller, starring Janet Leigh? Your personal hygiene may be put in peril for days after witnessing the famous shower scene.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

The ultimate supernatural fright-fest is a downright chilling viewing experience. Who knew sleepwalking and tangled sheets could be so unsettling? The low-budget original, by the way, stands head and shoulders above its many, many sequels.

I nsidious (2010)

Modern horror master James Wan ( Saw, The Conjuring) knows how to deliver on both smart story-lines and good, old-fashioned jump-scares. There are several moments in the movie that should be flagged for their pants-ruining potential, but this one is just so unexpected.

The Exorcist (1973)

The first hit movie about exorcising the demons from a possessed child is also the best. No fancy special effects needed to spook the crap out of you here — just a disturbing puppet and good editing.

You know what they say, parents: Teenagers are hell.

It Follows (2015)

This shrewdly effective scary movie will make you afraid of, well, any other humans walking at a normal pace in your general vicinity. But the artsy Halloween -esque indie is a must-see and totally worth both the paralyzing aftermath (and the new pair of jeans).

The Conjuring (2013)

Yes, this one's on here because it's a must-see before the sequel. But even as a standalone, this tightly edited terror of a movie is full of perfect jump-cuts that, as previously discussed, may require you to conjure up some new pants.

The Strangers(2008)

Perhaps the scariest part of this movie is the fact that it was inspired by true events. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple on vacation terrorized by three masked intruders out to get them for no apparent reason. It could double as a two-hour sales pitch for a home security system.

Rosemary's Baby(1968)

We hesitated to include a Roman Polanski film on this list, but if you've seen this macabre classic one you'll know why we did. Stay away if you happen to be A. a new mom, B. trying to get pregnant, or C. wearing your favorite jeans.

A Tale Of Two Sisters(2003)

This psychological horror gem, which inspired 2008's lesser The Uninvited, hails from South Korea. After a girl gets home from a psychiatric-hospital stay, increasingly freaky shit involving dead birds and mysterious bruises starts happening to her and her sister. Is the evil stepmom to blame?

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These Movies Will Hurt Your Brain (In A Good Way)

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These Movies Will Hurt Your Brain (In A Good Way)

July 22, 2016, 2:00 pm

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WARNING: So many spoilers ahead! Plot twists unraveled. Endings revealed. Proceed at your own risk.

March 16 marks the 15th anniversary of the release of Christopher Nolan’s Memento, one of the greatest mindfuck movies of all time. What makes something a quality mindfuck movie? Sometimes, it’s a twist ending that seems to come out of nowhere and truly shocks you, because the reveal means you have to go back and rethink everything that happened during the course of the entire movie.

Take The Sixth Sense, for example. After you found out that Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) was dead the entire time, you had to recall every scene in which you thought Dr. Crowe interacted with characters besides Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment). Nope; it turns out he only interacts with Cole after he gets shot in the beginning of the movie. He really has been dead the whole time. M. Night Shyamalan, you trickster, you.

Other times, a movie fucks with your head from beginning to end. It leads you one way, then swerves sharply to the left. The plot isn't remotely linear, although it appeared to be (ahem, Triangle). Or you can’t even figure out what’s going on at all. Think Christopher Nolan’s Inception, or Shane Carruth's Primer.

And then there are psychological thrillers like Black Swan and The Machinist, which trap the viewer inside a character’s breakdown without providing a complete picture of what’s happening. In the words of U2, “Now you're stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it.” Also in the words of U2: "Don't say that later will be better," because you'll be obsessing about what happened in that goddamn movie you just watched. (Sidenote: Is Bono a mindfuck movie prophet? Please discuss.)

But when it comes to this magical mindfuckery that makes you wonder what you just watched for hours on end, why would you ever want to want to get out of these moments?

And one more reminder that there are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD — so major you may as well call them majorettes and stick 'em in front of a marching band twirling batons.

The Invitation (2016)

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Michiel Huisman, Tammy Blanchard, Emayatzy Corinealdi

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Written by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

It's been two years since a tragic accident killed Will (Marshall Green) and Eden's (Blanchard) young son in their Hollywood Hills home. Their marriage soon dissolved and, in an effort to move on, lost touch with one another. The movie begins with Will driving to his old house with his new girlfriend Kira (Corinealdi) — they've been invited to a dinner party, even though he hasn't heard from his ex-wife or her new husband in months.

Things start out warm enough, even as the stylishly modern house manages to dig up pained memories for Will. Then, out of the corner of his eye Will notices Eden's new husband David (Huisman) casually lock doors and cabinets. There are other couples there (old friends of Will and Eden's when they were married), good food, ritzy wine... it's a nice enough evening, albeit a bit awkward. Suddenly, the tone shifts. This isn't a reunion, it's a recruiting session for a cult.

A new, unfamiliar guest arrives. Everyone nestles into the living room and David asks them to keep an open mind as they watch a documentary of sorts. In the movie, a creepy pastor talks a dying woman through the end of her life. The couples all recoil, until the unfamiliar guest gives a kind of testimonial about loving his dead wife so much, and how this quasi-spirituality helped him overcome her death. The twist? He was the one who went to prison for killing her.

From there, Kusama perfectly manipulates the tension. Doors lock and unlock, and Will confronts Eden about blocking out their son's death between flashbacks of their former life together. In the thrilling climax they sit down to dinner. Eden serves a special drink. Will can't take it anymore — he demands everyone throw it out, and begs his girlfriend to leave with him. Just as he seems crazy, someone takes a sip and dies instantly. Will was right, the drink was poison.

The "invitation" was really an entry into a murder-suicide pact. Will and his girlfriend run frantically through his old house to escape Eden and David's wrath.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

Directed by: Mike Nichols

Written by: Ernest Lehman

Married couple George (Burton) and Martha (Taylor) arrive home from a party. Martha informs George that she’s invited a younger couple that she met there — Nick (Segal) and Honey (Dennis) — over for more drinks. Everyone is already quite drunk, but George and Martha get increasingly more drunk and verbally abusive towards one another.

Honey says that Martha told her about she and George’s son upcoming 16th birthday. This angers George. Honey runs to the bathroom to throw up from drinking too much. The night goes on and on with more upsetting moments.

George and Martha engage in a series of increasingly escalating games of psychological manipulation that makes their guests feel more and more uneasy. Finally, it becomes clear to Nick and Honey that the overarching game is for George and Martha to invent more and more details about their imaginary son, but to never mention his existence to anyone else. It seems that Martha lost this round, because she answers the title question, saying "I am."

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Written by: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clark

As one Reddit commenter summarizing the movie very succinctly describes it, “Black box gives superpowers. Black box plus monkey equals human. Human plus black box equals star baby. Star baby is awesome.” To expand on that a little, watch the four videos on the website Kubrick 2001, which delve into how it’s not just the monolith (black box) that speeds along evolution, it’s actually the discovery and improved development of functional tools that advances first apes, and then the human race.

The question is, though, what are the three monoliths that appear in the film — one one Earth, one on the Moon, and one on Jupiter? Since they have right angles, they aren’t naturally occurring in nature. As Roger Ebert wrote in 1968, “Who put [the monolith] there? Intelligent beings since it has right angles and nature doesn't make right angles on its own.” The monoliths are merely a device Kubrick uses to advance the plot, Ebert argues.

It’s not just the monoliths’ possible meaning that throws viewers into a quandary. The ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey usually confuses viewers the most. After Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dulles) defeats HAL 9000, the supercomputer that conspired to take over the humans’ spaceship, he receives a signal from the monolith on Jupiter. Bowman travels toward the monolith only to be captured by a vortex of light.

Rather than finding himself in a sort of Gravity situation, which viewers could much more easily understand (we all know that a human left adrift in space would just perish among the glowing stars and big, black holes of nothingness), Bowman winds up in a bedroom. He watches his older self eat his final meal and die in the bed. Bowman becomes one with this older version of himself. After he dies, another monolith appears by his bed. He reaches for it and becomes the “starchild,” a glowing fetus that is transported by float beside planet Earth.

“Now where did the bedroom come from? My intuition is that it came out of Kubrick's imagination; that he understood the familiar bedroom would be the most alien, inexplicable, disturbing scene he could possibly end the film with. He was right. The bedroom is more otherworldly and eerie than any number of exploding stars, etc.,” Ebert writes by way of explanation.

It’s quite the trip.

Soylent Green (1973)

Starring: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young

Directed by: Richard Fleischer

Written by: Stanley R. Greenberg

Soylent Green is PEOPLE.

Altered States (1980)

Starring: William Hurt, Blair Brown

Directed by: Ken Russell

Written by: Sidney Aaron, Paddy Chayefsky

Edward Jessup (Hurt) is a Harvard scientist who starts experimenting with sensory deprivation tanks. He wants to take his work further, though, so he starts working with psychedelic mushrooms — only the type he uses makes everyone who takes them have the exact same trip.

One night while tripping balls in his tank, Jessup reverts back to the state of a Simian man. He climbs out of the tank and wreaks havoc on the lab and the campus security guards. A pack of wild dogs chases him to a local zoo, where he eats a sheep for his dinner. Jessup then returns to his human form.

His experiments transform him into increasingly troubling altered states. In one instance, he’s basically primordial soup; in another, he’s a vortex of light similar to the ones in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The only thing that can bring Jessup back from these states is his wife, Emily (Brown). She starts going through these altered states with him; sort of like the ying to his yang, or the fire to his brimstone.

In Jessup’s final experiment, he becomes a sort of pre-life protoplasm. His wife is the flesh into which the protoplasm fuses, and together, they form human life. It’s through this melding that they emerge whole, and Jessup learns to value his own humanity as well as his wife (they had been on the brink of divorcing).

Videodrome (1983)

Starring: James Woods, Deborah Harry, Peter Dvorsky

Directed by: David Cronenberg

Written by: David Cronenberg

Max Renn (Woods) runs a Toronto TV station that airs sleazy shows (softcore porn; hardcore violence), but he’s always looking for the next sensational phenomenon. His coworker Harlan (Dvorsky) is responsible for pirating signals from other broadcast stations, and he picks up a show called Videodrome that he thinks is coming from Malaysia. On Videodrome, anonymous victims are brutally tortured before they’re murdered in a chamber. Then, Randy Jackson says, “A little pitchy, dawg.” (That last part isn’t true.)

Max thinks Videodrome is the future of TV and orders Halan to start pirating it for their station. He also gets Nicki Brand (Harry), a radio host, to sleep with him after she admits she’s turned on by the events depicted on Videodrome. Around the same time, a pop-culture analyst named Professor Brian O'Blivion (Jack Creley), who only appears on TV but is never seen in real life, predicts that television will one day supplant human life.

Harlan tells Max that the signal had actually been scrambled, and Videodrome ’s broadcast is really coming from Pittsburgh. Nicki goes there to audition to be on the show, which Max actually believes is fake. When Nicki doesn’t come back to Toronto, Max gets in touch with a feminist pornographer (Lynne Gorman), who tells him that Videodrome isn’t fake. It’s not just a TV show, either, it’s a political movement that Professor O’Blivion is behind.

Max finds O’Blivion’s office, The Cathode Ray Mission, and discovers that it provides homeless people with shelter, food, and water as long as they watch television, which was part of O’Blivion’s vision for the future. He’s actually been dead for over a year, though, and what people have been watching are hours of video he pre-taped in the event of his demise. O’Blivion’s socio-political movement, the Videodrome, is a war for the minds of North Americans.

The means of mind control is, of course, television; namely, viewing the Videodrome TV program. The show carries a signal that gives viewers malignant brain tumors. Max, who viewed Videodrome, also starts having hallucinations during which he thinks there’s a VCR in his stomach. O’Blivion didn’t want it to be used this way, though, but when he tried to stop his partners from doing so, they killed him.

Harlan actually showed Max Videodrome in order to get him to put it on the air as part of a government conspiracy to eradicate North America of homeless people. They insert a tape into the VCR in Max’s stomach (which has become real) that makes Max murder his coworkers. When he’s about to kill Professor O’Blivion’s daughter (Sonja Smits), who’s trying to stop the government’s plan to eliminate the poor, she’s able to reprogram him to instead kill Harlan, who’d been part of the government conspiracy to put Videodrome on the air.

Max shoots Harlan, then runs to an abandoned harbor. Nicki shows up on a television, saying that in order to completely defeat Videodrome, he has to "leave the old flesh behind." On the same television, we see Max shooting himself in the head. The set explodes, but when it does, it leaves behind bloody, human intestines. We then see Max, who watched the version of himself on TV shoot himself, do the same thing.

Jacob’s Ladder(1990)

Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello

Directed by: Adrian Lyne

Written by: Bruce Joel Robbin

The movie starts during the Vietnam War, where an American soldier named Jacob (Robbins), loses most of his unit during an attack. He runs into the jungle and gets stabbed by a bayonet.

When he wakes up four years later, he’s on the subway in New York City reading Albert Camus' The Stranger. Jacob is living with his girlfriend Jezzie (Peña) in Brooklyn, but he remembers having a wife and three sons, the youngest of which died before the war.

Jacob keeps having disturbing experiences and seeing demons everywhere, until he’s contacted by a comrade from his old unit who went catatonic during the attack in Vietnam. The comrade recovered and is now living in NYC, but he's killed when his car explodes. At his funeral, the surviving members of Jacob’s platoon say that they’ve all been having horrible experiences.

They hire a lawyer to investigate what happened to them, but after he reads their military files that say the platoon was never actually in combat, and that the soldiers had been discharged due to psychological reasons, he backs out of the case.

All of Jacob’s comrades stop pursuing the case, but he continues his search for the truth. This gets him thrown in a car and taken to a hospital, where doctors tell him that he’s already dead.

When Jacob leaves the hospital, Michael Newman (Matt Craven), the man who treated him back in Vietnam, confesses that he was a chemist who had designed “the Ladder,” a drug that triggered aggression. A large dose had been given to Jacob’s unit, and they had actually attacked one another. Jacob recalls being bayoneted in the jungle, only this time he can see an American soldier wielding the bayonet.

Now that he knows what truly happened, Jacob feels at peace. He returns to his family’s apartment, where he sees his dead son Gabe at the bottom of the stairs. Gabe takes his hand and leads him up the stairs towards a bright light. In the final scene, Jacob is in a triage tent, where military doctors declare him dead.

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The Usual Suspects(1995)

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie

While being questioned about his role in a gun battle and drug bust gone wrong, Roger “Verbal” Kint manages to convince police that he should be let off scot-free. After he leaves the station and drops his limp, his interrogators look around the room and realize that the story Verbal concocted was based entirely on objects and names he glimpsed around the room.

