Fast & Furious 6 is an awesome and explosive thrill ride

After the crew walked away with millions of dollars at the end of Fast 5, the team members went their separate ways except for Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker), Elena (Elsa Pataky) and Mia (Jordana Brewster). They all settled down in the Canary Islands with a new baby added to the family.

Dom and Brian are content to put their old life behind them and settle down. Though, that didn’t mean they put away their hot rides and fast driving. That all changes when Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) shows up on their doorstep asking for their help.

Spoiler alert: This article discusses specific details from the film. If you haven’t seen it yet, please stop reading. For review of the movie, check out Cisco Davis, Jr’s Fast and Furious 6 review.

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Scatter My Ashes makes Bergdorf Goodman accessible

I recently started obsessing over clothes and fashion to a level I can’t explain. While I haven’t hit the arena where it affects my pocketbook, as a former frequenter of Old Navy, Gap Outlet and TJMaxx, I don’t understand why my style shifted from faded denim overalls to quirky business professional. Maybe it’s the conundrum that occurs when you pass your twenties and grow more interested in presenting yourself for yourself as opposed to your date. But, after chronicling my ongoing love affair with Breakfast at Tiffany’s, searching for the best Birkin bag not-knock-off and uncovering the perfect Little Black Dress, of course, I had to cover Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s.

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s is a documentary about the iconic New York department store’s relationship with its fashion designers as well as a behind the scenes look at key staff that interact with the public through sales and window dressing. For the screening, in honor of Bergdorf, I threw on my very best Melie Bianco from Target, dusted off my best priced-down Banana Republic, and shook out my favorite almost-Noelani Jelly flats.

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Frances Ha is one very buoyant, affirming, quirky hipster

It’s difficult for most people to find purpose in life, let alone the means to achieve it once you think you’ve found it. Most don’t have rich parents or spouses to fall back on. Regardless of our wants or desires, our hopes and dreams, sometimes we just need to face the truth: life goes on. And sometimes the only way to achieve what we want is to wait until it’s the right time to get it. Not so easy, really, especially in an age where we can get everything measured in blinks of an eye. And for those in the time of life when you’re supposed to “figure things out,” it’s wildly exciting and exceptionally terrifying.

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Fast & Furious 6 will be the summer action movie to beat

If you would have told me back in 2001 that The Fast and the Furious would go on to become a ridiculously successful film franchise spanning over five movies and counting, I probably would have laughed in your face. But as time went on I can honestly say that I really didn’t see it coming, because The Fast and the Furious franchise snowballed into a feverish sleeper hit of a film franchise that even I enjoy watching — especially on the big screen.

With a huge ensemble cast starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, Luke Evans and more, Fast & Furious 6 picks up after Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his criminal gang of street racers finished their Rio de Janeiro heist in the last film.

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It’s Vegas ticket mania on So You Think You Can Dance

We’re barely a couple weeks in and a sour taste forms in my mouth each time So You Think You Can Dance lights up my cathode ray tube.

It started with last Tuesday’s premiere. By the end of the hour, it seemed as if the show was handing out Las Vegas tickets to the contestants like they were candy. The next night? Wednesday night? More of the same. Those Vegas tickets were flowing just as fast as a winning one-armed bandit pull.

Then came this week’s 2-hour episode. Good gordness: Tickets were flying hand over fist. The judges were beside themselves, thrusting them in the grasp of any willing outstretched hand. That’s the way it felt, anyway.

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The Wolfpack reunites one last time in The Hangover Part III

You pretty much had to have been living under a rock for the last few years to not have heard about The Hangover movies and the epic drunken adventures and hijinks the “Wolfpack” have been on after wild nights of partying and drinking. With The Hangover Part III being billed as the third and final film in the series it had the difficult task of being fresh and unique enough to set itself apart from the first two films, while still keeping consistent with a level of crazy humor.

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The Looney Tunes Show – Cartoons for Adults

There’s a difference between the old school Looney Tunes cartoons and Cartoon Network’s Looney Tunes Show. Although the old school WB cartoons focused on a child audience, with a secondary layer for adults, the new school Looney Tunes Show focuses on savvy adults while including comic pratfalls to entertain the elementary aged viewer. Basically, these contemporary cartoons are geared towards former Saturday morning watchers who want cartoons they can watch with their kids while the old school Merry Melodies were geared towards our younger selves with elements our parents could appreciate.

Cartoon Network’s Looney Tunes Show clearly targets an older audience while maintaining slapstick for the younger crowd. If you haven’t caught an episode, Bugs and Daffy are adult male roommates, a la Bert and Ernie, who handle dating while snarking on contemporary society. In the “Black Widow,” Daffy takes a spring vacation while Bugs recreates a 1930s mystery with his girlfriend, Lola. Is it like the original Tex Avery/Chuck Jones cartoons? No. The Looney Tunes Show is closer to its mid-90s WB cartoon siblings who used pop culture to comment on contemporary society for a more aware adult audience. There’s a great opening moment when Daffy snarks about the number of vacation and holidays in the American education system while deciding his low-employed self should vacate instead. The episode includes mild unspoken commentary on adults who recreate their former youth and deliberately enact mischief while fearing facing the consequences. Porky’s ongoing “I left my iron/curling iron/magnifying glass/etc. on”, will resonate with every single vacationing adult.

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A closer look at Game of Thrones’ Daario Naharis

The third season of HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones has done a wonderful job of slowly raising the stakes over the second half of the season. While these last few episodes have been criticized by some as being a little slow, the ratings over this time period have been some of the best that series has ever seen. While in a lot of ways this season has been building up to the ninth episode and beyond, there still has been a great deal of plot movement in the meantime.

Admittedly, one of the storylines that has been guilty — at least in the last several episodes — of moving slowly is Dany’s in Essos. A marked improvement over last season’s pace, the story this year has two big moments: the victory in Astapor and the coming fight in Yunkai. As we move closer to the latter, a polarizing character in the ASOIAF fandom has finally been introduced: Daario Naharis. This week, Bob and Ivey will take a deeper look at the sell-sword who has crossed Daenerys Targaryen path.

As usual, a quick reminder about the spoiler scope of Beyond the Wall. This column is written from the perspective of folks who have read all of the novels by George R. R. Martin in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. So if you weren’t left wondering why Daario Naharis’ hair wasn’t blue, then you should probably not keep reading this column.

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True Blood and Teen Wolf go from TV to DVD

Vampires, werewolves, more werewolves and … Mel Brooks hit home video this week at the last seasons of True Blood and Teen Wolf arrive just in time for their new season premieres. A look at the life and career of Mel Brooks which was recently broadcast on PBS also arrives on DVD for your viewing pleasure. More complete sets of the past season’s TV series are also available, and some old favorites also get the DVD treatment. Have a look at our shopper’s guide to see what else is released on May 21, and click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase.

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Big stars and Beautiful Creatures come to home video

May 21 has some big home video releases including the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the big screen in a lead role, The Last Stand, more of what Jason Statham does best in Parker, Steven Soderbergh’s possible theatrical swan song, Side Effects, and the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the YA novel Beautiful Creatures … which landed with a thud at the box office. Having never read the book, I thought the film was quite good, but the fans were dismayed by the major changes made to plot and characters which may have doomed future films in the series. If you skipped it, now is your chance to see it on video, and if you’re a fan of the books, watch it with an open mind. The leads have some great chemistry and it would be interesting to see where the series could go. There are a lot more releases from classic gangster films to classic horror films, so have a look at our shopper’s guide to see all of this week’s new home video releases. Just click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase!

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