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So the Google Hangout crashed toward the end of this epic show but you get most of it here. The full audio is in the areas mentioned above:
News
Zach – Google is out with a new self-driving car prototype, and it’s fantastic. It has no brake pedals or steering wheels. To make it go, you just push a button. The contraption looks less like a conventional car than a space-age personal mobility vehicle. Eventually, Google says, it will build 100 of these things for a pilot project on California roads.
Watching the promo video, you might notice something else, too: Almost everyone appearing in it seems to be a retiree, or nearly so. There’s Nick, the man who gives a chummy thumbs-up to the camera; Annie and Judy, who can’t help but wave at everyone outside as they pass by; and Linda, who adorably prods her husband, Walt, over his inadequate turning skills.
Google is known as a young, hip company. So what’s it doing recruiting seniors to do its videos? Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Here’s why: The elderly population in America is rich, vast and growing.
As the baby boomers reach their golden years, more of their children will need to consider taking away the car keys. By mid-century, one in five of us will be over 65 — that’s up from just eight percent of the population in 1950.
Rather than sitting around for a couple of decades like previous generations, older Americans are feeling more energetic. It used to be that cutting off these older folks’ access to a steering wheel was the only realistic option if their driving had become unsafe because of their age. Now, we might not have to. Google’s self-driving car could get seniors out and about more. As a result, they might also earn more, spend more and give the rest of the economy a lift, too.
Google is targeting its cars to retirees for another reason: They’ve got the money. Boomers hold a vast share of the country’s wealth, and, more importantly, they’re willing to spend it.
“There is a bias to believe that older people spend less of what they have,” according to Nielsen. “While this may have been true of the generations of older consumers that preceded the boomers, it simply does not apply to this generation.”
Nielsen also finds boomers to be enamored of technology: They account for 41 percent of the people buying Macs and 40 percent of the wireless market.
So it makes total sense for Google to market its new car to older generations. Even Google exec Sergey Brin thinks so.
“The project is about changing the world for people who are not well-served by transportation today,” Brin said at this week’s Code Conference. “There are many people underserved by transportation today (the elderly, a lack of cabs and buses in some places). Look at people too young, old or disabled who can’t get around. It’s an issue and a real challenge for them.”
Movies
1 N X-Men: Days of Future Past
$90,823,660 – $90,823,660 $200 1
2 1 Godzilla (2014)
$30,946,416 -66.8% $148,294,783 $160 2
3 N Blended
$14,284,031 – $14,284,031 $40 1
4 2 Neighbors
$14,022,660 -44.1% $113,702,525 $18 3
5 3 The Amazing Spider-Man 2
$7,823,388 -53.4% $184,924,580 – 4
6 4 Million Dollar Arm
$6,968,980 -33.7% $20,503,785 $25 2
7 5 The Other Woman (2014)
$3,710,407 -41.2% $77,808,829 $40 5
8 7 Rio 2
$2,467,206 -34.0% $121,565,246 $103 7
9 15 Chef
$2,266,586 +219.8% $3,554,887 – 3
10 6 Heaven is for Real
$2,033,488 -53.6% $85,833,566 $12 6
Opening this Weekend: Maleficent (67%), A Million Ways to Die in the West (47%),
Film Ball
Contributors 1
Stephen $0.00
Bill $148,294,783.00
Nathan $0.00
Mike $7,683,159.00
Dwayne $90,823,660.00
Contributors 2
Catherine $0.00
Zach $0.00
Oz $155,977,888.00
Michelle $90,823,660.00
Hector $0.00
Listeners 1
Ada $0.00
Cody $0.00
Alan $7,683,136.00
Niko $0.00
Jon $239,118,526.00
Stephen –News of Edgar Wright’s departure from Ant-Man last week left industry folks speculating about where the director would go for his next project. Now some are suggesting he could go back to a project he’s been associated with in the past: the film reboot of the beloved cult TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
According to Deadline, Wright has been developing Kolchak for Johnny Depp. Interestingly, the property is owned by Disney, which also owns Marvel and Ant-Man. Deadline doesn’t cite any specific news but does report that the Kolchak script by D.V. DeVincentis (High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank) is in “strong shape” and that the project would have to wait on its star, who’s currently busy playing Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. The original Kolchak was a Chicago newspaper columnist in two TV movies and two seasons of a follow-up series. Every week Carl Kolchak would investigate strange leads that took him down dark, supernatural paths. Though he always got the story, he never seemed to bring back enough proof to print the more sensational details of his exploits. The show was revived briefly in 2005 with Stuart Townsend.