Kint is actually Keyser Söze, the mastermind behind the whole scheme that led to the firefight on the ship. As he says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.”

Cube (1997)

Starring: Maurice Dean Wint, Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller

Directed by: Vincenzo Natali

Written by: André Bijelic, Graeme Manson, Vincenzo Natali

Imagine five prisoners being stuck inside a constantly shifting, intricately booby-trapped, complexly mathematical Rubik’s Cube. They have no idea how they got there. They think they need to somehow escape in order to survive.

That’s what Cube is about, except in the end, the sole survivor ascends into a bright light. So, is the cube purgatory? A classic prisoner’s dilemma? Cube will give you a lot to think about.

The Sixth Sense(1999)

Starring: Bruce Willis, Hayley Joel Osment

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

Written by: M. Night Shyamalan

A child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe (Willis) and his wife (Olivia Williams) return home from an event where he was being honored. A former patient of Crowe’s is waiting in their bathroom. He shoots Crowe and then kills himself.

The movie cuts to the following autumn, when Dr. Crowe starts working with 9-year-old Cole Sear (Osment), who claims he can see dead people and also has trouble in social situations. Malcolm works with Cole to develop his gift for communicating with the dead, but the doctor grows increasingly distant from his wife. They never talk anymore.

Eventually, Malcolm realizes what happened. He was actually killed the night he was shot. He hasn’t been able to leave the land of the living because he wants to let his wife know that she never came second to his work, and that he also can’t forgive himself for failing to help the patient who killed both Malcolm and himself. Cole really does see dead people.

Fight Club (1999)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter

Directed by: David Fincher

Written by: Jim Uhls

The first rule of fight club is, of course, that you don’t talk about fight club. The second rule is that you disregard that one for the purposes of this roundup, with apologies to David Fincher and Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the novel upon which the film is based.

In this nihilistic tale, an unnamed insomniac office drone (Norton) meets a rebellious soap-maker named Tyler Durden (Pitt) on a plane. The two move into a dilapidated house on the edge of town and start an underground fight club that turns into a nation-wide organization called Project Mayhem, which protests capitalism and corporate organizations.

Eventually, the narrator realizes that Tyler Durden is merely a dissociation of his own personality. He discovers that as Tyler, he’s been plotting to destroy credit card companies by blowing up their office buildings. The narrator finally shoots himself in the cheek, killing his projection of Tyler. The film ends with the narrator and his sort-of girlfriend Marla (Bonham Carter) watching the city fall to the Pixies' “Where Is My Mind.”

Memento (2000)

Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Written by: Christopher Nola, Jonathan Nolan

Leonard Shelby (Pearce) suffers from anterograde amnesia, which means he can’t create or store new memories. This is making it difficult to track down the man he’s certain raped and murdered his wife (Jorja Fox). To make things even more confusing, the film is told through black-and-white and color sequences, and it’s not clear to the audience which come first chronologically. It’s also unclear which characters Shelby can trust — or if he’s even trustworthy himself.

Session 9 (2001)

Starring: David Caruso, Peter Mullan, Stephen Gevedon, Josh Lucas

Directed by: Brad Anderson

Written by: Brad Anderson, Stephen Gevedon

This movie was filmed in a real mental hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts, which just adds to the authentic, chilling vibe you’ll have while watching. An asbestos removal crew (Caruso, Mullan, Gevedon, Lucas, Brendan Sexton III) is tasked with cleaning an abandoned mental hospital. While on the job, they discover a box that contains tapes of nine interview sessions with a patient named Mary Hobbes.

Hobbes has dissociative identity disorder, and she has three personalities besides her own. Of these, she only displays two of them — “the Princess,” who is childlike and innocent, and Billy, who is protective and childlike. Hobbes’ third personality, Simon, is so hidden that the Princess doesn’t know anything about her, and Billy is afraid of him.

Everything starts to unravel when one of the men goes missing, and the ninth session tape is cut short, so they don’t know what happened with Mary, the Princess, Billy, and Simon. Eventually, it’s revealed that there might not be a Mary, and that Simon actually lives inside one of the men tasked with cleaning the asylum, and some members of the cleaning crew aren’t even real — they’re projections of his imagination. He murders some of the real men, though, because of course this movie is terrifying.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring

Directed by: David Lynch

Written by: David Lynch

This one’s kind of tough to explain in a simple plot synopsis, especially since there’s been so much debate about whether or not the first half of the film is actually a dream sequence. This October 2001 Salon article provides a thorough analysis of not only the film’s plot, but also what the fuck it all means. Or at least what the writers think it means, because they’re still unable to explain things like the mysterious box.

Lynch originally wrote Mulholland Drive as a television pilot for ABC. Therefore, there might actually be some storylines in the film that leave questions left unanswered, since Lynch would have been able to get to them in the longer time that a TV series allots for storytelling.

In this January 2002 article from The Guardian, however, five top film critics couldn’t come to a consensus as to whether or not the film was divided into two halves, with one being a dream and one grounded in the reality of what actually happened when Diane (Watts) put a hit on her girlfriend Camilla (Harring). Diane’s actions drive her to commit suicide.

Still, the film might be intended as a larger commentary on how Hollywood places women in boxes, only allowing ingénues to look one way, while women become disposable and easily replaceable when they reach a certain age. That might just be the most important mindfuck Mulholland Drive gives to viewers.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore

Directed by: Richard Kelly

Written by: Richard Kelly

A high school student named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is woken up by a monstrous rabbit who calls himself Frank. The rabbit leads Donnie outside and says the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. When Donnie returns home, he discovers that a jet engine crashed into his bedroom while he was out with Frank.

When Donnie describes Frank to his therapist (Katharine Ross), she tells his parents that he’s suffering from daylight hallucinations, which can be symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Donnie confesses to flooding his school and burning down a motivational speaker’s (Patrick Swayze) house.

Finally, it’s the day Frank prophesied the world would end. A vortex forms above the Darko house while Donnie is driving in the nearby hills. He watches an airplane fall from the sky. The events from the last 28 days start to replay in reverse chronological order. When they reach day 1, Donnie is back in his bed, laughing maniacally as a jet engine crashes into his room. Donnie dies instantly.

When he dies, all of the people with whom Donnie Darko interacted during the last 28 days start to wake up with disturbed looks on their faces. Characters who met and interacted during the course of the movie revert to being strangers, although they feel as though they know each other. They just can’t remember where or when they might have met.

Vanilla Sky(2001)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz

Directed by: Cameron Crowe

Written by: Cameron Crowe

Roger Ebert described Vanilla Sky perfectly in December 2001, “ Vanilla Sky, like the 2001 pictures Memento and Mulholland Drive before it, requires the audience to do some heavy lifting. It has one of those plots that doubles back on itself like an Escher staircase. You get along splendidly one step at a time, but when you get to the top floor you find yourself on the bottom landing. If it's any consolation, its hero is as baffled as we are; it's not that he has memory loss, like the hero of Memento, but that in a certain sense he may have no real memory at all.”

Vanilla Sky plays not only with linear structure, but with mixing dreams and reality, forcing viewers to question what’s real, what’s not, and whether or not reality is entirely subjective and surreal. It’s best to watch it rather than read a plot summary, really, but know that Tom Cruise jumps off a building at one point, and not in his usual badass Mission: Impossible type of way.

Oldboy (2003)

Starring: Choi Min-sik, Kang Hye-jung

Directed by: Park Chan-wook

Written by: Hwang Jo-yoon, Im Joon-hyeong, Park Chan-wook

Business man Oh Dae-su (Min-sik) is arrested for drunken and disorderly behavior in 1988. He misses his daughter’s 4th birthday because he is in jail. While his friend who picks him up from the police station is talking to Dae-su’s wife, he is kidnapped.

Dae-su is imprisoned with no human contact for 15 years in a hotel-like prison. He’s sometimes gassed with a mind-altering drug. Dae-su shadowboxes to pass the time. He has no contact with his captors, nor does he ever learn the reason for his kidnapping.

Fifteen years later, Dae-su is released onto a rooftop. His captor gives him a suit and some money, but he also calls and taunts him. Dae-su then befriends a young chef named Mi-do (Hye-jung), who takes him to her apartment after he collapses at her sushi restaurant.

Dae-su wants to track down his daughter, but all he can find out is that she was adopted by a Swedish couple. He turns his attention to his captor’s identity. He finally learns that his name is Lee Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae). Woo-jin gives Dae-su an ultimatum: If Dae-su can figure out why Woo-jin kept him captive in the next five days, Woo-jin will kill himself. If Dae-su doesn’t succeed in finding out, Woo-jin will have Mi-do — with whom Dae-su has begun an emotional and sexual relationship — killed.

Dae-su remembers that he and Woo-jin went to the same high school, and that he saw an incestutous encounter between Woo-jin and his sister Soo-ah. Dae-su spread the rumor about their relationship around the school, not knowing they were related. Soo-ah committed suicide after the rumor made the rounds.

Dae-su admits to Woo-jin that he drove his sister to commit suicide. Woo-jin tells Dae-su that his revenge has been meticulous and carefully plotted. First, he captured Dae-su and kept him in prison for 15 years, periodically administering hypnotic drugs. Then, he planted the false evidence that Dae-su’s daughter had been kidnapped by a Swedish couple. In reality, Dae-su’s daughter is none other than Mi-do. Woo-jin drove Dae-su to commit incest with his own daughter, and he plans to tell Mi-do what has happened as well.

Dae-su begs Woo-jin to spare Mi-do from learning this information. Dae-su cuts out his tongue to show that he will never convey this information, or any other secrets, himself. Woo-jin says he will heed this request, leaves, and shoots himself.

Dae-su goes to a hypnotist to have the memories of committing incest with his daughter erased, but afterward, Mi-do finds him and tells him she loves him. He smiles when he hears this, but then his smile is replaced by a pained expression, as if he’s remembering what he went to the hypnotist to forget.

The Machinist (2004)

Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Directed by: Brad Anderson

Written by: Scott Kosar

A machinist named Trevor Reznik (Bale) is suffering from severe insomnia and has become extremely emaciated. Trevor is also troubled by mysterious Post-It notes that appear on his fridge, which have a game of Hangman on them. It starts to affect his work to the point where one of his coworkers (Michael Ironside) loses his arm in a machine accident. His coworkers blame Trevor for the accident, but he blames a mysterious new machinist named Ivan (John Sharian) that only Trevor seems to know about.

Trevor does have some brief moments of relief. He spends time with Stevie (Leigh), a prostitute, who enjoys his company. He meets a waitress named Maria (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) at the airport diner he frequents and takes Maria and her son Nicholas (Matthew Romero) to a carnival. At the carnival, though, Nicholas has a seizure in a funhouse.

Trevor thinks all of these mysterious events are part of an elaborate plot to drive him insane. His life begins to fall apart even more: He explodes at a coworker and gets fired. He doesn’t pay his utility bill, and the electricity in his apartment is turned off. He thinks blood is seeping out of his freezer.

Trevor thinks that Ivan is the source of his problems, so he goes to the DMV to track him down using his license plate number. They refuse to give it to him, so he goes to the police, saying that he was a victim of a hit and run, and that Ivan was the perpetrator. When Trevor gives the police Ivan’s license plate number, they tell him that the car to which that plate matches is registered to Trevor, not the mysterious Ivan.

Eventually, Trevor pieces together the details of what happened. There is no Maria, nor is there a Nicholas. He was the one who hit a boy who looked identical to Nicholas a year ago — which his mother (who looked exactly like Maria) witnessed — and then drove away. At the time, Trevor looked much healthier. The guilt over the hit and run is what led him to his current emaciated, insomniac state. The mysterious Post-It notes have actually been coming from him (he’s been dissociating), and the hangman game spells out “KILLER.”

The movie ends with Trevor going to the police to confess his crime. They lead him to a cell, and he falls asleep for the first time since the accident.

Primer (2004)

Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden

Directed by: Shane Carruth

Written by: Shane Carruth

Primer is considered one of the most confusing movies of all time. People have even mapped out the various timelines in an attempt to explain the plot. Writer/director/star Shane Carruth has a degree in mathematics and is a former engineer, so the film delves into complex temporal anomalies.

Two engineers named Aaron (Carruth) and Abe (Sullivan) create a person-sized box in which a human can travel through time. They try to carefully map out rules for their time traveling to avoid meeting their past or future selves and messing up the past, present, or future.

Abe and Aaron’s different personalities lead to confrontations over how they should use the box and the way in which their collaboration in the experiment should play out. They try to use their time traveling ability to make profitable stock trades, but their future selves keep appearing in their present timelines, causing increasingly escalating problems in their lives. They also cause trouble in other people’s lives; for example, Abe’s girlfriend Rachel (Samantha Thomson) almost gets shot.

During an epilogue, it’s revealed that multiple versions of Aaron still exist, and at least one future version is colluding with the original one. Abe, on the other hand, wants to keep his present self in the dark about what Future Abe knows. In the final scene, Aaron is directing the construction of a warehouse-sized box.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004)

Starring: Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey

Directed by: Michel Gondry

Written by: Charlie Kaufman

Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (Winslet) meet on a train from Montauk to Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York. What they don’t know is that they’ve met before. They were even in a relationship before, but Clementine hired a firm called Lacuna, Inc., to erase her memories of their relationship after a fight, and when Joel heard about this, he decided to do the same.

Joel doesn’t want Clementine to be erased from his memory, though, and he struggles to preserve the moments they had together by hiding them deep in his subconscious. The last thing he can remember her saying is to meet him in Montauk.

After they meet again on the train, they discover their Lacuna records. Even though they know they dated, broke up, and had their relationship erased from their minds before, they decide to give it another chance.

Atonement (2007)

Starring: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan

Directed by: Joe Wright

Written by: Christopher Hampton

This adaptation of Iwan McEwan’s novel of the same name earns a spot on the mindfuck movies list simply because of how it completely rips the rug out from under you at the end. There you are, thinking Briony (played by Ronan at 13, Romola Garai at 18, and Redgrave as an older woman) is writing this story to atone for her huge lie, and there's going to be a romantic, happy ending. That lie being how she falsely accused Robbie Turner (McAvoy) of raping Briony’s visiting cousin Lola (Juno Temple), which completely ruined not only his life, but that of her sister Cecilia (Knightley).

