Adam Riff™

W. Kamau Bell's upcoming CNN series United Shades of America looks interesting.

In [the] series premiere, he uses humor to challenge Klansmen looking to rebrand their message. [source]

Shades of TV Nation.

Bill Burr on WTF with Marc Maron:

You never throw anything out. Everything you've ever owned exists someplace on this planet, unless it was biodegradable. It's out there – your rollerblades, everything that you stopped using.

You know how at the end of Big Fish, all of the characters in Edward's stories show up at his funeral?

Idea: A variation on Big Fish in which the estranged son ends up in the Great Pacific garbage patch at the end and sees stuff from all of his father's fanciful stories floating in the water.

His father lives in Hawaii, is dying, and wants to go on one last boat trip. He reluctantly accompanies his father on the boat trip. They get lost at sea. His father dies. The boat drifts into the Great Pacific garbage patch.

• How Does This GIF Make You Feel About the Future?

British docu-television titles are the best.

• How Gay Is Pakistan?, BBC Three

In the labourer communities of Lahore, the concept of gayness hardly existed: instead it was MSM – men sleeping with men – not because of sexual preference, but because they couldn't afford women prostitutes.

Surely women who aren't prostitutes exist…?

• A Complete History of Canada's Pop-Music Takeover

Jon: My New Year's resolution is to read more books. Any recommendations?

Kurt:

Poet Anderson…Of Nightmares follows the epic journey of two orphan brothers, Jonas and Alan, who are Lucid Dreamers. After a tragic car accident lands Alan in a coma, Jonas sets out into the Dream World in an attempt to find his brother and wake him up. What he discovers instead is an entire shared consciousness where fear comes to life as a snarling beast called a Night Terror, and a creature named REM is bent on destruction and misery, devouring the souls of the strongest dreamers to get closer to the Waking World. With the help of a Dream Walker—a guardian of the dreamscape, Jonas must face his fears, save his brother, and become who he was always meant to be: Poet Anderson.

Newsweek:

There are two more books coming in this trilogy?
With Poet Anderson, there's a trilogy of novels. The first one hits shelves in just a few days. And then there will be two more books that follow. There's going to be more animation, there's going to be more graphic novels, there's going to be more short films, there's going to be major motion pictures.

Are there any other projects you have going that you haven't mentioned?
Oh yeah, I have four. I'll say this. I'm in Colorado Springs right now, having meetings with officers from U.S. Air Force Space Command about my next franchise that I'm launching.

The witnesses are legion, scattered across the world and dotted through history, people who looked up and saw something impossible lighting up the night sky.

From the waning days of the 20th century's final great war to the fraught fields of Afghanistan to the otherworldly secrets hidden amid Nevada's dusty neverlands—the truth that is out there will propel a soldier, a socialite, a pilot, and a prisoner into a labyrinth of otherworldly technology and the competing aims of those who might seek to prevent—or harness—these beings of unfathomable power. Because, as it turns out, we are not the only ones who can invent and build…and destroy.

Featuring actual events and other truths drawn from sources within the military and intelligence community. [source]

Strange Times: The Curse of Superstition Mountain Don't F**king Die serves as a prelude to the full length Strange Times novel written by Tom DeLonge slated for Summer 2016.

Idea: A Tom DeLonge book club.

Who are some authors you'd like to work with that you haven't gotten to work with yet?
There's an author out there, a researcher, that writes about his analysis of space programs, world finance geopolitics. His name is Joseph Farrell, and I've been wanting to write with him for a long time.

• Hollywood's Surprise 2015 Box-Office Hits and Misses Abroad

Whiplash found favor with audiences in Japan and South Korea, where the low-budget pic earned $5 million and $11.5 million, respectively. Perhaps J.K. Simmons' dictatorial music teacher character struck a chord with Asian fans who themselves endured a similarly strict pedagogical approach in their youths.

[pause]

When Furious 7 snatched [China]'s all-time biggest box office crown in April and Jurassic World legged out to nearly the same heights as Ultron in June, the local market went into what one Western exec termed "a panic": Hollywood films were succeeding at a breakneck pace, while China had not had a movie of its own cross $150M since February. The traditional — and unofficial — summer blackout period was extended by several weeks to allow local fare to flourish and Hollywood to sit on the sidelines longer than in the past.