Dwayne – Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino has reportedly changed his mind about not making The Hateful Eight, his Western tale whose screenplay infamously leaked a few months ago.
Tarantino initially decided to shelve the project after the script leaked and then sued Gawker for posting links to where the script could be found online. But now, after the success of his recent live-reading of the script with a cast of Tarantino veterans and the dismissal of the Gawker suit. the Django Unchained helmer has reportedly decided to move forward with making it his next movie.
According to Showbiz411, “The Hateful Eight will roll this November. Sources I’ve talked to have said the cast will gather in Wyoming to begin shooting then. That cast will include Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, and all the actors who recently participated in the live reading of Hateful Eight that took place after the script was ‘leaked.’ Those would be also Kurt Russell, James Remar, Amber Tamblyn, Walt Goggins, and Zoe Bell. Sadly, two time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz is not in this movie after his award winning performances in Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained.”
Tarantino has said he expects to do at least two more drafts of the script before production on The Hateful Eight commences this fall.
TV
Niko- It had to end sometime. “Frozen’s” streak atop the home video sales charts came to an end the week ended May 18, as Lionsgate’s “I, Frankenstein” emerged to top both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart, which tracks combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, as well as its dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart.
The Disney blockbuster dropped to No. 2 for the week, selling 86.5% as many copies as the fantasy-horror hybrid. Frozen had topped both sales charts the previous four weeks and seven of the eight weeks since its release in March.
The chart shuffling allowed “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” to move up to No. 3 on both charts, followed by a pair of newcomers. On both charts, Warner’s Oscar-winning “Her” debuted at No. 4, while the Sony Pictures comedy “That Awkward Moment” bowed at No. 5.
Home Media Magazine’s weekly rental chart was dominated by titles new to rental. The top spot went to Universal’s “Ride Along,” followed by Fox’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” at No. 2, “I, Frankenstein” at No. 3, “That Awkward Moment” at No. 4 and Universal’s “The Nut Job” at No. 5.
“Ride Along,” “Mitty” and “Nut Job” all came off their 28-day holdback at key rental outlets Redbox and Netflix.
“Smaug,” the previous week’s top rental, slipped to No. 6.
Top 20 Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for week of 5/18/2014:
1. “I, Frankenstein” (New)
2. “Frozen”
3. “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
4. “Her” (New)
5. “That Awkward Moment” (New)
6. “The Legend of Hercules”
7. “Paw Patrol” (New)
8. “Ride Along”
9. “Son of Batman”
10. “The Pirate Fairy”
11. “The Nut Job”
12. “WWE Wrestlemania XXX” (New)
13. “Veronica Mars”
14. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Neighbors From Hell”
15. “The Amazing Spider-Man”
16. “Special ID” (New)
17. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
18. “How to Train Your Dragon”
19. “The Wolf of Wall Street”
20. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for week of 5/18/2014:
1. “Ride Along” (New to Rental)
2. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (New to Rental)
3. “I, Frankenstein” (New)
4. “That Awkward Moment” (New)
5. “The Nut Job” (New to Rental)
6. “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
7. “The Legend of Hercules”
8. “47 Ronin”
9. “The Wolf of Wall Street”
10. “Labor Day”
Dwayne- Cabin in the Woods filmmaker Drew Goddard has exited Marvel-Netflix’s Daredevil series. The eries has a 13-episode order at Netflix. He was to have directed the pilot and served as an executive producer and showrunner. The site doesn’t provide a reason for Goddard’s purported departure.Goddard is however also attached to Sony’s movie version of The Sinister Six.
Marvel have already officially announced the change in showrunners for the Daredevil TV series, confirming THR’s scoop that Steven S. DeKnight will take over on the project, in place of Drew Goddard. Marvel notes that Goddard’s scripts for the first two episodes will still be used and while not remaining on the show day-to-day, he will continue as an executive producer on the series.