The incident tears Briony and Cecilia’s family apart, because Cecilia stands by Robbie; knowing he’s been falsely accused. Years later, Briony describes visiting Robbie and Cecilia, who are now married, to apologize. Cecilia says she can never forgive her, while Robbie demands Briony tell both her family and the authorities what really happened. Even if Briony were to tell the authorities; however, nothing could be done, because Lola actually married her rapist (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Decades pass, and Briony is now an author. Her final novel (she is dying of vascular dementia) is called Atonement. She gives an interview about the book in which she reveals that it’s only semi-autobiographical. While most of the beginning is true to life, the part where she visits Cecilia and Robbie is fabricated. Briony was never able to visit them to ask for forgiveness because they never met again after Robbie left to fight in World War II. He died at Dunkirk, and Cecilia died shortly after during The Blitz. Oh cruel, cruel fate.

Triangle (2009)

Starring: Melissa George, Michael Dorman

Directed by: Christopher Smith

Written by: Christopher Smith

Jess (Melissa George) goes on a boat trip with a group of friends. The boat capsizes in a storm, and the group survives by climbing on the upturned vessel. They spot an ocean liner and board it, only to find it deserted. Jess experiences a flash of déjà vu once on board the ship, and she also gets the feeling that there’s someone else there.

One by one, the members of the group begin to die. Some of them are shot by a mysterious masked shooter, who then chases Jess, but she’s able to push the shooter overboard.

After everyone in her group dies, and Jess is left alone, she hears yelling. She sees herself and the others alive again. They’re standing on the capsized boat in the same position they were in before they boarded the ocean liner. Jess realizes that she’s stuck in a time loop, and she’s actually the figure on the ship who killed her friends.

Inception (2010)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Written by: Christopher Nolan

Dominick Cobb (DiCaprio) and his team enter the dreams of executives to steal corporate secrets. In the big heist depicted in the movie, the team has a new type of challenge: plant an idea into a CEO’s (Cillian Murphy) subconscious, which the businessman (Ken Watanabe) tasking them with the job calls inception.

Cobb is also struggling with guilt over the death of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who committed suicide after the two spent 50 years in a shared dreamscape and couldn’t distinguish between dreams and reality when they woke up. Cobb’s guilt causes problems with his team’s current mission, because he keeps projecting Mal into dreamscapes.

As the team travels into deeper and deeper levels of the dream labyrinth architected by Ariadne (Page), there’s more room for error, which obviously occurs. After Inception came out, people spent hours trying to map out the various levels of the dream landscapes into which the team traveled. Finally, Christopher Nolan released his hand-drawn version of the map to help viewers understand.

Audiences were also confused by the film’s ending. The movie’s last shot is of Cobb’s totem — an object the dream-invaders use to determine if they’re still in a dream or back in reality — a spinning top. If the top keeps spinning, he’s probably stuck in someone else’s dream. If it stops, he’s back in reality. Inception ends before we can see what happens to the top. Does it keep spinning, or does it fall?

Nolan finally explained the ambiguous ending during the commencement speech he delivered to Princeton’s class of 2015. He said it didn’t matter if Cobb was awake or dreaming, because he’d been reunited with his children, which is all he really wanted. “He was in his own subjective reality. He didn’t really care any more, and that makes a statement: perhaps, all levels of reality are valid,” Nolan said.

Black Swan(2010)

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Written by: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin

Nina Sayers (Portman) has spent her entire life striving to be a perfect ballerina. It’s an obsession fueled by her stage mother (Hershey). When Sayers is cast as the White Swan in her company’s upcoming production of Swan Lake opposite a more easygoing newcomer (Mila Kunis) as the Black Swan, she begins to have a complete mental, emotional, and physical breakdown.

Holy Motors(2012)

Starring: Denis Lavant, Édith Scob, Élise L'Homea

Directed by: Leos Carax

Written by: Leos Carax

Monsieur Oscar (Lavant) appears to be a regular businessman until he enters a limo in the morning after having breakfast with his wife and children. Once in the car, he receives a dossier from his driver, Madame Céline (Scob), and takes off his banker disguise. He puts on a different costume; now, Oscar is an elderly beggar who walks the streets of Paris, asking for money.

Oscar is actually an actor, but his roles exist in the real world. Throughout the day, he returns to the limousine for more assignments from Céline. These take him everywhere from a motion-capture studio to a high-fashion photoshoot with a top model (played by Eva Mendes).

Even when Oscar gets physically injured while in character, he’s unscathed when he returns to the limo. At times, he interacts with characters that look identical to ones he played earlier in the day. Towards the end of the day, he meets a woman named Léa (L'Homea), who calls him “uncle.” Oscar pretends to die, and Léa cries.

At this next appointment, Céline pulls the car up next to an identical limo. Inside is a woman named Eva (Kylie Minogue), with whom it’s implied Oscar actually has a child. However, Eva appears to be an actress like Oscar, and she tells him that she has an appointment. She’ll be stepping into the role of a flight attendant who spends her final night in an empty building with a man. Oscar leaves the building so that Eva can meet up with the man, but he then sees the two jump to their deaths. Oscar cries as he runs past their bodies and gets in the limo.

At his last appointment, Céline hands Oscar a dossier saying that he’ll be going to “your house” to meet up with “your wife” and “your daughter.” When he goes inside; however, his wife and child are actually chimpanzees.

Now that the day is over, Céline takes the limo to the Holy Motors garage, which is filled with many limousines of the same make and model. She leaves for the night after covering her face with a mask. After Céline is gone, the cars start talking to each other, worrying about becoming obsolete.

Upstream Color (2013)

Starring: Shane Carruth, Amy Seimetz, Thiago Martins

Directed by: Shane Carruth

Written by: Shane Carruth

Yup, it’s another Shane Carruth mindfuck masterpiece. In this one, a man called the Thief (Martins) kidnaps Kris (Seimetz) at a nightclub and drugs her. He keeps her in a hypnotic state of distraction, using techniques like getting her to transcribe Henry David Thoreau’s Walden on a paper chain. The Thief starves Kris so that he can infect her with a type of live larva that he harvests from blue orchids. He also manipulates her into liquidating her home equity and giving him the money.

When the Thief drops Kris off at her home, she wakes up ravenous with roundworms crawling under her skin, which she tries to remove with a kitchen knife. She fails at this.

A man called the Sampler (Andrew Sensenig) lures Kris to his farm so he can transfer the roundworms from her body a young pig’s. Again, Kris wakes up with no memory of what has happened to her. When she gets home, she sees the blood on her sheets from when she tried to remove the worms. Scared, she calls the police, but she hangs up because she’s not sure what she would tell them happened. Kris tries to return to work, but she gets fired after her unexcused absence. She tries to buy food at the grocery store, but the Thief has stolen all of her money.

One year later, Kris encounters a man named Jeff (Carruth) on a train, and the two have an almost telepathic connection. When they spend the night together, they realize they have identical scars — they were both infected by the larva and then had the roundworms removed, but they also have no memory of this happening. Like Kris, Jeff also had his personal funds stolen by the Thief. He then lost his job after trying to embezzle money from his brokerage firm to cover his tracks.

Kris and Jeff also have a telepathic connection with the pigs that received their worm transfusions, although they don’t know this. That’s another part of the worm-pig-orchid cycle, as Shane Carruth calls it. The Sampler is able to check in on people who are telepathically connected with the pig’s lives, and he writes songs about them. He sells these songs through a company called the Quinoa Valley Rec. Co.

When one of the pigs gets pregnant, Kris thinks she's pregnant. The doctor tells her she isn’t; she actually had endometrial cancer, which was removed, and is now infertile. When the pig gives birth, the Sampler throws her piglets into a sack, which he tosses into the river.

This sends Kris and Jeff into a deep depression. They turn against everyone else in their lives and hunker down in Kris’ house, expecting the worst. While this is happening, we see the sack with the piglet’s corpses, from which a blue substance — the same blue as the orchids the Thief extracted the larva from in the beginning — is traveling upstream into the surrounding waters. Orchids are growing out of the water, and farmers are collecting the blue flowers to sell.

Kris, Jeff, and the Sampler slowly start to remember the things that have happened to them. Kris starts mumbling Walden. In a dream, the three of them sit down together and discuss being aware of each other before the Sampler has a heart attack. Back in reality, Kris and Jeff are on the pig farm. She shoots the Sampler, and he dies.

Kris and Jeff find records of everyone who has been drugged the way they were and get them to come to the farm by sending them copies of Walden. They remodel the farm and start providing a better life for the pigs. No more pigs are drowned, so the Thief has no more blue orchids from which to get larva and start the worm-pig-orchid cycle again.

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This Game Of Thrones Character Was Totally Unrecognizable 15 Years Ago

July 22, 2016, 2:05 pm

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Winter already came for Petyr Baelish's hair — 15 years ago. You might recognize actor Aidan Gillen, a.k.a. "Littlefinger," by his signature icy eyes, silver fox hair, and deep creepy voice, but can you imagine him with frosted tips? We couldn't either — until we saw these photos that Hellogiggles dug up of him from a Low Down movie photo shoot back in 2001:

We know.

We KNOW.

WE KNOW!

Looks like even Petyr Baelish fell victim to the unfortunate trends of the early aughts. While we hope he stays far, far away from Sansa Stark, we wouldn't mind seeing those blonde highlights make a cameo in Season 7. It's just too bad we'll have to wait until next summer. Until then, we guess re-watching episodes and these hilarious photos will have to hold us over.

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These Are The Most Popular Songs Of The Week

July 22, 2016, 2:15 pm

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≪ Previous: This Game Of Thrones Character Was Totally Unrecognizable 15 Years Ago

"Is anything better than plugging in your headphones, firing up your music app of choice, and jamming out to that brand-new song you're obsessed with?

Don't get me wrong; I love my go-to playlists. The classics are great. But something amazing happens when I hear an awesome new track for the first time. I am filled with anticipation, enthusiasm, and pure bliss as I wonder to myself, Will the chorus be as good as the hook? or Wait — did I just discover my new favorite artist?!?!

New music is one of the best mood-boosters ever to me, and I want to share it with you. So each week, I'm pulling together the most popular (as in, they have over 100K listens within the first few days of their release) and most exciting new music out there for you to turn on, tune in, drop out to.

Let's get listening. If you have any new pieces of musical gold, leave a link in the comments below. And be sure to check next Friday for a whole new slew of songs.

"Cold Water "— Major Lazer feat. Justin Bieber & M Ø

Not a stand-out hit, but a very nice summer jam.

Who is Justin Bieber?

Bieber is bae. Just kidding (not really.)

"Banana Brain" — Die Antwoord

Intense, but fun.

Who are Die Antwoord?

A very unique and controversial electronic, rap, and hip-hop group from South Africa.

"No Shopping" — French Montana feat. Drake

Drake raps on this new track from French Montana.

Who is French Montana?

French Montana is a rapper who also previously (briefly) dated Khloé Kardashian and is now pretty tight with the whole fam. He's originally from Morocco, but grew up in New York City. He got his start doing rap battles.

D'You Know What I Mean? — Oasis

This song was originally released in 1997, but this remastered version is so rich, and textured, you will wonder what life was even like before listening to the track.

Who is Oasis?

A British rock group that you probably already know. I mean, "Wonderwall," come on. In October, the group (which has had their fair share of drama) will be reissuing an album including remastered songs and rare demos.

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These Are The Best-Selling Books Of 2016 So Far

July 22, 2016, 2:45 pm

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Photo: Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group.

It's time for some summer reading. Now that it's finally July, you may find yourself gravitating toward books that inspire you to seize the season. Amazon's list of 2016's best-sellers so far includes titles to help you clear out and spruce up your digs. A few cookbooks also make this list, if you feel compelled to DIY some refreshing summer meals. There's even a title to inspire anyone searching for a summer romance.

The list also includes a Harry Potter title, as we creep closer to the release of the next two projects from J.K. Rowling. Unsurprisingly, the roundup still features multiple coloring books. So whether you're stuck on what memoir to suggest for your next book club or searching for your next great collection of recipes, this list is a good place to start. All these titles have a stamp of approval from the reading public.

**The Four Agreements** By Don Miguel Ruiz
A self-help book with a spiritual bent, this book is meant to help you make the changes in your behavior and thoughts that will ultimately lead to a happier life.
Photo: Courtesy of Amber-Allen Publishing.

**Hamilton: The Revolution** By Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
No, you probably still can't get tickets. But you *can* read the story of the hit musical.
Photo: Courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

**Mindset: The New Psychology of Success**
By Carol S. Dweck
*Mindset* explains that a huge factor in whether you find success isn't your natural talent, but how you approach something. In other words, Dumbledore was right.
Photo: Courtesy of Ballantine Books.

**The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change**
By Stephen R. Covey
This classic self-help book is touted as a field guide to revamping your personal and professional life. Covey lays out a plan to help you get you in a mindset that will allow the seven habits to stick, once you're ready to implement them.
Photo: Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

**The Very Hungry Caterpillar**
By Eric Carle
In the classic children's book, this particular caterpillar tries a little bit of everything.
Photo: Courtesy of Penguin Books.

***Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat***
By Chrissy Teigen
Your favorite Instagram celeb shares recipes for all the dishes that make her photo feed so hunger-inducing. The cookbook has gotten raves from *Bon Appetit,* *Publisher's Weekly,* and Refinery29.
Photo: Courtesy of **Clarkson Potter Publishers.**

**Oh, The Places You'll Go!**
By Dr. Seuss
It's almost graduation season! Which means aunts and neighbors across the country will purchase this Dr. Seuss classic for the graduate destined for great things.
Photo: Courtesy of **Random House.**

**To Kill a Mockingbird**
By Harper Lee
In the wake of Harper Lee's death this past February, even more people are discovering and revisiting the classic story of Scout, Atticus, and the criminal justice system in the segregated era south.
Photo: Courtesy of **Grand Central Publishing.**

**Me Before You**
By Jojo Moyes
Read the story of a woman who falls in love with a man she's caring for — who's paralyzed from the neck down — before the movie, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, comes out on June 3.
Photo: Courtesy of **Penguin Books.**

**Calm The Fuck Down: An Irreverent Adult Coloring Book**
By Sasha O'Hara
Because you really want to draw a line between your coloring book and the entertainment your little cousins carry around.
Photo: Courtesy of **CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.**

**Harry Potter and the Cursed Child**
By J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
It doesn't matter that this is a play, not a novel — it's a continuation of the story of the boy who lived, and *Harry Potter* fans *will* be reading it.
Photo: Courtesy of **Scholastic.**

**10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse**
By JJ Smith
This green smoothie guide promises to get you healthy by making sure you get a ton of leafy vegetables in your daily diet.
Photo: Courtesy of **JJ Smith.**

**How to Win Friends & Influence People**
By Dale Carnegie
This classic, which was first published in 1937, explains how to use your own natural charms to round out your social circle and generally be well-liked in the break room.
Photo: Courtesy of **Pocket Books.**

**When Breath Becomes Air**
By Paul Kalanithi
You can read an excerpt from the memoir of the late Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who started the book after receiving a cancer diagnosis, here. You can also check out the beautiful essay his widow wrote about her grieving process.
Photo: Courtesy of **Random House.**

***Strengths Finder 2.0***
By Tom Rath
A self-help book that you can really personalize, this guide helps you discover your unique strengths. And, more importantly, gives you ways you can use those strengths to your advantage.
Photo: Courtesy of **Gallup Press.**

***The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up***
By Marie Kondo
With a new year comes the desire to organize. If you commit to the methods outlined by author and Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo you won't need to make a decluttering resolution in 2017. (This is *the* original tidying up manual we mentioned earlier!)
Photo: Courtesy of **Ten Speed Press.**

***Adult Coloring Books***
By Coloring Books for Adults/Twiggler
The adult coloring book trend obviously isn't going anywhere.
Photo: Courtesy of **Zing Books.**

***The 5 Love Languages***
By Gary Chapman
Chapman's book explains how to keep your romantic relationships strong.
Photo: Courtesy of **Northfield Publishing.**

**Adult Coloring Book Designs**
By Adult Coloring Book Designs/Twiggler
As you color, get inspired for your home-decor projects — that pattern could be perfect for your walls.
Photo: Courtesy of **Twiggler.**

***Whole30***
By Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig
A guide to the Whole30 program, which asks those who follow it to eat fish, meat, vegetables, fruit and nuts, and skip things like alcohol, refined sugar, and grains. The book offers a variety of recipes featuring the allowed foods.
Photo: Courtesy of **Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.**

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↧

We Are (Almost) All Discount Shoppers, New Report Says

July 22, 2016, 3:00 pm

≫ Next: Sick Of TV? These Shows Will Get You Addicted All Over Again

≪ Previous: These Are The Best-Selling Books Of 2016 So Far

A successful discount-shopping binge might be your guilty pleasure. Or maybe you're unabashedly flaunting that Maxxinista life. (Hey, we're all for that.) Guess what: You're definitely not the only one with a hankering for a damn good deal. Far from it, actually, according to a report from NPD Group released recently.

The research firm discovered that the vast majority of apparel purchases nationally — 75%, to be exact — are made by shoppers who dig off-price retailers, according to Quartz. These purchases are made across different retail channels, including both brick-and-mortar and e-comm, at places like Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, Ross, and Saks Off 5th.

“Off-price retailers are resonating with fashion- and cost-conscious consumers alike, and are stealing department-store business for good reason,” Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst, said in the report, per Quartz.

Besides the fact that you're clearly not the only one who delights in a 70%-off price reduction, the report contains some interesting insights into just how quickly more and more customers are getting onboard with discount shops. “Off-price is second only to the online channel in terms of growth rate," Cohen said in the report. For instance, discount retailers saw visits increase 4% from January to April of this year, versus the same period in 2015, per Quartz. And even a majority (71%) of those who shop luxury stores are hitting up off-price retailers, too.

All the more reason to be proud of your bargain-scouring abilities, right?

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↧

Sick Of TV? These Shows Will Get You Addicted All Over Again

July 22, 2016, 3:00 pm

≫ Next: 9 Brunches We'd Wait Hours For

≪ Previous: We Are (Almost) All Discount Shoppers, New Report Says

Amazing news, TV lovers of the world: Since we first published this story in 2013, there have been leaps and bounds in the number of streaming platforms offering hours upon hours of programming to binge-watch whenever the mood strikes. In the interest of equal opportunity, we’ve decided to broaden the scope of this slideshow to look beyond the options available on Netflix Instant. There’s a whole wide world of streaming options out there and you deserve to know everything that’s available. Consider this the one-stop menu we'll be updating every week for your continued viewing pleasure.

We've been there. You've exhausted your Netflix queue, flipped through your entire spectrum of TV channels (twice), and seen every season of 30 Rock. It's tough, but don't despair. There's still uncharted territory out there! In fact, there's oodles of fun to be had from the comfort of your laptop this weekend. You just have to know what to look for.

These are our favorite finds on Netflix Instant Watch. Never heard of 'em? Good! Heard the word, but haven't gotten around to it yet? Now's the time.

**Love voyeuristic shows about New York City** ?
Then it’s time to watch *Gossip Girl*. In fact, even if you already experienced this show in real time, you should re-watch it. It’s a guilty-pleasure dramatic view of how Manhattan’s elite live — fictionally, anyway. The show centers around Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). They’re the cream of the crop at the fancy Upper East Side high school, which is basically a political landscape none of us could even begin to comprehend. Drama! Fashion! Get into it.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Photofest.

**Love John Krasinski?**
Then you must experience him in his landmark role as Jim Halpert in *The Office*. Yes, technically Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is the main character, but you’ll see very quickly that the most addictive story line is the will-they-won’t-they between Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer). It only helps that the show is hilarious.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Photofest.

Love *Parks and Rec*?
Then *Veep* is for you. Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Selina Meyer, the vice president who inevitably becomes president. She and her team hilariously make their way through the political landscape, while trying to do actual good work and leave their mark as an administration that made a difference. Kind of like if Leslie Knope made it to the White House.
Available on HBO Go.
Photo: Lacey Terrell/ Courtesy of HBO.

**Love high school dramas?**
Then it's time to get into *Friday Night Lights*. Let me tell you something about Dillon, Texas. It’s the home of the top football team in the state, and also home to some real soap-opera crap. You would think that when you combine those two things, you get a terrible show. But it actually works, here. You will fall in love with Tim Riggins (Kitsch). You will wish Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) was your dad. You will wish Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) was your best friend.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Photofest.

**Love a badass heroine?**
Then *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* is for you. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a teenage vampire slayer, but she also is in love with a vampire. It's all very strange, but Joss Whedon delivers an incredibly satisfactory show around that otherwise ridiculous plot.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Getty Images.

**Love waiting until the buzz dies down to watch a great TV show?**
Then it’s time you committed to *Breaking Bad*. The hype is real, but it is justified. Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is a high school chemistry teacher who, diagnosed with cancer, must figure out a way to leave his family with enough money to survive when he dies. So, naturally, he starts making the best meth New Mexico’s ever seen.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Doug Hyun/AMC.

**Love openly weeping on your couch?**
Then *Six Feet Under* is for you. The Fisher family runs a funeral home in California. But when the patriarch dies unexpectedly in a car crash, they’re thrown into handling the family business — along with all of their pre-existing personal baggage. It’s five seasons of solid television, and the finale is bound to destroy you.
Available on HBO Now.
Photo: Courtesy of HBO.

**Love witty banter and Benedict Cumberbatch?**
Then you’re gonna freaking love *Sherlock*. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the modern-day Sherlock opposite Martin Freeman as Watson. Their chemistry — and comedy — is downright delightful. Don’t get put off by the hour-and-a-half length of each episode, either. This show’s so entertaining it’ll fly right by.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Making A Murderer*?**
Then *Five Days* is for you. In this BBC mini series, a young mother and her children go missing. The show wastes no time, taking us right to the police investigation. It’s the perfect amount of length, too, so you won’t find yourself in the shame spiral of a 15-episode binge.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC.

**Love hilarious looks at everyday life?**
Well, that’s pretty much Louis C.K.’s brand of comedy. Maybe that’s why his series, *Louie*, feels like such a natural fit for him. The scripted series focuses on the trials and tribulations of the comedian’s day-to-day existence, but with the smart brand of commentary we’ve come to expect from him.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of FX.

**Love *The Americans*?**
Stay with us here: Imagine if the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan) had won World War II. That’s the scenario in *The Man in the High Castle*, Amazon’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel. The show is set in a dystopian version of the United States where the country has been divided into the Pacific States of America, a Japanese puppet state on the West Coast, the Greater Nazi Reich, a German puppet state that takes up the majority of the country through the midwest, and the Rocky Mountain States, which act as a neutral zone between the two.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.

**Love *The Mindy Project*?**
Just like *T.M.P.*, *Catastrophe* flips the script on traditional romantic comedies by upending all the usual contrivances. They have sex immediately. She (Sharon Horgan) gets pregnant. They live on two separate continents and decide to give it a go. The humor is blunt and British. In other words, if you’re tired of boring rom-coms, this is the show for you.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios.

**Love *Downton Abbey*?**
If you love a good Masterpiece production (that might have some quality eye candy), journey to Cornwall shortly after the American revolution to find out how the Brits fared after they lost the war for the colonies. *Poldark* is the story of Ross Poldark, who returns home from fighting in the revolution to find that his father has died, leaving Ross penniless.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of PBS/BBC/Mammoth Screen.

**Love *Homeland*?**
You really owe it to yourself to binge-watch all of FX’s *The Americans*. The tense, slow-burn series follows two Soviet spies (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) deep undercover in the United States during the Cold War in the 1980s.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of FX.

**Love *Grace and Frankie*?**
Turn to another show about late-in-life personal discoveries that lead to larger familial repercussions: *Transparent*. As Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor) — formerly Mort — transitions, tumultuous issues that had previously bubbled beneath the surface in her children’s lives also come to light.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios.

**Love sci-fi and amazing acting?**
If you aren’t on the *Orphan Black* train yet, you absolutely need to climb aboard. In the opening scene, a woman named Sarah watches someone who looks exactly like her commit suicide by jumping in front of a train. From there, things only get more involved. Sarah learns that she’s one of more than 10 clones (and counting) developed by a top-secret genetic engineering project. She also learns ther life is in peril, as is that of her daughter Kira. Tatiana Maslany stars as every single one of the clones. She’s amazing.
Available on Amazon Instant Video.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC America.

**Love *Big Love*?**
And investigations into fringe movements whose beliefs don’t quite match those of mainstream society? Watch Hulu’s *The Path*. Aaron Paul (of *Breaking Bad* fame) makes his return to TV — well, streaming — in this drama about a creepy movement called Meyerism. It started out with good intentions, but it’s become a cult. Many viewers and critics questioned whether creator Jessica Goldberg based the Meyerist movement on Scientology, but that’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself as you watch. There are some very eerie similarities, we’ll tell you that much.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of Hulu.

**Love *Skins*?**
Are ne’er-do-well British teens who just DGAF and look effortlessly cool while doing so your jam? Then why not add a dash of superhuman abilities into the mix? On *Misfits*, a group of teens doing court-mandated community service are struck by lightning during a freak storm. Afterward, they discover that the storm gave them all different superpowers.
This isn’t your typical sci-fi show, though. We’re still dealing with cheeky teens who really just want to rub their parts together, but now there's an additional element of intrigue because the superpowered group needs to hide their abilities — and the fact that they accidentally murdered their probation officer. And yes, that is Iwan Rheon, who plays the villainous Ramsay Bolton on *Game of Thrones*, on the right. You’ll fall in love with him on *Misfits,* and then be *very* confused by your feelings for him the next time you watch *GoT*.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of E4.

**Love *Billy on the Street*?**
If you can’t get enough of Billy Eichner’s sassy, in-your-face humor, it behooves you to watch *Difficult People*. It’s a perfect blend of *Curb Your Enthusiasm* and *Will & Grace*.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of Hulu.

**Love *Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt*?**
*You, Me and the Apocalypse* is a sardonically dark and funny look at what happens to the people of Earth when they learn they have only 33 days left to live. It’s even got Rob Lowe as a Catholic priest tasked with discerning which people claiming to be the second coming of Christ are the real deal.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Nick Briggs/WTTV Productions Limited.

**Love *New Girl*?**
The blink-and-you-missed it marvel *Happy Endings* is finally (finally!) on Hulu — and it is a gosh-darn delight. Prepare to meet a group of friends with even better inside jokes than the gang on *How I Met Your Mother*, better chemistry than the *Friends*, and more bodily function discussions than Abbi and Ilana on *Broad City*.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of ABC.

**Love *Glee*?**
Well, the first few seasons. If you’ve been missing a show with diegetic musical interludes, you need to be watching *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*. This series one-ups *Glee*, though, because all of the songs are original and Rebecca Bunch’s (Rachel Bloom) life is much more grown-up and relatable than those of the high-schoolers in *Glee*.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of Scott Everett White/The CW.

**Love *The Bachelor*?**
But ready to see it’s way-too-earnest peddling of unironic romantic journeys parodied to the hilt? *Burning Love* is the satire for you.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of Red Hour Productions.

**Love *Curb Your Enthusiasm*?**
If you thrive on seeing incredibly awkward human interactions, cue up *Nathan for You*. Comedian Nathan Fielder adopts the persona of a rube who just wants to help failing small businesses — and the outcomes are so uncomfortable you’ll actually squirm in your seat.
Available on Hulu.
Photo: Courtesy of Comedy Central.

**Love *The Office*?**
Fans of the mockumentary-style comedy will definitely enjoy *Parks and Rec*, which follows the lives and times of a local parks department. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is kind of like the Michael Scott here, though more adept by leaps and bounds. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast of incredible weird characters.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love anthologies?**
Then you’ll probably enjoy *The Twilight Zone*. You’re likely familiar with Rod Serling’s more timeless tales. (Think: William Shatner shouting that there’s something on the wing of a plane.) But there are so many episodes worthy of your attention, each more interesting and chilling than the last.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images.

**Love *House*?**
*Nurse Jackie* is for you. Edie Falco plays Jackie, a no-nonsense nurse who’s hiding a painkiller addiction. Her life begins to slowly spiral out of control. At moments, it’s hard to watch her make such terrible decisions. But you’ll want to stick with it for her sassy hospital friends and her babe of a husband (Dominic Fumusa).
Available on Netflix.
Photo: David M. Russell/SHOWTIME

**Love *Boy Meets World*?**
Of course you do. That’s why *3rd Rock from the Sun* is right up your alley. This '90s sitcom features *Saturday Night Live* alum Jane Curtin, John Lithgow, and yes, a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The show centers on an extraterrestrial family visiting Earth to learn about human behavior. If you loved the fish-out-of-water feeling from *Boy Meets World*, then you’ll be delighted by the utterly strange cast of characters in this one. Did we mention JGL is in it? Just wanna make sure you got that part.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Alan Levenson/NBC/Getty Images.

**Love old-school cartoons from your childhood?**
Guess what’s on Netflix? *Animaniacs*! That’s right; those zany-to-the-max creatures and their joyous antics are finally available to stream on the 'flix. Unfortunately, you may no longer be able to watch them during those prime after-school hours on weekdays like you used to (due to a little annoyance called *work*). Oh well; that's what weekends are for when you're an adult: watching cartoons.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

**Love *Better Off Ted*?**
If you can’t stand corporate doublespeak, buzzwords, and meetings that go absolutely nowhere (or in complete circles), watch *W1A*. This brilliant mockumentary follows Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), the BBC’s new Head of Values — yes, a completely bullshit position — as he tries to sort out the institutional jeremiads plaguing the U.K.’s most important broadcast company.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of the BBC.

