This week’s workout song, “Cotton-Eyed Joe” is dedicated to the gang over at the New Girl as it reminded me that I had the maxi-single of this hit on casette. A “Where are they now?” special is long overdue for the Burning Man/Haight St./steampunk homeless hybrid known as Rednex.

Resisting to fist pump is futile.

And yes, it is actually a dance. We used to perform it in elementary school during gym class.

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Fruitvale Station (formerly known as Fruitvale) was praised at Sundance and it is already generating bushels of early Oscar buzz…because it’s never to early for that. All of this hype may be valid because 1.) the true story it is based on is layered with intrigue, 2.) Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer are wonderful and 3.) it hits close to home for me because every time I ride BART I pass the Fruitvale station and wonder what happened on that New Year’s Eve night. Check out the trailer and see if you think this buzz will last:

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Star Trek Into Darkness opened in theaters yesterday and it pretty much marked the start of the summer blockbuster season (because Iron Man 3 certainly didn’t). Director and the greatest fanboy of them all, J.J. Abrams pretty much set the bar for summer blockbusters — and he set it high. Real high. Star Trek Into Darkness is one of the few movies that should be seen in 3D (and in IMAX if you get the chance). It’s an all-enveloping movie experience that is one lens flare away from becoming an amusement park ride. It’s damn amazing and I shall watch it multiple times because I am just that cool and have that much time on my hands.

To enhance your moviegoing experience whilst watching Star Trek Into Darkness, I have created a scavenger hunt for your pleasure. All you need is a ticket to the movie, a bucket of popcorn, some Twizzlers, and your wits. Please enjoy:

1.) Count how many lens flares there are in the movie. I’m pretty sure J.J. Abrams doubled the amount of lens flares in this movie compared to the last one just to spite all lens flare haters.

2.) Search for a “Not Penny’s Boat” moment a la J.J.’s TV mind meld, Lost.

3.) Remember that singing sensation Frenchie Davis from The Voice? There is a look alike in the movie. FIND HER.

4.) Take note of how many times the evil and intense John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) says a threatening line like this (and then start using it in your every day conversation).

5.) Each time Spock (Zachary Quinto) says something profound, shove a handful of popcorn into your mouth.

6.) This one is a toughie. One of the miscellaneous crew members on the Enterprise was a cast member of Felicity, another one of J.J.’s masterpieces. Find him or her! HINT: it is one of the people in this picture:

7.) Eat one Twizzler every time Uhura (Zoe Saldana) nags Captain Kirk or Spock.

8.) Tally up all the times an exciting incident catches everyone by surprise via a big explosion or an abrupt CRASH! or BANG!

9.) High five the person next to you every time Kirk and Spock disagree about something.

10.) Finally, giggle like a school girl every time Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) flashes a smirk and/or smile.

Star Trek Into Darkness is currently in theaters. Please report the results of your scavenger hunt below in the comment section or email me at thefinerdandy@gmail.com.

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There are many amazing things about Star Trek Into Darkness — Simon Pegg being one of them. He returns to the sequel to the prequel as Scotty, the Enterprise’s chief engineer. Scotty is good at what he does…and does it with a fine dose of humor. With roles in movies like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the role of Scotty suits Pegg well. Very well. It has a nice balance of heart, fanboy charm, and comedic delivery that doesn’t compromise the integrity of the character. I sat down with the brilliant Mr. Pegg and he gave us the scoop on how it is to play Scotty for the second time around, the dangers of reading spoilers and which Star Trek crew member he would be if he weren’t Scotty. The answer will astonish you.

And FYI: the movie was supposed to open on Friday May 17th, but since its awesomeness cannot be contained, it opens in limited IMAX release TODAY and then will open in wide release on May 16th. That’s tomorrow. What are you waiting for? BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW.

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There is no need for all this buzz for Joss Whedon‘s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It is going to be a guaranteed success. For one, it’s a spin off from the uber successful The Avengers which made kajillion dollars. The fans of that will flock to this easily. Add the fan boys/girls to that and you already have a built in audience to a show that hasn’t even aired yet. Second, it’s Joss Whedon. His following is massive. He is basically God when it comes to all the aforementioned fan boys/girls. Plus, he gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a TV show that garnered a following like no other. He also gave us Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Serenity, a couple episodes of The Office and who could forget his great work as a writer on Roseanne (I’m totally serious). The guy knows how to create good TV…and it’s about damn time he returned to it. We have been waiting — and from the looks from the trailer, it was worth the wait:

I do have one complaint about the show: typing out “S.H.I.E.L.D.” is quite an arduous task. That’s a lot of periods.

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I enjoyed doing my podcast movie review for Iron Man 3 so much that I decided to do the same thing with The Great Gatsby. And yes, you can rest easy, I decided to incorporate some Celine Dion into the review. I think that might be an ongoing thing. So sit back and listen to me ramble on about Baz Luhrmann‘s take on the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.

“The Great Gatsby” Movie Review With Celine Dion on the Side, Of Course

The Great Gatsby opens in theaters today..

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The World’s End: Why can’t all movies have the glorious trifecta of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost? Their ability to bend genres with a fan boy slant (a la Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) never fails to impress. This movie involves a pub crawl and, as the title suggests, the end of the world. Two things that somehow belong together.

Ender’s Game: Didn’t read the books and I don’t plan to — and by the looks of the full trailer, I’m not giddy over the movie. It boasts a cast of Academy Award nominees/winners and a character that seems like he falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. I guess the movie is supposed to generate Hunger Games-level anticipation, but I am feeling more of a Golden Compass-level anticipation. Remember that movie? Yeah. Didn’t think so. But I am feelin’ Ben Kingsley‘s face tattoos.

The Butler: OPRAH’S IN A MOVIE! OPRAH’S IN A MOVIE! OPRAH’S IN A MOVIE…and it’s directed by the dude who did Precious. It looks really good because it involves a butler, civil rights, and Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda playing Ronald and Nancy Reagan. This has #oscarbait all over it…and OPRAH IS IN IT!

P.S. For my dozen readers out there, I shall be traveling in the next couple of days so posts will be delayed. I apologize. I love you.

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There are times when The Huffington Post reports on something so riveting and so journalistically poignant that I have no choice but to share it with the world. This is one of those times.

I never knew how much of an artist and a technician Leonardo DiCaprio is when it comes to screaming until I watched this supercut of him in action. Lots of throbbing head veins, lots of standing up abruptly, lots of cries of anguish, lots of “assholes”, lots of “fuck yous”, lots of stern pointing, lots of raspiness, and lots of lozenges. And spoiler alert: he has a yelling scene in The Great Gatsby.

Surprisingly, no scenes from Growing Pains.

[via HuffPo]

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This video of Amanda Bynes was posted a couple of days ago, but I just watched it yesterday. So it’s new to me…and it is one of the most amazing pieces of journalism to date. Out of curiosity, what would happen if we just stopped paying attention to her? Would she continue this tour of crazy? Nonetheless, I have been following the curious and fascinating case of Amanda. It is so easy to make fun of her, but I don’t think any of the stuff she is doing is funny. It’s just so bizarre that it’s like an anthropological study. Someone get Jane Goodall on this.

Kanye West is a God. It’s about time he announced this. We have been waiting. It’s moments like this that make us glad Vine was created.

Ever wonder how many times Frodo Baggins falls, cries, and jizzes during the course of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. Well wonder no more:

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