De Knight, like Goddard, wrote for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and continued his collaboration with Joss Whedon on Dollhouse, before executive producing and serving as showrunner on Starz’ Spartacus. A new director for the pilot will have to be found to replace Goddard in this role as well.
Still the changeover from Goddard to De Knight sounds like a solid one, swapping one talented, Whedon-connected writer/producer for another – and De Knight’s acclaimed work on Spartacus brings a proven track record in terms of guiding his own, action-packed series.
British actor Charlie Cox — whose credits include Stardust and Boardwalk Empire — has landed the title role in Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix series. Latino Review first reported they were hearing rumblings of Cox’s casting, which were then confirmed by Variety.
Daredevil is the first of Netflix’s five upcoming Marvel series, including Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and finally The Defenders, which will unite all of the characters.
Zach- Today is a great day for Amazon Prime members, as HBO offers an impressive chunk of their original programming to subscribers of the popular streaming service. The library released today includes complete anthologies of original series like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, selected seasons of ongoing shows such as Boardwalk Empire and True Blood, and some HBO original movies and miniseries, including Band of Brothers, John Adams, and Grey Gardens.
Other shows of note include all three seasons of Deadwood, all five seasons of The Wire, the Angels in America miniseries, both seasons of Rome, the first three seasons of True Blood, and two seasons of Flight of the Concords.
Stephen – E3 2014 is almost here and naturally, the big publishers will kick things off the Monday before the festivities begin with their annual press conferences. As is tradition, Sony will go last — their press conference is on Monday, June 9th at 6p PT — and this year, you’ll be able to watch it in a movie theater.
Sony has revealed its PlayStation E3 Experience, which will bring the press conference to the big screen. You can still watch the stream on your computer or mobile device, of course, but if you want to enjoy it with friends, this might be a good opportunity for you.
A complete list of cities and participating theaters is available on our facebook page at facebook.com/culturesmash.tv The event is free to attend but you must preregister because space is limited. We have the link to register also on our facebook page.
New on Blu-Ray
• The Life Aquatic with steve Zissou Criterion
• Red River Criterion
• Death Spa
• Sleepaway Camp Special EditionCombo Pack
• Longmire Season 1 & 2
Books/Comics
Niko – Last week we saw the villain lineup for Marvel’s big fall event, Axis, which included Green Goblin, teen Loki, Sabretooth, Red Onslaught (Red Skull in full Onslaught armor), Dr. Doom, and Carnage. Common sense dictates that each villain’s heroes would show up to thwart their plans — so something like Spider-Man, Thor, Wolverine, Captain America, Mr. Fantastic, and Venom — but that’s not what was revealed this week.
A Jim Cheung image appeared in an advertisement for June’s Special Edition NYC convention from ReedPOP. It features Storm, Thor, Iron Man (still sporting that black-and-gold armor), Luke Cage, Deadpool, and Medusa.
Some of these make sense. Wolverine is allegedly going to die, so it makes sense for Storm to take his place just like she did his role as headmaster of the Jean Grey School. Thor for Loki is as expected, although one can imagine Loki pulling a double agent twist as he’s generally on the side of good these days.
With two Spider-Man villains, it’s a shock not to see Spidey, and none of the other heroes are an obvious replacement for him.
Luke Cage has been slowly reintroduced into the Avengers scene ever since quitting at the end of Brian Michael Bendis’s run but none of these villains are in his wheelhouse. Medusa’s inclusion is easy to explain if you look at Marvel’s huge push to make the Inhumans a thing.
It’s also strange that this event has been teased as an Avengers/X-Men teamup, but there’s only one official X-Man on the team in Storm. There can, of course, always be more heroes who join in the fray, but it’s fun to guess until we have more solid facts.
On Shelves this week:
Marvel
Avengers 30
Giant Sized Spider-Man 1
Guardians of the Galaxy 15
Ms Marvel 4
Thanos Annual 1
DC
Batman 31
Dead Boy Detective 6
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 13
Nightwing 30
Secret Origins 2
Other
Conan the Avenger 2
Serenity: Leaves on the Wind 5
Skullkickers 27
Southern Bastards 2
Tomb Raider 4
To see the complete list of new releases head on over to culturesmash.tv
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