**Love *Comedy Bang! Bang!*?**
If you love watching comedians showcasing their weirdest, wackiest, most creative characters, *Netflix Presents: The Characters* is right up your alley. In each 30-minute episode (there are eight in total), one up-and-coming comedian writes and stars in a series of sketches straight from his or her witty, clever imagination. Some notable comedians who are already on your radar include Lauren Lapkus ( *Orange Is the New Black*) and Paul W. Downs ( *Broad City*).
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love Taylor Lautner?**
And wondering what he’s been up to lately? Why, ol’ T. Lauts has been across the pond starring in the Britcom *Cuckoo*. He took the reins from Andy Samberg during season 2 of the show after Samberg was forced to step aside due to scheduling commitments to *Brooklyn 99*. On *Cuckoo*, Lautner gets the chance to demonstrate his comedy chops. Seasons 1 and 2 are available on Netflix, so you get a chance to watch both Samberg and Lautner play off of one of Britain’s current funniest actor/comedians, Greg Davies.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC/Rough Cut.

Love *You’re the Worst?*
There’s been a shifting tide in television over the past few years wherein shows like *The Mindy Project*, *Catastrophe*, and *You’re the Worst* are more than undoing the cloying, completely unrealistic romantic comedies that came out in spades in the early aughts. Netflix’s *Love* is the latest entry in this canon. The show follows nice, nerdy Gus (Paul Rust) and cool girl Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) as they try to find love in Los Angeles.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Girlfriends*?**
You need to watch *Being Mary Jane: The Series*. Gabrielle Union plays Mary Jane Paul, the host of a successful talk show who’s also trying to support her extended family and find love at the same time. Her life is a whirlwind, her clothes are unreal, and the show is addictive AF.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Daniel McFadden/BET.

**Love *House Hunters*?**
But can’t stand the commercials you always end up watching during the *H.H.* and *H.H. International* marathons that always seem to suck you in on lazy Sundays? Sure, you could plan ahead and keep a few episodes stored on your DVR for whenever the mood for some shelter porn strikes, but that just sounds like something that would never happen.
Well, guess what? Our good friend Netflix has *House Hunters*, *House Hunters International*, and *House Hunters Renovation* collections at the ready for you to watch whenever you so please. Now, if only the couples where he wants to live in a one-story ranch located far away from the city, but she wants to be right in the heart of downtown could agree as easily as you will on what to watch tonight.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of HGTV.

**Love *Chelsea Lately*?**
If you’ve been missing Chelsea Handler’s signature brand of undercutting sass and refusal to accept the status quo since her late-night show on E! went off the air, tune into *Chelsea Does...,* the comedian’s new investigative docuseries on Netflix. In each episode, Handler explores a stand-alone topic, such as race, Silicon Valley, or marriage, from many angles. She doesn’t always reach a conclusion or even come to any groundbreaking realizations, but by looking at each subject through a unique lens, with help from many different interview subjects, Handler moves the conversation along in a way only she really can.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Saeed Adyani/Netflix.

**Love *Game of Thrones*?**
If your favorite part of George R.R. Martin’s sweeping saga is the various characters’ devious machinations and power plays for the Iron Throne, cue up *The Tudors*. There are no dragons or White Walkers, but the historical drama does tell the extremely scandalous story of England’s 16th-century royal court, led by King Henry VIII (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and there’s just as much sex as you’ll find on *Game of Thrones*. There’s even some *Thrones* crossover: Natalie Dormer, who plays Margaery Tyrell on *GoT*, stars as the doomed Anne Boleyn on *The Tudors*.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Showtime.

**Love *Degrassi: The Next Generation*?**
Really, who doesn’t? The hallowed halls of Degrassi Community School saw more than their fair share of D-R-A-M-A throughout the show’s 14 (yes, 14) seasons. Not only did the series deal with serious issues, including teen pregnancy, drug addiction, eating disorders, and school shootings, it also introduced us to then-unknown actors like Jake Epstein (who’s now a Broadway star), Nina Dobrev, and Aubrey Graham (now better known as the rapper named Drake). *The Next Generation* had a long run, yet fans seemed surprised when TeenNick announced its cancellation in June 2015. Luckily, Netflix swooped in to make loyal *Degrassi* viewers very happy. *Degrassi: Next Class* premiered on January 4, 2016, with a whole new cast of characters and updated issues for a new generation, including cyberbullying in the world of e-sports.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Narcos*?**
Sean Penn claims in his *Rolling Stone* interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman that Mexican actress Kate del Castillo is the one who connected Penn with El Chapo. del Castillo has since noted that some of the stories surrounding her involvement with El Chapo are untrue, but still, her involvement with a drug cartel leader is almost stranger than fiction. Why? del Castillo starred as Teresa Mendoza, who is also known as the “Queen of the South” on the popular telenovela *La Reina del Sur*. The telenovela is based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 2002 novel of the same name, which tells the story of the first woman to become the leader of a Spanish drug cartel.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Telemundo.

**Love *Serial*?**
It seems everyone came back from the 2015 holidays talking about one thing and one thing only: *Making a Murderer*. Netflix’s 10-episode true-crime docuseries follows the trial of Steven Avery, who was accused of killing 25-year-old Teresa Halbach in 2005. Avery had a troubled history with law enforcement officials in his home county of Manitowoc, WI, which led his defense attorneys to argue that he had been framed by the police. The series offers a riveting look at the criminal justice system that will leave you wondering what to believe.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *The Shawshank Redemption*?**
Sundance TV's *Rectify* tells the story of Daniel Holden, who was put on death row after being found guilty of rape and murder as a teenager. Almost 20 years later, his conviction is overturned after new DNA evidence nullifies it, and Daniel is released. He returns to live in the town where everyone is still convinced of his guilt, except for his younger sister, Amantha.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Tina Rowden/SundanceTV.

**Love *Office Space*?**
*Better Off Ted* is a criminally underrated gem of a sitcom about Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), who runs the R&D department at a soulless mega-corporation called Veridian Dynamics. It’s a send-up of everything that’s wrong with corporate America and evil companies content to destroy the environment without thinking twice. Yet the show always errs on the side of hopeful optimism while taking them to task. The biggest disappointment of all is that this delight of a series never got another season.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of ABC.

**Love *Friends*?**
But looking for a half-hour show grounded a bit more in reality with up-to-date references? You need Aziz Ansari’s *Master of None*. The series is a combination of lessons from the comedian’s book, *Modern Romance*, aspects of his own life, and the overall experience of being in one's late 20s and early 30s. The result is a poignant, funny, and an extremely accurate depiction of what it’s like to be alive right now.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: K.C. Bailey/Netflix.

**Love *Daredevil*?**
Netflix continues its dark dive into the Marvel universe with *Jessica Jones*. She’s not your typical superhero. Jessica (Krysten Ritter) works as a P.I. and floats along the outskirts of society. She’s suffering from PTSD after a mysterious man named Kilgrave (David Tennant) took control over her mind for months. The series has just the right amount of gritty badassary we’ve been longing to see from a female superhero. You can binge-watch all of season 1 along with us right here.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Myles Aronowitz/Netflix.

**Love *Top Chef*?**
You need *The Great British Baking Show* (or, as it’s called in the U.K., *The Great British Bake Off*) in your life. Picture all the things you like about *Top Chef* (drooling at the culinary creations, and worrying whether the contestants will finish them in the time limit provided) without the things you don’t like (the heavily sponsored and overly branded everything, and how they make the contestants extremely stressed and frazzled by keeping them isolated from their families). Add to that the most quaint, idyllic British location you can imagine — a tent outside a manor complete with a pond, adorable sheep, and rolling lawns for days — and two judges who take baking more seriously than you’ve ever thought anyone could. It’s basically a recipe for the most charming cooking competition you’ve ever seen, and it’s finally on Netflix.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Mark Bourdillon/BBC/Love Productions.

**Love *UnREAL*?**
If shows featuring strong, take-charge women who aren’t afraid to show that they’re also flawed (because seriously, who among us isn’t) are your television milieu, you’ll easily sail through *Rita*. This Danish dramedy (yes, there are subtitles, but we promise it’s worth it) follows a fiercely independent teacher and single mother-of-three as she navigates through institutional bullshit and personal affairs.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Downton Abbey*?**
Picture the beautiful period costumes and luxe settings, but transport them to a gorgeous hotel in Santander. On *Grand Hotel*, there's mystery afoot when a maid goes missing from one of Spain's most elegant hotels. Soon, her disappearance reveals other secrets, and the drama is positively *Downton* -esque.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Antena 3.

**Love *Outlander*?**
If you enjoy a bodice-ripping romance with dashes of true-to-life historical events mixed in, you’ll want to wait out the break between seasons 1 and 2 of *Outlander* with *Reign*. It’s a CW show, so the sex is much less explicit (sorry), but you’re still in for some sordid, nefarious plots against the monarchy in this story centered on the years Mary, Queen of Scots, spent in France during her youth.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Sven Frenzel/The CW.

**Love Food Network?**
If watching skilled chefs do their thing is your jam, Netflix’s six-part documentary series *Chef’s Table* is ideal for you. Each episode follows a world-famous chef, from Dan Barber of the renowned Blue Hill restaurants in NYC and Pocantico Hills, NY, to Niki Nakayama at N/Naka in L.A. You might want to eat before watching, though, because this series is going to make your mouth water.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Breaking Bad*?**
One of the taglines for Netflix’s newest original series, *Narcos*, which premiered on August 28, 2015, is “There’s no business like blow business.” It’s a pun on the famous line about show business, and also a true statement about the thriving drug empire run by Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and ‘90s. This series chronicles the inner workings of Escobar’s life and cartel, and the DEA’s increasing attempts to take him down.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Daniel Daza/Netflix.

**Love *Reading Rainbow*?**
Watch… *Reading Rainbow*! The beloved childhood show that instilled a love of reading in many generations is finally available on Netflix. Watching episodes from Volume 1 will make you feel all sorts of nostalgic for books like *If You Give a Mouse a Cookie* and *Miss Nelson Is Back*. Take a look, it’s in a book …on *Reading Rainbow*.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of PBS.

**Love *Wet Hot American Summer*?**
The entire gang is back for *Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp*, the prequel to end all prequels. Fifteen years after the cult classic film, head back to Camp Firewood for eight new episodes chock-full of absurdist humor, talking vegetable cans, and your favorite actors (Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks…the list goes on and on) playing 16-year-old camp counselors.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Gemma La Mana/Netflix.

**Love *Empire* & *Beverly Hills, 90210*?**
Throw in a dash of *Melrose Place*, and you’ve got *The L.A. Complex*. The short-lived cult favorite is a painfully honest portrayal of a group of twentysomethings pursuing stardom in Hollywood. In the most compelling and dramatic storyline, closeted rapper Kaldrick King (Andra Fuller) tries to stage a successful comeback while resorting to violence to hide his gay relationships.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of The CW.

**Love *True Blood*?**
Drop in on the supernatural creatures of Bristol, England, including a ghost, a werewolf, and a sexy vampire, all shacking up in a house and doing their best to fit in with the locals on *Being Human*. Go for the original U.K. version (although Netflix also has the American remake), with *Looking* ’s Russell Tovey as the werewolf who hates his time of the month, *Poldark* ’s Aidan Turner as the brooding vampire, and *A to Z* ’s Lenora Crichlow as the ghost with unfinished business.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC Three.

**Love *Lost* & *The Matrix*?**
Sci-fi powerhouse siblings, the Wachowskis, have brought their flair for mind-bending, perception-and-reality-altering plotlines to the small screen with *Sense8*. The new Netflix original spares no expense in its scenic globetrotting (seriously, if you can’t afford to travel, this show might just be the next best thing) as it rambles through the lives of eight characters whose minds are somehow intertwined.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Supernatural*?**
Go deep into the paranormal YA archives with *Roswell*, the now-cult classic that ran from 1999-2002. On *Roswell*, not only did a UFO crash at Area 51, but it had three alien children aboard. When the show starts, they’re in high school trying to be normal teenagers and stay under the radar. They’re falling in love with humans and want to share their secret, though, so there’s clearly going to be some D-R-A-M-A.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

**Love *9 to 5* and *The Golden Girls*?**
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star in Netflix’s newest original show, *Grace and Frankie*. The two play frenemies in their 70s whose husbands announce that they’re in love and are leaving Grace and Frankie to be together. What happens when you have to reboot your life as a septuagenarian? That’s what these two are bound to find out.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Gotham* & *Arrow*?**
Watch *Daredevil*, Netflix’s gritty new original series about Marvel hero Matt Murdock: blind lawyer by day, masked vigilante who protects Hell’s Kitchen by night (and, still blind). It’ll completely make you forget about that Ben Affleck travesty from 2003.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Friends*?**
Specifically, the episode where Joey models for a free clinic and unwittingly becomes the face of gonorrhea? Imagine a whole series using that conceit, only the protagonist (an affable British twentysomething named Dylan) really does have chlamydia, and he has to contact all of his past sexual partners to tell them. It winds up being sort of charming, because in the process, he reconnects with past loves who might have been the one. Also, the show is called *Scrotal Recall*, and if that’s not the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movie pun-based sitcom title ever, your pec-spectations are too high.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4.

**Love *Flight of the Conchords*?**
Cue up the dulcet sounds of comedy duo Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, also known as Garfunkel and Oates. The duo writes and performs satirical songs about their personal and professional lives, which get incorporated into the framework of this clever half-hour comedy named for the pair.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Darren Michaels/IFC.

**Love *Dynasty* and *Dallas*?**
Sounds like you love a good multi-generational familial drama. Dig into Netflix’s new original series *Bloodline*, which stars Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor on *FNL*) as the supposedly good son in the hard-working Rayburn family, who run a hotel in the Florida Keys.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Saeed Ayani/Netflix.

**Love *How to Get Away with Murder*?**
It sounds like you enjoy watching strong female characters who know a thing or two about dabbling in the grayer areas of the law. Watch *Damages*, which stars Glenn Close as a ruthless, all-star attorney of questionable morals and Rose Byrne as her wide-eyed protégée.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of FX.

**Love *Arrested Development*?**
Watch *The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret*. David Cross (who played Tobias Fünke) stars as the titular bumbling American businessman, who’s sent across the pond to promote an energy drink called Thunder Muscle in England.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of IFC.