Monster Hunt, which was left in cinemas for about 60 days versus the 30 that Hollywood movies are allowed, beat F7's record on the Day 58.

In the wake of that, it was reported that screenings of Monster Hunt, as it limped to the finish line, were, as one person tells me, taking place every 15 minutes while empty but "sold out." The ticket fraud issue was raised. Producer Edko Pictures admitted to giving away $6.2M worth of tickets for "public welfare screenings" near the end of the film's run and acknowledged there were overnight and duplicate screenings. [source]

The king stay the king.

Why did no one tell me about holiday-treat-scented children's IP tie-in body washes?

Related:

• Deadspin's Favorite Vines Of 2015
  + my favourite and Rory's favourite

Flamethrowers are underrated.

There's beginning a film in medias res, and then there's beginning a film with a main character turning face. Dare I say The Force Awakens could've used a prequel. Episode VII: New Order. Episode VIII: The Force Awakens.

Insta-bread.

Poe Dameron is a clunky name. His surname should be two syllables long – Poe Jackson. Poe Burnham.

Evidently, stormtroopers wear cargo pants under their armour.

Jon Wilcox: http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/06/Star-Wars-Force-Awakens-Stormtrooper-Black-Series-004.jpg
Jon Wilcox: https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ItlT-SO5e06E0KFOn4IbKGhYWSE=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/4178078/Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens-Picture-John-Boyega-Daisy-Ridley.0.jpg
Jon Wilcox: where did his white boots/shoes go?
Jon Wilcox: or is the white just some kind of covering over weird velcro shoes
Jon Wilcox: also this is different
Jon Wilcox: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81Vw%2BJLjIOL._SL1500_.jpg

Steven: how the hell they don't use clones is beyond me
Jon: practical effects

"That's miiiiine!!!"

^ That's Simon Pegg

A Star Trek Into Darkness snap zoom

Holy 3D!

"Droid, please"?

Finn's dialogue feels incongruous. I half-expected a Jesse Pinkman "Yeah, bitch!"

Finn is Jesse Pinkman, Han is Walter White, and…. KYLO FLYNN!

You cast the stars of The Raid/The Raid 2 as redshirts?!

^ Kanjiklub

I hope Donnie Yen is used better in Rogue One.

Thanos adjace.

Oh, it's a hologram.

If you've seen A New Hope, then The Force Awakens spoils itself. Same beats.

As soon as I learned that Han Solo is Kylo Ren's father, I knew that Han Solo was gonna die, and the amount of screen time that Harrison Ford received confirmed it. He's Episode VII's Obi-Wan Kenobi analogue.

I look forward to seeing ghost Han Solo, ghost Luke Skywalker, and ghost Kylo Ren at the end of Episode IX.

Is her name Rey or Reia? Asian Leia, heh.

Did they convert a planet into a Death Star or terraform a Death Star? Starkiller Ski Resort and Base.

Kyle: It's crazy to me that Finn has a big fight with an anonymous stormtrooper. Why is that not Phasma???

Venom C-3P0.

If the First Order has all but one section of the map, why not comb the missing section for Luke Skywalker?

Kylo Ren = "Break Stuff"
BB-8 = "Rollin'"
Finn = "Nookie"

Greg Grunberg is J.J. Abrams' Hector Elizondo.

Hey, Ken Leung!

Maz Kanata/Captain Phasma: Why motion-capture Lupita Nyong'o or suit up Gwendoline Christie to play a nothing character? At least Kylo Ren removes his helmet.

Daniel Craig plays the stormtrooper whose mind Rey tricks.

Oh, now R2-D2 awakens.

This trek up the island might outlast the Energizer.

Judah Friedlander was in the bar?

"BB-8 Voice Consultants: Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz" – Jean-Ralphio!

A version of this film in which Rey doesn't encounter BB-8, the TIE fighter that Poe and Finn nick doesn't crash, Poe retrieves BB-8, the Resistance finds Luke, and Luke is again the lead of the series. Daisy Ridley was a red herring.

Why is this Kylo Ren hoodie only for kids?

• Bay Area to Standard American English Translator