**Love *Skins*?**
But also feel like the show can be overwhelmingly serious at times? Get ready for some laddish hijinks courtesy of *The Inbetweeners*. The humor’s a bit sophomoric, but just try not to LOL as you watch Will, Simon, Jay, and Neil fumble their way through high school in England.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of E4.

**Love *Game of Thrones*?**
Swords-and-sandals-clad warriors get even sexier and more bloodthirsty in *Spartacus*. If you thought the Unsullied were treated brutally in Astapor, just wait until you see the dregs from which the gladiators of Thrace had to rise.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Starz.

**Love *Homeland*?**
Maggie Gyllenhaal just won a Golden Globe for her work in the political spy thriller *The Honorable Woman*. The eight-part miniseries follows a British-Israeli businesswoman as she tries to work toward peace in the Middle East.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC Two.

**Love *Jane the Virgin*?**
Watch *JTV* creator Jennie Snyder Urman’s last CW romp, *Emily Owens, M.D.* The short-lived show was a sweet mix of *Grey’s Anatomy* and *Scrubs* — plus it introduced the talented Aja Naomi King, who’s now blowing audiences away on *How t o Get Away with Murder*.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of The CW.

**Love *The Fall*?**
For starters, make sure you watch season 2, which hit Netflix back on January 16, 2015. Once you’ve done that, cue up *Southcliffe*, an extremely vivid portrait of a fictional English town wracked by a horrifying shooting spree. It’s a macabre study of the human condition you won’t forget.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Wrap Films.

**Love *Orange Is the New Black*?**
Get locked up in *Wentworth*, the equally compelling women’s prison drama from Australia. Bea Smith (played by Danielle Cormack) is thrown in jail while awaiting trial for trying to kill her violent husband, and the series follows her time behind bars learning the ins and outs of prison life.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Foxtel.

**Loved *The Imitation Game*?**
Watch *The Bletchley Circle*, a British mystery about four women who worked at Bletchley Park breaking codes during World War II and reunite in the early 1950s to solve new mysteries.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of ITV.

**Love *Boardwalk Empire*?**
Journey across the pond for the British historical crime drama, *Peaky Blinders*. In the aftermath of World War I, a detective (Sam Neill) is tasked with taking down the Birmingham gang, Peaky Blinders, led by the quick-witted Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy).
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC Two.

**Love *The Twilight Zone*?**
Watch the spectacularly twisted *Black Mirror*. The Brit anthology series has just six episodes, each one telling a uniquely haunting tale about near-distant futures where technology can recreate dead loved ones, get the prime minister to commit bestiality on national television, and allow people to rewatch old memories that might destroy their lives. The scariest part is just how much of a reflection the series is of our current fixation with gadgets and the lives we lead online.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4.

**Love *The Sopranos*?**
Watch *Lilyhammer*. Steven Van Zandt plays a New York gangster named Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano who tries to start a new life for himself in the titular isolated Norway town after he’s forced into the federal witness protection program.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Friends*?**
Cozy up with the wry Britcom *Coupling*. It's a clever and humorous exploration of looking for love when you’re absolutely terrified of everything that comes with it.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC.

**Love Halloween?**
Cue up Netflix’s horror series, *Hemlock Grove*. Executive produced by gore-lover Eli Roth, the show focuses on the mysterious goings-on in the fictional titular town, which range from the supernatural to the just plain sadistic.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Breaking Bad*?**
Take a gun-running thrill ride with *Sons of Anarchy*. Loosely based on *Hamlet*, it brings the intra-familial intrigue of Shakespeare’s Danish royalty tale to a motorcycle gang unofficially responsible for keeping things going in the fictional city of Charming, CA.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Prashant Gupta/FX.

**Love Television?**
We’re guessing you do because here you are, reading a slideshow of Netflix streaming recommendations. As an aficionado and appreciator of the finer TV series in life, we think you’ll also love *The Writers’ Room*. In this fascinating interview show, Academy Award-winning writer Jim Rash (who’s best known for playing Dean Pelton on *Community*) sits down with writers of some of your favorite shows to discuss how they’re crafted. In the first six episodes, he talks to the writers and creators of *Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, Dexter, New Girl, Game of Thrones*, and *American Horror Story*. If you’re a fan of television and love hearing about how it’s created, this is for you.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Sundance.

**Love *The Office*?**
Watch the British gem that is *Peep Show*. Part *The Odd Couple*, part *The Office* (British version), and filmed through each character’s eyes, the offbeat sitcom is perfect for a weekend binge.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4.

**Love *Supernatural*?**
Tune your spidey senses into *Psych*. This playful show features the overly clever, extremely witty Shawn Spencer who uses his heightened powers of observation to serve as the resident psychic for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Come for the ridiculous fake clairvoyant act, but stay for the lovable characters like Gus, O’Hara, and Lassie. And, did we mention that there’s a musical episode? Because there’s a musical episode.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Alan Zenuk/USA Network.

**Love *Flight of the Conchords*?**
Get your New Zealand fix with *Short Poppies*, a mockumentary series created and written by Rhys Darby, who you’ll recognize from his role as Murray, the Conchords’ clueless manager. On *Short Poppies*, Darby plays David Farrier, an entertainment reporter. Farrier interviews people he deems "extraordinary New Zealanders," who live in a fictional town known as The Bay. With just eight episodes, this is the perfect Sunday Funday binge-watch.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

Love *Friday Night Lights?*
That’s a silly question; of course you do. You’re a human being with emotions and a heart, right? Also, you’ve seen Tim Riggins. Texas *forever*. Unfortunately, we don’t have any updates on the proposed movie (yes, that would mean a book that became a movie that became a show would be made into a movie again), but we do have a series currently streaming on Netflix that will make you feel as many feelings as *FNL*.
Jason Katims, the brilliant screenwriter who adapted *Friday Night Lights* for the small screen, also turned the 1989 dramedy *Parenthood* into a poignant drama now entering its fifth and final season on NBC. Warning: You will *definitely* need tissues for this one, but the emotional roller coaster of watching the Bravermans is so, so worth it.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of NBCUniversal.

**Love *The Mindy Project*?**
Check out the short-lived but hilarious *Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23*. Krysten Ritter plays the titular B, a hustler and legend in her own mind with a gorgeous apartment and a best friend/ex-boyfriend named James Van Der Beek. Yes, the Beek from the Creek. He plays a heightened caricature of himself complete with a tragic stint on *Dancing with the Stars*. Enter into the fray Dreama Walker, a small-town girl with a business degree who just wants to make it in New York City — plus a pervy neighbor across the air shaft — and you’ve got yourself a delightful little sitcom.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of ABC.

**Love *Twin Peaks*?**
After many requests, Netflix secured the rights to the newest British cult hit *Happy Valley*. Police sergeant Catherine Cawood is trying to cope with her daughter’s suicide, but things unravel when she spots the man she believes raped her daughter (which led to her death). She becomes obsessed with finding him, which uncovers an even larger mystery involving the kidnapping of a local girl.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC.

**Love *Family Guy*?**
Or, any animated show for adults, really, including *The Simpsons*, *The Critic*, *Bob’s Burgers*, *South Park*, and *Archer*? Netflix debuted its first foray into original animated programming for grown-ups this week with *BoJack Horseman*. Will Arnett voices the titular character, a washed-up actor who starred in a popular sitcom called *Horsin’ Around* 20 years ago and has done nothing of note since. The world of *BoJack* is populated with humans and anthropomorphized animals alike, so it’s a bit surreal. Aaron Paul plays Todd, BoJack’s sycophantic perma-houseguest, and Alison Brie is Diane, who’s been hired to ghostwrite his memoirs. Can BoJack and his ragtag crew somehow turn his downward spiral of a life around? Watch and find out.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

**Love *Downton Abbey*?**
If you’re especially attuned to the burgeoning role of women beyond the domestic sphere in *Downton*, cue up *Call the Midwife*. Imagine Sybil’s can-do nursing skills transported to a group of midwives in a convent in East London in the ‘50s. That’s exactly what you’ll find in this engrossing BBC series, which airs new seasons on PBS.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC.

**Love *Pretty Little Liars*?**
First of all, read the books instead. They’re even more engrossing than ABC Family’s frothy mystery about Rosewood. When you’re done with those (or concurrently), cue up *Skins*. The British show made international headlines for the reckless lifestyle promoted by “ *Skins* parties ” and sent the U.K. into a nationwide panic about the hedonistic pursuits of Millennial teens. No matter what your takeaway, *Skins* will suck you right in.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4.

**Love *True Detective*?**
If you love a slow-build, extremely tense, psychological thriller, watch *The Fall*. Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan, here causing much inner turmoil when you find yourself attracted to a deviant sociopath) is a serial killer terrorizing Belfast, and Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) is the detective trying to catch him before he strikes again. Season 1 is only five episodes, so you’ll burn through them in no time. Luckily, they’re filming the second season right now.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC Two.

**Love *Gossip Girl*?**
Guilty pleasures: We all have them. *Gossip Girl* (well, the first few seasons) was one of ours. The South Korean series *Boys Over Flowers* follows the whole fish-out-of-water setup, only this time Lonely Boy is Jan Di, the daughter of a dry cleaner who finds herself falling for the spoiled rich kid whose clique runs their elite private school. It’s somehow even more addictive than *Gossip Girl* — maybe it’s the amazing vintage Bieber haircuts all of the boys sport. And, because of the subtitles, watching it feels a bit more highbrow. Get watching. XOXO.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of KBS2.

Love *American Horror Story*?
Dive even deeper into the uncanny valley with *The Returned*. The cult French show follows the lives — and afterlives — of a sleepy town where nothing is as it seems. Long-dead relatives return to life; residents try to leave — only to be thwarted by roads running in circles. There’s a serial killer on the loose, but no one seems to care. It’s a slow, eerie build but oh, is it worth it.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Via Canal Plus.

**Love *Silicon Valley*?**
Try turning your machine off and on again, then booting up *The IT Crowd* (that’s a joke you’ll get when you start watching). This hilarious British sitcom chronicles an odd couple of IT guys trying to do as little work as possible in their dungeon of an office at a horrible corporation. Chris O’Dowd (before he became a household name in *Bridesmaids*) plays Roy, the ringleader, while Richard Ayoade is Moss, his introverted, nebbishy foil. And, just like the Pied Piper guys on *Silicon Valley*, Roy and Moss’ world is rocked when a female enters their daily routine. Fire up the Internet and get watching.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4.

Love *The Killing?*
You've undoubtedly heard of *Top of the Lake* — everyone, or at least everyone in this office, is talking about it. Like *Twin Peaks* and *The Killing*, it centers around a mysterious, troubled young girl and a small town with a lot of secrets to hide. Recipe for a good time, right?
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Sundance.

**Love *Law & Order*?**
You'll go crazy for Swedish crime show *Wallander*. Though it doesn't cover sex-based offenses in particular, this thriller reminds us of *SVU* (our favorite iteration, obviously) because of its focus on the cops' and detectives' personal lives. There's also a Masterpiece Mystery version, but we recommend starting out with the original Henning Mankel l.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Canal+.

**Love *House*?**
Well, this is basically the *exact* same concept, but British. And that's usually a good thing. *Doc Martin* follows the antics of a curmudgeonly MD after he moves to a provincial town, abandoning his prestigious London surgical post for unknown reasons. Weird diseases, even weirder people.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Homerun Productions.

**Love *Parks & Recreation*?**
If you're a fan of all things dysfunctional, British sitcom *Black Books* is perfect for you. Focused on a perpetually down-and-out bookstore owner who regularly puts a mid-afternoon drink over customer service, this show should be heartbreaking — but instead, it's hilarious. Plus, if you're missing the glory days of TV, you'll dig the distinct early-2000s vibe.
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of Assembly Film & Television.

**Love *Homeland*?**
British series *House of Cards* is chock-full of political drama and underhanded scheming, guaranteed to get your blood pumping. It's also great if totally inappropriate and unethical sexual relationships are your thing. This is a great pick if you've already binged through the American version, but are still hungry for more!
Available on Netflix.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC.

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9 Brunches We'd Wait Hours For

July 22, 2016, 3:05 pm

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≪ Previous: Sick Of TV? These Shows Will Get You Addicted All Over Again

While the term "brunch fatigue" might sound foreign to you, we’re willing to bet — no, guarantee — it’s a feeling you’ve experienced. Characterized by a lack of interest in your once-favorite order (we're looking at you, eggs Benny), disdain for sad sides of hash browns, and a distinct unwillingness to wait 30-plus minutes for a table, it can strike even the most dedicated patrons among us.

Feeling the early symptoms? Don’t throw in your knife and fork just yet. Instead, rekindle your once-passionate love of brunch by giving your go-tos a rest and branching out. To start you off, we've pulled together tables full of NYC's most delicious inspiration — and there are zero mimosas involved. From lox-stuffed doughnuts to a quirky Chambord -infused raspberry liqueur cocktail to a breakfast sandwich in French toast, these nine wonderfully weird, decadent plates will have you counting down the days until Saturday morning — as if you weren't already.

**The Anytime Waffle Tower**
What's not to love about a decadent stack of waffles whose very name grants you permission to eat it whenever you like? Drizzled in chocolate syrup and with each layer perched atop a thick slab of ice cream, this is a sugary, Marie Antoinette-style dream.
Catch, 21 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY; 212-392-5978.
Photographed by Lindsay Arakawa.

**Whole Lobster Pizza**
There are very few dishes out there that appeal as thoroughly to foodies as they do to those craving a plate that'll look cool on Instagram (no shame in our game). This slightly ridiculous, very incredible lobster-topped pizza is absolutely one of them.
Florian, 225 Park Avenue South, New York, NY; 212-869-8800.
Photographed by Isabella Alesci.

**Pepper Boy & Chambord Kir Royale**
Three exciting ways to spice up a soft egg scramble? Top it with generously cut maple bacon and an added poached egg, deliver it in a hot new ride (a jumbo bell pepper), and serve it alongside a raspberry cocktail.
Egg Shop, 151 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY; 646-666-0810.
Photographed by Isabella Alesci.

**Everything Doughnuts & Parma Mussels**
We love doughnuts and we love bagels. When we found out some sweet genius combined the two — we're talking fluffy doughnuts filled with cream cheese and topped with lox and bacon — we felt nothing but sheer joy. And what's that in the background, you ask? Why, that's a trough of mussels in a parmigiano cream sauce. You know, in case you're still hungry.
Flex Mussels, 154 West 13th Street, New York, NY; 212-229-0222.
Photographed by Victoria Tomkinson.

**Hot & Messy Cornbread**
Close your eyes and picture everything you could ever want at your brunch table. Now imagine it all piled high on a thick slab of fresh cornbread. We're guessing that's how this chicken, avocado, fried egg, peanut butter, and bacon creation came into existence.
Streetbird, 2149 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New York, NY; 212-206-2557.
Photographed by Anna Sabatini.

**Mango Souffle Pancakes**
If you've never tried ube ice cream, this dish is the introduction you need. Made from sweet purple yams, the treat comes paired with pillowy pancakes and a fresh mango spread. This could mark the beginning of a pancake sundae trend, and we're very on board.
Manila Social Club, 2 Hope Street, Brooklyn, NY; 718-384-4396.
Photographed by Isabella Alesci.

**French Toast Sandwich**
When the crippling panic that comes with being utterly torn between two delectable menu options strikes, this ham-egg-and-cheese and French toast hybrid saves the morning.
The Heyward, 258 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY; 718-384-1990.
Photographed By Rockie Nolan.

**The Gravlax**
If you asked every person in NYC to chose the city's signature dish, we'd put money on a clean split between a classic bagel with lox and a slice of cheese pizza. This two-for-one gift from above — topped with capers, ricotta cheese, and cured salmon — is so on point it might as well come with an "I <3 NY" tee.
Speedy Romeo, 376 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY; 718-230-0061.
Photographed by Isabella Alesci.

**Spinach Ramen Salad & Virgin Jealous Mary**
Brunch fatigue, we've found, tends to hit vegetarians particularly hard. The cure is in this plethora of solutions: a green tomato mocktail, spinach ramen topped with an unmissable pink pickled egg, and some random-but-much-appreciated onion rings.
Dirt Candy, 86 Allen Street, New York, NY; 212-228-7732.
Photographed by Theresa Caffrey.

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The Sex Toys You Didn't Know You Needed

July 22, 2016, 3:15 pm

≫ Next: These Are The Best Pool Snacks On Pinterest

≪ Previous: 9 Brunches We'd Wait Hours For

We're great fans of accessorizing in the bedroom. Au naturel stimulation is wonderful, but sex toys can do things that people just can't. The sex toy industry is now attracting an impressive $15 billion a year in global sales, and with a plethora of clever products at a range of prices on the market, we're spoiled for choice. This also means that smart shopping can be tricky.

To help you cut through the noise, we're curating a roundup of some of our favorite picks. We've got you covered with everything from silky lube that will take both your partnered and solo play to the next level to a bullet that packs a surprising punch. Click through to browse some seriously sexy finds, and check back as we continue to add more. You might discover something you never knew you needed. Happy shopping!

If phallic toys are not your thing, this classy five-speed vibrator very well might be. You can insert it if you want, but it's an equal delight when used externally.
**Iroha Vibe** Kushi Cream, $120, available at Babeland.
Photo: Courtesy of Iroha.

Leave the metal handcuffs to the movie sex scenes and invest in these silky restraints instead. They're much more seductive *and* comfortable.
**Lovehoney** Tease by Lovehoney Black Silky Restraints, $22.99, available at Lovehoney.
Photo: Courtesy of Lovehoney.

This compact silicone massaging bullet is versatile and quiet, with six vibration cadences to match your mood. It's also waterproof — shower sex, anyone?
**B Swish** Bnaughty Deluxe Waterproof Bullet, $30, available at SheVibe.
Photo: Courtesy of B Swish.

You may think that all lubes are created pretty much equal. You'd be wrong. This lube is to other lubes what silk underwear is to a spandex blend.
Trojan Continuous Silkiness Lubricant, $12.19, available at Target.
Photo: Courtesy of Trojan.

We love the modular concept behind the Ooh By Je Joue vibrator collection: One motor and many attachments make for some exciting combinations.
**Ooh By Je Joue** London Collection No. 1 & No. 3, $95, available at Fab.
Photo: Courtesy Of Fab.

Design-oriented sex toy company Crave's newest product is a sleek bullet vibe that is waterproof and USB rechargeable, with a recessed button that helps people avoid unintentionally changing the speed or turning it off.
**Crave** Bullet Vibrator, $45-75, available at Crave.
Photo: Courtesy Of Crave.

For the décor-minded, this gorgeous green aventurine dildo is just as alluring on your mantle as in your vagina.
**Chakrubs** The Original Indian Jade, $150, available at Chakrubs.
Photo: Courtesy of Chakrubs.

For those of you who are serious about your sex toy collections, the elegant, discreet Moi Box Deluxe is the perfect place to hygienically store and organize your treasures.
**Plume** Moi Box Deluxe, $99.99, available at Plume.
Photo: Courtesy Of Plume.

This blindfold isn't designed for using during sex, but many that *are* let in potentially scene-ruining amounts of light. If you're looking for total darkness in your bondage play, the Mindfold is for you.
**Mindfold** Sleep and Relaxation Eye Mask, $12, available at Amazon.
Photo: Courtesy of Mindfold.

The 10-inch Stronic Eins isn't for everyone, but those who like it love it. Rather than vibrating, this toy *thrusts*. Yes, like a penis. As one Stronic Eins enthusiast told me, "I lie there lazily like a dead fish and let it do the work!"
**Fun Factory** Stronic Eins, $189.99, available at Fun Factory.
Photo: Courtesy of Fun Factory.

This wand is the LBD of sex toys: reliable, makes you feel amazing, and belongs in everyone's collection.
**Hitachi** Magic Wand Rechargeable, $124.95, available at Babeland.
Photo: Courtesy Of Hitachi.

The Duet is ideal for women who like their toys on the subtler (and less phallic) side, and its unique, pronged shape offers a range of possible sensations for any body.
**Crave** Duet, $149, available at Crave.
Photo: Courtesy of Crave.

Not all handcuffs are metal (nor should they be, ouch). These classy suede-and-silk babies set a more romantic mood.
**LELO** ETHEREA Silk Cuffs, $59, available at LELO.
Photo: Courtesy of Lelo.

What's better than nipple clamps? *Vibrating* nipple clamps.
**Good Vibrations** Nipple Teasers Vibrating Nipple Clamps, $29, available at Good Vibrations.
Photo: Courtesy of Good Vibrations.

If you're interested in exploring anal play, these graduated-size beads on a flexible shaft offer an approachable, affordable point of entry.
**California Exotic Novelties** Booty Beads Silicone Anal Beads, $12, available at Good Vibrations.
Photo: Courtesy Of Good Vibrations.

Some penis rings are so inflexible as to be uncomfortable, but this stretchy, vibrating iteration is a joy for everyone involved.
**Lovehoney** Bionic Bullet 5 Function Vibrating Cock Ring, $22.99, available at Lovehoney.
Photo: Courtesy of Lovehoney.

This darling little toy has arms that nestle in your labia to provide you with hands-free clitoral stimulation.
**Dame Products** Eva, $105, available at Dame Products.
Photo: Courtesy of Eva.

We love this cheery little vibrator for its genius user interface: Instead of fumbling with buttons, you set its intensity by squeezing it. Harder squeezing equals more intense vibrations.
**Minna Life** Limon, $119, available at Minna Life.
Photo: Courtesy of Minna Life.

If you're a flogging newbie, remember to read up on technique and take it slow (and communicate!).
**Bondage Boutique** Intermediate Thick Suede Flogger, $30, available at Lovehoney.
Photo: Courtesy of Lovehoney.

This ejaculating, strap-on dildo has a sweet backstory: Its creator, Stephanie Berman, developed the toy so that she could get her wife pregnant without using the traditional and utterly unromantic turkey baster or needleless syringe. (Their daughter Isabella is about to celebrate her second birthday.) POP is now a favorite among both people looking to get pregnant and people who love ejaculation.
**Berman Innovations** POP, $139.95, available at POP.
Photo: Courtesy of Berman Innovations.

If you're interested in anal play but want to ease your way into it and work your way up, this set is for you.
**Adam & Eve** Booty Boot Camp Training Kit, $29.95, available at Adam & Eve.
Photo: Courtesy Of Adam & Eve.

A luxurious little blindfold that can double as a sleep mask, if you like.
**Bijoux Indiscrets** Shhh — Blindfold, $15.50, available at Bijoux Indiscrets.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BIJOUX INDiscrets.

When burned, massage candles transform into oil that can heat up your skin-to-skin contact. Can everything in our life smell like Babeland's smoky, delicious Tobacco Sandalwood scent please? (Just remember not to use massage candles with latex products, such as condoms.)
**Babeland** Massage Candle, $6 to $16, available at Babeland.
Photo: Courtesy of Babeland.

Because bondage tape sticks to itself rather than skin, it's secure while you use it and easy to take off afterward — no complicated rope-tying or -untying required.
**The Pleasure Chest** Pleasure Tape, $9.95, available at The Pleasure Chest.
Photo: Courtesy of The Pleasure Chest.

We were first drawn to this toy because of its adorable seahorse shape. Turns out, it's also the perfect shape for hitting both your G-spot and clit.
**Fun Factory** Delight Click N Charge, $119.95, available at The Pleasure Chest.
Photo: Courtesy Of The Pleasure Chest.

Yeah, the name is unfortunate, but this thing works wonders. Its gentle sucking draws blood to the clit, which can lead to explosive orgasms (yes, plural).
**Womanizer** Womanizer Rechargeable Clitoral Stimulator, $189, available at Good Vibrations.

Full-body bondage with minimal set-up: All you need is a bed.
**Sportsheets** Under The Bed Restraint System, $76.99, available at Sportsheets.

A dab of this all-natural formula delivers a pleasant, tingling sensation where it counts. Your clit, to be specific. (Again, don't use this with latex.)
**Sliquid Organics** Stimulating O Gel, $3.50 to $19, available at Babeland.
Photo: Courtesy of Babeland.

If food in the bedroom is your thing, you'll love this rich milk chocolate body paint.
**The Kama Sutra Company** Lover's Body Paint — Chocolate Caress, $13.99, available at DermStore.
Photo: Courtesy of The Kama Sutra Company.

We're super amped to try the Lioness vibrator when it's out in the fall. This smart vibe records vaginal temperature and motion and connects with an app that delivers users insight into their sex lives — from how long it takes them to get aroused to when in their menstrual cycles sex might feel best. Since the fundraising campaign for it was launched on Indiegogo on February 9, it has already attracted $76,000, which is $26,000 more than its initial goal of $50,000. Hop over to Indiegogo to claim yours.
**Lioness** Lioness, $199, available at Indiegogo.

This elegant pendant necklace is *actually a vibrator* — and unsurprisingly, one of our favorite accessories.
**Crave** Vesper, $69, available at Crave.
Photo: Courtesy of Crave.

We're not shy about our love of penis rings. This strong and flexible version can take simultaneous orgasm during opposite-sex intercourse from pipe dream to reality.
**Je Joue** Mio, $109, available at Fab.
Photo: Courtesy of Fab.

These sturdy, easy-to-use cuffs get the job done.
**Good Vibrations** Bound To Please Neoprene Restraints, $17.00, available at Good Vibrations.
Photo: Courtesy of Good Vibrations.

Deliciously weighty, silky-smooth anal plugs in three sizes or avant-garde conversation pieces for your mantel? You decide.
**Njoy** Plugs, $60, available at Early2Bed.
Photo: Courtesy of Early2Bed.

Designed for use during intercourse, We-Vibe's Fling is flexible, quiet, and USB-rechargeable — and oh, did we mention that you can even buy it at CVS?
**We-Vibe** Fling, $79.99, available at We-Vibe.
Photo: Courtesy Of We-Vibe.

LELO's INA Wave combines powerful vibrations with targeted G-spot stimulation for a very satisfying orgasm indeed.
**LELO** INA Wave, $199, available at LELO.
Image: Courtesy of LELO.

This isn't a sex *toy*, but it will do wonders for your sex life. This comprehensive tome from Babeland founders Clare Cavanah and Rachel Venning covers everything from birth control to BDSM; its illustrated sex-position guides will bust you out of your bedroom rut, stat.
**Babeland** *Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex*, $22.50, available at Babeland.
Image: Courtesy of Babeland.

This vegan, latex-friendly herbal infusion heightens the sensitivity of your clit. It can help you reach orgasm more easily (and feel like a tingly goddess in the process). Start with a pea-sized amount, because it's powerful.
**Wicked Sensual Care** Awaken Stimulating Clitoral Massaging Gel, $19.99, available at PinkCherry.
Image: Courtesy of Wicked Sensual Care.

This powerful, ribbed vibrator pulsates and thrusts to mimic the sensations of intercourse.
**Fun Factory** STRONIC DREI, $189.99, available at Fun Factory.
Photo: Courtesy of Fun Factory.

We love the flexibility and texture of jelly-rubber penis rings, but we *don't* love the toxic plastic softeners in them. Enter Jimmyjane's elastomer ring, which mimics the feel of jelly rubber with none of the phthalates. Use with a water-based lube and go chase that simultaneous orgasm.
**Jimmyjane** Iconic Ring, $20, available at Jimmyjane.
Photo: Courtesy of Jimmyjane.

If you like your lube and arousal gel organic and body-safe, you'll love this duo — and if you haven't yet tried arousal gel, we strongly encourage it.
**Jimmyjane** SLIP & ZING, $25, available at Jimmyjane.
Photo: Courtesy of Jimmyjane.

Instead of thinking of your G-spot as a magical love button that will drive you wild if only you can find it, think of it as a region of sensitive tissue located on the "front" (anterior) wall of the vagina that can feel wonderful when stimulated. Ask your partner to make a "come hither" motion with his or her fingers inside you, or give this boomerang-shaped baby a whirl. Its ergonomic design makes solo G-spot adventures a cinch.
**We-Vibe** Rave, $119, available at We-Vibe.
Photo: Courtesy of We-Vibe.

You know that your clit is where the party's at and you're a fan of the personal-massager style of vibrator, but the heavy-duty Magic Wand packs a bit *too* much of a punch for you. If this is you, we've found your match. Rumble is a lightweight vibe with mid-range power that could not be easier to operate, and will get the job done.
**Tantus** Rumble, $129.99, available at Tantus.
Photo: Courtesy of Tantus.

Can't choose between labial, clitoral, and G-spot stimulation? Thanks to this vibrator's thicker shaft, clitoral arm, and curvy shape, you don't have to. (We're fond of the hot-pink one ourselves.)
**Fun Factory** Miss Bi G5 Silicone Vibrator, $149.99, available at Good Vibrations.
Photo: Courtesy of Fun Factory.

We love anything that does double-duty, and these beautiful cuffs will adorn your wrists until you're ready to repurpose them as restraints.
**Crave** Leather Cuff Bracelet, $62, available at Crave.
Photo: Courtesy of Crave.

For comfortable restraints that won't buckle under pressure, ditch the cheesy metal handcuffs and don these easy-on, easy-off Velcro ones. They're beloved by bondage newbies and experts alike.
**Sportsheets** Sex and Mischief Black Beginner's Handcuffs, $14.99, available at Sportsheets.
Photo: Courtesy of Sportsheets.

This curvy, weighty toy is crafted for mind-blowing G-spot or prostate stimulation. It doesn't hurt that it looks so elegant you could display it on a coffee table.
**nJoy** Pure Wand, $110, available at nJoy.
Photo: Courtesy of njoy.

Have we mentioned that we love lube? Well, we do, and this formula is one of the best. Use it during partnered sex and masturbation, and even as a chafe protectant or styling product (yes, really!).
**überlube** Lubricant, $18, available at überlube.
Photo: Courtesy of Babeland.

You don't need a partner to have a thunderous G-spot orgasm. This sleek vibrator's curved, flattened tip does just fine on its own — but feel free to invite a third party to operate it.
**LELO** GIGI 2, $139, available at LELO.
Photo: Courtesy of LELO.

If you're into the idea of public sex but aren't looking to get caught (or charged), consider a toy you can wear anywhere, without detection. This slim, curved vibe comes with a black thong with a sneaky custom pocket.
**OhMiBod** Club Vibe 2.OH Panty Vibe, $79, available at OhMiBod.
Photo: Courtesy Of OhMiBod.

Kegel newbies especially will appreciate how this trio of weights allows the user to start small and then build up to the pelvic floor of a superhero.
**Je Joue** Ami, $59, available at Fab.
Photo: Courtesy of JeJoue.

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These Are The Best Pool Snacks On Pinterest

July 22, 2016, 3:30 pm

≫ Next: Watch Leslie Jones Freak Out About A Big Crab & Sea Urchin

≪ Previous: The Sex Toys You Didn't Know You Needed

Snacks are a sunny-day necessity — just like sunscreen! And when there's a pool involved, we need refreshing eats that are easy to munch and as mess-free as possible.

Luckily, we've got the top 10 simplest and most pool-worthy recipes from Pinterest right here. These winners will keep you fed and, most importantly, on cruise control for peak lazy-lounging mode.

1. Berry Lemonade Popsicles

Why sip lemonade from a cup when you can freeze it into portable popsicles?

2. BLT Summer Rolls

The BLT sandwich reimagined as a fresh summer roll.

3. Creamy Ranch Dip

The perfect dip for poolside lounging with your favorite bag of chips.

4. Crisp Cucumber Salsa

Try making this cool cucumber salsa with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

5. Frozen Wine Grapes

Pop these wine-soaked, frozen grapes into homemade sangria — or just munch on a handful.

6. Pineapple Salsa

No bowl necessary for this salsa — just serve in the pineapple shell you sliced it from.

7. Antipasto Skewers

These skewers are an easier way to snack on your favorite meat-and-cheese platter staples.

8. Frozen Blueberry Yogurt Bites

Keep a bowl of these yogurt bites nearby for a handful of fast and fruity energy.

9. Fresh Peach Sorbet

You only need four ingredients for this refreshing peachy treat.

10. Berry Açai Bowl

This bowl is packed full of fresh fruits and nuts for the perfect poolside pick-me-up.

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Watch Leslie Jones Freak Out About A Big Crab & Sea Urchin

July 22, 2016, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Here's A Positive Thing That Happened At The RNC

≪ Previous: These Are The Best Pool Snacks On Pinterest

Leslie Jones is one of our best working comedians. She’s endured an insane and and gross harassment campaign on Twitter recently, from which she has bounced back. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about Leslie Jones and Seth Meyers watch Carlo Mirarchi, head chef from Brooklyn's iconic pizza restaurant, Roberta's, cook some crazy seafood.

We should start by saying she didn’t like much. Her dislikes included: The (still living!) King crab, the Crenshaw melon broth, and the green gin drink Mirarchi served.

“White people eat anything,” she declared at one point.

Anything, this time, included uni. Uni, for the uninitiated, is the edible part of the sea urchin. Specifically, uni is the gonad part of the sea urchin. It’s really good (the taste is light and briney), but it looks like orange paste and it’s, you know, the sea urchin’s nutsack. Jones did not appreciate that.

At another point in the episode, she did talk with Meyers about her Twitter debacle. Watch below.

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Here's A Positive Thing That Happened At The RNC

July 22, 2016, 4:30 pm

≫ Next: This Crucial Item From Your Childhood Will Soon Be Gone Forever

≪ Previous: Watch Leslie Jones Freak Out About A Big Crab & Sea Urchin

This week’s Republican National Convention went less than smoothly. Ted Cruz was booed, a South Dakota delegate facepalmed when Trump’s nomination was announced, and Ivanka Trump lost an earring.

Settle in, because this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Ohio student and Twitter user Annabelle Marie found the potential first daughter’s earring under her seat at the RNC. Look, here it is.

@IvankaTrump I found your earring last night at the RNC under your chair, how can I get this back to you? pic.twitter.com/GKwysjOFvp
— Annabelle Marie (@nogentlewoman) July 21, 2016

She didn’t get a response, so she tweeted again, this time including Today show journalist Savannah Guthrie.

#GetIvankaherEarringBack Ivanka how can I return this to you? @IvankaTrump @TODAYshow @SavannahGuthrie pic.twitter.com/gKzF5IMVQ0
— Annabelle Marie (@nogentlewoman) July 21, 2016

The quest continued, with Annabelle posting more and more pictures emphasizing that the earring was indeed Trump’s. She can buy another, Annabelle! But she was undeterred.

Please RT! Help Ivanka get her earring back! @IvankaTrump @TiffanyATrump @realDonaldTrump @RNCinCLE @DonaldJTrumpJr pic.twitter.com/x8goMAV1Rv
— Annabelle Marie (@nogentlewoman) July 21, 2016

Finally, sweet success. The earring was reunited with its rightful owner. And a photo opportunity was had.

Thank you for helping us get the earring back to its owner! Only trying to be honest and kind here, life is good :) pic.twitter.com/LwGtndCHJa
— Annabelle Marie (@nogentlewoman) July 21, 2016

What a heartwarming tale.

Donald Trump didn’t seem displeased with his daughter despite her carelessness, offering her a hearty congratulations.

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This Crucial Item From Your Childhood Will Soon Be Gone Forever

July 22, 2016, 5:00 pm

≫ Next: Hillary Clinton Chooses Tim Kaine As Vice Presidential Pick

≪ Previous: Here's A Positive Thing That Happened At The RNC

Only true '90s kids will remember VCRs. Funai Corporation of Japan, which claims to be the last remaining manufacturer of the device, said that it will stop producing VCRs due to “difficulty acquiring parts,” The New York Times reports. Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported on the VCR’s death rattle earlier this month, but Nikkei officially announced the move Thursday.

Last year, the company sold only 750,000 VCRs, which is shockingly high. Who still buys videotapes besides gutter punks or people that are weirdly committed to their Patrick Bateman impression?

The VCR was invented in the 1950s, made its way into the first homes in the 1960s, and gained popularity in the 1970s. The device became truly mainstream during the VHS-Betamax product war. To buy a VCR in the early 1980s, you’d be plunking down between $600 and $1,200. The introduction of the DVD in 1995 was the beginning of the end for the VCR. The DVD was superior in every way except that it didn’t come in satisfyingly large shapes. Now, it too has fallen by the wayside.

Watch a video demonstration of the first professional video recorder below.

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Hillary Clinton Chooses Tim Kaine As Vice Presidential Pick

July 22, 2016, 5:45 pm

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≪ Previous: This Crucial Item From Your Childhood Will Soon Be Gone Forever

And we have a winner for the Democratic veepstakes!

Tim Kaine has been chosen by Hillary Clinton as her running mate, the candidate announced on Friday.

Tim Kaine was elected to the Senate in 2012. Before that he served both as mayor of Richmond and governor of Virginia. He was considered for the VP position during the Obama campaign in 2008, and afterwards he led the DNC from 2009 to 2011.

Kaine was a top-contender to be Clinton's running mate since the beginning, due to his possible appeal to independent and swing voters because of his more moderate stances.

The announcement ends months of speculation about who Clinton would pick to round out her ticket. The former secretary of state began seriously considering potential candidates for the VP position as early as May, according to The New York Times .

"There is nothing more important than my rock-solid conviction that the person I choose could literally get up one day and be the president of the United States," she recently told PBS' Charlie Rose when talking about her search for a running mate.

Both Clinton and her running mate will address the country next week when Democrats gather in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention. That's also when Clinton will formally become the first female presidential candidate from a major party in the history of the U.S.

Refinery29’s News team is on the ground covering the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. Follow along @R29News and check out our full coverage of the 2016 race here.

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Rihanna Will Join Bates Motel To Play An Iconic Role

July 22, 2016, 6:30 pm

≫ Next: The Real Reason Sansa Didn't Tell Jon Snow About That Army In Game Of Thrones

≪ Previous: Hillary Clinton Chooses Tim Kaine As Vice Presidential Pick

Rihanna is crazy for this one. Or, should we say, Psycho. The Barbadian bombshell will join the cast of A&E’s Bates Motel as the iconic Marion Crane, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

If you know the name of the character, you’ll know this iconic scene. Crane was played by Janet Leigh in the original, and her inclusion was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s great misdirections. She was a major star at the time, so nobody saw it coming when she was brutally killed just a short while into the movie.

Now Rihanna will take on that role, a development announced at Comic-Con.

"We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight and redefine it in a meaningful and exciting new way. We also heard Rihanna was a fan of the show, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate," executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin said in a statement.

We have yet to see if her character will meet the same grisly fate. Watch Rihanna’s announcement video below.

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The Real Reason Sansa Didn't Tell Jon Snow About That Army In Game Of Thrones

July 22, 2016, 7:00 pm

≫ Next: Great British Baking Show Episodes 5 & 6 Recap: Pear Doesn't Bring Anything To A Party

≪ Previous: Rihanna Will Join Bates Motel To Play An Iconic Role

Sophie Turner has come into her own as Sansa Stark. Her performance was criminally underrated this season, but her performance on Friday’s Comic-Con will surely not be overlooked. Young Turner took the stage and more or less burned it down, offering some withering opinions of Jon Snow.

“[Sansa] believes they should both be King and Queen of the North,” Turner said. “I don't believe she thinks Jon is capable of running Winterfell and the North…[Sansa] doesn’t think he has the intellect, the knowledge, and the experience that she has, and I concur.”

So, uh, don’t mince words, ok Sophie? Just say what you think. She also introduced some intrigue into that final glance between she and Littlefinger.

“There’s always a bit of sibling rivalry between Sansa and Jon; there has been since they were very young,” Turner said. “I think that look between Sansa and Littlefinger is her kind of acknowledging that his points are somewhat legitimate, and she’s kind of intrigued as to that pretty little picture that he painted of him on the Iron Throne and her by his side…She’s kind of thinking, ‘Well, he’ll give me the credit that I deserve.’ But it’s very interesting to see where her loyalties will now lie —whether she’ll go with Jon or Littlefinger.”

Turner also explained why she didn’t tip Jon off to the fact that an entire army would be joining the battle at the 11th hour.

Turner said that Sansa “wanted all the credit, and it was a more dramatic moment when they showed up. It made for really good television.”

She’s right, it did. But should could have warned Jon! Then again, maybe she’s much savvier than we thought.

HBO also released a pair of videos. The first was an in-production teaser for the seventh season.

The second was a blooper reel.

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Great British Baking Show Episodes 5 & 6 Recap: Pear Doesn't Bring Anything To A Party

July 22, 2016, 8:00 pm

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≪ Previous: The Real Reason Sansa Didn't Tell Jon Snow About That Army In Game Of Thrones

Another double header tonight, because PBS knows we can sit through unlimited episodes of this gem. We start out with alternate ingredients. Which is honestly kind of a snooze fest. Half of the fun of the show is amazing creations, not watching someone use apples instead of sugar. The most exciting part comes at the very beginning, when Ian says, with an affable laugh, that the other contestants want to “break his fingers.” Finally some good, old-fashioned competition!

The first two challenges are pretty dull: sugar-free cakes for signature, and gluten-free pita for the technical. For the cakes, Alvin’s super-simple pineapple upside-down cake and Mat’s super-dense fruit-filled cake get high praise, whereas Ugne’s mess of a cake and Ian’s under-sweetened pear version don't cut it. Maybe it’s for the best, Ian. The other contestants look a lot less finger-break-y after seeing him thrown from his pedestal.

Poor Alvin, whose tangible relief at getting unequivocally positive praise doesn’t last long. He isn’t even sure what makes a pita versus a naan. Nadiya, on the other hand, finally gets first after regularly struggling in the technical.

On to dairy-free ice cream cakes, where the highlight is certainly watching Paul gently form the legs of his icing sunbather on a tropical roll. Nadiya once again comes out on top with a henna-inspired decoration, and Ugne’s creation is, as usual, an over-ambitious mess. She’s sent home, and Nadiya finally dethrones Ian as star baker. And yes, I got choked up listening to Nadiya talk about how proud her husband and kids were going to be of her.

Next, we’re straight into pastry, a much-needed jolt of excitement after the humdrum of sugar-free this and dairy-free that. Now, it’s sugar and butter galore as the seven remaining bakers duke it out over tarts and vols-au-vent. Once again, we’re reminded of how very not American the show is when Tamal bashfully admits he wants to be star baker. How embarrassing. To confess you want to win. In a competition show.

But, as it turns out, it’s not Tamal’s week. Instead, star baker goes to Mat, a guy who seems to have so far skated by in the middle. The guy who regularly winces every time Mary and Paul cut into one of his creations. The guy who seems to be consistently saved by other bakers' more disastrous creations. But this week, he knocked it out of the park with vols-au-vent that, in the immortal words of Mary Berry, are just like soldiers.

Meanwhile, Alvin struggles, revealing in the episode that his father, who was a general, told him failure is never an option. I so wanted him to do well, especially because of how sincerely he apologizes whenever he is criticized for his mistakes. Sadly, his showstopper wasn’t the miracle he needed to save him.

Now, it’s down to six, and it’s truly anyone’s game to win. As Paul Hollywood himself observed, contestants have risen from the bottom to the top — and gone back the other way. Heck, maybe we’re about to witness the ascendancy of Wincing Mat. Then again, Mat tells us Mary Berry “double punched” him in the stomach, which we all know is code for “don’t get too cocky, punk.”

Next week! Old-fashioned bakes, more wincing from Mat, and perhaps the highest compliment Mary Berry could give someone: “Queen Victoria would be proud.”

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